The most iconic streetcar of the city of Lisbon could be an official LEGO set. All that is needed is for the proposal presented by Ezequiel Alabaça to gather a critical mass of supporters on the LEGO Ideas platform.
LEGO is one of the best-known toys in the world. And while most of the sets come from the creative minds of the Danish company, there are several sets that are designed by fans of the brand and marketed all over the world. The process is simple: interested parties create their proposal and put it to the vote on the LEGO Ideas platform. If their idea is one of the most voted for, it will be made a reality by LEGO and produced commercially for children and collectors around the world.
In the LEGO online store you can see and buy all the ideas that have already been transformed into official sets and in the LEGO Ideas platform you'll find all the new proposals. Among them is that of Ezequiel Alabaça: the Lisbon Tram 28. "In the little free time I have, I really enjoy making stop motion animations with LEGO with my daughters. We create the sets all out of LEGO pieces and then, with a lot of patience, I move the mini-figures around and take photos."tells Lisboa Para Pessoas.
It was on one of these creative family adventures that Ezequiel, 43, a software engineer, reached 28. When creating an animation to take part in a competition, the father and daughters created a streetcar for the footballer in the story to travel to training. "I thought it would work better" than having the character move around by bus, "both visually and in terms of sound effects, and also because of the mini-figures coming in and out of the interior" of the vehicle. "In other words, just for technical recording reasons!" In the end, they dismantled everything except the streetcar "because everyone in the house thought it looked good".
Ezequiel Alabaça then began researching how to improve the model and launched the project on LEGO Ideas. "The 28th came about because it's one of the most emblematic and well-known for tourists and also to be able to have some exposure to international fans." With more than 3,000 people supporting the idea and around 520 days to reach the 10,000 supporters needed for the proposal to be adopted by LEGO, o Streetcar 28 of Ezequiel and his daughters is very similar to the original.
The project has two parts: the streetcar itself, made up of 692 pieces, and the surrounding area, which includes a replica of the Portuguese sidewalk, made up of 1,447 pieces. In total, the proposed set has 2139 pieces and the streetcar alone is 25.7 cm x 15.6 cm x 8.6 cm in size. The rails used are LEGO rails; at the top there is the pantograph through which, in real life, the vehicle receives the electric current; and the roof of the streetcar is removable so that you can access the interior, where there are 10 seats, two of which are turned 90º as in reality.
The handles and handrails so that passengers can hold on during the journey, as well as the elements of the driver's cab (better known as the "brakeman") - such as the accelerator, the brake, some dials, the fire extinguisher and the horn on the floor to warn people and vehicles crossing in front - have not been forgotten in this LEGO replica. The set includes seven mini-figures: the driver ("brakeman"), three passengers, a guitarist who appears at the stop to wait, a chestnut seller and a pickpocket.
"My friends already know about my passion for LEGO, and they're always worried to ask how the vote is going"says Ezequiel. "Some people give me ideas on how to promote, others ask me for posters to hand out. Even the school where I studied until the 12th grade put up several posters around the schools to make the project known to the school community! Other people use social networks, or even in person!" The 43-year-old software engineer explains that this is the first time he has taken part in an initiative of this kind and that he has received many messages of encouragement and congratulations on the construction.
“I've already made some changes to the project, thanks to the comments of some more experienced fans and also thanks to some Carris employees who even took the trouble to photograph the details and send them to me."says Ezequiel. "It was also a way of discovering new construction techniques and challenging my limits. The current result would not have been possible without the collaboration of the community and for me, who only considers myself curious, I was very grateful for all those who got involved."
You can find out more about Ezekiel's Tram 28 on the LEGO Ideas website and, by creating an account on the platform, you can vote for the project, helping it to reach 10,000 votes so that it can be introduced into the LEGO product portfolio worldwide.. Once the proposal has received 10,000 votes, it will be evaluated directly by LEGO designers so that its feasibility for mass production and marketing can be studied.
