Exhibition Review: Lego Brick City

As I walk through the doors of the Lego Brick City exhibition room I can’t help but hum the mind numbingly catchy theme song from the Lego Movie  ‘Everything is awesome’. It’s been on repeat in my head since I saw the movie but I guess it seems appropriate enough in here.

I’ve come along to check out the Lego creations of Brick City in it’s final week of residence in Belfast’s Titanic building. The Danish construction toy has never seen so much popularity and I’m here with a few family members including my little cousin Ben to marvel at these creations.

We walk through buildings and landmarks from around the world, kind of like a Lego version of Disney’s Epcot centre. We see Edinburgh town houses, Parisian cafes, Berlin’s Reichstag and London taverns complete with busty tavern wenches! Italy’s Trevi Fountain and Colosseum were captured in miniature as well as the USA’s Las Vegas strip and New York City’s Macy’s Day Parade. However one of most impressive constructions is the recreation of the Titanic building itself (Editors note – you can hear an interview with the man that built it here). My cousin liked it so much he nearly escaped under the velvet ropes to lift the roof and peer inside at what would presumably be a Lego version of himself inside.

The main attraction is unarguably the massive St Pancras Station though. Built to Lego mini figure scale with what must be hundreds of mini figures crowding the station. There is even an information board beside it with pictures of various characters to be found in and around the station. Santa, Buzz Lightyear, Emmett from the Lego Movie, Indiana jones etc. It’s like a Lego version of Where’s Wally (or Waldo if you’re American, altough I refuse to call him Waldo).  Ben refused to leave until we’d spotted every single one of them which was no mean feat – even finding some characters not on the board, like the Spiderman hanging from the working clock tower.

Despite the plethora of mini figures at St. Pancras, my favourite is the more restrained Westminster Abbey. The Abbey was created for a Lego show that was being launched the same weekend as the royal wedding in 2011. It has gargoyles all along the roof, some excellent stained glass windows and even a Lego altar where a Lego Prince William once married a Lego Kate Middleton.

Not content with all the models to look at, there is a Lego wall where you could ‘graffiti’ your name or a picture of a dog with bricks provided. At the other end of the room  they have rows of tables with buckets of lego strewn all over them, kids (and adults) building houses, cars, boats and in my little cousin’s case ‘a duck with no arms’.  This , along with the hidden mini figure game at St. Pancras gives the whole exhibition a real interactive feel. It isn’t just about marvelling at what others had done with Lego, there is hands on fun to be had as well.

I found a lot to enjoy at the exhibition and I know my cousin did as he had to be dragged away from his armless duck. Unfortunately I’m still left humming that song from the Lego Movie. I guess where Lego is concerned everything IS awesome.