Building brick by brick

MALAYSIANS are no strangers to Lego, the iconic colourful interlocking plastic bricks that have been our favourite childhood toys for almost 30 years.
The Danish company behind these toys has also evolved over the years, and today, has a global presence that can be seen in video games, movies, and other media.
Recently, in conjunction with its Cities of Wonder event in Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, Lego Malaysia announced a brandnew range of limited-edition Malaysian Cultural Mini Builds available here only, which comprises four exclusive sets of a ketupat, kampung house, wau, and bunga raya.
“As we were looking into building the Cities of Wonder campaign, we wanted to see if we could do some local mini builds for Malaysia,” said Jacob Leighton Rennison, head of marketing at Lego Malaysia.
He said that the new mini builds were also designed by Malaysians.
“We began by reaching out to Ng Wen Yeh, the president of LOM (Lego Users Group of Malaysia),” added Rennison.
A die-hard Lego enthusiast, Ng started playing with Lego in 1984 when he just 10 years old. It was a gift from his parents for doing well in an exam.
However, because Lego is hard to get in his hometown of Taiping, he did not get a chance to play with it again until 2013, when he bought his son an Avengers set for his birthday.
“Now, I have more than 1,000 Lego sets, and more than 100 of my own Lego creations,” said Ng in an email interview.
Ng’s love for Lego also prompted him to join LOM, which was formed in October 2013 by a group of brick enthusiasts.
LOM became recognised as a Lego Users Group (LUG) a year later. The group works very closely with Lego, especially in local events.
The group also builds Lego displays for Toy R’ Us and Lego Certified Stores in Malaysia.
Ng stated that initially, the build team at LOM proposed 12 different designs.
These models included the KLCC Twin Towers, a trishaw, a taxi, Legoland Malaysia, the Christ Church in Melaka, a turtle, and a local food stall.
Ng himself designed the ketupat and kampung house, while LOM member Wong Wing Yew designed the wau and bunga raya.
Ultimately, it was these four designs that were shortlisted.
Ng said: “We took around a week to create the mini builds, and Lego took about two months to prepare the final product.”
The final design phase involved a collaboration with a Lego certified professional (a Lego engineer).
“We do not have a Lego certified professional in Malaysia, but we have one in Singapore,” explained Rennison.
“He has a platform where he can ensure that the actual build, the clutch (holding power of the bricks), and the rest of the design is sustainable.”
The final results kept to the inspiration and concepts of Ng and Wong’s original designs. However, the colours and building techniques used were changed.
Each of the four limited-edition Malaysian Cultural Mini Builds brings different levels of challenge to the avid Lego builder.
The most challenging build of the four sets has to be the bunga raya. Floating sub-assemblies and its mostly uniform colours can easily lead to confusion when trying to build the structure.
Building the kampung house feels the most like a standard Lego Creative set. The result faithfully captures the traditional home in brick form.
It achieves this using ribbed dark brown bricks to simulate wooden wall panels, and dark grey slope pieces to simulate the roof.
The one design that will test your focus and patience is the wau. Although much of it involves fiddly work, using only the smallest bricks Lego has to offer, the end result is quite surprising.
It successfully translates the intricate artwork on the Malaysian kite into brick form.
Finally, the ketupat has to be the sturdiest and simplest of the builds. It looks good as well.
The construction uses two mirroring builds to create a box. Then, slope and flat tiles are used to finish the ketupat. Each box contains enough Lego pieces to make two ketupats.
“The limited-edition Malaysian Cultural Mini Builds are the first of their kind in Malaysia for sure,” said Rennison.
“However, it does not become a legal product in our assortment. It is very limited to this particular campaign.”
He added that the pieces used in the kits are all standard parts that are made in Lego’s European factories.
These four Lego limited-edition Malaysian Cultural Mini Builds are only available from now to June 17.
Each set is released every Saturday at Lego Certified Stores and participating outlets. You can also get them for free when you purchase a minimum RM300 of Lego products.
Will limited-edition builds such as these be a regular thing from now on?
According to Rennison, Lego Malaysia has not considered it yet. “There is a certain level of approval, and we need to find the right campaign and occasion.”
Currently, most Lego activities are concentrated in the Klang Valley.
However, Rennison hopes to expand Lego’s official presence to other states, especially in Sabah and Sarawak.
Rennison added that the most popular Lego sets are the Lego City builds, which are the bread and butter of Lego, Lego Star Wars with its large fan base, and the newly-introduced Lego Friends.
In addition, after the successful The Lego Batman Movie, fans can look forward to The Lego Ninjago Movie, which will be released in September.