Production was delayed a bit, but I finally received the 1x8 Brickworld Virtual Con brick that I ordered from the May 2020 Brickworld Virtual. Brickworld held another Virtual Con on 27 June 2020 that I was unable to attend, but it looked like there were some interesting events.
The next Brickworld Virtual isn’t until 31 October 2020. If you want more details or information, go check them out on the web.
Happy building!
The famous secondary LEGO marketplace turned 20 years old on 19 June. Bricklink has been posting some special web content to highlight the occasion. If you go here, you can see all of the content for the 20 days. They have gone through history, first members, stories about using the site from users, and a post from an Admin as of the writing of this post. If you want to see more stories or if you want to post your own story, you can go here. There are a lot of great stories about people finally being able to recreate old sets or piecing together lost sets.
My Bricklink story… I joined Bricklink on 31 July 2009 according to my profile. Has it been that long? I found out about the site and had also downloaded Lego Digital Designer (LDD). I started building some MOCs and needed the parts for them. My MOCs are pretty awful and I quickly learned that I was not a good builder… despite that, I’ll post some pictures of my work which was made possible from bricks purchased on Bricklink.
First off was the diesel engine shown below. I really wanted to capture the stripe going across and was very proud of myself that I figured out how to make the stripe angle up. Otherwise, the engine is a bit too long and is very fragile with no real good place to pick it up. Thank goodness for 9v motors and rails though.
Moving on… I built a small train display and it looks pretty scary. I bought #4561-1: Railway Express off of a teenager locally through a site in the place I was living in. He sold all of his LEGO for $115 to buy an iPod. I got a full up 9v train and motor along with some Harry Potter and Star Wars sets. I got the better deal as I’ll bet he doesn’t use his iPod anymore. Anyways if you look at the bottom left, you’ll see my MOC of #4561-1 rebuilt into a “better” train. The engine is pretty awful, but I like the double decker car. Someday I will modify it, but for now it looks good. I later built a second car with a few orders from Bricklink. There are a few other less impressive builds in the picture as well. However, I’m glad to still have #4558-1: Metroliner and #4547-1: Railroad Club Car.
There are a few more MOCs that I sourced through Bricklink, but I am too embarrassed to show them as they are just plain awful. Thankfully three things happened… one is that I discovered modular buildings and that I didn’t need to try and design something awful, when LEGO would produce something incredible. Two was that around that time some amazing trains came out to include #10194-1: Emerald Night (Bricklink helped me build some extra cars and a caboose… sorry no pics of those), #10219-1: Maersk Train, and #10233-1: Horizon Express. Finally, three is I became a Dad and the amount of time I could spend bricking decreased substantially.
I decided to start a store in 2014 as Bricks for Bricks kicked off. I tried some in person sales and that didn’t work out well (see here). In October 2016 I started Bricks for Bricks on Bricklink and did quite well. You can read about some of our giving campaigns here. That ended in May of 2018 when I transitioned with my non-brick job to Germany. I hope to return to selling on Bricklink when I return to living in the USA.
Happy birthday Bricklink! And happy building!
As the global pandemic continues, I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy. I have seen many fans of the brick find new time to build due to lock-down requirements. That has included increased orders of sets from LEGO® and limited supply due to the factory in Mexico shutting down. LEGO® has tried to keep up with demand by shipping products from Europe and Asia, but there are still a lot of sets out of stock/on back order status at LEGO® Shop @ Home. A mid-May 2020 status update is posted here. With July coming up soon, I was curious as to where things were at in Mexico with the plant that supplies North America.
First off, a quick background on LEGO® and Mexico. According to lego.com, production began in Mexico in 2006. After a failed partnership attempt, production was in-sourced and a factory was stood up in Monterrey, Mexico. That’s about a 140 mile drive from the US border with Texas.
I wasn’t able to find the exact date things shut down in Mexico, but it appears to be in the April 2020 time frame. If you have knowledge of when it was, let me know. This generated a lot of pressure from US businesses and the US government as many companies rely on parts and production that takes place in Mexico. As of 1 June 2020, Mexico allowed aerospace, defense, construction, and mining related industries to re-open. This was along with the companies related to food production, health care, and other essential companies.
So where does the LEGO® factory sit on that list? I’m not sure, but as much as I’m looking forward to picking up some sets that have been out of stock, I want the workers to be safe. I am willing to wait and I encourage you to do the same.
In the meantime, happy building… stay safe and healthy!
I recently reviewed #60233-1: Donut Shop Opening and I commented that the box did not include the set name when I originally posted the review. I found that to be quite odd as the name of the set is always on the front.
