Posted by
D
at
11:01 PM
I don't think it's news to anyone that this blog's 10+ years of existence have been rocky. While the relevance and influence of LMOTD has waxed and waned over the years, the recent anniversary brought us an appropriate time to reflect on how we got here. Below is a timeline of (subjectively chosen) major events in the history of LMOTD and the LEGO MOC blogging world - if you see an egregious mention (or omission!) let us know at legomodeloftheday@gmail.com
|
|
|
|
| |
19969-year old Dan discovers an early version of Dan Jezek's links page. Thus begins his descent into the rabbit holes of AFOLdom.
|
|
1996Dan reads "Cool LEGO Site of the Week". He'd follow it on-and-off over the years, before eventually forgetting that "[adjective] LEGO [noun] of the [timeframe]" had already been done and would thus make a terrible name for a new blog.
|
| |
|
|
| |
1999Dan attempts to join LUGNET and gets frustrated that AFOLs prevent young people from getting involved in favor of focusing exclusively on adults. Luckily, Brickshelf doesn't have that restriction, and there are plenty of places to soak in the knowledge of the AFOL community without giving back (for now...)
|
|
9/03Dan decides against attending NW BrickCon as public because he wouldn't be allowed in to the full event (again, some AFOLs try too hard to keep "kids" out). There's no reason why anyone in their right mind would pay to attend a small, crowded part of someone else's party when they can already see serious LEGO displays for free (LEGO hosted an official event near BrickCon's venue shortly before the convention).
|
| |
|
|
| |
2004Dan begins pitching a LEGO blog concept to anyone who would listen. Most people don't think it could catch on.
|
|
7/05Dunechaser's Blocklog starts, and features some OK minifigures, I guess. Over the next several years, that blog would mature into The Brothers Brick as we know it today, primarily covering models (instead of minifigures) and also covering a variety of other LEGO-related news. Without nitpicking, I'll say that that growth took long enough that it still made sense to start a more general MOC blog in 2007. Over time, LMOTD and TBB would compete against each other, borrow ideas from each other, and occasionally cover the same models - but in the end, TBB ended up accomplishing much of what LMOTD set out to do, even while LMOTD went off the rails.
|
| |
|
|
| |
2/07Dan starts the blog, after years of talking about it and not following up, and then seeing others attempt it "badly" (I was insistent on some beliefs about credit, detail, variety, and inclusiveness).
|
|
2/07First post
|
| |
|
|
| |
2/07First non-test post
|
|
4/07Dan remembers the Fair Play policy and moves the blog from legomodeloftheday.blogspot.com to lmotd.blogspot.com. No URL ever had "Fascinating" in it, leading to a decade-long side discussion about what this thing is actually called.
|
| |
|
|
| |
11/07Dan joins NCLUG, beginning a long habit of joining LUGs instead of just critiquing them (I'll skip listing the rest of them, since it gets ridiculous quickly after the accident in 2012).
|
|
5/08First LAML Radio appearance.
|
| |
|
|
| |
5/08The Brothers Brick tries covering "Classic Creations" the way LMOTD had been. Notably, LMOTD has frequently featured models built and shared in years gone by, but The Brothers Brick has always focused on current buzz-worthy models. Several AFOLs comment that they rememeber seeing it the first time.
|
|
7/08The Brothers Brick incorrectly credits Dan with a MOC he didn't build.
|
| |
|
|
| |
8/08Mariann Asanuma's Model Building Secrets blog launches.
|
|
10/08Dan joins Brick Town Talk, a blog for fans of Jamie Berard and the "Cafe Corner standard".
|
| |
|
|
| |
10/08Dave from BrickPlayer.com contacts TwinLUG after reading about a LUG show on LMOTD - and ends up joining in for the show. While it seems to have been lost to time, one of the LUGs' websites (GMLTC?) had a recap of the show that said that they hadn't known about this blog or the post about the event until they heard from Dave. Garth Danielson from TwinLUG also blogged an account of the show.
|
|
11/08The Brothers Brick announces a policy for advertising LUG shows. It may have been a coincidence...but it definitely lead to a number of LUGs and events putting together high-quality "press releases" so that they could get mentioned on The Brothers Brick and other LEGO fan outlets.
|
| |
|
|
| |
11/08Integration with BrickJournal Shared Calendars starts.
|
|
1/09The Living Brick starts. Although an exclusive focus on brick-built characters made The Living Brick unique, Ochre Jelly (Iain Heath) would later say that LMOTD's tendency towards non-minifig-scale models was an influence towards starting the blog.
|
| |
|
|
| |
1/09Dan's last LAML Radio appearance also includes an early clip of his robot band.
|
|
2/09Matthew (Brickapolis) joins the blog. Since this was the first contributor besides Dan, some formatting changes were required to accomodate additional bloggers.
|
| |
|
|
| |
3/09Chris Howard (Duckingham) joins the blog.
|
|
8/09Chris Howard leaves LMOTD to focus on Bricks-A-Billion (first post).
|
| |
|
|
| |
2009Posts become more regular (closer to the promised "of the day") after Dan finishes college and settles in at a steady job.
