Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory (MOC)

[strangely]

It's admittedly been a while since I've created a MOC and with the 45th anniversary of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory coming up this year it seemed like the perfect time to put something together. So without further ado, come and join me on a whimsical tour of Mr. Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory!

Welcome!

We begin here at the front of the factory where Willy Wonka himself has come to greet us. Yes, the new rounded windows are not available in LDD as of yet, so do me a favor and use some pure imagination to imagine that piece into the top of that window.

The Entryway

Next we come to the entryway. To the left you'll find Mr. Wonka's contract, freeing him of any criminal negligence should anything horrible happen to his guests. Really though what type of disasters could really befall any person in a chocolate factory? To the right we come to a set of stairs that lead us into...

The Chocolate Room

Inside this room nearly everything is edible. Or at least it would be if it were made from candy and not plastic. Still it looks pretty delicious. I was originally going to include the chocolate waterfall but it ultimately didn't make the cut. I seriously suck at building waterfalls and after several horrific looking attempts at it I decided the piece count would be better served elsewhere, such as...

The Inventing Room

Here we find miss Violet Beauregarde turning into a blueberry. This is what comes of snitching candy. Remember that in the future won't you.

The tabletop on the machine does spin as seen in the movie and the mechanical red arms are adjustable.

The Egg Sorting Room

In this room the rotten egg, Veruca Salt, has decided to climb onto the Eggdicator. What she doesn't realize is that it drops rotten eggs down into the furnace. The doors on the Eggdicator do open and close by hand, one need only to push down on Veruca to send her down. The back is hollow so she can be safely retrieved and the doors reset. Slopes are included so that the Oompa Loompa can easily push the cart right up to the machine for easy access. The new egg mold isn't available in LDD currently, so once again please proceed to imagine two golden eggs sitting on the table.

Hate to break it to everyone, but I didn't include the TV room. I initially was going to but ultimately I took it out as my design for it was pretty plain and uninspiring. It ultimately seemed like a bit of a waste. Perhaps I'll create an addition to the factory at some point with all the rooms I missed. I would have liked to include the Fizzy Lifting Drinks Room, perhaps one day...

Minifigures

Here we have the hero of our story, little Charlie Bucket and his loving Grandpa Joe. To their right is one of the cheeky Oompa Loompa's. To his right is none other than the owner of the factory Mr. Willy Wonka himself!

Now we come to the first two Golden Ticket winners and their parents. Augustus Gloop is a rather overweight child known for his gluttony. Then there's Veruca Salt, the most bratty of them all, always demanding of her father whatever pops into mind. Poor man, he looks rather scared of her...

Then there's Mike Teavee, the TV addict and his enabling mother. Violet Beauregarde is all smiles as she chews away on her three month old gum. She's a rather beastly child known for playing pranks and disrespecting her parents. Granted her car salesman father doesn't deserve much respect with his money obsessed ways.

Accessories

Last but not least is the famous Wonka Bar and one of the five Golden Tickets.

I decided early on to design this as if it were a product that Lego could sell. This meant I couldn't include everything I wanted to, but it also made it an interesting challenge to fit as much as I could in under 1,000 pieces. I also wanted to make sure this worked as a display piece as well as a playset. This meant that if a build didn't look good or functioned poorly it didn't make the final render. I toyed with including vehicles too, but ultimately to build them at a minifigure scale it meant sacrificing certain details and functions. Unfortunately, I was unable to really perfect a design for any of the three vehicles at the desired scale, so I decided to leave them out for now. Perhaps I'll try again in the future.

I have to say this was one of my most challenging MOC's. Setting limitations ultimately meant having to experiment a lot to get the most out of the piece count and ultimately it was a very satisfying process. It was also one of the most maddening Lego endeavors I've taken part in as I kept redesigning the entire thing to get it just right. Eventually I just had to decide it was done or else lose my sanity.

I hope you enjoyed the tour and if you would like to make this dream a reality and this reality a dream please head on over and become a supporter!

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/131256

And remember kids to tip your tour guide. Or else they might push you into a chocolate river...

Edited February 9, 2016 by strangely

[Amazing Bricks]

Neat idea! This makes me want an actual set from the movie. If you can actually build it physically, that'd be amazing.

