Michael Huffman

Here's my video from MineCon: And some of my pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mwhuffman/sets/72157637323608844/ with instructions on how to build Steve.--Mike.

BrickHaven 2012 is an AFOL Weekend Getaway designed for adult LEGO fans and their families, to be hosted at Legoland Florida on November 3rd & 4th, 2012. (See the web-site for registration). The weekend will include: - Discount park tickets - Two presentations -- one focused on the park (on Saturday), and one via model builder staff (on Sunday) - A in-park scavenger hunt with prizes - A catered BBQ lunch on Saturday - Limited MOC space if there is enough interest. In a covered area; volunteers to help watch the area whilst fans play in the park. - And other fun activities lined up, that you'll have to be registered to learn about! http://www.brick-haven.com/ http://www.facebook.com/groups/266150593496205/

Just wondering if anyone here will be at Star Wars Celebration VI next week? GFLUG will have a display there again. If so, please check our display out and introduce yourself.

As many of you already know, Legoland Florida will open its doors on Oct. 15th, 2011. Most of GFLUG has talked about going opening day & most of us have annual passes so we'll be there for the preview days as well. I expect it to be crazy, so I'm mentally preparing myself now for it. :) I'm curious to know how many people are planning to be there for the grand opening and how many of you are planning to hold off a few weeks before coming down? In the back of our LUG's mind, we've been thinking that we'd like to host an informal get-together -- maybe see if the park will give fans a back-stage tour of the park.. maybe have a build/Q&A session with a Model Builder from the park, focusing on what it took to open the park... maybe asking the park for a small space to display fan LEGO creations... maybe organize a few after-hours activities for fans... something casual, not crowded, or fast paced... something that could happen a few weekends after the grand opening or after the major holidays, after some of the craziness has died down... So we're looking at a few possible dates. Oct. 29 & 30 -- Brick Or Treat Weekend -- or something after the first of the year. I'm not looking for commitments, just throwing the idea out and seeing what the fan community would like to see/do at such an event, if our LUG was to help plan one. I love to hear what everyone thinks. Thanks, --Mike.

This is something new that a few of us are trying, we are going to try to stream the Brickworld Opening Ceremonies live on uStream at 7pm (Chicago time) tonight. Here's the main web-site for it: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/brickjournal You will be able to view it on the front page of the following web-sites: http://www.brickworld.us/ http://www.brickjournal.com/ http://www.brickbuildr.com/ You'll just need to have Flash. We will record it, and for play back later. Thanks, --Mike.

This is a call for participation in a Motorized LEGO Boat Race to be held at BrickMagic - a LEGO Fan event in Raleigh, North Carolina on May 7, 8, and 9, 2010 - Mother’s Day weekend! I had posted the rules awhile back & they have worked well for us at GFLUG for the past 2 years. I will probably amend the rules a little as it applies to BrickMagic and post the official ones on the BrickMagic web-site. There will be 2 to 3 different heaps -- simple (from one side of the pool to the other), simple (a lap of the pool; back and forth), and advance (around the pool and around obstacles). There will be trophies and prizes for winners and sinkers -- possible categories: Davy Jones Award for Boat that Sank the Fastest Doofensmirtz Award for Advanced Boat that Sank Itself Best Boat Float - Best Themed Boat Floatilla! Some disclaimers about the boat race: Everyone who participates must be an adult & understands the risks to their LEGO motorized boat; that no one will be responsible for water damaged parts, nor any part replacement. Everyone around the pool, everyone must exercise caution to not slip -- meaning no shoes & maybe wear swim attire, no running. There will be zero tolerance for alcohol during the race... afterwards is a different story. Disclaimer and rules are subject to change. If you have any questions, need clarification on rules, or just plan to participate, please send me e-mail. Some final thoughts: Always remember try out your boat in water before the event. Don’t over engineer the problem, sometime simpler is faster. Water-proof your electronics! Can’t stress this enough. There is a limited range to some LEGO electronics, this became painfully obvious as we maneuvered boats around the pool Mike Huffman BrickMagic Motorized LEGO Boat Race Coordinator

You silly Australians... I fixed the web-site so it'll work for you now. If you have any more problems with the web-site, let me know. If you're country doesn't have a state/province, you should pick 'N/A' for Not Applicable. I've been trying to make the web-site more friendly to those not in the US... --Mike.

