The idea of rolling around our creations in the dirt is anathema to most of us LEGO SYSTEM builders. Not so a group of LEGO Technic engineers who gathered in Prague last month for the 2009 LEGO Technic Rally.
I was rooting for this Tatra by Nikolas Tepper.
Read more about this event on TechnicBRICKs.
The chain of LEGO store openings continues with two more stores to open in July in Dallas and Oklahoma City. Here are the details:
Oklahoma City, OK
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Dallas, TX
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I will be attending the Grand Opening at the Dallas store, and I hope to see some of our readers there!
LEGO has this to say about the events taking place at each grand opening:
Help a real LEGO Master Builder construct an 8-foot tall LEGO R2-D2™ (Oklahoma City)/Yoda™ (Dallas) during our 3-day Grand Opening Celebration weekend!
You’ll get a free LEGO® Star Wars™ Certificate of Achievement for helping, while supplies last! Visit the LEGO Store during the event to enter for a chance to win a $50 LEGO Store Gift Card! No purchase necessary to enter.
Plus:
On Saturday, be one of the first 300 customers to spend $35 in the LEGO Store and you’ll receive an exclusive, limited-edition LEGO set!On Sunday, the first 300 customers to spend $35 in the LEGO Store will receive an exclusive, limited-edition LEGO Minifigure T-Shirt! Shirts are available in child’s sizes only.
Visit stores.LEGO.com for more details.
In addition, here’s a full list of stores opening in 2009:
Kotaku spent some time at E3 playing the upcoming LEGO Rock Band game and reports some early impressions:
The problem with this game is all in the name. LEGO Rock Band makes you wonder “why LEGO?” Maybe “Rock Band: Play Rock Band With Your Kids” would have been better.
Because if you don’t have kids, this game is largely pointless. It’s Rock Band, except with a more pedestrian songlist, and no real changes to the way the game is structured, or plays.
But that’s if you don’t have kids. If you do have kids around, and want a game to play with them, well. This looks pretty damn good.
Read the full article on Kotaku.
And in case you missed it, here’s the game’s trailer:
Digital Blue has released details of their upcoming LEGO-branded electronics. The site lists four upcoming products:
The camera and MP3 player look like they’re going to be available in LEGO’s traditional primary colors as well as shades of pink and white. All four products are due out later this summer, so look for a massive increase in truly horrible LEGO photos to wade through starting then.
Thanks for the tip, Bunbrick!
This coming weekend, June 13 and 14, Legoland California is hosting Star Wars Days. The park, located in Carlsbad, CA just off the I-5 freeway, will be open from 10:00am to 6:00pm on both Saturday and Sunday. Single-day ticket prices start at $53 for children and $63 for adults, though membership, multi-day and “hopper” packages are also available.
Members of my local LEGO user group (SandLUG) and I will be manning a display table or two of our own creations. From Bricks to Bothans (FBTB), a LEGO Star Wars special interest group, will also be partcipating. We have many skilled builders (Right: John Cooper’s “Cantina Band”) in Southern California and this is a chance to see their creations, or more importantly meet the builders, in person. You are all welcome to drop by our display and say ‘hello.’
Though SandLUG has been around for a couple years and we have done displays in the past, this is our first effort at a cooperative display, so it may be interesting to see our starting point, so you can be stunned by our slickness in future years and say with authority: “I remember when Sandluggers couldn’t fit two base plates together.”
Here’s the full press release from LEGOLAND:
THE FORCE RETURNS TO LEGOLAND® CALIFORNIA FOR STAR WARS™ DAYS
Special two-day event features Xbox 360 gaming, Droid Hunt, daily costume contests and a special visit from Darth Vader himself
CARLSBAD, Calif. (April 20, 2009) – The Force returns to LEGOLAND® California on June 13 and 14 during LEGO® STAR WARS Days. Darth Vader and his 501st Legion of stormtroopers will invade the family theme park to interact with fans all weekend long, and LEGOLAND guests will also be able to take part in out-of-this-world activities like the Droid Hunt, video game battles, trivia competitions, building activities, scavenger hunts and daily costume contests.
For the first time ever during LEGO STAR WARS Days, fans of all ages can experience the new Xbox Family GameSpace, where they can play LEGO STAR WARS games all weekend long. The Xbox Family GameSpace features 13 game stations, providing an optimal gaming experience. Xbox Family GameSpace is a new permanent feature at LEGOLAND California where guests can experience LEGO STAR WARS and other family-friendly games year-round.
One of the most popular LEGO STAR WARS Days events is the Droid Hunt. Guests of all ages receive “droid badges” if they are among the first to stop by a specially marked table in The Beginning of the Park, where they will learn a special droid quote from within the STAR WARS Saga. When guests wearing droid badges are “caught” within the Park by members of the 501st Legion, they must recite the quote to receive a raffle ticket for the chance to win fantastic LEGO STAR WARS and LEGOLAND California merchandise.