|
8/09 First convention appearance and roundup (BrickFair). Since Arthur Gugick ran the first seminar/workshop of the event, Dan immediately had the opportunity to start meeting people he had previously only blogged about online. Upon receiving an LMOTD tile, Arthur immediately strikes up an arrangement to claim any extra LMOTD tiles if this blogging thing doesn't work out.
|
| |
|
|
| |
8/09According to our internal e-mails, we had all but entirely ceded coverage of minifig-scale models to The Brothers Brick. By this time, a "rule" was in place to avoid blogging minifig-scale models more than once in a 5-day period.
|
|
1/10lego diem tumblr quietly begins.
|
| |
|
|
| |
4/10First Maker Faire appearance (at the first Maker Faire NC). This is also the first event where Dan coordinated an AFOL display. Incidentally, Matthew (Brickapolis) would decide to join in at the last minute, and Joe Meno contributed models and flyers (to promote his current projects at the time: BrickMagic, BrickFlix, and BrickJournal).
|
|
8/10First Bloggers' Roundtable event at a convention (BrickFair).
|
| |
|
|
| |
8/10First convention Mindstorms Robot Rock Band appearance. Even with amplifiers, few people could hear it over the crowd. That convention center is now a Wal-Mart, so congratulations BrickFair attendees who did hear it - you now have some "hipster indie cred" for seeing a band no one has heard of "before they were cool" in a venue that isn't there anymore.
|
|
9/10The Brick Blogger quietly launches. While The Brick Blogger also took on a daily format, that's merely a coincidence (of all the other bloggers I've met in the AFOL community, The Brick Blogger was the only one who hadn't heard of me or LMOTD). The Brick Blogger continues as kid-friendly, public-facing LEGO fan blog to this day.
|
| |
|
|
| |
1/11Brick Town Talk changes ownership. This happens a few times over the years, but no newer owner of that blog followed up with older contributors enough to keep Dan in the loop. Eventually, Brick Town Talk would return to having a single intermittant author instead of multiple contributors, and would swap the focus on Jamie Berard and modular buildings for covering any town models the new owner felt like.
|
|
5/11Drama in the AFOL community pushes Dan away. Daily posting rate never recovers.
|
| |
|
|
| |
8/11Dan recovers some faith in the AFOL community after BrickFair blows away the previous bar for events. This included a chance to meet Jamie Berard, and a speed build of the just-unveiled Tower Bridge set. Upon seeing the (then-not-yet-available) tan cheese slopes, Arthur Gugick attempts to strike up an arrangement to claim them after the timed build. Upon seeing that, Steve Witt decides to give the competitors smaller sets instead of allowing us to draft out the Tower Bridge. Fun was had by all.
|
|
9/11A young Josh Hanlon e-mails in response to a post about expanding the LMOTD team, but is ignored after asking for a follow-up phone call. Spurned, he goes on to start a podcast, a YouTube channel, and a quest for world domination. We regret the error.
|
| |
|
|
| |
10/11Seth (Lego obsessionist) joins the blog.
|
|
11/11Josh Hanlon starts the A Look at LEGO podcast.
|
| |
|
|
| |
3/12Dan and Matthew appear on A Look at LEGO.
|
|
4/12Matthew (Brickapolis) joins the A Look at LEGO podcast.
|
| |
|
|
| |
8/12A Look at LEGO changes its name to Beyond the Brick.
|
|
10/12Steve Oakes starts "My Micro Brick Con" at BrickCon in Seattle.
|
| |
|
|
| |
11/12Merger between LMOTD and Beyond the Brick announced to LMOTD contributors over e-mail.
|
12/12 Scheduled launch of a combined LMOTD/Beyond the Brick site becomes delayed indefinitely after a debilitating accident knocks Dan's life off-track. The injury might not look like much, but it results in the rest of Dan's life spiraling out of control. All pre-summer travel plans are scrapped. Dan immediately stops maintaining his LUGs' website (beginning a surprising string of LUG drama we won't get into here).
|
| |
|
|
| |
12/12Bricks-A-Billion updates stop (most recent post).
|
|
2/13Beyond the Brick announces move to YouTube, eschewing podcasts for videos.
|
| |
|
|
| |
3/13Dan is dragged to a new state in a process that can fairly be described as a hate crime. Things get worse from there. Unable to put his personal life back together, he lets the blog and the new site hang indefinitely.
|
|
3/13Merger with Beyond the Brick publicly announced, although the deadline for completing the merger had already past.
|
| |
|
|
| |
4/13Chris Howard (Duckingham) launches Bricks 4 Kidz Knoxville. This becomes his main "LEGO outlet" and grows to become (as of this writing) the #14 Bricks 4 Kidz franchise in North America.
|
|
4/13Dan hears about BZPower's "Convention Circuit" and BioniLUG and is finally motivated to join BZPower, after creepily stalking them since 8/2009.
|
| |
|
|
| |
6/13New Elementary starts, and goes straight for the academic level of nerdery LMOTD occasionally aimed for but rarely delved into as much as I would have liked. New Elementary almost immediately seemed to be more successful at it and are now the undisputed champions of the deep-dive part-nerdery format.
