Having a (LEGO) conversation with...Kavi (Doodlebricks)
My guest for today is Kavi, a young TFOL from New York City, who is currently living in Portugal and that I had the pleasure to meet at Comic Con Portugal live 2022.
Kavi is a huge Ninjago and Monkie Kid fan, who recently started his own Youtube Podcast, where he interviews TFOLs from all over the world.
Find out more about Kavi, and the difficulties of being a TFOL, in the next questions.
If you also want to be featured on our page, contact us via Facebook or send an email to playwell.pt@gmail.com
1-Tell us a little about yourself, your age, what do you do, and how long have you been a fan of LEGO?
2- What is your first LEGO memory?
2. To be quite honest, I don’t think I can remember my FIRST LEGO memory,
however some of the oldest ones have to be playing with Bob The Builder Duplo
in the living room with my Mom, just generally messing around with the Duplo
bricks and characters (I vividly remember I had a boy with blue pants and a
lime green baseball cap), and my Dad building a pullback car and spaceship out
of normal system bricks and one of those old pullback motors.
3- Did you have a dark age? Usually, lots of adults go through one in
their adolescence, only returning to the hobby when they are already
financially independent.
3. Luckily, I did NOT have a dark age, which I’m very grateful for. I like to say that my dark age was before I was even interested in LEGO However, I have had something that I call a “Dim Age” (Trademark that, haha), where I wasn’t “not into LEGO” but I wasn’t quite as interested in it. I still had some sets on my shelves, I’d still occasionally mess around with the bricks and buy sets, and watch a few LEGO YouTube videos, but it wasn’t the primary thing in my life and I wasn’t completely up to date with everything. That didn’t last for long though, and around 2018 I jumped right back into it all!
4- How long have you been in Portugal? Do you find it difficult to
interact or just find and meet with Portuguese LEGO fans?
And regarding LEGO sets, do you think we have a good offer when it comes to
stores?
4. I’ve lived in Portugal for the past 2 and a bit years! Unfortunately I have found it to be quite difficult to find fellow LEGO fans, and especially fellow TFOLs in person here, however I think that’s just how it is generally with any kind of fandom like this. Back in April 2022 I went to a LEGO event called Oeiras BRInCKa, and while it was really nice to check it out and see all the builds, it was quite small, and a lot of people visiting didn’t seem to be particularly hardcore LEGO fans. When the LEGO Certified store in Lisbon opened, I met a few TFOLs there (@Z.bricks being one of them, but unfortunately he doesn’t live here) which was awesome! And I’ll be going to Paredes de Coura here in Portugal and I’m very excited for that! Besides the LEGO certified store and Toys R Us, I haven’t found many places that sell a wide range of LEGO, but @duckbricks has a great video on finding stores in Portugal that sell LEGO!
5. When it comes to building MOCs, I usually get inspired by something
(another MOC, something from a movie, game or show, art, etc.) and then I quite
literally start to build it in my mind. I picture building different parts of
the model, what pieces would be needed for difference aspects of it, and I
mentally put together very rough pieces of it. I was describing this to one of
my friends and they said it sounded like I was a Master Builder from The LEGO
Movie, which was quite funny but honestly quite accurate as to how it looks in
my brain. Only difference is that I couldn’t tell you the specific part number
for each piece for the life of me! While I have messed around with digital
building programs a decent amount, I still much prefer building with physical
bricks. There’s just something about being able to feel what you’re building
that makes it much more intuitive for me. While digital building programs are
great, you still can’t feel the pieces and you can get away with a lot more
“sneaky” building techniques when you’re building with physical bricks.
However, once in a while I’ll use digital building programs to plan out small
builds or try techniques, and I’d very much like to learn how to use them more.
6 - Do you also collect LEGO? If yes, what themes do you like the most?
6. I definitely collect sets as well! I have a lot of shelves in my room
that are absolutely covered in sets. I’ve actually reached that point that
every LEGO fan dreads where I honestly don’t have space for any more sets, and
I have a backlog of sets that are waiting to be built, and sets that are still
packed away from when we moved here. I’d say my favorite themes have to be
Ninjago (I’ve been into it since around 2012), Atlantis, Monster Fighters, Hero
Factory, Ultra Agents, and of course Monkie Kid! Ninjago and Monkie Kid are my
two absolute favorites though. Monkie Kid managed to become an equal favorite
with Ninjago, and Ninjago has had 12 YEARS to become my favorite. Atlantis was
also the theme that really got me interested in System LEGO in the first place.
7 - What set or theme most influences you, as a fan of LEGO? Is there a theme that you would like LEGO to produce?
7. I’d say the themes that most influence me have to be Ninjago,
Monkie Kid, and Exo Force a bit as well. When I was little and started watching
Ninjago, Jay became my favorite Ninja pretty quickly. I loved everything about
him, and he has literally influenced my personality, what I like and who I am
today. I love being goofy and making lots of jokes and puns because of him,
blue is one of my favorite colors because of him, electricity is my favorite
element/superpower because of him, and I love chained weapons because of him.
