Legos: The Castle

Bentley and Jake started building a Lego fortress complex in late September. Bentley did most of the building, but Jake was a vital part because he located all the needed Lego pieces. (Jake knows where all the many, many specialty Lego pieces are stored. Bentley only has a general idea of where they might be.) They brainstormed ideas together. They created storylines to go with their fortress. They wouldn't let us look at it until they were finished with it, but as often happens with such projects that time never arrived. They worked on it diligently for a couple of weeks and then got distracted by other projects. It sat in the family room for a month after that until one day Evan was walking backwards and tripped over it which destroyed parts of it. Such is life when you have toddlers in your home.

I had taken two quick photos before Evan tumbled on it, but I had planned on taking more with better lighting and different angles. Those two photos will have to do along with two close-ups taken a.e. (after Evan).

I asked the boys to tell me about their fortress complex. They told me that each base plate contained a different scene. Two plates were connected: the castle in the jungle on one base plate and the secret back entrance to the castle on a second base plate. The third base plate contained the pirate's lair which was located on a sea across from the jungle.

The castle had two tall turrets. One turret had a dungeon under the bed (bedroom?), the other a bathroom. Bentley created his own gate for the castle.

The disguised, secret entrance to the castle was well designed. The boys covered it in leaves. If an invader made it through the disguised entrance, they would be greeted by a swinging sword and then four spinning blades. They built a rocky outcropping (AKA small mountain) next to the secret entrance. The guards were placed on top of this structure. Inside was the castle's treasure. If the castle proper was plundered, the invaders would discover they had been tricked. 

My favorite design element is the big wave on the sea by the pirate's lair.

Bentley and Jake were proud of their castle with its secret entrance and neighboring pirate's lair. They both described it as cool. I agree with them. It was a COOL fortress complex!