Fast forward a few weeks and I received a shipment from Amazon.com in the US which included #75957-1: The Knight Bus. The box came with a sticker on the left side with the usual information I always see on sets. If you look at the second picture I posted, you can see what it normally looks like. It took me a bit to put it together, but the one on the left was not produced in LEGO’s North America factory. Apparently US sets have all of the information while sets in Europe do not have the name and piece count. Like the #60233-1: Donut Shop Opening set I purchased from Smyth’s in Germany, the set I received from Amazon.com was made elsewhere (Europe or Asia), a sticker was added to meet the US rules, and it was sold at Amazon.com. That must be how LEGO is trying to fix its supply chain with the Mexico factory shut down due to COVID-19.
I have a few sets here that I purchased at Smyth’s in Germany. I wanted to do a check to see if they all were like that. First off, some architecture Skyline sets…
For comparison, here are two versions below. The North America versions have the piece count and let you know that it is a building toy. Which if you’ve seen the first LEGO® Movie, you know that it is not a toy. It is “actually a highly sophisticated inter-locking brick system.”
Here’s #75276-1: StormtrooperTM Helmet purchased from Smyth’s in Germany. In looking it up, the North America version has the piece count and the abbreviation in Spanish. Then it says it is a “Building Set” in English, French, and Spanish.
One last one… this one was also purchased from Smyth’s in Germany and it is #10254-1: Winter Village Train. It looks very similar to the North America packaging per what I could see on Brickset.com. The North America version says “Ages/edades” above the 12+. This set picture has pieces abbreviated in English, German, Spanish, and… I’m not sure what “db” is. Anyone? The North America version just says “pcs/pzs.
So there you go… If you’re in the US, pay attention to any new sets you get to see what the packaging is like. Your set may have traveled a lot farther than you’d think. I haven’t done a deep dive of the instructions or any of the other markings. Has anyone else noticed any differences?
Happy building!
I’ve been pressing for a new Creator Expert-like train set for a while and it has finally been revealed. #10277-1: Crocodile Locomotive will be released by LEGO starting on 1 July 2020. It contains 1,271 pieces and will retail for $99.99 in the US ($0.079/piece). LEGO has done away with the Creator Expert line in favor of the new 18+ line with sets meant for adults. This set will join the growing lineup of 18+ sets.
One of my previous posts included a link to an interview with Jamie Berard and provided his explanation for why LEGO hasn’t made separate train sets. During the recent Recognized LEGO Fan Media (RLFM) days held virtually, Mr. Berard explained the reason for LEGO’s change of heart when it comes to trains. You can read the interview on Bricket.com or The Brothers Brick.
Let’s dig into the set a bit based on some pictures.
Official picture from LEGO
This set includes 2 new minifigures that both fit in the train at the same time. Not sure why the female minifigure doesn’t have the new hat with hair attached, but it’s all good.
The train can be displayed on an Architecture-like stand with brick built track or you can put it on standard LEGO track. Along with the display base, there is a stand with details about the set similar to the Star Wars UCS line. I am hoping this is a trend going forward. The recent gift with purchase #40370-1: Steam Engine had a similar set up. Adding the Crocodile Locomotive, the Steam Engine, and future models to a display shelf or cabinet could be pretty cool for some AFOLs. Hint, hint! LEGO! In case you’re reading this…
Per the interview, the set only comes with one sticker and that’s because printing on black bricks doesn’t go well. As an AFOL, I am happy to hear this as I’m a big fan of the printed bricks and I dislike stickers.
As mentioned, this set can be motorized with the Powered Up parts. You need #88013 Technic Large Motor ($39.99 in the US) and #88009 Powered Up Hub ($49.99 in the US) to motorize this train. So you almost double the price of the set. Not sure how I feel about this… we’ll have to see if I decide to motorize it or not.
Official picture from LEGO
The picture above gets another perspective of the train. I don’t recall seeing the rail piece before, but supposedly it is not new. I’m also glad to see the individual train wheels similar to the Emerald Night versus the standard LEGO train wheels from the LEGO CITY trains.
The buffers with the magnets are back too. This is compared to the Technic connections used on some past trains like #75955-1: Hogwarts Express.
There has been some debate about 6-wide versus 8-wide. This set is 6-wide train set and while some fans may scoff at this, I say that at this point, it doesn’t matter. I just would like LEGO to produce more train sets.
Official picture from LEGO
Ah yes, the hero shot… because no AFOL has a room that looks like that. Where are the plastic containers with bricks? The sets on shelves, the piles of unopened boxes. This picture isn’t realistic at all!
So what’s is negative about this release?
-Limited hope for LEGO Ideas train themed sets. The current review period (June 2020) has two train themed sets and I am not confident that these will get through the pipeline given LEGO is releasing its own train set on 1 July 2020.
