BrickJournal Journal

LEGO Contest!

2011-08-30T12:23:00.001-04:00

LEGO is asking consumers ages 6 + to design a LEGO themed postage stamp to be featured on the Late Holiday Catalogue .

For each country there will be 50 finalists selected to receive a copy of 10222. 25 will be for ages 6-14 and 25 will be from ages 15 & up. From the 50 finalists, 1 grand prize winner will be selected per country. In addition to a copy of 10222 – Winter Village Post Office, grand prize winners will have their stamp design featured on the late holiday catalog for their country along with a professionally designed and framed LEGO mosaic of their design.

Where: The US/UK/Germany. These are the only countries that mail a late holiday catalogue
When: We will be accepting entries for the contest September 1-30 and selecting the finalists & winners for each country the first week of October.
How: Consumers must simply visit shop.LEGO.com/Design-Challenge (Germany: shop.LEGO.com/Designwettbewerb) to download the official entry form. They or their parent/guardian must complete the form and email it along with their stamp design to the email address designated for their country. No purchase is required and there will be no physical entries collected.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

It's all in the details!

2011-04-07T14:10:00.001-04:00

2, originally uploaded by Nebraska's MOC.

Take a look at this complete diorama, with lighting by Lifelites (Rob Hendrix). Beautiful use of lighting and building technique. The rest of this gallery shows off more of the model!

Building Thoughts: Bricks of Character

2011-04-04T05:27:00.001-04:00

One of the things that I get to do as a sorta-journalist is watch and find out about building trends in the community. While there are constant themes, trains and space come to mind right off the bat, there are those builders that don't fit the general themes. This is a good thing overall, as no builder should be pigeonholed in a theme, unless they want to be. I started as a space builder, then wandered to micro scale, then to MINDSTORMS, and now just a LEGO builder.

Anyways, a relatively new trend is Bricks of Character. started by Iain Heath and Tommy Williamson, this is a theme that is not based on a genre or theme, like Space or Train, but based on building characters. It's a little tough to explain in words, so here are some pics:

Jack Sparrow, built by Erik Varszegi, LEGO Master Builder.

Ponyo, built by Iain Heath

Marvel CubeDudes(tm), built by Angus MacLane

Jack Sparrow and Barbossa, built by Tommy Williamson

Each one of these are wildly different building styles, from realistic life size to almost miniland scale to caricatured scale, but each has a common thread - they are all character builds.

The first display of Bricks of Character was at BrickCon 2009, and in a couple of years has grown to a major display at the event. Part of the reason behind this is that the theme allows a wide assortment of models. The models above could show up at the display, but so could miniland models of TV characters and cartoon icons. Video game figures have also appeared.

The other factor behind the popularity of the theme is that a model often doesn't have to be that big to display, making it a perfect thing to take to a convention. A miniland model can easily fit in a bag and be assembled on site in a short time.

So how do you build something like this?

Tinkerbell, by Janey Cook

Well, here are some general steps, which may be helpful.

1. Determine your scale and color. This is the most important part of the building, because it's REALLY annoying when the part you need is not in the right color at all. Scale is good to figure out the resulting size.

2. Sketch what you want to build first on blank paper, then on graph paper. The best models are not simple standing poses, except for CubeDudes. A character is partially defined by the pose, as shown in Jack and Ponyo and Tink and the pirates above.

Using graph paper is good to transfer and start figuring out building techniques. LEGO-scaled graph paper can be found here.

Things to think about while sketching: the pose of the figure and how curvy you will need to build. Curves will define much of your building challenges, so decide beforehand how will work with or without curves.

3. Build and explore. The larger the scale, the more likely the building solution will be easy to find. However, that will mean more parts will be needed. The smaller scale will also make you think of different building techniques - it's a good way to learn Studs Not on Top building.

Because this is usually exploring, the expectation of building it right on the first try should be low. One technique may have to make way for another, and colors may have to be changed for parts availability. Patience is a nice thing to have:-).

I built Black Canary over the span of a couple of nights - I had to learn how to build a stable pose for her. Once I figured out her legs, it wasn't any easier figuring her hair, which could stand another revision.

A note here: if your want to really make it complicated, incorporate curves! Put another way, the female form is probably the hardest to build in LEGO elements. Be extra patient.

If you want to look at some galleries with Bricks of Character, you can look at:

Tommy Williamson's Flickr gallery
Iain Heath's gallery
My galleries: look in BrickCon 2009 and 2008
Angus MacLane's gallery

Take a look at their work, and see what you can do. I look forward to seeing your work online or at an event!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

How Specific do you Sort?

2011-03-10T01:06:00.001-05:00

In the LEGO library, there are thousands of parts that are created for all the sets, from mini figure accessories to simple bricks. When keeping a small collection, there are only a limited number of parts to sort, but as the collection grows, so does the assortment. This inevitably leads to sorting challenges.

For most of us, we don't have the space to make room for every individual part, so we combine in some way. I combine my parts in two different ways:

COLOR

With my plates, I combine colors that are distinct together - the size is easy to recognize, and color is even easier. Here, I start with 1x2 plates and go to 2 x 8 plates at the end. Larger plates are in bins under my work surface. The bottom row has my exotic colors - the ones that I probably will not use. When I need large plates or run out of a color in a drawer, I have a couple of overflow bins to search.

The bottom left drawer has all my small rounded slopes. I don't have these sorted by color either. I am not that organized:-)! I do have my 2 x bricks separated by color in bins, though.

For specialty parts, though, I use a slightly different strategy.

I group similar parts together. These are parts that have the clip handles in some way or form. The only exception is that control brick element in the foreground, which needs to be somewhere else! All the other parts are there for two reasons:

1. They are easier to find in a group than separately. This is especially applicable when I only have a few parts.

2. Grouping encourages my creativity by letting me see more than one option to a part.

Here's another example. Headlight bricks and SNOT bricks in the same drawer. The different options from sunk-in stud to studs on more than one side, give me a variety of ways to mount parts by the side, and in some cases, more than one side.

This system seems to work for me most of the time, although I am in the process of migrating the most used parts to the drawers to build more efficiently. Developing your own sorting setup and system will take a little time, as you have to see what parts you use the most to determine what goes where. Also, if you are a more precise builder, you'll probably want more specific bins and drawers. Keep in mind that this will expand your work area, though. A former AFOL I knew had an entire basement set aside for building, and his walls were lined with drawers of parts.

So how do you sort?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Going a New Direction...

2011-03-06T03:51:00.001-05:00

The blog has been quiet for a while, and it's been bothering me. I take care of a website, a magazine, and this blog, not to mention my Facebook account. My primary focus is the mag, then website, then here...which means that the blog is often forgotten in the din.

It doesn't help that I place news on the website...that usually leaves very little here. Until I started getting requests and questions about building and other aspects of the hobby. It was these notes and a academic paper about the AFOL community that I read that made me realize that while blogs show cool MOCs and photos, there is almost no explanation as to the building methods.

As a result, I decided to make this blog a place to show building methods and how to do things with LEGO elements. Any person can become an expert builder with practice and understanding of this medium. I hope to start showing and maybe teaching here for those who are curious about how it's done.

But first, a disclaimer: any ideas and thoughts here concerning building and things associated with it are NOT definitive. You, as the reader, are allowed and encouraged to use these thoughts as guidelines to help your building. There is no right way to build, but there is YOUR way. Make that way the best for YOU.

