Category Archives: People

LEGO fandom is a worldwide phenomenon, a vast community. Whether you consider yourself an AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO), ALE (Adult LEGO Enthusiast), some other crazy acronym, a parent of a young builder, or even just a casual fan who appreciates all the amazing models LEGO builders create, there’s more to LEGO than just the models themselves. Here at The Brothers Brick, we bring you the stories behind the models, with interviews, builder profiles, and more.

Pillaging the mind of a builder: Gerard Joosten

Gerard Joosten (aka Elephant Knight) just posted his latest in a line of large, detailed sailing ships. Christened The Lynx, it is a beautiful example of a minifig scale Clipper Schooner.

Gerard agreed to sit down with me and answer some questions about the ship and how he builds.

TBB: Thanks for taking the time to talk with me, Gerard. Tell our readers a little bit about yourself. How long have you been into Lego and what themes do you build in?

GJ: I have been into Lego since just before my fourth birthday, when I got 1464 Pirate Lookout. I have never been into a dark age, and my older brother said I’m the biggest AFOL in my family of 7 kids. I mostly build in Pirates and Space, with Castle a bit behind those. Though I dabble in almost anything, except for Steampunk.

TBB: You have two older brothers who are adult Lego fans. Do you feel that their influence and your early exposure to the online Lego fan community has had an impact on your builds?

GJ: They certainly had an influence. Dan built a ship in 2008, a bit before the pirates line came out, that really opened up my love for Pirates. Dan has also pushed me into doing more realistic stuff.

TBB: So why no Steampunk?

GJ: I am just not a fan of steampunk. I think the idea of spaceships and mechs powered by steam to be silly.

TBB: Fair enough. You said you’ve been into Lego since you were four. So how many years have you been into Lego now?

GJ: 15 years and it doesn’t look like I am going to slow down at all.

TBB: So is Pirate your favourite theme?

GJ: Pirates and Space are always competing for first, but I think Pirates has a bit of an edge, simply because I build better sailing ships then spaceships.

TBB: You are becoming well-known for your large, detailed ships. How is this one different from your previous builds?

GJ: Well, this is my second time using reference material, and my first time basing it on a real ship. Also, this is the first time I have built a ship in minifig scale, and used proper cloth (As opposed to paper) for the sails.

TBB: Did using reference material make this build more difficult?

GJ: Somewhat. Using reference material meant I couldn’t be as loose as I normally would be. The hull especially took a lot longer since I had to match it up with something.

TBB: Is this your biggest ship so far?

GJ: It isn’t my longest, but I think it might be the tallest. The HMS Brunswick was 124 studs long, but a bit heftier. But the Lynx is wider and that has to count for something. I would have to say this isn’t quite my biggest, but it is close.

TBB: What was the most difficult part of this build?

GJ: I dunno. I think making the sails, since my scissors sucked. Can’t really say if any part of the actual build was harder then the rest.

TBB: What part of this ship turned out exactly how you envisioned it?

GJ: The angle of the masts. I got the idea how to do it, and it worked perfectly.

TBB: They do look really good. One thing that stands out on your ships is the custom sails and rigging. What do you use to make them? How much string went into the rigging on the Lynx?

GJ: In this case, I used cloth that I bought at Walmart. I usually use paper, but since the sails on this were larger then your regular sheet of paper, and since I wanted to raise the bar for myself a bit higher, I went with cloth. As for how much string, I don’t know at this point. By the time I dismantle this, I’ll know.

TBB: Are you going to start using cloth on all of your future ships?

GJ: I already converted one of my old ships to cloth sails, so I think it looks like it could happen, though paper is cheaper, and I am a bit of a mizer.

TBB: Where do you get inspiration for your ships?

GJ: Generally I just feel like building a ship, and I build one. In the Lynx’s case, Caylin challenged me to build a minifig scale tall ship, so that’s what I did.

TBB: As far as I can tell, your rigging is very accurate. How important is historical accuracy to you?