Other features and attractions include the LEGO STAR WARS Fan Gallery, highlighting LEGO STAR WARS creations built by local fans and LEGO Club members; Jedi Trivia Contests, which allow guests to use their STAR WARS knowledge to compete for fabulous prizes; and a Miniland U.S.A. scavenger hunt to discover scrambled letters hidden by clone trooper mini-figures. Those who locate all the letters and unscramble the secret phrase will be entered into a contest to win a family four-pack of LEGOLAND California tickets and exclusive LEGO STAR WARS merchandise.
Also, guests are encouraged to dress as their favorite STAR WARS characters and participate in daily costume contests. Prizes will be awarded in two age categories: 8 and younger and 9 to 15. Each prize is valued at more than $500 and includes exclusive LEGO STAR WARS toys, collectible gear and tickets to LEGOLAND California.
When I revealed the following at my last SandLUG meeting, I was almost kicked out: I have lived in San Diego for 8 years and have never been to Legoland.
We’re not the only ones nominating LEGO Ambassadors for Cycle 7 of the program.
We’ll add to this list as we encounter more nomination processes as we learn about them. Feel free to suggest links in the comments.
. . . the more they stay the same.
Mike Stimpson’s (balakov) interpretation of the classic photo by Jeff Widener of the Associated Press seems quite timely to feature today though he made it some time ago. Twenty years after Tiananmen Square and my understanding is that due to the press blackout on this image in mainland China, it has not been seen by over a billion people in the People’s Republic.
I very briefly considered posting this as only an image with link to Mike’s original posting on flickr (for graphic punch), but I found that at least 3 flickr users had swiped the image without giving proper credit and I didn’t want to add to that number. It became my introduction to the brick-busters group on flickr. Sad.
UPDATE: Voting is now underway for this cycle.
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As LEGO announced earlier today, nominations are now open for the 2009/2010 or “Cycle 7” of the LEGO Ambassadors Program. To keep things manageable, I’m posting the process we’ll be using here on The Brothers Brick separately from LEGO’s announcement.
First, some of you may be wondering what the LEGO Ambassadors Program is. Glossing over LEGO’s official definition, the program is designed to gather feedback from LEGO fans and provide that feedback to The LEGO Group. Although communication from LEGO does occasionally flow back to LEGO fans, the primary purpose is to flow information to LEGO — product and quality feedback, suggestions, demographic data about the adult fan community, and so on.
Second, I won’t be accepting any nominations myself to be a LEGO Ambassador for the next cycle. I still believe in the value of the program, but I’d like to focus my LEGO energies more directly on The Brothers Brick, Classic-Castle.com, SEALUG, and the other LEGO fan communities I belong to.
Third, we learned from the way we did things last year and we’re making a few adjustments. Feel free to discuss these changes and make suggestions, and we can make further tweaks along the way, if necessary.
Finally, an online community like ours that’s centered around a blog has some unique considerations that are different from other LEGO fan communities, such as online forums or offline LEGO clubs. Before we begin nominating people to represent The Brothers Brick in the LEGO Ambassadors program, I want to share a few thoughts based on the discussions and nominations last year.
Phew! Enough words from me.
Here’s how this is going to work on The Brothers Brick:
Okay, readers, nominate away!
First, the complete announcement from The LEGO Group:
Hello LEGO Enthusiasts,
We’re happy to announce that the nomination process for LEGO Ambassador Cycle 7 is now open.
The LEGO Ambassador Program is designed to give the AFOL Community a direct line into the LEGO Company. The Program is essentially a gathering of community representatives that speak on behalf of the larger communities they are a part of. This group is able to bring forward the interests, concerns and questions directly to LEGO Employees.
Who’s allowed to nominate?
Any AFOL Community Group (online or on the map) will have the opportunity to submit nominations from their group (up to 3 people if they so choose). Not everyone can be selected for the program in order to keep the group manageable.
If you choose to submit a nomination it does not mean that your candidate will be chosen, but it does mean that your group will have just as much an opportunity to get involved in having a direct representative in the LEGO Ambassador Program. We will try to get a diverse group of people who are able to represent the whole AFOL community as good as possible.
Groups can certainly nominate someone already in the Ambassador Program, but the program has a two term limit in order to opportunites for more people to be involved. After a term out of the program, a previous Ambassador can be re-nominated (this rule only started with cycle 6 so all current Ambassadors are still eligible).
A group that submits a nomination for the LEGO Ambassador program should be established and known within the LEGO Community.
What should a nomination have in it?
- Name and age of the nominee.
- Where is the nominee from?
- Which Group does this nominee represent?
- Does this person consent to being nominated (Please do not submit a nomination on behalf of someone you have not discussed with beforehand).
- Explanation of who the nominees are, what their activities are, and why they would be a good representative of their community (at least 3 testimonials from members of nominating group are required)
- Key interests of the nominee (themes, building styles, and some examples of their building)
- NEW!!! Platform – The nominations should now include a list of the goals that the nominee and the community he/she represents are looking to accomplish as part of the program. Remember the LEGO Ambassador Program is all about the AFOL community having representation into the LEGO Group, so this is an effort to have you think ahead as to what you really think would benefit your communities the most.
When is the Nomination Due?
July 1, 2009 by midnight GMT. If a nomination is received after this time it will be automatically rejected. The new cycle will be announced on approximately July 8, 2009.
