Akkada 5 Ground Base Space Colony

Name of Model: Akkada 5 Ground Base

Created by: KryptonHeidt

Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kryptonheidt/4477469008/

Details: Some people, believe it or not, have a hard time using DUPLO parts in their creations. Even though LEGO intentionally makes DUPLO parts to work with the smaller standard size parts, many people are either unaware of this or uninterested in taking advantage of it. On the other hand, though, there are people who are willing to take the most outrageous DUPLO pieces and find ways to use them. In one particularly dark time for the DUPLO line, LEGO tried to rebrand it as "LEGO Explore". When parents and grandparents who aren't familiar with LEGO got confused and stopped buying LEGO as a result, LEGO quickly changed back to calling it DUPLO on the box art (the writing on top of the studs still says "LEGO" instead of "DUPLO" though - that part of the change stuck). The Explore theme had some particularly unusual subthemes: Explore Logic brought us simple programmable toys, Explore Together brought us playsets designed for multiple people, Explore Being Me brought us (apparently) educational kits and a reissue of Primo, and Explore Imagination brought us both more "normal" DUPLO sets and a series of music-making kits. Needless to say, this last subtheme is where most of the fun was. The music-making kits seem to be one of those rare items that won't really connect to "normal" parts (you build onto the music-making kits by using plugs and cartridges specially designed for them). The controls for the music-makers could be a bit annoying - the Music Twister (used in this model) in particular only allow you to "twist" a tone while a pre-programmed song plays. Some people complain that this makes the Music Twister parts "useless" (or obnoxious, especially in the hands of a real toddler), but they are wrong - see, you can use it to build an awesome space colony! Just add silos, radar dishes, a spaceman, and greebling.