Legogal

Kai, Fabulous! I love the cake with the white collar (thespian mini fig?) and the gold statue (starlet was it?)....This is just magnificent....an automatic cake baking machine. Perfect for the mother of nineteen children who has to bake a birthday cake what must seem like every week! Please make more MOC's for TOWN, TOWN TOWN!!!

WOW! Reminds me of the Caddies I saw as a child! During the late Fifties, my best friend's Granddad drove a pink convertible Caddy in the oil fields of West Texas wearing his ten gallon hat and cowboy boots like he was the coming of God! I remember sliding back and forth with my best friend Duncan in the big back seat covered in white leather as his Bompie ripped around corners showing off that monstrous doll car. Don't ask me how a West Texas oil man got away with driving a pink Caddy convertible, but he was a pretty big character and drew some serious attention. His car had the monster pointed tail fins that fatally impaled many an innocent crash victim. And no one laughed at Bompie because he could be a very mean SOB, especially when he was drinking, which seemed to be always. But he always was kind to us kids, especially when we sat quietly in the blistering heat while he made frequent stops at the liquor store. I think his wife preferred his pickup truck so her oil paintings would not stain the white leather, so he took the Caddy most days. The other cars are super cool too...the Charger colors may have been some of the original ones because I do remember solid orange and solid green ones. My brothers and I used to sit on street curbs and name the model and year of each car that passed by...we got quite good at it without anything else to play with except sticks and stone and dirt. Thanks for the memories. Elvis is cute, too!

def: An is a beautiful name anywhere in the world, so you hit a home run living in Asia. Plus Luna is just flat out lovely and not that unusual. My son and his Chinese wife are seeking names that work in Asia and the rest of the world; I will mention An to them. Using the middle name is very popular...all five of my siblings go by their middle names and always have....Stark, Ross, Drew, Brooke and Grant. For some reason they used my first name from the start maybe because my middle name is Scottish and harder to say. But calling a child by its middle name can be a great option. Shorter names are also beautiful for a child's name because they will have to write and spell it all of their lives. Hubby was beaten up repeatedly as a child in Canada because he had a weird Germanish (Austrian) name, and his last name was especially difficult to spell with ten consonants and two vowels. I don't use his last name because it is hard to remember how to spell it, but often he uses my last name because it is short even though it is difficult to pronounce. Hubby still has scars and arterial damage in his legs from being kicked around as a child by boorish schoolmates, so please just be careful with what you choose. And once the child arrives, the naming challenge will be forgotten as you focus on the child...just as it should be!

Ultimo's eyes are piercing....what a fantastic MOC! And the way you staged him and the photos are excellent. Congrats!

LMAO!!! I have never seen anything from Hero Factory, so this is beyond hysterical...I am trying not to fall out of bed laughing.....thanks! Maybe Emma could take Natalie to the city pool before Natalie's first driving lesson. Then they could go to the city cafe for lunch, catch a karate lesson together, and take the poodle for a pedicure. Wow! That would be a full day, and then they could meet their Friends for a cookout at the stables. The girls might have to take the next day off after so much running around. Phew! Then they do need a surfing lesson before they take the Friends's yacht out at the beach on Sunday. Does Natalie know how to rollerblade or ice skate yet? I can't wait to see that! (Note to the guys: please chill out and quit your silly arguments about who should replace Natalie. It is Kristel's choice and her darn story, so no more yapping...please. I am trying to be nice here, but you are starting to get under my skin! Gotcha, did I!)

I definitely like your mini version better than the larger Architecture set....yours is much cuter and fits in small spaces. And the drawbridge opens, too! Wow! It is so adorable that I may need to build one to go with my other minis. Will you be selling the plans anywhere after you build it with real bricks and after you know that it is doable for real? Congratulations on a fine build!!!

Oky, Like your picture and use of characters. They look fine to me. Glad you are in the US to celebrate it! Wasn't it weird having a national holiday on a Thursday?

My English response to French comment above: I agree that the general design is overwhelmingly lovely, but the concept of what it is and what it does and how it does it is a bit foggy. This is way outta my league or over my head as we say in English, but I still love the design. What a marvelous MOC! And it shows just how adaptable the Friends theme is...wow!

Wow! You may have to offer these to LEGO as mini modular set number two...they are that good! Love you use of details on each of the buildings. And think of the places that small MOC's like this will fit....you may not have to enlarge you house to enjoy them. Cool! I just returned from the LEGO store, where I picked up mini modular set number one....been eyeing it for a long time thinking that I should give these little guys a chance. This looks like it would fit in very well in Berlin or Munich or a hundred other German cities...Congratulations!

Can't seem to find any comments from females about your female...did I miss something? She looks like she might be cold (without clothes), and are you sure she is still breathing with such a tiny waist? And can she really walk/fight/whatever the heck she is supposed to do in those HIGH heels? Could some other women please give their opinions and help me out here?