-Expect set availability in the US to be less than stellar given the COVID-19 production impacts. The recent Technic Super Car (#42115-1: Lamborghini Sián FKP 37) didn’t last long at Shop @ Home. We’ll have to see if the 1 July 2020 set release even holds in the US.
-$190 to buy the set and motorize it. Yikes! The good part is you can buy the motor and hub and use it in future trains so you are not limited to one set and needing to buy motors for others. The downside is we need LEGO to stick to not modify the Powered Up app too much so that the hub lasts. If the app gets shut down, you can’t run your train anymore.
Enough complaining… baby steps. LEGO is producing a train and I’m excited. I don’t expect I’ll be a day one buyer as I will wait to see some reviews and to get detailed looks on the set first. Then I’ll wait for double VIP points or a good gift with purchase before I pick one up.
What are your thoughts? Is this a step in the right direction? Or not so much?
Happy building!
This review was a few weeks in the making as I had my helpers build this set with me. They don’t have the interest in cranking out a larger set and they want to play with everything as it is built (which is fine). So here is #60233-1: Donut Shop Opening. It was released on 2 August 2019 in the US. It contains 790 pieces and retails for $89.99. This works out to $0.114 per piece. A little steep… especially for a CITY set. I picked it up at Smyth’s here in Germany for around $55. So if you can be patient and wait for a better price, it’s worth it to wait to score a better price.
The box is pretty big for a CITY set. The front gives a picture of the assembled set, the set number, and the age range. The set was purchased in Germany and it does not have the standard US LEGO set markings like we are used to in the States. It just lists the age range and set number, but not piece count or set name.. It also highlights the police minifigure known as “Duke Detain.” I had never heard the name before, but the set is not meant for old people like me. The back shows some play features of the set.
The set contains eight numbered parts bags, a parts bag with some larger parts that is not numbered, and the instructions and stickers come sealed in plastic.
There are six instruction booklets and numerous stickers on a sheet. As mentioned, they come wrapped up so they were in good shape when I took them out of the box.
The first bag builds a police motorcycle with handcuffs and a paddle to direct traffic. Unlike the motorcycles I grew up with, this one requires some assembly versus being a one piece item. It also contains a few stickers.
I will say that I was horrible as a kid at applying stickers to sets and I’m still not that great at it. My 6 year old really wanted to put the stickers on so I agreed. I still have some of the sets from when I was a kid that have lopsided stickers on them. Well my kiddo showed me how it is done and they actually are pretty straight, mostly centered, and are probably placed better than I could ever do it. So after this part of the build, I sat back and watched.
Also in this bag is a taxi. The build of the car is very simple and there’s a 2x8 space for two minifigures in the car (driver and passenger). No ability to put bags or anything else in though.
My 6 year old asked why LEGO always has you assemble the minifigures first. I don’t know. Does anyone? Three minifigures in this bag. They include the taxi driver, “Duke Detain,” and your standard LEGO criminal minifigure. Duke has sun glasses and then eyes on the other side of his head. He also comes with a helmet for riding his motorcycle. The criminal comes with a standard issue crowbar.
The second bag builds a news van with two crew members. The van has some nice play features with a spot to place a minifigure by four different slope brick screens and you can raise the satellite dish on the back of the van. The roof raises up so you can easily access the bag. The two minifigures are a female news reporter with a microphone and a male camera operator. The camera is quite large and barely fits into the van with both minifigures inside. There is a storage box on the side of the van where you can store the microphone.
Bag three builds a small toy shop. It has minimal detail and is not fully walled, but it is a CITY set and is meant for play versus display. The opportunity is there to turn it into a much larger and fuller shop. This build is full of stickers and most of the front is just the clear plastic windows and doors, but it has some fun details. There is a small brick built train, a minifigure hat with a propeller, a bear, a net, and a guitar as options in the toy store. Two minifigures in this build. One is a female store worker and the other is a boy with a skate board.
The build includes a sticker sign to advertise a sale, a green bin to place the net in, and two brick balloons on top of the building. It’s all very simple, but could easily be incorporated into a larger scene and expanded upon.
Bags four and five build the CITY Coffee shop and the associated bike coffee cart. Bag four builds the two minifigures, the cart, and starts the Coffee shop. Bag five completes the shop. The shop is small, but has a decent number of details to include the use of textured 1x2 bricks, a dark blue Technic wheel cover piece (I’m sure there is a technical term), and some sticker signage.
Outside the shop is a small ATM which comes with some 1x2 cash tiles. On top is a small Technic build where you can tip over the donut once you install it into place. We have not tried it out yet as my 2 year old has absconded all of the vehicles to drive around and particularly enjoys the crane and donut it can raise up.
Something not often seen are errors in the instructions. We actually found two in this section. My 6 year old caught one and I caught the other.
