Meet a member: Legozebra
Posted by Huw,
Today we are interviewing Christopher Lee, aka legozebra, in Washington state, who has a LEGO room the likes of which I've never seen!
What is your first LEGO memory?
My very first LEGO memory was with two sets that many are probably not very fond of - chasing around Spybotics 3806 Gigamesh G60 at a LEGO store and playing with the Life on Mars 7315 Solar Explorer, both of which take advantage of large, non-LEGO-like parts to make up the bulk of their construction.
Thankfully my interest in those types of sets was quickly overshadowed for my newfound interest in more mainstream sets, and I have been collecting since I was 7 years old to this day.
Did you have a dark age and if so what caused you to emerge from it?
To date, I have never had a dark age, and do not intend to have one. I am currently a junior at college studying at UPenn, and my love and passion for the brick has never been stronger. I was lucky to come from a community that embraced me and my odd passion for LEGO, despite my friends in grade school and high school dropping off of it one by one.
I’m especially happy to have found people in college as passionate about LEGO as me, so I actually have someone to talk to about the latest sets that aren’t just faceless Eurobricks members.
Which set or theme has been most influential upon you, as a LEGO fan?
As a LEGO fan, original story-based themes have always been inherently more interesting to me than licensed themes. Although I am as much a fan of Star Wars, Harry Potter, and LOTR as any, the theme that really grabbed me at a young age was Bionicle. Known to many of its fans today for the increasingly complex, layered lore and mythology,
I got into Bionicle by stumbling upon the Mata Nui Online Game, a simple point and click adventure game renowned in the community for its charm, deep world-building, and mysterious vibe. Since then and all the way up to its cancellation in 2010 (and subsequent short-lived 2014 reboot), I’ve collected literally every single set they have to offer.
More recently though, Ninjago has been overshadowing it just a tad in my mind. While Bionicle’s lore was rich and complex, in later years, it got a little too complex, with some years that were needlessly violent (2006 stands out n particular with its attempt to appeal to older fans and the notorious Piraka Rap).
Ninjago, on the other hand, has had the benefit of a TV show written by excellent writers who know how to tell a good story without making it too difficult for newcomers to get involved. From 2011 to today, I am still following the show through all its very high highs (Seasons 8-9) and even the low points (Season 7 and Day of the Departed). I’d highly recommend it to anyone interested in some fantastic storytelling with surprisingly mature themes and arcs.
What are you building right now?
While arranging minifigures on wall-mounted displays, I realised I was missing a ton of unique Insectoids figures! The problem has been rectified with a quick Bricklink order of the sets I was missing.
How do you store your LEGO?
At my childhood home, there is a lower level of the house entirely dedicated to storing the vast LEGO collection. Most of my income, gifts, allowance, and whatnot over the years has been dedicated to building up the collection and painstakingly organising them in grouped areas, such as mechs.
A few years ago, I realized there frankly wasn’t enough shelf space any more for sets, so I began to hang up sets and MOCs that made sense to be hung, such as almost every Star Wars ship I own (save for the UCS Falcon, which I wouldn’t dare hang from the ceiling). As a fan of the LEGO Ninjago TV show (which is surprisingly great quality for children’s entertainment) also enjoy hanging up sets and creating “flying dioramas” representing all twelve (so far!) seasons of the show.
I often receive bulk parts as gifts from friends or relatives that have outgrown LEGO or entered their Dark Ages, and unfortunately, those have gone mostly unsorted and kept in rows and rows of shelves underneath the centrepiece of the collection, a fantastic large scale Aquazone MOC by Peter Carmichael AKA Pacific Brick.
Save for a few general combs for Minifigs and rare stuff (I’ve found all sorts of things, from a Cloud City Boba Fett figure to a Smooth-haired Leia mismold in bulk), the parts are generally unsorted, although I have been taking advantage of quarantine to sort what I can with the excellent tips from Brick Architect's LEGO sorting labels.
As for minifigs, for themes I enjoy collecting like Space, Star Wars, LOTR, or any original LEGO theme, I have them hanging up in frames and organized by character (although due to IKEA shutting down for quarantine many are currently missing frames).
Do you build MOCs? If, so what?
I used to only build MOCs in constraction and particularly CCBS, mostly because I really enjoy that building system and have most of my CCBS loose parts neatly sorted, which makes MOC making much, much easier. I have, however, been recently branching out to system MOCs, which is an entirely different beast.
Right now I’m making a floating island inspired by Ninjago’s Cloud Kingdom, which was featured prominently in the show but never got actual set representation save from a measly gateway side build. I’d love to hear people’s feedback so far! It’s my first attempt at a system MOC besides the occasional revamp of an official set.
