Annual Slingerlands Carnival Raffle Basket Descriptions
(#1) Mrs. Reiner Birthday Party Coccadotts Cake Shop Gift Card, Target Gift Card, Walmart Gift Card, piata, piata candy, Hungry Animals cake and ice cream pan, boy and girl themed wrapping paper, matching curly bows (2), mini note card set, thank you card set, flat panel note cards (100), sparkler candles, regular candles, foam activity kit, squirt gun party favor, glow bracelet favor set, silly string (6), balloons (72), party blowers (16), crazy straws (12). Happy Birthday themed items: centerpiece, star garland, celebration pennant, head bopper, plastic tablecloth, hats (8), blowers (8) and goody bags (8). Princess themed items: goody bags (16), plates and napkins, stickers (12 sheets). Toy Story themed items: goody bags (16), plates and napkins, stickers (4 pack). (#2) Mrs. Gentile Arts & Crafts Color Wonder Princess paint set, Cars paint set, Art Set (80 piece), Shrinky Dinks, construction paper, latch hook kit, markers (3 pack), unicorn mosaic set, surfer mosaic set, foam letter stickers, sand art kit, Toy Story color in posters, Tinkerbell color in posters, foam sheets, colored pencils, glitter glue, crayons, glue sticks, craft sticks, PlayDoh (4), googly eyes, foam shapes, pom poms. (#3) Mrs. Reddy Summer Fun kite, 5 game combo set (lawn games), rolling duffle, beach towels (2), shovel and pail, Nerf football, 3-D activity set, fat bat and ball, ultra catch, plastic water bottle, inflatable globe, Sponge Bob beach ball, water gun set, sticky paddle set, yard pinwheel, bubbles (2), sunscreen, sunglasses, Anna Banana Jump Rope Rhymes with jump rope. (#4) Mrs. Ferrentino Around the House - $30 Pier 1 Imports gift card, $25 Athos Restaurant gift card, $25 Home Depot gift card, $20 Lowes gift card, $15 Olsens Hardware gift card, $10 Phillips Hardware gift card, Lowes gift card, wind chime, flower and vegetable plant food, garden gloves (2), trowels (2), hummingbird nectar and feeder, plant pots, Body Shop hand lotion, flower and vegetable seeds, moisturizing soap, solar lantern. (#5) Mrs. McCaffrey Family Fun Night - $10 I Love Books Gift Card, I Spy Word Scramble, Monopoly Junior, Connect 4x4, 10 game set (checkers, backgammon, chess, mancala, pick-up sticks, etc.), Parcheesi, Sudoku set, Lego Robo Champ, Travel Sorry, Jenga (3), Rubiks Cube set, In a Pickle Game, kids cards, Jacks and Pick-Up Sticks set, Trouble, Memory, Yahttze Junior, Bingo, Checkers/Tic Tac Toe set, Scrabble Apple, American Girl Card game, Madagascar Card set, UNO card game (2), Blink card game, playing cards, microwave popcorn (2). (#6) Mrs. Monthie Sports - $25 Target gift card, $10 Olympia Sports gift card, car trunk tote, baseball cards, baseball puzzle, flying ring, lacrosse balls, toy hockey stick/ball, table tennis paddles/balls, softballs, Connect sports game, tennis racket, sky ball and bat, Thule carrier, tennis balls (3), Albany Devils hockey pucks (2), skip ball toy, collectors football, lacrosse sticks (2), Albany Devils t-shirt. (#7) Mrs. Bacher Book Lovers (Kids) - $25 Barnes and Noble gift card, $15 Borders gift card, Marvel Heros Battling the Bad Guys (storybook and DVD), Pokemon Ultimate Handbook, Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!, Feathers for Lunch, I Love You All Day Long, Planting a Rainbow, The Curse of the Cheese Pyramid, Who Stole the Wizard of Oz?, The World
According to Humphrey, Freaky Facts, Mr. Docker is Off His Rocker!, playtime on a pad (2) oodles of doodles coloring book, create your own books toy, How to Make Balloon Animals, LED book light, Mad Libs word game (2) Bananagrams game, bookmarks (2). Book and audio CD: Smelly Socks, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, Green Wilma Frog in Space, The Hiccupotamus, The Pout-Pout Fish, The Gingerbread Cowboy. (#8) Mrs. Reiss Lego - $20 in Walmart Gift Cards, Lego Creationary Board Game, Lego City Police Boat, Off Road Fire Rescue & Small Car, Lego stickers (2), Lego Creator Transport Truck, Lego Creator building toys (2 bags), Lego Hero Factory Corroder, Bionicle Stars Gresh, Lego Pharoahs Quest Golden Staff Guardians, Lego Set Building Toy #5932, Super Blox Special Forces A.T.V., Lego carrying case with handle, Lego mini figures (3), Lego base, Lego Star Wars watch with mini building toy. (#9) Mrs. Raffe Camping Coleman: 28qt. cooler, day tripper first aid kit, 2 person dinnerware set, fire starters, collapsible cooking fork, fire lighter, micropacker black and red LED lantern (2), 12 piece stainless steel flatware set, skin smart DEET free insect repellent, 5 gallon water carrier, fire starters, classic LED lantern. Makings for smores: