For interview number 12, Keith Goldman turns to an Editor-in-Chief of a major LEGO media outlet not named Andrew. Take it away, Keith!
| If there is anyone in this hobby who has been there, done that, got the T-shirt, it is my next guest Joe Meno.
Joe hop-scotches the globe spreading the gospel of LEGO like some itinerate preacher from the American south. If there was ever an AFOL worthy of the title Ambassador in Perpetuity, it is the mighty Joe Meno. |
 Photo courtesy of GeekyTom. |
I sat down with Joe in his BrickJournal offices above the Second Empire Restaurant and Tavern in beautiful Raleigh North Carolina. We talked about never forgiving Disneyland for removing the Adventure through Inner Space attraction, General Chow’s chicken vs. General Tso’s chicken, and why America is still not out of Iraq. We also talked about LEGO.
The Build
Keith Goldman: You are so busy hop-scotching around the globe, living the dream of mannkinder everywhere….do you still have time to build? What percentage of your LEGO life is devoted to actual building? What motivates you to make time to build?
Joe Meno: Do I still have time? Usually, I make time.
Last year was my Just Another Day at the Bay micro layout, and the year before was Wall-E. This year, I had two projects, but one was too small (my iPad) and the other failed miserably (the NXT shark — it sank upon it’s first test swim in the tub.)
I build when I can because it’s a way to keep in touch with my roots in the hobby. And it’s hard to take someone seriously about a subject when they have little or no experience in it…so I build to keep my credibility.
KG: As an international man of LEGO mystery, you are uniquely qualified to comment on building styles from around the world. Is there any difference between building styles here in the States and abroad? Is there any real difference between builders?
JM: Good question — it’s something I have to look at every so often. The building styles of a region are a reflection of their environment, for the most part.
The US style of building is simple with detail, which shows best in space building. The European style in train layouts is much more refined, but that’s because the architecture is much richer there, the train is much more common there, and the AFOL community there is about one generation beyond the US community. The Far East building that I have seen has been a completely different design direction driven by mecha design.
So the best train builders are in Europe, the best mecha is in Japan, and the best space stuff is in the US. Keep in mind this is a general observation — there are outstanding builders everywhere of every type.
And the real difference between builders? Europeans can hold their alcohol MUCH better! :-)
More of Keith’s interview with Joe after the jump:
KG: In your well documented travels where you have seen the offerings of LEGO nerds far and wide… which MOC has titillated you the most Joe Meno, and why?
JM: The single most outstanding model I have ever seen? The Harry S. Truman, the ridiculously large aircraft carrier built by Matthias Hawking. There is enough detail in the model to keep anyone exploring that for days….In that same vein, the Dutch Moonbase by Mike Van Leeuwen and Marco Bass is an incredible creation that would take just as long to look at completely. In the US, your Omicron Weekend comes to mind!
The Community
KG: You’ve been running BrickJournal since 2005, what has been the best thing about that experience and what has been the worst?
JM: Best thing? Simple — opening up the community to anyone curious enough to open an issue. The community is far bigger than it appears, and it’s an honor to be able to explore and document a small snapshot of our community, from building to Serious Play to FIRST LEGO League. The friendships that I have picked up along the way have been wonderful too.
The worst thing? Getting flak from various people for various reasons. Some people make the assumption that there is an agenda in the magazine and what I do. Honestly, there is — and it’s showing the best in the community to everyone else and inspiring others to join. But that’s it.
KG: When you went transitioned from free-online zine to print, you experience a backlash. Talk about the backlash…and why AFOLs seem to think that every bit of fan-related content should be free, and why do they get their collective ass-chapped when it isn’t?
JM: BrickJournal was a freezine for a year as a proof of concept. If anyone wanted a printed copy, they could order from Lulu.com and get a print on demand issue. Going to a true magazine created a backlash because suddenly, there was a price on everything — including what was initially free. That really upset some readers.
It was surprising to me to see this happen — someone has to pay for a paper magazine, and the cost per issue were figured to match with most specialty magazines. There appears to be a context that any move to make money from the love of the brick, or more precisely, those who love the brick, is a betrayal of sorts. Many think I sold out for a quick buck. What really happened is that I chose to pursue a path that fit in my skill set and my love for the hobby. What I am doing is not that different from making custom parts or reselling sets in that respect. What makes me different is that the result is not a custom piece or set but something that to many builders doesn’t have the implied value of those things. I am selling information — and that information was at one time free. And that is what upsets those AFOLs — that BrickJournal appears to be a collection of material that can be found on Flickr, or websites, or blogs.
What is interesting about that argument is that BrickJournal isn’t dependent on information that is found online. We now have people writing about the brick who provide content is unique to the magazine. The interviews with the LEGO Group that we constantly get are exclusive, as are the event reports and articles. And that has value, enough to keep the magazine growing and improving.
KG: You’ve been knee deep in the business of running conventions for quite some time now, culminating in last months’ successful BrickMagic fan convention. Describe the road that brought you to running your own fest, and just like Brickjournal, can you give me one great thing and one not so great thing about running your own show?
Best thing? Seeing 95 of my best friends show off to a crowd of 8000 over a weekend. Worst thing? Not being able to spend time looking at everything and getting photos — unfortunately, I was busy doing presentations and taking care of things!
KG: Did you make a profit from Brickmagic, and how do you react to people who think fest-organizers shouldn’t make a buck, and call for transparency?
JM: Yes, BrickMagic made a profit. Don’t know how much, as the money has not been counted, but it really shouldn’t matter. The people who worry about transparency and where the money goes really haven’t got a stake in a given event. The true stakeholders are those who choose to participate — they provided the money for registration. To a lesser extent, the public is a stakeholder too, as they will pay into the event and expect entertainment. Stakeholders have the right to ask for transparency, but if you are not paying or not willing to pay…..