[Ultron]

Very nice! I love the chocolate room. You captured the feel really nicely in such a small space. I do wish there had been part of the chocolate river though! I also really like your Violet figures, blueberry and the regular!

[strangely]

Thanks, glad you like it!

I do wish there had been part of the chocolate river though!

I wish I had included it too. Since there wasn't space in the actual Chocolate Room in the build I was going to have a section of river with the waterfall that set separately from the main building. Unfortunately I couldn't get the waterfall to look good enough so it got left out. Maybe in the future I'll figure out a build I like of it and add it back in.

[OmgItsNitro]

Willy wanka looks like doctor who here! lol

[strangely]

Willy wanka looks like doctor who here! lol

I've always suspected he was an incarnation of the doctor. If you've ever read the books in the second one Willy Wonka literally stops an alien invasion using his elevator which spends half the book flying around the planet. If that isn't proof enough his elevator is essentially a Tardis as when he goes to pick up Charlie's family they manage to fit the entire family plus the bed the grandparents were in, so his elevator clearly falls into the 'bigger on the inside' category of vehicles.

[sunhuntin]

great build. would definately buy at least one set, maybe more to MOC the other rooms.

one of my favourite films. each part was really well played. even though we love to hate the nasty characters, they would have been a blast to play.

this isnt a dig at you, but i really hope lego can one day make tophats with hair, or hair pieces that can accomodate a hat going on top.

[strangely]

this isnt a dig at you, but i really hope lego can one day make tophats with hair, or hair pieces that can accomodate a hat going on top.

I couldn't agree more. I wish Lego would produce a new design for it. I just don't think it works that well without some sort of hair. Unfortunately my choices were limited to that or the Lincoln hat and the beard being attached made that one impossible to use for Wonka.

[Forresto]

What a wonderful idea for a set and well executed to boot! The vibrant colors and 60s styles of the movie (is that when the movie released?) fit lego so well here especially in the way you built this. You should definitely put it on Lego Ideas. I love all the minifigures and blueberry violet is pretty clever too.

My one and only qualm is Willy Wonka's face doesnt seem to fit his personality. The current face looks a little too 1950s gumshoe.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Forresto

[strangely]

What a wonderful idea for a set and well executed to boot! The vibrant colors and 60s styles of the movie (is that when the movie released?) fit lego so well here especially in the way you built this. You should definitely put it on Lego Ideas. I love all the minifigures and blueberry violet is pretty clever too.

My one and only qualm is Willy Wonka's face doesnt seem to fit his personality. The current face looks a little too 1950s gumshoe.

Thank you, glad you like it. I actually did put it on ideas already.

For the faces I ended up using designs already in LDD. I'm not great with designing faces so for the time being I opted to leave them a bit generic. I plan to add an update for the stickered/decal parts, so I might update the minifigure heads when I do that (I really want to update the Oompa Loompa to have a better face print, at least add the white eyebrows).

[B-Lister]

Very nice MOC. Stylistically, I prefer the Gene Wilder version, but storywise, the Johnny Depp version is closer to the book.

I hated the way the Gene Wilder one ended. Charlie was supposed to get the factory because he was better than all of the other kids, but the Wilder one made him a thief.

[strangely]

Very nice MOC. Stylistically, I prefer the Gene Wilder version, but storywise, the Johnny Depp version is closer to the book.

I hated the way the Gene Wilder one ended. Charlie was supposed to get the factory because he was better than all of the other kids, but the Wilder one made him a thief.

Thank you, glad you like it.

Personally I don't really think either are good representations of the book (Though I like them both regardless). Both add new plot lines that weren't a part of the book. I will give that the Burton version is somewhat closer due to it's use of the books dialogue and remains a bit more faithful in scenario. On the flip side I find the flashbacks to be a distracting tangent (Especially since the Dr. Wonka stuff has no basis in the book even a little) and the ending is just so different. The Wilder version made changes, but I tend to think that some of them were at least a natural progression of ideas presented in the book rather than outright adding of things. With Burton that Wonka backstory came out of nowhere and it steals so much attention away from the title character. Roald Dahl hated the 1971 film because it focused too heavily on Wonka and not enough on Charlie. I can't help but feel that he'd think just as badly about Burton's attempt.