GJ: It is important whenever I feel like being historically accurate, which is happening more and more often these days. And since this ship was based on an actual ship, it was pretty obvious that I would have to make the rigging accurate.

TBB: Is there anything you want to mention that I haven’t asked about?

GJ: Whenever I build a sailing ship, I like to compare it to my first sailing ship I got, 6250 Cross Bone Clipper. In this case, there isn’t even a comparison.

TBB: I have to agree! Thanks for taking the time with us.

GJ: No problem!

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Colour blindness and LEGO

Firstly, please excuse the lack of a nice LEGO model. This post is really for the approximately 6% of our readers who are colour blind (CVD to be technical) so if you’re not one of them, you can stop reading. If you are please indulge my curiosity and read on.

Both Peter Morris and I are from that lucky 7% of the male population with CVD. This causes both of us some consternation when dealing with LEGO. I’m curious to see what problems others with CVD have and what they do to deal with it.

So if you do have problems with CVD please comment on this flickr post. If you’re not a flickr member please comment here. Just share the hassles and solutions you’ve found. I’m certainly hoping to learn something from it all.

See Ed Diment’s USS Intrepid in person in NYC starting April 15 [News]

Ed Diment (Lego Monster) will be arriving in New York City in two weeks with his USS Intrepid aircraft carrier to assemble and display it at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum.

Ed will be there for two full days, Friday April 15 and Saturday April 16, after which the LEGO Intrepid will be on display through September. This is a great opportunity to meet Ed and see his epic World War II vessel in person.

Read all the details on the Intrepid Museum website.

Nannan talks about Lego and his creations

I was recently featured in an article in The Dallas Morning News, what’s relevant is a video they shot of me talking and showing some of my creations in my Lego room. You can see the disproportionate amount of black and bleys I have compared to the other colors :)

Interview with Mike Doyle

Marcos Bessa interviewed Mike Doyle, the builder who recently created the abandoned Victorian house. Ever since seeing Mike’s masterpiece I’ve wanted to interview him to learn how a new member of the AFOL community can create such stunning works. The interview by Marcos answers my question and provides further insight into Mike’s design process and more. I highly recommend this great read.

A warning about flickr groups

Warning! This post is not about LEGO bricks but about the community on flickr. If you have no interest in the flickr LEGO community then please just ignore it.

I went to visit one of my LEGO flickr groups the other day (Jan 29) only to find the above message. I’d got through a couple of minutes of before so I was a little bit suspicious. Inspection of my group list showed that LEGO 16+ had vanished from there too. Apparently it had spontaneously disappeared.

As the creator and an administrator of the group I was first in line to hear about it if something had gone wrong. I’d heard nothing. Over the following six days I’ve pieced together what happened. In LEGO 16+ we had a thread for leaks. All discussion in the group was only available to members of the list and one of those members had reported this thread to TLG. They had taken their usual action (lawyerly email) to flickr and Yahoo! (who are directly responsible for these issues) had decided to simply delete the entire group. Not the thread, not the links but the entire group.

I’ll note that I didn’t hear this from flickr but had to piece it together myself (with help). Immediately upon discovering the issue I contacted flickr about it. They finally got back to me today (six days later) with the following:

Hello gambort,

Thank you for contacting Flickr Member Support.

In joining Flickr, our members agree to abide by the Yahoo!
Terms of Service and the Flickr Community Guidelines:

http://www.flickr.com/guidelines.gne
http://www.flickr.com/terms.gne

Your group was brought to our attention through Report
Abuse. Upon review, we determined that your content and/or
behavior was in violation and your account was terminated.

Thank you again for contacting us. If you have any other
questions, please feel free to reply to this email.

Regards,
Flickr staff

which is extremely helpful. Having heard various horror stories about Yahoo!’s attitude to its users I’d already anticipated this response and was, sadly, not surprised. Incidentally the guidelines basically says that if Yahoo! don’t like what you do they can do what they like. This is standard but most sites choose to explain things.

So what has this got to do with you?

