Designer Robot

For me, the Creator theme is one of the great unsung LEGO heroes. LEGO have been pumping out Creator sets since 2001 - 297 sets at last count, the vast majority of which have been unheralded and unhyped, at least until the advent of the Creator Expert line this year. Admittedly, Creator sets can be a bit of a mixed bag, but there's invariably at least one or two every year that catch my eye. Creator sets are usually cheaper than average, not least because of the lack of expensive licensing fees, and they generally contain fewer specialised parts, making them better parts packs for general building. With the exception of the Creator Expert sets, they also characteristically include building instructions for more than one model.

Over the years, a number of Creator sub-themes have come and gone, for instance the short-lived Creator Inventor line consisting of 4 sets released in 2003, and the Creator Designer subtheme which hung around for 3 years from 2003 until 2005 and brought with it an impressive array of 54 sets, although a lot of those were polybags. Buried within those 54 sets are a few genuinely interesting offerings which could easily slip under the radar, and for that reason I'm bringing you a review of one of them today - Set 4508 Titan XP.

The box has a sizeable footprint - it's 15 inches (38 cm) square. The front of the box (above - click to enlarge) features an action shot of the Titan XP robot against a backdrop of blurry CGI brick and plate outlines; this backdrop is part of the Creator Designer branding, appearing on the packaging of other 2004 Creator Designer sets as well. On the bottom right of the box are a couple of small inset pictures highlighting play features of the set, and on the bottom left is really the only clue so far that the set contains parts and instructions for more than just the Titan XP model. The back of the box (below - click to enlarge) shows the Titan XP robot from behind, plus pictures of the supplementary models for which instructions are provided.

The front of the box lifts up to reveal the contents - a generous 784 parts plus an instruction booklet, although there's no DSS and no minifigures. The presence of just one instruction booklet is somewhat surprising given the substantial parts count and all the alternate builds, but it's pretty hefty - A4 sized and 104 pages from cover to cover. The front cover (below) is almost identical to the front of the box.

There's a summary of the models for which instructions are provided inside the front cover (below). The different builds are graded by difficulty level; the 'Quick' build consists of a couple of small robots, while the intermediate, or "Experienced' build, is a larger two-legged robot which morphs into a flying machine, and Titan XP is obviously the 'Advanced' model.

The overwhelming majority of the instruction booklet is of course taken up with building instructions for the various models; the only advertising to be found is on the back cover (below) which highlights the other 2004 Creator Designer sets. Note the typo beneath the shark - that's actually Set 4506 Deep Sea Predators rather than Set 4507 which can be seen immediately below. See what I mean about some of these sets slipping beneath the radar ? There's some good stuff there....

The instruction booklet also contains a full inventory of the parts contained within the set, and we'll get on to the spectacular parts palette momentarily. My copy of the set is a used example which I sourced from eBay, and as you can see from the picture below it looks like the previous owner wasn't quite as obsessive about the condition of his/her instruction booklets as I am...

Regular readers of this blog will know that I like to highlight a few parts of interest when I'm reviewing a set. I have to say however that I really had my work cut out with this set - parts-wise it's a veritable treasure trove, and sorting through all the unusual and/or rare elements took me ages. For starters, I don't think I've ever seen a set containing quite such a large selection of sand blue parts; this rare colour has recently made a bit of a comeback in Set 10218 Pet Shop but other than that it must be close to a decade since the appearance of sand blue parts in sets. And not only does the Titan XP set contain a huge variety of different sand blue parts (you can see a selection of them in the picture below - click to enlarge), but a number of them have only ever appeared in this set. Unique parts include the sand blue 2 x 2 corner brick and corner plate, the modified 1 x 1 plate with tooth, the 1 x 6 x 2 arch with curved top, a number of different 45 degree slope bricks of various types, the left and right 6 x 2 inverted wedges and the 1 x 2 stepped vehicle fairing with two pins which you can see near the middle of the picture. Other sand blue parts in the set including the left and right 3 x 2 and 4 x 2 wedge plates have only ever appeared in a couple of sets, and none of them have appeared in more than 7 sets.

And it doesn't stop there - in addition to all the sand blue elements there are a host of elements in other colours which are worthy of mention. A number of the orange parts in the picture below are unique to this set, including the modified 2 x 2 brick with the rotation ball joint, the modified 1 x 2 tile with handle and the left and right 4 x 2 wedge plates, as is the chrome silver 1 x 1 round plate. All other parts in the picture below have appeared in fewer than 10 sets, with the majority being restricted to just 1 or 2 sets in addition to the Titan XP. Note the dark bley minifigure legs with light bley hips; as previously stated, this set doesn't contain any actual minifigures, and you'll see later how those minifig legs are pressed into alternative service. While it's always nice to get your hands on a set overflowing with rare parts, the obvious downside if you're buying pre-owned is that you'll be unable to cannabalise parts from your other sets if there's anything missing, although there's always Bricklink....

And so on to the build.... The alternate models didn't really grab me, to be honest - I sometimes start off with the supplementary models when I tackle a Creator set, but not on this occasion - so I jumped straight to page 62 of the instruction booklet and the Titan XP build. First up were the robot's legs and feet. Almost immediately I found myself having some difficulties with colour discrimination in the building instructions; sand blue was surprisingly difficult to distinguish from the different greys in artificial light, although the instructions were otherwise pretty easy to follow. You can see one of the Titan's feet below (click to enlarge) - big, chunky and featuring a number of the rare sand blue parts I mentioned earlier. The legs attach to the feet via a Technic rotation joint - if you look closely you can just about see the black pin which will slot into the rotation joint socket at the bottom of the leg peeking out from the top of the foot.

