Claude

Name, suburb, occupation

Claude Norval. Redland Bay. Software developer.

What are your very first memories of LEGO toys

Playing with my brother's classic Space LEGO sets and constructing my own little spaceships. I also fell in love with the Pirate theme and begged my father to purchase me a pirate ship for my birthday – we only got the small sets from The LEGO Group back in the day in South Africa, so I had a few minifigs and treasure chests but never a ship. My father bought me one from overseas on one of his business trips, and it was one of my favourite toys ever. I later bought a few other ships and nowadays it is a bit out of control. I've got about 16 ships and planning to get more.

What’s your favourite LEGO theme (ie. Star Wars, Harry Potter, City, Friends, Classic Space, Creator etc)?

So it goes without saying that my favourite theme is Pirates, closely followed by Kingdom – in fact, any fantasy-type theme like Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

Do you MOC (ie. build your own creations, sans-instructions)? If so, describe your best ever MOC?

I do indeed MOC! As a matter of fact, I'm currently busy with my first ever MOC…

Describe your current or most recent LEGO project?

It is an ambitious build of the Tower Bridge for our upcoming BrisBricks events and is part of the bigger train display being built with some amazing builders. I hope it makes the cut. I'm planning on doing a big MOC for my pirates, of course, and am striving to build a futuristic space pirate/cowboy MOC.

If you could build anything out of LEGO bricks, what would be your dream build?

I've got this vision to build a train track that runs along the top part of every room in my house, with different scenes as you go by. It will also do small tasks for me when I can't, and will solve the greatest problem humans have ever faced: running out of toilet paper. Toot, toot, here comes the train!

If you were building yourself as a LEGO Minifigure (called a “signature figurine” or “sigfig” for short), what would be the defining characteristic or LEGO accessory that your sigfig would have, that would make it so you?

I'm very much into hydroponic carding currently, so I guess some sort of shears and maybe a plant.

Weirdest place/s you’ve ever seen or discovered a LEGO brick?

On the lawn, in a nice pile of dog poo.

Complete this sentence: I know I’m a total LEGO geek/fanatic because...

When we moved over from South Africa the only reason we brought over a container was for our LEGO collection. It pretty much filled a 20ft container. It was pretty tough breaking up all our sets and my sister-in law and her family is currently enjoying rebuilding all of them.

Tell us about your history/experience with BrickResales? What do you love most about BrickResales?

My wife showed me an event by BrickResales on Facebook shortly after we arrived from South Africa. I remember feeling like a little kid again going through tubs of stuff to find hidden treasures. Ever since, I've tried to go to the pop-up shows – every time there is something new!