Well firstly if you were interested in what went on in LEGO 16+ you might want to know what happened to it. It’s gone but we’ve moved to AFOL 16+. NB. you must be 16 or over to join this group and it does contain bad language, bad taste and other things some people don’t like.

Secondly, if you run or actively participate in a flickr group you should be very wary of this. If you allow or actively encourage leaks there is a chance the entire group could be deleted. It’s totally unreasonable but Yahoo! have a reputation for behaving in just this way. You might also want to be careful reporting people.

Consider it a lesson learnt the hard way by me so you don’t have to. Yahoo! do not care about you, your group, or anything you have done. Make sure you have a backup in place for any vital discussion and try to back up your flickr photostream.

EDIT: I realise my original post doesn’t make my issue entirely clear here. The loss of LEGO 16+ was a minor irritation as it wasn’t really a resource so much as a discussion forum. It had been replaced by a functional equivalent within hours. The loss of some of my other groups (eg. LEGO Techniques) would be far more tragic and I’ll be making sure it’s unlikely (certainty is impossible given Yahoo!s arbitrariness) to keep it off the radar. I recommend others do the same. Yahoo! do not care.

Q&A with Bricklink sellers

If you’ve been a LEGO builder or collector long enough, chances are you’ve bought from Bricklink or at least heard of the website that’s been referred to as the eBay of LEGO. You may have also wondered what it’s like to be one of Bricklink’s many big-time sellers. In this article we invited four of the biggest sellers in the US to answer questions about their selling experiences. We’ll kick off this Q&A with a self-introduction by each seller on the panel.

Plastic Bricks Direct (BL PBD): Plastic Bricks Direct is a privately held company with one mission, to bring LEGO brick products direct to your door. We pride ourselves on friendly customer service, and having one of the largest selections of parts to choose from.

Missing Brick (BL MB): My store on Bricklink started in March of 2001 initially to sell used surplus pieces I had no use for. A few years later, I also started selling new pieces from sets I bought for my own use, and again later I started also selling sets. About 2 years ago, I almost completely did away with selling used pieces, the only used pieces I am selling nowadays are either rather rare pieces, or minifigure/minifigure-related, as well as some old used complete sets.

Toy Brick Brigade (BL TBB): We are a family-run business, our inventory and the main part of the operation is in North Texas. Payments are processed in Idaho, so it can be confusing for customers sometimes, but it works well for us. We are grateful to be able to make a living from home, working for ourselves, and doing something we enjoy.

Brick-A-Thon (BL BAT): Brick-A-Thon, Inc., is a Florida based business comprised of Tracy & Chris Dale who are both AFOL’s. Tracy loves Fabuland, Star Wars and Technic sets, primarily, while Chris really likes the Exo-Force line, Sponge Bob and minifigs (and loves the new Collectible Series). They also collect shot glasses, baseball cards, baseball memorabilia, are avid Tampa Bay Rays fans, and Chris was born and raised a Cheesehead (Packers fan). They are hoping to attend at least one LEGO Event this year, but haven’t determined which, yet.

How did you decide to become a Bricklink seller?

BL PBD: I originally came to Bricklink as a buyer to complete some old sets. I was extremely frustrated to have to buy a minimum of $5, $10, or $20 worth of parts when I only needed one 5 cent part, even though I was willing to pay shipping/handling to get it. I knew I was not the only one who was willing to spend a few bucks on shipping to get a 5 cent part. I opened our store with that basic premise of letting people purchase what/how much they want, and the rest is, well, you know.

BL MB: I started out as a LEGO train collector. I was buying lots of unsorted parts on eBay to complete my childhood models. Once I stumbled on Bricklink, I mainly used Bricklink for my purchases, and after a few months, I signed up to sell the pieces I did no longer need or want. I started building MOCs, and needed more bricks, so I bought more, and had more leftovers, and my store grew.

BL TBB: Lego is fun, and seemed to sell pretty quickly. It seemed like a great business to get into, so we gave it a shot.

