By Ryan Ozawa
Anyone who spends time in a LEGO store knows that it's more than a place to extract money from you in exchange for interlocking pieces of plastic. (Though as stores go, they're very good at that.) They're also little museums of LEGO creations. Most of the structures on display are meticulously built examples of the great large sets for sale… but some are original creations.
Now, inside one of the little white lightboxes inside the LEGO Store at Ala Moana Center is a unique display featuring the flora and fauna of Hawaii.
There's an ʻIʻiwi, or Hawaiian honeycreeper, a gecko, a pair of Kamehameha butterflies, a Maui Gold pineapple, and even an American cockroach — not a native species, but certainly an endemic one.
And the display is the first new permanent exhibit at the store.
I asked Roy Gal, who with his wife Christine leads the Hawaii LEGO User Group (HiLUG), for the backstory.
“All Registered LEGO User Groups that are near LEGO brand stores have the opportunity to participate in the ‘LUG Showcase' program,” Roy explained.
“Until recently, the Showcase was indeed a rotating exhibit, changed out every month,” he added. “However, as of this March or April the program changed and it became a permanent exhibit.”
And for the exhibit, groups were asked to build displays that reflected something unique about the neighborhoods, cities, and regions in which the stores were located.
“We at HILUG talked about a variety of options: micro scale landmarks, a model of Diamond Head, and flora and fauna of Hawaii, among others,” he said. “We decided to do the latter as it would be very Hawaii-specific and eye-catching.”
Mark Huber built the butterflies, which were the first component completed. The butterflies also set the scale for the display. Charles Dunlap built the ʻiʻiwi, inspired by the recent LEGO Ideas Birds Project.
“Christine made the gecko, and she and I collaborated on the pineapple and cockroach, which we thought would be pretty humorous,” Roy said. “I built the majority of the foliage, landscape, and the rock wall, with Christine working on the foliage too.”
Diamond Head was originally going to appear in the backdrop, but it turned out the Hawaii license plate was a better fit. And now the colorful display is available for shoppers and visitors to enjoy.
For more information on HiLUG, visit the official website, or connect with the group on Facebook.
