vrijdag 31 maart 2017

Club Project: Supersized Superheroes

Hey all to the second club project BeLUG is launching for 2017-18 event season.

Mind you, dutch and french translations will follow as soon as possible (aka, when I get it back from the resident translator) and then I`ll update it on the club projects page as well in one go.

Now as you know, we always try to run two or three club projects at the same time, to give people some variety AND to prevent from arriving at "point zero" when nothing is done or everything is finished at once.

We had for example the partial overlap between the Time Traveller and LEGO My Hobby last year and a half, and now that Time Traveller has ended, it is replaced by the Micro Island.  Which also meant we have to look slowly towards a follow up for the My Hobby project.

Ideas have been bounced around, and then we came to a theme that is rather "hot" at the moment, namely Superheroes.  With the steady stream of Marvel and DC movies, and of course the excellent The LEGO Batman Movie, this came out as a clear winner.  But we also wanted to make it original and not "just another superhero lay-out".

Now, during the meeting about this we where thinking what would contrast nicely with the tiny scale of the Micro Island builds, when Wilfried mentioned we had received a box of DUPLO bricks for the kid's corner at Brick Mania's... Hold on... DUPLO, don`t they have a superhero line as well???

Well, yes they do, and being the largest scale LEGO currently has, what more could contrast with the tiny scale of the Micro Island, and we reached the conclusion.  The second club lay-out we are going to start will be Supersized Superheroes.

The rough idea we have so far is to ask all that participate to make some fairground like attraction based around the figures from the DUPLO superhero sets.  We won`t be working with a set rule on baseplating, but averaging between 16x16 and 32x32 for an "entry" would seem like a reasonable size, taking into account the large bricks that are used in the range.

More details will follow when the "rules" are worked out more in depth, so let's see where this ship will sail to!

maandag 20 maart 2017

Charleroi LEGO AFOL meeting

The past saturday, french speaking AFOL's gathered in Charleroi for a casual meeting.  Pulled by BeLUG effective member Christian, it turned out to be a very cosy afternoon for all present, and here we can present a small overview.

Christian's text is in french, and underneath I did my best to provide you readers with the english translation ;-)

La première rencontre rencontre des passionné de Lego de la région de Charleroi a eu lieu hier à la brasserie. Une quinzaine de personnes étaient présente, la plus part des membres Belug venant de Liège Bruxelles entre autres.

Tous on émis le souhait de poursuivre ces rencontres hors expo et de nombreux projet ont été proposé.

Par exemple :

Passer une journée a plusieurs à une expo Multi modélisme ou au shop Lego a Lille.


Projet de construire un monument représentant la Wallonie (Ascenseur de Strepy Thuien avec peniche ou le perron a Liége.
Ce projet pourrait être présenter lors d’événement hors lego par exemple.


Participation a l'expo Multi modélisme d'enghien début août.


Organiser une journée d’échange Lego ouvert a tous.


Et pour couronner la journée, 2 nouveaux membres ce sont inscrit a Belug.

Une expo Lego sera organisé le 13 et 14 mai sur Mouscron et Lille c'est juste à coté.

a bientôt et merci de votre participation



The first get together of the LEGO fans of the Charleroi region and beyond took place yesterday at the Brasserie.  About fifteen people where present, mostly BeLUG member from the Liege and Brussels regions amongst others.

They will keep continuing organising these little get togethers outside of conventions, and multiple projects have been proposed.

For example:

Spend a day together at a scale modelling event or the LEGO store in Lille.

A big project representing a typically Walloon landmark (the "Ascenseur de Strepy Thuien" or the Liege train station).
That project could also be displayed at events not LEGO orientated.

Participation at the scale modelling event in Enghien in the beginning of august.

Organise a LEGO exchange day open for everyone.

And as a jewel to the crown for the day, two new members have joined our BeLUG family.

A LEGO exposition will be organised the 13th and 14th of May in the Mouscron region, right next to Lille.

Thanks for attending and until next time!



So that`s the small report, thanks a lot Christian for providing it as I couldn`t come over, being tied up in a meeting past saturday.
Our walloon friends are doing a great job in my opinion with these local get-togethers, which bond them all together in their passion for LEGO and I hope I`ll be able to attend the next time myself.


zondag 19 maart 2017

FACTS Spring registration open!

Hello all!


The "geeky convention" season of 2017 has kicked off with Comic Con Brussels last month, and already we are in full preparation for the next one, FACTS Spring edition 2017.



