Captain Zuloo

A supurb interview Izzy, well done. And thanks Mariann for coming on the show.

Fantastic! Maybe the level crossing includes things like PF boom gates, that would be fun. Where did you find this info?

Yet again another brilliant scene! I'm falling in love with all your great work Tony, these pictures have obviously had a heap of dedication and effort put into them. You're doing brilliantly and I hope you keep up with these.

Hello Commodore, and welcome to Classic-Pirates.com! If you are confined to small living quarters, you have come to the right place to keep the pirate flame burning. There is always the possibility of building smaller MOCs, but you could always build a ship to stick on a shelf. There are only very few members on our boards that have the means to build massive dioramas anyway. But to keep you occupied when not building, be sure to join into our great discussions, and there is always 'Behind The Helm' to listen to when you need your LEGO fix!

Looks great Tony! I was actually expecting you to produce something along these lines at some point - after all you have a brilliant train built for cold weather. Keep up the brilliant scenic stuff buddy.

Fantastic news! Now I just need to find some dollars to pay for it... Great to see that this has come through guys, three cheers for RAILBRICKS!

PirateBuddy, what do you mean that you can build that ship but you lost it? It might just be me, but I'm confused! Anyhow, she is indeed a great ship, but probably not worth bumping a thread over a year old.

The second I saw this on the RB blog, I was looking for a way to purchase it. Looks great, and I hope they becomae available soon!

Great entries everyone! My votes are as follows: JKool - 1 Admiral Ron - 1 Lorenzen - 1 Jansued - 1 Selander - 2 Fenrir - 1 You all did a brilliant job, and we can't thank you enough for all your support in Pillage The Village II: The Calm After The Storm

I dunno, this could have interesting potential. I doubt it'll go far enough to see it, but I think there are many possibilities with this concept. It's also nice to see 2 companies that both produce "thinking" products team up. Thanks for the info B.

Sounds great! I'll make some summary posts on Classic-Pirates.com in the leadup to Xmas!

With Brickshelf down, I can't even find the image, and linking to it is pointless.

