HK photographer Ric Tse and Lego Batman ‘saves the city’ through good deeds

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Ric Tse’s online creations cause a sensation in the lead-up to release of Lego Batman movie

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A discarded cigarette is no match for the Lego Batman.

A Hong Kong photographer has created an ingenious picture series of a Lego Batman helping to do good deeds and defeat evil in the city through small acts of kindness.

Ric Tse’s amusing photographs of the tiny caped crusader have become an online sensation after he shared them on his Facebook page towards the end of last month, just ahead of the release of the hotly anticipated Lego Batman Movie on the coming Thursday.

Tse’s “Batman: Save the City” shows a miniature Batman fearlessly coming to the rescue in a range of unlikely scenarios.

One image depicts him using a watering can to extinguish a discarded lit cigarette, while another shows him preparing to paint over red graffiti scrawled in Chinese characters over a white wall.

Later, he is shown donning an industrial strength mask as he works to repair someone’s iPhone charger cable.

He is also photographed preparing to swat a fly which has annoyingly landed on someone’s biscuits, as well as sweep up sugar which has accidentally spilt next to a cup of coffee.

One shot that will amuse Hongkongers features Batman pushing an old lady in a wheelchair across a road, while a Hong Kong-style minibus and taxi wait patiently.

In other shots, Batman is seen performing more high-level rescue missions. In one image he holds up a falling skip with just his head, preventing it from falling onto a helpless construction worker underneath.

And another picture shows him wearing goggles and a bespoke swimsuit, preparing to rescue a drowning man from a lake with an inflatable duck rubber ring.

The series has so far received more than 22,000 Facebook likes and almost 100,000 shares, with users quick to shower praise on Tse’s latest work.

Max Alwani wrote: “This is brilliant! Definitely brought a smile to my face...(and a chuckle).”

Jess Tong said: “Ric, you are awesome and talented.”

And Jeremy Domingo posted: “Beautiful work, Ric! Bravo.”

Tse, a 39-year-old property manager who lives with his wife Daisy and two-year-old son, began photographing Lego as a hobby in 2009.

Speaking to the South China Morning Post, he said he intended to retain his latest photo series exclusively online and had no plans for a local exhibition.

“I am surprised by the number of likes and shares on Facebook,” he said. “I know many people like to photograph Lego, and I know people like it generally, but I did not expect this level of interest.”

Tse previously caught the attention of the international media with his Micro Legography series, which features Lego characters involved in scenarios with Hong Kong-style objects, including egg tarts and dim sum buns, which he hopes to incorprate into a book this year.

He has also used Lego to make mini street scene replicas of the 2014 Umbrella movement.

“Hong Kong is a bit messy as a society, so I wanted to show the difference people can make by doing small things,” he said. “Batman saves the city generally, but I wanted to show what he would do if he was small.”

Tse’s Batman photographs were released as Lego Batman fever began to grip Hong Kong.

At the Olympian City mall in Kowloon, a special Lego Batman installation and play area has been attracting local families.

The mall has simultaneously been offering discounts to shoppers on Lego products to mark the Lunar New Year celebrations.

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