Legogal

L@go, Me, too! I agree with you. There usually us a sound reason for TLG to offer an exclusive to a particular group of people. And no one can expect to collect every one of these exclusives. Certainly folks paying for an Insider Tour should receive a set limited to the members of their group. I hope that they will keep offering a small opening day set that reflects something special about the location of the new store, and not just three so so little minifigs. It would be nice if they continued to sell these sets for six months in the store they where they were introduced so that more folks shopping there get the chance to acquire one, but not everyone needs every set. Thus if the limited edition was sold or given away in larger quantities than 300 or even 3000, this would be fine with with me. Likewise, if the company decides to give each employee a special gift set each year, that us fine with me. Maybe they could offer the public a slightly different version of the employee gift set so that we get a chance to buy a similar set. It seems that there are several options that can lessen the blow of releasing a very small number of an exclusive set. But there will always be a need for LEGO to issue a small number exclusive set to a particular group of people, and we should not get so upset when this happens. Most companies do this to reward specific groups of people for a specific reason.

Dress for the extreme heat both inside and outside with comfortable clothes. Bring a swimsuit for the pool parties. Wear comfortable shoes as you will be on a hard cement floor it seems like forever. If you are exhibiting, bring a comfy packable chair and a cooler with your favorite drinks. Get some sleep before you arrive! The crowds will be huge on Saturday and Sunday, the public days, so see the exhibits before then and get your photos as well. You will probably take several hundred photos if it is your first BF. If you want to get rid of any LEGO, participate in the two yard sales...also a great place to buy LEGO. Introduce yourself to everyone who looks interesting and let them know it is your first BF. Southerners tend to be pretty darn friendly and usually welcome newbies. Please introduce your self to me as I hope to be there with a huge Duplo display of playhouses in the "we don't know what to do with them" section usually called miscellaneous or overflow or catch all,... Stay in a hotel close to the exhibit hall as parking will be a problem as the day progresses. If you want to eat healthy food, bring it with you as fast food rules in that neighborhood. You will see a lot of really cool MOC's and have a great time if you just let your hair down a bit and go with the flow. It is much easier at the second BF when you know what to expect! Hope this helps. Do ask as many questions as you can think of before the event so you will be on top of things. Have fun!

Thanks for the pics! Looks like you had a lot of fun!

AC, Nice set up! The jagged edges of the design at left are incredible! They add so much texture and make it look so insurmountable. Not easy to scale a jagged wall with no flat surface. The fighter planes look wonderful in their hangar. Better not make someone angry or one of those will take you out! Congrats on your fine builds! Hope it was a great show this weekend. So will you be at BrickFair VA the end of July?

Hahaha! Y'all really are funny! It was a cool article, and why shouldn't someone in his nineties get to do something so cool? More power to him. Maybe TLG will have to make instructions larger. And with clearer colors so seniors can read them more easily. They could introduce Ooplo, which are Duplo for oldies, specifically for those of us beginning to lose our marbles. Just because some people become old as the hills does not mean that they can't enjoy their own toys. I plan to play with my LEGO as long as I live. Maybe the next big growth market for LEGO is in retirement homes with the population aging rapidly in higher income countries.

Hahaha! I love the comments, too. You can tell that the builder put a lot of time and thought into the fifty builds. I like all of them and understood all but Ohio. But now I get it! The Swing State! That is just brilliant. Yup, I guess that there are always a few things I can learn about the fifty states gene though i have traveled in all of them. Can we make him an honorary US citizen? I think he should do a little book full of such witty vignettes.

Great advice! It took me a visit to each of the six LL parks before I figured this one out. So do stockpile your unwanted minifigs and trade them for the ones you want while there. It is easy to do most of the time, and you will be much happier with ones you like. But do check their value on Bricklink before trading them in case any are quite valuable and should be traded for something more expensive. And entering a Park without a child is no problem. I have not taken a child with me yet. Does anyone know where she can get a two for one coupon for the Park? Enjoy your stay!

