Brickman

Our lazy summer days continue, and we decided to spend one particularly hot afternoon inside at the Auckland War Memorial Museum checking out the Brickman exhibit. The five and seven year old were particularly cranky, and I was cautiously optimistic that an indoor activity with some of their favorite things would put everyone in a good mood.

I was right, and it was worth the cost of admission (NZ$65 for a family of four, free for museum members, not generally free for Aucklanders who would otherwise get into the museum free.) The constant whining stopped for almost all of our time there, and there was only one errant whack with a Lego sword that resulted in tears.

We knew right away that this was not your typical Brick-exhibit. We’ve been to a few of those and enjoyed the homemade creations of Auckland’s lego enthusiasts, but this took it up about fourteen levels. In the South Atrium of the museum, things started off with a huge - as in 450,000 brick huge - space shuttle.

The kids were pretty stoked by the time we got into the exhibit and saw the first large creation - a bisected submarine full of quirky surprised inside. We were on the hunt for Mr. and Mrs. Awesome, and found aliens, drying clothes, and all sorts of other silly vignettes inside. It was a taste of what was to come.

The first gallery was full of vehicles, like the submarine, and buildings. There was a giant Caterpillar truck, the Sydney Opera House, a huge Ferris wheel, and a very realistic looking motorcycle. Even better, there were a handful of displays that sat in the center of bins holding all of the Legos you could need to make your own reproduction - or personal interpretation - of the Brickman’s creation. The kids were all over this and I loved how interactive it made the exhibit.

The next gallery was all animals, all the time. And since Ryan McNaught, the Brickman himself, is Australian and a judge on Lego Masters Australia, there was a strong Aussie theme to the display. We saw a huge orca, a kangaroo, a koala which I unfortunately didn’t get a photo of despite it being the cutest lego creation of the day, a crocodile, a blood sucking mosquito, a falcon, and a dangling spider. Again there were options to recreate the sculptures, and the favorite in this room was the penguin display. The bins were full of black and white duplos, and some of the creations kids’ came up with were seriously cool!

The remaining two galleries seemed to be full of the leftovers that couldn’t easily be curated or fit into the other displays. The DeLorian in the last room had working lights and lots of detail. It seemed to be a dad favorite for just about every man over the age of 40 in the exhibit.

It was in the DeLorian room that we chatted with one of the museum workers. There is a whole team of individuals who’s job it is to go from building bin to building bin, taking apart all of the mini-statues people leave as they go through the exhibit. They wear thick gloves to save their hands from the hard edges and corners of the bricks. I think this must be the hardest job in the world. It’s monotonous and soul crushing to destroy kids’ work. How would you feel if you had to do this job?

We ended up spending a little over an hour exploring the four rooms, and then there was the Exit Through the Gift Shop which was a bit of a painful experience because of course the kids wanted to take home some of the gigantic and slightly overpriced Lego sets on the shelves. There is a definite stock supply issue with the gift shop, btw. Things were picked over and there was a lot of bare space where small Lego sets should’ve been. The gift shop also shows a time-lapsed video of how many of the large structures were made by the Brickman and his team. It was fascinating to see that the inside of the orca was actually an interlacing pink and green frame. to contrast with the black and white of the outside skin of the whale.

The exhibit is open until the 28th of February so there is still plenty of time to check it out. I’d try to get earlier in the day tickets and then have extra time at the end to explore more of the museum afterwards. It’s a perfect rainy or extra-hot day activitiy!