Okay, so here goes the first subject:

SORTING...

Yeah, this is part of my workspace. I showed a pic of a model, and some people were impressed more with the wall in the background. It looks nice, but it needs to be changed.

Workspace sorting is a necessary evil in building. The big trick is to figure out how precise you want to be. Other factors play a part in this too, such as what themes you build in. I have seen workshops that had a million parts placed in drawers that were sorted by color and unique parts. In Billund, they have drawers that have compartments for every part, and they take up walls of space. In other places in the LEGO Group, there are walls of bins with parts. Each place has an overall plan to their organization so builders can find and get what they want easily.

For a beginning builder, the first question to answer is: What do you want to build? Building castles is different from building spaceships, so what you keep at close hand will be different. Here's some general examples of parts and colors used by different themes:

Space: greys, plates, 1 stud width bricks, specialty pieces
Town: primary colors, tan, grey, bricks 1 and 2 wide, chairs, doors, windows
Castle: greys, castle walls, bricks,
Micro: specialty parts, plates

Your theme specialty will determine what needs to be in the priority areas of your workspace. After all, you don't want to waste time looking for a part. My original plan was meant for making spaceships, so plates and detail parts were front and center. But my collection outgrew what I started with...

This is what has become of my 1 x 2 plates. Not useful for quick building, so I gotta fix this....

SHELVES

Shelves are the easiest way to organize. The wall behind my work area has these, and you can get them at Wal-Mart or Home Depot for under $20.

The more drawers you have, the more precise you can be. This can be very helpful - if you take a look at the shelf above, you'll see that I go from smallest to largest plates : 1 x 2, 2 x 3, 2 x 4, 2 x 6, 2 x 8. Larger plates are at the bottom drawer. You'll also notice that I place more than one color in each drawer. I'd do that to minimize drawers, or else I would have many more shelves!

Now, remember that drawer of 1 x 2 plates? You can make things much easier and faster by putting them in drawers, like so:

The most important thing in building is knowing where your parts are, and a shelf is a good start!

As you buy more parts, you're going to max out the drawers though. One thing I did was keep some Bionicle containers for storage:

That way, I can see the parts, the containers stack, and I can get the parts out relatively quickly.

Next size up is a shoebox:

I have a shelf for these beside my workspace. And after that, I have double shoeboxes, mostly for bricks :

The problem I have now is that the parts I use often are not in the shelf, but in the shoeboxes. I need to make room in the shelves I have for those parts.

I also have some plastic containers for some specialty parts. Keep in mind that you want your most used parts close and in front of you.

Questions? Comments? Builders are encouraged to talk about their organization for their elements. Everyone has a different style of building and sorting, so take note!

I'll answer these questions, but also send me questions about building. I will post the answers here. Hope to hear from y'all soon!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Have a contest for y'all...

2011-01-10T23:29:00.000-05:00

I got a set of 3 Smallworks iPhone cases (transparent, black, and white) to give away, so I am doing a sorta quick building contest. What do you need to build? A phone. Or rather, what you think a phone will become in a decade. You can use real bricks, or LEGO DIgital Designer, or LDraw - this is open! Send photos of what you think a phone will become to (admin at brickjournal dot com) by January 31, 2011 and the best three will get a random Smallworks case...and if they are good enough, I'll publish them in BrickJournal. If you haven't an iPhone, I do have some other prizes that I have on hand. I'll announce those later. Questions? Drop me a line at the address above. If not - have fun and good luck!!

Notes from all around...

2011-01-10T20:35:00.000-05:00

LEGOLAND Florida $99 Preview Annual Pass Offer Extended
from LEGOLAND Florida Marketing

Polk County, FL (January 5, 2011) -- Due to popular demand, LEGOLAND® Florida has extended its discount on general admission tickets and Standard Annual Passes through April 2011. Central Florida’s newest full-day, family theme park, scheduled to open in October 2011, announced the extension after a hugely successful December sales period. Formerly expected to end on December 31, 2010 – guests will now be able to get the special rate through April 30, 2011.

Available only at www.LEGOLAND.com, general admission tickets are $65 for adults and $55 for children and seniors. Standard Annual Passes are offered at the children’s prices of $99 with no Blackout Dates! Plus Annual Passes and Ambassador lifetime passes are also available at the non-discounted rates of $159/$129 and $2,500 respectively. These passes includes unlimited admission, discounts on preferred parking, special events, plus discounts on food and merchandise. (Prices do not include sales tax.)

Star Wars Invades LEGOLAND California
from LEGOLAND California

CARLSBAD, Calif. (Jan. 6, 2011) – In March 2011, LEGOLAND® California is introducing an all-new, dedicated STAR WARS Miniland area for the very first time! Guests can enjoy seven of the most famous scenes from the six live-action STAR WARS movies, as well as a scene from the animated series STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS™  all made out of 1.5 million LEGO® bricks built in 1:20 scale. Guests will be further immersed into the STAR WARS experience as they pose with life-size LEGO models of Chewbacca, R2-D2 and Darth Vader.

Master Model Builders Stephan Bentivoglio (right) and Martin Albert (left) from LEGOLAND® Germany building the prototype of a LEGO® Millenium Falcon for LEGOLAND California’s new Miniland STAR WARS area. Photo courtesy of LEGOLAND California Resort.

Following a chronological path through the STAR WARS timeline, LEGOLAND guests retrace the major events of the beloved Saga. Some of the 2,000 LEGO models will be more than 6-feet-tall. Interactive buttons will allow children to activate animations throughout the scenes. “Our guests have really enjoyed our LEGO STAR WARS Days over the years and we’re certain this new area is going to ignite the imaginations of adults and children alike,” said General Manager of LEGOLAND California, Peter Ronchetti. “We are opening this STAR WARS Miniland display just in time for spring break.”

LifeLites Tricked Out Sleigh Contest

2010-12-23T20:01:00.000-05:00

Santa needs your help! It seems his sleigh is in the shop just in time for Christmas and he needs you to build him one pronto! So, build your best, wackiest, most tricked out, sci-fi, or anything else kind of sleigh that you can think of and post it to the LifeLites Tricked Out Sleigh Flickr Group and you might win Santa's approval (and a prize)!
You are allowed to use some non-LEGO parts in your mostly LEGO built sleigh.

Prizes will be given away to the best sleigh for the following categories:
Wackiest - The one that makes Santa laugh the hardest!
Most realistic - Let's face it, Santa's sleigh *IS* real!
Most tricked out - Pimp my sleigh!
Crowd Pleaser - Flickr commenters unite!

Rules:
Entries must be posted to the Flickr Group by 12-31-2010 11:59PM GST.
You may only enter something that you have built and it must have not been built prior to this contest.
You may enter as many times as you wish.
Sleigh must be minifig scale.

Prizes will be kits from LifeLites with a Christmas twist. Good Luck!
Winners will be picked after the close of the contest and will be notified via Flickr mail.

Good luck!

Note: To enter, you need to load your photo in the LifeLites Tricked Out Sleigh Flickr Group. To do that, you need to join the group here.

Thanks to Rob Hendrix for sponsoring this contest!

