" Ice-cream is exquisite - what a pity it isn't illegal."

A month or so back we received a message on our Facebook page after adding the post about our pink Lego from one of our readers Tricia. We had asked at the end of the post for any idea's on what to build next. After reading our post about building our Jokers Ice Cream truck Tricia commented "What about an ice cream shop?". I had a chat with Seth to see what he thought and after the initial excitement of someone reading our post and making a suggestion (because Seth thinks that were famous because of the blog) Seth agreed that it was a great idea, but decided that if we were going to make an Ice cream parlour it was going to be a Joker Ice cream parlour. We decided to start this build off a little different with my architect partner drawing up some plans on how he thought the final piece should look...

Seth had a few initial ideas, the first was that the entrance had a spinning door (like in the movie Elf, as he put it) and it also had to have a nose that lights up. Not a huge ask so i decided to build the revolving door first and build the rest around that. I knew that this was going to end up being a bigger build than the Jokers Fun house we had built a while back just from the doorway but we were well prepared for it. 

I made the fascia to the building first including the light up nose and as i said before the revolving door...

Once the fascia was finished i started to build backwards adding inside stairs and two side rooms for customers, then i added a base plate for the main restaurant area. Before putting in tables and chairs i wanted to add in an interesting floor design so i used a Joker face and the name 'Joker Ices'.

I then added the till area with fridge and other accessories. I had a Butcher Mini figure in my collection and he worked out really well for the cashier. Mrs M's favourite part of the build was this figure, she really loves the hat. I also tried the Joker head on the same uniform.

Seth came up with plenty of new ideas as the build progressed. It's great building with Seth because he is never short of fun ideas and things to add to get it just how he wants. This time round he lost interest on the actual building early on so became more of the foreman dishing out instructions as i built. Seth's next specification was that he wanted a security room and camera for goons to watch over the customers...

Then we moved on to an idea he had about a toilet with a trap door that went into a cell. He thought it would be really funny if the trap door sprang as the customers were having a wee.

I needed the build to be as easily accessible as possible so the boys could play with it so it needed to be pretty open. i built a large door with a clown face on for the toilet so that Seth could put the mini figures in and out easily. Its all about the playing after all.

If i was going to build a trap door with jail cell then i thought i should build Joker an office out the back of the Ice-cream parlour next to the cells. The colour scheme for Jokers office was going to be different from the whites and pinks of the restaurant but i wanted to build a fitting door for the entrance to Jokers area that also fit in with the restaurant area colours.

 

 I made the jokers area purple and green, the obvious choice really. one of my favourite smaller pieces was the jokes throne which was easy to make and was very effective. I spent days looking through our Lego for some Lego brick money and playing cards which i know we have somewhere but they seem to have vanished so i found some dynamite, kryptonite and a mug with a smiley face on for Jokers desk. After building the area i thought the walls looked a bit bare so i added some hooks to attach a skeleton to the wall (one of Jokers previous prisoners).

Well the Ice cream parlour was ready for the grand opening. Seth wanted trumpet players on the entrance so he made them for me...

The tables and chairs were built, the floors and stairs were added, all we needed now was customers and there was no shortage of them.  I loved this part of the build because adding the customers really made the build. We didn't want to discriminate only using DC mini figures so we gave all our figures chance to sample Jokers tasty Ice-creams.

The Monsters managed to get in early and snag a booth...

Darth was obviously feeling generous with his time that day as the stormtroopers were lucky enough to get a lunch break.

A couple of the Avengers got to make the most of the frozen fun although Thor wasn't best pleased with the service...

It was nice to add a few personal touches to the build too Using mini figures we had made of people that we know. Obviously Myself, Mrs M and the boys were there for the grand opening after all 'Jokers Ices' are sponsored by Giftsfromthepirates.

Our friends Chris and Michelle managed to stop by for a quick drink and an icy treat.

And even Mr McGinley, Seth's Tae kwon do teacher was seen in the queue waiting to be served

There was a steady foot flow and the counter was hectic with customers...

Mrs M even got involved making this chap who was apparently on a date (fancy hat!!)...

Mrs M was such a great help while i was building this, sorting the remainder of Seth's new Lego into colour order and finding me parts that i needed, were such a good team.

The overall thing took a week or so to make but mainly because when you have a young child running about all day it's hard to get a large chunk of time to sit down and build. We got there in the end and without wanting to toot my own horn to much i think it came out pretty good. I'll let Tricia be the judge of that though as this was all because of her idea.

The boys have had lots of fun playing with it and Seth has come up with some pretty great scenario's, he's got such a fun imagination he always makes us chuckle. Opeie loves getting involved too and he especially likes the trap door toilet. I'm sure this will keep the boys very entertained over the next few weeks.

Thanks Tricia you certainly kept us occupied x