I assume the minimum order per US LUG works out to about $1,000 USD, right? Or the going rate of $970? --Mike.

E-mail me the dimensions of the PaB wall, and I'll add it to BrickBuildr... or at least give me an idea of how many element containers it has... The interface to add/edit/delete parts should be simple enough. I maintain the Orlando store... I use the policy of matching parts to containers 1:1... it makes it a little easier to maintain the inventory (when I do have the time; it's been over a few weeks now since my last update). However, other people have taken the policy of buying a cup of one of each element type/color, then add them to the inventory in whatever order. You're welcome to use the web-site any way you find better for you. --Mike.

At Brickworld this year, I decided to give a presentation on the On-Line LEGO Community. When I came up with the idea, I just had a rough outline and some fragmented thoughts on the subject. I really didn't think I had much to say on the subject, but the more I thought about the LEGO community, certain ideas started to emerge. And I also thought that I wasn't best qualified person to do the presentation, but to be honest, I've been fascinated with the LEGO fan community for some time now -- the creativity, the personalities, the drama, and the fragmentation -- that such a diverse community should be spotlighted. Originally, I meant for the presentation to be more of a round table discussion... but circumstances didn't allow it to work out that way, so at the last minute, I threw together a slide presentation on my Mac. When I came up with the idea to talk about the On-Line LEGO Community, I meant for it to be an introduction to the on-line community to newbies; to (1) introduce them to some web-sites they may have never heard of before; (2) give them some tools for keeping up with the on-line community; (3) expose them to the diverse nature we call the LEGO community. But at the same time, for those of us who have been in the community for awhile, I wanted to (1) address some of the problems we're having as a fragmented community; (2) look at emerging technologies that might help overcome fragmentation; (3) think about the future and how to "play well" together; (4) steps in preserving our on-line past; and (5) ask ourselves how much involvement should TLG play in the development/preservation of the fan of LEGO community. Needless to say, there's a lot of topics to cover & I didn't cover them nearly as deeply as I would have liked. And after technical problems & 45 minutes of standing in-front of people talking, I needed a drink & started loosing steam -- it was fun, but I could have been better prepared. Today I added a section on "problems facing the LEGO fan community" that wasn't originally apart of presentation... Anyway, as I think more on the subject, I'll update the presentation (with a new date on the front page), hopefully with more details. I've already have a few more ideas that I want to add to it, but still trying to figure out where/when in the presentation they should go. Cheers, --Mike.

Sorry, I’ve been asleep at the wheel again. :) Workshop registration is now open (I just flipped the switch). You must be signed into the Brickworld web-site & be registered to attend. Under ‘Program’ click on ‘June 18, 2009’, then under each workshop, there will be a link ‘register for workshop’. Click the link under the workshop you desire to register for. --Mike.

My Flickr Gallery Todd Thuma's Flickr Gallery Joe Meno's Flickr Gallery --Mike.

Found this in the Orlando store Sunday afternoon: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mwhuffman/3281922671/ --Mike.

GFLUG will be doing MegaCon 2009, Feb. 27 - March 1, 2009 in Orlando, FL. GFLUG have a 50’x50’ display area, half of the area will be a LEGO MOC display and the other half of it will be an adult “play area”. The theme for MegaCon 2009 is “WestWorld”. There will be a city filled with rampaging monsters, super-heroes fighting super-villains, & hungry zombies; a large scale east vs. west castle MOC battle scene; a futuristic space port; and robots shooting it out at the 64K corral; with other homages to the club’s favorite sci-fi/anime/geek shows! There will also be table-top games recreated in LEGO -- KK Quah will have a LEGO-ize version of Command and Colors (by Richard Borg and GMT Games). This will be GFLUG’s first time displaying at MegaCon. MegaCon is a spring-time event, so it’d make a nice spring break get-away! --Mike.

