Castle of Legendia

[Sandy]

I've finally finished the huge MOC project I've been working on throughout the entire autumn. It was something I've been planning to do for a long time, but only now I had the motivation and the resources to build it. I've always been fascinated by fairy tales, both classical and modern. I work in the kindergarten currently, so I'm glad to get to read and hear them on a daily basis. I built this MOC to show my appreciation to the childhood stories that made me the storyteller I am today.

Thus, I welcome you to Castle of Legendia, where fairy tales and legends dwell.

The fairy tale castle is built on four 16x32 baseplates, so it's approximately as wide as the Tower Bridge set. However, it has two hinge points, so it can be folded.

I think it looks the best in the fully folded form. I know there's lots of colors and architectural styles thrown into it, but it's kinda the whole point of this castle (and my collection doesn't give into a more cohesive style, I'm afraid).

Anyway, the castle is mostly done in a doll-house style akin to my Hogwarts MOC, so there's room to play with all the different fairy tale scenes and characters.

Speaking of which, let's take a tour and see who lives here. I'll add numbers to each of the fairy tales we see so we get a full total by the end of the tour.

Running down the front stairs is 1. Cinderella, who as in the classic scene drops her glass shoe as she rushes home from the prince's ball.

Other guests in the ball include 2. Beauty and the Beast...

...and the awkward 3. Emperor in his new clothes.

Above the ballroom is a hall with a stained glass window. Who else could live there except...

...4. King Arthur and his fourteen Knights of the Round Table and the fabled wizard Merlin.

Above that room lies a tower covered in roses and briars.

In the tower 5. Sleeping Beauty has just experienced the fatal sting of the spinning wheel. Yeah, I know, the roses grew prematurely.

On top of the tower, 6. Little Boy Blue blows his horn 'cause the sheep's in the meadow and the cow's in the corn.

To the right from the main entrance lies a curious little cabin. A lonely dwarf, 7. Rumpelstilzkin is moping outside.

Inside the warm cabin are 8. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. There's a barrel full of pickaxes behind the dwarves, beyond the camera's reach.

Above the cabin is the blue-painted house where 9. Goldilocks confronts the Three Bears.

The bears look confused to find a stranger messing around in their picturesque house.

Above the blue portion is a medieval tower that has two statues on the parapet, resembling might and magic, or swords and sorcery.

On top of the tower the legendary 10. St. George is fighting a fearsome dragon.

Since the dragon was attached to the tower by just four studs, I had to add it last before the photoshoot.

Now, to the left of the main doors we find a small group fleeing from a shady figure. There's 11. Red Riding Hood with her grandmother, 12. Three Little Pigs and 13. The Boy Who Cried Wolf (but since he had lied about it before, nobody came to help him). And of course it's the Big Bad Wolf himself in the background.

When the castle is folded, a door appears onto the other side of the archway. Cool, huh?

On a closer look, the black building is revealed to be an ornate oriental building. Can you spot 14. Pinocchio with his elongated nose in the picture above?

Inside the domed building is who else but 15. Aladdin and the genie he just rubbed out of a magic lamp. Sorry you can't see them any better than this, the camera just didn't appreciate the cramped space I put the scene into.

Moving onto the left-side wing of the castle, we come to the beautiful Secret Garden filled with flowers. There's a majestic waterfall streaming into the pond in the middle.

In the pond lives the 16. Little Mermaid with her underwater friends, and also the 17. Frog Prince just waiting for a princess to come and give him the spell-reversing kiss. There's certainly not a lack of princesses in this castle.

Inside the white portion of the castle we see 17. Puss-In-Boots and the three kittens from 18. The Aristocats (yay, Disney) chasing a horde of rats. But why are there so many rats?

Aha! The culprit is none other than the 19. Pied Piper! Watch out, he'll take the kids next!

There's some kids hanging around the gingerbread house located on the roof of this section. Better not get close to that 20. Snow Queen, children. Notice how her icy tower is melting, causing the waterfall?

The kids are of course 21. Hansel and Gretel, those hungry little rugrats. The witch living in the gingerbread house greets them with a wide smile...

...all the while hiding the remains of her last visitor behind her.

