This is the last of five posts today about the 2008 LEGO Ambassadors nomination process.

In order to keep you better informed, we at The Brothers Brick will be bringing you brief biographies of the possible nominees for the Lego Ambassador representing our community. We will posting these as we receive the necessary information. The order is irrelevant. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Regardless of who is eventually chosen, the nominees will have to submit at least three testimonials from members of their community. In case you have forgotten, this means you! If you wish to write a testimonial regarding one of the possible nominees, please do so, as a comment, in the post under their name. Thank you for your support!

Possible Nominee: Andrew Becraft

After discovering LUGNET nearly ten years ago, Andrew lurked for a couple of years until he ran across FBTB, where he was a very active member for several years. Through FBTB, Andrew encountered other online forums, including Classic-Castle.com, Classic-Space.com, and Builders Lounge. Andrew has also been instrumental in growing the LEGO fan community on Flickr, through his photos, comments, generous favoriting, group invitations, and leadership during the “Brickshelf Crisis of 2007.”

However, the core of Andrew’s community-building centers around this blog. Starting as his personal blog, The Brothers Brick (TBB) has grown to become a six-contributor team blog that averages more than 40,000 visitors a month from 150 countries. Andrew has also used his Japanese language skills to bridge the Pan-Pacific gap with important info for Japanese fans and Japanese news for English-speaking LEGO fans.

TBB contributors scour the net for the latest LEGO creations and news, often leading to additional coverage for the creation or news item elsewhere on the net. Being featured on TBB has several times been the first step toward broader recognition from the “non-AFOL” world for a builder or their creation.

As a LEGO Ambassador during the 2007-2008 cycle, Andrew has worked behind the scenes to represent LEGO fans like you to LEGO, passed along your input, and shared information from LEGO.

Andrew believes the LEGO Ambassador program has enormous potential, saying, “I’m aware of only a handful of other companies that show such clear commitment to incorporating the voice of fans like us into their corporate culture.” Andrew Becraft would be honored if you’d consider him as one of your representatives for the 2007-2008 LEGO Ambassador cycle.

Andrew is 33 and lives in Seattle, Washington with his wife and two adorable dogs.

This is the fourth of five posts today about the 2008 LEGO Ambassadors nomination process.

In order to keep you better informed, we at The Brothers Brick will be bringing you brief biographies of the possible nominees for the Lego Ambassador representing our community. We will posting these as we receive the necessary information. The order is irrelevant. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Regardless of who is eventually chosen, the nominees will have to submit at least three testimonials from members of their community. In case you have forgotten, this means you! If you wish to write a testimonial regarding one of the possible nominees, please do so, as a comment, in the post under their name. Thank you for your support!

Possible Nominee: Nathan Proudlove

You may remember Nathan from such MOCs as the Blacktron II, the Mystery Machine, and the Mistral to name a few. Nathan’s been involved online since late ’03 when he discovered Lugnet and became much more involved after Brickfest PDX ’04. He was a member of the Vancouver Lego Club when he lived out west, started the Fraser Valley Lego Club with fellow Abbotsfordian Robin Sather, and hopes to start a club in Manitoba eventually. Most recently, Lino Martins and Nathan have founded LUGNuts, a Lego car club, on Flickr.

Nathan is 32 years old and lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with his wife, Kathy and rambunctious 2-year old boy, Oscar.

(Bio information via Flickr.)

This is the third of five posts today about the 2008 LEGO Ambassadors nomination process.

In order to keep you better informed, we at The Brothers Brick will be bringing you brief biographies of the possible nominees for the Lego Ambassador representing our community. We will posting these as we receive the necessary information. The order is irrelevant. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Regardless of who is eventually chosen, the nominees will have to submit at least three testimonials from members of their community. In case you have forgotten, this means you! If you wish to write a testimonial regarding one of the possible nominees, please do so, as a comment, in the post under their name. Thank you for your support!

Possible Nominee: Adrian Florea

Adrian is a twenty year old AFOL from Romania. He is a student in industrial design, and is very interested in joining the LEGO Ambassador program.

