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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Nov 20 2009 6:28PM
If so, head over to FBTB's 2009 Charity Drive where you can buy raffle tickets for just US$2 to win these and other rare Star Wars LEGO items.
Proceeds are going to a very worthy cause, Childs Play, a non-profit organisation which operates in the USA, Canada, UK and other countries raising money and toys for sick children hospitalised during the holidays.
So, what are you waiting for, go buy some tickets, help make a difference for children in hospital over Christmas, and you never know, you might get lucky!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by bluemoose, Nov 10 2009 3:22PM
As we move closer to the next wave of set releases, LEGO have launched a couple of mini websites that tie into new themes, Atlantis & Ben 10.
Not much content on either just yet, but keep checking them over the coming weeks as more & more content is added.
Thanks to brickset members nadnerb112 & GameOn99 for the news (but how about emailing it in next time, rather than spamming the news articles? Anyway thanks guys :-) )
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Nov 7 2009 1:58PM
I'm not a big fan of video games but I know a lot of you are, so I suspect you already know that LEGO Rock Band is now shipping in the USA and is released later this month in the UK and the rest of Europe.
However, what's more interesting to me are these instructions for the rock band tour bus that bluemoose found on LEGO.com. I'm not sure about the back wheels but otherwise it's a good rendition of a VW van!
If you've not already ordered Rock Band, you can do so at Amazon: USA
| UK
.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Oct 28 2009 3:26PM
After the flurry of excitement following the discovery of year 2010 set images and news of the Daily Mirror promotion in the UK, its been a slow week for news... What's more, I bought a new PC the day Windows 7 came out and I've been having a bit of grief with it, with USB devices. I don't think it's a Windows 7 problem per se but I can't get to the bottom of it. I've just done a system recovery to see if starting from scratch will help. Consequently I'm without my usual suite of programs for email, website development and so on. Hopefully normal service will be resumed soon!
One potentially interesting piece of news this week, which I'm going to have to try and remember the exact details of because I don't have the email to hand, is that someone emailed to say they think they saw the new Star Wars battle packs in Target in Florida, I think it was. If that were the case I'm sure it would be splashed about all over the 'net but I can't see mention of it anywhere else. Can anyone confirm it?
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Miscellaneous news Posted by bluemoose, Oct 23 2009 8:53PM
Each month, the LEGO Brand Stores in the US, UK & Germany have an in-store promotion called the 'Monthly Mini Model Build' (MMMB), where customers aged between 6 and 14 get the opportunity to build and take home a small model. In the UK this happens on the first Thursday of every month, in-store between 4pm & 6pm. The Brand Stores also occasionally do extra promotional MMMBs - back in April 2009 there were 3 MMMBs in the US stores !
Usually the model is the same in all the stores, and they reflect a seasonal topic; however, due to cultural differences between countries, they are occasionally different - in July 2009 the US stores had a US Flag to build, while the European stores had an ice cream cone; in November 2009, the next MMMB, the US will have a turkey (for Thanksgiving), while the UK will have fireworks (for Guy Fawkes night).
Most of the MMMB sets have had 'build cards' provided with them. These show a picture of the finished model on one side, and a list of the bricks used to build it on the back.
I've added a list of the MMMB models so far to the database to help those lucky enough to be near a store to keep track of their sets. My favourite so far is easily the lobster.
Thanks to flickr user 'TooMuchDew' for allowing me to use some of his photos of the build cards.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by bluemoose, Oct 16 2009 11:12AM
It looks like we might be looking at a couple more DK Brickmaster books next year; Amazon UK are listing LEGO Brickmaster City
and LEGO Brickmaster Star Wars
for pre-order !
They are listed as being £14.09 each, with a release date of 19 Jul 2010.
Thanks to Keith for the heads-up !
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Oct 11 2009 10:09AM
First, we have pictures of the Ben 10 sets, courtesy of Amazon.com. I think these will receive a mixed reception. They look like a cross between Bionicle and Galidor, and remember how popular and successful that theme was :-)
Next, a reader of the ever excellent TechnicBricks blog has spent time zooming in and out of the feeble image viewer at Amazon and recreated the high resolution versions of the 5 Technic sets so we can now see every last detail. If you're into Technic, head over to the blog where they are dissecting the images and spotting loads of new parts.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Oct 1 2009 2:54AM
If so, you might want to check out this LEGO Star Wars armour case for it which features building surfaces on the top and bottom and what looks to be a fantastic 7x3 tile mosaic featuring a classic Star Wars scene. Even if you don't have a DS it could be worth buying just for that!