What is your favourite part?
Setting aside countless excellently dual-moulded minifigure parts, for building, I’d say my favourite part is part 90609, the simple CCBS arm/leg joint. I really enjoy this part because of what it represents: despite being a massive Bionicle fan, the ball and socket system suffered from an inherently flawed design which particularly affected lime green joints around 2007-2008, which I think every Bionicle fan can empathise with.
2011’s CCBS, or Character and Creature Building system, was a major improvement in almost every way, allowing for better large figure design that didn’t need to be so Technic heavy, a much more satisfying build experience with joints that would never snap, and endless possibilities. This infographic by one of the designers is an overview of the system for those of you who aren’t familiar with it.
What set/theme/part (take your pick) would you like LEGO to produce?
I would love to see LEGO bring back CCBS or large action figures in any way, shape, or form. I understand that recent sales had been lacklustre, leading LEGO to cancel sets extremely far into production (the 501st Trooper with AT-RT and the Super Battle Droid from the Star Wars buildable figure line), but I’m still holding out hope they’d give it a second chance.
As for themes and sets in general, The Lord of the Rings licence was criminally underused and myself and many others would likely be greatly enthused to see it make a comeback, Harry Potter 2018 style. I guess that would need more movies to push the brand, but there is that upcoming LOTR TV show…
Do you have a presence on Instagram, YouTube or elsewhere?
I’m not too public on social media, but do occasionally publish LEGO-related videos on my YouTube channel. LEGO was what got me into stop action photography and movie making, so I do upload the occasional video project there, my most recent of which being a montage of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in LEGO form, which took almost 4 months to edit and put together in After Effects
Do you have any interests or hobbies other than LEGO?
I’m very passionate about startups and tech, and have been working on my own startup, PillBot, for the past two years of college now. Focused on tackling the opioid epidemic, PillBot is a smart, completely secure automatic restrictive pill dispenser that only allows patients to take their highly addictive medication according to their prescription. Designing the prototype device with CAD and 3D printing it has been remarkably similar to designing a custom LEGO model or part - which I guess is one of the main reasons I enjoy the development process so much.
Outside of that I am very passionate about 3D printing in general, but it always leads back to LEGO in some way - recently I’ve been 3D printing life-size, human-scale weapons and props from the Ninjago TV show.
How long have you been visiting Brickset? Been a member?
I have been using this site almost ever since I got into LEGO. As a kid, Brickset was my way to see images of old, discontinued sets and relive past LEGO themes through pictures. As I got older and kept collecting more, I began to appreciate just how useful the site was for news, reviews, and more. I have been visiting the site daily since then, and don’t intend to stop.
What's your favourite/most used feature of the site?
For me, being able to track my collection has been invaluable to me. I own literally thousands (according to the collection tracker, 5000) sets, and it’s sometimes difficult to keep track of whether or not I own a particular set, especially when browsing at a used LEGO reseller. What’s really neat is the ability to see graphs and stats on my spending habits, missing sets, and completion status - it helps me realise if I spent a bit too much on LEGO on one year versus another, and see just how far I am from completing a theme.
Why did you choose your Brickset username?
To be honest it’s the username I use for literally everything, based off of my love for LEGO and a stuffed animal I owned when I was around 7 or 8 years old. I guess it just kinda stuck!
Are you a member of a LUG?
Unfortunately not at this time, but once I graduate from college I would definitely be up for joining one!
Have you been to a LEGO event?
I used to attend BrickCon in Seattle every year since 2009, and unfortunately had to stop the tradition when I went off to college in the east coast. I’ve attended a few LEGO conventions elsewhere as well in Philly, but will have to say that BrickCon is by far my favourite - it offers the best combination of jaw-dropping MOCs and displays with an excellent bazaar area surrounding the MOCs that’s essentially like a physical Bricklink store come to life with the sheer variety of items available.
Thanks Christopher!
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34 comments on this article
Those weapons are so cool!
From the title, I knew it would be good, but Huw, you've got a talent for understating. I'm looking at the ceiling and ticking off the Star Wars sets I own. That is truly amazing.
P.S. how do you stick the wires supporting the models to your ceiling?
Oh myyy, another incredible LEGO room!
I always wonder how folks are doing this. I mean, I live in a rather big house - but so do five other people - and an entire LEGO room is unfortunately absolutely out of the question!
I feel like I used to know this guy off Flickr or Eurobricks. I could be wrong, it’s been a few years..
