The main inspiration for the unusual construction sets came from artist and cartoonist Artem Bizyayev, who used to participate in competitions for Lego concepts (although, his ideas never saw the light of day). The baton has been taken up by ‘Brick Labs’ and here’s what came of it.
‘Baba Yaga’
November 2023 saw the introduction of everyone's favorite Russian witch and her magical house on chicken legs. According to Russian lore, she lives in the woods, guarding the barrier between the worlds of the living and the dead. In order to enter the house, you have to pronounce a magical phrase and get it to literally turn around and face you; inside, you’ll find a scary old woman with a “petrified leg” and a crooked nose.
The construction set was partly inspired by the Baba Yaga we saw in the scary Soviet children’s movie ‘Morozko’ (1963), which saw her role played by a man – Grigoriy Millyar.
Alexander Rowe/Gorky Film Studio, 1964
‘Morozko’
The tale of the same name sees the female protagonist Nastenka encounter the Russian spirit of the winter – Morozko – who saves her from freezing to death in the woods, where she was taken by her evil stepmother and stepsister. The construction set comprises a large ice palace with three horses and the heroine of the tale.
‘The Night Before Christmas’
Inspired by the horror novel of the great Nikolai Gogol, this set depicts the house of the two main characters – the blacksmith Vakula and his beloved Oksana. There’s a jolly-looking demon atop the roof of the house, who helped the man win the beauty’s heart, but which melted at the sight of beautiful shoes.
‘Po Shuchyemu Velenyu’
The prototype for this set was the tale of Yemelya, who accidentally discovered a magical pike that fulfills wishes. The set also contains a house you can look into, as well as a fishing hole and even the legendary walking stove. Of the characters, there’s Yemelya himself, as well as the king, queen and their pet cat.
‘Ruslan and the Bogatyr’s Head’
This one is based on the famous Alexander Pushkin tale, ‘Ruslan and Lyudmila’. The scene depicts warrior Ruslan trying to rescue his kidnapped bride by undergoing a series of trials. At one point, he encounters a gigantic severed – but still alive – head in a field. The poem then tells of their battle; however, the construction set merely has them stare at each other.
‘Koshchey the Deathless’
Another classical story, pulled from Russian folklore, whose anti-hero is an ugly, old man, who swindles and kidnaps young women. Koshchey actually makes an appearance in several tales, including ‘Tsarevna Lyagushka’, ‘Marya Morevna’, ‘Koshchey the Deathless’ and in the aforementioned ‘Ruslan and Lyudmila’.
In this set, we can see Koshchey sitting on his throne and guarding his “death”… he’s immortal, because he literally hid the source of his death from others, you see? His death is “at sea and in the ocean, on an island, on which an oak tree stands and underneath that tree, a chest is hidden and in that chest – a hare – and inside that hare – a duck – and inside the duck – an egg – and in the egg – my death.”
‘Konyok-Gorbunok’
The set is inspired by Pyotr Yershov’s 1830 tale of the same name. The set recreates one of the main scenes: on the tsar’s table are three cauldrons: one with cold water, another with hot and the third – with boiling milk. According to legend, taking a bath in the cauldrons can lead to rejuvenation. An old tsar is particularly interested in this, as the young tsar-devitsa refuses to marry him, due to his age. But, the tsar asks young Ivanushka the Fool to test out the procedure first. He agrees, hoping for help from his trusted companion – Konyok-Gorbunok (a pony). The set contains Ivan, the tsar and his tsar-devitsa.