The completed legs and feet can be seen in the picture below (click to enlarge). Including the 'hips' and 'ankles', each leg features no less than 4 different points of articulation, of which 3 utilise Technic rotation joints. In theory, all these points of articulation confer almost unlimited possibilities when it comes to posing the model, although in practice there's a major trade-off which I'll get to shortly....

The torso and head (below - click to enlarge) are rather quicker to assemble than the legs and feet. Once again sand blue and orange are prominent, with a few chrome silver round 1 x 1 plates adding some additional bling. The light bley columns protruding from the top of the head can be angled further outwards if desired and the black 'back pack' can detach, but rather surprisingly the head itself is fixed and can't be rotated without modification.

Once the torso and head are complete it's time to build and attach the arms, complete with monstrous 1980's-style shoulder pads. The upper body can be then be dropped onto the legs and we're done (picture below - click to enlarge); the upper body attaches by way of a single pin, allowing it to rotate a full 360 degrees. Note the ingenious use of minifigure legs as the Titan XP's fingers.

First impressions are that the proportions aren't quite right - to my eyes the upper body and head seem too small for the arms and legs. That having been said, at around 14 inches / 36 cm in height it's still a fairly imposing model, and taller I think than any other 'official' LEGO robot or mech that I've previously built. You can get a better look at how the legs and arms fit together via the side-on view below (click to enlarge). The construction of the legs brings to mind a crazy paving mosaic from this angle, but the effect isn't quite so jarring "in the flesh".

Many of the LEGO robots and mechs I've built in the past have had a decidedly unfinished look when viewed from behind. The Titan XP doesn't suffer the same fate, however, with the back having a significantly more polished appearance (below - click to enlarge) than many other sets I could mention. This view reveals the preponderance of sand blue in the legs, and you can also clearly see the rather cool sand blue pods projecting backwards and downwards from the lower part of the legs. 

As previously mentioned, the multiple articulation points allow for a substantial range of movement and mean that the Titan XP can be manipulated into a variety of neat poses like the one below (click to enlarge). The downside of this is that the sheer weight of the model seems to overwhelm the joints in the legs, making the model decidedly unstable and liable to collapse or overbalance. Having just recently completed one large and somewhat unstable mechanical beast with legs, it's really quite ironic that the next model I end up building should also turn out to be a large, somewhat unstable mechanical beast with legs.....

It seems a bit bonkers for LEGO to have incurred the costs associated with including so many unique elements in this relatively low profile set, but I'm pleased they did - what an awesome colour scheme ! The combination of sand blue and orange, and the stripes on the legs, bring to mind the livery of the iconic Gulf Porsche (below) from 1970 which only makes me like the Titan XP more.... OK, so the Porsche is more medium blue than sand blue but hopefully you get my drift...

To give you an idea of scale, I've posed the Titan XP alongside an Exo Force mech that I reviewed a while back - Set 7714 Golden Guardian from 2007 (picture below - click to enlarge). While the Golden Guardian is admittedly smaller and can't be posed as easily, it's a lot more stable.

Containing 784 pieces and released in 2004, Set 4508 Titan XP really is a hidden gem buried deep within the Creator back catalogue. It's by no means perfect - the proportions don't look quite right to me and it's horribly unstable - but aided and abetted by that wonderful colour scheme I think it looks spectacular, and then there's the unique parts palette.... If you're looking to pick one up then eBay is probably your cheapest bet if you're willing to wait for one to come up - I paid less than £20 plus shipping for my used copy about a year ago. Otherwise head over to Bricklink - at time of writing the cheapest used example with a box is around £45 plus shipping, and you can get a new, sealed copy for little more than £50. Given that the RRP back in 2004 was £34.99 that's a veritable bargain I reckon.

UCS AT-AT : They think it's all over...

When I last wrote, the various AT-AT sections had finally been completed, so it should simply have been a case of putting them all together and the AT-AT would be done. As I'm sure you've gathered by now, however, nothing about this project has been simple, and there were actually a couple of things I'd need to do before I could embark upon final assembly....

Firstly, as I've mentioned a number of times during this seemingly interminable journey, the LDD files I've been following were in very much 'first draft' status when I received them, and predictably enough a number of issues have been identified. Cavegod (Pete), the AT-AT's designer, has dutifully revised the LDD files along the way, but there was consequently always going to be a need for me to make a few tweaks to the various completed sections prior to final assembly of the model. Much of the last week or so has therefore been spent making these modifications, some of which necessitated a wait for a couple of Bricklink orders to arrive.

The biggest issue to remedy involved the internal skeleton of the body (above) which thanks to a mistake in the LDD file ended up one stud too long and therefore needed chopping down to size. This sounds potentially quite involved, but in practice it wasn't too big a deal, particularly as Pete has now revised the offending LDD file so I could closely study the necessary modifications and implement them. A further issue concerned the dark bley platforms which project out from the sides of the body, one on each side (you can see one of them in the picture above); these structures were unfinished and slightly out of position on the original LDD file. Once again the LDD file has now been corrected, and thankfully the necessary modifications were straightforward, although they did require a few additional parts.

Lastly, I decided to make a couple of tweaks to increase the stability of the legs as I was nervous about their ability to support the weight of the AT-AT's body. The joint between the foot and the lower part of the leg (above) isn't very strong, and as a consequence, when the leg pivots at the ankle and the weight of the body is applied there's a risk of the leg giving way. This is guaranteed to bring 6000+ pieces crashing down so is to be avoided if at all possible.... Following some discussion, Pete suggested a simple modification to help support the leg when it's in a flexed position, and in addition to this I made a couple of further tweaks to increase the strength of the ankle joint and offer additional support and stability. Only when these had been completed did I feel sufficiently confident to proceed with final assembly of the AT-AT.

