neat things happening on one night...

I mentioned many entries ago I am a fan of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition this episode was particularly moving.

This time the show went to Raleigh, my hometown! And it was really neat to see it in places I recognized- although the city sign that is seen greeting the bus as it pulled into town is a prop:-)

There were a lot of things that made this very emotional for me - the family really deserved the house, and what the mother did for her community is really wonderful.

Seeing the work done by locals also made feel really proud - I'm happy to be in a city that for the most part is friendly. I have been in Raleigh for almost 20 years, and I felt really proud seeing people help out and return to a family who has given a lot to the community.

The biggest surprise, though, was what the boy in the family wanted - he wanted ''those plastic blocks'' and sports in his room...and it was LEGO! Apparently for legal reasons, LEGO could not be mentioned. But what was neat was that they contacted a LEGO builder - a Certified Professional by the name of Nathan Sawaya.

He's not a local, contrary to what the show said. But he's one of a few people in the continent that are recognized by the LEGO Group for their skills and are in a sense, business partners. He's one of  four people - the others are Dan Parker, Sean Kenney, and Robin Sather. All have done sculptures for large scale displays in the US and Canada.

Nathan built some sculptures with a sports bent, including  a basketball mosaic, basketball player sculpture, and football field mosaics. So he was in my hometown - how cool is that!

And where was I while this show was being filmed? I was in Germany. Argh! I would have given anything to help out...

but it was a good show nonetheless.

Dang the torpedoes, full speed ahead!

BrickJournal 6 is in the works. This has been the toughest issue I have had to layout. This is because almos every article has had some element that has made me think harder than usual on layouts.

Sometines it's good, as there may be a pic that is greta to use and I want to wrap type around it. But other times, it's bad as photos may be too small to use. But things get worked out, and I continue on.

There's some neat stuff coming out with Issue 6 - there's some NXT stuff coming (a little late, but there will be more coming) and the Jørgen Vig Knudstorp interview I mentioned. There's also the event reports and usual stuff too.

But wait till Issue 7.......

Now another subject: News leaks.

BrickJournal hasn't leaked anything - but then again, one policy I have is not be in a position to leak things, so we often are just as surprised as everyone else  when photos are posted on upcoming sets. With the French Toy Fair, though, things are a bit confusing.

Here's the problem: The AFOLs to the Fair were invited to attend and take pics (what, you expect them NOT to tell anyone?), and they put them up for everyone. Then they get pulled off because it's confidential. Images from catalogs are deemed confidential too.

Now don't get me wrong - I have enough NDAs with the LEGO Group to know better than to spout off about sets and stuff. This is information that is proprietary, so I cannot tell people anything. I understand that there are corporate spies who are looking for all of this info, and I adhere to the NDAs I have.

But a Toy Fair is not a confidential thing. In fact, it's the exact opposite - it's a show for buyers to see what is coming out to get them to buy. And all companies  are showing off,  including the competitors - and  if there is a direct chance to get  info on sets, that's the time to do it! Why wait for a leak when company reps can go personally to look??

I really wish that LEGO would put out ALL the info to coincide with toy fairs - as in make news releases for the new sets. It would be great for the fans, and since it's documentation, it can be used in case there is a suspicious copy done by a competitor - it would be hard to prove intial rights when a dated public document is released.

BrickJournal has been invited to go to the Toy Fair this year, incidentally.

Taking a look at the new sets (from the French Toy Fair)

EDIT: The photos were pulled off at request of LEGO France, so pay no attention to  the below:-)

Yeah, I spotted the pictures too. And much of this info is already known...

About the bulldozer - NICE! What's hard to see is the size of the motors and shape - they look round, like the really old motors. And while there are one size of motors, those aren't the only ones..

The remote is cool too because you can add switch handles. the battery pack is already available.

If you look at the end of the track frame, the sprocket part holding the tracks are a new larger part than the snowmobile sprocket.

The wiring is a flat 4-wide wire.

The Jedi Starfighter with hyperspace ring is slick - and the color is nice (dark blue!). It looks a little daintier (yes, daintier) than Jason Allemann's version, which can be found here. The Kit Fisto minifig is a nice plus too.

The Naboo Starfighter is nice...but is the UCS version from a couple years ago with all the chrome replaced with grey. The Droid fighter is good with the articulation.

The MTT is BIG. It's the Brown set! The Destroyer droid doesn't look foldable.

Mars Mission: Best set is the drop ship. Over all, this theme is a start toward space, but is disappointing.

Castle: Wow - I'm not a castle person, but this has got my attention. The castles are nice, and the skeleton sets are well-thought. Skeleton horses look likeone piece.

Town: Oh boy....but why is the blue boat hull one piece?????

The container carrier and recycling truck are really cool - and I expect to be getting those! Same with the cement truck.

Creator townhouse - ALRIGHT! Brownstones, garage,  a yard - VERY well done!

Creator truck - Not bad at all.

Technic - The harvester is pretty nice, but I like the truck better!

Technic Ferrari - ooooo......

THE RACERS HAVE SLAMMERS! Bout time! One thing I have been bummed about was that the small racers didn't have a launcher until recently with the Tuner Garage.

Exo-Force - the temple looks pretty sharp. And the mecha with the booster is REALLY cool!

but what about Bionicle????

