Entry # 24: Welcome to the Lego Zoo!
First: Please excuse my poor English. I want to share some thoughts about my models, explain the ideas behind them and write about the playability aspects.
I understood this competition as task to build a theme like Lego-Designer would do it. I have some small sets, medium and big ones. Every model should have some kind of playability function, telling a story and let children play with a set. Have of the minifigs are female, the same ratio of modern Lego models.
The colour scheme (green and yellow as the zoos colours, dark grey and medium dark flesh for walls, dark red for roofs) is shared by (nearly) all models, there are bricks, which are used as franchise-bricks (flat roof-bricks in dark red, profile bricks in medium dark flesh or white lampposts), coming up in several models and supporting the colour scheme. The number of sets is limited, also the number of bricks or minifigs.
So I build several sets, using LDD and POVRAY (for the medium and smaller sets) and Bluerender (for the big sets like the great zoo set or the night creatures house). Thanks for these great tools!
In total, I designed 10 sets with a total of 4644 bricks, 29 minifigs and over 70 animals. First I will show you the Lego Zoo!
This is an overview picture, showing you all ten sets as big playground. The parents had to pay around 450,- € and the kids can play a lot. In the upper left corner you see the great zoo set, right to it in the middle of the upper row someone build the house of the veterinarian. Next to this set in the background stands the night creatures house, where is also a small garage, a little garden and the zoo shop, where all the small visitors can buy their own plastic animals. On the left side of middle is the scariest scenery – the outbreak! The small truck with the special trailer stands in the middle of the picture, preparing to transport a bear. Right to this lays the children’s zoo, down to this the crocodile ranch. In the lower left corner you see the bear area, next to this the small zoo cart and in the lower right corner the birds house.
After this overview, let’s have a closer look to all these models.
Zoo Cart – 1 minifig (zookeeper), 1 monkey, 42 bricks, 7 €
Let’s start with the smallest set – the zoo car, shown in the upper right corner. Dan the zookeeper loves to drive around in his little cart and Doctor Bob, the only monkey living outside an enclosure, loves it as well. But sometimes, Doctor Bob loves to steal a banana much more and Dan has to chase him all around the zoo.
This set would cost around 7,- € and is the small start, which parents buy in supermarkets on their way to the checkstand.
The Children’s Zoo – 4 minifigs (female zookeeper, iceman, 2 children), 7 animals (cow, horse, cat, 2 pigs, 2 goats), 410 bricks, 40 €
One task for me was to find enough animals. In the end I had too much, for example wolves are not part of the zoo, but first I looked in the animal list of LDD and found all these farm animals – and thought about the time, when I was a small boy and went to the zoo. The best place for me was the children’s zoo – and the ice cream parlour… This model (upper left corner) combines both places, also a small barn and a small children’s playground.
The Crocodile Ranch – 3 minifigs (zookeeper, woman, girl), 8 animals (2 crocodiles, 2 birds, 4 frogs), 318 bricks, 30 €
The picture in the upper left corner shows the crocodile ranch. On the right side, behind the green door lays the crocodile’s territory. Only brids, frogs and ranger Mike don’t fear them, so the visitors are well-advised to stay on the path, where they can have a look from above.
The Bear Enclosures – 4 minifigs (zookeeper, camera man, female reporter, visitor), 5 animals (2 grizzlies, 2 fishes, polar bear), 461 bricks, 50 €
Last year was Lego’s bear year, so decided to build a bear enclosure model. To separate ice and brown bears, the model contains of two enclosures. The baseplates are not connected, so the playability is increased. Because nobody will go in to the bears and play with them – although zookeeper Will is more afraid of the water and wears a lifejacket, because he cannot swim – there had to be another play element. I wanted to include a tv-team and was heavily inspired by an old Lego set released in 1989: the Mobile TV Studio. No. 6661 Both sets share the same camera-construction, but the new car is 6-wide instead of the old 4-wide version. The picture in the middle of the right side shows the complete set, the smaller picture is a close-up of the grizzly enclosure.
