Pazu, Sheeta and the Sky-Pirate Flapter - From Studio-Ghibli's 'Laputa'

Studio Ghibli has produced some of the most beloved and critically acclaimed animated films of all time, and my personal favourite* is Laputa: Castle in the Sky. First released in 1986, the fantasy adventure sparked my love of Japanese animation, and when I stumbled across it one afternoon on British TV, not long after its theatrical release it's fair to say that it did change my life. It was quite unlike any feature-length animation that I had seen to that point, and stayed with me long after the credits rolled over Joe Hisaishi's beautiful closing theme.

This model takes a little bit of artistic licence, as I don't think Pazu and Sheeta ever got to fly in a Flapter on their own in the film, but it's easy to imagine that they would at some point after the story has ended, rejoin with their Sky-pirate friends and take a spin is the steam-punk esque flying vehicles. (For those really familiar with the film, you'd know that Sheeta would have to have grown her pigtails back for this to be accurate).

I'd tried to make various models of the various ships and locations from Laptua back in the 80s, but the array of parts (and colours) available back then, obviously would have limited the likeness by some margin. With all the fabulous new parts, I think I've managed to capture the lines and forms of Studio Ghibli's iconic design. I decided to build brick-built versions of Pazu and Sheeta, as minifigures would not work at the scale of the Flapter - which was dictated by the brick choices to achieve the forms. If the set ever came out, I think a minifigure display board would feature Pazu, Sheeta, Dola the pirate queen, and some members of her gang.

The crossover of animation and especially Japanese animation and those who love Lego is pretty huge. Disney acquired the rights (thanks I think to John Lasseter of Pixar fame) to distribute the Studio Ghibli films outside of Japan, and Lego's existing relationship with Disney should mean this set could be a natural fit.

The design features 681 parts, although I suspect dedicated wing pieces (as opposed to brick-built wings) would not only look better, and be in more keeping with the original film's design) would also save around 116 parts.

I would have LOVED to have these bricks available to build and display a Flapter as a young Lego fan, and I suspect I'm not alone!