Some of you already know about BrickBuildr, but I wanted to take a moment and let everyone know about some new features on BrickBuildr. Taking the wiki model for sharing information, now anyone can update the iPaB database with a few simple clicks! From the “View iPaB Walls” page, select a store, then select a container or bubble. From there you’ll be able to select a part to go into that container (don’t forget to enter the 2 digit code), then voilà! The database is updated! Check it out and let me know what you think. Your next question might be, “How come my store isn’t in the drop down list?” You can help out by telling me how big you’re local store’s PaB wall is. Just message me, and I’ll add it very quickly. :) --Mike.

For those of you that don't know, Greater Florida LEGO User Group (or GFLUG) is having their annual Festival of the Masters display in front of the LEGO Imagination Center in Orlando, Florida this weekend. Our theme this year is "Transportation: Past, Present, & Beyond", so all of our MOCs are somehow tied back to our theme -- you'll see pictures of our MOCs in Joe's Flickr stream, or mine. We should be posting pictures all weekend from the event. When I learned that there would be a Pirate build at the LIC this weekend, I suspected that maybe they might have the new pirates sets for sale in the store. However, when I walked in the store this morning, I didn't think it would be the whole 2009 pirate line (minus the impulse set). And for those of you familiar with the Build-a-Minifig at the Orlando store (3 figs with accessories for $10), there is a Build-a-Minifig tent near the GFLUG display where they have typical BaM pieces, but also with 2009 pirate torso, heads, legs, and accessories! I'll post pictures tomorrow after we set up our display. --Mike.

Sorry... been a little busy...

Actually, I'm just an admin for a LEGO Flickr group that's a fan of classic LEGO pirates, not a Yahoo group. :-) Yes, I know of you'll. I'm a fan of LEGO pirates... I always have been since coming out of my dark ages. It was LEGO pirates that got me out of my dark ages. Anyway, I'm not trying to take the name over. I've been thinking that LEGO pirates needed just as much visibility on Flickr as the space, castle & train groups. So instead of waiting around for one of you'll to create the group, I created it. And asked a few people to add their pictures to the group, including Mister007. I'm willing to make anyone who wants to be an admin for the Flickr group to make them an admin... (Mister007 is an admin for the group), or even step aside if a group of others want to admin the group. Anyway, I've added a link to the forums here, so if anyone on Flickr is looking for LEGO pirate, they should be able to find your group. --Mike. These photos were taken at Brickfest, during one of the Steve's pirate games that Frank ran. And yes, BrickBuildr was created to help the LEGO community find LEGO related pictures on Flickr, due to some of the complaints about Flickr I was hearing over on LUGNET. Please join and share your pictures, if you have a Flickr account. --Mike.

On one hand, it looked like the Time Cruisers was just a ploy to get rid of themed elements out of Lego's warehouse, but on the other hand, I'd kill to find a #6493 Flying Time Vessel still on the shelf for full price... well, maybe half priced. ;-) I think at the time, the line angered a lot of AFOLs, but now with the movie tie-ins, the color changes, the reduced element count, the cost-cutting measure Lego is taking, the theme really wasn't that bad... Now, Galidor on the other hand, wtf where they thinking? Toy companies should stick to making toys, not cartoons or kid's shows. Lego is good at coming up with basic story ideas for their toys, but beyond that, they miss the mark... I understand why Lego wants to partner with Lucas, Warner-Brothers, & Cartoon Network, but Lego back off on some of the licenses deals... --Mike.

No offence taken... And well... this post wasn't to just promote my website... I've been following the death of Lugnet thread over on Lugnet & someone pointed to this Lego community... I've been to this site before, but mainly from links through Japanese blogs... I plan to participate more... that why one of my first questions was about RSS feeds... I get most of my Lego community information/news via subscribed feeds through Bloglines now... it makes it handy for following discussion threads & to know when the sites been updated... especially for dead forums like LegoFan... And I try to participate in the discussions when I can, or feel like I have something valuable to say, but the first step is to either start visiting the site daily or figure out how to subscribe to this forum via bloglines... :-) --Mike.

I am pleased to announce the BrickNebula PodCast, Episode 14: Going Batty. In our latest podcast, Dave & I talk about the new Batman, Mindstorms NXT, V-Pods and more! Thanks for listening & have fun! --Mike & Dave *vader*

Uhm... what's the URL to it? *wacko*

Is there a RSS/XML/Atom Feed for EuroBrick's Forums or news page? Thanks, --Mike.