Event Coverage: "Women of NASA" Set Launch at the Flatiron District LEGO Store

On Saturday, Oct. 28, the LEGO Ideas team held its first-ever U.S.-based launch for the forthcoming "Women of NASA" set, designed by AFOL Maia Weinstock, at the LEGO Brand Retail store in Manhattan's Flatiron District.  A line of eager fans curled around the block for a chance to meet the designer and get a signed box ahead of the general release on Nov. 1st.  Members of the New York City LUG joined parents and families for the four-hour event, which also featured a special in-store build for kids.   According to Tim Courtney, Experience Manager for the LEGO Company, the event marked the first time that an Ideas set had premiered in America: prior sets had early releases in Europe.  

fan designer maia weinstock (center) is flanked by tim courtney and hasan jensen of the lego company during a launch event for the "women in nasa" set oct. 28th in New York city.

The fun began early Saturday morning as LEGO VIPs began lining up, eager to meet Maia Weinstock, the fan designer who submitted the "Women of NASA" concept to LEGO Ideas last year and quickly gained the needed 10,000 votes.  The set itself is available to the public beginning November 1st, but during this special event, fans would be able to snag an early copy, as well as meet Maia and have their sets signed.

As AFOLs go, Maia is recent to the hobby, telling us that she first began designing minifigures based on hr contemporaries in the science field in 2009.

THE LINE CURLED AROUND THE BLOCK WITH FOLKS HOPING TO GET THEIR OWN "WOMEN OF NASA" SET.  

STACKS AND STACKS AND STACKS OF SET #21312, READY TO BE SOLD AND SIGNED!

Store manager Carlos Fernandez and a team of about 12 employees got the store ready, setting up rows and rows of set #21312 and ensuring that once inside the store, fans would be able to quickly pick up their sets and get into line to meet Maia.  As a courtesy to the hometown LUG, several members of the New York City LEGO Users Group -- yours truly included -- as well as correspondents for AFOL publications were given early access so they could wrap up interviews with Maia and Hasan before the doors opened at 10am.

Tim pointed out that previous LEGO Ideas launch events were held outside the US in cities across Europe. However, with the amazing turnout for the Flatiron launch of Women of NASA, there's little doubt that we should expect many more events like this stateside.

the designer, being interviewed for a feature in scholastic magazine as the line outside the lego store patiently waits

maia talks with enthusiastic young fans, helping to mold our future stem leaders!

ALL TOGETHER NOW  |  MEMBERS OF NYCLUG, I LUG NY, AND CORRESPONDENTS FROM BRICKNERD, BLOCKS MAGAZINE AND BRICKJOURNAL PROUDLY POSE WITH THEIR "WOMEN OF NASA" SETS! 

OBLIGATORY.  set designer maia weinstock poses for a group selfie at the flatiron lego store in manhattan oct. 28.

And in a reminder of how LEGO brings folks together, one attended shared, via Twitter, the very special reason why she showed up to get a copy of "Women of NASA."

When your dad worked for Margaret Hamilton, later worked at @NASA, and loves LEGOs, you are REQUIRED to get him the new @LegoNASAWomen set! pic.twitter.com/zQB0SrHvq0

— Bella Norvig 👩‍💻🎭 (@bellarose) October 28, 2017

In all, it was a great day.  We hope the event's success encourages LEGO to hold many more just like it.  

Where the Rubber Meets the (Brick) Road

I'll admit that LEGO cars aren't exactly my area of interest -- I'm more of a spaceship, spaceship, spaceship! kinda AFOL. But builders like Andrea Lattanzio, a.k.a. Norton74 on Flickr, make me embarrassed to completely overlook this theme. I mean, look at this scene, titled "'32 Ford 'Tow Rod' at the Garage" from the propped-up roadster to the superb mechanic's tool chest to the checkered tile wall pattern to the boombox on the shelf to the drill press to the "wood" pallet, the attention to detail and the craftsmanship here is simply exquisite. The only thing missing is grease stains on that lovely, 6x6 light gray tiled floor. And I'd bet Andrea will find a way to make those, too!  Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines... 

Ice, Ice, Baby

Sometimes the best builds are the ones with that tiny little detail most people wouldn't notice, one that makes FOLs like us say "Dang, that's an NPU!"  In this case, it's that lovely little cupcake acting as the ice brush on Tyler Sky's excellent Zamboni. He shoots, he scores!

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Far Out, MOC!

Sometimes, a good backstory along with a quality MOC from an established builder is just too hard to pass up.  Stephen Pakbaz -- who previously designed NASA's Curiosity rover for the LEGO Ideas line -- has come up with a great one here in Pieceout, "a civilian scientist researching alternative energy on the planet Cybertron."