And fest-organizers should be able to earn a profit. If not, you’ll see events eventually declining, as the amount of work, resources and effort that goes into them is much higher than many assume, and doing events for community is not as much motivation as it would appear. The public is becoming a larger factor in this as their ticket sales provide the resources for bigger and better venues.
KG: Are you concerned that there are too many conventions in the states right now, and that it somehow hurts the community? Is there a point of saturation and where is it?
JM: I’m not concerned about that at all at this point. There’s a lot of regions that could host an event (Texas, Ohio, to name a couple of places — they are relatively open areas geographically).
Personally, I don’t see having too many conventions hurting the community — conventions are an opportunity for the community to show and grow, as public interest increases. Now it will hurt in my ability to go to all of them, but that hurts my community, not the community — and that is a distinction that has to be made.
The saturation question is a good one because it touches on one of the aspects of conventions — there is a spirit of competition between them, but also courtesy, so there are windows of time between events. As more events come online, this will no doubt be changed. What should be happening is networking for a common good, as the saturation point for events is far lower when they are competing as opposed to not. Creating this network would also make new opportunities — having a simucast over two conventions coast-to-coast, for example. New ways to meet can happen, if we let them.
It will take a long time before saturation happens, but I do expect a plateau in AFOL attendance to happen in the next few years. There’s a generation change happening in the community (TFOLs are coming into their own), which will inevitably affect events. One thing the current community should be paying attention to is who will be the event runners of the next generation.
KG: In all of your travels related to the LEGO fan community, what’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen?
JM: Wierdest thing? At an European event, there was a model of the US Capitol built by Dominic Gerlach that was 15 or so feet long and 4 feet high. It was minifig scale, and during display hours, it had a motorcade with agents and staff and a large crowd looking on, all done in minifigs. However, after hours on the first night, after a few drinks, some people changed the layout so that the minifigs were all making out or worse!! It was a Washington orgy, and was hysterical! And yes I have pics, but they are under lock and key:-)
The Future
KG: Answer critics who say that the print media is obsolete in the age of the micro-chip, how will Brick Journal survive in a world gone mad with the digital. What direction will you take your magazine, and do you think you can ever top the 1st print issue that featured The Omicron weekend?
JM: Print media is not obsolete. If that was true, books would already have been gone by now. What is happening now is that the media is undergoing a massive change that is being dictated by costs. The technology to display on a screen is now dropping to a form factor and price that is actually threatening paper. Does that mean paper is out? Maybe. BrickJournal is a magazine that is growing — and it has been growing.
What killed many magazines is that they were based on advertising. If the advertising dried up, the mags folded. BrickJournal never had that luxury. The magazine’s main support is from subscribers and then sales at the LEGO Brand Retail stores. So the Journal is stable in terms of printing costs, and now it’s a matter of growing to support staff.
That’s not to say that I want to continue exclusively in print — thanks to the resources available, the mag is positioned to go into the digital realm. A digital iPad version of the mag is definitely something I am looking at, where a reader can read an article and then see a full gallery and video supporting it. Also, having 3D models of the MOCs in the mag is something I am considering. And the only way I could top the Omicron Weekend in the first issue is a 3D tour of it rendered digitally so you can fly though the entire layout, with commentary from you, Ryan Rubino, and Mike Rutherford! Nothing else would compare. Really.
KG: What is the future of fan conventions? Can the market be saturated and how close is it to that mark? What advice would you give someone who wanted to start their own?
JM: Fan conventions are in an interesting position. We are (and have been) at a crossroads for a couple of years concerning events — just what do we want to do as a community? Do we want to spread the hobby? Do we want to have fan-exclusive events? Or do we want to do something different? Those questions will determine the direction of fan events — the move toward public days was done to allow financing and also promote the hobby, which has gotten the LEGO Group’s attention.
My initial planning of BrickMagic was the expectation that there might be saturation in the area, since BrickFair is only one state away and a few months down the road. However, that proved not to be the case. Saturation is something to keep an eye out for, especially on the East Coast. Other areas, though, like the South and West Coast, are still pretty open areas. Bricks by the Bay proved California’s viability.
Advice for would-be organizers? Research. Use the local resources on hand to help out — local LEGO clubs, convention bureaus, etc. Don’t be afraid of looking for help outside the community, as much of BrickMagic’s financial success came from volunteers who were not AFOLs and were able to come up with different approaches to find sponsors. If anyone is interested in advice, drop me a line!
KG: You have your own magazine, you have your own convention…what’s next for the Space Paparazzi? Is there a holy grail in this LEGO hobby for the mighty Joe meno?
JM: My own magazine, my own convention — geez, I sound so greedy! A holy grail for me? I really haven’t a clue. I’ve been making this up as I go along!
5 Boilerplate questions
KG: If you had to pick only one of your models to go in the great FOL time-capsule, which would it be?
JM: WALL-E. That was the most challenging model I have made because I had to follow a design completely.
KG: If you could design an official set, what would it be?
JM: Monorail Mark II. Nuff said.
KG: If time, money and proximity were not an issue, give me 2 builders besides me that you’d like to collaborate with on a project?
JM: Well, you. I have had the privilege of building with Mark Stafford, so one person is down. But in his place I would want to build with Cale Leiphart of PENNLUG — he’s the only person that could sway me to building train stuff (his steam trains are things of beauty) and after that…Masao Hidaka. He has a broad base of things I would love to look at and build.
KG: Name a famous person living or dead who would have made great LEGO nerd.
JM: Walt Disney. Think about it.
KG: And finally, good sir, who controls the action?
JM: You do, of course!!
+ I’d also like to note that another great interview with Joe was recently posted over at BricksABillion, so for further studies in Meno, head over there.