So here we go, then.... Step 1 : Attach neck to body. A couple of Technic pins protruding forward from the front of the body act as a guide to ensure that the neck is in position, after which the neck can be firmly bolted on by threading a bley Technic axle down through a series of interlocking, overlapping Technic liftarms sticking out from the neck and body. You can see the results below - click the pictures to enlarge them.

Step 2 : Attach the legs. Before I even attempted this came the realisation that with the legs attached, the AT-AT would be too big for my rudimentary photographic layout.... So where to build and photograph it ? Well, I didn't want to assemble it on my floor on the basis that the carpet wouldn't provide a firm base for the AT-AT to stand on. That, and I really didn't fancy its chances of surviving for long on the floor in the middle of my study. A solution was found in the form of the tables which support my work-in-progress LEGO City layout; thanks to my glacial rate of progress (yes, yes - I know I promised to provide an update on that project about a year ago, but I've been busy....) there's still a huge empty space in the middle of it. A space big enough for a colossal AT-AT, in fact. The downside is that there's no nice plain backdrop there to photograph the AT-AT against, so apologies for that - you'll just have to live with the distracting background until I can find a way of properly photographing it....

OK, adequate space located, it was time to figure out how on earth to go about precariously perching the body on top of the legs. Having tried to lift the body with one hand a few months back with catastrophic results (my hand-hold came away from the body, which proceeded to plummet to the floor and distintegrate on hitting the floor....) I decided to call for help. Pete tells me he's built a handle for the body of his AT-AT to allow him to attach the legs single-handedly, but I've yet to do this, and so it was that my reluctant wife was called into action and asked to hold the body of the AT-AT at just the right height for me to attach the legs. Attaching the legs involved threading a single Technic axle through the top of each leg and into the lower part of the body; the outer end of each axle also holds in place the large printed dishes that you can see at the top of each leg. Once each leg was attached, there came a point when I had to tell my wife to carefully let go of the body to see whether the legs would support the weight without collapsing. I don't mind admitting that this was incredibly nerve-wracking - if I hadn't seen Pete's AT-AT in the flesh I would have doubted that the legs could hold the weight. We both held our breath, but thankfully the legs held firm, and with a huge sigh of relief I stepped back and recorded the moment for posterity below (click to enlarge).

Step 3 : Attach the sides of the body. Here the concern was less about actually attaching the sides to the body and more about the fear that all the pushing and pulling involved in getting the sides into the right position and bolting them to the Technic frame would destabilise the legs, causing them to give way and bring everything crashing down. The other potential problem I faced was the fragility of the sides themselves - as previously described they're not very robust and have a tendency to break apart at the slightest excuse. In the event, attaching the sides turned out to be reasonably straightforward and didn't even require the help of my glamorous assistant. The sides are suspended from the top of the body's Technic frame by a couple of Technic pins with stop bush, and they rest at the correct angle relative to the body as a result of being pushed outwards by the platforms projecting from the sides of the body. The only complication did in fact turn out to be the fragility of the sides themselves - they broke apart a couple of times while I was trying to manipulate them into the correct position for attachment, setting me back a few minutes on each occasion while I effected a repair. Eventually it was done, and you can see the AT-AT with one and then both sides attached below (click pictures to enlarge).

Step 4 : Attach the head. This somewhat unexpectedly turned out to be one of the trickiest jobs. As you can see in the pictures above, projecting forwards from the front of the neck is a black rectangular structure with a couple of bley tiles on top and a bley Technic pin sticking out of the front. This structure slides into a slot inside the AT-AT's head, and the pin anchors it when it's in the correct position. Sounds simple. Lining up the head, getting the structure into the slot and getting the pin to click into place took a number of attempts, though, and all the while I was sweating that all the pushing and pulling would make the whole thing collapse. The head is quite fragile, and with all the pressure I was applying I managed to break the windscreen and roof section off the head. This however turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it ended up being easier to slide the head on to the neck without the roof being attached as I could better see what I was doing. Once the head was locked into position I carefully replaced the roof and windscreen and took the picture below (click to enlarge); the gap between the side of the head and the roof is a little wider than it should be as a result of all the pushing and pulling but this should be easy enough to fix with a bit of careful manipulation...

Step 5 : Cover the body. The roof which covers the body of the AT-AT consists of 3 distinct sections which are dropped into place one at a time. Fitting the roof sections was pretty straightforward - all sit on top of the upper edges of the sides of the body - and the fit was mostly pretty good although a little final tweaking is still needed in a couple of places. Also, the rear section has a tendency to slide backwards, and I'm going to need to add a stop to the underside to prevent this. The completed AT-AT with the roof sections fitted can be seen below.

And the finishing touch ? Well, no Star Wars UCS model is complete without a display plaque to go with it, and fellow AT-AT builder Morten has designed a suitable display sticker (below) which I now have a copy of, so thanks, Morten !

And so more than 11 months after I published my first post about building a copy of Pete's AT-AT it's finally finished ! Although I've seen Pete's original on a number of occasions I have to admit that I was still taken aback by the sheer size of the thing when I'd finished building my own - it's absolutely huge ! The scale is somewhat hard to convey, but the rebel pilot minifigure that I've posed on the top of the AT-AT's body in the picture below (click to enlarge) should hopefully give you a sense of how massive it is....