The tallest tower in the castle is naturally the prison of 22. Rapunzel, a princess in dire need of a haircut.

And now onto the final section of the castle. On the bottom floor is a secret cave with a LURP that opens. Yay, action features!

Inside we find 23. Ali Baba, who knows that "Open Sesame" is the current trendy phrase. At least the words have lead him to a massive fortune.

The strategically placed light-up brick under the treasures makes the gold really glitter and gleam.

Above the cave, the soldier with a magical 24. Tinderbox is looking for his own treasure, guarded by three (Belville) dogs each more enormous than the last.

In the next room, a pampered 25. Princess can't sleep because there's a pea under her mattress. Or should I say, mattresses?

On the roof of the tan section of the castle open the Enchanted Woods.

26. Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men (well, just Little John and Friar Tuck, in this case) are practicing close-ranged archery.

There's a 27. Unicorn grazing behind them, just minding his own business.

28. Tarzan, the King of the Jungle, is dangerously flinging on a tree branch reaching outside the wall. His chimpanzee Cheetah howls at his stupid stunts.

Above all this, 29. Jack climbs the giant beanstalk into the heavens, not knowing what he finds there but he's sure to bring an axe with him just in case.

As pretty as this rainbow is, I have to say the beanstalk and the cloud was the most aggravating part of this whole building. I just couldn't get it sturdy enough so the cloud kept falling down during the build and the photoshoot, smashing the rainbow and the beanstalk into pieces every time. I swear that this is the last LEGO beanstalk I will ever build!

To counterweight the annoying cloud, my favorite part of the whole castle is definitely the rabbit hole where 30. Alice fell as she went into the Wonderland. I made it with a completely new technique to me, and it was a challenge to fit the round wall inside the otherwise rectangular castle, let alone keep it sturdy. But I think I managed to create the illusion of Alice falling through the various items quite well, don't you think?

We conclude our tour into the secret dungeon that holds three old friends from classic horror fiction sharing drinks. The 31. ghost enjoys a chalice filled with ectoplasm, 32. Count Dracula is naturally drinking blood and the 33. Frankenstein's monster is consuming liquid electricity (yeah, I totally made that up).

~*~*~*~

So there we have them: 33 unforgettable stories put into one castle built with LEGO. Finally, all the residents of Legendia want to thank you for reading all this text and looking through all these photos.

Please share your thoughts about this MOC. Any questions, comments, feedback?

[the Inventor]

What a really great moc, Sandy.

I really like the way you have build all the different stories and placed them in a wonderful moc.

All those stories are really well depicted and the most I could before looking at the description.

the Inventor

[Vincent Kessels]

That is a beautiful MOC.

Sorry to hear that some parts are so fragile, because this would be great for a convention with a list of all 30 stories to search for.

[CorneliusMurdock]

Wow! So many great things in there I just can't pick a favorite so I'll just mention I like the rabbit hole a lot! Great job

[Sandy]

Thanks for the comments, guys!

Sorry to hear that some parts are so fragile.

Oh yeah, I forgot to post this earlier, but this is what happened during the photoshoot when I tried to fold the castle.

[CorneliusMurdock]

Oh yeah, I forgot to post this earlier, but this is what happened during the photoshoot when I tried to fold the castle.

I love how the one knight looks crushed in that pic. I can hear him saying "ow".

Edit: I just can't type today

Edited November 15, 2010 by CorneliusMurdock

[The Yellow Brick]

Oh yeah, I forgot to post this earlier, but this is what happened during the photoshoot when I tried to fold the castle.

*snip*

I hope you save that solider who is trapped under the wall Beautiful, Stunning, Amazing, elegant so many ways to describe your castle Sandy .

Edited November 15, 2010 by The Red Brick

[Lordofdragonss]

I am speachless.

[Admiral Croissant]

You made all the stories very recognizable in this MOC.

Nice thing about these fairytales is that they are almost the same all over the world, so everyone knows the stories.

You did a great job on all of them, I especially like the pinocchio minifig. Also nice job on the water with the tail/fin in the water.