A friend just posted this on Facebook, and I about fell out of the chair looking at the vignette for each State. Extremely well done and coming from a Canookian, as my husband refers to his fellow countrymen. Enjoy: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1F0tq0/?utm_campaign=states_legos&utm_source=facebook_sup&utm_medium=id_loc&utm_content=Distractify%3A+This+is+What+All

Love your use of space with so much detail. Washer is nice; furniture looks great, too. Extra stuff in the shop is good because the original was just too sparse. Way to go!

Wow! Outstandingly scary and brilliant use of weird pieces and color palette! Congrats!

Wow! Definitely mind blowing and incredibly cool! Congratulations! Should be featured in a fairy tale, animated film about -----------------------; now it is time to play the fill in the blank game!

Wow! LOL very loud! Sounds like we all would like to have had HIS job the past five years! Where do we apply to become a successful minifig thief? After walking right by one of the two parked jets and the helicopter (next to Legoland Billund) of the owner of LEGO, I think the company can afford another worker like this one, and I would like to formally apply as his position has to be open.

Sawaya is an amazing artist making this an exhibit not to miss. A foundation brought a large exhibit of his work to NC last fall, and it was outstanding. It was housed in a free, public museum about an hour from Raleigh in a small town called Graham. It appears that he has added many larger pieces to the current traveling show. it is truly uplifting to see sculptures of this size and quality made of LEGO. Go if you can!

Cool build! Yup, Friends does give us some wonderful parts that can be used in almost every theme. Not being a red person, the floor is a bit too much with the red furniture. It looks like it is about to go up in flames! What other colors do you have besides red that could work here? There are many beige parts in Friends, and these could help make another color scheme for the floor. Your sidewalk tables are a great addition because most sets don't have room for outdoor seating. And the use of regular figs works well with all Friends' sets.

Ditto! It looks wonderful in real bricks, too. Congrats on such a fine build and winning the contest. It was indeed a blast watching the entrants describe their builds. The way you went about designing it was an amazing story, too. Way to go!

Wow! Looks just right for that time period except for the height of the pumps. They were tall buggers back then from photos I have seen. The black and white tile floor also caught my attention. This design looks great!

Congratulations! Just in time for Father's day! (Watch out Black and Decker!)

Nothing like the Muppets to get things going! Have a blast folks and please take lots of photos!

So many curves are wonderful! And the way you continued the roof down the edges of the windows is a nice touch often used in very hot climates. Way to to!

@Calanon, Nice album, The Wall! One of my favorites is "Everything Is Broken," by R.L Burnside, a track that appeared in the film "Big Bad Love."

Holy crap! This is a real masterpiece for sure! And the inside structure is just as impressive as the outside parts. The design flows so well that it looks real....not LEGO. Nothing blocky about this build. It is amazing that you built this and built it so quickly. And that you can transport it anywhere. It is the size of a monster! Congratulations on blowing the minds of everyone viewing it.

I agree that a larger scale could have made possible more of those historical curves and features. Too bad they did not make it larger even though it would have been more expensive. The fountain itself is what I want, so maybe just a part of the front of the building would do. For a micro scale rendition, it is just okay. But there is way too much detail to do it justice in that small of a build. Good point, Hinck.

Figured out my Billund restaurant bill. I brought back a dozen (not ten) LEGO Houses, and six are already delivered to friends, who really appreciate getting one at cost. It is a great little set! Glad it was available while we were there. Can't wait to see the real LEGO House in two years. The only other set I brought back that is built is the yellow castle with the two white horses resting quietly at the moment on a full 48 by 48 gray baseplate. Were we supposed to get two horses? Hmmmmmmm... Time for an invasion by a swarm of Friends gals, who may hold their monthly book club soiree in The Castle. Fun, fun fun!

Ondra, Thanks for the commercials! They look great, too!

Wow! The death toll is mounting with corpses all over. Next step is the vultures landing to pick their bones. Way to go on a realistic build....most old castles were not that fancy, and yours is quite believable. Congratulations!