This article is about the Bradford Rant Institute. You may be looking for Bradford Rant, the fictional founder of the Bradford Rant Institute.
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| Bradford Rant Institute of Cosmic Kinesis | |
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| Leader | Bradford Rant |
| Members | Dr John Deutschendorf, Professor Gunther Wendt, Dr Nigel Ponsford-Stand |
| Main Location | ??? |
| Enemies | ??? |
| Allies | ??? |
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The Bradford Rant Institute of Cosmic Kinesis (BRICK) was a marketing promotion for LEGO Universe. It was linked with a worldwide search for the LEGO pods.
The fictional institute was "founded" in 1984 by Bradford Rant; a brilliant astrophysicist and inter-dimensional theorist.
About Bradford Rant[]
It claims that its mission is to carry on the work of Bradford Rant, who disappeared on Easter Island in 1985.
Rant's "mission" is supposedly to uncover the secret of a kind of "dark energy." As quoted from Bradford's website: "dark energy, which is said to make up approximately 70% of the universe, is the essence that causes movement in (or of) the universe."
Bradford Rant's association and purpose of existence was to track 7 pods that landed on Earth. Upon discovering the first one, a worldwide contest was launched, stating that who ever found each of the next pod would be able to keep it. Those who found the pods, as well as anyone who showed up at their locations (which always happened to be LEGO stores), were given a T-shirt and a key to alpha test LEGO Universe.
Rant also downloaded and decoded the pod computers, each pod containing four letters, revealing the phrase "ANSWER THE CALL. SAVE IMAGINATION". When entered on the site, this revealed trailer two.
Pods Discovered[]
The Great Minifig Mission[]
As the pods were being discovered, the Bradford Rant promotion migrated into "The Great Minifig Mission", a promotion in which LEGO account holders complete missions in order to help minifigs enter the universe. Players who completed all 20 missions and achieved pioneer status were awarded a "Friend of the Bradford Rant" shirt in-game at the game's launch.
The Great Minifig Mission concluded when a timer on the site completed. The timer was set to end on June 1, 2010 at 8:00pm EST. Fans speculated that when the timer completed, either the game would launch or the pre-order would become available.
However, it soon became clear that pre-order would not be the timer's ending, as it launched a month earlier on May 14, 2010. Perhaps the timer was supposed to count down to the game's release; however having been delayed several times, the Beta Test was not yet complete.
The timer concluded on June 1, with no further information, however it is still possible to visit the Bradford Rant website. The game launched on October 26, 2010, several months later. Ironically, Nexus Tower was released on June 1, 2011. When LEGO Universe closed The Great Minifig Mission closed so it is no longer able to be played.
Gallery[]