Taking place in two weeks in Flanders Expo Ghent, we can offer some spots for this convention to those moc`cers that want to attend, showcase their work and help run the booth over the weekend.

We can accomodate for an additional 2 - 3 meters of space, and a MAXIMUM of 2 extra spots are available for this expedition.

Now, these kind of conventions aren`t Lego events, but the broader spectrum of all things comics, science-fiction and fantasy, and at events like FACTS we are talking 50.000 visitors.  So you WILL be talking almost all weekend to intrested people, about your creations and about your club, so no, this isn`t just a relaxing walk in the park.  Not to frighten you if you're intrested, but to give you an idea of what to expect.

Of course, this also means that the MOC's taken along have to be in this spectrum of builds.  No offense, but City, Train, Technic builds are out of place there I fear, we are looking for people taking along science fiction and fantasy builds.

You won`t have to pay the entry fee to the convention, and an event brick will be supplied to all those that actively participate.  

So what do you have to do to enter?  Well, here below is a small form which you should cut and paste into an e-mail message and send this to:
contact@belug.be with in the header "FACTS Spring" and adress it to "Kris Geysen" who is our convention co-ordinator.

Name:
Member number:
MOC's taken along:
Estimated space needed:
and add some pictures of your builds you want to bring along.

Kris will then get back to you with more details if you can come along (you know, it all depends a bit on theme, size, etc etc, and sounds far "heavier" then it really is).  The regulars, being those "chinese volunteers" that have been doing these conventions for 3 years now, at times on weekly basis, can always give you some more explanation on what to expect and what it consists of.

A small word of warning though that I am obliged to put here.  If you just sign up for the free entrance, drop down your build for the weekend and then disappear for two days to stroll around the convention, well, you won`t be invited back.  Hope you understand this...

woensdag 15 maart 2017

About LEGO leaks

Hi everybody...

It's your RLUG ambassador speaking here.  As per request from our social media guy, I'm gonna try and explain a bit what's OK and what's NOT OK to share or post on our facebookpage or forums.

Now I'm informing you all because LEGO doesn't want us to spread leaks... news that isn't supposed to be out there yet.. and as good friends of The LEGO Group.. we just kindly comply :D..it's a giving, getting thing..
And they're asking us not to do so, because we want to remain on a good relationship with The LEGO Group..And there are certain "brands" who would like to copy everything LEGO does as soon as possible...

There are so many news outlets and means to gather information on our shared LEGO hobby..yet it's never easy to decide what to post and it's not easy for us (Registered LEGO User Groups & Registered LEGO Fan Media) to comply to the rules LEGO has set for us.
The rules on their own aren't black/white, and LEGO loves making it even harder on us with exclusive news agreements, closed & open fairs,...

What exactly are RLFM?
Well they are media (youtube channels, website, forums, newgroups, magazines..) who spread the LEGO hobby.  Some examples are: Brothers brick, Brickset, eurobricks, Bricks magazine, Zusammengebaut, Beyond the Brick, the Brick Show,...)

They tend to abide to the "rules" all fairly well. and so do we :) Yeay us!

What LEGO really doesn't want to be out in the wild, are pictures of sets that aren't supposed to be out there. And it's really hard to tell when something is not supposed to be out there (or leaked).
Pictures taken from closed toy fairs, factory floors, shaky pictures of soon to be released sets and pictures with a watermark stamp on them (usually saying it 's preliminary images or similar).

As stated before, when something is posted on the RLFM you can be fairly sure it's safe to share..but these things are also just run by humans and we tend to sometimes make mistakes..
So if you ever wonder if you're allowed to share something on our pages and aren't sure.. just let me know what you want to share and I'll have a look :)

If you want to know what are registered LEGO Fan Media; or want to expand your LEGO sources..have a look at the list below... I've even added the 17 new RLFM for 2017:

