I wrote about MINI Takes The States at the beginning of the year when MINIUSA had yet to announce the where or when. They did that, upsetting many people in the community for a few reasons-
It wasn’t all that epic. It has been a cross country trip lasting at least a week if not longer.
It wasn’t over the summer. Like many MINI owners I set aside the entire summer every two years to go on this epic journey. They moved it to the Fall.
It was basically three weekends in three different states. California, New York, and Florida. Completely ignoring the middle of the country. A lot of MINI folks considered it to be a slap in the face and just like something their local club would put together. “Ho hum.”
Since the announcement things have been pretty silent, the usual enthusiasm missing from the social media groups. Sue, Cecil and I will be attending the NEW York Event.
People are getting excited, but not to the levels I’ve seen in the past. Only time will tell if this will be another 2008. We don’t talk about 2008 (unless you’re from Florida).
The History of MINIons
In 2009 I received a Fellowship from the Lilly Endowment to visit England and MINI United (The European version of MINI Takes The States- which was completely different). Cecil had recently come into existence so he joined the fun on his first epic Whimventure®. In this infantile era of social media I had met some people coming over for the event and shared information, like who to rent a MINI from, and other stuff. On our tour of “Plant Oxford” I heard some American accents and discovered these were some of the folks I had been communicating with online. They accepted the fact that I had a stuffed monkey with me in stride and we quickly became friends. Cecil had his first MINIons even if they didn’t know it.
Hence started the MINIons. A small group of MINI enthusiasts joined together by a silly monkey. In 2010 I was asked to do a daily comic strip about MINI Takes The States, We met more people with that shared vision and in 2012 at the start of MTTS in New Jersey each member of that small group was given a magnet for their MINI. In My Humble Opinion 2012 was the pinnacle of MINI Takes The States events New York to Santa Monica. It was still a small group who “Went all the Way” and I think that it created the insanity that is now MTTS. From there all Hades broke loose.
In 2014 I started designing individual badges for the group, each person had a number (four digit) and a corresponding monkey. The numbers grew and while the core group tended to stick together when we could others joined the ranks. In 2015 I challenged myself to create a new badge for every day of the year. So a new MINIon number and a drawing of a monkey. The rules were the monkey had to have Cecil’s winged gear emblem somewhere, usually this was on a fez or some hat it was wearing. If you were a member of the group you could request a specific monkey and/or number.
I learned a lot during this process… first and foremost that people don’t understand me. I was doing this as a challenge, I wasn’t asking to be paid for it. It was fun, until it wasn’t. It stopped being fun when I would make a badge and the person who requested it, asked for multiple changes. I could understand some things, but nitpicking turned it from fun to a job. The reverse of Mary Poppins spoonful of sugar. “And SNAP! the games a job!” After making over 365 of these (I actually had lost count). Most people were just happy to get a badge, some felt entitled. Funny thing, those people were usually people I didn’t know too well. They were friends of friends or people who saw the badges and wanted to be part of the crowd. Early on- they were all crazy MINI owners who bought into the initial MINI philosophy. Before so many of them became ‘Extraordinary” 🙄.
As you can see some MINIons are a bit obscure. In most cases the numbers do correspond to something. In some cases it has to do with the Person who requested it, but in most cases its has to do with the actual drawing. Just note- this is just one tenth of the MINIon badge I designed. Ugh. I still can’t believe I did so many.
At one event I recall someone from my local MINI club asking someone how they could get a badge. “You know Bruce” and the person said “Yes… Is he still running around with that stupid stuffed monkey?” This conversation got back to me. So when this person came up and said “So I hear you’re the person I need to talk to about getting a MINIon badge.” I told them they needed to talk with MINIon #0001. They looked confused and I continued- that I had nothing to do with anything- I’m MINIon #4238 I’m nowhere near anyone in control of giving out badges. They walked away with a quizzical look on their face. I just smiled.
The group in 2014 had started to get large and actually developed some cliques. I decided even though I was drawing MINIon badges, I started to take a step back. By 2018 Sue, Cecil, and I were doing the event as lone wolves and finding that it was nice to not have to worry about where everyone else was, although we did miss the camaraderie, it was nice to be able to do what we wanted when we wanted. In 2024 through serendipity we ended up at the same place as some friends a few times, which was nice. I’m hoping that the New York weekend will allow us time to reconnect - being really only two full days it will be a rush.
In 2024 I was asked to make a badge for a “friend of a friend” - they decided that it wasn’t good enough and also felt they should take it upon themselves to make it better… When I said, please don’t. They offered to pay me for my work… (Cecil was appalled.) Because of that I won’t be making badges for people unless I really know them… my sister in-law just got one drawn up this morning, that’s how close to me you need to be. So will you see MINIon badges on the road with MINI Takes the States this year? I don’t know, I know I’ll have mine, but everyone else? Who knows? I’ve taken a step back from a lot of the group activities. No buttons this time, but I will have stickers. That said running around trying to hand things out at events makes it so you can’t actually spend time with people, and that’s more important than stuff.
What It’s Actually All About
I remember when I first thought about my friends from around the world and the initial concept of the MINIons as a group-
We are all unique (special little snowflakes) and therefore don’t have to do everything together, but we also shouldn’t leave people out.
When we are together we should enjoy each other’s company - MINIs are what brings us together.
It’s the journey not the destination that matters, although some destinations are really awesome.
Bruce is never allowed to use the radio.
In the wonderful words of LEGO “Play Well.”
It’s never about egos or people needing to be in charge- that’s Cecil’s job. His ego is bigger than all of ours combined. Being a stuffed monkey, he doesn’t have much to say about it anyway.
The purpose was to not take ourselves too seriously. Other groups existed that were “Serious.” We made fun of them (in private). The MINI was all about fun and “Not Normal” behavior. The MINIon badge was to provide a unique icebreaker for newcomers. To those who held up these beliefs and joined in on the silliness - thank you- I hope to motor with you for many miles (except when we go off and do our own thing).
Once again Bruce's creativity comes through. But how Cecil has the patience to pose for all those different designs is amazing to me! Love the Statute of Liberty!
The concept of MINIons sounds suspiciously like the basic concepts of Geocaching and/or life in general. And we definitely should not take ourselves too seriously. But what I really want to know is the story behind "Bruce is never allowed to use the radio."