Regarding the final piece count, it was around 6,220, give or take; I can't offer an exact figure as it's calculated from the first draft of the LDD files which contain a few errors as previously mentioned, plus I've made a few minor modifications along the way to improve stability. So let's say 6,250 for the sake of argument. And the cost ? Well, I had around a third of the pieces already, and I estimate that the rest cost me about £600 including shipping, although I'm certain I could have done it cheaper if I'd shopped around more; I believe that fellow AFOL Rocao recently managed to source the necessary parts for around $600 excluding shipping, and Pete reckons that the whole lot only cost him £250...(!)

And lastly, was it worth the effort and the cost ? Well, on the one hand I can safely say that it's been quite the most frustrating build I've ever experienced, by a country mile. Admittedly this was in part because I was to some extent a guinea pig. working with the first draft of Pete's LDD files, but mostly it's just because it's a mighty tricky build at times. It's also nerve-wracking to put all the sections together, wildy impractical to display, and can't be moved when constructed.... But despite all of that, just look at the thing ! As a huge Star Wars fan, and indeed someone for whom the AT-AT is perhaps my favourite vehicle from the Star Wars universe, it's definitely been worth all the expense and pain to see this monster standing proudly in my house. Massive kudos to Pete for designing the thing and putting together a set of LDD files for it, and if anyone wants to get hold of a copy of the most recent version of the LDD files and have a go at building one yourself then please get in touch and I'll forward your details to Pete.

So what now ? Well, plans are afoot to show the AT-AT later this year at a public event where it'll be part of a display featuring a number of big Star Wars MOCs - I'll share more details in due course. Until then I think I'll just stare at the finished model with a huge grin on my face while I decide what to build next....

 < -- Building the AT-AT : Part 10

UCS AT-AT : The Home Straight

So, not far short of one whole year after I published the first blog posting on my quest to build a copy of Cavegod's UCS AT-AT (you can read about how it all began here if you missed it) I finally find myself in clear sight of the finishing line, and with only one section left to build before I can finally put all the sections together.

A year, it seems, is a long time in the world of Star Wars MOCs; Cavegod (Pete) has teased me mercilessly about my slow rate of progress, and fellow AT-AT builder Morten has also recently started to wind me up about the time it's taking, while texting me pictures of his amazing UCS Nebulon B Frigate which he's also managed to finish in the time it's taken me to not-yet-finish the AT-AT....

The final remaining section is the right side of the body; I think I dragged my heels even more than usual recently because I struggled so much building the left side. Thing is, I do actually have a deadline for finishing the AT-AT - October of this year, of which more in a future posting - so I figured that I really needed to pull my finger out and get on with it. With this in mind, I booted up LDD and loaded up the last remaining LDD file (picture below - click to enlarge).

As discussed at length in my previous AT-AT posting, brick outlines are at last once again visible for me on LDD after an extended period of them being greyed out in the menu and inaccessible; it makes following the building guide one hell of a lot easier. As you can see in the bottom left-hand corner of the picture, the right side of the body consists of a total of 722 pieces, which is a dead giveaway that it isn't just a mirror image of the 720 piece left side.

As you might expect with something of this size, generating the building guide (which thankfully only requires a single click of the green and yellow button visible on the top right of the screengrab above) takes a couple of minutes. Interestingly, the building guide for the left side of the AT-AT body split the build into front, mid, rear and lower sections. The guide for the right side just dives straight in to the mid-section, however, and then literally continues the build into the rear and lower sections as you can see in the example page from the building guide below; only the front section is built separately and attached in the final step. There's really no good reason for this difference in approach, but then I've long since given up trying to understand the eccentricities of the LDD building guide generator - it's a law unto itself, and I suspect that any attempt to second guess anything it does would be futile.

As some of you will recall, I had massive problems with the left side of the AT-AT body, specifically attaching the front and rear sections to the larger mid-section. This was mainly because the sub-assemblies which join the sections together - basically a whole bunch of 2 x 3 slopes mounted on a couple of long plates - were warped and therefore struggled to bear any weight. Anyway, I think I figured out the cause of the warping.... Below (click to enlarge) you can see a picture of two 2 x 3 slopes placed upside down and side by side. The slope on the left is from the batch that I used to build the left side of the body; if you look closely at the two anti-studs on the underside you can see that their walls are thickened in some areas. The slope on the right is from a new batch that I bought when I got suspicious that there was a problem with the slopes I'd used for the left side; here the anti-studs don't have corresponding areas of thickening on their walls. I used the new batch of slopes to build the right side of the body and the warping issue was far less evident. I'm not sure if the slope on the left is from a faulty batch, or if it's a normal variant - if any readers can shed any light on this then please post a comment or drop me an e-mail. I'm pretty sure however that this 'feature' was at the root of my problems, and I'll swap out the faulty (?) slopes from the left side too when I get a chance.

Having identified the above problem in advance of getting started on the right side of the body, construction turned out to be reasonably straightforward, and was accomplished in just a few hours spread over 3 evenings. The front section was a bit unstable and needed some simple modification to stiffen it up a bit, but otherwise everything came together with relatively little fuss, and you can see the end result below (click to enlarge).

Taking a close look at the picture above, I can see that some of the joins between the various sections aren't as tight as they might be, but that should be fairly easily remedied with a bit of (carefully applied) pressure in appropriate areas; the fact that I was reluctant to apply much in the way of brute force to push all the sections together is a reflection of my bad previous experiences with the left side of the body when the application of just a little too much pressure in the wrong place was enough to break the blasted thing into many pieces....

As previously stated, the two sides of the AT-AT aren't symmetrical. Both the front and rear sections below (click to enlarge) are slightly diffferent from their counterparts on the left side of the body. Anyone out there with time on their hands can therefore feel free to play a game of "AT-AT spot the difference" should they so desire, although if that's you then you might want to consider getting out more.

