More than a Market Street

If you looked at the pile of pieces from this set and said to yourself, “I want to build a castle!” … you’d be out of luck. If you said, “I want to build a space ship!”, you’d be sadly mistaken. And if you happened to say, “I want to build something Galidor!”, well, that’s a whole different story, and we have a special place for people like you. However, if you looked at the pieces and said, “I want to build something for a town, city, village, province, etc” then you are in luck – we can do that!!

Finding use for these pieces and letting the creativity run wild was extremely difficult with this set. While I was able to think of some great ideas, given the pieces included, I found that the set lacked the essential pieces needed to make the creations that my mind was coming up with. In the end, it seems I was forced to rethink ways to make something else in the Town theme but make it different enough from a typical street-side market.

The result – a Carnival! Now some may say, “Hey that’s not fair! You just made another Town model.” But all I can say in reply is, “Well, life’s not fair; it’s not a carnival either, but it is bizarre!” What’s more bizarre are the new methods I had to come up with to connect pieces so that my ideas would work out properly.

This was a tough build simply because I like to use rounded parts and there are very, very few of those in this set. There was also a lack of pieces that would give me the ability to build on angles and other sides of the brick (i.e. SNOT).

This alternate is just like the classic carnivals you remember going to when you were a kid. Capturing the feel of a hometown carnival was not easy as most people will instantly think of ferris wheels, go-karts, and funnel cakes. Actually, I wanted funnel cakes in my build, but as I still haven’t found the LEGO equivalent of powdered sugar I was forced to abandon that idea. But I found myself able to create some of the classic scenes – testing your aim by knocking over milk bottles with bean bags, racing your character across the board to win prizes, and a vegetable toss. What? Your hometown carnivals didn’t have vegetable tosses?! Kids in my neighborhood saved up their uneaten vegetables all year just for this booth!

When looking at the pieces I knew I would have to build something on an angle. And what better to build than a big slide?! I was surprised I still had so many tiles to make this slide in a proper color pattern. Using a simple click-hinge piece to angle the main slide, the rest was built from some stairs and some 1×4 bricks to make scaffolding in the back. I can almost imagine a small kid sitting at the top of the platform holding on for dear life because of the very steep angle of descent they would soon be facing. In reality the slide should be at a lower angle, but this slide proves that there’s nothing more fun than sending little plastic figures to their doom ala “Slidez”.

Ah, the Tunnel of Love. What carnival wouldn’t be complete without one? Unfortunately the organization running this carnival couldn’t afford the traditional Tunnel of Love. They were able to find a similar, less pricey alternative – the Tunnel of Broken Love. With a heart split in half made from black whips, a lonely one-seater boat, and a very short ride – this carnival module was fairly simple to build but even more fun to watch other people’s reaction as I explained it! Though I’m not sure if I’d want a ride attendant helping me in and out of the boat… seems like adding insult to injury!

With some of the leftover pieces I was able to build two overhangs  – one as a general entrance to the carnival, and a second as a link between the main carnival and the Tunnel of Broken Love. Both are fairly simple but help to bring the set together to give the small town feeling. The general entrance has the big iron gates and a lion’s head on the other side, whereas the second overhang is simply a hanging garden over some pillars that adorn the walkway.

I was actually quite happy with the way this alternate build turned out. As you can see from the overall picture there are many different structures that can be created from the pieces. Each one is self-contained and can easily be rearranged to fit various layouts. What started by just starring at the pieces turned into a fairly cohesive model by finishing time. Sadly, by the time you read this the alternate set will long have been demolished. But it will live on in the minds and dreams of all those who come across a tunnel of love. Trust me, you’ll laugh.

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