Jack and the Beanstalk
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JACK AND THE BEANSTALK
DESCRIPTION
Hello to everyone, I present to you the work that represents one of the most famous English fairy tales, published for the first time way back in 1807 by an unknown writer. As you can see, I recreated the landscape where our hero, Jack, lives. Therefore it is represented with rivers, valleys, mountains, forests, beaches and even the sea. Everything is reconstructed in miniscale. I am a fan of the microscale, furthermore, in the fairy tale there are giants/ogres, it depends on the many versions that have followed one another, therefore I decided that the villains should take on the dimensions of minifigures, while our Jack should take on the dimensions of microfigures. This factor therefore "forced" me to choose microscale. Additionally, I had fun building a castle and even a microscale village. I confess, creating this work was a lot of fun for me.
For the castle I tried to recreate the staircases that climb up the mountain until reaching it. A piece that lends itself very well to this type of construction scale is the Technic, Gear Rack 1 x 4 (code 3743 or 4296). In fact, if you position it at 45 degrees with respect to the work surface, its rack magically transforms into steps. This solution literally made me crazy with enthusiasm. When I decided that there would be the sea, I knew that I also wanted to include a nice galleon. Its sails obtained thanks to the alternative use of some wings and the figurehead made with a microfigure are together, with the tail of a unykittie, the three things that make this small boat wonderful. Plus, I thought a few waves would make it better. I remembered that I had some white croissants perfect for the purpose.
This is a nineteenth-century fairy tale and has collected various versions over time. In mine there are the giants, the goose that lays the golden eggs, the bag of coins and the singing harp.
The house of giants that I created is actually one hundred percent openable and playable. In fact, the entire floor can be removed to allow for more engaging and easier play. Inside you will find an oven, where Jack hides several times to avoid being found by the giant, a cauldron used for the same reason, the bag of coins, the goose that lays golden eggs, the harp, a table, a bed and even a cheese mousetrap. I like to think that the giant placed it near a hole in the wall in an attempt to catch the hungry little thief.
As for the oven, I alternatively used an old weight used for boats. I needed to bring the center of gravity of the house back to the left and for this I needed something that would move it substantially to that side. In that small house, however, I didn't have much space and objects such as furniture and so on were not heavy enough to solve my problem. But that weight did, so I turned it over in my hands and realized that I could use it for something like the ash extractor hood of the oven. It wasn't difficult to reverse the direction of the STUDs of that object and I find that all in all it works really well.
WHY I BUILT IT
In these nine years i have built many works, from the smallest to the largest. Many have been appreciated more than others, but I have always missed the stroke of genius, the one that highlights the most famous blogs like The Brother Bricks. I asked myself why, as all in all my works are not that bad, in fact I have even exhibited them in important museums in Italy.
Surely one of the reasons that has never made me stand out and given prominence is that in everything I do I never tell a story. Brickman, the famous judge of Lego Master Australia, teaches that to be successful with your works you must be able to tell a story that is easily recognisable. Unfortunately I have always built imaginatively based on the pieces I have at home and never bought them specifically to create something special. This sometimes forces me to adapt. Most of the time my works are the result of imagination, I never create something existing, such as works of art, monuments, existing cars or motorbikes. None of this. I build things, although beautiful, but without any history and therefore not recognisable.
This time I thought what I could tell. I asked myself what would interest children and at the same time be relatable to an adult? The answer was almost obvious, a fairy tale.The second question I asked myself was what little story could be so compelling from a narrative point of view, but above all in terms of execution? I wanted my work to make even the most experienced builders say "WOW", so the answer was simple again, Jack and the Beanstalk. I said to myself, imagine the astonished faces my friends will make when they see the work. A landscape dominated by a gigantic plant that climbs up into the sky beyond the clouds and at the top a gigantic castle that is supported despite its significant weight. This is definitely not a trivial challenge. This thing could really make a difference and make the rest of the AFOLs around the world understand that I'm here too.
Nonetheless, the undertaking was foolish, as it is not easy to transform that fairy tale into bricks. I exactly wanted to reproduce a micro-scale landscape on which a gigantic beanstalk climbed up into the sky. Obviously I wasn't satisfied with creating a mass of white clouds. I definitely wanted there to be a castle or something similar at the top too. In fact, I created a house that partly also represents a castle with its heavy tower on the right. How much I hated it, because it did nothing but shift the center of gravity, threatening the stability of the plant which supported all the weight. I thought that to solve the problem I would have to take advantage of the robustness of the technic pieces and therefore I found myself doing some experiments. The pigeon egg that made me shout "Eureka" was precisely the recreating of a base with technic pieces on which to lay the landscape as a covering, the weight of which would act as a counterbalance to the enormous mass that towered above. The core of the plant stem is also made with technic pieces and even the platform on which the giants' home rests. Just think that the flat is capable of holding more than six ounces of weight. At least that's what I tested initially. You must understand one thing, however, the clouds alone (the only ones I bought specifically for this work) weigh more than 10.5 ounces (300 gr.), so it was clear to me that the castle could not weigh more. Do you know how much it weighs? Almost 53 oz (about 1500 gr) and adding the clouds the total reaches 64 oz (1800 gr) Consider that the landscape weighs a total of 28 oz (the left part, 800 gr), 34 oz (the right, 980 gr) and the support including the stem of the plant and the clouds 39 oz (1100 gr).
WHY COULD BE A LEGO SET
My proposal is highly playable. The giant's house can be safely removed from the top of the clouds, without anything accidentally falling or dismantling. The roof removes in two parts, while the beanstalk section that goes into the house can be removed easily. The tower can also be separated from the rest. The interiors are highly playable and if that wasn't enough, the floor removes from the rest of the house, giving you the opportunity to interact with all the elements present. Furthermore, your children can have fun using the giants in the territory below, as little ravagers in search of the petty thief Jack. It should not be underestimated that thanks to this product, you will be able to tell a beautiful story to your children and perhaps brush up on others. This is a purchase also suitable for adults, because the assembly experience is engaging, furthermore, being divided into 4 sections, it could be nice to assemble as a team in the evening in the family.
Thank you for reading my presentation and I hope I have written everything necessary, because 8000 characters are very few, in case I am here waiting for your questions.
Many greetings from
Pino
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