Telling stories through Legos

In the additional garage of Patrice Branch in Waxahachie, there is no car, motorcycle or boat, but instead, one will find a Lego city spanning over seven tables, complete with moving Lego trains and multiple characters and sets from Star Wars, Ninjago, Spiderman, Home Alone and more.

Branch’s grandson, Jasper Kirkpatrick, 11, of Plano creates and maintains this Lego city and spends most of his weekends working on it. He said there are constantly improvements that can be made.

He recently switched out his black beams, holding up buildings, helicopters, ships and more, to clear blocks, and he added clear blue pieces on top of the blue pieces of water, giving it the look of moving water. Jasper also builds his own creations like a Lego factory with its own Lego truck and loading dock.

“I got this Lego truck, and when we came back with it, I thought I couldn’t just put it anywhere in the city,” he said. “So, I started looking up people’s cities on YouTube. One person’s city had a Lego factory, so I thought why not just build a Lego factory.”

More than just creating and building, Jasper tells stories with his Lego city and moves pieces around as the story changes. Jasper’s mom, Katie Kirkpatrick, said there’s always something new to find because he sets up little scenes throughout the whole city and refines them often. Every character and piece is placed a specific way to tell its story, even the trash inside garbage cans.

In the city street section, one can see the Joker and a robber escaping the police with a trail of money behind them, James Bond surrounded by SWAT officers, the Simpsons out on a stroll, a hot dog vendor selling hot dogs, and so much more. In his Star Wars and Ninjago sections, there are characters, ships and dragons placed in ongoing, everchanging battles. The Daily Bugle, Jasper’s favorite and tallest structure, has characters from Spiderman hanging off the side of the building as they fight each other. While he has owned Legos since he was young, Jasper only recently set them up as a Lego city.

“I didn’t want to keep them on display anymore,” he said. “I wanted to put them in a city stance instead of just putting them on my table and being done with them. I think having them like this, there’s more to show than just having them sitting on my table with all the characters sitting on a platform.”

Jasper’s dream career is to become a Lego product designer and create new sets for people to enjoy. When living in London, he had a behind the scenes tour at the Lego Store London Westfield.

“I got to shadow a Lego employee and go inside some of the attractions and help set up some of the figures that were knocked down,” Jasper said. “I was like, yeah, this is what I want to do.”

For his 12th birthday, he will visit Lego’s design headquarters located in Billund, Denmark, for a special trip with his grandparents.

Jasper started a Lego club at his school for students to build Lego sets or complete Lego activities together for an hour every Wednesday. To create the club, he had to find a teacher and a business to sponsor the club, write a letter to the school on why the club would add value, and create a plan for each club meeting.

To get ideas for his city, Jasper watches other Lego city builders on YouTube and watches the show “LEGO Masters.” He saves his personal allowance to pay for his Lego sets and asks for them as birthday and Christmas presents and is always looking at ways to improve his city. Originally published January 26, 2023 - https://www.waxahachiesun.com/arts_and_entertainment/telling-stories-through-legos/article_7d427c8a-9df7-11ed-9e9b-3be37f92ab73.html