Avast everyone! Welcome to the second part of the Nik Groves interview! Nik Groves is one of the designers at the LEGO PMD building in Billund, and he has been kind enough to come onto the show for us. Not only is he a great guy, he is just oozing with information, and in-depth answers to our questions. So check it out, and why not subscribe to our feed and have iTunes automatically download episodes when they become available! Enjoy the interview everyone! Download 'Behind The Helm' Episode #15 - Nik Groves (Part 2) (Right click and "Save Target As...") Subscribe to 'Behind The Helm' iTunes Feed Thanks to Izzy, here we have the whole second part of the interview in text format! IK: When you designed Medieval Village, what were some challenges you faced? NG: That was a tough one. On a personal level, I had been designing sets for kids like 6 or 7 8 plus. The very first version of Medieval Village was very <insert that tiresome argument> and it could very have happily gone in a box with 7+ on it. Normally you look at a model and think how am I going to make this buildable for a kid, this time it had to do it the other way around. How am I going to take this building and double the elements and do some crazy building and deliberately make it more complicated and use some crazy colours that we wouldn’t normally use. So it was a real reversal in my way of thinking which took a bit of getting use to. It was a change of pace, a change of gear. CH: When you designed the Soldiers’ Fort, did you try to replicate the original Pirate line in any way? NG: In the sense from a tone of voice, just like the look and feel and vibe of it. At the time, (and there still is) a lot of Pirates of the Caribbean stuff, which is um… I guess it is not really classic in the Lego sense. Which is really, really cool, but everybody else was doing it, in Hasbro or whatever. And we really wanted to bring back that classic Lego Pirates, when the parents go to a Lego store they can probably remember the building that style of Pirate ship and port and probably want to buy it for their kids. So we got a lot of the old Pirate sets in, and built them, all the classic ships and the ports and stuff and there were a lot of techniques in there that we couldn’t use today, but just getting the whole feel and vibe, just bringing that up to date. CH: So we are not likely to get Pirates of the Caribbean line any time soon? NG: Um, I wouldn’t say never! At the point we really wanted to bring back Lego Pirates, it was very different to what everybody else was doing. It was bright and fun, and cheerful compared with what everyone else was doing at the time. It just made sense. CH: In my personal opinion it should be classic pirates all the way, there is no need for Pirates of the Caribbean. What has been the most interesting set, you would say you have designed? NG: Most interesting, for me, I would probably say when I worked on Batman; I did the Harlequin’s Hammertruck. It was interesting because before that I had just been working on Castle solid for like a year and a half. So when it came to building a vehicle with wheels that was quite modern it was quite tough. I was like ‘are you sure you don’t want a catapult on this?’ (all laugh) ‘You sure you don’t want me to use brown so it looks like wood?’ I was just so used to being in a certain mindset and referencing for a certain look and feel, that when I had to suddenly shirt it up to a modern look and feel it was quite tough at first. But I kind of meet somewhere in the middle, I got a big kind of hammer on the back which it not too far off a catapult. (all laugh) So it was kind of merging of the two themes there. That was definitely interesting. IK: So do you have a favourite piece? NG: A favourite Lego piece, from a building point of view. I don’t know what you guys call it out there in the fan community; we just call it the Erling, as that was the name of the designer that came up with it. But it is a 1x1 brick with a stud on the side, slight recess. IK: Yep CH: That is the same one that Jamie mentioned was his favourite. IK: Yeah, I think sometimes it is called a headlight piece or something like that. NG: Oh yeah, that makes sense. It is just really great for details and opens up a lot of options, but it is not a complicated way of getting right angles or details on the front of something for a kid. So it opens up a lot of doors for us and takes a simple model to another level of detail so you can build in other directions. It is a really, really good piece. CH: So do you get the chance to visit many LEGO conventions around the world? NG: We do try, we do try. I have to Brickworld and Brickcon, and Legoworld a few times over the past three or four years. I was lucky enough to unveil Medieval Market Village last year over in Seattle, which was really cool. So we do try but it’d obviously just tough from a timing point of view, we are pretty full on for time. But if the opportunity comes up we do jump at it because it is always really, really cool. It’s really cool to meet you guys, chat, sort of hang out and soak up the atmosphere and really recharges you and reminds you of how fun it can be, and there is life in these bricks once you are done with it and it’s put in a box. Which is pretty cool. IK: You’d really get to see the other side of what happens to it afterwards. That would be quite rewarding I would think. NG: it really is, when you go to conventions and you see kids and adults all like building at different levels and taking the bricks in crazy directions, doing massive stuff or really minute micro scale buildings. You do come away smiling, it is really cool to see that it lives and breathes, after you are done with it. It is really easy to build a model and finish it and move onto the next model and forget it but once you go to a convention you see a kid playing with it or someone has MOCed the hell out of it and just done something crazy with it, is really, really cool. IK: Do you feel like a bit of a rock-star when people come up to you and say “Oh, I loooove this set!” (laughs) NG: It is kind of weird when people kind of do that, or have signed sets, when you become a designer you don’t really think that will be happening. (laughs) You know. CH: You sign sets? NG: Yeah, signing boxes and instructions. But of course there is a flipside, you know, I have been cornered by some angry fans before as well. So sometimes it is good to go incognito and not tell many people who you are, so you don’t go about being lynched because you didn’t change the colour of a certain brick or something hasn’t come back in a long time. CH: (laughs) Wouldn’t it suck to be beat up because you didn’t design a Lego set perfectly. NG: Yes, it is hit and miss really. You meet some great people that love what you do and have a real passion for what you’ve designed. Then you get some people that can scare you a little. (all laugh) CH: Like those weird interview types. NG: Yeah, you get harassed by these people online and whatever. (laughs) CH: Well hey; harassed for three weeks, it has taken us three weeks to produce this episode. NG: When they approach me I just try to see how long I can put you off for, see how committed you are, if you keep at it then I’ll let you have the