LEGOLAND Florida Hard Hat Tour

2010-10-21T10:42:00.037-04:00

Today, LEGOLAND Florida is hosting a hard hat tour right now, and BrickJournal has two reporters, Todd Thuma and Robin Werner, onsite. They will be sending a report in the next day, but in the meantime, here are some photos being sent from the tour so far:

The venue for the beginning presentation in Winter Haven, Florida. The presentation began at 10 am, and set up looked a little like this:

Outside the theater

Inside the theater, with models built from the LEGOLAND California Model Shop.

LEGOLAND Florida General Manager Adrian Jones presenting.

Admission for the park will be $65 adult/ $55 child

The presentation showed artist's conceptions of the various lands being built at the park:

We'll start at, well, the Beginning:

This is the entrance and will have a shop and restaurant.

The next section is

Next is

and

then

followed by

continuing to

then

and

and finally

Those attending got a miniland figure:

Press release will be at BrickJournal.com!

New Harry Potter Set Due in 2011!

2010-10-01T12:37:00.000-04:00

From Julie Stern of the LEGO Group:

10217 – Diagon Alley™

Ages 14+. 2,025 pieces.

US $ 149.99 CA $ 199.99 UK £ 132.75 DE 149.99 €

Expand your very own wizarding world of Harry Potter™!

No need to pass through the Leaky Cauldron. Now even Muggles can shop in Diagon Alley by building this fantastically magical set that includes 3 extensively detailed buildings and 11 minifigures! Join Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger as they shop for their Hogwarts school supplies. Visit Ollivanders, Borgin and Burkes, and Gringotts Bank. Each Diagon Alley building is realistically detailed. Ollivanders offers an extensive selection of wands, storage shelves and a step ladder that allows Ollivander to gather wands from the top floor. The front desk has an “exploding” function for those inconvenient times when a spell goes awry. Borgin and Burkes includes a scary skeleton, “glow-in-the-dark” elements, a fireplace attached to the Floo Network and a Vanishing Cabinet that Dark wizards might use to sneak into Hogwarts. Gringotts Bank is an impressive two-story building with large double doors, and can be opened completely into one large building or closed to create one smaller building. The bank’s interior features a removable vault, along with the Philosopher’s Stone, a clerk’s desk, a chandelier and ‘wonky’ support pillars. Includes 11 minifigures: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, each with magic wand; Rubeus Hagrid, equipped with his pink umbrella; Fred and George Weasley; 2 Gringotts goblins; Mr. Ollivander; Lucius Malfoy (with Death Eater disguise); Fenrir Greyback; and 4 new, decorated owls.

· Includes 11 minifigures: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, each with magic wand; Rubeus Hagrid, equipped with his pink umbrella; Fred and George Weasley; 2 Gringotts goblins; Mr. Ollivander; Lucius Malfoy (with Death Eater disguise); Fenrir Greyback; and 4 new, decorated owls!

· Diagon Alley is made up of 3 extensively detailed buildings: Ollivanders, Borgin and Burkes and Gringotts Bank!

· Ollivanders features lots of wands, storage shelves and a step ladder that leads to the top floor!

· Front desk at Ollivanders has an “exploding” function!

· Borgin and Burkes includes a skeleton, “glow-in-the-dark” elements, fireplace attached to the Floo Network and even a Vanishing Cabinet!

· Gringotts Bank is a two-story building featuring large double doors!

· Open Gringotts Bank completely into one large building and explore inside or close it to create a smaller building!

· Gringotts Bank features a detailed interior with a removable vault, the Philosopher’s Stone, clerk’s desk, chandelier and ‘wonky’ support pillars!

· Ollivanders measures 8" (20 cm) high and 5" (13 cm) wide!

· Borgin and Burkes measures 8" (20 cm) high and 7" (18 cm) wide!

· Gringotts Bank measures 8" (21 cm) high and 4" (10 cm) wide when closed, 8" high and 9" (23 cm) wide when opened wide!

· Completed model (depending on how much space is allocated between individual parts) measures 24" (60 cm) long and 12" (30 cm) deep and 8" (21 cm) high!

Available for order directly through LEGO^® beginning
January 2011 via shop.LEGO.com or via phone:

US Contact Center 1-800-453-4652

CA (English) Contact Center 1-800-453-4652

CA (French) Contact Center 1-877-518-5346

European Contact Center 00-800-5346-1111

Celebration V Cube Dudes

2010-08-13T13:41:00.001-04:00

DSC01977, originally uploaded by mhuffman.

Angus MacLane's Cube Dudes make another appearance at Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando!

Build London’s famous Tower Bridge!

2010-08-06T16:53:00.000-04:00

10214 – Tower Bridge
Ages 16+. 4,287 pieces.

Available in October, 2010

Stretching over the River Thames since 1894, the famous Tower Bridge of London, England is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world. Now you can add this timeless classic to your LEGO world buildings collection! Designed with advanced building techniques and rare colors and elements, the Tower Bridge is complete with its iconic paired towers and a drawbridge that really opens. Fun to build and display, it locks together solidly but can be taken apart in sections for easy transport. Includes 4 miniature vehicles; a black London taxi, a traditional red double-decker bus, a yellow truck and a green automobile. Completed model measures 40" (102 cm) long, 17" (45 cm) high and 10" (26 cm) wide.
·         Includes 4 miniature vehicles: a black London taxi, a yellow truck, green automobile and even a traditional red double-decker bus!
·         Features the iconic paired towers and a drawbridge that really opens and closes!
·         Includes unique printed shield!
·         Features hundreds of 1x1 slopes in tan!
·         Many useful arches, angular bricks in tan!
·         Includes 4 blue base plates and over 80 windows!
·         Tower Bridge is ideal for building and display – it can be taken apart in sections for easy transport!
·         Add this amazing landmark to your LEGO world buildings collection!
·         Completed model measures an impressive 40" (102 cm) long, 17" (45 cm) high and 10" (26 cm) wide

Available for order directly through LEGO® beginning
October 2010 via shop.LEGO.com or via phone

VIola and Builder at Brickfair

2010-08-06T11:02:00.001-04:00

DSC00067, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

The viola was built by Cindy English, and this was her first real build. The only non-LEGO elements on the model are the strings.

San Diego Comic Con Exclusive

2010-07-19T19:43:00.000-04:00

Sold as a set by lottery. 450 will be available every day. Angus MacLane will also be at the booth to sign at certain hours.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

LEGO Survey...

2010-07-13T10:32:00.000-04:00

This is a bit late, but it's been busy at BrickJournal Central...

From Jim Foulds,
Community Operations Manager
Community Dev. Americas & Australia

The LEGO Group Wants to Hear From You!

As Adult or Teenage Fans of LEGO, you bring an important perspective to the LEGO Group. We respect your creativity and passion for the LEGO brand.

Since December 2008, we have done quarterly online surveys to learn more about the needs and wishes of global AFOL (defined as ages 20+) and TFOL (defined as ages 13-19) communities. For your information, we have listed the key findings from the latest survey in April 2010 below. Now we ask you to take the survey again. It include some of the same questions, but also a set of new questions for you.

Please take a few moments to complete this short online survey to let us know your opinion about the LEGO Group.

You might notice that the link refers to the LEGO Kids Inner Circle; this is because Satmetrix, which hosts that site, is also supporting our efforts to track AFOL/TFOL opinions. Rest assured that this survey is for AFOL’s and TFOLs only.

Here are some of the key findings from the first quarter 2010 survey:

· The survey was completed by 3.750 AFOLs and TFOLs. 33% of respondents were TFOLs, 67% was AFOLs. When asked about likeliness to recommend LEGO products and services to friends and family, AFOLs are (consistent with the previous surveys) more likely to recommend than TFOLs.

