The MIT Mindfest
Well, 'round about October 22-24, 1999, we had a pretty cool display at
the MIT Mindfest. You've probably seen pictures. What? You DIDN'T see
the pictures? Well, here
are some. I've got more of the same. BUT... I also have something you
DIDN'T see on anyone else's pages! Largely because I was the only person
to photograph them before they were dismantled. Also maybe nobody else
wanted to broadcast the story... perhaps I'm violating some rule that I
wasn't informed of... If so, lemme know...
I don't want to say anything about the Mindfest that should be kept a
secret or anything...
The story goes something like this:
It's the last day of the Mindfest. Things are pretty wound down, our
hulking Star Wars display, the Mindstorms car, and Larry P.'s Trains are
all gone, we've just got some alternate models on the table for display.
It's about lunch time. We're sitting at our nice little NELUG table, when
we get the hankering for some food. So I ran up to grab some lunch and
bring it back to the table.
When I got up to the tent where lunch was served, I noticed something
different from the previous day-- piles of Lego bricks on each of the
tables. "Oh neat!" I thought. "People can build while they eat!" And I
thought no more about it. After all, there were Lego bricks all around the
event for people to play with-- Lego bricks that were intended to REMAIN
at MIT, but free to be played with.
I went back down to our table, sporting my soggy ham sandwich, and
commented on the fact that there were piles of bricks on the lunch tables.
Eric K's response was similar to mine. Apparently neither of us thought
anything of it, other than "Oh, that's a nice idea."
A few minutes later, who should walk by but Suz, checking on us-- seeing
how we were doing, etc. We chatted for a few minutes, when she all of a
sudden unexpectedly said "Y'know, you can keep whatever you build up in
the lunch tent..." That was enough for us. We were at the lunch tent
within seconds, where we sat down at the first empty table, picking
through the piles for precious pieces.
At first, we were rather attempting our best to be discrete. Moving slowly
from table to table, sitting at one, then another (after the 'good' pieces
were gone). But as word spread, and people started to leave the tent, we
grew more and more akin to vultures-- scavanging for tan bricks, complete
minifigs, battle droids, and whatever else we could find, not even
bothering to sit down at tables. I must admit, I felt rather silly and
uncouth, but hey, it was free! And there were good bricks there! As we
progressed, our makeshift junk-freighters began to take their ugly form,
growing and growing into creations truly worth of being named 'silly'.
After all, we had been told "You can only keep what you BUILD"! so we were
trying to build as fast as our hands could take us.
But as the clock drew neigh on 2 o'clock, a staff member said simply: "Why
are you bothering to make something? Why don't you just scoop the pieces
into your bags?" Well... that was it. The pieces no longer stood a chance.
They were decimated table by table, until the tables were completely
devoid of bricks. Kids, parents, and AFOLs alike helped in the ravaging,
side by side, throwing thier pieces into their previously named 'lunch
bags'.
Anyway, we were happy, needless to say. I mean, FREE LEGO BRICKS! It was
very cool indeed. Well, as I meanderd down back to our table, I saw some
of the silly creations and just HAD to take pictures. Some were too silly
for words. And without further ado, the pictures that NO-ONE ELSE HAS!
(until they download them and put them on their servers) :
Here's mine, (slightly dissassembled) the SS Tan'ngrey. It looks kinda
what I'd picture a Jawa spacecraft to look like... a pile of junk. That
can fly. Somehow. All in all, 644 pieces, a bunch of 'em tan. :)
Here's Eric Joslin's partial Klingon Cruiser-- note the stash of
Star Wars hinge pieces, and the nearly solid sections of tan!
And this one's Eric Kingsley's... a giant grey, teal, and yellow cruiser
with a full crew, led by a complete Darth Vader fig! Check out the 2x2
white round brick with the 'Octan' logo!
Here's one of the more haphazard creations-- Kevin Loch's Podracer! (What?
you didn't notice it in Episode I?)
And one more shot of Kevin's Podracer-- like the landing legs? It's nice
to know that decapitated R2-D2s can go to good use. :)
And here's Todd's infamous Timmy Launcher! Now you too can proudly launch
your Timmys to their ultimate demise!
Here's a couple of our bags with our 'winnings' inside... Of course, Bram
made off like a bandit with TONS of pieces... but I didn't get a picture
of his bag... it had a hard time opening and closing ;)
Anyway, that's it for now... I'll put up my other pics at some point too,
but I think that they're mostly just more of the same things you've
already seen. But who knows... maybe they'll be of interest to
SOMEONE...
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