|
|
6/13BrickNerd starts, covering a better breadth of models than existing MOC blogs, but not writing about models in as much depth. Not that the writing matters much, since by now, creeps on social media were plagiarizing images left and right - or worse, completely missing the point and attributing images to people blogging about them instead of the people who built the pictured models. BrickNerd continues to this day as a team-run blog and YouTube channel covering MOCs and LEGO/AFOL news.
|
| |
|
|
| |
6/13First Brickworld convention appearance.
|
|
6/13Mariann Asanuma brings "Mini LEGO Con" to Brickworld Chicago, and Dan immediately insists on taking it up.
|
| |
|
|
| |
8/13 Dan and Mariann bring "Mini LEGO Con" to BrickFair Virgnia as a MOC.
|
|
1/14Dan's first non-BrickMagic small convention (BrickFair Alabama). After this, Dan would attend every BrickFair event through 2017 (except for the first year of BrickFair New Jersey, which completed the cycle of never attending first-year BrickFair events).
|
| |
|
|
| |
1/14BrickFair starts running "Mini Con" as a feature of the event, with Dan hosting it (and Mariann co-hosting in Virgnia).
|
|
2/14Ochre Jelly (Iain Heath) ends The Living Brick.
|
| |
|
|
| |
3/14Dan tries to move the Beyond the Brick website project along, and realizes most of the necessary content from Beyond the Brick is missing. Intermittant blogging resumes.
|
|
4/14Merger with Beyond the Brick cancelled, with no clear plans for LMOTD in sight. A key factor was the determination that Netcast Studio owns much of the planned contents of the new site, calling the point of the website into question.
|
| |
|
|
| |
4/14Involvement with BrickJournal Shared Calendars project ends amidst more community drama. When making the decision to leave the shared calendars, Dan found that most contributors had long since abandoned them and that he was not on speaking terms with most of the people still involved.
|
|
4/14Ochre Jelly (Iain Heath) joins The Brothers Brick.
|
| |
|
|
| |
6/14LUG Project announced, with a loose deadline of having things up to speed within a year. Response is thoroughly skeptical, even as Dan insists that BZPower has already done an inclusive online LUG successfully.
|
10/14 Dan's first BrickCon appearance. He discovers a variety of both longtime readers and knowledgable AFOLs there. There is some overlap between the two categories. The latter category inspires an attempt at a "Memory Lane" series of convention seminars.
|
| |
|
|
| |
10/14Dan's first Brickworld Expo (Tampa) - a largely successful event with only one truck driven into Dan's MOCs.
|
|
6/15Our LUG project silently fails, having not attracted anyone in serious need of a LUG. While a few people expressed interest, most were unable or unwilling to try meeting up at conventions (or were already involved elsewhere and just trying to be supportive). The idea lives on in the (still not revealed publicly) AFOL Incubator project. Arguably, this was another casualty of Dan not putting the time in for the blog after the accident.
|
| |
|
|
| |
7/15lego diem tumblr goes on hiatus.
|
|
8/15NetCast Studio becomes Modern Life Network, giving the old A Look at LEGO / Beyond the Brick podcasts a new URL (this may have happened earlier - 8/2015 is the earliest reference I could find to this having happened).
|
| |
|
|
| |
8/15First Memory Lane seminar at BrickFair Virgnia. It goes OK, but suffers from a lack of attendance from people who remember the AFOL community in the 90s.
|
|
1/16First public appearance of the DUPLO Ball Run. It would improve considerably in later years. Regretably, I have not properly written about this MOC of mine to this day, on the blog or otherwise.
|
| |
|
|
| |
4/16BrickUniverse Online Community Panel - during a pit stop on Dan's trip moving back north.
|
|
6/16National Maker Faire. Dan (by himself) is the only exhibitor representing the FOL community. The previous year, LEGO Systems' marketing arm had sponsored the event and brought the "Creation Nation" interactive activity. While a few other AFOLs would stop by and talk about pursuing the event the following year, National Maker Faire did not recur in 2017.
|
| |
|
|
| |
8/16After 10 months of planning "how to make it be interesting this time", Dan hosts a panel version of "Memory Lane" at (BrickFair) featuring Dave Eaton, Suzanne (Rich) Eaton, and Larry Peniazek. That sort of AFOL star power attracts a crowd that includes Tormod from TLG. Notably, a few people attending and speaking up during the panel are people who can't stand Dan.
|
|
8/16Matthew (Brickapolis) is quietly removed as a contributor following an incident outside of a convention.
|
| |
|
|
| |
11/16The Brothers Brick gets caught covering a Galidor model that LMOTD covered in 2008. Few notice.
|
|
12/16For the first time since the fallout from the accident in 2012, Dan actually has a regular enough job to consider prioritizing the blog again.
|
| |
|
|
| |
early 2017Blog posts ramp up ahead of LMOTD's 10th anniversary. The trend doesn't stick, due to more issues in Dan's personal life.
|
|
1/17BrickFair stops running "Mini Con" as a feature of the event. Dan re-organizes it as an ad hoc collaboration.
|
| |
|
|
| |
1/17Dan joins BZPower's news team as a semi-regular contributor.
|
|
2/17Toy Fair 2017 coverage begins dripping out (in collaboration with BZPower's coverage).
