Launching tomorrow morning (May 1st 2026) is a project I've been working on over the last year, that is finally coming to fruition.

Real Figures Don't F.O.L.D started as an attempt at songwriting, having been introduced to AI-generated music, and eventually snowballed into an idea for a song contest.

It was also an opportunity to bring back CATAWOL Records: one of my first concepts coming out of my “dark age”.

What is Real Figures Don't F.O.L.D?

The most obvious influence behind Real Figures Don't F.O.L.D was my negative experience of the LEGO “community” in recent years. While there have been (and still are) many supportive people within it, the general narrative is that I don't exist, other than to be made fun of, or have ideas/credit stolen.

Adding to my issues with the hobby, it became progressively difficult to find work. Far too many people have made AI their god, which has had a serious knock-on effect in many areas.

The influence for attempting to write a song came from Little L Bricks and Never2old4bricks on YouTube, who both had successfully used AI solutions to make their own.

Having lost my previous job in a toxic (🏦🔥) work environment at the time, along with my observations at Bricktastic last year and feeling very much alone, it didn't take long to come up with lyrics.

What was even more amazing was my first experience of AI music generation, and those lyrics being turned into an actual song.

Or rather, several songs…

Origins of the Song Contest.

Somewhere along the way, getting carried away and having made had generated many versions of the song in different genres, the question arose:

Which version would be the official version? and how would I choose?

Rather than make a simple poll that nobody would vote on, my ambitious self decided to create an interactive “song contest” to find a winner.

By resurrecting the CATAWOL Records concept from many years ago, I could even create characters associated with each version of the song. (Although it also meant having to design and draw them all, in which I was severely out of practice.)

Whichever songs perform the best during the contest would also indicate which characters would be worth developing further.

Something to be enthusiastic about.

Turning this into a web project opened up more possibilities:

  • It's an opportunity to raise money for charities focusing on mental health and bullying: the former being underrepresented by the LEGO space, and the latter never* having been represented at all.
  • It's another opportunity to upgrade my day job skills: as with my previous web-based project (and this site!), I learned new technologies as I progressed.
  • It broke the barrier to dealing with AI. Despite the technology becoming many people's god, nobody offered any training or knowledge exchange on how to use these services. While I have made liberal use of ChatGPT and some use of Copilot for this project, for me AI is still a tool.
  • Just as importantly, it's become something to be excited about. I haven't been enthusiastic about almost anything to do with the hobby in the last couple of years, and something of a “creativity vacuum” has been forming within the space - best characterised, IMO, by the “smart brick”.

At least I did it.

There was a recurring thought during the weeks before the launch:

What if nobody votes?

What if, after all this time, money and energy spent, it has absolutely no effect?

What if it turns out to be just another thing to be laughed at over?

The biggest challenge I have with any project is getting the word out to people who might be interested. Most of the time people will do absolutely nothing, then afterwards pretend they knew nothing about it. In many cases, my efforts are deleted or shadow banned, to prevent anyone finding out.

It's a very real possibility that, despite my attempts at promoting the song contest, not a single person would take notice.

But it's also possible that the song contest will do far better than expected: that not only would people vote for their favourite version of the song, but a good amount would be raised for charity.

The best result of all would be if the project resonates with just one person, who not only “gets it” but is inspired, encouraged or otherwise affected for the better.

Whichever way it turns out: at least I gave it a shot, and I would have proof of the outcome.

I hope you'll take part.

Real Figures Don't F.O.L.D begins tomorrow, May 1st. The first round of songs go live at 9am GMT, when you'll also be able to cast your votes.

More information about the project can be found on the web site.

* that we know of