interview. IK: (laughs) We are worthy Sir Nic, we are worthy! NG: (laughs) CH: Definitely. Yeah, so err. IK: (laughs) CH: Never mind asking things question by question, but whatever. Have you made any MOCs that you are particularly proud of? That doesn’t count for sets. NG: Thinking back on it, I remember when I first moved over to Billund, I moved over with Tim. Tim incidentally is the creator of Squidman, I’m sure some of your listeners might have seen it pop up online. He was actually at the interview with me and we came over at the same time. But we shared a flat with another guy called Rob and we watched the movie Event Horizon, and Rob was completely freaked out by this film and what happened in it. We decided to build, I don’t know of you’ve seen the film, but there is this weird spinning hyper drive and we built that, and this character who has pulled out his eyeballs and we used cherries for eyes, and made this disgusting figure and gave it to him as a present to keep his nightmares going for the next few weeks, I think it might actually be on Brickshelf somewhere. So that was quite good. (laughs) CH: You’ll have to send us a link. NG: I will. I will, I’ll see if I can find it. IK: Do you get around the online LEGO community much? NG: Um, yeah definitely. We do check out the sites on an almost daily basis. To check up on the news, check up on the trends, see what’s leaked recently. (all laugh) I do get out there, I read Forums and see what’s going on, and just keep up to date. I’m not members of any of sites; it feels a bit like a conflict of interests. Do I go on the site, tell people who I am and open myself up to angry fans and happy fans. I would feel quite bad about going on and NOT letting people know whom I was. I’d kind of feel like spying. So I’m out there I’ve seen what you are doing, but I’m just dipping my toes in. IK: So you are just spying incognito? NG: I’m just spying on you yes! ( all laugh) CH: Spying without feeling bad for spying. I like it. Do you have any particular favourite LEGO related websites? NG: Ahh, so many. CH: *cough*Classic-Pirates*cough* NG: Of course Classic-Pirates and Classic-Castle are two that I have visited a lot over the past few years, obviously those are really great sites. Great inspiration and it is great to see the community on there and how much life there is. Also Brothers Brick and Eurobricks, they are probably the top four. There are so many more out there, and so many blogs but those four sites are definitely the coolest. IK: Three cheers for us! Do you have any hobbies you do, that you can tell us about? NG: I’m very much… I do paint. I’m involved in photography; I come from a design background so it is something I do on weekends and evenings as opposed to MOCing. I also do, I don’t know if it is a hobby but I do collect tattoos, I am very heavily tattooed and into the whole community and that world. I’d class that as a hobby, that is where most of my money goes, aside from Bricks. IK: Do you have any Lego related tattoos? NG: Not yet, maybe soon, maybe soon (laughs) I’m definitely feeling I should get something Lego related. CH: What he hasn’t said is, he is going to get a big ‘Behind the Helm crew are Awesome!’ Tattooed on his forehead. NG: Yes, a walking advertisement. (all laugh) CH: Why not? So do you look up to anyone in particular in the LEGO community? NG: I think people who have made the cross from fan to designer are really cool. People like Jamie Berard, Mark Stafford, Bastian SP? from the Dutch side. That is really cool. You know there is such a wealth of knowledge there that you can’t teach. There is such a passion and they have been building for so long that it is very rare that I ask them a question and they don’t give me a very long answer about the history of a brick this technique or fifty other ways I could built it, which is awesome. But people that are out there, I think Joe Meno is amazing and has taken a hobby and a passion and look it to a place where Lego stood up and took notice and Brick Journal is really making some headway and that is really cool. You guys really put in a lot of time and effort into this and it’s always awesome to see that. CH: So this link that you have sent me, is that your MOC? NG: Yeah, that’s the MOC of the Event Horizon Hyper Drive that we built. Just err, to continue giving our friend nightmares. For some reason the film just totally freaked him out, so we thought it would be fun to build this. (all laugh) CH: You are so mean… I’ll post a link to this Brickshelf page in the interview. IK: Those eyes are so cool. Do you just paint the cherries? How did you do that? NG: Yeah, we painted the cherries, so there are some unofficial building techniques in there, but to get the effect of someone pulling their eyes out, the cherries were quite a good choice. CH: (laughs) That is so good. IK: So what process do you use when designing a set? What planning is involved? NG: It really depends on what stage you come into the project, if you are in the project form the very beginning, you’ll start visual mood boarding, and brainstorming about the whole look and feel. How many sets should we make, who are the good guys? Who are the bad guys? You’d just kind of build sketches from that and decide should this project go on, should it be cut down? Should we double the amount of sets we do? Then you would break up into your individual teams, you will be given a brief regarding which set you are going to build, just how much money you have got, which is the price point, how many Minifigs you can have in it. At this stage you’ve got a rough idea of where you are going with it, and then it really comes down to the individual designer, some people jump straight into bricks, there are those that when you get a brief, you know exactly what it is going to look like, what functions it will have and how you are going to build it. And then there are days when I will have to sketch out the idea, just to get that form out of my head and onto a piece of paper. Just to try to figure out what that detail is going to look like, or those iconic elements are of this particular vehicle or ship, or building or whatever it is. It really varies, me personally I tend to sketch a little bit and then jump into the bricks. A lot of people just go straight ahead and start building. CH: So what determines the number of Minifigs in a set? NG: One aspect is obviously cost, two is we try to scale it as the price scale goes up. For kids Minifigs are a huge, huge selling point. Kids absolutely love minifigures. We want to make sure it’s balanced. We don’t want to put in 10 minifigures into a ten-dollar set and 2 into a 50-dollar set. Kids really focus on stuff like that. They would realize there is a difference, even though the model and bricks are ten times bigger, they would be quite disappointed they didn’t have as many figures. It’s about balance and getting it right and also having the right amount of good guys against bad guys and that sort of thing. CH: Hmm, fair enough. What would you say is the biggest LEGO project you have ever undertaken? NG: I’d have to say Medieval Market Village. Not only from the fact that it is a large set, a big piece count, but having that nagging voice knowing that this is primarily aimed at adults fans, knowing that every brick decision will be scrutinized online and discussed, and there will be hundreds of pictures of it, you know it’s quite a lot of weight on your shoulders to have that undertaking, normally when you build a set, you put it in a box, ship it and forget about it. But I was kind of still involved in with the unveiling and discussions with fans and stuff, you know. So there was a lot of involvement and much more than would be in a standard set I would design for retail. IK: Have you ever… when you have finished designing a set and it has been packed up and sent off, have you ever wanted to go back to it and add all the things you wanted to but couldn’t because of price or something? Have you ever done that, or wanted to do that? NG: I think every designer is never 100% happy; I still look back at stuff and think, ‘Oooh maybe I should have changed that and added that.’ And I probably would have built things totally differently. You know I’m never 100% happy, you know it is about balance, to get it done on time as well as to price and as well as making it cool. I’ve never felt like a set has gone out and it’s sub-par. But there can always be more apples and fish. (All laugh) IK: If was me and I had a specific age range and price range, after it was finished I’d say that’s all good, but I’d want to go back and all the things just for fun and the satisfaction of having it how I really wanted it. NG: Normally, when we build the sketch model as I said, it is much more fan like, and double the size, double the price, double the complexity. It’s kind of the set you really envisioned it to be and it is just getting it down to, what is the age range? What are the core functions that should really stay? So normally you have the ‘ultimate’ version as it were and then to the point of the retail version as it were. CH: Just continuing on Izzy’s earlier question, could you tell us anything off the top of your head that you would change about the Soldier’s Fort? NG: Change about the Soldier’s Fort? Um, the initial concept when I built it was, you know where there is that little bridge, with a palm tree, I wanted to have more of that detail, because originally I had like a little rocky outcrop and some other bits at the edge, and a lighthouse, but that was stuff that unfortunately had to be lost, it would have been really nice if those had have been kept in, from a visual and tone of voice kind of point, you know, just palm trees and adding to that kind of look and feel about the Caribbean Sea really made it for me. Visual stuff is usually the first to go when you have functions and lots of cool figures and a shooting cannon and stuff like that. So you really have to tone it down to the core stuff that kids are able to play with? IK: Are you able to take picture of the set at that stage, because I think a lot of people in the community would love to see pictures of the ultimate version of it before it is changed down into what it is sold as. NG: Um, it is probably out there somewhere, we work at a really fast pace, we build and discuss and break it down and discuss, we only really start taking… I might take a couple of snaps for myself, because when it gets to a stage where you are kind of happy with it you have to have each brick calculated, it has to be broken down and someone has to input every brick into a system that we have and you get a price back. So you have to rebuild it, so if you have only built the version once, then you need a lot of pictures so you can put this big pile of bricks back, because it is not imbedded in your memory, which it has to be at the end stage. But official pics don’t start till much later. But it depends who you are, some people take loads of pics and other wait till the box shot as it were. CH: You were saying you have to have it pretty well ingrained in your memory; I’d like to talk with the designer of the Ultimate Collector’s Series Millennium Falcon, and see if he remembers how to build that. (laughs) NG: Basically our deadline is what we call a model review, and basically what this is, at the end stage, I will sit down as the model builder, with say, two or three other sets designers from other sets, an engineer, someone from the building instructions team and we will build the model together brick by brick. But obviously there are no building instructions so I have to put it together brick by brick. And that is what the designer of the Millennium Falcon had to do, and I think it was like, a 4 or 5-day model review. It was pretty intense it is quite legendary within out department. CH: Which set was that for? NG: The Millennium Falcon CH: So you were involved in that? NG: No, no when we first saw the sketch model we were amazed at the scale he was aiming for, and we all looked at each other and though how the hell is he going to remember how to build that? Because you do have to remember how to build it, I give him full credit, as he is a great builder. And obviously he has an amazing memory because he remembered how to put it all together which is impressive. IK: Yeah, you wouldn’t want to make a mistake on the first days that’s for sure. CH: Who was that? NG: Um, it was actually the Creative Design Lead of Star Wars called Jens Kronvold Frederiksen. CH: We might have to get him on the show for a chat. NG: He’s a really good guy and has been with the company quite some time and been the head of Star Wars for quite a long time, so he is a real Star Wars buff. It came up when there would be a Collector’s Millennium Falcon he basically stamped his authority and said I am doing this. He really wanted to do it, he used is power to get that one. (laughs) CH: Now we need a Death Star of the same scale. NG: That’d be pretty epic yeah! (laughs) CH: You’d mortgage your house for a set like that. So, err Izzy, is there anything else you wanted to add? IK: Yeah, do you have any tips for builders out there in the community? NG: I would say keep building and keep sharing. It is amazing to see the community that is online, as I said when you got to the events of look at the forums the amount of passion that is out there, the kind of effort that you guys put into this type of thing really makes us smile so keep building and keep putting it out there and keep taking to each other. It is great; I don’t think there is many kind of toys or brands that has this. It is definitely one of our strong points so keep it going. CH: Oh definitely. Thank you very much for joining us. NG: Thank You. CH: I know that I’ve enjoyed it and I’m fairly confident that Izzy enjoyed it too; she has been going on for a month about how excited she is to talk to a hot British Lego designer. NG: Ahhh, Thank You, Thank You. (laughs) CH: She will never let me live that one down. It has been very exciting to talk to you about Soldier’s Fort and Medieval Market in particular and how it turns out that you guys steal all our designs. NG: Yes, yes! (all laugh) CH: Thank You very much for joining us for this episode of Behind the Helm and it’s about damn time we got together, a month of attempts to record it. So I hope everybody has enjoyed this episode and keep and eye on the Horizon for the next episode of Classic-Pirates.com’s Behind the Helm.