My kiddo built the assembly as it shows, but didn’t check the number of pieces on the top. When she went to install it on the shop, it was one brick short as shown. The next page shows the correct height of bricks and uses for of the textured 1x2s as listed. You just have to figure that out because the instructions don’t do it for you. Not a major problem… more of an annoyance.
My kiddo caught this one that happened earlier in the build. It says there is only one gray slope brick, but the picture on the bottom shows two. The set comes with two and we went with two as well. Maybe someone at LEGO had trouble counting?
Bags six, seven, and eight build the truck, crane, and donut. Bag six builds the truck part with the cab and minifigure. There isn’t anything too special about this other than the front includes the fairly new triangle tiles which allow for a fun design that is not all at 90 degree angles. The minifigure comes with a coffee mug which I guess you need to drive a big truck.
Bags seven and eight build the trailer, crane, and donut. The trailer includes some supports that rotate out and fold down to stabilize the truck when you move the crane around. There are also some tools to attach the donut with and then the build to hold the donut. The crane part is fairly simple to assemble, but my six year old had me do it. You use a few Technic pieces and attach some bricks and then you can spin a piece to have it rotate up or down. The arm of the crane moves in and out, but there is nothing to stop it from coming all the way out. This isn’t a big problem as it can easily be placed back in. The crane comes with a brick chain versus having string and a hook. This works pretty well for the donut.
The crane has become my 2 year old’s new favorite thing to play with and he enjoys that he can lift, lower, and swing around something with the crane like he sees at construction sites nearby where we live.
The donut is a simple build for an adult, but my 6 year old had a bit of trouble lining it all up and following the SNOT build. Nothing she couldn’t tackle with a bit of help. Glad to see the pink side of the donut has printed sprinkles versus stickers. I’m also a fan of the use of SNOT to get both sides of the donut. It definitely makes it seem more realistic.
Overall, this set has a lot you can do with it and includes some great play features. While it could easily be integrated into a CITY scene, it doesn’t need to be as there is a lot you can do just within this set. The build isn’t anything special, but that is expected for a 6+ CITY set. The price is too much in my opinion. I recommend waiting for a sale on this set versus getting it at full retail. I found a good one in Germany and hopefully the same can be done in the US as well. This set will be a year old soon and I’m sure retailers will want it off their shelves.
My 6 year old had trouble with some of the build, but she was able to do most of it by herself. It was a good opportunity to build together. My 2 year old took anything we finished with wheels once we were done and tested it out to make sure it would fit with all of his other vehicles.
I’m not a MOC builder, but I enjoy trying to take simple CITY sets and making them better. I think this one has a lot of potential to improve on the buildings. Now I just need to get my brick collection back…
What are your thoughts on this set?
Happy building!
I am an American, but I live in Germany right now. The protests here… well there haven’t been any in the part of the country I live in. So as someone living an ocean away, let me start off by saying "thank you” to everyone who has stepped up for what is right. Thanks to those of you peacefully protesting who are making sure our political leaders understand where we stand as a country. Thank you too to all of those who work to keep our country safe. I am appalled at some of the actions of some of our police over the last week and I hope they are the minority. Thanks to those men and women who have stepped up to do what is right. Thanks for letting people peacefully protest, for working to find common ground with those willing to have a conversation, and for protecting those in need when required.
We have a long way to go as a country, but I hope and pray that we can move it in the right direction.
I am saddened to see people who have resorted to violence and looting. On 5 June 2020, Beyond the Brick posted the video below spotlighting a NYC LEGO Brand Store. It is sad to see all of the giant creations next to a damaged store and busted windows. A hobby that I turn to for enjoyment, creativity, and a way to engage with others around the world being hit like this is tough to see. I hope no one was hurt and I hope LEGO can rebuild and get their workers back in place soon.
Thankfully it is not all bad and the AFOL community has had some great responses to what is happening.
One post is an article on the Brick Model Railroader blog. Cale Leiphart, known for some incredible train MOCs, posted on 5 June 2020 about an experience he had traveling to a LEGO Fan event. You can read the full article here. Cale shares an experience of meeting a retired Norfolk Southern employee volunteering at a train museum in Virginia. While Cale and the volunteer had different skin colors, they both had a love of trains (one a fan of LEGO ones while one is a fan of actual trains). They were able to connect and it didn’t matter that they looked different. Definitely a lesson to follow in the United States now.
The Brother’s Brick has a few posts as well…
-One is a highlight of a build for “Black Lives Matter,” an editorial piece, and a conversation in the comments section.
-The other is a brick build of George Floyd and some additional commentary.
Finally, the LEGO Group had this to say on their Twitter feed on 3 June 2020:
No word as to what organizations they are talking about, but a step in the right direction.
