Hidden Oasis

Deep in the desert, lost to the sands of time, lies a beautiful Hidden Oasis! The tomb of a long-forgotten king, still maintained by ghostly guardians, waiting to be explored! Beneath the shade of date palms, a lush garden grows, papyrus reeds sprouting from limpid pools. Lotus flowers bloom in the turquoise waters. Up the lapis lazuli stairs, flanked by guardian Anubis statues, is a grand hypostyle hall. Here, lotus style columns support a large roof, shading a brilliantly tiled mosaic hall. Look out! One wrong step on the intricate mosaic could send you tumbling through a trap door. Below the temple, guarded by venomous spiders and the skeletons of unfortunate explorers before you, lies golden, mystical treasure, surrounded by rivers of liquid mercury, left behind by long-gone ancient kings. 

This entry was modified from an entry I previously submitted to LEGO Ideas, the Jackal Staff Oasis, which has long since expired. I wanted to change the design a bit to make it stand out. The biggest differences between the two models are the change in temple designs, as well as the layout change. The previous design had been too heavy in the back of the build, while having plates stretching further out in front which made it imbalanced. This new design allows for the pools and garden to be closer to the temple and more stable. The previous build had a red lotus roof chamber to the right of the hypostyle hall, and while it was stunning, it didn’t quite fit with this build. I’ve built it in real bricks, with some changes made in the digital design to accommodate the palette. 

My absolute favorite part of this build are the columns. Sometimes I will find a piece, like in this case the teal flower petal piece, and figure out how to build something with it. I thought it looked perfect as part of a column! Add some gears and a little bit of innovating with an axle, and it makes a very nice detailed column. Having built it in real bricks, I can say that the palm trees are a lot more stable than they look like they would be. For the most part, due to the rods connected to the trunk, they stay together.