Palmy Brick Show: Lego superfan building the blocks to aid cyclone recovery

Lego land is replacing limbo land this weekend in Palmerston North.

While politicians were busy hammering out coalition arrangements, some of New Zealand's more creative minds turned their attention to the Palmy Brick Show - making scenes and designs to entertain the expected 10,000 visitors.

Lego's been a popular toy for decades, but the Lego Masters TV series and Covid lockdowns are credited with helping it reach new demographics.

Ahead of the show, RNZ visited Anthony Ducre's Palmerston North home.

A Lego superfan, a sizeable chunk of his garage is dedicated to the popular toy.

"The area is about 60 metres squared or my Lego space," he said.

"Like any Lego fan I try to keep organised with crates, boxes, little drawers, shelves etc, with a few things on display.

"It's very much a workshop-type idea. If you think of your grandad's garage, where he's got all his little fish hooks and those little containers, that's the sort of stuff we use a lot."

Among the rows of figures, built sets and containers full of Lego bricks, sits a special space ship - a Blacktron invader from the 1980s, which was Ducre's first set.

"I was 8 years old on Christmas Day. I still have that set, and I was a fan for about 10 years or so.

"Then, like so many of us adult fans, I entered what we call the dark age, where Mum packs the Lego away into the attic or the garage and you went off to high school or college."

About a decade ago, with more time and more money on his hands, Ducre, aged 42, emerged from that dark age and now shares his hobby with his children.

He is one of the organisers of this weekend's Palmy Brick show put on by Well-Lug, the Wellington Lego User Group. His designs are among the 140 on display.

"I've got two creations on show this weekend. The first one is Te Anahera Whakaora, which was a build I did inspired by my friends in Hawke's Bay, inspired by Cyclone Gabrielle earlier this year.

"It's a white, mythical angelic-type figure robed in white and gold and, hopefully, supporting a message of restoration and strength to carry on and be resilient in the face of some severe adversity...

"The second one's a bit more familiar for us Kiwis. It's a balrog from The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring.

"It's an iconic scene of Gandalf standing on the bridge of Khazad Dum in his 'you shall not pass moment'."

Both figures are about 90 centimetres high. Ducre is not sure how many bricks are in each, but said there could be about 15,000 in the angel.

Designs could take months to come together, starting with freehand drawings and then moving to a computer program, he said.

'Absolute chaos'

Fellow show organiser Al Collis has a room at his Palmerston North house devoted to Lego.

It is not supposed to spread out from there, but this week is an exception and there is plenty of Lego in the living and dining rooms ahead of the show, where he will display turbines and a complete 1990s Atlantis range.

His Lego room is full to bursting.

"You're looking at absolute chaos, but normally it's a very tidy, organised room.

"I organise it in sections. In one corner you've got all my Ferrari Formula 1 cars, then you've got my Star Wars collection - everyone needs a good Star Wars collection. You've got my dinosaurs..."

Collis said one of the highlights of his collection is a Lego Technic car from the 1970s, and among the displays is a set of Beatles Lego figurines.

He also has a shelf of items of which he is most proud, including a hospital operating theatre he designed. Collis is a nurse, so is keen on emergency services Lego.

The 53-year-old had the bricks as a child before, like Ducre, he entered his dark years from which he also emerged when his children grew to like Lego.

"When I was a child I loved Lego," Collis said.

"The only way you could get it was when someone went overseas and they got it duty free on the way home, so it was really exciting.

"In the 1970s I probably only got about 10 sets, whereas nowadays you can whip down to The Warehouse and grab the most amazing sets.

"Like most people I got older and fell not so much out of love, but had other things to do - wine, women and song. When I had children I just naturally came back."

He is not sure how many sets he has now, but it would be in the hundreds.

"You start out with a scatter-gun approach ... Then you start to think, 'Where am I going to put it all?' Then your wife starts to give you the side eye so you have to start rationalising.

"There are lots of adult-oriented sets and some of them can actually be displayed in your office, in your home, and not look out of place."

Ducre also has a creation, which has been to previous brick shows, that shows how Lego could help.

Covering a wall is a Lego Game of Thrones map. It was a show Ducre would watch, and so would his late father in Australia, and the pair would always catch up about what happened.

"Partway through the run of Game of Thrones my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He made it to the end of the series, but not much after that.

"When we were talking about the inevitable event happening he asked me what I was going to do and suggested that I carry on with something in his name, give it a bit of focus.

"For the next nine months [as the map was built] I found Lego to be quite a cathartic, healing tool and mechanism."

The Palmy Brick Show is at Fly Palmy arena from 9am Saturday and Sunday, and a special Manawatū-themed set is available for sale.

Proceeds go to disability sport charity Parafed.