Modular Zoo MOC

[Pedilego]

Hi guys,

Earlier this year my wife and I "completed" our journey out of the dark ages (thanks again to this community for making that possible for a -relatively- reasonable amount). Having acquired all of the retired sets we wanted (within reason, sorry UCS Falcon and Grand Carousel), my wife mused that our city needed a zoo. I agreed, so I decided to make one.

I posted a MOC a few months ago but this is my first end-to-end, all the bells and whistles effort at something special. It took about 10-12 weeks. I built it and my wife provided constant feedback, answering "what do you think of this?" and "how does this look?" over and over hahah. I also received input some friends, family, and even an esteemed member on here (shout out TheOrcKing for his feedback and, really, everything he does and contributes to this community).  Anyway, I thought I'd share this one with you all, too... 

The concept is that it's a modular building that has modular exhibits, in that you can remove them from the building and place them side-by-side more like a traditional zoo. Depending on how you configure it, the play area becomes as large as 50" wide, but is easily stored and placed into your city on a single standard 10"x10" baseplate:

 

Behind the facade, there are 7 exhibits and 1 food stand & lab. Here's a look at one of them (link to others below):

And this is what it looks like as part of a Lego city street:

There's a complete video overview here:

https://youtu.be/3q6l0Ud5C3c

And lots more pictures here (no pressure to vote, of course.... not that I'll stop you lol)

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/145483

 

Thanks for looking! Thoughts?

[Phil B]

Love the idea of the exchangeable zoo display pods. Not how a real-life zoo would look like, and frankly, I feel sorry for the animals, but great concept for a modular. Well done.

[lodibricks]

Wow, that's awesome. Got my vote. I'd buy 1 for sure (more like 5+).

[Pedilego]

5 hours ago, Phil B said:

Love the idea of the exchangeable zoo display pods. Not how a real-life zoo would look like, and frankly, I feel sorry for the animals, but great concept for a modular. Well done.

Thanks! You can place the exhibits side-by-side to reflect the traditional horizontal zoo orientation, or use the parts to do it more permanently because... Lego, but it's almost too big to stay that way. Hence, the approach we used. Besides, there's at least one IRL Zoo facade that has a reasonably close resemblance:

I totally understand the last part but IMO feeling bad for the animals is more about the duality of actual zoos (place them in exhibits to save them & fund conservation) since scale is a thing with lots of Lego sets (ie. Palace Cinema should be about 12x bigger).

 

3 hours ago, lodibricks said:

Wow, that's awesome. Got my vote. I'd buy 1 for sure (more like 5+).

Appreciate it!

[Quacs]

Supported - so well done and really creative.  Excellent job!

[justapilgrim]

I want the city theme to make a new subtheme of zoo. $199 sets, $19 sets, polybags, the works. I can dream can't I?

well done

[Pedilego]

15 hours ago, Quacs said:

Supported - so well done and really creative.  Excellent job!

Thank you!

 

11 hours ago, justapilgrim said:

I want the city theme to make a new subtheme of zoo. $199 sets, $19 sets, polybags, the works. I can dream can't I?

well done

Thanks. That's the dream, indeed. My long-term desire is for this to be approved so we can show Lego there's a non-Duplo demand for zoo and wildlife sets, which of course would mean lots and lots of overdue animals like lions, tigers, zebras, rhinos, etc. Guess if this were the "flagship set" for that theme, that would make it the ark hehe

[TheOrcKing]

I have been waiting patiently yet eagerly for this to be uploaded to the Ideas site just so I could hit that support button. Nice idea using the new Angry Birds eggs as ostrich ones. I did not even think of how accurate to minifigure scale those are. The aquarium play feature with the shark is good as well. Too bad there isn't a sound brick to play either the cliché Jaws theme or the ever classic "....You're gonna need a bigger boat" line. Ha. Anywho, glad to see your project complete for all to see and interesting now to put a face with the design from the YouTube presentation. Also I may have been to the Los Angeles Zoo when I was a kid in the golden state but that was many years ago.

[Pedilego]

On 6/30/2016 at 1:47 AM, TheOrcKing said:

I have been waiting patiently yet eagerly for this to be uploaded to the Ideas site just so I could hit that support button. Nice idea using the new Angry Birds eggs as ostrich ones. I did not even think of how accurate to minifigure scale those are. The aquarium play feature with the shark is good as well. Too bad there isn't a sound brick to play either the cliché Jaws theme or the ever classic "....You're gonna need a bigger boat" line. Ha. Anywho, glad to see your project complete for all to see and interesting now to put a face with the design from the YouTube presentation. Also I may have been to the Los Angeles Zoo when I was a kid in the golden state but that was many years ago.

Me neither until my wife said the ostrich should have eggs and it just clicked.

Hmm sound brick. Between smart bricks, lighting, etc, perhaps you should patent that and figure out a way to make it happen hahah

Thank you again for your support. The project has definitely came a long way since I first reached out lol

[TheOrcKing]

9 hours ago, Pedilego said:

Me neither until my wife said the ostrich should have eggs and it just clicked.

Hmm sound brick. Between smart bricks, lighting, etc, perhaps you should patent that and figure out a way to make it happen hahah

Thank you again for your support. The project has definitely came a long way since I first reached out lol

You are most welcome, and thank you for the opportunity to help in the first place. Your zoo has come quite a ways building from a strong core concept into an even stronger final piece of reality. Also from these conversations, your wife certainly is your lovingly supportive muse. That's awesome.

[Sfcommando14]

@pedilego you're famous (at least in my FB feed)!

[Ciglione]

Magnificent!

[Pedilego]

On 8/5/2016 at 1:10 PM, Sfcommando14 said:

@pedilego you're famous (at least in my FB feed)!

That's awesome—thanks for showing me!