Artifex Creation Http://www.youtube.com/user/artifexcreation
Beyond The Brick Https://www.youtube.com/user/BeyondTheBrickTV/featured
BionicleSector01 http://biosector01.com/
Blocks Magazine Http://www.blocksmag.com
Brick Journal Http://www.brickjournal.com
BrickBoard Http://www.brickboard.de
Brickfanatics Http://www.brickfanatics.co.uk
Brickipedia Http://en.brickimedia.org
BrickNerd Http://www.bricknerd.com
Bricks Magazine http://http://republic66media.com/
Brickset Http://www.brickset.com
Brickstameet http://www.brickstameet.com
Brickvault https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrhb3SP2lZBgguLHIWWuHOQ
BZPower Http://www.bzpower.com
Creator Magazine http://www.creatormg.co.kr
Ebricks.ru Http://www.ebricks.ru & Http://www.vk.com/technic_club
Eurobricks Http://www.eurobricks.com
Friends Bricks Http://www.friendsbricks.com
Hispabrick Magazine Http://www.hispabrickmagazine.com
Hoth Bricks Http://www.hothbricks.com
InnovaLUG http://www.innovalug.com
Jays Brick Blog http://www.jaysbrickblog.com
Jedinews http://www.jedinews.co.uk
Klemmbausteinlyrik http://www.klemmbausteinlyrik.de
ModularsByKristel Http://www.modularsbykristel.com
Phantoms.su http://phantoms.su/
Promobricks http://www.promobricks.de
Rebrickable Http://www.rebrickable.com
Revista Bricks Http://www.revistabricks.com
Sariel.pl Http://www.sariel.pl
Stuck In Plastic http://www.stuckinplastic.com
TechLUG Http://www.techlug.fr
TechnicBRICKS Http://www.technicbricks.com
The Brick Blogger Http://www.thebrickblogger.com
The Brick Fan Http://www.thebrickfan.com
The Brick Show Http://www.brickshow.tv
The Brothers Brick Http://www.brothers-brick.com
The New Elementary Http://www.newelementary.com
The Rambling Brick http://ramblingbrick.com
The Short News http://www.theshortnews.com
The TTV Channel https://board.ttvchannel.com
Toys N Bricks Http://www.toysnbricks.com
Zusammengebaut http://zusammengebaut.com

Bricking Around www.brickingaround.com
Bricktastic Blog www.bricktasticblog.com
Frostbricks www.instagram.com/frostbricks
Hello Bricks www.hellobricks.com
AFDL www.afdl.it
Mattonito www.mattonito.it
Keep on Bricking https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo5TndGKrfJ6dtlI_xBnFdQ
LegOficina dos Baixinhos http://legoficina.blogs.sapo.pt/
Brickfinder www.brickfinder.net
Bricks Fans http://bricksfans.com/
Breaking Brick http://www.breakingbrick.com
Brick Model Railroader http://www.brickmodelrailroader.com
LEGO Answers http://www.bricks.stackexchange.com
DoubleBrick http://www.doublebrick.ru
Toy Photographers http://www.http://toyphotographers.com/
BàB - Brick à Brack https://www.brick-a-brack.com/
InkBlot Photo - www.instagram.com/harleyquin

(Note from said social media guy, just cut and paste the above URL's into your browser if you want to visit them, that way I avoided mistakes by wrong link insertions...)

IF you have any questions or remarks concerning RLUGs, RLFM or wanna know if something is safe to share or report something.. just let me know at:
LUGAmbassador@belug.be





Brickly Greetz
Wilfried

zondag 12 maart 2017

Build a Joker mosaic at Brick Mania Wetteren!

This year, one of the activities at Brick Mania Wetteren will be that YOU can participate in building a huge Joker mosaic.

Based on his version from the The LEGO Batman movie, this will be project both on saturday AND on sunday.  Make sure you drop by and join in the fun!



woensdag 8 maart 2017

Ed Sheeran in LEGO

Our clubs very own certified professional, Dirk Denoyelle, has appeared on RTL Late Night.

His company, Amazings, made a mosaic of the singer, and Dirk made an appearance as well.

You can see the clip from the episode HERE (sorry, it`s in Dutch).  Great work once again!

zondag 5 maart 2017

LEGO Meeting Charleroi

Hello everyone,

Our newest effective member, Christian Desmoutier, is running a get together in the Charleroi region in two weeks.
The set-up for this event is comparable to the Herstal event we had last year, being a lovely get together for all those intrested, and get to know each other a bit better in a nice and friendly atmosphere.

Bonjour
Une réunion de tous les passionnés de la petite brique danoise est organisé le samedi 18 mars 2017 à 14h à la Distillerie de biercée à Ragnies.
Ragnies se trouve sur la commune de Thuin à 10 min du R3
Le but de cette réunion est de faire connaissance des passionnés de la petite de la région de Charleroi et du centre. Il vas de soit que cette réunion n'est pas réserver exclusivement aux passionné de cette région, celles et ceux qui souhaitent nous rejoindre sont les bienvenues.
On pourra se retrouver pour évoquer nos divers réalisation (MOC, Star wars, GBC, etc ) ainsi que les divers manifestations organisé dans notre coin (Exposition modélisme ou expo lego Belug Chti lug).
Pour confirmer votre inscription je vous invite à vous inscrire sur cette page qui a été créer spécialement pour cette événement. Vous mentionner votre nom et votre localité pour avoir une vue global des passionné.
Dans ce groupe il y a un fichier qui explique plus en détail ma motivation a organisé cette réunion.

