MILUG member Ian's entry "Voyageur Waterfall" to the LEGO Ideas LEGO House contest has made it to the top 25 for the minifigure category (top 75 overall). There are a couple more days to vote to send his MOC (my own creation) to Denmark to be put on display at The LEGO House!
Voting us open until May 13 and you can vote here.
The MILUG Pride Parade was featured in the Nanaimo News Bulletin today. 11 MILUG members contributed to the collaboration which was a ton of fun to build! You can find the full story here.
Here is an official statement from TLG:
"We are currently reviewing our partnership with Activision Blizzard, given concerns about the progress being made to address continuing allegations regarding workplace culture, especially the treatment of female colleagues and creating a diverse and inclusive environment. While we complete the review, we will pause the release of a LEGO Overwatch 2 product which was due to go on sale on February 1, 2022."
There is a lot of support on the LAN for the position TLG has taken with this. Another positive step towards diversity, equity, and inclusion.
I just learned about The Brick Train Awards. There are various categories and winners are chosen for each region, and those winners then move forward to the global competition.
We definitely have some skilled MILUG train builders ( @sema4 @MikeS @Ptrotter ) as well as other skilled builders who may want to try making a train so I thought I would share this. The 2020 awards were just announced so there is definitely time if anyone wants to create or refine an existing train they have for the 2021 awards (looks like the submission window is in June).
The BrickLink Designer Program: 2021 Invitational has been launched!
A selection of LEGO Ideas members and their 10K Club submissions were invited to participate in the pilot program. You can see the 31 projects by the 27 members participating in the program on LEGO Ideas here.
I wanted to give people a lot of notice that our July meetup on Wed July 7, 7pm-9pm will be IN PERSON!
This meetup will take place outdoors with the location to be determined but similar to last summer. You may want to bring a chair or blanket to sit on (we may not be in a parking lot this time so you may not be able to sit on/in your vehicle).
We will likely do a build activity with support sets (these are limited and will be provided to members based on participation points for this year) so you may want to bring a small table or something firm to build on. I will announce the set name/# closer to the date if new folks or members who are not elligible for a free set wish to pick it up locally (or have it in their stash) so they can participate.
I will provide more details closer to the meetup date. As always, appropriate COVID protocols must be followed.
TLG is looking for feedback from AFOLs. This is what they shared on the LAN:
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As an AFOL, we know you are passionate about building - but what else are you passionate about? Do current sets support your interest? How do you connect with the community? How engaged are you with the LEGO Group?
Our department is conducting a new survey on AFOL Passion. The purpose of this survey to answer these questions so we can better understand our AFOL audience and what they love the most. We have done similar surveys in the past but it's time to update our information to stay up-to-date 
The survey is anonymous and open to everyone, everywhere. We estimate it'll take about 15 minutes to answer, and the feedback you give us will help us better understand how to engage with the AFOL community
You can access the survey by clicking this link: AFOL Survey. Right now we have no end date and will close the survey when our response rate reaches a set threshold.
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If you have any questions about the survey, please share them by replying to this post or you can private message me, and I will forward them on to the team responsible and provide their response below.
Thanks everyone!
To take advantage of the weather and that we can all be outside together, the August meetup on Wed Aug 4, 7pm-9pm will be IN PERSON (with an online option)! Anyone 19+ is welcome to attend (membership is not required to attend your first meetup).
There will be a Show & Tell table (fee free to bring a set, MOC or anything LEGO related to share with others) and a LEGO Trivia activity/quiz.
SAFETY:
LOCATION:
IN-PERSON at Beban Park (2300 Bowen Rd, Nanaimo, BC V9T 3K7). We will try to meet on the grass (red circle) near the basketball hoops by the playground. You may want to bring a chair or blanket to sit on. If this area is being used then we will meet in the area across the parking lot (blue circle) and park our vehicles in a circle similar to what was done last year in the photo above. There are bus stops on Bowen Rd (yellow circle) for those who may be travelling by bus.
