Lego adventures

Lego may be written off as a child’s toy, but it is clear to see that it has an appeal way beyond the years of when you are largely eating it or making walls out of it. In fact some people are so dedicated that they make their own figures, sets and even short films.

Philip Corsius, also known as Mr Spielbrick, is one of those people with creations such as characters from Doctor Who, Lord of the Rings and Lara Croft.

He had been a huge fan of the product when he was a kid, but eventually got to a point when he had outgrown it. However, it all began again when he was walking round a toy shop as a teenager: “having finally decided it’s not actually so silly for a teen to be in a toy store, a small box of Lego caught my eye. Quite a simple set, with two little knights and a skeleton warrior seated on a skeleton horse! At 19 I was hooked on Lego once more.

“That’s when I started to make ‘my own’ figures. The first few were made with an eye towards a short animated video. A story about how the eccentric Baron Honeymint tried to beat Death. At that time though, my art academy studies were keeping me busy, so there was no chance to actually do a complete animated short. In my mind, I quietly shelved the project. The project still very much lives in my head, I just need to find the time.”

However, Philip did not give up entirely as he found out making characters from popular culture was just as fun: “Lego was a medium already connected with film and pop culture through their Star Wars and Harry Potter lines, so that seemed like a good medium.

“Just before Lego did back in 2007, the British TV series Doctor Who had caught my fancy. It was a logical step to combine the two. Doctor Who is a fabulous success in Britain and rightly so. But it unfortunately doesn’t seem to strike a chord the same way in the rest of the world. So the chances of Lego producing official Doctor Who sets seem slim.”

In order to start the hard task of recreating already existing characters Philip discovered that communities existed online, such as Eurobricks and BrickLink to help people find the right Lego pieces: “So ever since, I’ve been trying to assemble the most accurate Doctors, companions and enemies possible with official Lego elements. There are gifted people out there who can create brilliant customised parts, but I’ve never been much of a handy man, so I stick to the official stuff.”

It is also extremely helpful to have the Lego kept from your childhood, in order to help find the perfect piece: “Being a Lego lover pretty much since birth, you build up quite a collection of pieces over the years. Sometimes you’re lucky and fairly specific parts actually exist, like Captain Jack Harkness’ blue shirt and suspenders. That piece featured in sets from the 1990s however, so it’s not readily available in stores these days.”

Philip is a perfectionist and will continue to work on some figures and sets until they live up to his expectations, but the ultimate aim would be to make a short film in Lego: “what I miss in my short amateur live action film projects in terms of scale and fantasy, because that’d be insanely expensive, I can create easily with Lego. So one way or another, I’m sure I’ll at least do a few animated scenes sooner or later.”

If you would like to look at all of Philip’s creations then visit his Flickr account

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