Brickworld Glossary

Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene: Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (or ABS) is a thermoplastic used to produce molded products such as musical instruments, protective equipment, and LEGO bricks. Adult Fan of LEGO: An adult fan of LEGO (or AFOL) is a LEGO enthusiast who is at least 18 years old.

Adult Female Fan of LEGO: The term adult female fan of LEGO (or AFFOL) is often used interchangeably with Female Fan of LEGO (or FFOL) The former term is more specific, however, since the latter includes female teen fans of LEGO and female kid fans of LEGO.

Billund, Denmark: Billund, Denmark is the location of the international headquarters of The LEGO Group.

Brick Separator: A brick separator is a wedgeshaped LEGO element specially designed for use in separating other LEGO bricks or plates.

Clone Brick: A clone brick (or brik, or knock-off) is a construction toy designed to be compatible with LEGO bricks but not manufactured by The LEGO Group itself. Clone bricks are typically inferior in design and quality to official LEGO products, and are generally avoided by LEGO enthusiasts.

Color Change: The color change occurred in late 2003, when the older, brownish dark and light greys were replaced by bluish shades of grey (dark bley and light bley), and the older brown was replaced by a redder shade of brown (reddish-brown).

Dark Age: A dark age is the period in an AFOL’s life when LEGO products are temporarily set aside for other interests. Dark ages typically occur from sometime in the middle teen years to sometime in adulthood. Due to the fan community developed online as well as the formation of teen-friendly LUGs, dark ages are becoming less common.

Dark Bley: Dark bley refers to the bluish shade of dark grey which, in 2003, replaced the older, browner version of dark grey in LEGO sets.

Dirty Brickster: Dirty Brickster is a LEGO giftgiving,and gift-stealing, game. Each participant brings a small wrapped LEGO gift, and participants take turns either unwrapping a new gift or stealing a previously unwrapped gift from another participant.

Dirty Buildster: Dirty Buildster is a LEGO building game. Participants bring two bags of ‘unwanted’ LEGO elements, which are then distributed randomly amongst the participants. Participants then have some fixed amount of time to build the best MOC they can out of the parts provided.

Enfield, Connecticut: Enfield, Connecticut is the location of the North American headquarters of The LEGO Group.

Female Fan of LEGO: A female fan of LEGO (or FFOL) is a LEGO enthusiast (of any age) who is female.

Fleshie: A fleshie is a minifig whose skin is fleshtoned, as opposed to traditional yellow-skinned minifigs. Fleshies were introduced in 2004 for use in licensed sets to distinguish figures representing real people from the more generic figures appearing in non-licensed sets.

Great Ball Contraption: A great ball contraption (or GBC) is a collaboratively built LEGO machine. Each module takes LEGO soccerballs or basketballs into one end, transfers them to the other end, and then passes the balls off to the next module.

Kid Fan of LEGO: A kid fan of LEGO (or KFOL) is a LEGO enthusiast who is between the ages of 5 and 13. Kid fans of LEGO are the primary market for The LEGO Group, but are often not allowed to participate in online forums and other LEGO-related websites due to government regulations.

LDraw: LDraw is a freeware program which allows LEGO enthusiasts to create virtual MOCs. LDraw is constantly being extended and refined by members of
the LEGO community.

Leg Godt: The phrase leg godt means “play well” in Danish and is the source of the name of The LEGO Group. The LEGO Group also claims that LEGO translates as “I assemble” or “I put together” in Latin, although this is a rather strained translation.

LEGO Ambassador: LEGO Ambassadors are volunteer AFOLs who work with The LEGO Group in order to foster communication and collaboration between the company and the LEGO enthusiast community.

LEGO Group, The: The LEGO Group (or The LEGO Company, or TLC, or TLG) is the official name of the company that produces LEGO products. LEGOs: There is no such thing as LEGOs. The term LEGO should only be used alone to refer to the
company, otherwise the term should be used as an adjective, as in “LEGO sets” or “LEGO elements”.

