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Learn to speak LEGO! – ADVANCED TERMS

by Thita (admin) on January 13, 2011

in Useful Resources

Want to learn to speak LEGO fluently like a true AFOL? Here is a detailed LEGO Glossary containing Terms and Acronyms often used in the LEGO hobby. Learn to use them, so if you end up going to a wonderful LEGO convention you won’t feel like a stranger in a strange land, listening to a strange language! Also make sure you check out the BASIC TERMS section! And if I’m missing something from the list let me know and I will ad it! 🙂

AFOL: “Adult-Fan-of-LEGO”. Pronounced to rhyme with “hay-foal”.
AFFOL: “Adult-Female-Fan-of-LEGO” (See also FAFOL and SHEFOL.)

Bignette: a large LEGO creation (larger than a Vignette, but smaller than a Diorama).
Billund: Billund, Denmark. Headquarters and primary design center for The LEGO Group.
Blay/Bley: “Bluish Gray/Grey” refers to the current LEGO gray/grey, compared to the old version “Old Gray/Grey”.
Brick-Built: a LEGO creation that is composed of basic LEGO elements, instead of more specialized elements. (For example brick built figures, animals, or objects.)
BURP: “Big-Ugly-Rock-Piece”. See here: BURP

CC: “Classic Castle”. A LEGO castle fan site. See here: Classic Castle
CC: “Cafe Corner”. A very popular LEGO set with adult fans. See here: Cafe Corner
Cheese Slope: a LEGO part with a 33° slope, 1×1 stud wide and 2 plates high. It is named after the fact that yellow pieces look like a wedge of cheese. See here: Cheese Slope
Clone Brands: construction toys similar and often compatible with LEGO, but cheaper in quality and price, designed to compete with the LEGO brand. They are often greatly despised by LEGO-fans.
Cracklink: a descriptive name for Bricklink, referring to its addictive nature due to being able to buy individual LEGO parts and minifigs in whatever quantity you want.
CSF: Classic-Space Forum. An online LEGO space fan community. See here: Classic Space
Custom: a LEGO creation or individual element that uses non-LEGO parts or modified parts, or accessories from third-party vendors like BrickArms and BrickForge. Contrast with Purist.
Customizer: a LEGO-fan who is not afraid to modify LEGO parts. Customizing may include painting, cutting, drilling, melting LEGO elements, adding other non-LEGO parts to a creation, or adding details with custom-made stickers and decals. These are all considered herecy by a “purist”.

Dark Ages: the period in a LEGO-fan’s life when he/she sets aside LEGO in favor other, non-LEGO pursuits.
Diorama or Dio: a very large LEGO scene, larger than a Bignette or Vignette.
Draft: an activity common at LEGO club meetings, in which LEGO-fans each bring a copy of a LEGO set, sort out all of the LEGO elements, and take turns picking the parts they want. An easy way to get the parts you want in larger quantities without buying multiple copies of the set yourself.
DSS: “Dreaded-Sticker-Sheet” (See also STAMP.)

FAFOL: “Female-Adult-Fan-of-LEGO”. (See also AFFOL and SHEFOL.)
FBTB: “From Bricks To Bothans”. A LEGO Star Wars fan site and online community. See here: FBTB
FFOL: “Female-Fan-Of-LEGO”. An other acronym for female fans. (See also AFFOL, FAFOL and SHEFOL.)

Greebles: pseudo-technical detail added to a LEGO creation to enhance its appearance, frequently seen in LEGO space and mecha creations.

Half-Stud Offset: a building technique that allows building without regard to the standard alignment of studs on a plate, usually achieved with a jumper plate.

Illegal: LEGO building techniques that break the “rules” for connections between LEGO elements used by official LEGO set designers – particularly connections that stress the LEGO elements.
Inventory: the list of LEGO elements included in an official LEGO set. Several LEGO fan sites host set inventories, including Peeron and BrickLink.