Hey Pellaeon! After checking out your entry, I see that it is based on an 8x8 baseplate, but unfortunately it has quite a bit of overhang with the SNOT green and the ribs, like you said. It will have to be entered in the medium category to be fair to everyone. Nice entry BTW.

They are to a point, but we do appreciate it if everyone does their best with punctuation and spelling. Although we won't shoot you if there are errors in that area, it is a lot easier to read correctly spelled and layed out text. Welcome to the forum buddy!

Brilliant review Svelte! Where did you aquire this set so early, you lucky thing! I haven't read it in full yet, but I'll do so as soon as I get some more time! Also, this has been

Thanks for the info peterab, I'll try and get there. Just sorting out some accommodation with a friend of a friend before I register!

Nope. Everything is hosted on the site, far more reliable that way. You've seen the consistancy of sites such as Brickshelf. The only way we can know for sure that our images won't be going offline is if we host them.

I think what he is saying is that the Queen Anne's Revenge was a good bit larger. She had 40 guns, and 3 masts. 30m wide at the beam. But cool MOC, and well done! Keep up the good work.

The problem can most likely be traced to excess bandwidth use.

I have my ways... Sorry about all the audio mishaps everyone, it's all to do with the Classic-Pirates.com server being down, but we hope to have everything running smoothly soon.

Tony, those photos are pretty cool! I do hope that you continue with them, as it is great to see some LEGO creations being photographed as though they were real trains. Keep up the great work mate.

