Aron Gerencsér

How old are you? 29

Which country are you from? Hungary

What is your role at the LEGO® Group? Designer

How did you get into building with LEGO bricks, especially building your own creations? There were already some mixed brick bins and used older sets floating around the house from my brothers when I was born, but other than those and inevitable DUPLO sets, the first LEGO set I remember actively, consciously wanting was 8531 Pohatu, from the 2001 debut of BIONICLE, the greatest LEGO theme ever! This launched a passion that lasts to this day – BIONICLE is why I am a fan of LEGO, why I build MOCs in my free time, and in more ways than one why I’m here today! The breadth of the story and lore hooked me as a kid, and I kept building MOCs to represent new characters I’d make up.

I was further inspired by the ‘Rahi Beasts’ and ‘Dark Hunters’ books – contests were organized for fans to build their own characters and creatures, with some of them being selected to be ‘canonized’ and put into the official story, and images of these officialized MOCs were published as little encyclopedia-style books. While I never submitted anything for these, seeing this level of fan creativity embraced by the theme and world we loved was hugely inspiring.

What kind of creations do you love building the most, and why? I’m sure it is no mystery after the previous paragraphs – the bulk of my MOCs are characters and creatures built in the ‘constraction’ style, using large amounts of BIONICLE, Hero Factory and other similar character elements. While not exclusively ‘in-universe’, a lot of my non-BIONICLE MOCs are still heavily influenced by those elements and aesthetics. This is of course due to my enduring love for the theme and its universe. When not building BIONICLE, I’ll most often focus on sci-fi subject matter, or little whimsical builds inspired by nonstandard use of unusual elements.

If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring LEGO builders, what would it be? A brick is never just a brick. So, so many elements released across the many, many decades this building system has been around have unintended – or intended, but not necessarily telegraphed – uses and connections, or just opportunistic geometry allowing you to jam things together in weird ways. Most AFOLs will encounter the term ‘NPU’, or Nice Part Usage, during their time in the community, but most often this covers a highly creative and novel use of a part but with its standard connection. There is a lot of potential in elevating your builds by thinking beyond traditional, standard LEGO connections!

How does it feel to have your work exhibited here at LEGO House - Home of the Brick? Very humbling! It is definitely one of those big milestones most MOC builders will aspire to in some shape or form. It does feel a bit funny to get here after becoming a model designer at The LEGO Group – a bit of a chicken-or-the-egg scenario!

Do you have a personal LEGO portfolio website or social media profile that you can share? Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_pohaturon/ Flickr: Pohaturon

Title Naming Day at Kini Nui

Can you describe your model and what it represents? After 1000 years of darkness under the oppression of Makuta, once again there is peace on Mata Nui. While more dangers certainly lurk in the future, for now the Toa and the Matoran can rest and celebrate. The members of the six tribes come together at the central Kini Nui temple for Naming Day, a traditional Matoran holiday commemorating acts of heroism. Villagers involved in historically significant events take on new names, and gifts are exchanged.

The BIONICLE story captivated fans for over 10 years, told through books, comics, browser games, full video games, animations, movies, short stories and more. A huge amount of story, worldbuilding and lore was packed into this immense breadth of content, but admittedly a lot of it was quite action-packed! The plot had to go forward – but we still got the occasional glimpse into what ‘normal’ life looked like. I wanted to expand on this, and create a reflection of the BIONICLE world in its arguably most iconic setting, not depicting an epic struggle against darkness but a calm, joyous celebration.

How long did it take you to build? I was chipping away at the design on and off spread out over the duration of approximately a month, but if you'd condense it back to back it likely looks like a week or so!

Approximately how many LEGO elements did you use? The characters themselves - that is, the six Toa and six Matoran villagers - together make up approximately 1500 elements with change. With the diorama I must admit I lost count given how much I fidgeted with the smaller details, but it probably also adds up to roughly 1500, give or take! The completed model is in the ballpark of 3000, but admittedly only structural sketches were done digitally, and I'm not the best at guesstimating parts counts.

Are there any hidden details, Easter eggs, or techniques in your model that fans should look out for? I’m sure BIONICLE fans will pick up on the meaning behind some of the character pairings, and the references in the gifts!