Buzz Lightyear by LEGO

Buzz Lightyear by LEGO, originally uploaded by LICENSING EXPO.

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

gearing up....

It's official.

BrickJournal will be going bimonthly.

We have enough content, and the mag is growing in stature, so we are kicking it up a notch. 

Our output will increase by 50%, which is exciting - that much more space for articles and photos.

And there will be some great stuff coming...Issue 6 will have some Space stuff, Issue 7 some stuff on LEGO Architecture, Issue 8 looks like Castle....

I do need some layout designers!

so much to do...

Working on BrickJournal 5......ARGH!

Way too much going on. Went overseas, then to NYC for Toy Fair, and saw some new sets (not all of them) and chatted with Sean Kenney, a LEGO Certified Professional. 

Sean is also the person behind MOCPages, a site dedicated to showing off creations by the LEGO community. The site was relaunched this year to allow comments, favorites, and groups, so it has become a viable site for AFOLs. Other things Sean has done include lots of models and commissions, both for LEGO and other companies.

He's also a great guy to talk to. I wanted to talk to him about how he got to build some LEGO props for the TV show "30 Rock," but got a lot more discussion, ideas, and laughs! He's got a great job and a great attitude with it. We talked about MOCPages, his work, and even BrickJournal. I'm excited about some the ideas that came up and hopefully you will be too. Expect some collaborative projects to come from BrickJournal and MOCpages. 

As for "30 Rock," there will be a story coming on that...and maybe more from Sean. 

Other odds and ends:

LEGO Acquires Rights for 3 Disney Movies: Toy Story 3, Prince of Persia, and Cars. WOW! I am VERY happy with this, mainly because I was a Disney person before I came back to LEGO building. I've built a lot of LEGO Disney models, and have been hoping for something to happen since knowing that talks had been going on for a few years. The three movies here are only a jumping point for more, so I'm hoping for something based on the theme parks (micro castles?) or other movies.....

On that subject, here is my want list for LEGO models I want to build that are Disney related - this is NOT what I want LEGO to create (for the most part) because these are mostly Disney-geek kind of stuff:

1. Micro castles - Cinderella Castle is a prime candidate, as well as Disneyland Paris.

2. Ride vignettes - Tokyo Disney has these on sale from a LEGO knockoff, but I would want more detail. Pirates would be a good one to do, as well as Star Tours and the Haunted Mansion

3. TRON - Lightcycle (and they could do the UPDATED bike from the upcoming movie)

4. The villian's helicopters that were on Bolt.

5. The Incredibles - the vehicles would be fun to build.

6. Mickey Mouse

7. Donald Duck

8. The enchanted rose from Beauty and the Beast.

9. A bust of Belle

10. A bust of Briar Rose

There's much more to do too....

LEGO US Consumer sales up 38% 

and that's a great thing! Sales went up because the percieved value of LEGO sets went up - some of that was because of the brand, some was because of the product that came out the past year, and some was because of the fallout from the Chinese imports that tainted the toy market. The LEGO group made it clear that their toys met or exceeded safety regulations, and the market responded.

On a related note (idle speculation), the prices for sets went up a little to reflect oil prices that shot up last year. With oil now really low, I would expect sets for next year to have higher piece counts. But this is idle speculation.

Republic Dropship

Saw this at Toy Fair - wow! It's a nice set and one I would think about getting for the price. The functionality is great (and yes, it can pick up the AT-TE) and the detail is really nice!

Emerald Night

A new train set - and one that's a steam engine! I REALLY like this one, mainly because it has the piston wheels! (To train fans - I don't like modern diesel trains...they look kinda plain to me. Older trains are much more appealing...or high tech trains. Sorry.) Now does it have a motor? For the price, I hope so.

New sets I want?

Most of the sets coming out this year have something new and neat, but I am saving for Agents 2.0 - that's the theme I will be dumping money on.

So what are you planning to buy?

Interesting local development..

