Lego dragon on Mermaid Quay
For the last few summer weeks there has been a group of fantasy characters gathered on Cardiff Bay’s Mermaid Quay. And these are all constructed from Lego, the famous Danish brand producing interlocking plastic bricks and other models.
The scene on Mermaid Quay
I can’t say it’s a very glamorous site, surrounded by ugly metal crowd barriers.
These models bear no relation to the Lego of my childhood. Maybe I was not very imaginative, but I found it difficult to create very much with the plain rectangular bricks that came in the standard box – most of them being red. I do remember being excited about the transparent ones, though.
Lego bricks in many colours – click on the image to go to the source on Wikimedia Commons
Wizard – this looks mainly made of ordinary bricks
It may seem silly but I always feel it’s cheating if you use special non-standard pieces to build the model – such as the dragon’s wings and teeth and the knight’s sword. Think how great a challenge it would be to use only little rectangular blocks!
Knight and dragon
Knight
I lost my belief in Lego when they started to make special kits like those below, but now I accept they were not supposed to be part of the main body of Lego but perhaps a rival to Airfix models, which I glued together a lot when I was a teenager. With hindsight, these are very clever as I assume they need no glue but lock together. I would never have been able to afford them, though…
I suppose I actually coveted this one… Sydney Opera House – click on the image to go to a video presentation by the designer of this remarkable Creator Expert kit
NASA Saturn V rocket – plus little astronauts… I had built the Airfix version but this is pretty clever
Back to the Lego in the Bay…
Rainbow unicorn
The eye is definitely not a standard brick…
I found the information about Lego’s history on these links very interesting:
Lego official website – including Lego’s official history
The Squirrelbasket 
Pete’s mum has quite a collection of the original Lego from when he and his brother were younger. It was always a key thing for our boys when we visited too. Could grandad go to the loft to get the Lego …
I think I’m right in saying that Lego employ people to build those models. Just think of the patience needed!
I hope they had a diagram! Or do they learn to do it from memory like solving a Rubik’s cube?
Pleased to have prompted some happy memories.
All the best š
Oh dear, I have always hated Lego and never could work out how to make anything from it. I never had any myself but my daughter did – tidying it away at night was the bane of my life until I hit on the idea of hiding it bit by bit…
A bit painful to step on with bare feet, too – like treading on an electric plug…
All the best š