BL BAT: I came out of the “Dark Ages” at the age of 33 and discovered BrickLink. I started buying and then realized I could sell off the parts I didn’t need on BrickLink to help fund my hobby – that’s how it all began, and it snowballed from there. Chris joined the store officially in 2007.

Is it your full-time job? Do you hire others to help you?

BL PBD: Yes, I spend about 60-70 hours a week staying on top of it, and it is also a full time job for a handful of other people. After a year of begging, I was able to convince my wife to leave her full time professional job with a nation-wide employer to join me as our COO. We have two other full time employees and a handful of part-time staff. By the end of 2011 our goal is to have 10 full time staff running various functions throughout our organization.

BL MB: No, this is purely a hobby for me. I have a great regular job. I spend nearly all money I make from selling LEGO on Bricklink (unlike most other big Bricklink sellers, I only sell on Bricklink, nowhere else) to buy more bricks, I primarily sell to make money to buy the bricks I need for my models. I work alone, but have friends that do some sorting now and then.

BL TBB: Yes, it is our full time job. We have had hired help in the past, but not right now.

BL BAT: Yes, this is a full time job for both Chris and me, and we have employed “Contract Workers” (friends) to assist at times with sorting and odd jobs, but we don’t have anyone full or part time that we keep on staff.

Where do you get your inventory?

BL PBD: LEGO, and a handful of other distributors. You’d think one could go straight to LEGO and be constantly supplied, and I guess if it were that easy then there would be much more competition.

BL MB: The bulk of my inventory comes from buying sets on sale at local stores, such as Target, Meijer, Toys’R’us, and Walmart, or when LEGO Shop at Home has good deals, I buy there too. In addition, since last year we have a LEGO store in Columbus, and I often buy inventory from sets on sale or Pick-a-Brick items.

BL TBB: Wherever we can. People email us wanting to sell their collection, or we find them on eBay.

BL BAT: We buy primarily from retail stores, LEGO Shop at Home, the LEGO Store in Downtown Disney, eBay, BrickLink and individuals looking to sell their collections.

Where is everything stored and how are things organized?

BL PBD: We currently have a completely stuffed 2,500 square foot warehouse, by the end of January we will have double that space! Sealed sets are stored in isles of Gorilla racks, and all of the parts are stored inside plastic bags or drawer liners, and then stored inside drawers. It’s like a hardware store stocked with LEGO.

BL MB: I have all items for sale stored in my basement. I have parts in zip-loc bags, stored in stackable drawers. Sets I have on storage racks. Nothing is labeled, so I rely on memory, and somewhat of a system, to find the parts. I keep related parts together, so all tiles are closer to other tiles, all bricks close to other bricks.

BL TBB: We have a 1,200 sq ft shop building next to the house. We have our own inventory system, and custom shelves to store everything.

BL BAT: We have product in our house in 3 rooms at one end which are the Office, Pulling Room and Sorting Room. We also have a storage unit on our property to hold sets and overflow product. Most everything we need for orders is in one room (in bins/bags) with some items (sets, mostly) in the office. There’s also product being sorted in the “Sorting Room”, of course. We’re thinking as we keep growing we’ll need to get another storage unit since we can’t easily expand the house.

What’s the most time-consuming aspect of selling?

BL PBD: Picking and packing. Sure, you could just throw all of the pieces in a bag or two and call it good ala LEGO Online PAB, however we take a more meticulous approach. Parts are organized and packaged neatly so that when you receive your order you can go right to building, not more sorting.

BL MB: Most time consuming is picking the orders. Especially those high lot counts with large variety, I have to go all over the basement to pick 1 here, 1 there. Because the large variety of buyers and orders, and the occasional inability to swiftly locate a part, I spend 80% of my time on 20% of the orders, and often within an order, I’ll spend 80% of my time on 20% of the order. Parting out sets for sale takes time too, so I only do that when I have at least 10 of the same set.

BL TBB: Most time consuming? Probably either the sorting process, or pulling orders that have many many lots.