I normally end my posts by saying “happy building.” While I echo the same sentiments, I also say “Let’s build a better world.”
LEGO released the next Technic super car on Thursday 28 May 2020. For those of you that missed it, the set is #42115-1: Lamborghini Sián FKP 37. The set contains 3,696 pieces and will retail in the US for $379.99. Initial release was through LEGO starting on 1 June 2020 with widespread sale across other retailers starting on 1 August 2020.
The Recognized LEGO Fan Media (RLFM) has exploded with articles, posts, videos, podcasts, etc. discussing this car. The comments range from it being an absolute stunning build to a giant waste of money.
I’m not going to give my opinion yet because I have yet to see the car in person or actually build the set. Here’s what I will say right now… $380 seems like a lot of money for this set. I wanted to do some analysis to see if it’s true, so here goes.
First some background data:
Photo from LEGO.com
So is $380 a lot for this set?
The Porsche in 2016 was $300, the Bugatti in 2018 was $350, and now the Lamborghini in 2020 is $380. So $80 more than the first set four years ago and $30 more than the set released 2 years ago.
So at a price only look, the Porsche wins.
They are very different sets though so let’s start with piece count and see if we can normalize. What if they all had the same piece count as the Lamborghini with 3,696 pieces and retained their original price per piece?
-Porsche at 3,696 pieces and $0.111 per piece would be $410.26
-Bugatti at 3,696 pieces and $0.097 per piece would be $358.51
Factoring in the original price per piece and making them all 3,696 pieces, the Bugatti wins on cost.
It’s been four years and prices change. LEGO, like any other business, has to factor in inflation and increasing costs. So what if we added a 2% inflation factor? Let’s assume all three sets have 3,696 pieces, they all retain their original price per piece, but we add in a 2% inflation factor per year to come up with what the set would cost today (in 2020) if it were sold. The math gave me:
-Porsche at $444.08
-Bugatti at $372.99
The Porsche now looks expensive while the Bugatti seems closer in price to the Lamborghini.
How realistic is the last example? Probably not so much as I just randomly picked 2% a year. So next up I found an inflation calculator on the web (because everything on the web you read is correct, right?). I used usinflationcalculator.com. Again… you can call me wrong for using it, but I didn’t want to waste a ton of time searching for a better tool in the hopes of getting close enough. The tool goes by year versus by day so we’ll again say “close enough.”
-The Porsche in its original price with original piece count purchased in 2020 dollars would be $320.47 with a 6.8% cumulative rate of inflation. Factoring in the first example where we use the 3,696 pieces with the Porsche’s $0.111 per piece works out to be $438.26 with the same 6.8% cumulative rate of inflation. So maybe my 2% per year estimate wasn’t that far off?
-The Bugatti in its original price with original piece count purchased in 2020 dollars would be $357.35. That’s with a 2.1% cumulative rate of inflation. Using the same process as the Porsche, we’ll make the Bugatti match the Lamborghini’s piece count, but use the Bugatti’s $0.097 per piece cost and the Bugatti works out to be $366.05 in 2020 dollars.
Factoring in US inflation rates over the last 4 years, the price increase looks somewhat justified.
If you followed all of that, you’re amazing. Bonus points if you are still reading…
Let’s get back to reality and consider some real facts for a few minutes.
-The Bugatti is still available at its original price 2 years after its initial release so the adjustments don’t make sense at this time.
-My guess is LEGO does not price by piece, but instead considers their actual costs to include plastic costs, design, packaging, licensing, paying their workers, shipping, foreign exchange rates, etc.
-I looked at the set from a monetary perspective, but what about from the buyer’s perspective. If you think you’ll get $380 value in buying and owning the set, then it is probably worth it. What if you think you’ll get $400 worth of value from the set? How is that even calculated?
-LEGO is a business and while we would love them to produce things for free, they have a goal of making a profit. There is definitely a profit margin baked into the price of this set. LEGO probably won’t ever tell us that amount, but keep it in mind.
Besides saving your change or hoping Santa Claus comes through this year, what are some ways to get this set at a discount?
- Use your VIP points. This assumes you have some of course, but they are easily applied to LEGO purchases.
-Wait for an opportunity to get a deal from LEGO such as a gift with purchase set or a double VIP point opportunity.
-I have a popular post here where I discuss how to find discounts and save money on LEGO purchases. One of those options is using companies like Rakuten where right now LEGO offers 2.5% back. The payments come quarterly and it isn’t a ton, but it helps slightly (~$9.50 on the Lamborghini). Add on VIP points, a gift with purchase, and maybe credit card points, and you’ve helped slightly on the price. (I’m not paid by LEGO or Rakuten)
-For those of us in Europe, LEGO has different discounting plans here. A few months back the Bugatti (#42083-1) was going for around 260€ at multiple stores around here compared to the 370€ original retail price. It makes sense to wait and see if discounts happen here. I have yet to see heavy discounting of sets like this in the US. We’ll have to wait and see if it happens again in Europe.
