Controversial Belfast rap group Kneecap immortalised in building … – Belfast Telegraph

The building blocks kit design appears to be based on a contentious mural unveiled by the band in west Belfast last year showing a burning police vehicle.

DUP Policing Board member Trevor Clarke said the release of the set is “particularly insensitive” and “sinister”.

‘‘At a time when police officers in Northern Ireland live under severe threat to their lives, no company should be seeking to profit from toys making light of this,” he said.

Dublin Bricks, which created the set, was set up by Gianni Clifford in 2019, stemming from his own interest in building Lego. Gianni was asked for a response to Mr Clarke’s comments.

Although not associated with Lego itself, Dublin Bricks only uses official parts in builds and sets.

A self-confessed Kneecap fan, Gianni said that he wanted to “squish this unlikely pairing” of building bricks and the Belfast group together to “offer fans of both something really unique”.

The Kneecap kit, which was released on Thursday night, includes the three band members as figurines, a police Land Rover on fire and a miniature petrol bomb accessory — which Gianni explained is actually a flaming bottle of Buckfast. Over half of the sets available have already been sold.

Gianni spoke to the band directly when designing the set and says “they were really excited about it”.

“Who is to blame them… Batman, Darth Vadar, Harry Potter, and now Kneecap — all immortalised forever!” he said, adding that the set is expected to sell out fast.

Gianni started his Instagram page — which now has almost 17,000 followers — by sharing his builds of different Dublin ‘micro-pubs’ built from the blocks.

“Initially I just shared some of my creations with my friends, but that grew with encouragement,” he said.

“After seeing them on my Instagram page, people wanted to buy sets of what I was building, so I created ‘Micro’ versions, or custom sets people could build themselves.

“Since then we’ve done over 30 sets, added people to our team, and collaborated with some amazing artists, as well as different companies both big and small.”

After starting off with pubs and different Dublin landmarks, Gianni branched into recreating famous Irish icons including The Dubliners, the characters from Father Ted, Irish President Michael D Higgins and now Kneecap.

“Mostly our sets have been Dublin or Ireland inspired, but we have lots more up our sleeve,” the talented brickmaster explained.

“I think what is most important for Dublin Bricks is that we offer people sets that are truly unique.

“As for the design process, we generally let the source material direct the design of each set.

“It’s our job to capture their magic in something people can build. Our designs need to be clearly recognisable.”

He added: “We are super fortunate that every set we’ve ever created has sold out; recent drops sold out in minutes — and hopefully this set won’t be the exception.

“We want people who want this set to have it, and have fun with it.

“With our Micro-Pub sets people love to bring them to the pub with some friends and build it over a pint.

“I think with this Kneecap set people will enjoy building it while listening to their music over a nice chilled bottle of Buckfast.”

Kneecap posted on their Instagram page that they were running a competition to give away a set to one of their fans, with the post gaining more than 6,000 likes.