Hippie Transformers out to make the world a better place? Love it! Transformer MOCs that actually transform?  Excellent!  Clever moniker playing on the themes of that era while simultaneously paying tribute to the very hobby we all love?  Just plain awesome.

Disc-overing "Discworld"

Honestly, I've never heard of Discworld, the late Terry Pratchett's imaginary world, set on a platter-shaped land set atop four elephants which, in turn, are riding the back of what must be a massive, massive turtle. (Tortoise?)  Just as much as I know about Star Wars and Star Trek and even Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, it's exactly the opposite for Discworld.

So please don't ask me about the backstory of this group of fellows, termed "The Ones Who Meddle With the Fabric of Reality," by Finnish AFOL Eero Okkonen. There's something magical about this bunch, and not just because they're wizards (I think). 

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It takes a particular skill to make MOCs look both stone-faced and alive at the same time, which Eero achieves by simultaneously using the traditional 1x1 headlight bricks for eyes and then other wildly disparate elements, such as Chima wings , to fluff out those lovingly-crafted beards.  The magicians' accoutrements are also perfectly color-coordinated, with their dark red / brown / red fabrics, Friends stars, X-Pod dishes, and, hey, does that gorilla have a banana that incorporates...  bananas? 

Discworld should really be called Discoworld.

Size Matters Not!

Full disclosure: builder John Stephens is a contributor to this group blog of ours, but that alone doesn't disqualify him from having his always quality MOCs written up on this site. Using those 4x4 round plates as bases for his "Pocket Heroes" collection, John's latest creations are somewhat reminiscent of the forthcoming LEGO Dimensions series. And with creative use of smaller elements like t-nozzles, battle droid torsos, cheese slopes and round 1x1 tiles, these little bots prove that Yoda's old adage is true! 

Mini? On!

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Great rent, but the rooms are a little small.

A while back -- ten years ago to be precise -- the short-lived Factory theme made its debut in the LEGO universe. And while it didn't last long, the mini-scale sets from that theme (three sets in all) seemingly continue to inspire AFOLs today, whether in the form of the successful Architecture line, or, as seen above, in the creations of brick artists like John Stephens, who takes this theme to new heights in his continuing Micropolis series. My favorite feature of the Riverstone Apartments is the clever and old-school use of the 1x1 headlight brick as windows, and the great design on the trees. The simplicity of it all, from the cheese slopes as awnings to the cars made of 1x2 "jumper" plates and 1x1 tiles, make John's set something special.  And the best part is, there's plenty more where this came from. The takeaway message? In a time of big $200 and $350 LEGO sets, sometimes smaller is better.

Raising the Bar Bar

Everyone's favorite character in the Star Wars universe has long ears, a big schnozola, and is pretty good with accidentally killing off battle droids in the heat of battle.  And despite helping to fend off Phantom Menaces, he helps evil politicians become Sith lords and basically disappears by the third act of a lousy bunch of prequels.  Sadly, this character will likely never become a part of the forthcoming LEGO Constraction line, here's Flickr user Letranger Absurde's excellent take on Jar Jar Binks, making clever use of 1x2 log bricks as feet, skeleton minifig arms as fingers, and smooth sloping elements all around.  Still trying to figure out, though, if Letranger is trying to tell us something by having this particular Gungan walk on water.

"Pick-A-Model" sets now at LEGO Stores

AFOLs and others who walked into their local LEGO Store on April 1 were treated to a neat surprise on the Pick-A-Brick wall: new elements previously not available through PAB, including 1x1 round decorated "eye" tiles, 1x2 yellow "cheese" slopes, and much more. But don't grab a large cup and start to fill it just yet.

It's all part of the new "Pick-A-Model" line, in which you can create two models -- a plane or a couple of giraffes -- in the vein of their successful Build Your Own Minifigure offering.

 "Eye" see what you did there, LEGO.

One caveat for those tempted to stock up on these elements: they are really geared toward the Pick-A-Model sets, so you won't be able to fill your PAB cups to the brim with them: I'm told that LEGO Brand Retail employees will dutifully uphold this policy.  Pick-A-Model sets will also change on a quarterly basis, which could mean more different elements coming to the PAB walls.  That's always good news!

1x2 modified plates in light orange -- let's just call them duck's beaks.

Each Pick-A-Model set will cost you $4.99, which seems a bit steep (the plane, for example, only has 24 pieces) and comes with a handy case which happens to hold exactly the number of pieces you need to build the set.  But the availability of the new elements alone might make these worth it.