Welcome back! Meet The_B3_ and his fantastic ROBOTIC MECH FACTORY! We finally have an answer as to where all the Mechs come from! You can learn more about this awesome creation here.
ABOUT YOURSELF
- Where are you from?
The United States (not Maine).
- What hobbies do you have?
The LEGO hobby, playing games, hiking, and volunteering in my church.
- Do you have a personal LEGO portfolio website that you can share with us?
My LEGO YouTube channel is called “The B3”
- Have you created any LEGO MOCs (my own creations) that you’re particularly proud of? What is it, why are you proud of it and do you have a photo of it?
I’m really happy with the 2 different LEGO cities my younger brother and I have created together. We had so much fun watching them grow, adding all sorts of little details, and creating a story around it all!
- How and when did your interest in LEGO products come about?
Received my first LEGO set when I was 5 years old (no joke, it was 7903, the RESCUE HELICOPTER from that commercial), and now LEGO sets have been the only thing I’ve asked for at literally every birthday and Christmas since!
- What is the LEGO hobby to you? What does it mean to you? How does it fit in your life? E.g. build, display, meetups, play the games or 'just' watch the cartoons.
I’ve been super blessed recently to have my LEGO hobby become my full-time job through YouTube, but that comes with the big potential risk of having all the fun sucked out of it. There’s the pressure to constantly keep churning out MOC content even when I’m not completely happy with what I’m building. However, I try to never lose sight of what made me fall in love with LEGO buidling in the first place as the best creative outlet ever. Taking my time, and always trying new things helps me never feel like I “have” to build, but that I truly “want” to.
- What is your favourite LEGO theme (current or past)? Why? And has any theme inspired your building style or preference in any particular way?
Power Miners! I’ve always loved the colour scheme and creative play features, and I was even able to use some of its unique orange pieces in this project.
- What is your favourite official LEGO set ever? Why?
You can’t beat the original 2008 Death Star. I would stare at that set for hours in the catalogue until my brother and I had saved up enough money over 2+ years to buy it. It was a magical trip to the LEGO store when we finally picked the set up, and we’ve had tons of fun building it, rebuilding it, and customizing it ever since.
- What is your favourite LEGO element? Why?
The 1x2 rail plate (32028). Its intended use of creating sliding mechanisms is extremely satisfying, but it’s also super useful to add subtle detailing on the sides of walls!
- Is there one or more particular LEGO-related websites (not official LEGO websites) that you visit often and/or are inspired by?
No.
ABOUT YOUR PROJECT
- Where did your interest in this particular model come from?
The series 23 “Cardboard Robot” CMF seemed like she needed a factory to work in. My brother had built a robot factory for the series 22 “Robot Repair Tech,” so I wanted to remaster his design with the wacky azure and orange colours of this new CMF. Obviously, the figure(s) would have to be changed if this set did get made, but it’s definitely where the inspiration started! There’s also kind of a joke within the community about the quantity of Mech sets that get released across various LEGO themes, so I thought it would be fun to design something that could not only explain where they’re all coming from, but also be integrated into any sized mech collection for really unique play/display potential!
- How long was the process of making the project, and what did you have to research as well? What kind of prep, research and design phases did you go through to produce your creation?
I drew tons of sketches beforehand, ordered all the azure and orange bricks I thought I might need (as always it wasn’t enough), and laid out the general features of the MOC—conveyor, doors, slide, etc—on a foundation. From there, it was just a matter of “filling in the gaps” between these features with walls, adding interior/exterior detail, and slapping a roof on it! This all took about 3 weeks.
- What special challenges did you face creating the model? What was the most difficult part to recreate?
Of course, it wasn’t quite as simple as I make it seem… I struggled creatively every step of the way, especially in trying to tame the conveyor belt. Technic is not my strong suit, but I wanted to challenge myself to add some mechanisms and movement into this build, and I’m really glad I did! The final result was definitely worth all the trials I went through.
- How long did it take to complete the model? Did you finish it fairly quickly, or did it take a long time? And how did the build time compare to the time you spent promoting your Product Idea to reach 10,000 supporters?
It took about 3 weeks to finalise the project. Trying to film everything slows down the build process significantly, but it was definitely worth the time, because the YouTube video I made promoting it got the project to 10k in only 27 days!
- How did it feel when you reached the magic 10,000 votes and how long did it take?
It was incredibly exciting to hit that threshold after such a short time, and I absolutely loved reading through all the congratulatory comments from my community—many of them seemed even more hyped that this set could become a reality than I was! People have been asking me to do an Ideas project for quite some time, so it was amazing to share that excitement with the supporters who made it possible.
- Approximately how many LEGO bricks did you use to create your model?
Somewhere around 2300? I’m not entirely sure, but half of that count is unnecessary greebling on the walls, so it could absolutely be reduced!
- What is your favourite building technique or part/section that you’ve incorporated into your Product Idea?
It was fun finding unexpected uses for various orange pieces as details, like carrots, the aforementioned Power Miners parts, and even brick separators on the back!
- If you built your model digitally, what software did you use to build and render your model?
No.
- If you used custom stickers or prints for your design, how did you create them or where did you get them?
The only custom prints I included were when I used a permanent marker to draw eyes on one of the little robotic assistants!
ABOUT LEGO IDEAS
- Do you have any useful advice about creating a successful LEGO Ideas project?
I spent a long time getting the images for my project looking just right—especially the cover image. When someone is scrolling through the seemingly endless Ideas projects out there, the cover image could be your only chance to make a good impression and create enough intrigue to click through to (hopefully!) support it. Very similar to YouTube thumbnails now that I think about it! My advice is to go the extra mile to make your cover image irresistible; take the best quality picture/render you can, which obviously involves creating the best quality model you can. That honestly just comes down to a lot of practice, trial, and error. You have to be willing to make a lot of terrible builds first, to get them out of the way before you have the know-how (and pieces!) to reach your true potential.
- What (if any) methods did you use to advertise and attract support to your Product Idea?
I made a YouTube video about building the factory that drove a ton of traffic to the project.
- What is your favourite LEGO Ideas Product Idea (besides your own of course)? Are there any Product Ideas you think have been overlooked?
My favourite Ideas set is probably the Medieval Blacksmith, and I’m very sad the Rubik’s Cube project by puzzLEGO got rejected—it would have been ridiculously cool. Oh well…
- What is it about the platform that attracts you? What tips would you give to anyone who is thinking about uploading an idea?
The vast variety of Ideas on this platform is truly astounding. Both the IP-based projects making unimaginable LEGO licences possible and the jaw-droppingly beautiful original ideas out there are just fantastic. Sure, this means there’s a lot of competition out there, but you never know how your idea could do unless you just try submitting something. Go for it!
- Do you have plans to submit any other Product Ideas in the future? If yes, can you give us a hint what that might be?
Probably! I don’t want to share too much yet, but here’s a hint: gerbil monkeys.