Several TFOLs this time expressed disappointment with the discontinuation of the Bionicle line. When asked what the LEGO Group can do to improve willingness to recommend, most frequent answers center around request for more complex/modular sets, re-release of classic sets, teen/adult focused section on LEGO.com and better pricing.

· In this survey we asked some questions specifically about online behavior. Interestingly we found that both AFOLs and TFOLs are more creative and conversational than average online population. They are very active on forums, blogs and social network sites, but not using Twitter much. Putting the data into the Forrester Social Technographics Ladder, we got the following results:

o Around 40% of AFOLs/TFOLs fit the categories of Creators and Conversationalists (average for US online population is around 30%). We compare to US online population just because we do not have comparable numbers for e.g. Europe or Asia.

o Around 70% of AFOLs/TFOLs fit the category of “Critics” (average for US online population is less than 40%). Surprising?:-)

Very interesting findings, so we will follow up with some more questions about online behavior in this 2nd quarter survey.

Thank you,
The LEGO Community Team

Alex Taylor: Crane Builder

2010-07-04T16:17:00.001-04:00

Occupying one of tables by the wall at Brickworld was a couple of cranes built by Alex Taylor.

His models are neat because they are functioning cranes, with pulleys and turntables and drives to work them. A couple of years ago, he built a crane with a span of over five feet! This year, though, he decided to be a little more portable.

These are to minifigure scale, and the model above was lit with LEDs from Rob Hendrix (Brickmodder). The dumper works and is kept closed with magnets. A pulley opens up the dumper when needed. The controls can be seen behind the crane...two Power Functions remotes put together.

Alex's next project (he's thinking) will be another crane, but larger. Much larger. A car will easily fit in the dumper of the next one!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Build on the Spot Results

2010-07-04T01:35:00.010-04:00

When last we left Brickworld, there was a competition going on with the robotics builders....

The rules stated that points would be given to the blocks moved to the score zone, and stacked. However, it quickly became clear that the rules were a little 'fuzzy.' Two strategies were used for most of the robots: move as many of the blocks to the score zone, without stacking, and stacking in small stacks.

There were a couple of unique robots. One, built by team college students Jay Kinzie, Peter Ehrlich, and Jessica Reams actually stacked a group of small blocks. The other, built by MINDSTORMS builder Steve Hassenplug, had a box that had sloped sides and a catapult. The box was moved to the score zone and the catapult threw blocks in. This was a clever solution, however, it did wreak havoc on the rules, as it brought to question what defines a stack.

The scorekeeper was Brian Davis, who unfortunately, didn't see the rules given out...so scores became a messy thing, as they were determined by multipliers and stacks and...

The competition went late into the night, and the winner announced at the awards ceremony was the Jay's, Peter's and Jessica's stackerbot. In terms of construction, it was the most complex of all the bots in terms of tasks, although there was another that used the table side to slide along and stack blocks built by Ron McRae.

All in all, it was neat to see robots for a challenge built within a few hours - and it was cool to see different solutions used.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Build on the Spot Robotic Challenge at Brickworld

2010-07-01T00:23:00.001-04:00

Thursday was the day that the Build on the Spot (BOTS) challenge happened.

This was a competition that was open for MINDSTORMS builders and had the following rules:

Entrants brought in their own parts and NXT components and came in with no completed models. All models were to be built in the span of approximately 5 hours.

Robots had to be able to move blocks of two different sizes from their edge zones on the tables to the middle zones adjacent to them. Points were awarded to blocks in the scoring zone, and if stacked, more points could be gathered. A few of the smaller blocks also were multipliers if stacked. All of this was done in a timeframe of 2 minutes.

After the rules were explained and clarified, the room suddenly became full of activity, as you can see below:

There were more than ten teams, and all of them had different approaches to solving this challenge. Some focused on getting as many blocks to the scoring zone. Others believed that a stackerbot would be able to get the points for a win. Regardless, it would take some time to build.

From there, it became a matter of practice and testing, as seen below.

Stacking proved to be difficult, as a first block had to be placed to stack on. From there, others were placed on top. The general strategy for the stackers were to only drive forward to place, then reverse to get another block. The teams could not bring a stack of blocks and place them in the score zone...they had to be done one by one.

A much easier strategy was to just have the bot push the blocks to the score zone, making the score based on quantity of blocks, as opposed to having a stack.

These strategies had to be determined and bots built within the few hours of the construction phase. That night, the competitions were done at another table in another room...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Minifigures 3

2010-06-29T00:38:00.000-04:00

So there's more minifigures in Series 2, so here's some more pics...

Lifeguard! The initials on the suit are those of one of the sculptors who worked on these. In fact, many of the names of the designers were slipped on the minifigs... The rescue float is a new part.

And with lifeguard, a surfer dude. With new surfboard.

Skier - with new skis and ski poles. What's really neat about this guy is that the skis fit together so they can be held by one minifigure hand, and the ski poles attach together and can be held by the other.

A better look at the Karate Kid. And his trophy.

And the pharoah. With scepter.

This isn't a complete listing of the minifigures coming out, as I took more pix. Look for them soon at the BrickJournal website!

Minifigures 2...

2010-06-27T00:01:00.000-04:00

So here are some more photos of minifigures from Series 2.

First up, the vampire.

He's a figure that has the bat that has been around for a while.

Now, the Pop Tart:

New 'do and a microphone! You can also see the weightlifter in the foreground and the DJ and witch behind.

And last for this note,

the Karate Kid. Check out his trophy!

More coming soon....

Minifigures...

2010-06-25T02:07:00.000-04:00

I got to see some upcoming minifigures a little while ago on a business trip and got the following pics.

These are the Series 2 figs, and there are more coming. Expected date is September, although I would expect them to be out a little earlier. I don't know if Europe will be releasing early, like the previous wave, which was a month before the US.

The figure to the left is a Spartan, with spear, shield and helmet. Because of all the accessories, this one is among the most expensive and will probably be the rarest of the second wave.

Oh, the mime. With a beret and three faces.

Mexican with maracas! And they are colored!

More coming!

Brickworld

2010-06-25T01:08:00.000-04:00

It started with a crowd...

on the Wednesday before the event started.

Almost 800 LEGO fans young and old drove, flew, or found some way to get to Chicago, Illinois to attend Brickworld 2010, one of the largest LEGO fan events in the United States. In the three years since Brickworld began, the event has grown to massive proportions, overtaking the space of it's host hotel.

Setup took place over the days before the weekend - Saturday and Sunday served as public display days. In the days before, though, setup wasn't the only thing going on. On Wednesday, there was a game

The Monster Chess game that has been seen online went through a rehearsal at the hotel restaurant. The bodies of the chess pieces weren't placed yet, but were marked by mosaics of their 3D counterparts. The man standing in the back is Steve Hassenplug, the leader of the team that built the set.

Here's what the interior of a chess piece looks like. The big brick on the side is an NXT brick - the brains of the piece. The wheels are on the top and bottom.

Another view of the game.

On Thursday, there was more, as presentations and workshops took place, such as:

Arthur Gugick talking about LEGO architecture. This seminar had about 150 attendees.

Here he is with some of his models.

There were models starting to show up for display too.

As well as other models, like this RC car built with LEGO components.

