Level 1: Julius Caesar Defends the Roman Forum

This set was chosen by one of the Lego Ideas Moderators, Sara Moore, as a Featured Project of the Week on the ReBrick Blog!

Go to: rebrick.lego.com/en-US/BottomMenu/Blog/02242014-ancient-bricks-dougblash.aspx

Wow, Thanks for the support...  It's a true honor!  =D

"The Real Indy"

Like a trooper, I smashed my way through all of the levels of the Lego Minifigures Online Video Game.  It is a lot of fun, and I especially wanted to see the Mythology Level, because it's the only world in the entire game that has not been made into official sets yet. They've got a lot of cool new heads for monsters in there, but beyond that, looking at the architectural builds and the vehicles, I think I like mine better... with more real-world monuments, battle artillery, chariots, boats, Wonders of the World, etc... I'm not sure if the models in the game were designed by FunCom or by Lego themselves, but either way, let's make sure this page passes 1000 before next spring, so Lego will see it officially!!  =D

If you have more ideas, then you can post them here  >>>  ideas.lego.com/projects/100847/comments

You can see all of these, and more behind the scenes concept art on my Flickr slideshow.

Above is the original storyboard I used, following the narrative cycle of Joseph Campbell's concept of the Monomyth in "The Hero With a Thousand Faces", which was one of the major influences that George Lucas acknowledged as a basis for the Original Trilogy of Star Wars.

The banners and inscriptions for the real historical civilizations are all 100% accurate.

Plus I created an imaginary fantasy language for the Titans, which I call "Proto-Proto Glyphs".

Now a shout-out to two best-selling strategy games that were major influences in the creative process...!

Again, you can see all of these, and more behind the scenes concept art on my Flickr slideshow.  Have Fun!  =)

You can see the Flickr slideshow of hi-res images and inspirations by clicking the link here.

I carefully designed this set to be right around the $120 to $130 mark for everything you see on the whole page, just like all the bigger castle sets and headquarters sets. I planned it within that limit so they could sell this on the shelf at any store in the world... but if you want, you can vote to make it bigger or smaller when you click to support!

All of the temples and all of the fortifications in my sets can come apart into neat modular sections, based on an 8x8 grid... And so they can all be rearranged in multiple ways, they can all be expanded and redesigned easily, and they can all be connected together for maximum modular possibilities! There is also great potential to do expansion sets with additional wall segments for each unique civ.

If sets like this are a success, it could lead to many new things. For starters, I know that there is tremendous potential to sell beautiful and educational sets like these in major museum gift shops around the world, as they already do with the Architecture Theme, which would boost Lego's overall brand awareness and reputation with parents from all over the world.

Beyond that, they could easily branch out into matching sets for other civilizations, including the Aztecs, the Mayans, Africa, India, China and Japan. From there, it could be expanded into the Medieval, Renaissance, Napoleonic, Steampunk, Modern, and Futuristic Eras!

Plus it could inspire them to add more historical details and more fun educational value into Castle, Pirates, and Indiana Jones style Adventurers sets. And if they invest in making a few new prints, they would be able to re-use them for literally centuries and millennia to come!

Will it be as popular as Batman, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Ninjago, Chima, Zelda, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Only one way to find out...!  Let's do this! =D

This design gives you 12 extra Roman shields and 8 extra Carthaginian shields, so you can equip a legion of auxiliary troops for Carthage and Rome.

The Roman god Mars was the equivalent of the Greek figure of Ares, the God of War.

Bacchus or Dionysus was the god of celebration and feasting in the Greco-Roman World.

The ballista works with one or more standard Lego rubber-bands. The rubber-bands all stretch across the front face of it, which pulls the two arm-levers forward, which pulls the rear square-block forward, which propels the spears... Shwiiinnng! Please do not hurt anyone! =)

The Carthaginian War-Elephants were highly trained members of the corps. Their presence amongst the troops was no different than war-horses, or modern day trained police dogs in modern day Lego sets. They were actually imported from India along with their Indian trainers, who had a centuries old tradition of preparing them to take the field bravely.

It is unknown if the part-mold to make Lego elephants is still in use, but it would be perfectly easy to swap in a brick-built equivalent for almost exactly the same price point. 

You can easily use just two horses for the chariot, and then you can use the other two to create cavalry units for either side, or as mounts for officers or aristocrats.

Caesar's Rostra is a direct depiction of his exclusive speaking platform, as depicted on real Ancient Roman coins, and on modern Italian postage stamps. He designed it himself to make him look like one of the supernatural beings standing at the tops of columns in the Forum as he addressed the city and the troops.

All of the elements here are designed to fill the Forum of the Old Republic around the time of Caesar. My largest temple building set includes all of the bricks you need to build lots more Greco-Roman buildings, including the Old Forum from the time of the Republic of Rome, or the newer Forum of Trajan from the Age of the Roman Empire, plus tons more!

The Triumphal Arch is a generalized version based equally on the Arch of Septimus Severus in the Forum, the Arch of Titus, and the Arch of Constantine, with various educated guesses at re-creating the look and tone of the ancient pigments. I want the historically accurate vibrant color schemes to be a real eye-grabber and a real selling-point, so feel free to express your opinions. This is a playset version of an Arch, and if Lego wants to do an exact version of a specific Arch, larger or smaller, partially-ruined or fully-restored, in all gleaming white bricks for the Architecture line, they certainly still can, and there will definitely be a niche and a market and a demand for both versions... Plus, the elements shown here also include just about everything that Lego might possibly need to create all kinds of troop expansion sets, with a mixture of traditional brick-building and minifigs, in the future!

(Archaeologist, Archaeology, Ancient, World, History, Historical, Mediterranean, Aegean, Greece, Greek, Sparta, Spartan, Athens, Athenian, Athena, Parthenon, Shrine, Oracle, Mythology, Troy, Trojan, Trireme, Iliad, Odyssey, Epic, Movie, Clash of the Titans, Olympus, Legolympus, Zeus, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Apollo, Hades, Cerberus, Medusa, Perseus, Pegasus, Andromeda, Kraken, Colossus, Colosseum, Gladiator, Rome, Roman, Senator, Republic, Forum, Ballista, Catapult, Battering Ram, Legion, Centurion, Caesar, Carthage, Carthaginian, Hannibal, Elephant, Egypt, Egyptian, Pharaoh, Ramesses, Cleopatra, Lighthouse, Alexandria, Chariot, Fort, Boat, Nubia, Nubian, Celts, Celtic, Gauls, Iceni, Boudicca, Stonehenge, Garden, Babylon, Babylonian, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander, Persia, Persian, Xerxes, Immortal, Warrior, 300, Medieval, Viking, Portal, Bifrost, Thor, Loki, Odin, Asgard, Valhalla, Valkyries, Alfheim, Svartalfheim, Jotunheim, Muspelheim, Ragnarok, Glory, Sagas, Wonders of the World, Modular, Classical, Temple, Architecture, International, Global, Civilization, Civilizations, Empire, Empires, Games, Minifigures, Modular, Museum, Education, Educational.)