BL BAT: Parting out sets, sorting product and counting/preparing it for sale – and then listing it all; that and the bookkeeping.

What do you think makes your store successful?

BL PBD: Friendly customer service, expeditious processing on every order, no limit purchasing, and having a large inventory with very competitive prices.

BL MB: Reliability, and a serious attitude. I ship orders quick, because that is how I would want my own order shipped. I pack my order well, because that how I would want my own order packed. I hardly ever have a backlog, I ship 99% of all orders out within 24 hours of payment. If you look at my customer base, I have a low percentage of first time buyers, but have a very high percentage of seasoned AFOLs. I am not always the cheapest, but consider myself one of the fastest and most reliable sellers, and that gets me much repeat business (that and that all repeat customers always get a coupon for use with their next order).

BL TBB: We try to have a great selection, a big variety and quantity of parts. We also try to be as quick as we can.

BL BAT: Two words: Customer Service – That’s what makes any business a success, is good, solid customer service. If you don’t make sure you have happy customers, you won’t have any coming back. We back that up with continually adding new and different items which is essential to draw people in.

Do you build with the bricks you have?

BL PBD: Not with anything that is kept at the warehouse as that is property of the business. I have a room at home that is used for play. If I want parts to use I have to buy them!

BL MB: Absolutely. I sell mainly so I can buy bricks to build with. As a builder, I like to build large structures, like skyscrapers, and I have build several in which I used over 30,000 pieces. I recently finished my largest MOC ever. Once I have that completely finished, and populated, it will be over 1 million bricks (actually mainly plates and tiles)

BL TBB: Not with our actual inventory, but yes, we do build occasionally, either with the kids or on our own.

BL BAT: Yes! I try not to take too much from store stock, but sometimes I see something and my brain gets going and I decide that not only do I need what we have in stock but I also have to go and buy a ton more on BrickLink. I have at least 4 projects in the process of being built right now. Chris has a passion for making up new minifigs with the parts we have and displaying them in the office.

What is something that you think most people don’t know about being a big-time Bricklink seller?

BL PBD: The amount of time that needs to be devoted to run a successful operation. Contrary to popular opinion it is NOT a get rich quick scheme.

BL MB: Particularly for me, for all my LEGO related activities, I would say I am an AFOL first, and Bricklink seller a distant second. Most probably see me as a seller that does this to make money, but if you see what I build, you know my true passion is being an AFOL.

BL BAT: That we really don’t make very much money. A lot of people think that we’re making hand over fist but we’re just scraping by, and we do it because we love the product. People don’t realize just how much work it takes to make a store like this function on a daily basis. I know I didn’t have a clue when I started and if we weren’t passionate about this then Brick-A-Thon wouldn’t still be in existence.

Reflections on Creations for Charity 2010

Creations for Charity took place in the past two months where LEGO fans sold their creations to raise money to donate LEGO to children in need. Here are a few words on the organization and the results of this year’s fundraiser.

The beginning

Creations for Charity began with the idea of giving LEGO to underprivileged children for the holidays. It started with a proposal by Don Wilson to keep a record of LEGO donations made by a group of fans. This inspired me to create a fundraiser where fans use their talent with LEGO to raise money. Although it seemed ridiculous to ask people to give up their personal creations, we got an overwhelming response and raised over $2,000 in 2009. We used the money to purchase and donate almost $3,000 worth of LEGO.

One year later

Drawing on previous experiences, I aimed to raise $3,000 this year. To my amazement, we reached this goal in record time with still a month left before the deadline. We progressed at an average of $1,500 a week from late October to early December, ending on $9,035. We not only surpassed last year’s record, we more than quadrupled it. After buying more than $14,500 worth of LEGO, we still had money left for a $723 check to top off our donation to Toys for Tots.

