Micro City Contest – Jan 2013 Meeting

With the new year comes our first building contest, brought to you by our very own Corey Gehman.  Here are the details for the contest…

 

 Rules on the Micro City Contest – Cactusbrick – Jan 2013 Meeting

  1. Must be a MOC
  2. Must conform to TWINLUG Micro City Standard v1.1:  http://twinlug.com/micropolis-micro-city-standard/
  3. The micro MOC must be present at the judging meeting (Jan 19, 2013)
  4. The micro MOC may be a single, double, or quad module.
  5. Each person may submit up to 2 MOCs
  6. The submitter of the MOCs need not be present
  7. If there are 8 or more MOCs submitted, there will be 2 categories  (Large – quad module, Small – single or double module)
  8. There will a cash prize of $20 for 1st place for each category.

Voting rules:

  1. Only people able to view all micro MOCs are able to vote
  2. Each eligible voter has 2 votes (maximum of 1 vote per micro MOC)
  3. Each eligible voter (& their significant other) cannot vote for their own micro MOC

Winning:

  1. In the event of a tie, the money is split between the winners

NOTES:

  1. Existing buildings are eligible (Josh’s buildings)
  2. Corey’s Empire State and Chrysler buildings are not MOCs (not eligible)
  3. The organizer of this event is eligible for voting
  4. For the calculation of the cash prize, the organizer’s MOCs are ignored

Good luck!

We’re Looking for a Few Good Builders…

…or just enthusiastic builders!  If you are an adult and live in (or can get to) the Phoenix area on a semi-regular basis and love building and creating amazing and interesting things with LEGO, come check us out.  We meet on the third Saturday of every month, click here for more detailed information.

We’re trying to pull some of you guys out of the woodwork and get you involved.  We know you’re out there, don’t be shy.  Come to one of our meetings, have some fun, share your creations and your hobby with the rest of us.  We’re looking forward to seeing you!

Mini-Build Challenge

OK guys.  It’s time for everyone to throw down and show us what you’ve got!  The objective of this challenge is to create a small model that would be relevant to the Phoenix Comicon event in May.  The build should be like something you would see at the LEGO Store when they do their monthly mini-builds.

Try to keep your models small and inexpensive, make sure they don’t cost more than $1.00 to build.   Try to keep your model as far under that $1.00 cap as possible without sacrificing too much quality, less can mean more (just ask Larry).  This means no rare, uncommon, hard to find or out of print elements.   Since prices do fluctuate on BL, just have a good estimate.  When you are pricing out the parts, look for stores where you can buy as many parts as possible …or better yet, build off the PaB wall!  Bring your finished mini-builds to the meeting on Feb 19.

Happy building!

~dave

LUG Showcase Details

I was trolling and came across this gem our friend Hinkle posted.  I figured that I would repost it here for posterity.

———————————-

The LEGO® User Group Showcase (which will be referred to as the LUG showcase from this point on) will be a small picture frame (W= 20”, D= 15”, and H=23”) inside LEGO® Brand Retail (LBR) stores that will be made available to LEGO® Users Groups (LUGs) as a display space. Each LUG with a relevant LBR store near them will have the opportunity to participate in this program.

The LUG Showcase will be a place where members of a local LUG will be able to utilize the small picture frame in their local LBR store in order to display their creations for the general public. The LUG Showcase will also give the LUG an opportunity to create awareness of their group. Each Showcase will have two removable panels to tell viewers what they’re looking at and who made it.

———————————————————————————-

Rules for Content of the display:

Overall your display should be:

* Child Safe: Displays should exemplify LEGO® Values especially in accordance with keeping material appropriate for young children.
* Adequately fill the display space: The model you create should have the display space in mind and not look too small or too large for the case.

There are a few things the LEGO® Group will ask you to NOT USE as subject matter for your display:

* Competing Licenses
* Old licenses that are now unattainable
* Alcohol based humor or displays
* Sexual based humor or displays
* Drug based humor or displays
* Realistic weapons (life size, built out of bricks)
* Customized elements
* All material is also subject to manager discretion. LUGs should feel free to ask managers ahead of time if they think the subject matter they want to use is questionable.

———————————————————————————-

When installing a window:

Call Ahead – Each club needs to coordinate ahead of time who will be putting in a new display and who will be removing the current display. The club will then need to coordinate with the store manager the best time for them to come in and swap the displays.

Installer must organize their time with LUG Contact/Store Manger before hand to set up time with the manager to install. If there was no previous contact the installer runs the risk of coming at a time when the store is too busy and they will not be allowed to install the window at that time. Each club will be in charge of organizing the order in which they will prepare material for the LUG Showcase and each installer will be responsible for setting up their install/removal with the manager. The LUGs will be provided with the proper store contact information in order to facilitate this.

Switch displays at the same time – The displays are to be done on approximately a 6 week cycle. When an old display is removed the next LUG member should be ready to install the next window at the same time. If the install/removal doesn’t happen at the same time then the next 6 week period will belong to the store to utilize the Showcase for product promotion. The only time this will change is if the manager and the LUG member installing the next item have worked something special out.

