Moby Dick

If you ask someone if they know a story about a big whale and a ship, they will look at you with a visible question mark on their faces, but if you ask them if they know a story about a big white whale and a ship, they are going to be like, oh, that's Moby Dick. It's one of the most popular and most recognizable books there is, even if you haven't read it you know what it is about. 

It also shares the trait that it's probably one of the few books you and your grandparents know.

There have been more than 18 movie adaptions based on the novel Moby Dick, yet not one LEGO set. 

But if you scroll through some LEGO fan forums, you will read a lot about white whale sets. It is never about a literal white whale set though, the term white whale means "something that someone pursues obsessively and with little chance of success" in this context meaning mostly old retired LEGO sets they really wanted but for some reason couldn't get. Now wouldn't it be cool to have an actual white whale LEGO set? 

I'm a fan of good books as well as good LEGO sets, so I thought why not combine those two? After some thinking, I knew that I wanted to build something emerging from a book, but then the question was which book should I choose.

There are so many great and popular books to choose from, but in the end, I decided to go with Moby Dick because it's probably one of the most recognizable book stories there are, even if you haven't read it you know what it is about and could recognize it from a picture (or a LEGO build 😉).

I'm also a big fan of microscale and especially the creative part usage that comes with it, so my goal for this build was to use at least one part in an unconventional but fitting way. And I think I hit the jackpot by using the croissant piece as small boats. Its form fits the shape of a small boat quite well, better than any small brick-built boat could have. So I'm quite happy with that. 

The water has allowed me to add more life to the building through all the waves and splashes than I could've with other surfaces, and the switch from tan to dark tan to symbolize wet spots on the pages also gives so much to the build, so Moby Dick was a great choice. 

And for some reason, I love building microscale ships, so choosing Moby Dick was the way to go. Now roughly 3 days and 15–20 hours in Stud.io later here we are, writing a text that could help me fulfill my childhood dream of becoming a LEGO Designer (well in some way at least).

Your support to make that set a reality would mean the world to me, for you, it is just a simple click for me, it's one step closer to doing something I've dreamed about since I can dream.

The set shows Moby Dick and Captain Ahab's ship emerging from a Book, referring to how lively a good book can seem.

It's based on the imagination of the reader, and as a homage to all the LEGO "white whale" sets we may never get.

It's quite a simple build even though it might not look like one at first glance, but that's the beauty of it. 

It can be positioned so that either long side is in front, depending if you want the focus on the ship or Moby Dick. 

One could add a printed tile to the empty corner above the ship. With a chapter heading or just some letters to make it seem more like a book. I explored brick-building them with a sideways plate building technique to allow small letters, but it would overcomplicate the build and I decided it was just not worth it. 

There should be no stability issues with this model, the angle to Moby Dick is given by strong hinge elements (44301a & 44302a). His head lies on a small contraption hidden by the waves to take some stress off the hinges. The book itself is connected by hidden technic elements to make sure it can be moved without breaking. 

Although it's not a play set, I still think it would make a great addition to the LEGO Ideas Series. 

With only 896 pieces and measuring 23 cm (9 inches) in length, 20.5 cm (8 inches) in width, and only 14.5 cm (5.7 inches) in height, it could be an affordable display set that fits on every bookshelf and looks good doing it! 

A set every book and LEGO fan needs in their life.

Disclaimer:

The purpose of this set is about the fictional story of Moby Dick, and the metaphorical meaning of a white whale set.

That's why the whale is probably a bit oversized, it's to make sure everyone understands its fiction, also that's why no hunting weapons are shown.

I hope I could convince you to support my LEGO Ideas suggestion, like I said earlier, your support would mean the world to me!