Ahoy there scallywags, welcome to Episode #15 of Classic-Pirates.com's Behind The Helm'. Your hosts Cutlass_Iz and Captain Zuloo were lucky enough to get the chance to interview Nik Groves, the LEGO designer behind sets such as Soldiers' Fort and Medieval Market Village. Another interview packed to the brim with great info, we've split it in two parts to give you longer to absorb it all! Enjoy mateys. Listen to the audio interview And thanks to Izzy, here be the text: Hello, welcome to another episode of Behind the Helm, I’m Connor Hicks otherwise known as Captain Zuloo in the online world and joining me today is Cutlass_Iz, or Izzy Kilmartin, as we know her personally. CH: So Izzy, I thought we’d start by having a few words about what our current Lego projects are, you building anything at the moment? IK: Ah yes, I just today finished building a brick built Lego nativity scene. CH: Are there any special features about that? IK: I’ve got a donkey, cow, camel, shepherd, two wise men, Mary, Joseph and the Pièce de résistance baby Jesus. What about you? Have you been building anything lately? CH: Well, I’m working on a ship that I have called the Grandeur that I have been working on for many months now building and re-building. A number of Bricklink parts have just arrived, so I’m making a good bit of progress with that. We also have somebody else on the line, I’m wondering what your building at the moment, we have Nic in the line. NG: Hello there, at the moment I am building something very cool, very high price point, it’s a IP tie in, but I can’t say too much about it at the moment or else I will mysteriously disappear at the hands of the Lego assassins, so you’ll have to wait and see. CH: Well, if you didn’t quite get that, this is Nic Groves, he is a Lego Designer and he designs all of our downfall, so we will find out a little but more about him. NG: Thank you. Thanks for inviting me on. CH: Yeah, no worries mate. I’ll start by asking you, did the LEGO obsession start for you? NG: I think like a lit of kids, I grew up with Lego. I come from a big family, so a lot of my Lego just came in giant Tupperware boxes. It wasn’t until I was actually quite older that I realized that they actually came as sets, so I just assumed that it came in these giant tubs that your older brother handed down to you. (laughs) You know, I was kind of amazed to see it actually came in boxes and sets. I always grew up building spaceships and cars with my brother, which used descend into an all out brick war in the bedroom, much to my mother’s dismay. But sadly once it was deemed that I was too old to play with Lego it got handed onto my younger sister and younger cousins. So I did have quite a long dark period until Lego came up on the horizon work wise and I got back into it. CH: Okay, cool. IK: So, you didn’t really have a ‘first set’ then? NG: I can only remember receiving one set; back when I was very young and it was if I remember correctly a Technic Police Buggy 8230 and it came, back when they did the Technic figure. And I remember thinking that the Technic bricks weren’t as cool as the bricks in my tub, obviously I had an allegiance to System and not Technic from an early age. I remember realizing that they were different but not really understanding why it was kind of a different building system. That is the only set I remember being ‘bought’ other than that is was just this mass pile of bricks in my toy closet. CH: (laughs) I’m just having a look at that set now, does it have steering does it? NG: Yeah. CH: I have never been a huge Technic fan either, always been a System man myself, but as far as Technic sets go, that looks like a pretty good one. Can you tell us some of the sets that you designed? NG: I’ve been bouncing around in many different themes, when I originally got to Lego, I came into the Creator department, as kind of like an intern doing a few months so see if I liked it at Lego. I actually got to build 4916 Mini Monkey he actually wasn’t a big seller but he has a place in my heart because he is so cute. Then I moved onto play things and I kind of ‘cut my teeth’ on Castle, I worked on the Skeleton Tower, so that was kind of like my first major set, then I did Skeleton Attack Ship exclusives, did all the figures for the chess set, then the second year I got to do the Dwarfs Mine Defender, the Troll Warship. Then I moved onto IP’s, I worked on Batman, just finished up on Toy Story, which I’m sure you and your listeners have seen pop-up online here and there, and of course working on Pirates and Medieval Market Village. So I have been around, in my short time at Lego. CH: Which Pirate sets did you design? NG: I did Soldiers Fort, 6242. CH: Ah okay, that is a pretty cool set, that one. NG: Thank You, Thank You. IK: So what do you feel is the best part of being a LEGO designer? NG: The best part is I get to come to work, create a big mess, play with bricks and call it a job. (all laugh) You know, it is pretty cool. Although it has its stressful moments just like any other job, but when you take a step back and look at it. I get to create really cool toys that ultimately kids are going to enjoy and play with, and adult fans are going to take to the next level and discuss online. The fact that it is this huge community, it’s just great, Lego has a real place in everyone’s heart. There aren’t many people who haven’t played with Lego, so when you tell people you work for Lego you see their face light up. There are so many great things about working for Lego. CH: You mentioned there are a few stressful moments, what sort of challenges do you face as a LEGO designer? NG: It is quite varied, obviously we are creators and designers and we are a company and you do have to work to a deadlines, you have to meet certain parameters, there are cost implications, so you have to make sure that the model you are building, not only is it kind of cool and fun and at a level that a kid will find challenging but fun to build. But it has to be on price and you have reach quite a strict deadline to get it done otherwise the bricks won’t be manufactured and shipped on time. So there are days when you are pulling your hair out, because it is hard to be creative Monday to Friday 9 to 5. So there are late nights and working on weekends, stressing about these little bricks, how are you going to get this built? And just like sweating, trying to get the smallest details right before it is shipped off in a box. So deadlines are tough when you are a designer, because it is tough to be creative within a time-frame. IK: How did you get the job you currently have as a Lego Designer? NG: Well my background is, well I suppose you could call it a classically trained designer, I went to Art School, I have a design degree, I’ve done some