Jumper Plate: a 1×2-stud LEGO plate with only 1 stud in the center. Useful for half-stud offset building. See here: Jumper Plate

KFOL: “Kid-Fan-of-LEGO”. The LEGO Group’s primary target demographic – boys aged 5-12.

Legal: LEGO building techniques that follow building guidelines for official LEGO set designers.
Legos: Don’t you say that! The official plural form for more than one LEGO element is “LEGO® brand building bricks”. That’s ridiculous, though, so most LEGO-fans refer to one or more bricks as “LEGO”, following the grammatical convention of “fish” and “sheep.” 😎
LUG: “LEGO-Users-Group”. Local or regional LEGO clubs that meet and interact primarily in an offline or “real world” context, although many of them now have online presence as well.
LURP: “Little-Ugly-Rock-Piece”. See here: LURP

M/N

MF: Minifig
Microfig: small figures (half the size of regular minifigs) from the LEGO Games series
Midi Scale: refers to sets that are between miniature and minifig scale. They do not include minifigures, but are much more detailed than mini sets. So far only Star Wars sets have midi versions.
Minifig Scale: a LEGO creation built for the scale of standard LEGO minifigures.
MOC: “My-Own-Creation”. A LEGO creation designed and built by a LEGO-fan without instructions. Pronounced as “mock.”
MSRP: “Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price”. The official price for a LEGO set as established by the LEGO Group for a particular market. Individual retailers may set their own prices higher or lower than MSRP, and MSRP may vary from country to country.
NLP: “Non-LEGO-Person” or “Non-LEGO-Parent”. Referring to those unfortunate “outsiders” who don’t play with LEGO. 😉

PAB: “Pick-A-Brick”. Buy individual bricks in the quantities you want form LEGO’s online store or brick-and-mortal stores. See online PAB here: Pick-A- Brick
PAB Wall: Pick-A-Brick wall at LEGO stores.
Purist: A LEGO-fan who only uses official LEGO elements. Or a LEGO creation that only contains official LEGO elements with no modifications or custom parts. Contrast with Custom.

S@H or SAH: LEGO’s Online Store
SHEFOL: “She-(Female)-Fan-of-LEGO”. (See also AFFOL and FAFOL.)
Sigfig: the minifig version of a LEGO-fan that he/she uses in online communities as an avatar, or “signature minifig.”
SNOT: “Studs-Not-On-Top”. A building technique that places LEGO elements on their sides or even upside down to achieve the shape or structure the builder wants in their creation.
STAMP: “Stickers-Across-Multiple-Pieces”. (See also DSS.)

TFOL: “Teen-Fan-of-LEGO”
TLC: “The LEGO Company”
TLG: “The LEGO Group”. The privately held parent company for all LEGO-related brands and companies worldwide
TRU: “Toys‘R’Us”. TRU is a great source for LEGO products. They frequently have LEGO sets earlier than any other retailer (including LEGO’s own stores), and their selection is one of the largest. However their prices are often inflated.

UCS: Ultimate Collector’s Series. A series of large LEGO Star Wars sets designed for older teens and adults. They are larger than minifig scale. See here: UCS Sets

V/W

Vignette or Vig: a small scene recreated on a small plate.
WIP: “Work-In-Progress”

YFOL: “Young-Fan-of LEGO”. See also KFOL.

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LEGO Mosaics & Stained Glass – Introduction

by Thita (admin) on January 6, 2011

in Useful Resources

Mosaic is the art of creating patterns or pictures with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone or other materials. It is one of the oldest forms of art, dating back several thousand years. You can read about the history of mosaics on Wikipedia here: All About Mosaics

Mosaics are a wonderful way to create pictures or just pleasing patterns of décor. They can be standalone pieces of art, or they can be incorporated into a larger creation (for example as floor or wall patterns). They can be small and simple, or very large. In fact the larger the mosaic, the more detailed it can be.

LEGO is all about putting together lots of little bits and pieces to create something larger, so it is the perfect medium for creating mosaics! And because of LEGO’s amazing versatility there is more than one way to create a LEGO mosaic!