But there's more. Stay tuned.

Peeking at Brickworld

2010-06-11T23:38:00.000-04:00

The largest LEGO fan convention in the US is going to be happening in Chicago next week! there will be hundreds of attendees showing up with their models. I go there every year, mostly to see what's up and to meet fellow fans. This year, there are some things that will be going on that will be worth going to:

1. Monster chess. Developed by MINDSTORMS genius Steve Hassenplug and a team of fellow NXT builders, this FUNCTIONING chess game features LEGO renditions of pawns, rooks and knights, do name a few chess parts. You can see all the information and video here.

2. The boat race. Ever see a LEGO boat in competition? You will here.

3. City of Lights.

One night, attendees get to see the lights go down and many models lit internally.

I will be there this year taking pics and video, so start looking here for news during the event!

Another Prince of Persia video!

2010-05-28T10:05:00.000-04:00

From Julie Stern, LEGO Brand Relations

The Fastest and Funniest LEGO Star Wars story ever told

2010-05-04T11:25:00.000-04:00

From Julie Stern, LEGO Brand Relations:

Very funny!

DSC04142retoc

2010-05-01T21:16:00.001-04:00

DSC04142retoc, originally uploaded by Henrik Hoexbroe.

The Disneyland riverboat Mark Twain, built by Henrik Hoexbroe of HISPAbrick! Gorgeous work, including an interior!

New video!

2010-04-26T11:02:00.000-04:00

BrickJournal 10 is Out Digitally

2010-04-22T05:56:00.000-04:00

and there's an article on Jordan Schwartz's rendition of Rapunzel's Tower, as well as a talk with the designers of the Atlantis sets!

Other articles include a spotlight on Brickset.com and instructions on making miniland scale figures and a sliding puzzle!

The printed magazine will be out soon!

Moonbots Interview with Steven Canvin from LEGO

2010-04-20T22:15:00.000-04:00

A new competition for MINDSTORMS builders!

Tinkerbell

2010-04-19T11:06:00.001-04:00

Tinkerbell, originally uploaded by jedimasterwagner.

Yeah, I'm a Disney fan. Doing a female character in LEGO form is always tough, but this builder pulls it off very well!

The Force is Strong in This one!

2010-04-05T16:37:00.001-04:00

jedi_mickey_02, originally uploaded by GeekyTom.

LEGO. Disney. Star Wars.

Cool.

Lit LEGO Model Interiors with ModuLites!

2010-04-02T14:28:00.001-04:00

One thing that has been a challenge for LEGO builder is lighting. The LEGO Group had lighting sets but discontinued them years ago, with only light bricks for Power Functions remaining. In their place, there have been a few people that have created light kits for LEGO creations.

Rob Hendrix, known as Brickmodder, and Stuart Guarnieri have been on the forefront of lighting kits, and their newest kit, the Modulite, is designed to light interiors.

These kits are compatible with other e-Lite kits by Rob and Stuarts's company, Lifelites and can be chained together to light larger models.

The Modulite kit has three light boards, 2 6-inch extension cables, and a battery box that uses 2 AAA batteries. Price is $15.00 plus shipping and orders can be taken here.

Good work, guys!

EDIT: Added Stuart Guarnieri - my apologies for not including him!

ARNIFORNIA!

2010-03-26T10:20:00.001-04:00

ARNIFORNIA!, originally uploaded by Ochre Jelly.

Iain strikes again with his caricatures!

AFOL Display in Megacon, Orlando, Florida

2010-03-19T00:32:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, there was a LEGO fan display at Orlando, Florida at Megacon, a science-fiction convention. Members of the Geater Florida LEGO Users group made a layout of many models, as you'll see here...

Felix Greco, the guy interviewed, is an AFOL who has done some writing for BrickJournal. He also created Sea Monkeys!

Here's another video:

Great display!

AFOL: A Blocumentary

2010-02-19T23:19:00.000-05:00

A great video about AFOLs - it's pretty muc a who's who of the community in Seattle!

AFOL A Blocumentary from AFOL on Vimeo.

Hat tip to David Pagano.

Another photo from Toy Fair...

2010-02-15T20:27:00.001-05:00

DSC00624, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

A Harry Potter game! Neat!

DSC01075

2010-02-15T11:25:00.001-05:00

DSC01075, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

From Toy Fair...

LEGO Licensing had a booth for the first time at Toy Fair. There's an amazing amount of new items being shown that are on sale overseas. Here's some cards from Hallmark UK. LEGO is in talks to get this selling in the US.

Hexapod NXT Walker

2010-02-06T20:03:00.000-05:00

Built by Gus Janssen, this is a model that not only walks, but steers!

Hat tip to the NXT Step blog!

WIRED talks about community producers

2010-01-26T21:57:00.006-05:00

Chris Anderson, WIRED Editor, talks about custom production and highlights a couple of great examples that we know! Congrats!

Tip of the hat to WIRED.com and WIRED Magazine!

Legoland Florida: Details of new Legoland park revealed - OrlandoSentinel.com

2010-01-21T12:42:00.002-05:00

This was first broken last night, but here's the official news:

Legoland Florida: Details of new Legoland park revealed - OrlandoSentinel.com

Posted using ShareThis

LEGO Mosaic at Festival of the Masters 2009

2010-01-14T16:16:00.000-05:00

The public took part in making a mosaic during Festival of the Masters at Walt Disney World's Downtown Disney. Here's a video from the Disney Parks Blog showing what went on...

Hat tip to Disney Parks!

CES 10: Walkthrough Part I GameTrailers.com

2010-01-14T09:51:00.001-05:00

CL!CK!

2010-01-12T00:06:00.000-05:00

From Julie Stern, LEGO Brand Relations:

GREAT IDEAS JUST CLICK: LEGO SYSTEMS LAUNCHES PROGRAM TO CELEBRATE MOMENTS OF INSPIRATION

-LEGO® Photo, the First Official LEGO iPhone Application, Available for Free Download-

-Original Short Film and Blog Among First Components of Campaign to Deliver Content, Experiences, Tools, Contests and More-

ENFIELD, Conn. (January 11, 2010) – Think of that little bolt of excitement that hits when the solution to a problem suddenly becomes clear. That’s a CLICK moment in action. Consider times when a great idea comes out of the shadows of the brain and needs to be shared. That’s a CLICK moment, too. Today, LEGO Systems launches a program to celebrate and foster these “CLICK moments”, jump-started by the company’s announcement of its first official iPhone application, LEGO® Photo, available for free at the iTunes App Store.

The hub of the program, www.LEGOCLICK.com, is a virtual canvas of ideas, inspired moments, quirky stories, solutions and tips from serial CLICKers designed to celebrate and inspire CLICK moments of all types.

“We hope to motivate people to recognize, embrace, share and yes, chase, those unpredictable but powerful light bulb moments in life when things just CLICK,” said Michael McNally, brand relations director at LEGO Systems, Inc. “Exploring your imagination from a young age, daring to realize your ideas, creating stories and uses for what you create, solving problems that no one knew existed – this is the stuff of LEGO play, and is exactly what leads to a lifetime of CLICK moments.”

LEGO Photo iPhone Application
LEGO Photo is an application for iPhone and works with the iPhone and saved images on an iPod touch that lets consumers immortalize their favorite things – or their own CLICK moments – in LEGO form. Users can simply choose a photo from an existing gallery or point the camera to snap a photo then touch the screen to watch their masterpiece build. Additional screen taps shows portraits in nine different color palette options. Celebrating CLICK portraits is easy. Users can upload to a social networking page, email it to grandparents and friends, print it--even tweet it using #legoclick.