freelance work in the past, I’ve actually worked for Gillette in the past, designing razors. I was doing an exhibition in London and I got chatting to who I thought was just some random guy about my work and we were just chatting about design and at the end he handed me his business card and it turned out he was a guy named James Hall, he worked as a designer at Lego, he was kind of scouting for new talent and he asked me to come along to an interview in their office in Seoul. I went down there and I think there were five of us and they said there was a place for two people, we will take you over to Denmark, where you will work for a few months and see how you like it and you can go further from there. It is probably one of the best interviews I have been in, they read us a quick story, something about a Captain Smith going to the bottom of the ocean and discovering all these weird creatures and animals and treasures. Then we had to break up into small groups and design sets based on the story at different price points. So they wheeled out this huge box and spilled it on the floor and we just spent the rest of the day designing. CH: Oh, that sounds like good fun. IK: That is awesome. NG: It was pretty cool, pretty cool. CH: So do you get a chance to MOC much at home? Or do you get your fix at work? NG: I do get most of my Lego fix at work. As I said, I played with Lego as a kid but I wouldn’t class myself as an adult fan. So I’ve never come home and built to unwind or relax. So when I do MOC it is like Christmas presents for people, of weddings when they want Minifigs on top of a cake. At the moment I am building quite a fun one. I am quite heavily tattooed. And I’m building a tattoo machine for my tattoo artist for Christmas. I’m sure that is not something I would normally get to officially do, (all laugh) so it is quite a challenge and quite interesting. So I do get to do some varied stuff, but I wouldn’t get to MOC like you guys might do or your listeners, but I do on occasions. CH: I’m not sure that the Lego Company would be… a tattoo machine would be sending the message that they wan to put out there. (laughs) NG: Yeah, it doesn’t aim at our core demographic. (all laugh) IK: I’d buy one. NG: There is a market, Yay! IK: Even it is only one girl all the way in Australia. (laughs) Where do you get the pieces… because you don’t MOC a great deal at home, where do you find is the best source of pieces for when you do make things? NG: Well obviously I have an amazing source of Lego at work, I’m very lucky in a sense, that when I am MOCing or doing official sets, I can take a big box go to the basement and take huge handfuls of every element that you could possibly imagine. We have a very large basement with shelves and shelves of elements, we also have a very large building that is full of elements that aren’t currently being used, so we can kind of back catalogue and pull up elements that we need. So I have, if I need to get stuff I can take it from work, so I’ve never needed to go online to order anything particular. I’m just very spoiled. IK: You are set for life. NG: Yeah, if there is an element that I can’t find I’ll ask one of the old school designers who probably has some stuff stashed away. They’ll probably let me have it for some cake, or beer. (all laugh) CH: trading for Lego… (laughs) Oh, hold on! I was going to ask you a very stupid question. I was going to ask you ‘What is your main source of funding for your Lego?’ But then I realized I was talking to a Lego designer. (laughs) NG: Yeah, me main source of income is working for Lego to buy Lego. CH: Okay, sorry. Um, moving on to a non-stupid question, which is your favourite LEGO theme that has been released? NG: It’s tough, I thing it would probably have to be a fight to the death between Pirates and Castle. I’m not sure who would win, I really like the classic Lego themes, and there is something about them that I really enjoy building and collecting. You know, you get that echo of the heritage of Lego and the almost naïve-ness and the classic feel from the bricks, its just something really nice about those two themes. I don’t know if I could really pick just one. It’s really hard. CH: Well you are talking to two diehard Pirates fans so… IK: Classic Pirates. NG: I know, I don’t want to start a war. CH: I suggest if you want to live the duration of the interview, you should say that you are a Pirates fan. NG: (all laugh) If you look at some of the Castle sets I’ve built, there’s Skelton Attack Ship and then the Troll Warship, so you know, I’m quite into ships and I’ve tried to sneak that into Castle a fair bit. IK: Yeah, even Medieval Market Village can cross over quite a lot into the Pirates theme, I think. NG: Yeah, I just love a lot of the Old World kind of feel, there is just so much detail and it is so rich to reference and play with. CH: That’s the funny thing; those eras are seem by everybody as really rich and have a huge sense of grandeur about them, but in reality everyone back then was really poor and had terrible living conditions. IK: But they had lots of apples and fish, so it is all good. (laughs) NG: Yeah yeah, that is what counts. (laughs) CH: And lots of Shakos, or is it ‘Shar-kos’ or ‘Shak-os’? How do you pronounce it? NG: I would say ‘Shay-kos’ I don’t know if there is an official way to say it, or how it is pronounced all around the world but I would say ‘Shay-kos’ CH: What about you Izzy? IK: Yeah, (laughs) I’m not going to fall into that trap and pronounce it wrong in front of everybody. I’ll just say, out of all the official LEGO sets ever released, which would you say is your all time favourite? A Pirates of Castle set, I’m guessing. NG: Um, that is an extremely hard one because they are all the sets you kind of have an emotional attachment to and they have a special place in your heart for different reasons. Medieval Market Village was definitely something I loved doing, it was great, definitely in the top two, or then Pirates, the Pirates project was really great to work on a kind of re-launch of the Classic Pirates line, those two again they are kind of up there. CH: Maybe if I rephrase the question a little, seeing as you can’t decide between the two themes, do you prefer the older Castle and Pirates lines, or the newer Castle and Pirates lines? NG: Probably the newer ones, basically because I’ve worked on them they are bound to be much better. (laughs) You know what we try to do in Lego, whenever we bring back Pirates or Castle, or an ‘Evergreen Theme’ as we call it, we try to give it a different twist, I do like the original Castle and Pirates stuff, I’m probably not as in to the Knight’s Kingdom twist that they did when they tried to rejuvenate and give it a crazy spin on the Castle line. When we redid Castle it was really going back to classic, and when we redid Pirates it was also going back to classic. That is what we really enjoy and that is what defines a great line. CH: (fake coughs) I’ll just, err, mention that Classic Pirates did have Blue Coats, if any of the Lego executives are listening to this. NG: They might be. (laughs) CH: Oh hopefully. So do you discover many different, new techniques when you are designing LEGO sets? NG: Um, well they are new to me. I don’t know, there have been time when I have built something and I have shown like, Jamie or someone of greater experience and they are like ‘Yeah, I’ve been using that for 6 years.’ You know, it is nothing new. (all laugh) But you do discover new ways of using stuff and you do encounter different problems everyday. Obviously when I come across a technique I have never used before, there is the question of, can the child that I am aiming for… if it is a 6+ of a 7+ can they build this technique? And you have to go through loops, sometimes you build something and think yeah, a kid would have no problem with this, sometimes things are a bit unorthodox and you do have to check. You do learn a lot of new stuff, but it doesn’t necessarily make it into the retail sets. It’s more likely in the direct avenue. IK: So what is your work environment like? NG: I would probably describe it a chaotic fun. It’s a really weird mix, basically you have all the teams split up, for example a Castle team, a Pirates team, a Star Wars Team, and in that you have X amount of designers, then there is a Project Lead, and a Marketing Lead, you get those people who just look at a spreadsheet and do emails and they are kind of thrown in with designers who’s desks look like a Lego bomb has exploded and it is just like, bricks everywhere, you can hardly find the keyboard or mouse just under a huge pile of bricks and then there are cardboard boxes of bricks under you desk and every nook and cranny is filled with sketch models or some other toy as inspiration. There is a lot going on and it is very chaotic, but it makes sense to us. CH: That’s the way it should be. (laughs) Of all the different sets that you have designed, what would you say is your favourite? Would you prefer exclusives, licensed themes or Creator etc? NG: I really like working on Lego themes, I’ve worked on some IP’s, it is fun that you are working with a movie licence for example and you get references and you have to make a Lego version of whatever you are looking at. But when you are making your own theme, you have so much more freedom and more responsibility because you have to make up the universe and tone of voice and you really get to explore that world and how dark is this going to come across when kids play with it. Where as with an IP you don’t have to worry about it because it is based on a film or cartoon of something. Lego Brand owned themes are much more fun I think and challenging for me. IK: Cool, so… (laughs) I was just about to as how much money would you spend on LEGO in a year? But I should say how much cake and beer do you spend on Lego? NG: Yeah, I probably spend a lot in cake and beer actually, probably in dollars, not much. Obviously you know, when you work on a theme, when the theme ends you normally get one of every set, which is great so you get to collect all the lines you have worked on. The only time I would really spend money on Lego, would be at the employee shop for Christmas gifts and presents. So maximum it would be about a hundred dollars a year. CH: Okay, you mentioned that you sometimes have other toys sitting around for inspiration. What other sort of inspiration do you have when designing Lego models? NG: Well depending on what stage we are at with the development, it will be books, we have quite a big book library that we are always adding to. Magazines, um Internet is also a huge resource. CH: AH HAH! You steal our ideas. NG: Yeah, that is all we do. We sit there and steal from you. (all laugh) No, no, I mean it is good obviously to see where you guys are up to and what trends are out there and what interesting building techniques you are using. I’ve got to say, like 80% of the time, the way you guys build. We can’t use it at all, because kids would not be able to do it. But it is great to see how fans can take a model and MOC it to the next level or take an element and use it in a way you couldn’t possibly imagine. So that is pretty cool. CH: There are a couple of builders I’m thinking of now that are notorious for that sort of thing, like Sly Owl and SirNadroj and Pe668 that just make awesome things. NG: It is pretty cool, I mean a lot of our original sketch models are, probably a lot more fan like. Then we have to go through a process to make it buildable for a 6 or 7+. Whatever age group you are building for. So we start with a very fan built sort of sketch model and then kind of turn it into an official Lego set. So it is pretty cool to see what you guys are doing online and in the communities. CH: Yeah, now you will probably have a lawsuit saying that you have pinched ideas or something. (all laugh) IK: Prove it! PROVE IT! (all laugh) NG: No. Obviously we do look at fan sights but we would never steal. That is something we would never, never do. It is just really cool to see what the fan community is doing. And we do get some inspiration from you guys; just interesting ways you are doing things and what trends are developing. A lot of trends tend to start in the adult fan community. Whatever genre it is, eventually it kind of trickles down into kids media or whatever. I am seeing a lot at the moment of Steam Punk, and I don’t know at the moment, kids can’t understand exactly what Steam Punk is, because it hasn’t trickled down into a medium that they can use, like a cartoon or film that they can relate to. Personally I think it is only a matter of time you know, you see these trends emerge and develop in the adult fan world, so it is always cool to see what is going on. CH: I feel really bad now; I have put you in a very sticky situation. NG: You just got me fired now! Thanks! (laughs) IK: Those Lego ninjas will come and get you. NG: (laughs) I’m going to disappear mysteriously. Captain Zuloo (in voiceover mode) - Nic didn’t mysteriously disappear. Izzy and I decided to cut this interview into two parts due to its length. Keep your eyes peeled for the second half of the interview, next week!

I'd want to walk sideways to keep maximum distance between me and those Melbourne siders too...

Come on, all you people ever want is more! I change the interview format to audio and you want text too, I set up an iTunes feed and you want an index... You guys are pathetic! But yes, an index is something I'm thinking about, just wondering if it should be pinned or not.