Good will is contagious

We had the good fortune of having over 60 contributors donate over 150 creations ranging from large-scale creations to custom minifigures. Our highest contributor racked up over $900 through sales of his custom minifigs, and several others donated creations that brought in over $500. People helped in other ways such as by spreading the word about our event. We benefited from mentions by some prominent non-LEGO sites such as Slashgear, Gizmodo, and even Toys for Tots. Others like Sean Kenney invested his time in assembling 60 keychain gifts; Ansgar from Chromebricks donated the gold-plated bricks that adorned them; and Linus Bohman designed an effective splash page for the fundraiser. The Brothers Brick chipped in a lot of money cover the cost of the raffle prizes and the expensive keychains. We even had three builders who donated their contest prizes to the cause. We’re really grateful to have the help of many in making this event successful. You can see all our participants and records here.

Why we do it

Creations for Charity costs both time and money for its participants, so why are we doing it? Consider this: the builders feel good about raising money through their talents, the buyers can own an original creation while helping charity, and the kids receive tons of LEGO. While I can’t speak for everyone, for many of us it’s all too good to pass up.

The big donation

On the day of our donation drop-off, I drove a truckload of LEGO across the metroplex to the Dallas / Fort Worth Toys for Tots distribution warehouse. The marines and volunteers were at work processing toys like Santa’s elves. They wasted no time hauling in the 567 LEGO sets. I stood and watched as half a dozen marines lifted boxes and bags out of the truck. Before I knew it I was already on the highway going home, and that’s when it dawned on me that thousands of dollars worth of LEGO and the fruits of many people’s work had passed out of my hands in just minutes. (Indeed it’s hard for a LEGO fan to give up so much of what he loves). But at the same time, I thought about the countless hours of joy that we will have given the children, and that made everything worth it.

The future

We envision Creations for Charity to continue and grow as an annual event. Starting next year there will be a team of coordinators running the fundraiser. With more help, we plan to expand the distribution of our LEGO donations to cover more cities in the US and possibly other parts of the world. Our contributors reside in a dozen countries, and we want our future donations to reflect that diversity. Next year we look forward to welcoming more participants and to make Creations for Charity a tradition for many LEGO fans.

Last words

Thank you for making Creations for Charity an inspiring success. It reflects the generosity of LEGO fans and spreads our hobby among both children and adults. By now many people will have our creations on display in their homes, and many more children will have a cool LEGO set this Christmas. Happy holidays and we hope you’ll join us for Creations for Charity in 2011!

A couple of gifts

Some time ago I heard that there were a few creations left on Nate Nielson’s computer that had never been posted online. Nathan’s wife was gracious enough to post two of the creations earlier this week and my thanks go out to her. I still miss seeing “Nnenn’s” work in my Contact List. His wife says that there is one more left and she is saving it for a special occasion. Enjoy!

It’s not like I applied for the job just for giggles – an interview with Jordan Schwartz

It goes without saying that Jordan Schwartz is a very talented builder for his age; even so, it may surprise you that he already landed an internship as a LEGO designer in Billund. Fresh out of high school, Jordan is heading to Denmark, early in 2011, to begin his work helping the company design new products. Below is an interview on how he got there and where he’s headed. You can learn more about Jordan on his website.

Nannan Zhang: What’s the process that led you to work for LEGO?

Jordan Schwartz: I compiled a portfolio and had it in the mail post-haste after being reminded by some friends at BrickWorld that TLG was looking to hire product designers. Shortly after that, I received an e-mail inviting me to the interview/workshop in Billund at the end of August. Naturally, I accepted. I went to the workshop/interview and went home. In the meantime, I had to start school (my first semester of college in Boston, MA) – and then, about a week into it, I received another e-mail and was offered a one-year internship as a starting point. I called the folks at LEGO to get the wheels in motion, took a leave of absence from school and now I am slated to begin said internship at the beginning of January 2011.

NZ: Can you tell us about your first visit to Billund for the workshop and interview?

JS: This wasn’t just my first trip to Billund, it was my first time in Europe, period. I have spoken with LEGO employees who worked there before, and almost all of them have told me that it’s a pretty… “boring” place, so I had my expectations and conceptions of it before going.