What are your thoughts? Has LEGO cross the line on price finally (or again)? Does the pricing of this new set make sense? I’m curious on your thoughts.
In the meantime happy (affordable?) building!
Large gatherings of Adult Fans of LEGO (AFOL) are not happening in the COVID world where we need to remain physically distant from each other to not spread our germs. Some Recognized LEGO Fan Media (RLFM) channels have resorted to holding live streams. Many of them are multiple hours long. I don’t watch all of them, but I have check out a few. Mainly I have watched some of the discussions with LEGO® employees. Here are a few you may want to check out or scan through to find useful details.
Beyond the Brick - Streamed 14 April 2020
Interview with Stuart Harris of the LEGO® House
Stuart leaves after two hours and I didn’t watch the last hour, but the first two hours were a good overview of the LEGO® House and what is there. It also goes through Stuart’s history as an employee and some of the builds he has done.
Beyond the Brick - Streamed 12 May 2020
Interview with Alyssa Harrington of LEGO®’s AFOL Engagement Team
I didn’t know this part of the LEGO® Company existed, but I found this conversation interesting to see how the Company engages with AFOLs. She also explains how she was hired and talks about the LEGO Ambassador Network works. The site is definitely worth checking out. Be warned there are a lot of conversations about video games. I skipped a bunch as I’m not interested there.
Beyond the Brick - Streamed 19 May 2020
Interview with JANGBRiCKS
If you’re interested in LEGO Fan YouTubers, this is a good discussion about running a channel and what the current landscape is like.
Lots of extraneous discussion about random topics so depending on your attention span, you may want to skip forward a bit.
Boone Langston has a channel on YouTube.com called Boone Builds. If you don’t know Boone, he was one of the finalists on LEGO Master’s USA Season 1. He has some interviews of AFOLs as well, but I’m highlighting a few videos he has with LEGO® Company employees.
Boone Builds - Streamed 15 May 2020
Interview with LEGO® Company Designers Carl Merriam and Mike Psiaki
A video of the new (at the time) set highlighting #10273-1: Haunted House and reviewing some of the details of the set. Mike and Carl share their humor so you’ll have to deal with some of the banter as well as the LEGO discussions.
Boone Builds - Streamed 22 May 2020
Interview with Jan Beyer Manager of LEGO® Fan Events
A great look at fan events around the world with a lot of behind the scenes pictures.
So there are a few videos you may want to check out. Any others I should highlight? Let me know in the comments or you can email me at store@bricksforbricks.com.
Thanks and happy building!
Full confession… I have never attended a LEGO fan convention before. I have been to a few shows where people display their MOCs, but that’s about it.
I heard about Brickworld Virtual 2020 that was held back in April after the fact and was excited to see it would be held again in May. I registered online and “attended” my first fan convention on 16 May 2020.
A bit of history… Brickworld was started by Bryan Bonahoom and Adam Reed Tucker with its first show back in 2007. Since then it has grown to Brickworld Chicago convention/expo and then expos in Milwaukee, Ft. Wayne, outside of Detroit, and Indianapolis. It was recently purchased by Mark Larson who had the misfortune of buying it during a global pandemic.
Not willing to give up, Mark has put together a virtual convention. You buy a ticket ahead of time and at the time of the convention, you log into your account and can join various ZOOM rooms to see presentations, MOCs, and interact with other fans.
Before I get into my list, if you missed out you can still attend virtual shows on 27 June 2020, 31 October 2020, and 12 December 2020. So you didn’t miss out if this sounds cool.
If you need more persuasion, keep reading…
I don’t live near an English speaking LUG and I don’t have any friends who are AFOLs. My brick interactions are with my kids, with my Non-LEGO Spouse (NLS) who tolerates my obsession, and one sided interactions with Recognized LEGO Fan Media (RLFM). This show was a great opportunity to interact with fans like me and as far as I know, COVID is not transmitted over the internet.
Not going to lie… I was super pumped to be a fan after the “convention.” It’s great to see I’m not the only fan out there.
My ticket to attend was $9. Granted that didn’t include my internet service provider fee, but I pay that regardless so I don’t think it counts.
If I were to go to Brickworld Chicago, I’d have to fly the ~4,300 miles to Chicago, figure out lodging, transportation, food, and be 7 hours off of my normal time. Instead I hooked my NLS’s laptop up to the TV, entertained my kiddos for a bit, had dinner, got my kiddos to bed, and logged back in for more brick fun without spending any funds I wouldn’t have spent on a normal Saturday evening. No complaints from me there.