Honey Maid graham crackers (2 boxes), Hershey bars (14), marshmallows (2 bags). Compressible pillow, Rayovac flashlight, focus headlamp, all purpose tarp, insect repellent family pack, repel insect repellent. (#10) Mrs. Brands Book Lover (Adult) - $65 I Love Books gift certificate, A Confederacy of Dunces, The Concise Guide to Sounding Smart at Parties, When the Emperor Was Divine audio book, page keeper bookmark, Moleskin journals (2), booklight, page points. (#11) Mrs. Carpenter For Her - $25 Day Dreams gift certificate, $25 Studio 85 haircut gift certificate, $25 Sephora gift certificate, movie tickets (2), note cards, cotton balls, bath-in-a-bag (shower gel, lotion, puff), lotion, cream scrub, cotton rounds, chocolate masque, puffs (2), glass disk necklace. Burts Bees: body bar, foot lotion, hair treatment. Jewelry by Jeanna: silver earrings, stone and silver earring and necklace set, blue bead earring and necklace set. (#12) Mrs. McGlynn Local Favorites - $50 Mangia gift card, $50 Wild Sage Designs gift card, $25 I Love Books gift certificate, $24 Breathing Room gift certificate, $20 Twist Ice Cream Gift Card (@ The Jericho Drive-In), $10 Panera gift card, $5 Dunkin Donuts gift card, $5 Perfect Blend gift card, 5 Car Wash Coupons from Glenmont Car Wash, Friends of Five Rivers Gift Membership, Albany Aqua Duck Passes (2). (#13) Mrs. Leach Baby $20 Hannaford gift certificate, $20 CVS gift card, Wild Sage diaper clutch and bib, stuffed elephant, miniville layette green blanket with jungle animal print, tissue paper, elechant rattle with attached blanket, soft Moo Cow book, Johnsons take along pack, silly story maker game, frog teether, Aveeno diaper rash cream, ring toy, baby shower napkins, Johnsons baby shampoo, Aveeno baby cream, board book with stroller strap, scented garbage bags, thank you cards (10), baby photo album, I Love You Grandma recordable storybook, My Grandpa and Me recordable storybook, Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear?, munchkin snack catchers (2), Huggies Diapers (42) and wipes, white receiving blanket, Johnsons bathtime basket, handmade baby quilt, Aveeno moisture lotion and wash, Johnsons bedtime lotion and body wash, soft flannel baby blanket, baby cards (2). Set of ceramic containers: first bracelet, first tooth and curl. (#14) Mrs. Fitzpatrick Health Nut - $30 LL Bean gift card, Hula Fit gift certificate and hula

hoop, water bottles (2), Go Fit stability ball, Golds Gym exercise ball, shake weight, yoga mat, Wild Sage yoga mat cover, short resistance tubes, Deceptively Delicious cookbook, Hungry Girl cookbook, Body Shop scrub mit, oil and shower gel. (#15) Mrs. Doemel School Spirit roll of athletic tape (1), gallon orange flip-spout igloo, orange/black long sports socks, orange lidded plastic cup with straw, Slingerlands keychain, Slingerlands BC car magnet, orange zippered sunglass case, orange/black notepads (2), orange photo album, Bethlehem Eagles t-shirt, Bethlehem string backpack, BC zippered string backpack, Always Our Best tie-dye t-shirt, Bethlehem plaid flannel pants, BC fleece blanket with tie-straps, orange stadium horn, BC/Slingerlands insulated travel mug, BC teddy bear with sweatshirt, 4x4 orange metal work photo frame, 4/6 orange tile. (#16) Mrs. Skiba Travel Fun $20 Hess gas card, $15 iTunes gift card, $10 Walmart gift card, Magic writers (2), magnetic travel games (3), invisible ink game books (3), hidden picture books (2), Mad Libs book, Brain Quest Travel Edition, Adventures in Cartooning book, Tic Tac Check travel game, personal 911 travel kit, set of toiletry bags, travel hair dryer. (#17) Mrs. Connors Gift Cards - $45 Barnes & Noble, $35 Lowes, $30 Dunkin Donuts, $30 Starbucks Coffee, $25 Godiva, $20 gift coupon for Coldwater Creek, $15 Borders, $15 Cold Stone Creamery, $15 iTunes, $15 Marshalls, $15 Subway, $10 Build-A-Bear Workshop, $5 off purchase at Latham Greens Family Fun Center, $5 off purchase at OTooles Restaurant Pub, $5 off purchase Reel Seafood Co. (#18) Mrs. Clarkson iPod 8GB charcoal color iPod Nano, $15 Apple Store Gift Card, $15 iTunes Gift Card, portable speaker case, silicon case for classic iPod Nano (2). (#19) Mr. Betor Money Tree - Lottery Tickets. (#20) Community Donation from Susan Baker - Complimentary home market analysis by Realtor Susan Baker of Keller Williams Realty, complimentary color consultation with Shannon McGivern - Sherwin Williams Decorator, Color to Go container of paint, Sherwin Williams color paint deck, Staged to Sell (or Keep) book, bottle of Saratoga Spring Water, $25 gift certificate to The Hidden Caf, Brookstone 6-in-1 multi-tool, super bright 9 LED flashlight.