Anyway, the few of us from the U.S. who were there, were flown in a little earlier than the others so that we could adjust to the time difference, and we had a great time meeting and greeting people who were flying in from all over Europe (some of them prominent AFOLs, no less!). I tell you, that workshop was one crazy think-tank of artists and designers. It was a little intimidating since I was the youngest person there (fresh out of high school) and everyone else was already out of college; despite the competitive nature of the event, everyone was incredibly warm and friendly. Simply hanging out and chatting with the other attendees, hearing where they’re from, learning of their design experience, and flipping through their portfolios was absolutely fascinating and gave me insight into what TLG is looking for in a product designer. Obviously I cannot divulge too many details about the workshop itself, though as you can imagine, it was intensive. Oh, and we got a tour of the Idea House and tickets to LEGOLAND, so that was pretty cool too!

NZ: What will you be doing for your internship?

JS: I have been told what line(s) I’ll be designing for, but I’m going to have to bite my tongue on this one (at this point, I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say. Sorry!). But yes, I will be doing design work for the internship.

NZ: What are your thoughts on turning your hobby into a job?

JS: This is an interesting question, especially because this topic gets tossed around different forums all the time and everyone seems to have a different take on it. Some people would never want to turn their hobby into their job; some people would do it in a heartbeat. I happen to fall in this second group. Yes, LEGO is a hobby of mine, but why is it a hobby of mine? I can confidently say I still love LEGO because it takes me back – it is nostalgic; every time I build something with LEGO elements, I think about the good old times when I’d “play” with LEGO, and not “design” with it. Literally, some of my best memories have to do with LEGO; at the risk of sounding pretentious or cliché, these memories are very important to me, as I am a nostalgic kind of guy. This doesn’t go just for LEGO, but anything from my childhood (like now defunct Walt Disney World attractions, or those awesome Nickelodeon cartoons that I’ll never see again). And it is for this reason why I want to work for the company – I want to help create the products that children will enjoy now, and might have an affinity for, years down the road. I am moving from designing for myself and/or for the viewing pleasure of my fellow AFOLs, to designing for kids. And that’s an honor that has certainly validated my own affinity for LEGO and the work I’ve put into my creations over the years! Furthermore, being a product designer for LEGO is a dream job of mine (I’ve got a couple others, too, but this tops the list) – it’s not like I’ve been building for a few years in the online community and then just applied for the job just for giggles. I’ve always wanted to do this work – in fact, my mother dug up some old papers from grade school, and when prompted to write “What (I) want to be when I grow up” I always answered “I want to work for The LEGO Company.”

NZ: What are you looking forward to the most in Billund?

JS: Taxes! No, ok, not taxes. As far as TLG goes, learning how to design a good set, learning what sells, et cetera, et cetera. These guys are the best, you know! As far as living in Billund goes, being on my own for the first time. Ever since I started looking into schools, I’ve been getting really anxious and restless so I’m lucky that this opportunity has come so that I can kick myself out of the nest! (Oh, Southern New England for 18 years and an extra 4 for school, that’s refreshing). Though when I would talk about moving far, far away for school, I don’t think my family completely believed me…but I guess I’ve put my money where my mouth is!

NZ: Will there be a change in your involvement in the fan communities?

JS: Well, I hardly ever say anything anywhere online anyway…so no. And if I can somehow get to conventions, I will. Those are always a blast. My MOC output is going to virtually stop for a little while, that I can promise. If I have the opportunity to build a MOC, I will and I will post it, but I’d imagine those chances are slim. I hear some designers can’t stand building more than they have to at work, and others can’t get enough, so I’m curious to see where I’ll stand on that issue (I honestly have no clue whether or not I’ll be ‘all LEGO-ed out’ on account of work…time will tell).

NZ: Will you still contribute to BrickJournal?

JS: I have already spoken to Joe Meno, and I plan on staying as a contributor. Given my answer to the previous question, my articles will probably focus more on technique rather than an individual MOC (my article for the next issue already moves to this format anyway, with a small variety of MOCs to illustrate what I describe). BrickJournal has been a fantastic place for me to talk about some of the creations I’ve built, and I am so grateful to Joe for the opportunity to contribute. So I will try my best to offer something for future issues. After all, BrickJournal combines my two passions – LEGO and writing!