Very good

[Wout]

That's quite a terrifying Goldilocks to find in your kitchen. I hope the family bear didn't had nightmares about that confrontation.

I like this moc very much.

[BearHeart]

I don't usually comment on MOCs but this one is really amazing! Its so hard for me to pick a favorite story.

I like the use of the dogs for the Tinderbox. I haven't heard that story since I was a child and it brings back memories.

Good work, Sandy.

[badboytje88]

Wow so many princesses. I love your MOC! I have to agree with you that the Alice in Wonderland scene is the best part of this MOC.

[buddy]

Excellent MOC, Sandy!

The level of detail in the MOC is simply stunning. I like the overall look of it, especially when folded.

Very well done.

~buddy~

[Darth Yogi]

WOW!! That is amazing. Great recreation of every fairy tale, and they are all in one scene

Truly an amazing job

[Mrlegoninja]

Amazing!

[Artanis I]

What a legendary castle! So many little stories going on... I must confess I don't know about this tinderbox or snow queen but the rest I'm familiar with. Poor 3 ewoks, they were supposed to scare Goldilocks away, the blonde little burglar. It's a shame you couldn't get the left side to blend as well as the right side does when you fold the sides in. Other than that it's a really good effort to pack so many contrasting settings in one without creating an eyesore.

I hope you don't get as upset as me when a MOC breaks! Especially with buildings when there are big sections to reattach and little pieces go flying...

[Zepher]

Just from the title I knew it was your work! Fun as always!

The technique for bears is really clever. I also love the Emperor, though for humor alone. The combination of all the wolf stories was smart as well, both a space saver and quite funny. Finally Pinocchio was very well handled.

Finally, to improve, maybe make it blend a little more. Picking some sort of color or piece of architecture to go the whole way through would tie it together and help the eye move across the build more easily. The trouble with the current build in the giant picture is it is too colorful and over-whelming, and the eye isn't given any rest or focus. If you had white arches the whole way across, for example, the eyes would be able to follow them. It would also make the color change at the end of buildings less abrupt.

Alice is also certainly my favorite part. The movement is superb and the scene is fantastic.

[XimenaPaulina]

Wow, this is truly an amazing and wonderful creation Sandy! This is something right out of the fairy tale books, lots of interesting scenes going and quite a number of clever brickbuilts like that lovely rainbow. If AFOLs love this, how much more when the kindergarten kids see this? I could just imagine their eyes lighting up when they this Fantasy Castle. Truly excellent work!

[Legoist]

Wonderful!

My favourite part is Hansel & Gretel.

[Angeli]

beautifull creation :) so many interesting and smart details :)

you should enter this MOC to Classic Castle Collosal Contest 8 for the "fairy tale" section :)

[Sandy]

you should enter this MOC to Classic Castle Collosal Contest 8 for the "fairy tale" section :)

I thought about it, but unfortunately this creation doesn't fit the requirements of the contest.

And thanks for the improvement suggestions, Zepher, but the castle is just a big pile of bricks scattered on the floor waiting to be sorted now. As I've said before, I never keep anything built, and after spending way too many months working on this MOC I'm glad to see it over and done with.

But the creation will live on in this topic. Thanks for the lovely comments, everyone!

[Sirens-of-Titan]

Wonderful work! That must have taken forever to pick out all the minifigure parts and then build the sets around them! Job well done!

[Jonas]

Dear Sandy,

your fairy-tale castle is really lovely. From the first picture I would hardly guess that it includes so many details. Thanks for the guided tour through the individual sections. And well, it nice to see scenes from both the children fairy tales together with the more adult ones (Tarzan, Robin, etc).

[Walter Kovacs]

Fantastic work Sandy. It's a shame that some parts are were so fragile, because the beanstalk/rainbow are truly stunning. I'd have to say that Hansel & Gretel area is probably my favorite area, though it is a hard choice.

[BrickArtist]

Woah!!! Jaw-dropping!! this astonishingly well done, i like the way you have made so many tales fit together in one MOC. I have a suggestion, you should enter this into the fair-tale themed contest on classic castle. I think you would have a HUGE chance of winning!

http://www.classic-castle.com/events/ccc/prizes.cgi?contest=cccviii