LEGO Inside Tour 2016

I've been a LEGO fan all my life, but never heard of the Inside Tour until last year when I noticed an article on Brickset about it. I set a reminder in my calendar for November 9 and on that day I send in my application. A few weeks later the Inside Tour team sent a mail saying I'd made it to the list of participants.

Then: I waited. I got a Christmas card. I got my tour #3 assignment. I bought plane tickets. And finally, it was June 7—

A Unique LEGO Experience

Besides what some articles on Brickset had revealed about previous years' tours I didn't know anything about what to expect, but the three days in Billund far surpassed everything I'd imagined. It was three days with thirtyfour other passionate fans, with LEGO designers, with marketing professionals, and with lots of secrets from inside the world behind the bricks as we see them.

As usual, I'll let photos tell my story. Here is the LEGO Inside Tour—

The road from Hotel LEGOLAND into Billund town (and the LEGO offices) 

LEGO HQ

Innovation house, where the designers work

Someone left a shutter open. Is that an old set, or something coming next year?

The LEGO archives, where one of every old set is stored for reference

The first bricks

The first wheel

The first train

The first minifigures

It's a classic, though I preferred the grey generation

Fabuland

Another classic: LL928

The modern LEGO city, including 2016 sets

Wall repairs

What I built on the first night when designers rolled in cabinets full of elements, the same sets they work with, and hosted a MOC contest for us (I didn't win)

LEGO House under construction, opening 2017

I'm not the only LEGO photographer

Inspired by above

During a private tour of LEGOLAND, before it opened to the public in the morning, our guide pointed this out: The smallest model in the park; only 4 bricks

The solar panels are not only for show, they actually power parts of the models

I don't know why, but I can never resist photographing trains when I get a chance to

Clever use of HERO Factory retail sets in the park

They've hung the balloon from a tree; more fun if it was actually flying and tied down

Mini-Sweden

Riding the yellow dragon

Super-sized sea serpent

Great detail on a (real, not LEGO) building in the park's Polar Explorer section

Friends' skyscraper

The lookout tower at night

Mini-moose

Great details, with an audio track playing telling the visitors about NASA's shuttle program

One of our many souvenirs: A new Cole minifigure with photo-friendly details

The 2016 Exclusive Set

Click here to see it.

Photowalk: Widescreen Snow

Stockholm finally got a real snowfall yesterday and I went photowalking today. The goal was to shot a toy photo inspired by Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight, in glorious 2.76:1 ratio. Here's the result, and some bonus shots—

2015|12

I got an invitation from Stuck In Plastic to participate in their Best of 2015 Photo Challenge, and here are my 12. "Best" is a difficult concept, so I decided it should be the 12 photos closest to my heart. Each of these carry a lot of feelings for me.

How do they make you feel?

My SPOILER FREE Star Wars The Force Awakens review

This review will not reveal any key events or character relations. It will however refer to previous movies and the first two trailers. Scroll to the bottom if you want to skip the review and only see my photos from the red carpet premiere in Stockholm.

Ready? Let’s go….

First, the opening crawl. We get a very short summary of a few important things that’s happened since the Battle of Endor thirty years ago. When it fades into the star field we know where the main characters are (or aren’t) and the balance of power between the Republic and First Order. Then, we pan to a planet. Glad to see JJ Abrahms hasn’t messed with that.

From the first line spoken to the final wipe to credits, The Force Awakens doesn’t bother with backstories for characters. Some we know because we’ve seen them before, other are new but who they’ve been doesn’t matter. It’s all about the here and now. As a fan on the old Expanded Universe (now Legends) I appreciate that. They may get a whole book telling what led them to that one moment they crossed paths with the storyline in TFA, or we can make up our own stories when we get the action figures.

The overall structure of TFA is very similar to A New Hope, so much that I can hear echoes of lines spoken on Tatooine, the Death Star or Yavin IV. Not so much that it feels like a remake, but just enough to bring back fond memories of how it started.

Even without spoilers, there are a few clumsy reveals. Characters that out of nowhere get pure exposition lines that may save a few seconds elsewhere. When someone looks at someone else and name their relation completely out of narrative I might as well have got it from a trailer. That reveal is one of the two things I didn’t like about TFA. The other is when a returning character from the original trilogy gets put in a scene just to deliver one line of exposition that should have been with a supporting character.

The list of things I liked is a lot longer. A few things that shouldn’t spoil anything for you: We get a silver armor hero Stormtrooper, bad guys that are really bad, good guys have doubts, galaxy-changing events happen outside the main narrative, there Falcon is still a piece of junk and the X-wings have headlights.

Big thanks to the wonderful people at Disney who let me see the movie early, at the Stockholm premiere. Here are some photos—