Are you ready, kids? Aye-aye, captain! Welcome back to another 10K Club Interview. Meet Luke, a.k.a. Lanko, and his THE KRUSTY KRAB - SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS. Inspired by a love of the classic cartoon, fans of the show are sure to be blown away at this latest attempt to see Spongebob immortalised in LEGO-form. Show some love for the Krusty Krab in the comments!
ABOUT YOURSELF
- Who are you?
I’ve gone by many names, but you can call me Lanko or Luke!
- Where are you from?
Proudly from New Zealand.
- How old are you?
As of this year, I am 18 years old.
- What hobbies do you have?
I love to build LEGO in my spare time, draw, and play some games here and there.
- Do you have a personal LEGO portfolio website that you can share with us?
I do! You can find more of my past and upcoming builds on my Instagram!
- Have you created any LEGO MOCs (my own creations) that you’re particularly proud of? What is it, why are you proud of it and do you have a photo of it?
I’ve made a few recently that I’m incredibly proud of! For one, my project here, but I’m also quite proud of my Chum Bucket I made, also from SpongeBob SquarePants!
- How and when did your interest in LEGO products come about?
I’ve loved LEGO bricks from a very young age. My first LEGO set was quite possibly sometime in the 2000’s, and I’ve loved it since!
- What is the LEGO hobby to you? What does it mean to you? How does it fit in your life? E.g. build, display, meetups, play the games or 'just' watch the cartoons.
LEGO sets bring so much joy to me, whether it’s playing around with my sets as a kid, or building fun advanced models today! I truly believe LEGO building is for everyone, and anyone can enjoy LEGO building for any reason.
- What is your favourite LEGO theme (current or past)? Why? And has any theme inspired your building style or preference in any particular way?
That’s a tough question! I could say a number of licensed themes, including SpongeBob, but I remember every year I’ve always been excited for the new Creator line releases. They’ve always fascinated me, and what’s so inspiring is the multiple instructions to rebuild the set into something new! Very creative!
- What is your favourite official LEGO set ever? Why?
A very tough question, with so many to choose from! To narrow it down, it would for sure be one of the modular buildings, or something in a similar vein. The huge advanced models that make for great display pieces have always caught my eye. Maybe even one of the Ninjago City sets?
- What is your favourite LEGO element? Why?
The most useful. I can’t think of any one piece in particular, but there are a huge amount of extremely useful and versatile pieces! I love the ones with studs all over every side, or maybe I could keep it classic with a red 2x4 brick. Hard to say!
- Is there a LEGO designer (official LEGO designer or fan designer) who you are inspired by and look up to? Who and why?
So many to name! Throughout my LEGO Ideas journey, I’ve met so many great talented friends all with amazing builds of their own! One that comes to mind is ExeSandbox, who made a previous Krusty Krab model on LEGO Ideas! That definitely inspired the work on my own rendition of the building.
ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
- Where did your interest in this particular model come from?
I’ve loved SpongeBob from a very young age, and I feel that it can be enjoyed by anyone. I’m a huge fan classic cartoons, and SpongeBob is number one! Even looking back today it can still hold up! I’ve always wanted to make a building from SpongeBob, and where else to go than the most iconic restaurant under the sea?
- How long was the process of making the project, and what did you have to research as well? What kind of prep, research and design phases did you go through to produce your creation?
It took quite a while to build for sure! There was a LOT that went into this project, from all the reference images of the building, all the countless weeks spent refining the model to be its very best, and the renderings were a whole other can of worms to work out. I’m very, very happy with the final product, however!
- What special challenges did you face creating the model? What was the most difficult part to recreate?
As fun a challenge it was, it was for sure a challenge! The Krusty Krab isn’t your typical LEGO house. With a curved roof and arches, netted flags and the works it was all very difficult to recreate! Lots of time was spent on the roof mostly. But I took my time with the model and it came out just how I’d imagined it.
- If you could talk to yourself before you started on this project, what would you tell them? What do you know now that you wish you knew then?
