But more importantly, Alan's skills and imagination show one of the countless possible themes for our Go Miniman Go Challenge video contest.

In case you missed it, Gizmodo and Lego are celebrating the Go Miniman Go Challenge video contest to mark the 30th anniversary of the Lego minifig. By sending your short video centered around Lego's most famous icon you will be able to win a lot of prizes, including two priceless Lego vintage sets. And if you are into photography, remember that Brothers Brick is running a photography contest too.

Talking about which, we have got our first entry in the mail yesterday, so hurry up with yours. You can read the rules here. [Go Miniman Go]

And if those prizes weren't enough to run to get your camera out, we have asked the best Lego movie directors—Nathan Wells, David Pagano, and Nate Burr—to create three exclusive movies to inspire you. Even if you are not participating, you really have to watch these.

30 Years of Music, by Nathan Wells

Go Miniman Go, by David Pagano

Living in Meatspace, by Nate Burr

Nate, David, and Nathan will be the three judges in this contest along with Lego's director of Marketing Communications Keith Malone, and myself. Here are the rules for the contest:

Theme
The videos don't have to be about the 30th anniversary itself, like the two great odes to the minifig that David and Nathan have created. They just have to use the Lego minifig. Nate's, for example, is a good example of an alternative theme: just one funny skit, like the famous Death Star canteen short that uses Eddie Izzard's monologue.

One good line of work could be a 30-second fun short on any moment of technology history. Like Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak making the original Apple in the garage, the first astronauts arriving to the moon, Bill Gates retiring, a scene from a tech movie like Tron or War Games, or some famous advertising.

But don't be constrained by that. The bottom line is that, as long as it is original, creative, and revolves around the Lego minifig, you are in.

Technique
Remember that your videos don't have to use stop-motion techniques—although obviously these give the best results to tell a story—and we all are partial to stop-motion because it's just cool. However, keep your mind open and explore other possibilities.

Duration
A 20- to 30-second short—the duration of a typical TV ad—will be the minimum to enter the contest.

Due date
October 31 will be the limit.

Format
No need to go High Definition. A 520-pixel-wide video in crystal-clear MPEG-4 format will be enough.

How to send it
To send your video, we recommend you to use the free delivery service YouSendIt.com. Address it to jesus at gizmodo.com

Prizes
• First and second place: Galaxy Explorer or the Yellow Castle. Whoever wins first place picks the set he or she wants. The remaining set will go to the second place winner.
• Third price: A special set designed by Lego owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen.
• Runners-up: a ton of smaller vintage space and town sets, new vintage minifigure series, and newer sets.

Do you have any questions? Write them in the comments and we will answer them. Standard Gawker contest rules apply. [Go Miniman Go]

You already saw part of the process in the article about the Lego Storm Troopers cloning facility, but here's the whole process:

• First, the raw plastic material is put into the molds to create all the parts: the head, the torso, the minuscule hands, the hips, and the left and right arms and legs, plus any minifig complements, like helmets or tools.

• The head and torsos are always decorated. This is a complicated process that makes the minifig the most expensive part of any Lego set. This is why sets like the Death Star diorama are among the most expensive. The stamping of the colors is usually made in several passes. In older times, the faces always had the same designs. Today, however, they have different features that require different layers (personally, I like the classic ones more than the ones with different faces).

• Once they are decorated, the torsos are put into the body assembly machine, where the left and right arms are put into them mechanically. The same machine then places the hands inside the arms with absolute precision at lightning speed.

• The torsos are then taken to the packaging production line, where they are put together in the bags along with the head, hair/helmet/hat, and legs with hips. Before, the machines also connected the heads and legs, so the Lego aficionado would find the minifig complete inside the box. Now, however, this is left for the player except for the vintage minifig set, which comes with the minifigs completely built.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's special features on the 30th Anniversary of the Lego minifig. We have some amazing surprises coming, including an exclusive Gizmodo contest that will let you win some of the most famous Lego sets in history. [Go Miniman Go]