Here I will show you techniques used by some of the best LEGO mosaic builders! Hope they will give you some ideas and get your creative juices flowing! (Click on any of the pictures to take you to the creator’s own site for a larger view.)

PLATES – ONE LAYER – SOLID COLORS: this is probably one of the most traditional ways to create a LEGO mosaic. They are built with basic LEGO plates in a single layer. To create great detail and intricacy usually the smallest 1×1 size plates are used. Some larger plates may be incorporated as well, depending on the size and design of the mosaic. (As an alternative, the same effect can be achieved by using bricks with studs facing out. The mosaic will thicker and heavier though.)

The little plates are usually attached to a baseplate, or several baseplates connected together to create a larger picture. LEGO itself released a few mosaic-sets between 2000 and 2003, with some very large baseplates. These are still available on Bricklink. For very large mosaics of this type, often a wood frame is attached for additional support and for giving a means to hang it on a wall. The picture or pattern created may use only a few colors (for example to create a black & white image).

Or may be in full color, taking advantage of LEGO’s extensive color palette.

PLATES – TWO LAYERS – SOLID & TRANSLUCENT COLORS: LEGO also has plates in several translucent colors. By placing translucent plates over solid-color plates, a more extensive color palette can be created. The end result is a more fluid picture with subtler transition of colors.

PLATES & ROUND PLATES – MULTI LAYER: this is another technique to blend colors in a unique way. Because of the slight gap between the round plates on top and the regular plates below an interesting transition can be achieved between colors.

LEGO TILES: tiles are like plates, with no studs on top. Therefore you can create a very smooth surface.

LEGO DECORATED TILES: some very interesting effects can be achieved by using LEGO’s decorated tiles!

LEGO TILES & PLATES: You can achieve a subtle, slightly 3D effect by combining smooth tiles with plates.

BRICKS & PLATES – STUDS UP – SOLID COLORS: rather than having studs facing out (like with plates), you can have studs facing up to create a flat-surface mosaic. Another advantage of this technique is that since the bricks and plates are interconnected, the mosaic can solidly support itself. No need for a baseplate or other backing.

BRICKS & PLATES – TRANSLUCENT COLORS: here we are transitioning over to an almost stained-glass effect! You can create beautiful designs with this technique!

LEGO CHEESE SLOPES:in 2004 LEGO introduced a small, smooth-surface slope, often referred to as “cheese slope” for its slice of cheese-like shape. LEGO-fans have been experimenting with creating mosaics from these little pieces. Some really interesting designs can be achieved!

And because they also come in translucent colors, they are another great technique for a stained-glass effect.

The challenge is that the slopes have no studs, so they are mainly held together by friction. But by creating a strong frame around the designs, beautiful pieces can be created.

LEGO HEADLIGHT BRICKS: these little bricks are referred to as “headlight bricks” because they are often used as headlights on LEGO vehicles. However they can also be used as an interesting technique for mosaics. They are great for creating various designs that can work well for a floor or wall pattern in a larger creation. Because of the way headlight bricks interconnect on four sides, the end result is a very solid built.

THREE DIMENSIONAL MOSAICS: although mosaics are usually flat surfaced, you can certainly expand them into the third dimension for a stunning effect!

MIXED PARTS MOSAICS: you can create very beautiful designs with this technique, playing with the many shapes of LEGO pieces. However because the pieces are held together mostly by friction, they usually need to remain horizontal.

MOSAICS AS PART OF A LARGER PROJECT: mosaics can be incorporated into a larger project as intricate floor and wall designs, or even as a reflection or mirrored image! The possibilities are really endless once you get a hang of it!

I hope this review helps in your own LEGO mosaic building! You can also check out the LEGO Mosaic GALLERY, and the Resources for LEGO Mosaic Builders section. And if you come up with or know of some other great techniques let me know!

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Learn to speak LEGO! – ADVANCED TERMS

LEGO Mosaics & Stained Glass – Introduction

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