Beyond the Brick: Narrativizing LEGO in the Digital Age By Aaron Smith, aaron.smith50@gmail.com *Draft, please do not quote or cite without permission *The following is a personal research project and does not necessarily reflect the views of my employer Conference Paper MiT7 Unstable Platforms The promise and peril of transition 13-15th May 2011 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA Introduction Fantasylands, supernatural environments, and galaxies far far away LEGO looks a lot different today than when it was patented as a red studded brick in 1958. The physical toy remains an intricate part of the LEGO business, of course, but now so are video games, amusement parks, movies, television shows, and online entertainment. The growing reliance on media communication and media technologies, a process many scholars have dubbed mediatization, has powerful implications for LEGOs longestablished and valued system of play.1 One effect has been the increasingly important role of narrative within this systemwhat Stig Hjarvard calls narrativization.2 Indeed, LEGO box sets increasingly specify narrative roles, conflicts, mythologies, and character bios as part of their intended play. Traditional LEGO building and designing continues to flourish, but while the material toys used to compose the entirety of the LEGO system, they now function as elements within a larger media supersystem.3 This paper focuses on LEGOs strategies for adapting to the digital age by leveraging story worlds around their products and encouraging physical, virtual, and social play within and around those worlds. In The Place of Play: Toys and Digital Cultures, Maaike Lauwaert conceptualizes the sum of all play practices, design, and discourses in terms of a geography of play.4 He introduces a spatial terminology, including core and peripheral, to describe the dynamic between intended (core) and unintended (peripheral) modes of play. 5 The core of the geography of play represents all facilitated and scripted play practices, whereas the peripheral comprises of fan practices that deviate from the intended use.6 To further map out the geographies of play, I will be examining two other terms with spatial connotationsspreadability and drillabilityas I compare narrative strategies in LEGOs licensed property LEGO Star Wars and LEGOs original property BIONICLE. I argue that LEGO Star Wars excels at spreadability, motivating audiences to produce and share
Hjarvard, Stig. From Bricks to Bytes: The Mediatization of a Global Toy Industry. In IB Bondebjerg, Peter Golding (Eds.) European Culture and the Media. Bristol, UK: Intellect Books, 2004. 43-Ibid, 57
3 Marsha Kinder has a more involved discussion of commercial supersystems in Playing with Power in
Movies, Television, and Video Games: From Muppet Babies to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press, 1991.
Lauwaert, Maaike. The Place of Play: Toys and Digital Cultures. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2009. 5 Ibid 6 Lauwaert, 17
divergent stories outside the official canon and circulate them to a wide audience. LEGO BIONICLE, on the other hand, promotes drillability by encouraging immersive exploration into the core mythology. To some extent, both LEGO Star Wars and LEGO BIONICLE support the broad circulation and deep mining of media content, yet as a whole, they tend to emphasize different dimensions of the experience. Some scholars, such as Stephen Kline and Marsha Kinder, have noted that the narrativization of toys largely coincides with the heightened commercialization and commodification of childrens play culture.7 Yet instead of speculating about whether narrativized play is 'good' or 'bad' for creative development and cultural discourse, this paper attempts to better understand how the LEGO system itself works, first contextualizing its narrativization within a larger historical perspective and then dissecting its mechanics through an analysis of spreading and drilling practices. This type of discussion, I will argue, helps illuminate not how narrative has replaced or destroyed the LEGO system of play, but instead has grown to be a part of it. The Evolution of LEGO Before analyzing LEGO Star Wars and LEGO BIONICLE as case studies, it is important to contextualize LEGOs narrativization within the companys broader historical development. Throughout much of the 20th century, LEGO built its wholesome reputation by self-identifying as a manufacturer of construction toys and nothing else.8 So how did LEGO reach a point where Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Harry Potter represent integral parts of the business model? This section explores the economic, cultural, and technological forces that have shaped LEGO over time, culminating with the transformation of toys into media and media into toys. Ultimately, I contend that narrativization should not be viewed in opposition to LEGOs traditional geographies of play, but as an additional layer within the modern day LEGO system, where construction play can mean anything from building toys to worldbuilding. The origin of LEGO begins in 1932, when the carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen set up a wooden toy factory in Billund, Denmark.9 He called his product LEGO, based on the Danish words leg godt or play well.10 Ole Kirks shop sold individually constructed wooden pull-toys, such as miniature airplanes and waddling ducks, and later traditional wooden blocks that could be stacked on top of each other.11 After World War II, the advent of the plastic-molding machine enabled toys to be mass-produced.12 Ole Kirk quickly adopted the plastic materials, in part because he wanted production to be more efficient and affordable in the long run, but also because he

Kline, Stephen. Out of the garden: toys, TV, and childrens culture in the age of marketing. New York, New York: Verso, 1999; Kinder, Marsha. Playing with Power in Movies, Television, and Video Games, 1991. 8 Hjarvard, Stig. From Bricks to Bytes, Wiencek, Henry. The World of LEGO Toys. New York, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Christiansen didnt know it at the time, but LEGO is also the Latin word for I put together. In Wulffson, Don L. Toys!: amazing stories behind some great inventions. New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2000. 11 Wiencek, Henry. The World of LEGO Toys, Ibid.