Store assistance with setup – When the LUG members come to remove/install the LUG Showcase the store staff will offer assistance if needed but this is dependent on whether or not the store is busy and the staff is needed on the floor working with customers.

How often should a LUG Display? – LUGs choose how often to display but a display can only be in the store for a six week period unless otherwise negotiated with the store manager (ex: if scheduling means you need to wait a week to change out the window then that’s something you need to work out with the manager). When the six week period is up, the LUG must arrange pick up with the store manager and either install a new display or allow the LUG Showcase to be utilized for product displays for the next 6 weeks until the LUG has another display ready.

What if the LUG member never comes to pick their stuff up? – If the LUG member never arranges pick up at the end of the six week, the store will maintain the display for 2 more weeks before they pack the display into a box and arrange with another member of the LUG to pick it up. This should be an extreme contingency though.

Special Note Concerning Those displaying: LEGO® Brand Retail stores are active stores with high traffic throughout the day. The store will do everything they can to keep people from touching the displays in the LUG Showcase, but they cannot be everywhere at once so there is a risk to displaying. You may not want to use any super rare elements in the LUG Showcase.

Also, the store may get busy by surprise when you’ve arranged to install your display. Please be flexible as the store associates and manager may ask you to come back another time if the store is too busy.

———————————————————————————-

Rewards for Displaying:

There are incentives associated with bringing a display to put in the LUG Showcase:

Each person who installs a display will receive on the day of installation:
* 1 Large Pick-a-brick CUP free of charge
* 30% off any 5 unique items at the store. Discount will not stack with other discounts. VIP points are still rewarded on the discounted value of the purchase.
* Certain items may be excluded from discount at the Manager’s discretion. In stock items only (no shop-n-ship).

Important note: The person installing the display only receives this reward when they install the display and not when they remove it, just to clear up any confusion.

Super Important: This must remain consistent across all of the stores.

Group Displays – if the display in the LUG Showcase is legitimately a collaboration between two or three people then they all get the same reward.

Maximum benefiters – During a given install no more than three people can claim the rewards for the display and all three must have legitimately contributed to the displays creation.

———————————————————————————-

What to do if the LUG has no display ready:

If a LUG removes a display and has nothing to replace it with the LUG Showcase will become product displays for the store for the next 6 week period. Any club display can only inhabit the store for 6 weeks at a time. When the club display is removed the store will remove and store the LUG Showcase signage until a new display is installed.

December Gift Exchange

Remember to bring a WRAPPED gift (a LEGO product, $15 or more) to exchange at the meeting in a ‘Dirty Brickster’ fashion. Bear in mind that, anyone saying the words ‘dirty brickster’ will be dealt with swiftly and violently.

Merry Christmas, see you Saturday!

Big Bubbles, No Troubles

Orion Pax takes a break from graffiti and shows us all how to properly use those Bionicle Balls …or Bionoballs in his nearly 100% LEGO creation.  He used non-LEGO to create the glass, but I think his indiscretion should be forgiven due to the sheer coolness of this.

I’d also add that I am a little upset about this one too.  Just last week, I was standing in the lobby of a Chinese restaurant waiting for my food and began noticing the candy machines and thought about how cool it would be to LEGOize one.  I hate being beat to the punch, but (again) I’ll let it slide.   …just this once.

I Had A Horrible Nightmare…

…but now I am safe and sound now. Back on the good old 27th floor.

That butthead, Ochre Jelly (Iain Heath) helps celebrate the 25th anniversary of Back to the Future with this  iconic and lovely, action-packed scene from the second installment of the series.   Its no secret that Iain is one of my favorite builders, and this vignette is a perfect example of why.  Along with capturing the mood and motion from the movie, he also just built a scene from BTTF II… this build just oozes awesome.  I tell you what, this thing is better than a screen door on a battleship!

Badges? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Badges!

There has been quite a bit of recent debate about who and what a CactusBrick member is.  As we define who and what we are collectively, we need to put forward a common identity.  With tomorrow’s show fast approaching, I figured that there was no better time than the present to get started.

With some feedback from my legal team (Nate), I designed a membership card for 2010-2011.  During the early morning hours, I emailed the graphics to our friend Tom, who graciously donated a bit of cash to print the cards and purchased the needed card holders so they can fit onto a lanyard.

I have eight badges ready and I will bring them to the museum in the morning.  I will give them first to the people who are displaying at the show on a first come, first serve basis.  I look forward to seeing you guys in the morning.

Tempe Historical Museum

Don’t forget to come see us and First LEGO League on Saturday, September 11 between 1pm and 5pm at the Tempe Historical Museum which is located at:  809 E. Southern Avenue Tempe, Arizona 85282.   Map

We’ll have a display set up in the lobby and the guys from the Chandler LEGO Store will be representing with schwag and coupons.  We hope to see you there!

~Dave