(thanks to Herbert for finding this!)
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Sep 29 2009 3:25PM
Typical isn’t it? You wait ages for a decent LEGO book to come along and then three arrive all at the same time!
The third DK book released this month is LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary. It’s a little larger than The LEGO Book at 260mmx310mm, and also a lot thicker because the inside front cover has a box attached to it for housing the exclusive minifig. It’s 96 pages long and consists of an introduction and four chapers: Movie Saga, Clone Wars, Specialist Sets and Beyond the Brick.
I’ll discuss the exclusive minifig first because that alone will be worth the purchase price of the book for some. Apparently called Throne Room Luke, it has printed dark brown legs and a yellow torso. It’s not particularly exciting but given that you won’t find it anywhere else, if you collect Star Wars minifigs, you’ll need to buy the book!
The book itself is typical DK in its design and layout (what a surprise!) so as usual it is a joy to flick through. Also the design and content is very similar to DK’s other Star Wars Visual Dictionaries.
The introduction consists of a time-line from 1999 to 2009 and does appear to be complete. It’s bang up to date and includes the mini sets (30004/5/6) recently available in the UK with the Daily Mirror newspaper and the yet-to-be-released 20010 Mini Republic Gunship. When you see them all laid out on 3 double-page spreads like this you realise just how many sets there have been.
The first chapter Movie Saga makes up the bulk of the book and is arranged by topic. So for example, there’s a page about Anakin Skywalker, another about Jedi Knights, one about Wookies, Bounty Hunters and so on. Each illustrates relevant sets and minifigs. The second chapter is much the same but covers the Clone Wars figures and sets. The Specialist Sets chapter covers mini sets, Technic and Ultimate Collector sets.
In these chapters, in most cases where a particular model has been superseded by an updated one, the later model gets a large picture and the old one a much smaller one, as you can see on the Bounty Hunters page shown here with Boba’s Slave I.
The final chapter Beyond the Brick features an interview with the LEGO Star Wars design manager, and pages on merchandising and the LEGO Star Wars community. The latter features two models by fellow Brickish Association members photographed by our very own bluemoose!
Running throughout the book, the bottom corners feature ‘flick animations’ of Luke waving his light sabre and marching Storm Troopers.
Try as I might, there’s nothing negative I can write about this book. For the subject matter it covers it’s just about perfect and because the subject matter is much newer than that covered by The LEGO Book/Standing Small, it is virtually complete too. (Although don’t expect to find pictures of every minifig variation).
It should appeal to everyone who has an interest in LEGO Star Wars and I suspect it will prompt some people who are not already collecting this theme to start doing so.
LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary is available for the ridiculously low price of £11 in the UK and $13 in the USA. It’s shipping already in the UK and should ship within the next week or so in the USA and elsewhere.
You can order/preorder your copy from Amazon: UK | USA | Canada | Germany | France.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Sep 27 2009 2:57PM
This is part two of my review of Dorling Kindersley’s slip-cased pair of LEGO books. The thickest book of the pair, at 200 pages, is simply entitled The LEGO Book. Like Standing Small, this is a highly pictorial book in the trademark DK style of white (or black) pages with high quality photographs and snippets of text.
It’s divided into 3 main sections: a history of the LEGO company and its products and how they are made, a pictorial survey of LEGO themes which takes up the bulk of the book, and a section on the wider LEGO world. There’s a scan of the contents page on the DK website which shows what’s covered.
The first section details the origins of the company and the ‘system of play’ and includes timelines showing product development from the 1950s to date and photos taken inside the factory in Billund. There’s not much new here that hasn’t been covered in other books but it’s necessarily included here to give the reader the full picture of the brand and its products.
The LEGO themes section may be the part of the book that most interests Brickset users because it covers the development of themes from their first appearance until now. The large, long running themes, such as City/Town, Castle and space get 10 pages each while newer themes such as Batman and Agents get just two. Like Standing Small, some themes have not been covered at all, such as Divers, Time Cruisers and other short-lived ones. I guess that is understandable; the book would be huge otherwise, but it does prevent this from being a definitive guide.