LEGO Train Club: A LEGO Train Club (or LTC, or simply train club) is a group of LEGO train enthusiasts (often restricted to AFOLs and TFOLs) who meet regularly (either in person or online) to discuss railroad-related aspects of the hobby and
participate in collaborative activities. Thus, an LTC is a particular type of LUG.

LEGO User Group: A LEGO Users Group (or LUG, or simply User Group) is a group of LEGO enthusiasts (often restricted to AFOLs and TFOLs) who meet regularly (either in person or online) to discuss their hobby and participate in collaborative
activities.

Light Bley: Light bley refers to the bluish shade of light grey which, in 2003, replaced the older, browner version of light grey in LEGO sets.

Microscale: Microscale (or microfig scale, or pocket model scale) MOCs are any MOCs that are built in a scale much smaller than minifig scale. Often, microscale MOCs are built accoding to a onestud- brick = one-adult-human scale, although this
varies.

Mindstorms: Mindstorms is a series of LEGO products which combine programmable bricks with motors and technic elements in order to create LEGO robots. Mindstorms products have been used by schools and other programs in order to teach the fundamentals of robot design and control.

Minifigure: Minifigures (or MFs, or minifigs) are the figures most often found in LEGO sets today. Typically approximately four bricks in height, minifigures have interchangeable hands, hair, legs, heads, torsos, and accessories.

Minifigure Scale: Minifigure scale (or minifig scale) refers to LEGO creations that are built to the scale of minifigures. Thus, minifigure scale is approximate 1:48.

My Own Creation: My own creation (or MOC) refers to any LEGO creation designed and built by a LEGO enthusiast.

Octan: Octan is a fictional gas station that appears in official LEGO sets. Occasionally the Octan brand has been abandoned in favor of corporate licenses
with Shell.

Parts Draw: A parts draw involves each participant purchasing a copy of some particular set. The elements in these sets are sorted, with all copies of a certain color/element combination forming a ‘batch’. Participants then take turns selecting a single batch to keep. Parts draws allow LEGO enthusiasts to obtain particular elements in higher quantities than they might be able to obtain otherwise.

Pick-A-Brick: Pick-A-Brick (or PAB) is a service provided at LEGO retail stores where particular elements are stored in containers on a wall. Customers can buy as many elements off the wall as can fit into a plastic cup (or sometimes, special larger containers) for a fixed price.

Piece Made Of Other Pieces: A piece made of other pieces (or piece of other pieces, or POOP) is a single LEGO element that could have been built out of two or more common LEGO elements.

Programmable Bricks: A programmable brick is a large LEGO brick containing electronics which allow it to be used in the creation of LEGO Mindstorms
robots. Programmable bricks include the RCX programmable brick and the NXT programmable brick.

Purist: A MOC is purist if it does not contain any paint, clone bricks, non-LEGO stickers, modified parts, or third-party parts or accessories. The term can also be used to refer to LEGO enthusiasts who restrict their building techniques in this way.

Seriously Huge Investment in Parts: A Seriously Huge Investment in Parts (or SHIP) is a spacecraft MOC that is at least one hundred studs in length. Building a SHIP is viewed as a rite of passage within the LEGO space community.

Signature Figure: A signature figure (or sig fig) is a minifigure used by a LEGO enthusiast to represent him- or herself. Often, photographs of signature
figures are used as avatars on online forums and other LEGO-related sites.

Speed Build: A speed build is a competition where small teams of builders are challenged to construct an official (and typically, very large) LEGO set as
quickly as possible.

Studs Not On Top: Studs not on top (or SNOT) refers to a body of specialized building techniques that allow LEGO elements to be incorporated into
MOCs on their sides or even upside down in order to obtain the shape or effect desired by the builder.

Teen Fan of LEGO: A teen fan of LEGO (or teenage fan of LEGO, or TFOL) is a LEGO enthusiast who is between the ages of 14 and 17. Unlike kid fans of LEGO, teen fans of LEGO can legally participate in online forums and other LEGOrelated
sites, and are often allowed to join LUGs.