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Legoland Model Builder Search Finalist journal
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lugnet.general
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Wed, 14 Jun 2006 14:36:38 GMT
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This is a journal of my experience as a Legoland model builder finalist.
Sorry about the length...but I have a lot to report
Before I begin, I need to tip my hat to three individuals.
The first hat tip goes to my wonderful wife Michelle. From the outset she was
completely supportive of my efforts. I’m in my 40’s, married, have two kids (6
and 8), a nice home, and a career (math teacher) spanning two decades. Clearly,
I would have been giving up a lot. If I had won the contest I would have taken a
major pay cut and, more importantly, I would have lived apart from my family for
at least a year. Although there was a deep sigh of relief when Michelle found
out that I had lost, she understood my need to chase a dream and was by my side
the entire time.
The second hat tip goes to Julie Estrada and the entire Legoland PR department.
From the moment I landed I was treated like royalty. The entire three days I
reached into my wallet only once (okay, lets not count how much I spent on
bricks). Everything else was paid for: The room, the meals, tickets for guests,
etc. Even though I lost, it will be an experience that I will always remember.
The third hat tip goes to Jason Poland, the winner of the build-off. He was
friendly, intelligent, did well in front of the camera, and of course, is a
superb Lego artist. His fire-breathing snowman was an amazing build!!
My first task was to prepare for the regional in Chicago. I had no clue as to
what pieces would be made available so I tried to build something using only
bricks. For those of you who have seen my work I tend to build structures and an
occasional mosaic.
(A brickshelf link to see my work)
<http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?m=torgugick>
I knew that for this contest I would need to build a sculpture; something that I
had never done before. So I resorted to tricks. Motivated by my children, I made
a Sponge Bob pirate model that utilized some SNOT (Studs Not On Top) techniques
that I had never seen before.
(A Mocpages link to see Sponge Bob)
<http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/18438>
The model is pretty straightforward to build and I practiced so often that, if
given the pieces ahead of time, I could build it in less than 10 minutes. I
headed off to Chicago on May 1st and arrived the afternoon of May 2nd. After a
quick trip to a Lego store, I headed off to the art institute to build my Sponge
Bob. After filling out some paper work, and a brief wait, I was ushered into a
room with about 15 tables. In the back of the room were 10 larges buckets of
bricks, each containing about 10 to 20 pounds of pieces. (Mostly bricks and
plates and slopes with a few specialty pieces) You were then given one hour to
select your pieces and build your model. There were some pretty incredible
models being built and I felt that I might not have a chance. I finished my
model with plenty of time to spare.
At this point I was told that Legoland had commissioned an independent film
company to film and produce a movie about various contestants and their road to
Legoland California. The ultimate hope was that the piece would eventually be
aired on PBS or perhaps even made as an independent movie (Similar to the movie
Spellbound which followed six contestants in the national spelling bee). The
producer, Matt Martin, asked me if I would answer some questions for the camera.
After a quick interview he asked that if I won the regional would I be
interested in having him come to my home in Cleveland to film me. (I wasn’t
sure how much pull he had in the selection process though he said he had none).
I left Chicago that evening and received two phone calls while on the road. The
first was from Julie Estrada, the Legoland PR person, who called to congratulate
me as a finalist. The second call was from the producer who, after also
congratulating me, tried to confirm a day or two that he could visit me, my wife
and kids, and my job. The producer arrived 10 days later and spent the better
part of a day talking to my family and me and taking a tour of all my models.
This clearly was an incredible experience. Win, lose, or draw at the finals, an
appearance in this movie, with pictures of my work, would be a wonderful boost
to my Lego career.
Given how much was at stake, I took the liberty of e-mailing every former model
builder whose name I could find in an effort to get a better idea of what the
job entailed. There were a few lugnet posting that hinted that perhaps I
wouldn’t actually get paid to play. Some of the builders wrote back. Most of the
responses were pretty consistent. First, they all wanted me to understand that
this was a job. I wouldn’t be hanging out building whatever I wanted to build.
They explained that about 25% of the time I would be doing maintenance, 25% was
PR work; interacting with kids and the public, and 50% I would be building what
other people wanted me to build. They all echoed the ridiculous cost of living
and of trying to make ends meet in southern California. They were all surprised
that I was married with children. Living in San Diego, making $15 dollars and
hour, with a family would put me almost at the poverty level. (This was not a
big deal for me because my wife works in a sort of virtual office and could
relocate just about anywhere). Even though they had an occasional negative
comment or two (what previous employee doesn’t?) they all still seemed to think
that it was the job of a lifetime and if I could somehow pull it off
financially, that I should give it a go.
