There are a lot of things I enjoy running The Brick Post but none more so than perusing LEGO Ideas and writing the next feature, it truly is the highlight of my week.
This week’s entry comes from someone we’ve shone the spotlight on once before, Roger Schembri, (a.k.a LEGO CustardKid) and his ‘the Safe from The Room‘ product idea.
Continuing to pull from ‘The Room‘ series of games Roger has choosen to recreate the enchanted Dollhouse, and I must say it looks incredible!
Link to official LEGO Ideas submission: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/7eddaca8-3a7c-4840-932d-339dba10cbe8
The Room 4: Old Sins is a puzzle adventure game made by Fireproof Games available on mobile & PC.
Unfortunately I can’t comment on any of the games as I haven’t had the chance to play them, so I’ll stick to what I know best in this situation and discuss the LEGO side of things.
When I first laid eyes on this creation, I instantly thought ‘wow‘, the whole look and sense of atmosphere is done really well. It reminds me a little of last Years LEGO Haunted House (10273) set with the soft earthy colours, grand entrance, and sloped roofs.
Taking a stroll around the grounds we see a lot of detail, not only in the architecture but from the many decorative pieces including the wrought iron gate, lampposts, lanterns.
Using well known LEGO techniques such as SNOT (studs not on top) to add 1×1 & 1×2 tiles for corner decoration, I particularly like the use of 1×2 masonary bricks dotted throughout the walls to breakup the solid colour.
Head around the back and we see a small Garden area that folds out, it boasts a very quaint looking fountain complete with wooden canopy/gazebo. There’s even a place to rest and take in the beautiful scenery in the form of a very simple stone bench, it’s these details, along with the foliage climbing up the wall and cobble stone path that really take this idea to the next level.
As we head inside, through the main door, we are pulled into a whole different World, one that is very reminiscent of a time gone by.
There are almost too many details to mention along with the handful of rooms Roger had to squeeze in to making sure the whole build stays within the 3000 part limit.
The rooms of the Dollhouse include:
- Foyer
- Study
- Kitchen
- Garden
- Curiosity Room
- Japanese Gallery
- Maritime Room
- Art Studio
- Attic
Each room has a lot going on and, presumably, include Easter eggs found and seen in the game.
The chandeliers are exceptionally well designed and use a varied selection of parts from the 4×4 modified round plate and 1×1 black flower elements to the transparent yellow gems as lights. Even the light fixtures on the walls follow suit and work well together.
If LEGO choose to make this set, which I really hope they do, one thing that needs to stay are the old portraits, again I presume these are found within the game version but they look so good and somewhat creepy in this setting, Roger definitely has a way of creating atmosphere in his builds!
Other notable set pieces to point out are the beige cups and matching teapot, having an item in a new colour is always nice but to have a full tea set is so much better. I’m a massive fan of these new elements and always pop them aside to use in MOCs etc.
The X-ray printed tile makes a return here and is used to great effect, being positioned in front of a Minifigure is genius and seems like such an obvious move.
There are three Minifigures included and they are the two owners of the estate, Mr & Mrs Waldegrave, and a mysterious player character codenamed ‘H’.
Each Minifigure has a unique look that suits that particular era, such as waistcoats, a bowtie, slick combed hair, and a flowing gown.
LEGO haven’t produced many of these Edwardian/Victorian-esque torsos and I personally would like to see more, it would open up the possibilities for MOCs and alike to be centred around that era. Roger has done an outstanding job with these torso designs and should be proud!
The thing I love most about this and many other ideas that we feature here is the scale, being Minifigure scale adds so much to any build and allows for so many other uses, for instance this could easily slot into a Cityscape and not look out of place. When I eventually get around to building a City of my own I would absolutely want this in it!
Exclusive images:
Roger has been so kind and allowed us to share five new & exclusive renders taken from his fabulous and well executed product idea, I must add we feel very honoured to be the first to have and share these with you!
As you can see they show the exterior at new angles, giving us a glimpse at just how deep the Dollhouse goes as well as the outside staircase.
Having both the estate owners inside the house is also a nice touch and again shows us the scale of each room and just how much space is available inside.
I really like the close-up shot of the Garden as we can see so much more detail including the small trees and black fence behind. The more I look at the wooden gazebo the more fascinated I am with it, the way its designed & built is perfect, and the gold disc is the cherry on the cake!
A massive thank you goes to Roger Schembri for letting us feature his new product idea and supplying us with an exclusive set of images, we truly appreciate it.
We also want to wish Roger the best of luck in gaining the required support and ultimately going to review and being choosen. To help please click the link below and hit that support button!
https://ideas.lego.com/projects/7eddaca8-3a7c-4840-932d-339dba10cbe8
You can also follow him on Instagram here:
https://instagram.com/schembrulee/
Thank you!