Count Olaf's Mansion from Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events"
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Dear LEGO-Community,
although I'd like to share with you my vision of what I think deserves to become an official LEGO set, I sincerely suggest you look away and do not support this since the Baudelaires' lifes have been nothing but "horror and inconvenience on the way". Still here? Okay, let's have a look at Count Olaf's vintage yet fearsome domicile, a term which here means hardly habitable house. Before we dive deeper into this, let me say a few things about "A Series of Unfortunate Events". Be aware that it might contain spoilers. I tried not to give away more than is necessary.
A Series of Unfortunate Events is a series of 13 books, written by Daniel Handler, following a man called Lemony Snicket trying to write down the many disastrous and black humored adventures of the three Baudelaire children Violet, Klaus and Sunny to whom he has a mysterious connection to. After loosing their parents in a fire, they meet Count Olaf, who proves to be interested in nothing but the enormous fortune the Baudelaire parents left to their children. It soon becomes clear that he would stop at nothing to gain it. Throughout the book series, the children are sent from one family member (or so it seems) to another, each time living at a unique place and trying to escape this vicious frightening devil who appears at all the locations the children stay at - each time in a disguise only the Baudelaires can look through. On the run, the Baudelaires' lifes get progressively worse while they uncover deep family secrets and are forced to consider their perception of what is right and what is wrong.
This does not sound like a very cheerful base to start a book series on, given the fact that Snicket repetitively warns not to keep on reading this miserable story since it does neither feature a happy beginning nor a happy end (and according to him, there isn't a lot of happy stuff in between). But its humor, the type of writing and the profound literate knowledge of author Daniel Handler make this an interesting and funny story to read (and not only to children). On behalf of every fan of the series, I'd really like to thank Daniel Handler at this point for bringing this masterpiece into our lifes, as well as the motion picture from 2004 and the NETFLIX TV show from 2017 that are based on it. Both adaptions, starring Jim Carrey and Neill Patrick Harris as the Count, deserve, in my opinion, acknowledgement.
Anyway, the three Baudelaire children Violet (14 years old), Klaus (12 years old) and Sunny (still a baby) meet Count Olaf at the beginning of the series because he proves to be their closest relative (or so he says). Olaf is a vicious, freakingly dreadful actor who forces them to a life that is far from being bearable, a term which here means that they have to do his housework and to cook for him and his acting troupe. This house is where they stay at during the first book, "The Bad Beginning".
I took inspiration from the book series, the Netflix show and the movie. The house features the living room where the Baudelaires serve Pasta Putanesca to Olaf's troupe and a kitchen on the first floor, a piano and a costume closet on the second, and the Baudelaire's bedroom in the roof. There is also a magnifying glass in the tower that Olaf might or might not have used to burn stuff from distance. The walls of the towers are detachable for playability. The set comes with a stage, where Olaf performed "A Marvelous Marriage", a stage play in which he tried to marry Violet to gain the Baudelaire fortune while keeping Sunny as a hostage in a cage (which is also in here). I told you that guy was vicious.
Personally, I would include the minifigures in the pictures to this set, which means Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire, as well as Count Olaf and his henchmen the hook-handed man, Esme Squalor, the white-faced women and the henchman of undetermined gender. Finally, there's Lemony Snicket as well as four crowes from the seventh book. They play a larger role at the end of the series, but I don't want to give away any spoilers here.
Various famous details from the books, TV show and movie are the many disguises of Count Olaf (more on that later) as well as a book called "An Incomplete History of Secret Organizations", Snicket's suitcase, a diving helmet containing the Medusoid Mycelium, a harpoon gun, pasta and tomato sauce and a spyclass. Furthermore, you'll find a candlestick, a letter Olaf might have written to someone, boxes with spy stuff, a grammophone, glasses, bottles, a skull, kitchen accessories, an hourglass, a dust mopp and an espresso machine. You'll find Olaf's various fancy disguises in the very fourth digital. From left to right, he can pose as Stefano the herpetologist, Captain Sham, Shirley the receptionist, Coach Genghis, Gunter the auctioneer, Detective Dupin, Doctor Mattathias Medicalschool and as the showman from the Carnivorous Carnival. I tried to nail the fact that the disguises are often poor and it's very easy for the Baudelaires to discover that it's Olaf.
That'll be it for now. For those who read the entire description and are familiar with the series: You'll find a very familiar detail near the entrance, just look closely at the last picture. I'm thankful to everyone who supports this. I hope you enjoyed reading my text, and if you liked it, please make sure as many people as possible get to know that this exists. Spread the word, share it with whomever and on whatever you can, advertise it, we can make it happen!
Although we probably shouldn't, considering the Baudelaires' very fatal destiny.