Sunday, March 30, 2014

GFLUG Moonbase at MegaCon 2014

Name of Model: MegaCon 2014 Moonbase
Created by: GFLUG and "Orange LUG"
Found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/moctagon/sets/72157638835134784 (and more - see roundup below)
Details: Last weekend, I was out at MegaCon 2014 with GFLUG, "Orange LUG", and the Bonahooms (of BrickWorld fame, there promoting the upcoming BrickWorld Tampa event). The main group build was a Moonbase-themed display, although it ended up being more "moon" than proper, standard-meeting Moonbase. In spite of my post here about the moonbase standard being the top Google result for "Moonbase Standard", I had actually never built a moonbase module before - something I rectified with an Alien Conquest-themed build (not itself worth featuring here, although I'm happy with how the corridors came out). There were other MOCs on display as well - many small things, a large train display, a LEGO-movie themed section, a fantastic twist on the Great Ball Contraption concept, and many MOCs based on various movies and television shows. You can see all of those in the coverage roundup below.

...but you probably shouldn't. You should go build some moonbase modules, right now. Moonbase isn't dead! Moonbase is easy! Moonbase is fun! You should build moonbase! Go, now, stop reading this and build some moonbase!

Coverage Roundup (trying to focus on LEGO-oriented coverage - there are some "interesting" cosplayers at this event, be warned that you're likely to see something Not Safe For Work in the background if you dig too far):
Moctagon Jones' Flickr photos
my (danny316p's) Flickr photos
Orlando Weekly slideshow
BrickRabbitt's Flickr photos (added 4/25)
Todd Thuma's Flickr photos (added 5/5)

As always, if you know of photos or other coverage I should have here and don't, you can leave a note in the comments or e-mail us at legomodeloftheday@gmail.com

Saturday, March 15, 2014

About that Beyond the Brick Merger...

If you're reading this, you've probably realized that this post is at LMOTD and not at the snazzy new Beyond the Brick website. It's hard to believe that it was back in July of 2012 - fully 20 months ago - when I first announced that we were looking to change things out and relaunch this blog with a different format. Shortly after that, things were set in motion to merge with Beyond the Brick, with the intention of launching the new site in December of 2012. As I mentioned last March, that deadline became impossible due to numerous health and relocation issues. Fortunately, this time around, I don't have any problems of that sort to report - but unfortunately, progress on the site is moving very slowly.

In light of the extreme delays that the Beyond the Brick website has faced, I've decided to start blogging here again. Originally, the plan was for me to not do any further blogging until the Beyond the Brick website was officially launched, but that no longer seems like a reasonable plan. It's not clear when some of the issues delaying BTB might be cleared up. Being known in the Adult Fan of LEGO (AFOL) community primarily as a a blogger gets a little more complicated when you haven't been blogging in a while, and don't know when you might get back to it.

I'd still like to see LMOTD become part of a BTB website in the future - we're all on good terms, although I think we're all frustrated with the delays we've seen so far. For now, however, I feel it is important to maintain a voice in the community, fill my readers in on things they should know about, and blog some worthy MOCs and photo sets (in spite of not having an outlet in quite some time, I have continued to browse as many MOCs as I did back in the day). I'll be blogging here again for a bit, primarily focusing on my own projects that haven't been covered elsewhere. The Beyond the Brick videos on YouTube can still be found at brickpodcast.com - and you should plan on seeing more of all of us at various shows and conventions.