To be honest, when I first set out to build the Krusty Krab, I never at all intended for it to end up on LEGO Ideas, that thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. It’s just been a building I’ve wanted to do justice for quite some time. As I went through I started to really like it, and thought it might have some potential on LEGO Ideas! Never would I have thought it’d reach 10k! And so soon too! Although, I do wish I planned for it to go on LEGO Ideas from the start, that way I wouldn’t have to have spent hours reducing the piece count! One key thing: Patience. Patience is very important with any LEGO project, if something isn’t right then take a step back and try again from a different angle! You’ll get there in the end!
- How long did it take to complete the model? Did you finish it fairly quickly, or did it take a long time? And how did the build time compare to the time you spent promoting your Product Idea to reach 10,000 supporters?
The build took half a year to create, but most of that time consisted of many, many failed attempts. I've failed and come back to this build many times, but I got it right finally! As for the build time compared to the time it took to reach 10k, that was much sooner! Two months I believe? I spent longer on the build than the time it took to reach my goal!
- How did it feel when you reached the magic 10,000 votes and how long did it take?
It took just about two months for me to reach my goal! And it was honestly very surreal. At the first thousand, I was extremely over the moon, I wasn’t sure if it’d pick up or not, but people seemed to really like it! And then as it went on I started to get the feeling that hey, this might actually make it! I went to sleep when it had 18 supporters needed, and woke up to the amazing news! That was a very good day for me.
- Approximately how many LEGO bricks did you use to create your model?
The build originally had just about 3100 or 3200 pieces, but LEGO Ideas states your submitted builds must be below 3K parts total. So I had to refine it, which was hard to choose what wasn’t needed. The final model has 2999 parts.
- What is your favourite building technique or part/section that you’ve incorporated into your Product Idea?
I’m particularly proud of the netting on the sides that hold up the arches. Those went through so many different iterations and were quite possibly the second hardest thing to build. Second to the roof of course. I’m proud of how I did it though! I used small white bar pieces all connected by 1x1 bricks with studs on opposite ends, I even put a white screwdriver piece that fits in nicely at the top!
- If you built your model digitally, what software did you use to build and render your model?
Like with all my builds, I first built the model in LEGO Digital Designer. However LDD is a bit outdated, so I then move it to Stud.io to add any newer released parts and fix it up to finalize for the renders which were done on Blender.
- If you used custom stickers or prints for your design, how did you create them or where did you get them?
I drew all the prints/stickers myself! It was fun to replicate the SpongeBob style for things like the clamshell sign, the menus etc.
ABOUT LEGO IDEAS
- Do you have any useful advice about creating a successful LEGO Ideas project?
Promoting your idea is quite possibly the most important aspect of it all, at least I found to be the case. That and having a strong idea. For a period of time, I was sitting there thinking “Do I make a Facebook to further promote my idea?” And other such thoughts, but I found after more people found it, it gained more and more traction over time! Just make sure your project has a good reach, so that people can find it easily. You really just have to go for it, I wish the best of luck to anyone who has plans for submitting anything!
- What (if any) methods did you use to advertise and attract support to your Product Idea?
I made a few posts to Reddit which helped a bunch! That and making an Instagram were very helpful for gaining more supporters!
- What is your favourite LEGO Ideas Product Idea (besides your own of course)? Are there any Product Ideas you think have been overlooked?
I was very disappointed when the first Krusty Krab project by ExeSandbox was denied. The same with the Gravity Falls Mystery Shack by Toplego8 and Minibrick Productions. But they’ve remade it and have resubmitted it! I highly suggest checking it out! Gravity Falls is another show I’m very fond of, and they’ve done an amazing job recreating the shack! I’m also hoping that LEGO Ghibli by yop1172 passes the current review! There are so many cool projects currently!
- What is it about the platform that attracts you? What tips would you give to anyone who is thinking about uploading an idea?
Isn’t it so cool to be able to build something, and to then have the possibility of your build becoming an official LEGO set? It’s genuinely amazing, and we’ve had such great things come from it! I bought the LEGO Ideas Sonic set on day 1! As for any tips for uploading an idea, as I said before, just go for it! Make sure you have a strong idea, that you’re sure people will love! Think if it was to become an official set, would you be happy with it? Good luck to anyone submitting!
- Do you have plans to submit any other Product Ideas in the future? If yes, can you give us a hint of what that might be?
I don’t want to have more than one project up at once, but if I did another, it’d most likely be another cartoon series I love. Quite possibly one I’ve already built?