saw unique creative potential for toy design.13 As Ole Kirk's son Godtfred Kristiansen recalled, it occurred to us that the [plastic] bricks would become an even better toy, with an even wider range of possibilities if they could be locked together.14 Early plastic toys were essentially replicas of wooden toysboats, trains, and tractorsbut LEGO envisioned a building toy that took advantage of the new technology, expanding the LEGO play options to include more diverse and detailed constructions.15 The first model with locking functionality was called Automatic Binding Bricks, a slightly modified version of the self-locking bricks from Kiddicraft.16 These were hollow rectangular blocks with studs on the top and slots in the sides for inserting windows and doors. The sets focused on the construction of architectural structures, primarily houses, as indicated by the drawings on the box covers. Maaike Lauwaert points out that these plastic building blocks had particular advantages over their wooden predecessors, since plastic bricks could fit onto and into one another to allow for more design and construction versatility. 17 The molding precision of the plastic building bricks, for example, allowed bricks to connect tightly together, making the overall construction more stable and unified than the clunky wooden blocks. 18 When Godtfred Kirk Christiansen patented LEGO with the stud-and-tube coupling system we know today, he also envisioned a system of play, in which all bricks across all sets were interchangeable. Bricks could be reused, remixed, and rebuilt according to any design impulse. This freedom to create would feed into LEGOs values: unlimited creativity, imagination, and play potential. As the first LEGO magazine introduced the concept: The big advantage of the LEGO System, is namely that all components fit together. They are very adaptable and can be built together, and have experienced a broad enhancement with the implementation of additive elements to angled blocks. The hobby-friendly person can precisely make the highest demands towards the most life-like design.19 Indeed, LEGO Systems expanded the Automatic Building Blocks geography of play to include an even wider range of building possibilities. Bricks could be used to produce not just architectural buildings, but people, animals, shapes, cities, and so on. More complex structures could be realized by combining any number of the 28 sets that were initially released. This system of play, Lauwaert argues, opened up a larger area for peripheral play practices, encouraging the bricks to be used as a creative form of self-expression,

Lauwaert, 57 Fleming, Dan. Powerplay: Toys as Popular Culture. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1996. 22 Ibid., Fleming traces narrativized toys back to the age of Mesopotamia, where clay and wooden objects would represent myths and legends. Ibid. 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid., Santo, Avi. Transmedia Brand Licensing Prior to Conglomeration: George Trendle and the Lone Ranger and Green Hornet Brands, 1933-1966. Dissertation presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin. 2006; Roberts, Garyn G. Premiums, Paraphernalia, and Material Culture: The Dick Tracy Toys. In Dick Tracy and American Culture: Morality and Mythology, Text and Context. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1993. 27 Fleming, Powerplay, 1996. 102-Carter, Matt. The Green Tangerine Blog. February 8th, 2011. Accessed April 21st, 2011. http://www.greentangerine.co.uk/search/lego 29 Fleming. Powerplay, 1996. Lauwaert. The Place of Play, 2009
Beginning in the 1990s, the LEGO Group tried to loosen ties with the construction of bricks and focus more on the concept of quality of play.31 This identity crisis was due to a number of factors including: a declining interest in construction play, an increasing interest in action/role-playing toys, technological innovations that captured childrens attention (computers, MP3 players, video games), changes in consumerism that made kids demand products at an earlier age, and the need to sell more products within a shorter timeframe.32 LEGO worried that its traditional bricks were becoming too old fashioned and boring and felt they needed to diversify their product range. As a result, the company launched an expansive global brand strategy. LEGO opened theme parks, licenced properties from Warner Brothers and Disney, and developed playsets that contained pre-formed pieces in order to decrease building time.33 Straying too far from their core product line led to massive economic decline in the late 1990s and early 2000s.34 In diversifying their product, LEGO was competing directly with traditional toy manufacturers like Hasbro and Fisher Price, and consequently their total marketing philosophy. LEGO thus shifted their focus towards the entertainment business, designing narrative and role-playing as part of the play experience. 35 Early narrativized properties like LEGO Ninjas, Throwbots/Slizer, Time Cruisers, Aquazone, and Rock Raiders were major flops, in part because the toys were such a drastic alteration from traditional LEGO bricks, but also because they failed to incorporate an engaging narrative system as part of the creative design. One wikicontributor wrote on the BIONICLE page: Robo Riders were complete and utter failures.Barely improving on the Throwbots, they had no elemental powers.or even some kind of story. 36 LEGOs early properties fell short because they had a glazed-over thematic shell, but not a narrative system with highly spreadable and drillable elements. Maaike Lauwaert, on the other hand, has point towards narrativization as a contributing factor to LEGOs temporary downfall. He cites the shift in discourse from bricks to action, from construction to narrative, from process to product as frustrating the expansive, modular, and open-ended forms of LEGO play, leaving little room for designing personal constructions and realizing them.37 While I agree Robo Raiders and Slizer were not particularly compelling products, I do not view construction play and narrative play as diametrically opposed. Rather, narrativization affords new creative possibilities and forms of expression that can include both the construction of toys and the construction of stories. The same way plastic materials afforded more precise architectural building and the original LEGO Systems afforded more complex building, narrativization affords another advancement: worldbuilding. Media scholar Jonathan Gray, for instance, contends that toys contribute meaning to a story world and provide audiences the opportunity to actively participate with it:

Interview conducted with LEGO Brand Manager on May 6 th , 2011. 32 Ibid., Hjarvard. From Bricks to Bytes, 2004. 33 Ibid. 34 Ibid. 35 Lauwaert. The Place of Play, 2009., Hjarvard. From Bricks to Bytes, 2004. 36 Accessed April 25th, 2011. http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/BIONICLE 37 Lauwaert, The Place of Play, 61
Characters with no lines in the movies can be re-enacted and given a greater roleThese toys allow children to feed meaning back into the proscribed narratives. Toys intensify themes from films, but also allow individual children to personalize these themes, situating the child in the middle and as an active participantnot just a distanced spectator.Though Star Wars toys offered many implicit and explicit proper uses, in the schoolyard, garden, or bedroom, children could do anything they wanted with these toys, from the proper to the improper.38 The problem with Lauwaerts assumption that narrativization equates play with a finished product is that it fails to account for the on-going process of playing with toys to appropriate, repurpose, and personalize a story in order to make it ones own. I therefore disagree that narrativization and role-playing replace LEGOs notion of construction play; it simply provides another level of meaning. Narrativized toys can coexist with the free-form traditional LEGO play sets, offering different modes of creative play and self-expression. The trick is to understand narrativization in terms of its unique creative potential and incorporate that into the toy design, much the same way LEGO has done with material objects. LEGOs intellectual properties at the turn of the century failed because they were ineffective narrative systems, not because they were narrative systems. After all, at the time of this writing, LEGO Star Wars and LEGO BIONICLE are two of the top selling and most successful LEGO products.39 To see why, I will explore at least two design characteristics supporting their narrativized system of play: spreadability and drillability. 40 Spreadability and Drillability Spreading and drilling practices can occur in both the core and periphery of the geographies of play. Lauwaert defines the core as all facilitated play practices that are the sum of both the design of a toy and the discourse that accompanies it.41 In relationship to narrative, then, the core refers to the pre-conceived, designed story and the discourse that has been scripted as part of the experience. Drillability, then, is the potential to descend into the core and parse through its nuances. Coined by television scholar Jason Mittell, drillable media refer to programs that encourage viewers to dig deeper, probing beneath the surface to understand the complexity of a story and its telling. 42 These forensic fandom43 practices run counter to spreadable media, which Henry Jenkins argues motivate communities to circulate content according to their own
Gray, Jonathan. Show sold separately: promos, spoilers, and other media paratexts. New York: New York University Press, 2010. Interview with LEGO Brand Manager. Conducted May 6th, Both both of these terms will be discussed in the forthcoming book, Spreadable Media, edited by Sam Ford, Joshua Green, and Henry Jenkins. 41 Lauwaert, Mittell, Jason. To Spread or To Drill. Justtv.wordpress.com, February 25th, 2009. Accessed April 20 th, 2011. http://justtv.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/to-spread-or-to-drill/ 43 Ibid.