The long running themes feature a sets to remember page which shows box art for a selection of sets in the theme. However I think they have been chosen on the basis of how attractive or what size the pictures are because they certainly don’t cover the most fondly remembered sets of the theme (where, for example is 6876 Blacktron Alienator on the Space page!)
One criticism I have is that this section is very biased towards sets released in the last 10 years which, depending on how old you are and how long you’ve been collecting, is either a good or a bad thing. The sets to remember pages show a good selection of sets from all years but you are hard pressed to find pictures of many sets released before 2000 in the main theme pages. For example, the space section has two pages covering everything from 1979 to 2006, then two pages for Mars Mission and two for the new Space Police.
The last part of the book covers ‘everything else’ such as theme parks, LEGO Universe, LEGO Clubs, LEGO.com, brick art, and two pages showing AFOL MOCs. It merely skims the surface of these topics, but it rounds the book off nicely and once you’re done reading you are left feeling that you have a good overview of everything LEGO. Sadly, there isn’t a section on LEGO related websites, though…
So, to summarise, this is an excellent book which, despite its shortcomings, deserves a place on every LEGO fan’s bookshelf and DK/LEGO are to be commended for publishing it.
The LEGO Book can be purchased from Amazon: UK | USA | Canada | France. When you have your copy, please post a review here to let us know what you think of it.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by bluemoose, Sep 26 2009 2:09PM
Here at Brickset HQ, our focus is very much on providing the definitive independent reference for LEGO's products and being the trusted source of news on new set availability. We are not a general LEGO news website, and it is unusual for us to cover events.
However, we're entering a busy month for the LEGO fan community and it's a slowish news day, so here's a quick round-up of the major LEGO events in the coming up -
- 'LEGO Fan Weekend' in Skaerbaek, Denmark - 25th/26th/27th September (this weekend)
- 'Great Western LEGO Show' in Swindon, UK - 3rd/4th October (next weekend)
- 'BrickCon 09', in Seattle, United States - 3rd/4th October (next weekend)
- 'LEGO World', in IJsselhallen Zwolle, Netherlands - 22nd to 27th October (in a month's time)
- 'BRICKMANIA', in Wilrijk (Antwerp) Belgium, on 28-29 November 2009
If you can make it along to any of these events you're sure to see some amazing fan-built LEGO creations and meet many people who share your love of The Brick !
Update: As an addendum to the event calendar, those of you lucky enough to live near any one of the handful of Legoland Discovery Centers will find a sale on tickets for the next few days through Sept. 30th.
LEGOLand Chicago, IL is offering 'Afternoon Special' admission tickets for US $7.00 for entry after 4:00pm (last entry 5:00pm, but open until 7:00pm); you'll need to download the coupon from the website to be elligble. It looks like the other locations, Duisburg and Berlin, have 50% off admission. I could be wrong, so if someone wants to check the official sites and translate them to English, I can update this post! - jkool
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Sep 25 2009 2:36PM
Dorling Kindersley has a long association with LEGO and has published numerous children’s books as well as the highly acclaimed The Ultimate LEGO Book in 1999. That book is no longer worthy of the title because the just-published The LEGO Book surpasses it!
It consists of two hardback books (230mm x 270mm) in a thick card slip case. One is entitled simply The LEGO book and the other, the subject of this review, Standing Small: A celebration of 30 years of the LEGO minifigure.
Standing Small contains 96-pages each covered in photographs on a white background surrounded by snippets of text. It’s not a book you’d read from cover to cover, but one to pick up and dip into and marvel at the stunning images and design.
After a few pages of introduction, which includes pictures of prototype minifigs and interesting facts (like that there are 4 billion minifigs in existence, which is 12 times the population of the USA!), the bulk of the book consists of multi-page spreads dedicated to minifigs of different themes. Everything is covered from Castle, Space and Pirates to Agents, Star Wars and SpongeBob. There are some themes that have been missed out completely however, such as Arctic and Divers. There is also a page at the back of the book featuring custom minifigs.
The two images shown here, the Exo-Force page and one of the two Harry Potter pages, show the layout. Star Wars gets four double-page spreads so inevitably there is overlap with the Star Wars Visual Dictionary but I don’t think buyers of both books will complain.
