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.
UPDATE: As TLG rolls this out they have shared a table with the minimum order values and various fees. Here is the info for Canada:
$18.00 CAD - Pick-a-Brick (new combined experience) minimum order to avoid handling fees.
$9.00 CAD - service fee for standard brick orders
$4.50 CAD - service fee for bestseller orders
The difference in fees is related to the different warehouses that the Standard and Bestsellers will ship from. Essentially, ordering Standard parts and Bestsellers is like making two orders. The Standard and Bestseller category will be clearly displayed to help people optimize their orders.
If you reach the minimum for each category ($18CAD), there will be no handling fees (there will still be shipping fees if you do not reach the minimum amount for free shipping which is $35CAD). If you order less than $18 for one category (or both), the corresponding fees will be applied.
I have adapted the following examples from the LAN to Canadian dollars:
You order $10 of standard parts = add $9 in handling fees plus shipping fees because you have ordered less than the $18 minimum
You order $20 of standard parts = no handling fees, only shipping fees
You order $40 of standard parts = no handling fees or shipping fees (free shipping over $35)
You order $10 of standard parts and $10 of best seller parts = add $9 of handling fees for the standard parts and $4.50 in handling fees for the bestsellers plus shipping fees
You order $20 of standard parts and $20 of best seller parts = no handling fee or shipping fees because the total amount spent on parts is eligible for free shipping (free shipping over $35)
If you have any questions, please let me know!
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:
~
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.
~
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:
~
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.
~
Our next meetup is Wednesday December 7, 2022 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. This will be a hybrid meeting.
IN PERSON: Country Grocer community room – 1800 Dufferin Crescent (off Bowen Rd) Nanaimo, BC (once inside head towards the café, between the café counter and seating area is a door to upstairs, turn left at the top of the stairs). Non-members are invited to attend one meeting before committing to join the club.
ONLINE: via Google Meet or Zoom. Contact for the link to join.
Check out some of the new recognized communities on onstagram
farawaybricks - His focus is on small vignettes and his goal is to inspire people to create MOCs out of a small number of bricks. He also provides instructions for the base that he uses in each of his models.
There are some very cool Star Wars vignettes that even I love!
tkbricks - His focus is SW and creating SW mashups with other themes. I thought this might appeal to a lot of our members who are SW fans. I like the idea of mashups and appreciate the colour it adds to the otherwise rather monotone SW colour palette.
@MyBrickYard Great question - they will be provided courtesy of TLG!
Our next meetup is Wednesday November 2, 2022 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm.
We will be at our new permanent home - Country Grocer community room! We will try to make an online option available but this is our first time trying this in this location.
We will also be doing a LEGO
Stuntz stunt bike activity so come join the fun!
See milug.ca for more information.
The next MILUG meetup is Wednesday October 5, 2022 from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. We will be meeting IN-PERSON and ONLINE via Google Meet or Zoom (as long as the wifi connection works). See MILUG.ca for details.
Our next monthly meetup is coming up this week on Wednesday September 7, 2022 from 7pm to 9pm. We will be meeting online this month.
New folks are always welcome. Please see our website for details: https://www.milug.ca/index.php/2022/09/05/milug-online-meetup-sept-7-2022/
Do you miss public LEGO exhibitions and want a short roadtrip. Why not head down to Seattle to check out the BrickCon public exhibition! Tickets for the public exhibition are now on sale at:
https://aftontickets.com/BrickCon2022?aff=lan
More info also available at https://brickcon.org
South Alberta LEGO Users Group (SALUG) is hosting a LEGO show in Calgary this October.
They.are looking for AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO) who want to attend the show, display MOCs, or just hang out. Please register in advance.
See their poster for details.
Build Like A Pirate: “pi-RATS & BUG-aneers” Contest (from Brick Nerd via the LAN)
Yo ho, me hearties! It be time fer another BrickNerd contest in honor of LEGO’s 90th anniversary. We here at BrickNerd thought the buildin’ community was long overdue fer a Pirate-themed contest—so if yer lookin’ for yet another Castle or Space contest, ye can go walk the plank! It be pirate builds we’re seekin’ for this here contest—pirate crews, ships, hideouts and forts--and there be treasure to be won! But beware, this here be a BrickNerd contest so there always be a nerdy twist…
An Inspiring Crew
Simply put, all of the human minifigures in your LEGO collection have been set adrift, and it’s the sea-Rats and Bug-aneers that rule the seas! In other words, no human figures are allowed* in your pirate creations! Your crew can’t be made of standard yellow or fleshtone-headed minifigures. That means Brickbeard is out, but BUG-beard is in! Boring normal Imperials? Meh. But a fabulous Fabuland-crewed pirate ship!? Yay!
Your pirate creation should also be inspired by your crew—and for your crew, it’s anything goes! Think of pirate dragons, animals, Chima figures, rock monsters, brick-built buccaneers and other non-human potential pirates like Vidiyo robots, mythical creatures, and aliens. Have you ever seen dinos navigating on a prehistoric pirate ship? What would a Treasure Planet-like ship crewed by space insects look like?
*The only exception to our “no standard minifig” rule (they’re more like guidelines anyway) are costumed-minifigures where you can conceivable see the entire figure as whatever outfit they are wearing. We’ll consider them stowaways (or infiltrators). So you can have a crew of all humanoid creatures like chickens, elephants or sharks. Or you can have a company of inanimate objects like corn, tree trunks or hotdogs. And fig-bashing is allowed and encouraged! (Fig-bashing is where you combine the best parts of multiple minifigures to create a new character.)
Prizes and Rules
You have until August 31st, 2022 to submit your LEGO pirate creations. Head to the announcement on BrickNerd for all the details and a list of the prizes there are to be won! There's shiny stuff, LEGO sets, custom minifigures and more, all up for the taking.
From the Women's Brick Initiative (WBI) via the LAN:
~
The Women's Brick Initiative is interested in how you see yourself in the colors that are used in LEGO minifigures. We believe it is important that the diversity of the people in the real world be represented in the minifigures of the LEGO world. Please feel free to share this survey with anyone and everyone who might be interested in being a part of this project. This survey is an updated version of a survey conducted in the summer of 2020.
We will be asking some demographic questions to help us understand how experiences differ across diverse groups of AFOLs. The information you provide is anonymous. (You may be required to sign in to your Google account but your personal information is not collected.) Demographic information will only be used to analyze the results and will only be shared in aggregate form.
Please take a few minutes to answer 5 questions. Thank you for participating in this project!
(Edit: the survey now allows responses from everyone - you don't need to sign into google to respond.)