|
| |
|
|
| |
2/1710th anniversary of the first post.
|
|
7/17Dan finally gets around to finishing off the blog's 10-year retrospective timeline (you're reading it now).
|
| |
|
|
| |
7/17Merger (of sorts) with BZPower announced. It might seem strange, but "those Bionicle kiddies" turned out to not just be one of the few all-ages friendly LEGO fan communities - they're just friendly in general. More importantly, BZP has a large enough staff to keep a site current in ways that LMOTD hasn't been, and a news team that Dan has already known and been on good terms with for years.
|
|
Late 2017AFOL Incubator unveiled
|
| |
|
|
| |
2018Arthur Gugick finally gets those tiles he asked about in 2009. Maybe there's a single tan cheese slope hiding deep inside the bag.
|
|
2019 Arthur Gugick reveals awesome new mosaic.
|
| |
|
|
|
Posted by
Dan
at
6:11 PM
| Name of Model: Gingerbread House |
| Created by: Parks and Wrecked Creations |
| Found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/legoland-bill/15849719540/in/photostream/ , https://www.flickr.com/photos/legoland-bill/15850940389/in/photostream/ , and https://www.flickr.com/photos/legoland-bill/16036296492/in/photostream/ |
Details:  This beautiful gingerbread house is chock-full of an overwhelming amount of candy-coated details. It looks like the house is dark orange underneath the thick coat of candy, but that almost doesn't matter with all the other goodies packed in here. There's only three photos here, but they're clear enough to zoom in and get a good look. Some of the highlights: a mix of 1 x 1 and 1 x 2 plates with teeth to create icing-style cornice work, 2 x 2 tiles as Necco wafer-style roofing (I suppose they could be intended as a different candy, but it's definitely a great roof), swirl signal paddles on 1 x 1 round bricks and 1 x 1 round plates with open studs to decorate the railing posts, stacked 1 x 1 round bricks to make candy-cane lesenes, curved slopes for the icing snowbank, the standard 1 x 1 round plates as small candy trick, various reddish brown and dark brown tiles to make the chocolate bar door, and hypno disks and another printed 4 x 4 dish to represent swirl candies. Perhaps the best technique, though, is using trans-yellow bricks behind the windows to give the glass a sugary look when the building is lit up from the inside (visible in the second photo).
There are even a few details here that are not immediately obvious in how they were built. Note how several flowers are sunken into the model so their stems don't pop out at you - these must be attached to something deeper inside the model. Then there are the 2 x 2 plates seemingly attached to fences - presumably there's a Technic axle behind those 1 x 1 plates connecting the 2 x 2 plates to something behind the fence.
Also perfect: the inclusion of Gingerbread Man collectible minifigures and Mrs. Claus from the Santa's Workshop set.
|
|
Posted by
Dan
at
6:07 PM
Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I haven't explained very well the recent news that I'm starting a LUG. Here's something of an explanation, in hopes of answering some of the questions people have brought to me so far. Feel free to send in any additional questions you may have - for now I am coordinating this from the blog's current e-mail address: legomodeloftheday@gmail.com
Why start an online LUG?Because location-based LUGs don't cut it for an alarming amount of people. There are many reasons for this - maybe your nearest LUG is quite some time away, or has few members and never really got off the ground. Perhaps you've left a LUG because of some disagreement with other members of that LUG. Maybe someone or something in a LUG has scared you off. Maybe you're too young to meet an AFOL cut-off, or you prefer to build in themes that people near you are not supportive of. Maybe you just want to be more involved in "big things" at conventions and your LUG isn't interested in collaborative convention displays. The fact of the matter is that there wasn't a catch-all LUG that could cover everyone who feels left out of traditional LUGs, and there needed to be one.
One online LUG that has been successful is BioniLUG, which is part of BZPower. I joined that LUG some time ago and have found it to be very well-run, and an excellent way to connect fans across the world for the purposes of participating in group builds, coordinating convention activities, and the support of a LUG. The only "problem" is that it's very much a part of the Bionicle community, which unfortunately does not include all that much of the general LEGO fan community. At some level, that's a strength, but it means that BioniLUG can't be the catch-all LUG that everyone without a LUG should join (although if you do build with Bionicle elements, I highly recommend joining both BZPower and BioniLUG).
Why now?Truthfully, this is a really bad time for me. I probably shouldn't be doing this now, when my personal life seems to be bottoming out and my main LEGO-related blogging outlet is in disrepair. This sort of LUG is something that the LEGO fan community desperately needs, and I'm very passionate about making it happen. Additionally, the community team at LEGO is in the process of rolling out improved guidelines for becoming a registered LUG. Under the new system, a LUG must be around for a full year before LEGO will recognize it and consider providing any support to the LUG. That was a major incentive for starting sooner rather than later, even if it does mean a bit of disorganization upfront.
So what's this LUG called?That's our first order of business - figuring out an appropriate name that gets the point across without being antagonistic towards traditional LUGs. Sure, I'm launching it from LMOTD, but I'm not vain enough to make this about me (DanLUG?) or this blog (LMOTDLUG?). Other suggested names include USA LUG (too national) and ANTI-LUG (too antagonistic), but I'd like to see us settle on something a bit more neutral.