One thing to note is that this is not an exhaustive and complete guide to minifigs because, as stated in the introduction, there have been over 2500 different ones made over the years. Instead it shows a representative sample for each theme. The photos are, as I keep reiterating, excellent except in a few cases where the figure is covered in dust (e.g. Aqua Raider page 52) which really is inexcusable!
So in summary, this really is a must-have book for every LEGO fan, minifig collector or not. What’s more, at £16/US$26 for this AND The LEGO book, it is a bit of a bargain.
Part two of this review will follow once I’ve put this book down and looked at the other one (so don’t hold your breath!)
The LEGO Book can be purchased from Amazon: UK | USA | Canada | France. When you have your copy, please post a review to let me know what you think.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Sep 23 2009 11:28AM
The long-awaited pair of LEGO books from Dorling Kindersley are now shipping in the UK and I'm sure will be shipping elsewhere real soon. If you haven't already ordered yours, click below to do so.
- UK: LEGO Star Wars the Visual Dictionary and The LEGO Book
- USA: LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary
and The LEGO Book
- Canada: Lego Star Wars Visual Dictionary
and The Lego Book
- Germany: LEGO Star Wars
- France: Lego Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary
and The Lego Book
Hopefully my copies will arrive by the weekend and I'll let you know what I think of them when they do.
Update Sept 24th: Michael tells us these are shipping in Canada now, and I've added them to the database so you can review them.
Update Sept 25th: I now have these in my hands and they are absolutely stunning! The best LEGO books ever produced without doubt. The Star Wars Visual Dictionary is great but The LEGO book would appear to be even better! I will post pictures and more information later on today.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Sep 19 2009 3:43AM
The Star Wars microsite at LEGO.com has recently been updated and it would appear that it will include an index of old Star Wars sets in the Holobrick Archive. At the moment is's a work in progress and has details of only a handful of sets but once complete it could turn out to be a useful resource, although not, of course, as useful at Brickset :-) Unfortunately, it's all written in Flash which means it looks very 'flash' but which you either love or loathe (I loathe).
Interestingly, it's only visible in the menu of the microsite if your region is set to United States.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Sep 17 2009 3:06PM
It's official: There will be no new Pirates sets next year. The LEGO community team has told Ambassadors: "I do want to let you know though that pirates wasn't designed to be an ongoing theme this time around. Its only going to be on the shelves until second half next year and then it will be done so there's not a new line designed for pirates for 2010".
So stock up while you can.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Sep 13 2009 4:18PM
The five lucky winners of the exclusive Brickset minifigs, drawn at random from the entries to the prize draw held in August are as follows:
Stephanie Cobb
Jonathon Goldsworthy
AdamAndrew Lenox
Keith Turner
Kenneth John Lim
Congratulations to you all, I'll be in touch for a snail-mail address so I can get them posted to you.
Commiserations to everyone else, but thanks for entering and for your continued support for Brickset by buying from LEGOshop.com via our links, it's appreciated and helps keep the site running.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by bluemoose, Sep 4 2009 3:09AM
It's been a fairly busy few days for news already, but here's a quick round up of some other news items:
- A spokesperson for TT Games, the company that develops many of LEGO's computer games, has said that LEGO have been so impressed with the design work that they have done for the upcoming "LEGO Harry Potter - Years 1-4" game that they are thinking about relaunching a range of Harry Potter sets! I'm sceptical that this will come to anything, but I'm hopeful that it does happen
- The Mini TIE Fighter has been spotted in some UK TESCO stores in the last couple of days, for sale at £2.49.
- There is lots going on in the US Brand Stores this month - $30US off the Green Grocer set between 4th & 16th September; $25US off the Town Plan set between 21st & 24th September; two new Stores are having their "Grand Opening" celebrations this month (Orland Park, IL, on 11th-13th Sept, & Paramus, NJ, on 17th-19th Sept); free Mini V-19 Torrent with a $75US or more purchase of Star Wars LEGO sets.
Thanks to everyone that emailed in with news.
UPDATE #1 -
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Aug 28 2009 5:04AM
Want to tell us what you like and dislike about Brickset and how we could improve it? Now's your chance! I've been playing with a new online survey tool and have created a short questionnaire to gather feedback from you.
I'm interested in feedback from everyone but particularly from adults, so if you have 10 minutes spare, click on the image to complete it and I'll be eternally grateful...
