Subject:
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Re: Rare Treat (was: The various growing pains of Lugnet)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Mon, 14 Mar 2005 18:46:43 GMT
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In lugnet.general, Deborah Higdon wrote:
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In lugnet.general, Eric Sophie wrote:
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Well said. Thus, the duality of the situation comes to light.
e
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i usually don’t post in lugnet for much more than announcing a moc, but i’ve
been following this post with bated breath waiting for some kind of
explanation or at the least, an increased curiosity as to the provenance of
this piece. days i’ve waited and nothing. so now i must ask, what is it,
where is it, is this an early april fool’s joke? be kind, tell me how i can
get this.
-§ deborah higdon-leblond §-
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Hi, ok, here’s the deal:
Back in 2004, I went to LEGO HQ in Enfield Ct. I went to meet with the Master
Builders. I had an open line of communication with one of the Master Builders.
He had been very nice and supportive of my creations.
I asked if I may come to the main office to show, in person, some of my Mecha.
I did this because I wanted to share some of the techniques I developed.
I wanted to offer my skill and knowledge freely to LEGO.
I wanted to share.
I beleived I was on to something. Using the techniques and building style I have
developed, I wanted to give back and show them in person the way I built.
I was very happy to hear back from my “friend”; one of the Master Builders....
Saying “that would be wonderful! Come on up!”
I packed up some choice models and jumped in my sports car.
I brought the Rizmit, Mr. Krinkle, the Macro Bot and Chili the dog.
All of these models I felt in one way or another exhibited a certain building
style. A technique I wanted to share.
Now, the night before, all the Master Builders were up late in NYC (Times
Square) for the debut of the life size Volvo SUV model. Each of them only got a
couple hours sleep and yet they still came to work the next morning to meet me.
Before I go any further, I just want to mention, that I never spoke about this,
because I really don’t want to be seen as bragging, and I don’t want to put
anyone out from LEGO. Let me just say now, the folks at LEGO are so very nice!
Great people. They treated me with the upmost respect, and in turn, it was an
honor to be there. So I did the right thing and simply enjoyed the experience
for what it was. A chance to meet and share ideas.
So...... the Master Builders all roll in, eyes bloodshot, tired and sleepy.
I was so happy! We all got coffe right away, think I slept a wink either,
knowing I was going to Enfield the next morning!? not.
After meeting and setting up my Mecha for them to see, they all checked my
models out and I in turn looked at some of the work they had around the office.
As well as some limited peeks in to some designs being modeled on computers. No
sets. These were Brick Scupltures in the design phase.
One of the Master Builders exclaimed, “Ok... I’m declaring that we are not
getting any work done today! I slept two hours and I drove from NYC 3 hours last
night back here!” So we all spent some time discussing my Mecha and some of the
Techniques I used.
Then like magic, it was lunch time and we went over to the Company Cafeteria.
They brought me lunch and we all had a really nice talk about the possibilities
of being a “Brick Artist”. I have got to say, these guys were very encouraging.
They made me feel like I was part of a team, and I only just met them!
They shared some stories about building and other nifty stuff we as fans never
hear about. On the whole, it was very professional, and candid as well. I got
the sense these gentleman really loved their work. I was happy for them and
quite envious. Not just because they work for LEGO and carry the title of Master
Builder, but more so because they were genuinely good to eachother. Something
that I respect, especially in the work place where the success of the goals in
mind are crutial and require team work.
After lunch, we head back to the office and I met some more people and spoke at
legnth with a couple of the Master Builders. One by one as I visited, the others
dutifully tried to at least get some work done. I was carefull not to interrupt
and began packing up my Mecha in preparation for the 3 hour trek home through
aweful traffc. Infact it took 5 hours to get home and I was exhausted.
Before I left, I helped run an errand to the “open pearly gates” bulk storage
room. Oh my goodness.
Let me say it again, OH MY FRELLING GOODNESS.
cough got a stack of baseplates grey and clear cough cough cough
Then we walked upstairs and I was shown the area where the Volvo had been the
night before. The actual building area.
I talked some more to the Master Builders and then kept an eye on the time, so I
could “try” to beat traffic. Heh, try.
On my way out to the car, I had to carry 4 boxes, so a couple of the Master
Builders gave me a hand carrying them out to my Car.
As I was walking out, one of them, had a K8 box.
The Master Builder presented the box to me and said, “Here is a little present
from us to you.” I was like, Oh man, is that a K8!!!!???!!!! Drool Drool.
The Master Builder looked at his co-worker and said, ya, its just gonna collect
dust. The other Master Builder looked over at him and replied, “Ya, just gona
collect dust (shoulder shrugs)...”
WOW! Thank you! I promise to use all the peices to build more creations, the
best I can and to hopefully inspire others! Thank you, thank you, 1000 thank
you’s!
I got in the car and waited (for 5 hours) to get home and check it out.
Turns out the K8 was sweepings from the Volvo project.
I found all kinds of strange things inside the packed box.
From small sections of the Volvo itself, to clumps of bricks and plates with
sharpie marker outlines, for brick revisions. It is common practice to create a
model and refine it (somewhat) by using a marker to physically mark out on the
bricks where certain changes to the design should be. I found a bunch of them in
the box. I could see where some marks and indications were made, things like, “1
plate level here, REMOVE, add white and other notations drawn directly on to the
bricks.
Also there were a number of cut and sliced bricks and plates. Stuff like a 1x4
plate tile cut to be a 3L. Other cut parts I could see were mods made to fit in
to the center of a creation by slicing off the studs. To save rebuild time
during a design phase.
That is what you see in the picture above. I found of all things, a sliced off
stud. Later I found the corresponding plate the stud had come from.
I was like, “wow, look, a single stud!” Well I’ll be.....
So there is your answer, along with the adventure.
Now please, I ask: Please don’t start calling up to Enfield asking to visit the
Master Builders. I was very lucky to have caught them when I did. I was also
very lucky in that one of the Master Builders had been following my work. It was
a rare honor. You really have to be invited, have a reason, and the Master
Builders are aways busy on some project or another.
I do have an open invite to return for the sole purpose of demonstrating Jama
for them. I have not taken them up on the offer or asked since I visted. I
really would like to tune up the robot and redesign the hips and create a more
robust head design. Then perhaps I’ll leave it there, or train someone so it
could be installed at LEGOland Billund. Who knows? All I know is because of my
many years of dedication and purposeful building I got to and I quote:
“...other fans would kill to be where you are at right now...”
I consider it earned but not expected.
btw, the clear 2x2 plate tile came in an actual Lego set some years ago.
A fellow GardenSLUG member pointed it out to me, alas, I forgot the set#.
It was a trailer home type set thingie doodad. So there you have it.
Thank you,
Eric Sophie
Biomechanical Bricks
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Rare Treat
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| In lugnet.general, Eric Sophie wrote:[...] (...) We used those when I worked at Futura. Stuck them on for prototypes. there's a little grid-thing for aligning them too. I actually still have my grid-thing, but I -never- would have taken a stud out (...) (20 years ago, 4-Apr-05, to lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: The various growing pains of Lugnet
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| (...) i usually don't post in lugnet for much more than announcing a moc, but i've been following this post with bated breath waiting for some kind of explanation or at the least, an increased curiosity as to the provenance of this piece. days i've (...) (20 years ago, 14-Mar-05, to lugnet.general, FTX)
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