It is unclear exactly which products this statistic refers to, but Im guessing LEGO play sets, video games, and other merchandise. More LEGO: Star Wars statistics can be found at: http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/tradeshows/events.jsp;jsessionid=5A618AF6752B0354FC3C6097F20 1B868.tomcat1?option=tradeshow&beat=BEAT_ALL&eventid=1003544&view=LATEST&resourceid=50 Ibid. 51 Jenkins, Henry. If It Doesnt Spread Its Dead (Part Seven): Aesthetic and Structural Strategies. February 25th, 2009. Accessed April 20th, 2011. http://henryjenkins.org/2009/02/if_it_doesnt_spread_its_dead_p_6.html
In addition, much of the iconography and environment remains generally the same. We still recognize the Millennium Falcon, Death Star, and C-P30 as Star Wars characters based on their shape, color, and design. At the same time, most LEGO minifigs have unique characteristics all their own: cylindrical heads, blocky legs, dotted eyes, and clamp-like hands. The LEGO mini-figs thus represent both the existing franchise characters and the LEGO-ized characters, who are more comedic in nature. This dual identity makes LEGOs toys attractive to a wide range of consumers, allowing any combination of nostalgic adults, play-hungry children, or LEGO-obsessive fans, to relate to and connect with the property on multiple levels. To side-step any notion of combat, LEGO Star Wars removes all sense of danger and aggression. When killed, LEGO characters simply dissolve into a pile of bricks. So while Chewbacca rips stormtroopers limbs out of their sockets, its seen as deconstructing a toy rather than a brutal mauling. As LEGO spokeswoman Charlotte Simonsen explained, We think kids really want to have this good-against-evil play; they want this fighting against each other. But we want to do it with a wink. 52 Another way the LEGO video games play with existing themes is by shuffling and remixing characters. It is possible, for example, to unlock and play as Indiana Jones in the Star Wars game, using a whip as weapon rather than a light saber. The result is an entertaining and unlikely face-off between Indiana Jones and Darth Vader. Further, players can choose any number of combinations of Star Wars characters to complete a level on free play mode. In this LEGO world, the player doesnt have to adhere to the rules and logic of the existing franchise any character combination is fair game. Often times, one character has abilities that allow the player to access secret levels previously unattainable in the regular story mode. Part of the pleasure here is in seeing how these characters are re-mixed and re-contextualized, placing characters from separate Star Wars eras side by side. This is, of course, a virtual practice based on what many kids already do with toys: mix and match parts and see what new combinations can be applied. In this way, LEGO creates what could be described as a parallel universe, one with a funnier, playful logic at work. This logic is then reinforced through numerous paratexts. LEGO Star Wars: The Paratexts The LEGO-ized Star Wars world is extended through a series of short parody videos, first airing on Cartoon Network and then circulating around the Internet. These texts essentially function as commercially produced fan fiction, rewriting and reimagining the established protagonists in new contexts. Rather than emphasizing narrative continuity, the videos and motion comics maintain the same comedic tone and remix logic of the LEGO-ized world. The first mini-movie, Revenge of the Brick, aired on Cartoon Network in 2005. Spoofing Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the film takes place during the battle between Droid forces and Jedi Knights on the Wookiee planet Kashyyyk. Yet characters and locations from the original Star Wars trilogy also make appearances. One of the last sequences features various pre-trilogy characters drinking in a bar reminiscent of the Mos

Schwartz, Nelson D. Turning to Tie-Ins, Lego Thinks Beyond the Brick The New York Times, September 5th 2009. Accessed April 21st, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/business/global/06lego.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1
Eisley cantina. There, Chewbacca takes a photo of young Anakin and Obi-Wan standing together happily. When he views the Polaroid picture, Chewbacca sees Darth Vader and Obi-Wan engaged in a lightsaber battle (another reference to A New Hope). As he collapses in shock, we laugh at the irony in Chewbacca knowing Anakin would turn to the dark side, but being unable to articulate it. Inside jokes abound throughout the LEGO: Star Wars paratexts. The motion comic LEGO Star Wars: Clone Wars follows a group of clones looking for R2-D2. At one point, a clone proclaims, Wow, were terrible shots, as another responds, its not my faultthese helmets are hard to see out of! The clones then try to come up with names for themselves. When one suggests Luke, Leia, or Chewie, the other clones brush them off, saying those are the stupidest names Ive ever heard. Other references require more cultural knowledge on part of the player to understand. For example, in LEGO Star Wars: The Quest for R2-D2 (2009), R2 enjoys a romantic boat ride with R2-KT, a nod to the droid named after Katie Johnson, a young Star Wars fan who suffered from brain cancer. For Star Wars fans, identifying and understanding these arcane allusions allows them to attach personal meaning and spread them to others who might appreciate their significance. As with the video games, the short parody films also re-contextualize characters in humorous ways. The Quest for R2D2 follows the fight between Republic and Separatist leaders as they seek out R2-D2 for a very important secret stored in the droid. The Jedi Knights battle armies of droids, star fighters, and various Separatist leaders to finally access R2s hologram VIP all access tickets to an amusement park called Skywalker World, a highly commercialized theme park. We then see the Jedis eating cotton candy together, trying out the Force-O-Meter, and playing a sideshow shooting game. The humor here is in seeing the usually unemotional, self-controlled Jedi let loose in a highly commercialized theme park. For more slapstick humor, we might look towards The Han Solo Affair (Episode V ), which portrays a madcap chase around Cloud City with Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Boba Fett scrambling to secure Han Solos frozen carbonite body. Boba Fett wins, of course, and all the other characters pass out, ostensibly from exhaustion. In another example from Quest for R2D2, two clones play ice hockey in order to knock down an entire droid army and their giant Walker vehicle. They then quickly build a starship out of the scattered LEGO pieces. However, playfully deconstructing and constructing LEGO models isnt just a comedic ploy; it is an intricate part of the worlds logic. In Revenge of the Brick, Jedis dismantle LEGO spacecrafts using the Force, allowing them to dodge enemy fire, and then quickly reassemble the ship afterwards. Because characters can build whatever they need out of LEGO bricks at any time, the short animated shorts reinforce the message that any type of LEGO construction is possible with imagination and ingenuity. All of these narrative design characteristics the remixing, re-contextualizing, and parodying of the Hollywood universe demonstrate new opportunities for creativity and play. They serve as model examples for what fans can do to express themselves using the toys. LEGO shows us how much fun it is to engage with the playsets in this manner, rather than explicitly telling us to do so. In terms of spreadability, then, LEGO succeeds by creating an appealing context for people to come together and share content. The video games and their ancillary media promote the idea that the toys can be used in 10