LEGO Photo is available for free download from the iTunes App store; a link from the company’s blog at LEGOCLICK.com makes it easy to find the app directly. The best LEGO portraits use photos that are shot at close range against a light, solid colored background.

Short Film
Created especially for LEGO Systems by the team behind groundbreaking music videos for Coldplay, The Chemical Brothers and New Order among others, the 3:19 film reveals the story of a fictional inventor’s journey to the joy of his CLICK moment, inspired by millions of true stories of children who have realized a big idea using imagination, perseverance and sometimes even LEGO bricks.

A pile of LEGO bricks is what motivated the production team to create a visual vignette – punctuated with whimsical animation and a playful, original score – that celebrates the sometimes simple and often sublime attainability of a CLICK moment.

LEGOCLICK.COM
Fans of life’s CLICK moments can join the conversation on this blog that celebrates light bulb moments, grand or understated. A conversation about what makes things CLICK, the blog shines a light on those people whose ideas have helped to inspire others, or those little moments when an idea is incubated or launched. Guest contributors will share stories of how things CLICKed for them, ideas for how to find a CLICK moment and photo and video inspiration to tickle the inner creator in anyone.

To share personal CLICK moments, email LEGOCLICK@gmail.com, post a comment to the LEGO CLICK fan page on Facebook or send a tweet #legoclick.

Lego Universe CES 2010 Battle Arena

2010-01-10T10:46:00.001-05:00

and another video showing a battle. Note that the building in the game (the instabuilding) is somewhat predetermined - custom building happens elsewhere.

Lego Universe demonstration - Neowin.net

2010-01-10T10:41:00.001-05:00

Here are some LEGO Universe videos from CES in Vegas - first this gameplay demo by Neowin.net (the reporter has a less than ideal voice)...

Deep Space 9 in bricks!!

2010-01-07T11:23:00.000-05:00

For those who don't know, I'm a Star Trek geek. Mostly the classic series, then Next Generation. Deep Space Nine was something I didn't get ito, but I always loved the design work that was seen. I never thought of building the station, though. Jaco van der Molen did, though. What you see is the result of four drafts and seven years of work. What's really nice is that he has directions available as a PDF download here. (15MB, about 50 pages)

You can see a Brickshelf gallery of the iterations of the model here.

and welcome 2010!

2009-12-31T23:49:00.000-05:00

With the new year literally around the corner, I'm happy to be looking forward to what lies ahead.

BrickJournal is still growing, and now there's a podcast available on iTunes, and there's more coming! It's a very exciting time for the magazine as new media is becoming part of BrickJournal's expanding mission.

And we're doing something else new...a new event. It'll be another chance for the LEGO fan community to meet and show their talents.

So it's a time to move forward. I am very happy and proud of what has happened so far, but more importantly, I am very happy to have met so many people this year who share our hobby. I am most excited about meeting all teh people that have yet to be discovered - the AFOLs who only lurked online and decided to come to an event, the AFOLs I know all over I will no doubt see again, and the AFOLs to be we are showing how to build and create.

So Happy New Year to everyone!

Buzz Light(up)year!

2009-12-31T01:00:00.001-05:00

Take a look at the latest brickmod by Rob Hendrix!

Click?

2009-12-29T23:20:00.000-05:00

So what is this? Click on the link and comment!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T00:13:00.001-05:00

Just wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday!

NXT Warehouse.mov

2009-12-21T11:35:00.001-05:00

If you were wondering what was going on at LEGOWorld from the NXT guys, here it is!

LEGO-oriented article

2009-12-15T12:34:00.000-05:00

The British newspaper The Mail ran this story. It's a pretty good look at how LEGO has prospered in the past few years. There's some nice photography too.

The LEGO Life

2009-12-10T13:47:00.001-05:00

The LEGO Life, originally uploaded by jonpalmer.

Click on the pic to the essay he wrote.

This is from one of the first LEGO builders I met, Jon Palmer. For those who are AFOLs, this will resonate tremendously. And for those who aren't, it'll give you a hint about us.

LEGO Universe Coverage

2009-12-04T08:34:00.000-05:00

LEGO Universe is the online multiplayer game being developed by the LEGO Group. There has been coverage on LEGO.com, but here's some more information from other sites:

Zam.com:
http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=20235

Cnet.com:
http://news.cnet.com/2300-11386_3-10001743.html

EuroGamer.com:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/first-lego-universe-gameplay-details

GamerPro.com:
http://www.gamepro.com/article/previews/212715/lego-universe-preview/

GeekDad:
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/10/lego-universe/

LEGO Universe is set for release in 2010.

Hat tip to NetDevil.com

MORE business cards...

2009-12-01T01:28:00.000-05:00

Got some more business cards to look at:

More will be coming to BrickJournal.com soon!

Twins Tower

2009-11-30T10:43:00.001-05:00

Twins Tower, originally uploaded by MisaQa.

One of the traditions of the holiday are advent calendars. LEGO has two currently available (well, only one in the US - the Pirate Advent Calendar is only available in Europe, which has caused much consternation elsewhere), and there are AFOLs who build their own.

One of the best known AFOL advent calendars is built by the Japanese builder MisaQa. Every year, she builds a thematic calendar - in 2005 she made birds. 2006 had her build Victorian ladies, and 2007 she did a microcity. Last year, she built mythical creatures.

This year, MisaQa starts out with a micro skyscraper. Looking forward to what she is building for the holiday!

LEGO Business Cards...

2009-11-20T17:33:00.000-05:00

Got this today from Hadley Scrowton:

New business cards were issued to LEGO employees - and here's an image of the old cards.

The bottom two views are of the new cards. So who"s the new minifigure? More coming on the BrickJournal site!

Helping the Community...

2009-11-20T15:25:00.000-05:00

A fundraising event is going on now to provide LEGO sets for underprivileged children. Leading AFOL builders and vendors have donated models and services for auction, with over $1000 in revenues so far for Toys for Tots. This charity event is maintained by Nannan Zhang, an AFOL.

Builders contributing models for auction include: Kyle Peterson, Jason B, Michael Jasper, Don Wilson, Keith Goldman, Brian Kescenovitz, Heather Braaten, Jordan Schwartz, Dave Kaleta, Zack Milenius, Tom Williamson, Tristan Bowersox, Alex Eylar, Tyler Clites, Dan Rubin, Lloyd W, Jörg F, Jared Burks, and John B.

Current auctions can be seen here.

Plastic Fantastic

2009-11-17T12:15:00.000-05:00

BrickJournal is in this!

Plastic Fantastic

The completed Buzz Lightyear!

2009-11-15T23:08:00.001-05:00

DSC00058, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

The completed mystery mosaic!

2009-11-15T23:07:00.001-05:00

DSC00026, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

Another build in Orlando

2009-11-14T18:15:00.000-05:00

Buzz Build in Orlando!

2009-11-14T08:20:00.001-05:00

DSC09688, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

Festival of the Masters is going on now at Downtown Disney, Orlando, Florida and the LEGO Imagination Center is doing a Master Build with Buzz Lightyear! Here's the reference model.

For Mac users...

2009-11-11T10:21:00.000-05:00

On sale here - well, was on sale here!!