Been quiet and sick...

Got a bug, and it gave me a sore throat and some therious congethion..no fun. I sound sorta like Darth Vader.

But I some things are going on that are worth note for BrickJournal and me.

I am now working as a contractor with the LEGO Group to provide articles to be used on the LEGO website about the community. How cool is that!

If you are wondering how this will impact the Journal, it will not affect things after initial setup is done - I need to set up a pipeline for articles I have to write (I am writing these, but they will be short articles) and work this with what I am doing now.

Concerning what is going on with me now, I am at the point where ther bottleneck to BrickJournal is...me.

Really.

I am the only layout artist on the magazine and while it is the one place I love to be, it's also becoming a place I cannot devote the time I need to maintain the standard I want. It's been a tough couple of weeks thinking on this, but I need to have a layout staff, and I need to let others get a chance to work on BrickJournal.

There's a little sadness that goes with this, as the last thing that had my fingerprints is the layout, and I am having to let it go. But as I have been getting other  projects to work with BrickJournal, my responsibilities have expanded. I also understand that while I started the mag, I don't have all the design sense or all the answers - change is something I want to see and promote.

So I am making a call for layout artists. It's volunteer, as things have been, and the layout artists should be using InDesign for layout. If anyone is interested, drop me a line here.

neat!

Take a look at this:



It's dne with LEGO parts, and can be found here!

Good job, Sebastiansand!

About the selling of LEGO offices in Enfield...

So the headline hit, and it did bring up some questions for me.

The scorecard so far:

1. LEGO moved out production from Enfield to Mexico.
2. LEGO offices were sold in Enfield and are being leased.
3. A LEGO Distribution center is going to be in Texas.
4. LEGO production in Billund got mostly moved out to Czechoslovakia (and no, I didn't spell that right)

So what's going on? Globalization.

Everyone has to remember that when a person buys a LEGO set, you are not only buying the bricks, you are also paying for machines and people who all are a part in designing, producing, and shipping a set. It's not just the plastic, cardboard, paper, and stickers - it's MUCH more. So when there is a downward push on prices, something HAS to give.

Denmark has just about the highest production wages in the world, because it's a pretty highly developed country (go there, and you'll see what I mean - it's a wonderful place). While that is good for employees, for a company it's an expense that has to be balanced.

With the state LEGO was in previous years, costs became an issue, so production began to get outsourced. It's much better cost-wise to have another company make parts than produce yourself, especially if there are things like equipment involved. It's also better if wages are lower, which can be found  if you look.

The problem, however, as people as noticed, is quality can and will drop if not enough attention is paid. Ironically, that's because the production cost is lower. So oversight is required - which requires some investment. So an additional expense is made.

But some consumers are leaving the brand because it's deemed to expensive, so there is pressure to push down prices...so the business has to reduce costs somewhere. If any of us don't buy a set, it impacts LEGO. If sets are bought only on discount, it makes an impact.

The good news is that the LEGO group is getting profitable again. What is happening now is that the company is working to become more nimble. Less expenses means more money to invest in new sets and products. TLG s working to streamline itself, and business wise, it's a smart thing to do.


the point I am making? It might be an idea to take a larger view on the company before reacting to news. After all, the most important thing is that the LEGO Group grow, and that cannot be done without some miscues and goofs. As long as new sets come out, I will look and I will buy what I like. And if the company wants feedback, I'm more than happy to give it.

Back from Enfield again...and a neat gift! Thanks SPIDERS!

and so there have been a lot of really neat things that were discussed at the LEGO office.

And I am a contractor! I'm working on an ongoing project with the LEGO Group! And it'll be something that will be seen pretty soon! I'll announce this when things are in place.

But here's a neat thing that happened to me today...

I had known Monday that I got a package, but was too late to get it until today. My flight to Enfield was a red-eye Tuesday morning and I got back Wednesday night. since I found the package notice, I had been wondering what I got. I didn't order anything...so what was it?

During this time I also cancelled a contract that I was working on for an event late in the year, so after I got the confirmation for the client, I thought that the package was the first check, which I was to return to them. No big deal. So I went to the office  and picked up a package.

It wasn't a check. It was a box from Hawaii,  from the coach of the SPIDERS FIRST LEGO League team I reported on in BrickJournal - it was a Christmas package! In it was a box of chocolate macadamia nuts (mmm), macadamia nut shortbread (mmmmm), and some special items:

1. A hat made from red and black foam straps - the black straps were stapled on the red strap so when it's worn it looks like a spider! This is the team headwear!

2. A red Hawaiian shirt, which is the same pattern as was worn by the team at FIRST LEGO League World in Atlanta, where I met the team. and to be honest, I wanted one of those shirts - how cool!

3. A postcard invite to the FLL Championship Tournament in Manoa, with pics of the team members I remember, and

4. A handmade card wishing me a merry Christmas and thanking me for writing the article.

It's a bit of a bummer to know that they won't be coming this year - SPIDERS were second place. But I  know what I will be wearing this year when I go to Atlanta.

I'll be wearing a red headstrap and red Hawaiian shirt.

Many thanks to the Dangs and to the team - and I hope they all had a great holiday and good start on the year!