As of the time of this writing, LEGO Star Wars vs. Star Trek has over 2 million views on YouTube. Cox, Josh. Brick Films: A New Online Stop Animation Film Style. Associatedcontent.com, July 27th 2007. Accessed April 20th, 2011. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/326544/brick_films_a_new_online_stop_animation.html?cat=Both videos are by blobstudios, which is a fan site about Brickfilms.
cool to be able to bring [the Mini-Figs] to life like that, because that's how you always imagined them anyway when you were playing with them as a kid."56 My LEGO Network LEGO hosts a social media platform called My LEGO Network (MLN) that is designed specifically for building and sharing content. The website is part social networking, part social gaming. A member creates a customizable profile page and collects, builds, and trades virtual items. The goal is to use Red LEGO Bricks, the currency of MLN, to build masterpieces that promote the member to higher ranks.57 One gains Red LEGO Bricks by posting modules, or animated images, on their page. These modules generate a certain amount of bricks each day in addition to bonuses based on how many visitors click on them. For example, the LEGO Tree Module, one of the most basic modules, produces 10 Red LEGO Bricks per day, plus one for every five clicks by visitors. More complex modules can be made by trading various items and blueprints with other members. As we will see with BIONICLE, members can even trade items with LEGO characters (aka networkers) to develop narrative-driven modules. The logic of My LEGO Network is designed to facilitate spreadability the more people who visit your profile page, the more likely they will click on your modules, and the more red bricks you will acquire. Thus, there is an incentive to post interesting content on your page and connect with as many friends as possible. While members cant post videos, they can create animated images and use LEGO Digital Designer to build their own 3D LEGO models. Thus, MLN functions as the LEGO hub for creating and sharing content, providing virtual rewards (Red LEGO bricks, modules, masterpieces, ranks) to motivate community participation. To sum, the LEGO Star Wars narrativized geography of play relies heavily on spreadable media. The video games provide a context that reinforces the remix and humorous logic of the LEGO-Hollywood world, which is then reinforced through ancillary paratexts. Then, by providing the tools, resources, and platforms for people to produce and spread their media content, LEGO encourages peripheral play practices, and demonstrates another exciting and entertaining way to engage with the toys in addition to re-enacting traditional movie scenes. As we will see in the next section, if LEGO Star Wars motivates a broader audience to re-imagine the story world and circulate their creative expressions far and wide, the BIONICLE franchise motivates a comparatively smaller audience to drill into and contribute to the official canon.

Dibbel, Julian. Lego films: introducing the new Harrison Ford. Telegraph.co.uk, May 10 th, 2008. Accessed April 20th, 2011. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/3673238/Lego-films-introducing-the-newHarrison-Ford.html 57 It takes an estimated one to two months to collect all the necessary items to create a masterpiece and advance to a higher rank.
LEGO BIONICLE LEGO BIONICLE: The Franchise In 1999 and 2000, the LEGO Company released two new product lines, Slizer and RoboRiders. The action figures were easy to build and came with distinct character personalities, but the sets had very little marketing muscle behind them. Rather than relying on the newness of the product line, LEGO began to wonder what they could accomplish by building an intellectual property in ways that rival the film industry. Michael McNally, Senior Brand Relations Manager for LEGO, describes the companys thinking: We looked at what [RoboRiders and Slizer] were offering: shorter building time, true personality in the final product and a relatively low price point. We started to consider ways to move this formula into something bigger. What would happen if we developed a rich story line? What would we achieve if we actually did put a full marketing program behind this concept? Thus, the birth of BIONICLE.58 Indeed, in 2001, LEGO launched an epic adventure story for their BIONICLE product line, one that featured a fictional world so expansive it needed to be conveyed across multiple media platforms. Slizer and RoboRiders quickly faded away while BIONICLE soon became one of the most profitable franchises in the toy industry.59 In many ways, BIONICLEs marketing strategy represents transmedia storytelling at its purest. Each media text offers unique narrative contributions to the whole franchise while standing on its own as a satisfying experience. The fictional world simply cannot be exhausted within one medium. And when all the narrative pieces are placed together, the result is a fuller understanding of the story world at large. Rather than each medium corresponding to a specific chapter, all BIONICLE media work together to tell the same chapter of the timeline in a coordinated fashion. There are four overarching multi-year sagasBIONICLE Chronicles (2001-2003), BIONICLE Adventures (2004-2005), BIONICLE Legends (2006-2008), and The Bara Magna Trilogy (2009-2010). Each year of a saga follows a story line conveyed through novels, comics, films, and online content, and focuses on the toy characters being released that year. When this type of complex transmedia storytelling captures our imagination, it encourages us to dig deeper into the story and learn more, hunting down narrative information to fill in gaps, and make the world more complete. This drillability, then, has the powerful effect of sustaining a long term, loyal fan base, one that occupies a great deal of time and energy in parsing out the complexities of the text. The BIONICLE franchise promotes such commitment and dedication through a coordinated transmedia design, narrative-driven toys, and invitation for fans to participate in the world building process.