As a joke, the Brickworld website says parking is $50 per tire. I thankfully parked offsite and avoided that fee.
There were 10 presentations by various experts. The May show included the following:
-Fractals and Functions and Knots, Oh my! with Brian Hirt from LOLUG
-LEGO Vines with Barbara Hoel from WisLUG
-Homeschooling with LEGO bricks with Maddie Jones from VirtuaLUG
-Building LEGO Domes with Peter Strege from EuroBricks
-LEGO® – Community Q&A with Jan Beyer, Community Manager from the LEGO Company
-Train Community Roundtable led by Nate Flood from LOLUG
-LEGO® – My Life in LEGO Bricks with Sam Johnson from the LEGO Company
-Medieval Roofs by David Gregory from IndyLUG
-LEGO® – Build a Tower with Your Bricks by Bo Stjerne Thomsen from LEGO Chair of Learning
-Flexible Surfaces with Barbara Hoel from WisLUG
I wanted to attend most of these, but wanted to see other things too so I missed out on a bunch. My NLS home schools my oldest kiddo (even before COVID) so she attended the homeschooling presentation and got a few ideas for things to do in the future with school. You can see my LEGO based home school day here. I also caught the end of the Community Q&A and the full LEGO® – My Life in LEGO Bricks presentation, but I’ll mention them later. Some good info was shared by many. Thank you to those who presented!
Modular City - Peter Strege
-If you missed the May 2020 Brickworld Virtual, you should check out his Flickr stream. It is here on Flickr. He makes some amazing MOCs to include some impressive building MOCs with cool domes and eye catching color schemes. Definitely take a look!
Bricks in the Middle - Kevin Hinkle
-I missed this one…
Great Ball Contraption (GBC) - Bob Luzenski
-More on this one later…
Star Wars® Creations - Carey Warren/Kevin Wagner
-I couldn’t find the display online that I saw to post a link to, but it was an impressive Tatooine display with the Cantina and creatures outside. I didn’t get to ask any questions because there was an excited young fan peppering the builder with questions. It’s all good. Great work and thanks for displaying!
Harry Potter® Creations - Eric Krans
-I found a clip of Eric’s display online. Go to the 2:45 mark if you don’t want to watch the whole thing to see the Harry Potter display. It’s pretty impressive and includes a lot of moving parts… some of which aren’t shown on the linked video. Thanks for displaying Eric!
Guilds of Historica - Eurobricks
-I didn’t spend too much time in this room, but the people involved in the Guilds of Historica forums in Eurobricks shared some of their builds. They had a schedule over the convention of who shared over which time block. I spent about 10 minutes watching a builder show his stuff. If you want to see more, you can check them out on Eurobricks here or on Flickr here.
Smurfs / Futurama - Kevin Lauer / Matt DeLanoy
-I did not see the Futurama display, but I did see the Smurfs display being shown by Kevin Lauer. I found an older post talking about it on the Brother’s Brick here. I’m not sure how much has changed since this older post, but it was cool to see. I spent most of the time watching it trying to explain to my 6 year old what Smurfs were…
Dragon Bricks & Activities - Alysa Kirkpatrick & Mark Haase
-I didn’t make it to this room…
Art and Mosaics - Abbie and EJ Bocan - AbbieDabbles
-I briefly checked into this room, but they were talking about some custom minifigures that they were selling. I didn’t spend much time here.
Still Life Creations / Blacklight Creations - Barbara Hoel
-I got to spend a few minutes in Barbara’s room when she was showing a blacklight creation. For those of you not familiar with Barbara’s work, you can see her Flickr page here. The display she showed was actually shown by the Beyond the Brick team back in November 2019. You can see that video here on YouTube. I wanted to ask a few questions, but my kiddos were ready to move on at that point. Barbara, I’ll bug you some other time…
Brick 101 - David Pickett
-I didn’t catch this one…
There was one other room and I’m not sure which one on the list it was. The individual was showing off a center build while explaining how to build various things. My kiddos were around when I went into the room and they didn’t find it interesting so we moved on. I would have liked to have watched for a bit to see if I could learn any good building techniques.
I think the LEGO Company has done a great job getting its employees out and about to interact with the fan community. With the pandemic, they’ve been doing lots of live streams and interviews with the RLFM teams around the globe so we get to hear about the company straight from the source. Brickworld Virtual had multiple LEGO Company employees present, but I only caught part of one session and then a full session of another. The first one I watched was of Jan Beyer.
Jan is listed as the Manager of AFOL Network Events (such as Brickworld). I unfortunately missed his talk, but I caught the end of the Q&A session.
