(Written by Fikko3107)
Here I will continue of my story participating in a LEGO contest. You can read the first part here: LEGO Contest Story: Build Your World Part 1. Just as a reminder, here’s a short summary of my previous post: There’s a contest called LEGO Build Your World. I signed up. I built robots. I got free stuff. I’m awesome. Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. So, now, this post will continue with what happened next… 🙂
After submitting my contest entry (see previous post) I hang out at a bookstore for a bit. The LEGO contest organizers told us that if we won they would text us. So I kept checking my phone. Here is the copy of the text I received after some time, translated to English: Fiko, you have won first place at LEGO Build Your World… please attend the award-ceremony on Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 4 PM… thanks. They did spell my name wrong, but everyone does that, so I suppose I can excuse them. I was super excited! 😀
Now I would like to give you a closer look of the freebies I received after I submitted by contest entry. Below is the LEGO Legends of Chima sticker-sheet all participants of the LEGO contest received. It is rather nice, with stickers of the LEGO Legends of Chima logo, Crominus on his Speedor, Wakz on his Speedor, Laval on his Speedor, Lennox on his Speedor, Equila, Laval, Cragger, Winzar and Razar. I think its pretty meh, but I’m sure little kids would like it.
The other freebie we received was a rather unknown LEGO Hero Factory polybag. First of all I should note that this polybag is quite different from previous ones I have handled. The packaging-material feels thicker and tighter; I believe this is deliberately done so the sticker-sheet within the bag is not damaged. I won’t be showing pictures of the back; it’s mostly orange with some warning labels. The instructions are also fairly straightforward; from the pictures here you should be able to deduce how to build it. The back of the instruction-leaflet advertises the 2012 summer wave of Hero Factory sets.
The sticker-sheet that came with the set includes stickers of Voltix, Stringer, Hero Cuffs, Stormer XL and Speeda Demon. Those shiny bullet-hole shaped things are also stickers – I guess you can use them on Hero Factory armor to make them look battle-damaged.
Below are all the parts of the LEGO Hero Factory polybag. It’s obvious there’s only 12 parts, despite the polybag stating there should be 13 parts. Does this mean they consider the sticker sheet a “part”? I guess so. The highlight of this set is definitely the silver shield piece, which has been included in only four other LEGO Hero Factory sets. Also the golden blades, which only appeared in Speeda Demon and two Ninjago sets.
And here is the LEGO Hero Factory polybag set assembled. It seems to be some kind of a weapon. If those golden blades were silver, they might as well pass as Bulk 2.0’s weapon. For a free polybag, it’s pretty neat.
Now back to the story of the LEGO contest. Before the competition began we were told what the prizes for first place were going to be: a trophy, an all-expenses-paid VIP trip to LEGOLAND Malaysia, and a 1.000.000 Rupiah (approximately $100) gift-voucher for the BricksIndonesia E-Store.
$100 won’t get you far in Indonesia though; LEGO sets here are very expensive. I’ve pretty much formed in my mind what I want to buy, and that’s only 7 moderately small sets, yet it was just slightly under $100. Interesting tidbit: I asked around why LEGO was so expensive in Indonesia. Turns out the government consider it as luxury goods, and thus it gets a whopping 40% excise tax. Which means a small set costing $10 would cost $ 14, and that doesn’t include delivery, profit, etc.
Now let’s skip to Sunday, June 30, 2013, when I received my prize. They said I had to be there by 4 PM, but then the prizes would only be handed out at 5 PM. I took the time to see my model on display, along with the others. You’ve got to admit; mine really stands out in a crowd of sensible buildings and whatnot. After some delays the prizes were handed out. Below is a shot of me getting my trophy. By the way, in case you are wondering, they didn’t let me keep the board.
I was told that they will keep in touch to take care of the technicalities for the trip to Malaysia, which will happen at the 24th-25th of August. (I hope I won’t have a test on Monday, or I’ll be doomed.) I also asked where my voucher is. I could hardly believe the reply; just type in the notes while I’m ordering that I am a winner of LEGO Build Your World, 1st place, for the 13-15 categories. That was easy!
Also, I think this is a good-enough moment to share a picture I almost forgot to show you: my nametag. You can see that I wrote the name and age myself, in my “impeccable” handwriting.
Since the LEGO contest committee couldn’t give much details about the trip to LEGOLAND Malaysia I checked the official website for more info. I should be getting access to all 40 rides, early entrance to the park before it opens so that we can see how the LEGO model-builders prep the park, and the best treat of all; a behind the scenes look of the LEGO model-shop, where the model-builders will show us tips and tricks!
A LEGO representative I met at the contest also mentioned a building event, where the winners of the Build Your World contest from various countries will participate together. Oh, and here’s the cherry on the top: I’ll get a LEGO model-builder to create a LEGO Miniland figure in my likeness to be immortalized in LEGOLAND Malaysia! Wouldn’t that be awesome? I could go there and I could point at it and say “Hey, do you know who that supposed to be?” and then I could smugly grin and say, “me!” Well, the problem is, I’m not entirely sure any of this is true. We shall see. What I do know though, is that they’ll be displaying my contest entry at LEGOLAND Malaysia. Knowing the fragility of my model, that’s going to be like carrying a ticking time-bomb from Africa to Alaska and back again. I predict someone is going to have a nervous breakdown… 😕
Well, that’s the end of Part 2 of my adventures at this LEGO contest. Stay tuned for Part 3, which should be published late August or sometime in September, after I get back from LEGOLAND Malaysia. So what do you think? Have you ever participated in a LEGO contest? Or would you like to? Feel free to share your thoughts, and if you have any questions, in the comment section below! 😉
And you might also like to check out some of my other articles or visit my Contributors Page for more. Thanks for reading and commenting!
