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Stormtroopers and LEGO: A match made in geek heaven


Stormtroopers, biker scouts, clones, and Darth Vader that spoke Malay, Tagalog, Bahasa, English and Mandarin marched amongst life-sized LEGO sculptures and posed for pictures with delighted children: a geek’s dream come true.

Walking around in costume for LEGOLAND'S Star Wars weekend. All photos by Oneal Rosero
The first Legoland park in Asia

For anyone who has built skyscrapers and tanks out of LEGO as a child, a LEGOLAND park is truly heaven. For Filipino brick lovers, a LEGOLAND park right here in Asia is even better.

LEGOLAND Malaysia opened in Johor in 2012. Anything you can imagine, they managed to build entirely out of LEGO: a life-sized camel, dragons, an octopus, giraffes, cars and jeeps, even people. LEGO sculptures could be found in every corner of the park. Beneath some bushes hid a pair of squirrels, while behind a fence lurked a family of life-sized wolves. One tree stump was even home to some spiders and a horde of bees.

The park’s seven sections provide geeky fun for visitors of all ages. Robotics enthusiasts can enjoy the LEGO Technic area, where you can sign up for an hour-long seminar on how to program a Mindstorms robot. In Kingdoms, there are LEGO dragons hanging off towers, and a blacksmith made entirely out of LEGO hammering away at his anvil.

Miniland, though, is the true centerpiece of the park. It features LEGO sculptures of landmarks from all over Asia, such as India’s Taj Mahal, China’s Forbidden City—with a section of the Great Wall as a backdrop—and Malaysia’s Petronas Towers. Each miniature landmark is surrounded by cars, boats, and trains that move at the push of a button. Beside the Taj Mahal, a little Bollywood dance number progresses.

Near this LEGO masterpiece, a Bollywood number was being executed.

If you’ve ever tried to recreate your house with LEGO, Miniland is the place for you. Your jaw will drop at these engineering and architecture brick marvels.

Stormtroopers at LEGOLAND

It's not every day one gets to stand this close to a Death Star and not be obliterated.
They didn’t stop there, though: apparently LEGOLAND needed something from a galaxy far, far away. In August, the park held its first Star Wars weekend and gave away Star Wars prizes to random guests and raffled off big prizes.

At LEGO Academy, visitors got to work on life-sized Darth Vader and R2-D2 sculptures. Members of the 501st Legion joined in from all over Asia for fun, games and dancing with park guests.

The 501st Legion is a 7,500-member-strong international organization of Star Wars fans who wear the costumes of the bad guys. The 501st raises funds for charitable organizations, especially those with causes related to children.

The 501st is also Lucasfilm’s preferred costuming organization; they usually make appearances at official events like video game launches, movie premieres, and licensee events at places like Disneyland and LEGOLAND.  

Groups of the 501st legion in specific geographical areas are designated as Outposts if they have less than 25 members, but if they have 25 members or more, the unit is promoted to Garrison status.

I was one of those troopers who marched in LEGOLAND, to the amusement of park visitors young and old. I trooped in my biker scout armor, along with two other members of the Philippine Outpost. We were a veritable army of 45 armored characters, alongside troopers from the Singapore Garrison, the Malaysia Outpost, the Chinese Garrison, the Indonesia Outpost and the Thailand Outpost.

LEGO Petronas Towers, with the author standing beside it for scale.
The first Star Wars weekend at LEGOLAND Malaysia was a two-day event. Each day opened with a march to welcome visitors to the park. Costumed Jedi and Sith fought lightsaber duels, and everyone posed for photos with park visitors. Throughout the day, costumed characters could be found throughout the park, giving out prizes and playing with kids.
Star Wars and LEGO: universally loved

As troopers marching around LEGOLAND, we felt like minifigs from the Star Wars LEGO sets. In our armor, running around the park, astride LEGO camels or beneath LEGO giraffes, playing with kids, posing for pictures, we could have been characters from the LEGO Star Wars video games—I could almost hear the chink of LEGO coins falling around me. Around me, all the troopers and all the park visitors enjoyed a weekend of Star Wars and LEGO love.

The best thing about events like  the one that transpired that weekend—which united both Star Wars and LEGO—is that, though they are cross-cultural, they need no translation. Star Wars characters, when rendered in LEGO brick and minifig cuteness, are even more lovable—regardless of language! Nobody needs protocol droids to translate all that cute geekness.

Our troopers at that special weekend event came from six different outposts and garrisons, and collectively spoke more than 6 languages. Some of the troopers didn’t speak English, and I certainly didn’t speak Bahasa or Mandarin.

The visitors to LEGOLAND also came from all over the world, representing myriad cultures and religions. We saw European families alongside women in burkas and Asian children. I got hugs from children who probably didn’t know a single word of English. I got pats on the back from grown-ups who had no idea I was a Filipino woman in armor. It was a wonderful moment to consider: what parts do nationality, culture, and language play when you’re all together to celebrate the twin phenomena of creativity and fun?

I believe LEGOLAND is a place where dreams are built with bricks and Duplo, and the only thing you need to bring is your imagination. If I could wear my armor at LEGOLAND every weekend, I certainly would.

If the park holds a Star Wars weekend again next year, you can count on my being there in my armor. What about you?

Legoland Malaysia celebrated its first anniversary on September 15. — VC, GMA News