ONLINE: We will try to provide Google Meet for the business portion of the meeting (7:30pm-8:30pm) for those who are unable to join us in person. A link will be provided on the day of the meetup.
Given the rumours circulating about baseplates retiring and a discussion about sustainable packaging happening on the LAN, TLG has issued this statement:
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Over the next few months you will likely see some products with “retiring soon” branding or perhaps a local retailer reporting that they are no longer able to order certain products. We want to share ahead of time that there is no need to be alarmed about baseplates.
In 2022, baseplates will be changing from their current plastic packaging to more sustainable paper packaging. Besides packaging, there are no additional changes with the LEGO baseplates and you will still be able to get the same colors and sizes in 2022 that you can purchase today. You can expect to see the new packaging around March 1, 2022.
Visit www.LEGO.com to learn more about what the LEGO Group is doing in regards to sustainability and our Planet Promise.
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Our monthly AFOL (Adult Fans of LEGO
) meet-up is the first Wednesday of every month. We will be meeting Wednesday October 6, 2021 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. We will be meeting online via Google Meet.
Come and join us, have a drink (beer, wine, spirits, pop, coffee, tea or whatever is in your kitchen), and chat about LEGO! We will also be doing some fun activities and you are welcome to sit back and watch or jump in and participate!
This is an open event for anyone 19yrs+ interested in LEGO. Any AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) is welcome whether you collect sets, build sets or build your own creations, and whether you love City, Technic, Friends, Duplo, Star Wars, Ninjago, or any other theme, or just building with loose bricks! Come share your love of LEGO with us. We love to meet new folks!
Membership is not required to attend your first meet-up so come out, meet our members (we’re really friendly), have a drink (not required) and find out what LUGs (LEGO User Groups) are all about!
Where: Online meeting via Google Meet. Please contact us in advance at MidIslandLUG@gmail.com or message us on Facebook (@midislandlug) for the link to join the meeting.
We just received an update on the LAN. PAB has been down since January 23 to prepare for the update. The downtime was originally expected to be 48 hours but it is now expected to be approximately 7 hours longer. The go live for the North American PAB warehouse is now January 26th at 7:00am CST.
The LEGO Group has provided a much anticipated update about the VIDIYO theme. Although there had been discussions about redeveloping the theme, TLG has decided to discontinue the line. The official statement is below:
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In July 2021 we decided to pause the LEGO VIDIYO roll-out to review performance and test new ideas. Through the extensive quantitative and qualitative research we have undertaken in the previous months, we have gained an enormous amount of learnings in terms of the music & content creation space and what it would take to succeed with the play experience, our go-to-market strategy in 2023 and not least how to build a sustainable business based on the VIDIYO experience.
Based on these insights we have decided to discontinue the physical VIDIYO products from January 31st 2022 but will continue to support the app experience for another two years to serve those consumers who have bought the products.
We still see great potential in pursuing music as a passion point and we will take learnings from LEGO VIDIYO as we continue to explore future fluid play experiences.
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@sema4 you can share the general sentiment. This is not an official statement from the LAN so these are my words. There is always a chance I might interpet what is shared on the LAN inaccurately.
There seems to be a rumour going around that the VIP points program is changing in February. I can confirm from the LAN that this is NOT the case.
If there is added functionality you would like to see on Studio you are encouraged to create a feature request to help the team understand user needs. Apparently Studio developers are actively looking for new feature requests on the BrickLink Studio Forum so now is your chance to have an impact on how it is developed!
Apologies for not posting this earlier but the embargo was for 9am and I was in a meeting and then my day got busy. I am sure you have seen the news already but TLG has announced they are retiring LDD and focussing on Studio. Here is the official announcement:
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Billund, Denmark – January 12th, 2022: Today, the LEGO Group announces that BrickLink
Studio will replace LEGO Digital Designer as the official virtual LEGO building software going
forward. The LEGO Digital Designer (LDD) website will close on January 31st, after which time LDD will no longer be available for download. While downloaded versions of the LDD application will continue to work, people are encouraged to download BrickLink Studio, import their LDD files, and use Studio for 3D LEGO building files, and use Studio for 3D LEGO building.
