Some 60 years ago, some friends of the family went to Sweden and came back bearing gifts. They gave me a little set of building blocks called LEGO. Over the next several years, I made a number of things with the blocks and held onto a lot of bricks over the decades, sometimes using them for various projects.
Of course those who know me are cognizant of me getting into comics, becoming an illustrator, later creating, producing and selling comics. My favorite comic character is The Thing, and this blog is even nick named, “The Thing Is”.
Side note: If you want to see what all I’ve done and have available for purchase, check out my linktree profile with all the links to the comics, products, designs, etc. HERE
One of my most fervent hopes as a kid was the ability to some day create the Fantastic Four’s headquarters, the Baxter Building, out of LEGO, and here we are, 50 years later, where a company that sells knock off LEGO building blocks has finally put forth a knock off Baxter Building. I thank them for providing possibly the last build I will ever do. I have not done any builds in decades, so this statement is not hyperbole.
Now, seeing this solicitation on Amazon, I was skeptical. There were some questionable photoshop bits, and yes, everything is off-brand, and frankly, only $200 for over 6,000 pieces? We all know that when it comes to LEGO builds of this magnitude, it’s usually half that number of pieces at twice the price, so this off brand seemed a bit iffy. Too good to be true. I steered clear. For a long while.
But then the family wanted to know what I wanted for Father’s day and viola, I put it on the list. A scheduling conflict forced an early Father’s day and here it was. And it just so happened that I had nothing to do last week. Four and a half dedicated building days later, I was done.
As I go through the different stages, I’ll point out a couple bits. The first level is a receptionist lobby with chairs, decorations, newspapers, a sculpture and two doors that open. Whether we can actually SEE all this crazy detail once the walls close up is another matter I’ll talk about later. In back, that’s the Mole man’s monster breaking through the ground, and in front, although it’s not easy to see in the solicitation, beneath the front doors that open, it does indeed say BAXTER BUILDING.
The middle section of the building does indeed have a space shuttle that sits inside it. Each level built around it has viewing landings coming off the elevator entrance on each floor. I can only guess that this might be the old rocket that carried the FF into space where they got their powers. Otherwise, I’m not sure why they have a shuttle in their building. They DO have a section on the building side where their Pogo plane sits, waiting for take off, AND they do have the first version of the Fantasticar, the old flying bath tub, which is a wonderful touch. They do have a number of yellow “4’s” stationed around the building. The first one, over the front doors, I covered with blue pieces because, well, the FF wouldn’t have a yellow four on their building. White, blue or black? Sure. Or leave it off and no 4, but not yellow. This does become a thing later.
Slowly, the floors rise to cover the shuttle while adding the viewing ports. Strange hatch on that fourth floor which lifts up to reveal a hole for some purpose. I’ve decided I might investigate some type of interior lighting to add in here. There are a lot of windows on the building but some light would really help to see all these amazing things in the building.
Finally, near the top, we get a look at Reed’s lab. Once again, SO much detail. Couple chairs, coffee mugs, a sandwich, microscope, computer, keyboard, mouse, various biological and crystalline samples hanging about, plus some complicated, Jack Kirby-esque device in the middle.
As I prepared to close up the roof, I bemoaned all the things that won’t be easily seen inside, and I think again about getting some lighting. Although *placing* the lighting might even be difficult (likely impossible without ripping everything apart). The big yellow 4 is up there and I still plan to paint it blue. Although frankly, for whatever reason, the yellow doesn’t bother me as much as it originally did. and yes, I already had the Fantastic Four First Steps LEGO FF vs Galactus set. So I’ve already got my heroes and villain.
And there you have it. A tremendously involved and exhausting build that did indeed take 4 and a half days–but worth it. And I’ve got the LEGO FF in their flying bathtub. Scale’s a perfect fit. They even provide a couple transparent flagpoles where you can attach Johnny to fly around. A HERBIE is also provided that you can attach to a “flying” pole.
There were a few extra things I didn’t bother with, such as a fully functioning construction crane that I see no reason to have, unless it’s a nod to needing to fix the building after some enemy attack, but nah. Also, there’s a bizarre item that looks kind of like a hot dog on a target that can attach to the side of the building. No thanks, whatever it is. Finally, there’s another big yellow 4 on the rooftop. No need. So, if there are any FF fans out there that would be interested in having their own Baxter building. It exists. In the meantime, I must investigate possible lighting.
And if there’s any blue paint in the basement, because the Thing is…
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