Question one was related to regional releases and why items can’t be purchased everywhere. The response was that sometimes LEGO can’t get the product license everywhere and sometimes retailers in some locations don’t want those products. He did mention that LEGO was working to get rid of regional exclusives as we have seen recently with the Chinese New Year sets.
Question two was related to regional exclusivity and the LEGO® House sets. Why could they only be released in Denmark, the UK and Ireland? The answer was with the packaging. It was not built for worldwide releases as the plan was to only sell them at the LEGO® House in Denmark. I own all three sets and could not tell you what is different on the packaging, but there you have it. Jan mentioned LEGO is looking to correct this in the future.
The next talk I saw was called “My Life in LEGO® Bricks” and was given by Sam Johnson. If you’re not familiar with Sam, he’s currently a designer on the Ideas team and has worked on City, Jurassic Park,
Legends of Chima, Nexo Knights, and Harry Potter. The picture is a few years old as it is from when the Dr. Who set came out in 2015, but it’s the same person.
His talk was about how LEGO goes from concept to actual sets. He used NEXO Knights and described how it was created, showed some concept art, explained the processes used, showed some initial models, and then showed some of the prototypes that eventually became one of the final models. I found the talk pretty interesting as it was cool to see how they go from idea to a final model.
There were a bunch of questions about Q&A. I asked if they were seeing any design delays due to having to work at home. He said he didn’t think so as they are used to connecting through digital means and future sets seem to be on track. He also mentioned that designers who like to build with physical bricks versus the digital design programs they have can go into HQ to get the bricks they need to build at home. Not a bad deal if you ask me.
Two others that stuck out to me:
-He said something to the effect of the LEGO Ideas Playable LEGO Piano is coming soon and it is awesome.
-While he was not involved with the Bricklink AFOL Designer Program he said it was a great program and LEGO did not see it as a competitor to the LEGO Ideas platform. I see that as good news. We can hope it picks up again someday.
I checked into this room to see it quite busy. At the time there were around 45 people. The hosts were from a Bricks and Minifigs store. Contestants that I saw at the time were Boone, Jessie, and Emmanuel. At the time I checked in a number of younger viewers were asking questions to the contestants. There was a decent line in the chat to ask questions and I didn’t have a burning question so I left, but I was glad to see them taking the time to encourage younger fans.
I didn’t sign up to attend with the hopes of buying things so I didn’t visit any of the vendors present, but there were quite a few listed who were selling their items. Had I been looking for something, it definitely would have been a good opportunity to hit up some vendors.
In addition to the vendors, Brickworld was selling its own swag. I bought the convention printed 1x8 brick for $3.50 (including shipping). I’ll add a picture of it to this post once I get it. They also had some shirts for sale which looked pretty cool, but I did not buy.
Joshua & John Hanlon from the YouTube.com channel Beyond Beyond the Brick led a session called “You Show Us!” This was your opportunity to present what you were working on to the hosts. Both times I checked in, it was just Joshua. He was building one of the BrickLink AFOL Designer Program sets while talking with people. The first time I checked in, someone was showing him pictures of some original Star Wars helmets he had built. The second time, a younger builder was doing his best to show a build he was working on.
I put a few questions into the chat window for Joshua (lesson learned… I put “Josh” in the chat… sorry!) and he got to them when he was done chatting with the kid in front of me. I asked if Beyond the Brick had any plans to change at all and if they plan to continue the live stream format they have been using during the COVID-19 period. The answers were they plan to stick with the format they have for now and they plan to continue with live streams.
If you have never seen a LEGO Great Ball Contraption (GBC) in action, you are missing out. There are some very talented builders out there who have figured out the mechanics to move balls through various features and they are very creative. I found a few videos of parts of what I saw on YouTube here and here. My kiddos and I watched the GBC for a bit and we saw it with the room lights on and then when the lights were off and it was lit by glow in the dark balls and LED lights. It was very cool!
I’m aware that most LEGO Conventions have games you can play and while many of them are hard to do over the internet, the Super Robo Rally by Steve Hassenplug is not a problem. I am definitely not an expert with this game, but basically he has a game board with robots on it and users have to program brick built robots through a series of turns to win the game against competitors. Beyond that I won’t try to explain it because I would probably get it wrong. Definitely a fun opportunity if this is something you are into. Just be sure to sign up for one of the slots ahead of time.
Bravo if you’ve made it this far… I realize the virtual experience doesn’t compare to meeting in person, but given the situation, I applaud the Brickworld team for executing the idea and moving out with it. They had a tech support room you could join with questions and many of the rooms had moderators or the exhibitor spoke up every now and then to explain how they wanted to run things.
Did you attend Brickworld Virtual in April or May 2020? What were your thoughts?
In the meantime, happy building!