Building the new LinkedIn Logo in LEGO bricks for the Mountain View lobby required me to buy a huge number of specific bricks in the same color. This is useful because you can order any brick in production. Limitations are that you cannot order bricks that are out of production, and fulfillment times are often 10-15 business days for large orders.2) Fax an order to LEGO. The LinkedIn logo required over 5,000 blue 2x8 bricks as the primary component of the construction. For large, detailed orders you can call the LEGO store at 1-800-835-4386, and they will give you a fax number for the order. Unfortunately, fulfillment times here depend on brick type - I ended up waiting 6-7 weeks for some components of the order. Also, LEGO seems to have no concept of shipping notifications or tracking for orders placed this way.3) Local LEGO stores "Pick a Brick". I used both the Valley Fair and Hillsborough stores to acquire bricks at times. You can buy bricks three ways: a small cup for $7.99, a large cup for $14.99, and an entire box for $70.
As you can imagine, you are somewhat limited by your ability (or patience) in terms of cramming different brick types into containers. Most clerks will tell you that you can't buy bricks by the box - they are mistaken. Ask to talk to a manager, and they will sell you a box, but only if they have more than one in the back. They are not allowed to sell "the last box."The biggest limitation of this approach is that not only do stores not stock all brick types or colors, they also have no ability to "special order" Pick-a-Brick bricks. They get fulfillment once a week, and have no control over which bricks they receive. The trick is to call ahead, and be flexible with your design to adapt to the bricks they do have.4) Bricklink. For example, getting 20-30 small 1x2 tiles to finish off the base edges of the lettering. Bricklink is relatively slow on fulfillment, and it's common to get bricks that are discolored by age or cleaning. This means they may not match other orders of a similar brick.
It's also very hard to get large orders of many brick types & colors.Overall, for the LinkedIn in LEGO project I purchased approximately 12,000+ bricks. 8,000 I was able to get over 7-8 weeks from a Fax order to LEGO. /) and click on "Buy Lego." BrickLink is a kind of Craigslist for Lego bricks -- you can get pretty much any kind ever made, in any color it was made in./PAB/ Prices aren't great but they are actually roughly about the same as what you would pay in a boxed set. Your Lego® set guide Please use the menu above to navigate to another area of the site, or use your browser's back button to go back to the previous page. We apologise for the inconvenience. Sign up or log in to customize your list. Here's how it works: Anybody can ask a question The best answers are voted up and rise to the top There are 16 distinct LEGO minifigures in a collectible series. They are sold individually in "mystery" bags so that you cannot tell which one is inside.
To get all 16 minifigures, what's the expected number of bag purchases I need to make? For simplicity let's make the assumption that the probability of a single bag containing a specific minifigure always is 1/16. In fact, you may sometimes be able to buy a case with 60 of these bags, guaranteed to contain the complete series. And you may swap figures on the Internet. Let's ignore such options for this question. If the distribution is assumed to be completely random (not necessarily true), and of a large enough group to make your purchases not effect the total probability (likely) then this is an alternate of a classic math problem known as the Coupon Collector's Problem: There are many discussions of this and other probability problems in the Mathematics Stack Exchange. Avoiding all the maths The answer for 16 individual units is 55. If they have a case of 60 with a guaranteed full set, personally I'd buy it rather than depend on the random distribution of bags.
I know the question was phrased as a sort of math problem, but most LEGO fans solve it as a sort of LEGO problem. The bags are opaque, so you cannot see what's in the bags, but almost everywhere they are sold you can feel the bags, and you can determine what figure is in the bag. With the exception of the recent Soccer Team figures, collectible minifigures are always unique in terms of what parts are in the bag. Just shake and squeeze the bag until the distinctive piece is found. The problem with the math way: One can compute the probability of, say, picking two matching socks out of a drawer of miscellaneous socks, or of picking a whole collection of figures out of a box of figures. But there are a few complications: Someone else has been there before you and squeezed the bags to find all the space marines. Someone else has been there before you and grabbed a few at random, but then squeezed a few more bags to find the Princess. The store takes what's left from the first box and jams it into the second box when the box runs low;
or they don't even display them in the original box, making it impossible to know how many boxes are in play and how many figures have been picked. There are usually 16 figures in a collection and 60 figures in a box; this means the figures cannot be evenly distributed. Some series have had as few as two of one figure in the box. Given that, it's entirely possible (though unlikely) to pick 58 figures and miss both of that elusive Unicorn Girl. If squeezing the bags isn't an option, the only way to be sure is to buy a new, unopened box. Sign up or log in Sign up using Google Sign up using Email and Password Post as a guest By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service. Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged collectable-minifigures or ask your own question.I originally shared this tutorial on Or So She Says… where I am now a monthly craft contributor. Go check it out. Now I get to share it with you here.
Back in July, we celebrated Evan’s 6th birthday party. Last year, it was all about superheroes. His theme of choice this year? Seriously, that boy would sit and build Legos all day if I let him! I thought it would be fun for each of the boys at the party to draw a face on their own Lego party favor bag. They turned out so cute! I bought some cute little 5 1/2 inch tote bags at the craft store and stenciled each bag with a Lego head. I made these stencils using vinyl, but you can also use the freezer paper method. Download the Lego head template here and just cut it out with scissors. Center the stencils on the bags and paint with a matte fabric paint. For the best results, start on the stencil and paint in toward the center. This prevents paint from being pushed under the stencils. Once the paint is dry, peel off your stencils, heat set the paint, and you’re ready for the party! Each of the boys took a black Sharpie and drew a face however they wanted. (We had a princess party going on at the same time, hence the pink tablecloth.)