So I live in Raleigh, North Carolina - not the center of the known universe, but not the armpit either. I have the luxury of being about four hours away from the nearest LEGO store in Washington, DC and about six hours (maybe more) away from the store in Atlanta. I say luxury because four hours as a road trip isn't bad for me and could be a bit farther.

That will change in the summer, because Raleigh just got a LEGO store. The news was announced here, and the location is minutes away from where I live. 

And no, I didn't have anything to do with it...well, that I know of.

Community notes (Not directly LEGO related)

So a few of you may know who Jake McKee is - he was the first Community Liaison to LEGO (before Steve Witt) and was responsible for much of what got the LEGO Group involved with the LEGO community. Since leaving the LEGO Group, he has gone on in developing online communities and has been a speaker on this subject at various seminars and conventions. He also has a website.

He also started another site, Connected by Distance, recently. The site's goal is to show what online communities have done on a personal level. This isn't a sales site - it's a story site. And the AFOL community is a great setting for these stories. All of us are connected - is there a story that you can tell? Go to CbD and drop a story there.

I already did.

Community...

I am a supporter of the community - although it may not be easily noticed. There are a few that have made me out to be someone with his own agenda, and it's true. I do have an agenda.

My agenda is simple -  to help grow and mature the community. What do I mean by that? Well, BrickJournal is a publication that spotlights the community in a positive way. The magazine is a viewer to the AFOL community that is different than anything else, as it can talk at length with a builder and show their models. While the mag is a gallery, there is some time devoted to trying to find out why people build. There's a story behind every builder and every model, and BrickJournal searches for those stories.

As Editor, I also strive to be as professional as possible with the mag. I believe that if we are to be taken seriously by the LEGO Group, we need to act with respect and professionalism to them. For the most part, this means that our articles are written in a voice that is open and inviting to others (at least for the most part). I don't allow articles that are more opinion than news...anyone can write an article about why item X 'sucks' to them, but that 's a opinion. A BrickJournal article will put out the facts and let the reader decide. 

BrickJournal strives to have articles that are open and accessible to the public. This goes to my thoughts on community. I want others to join and I want the community to grow. In order for this to happen, we have to be open. And we also need to take the time to answer questions about how we do things and how we build. I have seen wonderful photos online of models that are inspiring, but without a little direction as to how to build, it's easy to get discouraged as a new person. 

And there are new things too - since BrickJournal started, there have been articles on FIRST LEGO League, and LEGO Serious Play. Both are things that are not very well-known to the AFOL community, but the mag is slowly changing that. 

In other aspects of the community, the mag is a contributor. There are AFOL initiatives that have reached out from the AFOL community to the local community, where LEGO has become not only a way to build, but also to teach. BrickJournal has provided support to these efforts and will continue to do so in the future.

So am I for community? You better believe it!

So what was the Big Trip???

After having returned a couple of weeks ago from it, I can tell you.

It was a college orientation. No, I not going back to school (though some have suggested it to me) - this is an orientation that I took part in. And there were many things that made this a special event....

1. This orientation was for a college that hasn't opened yet. Located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) is scheduled to open this fall. The first class of graduate students met for the first time at an event called "Discover KAUST," which is what I was involved in. 

2. LEGO was used in teambuilding exercises, both for groups and down to the individual level, using LEGO Serious Play and LEGO MINDSTORMs sets and projects. For me it was the first time I have seen either done on such a large scale (approximately 300 students)

3. I was one of the press pool - originally I was slated to be a facilitator, but my camera won out:-). There were some other community people who stepped up to be facilitators (MINDSTORMs people) as well as others. Facilitators came from Taiwan, Denmark, Germany, the US, and Egypt, and the coordinators were from Sweden and France. I was a truly international gathering that reflected the students participating.

While the event itself happened over a week, our part was only two days. But the impact lasted, which is really nice to know.

The event opened my eyes a little bit more to other cultures and people. ANd also opened my eyes to what the brick and NXT can do beyond building.