The Polar Express: All Aboard for the North Pole!

Alright y’all, so I am DEFINITELY writing this preemptively, but considering we’re definitely going to get there, likely in the next few hours, and I want to go ahead and get this out before the 10k mark hits, and I can’t send this.

Y’all, seeing this project go this far over the past couple of years has been extremely amazing. This is the first project of mine to reach 10k, so seeing it get this far is one of the most humbling things ever.

I figured I should go ahead and show off the 10k minifigure: A revamped Santa, now done up to more closely resemble his film appearance! Honestly pretty proud of how he turned out.

Y’all, for those who supported me, thank you so much for your support of this project. Whether or not we get through the LEGO Review, from the bottom of my heart, Thank you. May the bell continue to ring for ALL 10,000 of you, who truly do believe.

Following the release of the Polar Express, the tourist railroad scene had a strong desire to capitalize on the success of the film, and so, during the Christmas season of 2005, The Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, located in Bryson City, NC, would become the first tourist railroad in the world to host the event that would become known as "The Polar Express Train Ride." Since its debut, over 40 tourist railroads and railroad museums across the USA and UK have played host to this event, helping The Polar Express brand remain fresh in the eyes of the general public.

Today, November 10th, marks the 20th Anniversary of the Polar Express film's theatrical release. The film, based on Chris Van Allsburg's 1985 Award-winning Children's Book, was directed by Robert Zemeckis, best known for directing films such as the Back to the Future trilogy, and Disney's Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and starred actor Tom Hanks, best known for roles such as as Woody in Disney and Pixar's Toy Story franchise, and John Miller in Saving Private Ryan. Zemeckis and Hanks had actually worked together on a number of other projects prior to, and after Polar, including the beloved 1994 classic Forrest Gump, 2000's Cast Away, and most recently, Disney's live action remake of Pinocchio.

The Polar Express would become the first of four films directed by Zemeckis to use the then, at the time, revolutionary motion capture animation technique, chosen to provide animation that would look as close to the book's illustrations as possible. Following Polar, this technique would be used in 2007's Beowulf, based on the Old English poem of the same name, plus two films in conjunction with Disney, including A Christmas Carol, based on the Holiday Classic by Charles Dickens, in 2009, and Mars Needs Moms, based on the children's book by Berkeley Breathed, in 2011. Happy Anniversary, Polar Express!

Did you know? Today, November 2nd, 2024, marks the 20th Anniversary of The Polar Express... video game. The game, which somehow released a whole 8 days before the movie came out, was released on the Playstation 2, Nintendo Gamecube, PC, and Game Boy Advanced. The PS2, PC, and Gamecube versions of the game were basically identical, and were a loose adaptation of the film's story, told as a 3D platformer, while the GBA version was a 2D platformer, that followed the film's plot more closely. While the movie got a mixed response from critics, the video game's reception was... pretty terrible. Even today, the Polar Express video game isn't highly regarded among gamers, due to its poor controls, putting it amongst the ocean of poor tie-in licensed video games. Even so, The Polar Express video game, as terrible it is, is still worth remembering as a piece of Polar Express history.

Folks, throughout this month, as we inch closer to 10k, I'll be posting these "Today in Polar Express History" posts, as there's actually a ton of important parts of the Polar's history that occurred this month.

Howdy folks! Well, I promised, and I finally delivered! For your building pleasure, I have finally prepared instructions for The Polar Express Passenger Car!

Now, you may very quickly notice the difference in color. Regrettably, the rendered images for the model feature a ton of parts in Sand Blue, a color which just doesn't have all the pieces I need in that color. Neither does dark blue either, so I had to settle for regular blue instead. Same with the trim as well, as on the stock model, it's dark red, where here, its regular red. Despite the necessary color change, the design is the exact same, so I hope you will enjoy building it! As always, the link for the 10k minifigure is on ReBrickable: https://reb.li/m/199805

Oh, and one more thing:

Recently, I decided to go in and make an update to one of the main minifigures! So, without further ado, allow me to present to you the updated Hero Girl!

In the film, the Hero Girl wears a long nightgown, and I wanted to see what I could do to recreate that a little better than I already had. I ended up deciding on using the plastic mini-skirt, which I had used for the elves, and TBH, I think the look isn't half bad! Obviously, something longer would be more ideal here, but there aren't really many pieces like that that aren't fabric. All in all, I think this change, while small, adds a lot to this model!

To all of y'all, thank you for your continued support! We're now a little over 600 supporters from reaching 10k, and every little bit y'all provide is extremely helpful!