NZ: What are your future plans regarding LEGO?

JS: Only time can answer this question. If the folks at TLG are happy with my performance and decide to offer me full employment, I’ll probably take it. If not, then I would have worked for a year and had an utterly fantastic experience in the highly competitive world of design. It’s a win-win. As far as my education goes, my going to college is a matter of “when” and not “if”. As soon as I can go, I plan on going, but it will be delayed at least a year (which is funny, because I was the studious valedictorian nerd at school…people from my high school, who have found out I’ve left school, have been pretty surprised). I want to eventually major in either architecture or industrial design (most likely the former). I used to daydream about where the future might lead me, and becoming a product designer for TLG has always been #1 on my list. So I’m pretty darn happy (and lucky) this dream has come true for me so soon.

Beckett BUILD Magazine to hit newstands soon [Review]

We recently received a copy of Beckett Media‘s latest foray into the world of fan magazines.

For a cover price of $9.99 USD or $14.99 CDN, you get 96 pages, made up of 23 Features and 4 Departments.

The features cover a wide range of topics, including trips to Legoland, interviews with Nathan Sawaya and Mariann Asanuma, BrickCon 2010, and Brickfilms on Youtube. There are also 5 features that deal with Mega Bloks, K’NEX, and other brands of building toys.

There were three features that caught my eye.

The first is a spread of popular Star Wars sets, with prices, pics, stats, and ratings. There were a number of errors, such as pictures of figs by the wrong sets and placeholders for numbers that hadn’t been filled in. While this is something that is to be expected from an advance copy, when I mentioned one of the errors to the editor, he said that a correction would be put on the magazine’s Facebook page. From that comment, I have to assume that this is not an advance copy, but the finished product.

The second feature I examined is called “Cool Stuff” and features creations by 13 different builders. Most of them were quite good. I asked the editor about the selection process and he said “We contacted many LEGO fans from around the world to feature them in this issue. They were all excited to be included in our premiere issue of Beckett Build Magazine!”. I contacted 9 of the builders and most of them said that they had submitted their work after a request was posted in the LEGO group on Flickr. With one exception, none of them had been notified that their creations had been selected. Hopefully the magazine is still in the process of notifying them and sending them free copies. There were two builders, with half-page spreads, who had never heard of the magazine and didn’t submit their work at all. Hopefully, that issue gets worked out.

The third featured was the article about BrickCon 2010. The captions list the name of the creation, the name of the builder and the name of the photographer. I talked to several of the photographers and they said that they were contacted through BrickCon and gave their permission for the use of their pictures. Most of the pictures featured the “Big In Japan” layout. The remaining pictures included one each of the Town layout, Castle, Mecha, World War II and Art. There was a significant error indicating that “Big In Japan” was the theme of the entire convention. In reality, BrickCon’s theme was “Tales of the Brick”. This was the error that the editor said would be corrected via Facebook.

Overall, the magazine has the look of a magazine that we would expect from a major publishing house like Beckett. It relies heavily on pictures and has a minimum of new information for the hardcore fan. It could be a good introduction to the new fan who is unaware of the greater online community. The price seems high for a casual browser of the newstands. The typos, errors, and lack of contact with featured builders disturbs me. That is not something I would expect from a professional publisher. Hopefully they put more effort into making improvements in future issues. If not, I foresee both a diminished credibility among readers and feelings of alienation among builders.

Announcing PCHLUG – Pacific Coast Highway LEGO User Group [News]

For all you LEGO fans in California between BayLUG and LUGOLA — that means you, dear readers in Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Goleta, and everywhere else along scenic 101 — there’s a new LEGO Users Group founded by one of our favorite people, Tommy Williamson, who’s created one of the classiest LUG logos of all time.

Check out PCHLUG.com for details.