Inspiration: Jurassic World at Target- 06.09.15
Target provided the Jurassic World toys (and a gift card for us to pick some of our own) and Shawn, Bucky, and I happily took their inspiration and ran with it. Who doesn’t love dinosaurs? … and Jurassic Park was one of the first “scary” books I read as a kid. The movies are also ridiculously epic, so it’s hard not to imagine how fun the latest one will be too. When the box of dinosaur toys arrived, Bucky, the NOTpuppy, was the first to dive in and try to run off with the Indominus Rex (something about that rubbery face he just HAD to grab). I started to poke at the pile of dinos and when I discovered the Jurassic World Lego sets with Lego Unimog, G-Wagen, and raptors online… that Target gift card disappeared pretty quickly. The dinosaurs quickly spread across NOTlabs, the Legos were built over coffee one morning… and as Shawn and I played with them and brainstormed ideas to try out with the new Roland CNC - it hit us! Wooden Desktop Planters! A fun little set that we could attach the Lego pieces to made from a nice dark walnut wood to mix with succulents and strawberries would be the PERFECT playful table top setup for the dinosaurs!
So if you’re ready to see all the fun we’ve been having… and the ridiculousness that ensued… to the next page!
First things first - this HUGE box arrived from Target. I probably could have fit Bucky inside, but he was far too excited to see what was IN the box to let me even try. With the huge ‘THEY’RE HERE.’ wrapping the box, we couldn’t wait to dive in!
I hadn’t tried Target’s in-store pick-up before, so I used the gift card online to order the Legos and we had a late night Target adventure to pick them up. You can only imagine the grin on the Target woman’s face when she asked if we were picking up Dinosaur Legos. I nearly told her it was for work, but figured that would seem even more absurd than just laughing and happily accepting them.
Here’s the Jurassic World Lego Raptor Rampage - you can see the Mobile Vet Unit, and the actual Mercedes Benz Unimog version from the movie behind it!
While working on modeling and milling… I noticed the Chomping Velociraptor Head fits far too well on the Chomping Indominus Rex figure. Together they become an even more fearfully ridiculous creature.
Milling each walnut planter takes a few hours at times… so with all the waiting, I’ve been playing with the Jurassic World Moviemaker App. It sounds silly, but I’m impressed with how much you can tweak to mix in the dinosaurs - from lighting angle to rotating/scaling every which way. Here’s my favorite milling video!
Playing with the Velociraptor Claw while sketching out photo ideas on the whiteboard…
Trying things out - popped the Chomping Velociraptor Head into the ferns, and it’s pretty horrifying!
Between the official photo shoot for Plant Experiment #1, popped a few dinos in between shots.
Velociraptor Claw! Creepy, right? Here it is sneaking up on Shawn setting up some of the other dinos with the finished planters! You can see how well the dinos blend into the yard…
Photos in progress…
Succulents freshly planted in the walnut planters, and it fit so nicely on the Lego Unimog from the Raptor Rampage Set. That’s one of the tail swinging dinosaurs in the back there.
Can you believe that’s my childhood bucket of legos from the early 90s? You can also see my bench full of succulents in the woody triangle we just finished building! You can see the flying Jurassic World Dimorphodon in the bucket.
Now for some closeups… You can spot the light up Chomping Indominus Rex figure, flying Jurassic World Dimorphodon, the Velociraptor Claws, the Chomping Velociraptor Head, and the Jurassic World Lego Raptor Rampage, and the Jurassic World Lego Dilophosaurus Ambush.
Dinos, Legos, woodiness, and plants go so well together… also, wrench? or drumstick?
The roller balls in the upcoming Jurassic World are intriguing… and that claw in the back is coming for them…
The raptor got the G-wagen!
Yes… that raptor totally has a cell phone in one hand, knife in another, and an action cam on its head.
Each of the three walnut planter designs are the perfect height to get mixed and matched between Lego connections… and of course they have drainage holes too!
Top view of all the fun.
The playful plastic Legos and Dinos mixed with the natural succulents and strawberries, contrasted with the perfectly milled wood planters make for a great juxtaposition that i’m sure will lead to much building and rebuilding as we dream up new ideas.
… while we’ve been busy playing, believe it or not, Bucky has been relaxing in the grass behind us, and was even willing to try on the Velociraptor Claws!
Thanks again Target, for the Jurassic World Dinosaur overload. We’ve had a blast getting inspired them all in the lab!