I was also interested in finding out who my competition was so I Googled each of
the finalists. After a little digging around, I discovered that one of the
finalists had been a finalist at the last builder search. His work is amazing.
Really amazing!! But then I found out that he had been offered the job at the
last builder search but turned it down because of a conflict of interest with
his current job. Now I couldn’t figure this out. Why would Legoland shell out
over six figures (The film, the people flying to and staying at seven different
cities, shipping all the models, the expenses incurred during the finals) if
they already had someone who was qualified. This person was clearly interested
(or why bother to try out); Legoland was interested (he was again chosen as a
finalist). So what was going on? My wife, who has worked in media, PR, and
marketing for close to 20 years, saw it in a second. This was a event to
generate as much media as possible. Don’t get me wrong, I truly believe Legoland
was looking for an artistic, creative builder; someone who would work well with
the present team of builders, but this clearly was also a media event. My wife
and I discussed some strategies to perhaps use this information to my advantage.
(Unfortunately, he dropped out of the competition and I never got a chance to
meet him. I am currently “borrowing” some of his ideas for optical illusions!)
An early morning flight on Sunday May 21 got me into San Diego at around 2:00
where I was greeted and brought to Legoland via a stretch limo. I was put up at
the resort hotel right across the street from the park. There was a gift basket
waiting for me that contained a Legoland t-shirt, Legoland collared shirt, a
Legoland hat, 8 complimentary tickets for guests, a variety of munchies, and, of
course, about 1000 Lego bricks. After freshening up I headed out to the
reception; given in one of the hotels ballrooms. There I met the other
contestants, the model builders, model gluers, model manager, and other folk who
worked in or with the model shop. The members of the model team were a diverse
group; some out-going; others more reserved. Conversation with a few confirmed
what the previous model builders had written me: This was a job. A very cool
job; but a job never the less. When I asked Eric Hunter whether he still had
time to create cool stuff at the same pace he did before he started working at
Legoland he answered “No”. There was beer and food available as I hung out and
spoke to some of the contestants. At the end, there were a couple of speeches by
John Jacobsen, the President and General Manager of Legoland California, Julie
Estrada, and Pat De Maria, the Model Shop Manager. At this point Pat announced
what the theme for the final build off would be. The theme was to build
something that could either enhance something already at the park or add
something completely different to help better the park. The theme was pretty
amorphous allowing for just about anything to be built. There was more
conversation, more appetizers, and then off to my hotel room for a good night
sleep.
After breakfast (everything was paid for; even the tip for the waiter) we all
met in the lobby of the hotel and walked over to Legoland. We headed to the
“Pick a Brick” area and were allowed to select about10 pounds of bricks that
would be used in the final build off on Tuesday. We were told that there would
be plenty of extra pieces at our disposal in case we did not select our bricks
as wisely as we would have liked. Like a kid in candy shop I loaded up my
bucket to the brim. It was easy to stop the die-heart fans. We all spotted the
bin of 1x1 very light grey plates and vowed to return later to stock up. At the
end of the contest we were told that we could bring our models home. In
retrospect I should have stocked up on the sand greens and other exotic pieces.
Oh well.
We were split up into three groups. I was in the purple group and our first task
was to build a model of a face at least six inches tall. We were each given a
tray of yellow bricks, plates, and tiles of every size and shape. The tray also
contained a few special pieces such as headlights, jumpers, and hinges. My model
was pretty bad. I should have practiced more often, but every time I took out my
bricks at home I got caught up it the subtlety of the mathematics of the bricks
and ended up building some geometric shape. Strike one.
The next stop was the one on one interview. I met with Kim Clark, the Manager of
Public Relations and Human Resources. She asked me why I thought I was the right
person for the job, whether or not I would move, and whether I had any questions
to ask her. I had sort of a prepared response. I figured that this was the part
where I should brag about myself. I told her that I’ve produced a lot of pretty
good work in a relatively short period of time. I also tried to use my age to my
advantage; explaining that my experience, maturity, and leadership skill could
be an asset.(Perhaps in the new Legoland park). The next thing I talked about I
had debated over and over as to whether it was appropriate. But after my dismal
performance in the face building I decided to give it a try. I told Kim that I
understood that this was a media event and that, besides being qualified for the
job, I might generate the most amount of media. I hypothesized the headline
“Forty-six year old man chases childhood dream and wins!” or perhaps “Master
math teacher quits after 20 years to become master model builder”. In retrospect
this whole approach seemed sort of cocky. I also explained to Kim that if I won
I would need to make some sort of work arrangement that would allow me to get
home periodically until my wife and kids could move. I had been warned that
Legoland did not negotiate. Strike two.