Hello everyone! Well folks, I finally figured out who the 9k minifigure should be! I had some debate as to who exactly I should do, but I eventually settled on a minifigure of the Hero Boy's younger sister, Sarah!

While Sister Sarah is far from being an important player in the Polar Express story, it's through her in the movie that we hear the Hero Boy's doubts about Santa being real for the first time, setting into motion the film's plot. Sarah's design was actually surprisingly easy. Her pajamas are a solid mint green gown. I ultimately decided against adding in the white collar and wrist frills on her gown, but I do think this design does capture the overall appearance of the character quite nicely.

Oh, and by the way, I have also made an update to the train:

I've had this one brewing for awhile now, but I've modified the rear light on the observation car, going from a larger Technic 1x2 brick, to a much smaller, rounder one, better matching the design seen in the film. Honestly, I really love how much cleaner this makes the car look.

Anyway folks, that's all from me for now! I'll be working to get the Polar Passenger Car Instructions out to you soon, (As well as working on the 10k minifigure!) Once again, thank you for all the support we've gotten thus far towards 10k! We need just 800 more people to support, and we'll finally reach the North Pole!

Howdy folks! As mentioned in the 8k update, I promised you locomotive instructions, and lo and behold, I just finished them, and you can now build the The Polar Express locomotive for yourself!

Regrettably, it will take me just a little bit more time to get the passenger car instructions ready, and to get the 9k minifigure created, but I hope you like the engine! As always, the instructions are available here, on Rebrickable: https://reb.li/m/199108

Friends, we've been making great progress towards 10k, so I hope to be able to get all sorts of new goodies ready for you before then!

9000... wow... Y'all... it absolutely floors me that we've made it this far. We now sit less than 1000 supporters away from reaching the proverbial North Pole at 10k. I wish I had a new minifigure to share with y'all, or instructions for the engine (and now coach), like I promised, but college has kept me busy, but I do promise to get the instructions for the engine at least to y'all soon. So, for this update, I wanted to take some time to reflect. About where I started, where we're (hopefully) going, and where we are right now.

As I mentioned, The Polar Express movie holds an incredibly special place in my heart. It, in all honesty, may have been the first film I remember watching. In fact, growing up, I enjoyed watching this film, even when it wasn't Christmas! Even today, The Polar Express remains my favorite Christmas movie, and arguably, my favorite film in general. The film, for me, was a foundational part of my development as a young kid on the autism spectrum, and an instrumental component in developing a lifelong love of trains.

LEGO too, played an important role in my childhood. Among the various trains and other toys I had as a kid, LEGO was a staple part of my toy collection since infancy. As a young kid, I spent countless hours designing LEGO Trains in LEGO Digital Designer, many of those being the Polar Express. (I always desired to buy me one of the kits, but sadly, I never got the chance.)

It's little wonder that, when I first joined LEGO Ideas as a young teenager many years ago, with my original account (made before I eventually changed emails), The Polar Express was among the very first projects I ever attempted. I shared the evolution of my LEGO Ideas Polar Express projects in a previous update, and a picture can be seen of the infamous original attempt below. Though far from perfect, it did set the groundwork that my later attempts built upon.

Slowly, but surely, my skills as a builder improved, evident in the model I dubbed "Polar V3", from 2019.

Even as other Polar Express projects hit the 10k mark, and inevitably fell to the LEGO Review Board, I found more and more reason to keep coming back to The Polar Express, making improvements, until I eventually got to the point I'm at today. A model that, I will not hesitate to say that I am proud of. Is it perfect? No. No LEGO Model, even official sets truly are, but the drive and passion to create something special was there from square one, and hey, it got me this far, didn't it?

I recognize that LEGO Ideas can be pretty... unforgiving, especially for those who are just starting out. The vast majority of projects on this platform don't even make it to the 1k mark, which can be pretty disheartening. I'll admit, I highly suspect the only reason this project has gotten as far as it did was because 2 other Polar Projects reached 10k, as, aside from this one, countless other projects based on this film, including many of my own, have tried and failed to gather the necessary support to get a Polar Express to LEGO review. Despite that, I've continued to push out of pure persistence, And again, it's gotten me this far, hasn't it?

I was writing this, I recognized something that, to me, made me realize why the other 2 projects made it over the 10k barrier, and why The Polar Express as a set idea is getting a lot of traction: It's become nostalgic. Many of us among the later millennial and Gen Z generation who grew up with this film as kids, for which I belong to the latter, have now grown up to be adults and teenagers, who look back on this film with a nostalgia, growing up with Polar Express days in their Pre-K and Elementary Classrooms, watching the film with their families during the holiday season, or, for the lucky few, riding a real Polar Express train. The film celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and, just like me, those who grew up with this film now have a lot of nostalgia for that, and that is something truly special.