BIONICLE comes from the words Biological and Chronicle Maskofdestiny.com. Interview: Greg Farshtey. Post by Mark, October 13th, 2005. Accessed April 20th, 2011. http://www.maskofdestiny.com/story/bricktalk/Interview_Greg_Farshtey_95252.asp 62 Widdicombe, Rupert. Building Blocks for the Future. Guardian.co.uk, April 29 th, 2004. Accessed April 20th, 2011. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2004/apr/29/shopping.toys
Fan Community as Universe Hub Within the BIONICLE universe exists a Matoran occupation known as a Chronicler. This esteemed position involves traveling across the land and recording the events of all BIONICLE creatures. Documenting history ensures all future BIONICLE generations will understand the importance of the three virtues: unity, destiny, and duty. In a lot of ways, the fan community has taken on this role of Chronicler, working together to form a comprehensive database of events spanning 150,000 years. Their collective drilling thus increases the level of immersion participants can feel like they are traversing the BIONICLE universe and chronicling their experiences on the wiki. In contrast, the wikis surrounding LEGO: Star Wars are more about providing walkthroughs for the games and showcasing the playsets. They are very much removed from the story world. So whereas the wikis to LEGOs licensed properties are about aggregating product information, the BIONICLE wikis are more aligned with story immersion and comprehension. As there is no identifiable mothership media form in the BIONICLE series, fans must rely on their collective intelligence to make sense out of long-term story arcs.63 To truly understand how all the narrative strands tie together in terms of location, chronology, and character history, one must look towards various fan wikis, such as The BIONICLE Sector01, The BIONICLE Wiki, and BIONICLEpedia, as well as fan sites like BZ Power. 64 These fan sites capture the essence of the BIONICLE world by documenting in-depth maps, specific regions, character bios, and descriptions of all major landforms. Visitors can review the general articles or they can dig deeper and discover the world building details that make the BIONICLE story so compelling, such as the Bio measurement system or the slang language Chutespeak. 65 I would argue that the real hub of the BIONICLE universe, then, is the collection of fan sites that document every detail and event, constructing a more intricate world than any official media text can possibly provide. Indeed, these fan practices provide greater depth to the core narrative, increasing the overall texts drillability. Toys as Narrative Portals Whereas the LEGO Star Wars toys were used as subjects for spreadable videos, the BIONICLE toys are used as narrative portals for further drilling. Early product lines featured CD-ROMs containing additional narrative content, including character backstories and descriptions of their unique powers. For instance, the Toa Mata Mini Promo CD was packaged with special releases of the six original Toa in summer 2001.The mini-movies and games on the CDs introduced fans to the characters and the plot of the 2001 storyline, which later overlapped with the story in other media. Similarly,

There are many ways to define the mothership of a transmedia franchise (scope of audience, narrative weight, level of commitment etc). Here, Im referring to the fact that no single media form can provide all knowledge necessary to comprehending BIONICLE. 64 According to LAMLradio: LEGO Talk Podcast, BZPower features 38,000 registered members, over 4.5 million posts, and around 3,000 active contributors. BIONICLE Sector01, the largest fan wiki, claims 6500 registered members and just under 1,000 articles. In Wadsworth, James. LAMLradio: LEGO Talk Podcast. Episode #10: BZPower and Bionicle. Available on iTunes Podcasts. 65 The Bio measurement system has three different units of length: the Bio, the Kio, and the Mio. In terms of languages, "Chutespeak" or "Treespeak" is a slang vocabulary with its own set of terms.