One thing of note on the rear section above is the flash of blue visible in the upper left quadrant. This is down to a couple of blue Technic half pins. I really need to ask Pete whether this is intentional, or whether something's supposed to be attached to them; in the event that they're actually supposed to look that way I'll replace them with the equivalent parts in bley.

So that's it, then - all sections completed, and 6215 pieces used by my best estimate (plus a few extras to provide a little additional stability in places). Which means that all that should be left for me to do is the small matter of joining all the completed sections together into the finished AT-AT - not long to wait now !

 < -- Building the AT-AT : Part 9                              Building the AT-AT : Part 11 -- >

LEGO Inside Tour 2013 part 2

Last time I wrote (click here for details), Day 1 of the LEGO Inside Tour was over and I was on my way to bed. Day 2 started with a rushed breakfast as I raced to get to the hotel lobby for our 08.50 rendez-vous.

Billund was bathed in glorious sunshine, and we all declined the offer of a coach transfer so we could take a short walk in the sun to our first destination of the day, Factory Astvej, the deceptively unassuming building (above) where loose elements become LEGO sets and minifigures are assembled. The reception area at Astvej featured the fantastic 3+ meter high rendition of the LEGO logo below; a closer look revealed that this is made of minifigures, and if the receptionist is to be believed, there's one minifigure for every LEGO employee. Also on display in the reception area were number of Summer 2013 releases spanning various different themes including Friends, Galaxy Squad and Creator.

Our guides for the morning were Aksel and Jan. They split us into two groups and kitted us out with high visibility vests and wireless earpieces so that they could be heard above the noise of the factory. The area beyond the reception was strictly "no photographs", and just to ensure that nobody would be tempted to grab a few cheeky snaps, all cameras and camera phones were collected with the promise that they'd be put straight on eBay as soon as we were out of sight....

The two groups started their tours at different points along the proscribed route. My group, expertly hosted by Aksel, started out with a demonstration of how designs are printed onto LEGO elements, using an old hand-operated printing press to illustrate the process. During the demonstration my eyes were drawn to a nearby display of pristine old sets dating back to the 1970's and 1980's. We were then taken to the automated production lines where we followed the progress of loose LEGO elements from bulk crates to finished sets. Elements are carried along conveyer belts and are counted, sorted and dropped into bags; the bags are then sealed and dropped into boxes which have themselves just been formed from printed sheets of cardboard which are mechanically folded into shape and glued. Once the correct bags have been dropped into their corresponding boxes, a sensor checks that the bags are lying sufficiently flat prior to gluing the boxes shut; this is just one of a number of checks that are conducted before the finished sets are finally packed away in their shipping boxes - they're also weighed to a high level of accuracy during the process to ensure that all elements are present and correct, and pictures of individual sealed sets are taken from multiple angles, the pictures being electronically compared with pictures of a 'perfect' box. Any sigificant deviation from what's expected results in the set being rejected and later inspected by an actual person rather than a machine. Finally, shipping boxes full of pristine sets are stacked on pallets and then shrink-wrapped by a truly fearsome-looking machine which flails around the pallets at high speed wrapping the stacks of boxes in the LEGO equivalent of cling film.

Next we were taken to the minifigure assembly area. Again, minifigure assembly is an entirely automated process - minifigure torsos travel along a conveyer belt, arms are snapped on and designs are then printed on to the torsos in what is often a multi-stage process of layering one part of the design on top of another. Before any of this happens, however, a black rectangle is printed on to the front of the peg at the top of the torso where the head will eventually attach; this printed mark is detected by a sensor and acts as a double check that the torso is facing in the right direction prior to assembly and printing. The precision and speed of the operation was highly impressive, churning out huge numbers of perfect, identical minifigure torsos in the short time we were there.

LEGO branded bicycles - the next bestseller ?

Our tour of Astvej concluded, we headed back to the reception area where a waiting coach whisked us off to our next destination, Kornmarken. It's here that tonnes of ABS granulate arrive every day and are turned into the LEGO elements that we know and love. The Kornmarken facility is absolutely huge, stretching for half a kilometer from end to end. We started out with a look at the storage area; thousands of crates containing literally billions of LEGO elements are stacked to a height of up to 20 meters in astonishing LEGO cathedrals. These are serviced by fully automated robots which can apparently locate and fetch a specified crate within 2 minutes. The scale is literally staggering, and the only shame was that the system was being serviced on the day we visited so we didn't get to see it in action. We then walked a couple of hundred meters along the main corridor to a concrete-fortified bunker in the heart of the building which houses the most precious items in the building - the element moulds. These cost anything from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars each to buy depending on the complexity of the element that they produce, which explains why they're stored in a room which would likely survive the apocalypse....

Souvenirs from Kornmarken

A further short walk along the main corridor took us to a long hall full of injection moulding machines. Above our heads we could hear a swishing sound. This was coming from pipes suspended below the ceiling, and was the sound of ABS granulate being piped from the storage silos to the moulding machines. There was something really special about walking past rows and rows of these machines while they were giving birth to brand spanking new LEGO bricks and plates. Not only that, but these elements would still have been warm to the touch had we been allowed to get our eager hands on them.... Bright light yellow 1 x 2 x 5 bricks, black 2 x 6 plates, tan 2 x 4 bricks, every machine we passed was pumping out a different element in a different colour, and the temptation to plunge my arms into the crates full of brand new elements right up to my elbows was almost irresistable; for the sake of my continued participation on the Tour I'm glad I didn't succumb to the urge, however. Too soon we were back at the front entrance of the factory, boarding the coach, and on to our next destination - LEGO's Havremarken facility. Here we were once again split into two groups, with my group initially whisked off to the warehouse where parts orders placed via LEGO Customer Service are fulfilled by an efficient team of parts pickers. Bins of elements were lined up row after row; interestingly, these bins are arranged at random, with like elements and like colours kept apart from each other to reduce the chances of errors in the picking process. My group were then taken to a conference room where we were met by Mark and Jeanette from LEGO's Community and Moderation team. Over coffee and nibbles we heard about their efforts to keep the LEGO forums safe for kids, and then we participated in an exercise to see if we would make suitable moderators ourselves.