If I’m not wrong, hey! Hi! How ya been? Miss chatting with ya
Well, that's one BIG LEGO collection! Having sets hanged by the ceiling is something I don't see very often!
It was really nice to meet you, Legozebra!
@Slobrojoe it’s all fishing line and metal hooks, thanks for asking!
@CM4Sci I’m doing well, thanks for asking! We had a conversation on Eurobricks about a catalog leak I discovered back in 2016, I believe - amazing how time flies. Thanks for remembering me and keep making great MOCs; love your Mustafar one!
@Legozebra
Ayy!! I remember that! I still make sets on Instagram under the same name here if you’re unaware and still interested in my work! Thanks for remembering me too.
@Legozebra oh, thanks. I probably never would have guessed that. Oh you Americans with your fancy basements! Grrr....
My goodness - how much is that room worth???
Oh wow. That’s a lot of LEGO. Maybe too much in fact. I do like how you put in your ships.
Very nice to meet you.
Wow, wish my parents had a lego room for me...
Instead since returning from uni because of lockdown I'm sorting through all my old sets deciding what to keep and what to sell on to clear space for them! (at least its a good excuse to rebuild all my old sets to check they're not missing pieces I suppose!)
Name is Christopher Lee. Star Wars fan. User name is not somehow Count Dooku related. This is somehow disappointing.
Awesome Lego collection though.
That lego room display is epic! Reminds me of toy stores in old movies.
Wow, but that looks like a dusting nightmare!
Now THAT is what I call a LEGO House!
:-)
And what a cool name too.
I spy a Razor Crest!
Seeing all those Star Wars ships hanging there reminds me of the final battle in Rise of Skywalker when nearly every Star Wars ship ever shows up to help the Resistance. My favourite ‘Meet a Member’ article so far.
That is an excellent LEGO room and incredible collection. I too have been a big fan of the Ninjago TV show. It's surprisingly complex and has some excellent character and story arcs (season 5 being a particular favorite).
Great to see Brick Architect and his labels getting around, I really appreciate how much that guy has done for those of us who are sorting for life!
I just realized that we both have the same set in the center of our hobby room. 6195 Neptune Discovery Lab. Only I don't have an enormous and totally awesome undersea world to go with it. Your layout combines some of my all-time favorite ideas for MOCs.
Wow, I'm actually glad I don't have that many sets. Must be very hard to organize and take care of.
I have to say, that is very impressive.
Great MOC so far! I loved cloud kingdom in the show, so it's great to see somebody building it!
I cannot emphasize enough how fortunate this guy must be in order to possess this many great things!
Where does he get all those wonderful toys? And how does he afford them as an undergrad???
Absolutely loving the hung up Raskolnikov Interdictor and do I spy some of Jerac's TIEs in the back? :P You've made me really consider doing a similar job with a few of my pieces
Loving that Imperial Interdictor!
Thank you all for the kind comments on the post; happy to share my collection with others in the hopes it will inspire future setups, even though mine is rather chaotic :)
@Fulinkazan you have a good eye; I normally stick to sets but couldn’t resist building those excellent MOCs and displaying them. They stay hung surprisingly well for being display pieces!
@iwybs it’s a combination of having friends and family dump LEGO collections on me after entering their Dark Ages (which I’m very happy to receive), constantly selling duplicate figures and sets on a Bricklink Store, and multiple side businesses and startup that help me get the money I need to fund this addiction
@EvilTwin Ahh, twice the namesake, zero the references. Sorry to disappoint
@CM4Sci I of course follow you on Instagram and am consistently blown away - you are one of the few MOCers out there that can replicate the style of a LEGO playset and make it seem like a realistic, consumer-ready toy. Am always happy to see more work from you!
That room is a LEGO collector's dream!! Just spent some time looking through his collection. Mindblowing
From the looks of things, you need much more space to relax those collections, so much more. I'm thinking, a room per theme kind of space... Good luck :)
Oh my. What a room! I've never seen people displaying their LEGO collection in such a way. Wow.
We might have to add another question in to these soon - what does your partner/significant other/family think of your Lego room?!
Absolutely amazing display room! Nothing wrong with chaotic; so much of reality exists in a state of chaos/randomness, but on a grand scale it all falls together somehow. You’re too lucky getting LEGO “dumped” on you from friends & family who no longer build with it. I think many of us wish we’d had that problem! Great intro of a member write up!
@Legozebra said:
"Thank you all for the kind comments on the post; happy to share my collection with others in the hopes it will inspire future setups, even though mine is rather chaotic :)
Wow! Quite an impressive collection! Yeah a bit chaotic but absolutely cool at the same time.
One question: How in world do you dust all that?