A bientôt

Contact Christian Desmoutier (christian@mout.be)



The event will take place in the distillery at Ragnies, part of Thuin (Charleroi) and will begin at 14 hrs the 18th of march.
The goal as stated above is to get to know the fellow fans of the little danish brick who live in the region of Charleroi, but of course everyone is welcome to drop by, have a chat and a drink!
Here you will meet people who love to talk about their creations and their hobby (MOC, Star Wars, GBC, ...) and talk about the various events that are organised in the region (scale model fairs, LEGO events by BeLUG, Ch'ti LUG, etc...)
A special Facebook page has been created where you can enter if you'd like to participate, where you can give your name and your residence to map out where the fans are located, as well as more information on how this event came to be.  
Just send an e-mail to the above adress of Christian and he will happily help you further with all the required information!


zaterdag 4 maart 2017

BeLUG General Assembly 2017

While not perhaps the most swinging of events in the year of a club, the General Assembly is something that must be held each year to approve the workings of the board.

And as such, 55 members gathered at Zaal Delle, Winksele to listen to what we had to say.


Now, an assembly as this is split in two parts: the Legal part, and the Daily Workings part.  The first handles all the numbers and accounts of the club, expenses, what events cost to organise, visitors, and all those other "dry legal things" we have to do.

I`m happy to say the books where approved, and the Board has gotten the vote of the majority to continue with it's workings for 2017.

Our RLUG Ambassador also took the word for amongst other things the LEGO policy about leaks on social media.  Now, I`m not going to go into detail about that right here, but a full post contributed to the matter will be posted later this week.

A more happier part for these meetings are the elections of potential candidates for Effective Member status.  In essence, these are just the same as regular members in benefits and obligations, as such that they don`t have any benefits, but they are our "test case audience" for all the ideas we have during the year. 

This year, three candidates had been brought forward, with Christian Desmoutier, Alain Stas and Matthieu Snoeck, and all three have been approved.

We then had a look back at the busy year that 2016 has been, with all the events and conventions including our own Brick Mania's, and have a look forward for 2017, which is equally filled.  Just check out our Agenda page for example on this little corner of the internet.

As the meeting concluded, there was a little snack for all the attendants while people could have a chat.

During the whole meeting, some examples for the new club lay-out project, Micro Island, where on display as well.

And all the attendants received a little gift for the effort they put in and listen to our monotonous droning ;-)

Now, remember I said at the start these things aren`t the most swinging of activities?  Well, that's a bit of a lie, as the gathered crowd attentively looked at our president's dance demonstration to Everything is Awesome.






Thanks also to Zwits for the additional pictures

donderdag 2 maart 2017

BeLUG lid #588 - Melissa Matthys



Een nieuwe aflevering van Meet BeLUG in 2017, waarin we het woord geven aan een van de organiserende dames achter Brick Event, welk dit jaar aan zen derde editie toe gaat zijn!
A new episode of Meet BeLUG in 2017, in which we give the word this time to one of the organising ladies behind Brick Event, which will be holding it's third edition this year!

1. Je naam, je `bijnaam`, en je lidnummer.
1. Can we have your name, your nickname and your mebership number first?


Mijn naam is Melissa Matthys en ik heb het lidnummer 588.  Op het internet kan je me terugvinden onder mijn naam.
Ook op de website www.brickevent.info kan je heel wat van mij terugvinden.
My name is Melissa Matthys and I`m member number 588.  On the internet you can find me under my own name.
On the website www.brickevent.info you can also find a lot about me.


2. Wat is je interesse in Lego?
2. What is your intrest in Lego?

De interesse ligt vooral bij de Modulars, Friends & Seasonal Winter sets.
Na onze vakantie vorig jaar in Legoland Denemarken zijn ook de minifigs mij beginnen boeien.
Ik vind het ook leuk om een bestaand huis, een speelplein, ... na te bouwen in Lego.
Op dit moment ben ik vooral bezig om met de friends sets een stad te bouwen.

My interests lie mainly with the Modulars, Friends and Seasonal Winter sets.
After our vacation in Legoland Denmark, the Collectible Minifigures have started growing on me as well.
I also enjoy to recreate an existing house, a playground, ... in Lego.  I`m currently busy building a city with the Friends sets.