Do you have a mailing list? Yahoo! Group? Google Group? Facebook group? Some other kind of group?That's our second order of business - deciding what to use for internal communication. I am certain it will not be a Facebook group, because many people (including myself) have very firm negative beliefs about that company's behavior and approach to the web. Beyond that, I'm not sure what we'll settle on - it'll be something accessible and easy to browse the archives of.
So how do I get involved with this nameless LUG without an internal group yet?For now, make sure I have your e-mail address. I'll keep you in the loop as things move along. So far, you haven't heard much because things have not moved along much. You can probably help push things along by shooting me an e-mail with your opinions and advice on the name and what to use for internal communication. Until the LUG has a proper website of its own, I'll keep posting any announcements about it here at LMOTD.
Seriously, though, how will the LUG work?There will be some form of internal communication, and some sort of collaborative build for large events (which will probably be just US LEGO fan conventions at first). There will be dues - likely $10 the first year and $5 per year after that (we're still copying ideas from BioniLUG), which will primarily cover the costs of mailing things to LUG members. That higher price in the first year will cover the cost of a pretty engraved or printed brick with the LUG name (or logo) for your name badge.
Since I'm mostly planning this as a service to the general AFOL community, expect group builds to lean (at least initially) towards existing collaborations - Great Ball Contraption, Micropolis, Moonbase, Mini Con, Cafe Corner-standard town, etc. We'll likely pick one theme per year, and then try to transport as many modules as possible to various conventions. This does mean that LUG members will need to focus on building things to be sturdy and easy to set up, but that should be manageable.
Meetings will take place whenever it makes sense to do so (maybe you'll luck out and meet other dedicated LEGO fans who are local to you), but will primarily happen at/around existing conventions.
Some sort of opt-in exchange program will be arranged to transport original models to smaller shows, to better allow individuals without the support of a local LUG to run LEGO displays (say, at their local library or a Mini Maker Faire). This will allow Joe AFOL in the middle of no where to run larger displays (augmenting his own creations with models on loan) and to advertise his/her displays as the work of a LUG instead of just being "Joe AFOL". Should a solid local group emerge from such events, members will be encouraged to start traditional regional LUGs (either instead of or in addition to being part of this catch-all LUG).
Materials given to the LUG will be distributed in as fair a manner as possible (with the exception that priority will be given to members involved with displays) - think raffles for sets and "everyone gets a bag" for loose brick. This will be handled in a transparent and democratic manner on the group's internal forum. Items will be distributed at conventions when possible, and will be mailed in other cases.
Some additional benefits for members will be arranged for but not announced outside of the group. This is partly because LEGO does not allow information about any pilot programs to be shared with the general public, and partly because offers made to a LUG are intended to support the LUG and LUG displays (and not be used for personal enrichment).
Are there any ground rules?Not really, because we want this to be as open as possible. I guess "void where prohibited" - for instance, in the US, there are privacy laws against collecting personal info from people under the age of 13. We want this to be fun and open to as many people as possible, though, so if you're too young, ask a parent to get involved on your behalf. If there's another obstacle you know of, let me know and I'll see what I can do to help. To the extent that rules are needed, we'll firm them up as we go along. Any idea is a good idea, except for the not happy ones, right Unikitty?
We will encourage members to be active in the LUG's internal communications and strongly encourage members to get involved with displaying original LEGO creations in public settings. Understandably, not everyone is comfortable with displaying their models publicly, but running LEGO displays is the most important thing a LUG does to grow the hobby.
For the sake of tracking LUG activity, promoting events, and preventing abuse of the LUG's name, any display run in the LUG's name will need to be announced internally to members of the LUG. We'll also expect that all members will abide by the inclusive spirit of the LUG - we want to unite all LEGO fans who are not already in a LUG, and encourage everyone to get more involved with the larger LEGO fan community.
What's a LUG, anyway?It stands for LEGO Users' Group, and if you didn't know that, you might not be ready for one. The standards for what makes a LUG are fairly loose, but generally it's a group of LEGO fans who do LEGO-related things together. Common activities include running LEGO shows, assembling group builds, and drafting out sets. LUGs often also run collaborative layouts at conventions, support individual efforts among their members, and participate in other activities to grow both the LUG and the larger LEGO fan community.
|
|
Posted by
Dan
at
4:18 PM
| Name of Model: Mini LEGO Con |
| Created by various people, see below |
| Found at (semi-official Flickr group): https://www.flickr.com/groups/2318936@N22/ |
Details:  As I hinted at earlier, there's a big project I've been involved with for a while now that I am really excited to share with everyone. That project is Mini LEGO Con - in short, a miniland scale model of a LEGO convention. This is a massive group layout that you can expect to see at many LEGO conventions (and other conventions, too!) in the years to come.
Mini LEGO Con was first displayed at BrickCon 2012 by Steve Oakes (BrickCon Microscale coordinator) and Mariann Asanuma (former LEGOLAND Master Model Builder). Mariann brought Mini Con to other events throughout 2013 (BricksCascade, Emerald City Comic Con, BrickWorld, BrickFair VA, Bricks by the Bay, BrickCon). After BrickFair VA, BrickFair coordinator Todd Webb decided to make Mini Con a part of BrickFair going forward, and purchased the parts required to assemble the layout at future conventions. Most notably, Todd decided to change the layout from being a caricature of a convention to being an exact match - at BrickFair, the baseplates and tables are set up in the same layout as the convention itself.