The next test had us making an egg. We were once again each given a large
assortment of bricks and plates. Again while I had been messing with the bricks
at home I had discovered?? a new way to make a sphere based on a hexagonal base.
Although it was a long shot I experimented by using my new design to try and
produce an egg. It was another dismal attempt. Strike three.
(A Mocpages link to see the sphere)
<http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/18431>
At this point we were cut loose. We were to roam the park in an effort to help
inspire what we were going to build the next day. A food voucher bought me a
nice dinner. It was then off to the pick a brick shop I had been to earlier
where I quickly spent about two hundred dollars. Again, my forte is buildings,
so I took about 100 pictures of the different structures in miniland. The newest
addition, NYC’s Freedom tower was there. It, like all the buildings there, was
magnificent. What’s being done at the park is clearly a step above what I’ve
accomplished. I headed back to my hotel and went to bed early as I had to be up
at 3:15 in the morning.
At least half of us made a live appearance on some local new broadcast around
the country. Julie tried to match the appearance with the city you lived closest
to but that didn’t always work. I was the first as I appeared on an Evansville,
Indiana TV station. I was picked up at the hotel at 3:45 and brought to
Legoland. After some make-up (yuck!) Julie Estrada and I did the two/three
minute segment. Back to the hotel for a little R&R before the big contest.
Everyone put on his or her red Legoland shirts and Legoland hats and we all
headed off to the Park. Each of us had a separate table with our name and our
bucket of pieces. After a ten to one count down the twenty-three contestants
began to build. Once again I had agonized over what to build. Some might say
that I copped out but I’m still pretty proud of what I did. As I had walked
around the park the day before I saw that there were lots of places where kids
could build with bricks. My idea was to have stations around the park where kids
could build things that they actually saw. For example, in the Knights Kingdom,
kids could build, with instructions and pieces provided, a miniature dragon etc.
So I decided to turn my model into a series of instructions. While messing
around with the bricks I had also discovered?? a way to make a 6x6x6 cube. What
makes it so intriguing is that 5 of the six sides have the studs facing out. Not
very impressive until you consider that it’s made only with bricks and plates.
Pieces that have been around for over 40 years. The judges were clearly not as
impressed with my idea as I was.
(A Mocpages link to see the Rubik’s Cube)
<http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/18379>
After two hours of building the judges came around to view the models. Four
finalists were announced and then Jason Poland was announced the grand prize
winner. The media swooped in as everyone congratulated him. One final prize was
given to all; a twenty dollar gift card to be used for a meal, souvenirs, or
bricks (I bought $20 worth of 1x1 trans-pink bricks). My brother who lives in
San Diego and a few relatives were there to consol me as was a call from my wife
at home.
(Model Builder Kristi’s Blog has lots of pictures of the competition)
<http://brickstarsearch.blogspot.com/>
We all met back at the restaurant by the hotel and were joined by the team of
model builders for one last meal (not on Legoland. I think it’s the only time I
paid for something). Exhausted and still licking my wounds, I finally headed
back to the hotel.
The following morning Legoland had arranged for a shuttle to the airport. I
found myself back in the real world later that evening.
In many respects I’m glad I didn’t win. (I think that’s called sour grapes) My
life remains status quo. I’ll be with my wife and kids for their birthdays and
for holidays. I’ll still be teaching math. I get to build what I want to build.
Sure, I’m glad I didn’t win.
Yeah. Right.
But beware. I’m now practicing more “organic” models.
And looking forward to competing again in the next master model build off.
Arthur
Comments and questions are more than welcome.
(Feel free to contact me at my yahoo e-mail if needed.)
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Legoland Model Builder Search Finalist journal
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| I also enjoyed reading this (don't know how I missed it!) If it is any consolation I've admired a lot of your buildings and good* math teachers are in very short supply! (*)I'm just assuming ; ) I mean you like lego so... When you do get back and (...) (18 years ago, 14-May-07, to lugnet.general, FTX)
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