A LEGO Brickumentary Page #3

it was a very creative thing.

And then I, I think I rediscovered LEGOs

right around the second

or third season of South Park.

People would walk in while

chaos was going on,

and I'd just be putting

together these things.

And I think that having that

instruction book that said,

this one on top of that one.

And this one on that one.

It was just so therapeutic for me

because the rest of my life was,

think of something, think of something.

You know, be creative,

be creative, be creative.

And I found it so insanely therapeutic.

...goes to the basket!

I've actually been on the road

to a lot of different games.

And the fans are like,

"Man, I love LEGOs just like you, man."

I have at least 30 boxes

that are waiting at home

for me to start working on.

The biggest piece that I have

is actually the piece

that was given to me by Ellen DeGeneres.

We told our friends at LEGOs

that you love LEGOs.

- Mm-hmm.

- So we got you something.

Wait a second.

Did any of those guys

look like kids to you?

It seems like LEGO fans

come in many forms.

Let's go meet some of these, um,

well, I'm not sure what you call them.

Let's go find out.

Hey! Can somebody just

throw my hair back up here?

Here at BrickCon in Seattle,

you can see part

of the huge community

that's building with LEGO bricks.

BrickCon is one of North America's

top LEGO conventions,

along with Chicago's BrickWorld

and Virginia's BrickFair.

And there are similar fan events

throughout Europe, Asia,

and around the globe.

Spending a little time

at one of these conventions

gives you an idea of the vastness

of the LEGO universe.

There are those that use LEGO,

and there is an adult fan community.

We all refer to ourselves

as AFOLs, absolutely.

An Adult Fan Of LEGO.

Which is basically,

the reason we're all here.

To me, being one

is just enjoying everything

about what LEGO's about.

You know the Comic Book Guy

from The Simpsons?

That's I think what people

think an AFOL is.

Just a big guy living

in his parents' basement.

Just kinda tapping

at the computer all day long.

Well, if that's not an AFOL, what is?

Blue collar, white collar.

Programmers, construction guys.

Schoolteachers. Executives.

People working in science and industry.

Geeks, strangers, weirdoes.

People like me.

I am totally a geek.

For me, this is the class reunion

with all your best friends, once a year.

AFOLs are definitely a community.

Very much so.

And thank you, Internet,

for making that happen.

It was a kind of a light bulb,

when I go on the Internet, and I'm like,

"Wow, there's other people

that like doing this."

The LEGO community

does have its own language,

and it's defined

by the acronyms that it uses.

An AFOL is an Adult Fan Of LEGO.

As opposed to KFOL,

which is Kid Fan Of LEGO.

TFOL, which is Teen Fans Of LEGOs.

Some people use the term NLSO,

which stands for

Non LEGO Significant Other.

MOC. Which means My Own Creation.

A LUG is a LEGO Users' Group.

LTC. LEGO Train Club.

GBC. Great Ball Contraption.

SNOT would be Studs Not On Top.

There's POOP. Parts Out of Other Parts.

CRAPP is a Crummy Ramp And Pit Plate.

BURP. Big Ugly Rock Piece.

And the infamous LURP.

The Little Ugly Rock Piece.

They even have their own currency.

It's a black, 1x2 brick.

You can buy these

for three, four cents apiece.

But this piece produced in white,

the last time they made it

was the mid '80s.

Just like a stock market would be,

supply and demand.

And you wanna go buy it,

you're gonna spend $4 or $5 for it.

So what does the LEGO company

make of all of this?

We were kind of shocked.

This is all based

on what they want to do.

It's things they want to make.

It's events they want to organize.

We hadn't planned that.

It's out of our control.

Done!

Two, one, start.

There it is. I found it.

- No, no. That's not it.

- No, it's definitely it.

A familiar face at many conventions

is LEGO Designer Jamie Berard.

Remember him?

Jamie's LEGO career started as an AFOL.

I was just at a toy store,

and I see all these adults

in the LEGO aisle.

And I'm thinking, this is a bit odd.

'Cause I'm used to normally

waiting until the kids leave

and then I can come over

and take a quick peek

and pretend I'm shopping for someone.

These guys are hanging out talking,

and they're showing off the sets,

and they're buying five copies of a set.

And I'm like, I do that!

What do you... Who are you guys?

And they said, "Yeah, we have a club.

Would you like to join?"

And so it was actually this

really cool moment where I...

I didn't even know it was there

and then it kind of found me.

Jamie's life changed when

Kjeld Kristiansen

and other LEGO executives

visited a convention and saw his work.

All these LEGO people that

I never imagined I'd ever meet

were all in one place at one time,

and saw all the stuff I was building

and started having a conversation

with me, asking curious questions like,

"Have you ever thought

of working overseas?"

And then he hands me his business card

and says, "I'd like to continue this

conversation when I get back to Denmark."

And then... he did, and I got

an internship, and then I got the job.

I think it's awesome

when I go to the LEGO events

because, in many ways,

some things haven't changed at all.

I still have that curiosity.

I just can't wait to see

what everybody's built,

to see the old faces,

people that I've hung out with.

It's just fun. People seem

genuinely happy to see me.

And I love the fact that I still feel

like I'm part of the community.

I'm a complete AFOL.

I hate the term, because, like,

Trekkies and Whovians

get these cool handles.

We have to use an acronym.

I build characters

from the big screen and the small screen,

from video games

and from Internet culture and memes.

The first one

was my Stephen Hawking model,

which unexpectedly went viral.

And that's when I realized there was

a larger audience for LEGO creations.

I'm most looking forward to connecting

with all my LEGO buddies again.

Uh, we get to see all the new things

that we've created.

It's putting on a show.

And for a nerd like me,

it's not often you get

a chance to put on a show.

So, did you figure out

what you're bringing to BrickCon?

Yeah, I think I'm going to bring

the Haunted Doll House.

We both were into LEGO as kids.

We didn't realize it

when we started dating.

And when we got married

and moved into the house,

Dave's mom called and said,

"Come get your stuff."

In that stuff,

we found a huge tub of LEGO.

We sat down one evening

and started building.

So, yeah, we did that and found out

it was a lot of fun to build together.

- Yeah.

- And we really enjoyed it.

I tend to build a lot

of steampunk creations.

I just like the elegance of steampunk.

I tend to focus more

on the small details and interiors.

You're also really big on minifigs.

Yes. I do like minifigs.

Well, obviously we're gonna have

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