3. Wat zijn je favoriete thema`s geweest over de jaren heen?
3. Which have been your favorite theme's over the years?

Seasonal Winter.  Hierbij een foto van mijn winterdorp in 2016. Elk jaar probeer ik voor de kerstperiode een nieuwe layout te maken. 

Seasonal Winter.  Here you can see my wintervillage in 2016.  Each year, I`m trying to make a new lay-out for the holiday season.

4. Heb je recentelijk nog toffe dingen aangeschaft?
4. Did you buy some nice things recently?

Het leukste dat ik dit jaar heb aangeschaft is de Winter trein.
The nicest thing I bought this year has to be the Winter Train.

5. Heb je een `Holy Grail` set, en zo ja de?
5. Do you have a 'Holy Grail' set, and if so, which one?

Nu er voor Friends ook een kermis is uitgekomen zou deze zeker mooi staan bij de rest.
Now that a carnival has been released for the Friends theme, I think they will look awesome displayed with the rest.

6. Wat zijn eventuele bouw- of verzamelplannen voor de nabije en verre toekomst?
6. Which are the build- or collectingplans for the near and far future?

Uiteraard staat de nieuwe Modular (10255 Assembly Square) op mijn lijstje en kijk ik nu al vol verwachting uit naar de Seasonal Winter set voor 2017.
Dit jaar komt Friends ook met een thema Winter, dus hoogstwaarschijnlijk zal dit ook in de collectie komen.
Of course is the new Modular (10255 Assembly Square) on my list and I'm looking excitedly forwards to the Seasonal Winter Set for 2017.
Friends is coming out this year with a winter theme as well, so more than likely those will join the collection.

7. Wat was je eerste Lego set?
7. What was your first Lego set?

Ongetwijfeld zijn de Duplo sets (2020 - 2070 en 9006) mijn eerste sets.
Ik ben dan ook trots dat deze sets nog compleet in familiebezit zijn. Ik werd ouder en Duplo werd vervangen door Fabuland.
Met deze set is het begonnen om een klein dorpje van Fabuland te maken. Met de glijbaan en draaimolen werd veel gespeeld. 

Without a doubt the Duplo sets (2020 - 2070 and 9006) my first sets.  I`m really proud of the fact that these sets are still within the family.  I got older, and Duplo was replaced by Fabuland.
It all started with this set to build a small village in Fabuland.  The slide and the merry-go-round where played a lot.


Eens in het lager onderwijs kreeg ik set 6380 en 6693, 25 jaar lang werd niet meer omgekeken naar Lego tot we een weekend Keulen hadden geboekt om de kerstmarkt in 2012 te bezoeken. Helaas had ik me miskeken en begon de maandag maar pas de kerstmarkt.
In de Lego shop in Köln was ik direct verkocht voor de Lego Winter Sets.
Ik kocht daar de creator set 10249. 

Once I went to grade school, I received set 6380 and 6693, but then it took 25 years before I looked at Lego again when we had booked a weekend in Koln, to visit the christmas market in 2012.  Unfortunately, I hadn`t double-checked and the market only opened the next monday.
In the Lego store in Koln, I was immediately sold on the Lego Winter Sets.  I bought creator set 10249 right there.


Op het moment dat we in de winkel waren hing een affiche voor van Lego Fanwelt.
Nu we toch een weekend hadden geboekt, er geen kerstmarkt was en de winkels op zondag niet open zijn, gingen we een bezoekje brengen aan de beurs Lego Fanwelt.
Groot was mijn verbazing wat je allemaal kon doen met Lego.  Dus gingen we naar huis met wagen vol met Lego Winter sets. Sindsdien hebben de microben me niet meer losgelaten!
At that time, the store had an announcement for Lego Fanwelt.  As we where there anyways, no christmas market and stores being closed on sundays, we went to have a visit at Fanwelt.
I was amazed by the possibilities Lego offered.  So we went home with a car stacked with Lego Winter sets, and since then the microbe hasn`t left me!


Hartelijk bedankt Melissa!
Many thanks Melissa!

En nu is het JOUW beurt, beantwoord de eenvoudige vraagjes die je op deze blog aantreft, steek er wat foto's en een "mugshot" bij, stuur ze mij toe en binnenkort sta jij hier ook op onze page om je LEGO verhaal te vertellen!
And now it's YOUR turn, answer the simple questions that you can find on this blog, add some pictures and a "mugshot", send them to me and soon you will find yourself telling your LEGO story here!