A buffet lunch followed, after which we were whisked off to LEGO's Employee Store at Klovermarken and let loose. I have to say that the 50 minutes that followed were arguably the shortest 50 minutes that I have ever experienced... The store is huge, selling an impressive variety of branded LEGO clothing and other merchandise in addition to most currently available sets, and all items are available at a considerable discount from the Danish RRP. Even though LEGO products are generally more expensive in Denmark than the UK, the available discounts were such that prices still worked out cheaper than UK prices, and cheaper still when compared with prices in Australia, to the delight of fellow attendee Kristel who was visiting from Down Under. The clearance section, which included a number of sets from retiring themes such as Alien Conquest, Cars and Harry Potter, featured particularly tempting prices.... The store was predictably plundered by the Inside Tourists who stacked up an impressive haul of items; amongst other things, I couldn't resist grabbing a bunch of Galaxy Squad sets, which up to that point had yet to appear in the UK. We'd been told prior to our shopping spree that LEGO would ship up to two large boxes of purchased sets back to our homes anywhere in the world free of charge; it's exactly that sort of thing which illiustrates just how much care and thought the organisers had put in to making the Inside Tour experience really special for attendees.

Galaxy Squad - part of my Employee Store haul....

From the Employee Store we were taken by coach to the LEGO's Innovation House where many of the LEGO designers are based. Truth be told it was a little frustrating to be marched straight into one of the meeting rooms and not to have the opportunity of taking a look around and getting a sneak peek at what the designers were working on, although given LEGO's ever-present concerns about confidentiality it wasn't exactly surprising. What was surprising was the mention of some of the Inside Tour attendees in the presentation that followed. Yun Mi from LEGO's Community Events and Engagement (CEE) Team gave a talk on the subject of AFOLs, during which she put up slides highlighting some of the activities of Huw, Tim and myself within the AFOL community; it was most unexpected to see my real name and online username up on the screen together with photographs I'd taken and posted on this very blog. It certainly left me in no doubt that the LEGO company is well aware of what the AFOL community is up to and the contributions that AFOLs make in promoting the LEGO brand worldwide.

We returned by coach to the hotel late afternoon for a couple of hours of rest and relaxation prior to reconvening for dinner at 6.30 pm in a Western-themed restaurant on the LEGOLAND site. We were once again joined for dinner by a large group of designers, after which we all walked back to a conference room at the LEGOLAND hotel for the results of the previous day's design challenge, which was judged by the designers. You won't be surprised to learn that my entry (see previous post for details) didn't win. Still, what do the judges know - they're only LEGO designers...(!) We ended up chatting to some of the designers for ages; given that designing LEGO models is their day job, they could have been forgiven for wanting to shut up shop and forget all about it at the end of the working day, but not a bit of it - their enthusiasm shone through, and some of them hung around to chat late into the early hours.

The slightly later start on Friday morning was extremely welcome after Thursday's packed itinerary and late night. We once again convened in a conference room in the LEGOLAND Hotel where were were met by Claus, events manager for LEGOLAND Billund. Claus gave us a brief history lesson on the subject of the LEGOLAND parks, including the sale of the parks to the current owners, Merlin Entertainments, and their plans for the 'Billund Resort'. We were then treated to a backstage tour of LEGOLAND Billund, the highlight of which was a visit to the model shop. It's here that Miniland models are built and maintained, and also where LEGO exhibits destined for other LEGOLAND parks and Discovery Centers around the globe are constructed by a team of model makers. Tim and I immediately dived into the drawers of elements used by the model makers, jealously coveting the rare elements in colours not available to us lesser mortals. I'd have taken some pictures, were it not for the fact that our cameras and camera phones were once again sequestered prior to entering the building. Other backstage areas we got to see included the maintenance facility where the LEGOLAND rides are serviced, and the walkways above the secret caves which form part of the Pirate Boat ride.

The youngsters then departed for the Toyota Traffic School, leaving the rest of us to enjoy an hour or two wandering around LEGOLAND. Having already spent time in the park on both the previous days I assumed I'd seen most of it; turns out that it's quite a lot bigger than I realised, and I kept discovering areas I'd not previously stumbled upon, notably Polar Land featuring the 65 km/h Polar X-plorer rollercoaster and real live penguins (I have a thing about penguins so this was a real thrill for me !). Lunch was a delicious hot buffet eaten in the castle which forms the focal point of the Knight's Kingdom area of the park, after which we made our way back to the LEGOLAND hotel for the official farewell and the end of the Inside Tour.