The Outbreak – 3 minifigs (zookeeper, scared woman, cool boy), 11 small animals (4 spiders, 5 snakes, 2 scorpions), 267 bricks, 30 €
On the upper side you can the great outbreak. Joey, the scatterbrained zookeeper, had forgotten to lock the doors, so some of the snakes and a scorpion run free on the outside of their house. To play in the inside of the buildings, the walls can be opened, like you can see on smaller picture on the right side.
The Birds House – 3 minifigs (female zookeeper, grandpa with camera, girl), 10 birds, 281 bricks, 30 €
The birdhouse is full of birds in all kind of colours. I was very surprised, when I realised how many birds where produced by Lego in different colours. The house can be opened (big picture in the lower left corner) and closed (smaller picture in the lower right corner) to fit in a larger zoo.
Bear Transport – 2 minifigs (zookeeper, female zookeeper), 1 grizzly, 213 bricks, 20 €
Nick and Laura are the most fearless zookeepers, transporting all the animals around the zoo. This model shows them while they are preparing to transport a giant grizzly. The trailer (in the upper left picture) fits to the truck and can be opened in two ways: the back door and the roof can be opened. You can put away the roof, so bigger animals like horses or Arabian camels can be driven around as well. The rifle is a tranquilliser gun, just for safety reasons – even Nick and Laura do not know everything… One aspect of this set was to include a bear, because he appears in the more expansive sets. The same idea stood behind Doctor Bob, who is part of the zoo cart and …
The Vet Building – 3 minifigs (female vet, assistant and zookeeper), 9 animals (spider, bird, 2 cats, scorpion, owl, dog, monkey, polar bear), 642 bricks, 70 €
Doctor Monica is the vet of the zoo and she knows everything about all the animals. The vet building contains of three areas: the enclosure for smaller animals (which can be separated from the main building), the house with the surgery and the enclosures for bigger animals (from left to right on the upper left picture). Like newer creator houses the rear wall was designed (lower smaller picture) and can be opened, to play within the surgery or the office (upper right picture). There are nine animals on included – can you find them all? One of these animals is Doctor Bod, who grabbed a banana and flew to the roof.
The Great Zoo – 6 minifigs (zoo director, his assistent, female zookeeper, iceman, visitor, girl), 12 animals (4 monkeys, 3 Arabian camels, 3 birds, 2 American cows), 1459 bricks, 120 €
This is the biggest zoo set, including three enclosures, the entrance, a small ice wagon, another zoo cart with trailer and fork lift and lots of animals. The largest enclosure is the monkey island (yes – I love the first two videogames), where Doctor Bobs brothers and sisters live. It can be entered behind the big skull. A stairway on the backside leads directly inside the skull. The most exotic enclosure is the Arabian one, reminding the visitor of the Arabian fairytales and the Afols of the prince of Persia sets. The last enclosure was constructed as a mixture of a big western barn and the top of native American bird symbol. The entrance area with two counters is connected to the small office of the zoo director, where the safe is located. (Do not share this information with the Lego burglars: Lego will build the Zoo Police theme next year…) It is a big set, not a small gift for children, but Afols want to spend lots of cash and children keep their fingers crossed for Christmas.
The Night Creature Building – 4 minifigs (caretaker, female gardener, salesman, girl), 9 “real” animals (3 bats, 3 rats, 2 owls, skunk), 7 toy animals (2 lambs, 2 cats, 2 monkeys, spider), 2 statues (bat, rat) 551 bricks, 70 €
This building contains a zoo shop and the enclosure of the night creatures like bats, rats and a skunk. The house is a massive construction, but it can be opened on two sides, so children can play inside the building. You can visit the night creatures or go shopping and buy toy animals. Additionally there is a small shed on the outside, where a workshop and a small garden centre are located.
I hope you like the Lego Zoo. Thanks for reading that much text and thanks for this brilliant competition!