LEGO Digital Designer was released in 2004 as the LEGO Group’s 3D building tool. LDD
pioneered real-time rendering of LEGO bricks, virtual brick connectivity, and the compact LEGO Exchange file format (LXF) which made LEGO models built in LDD light and portable. It has played a prominent role in various offerings, from LEGO Factory, LEGO Design ByME, LEGO
video games and movies. Now after almost twenty years since its conception and eighteen
years in distribution, LEGO Digital Designer will retire and pass the mantle to BrickLink Studio as the officially supported and maintained 3D building application.
"Our initial vision for LEGO Digital Designer back in 2002 was to make building on a computer
accessible and fun for children – to play with and share their creations online.” said Ronny
Scherer, producer of the first-generation LEGO Digital Designer. “I am so impressed with how
the community of creators has evolved. Builders—enthusiasts and professionals alike—have used LDD in wonderful and unexpected ways. They took ownership and created the most amazing virtual LEGO models and have grown the virtual building ecosystem. I am so proud of the team behind LDD and the greater virtual building community. They have truly inspired a generation of digital LEGO creators.”
Tormod Askildsen, head of AFOL Engagement for the LEGO Group, has been intrigued by digital building since using LDD to bring alternate model instructions for the LEGO Factory Hobby Train set to market in 2007. “When the LEGO Group acquired BrickLink,” Askildsen said, “one of the things that impressed and inspired us was their purposeful development of the Studio software. For digital building to be not only a nice feature for some, but a meaningful part of many
people’s LEGO building experience, it must be an integrated and useful part of both the design, the building and the sharing experience. The talented team behind Studio see this clearly and continue relentlessly to further innovate and improve the Studio experience”.
In 2014, then-independent BrickLink created the BrickLink Studio software as a free virtual
LEGO building tool. Studio was built on the industry-standard Unity gaming engine and is designed to integrate with the BrickLink Marketplace. Its .io file format is based on the fan community-developed LDraw standard with part connectivity data added to give digital bricks clutch power. Users can import LEGO models built in LDD, LDraw, and other popular tools. Studio includes useful features like model stability checking, built-in photo-realistic rendering, and an integrated instructions maker.
“Studio was created because at BrickLink, there is a great belief in how digital LEGO building
could unlock true potential of everyone’s creativity by lowering the entry barriers and
motivating people to inspire each other,” says Casper Thingholm, Head of BrickLink. “Going
forward, the Studio team will continue to focus on making digital building as intuitive as
physical building, and encourage even more builders to share their creations to inspire and help each other.”
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@Ptrotter the suggestion to link it to Bricklink has been discussed as well and at least for now they are saying that won't be happening.
I am looking forward to the new hub and really hope they streamline the way you browse elements. I'm also glad that orders will count towards GWP finally.
I'm interested in seeing how the build a mini component will work and how the dual shipping will work with some elements now coming from the states.
If anyone has specific questions about this for TLG please let me know and I'll ask on the LAN.
There has been much discussion about this on the LAN as it seems there is some confusion among consumers. When you redeem your code for a coin (or any reward) then a coin is reserved for you. There is no need to rush and make an order (or 6 orders if you redeemed for all 5 coins and the case) especially when stock is so low. You have 60 days to use your code and TLG has told us that they will be launching new sets and restocking current sets during that time.
Early this morning The LEGO Group shared an announcement on the LAN about changes to Pick a Brick. The official announcement is below.
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Background
Our current Pick a Brick and Bricks & Pieces setup means that consumers aren’t aware of the two different experiences. During 2021 we’ve been running tests and meeting with different consumer groups to better understand the current consumer experience.
Based on these learnings our next step will be to create a new merged experience on LEGO.com. We’ll merge Bricks and Pieces and Pick a Brick into one front-end experience where consumers can browse our portfolio of elements in one place more easily.