Back at BrickFair Alabama 2014, I (Dan) assembled the miniland-scale (roughly 1:20) tables, chairs, and stanchions for use at BrickFair events, the next of which will be in Manchester, New Hampshire, this upcoming weekend (public hours are May 10th & May 11th, 2014, 11:00am - 4:00pm, we'd love to see you there!). If you've registered to participate, you should make sure to bring a miniland-scale version of yourself and microscale versions of the models you're bringing (BrickFair provides the bare bones of the layout, so you shouldn't need to pack your own mini tables and mini stanchions). If you're attending as public, you're in for a real treat, as this enormous layout will completely match the map of the convention (and should be filled in even more than the layout in Alabama earlier this year).
Can't make it to New Hampshire next weekend? BrickFair will also be in Virginia (July 30th-August 3rd) and New Jersey (October 30th-November 2nd), and similar, smaller layouts (without BrickFair's backing) should be appearing at BrickWorld Chicago (June 11th-15th) and BrickCon (October 2nd-5th). We're hoping this catches on more generally as a theme and a building standard for group layouts at LEGO events (like moonbase or the Cafe Corner standard).
I've started a Flickr group to make it easier to find ideas, inspiration, and displays related to this theme. For blogging purposes here, we're mostly talking about LEGO conventions, but these displays are also a hit at Comic and Sci-Fi conventions (think: minilanders in costume as their favorite characters) and I intend to expand to Maker Faires this year as well. The Flickr group discussions include an attempt at a list of all Mini Con events.
|
|
Posted by
Dan
at
4:56 PM
| Name of Model: Collapsible Building |
| Created by: Duane Hess (Legozilla) |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/legozilla/sets/72157629083690682/ |
Details:  Ever feel like it takes up too much space to store and transport your large town buildings? There's now a solution for that - collapsible buildings. This model looks great on it's own, but it's also a nice proof-of-concept for bigger and more complicated things. Now that hinge bricks (in white) are a common Pick-A-Brick part, it's pretty affordable to handle modularity this way. There's nothing stopping us from dropping floors into a design like this - and those floors could be taken out at shows without dismantling the whole building. For the first time, I think we have a real challenger to the Cafe Corner standard for town creations - and there's nothing stopping anyone from making a building like this also conform to the CC standard. |
|
Posted by
Dan
at
11:43 PM
| Name of Model: Galaxy Diner and Empire Theater |
| Created by: sonicstarlight |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26864031@N00/sets/72157626344290071/ |
Details:  In a bit of a retro/deco-ish feel, this pair of Cafe Corner-standard buildings gives us something we don't see enough in this modular style. It's easy to get wrapped up in the time period that we see in the official sets, but these feel a bit more 1950's or 1960's. Many of the techniques used are what you'd expect (the cinema in particular seems to borrow a bit from set 10184 Town Plan), but there are some great surprises. Plates with rails give the diner a surprisingly convincing impression of texture. The mix of three different styles of mosaic-based lettering gives a realistic feel, breaking up the impression that you're looking at something whipped up based on one person's preferences - the combination of blocky letters for the "Galaxy" sign and curvy letters on the "Empire" sign is a brilliant touch. |
|
Posted by
Dan
at
11:39 PM
| Name of Model: Little Grand Emporium |
| Created by: Puddleglum |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthew_raehl/sets/72157626302398766/ |
Details:  I've previously covered half-size versions of the Fire Brigade and Cafe Corner, but now two new installments have been added to the series: the Green Grocer and the Grand Emporium. Both do a stunning job of capturing the look and feel of the original.
The interesting thing about going for half-size instead of just a generic "microscale", is that there's actually a scale factor involved to dictate what some parts should be. In both of these, you can see how 2x2 tiles on the sidewalk become 1x1 tiles to create the same mosaic-style patterns. A pair of skeleton legs on the grocer becomes one 1x1 tile with a clip on top. Doors and windows can be tricky, since LEGO hasn't made windows in some of these sizes. You're still required to fill some details in in an impressionistic manner, but not everyone can pull that off and still have things end up looking fairly accurate. | | Yes, we're sneaking in a double-header again - these are Tuesday and Wednesday's models of the day. |
|
Posted by
Dan
at
4:00 AM
| Name of Model: A building complex started in 1991 |
| Created by: aror |
| Found at: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=463229 |
Details:  Every once in a while, you come across a gorgeous large layout that feels like minifigs could actually live in it. It's less like looking at a model, and more like seeing a little world. This minifig-scale model clearly meets that criteria - the four large buildings are flanked by smaller buildings, vehicles, and landscaping, in a way that resembles a well-maintained professional or academic campus early in the morning (before the crowds have come about). This project was started in 1991, and the colors reflect that - note how red and white are the main colors, and green is used sparingly. Back then, large plates and plants were the only widely available (non-DUPLO) parts in green. In spite of the limited palette, there's still a colorful ceiling pattern and plenty of other subtle details. The tall windows make this interpretation of minifig scale very close to that of the Cafe Corner set. The details around the windows aren't filled with tricky techniques, but they still take on a grand effect when repeated over these large walls. Don't miss the use of grey goblets on the chimneys, or the fantastic use of Imperial flags outside of a Pirates-based setting. |
|
Posted by
Dan
at
11:55 PM
Since we've clearly been failing at trying to catch up lately, I think it's time to fill you in on what's been going on behind the scenes.