Hopefully there will be more, as I want one!

Biggest LEGO Mario ever built - Grootste LEGO Mario ooit

2009-11-08T14:08:00.001-05:00

To the many that missed LEGOWorld, here's a look at one of the models there that *wasn't* done by LEGO model builders!

When You Wish Upon a Star...

2009-11-08T12:53:00.000-05:00

Here's something that is going on in Japan:

LEGO Cuusoo is a site that has been around for a bit, but only recently got translated to English. You can read the FAQ here.

In some ways, it looks like LEGO Design byME. You can create your own set. However, there is a big difference - LC allows for the opportunity to make production runs of selected sets. The LEGO Group is an official partner in this, also.

The site is in open beta, so there are bugs, and the error messages are in Japanese, so have Google translate handy. Registration takes a few moments to do, but it allows you to vote and create wishes.

However, the idea is pretty cool - make a wish, get 1000 supporters, and your wish gets considered for a production run!

Main Street Train Station, Walt Disney World

2009-11-08T01:32:00.001-05:00

DSC02102.jpg, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

In a few days, I will be at Festival of the Masters at Downtown Disney, Orlando, Florida. It's an arts show, with chalk drawings on teh sidewalk and many, many vendors. The LEGO Imagination Center has a display from the local LEGO group to join in the fun. This year there will be a Master Build of Buzz Lightyear too!

This is one of the models on display in 2008. Built by Robin Werner, this is a nice rendition of the Main Street Train Station at the Magic Kingdom.

Clutch Powers?

2009-11-03T10:14:00.000-05:00

Busy news week....

It doesn't look bad.

Tip of the hat to Katrin Elster of Strategic Play.

LEGO Rock Band!

2009-11-03T01:37:00.000-05:00

Coming out today (Nov. 3)!

Competing Brands...

2009-11-03T00:44:00.001-05:00

DSC03900.jpg, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

It was a bit ago that there were a few competitors to the LEGO brick, including the military Blockmen and of course Megabloks and Best-Lock. One competing brick that did not last was the Tyco brick. Here's an ad from them, displayed at the LEGO Idea House in Billund, Denmark.

From BrickJournal's photo archive.

Lighted LEGO Lamp Post

2009-11-02T00:25:00.001-05:00

Lighted LEGO Lamp Post, originally uploaded by brickmodder.

If you want a light for your layout....Rob the Brickmodder made some self-contained lights!

Odds and ends...

2009-11-01T21:43:00.000-05:00

For those using Power Functions motors and controllers, there is an updated version that is superceding the previous version. The hardware is the same - it's the firmware that is different. You can get more information at TechnicBRICKS For the most part this will not affect the casual user yet but for those who are using the NXT with Power Functions, this adds more potential functionality.

If you want to see a nice model go to this link. It's not very often that real objects are modeled, and this is pretty cool in that the model does everything but actually work.

And if you are a Mac user and play with building LEGO models with Bricksmith, there is a new version out that you can get here! I use it for making models (yes, I did build Wall-E, but it's a 2000 part model!!) and use it with LPub to make instructions.

And there is progress with the website going on...more in a bit on that.

BrickJournal.com's New Groove

2009-10-31T12:18:00.000-04:00

One of the things that has been lagging with BrickJournal.com is that is that it has not really worked as a web counterpart to the magazine. There has been a long-range vision for the magazine for it to be part of a media platform, with the magazine being one part of a larger group. This makes sense, because printed media is only one way to present the hobby, and a way that has advantages and disadvantages.

Print advantages are:
1. Very portable - you can carry around the mag at will in your bookbag.
2. Nice presentation - well, if designed correctly:-)
3. Easy to disseminate - why pass a link when you can pass a publication???
Print disadvantages are:
1. High investment - need some programs to produce content
2. Production cost is high - to make cost-effective, there have to be large magazine runs.
3. Decay - a magazine will last only as long as you take care of it.

The web as media offers:
1. Video - some displays, like the Great Ball Contraption at events need to be seen in motion to appreciate them.
2. Audio - an interview that is taped has more than the written word.
3. Space - for photos and instructions - the web is as big as we make it!
4. Interactivity - links to galleries, other pages, and more can be made...

so the question is: how can these be worked together? There's some ideas already being floated around...but the first priority is to make (or at least try to make) the website a destination for those wanting to know about the community and the magazine.

As a designer (I have a design degree from North Carolina State University), I realized early on that the web has tremendous potential for showing MOCs. A viewer can see all of a model with a video and with new media. I am planning BrickJournal to be part of this and am doing some research and development on my own some areas. Stay tuned to see what is going on:-)!

Hey! What happened?

2009-10-30T23:51:00.000-04:00

yes, the website is changing. Not to this blog, mind you, but to a new site design!

Here's what happened and what is happening...

We switched webhosts from Near-Time, as they are changing their services to a new model. Notice was given to us about a month ago, and with that the process of receiving all the files from them was done over the next week. From there, a new webhost was found and set up, and...

I looked at this as an opportunity. While BrickJournal.com had some good things about it, I wanted to see more.

For those wondering about the subscription for the site, it's gone. The subscription was meant for a premium level of accessibility for the website and its contents, however, it was a failed experiment. The site generated a very small amount of revenue, but not enough to support the site and any content I wanted to use as enhancements. The revenue gathered was used for support of the site, but it ultimately declined to a very low level and shut off entirely by Near-Time.

So, the site as we know it is now gone. The content is now with the new webhost, but will have to be reconfigured for something new.

So what is going to happen? In the next couple of weeks, there will be some new construction going on with the website. Instead of a blog like page like it formerly was, BrickJournal.com will look like, well, a website. There will be a section devoted to the current issue with exclusive content, such as video and photos that didn't get in the magazine. A second section will have the current news items that we get from LEGO and other sources, such as DK Publishing. And a third section will have exclusive content on the site, such as video and instructions. And that's just the beginning...

And now is an opportunity for you. What would you want to see on the new BrickJournal site? Drop a line here - I'll be watching.

And I'll be putting updates on the website design - a basic design has been decided, and now refinements are going on. As we closer to launch I will be posting some layouts.

So when is launch? The goal is to have the site set up and running to cover the Festival of the Masters in Florida, in about two weeks. As new sections are completed, they will be added.

Excited? I am!

Caption Contest Winners!

2009-10-12T16:17:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, we held a caption contest with prizes from DK Publishing. Here are the captions that won a LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary Minipak (a copy of the LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary and a launch event t-shirt):

By Alfred Jr:

I find your lack of height disturbing.

by Edward:
How come I always get stuck with R2?
Where's my bikini-clad slave Leia?

by inkblob:
You can see here, the Death Ball orbiting the forest moon of Encrab.

and the winning caption of the LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary Megapack
(LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary, one launch event T-shirt, one San Diego Comic-Con postcard pack, and a Darth Vader minifigure):

by wyndryder:
That's right, son. Now run up and kick it!

I need mailing addresses for all the winners to send their prize packages, so send your mailing info to: admin@brickjournal.com
Many thanks to all who entered and also to DK Publishing for providing prizes!

Caption Contest Deadline

2009-10-11T00:04:00.000-04:00

The deadline for caption submissions to the three pictures is 12:00 AM Monday, October 12 Eastern Standard Time. So take a look and drop a line or two!