I don't know that I'd agree that Charlie was a thief. I love the book, but I always felt that Charlie should have been tested like the other children. In the book it feels like he won just because he was the last one standing rather than by any virtues of his own which makes him as a character a bit passive. Sure, he acted valiantly in his home life, but Wonka realistically should have little idea of Charlie's history so again it seems like Wonka chose him purely because he was the last one left. So to me, having Charlie make a mistake and then repent for his acts I think helped make him more dimensional as a character and more relatable. It was ultimately a revealing moment for him, Wonka could see his true character. He wasn't perfect, no person is, but he was willing to accept the consequences and learn from his mistakes.

I get the sense that Burton also wanted to add some dimension to Charlie hence having Charlie choose between his family and the factory, but I don't think it worked that well. They didn't exactly make Charlie's love for the factory that apparent so when he has to make that choice it doesn't feel like it was a difficult decision at all. On top of that Charlie moves on quickly and pretty much doesn't look back, his family life improves and it kind of makes it so that the entire factory bit was pointless for him. It didn't change him or better him. He just spent a weird day at a factory and then moved on with his life. Whether he got the factory or not his family turned out okay. Ultimately the payoff at the end is pretty much to Wonka's benefit. So rather than the story being about Charlie it becomes so focused on Wonka that I can't help but feel cheated. It's a movie I always feel conflicted by. There's a lot of great ideas and visuals, but I feel like it doesn't quite come together like it does in the book. It's a love/hate type of movie for me.

Edited February 12, 2016 by strangely

[B-Lister]

Wow. Rarely does a differing opinion present its case so fully that I change my entire way of thinking. It is human nature to debate, but you really did change my way of thinking regarding the Wilder film.

The above post is well said. I agree with every point you make.

[KlodsBrik]

Great idea and some nice builds as well. I would love to se it assembled out of LEGO.

This could have a lot of playability to it. The minifigs are great as well !

[LegoPercyJ]

This is one of the better projects on Ideas.

Supported.

[Stice]

This would make a great set ,id def buy one :) nice work !

[strangely]

So here's a few updates for anyone interested.

Here's the factory with the new rounded window piece. I have to say, this is one of my favorite new pieces, it really gives a nice variety to windows. Too bad it doesn't have a trans piece to put in it though.

I've been trying to update the minifigure designs. I'm still tinkering with the hair. I think I might end up using Fred's hair for Augustus (I'm not entirely pleased with the piece I chose for this render). For Veruca I changed it to Wonder Woman's hair. It's not exactly the right style, but it doesn't cover the torso printing like the previous piece I was using.

This render I did as part of a tribute to Gene Wilder (Which can be read here: https://ideas.lego.c.../131256/updates). Ultimately when it comes to printed pieces for the chocolate room I think just the two lollipops and two mushrooms (Orange one is in the back and not seen). As for the minigifure design of Willy Wonka I changed the leg printing to be done in the style of the Dr. Who minifigure. Side leg printing would be nice too, but that's been rare. I photoshopped the Doc Brown hair and top hat together. I know Ideas doesn't make new pieces for sets, but I did anyways just for fun (And maybe to encourage the Lego designers to consider a piece like this... Hint Hint).

So that's it for now. I'm still working on updating the other characters and of course drumming up some support. I did get an official Lego comment since I hit 100 supporters in 60 days, so they added an extra year. Oddly though only like 60 days were added. So I don't know if that's a mistake or if I'm just misinterpreting the official comment. I might end up messaging them to straighten that out.

Edited September 9, 2016 by strangely

[iammac]

Tell me again how you should work for Lego?

Great work!

[strangely]

Another couple of renders:

I was excited that the egg mold had been added to LDD, so I obviously had to do some new renders. While I was at it Veruca got a significant update. New torso decal and the tutu piece in red. I've been uncertain about her minifigure design, but now I think I have the right mix of pieces for her.

Violet got an upgrade too, I wanted her to be able to be posed in more ways, so I added some more pieces so she can sort of roll over. I decided to recreate a scene from the movie just to make it feel more complete (And to celebrate getting 172 supporters!).

Edited October 9, 2016 by strangely