First, we need to make our accidental February hiatus official - there's just no way we can reasonably make up the time now. We'll return to the of-the-day format in March, and actually be on time for a while.
Seeing that events in my personal life can still interrupt the blog a bit, I think it's time we look again into bringing new contributors to this blog. Let me know if you'd be interested in doing something here. While I'd like to pick off a few writers from other LEGO blogs out there (it seems there's a new one every day lately), we're open to trying out new ideas as well - if you have any suggestions, feel free to send them in to legomodeloftheday@gmail.com
We're actually already looking into some new features, but you know how us LEGO fans are - we like to stop writing and actually build something once in a while. It's better to have a few more people involved and more ideas in the pipeline.
I prefer not to bore my readers with my personal life, but here's a quick rundown for the interested: about a week after my hand got better, I came down with a really nasty sinus infection. Somewhere in the middle of that, my main laptop died. After warranty-covered repairs were done, it came back without an operating system - I've been trying to get my regular tasks going in Ubuntu over this past week.
Oh, and did you know I build? I'm planning on debuting a sculpture and some new Cafe Corner style town models at this year's LEGOPalooza - where I'm also coordinating a town/train layout. If you're near Chapel Hill, NC, USA on March 5th or 6th, you might want to check it out.
|
|
Posted by
Dan
at
11:46 PM
| Name of Model: Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes |
| Created by: Joel.Baker |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joel_baker/sets/72157625701256635/with/5356656246/ |
Details:  This model (not related to the great recent set) is based on Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter books (more specifically, it's Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes). Just to kick things up a notch from the open-back nature of the Harry Potter kits, this rendition actually conforms to the Cafe Corner standard. The bold, rare colors are the first thing to catch your eye, but they're not even the most outrageous over-the-top feature - that would have to be the tipping of that hat.
The cleverly brick-built windows and the sidewalk mosaic make this stand out even more. Those great round dark orange protruded windows are also accurate to the version in the movies.
Oh, and about those rare colors - guess who figured out how much further you can go with them when you use DUPLO? This underused technique was able to keep the part count here unusually low - exactly 1,000 pieces were used. |
|
Posted by
Dan
at
4:58 PM
| Name of Models: Various, see links below |
| Created by: Marcos Bessa |
| Found at a few different places, see links below |
Details:  Recently, LEGO set designer and frequently featured builder Marcos Bessa has made available for free download the LEGO Digital Designer (LDD) files (useful as building instructions) for five of his models. Two of these models have previously been featured here as a model of the day, and all of them were built before he was brought into the LEGO company. Several of these models can be found in the portfolio used when he applied to join the company. Here are the links to the page for information for each model (each page includes information on the model, a link to photos on flickr, and a link to download the LDD file - along with a brief note regarding reuse of these designs):
No word on if/when we'll see a virtual version of the Ancient Lady's Museum.
|
|
Posted by
Dan
at
11:34 PM
| Name of Model: Lego: Fancy Bookstore |
| Created by: cimddwc |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24588874@N08/sets/72157624132729033/with/5038875332/ |
Details:
 
Usually, when I see a model inspired by the Cafe Corner set or following the modular build standard established by that kit, I write about it at Brick Town Talk instead of here (if it hasn't been blogged there already). As I was prepping a post about this model for BTT earlier, more details started to stick out to me - enough to make me realize I should feature it here as well. While this isn't quite a reproduction of the original building that inspired it (shown above right), this conjures up all the right details from the original and fits it into a layout-ready 24 studs (sure, 16- and 32-stud measurements are more common, but it's easy to fit in any multiple of 8 studs as a building width). The gargoyle-esque bits on either side of the top window are Bionicle krana in white. I don't believe we've ever seen them used in a model for minifigs before. Above that same window, we also see a ball joint element and a tooth with axle hole used as architectural details. Spires are made from 1x6 curved slopes, and border detailing makes use of many 2 x 2 curved slope pieces. All those clever bits come in before you even get to the gorgeous detailing at the windows!
|
|
Posted by
Dan
at
9:20 PM
| Name of Model: Ancient Lady's Museum |
| Created by: marcosbessa |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45092539@N02/sets/72157624545840324/with/4812544383/ & the same photos can also be found on Brickshelf: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=438981 |
Details:   Premiered at this year's Arte em Peças event, this gorgeous show-stopper is actually in scale with the Cafe Corner and ready for minifigures. It's not truly to the Cafe Corner standard, though, since the back is wide open. Of course, if the back wasn't open, we wouldn't be able to see the fantastic interior work. Highlights include leathery couches, mosaic floor patterns, a pair of grand spiral staircases, a variety of minifigures on display, detailed curtains built upside-down (in dark red!), and ornate window decorations on the outside. You'll need to use the "View All Sizes" feature on flickr to zoom in and see the original photo size in order to see some of the details.