Who Should the Nominations be sent too?
Nominations should be sent directly to steve@lego.com
What might a LEGO Ambassador be committing too?
- LEGO Ambassadors are committing to represent their communities interests to the LEGO Group.
- There are projects that Ambassadors can take part in, it is up to the individual to decide what they may or may not be interested in working on. It all comes down to how they feel they can best represent their community.
- Online discussions will be held for the Entire group of Ambassadors that will include members of the LEGO Community Team and other LEGO Employees as well.
- In order to get the most out of the program you should be willing to give some time to in order to help discussions along. If you don’t give time to it then you may not be dishonoring the nomination you received from the community.
There is no NDA requirement to take part in the LEGO Ambassador Program for Cycle 7. There may be an instance where a special project will come up and the Ambassadors may have to sign an NDA to participate in that, but it will take place in a separate forum in order to limit confusion as to what can be said outside of the Ambassador program. Otherwise, anything shared in Ambassador Discussions can be shared with the AFOL Community.
This next session of the Ambassador Program will last approximately one year.
Thank you all. Your nominations are very valuable for helping the LEGO Community Team choose the next round of LEGO Ambassadors.Steve Witt – LEGO Ambassador Lead
&
Tormod, Jan, Jim, Lenka, and Phil
The LEGO Community Team
Next, I’ll be posting separately about how this is going to work here on The Brothers Brick. (And to consolidate comments where they’re most relevant, I’m going to lock comments on this first post.)
According to Animation Magazine, Lego has brokered a deal with The Cartoon Network. According to a press release from LEGO, Ben 10: Alien Force LEGO sets are coming in 2010.
Now I admit that I’m out of the loop on this. I’m not an afficiando of the Cartoon Network. Is this a good thing or bad thing?
Thanks to Bruce of MicroBricks for the heads up. Also thanks to Ean for the press release link.
I am Thanel, Andrew’s brother, and I am both honored and privileged to be accepted as the newest of new regular contributors to The Brothers Brick (TBB). As Andrew mentioned in his introduction, it’s true that part of the reason I’ve been brought on board is because of that familial relationship. But there’s another reason: I’m the noob brother.
As he and I have talked over the years and I have recently become more involved in commenting on TBB, going to my local LEGO user group (SandLUG) meetings, setting up a Flickr account (Yupa-sama) and extracting my LEGO from under my wife’s Barbie collection, the idea of becoming a regular contributor chronicling my journey out of my dim ages evolved. Gary McIntire, Legoland California Master Model Builder, deserves credit for giving me the term “dim ages” as the most apt description of the past fifteen years.
For you noobs, dabblers, non-builders, set-only builders, daydreamers, dismissed, “silent majority,” downtrodden and oppressed: You are my peeps. I will publicly humiliate myself in order to smooth your path toward enlightenment. Or the dark side. Whatever.
What you can expect from me:
Fresh blood is good (ask any vampire) and I dream that someday I’ll be an old AFOL fogey and when somebody else comes along to freshen things up I can be snarky about their noobishness.
Some of you may already know this, but “Thanel” is not my real name. Unlike many people, in my particular line of work (alas, not secret agency), online networking can be quite detrimental. Connecting with clients personally and repeat business are distinctly bad ideas, so I’d rather keep my real name on the D.L. as much as possible. I’m happy to reveal my secret identity if I meet you in person, and obviously online as Andrew’s brother. I would just like to keep my explicit electronic signature to a minimum and am going to withhold the location of my underground lair.
I exist and am a reasonably good guy.
Ever since I recruited Josh and we renamed our newly relaunched blog “The Brothers Brick,” I thought it would be awesome to have my real-life brother join us. Call me sentimental, but it just made sense.
Our LEGO brotherhood has been a circuitous journey that goes back more than 30 years. When he was barely walking, Thanel (not his real name; he’ll explain why) destroyed my 381 Police Headquarters by climbing up to my top bunk, where I’d built it, and pushing it off to the floor below. I was devastated.
When he was old enough to have his own LEGO, our rivalry continued.
My Crusaders and Forestmen waged endless battles against his Black Falcons on our bedroom floor, complete with movement rules and hit points to track who was winning — at least a decade before BrikWars. We also built collaboratively, combining our collections for moonbases and medieval landscapes that rival in size (if not in building skills) some of the largest dioramas we regularly feature here.
As we grew older and each entered varied levels of Dark Ages, LEGO remained a point of commonality — graduation and birthday gifts to each other, and conversations about the latest Wild West and Adventurers sets we saw in stores.
All that is in the past, though. Looking to the future, I’m very pleased to announce that Thanel is joining The Brothers Brick as our newest contributor. One of the main things he’ll be documenting with his posts will be his emergence from LEGO isolation into the broader LEGO fan community — both online and offline. I think this is a different perspective from that of our other contributors, each recruited for their deep ties to various LEGO fan communities.
It’s also a point of view shared by many of you readers out there. Where do I start? Is there a LEGO club in my area? What’s it feel like to post that first work-in-progress LEGO creation and have it ripped apart? Thanel will be working to answer those questions.
But enough from me! Let’s hear from Thanel himself.