Not sure about the formal education question and its relation to LEGO ownership. None of my "formally educated" friends are into LEGO. A big ZERO. But it does seem to me that AFOLs tend to be creative and spatially oriented. Curious and fun loving. Not snobby in that they recognize equally anyone who can build a decent MOC. Open to sharing what they know...even with complete strangers. Not hung up on appearances...have you seen what they usually wear!!! In summary, my kind of folks!

Wonderful! It looks quite realistic compared to the photo. Nice to see a Latin name as the builder, Miguel Barroso! Congratulations Miguel!!! I love the garage door roofs and the light they allow to pass through. And the way it floats on the water. Way to go, Miguel!

Wow! This is huge news and another reason to visit Vienna. Thanks for the post, Grogall. It should be a big help to those living within reasonable driving distance. Maybe they will consider Ireland and some other LEGO outposts soon.

Dan, The MOC's in your museum look great! That has to be a lot of work for sure. Your use of the term "life consuming" made me laugh as LEGO easily can be that. Is it time to upgrade the photos so that they show well on the website? Maybe you could look at some of the photo advice here for how to do that. It is so hard to take good photos of LEGO, but there are some experts running around who could help you. Good luck this year with the museum and shop. LEGO needs more AFOLs like you!

(Hahaha! At least you can speak and write German well...the rest of us are just jealous as heck.....!) I have been watching the Robie House for some time and hoping to pick up one cheaply...it is no longer in our local LEGO store, but was full price (200USD) when I looked at lego.com US last week. Frank Lloyd Wright has been my idol since age ten; I wanted to be an architect growing up until a nasty high school drafting teacher gave me my first B and turned me off. Turns out some friends of mine were the first owners of a FLW house in Amarillo, Texas, and I did get to stay there as a kid but did not know it was a FLW home until I saw it in a book a few years ago. That was a revelation for sure! Has the company stopped making Robie? It is a beautiful, beautiful set. I did pick up Pisa and the White House at the LEGO store here because I do like to give them business and try to avoid buying elsewhere if I have to pay full price. Hope they keep marking down Arch sets in your area! Cheers!

Like your fireworks! Happy Fourth back!

Wow! A cute cafe, especially the green awnings and orange accents. Just don't ask LEGO to produce this set unless you intend to grow flowers upstairs! (Which also would be perfectly reasonable in your neck of the woods.) Glad you don't smoke or you would be too zonked out to build...and your bricks would stink for sure! Question: where could you park more bikes around this place so you can have more than one customer?

ENUF...ENUF...ENUF! With these absurd names and spellings. The child's life will be ruined for sure. And you will force his girlfriend to eliminate you for offering such ridiculous names. Naming a child is not a fantasy game! (Got your attention, did I?)

Can't wait to see this video...for sure! It should get unbelievable coverage from the world press. Which can't but help LEGO... if the darn thing works. Any ideas about getting a sponsor to help defray the cost? As much as I detest ads, this could help speed up the completion date. Maybe it could be part of an Energizer/battery ad campaign. etc.

Just received an email about the theme for BW 2014 in Chicago next June. The color is orange and the theme is Candy, Sweet Excapes! For info about the kit contest, check out: http://www.flickr.com/groups/brickworld/discuss/72157634474900409/ This looks like a lot of fun, so pull out your orange and let 'er rip!

This is gorgeous! Love the sun, too. Congratulations!

Guy Bri, Thanks! That is an interesting approach looking at the size of each Park! Would never have thought of that measure. Miniland (full of huge models of different cities) is my favorite part, so my ranking would be based on how impressive the Miniland is. What criteria would the rest of you use to rank the Parks (if that info were available to us?) If others have specific comments about Parks they have visited, please share them here so we can use them to determine how much we want to visit each Park. With only one Park under my belt, I would rank Gunzburg very high for Miniland quality....Venice was my favorite, but the other cities were stunning as well. After we have visited several Parks, our ratings will change with more info in hand to rate them. Let the big time collecting of vacation days at work, credit card points and frequent flyer points begin! Tally ho!

Simply a masterpiece! An extraordinary scene that sends a clear message. Way to go!

Wow...just outstanding in all respects! The olive green roof is amazing. The window details are stunning, too. The use of tiles gives it a very finished look. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Good replies so far! Have you built something like these models before? If so, that could give you an idea of how long it took, how many parts were required and their cost. If you are buying the parts and giving the models to them, make sure that you mark up the parts as well because it takes a lot of time and effort to buy parts. And you may have to buy a lot more parts than you use in the project if you are not building to a plan with a published parts inventory. The budget of the client is critically important, too, because your charges have to be an amount they can afford. If possible, do sign a contract, and get around 25 per cent progress payments for each fourth of the work. Take a photo of each model while building it to document your labor and prove that you built each of the objects. Good luck with what sounds like a very entertaining project!