Building His Dream : Boy Gets Leg Up on Competition; Now He’s a Master Lego Builder En Route to Legoland

Four-year-old Thomas Michon built himself a car out of Lego bricks that is going to fly him across the ocean to a place he has only dreamed of going to--Legoland in Denmark.

In a tense, two-hour competition in New York City, the Irvine boy won the title of master Lego builder and became one of three grand-prize winners who will fly this August to the company’s headquarters to compete internationally.

“I feel good,” Thomas said on the phone, shortly after winning. “I was a little bit nervous when some things didn’t work. But I made a car in a garage and the judges liked it.”

Thomas, who has been building trains, cars and cities with those colorful interlocking blocks since he was 3, will now face competitors from 20 countries.

But he was more excited about finally getting to visit Legoland, the company’s theme park in Denmark that contains numerous rides resembling Lego constructions, and large-scale models of Mt. Rushmore and the Statue of Liberty that are built entirely out of Legos.

Saturday’s contest, which was held at the famous F.A.O. Schwarz toy store, had nine contestants, who were divided into three age groups: 3 to 5, 6 to 9, and 10 to 14. Thomas was the only one from California.

The children were given 1,500 blocks each and told to let their imaginations run wild.

“The competition was intense, it really was,” said John F. Dion, a company spokesman. “They were very quiet and focused on their building.”

Five judges--including an architect, Lego’s chief model designer, and two toy industry free-lance writers--judged the creations for originality, technical and artistic merit, and design detail, he said.

“Thomas’ work stood out for all those reasons,” Dion said.

Thomas’ father, Ted Michon, an electrical engineer, said his son had first wanted to skip the contest when he awoke that morning. But his parents relaxed him with word games.

“He wanted to just go play,” Ted Michon said. “He was nervous. He had spent the entire day before traveling and wasn’t looking forward to another scheduled day.”

But the day’s challenges were only beginning.

Before the contest, Thomas had planned to build a blue steam engine, crossing a bridge with a boat underneath. He immediately abandoned the idea at the toy store when he realized that he lacked enough blue blocks, and decided to make a firetruck instead.

The bridge was the next complication. It collapsed five times before he gave up.

“The judges let us step in and give him a couple of hugs,” Ted Michon said.

With only an hour remaining, Thomas constructed a garage. He modified his firetruck and parked it inside. He named the piece “Alacona Car in Garage.” Alacona is the name of Thomas’s imaginary Lego city.

Thomas first received Lego blocks from his father when he was 3. He now owns over 10,000 bricks that are organized neatly in bins. His room is filled with elaborate trains that he has built.

He was chosen as one of three national champions after he submitted a picture of a design called “Two-Baby Stroller,” a two-seat, rolling stroller with a driver on top and a sunroof that tilted.