LEGO Senior Vice President Jesper Vilstrup wrapped things up, thanking us for coming on the tour and wishing us well. Prior to sending us on our way he had one last treat for us, however - a numbered copy of the 2013 LEGO Inside Tour set. Every year LEGO produces a set exclusively for Inside Tour attendees so we knew it was coming; most however didn't know the identity of the set as LEGO try to keep it a surprise, although a few of us had seen pictures because the instructions for the set had been accidentally leaked into the public domain a month or two back. I won't reveal what the set is as there are still two Inside Tours to go this year and I don't want to ruin the surprise for attendees; suffice to say it's very nice, and Henrik, the designer of the set, was on hand to sign the front of the box with his silver pen. After that we all said our goodbyes and it was off to the airport for the flight back to the UK. Incredibly, the experience still wasn't quite over even then as there's a LEGO store in the airport terminal to tempt folks while they're waiting for flights back home. For once I was restrained, however, and kept my wallet firmly in my pocket.....

So what's the verdict, then ? Well, there's absolutely no doubt that the LEGO Inside Tour is a wonderful experience for AFOLs and I can wholeheartedly recommended it. While the younger attendees also clearly enjoyed it, some of the childen struggled to stay engaged during the talks and presentations, and I wonder whether the lower age limit of 7 might be a little too low. People will I suppose inevitably focus on the DKK 13.000 (approx. £1,500 GBP or $2,300 USD) cost per person, and it certainly seems expensive for a 3-day trip, particularly when you need to add flights on top of that. Thing is, the cost of living is high in Denmark, and I'd wager that an appreciable proportion of the cost is eaten up by 3 nights in the LEGOLAND hotel plus meals etc.. It's also fair to say that no expense was spared by LEGO in making the Inside Tour an unforgettable experience for attendees. All things considered, therefore, the cost is high but it's justified I think.

To finish off, I'd like to take this opportunity to offer my sincere thanks to Sanne, Lene and Camilla for their superb organisation of the event and to Sanne and Lene for looking after us so well during our time in Billund. Thanks also to the LEGO employees, particularly the designers, who gave their time, energy and enthusiasm to make the Inside Tour experience so special. And finally, I wanted to say what a pleasure it was to meet, get to know and spend time with my 24 fellow Inside Tour attendees - you guys were great !


< -- Inside Tour report, part 1

LEGO Inside Tour 2013

Short of being offered the LEGO equivalent of a supermarket sweep and the opportunity to grab armfuls of free LEGO sets during a rush through a LEGO brand store, can there possibly be a more enticing prospect for a fan than a trip to the LEGO mothership in Billund, Denmark where the magic is made ? I can't speak for the rest of you, but ever since I was a kid I've dreamed of visiting LEGO Mecca.

Well, unlike some dreams, this one is potentially within reach. LEGO runs three Inside Tours a year during May and June during which lucky attendees get to visit LEGO HQ in Billund, meet the set designers, and immerse themselves in LEGO culture for a few days. The catch ? Well, there are a couple. Firstly, the tours are limited to just 25 people each, or 75 in total per year. This means that you need to sign up the moment that registration opens. And secondly, they cost a king's ransom, so you'd better start saving....

And so it was that one miserable rainy morning at the end of May, almost 8 months after signing up for one of the tours, I found myself at London City Airport waiting for a flight to Billund. Having witnessed my beloved Watford Football Club's painful Championship play-off defeat at Wembley Stadium the previous day, the prospect of a 3-day full-on LEGO-fest was probably the best possible antidote, although it didn't particularly feel that way as I trudged wearily through airport security. My mood lifted significantly when fellow Inside Tour attendee, AFOL and all-round decent guy Tim (caperberry) arrived at the airport, and we set about trying to guess what LEGO would have in store for us.

"You came in that thing ? You're braver than I thought..."

The one hour and 40 minute flight to Billund in a small prop-driven Dornier (above) was uneventful; despite Billund having Denmark's second biggest airport, all I could see on final approach was green fields and countryside. We were off the plane and into a cab within 10 minutes, and being greeted by Ollie (below) in the foyer of the LEGOLAND Hotel less than 10 minutes after that. We were provided with our Inside Tour registration packs on arrival; in addition to a mouth-watering agenda, the packs contained our Inside Tour passes which granted us VIP access to LEGOLAND Billund for the duration of our stay. Since the tour wasn't due to start until the next day, and our rooms weren't yet ready for us to check in to, we took the opportunity to spend the afternoon wandering around LEGOLAND which was less than a minute's walk from the hotel.

I've visited LEGOLAND Windsor (LLW) quite a few times but I've never previously been to LEGOLAND Billund so it was interesting to compare and contrast. For starters, the Billund site has a more spacious, laid back, feel to it - the place just feels less "in your face" than LLW. Another observation was that the Billund Miniland, which features LEGO-built renditions of various towns, cities and architectural landmarks against a landscaped backdrop, seemed substantially larger than Miniland at LLW. While a few of the Miniland models looked a bit tired and and faded by the elements, overall Billund Miniland seemed better maintained than the LLW version, with more evidence of the models being renewed and refreshed, not to mention some beautiful landscaping and lots of cool dwarf shrubs in scale with the models.

The main shop at LEGOLAND Billund is absolutely huge, with a mind-boggling selection of sets, keychains (below), magnets, clothing and general tat. There's also a large Pick a Brick wall there. The downside is the eye-watering prices which are on average 25-30% higher than UK RRP. As an aside, I was told that four Mr. Gold minifigures had already been found by visitors to the LEGOLAND Billund site, with one of my fellow Inside Tour attendees finding a fifth there a couple of days later - so much for random distribution....

After a few hours meandering around LEGOLAND Billund our rooms were thankfully ready for us so I was able to chill out in my room for an hour or so prior to dinner. The room was full of LEGOLAND-branded items - a first aid kit, shoe shine kit and sewing kit for starters - not to mention a glass-topped coffee table containing a bunch of LEGO bricks and plates, and two tubs of LEGO for me to play with in case I got withdrawal symptoms. I also found a few little presents from the Inside Tour team including the treats below - check out the chocolate brick !