the 2004 Toa Metru canisters featured Promo CDs that documented the Toas search for the Great Disks, which either foreshadowed or overlapped the 2004 storyline depending on when you bought the toy. BIONICLEs toy packaging also featured special access codes, which allowed the purchaser to earn Kanoka points and later BIO Codes. These points functioned as currency for collecting stickers, merchandise, and wall papers on the BIONICLE.com website. But more than that, they allowed purchasers to unlock items in online games, access old storylines, and learn more about character bios. Entering these codes on LEGO.com let fans friend the toy character on My LEGO Network and learn more about their story through their profile page. Buying more toys thus grants you more BIO Codes, and more opportunities to friend characters and earn a higher ranking. So while the toys represent artifacts from the BIONICLE series, with the addition of the codes and CD-ROM content, they also represent portals to new narrative information. I should note that there are BIONICLE remixes and parody videos circulating around the Internet, but not nearly to the same extent as LEGOs licensed properties. For the most part, user generated content and fan fiction is meant for deepening the story, rather than sharing video attractions with a mass audience. In the BIONICLE universe, the goal is to become not just a toy collector, but a story collector as well. Enter the BIONICLE Canon The LEGO Group celebrated and rewarded loyal fans who dove into the intricacies of the BIONICLE franchise by giving them the opportunity to actively contribute to it. That is, LEGO hosted a series of contests asking fans to design characters and write potential narratives, with the winning entries becoming part of the official BIONICLE canon. The first contest, the Rahi Building Challenge in 2004, asked participants to create a creature living on Metru Nui. The winning species, Tahtorak, was then featured in comic 21 and made a large appearance in the novel BIONICLE Adventures: Challenge of the Hordika. Still other fan-made characters were included in the Rahi Beasts Guide. All character contests involve basic parameters specific heights, colors, and structural pieces but other than that, fans are free to create whatever design they want. From these contests, official minor characters like Certavus, Sorel, and Kyry have been introduced to the BIONICLE universe. Farshtey also opened up the universe for fans to submit their own stories to the BIONICLE mythology. In the A Thousand Years contest, he prompted fans with the following mission: A thousand years have gone untold between the Metru Nui Prequel Story and the time of the Toa Nuva. Three islands have been in the official story so far, and all three have countless possible stories that might have taken place during this Untold Era. Your job is to tell one of those stories.66 Farshtey then outlined the main elements in the storythe characters fans could use, the location, the basic situation and fans would tie it all together. As Farshtey put it, I set up a basic sketchy scenario, and your job is to fill in the details and figure out how it ends.67 Inviting fans to participate in the canon, no matter how insignificant, allows them

BZPower.com. S & T Contest #2: A Thousand Years Untold, Until Now! Three Islands--Three Short Stories--Three Winners. Post by bonesiii, June 22nd, 2006. Accessed April 20th, 2011. http://www.bzpower.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=215387&st=Ibid.
to feel a real sense of participation within the storyworld. It rewards fans for engaging in collective intelligence and mastering a narrative universe. Then, when the fan-created character appears in the official storyline, it represents an explicit acknowledgment of the fan community. By letting fans contribute to the storyworld in discreet ways, BIONICLE assured its fans that they matter beyond being consumers, transferring ownership from a single author to a collective group. The Narrativized Geography of Play As I have discussed, both spreading and drilling represent key fan practices in narrativization. To some extent, every franchise supports the broad circulation and deep mining of media content, but as we saw with LEGO, different franchises emphasize different dimensions of the experience. The holy grail, from a design standpoint, is to amplify both fan impulses, thereby enhancing engagement and furthering participation from a wide range of audiences. If LEGO teaches us anything about the future of their narrativized geographies of play, its that people should have the opportunity to create their own meaningful content and the opportunity to drill down into an existing story world, incorporating both a world to be created and a story to be uncovered. There should be sufficient depth in the core of play as well as enough reach in the peripheral of play to motivate a wide range of play practices. Though its impossible to boil this down to an exact science, LEGOs various properties offer important strategies in terms of providing the context, tools, and rewards for spreading and drilling. Context Building the context for spreadabaility and drillability begins with the content. The design characteristics of the LEGO-ized Star Wars world inspires fans to broadly circulate media to share with friends (humorous tone, remix logic, familiar story reimagined), or they can demand active drilling (a complex story, vast world, multiple generations of characters). Similarly, the worlds of the licensed video games extended into short parody films and motion comics, which not only functioned as spreadable media in and of themselves, but also implicitly encouraged fans to produce their own interpretations in a similar style. At the other end of the spectrum, BIONICLE used a decentralized and serialized transmedia structure that provoked fans to pool their knowledge to make connections across media texts. Tools The introduction of LEGO Studios contributed to the beginning of a Brickfilms culture and the use of toys as subjects for remixing and parodying existing franchises. Then, through My LEGO Network, fans could spread LEGO related content to fellow LEGO enthusiasts or post their works to YouTube for an even larger audience. Through My LEGO Network, members could acquire red bricks and modules, but they could also connect with fellow LEGO-enthusiasts, discussing and exchanging construction ideas. BIONICLE positioned its toy as tools for narrative drilling, casting each action figure as a portal to new story materials. However, as the technology advances, there is huge potential for drillable tools to develop further. I can imagine LEGO Mindstorms, LEGOs product line of programmable robots, becoming narrativized in the future, such that when one toy interacts with another, a new narrative scenario might play out. In this way, 17

LEGO bricks would not just be virtualized into digital media, as is the case with the LEGO video games, but the digital media would also be materialized as computer technology becomes integrated into the physical LEGO models. In this respect, there is huge potential for characters to crossover from the physical to the virtual space and vice versa in order to tell more immersive stories. Rewards LEGO developed several reward systems for the time and effort involved in spreading and drilling. My LEGO Network rewards the most active members with Red LEGO Bricks, and thus more opportunities to level up and create more powerful modules. Many Brickfilms have also been featured in official LEGO magazines and websites, showcasing the best fan work. BIONICLE rewarded fans by allowing them to take part in the official canon and submit their suggestions to the primary author of the franchise. Even after BIONICLE was discontinued in 2010, Greg Farshtey continues to draw on the fan community for story ideas and releases new installations on BIONICLE.com. In sum, LEGO invites drilling and spreading by creating a context that brings people together, embracing fan communities through various tools, and recognizing the best drillers and spreaders for their commitment. This is not so different from traditional childrens play imagining a fictional world (context), using the toys to engage with the imaginary world (tools), and seeking validation for their creative expressions for example, the praise that comes along with building an entire LEGO set (reward). To play with the LEGO system in the digital age is to use media to produce fictional stories and share them with a community; to play with LEGO is to engage with narratives across a range of media platforms and collaboratively participate in them; and to play with LEGO is to crossover characters from one world to another and see what happens. This constitutes the narrativized geography of play, which is fuelled by spreading and drilling within the core and periphery. Yet more research needs to be done to explore the mechanics of such a system the LEGO Groups franchises are just the building blocks.

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