Ask a Lemur – “MOCs, LEGO and Prehensile Tails, oh my!”

Ask a Lemur

Hello again, friendly readers! It’s the TBB Intern Lemur here, ready and willing to answer your questions about LEGO, the fan community and The Brothers Brick!

Sorry for the delay. I will be trying to write these posts every Monday morning, if my workload allows. The contributors generally sleep late on Mondays, to recover from the weekend, and that gives me a chance to catch up. Today it was even quieter than usual because Andrew is off on his yacht, doing some research on penguins for the next TBB collaborative build. Oh, that reminds me, some of you asked about his car. Apparently I’m not allowed to talk about Master Andrew’s personal possessions on here any more. Which will be hard because there are a lot of them. He probably won’t be happy that I mentioned the yacht. Let’s keep that between ourselves, shall we? The other reason it is quieter around here right now is that Iain is off on a Wingsuit Tour of the French Pyrenees. He’ll be back in a few days. Anyway, on to the questions! A couple of these are from our contact form and some are from the comments on last week’s post. Here we go!

What is a MOC?
MOC is an acronym that stands for My Own Creation. It generally refers to anything that you make from your own imagination that isn’t an official set. Some people use it as a word (sounds like ‘mock’) and other people just say the letters (EM-OH-SEE). Either one is correct. The catch is that the thing you build has to be made from LEGO. I once made something here in the office and showed everyone my “MOC”. They were not impressed and told me to clean it up. That is when I discovered that only things you make from LEGO are called MOCs.

What is the correct way to refer to LEGO bricks?
There is a lot of debate about this. The LEGO company would like you to capitalize the word “LEGO” and refer to bricks as “LEGO building bricks” or “LEGO elements” and not to use the term “LEGO” as a generic term for their product. Some people pluralize the word into “Legos” and for many hard-core fans this is heresy. No, seriously, they really flip out. You should try it at a big fan convention some time. The LEGO grammar police come out of the woodwork. Scared the MOC right out of me the first time I saw it. Regardless of how you refer to them, we should stop arguing about it and just build with the yummy little things!

Can you build with your tail?
Of course. What else would I use? However, sad to say, most lemurs cannot build with their tails, as their tails are not prehensile. Sorry, but that is a myth! I’m actually the only lemur that has one. Chris thinks it has something to do with my diet of TBB mail, which might also account for the color. Hmm, I’ll have to think about that.

Well, that is all for today. I have other work to do and Miss Caylin is giving me the ‘eye’. Oh, yes, I have news! I have been given some Brothers Brick loot to share with you! If I use your question in next week’s post, I will contact you and send you a little Lemur love in the mail. Don’t worry, no MOCs. Have a great week and remember…the lemur cares.

A. Lemur

14 comments on “Ask a Lemur – “MOCs, LEGO and Prehensile Tails, oh my!”

  1. zhuckins

    What exatly are brickons, and are they different from comiccons. I belive people post photos of MOCs from both.
    Thanks,
    Zach

  2. ProfessorBrickkeeper

    The only lemur element LEGO ever produced came from a 2006 line based on a animated TV fantasy series. Since then, LEGO has only focused on monkies, and not the noble lemur, how does this oversight on LEGO’s part make you feel?

  3. Buffalorand

    LEGO prefers they do indeed be called “LEGO building bricks” or simply “bricks.” In and around the halls of the LEGO Pantheon you do indeed find yourself somewhat hazed if you refer to them as “legos” or for that matter “blocks.” Think of it this way, the company is LEGO, the products are building bricks. As for Black Six and the inquiry about 9v trains you need go no further than your wonderful Federal Government and its propensity for Regulation. Anything that plugs in to a wall and electrifies a child’s toy as you can imagine is no longer considered a very good idea. I remember riding my bike and snow skiing without a helmet. Heck, I remember my first car didn’t have any seat belts! It is the price we pay for evolving as a people. Carry on and adapt to the battery operated and much less frustrating (“why did it stop? Darn! the tracks are ever so slightly separated…”) trains of the new enlightened age.

  4. Bunbrick

    Dammit! And here I wanted to ask next if Andrew constructed his yacht MOC with actual floatation in mind!

    See, I kinda suspect he did not, that he went form over function, ’cause I’ve been told there’s always these weird bubbling sounds heard whenever he’s off relaxing in the bathtub, but I guess the true source of those will forever be a mystery now… Censorship stinks! :-(

  5. Umbra-Manis

    You used my question this week! What do I get?

    Also, who makes the tastiest MOCs Simon or Nannan?

  6. A Lemur Post author

    @Umbra-Manis – They don’t trust with me an email address yet, but I had Josh send you an email about this. Did you get it? He’s a bit of slacker. Most humans are.

  7. Xtopher98

    Hello Mr. Lemur, I have a question for you.

    What are some tips for getting blogged by TBB? I don’t want to make a blog worthy build and then ruin it by having a crapy photo or something. Could you give some pointers?

    Thanks!

  8. zhuckins

    sorry for not responging last week, i recieved no email :P mind trying sending it again, so free lego loot would be awesome!

  9. Josh

    @zhuckins – I haven’t sent your email yet. The one that didn’t respond was for one of the questions last week. ;) I just chose your question this morning.

Comments are closed.