Caption Photo 3

2009-10-10T10:44:00.003-04:00

DSC00133, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

Here's the last pic to caption - you can choose from one or all of them. Put your caption in the comments and the best one overall will get a LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary Mega Pack, and the next three will get the Mini Pack! Have fun!

Caption Photo 2

2009-10-10T10:44:00.001-04:00

DSC00132, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

Here's the second pic to caption - you can choose from one or all of them. Put your caption in the comments and the best one overall will get a LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary Mega Pack, and the next three will get the Mini Pack! Have fun!

Caption Photo 1

2009-10-10T10:43:00.001-04:00

DSC00131, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

Here's the first pic to caption - you can choose from one or all of them. Put your caption in the comments and the best one overall will get a LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary Mega Pack, and the next three will get the Mini Pack! Have fun!

Of Sets and Contests...

2009-10-09T15:09:00.000-04:00

The response from Alfred about his return to building reminds me of a goofy comment I made about a set...

I was asked about the smaller Millenniun Falcon set that came out about a month ago. I bought it when it arrived on the shelf, so a friend wanted a review.

I told him that it was a pretty nice set with a lot of parts for building other stuff. When asked if I liked this set over the Ultimate Collector's version of the Falcon, I quickly answered tha I liked the smaller much better. Why?

It's more swooshable. Really.

On another note, the contest for the Mega and mini packs is going to be a (drum roll)....
wait for it....a CAPTION contest!

I'll be posting pics late tonight, so the idea is to come up with the funniest caption - best one gets the mega prize, and the next best 3 get the mini packs. And yes, I plan to have more than one photo. So see ya soon!

Star Wars: A New Beginnng...

2009-10-09T12:48:00.000-04:00

With BrickJournal helping out with the LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary launch, it's appropriate to write something about the sets and the phenomenon behind it. Another blog came up with a top ten list of LEGO Star Wars sets. There have been reviews of the book too (I will post one pretty soon), but I decided to give a more personal reflection of what the sets are to me.

When the sets first came out in 1999, I was working at Disney World (Downtown Disney at DisneyQuest). I needed to get a second job to get things financially stable, so I decided to apply for a job at the LEGO Imagination Center. Working at DIsney, it wasn't had to get in at the LIC, and after training, I was placed on play area duty..outside.

One of the benefits, though, was the discount, and the first set I bought there was the first version of the Star Wars X-Wing. The set was grey and had the fighter and a support vehicle. And I opened it and built it outside the store. It was a nice day, and I just found a space in the shade and started building.

After six weeks, I left the LEGO job - it was too hot working outside. But I kept on buying sets, which led me to finding LUGNET and Ebay online, and after that I became an AFOL.

So for me, the Star Wars sets were a new beginning for me. I know that more than a few AFOLs came back to the hobby because of the Star Wars sets which one got you back into building?

The Skinny on the LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary Launch...

2009-10-08T20:27:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, there will be a launch event at 65 locations in the US for the LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary. BrickJournal was one of a group of websites and bloggers selected to document and celebrate this event. Thanks to DK Publishing, I have some prizes and contests for you, but they will only happen Saturday, so be online Saturday at noon!

The prizes:

Well, here are the things I get to give away:

1 Mega pack - which is 1 LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary, 1 10/10/09 T-shirt (commemorating the event), 1 postcard pack from San Diego Comic-Con, and 1 Darth Vader minifigure.

3 Minipacks - which each have 1 LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary and 1 10/10/09 T-Shirt.

How do you win these? Hmmm......

Ultimate Collector Spread

2009-10-08T20:25:00.003-04:00

Ultimate Collector Spread, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

Last spread from the Visual Dictionary - now available!

EchoBase Spead

2009-10-08T20:25:00.001-04:00

EchoBase Spead, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

Spread 4 from the Visual Dictionary

Droid Army Spread

2009-10-08T20:24:00.001-04:00

Droid Army Spread, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

Spread 3 from the Star Wars LEGO Visual Dictionary

Death Star Spread

2009-10-08T20:23:00.001-04:00

Death Star Spread, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

Spread 2

BrickJournal's webpage will have a review soon of this book.

Cloud City Spread

2009-10-08T20:22:00.001-04:00

Cloud City Spread, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

Spread 1...

Check out the BrickJournal blog for some contests - more after the pages are uploaded!

LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary Cover

2009-10-08T20:20:00.001-04:00

LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary Cover, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

For those in the US, there will be a launch event happening for this book on 10.10.09 - you can go here:

http://us.dk.com/static/cs/us/11/101009/events.html

for event sites. From the DK event site:

LEGO STAR WARS: The Visual Dictionary, which was a prominent feature this year at San Diego’s International Comic Con, will be released on October 10th at select stores across more than 65 cities.

Fans can meet and take pictures with the StormTroopers of the 501st Legion and other STAR WARS characters. The public event will include giveaways such as posters, stickers, LEGO product, limited-run LEGO STAR WARS postcard packs, and other freebies.

In the meantime, here are some spreads to look at...

Brickcon Video 1

2009-10-07T02:18:00.000-04:00

from Tommy Williamson...

LEGO STAR WARS Visual Dictionary Fun!

2009-10-07T02:13:00.000-04:00

Drop by this blog Saturday to get in on the LEGO STAR WARS Visual Dictionary launch, happening at LEGO stores and selected stores! I'll be doing some giveaways and having fun, and hopefully getting some photos from our store here! If you are nowhere near a store, drop by here!

See ya soon!

Standing Small spreads

2009-09-15T10:43:00.001-04:00

Standing Small spreads, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

Here's a spread from The LEGO Book's companion book, Standing Small. This book is focused on the minifigure, and will be sold as a set with the LEGO Book. It's from DK, and due out in October!

The LEGO Book's contents...

2009-09-14T10:14:00.001-04:00

Table of contents, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

Here is the content spread for DK's book, The LEGO Book, coming out next month!

it's finished!

2009-09-13T22:48:00.001-04:00

D23Day3_1919, originally uploaded by The World Famous Andrew of the Jungle.

The completed mosaic!

for this..

2009-09-12T23:01:00.001-04:00

100_4342, originally uploaded by Loren Javier.

going at the d23 convention in Anaheim, California.

Mosaic part

2009-09-12T23:00:00.001-04:00

100_4341, originally uploaded by Loren Javier.

for the following...

Toy Story LEGO sets!

2009-09-11T12:36:00.001-04:00

100_4023, originally uploaded by Loren Javier.

Spotted at the d23 convention in Anaheim - you can see a high res pic at this Flickr page.

DK LEGO Books coming up

2009-07-25T03:08:00.001-04:00

DSC05646, originally uploaded by jmenomeno.

Here are some proofs of the DK LEGO books coming out in October - the LEGO Book and Standing Small (about the minifig), which are in a slipcase, the LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary, and the Pirates Brickmaster book, which has parts and minifigs!

Grand Carousel Preview

2009-06-30T12:03:00.000-04:00

This set is now available at LEGO stores and Shop at Home, so here's a video preview of the set:

A review is coming soon on the set! You can order it here from LEGO Shop at Home.

Some Brickworld video...

2009-06-28T01:54:00.000-04:00

Buzz Lightyear by LEGO

2009-06-04T05:24:00.001-04:00

Buzz Lightyear by LEGO, originally uploaded by LICENSING EXPO.

Well, look whoi went to the Licensing show in Vegas!