Adrian has been MOC-ing for two years now and has had LEGO since his 4th birthday but it was never a serious hobby until now. He started being active on different internet based communities for the last two years. He started out with MOCpages, FBTB, Flickr, Classic Space, and Builder’s Lounge. Just recently, for the purpose of expanding his building abilities, Adrian has joined Classic-Castle. His username, in the internet community, is “Olog”. He is still active on all of these forums. He has placed well in many contests, and plans on competing in as many future contests as he can. He has been contacted by Jan Beyer and Mel from Brickjournal. Recently, he also had an interview in a Brazilian Design and Art magazine called “Zupi”, inquiring about his MOCs.

He is also one of the very few AFOLs in Romania, and the only one that is active on an international level. For the last five months, he has tried to contact AFOLs from Romania in the hope that they can form a community, just like any LUG in every country. He has set up a forum, which has fourteen members at this time.

(Bio information via Flickr)

This is the second of five posts today about the 2008 LEGO Ambassadors nomination process.

In order to keep you better informed, we at The Brothers Brick will be bringing you brief biographies of the possible nominees for the Lego Ambassador representing our community. We will posting these as we receive the necessary information. The order is irrelevant. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Regardless of who is eventually chosen, the nominees will have to submit at least three testimonials from members of their community. In case you have forgotten, this means you! If you wish to write a testimonial regarding one of the possible nominees, please do so, as a comment, in the post under their name. Thank you for your support!

Possible Nominee: Tim Gould

Tim keeps himself very busy with LEGO by both building and building community. His physical address is Brisbane (in Australia) and his physical age is 31 but his far more extensive online LEGO life is spread between sites like Stajinara, Flickr, Brothers-brick, LUGNET, LDraw and more.

Perhaps best known for his train creations, Tim was asked to participate in the Hobby Train set (10183) as well as various other NDA requiring projects. He also builds extensively in many other
themes (so much so that some people think he’s a spacer) and has a strange love for Soviet design. He also supplements his real bricks with virtual bricks and works on the LDraw SteerCo.

He also enjoys studying and highlighting models he thinks are cool and enjoys Brothers Brick as a great place to share this vainly with the world. Clever construction techniques are a particular highlight.

While living a life of exile from his homeland, Tim attended various Brickish events and the 2007 1000steine land in Berlin. He also participates in the local Brisbane LEGO community.

This is the first of five posts today about the 2008 LEGO Ambassadors nomination process.

In order to keep you better informed, we at The Brothers Brick will be bringing you brief biographies of the possible nominees for the Lego Ambassador representing our community. We will posting these as we receive the necessary information. The order is irrelevant. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Regardless of who is eventually chosen, the nominees will have to submit at least three testimonials from members of their community. In case you have forgotten, this means you! If you wish to write a testimonial regarding one of the possible nominees, please do so, as a comment, in the post under their name. Thank you for your support!

Possible Nominee: Nannan Zhang

As the newest brother to the blog, Nannan has already shown his passion for blogging with over 230 posts in the past six months. He scouts the LEGO communities daily to highlight the most recent noteworthy creations and important news. Dubbed by Andrew Becraft as having the “fastest fingers on the interwebs,” Nannan has shown commitment and dedication throughout the past months to recognizing the best LEGO works and news around.

Nannan is also recognized as a proficient builder, who contributes to the building community with his own unique style and creations. He frequents the communities of Builders Lounge, Classic-Space, FBTB, Flickr, MOCpages, and is also an active seller on Bricklink. Nannan’s ubiquity of presence and prolific building has earned him recognition in contests, other blogs, the BrickJournal magazine, and most recently in a two-page feature in the Official Xbox Magazine, which circulates well over 400,000 copies per issue.

A passionate LEGO enthusiast, Nannan looks forward to the opportunity to become a LEGO Ambassador. He is 19 years old and attends college in St. Louis, Missouri.

In this video, former LEGO Community Team manager Jake McKee talks about how LEGO has begun changing its long-standing corporate culture, involving a greater diversity of people to build a community around the company and its brand.