Building the Dream: East alum Octavio Galicia is campaigning for his 3D Lego model to become a real Lego set

Desk ornament turned three-month passion project turned official Lego set? Yes.

After East Alum and now freshman at University of Missouri-Kansas City, Octavio Galicia handcrafted three 3D Lego prototypes of the front full and base of a ship, his roommate wanted one of Galicia’s own digital Lego models on his desk to enjoy. As both boys loved the video game Subnautica — an adventure game taking place underwater on an alien ocean planet — and specifically the Aurora Ship in it, Galicia used his Lego expertise to build the model of it for his roommate to relish.

“Originally it was for my roommate, I wanted to create something nice for him and I also wanted that challenge as it was a much larger set than I had ever made,” Octavio said. “While I was creating it, it was amazing, I was in awe of it. And I realized I didn’t want this to go to waste. I love this design and I think a lot of people will too.”

One-hundred hours placing 1,000 individual Lego pieces, a few hours every day dedicated to working on his own digital 3D model paid off when he posted it on the Lego Ideas website on the first day of 2023 —  Legos official website where designers can send their models in hopes of receiving enough votes to legitimize it as a set. 

Octavio is at 2,149 votes as of Jan. 18, campaigning and hoping to make it a tangible Lego set you can buy in stores. He’s 20% of the way there, needing 10,000 supporters for Lego to review it and determine if it will become an official set.

In early October, Octavio taught himself how to use BrickLink’s studio software to create and put together Lego models and sets piece by piece. BrickLink allows users to digitally design any creation they want with digital, individual Lego pieces they can place to construct their design. He’s placed over 1,000 pieces starting with the base of the ship to 3D images of the full design.

He accredits his quick grip on the software to his usage of Photoshop and graphic design software. 

Once he was three months into the project, Octavio revealed it to his family — who were surprised to hear about the project for the first time. His mom, Katie Castro knew just how important it was by the eagerness in his voice when presenting the model to them.

“He showed us the 3D version of it and said how excited and proud of himself he was for doing it and showed all the details of it,” Castro said.

But as shocked as his family was to see the digital model of the ship on his computer, they couldn’t be that surprised — he’s been remodeling and revamping Lego sets since he was five. 

“He would build off of Lego sets we had growing up,” his brother and senior Roberto Galicia said. “He would build off the pre-existing sets and make them better by adding his own craftsmanship to them.”

While constantly playing with sets as a kid, he also discovered a fascination with the designs and intricacies of the Legos, specifically in his Ninjago sets, even participating in a Lego building competition at age seven. 

“He didn’t win and he was of course devastated and not happy about it,” Castro said. “But I think something, in a way, stuck with him. He realized other things he could build and create.”

Now he’s more focused on the design and detail of his model, like the four thrusters on the back and front of the ship and its blimp shape.

With every milestone of supporters, the designer receives more days to collect signatures. Galicia has reached milestones like 100 votes on the first day he posted it and 1,000 votes within four days of posting it. By focusing on the project, promoting it and campaigning for it on social media platforms and staying dedicated to it. 

“Seeing him turn something from what he enjoyed as a kid growing up and a hobby into a passion is amazing,” Castro said. “Most kids find that hobby but don’t move it on to something else. But it’s stuck with him and it’s time-consuming, tedious work but it’s those things that excite him and make him happy.”

In order to complete his goal, he’s made it an undertaking. From creating Instagram and TikTok pages dedicated to the model, posting and promoting it on social media and constantly sharing the website to family and friends, his dedication is obvious to everyone surrounding him.

“Every time he hits one of the milestones of supporters, he makes sure he shares with everybody,” Roberto said. “He posts, he texts people individually, posts on his Instagram, posts on his Instagram story and sends it to the family group chat to let everybody know this is truly something special.”