It’s honestly wild how much he has influenced me. And when they changed his
hair in The Ninjago Movie to be dark brown and curly like mine, I was
absolutely OVERJOYED because before that I never had a hair piece that
accurately represented mine. Besides that, Ninjago, Monkie Kid and Exo Force
have influenced me a lot because I absolutely LOVE mechs and anything of the
sort, as well as dragons, and lots of Asian inspired things such as Ninja and
characters from Asian myths and folklore. I also developed an interest in the
Chinese tale, Journey To The West, because of Monkie Kid, and now I notice it
referenced in all sorts of different media.
8 – If you had the chance to build whatever you want in LEGO, regardless of weight and size, what would you do?
8. Wow, that is a HARD question… I’d probably say something like a fully
working Exo Suit, Mech, Transformer, or some kind of fantasy forest with bright
colors or a neon futuristic city. That would be pretty cool.
9-Do you have a favorite LEGO builder?
9. I don’t think I could pick a favorite LEGO Builder as I follow so many
different and amazing ones, but I have a soft spot for mechs, robots, fantasy
creatures, Ninjago city-like builds, and medieval fantasy builds, so people who
build that kind of stuff are pretty high up there.
10. Thank you so much! I’m glad you’re enjoying it. I really wanted to create something for fellow TFOLs, and originally made a LUG called The OTL (Online Teen LUG, I’m currently reworking it) but it wasn’t really going anywhere. I created that because when I joined the online community, while I managed to find a decent amount of TFOLs, I never felt quite like I belonged. Everyone I met was lovely, but everyone felt scattered around in their own little groups in various corners of the internet. I listen to a lot of podcasts, mostly LEGO ones, and had been wanting to be on one for a while. I played with the idea of starting a LEGO podcast, but I wanted to find some way to make it unique from all the other ones out there. After a bit of thinking, I realized that a LEGO podcast focused on TFOLs was something that nobody had done, and since I wanted to bring more awareness to all the amazing things TFOLs do, it just worked out perfectly! And yes, I very much feel that the TFOL community is nowhere near as heard as the AFOL community is.
There are so many events, LUGs, and more dedicated to AFOLs, and while you do find TFOLs scattered throughout those, I never see anything that’s dedicated to TFOLs, and it’s such a shame because I know so so many TFOLs who do so many incredible things in the LEGO community that are just as good. The work of @kitkat1414, @RJMbricks, @citrinesanimations @bricklegends @Ethan.the.artisan and @genericstud are just a FEW examples of the MANY TFOLs in the community who are doing and achieving incredible things. I also think it’s very important to show TFOLs that there are so many others like them, because that’s the prime time when people go into their dark ages.
11- Are you currently working on a LEGO project (not necessarily building)? If yes, can you tell us about it?
11. Currently the main projects I’m working on are TFOL Talk and making
more videos for my YouTube channel, but I’m also working on a couple of builds
that I’m going to be displaying at Brickfair Virginia in August! There’s also
one more LEGO project that’s currently top secret, but lets just say that I’m
building a world… ;)
12 – How is your LEGO “workshop”/exhibition space?
13 – Do you have an account on social networks (Instagram, Facebook,
Flickr, etc.), where you share your constructions or collections?
13. I mainly share my creations on either Instagram (@doodlebricks) or
Youtube (@DoodleBricks) but I post builds that I do for the Bionicle building
contest called Bio-Cup on my Flickr page (@DoodleBricks). I think at this point
everyone there thinks I’m a ghost, because I only ever come back for the
competition and then disappear right afterwards.
You can also follow me on Twitter and find more about OTL LUG in this Instagram post.
14 – Are you part of any LUG? What is your opinion about them in Portugal?
14. I’m part of the LUG that I started, The OTL, but like I said I’m
currently reworking it, so besides that I’m not part of any LUGs at the moment,
though I’d definitely like to join one. I’ve been thinking about maybe joining
RebelLUG! I met a bunch of their members at the UK LEGO convention Bricktastic
this year and they were all so lovely and welcoming!
15- A Certified LEGO store has recently opened in Portugal. Have you been there? What do you think of it?
15. Haha YES I’ve been there many times, and I think its great! As usual,
the employees are all lovely, the Pick-A-Brick wall is great most of the time,
and they also have a Minifigure Factory which is absolutely fantastic! I’m glad
I have an accessible way to make custom torso prints now. Though I do wish that
it was an official store and not a certified one so I could get/use VIP points,
and I would love it to be a bit bigger, but overall, I think it’s fantastic and
I’m so glad we have one here!
16- How do you see yourself in this hobby in 10 years?
16. Oh boy! 10 years? That’s a big question… well, I see my channel being
very successful and me continuing to make new and interesting content and being
able to make a living off my channel, as well as having a fantastic community
based around it. I also see myself growing the friendships I have in the
community more, as well as making many new ones! Within that time I also aim to
work at a LEGO store for a little bit just to get the experience as I’ve heard
that it’s amazing! I also see myself living part time in New York City again,
and because working as a set designer for LEGO is a dream I’ve had ever since I
was little, I also picture myself living in Billund Denmark at some point. I
hear a lot of people call LEGO their hobby, but honestly, LEGO isn’t a hobby for
me, it’s my passion, and a big part of who I am :D
Thank you so much Kavi, good luck with your projects, and I am sure I will continue to see you in LEGO events!
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