After chilling out for an hour or so in my room I met up with Tim plus fellow Inside Tour attendees Huw from Brickset and his wife Maria for dinner in downtown Billund. Apparently the restaurant we chose is a favourite haunt of some of the LEGO designers, and true to form I could see at least one person I recognised from a LEGO designer video eating at a nearby table. After the long day I'd had I didn't last long after dinner, taking to my bed unusually early.

With the Tour not due to start until lunchtime on the Wednesday I enjoyed a rare lie-in, which was only curtailed by the need to grab some breakfast; on opening my curtains I was greeted by the sight below (click to enlarge); as a massive Star Wars fan it beggars belief that it took until Wednesday morning for my ringside view of Star Wars Miniland to register....

The view from my hotel room....

At 12.30 the twenty five Inside Tour attendees duly congregated in the reception of the LEGOLAND Hotel where we were met by our lovely hostesses Sanne and Lene who would look after us for the duration of the Tour. The attendees were a decidedly varied bunch - AFOLs like Tim, Huw and myself, LEGO-obsessed kids as young as 7 or 8 with one or more long-suffering parents in tow, and even retirees who hadn't touched a LEGO brick for decades or indeed ever. As we took our seats for the welcome speech the excitement was palpable.

Before I go on, some ground rules. I want to provide a flavour of the Inside Tour experience so that those people who are unlikely to ever attend in person can get an idea of what it's like. I don't however want to spoil the experience for anybody who is booked to go on the other two Inside Tours this year, or indeed anybody who plans to try and attend in future. I will therefore leave out certain details which, although I'd love to share them because they're totally awesome, I really think should stay secret until discovered by attendees - what goes on Tour stays on Tour.... In fact, even though I'll be missing out some key stuff, I'd still advise anyone attending the other two 2013 Inside Tours to stop reading now unless they want a sneak peek of what to expect when they get to Billund.....last chance to look away....OK, so now I'll continue....

First off we were welcomed by the head of the LEGO Idea House who provided us with a potted history of the LEGO group including a matinee showing of "The LEGO Story" to set the scene. Introduction over we were whisked over to the LEGO Idea House by coach. The Idea House is basically a private museum where LEGO employees and official visitors can learn about LEGO's history and products. It's also the house where LEGO's founder, Ole Kirk Christiansen, once lived and indeed the inspiration for both the 2009 LEGO Inside Tour exclusive set and the 2012 employee gift set. We were offered refreshments on arrival, and while we were taking on board some caffeine and biscuits, LEGO owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, the grandson of Ole Kirk Christiansen, walked in to the room. He greeted each of us in turn, posed for photos and chatted with us all for about half an hour.

After coffee and Kjeld, we were let loose in the Idea House and had a chance to check out the various exhibits there. As I wandered through the building it felt like I was going back in time, past a small side room showcasing the LEGO Star Wars theme (panoramic photo above - click to enlarge), then past displays of ever older sets in pristine condition, and then to a series of progressively older LEGO Town layouts. I was literally engulfed by waves of nostalgia seeing the sets from my youth built and laid out in front of me (below - click to enlarge).

Then it was onwards past the original 1960's Town Plan set, and into a room with walls covered in what looked like blueprints for Ole Kirk's house and containing a LEGO model of the house (below) for good measure.

Finally there was an area full of glass-fronted cabinets containing the wooden toys that marked the transition between Ole Kirk's former life as a carpenter and the toymaker that he became, including the wooden duck (below) that started it all.

And when you think you're done there's a further fantastic treat in store. An unmarked door opens on to some narrow stairs, and you descend into a subterranean paradise - the fabled Vault, repository of a mint, sealed copy of pretty much every single set that LEGO have ever made. A number of us congregated in the 1970's aisle seeking out our personal childhood favourites.......the first Classic Space sets, the yellow Castle and many others were carefully lifted off the shelves, the old-style hinged lids opened so we could see the sealed contents within, and then reverently replaced. I had to be literally dragged out of that place by the ever-patient Lene, and I wasn't the only one.....

Tim having a religious experience....

From the Idea House we were (somewhat reluctantly) transported back to a conference room at the LEGOLAND Hotel to be met by twelve of LEGO's finest - the set designers. I'd met a couple of them before at LEGO fan events, including Space, Ninjago and Chima designer extraordinaire Mark Stafford, and some of the others I recognised from LEGO designer videos. After a round of intros (both the designers and attendees) we dived into an icebreaker which involved splitting into 4 teams each of which had to build a free-standing bridge out of DUPLO bricks and then run a battery-powered train over it without the bridge collapsing. Go Blue Team - master bridge builders, and I have a medal to prove it.... Then we broke for dinner with the designers, but not before we'd been given our brief for the rest of the evening - design a small LEGO set with the WOW factor -  cool, robust and with plenty of play features. After dinner, the 25 budding amateur set designers were let loose on a row of cabinets full of LEGO and told to get building. It was a real treat to have access to drawers full of elements sorted by colour and type, and although it undoubtedly sped up the building process, many of us were nevertheless still there long into the night working on our designs. I think I finally got done around 1.30 a.m., and you can see the fruits of my labours below. A few intrepid attendees were still feverishly working on their designs when I eventually headed off to bed.

In my next posting I'll finish off my round-up of the Inside Tour, including our visit to the LEGO factory, so stay tuned ! And while you're waiting, you might want to get another perspective on the 2013 Inside Tour by reading Huw's trip report here.


                                                                                      Inside Tour report part 2 -->