That, was a really long post, but there was a lot I wanted to say, and, TBH, writing this got me pretty dang teary-eyed. To each and everyone of you who has supported this project over the nearly 2 years this project has been up, from the bottom of my heart, Thank you. Y'all are the coal and water that keeps this project rolling, and without you, this project would've never made it this far. Of course, we're not quite done yet. While the end is in sight, we've still got a decent amount of track to tackle, but, as the Conductor always says "With a little luck, we'll be on time!" So, Full Steam Ahead to The North Pole!

Greetings Everyone! Once again, it's been some time since I've last posted an update! It's been a pretty crazy spring and summer! So, like I said, I'd show off some new minifigures for when we hit the 7 and 8k mark, so without further ado, here they are!

First up, the 7k figure: The Hero Boy's Father! Although his face remains mostly hidden when you see him, the glimpses you do get of it show that he's a spitting image of Tom Hanks... because he is! He is the 2nd character you see in the film Mo-capped by Tom Hanks (the first being the Hero Boy Himself), and the first to be voice by him! His design was rather simple to concoct, and was, in fact, the single easiest minifigure to create. No special prints here!

For the 8k Minifigure, we actually have a quartet: The elves! Seeing as how these figures are of the same design, barring face and facial hair, I figured I should show all of them off here! I did have to custom-make the torso, but considering how simple the design was, it was extremely easy! In addition,

I gave each of them little presents! I ended up discovering bows that were used as accessories in the old LEGO Scala line, which, upon putting on top of jumper plates, worked perfectly as ribbons for Christmas presents, especially for larger ones! Also, as a fun Easter Egg, the 2nd elf to the right has a bright green and orange present, a homage to one of my favorite LEGO themes: Power Miners!

With 8k Supporters, I also promised the release of instructions for the locomotive and tender. While they are still coming, I need just a little more time to get them ready, and post them on Rebrickable. However, I do have a small update to share about the locomotive.

I recently acquired the new Orient Express set, designed by fellow LEGO Ideas member Thomas Lajon (Username: LEt.sGO), and his fantastic set inspired me to make some improvements

to the back head of my locomotive! The plain round tiles, meant to represent gauges, has been replaced by printed ones with a clock face, allowing them to have some much-needed detail, and...

hang on... what's that in the cab?

Great Scott! It's a Flux Capacitor! To the untrained eye, this may just seem like its a nod to Polar Express Director Robert Zemeckis' most famous flicks, the famed Back to The Future trilogy, but its actually an Easter Egg featured in the movie! As the Know-It-All kid... *ahem.* Graciously pointed out in his "Cool Facts about the Polar Express" post he made close to two years ago, the Flux Capacitor can be seen inside the cab of the Polar Express at a couple points in the film, but most notably, when the locomotive's cotter pin is bouncing around the cab, you're able to get a pretty clean glimpse of it. I really wanted to include this detail as a fun Easter Egg, and I think it adds a lot to this model.

At the time of writing this, we're around the 8,100 supporter mark, meaning we just need to pick up approx. another 1,900 passengers to reach the North Pole! If you can, share this project with your friends and family, and with any luck, we'll reach the North Pole on time!

Greetings everyone! It's been awhile, hasn't it? I've been awfully busy in my personal life, so it took me awhile to get this update out to y'all, but as y'all know, we've hit (and surpassed) 6k supporters, and are quickly approaching 7k! Once again, I thank each and every single one of you for your support! Now... onto the reveal of the Hot Chocolate cart, and the 6k Minifigure! Or rather... two of them!

That's right, our first two new minifigure reveals is the Hot Chocolate Chef and Waiter!

"Hey, wait a minute!" I hear you saying: "Haven't you shown these off before?" Yes, indeed I have, but these two minifigures have been given custom torsos, to make them a touch more accurate to the movie! I do have plans to try and make more unique figures down the line, but considering I was releasing instructions for the hot chocolate cart for this supporter milestone, I figured the chef and waiter would be worth releasing here.

Speaking of the Hot Chocolate cart, at only two studs wide, it's designed to fit inside the passenger cars. It's modeled as it appeared in the movie, though I had to simplify it a lot, as the gauges and spouts would've been extremely hard to model, while still making sure it could fit with no issues inside a coach.

Of course, as always the instructions are available here through ReBrickable: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-179274/Tweetsie12/polar-express-hot-chocolate-cart/ With just 22 parts and 8 steps, it makes for an easy build!

Anyway, that's all I have for now! As always, let's keep steaming towards 10k!