You can also see a set of Work-In-Progress (WIP) photos of this model on flickr. One of the highlights is a look inside the column technique.
Additionally, the builder is now selling instructions for LEGO Digital Designer for another model I've featured from him:
|
| This is Saturday's model of the day |
|
Posted by
Brickapolis
at
6:33 PM
| Name of Model: Modular Market Square |
| Created by: Cole Brickman |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/colebrickman/4590645414/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/colebrickman/4590025357/in/set-72157623945360158/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/colebrickman/4590025357/in/set-72157623945360158/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/colebrickman/4591718909/in/set-72157623945360158/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/colebrickman/4592340006/in/set-72157623945360158/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/colebrickman/4591719381/in/set-72157623945360158/ (this is why you should use tags or sets to organize your photos...) |
 Details: When the 6242 Soldiers' Fort set came out, it introduced a new building standard for modular minifig-scale models. That standard, known as the "Soldier's Fort" standard or the "Three and Ten" standard, was hailed, documented, and supported by LEGO Pirate fan sites, but sadly did not catch on. While having LEGO kits that follow a standard can help that standard gain popularity (note the Cafe Corner standard, which started with one set and is now used for other sets and nearly every original creation blogged at Brick Town Talk), not all official standards really catch on. Even some great modular systems, like the old Blacktron spaceship modularity, often just don't stick. While the fort standard seems to be destined for the unsorted-parts bin of history, this model matches the standard and fits in with the style of the Prince of Persia sets. Putting a rocky surface where the dock/water line was originally works surprisingly well to make this standard work away from water.
Perhaps this will inspire more people to try building small modules in this standard that can be part of a larger fort layout.
|
|
Posted by
Dan
at
1:22 AM
| Name of Model: Burberry™ store |
| Created by: Jared Chan |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaredchan/sets/72157624216703327/ |
Details:  Recently featured on Brick Town Talk (which you should be reading in addition to this blog anyway), this Burberry store stands out as a high-water mark amongst recent highlights in the Cafe Corner standard of modular building (I post those highlights over at Brick Town Talk instead of here at LMOTD, but I did feature another model by the same builder this past March). Some of my favorite bits here: The Grand Emporium's awning technique recast in gold using parts from the Battle of Alamut, the use of a wheel and a dish for a unique gold-ish flourish at the top, and a group of bracket-plate-tile testures on the second floor (this actually adds up to the width of a normal brick and gives you that vertical stripe effect). I'm also a big fan of the studs that face toward the front of the building - the added texture looks great, and it's a feature that tile-crazed LEGO fans tend to forget actually looks pretty good in many contexts. |
|
Posted by
Dan
at
12:25 AM
| Name of Model: Hermes Store |
| Created by: Jared Chan |
| Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaredchan/sets/72157623685539880/ |
Details:
 At one point, there was a rumor that the next Cafe Corner style set would be sand blue. It's a shame that we didn't get a new kit in that color, but this model would be hard to top even if Jamie Berard (the designer of Cafe Corner, Green Grocer, and Grand Emporium) did pursue that color in an official set. While this whole model is fantastic, some highlights include the horse statue, the clothing racks, and the stunning architecture. The corner in particular is an interesting trick - instead of putting a full edge on the building with an angled doorway and windows, we get a column that just rounds things off. I'm pretty sure the texture there is achieved by use of click hinge bricks facing opposite directions. Corrected by a reader Wednesday morning: This effect is built sideways in two different directions - those tiles are actually attached to 1x2 slopes, and we're seeing the sloped surface face outward. A clever and very easy solution!
This is just one part of a full street created by this one builder. You can see photos of all his modular buildings on flickr. |
|
Posted by
Dan
at
2:34 PM
 Official information about the new Grand Emporium kit (which had briefly appeared on the Shop at Home website without any real announcement last week) has been scarce. International prices are still hard to pin down, and we still have no idea when the official release dates are. Strangely, though, in spite of the lack of information or fanfare (don't they know how excited we are about this kit?) the kit has surfaced for sale at LEGO Brand Retail locations in the UK. Brick Street over at Brick Town Talk was able to buy the kit at the Milton Keynes location for £139.99. He's been building the kit and reviewing it online as he builds it. There are tons of interesting details just in the box art he posted, and the pictures of the set's insides are even better! My search for 10211 (the Grand Emporium's set number) seems to be the best way to pull up all of the review posts at once.
I can't wait to get my hands on this one for myself - it looks like a fitting replacement for the original Cafe Corner kit (this is now the only corner building available from LEGO in this scale). The few official photos that were available briefly earlier this week can now be found at Brickset. With any luck, LEGO will give this the official big announcement it deserves soon. |
|
|
|
and 
. Naturally, I love the little versions as well. These are at half the scale of the originals, fitting on 16 x 16 (or 5 inches square) baseplates instead of 32 x 32 (or 10 inches square). Considering how much has to be sacrificed due to size, it's amazing how many of the original techniques still work and how much of the original look still shows through.
and 
of 