Additionally, we’ll improve the shipping time in the US and Canada by implementing a new fulfilment area in our US warehouse. This will reduce shipping time for our top 1,600 elements from 13-18 working days to up to 5 working days. There will likely be some shipping delays for a short time after we launch this experience.
What’s happening
We’re merging Bricks and Pieces into Pick a Brick. With the new Pick a Brick setup, you’ll be able to shop across one merged portfolio, with clear visibility between Standard and Bestseller elements. You’ll also have the option to choose what elements you want from which warehouse. Items that are listed as Bestseller are our most popular elements and will ship from Poland or the US, and your order will be trackable. Standard elements will ship from our Billund warehouse and will not be trackable. It'll be easy to tell which items are Bestsellers by the yellow tag.
We’ve worked hard to align prices between the two different experiences and keep the prices as low as we can while reflecting changes to market conditions. There will some elements that will be at a slightly higher price and others at a lower price.
In the past, different colours of the same design often had different prices. Now the prices will be more consistent, with some exceptions. Certain colours (like gold and silver), pieces that glow in the dark, and decorated elements will still be priced differently across the same design.
With this new experience we’ll be introducing a split basket with a threshold for each basket. The split basket view will give you visibility between Bestseller and Standard elements and where your chosen elements are coming from (either Billund, Poland or the US). If your basket meets the minimum threshold amount, then you won’t have to pay any handling fees. We’ll continuously improve our supply chain processes to reduce and simplify these handling fees in the future.
This new experience means all parts orders, including those previously made in Bricks and Pieces can be applied to promotions (such as gifts with purchase) on LEGO.com.
Why we’re making this change
Analysis has indicated that our current setup isn’t always the best experience. Differentiation between our Pick a Brick and Bricks and Pieces experiences isn’t always clear. This new merged experience will bring our portfolio into one place, with clear visibility on Standard versus Bestseller elements.
Customers who place larger orders currently need to split their order between Pick a Brick and Bricks and Pieces. The new merged experience will mean larger orders can be placed in one spot, with greater visibility on delivery times.
When is it happening and in which markets?
The first change happens for the US and Canada when we implement a new fulfilment area in our US-based warehouse in January and start fulfilling Pick a Brick orders there. In order for this change to occur, Pick a Brick will be unavailable for approximately 48 hours, starting late evening January 23rd to January 25th when Pick a Brick comes back online. This outage is planned and is necessary. During this downtime, individual elements will still be available for purchase through Bricks and Pieces.
After that we’ll roll out the new merged experience as a soft launch. This will allow us to understand what’s working and identify improvement opportunities early.
We’re planning to roll out the new merged experience to the Netherlands, France, Germany and the UK early February. This will be followed by Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the US in late February. We’ll then look to rollout to all other countries globally.
During the soft launch, we’ll use several metrics and insights available to us to understand if the new experience is working as it should. We’ll take any learnings from this soft launch and use them to help us deliver the best experience possible for our customers.
New features and functionalities
We’re also creating a new location called the ‘Pick and Build hub’ for Pick a Brick and similar future experiences. With the new ‘Pick and Build hub’, we’ll test and launch new experiences that enable creativity and fun.
As a first trial we’ll introduce Build a Mini to our shoppers in Europe and Asia. With this tool you can combine different minifigure parts and create your own minifigure. The Build a Mini selection of bricks will only be available for this experience. They won’t be available as part of the Pick a Brick assortment.
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Here is an official statement from TLG:
"We are currently reviewing our partnership with Activision Blizzard, given concerns about the progress being made to address continuing allegations regarding workplace culture, especially the treatment of female colleagues and creating a diverse and inclusive environment. While we complete the review, we will pause the release of a LEGO Overwatch 2 product which was due to go on sale on February 1, 2022."
There is a lot of support on the LAN for the position TLG has taken with this. Another positive step towards diversity, equity, and inclusion.