Update 1st Sept: The survey is now closed. Thanks to all of you who completed it. I now have nearly 800 responses to analyse. When I've done so I'll post the analysis here.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Aug 20 2009 1:39PM
The Great Western LEGO Show will once again be taking place at the STEAM museum in Swindon this year, on the 3rd and 4th of October.
The event, jointly organised by the museum and The Brickish Association, the UK's club for adult fans of LEGO, will be bigger and better than ever, with more displays and more traders. I'll be there again, contributing to the train display.
To give you a taste of what to expect, check out the video, and for more information, see the Great Western LEGO Show page on the BA's website.
I hope to see you there!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Aug 18 2009 11:17AM
A press release issued today at LEGO.com shows that in the first thalf of this year its sales and profits have increased significantly due in part to "continued strong growth in classic product lines" which has to be good news for us all. It's interesting that Bionicle is not mentioned because in the past it has been attributed with being the cause of strong sales but this time it's Star Wars and City.
What's more, LEGO seem to be bucking the industry trend of falling profits. This article at Bloomberg states that Mattel have reported a 19% drop in sales during the last quarter so it's great that LEGO's high quality traditional products are still in demand with consumers.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Aug 12 2009 11:12AM
So say Variety, Empire and Major Spoliers! It's certainly an interesting proposition: let's hope it's more Transformers than Gi Joe!
Thanks to the_isolator for alerting us to this news.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Aug 6 2009 5:13PM
The Brickmaster Castle and Brickmaster Pirates books can now be ordered in the UK directly from the Dorling Kindersley website. The books come with 140-odd pieces and instructions for building many different models using them and it looks like they'll be great fun. The US DK site still shows them as 'not yet published', though.
(Update: although you can order these now, they are not actually shipping yet, it seems. I received an 'out of stock' email this morning. )
While we are on the subject of DK books, the 
other two that are due for release in October can be pre-ordered from Amazon. Both of them look like being must-haves for the discerning LEGO collector.
- UK: LEGO Star Wars the Visual Dictionary and The LEGO Book
- USA: LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary and The LEGO Book
UPDATE - The LEGO Brickmaster: Castle
and LEGO Brickmaster Pirates
books are now available to pre-order from Amazon USA for $16.49 each; expected shipping date is 31st August.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Aug 5 2009 1:36PM
Some of you have asked where I had the minifigs with the Brickset logo on their chests printed. So, in answer to that, they were done by Caspar of CJB Graphics in Denmark. They have been done to such a high standard that I have no hesitation in recommending Caspar's work. He can print virtually anything on a range of different bricks (as long as they are white) from any artwork you supply.
If you remember me asking last month for a vector graphics expert to help me with a project, this is what it was for. Brickset member def stepped up and created an Adobe Illustrator graphic of the site's logo which was then used to generate a high resolution PNG from which Caspar printed the logo. Take a look at Caspar's website and see what else he can do. Prices are in Danish Kroner but are very reasonable: a single printed minifig torso is about $3.50 or £2.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jul 23 2009 9:32AM
In addition to the Tantive IV being revealed at ComicCon, so have the forthcoming Toy Story and Prince Of Persia sets!
Joe Meno (editor of Brick Journal) has posted some excellent pictures of both Toy Story and PoP taken at the event and I have to say I am both pleased and surprised to see that they are minifig scale and that they look absolutely superb.
So, what can we tell from the photos? Well, the Toy Story figures have a lot of new parts and in the case of Woody and Jessie, longer legs and arms, which seems to be upsetting the purists. Personally that doesn't bother me, I'd much rather they did that than make 'Jack Stone' sized figures. The Prince of Persia figures are more 'traditional' and introduce some new headgear. There's also a camel and (correct me if I'm wrong) and ostritch!
Collecting LEGO is getting annoying -- there's always something great coming that you want now but can't have for ages!
Update: there's even more, and better, pictures of the Toy Story figures here -- they are awesome!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jul 22 2009 11:21AM
The mysterious disappearance of the PF speed controller from LEGOshop.com shortly after its release can today be explained: Some of them overheat and are subject to a product recall. If you have one, read the information on LEGO.com and see whether you need to send yours back. (thanks WilliamH)
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jul 14 2009 3:13PM
The Games microsite at LEGO.com is now up and running, with a lot more information about the games including parents' guides, video tutorials, adverts, downloads and so on. It looks great but the grammar leaves a lot to be desired. I know 'LEGO games' could be considered a singular entity but "What is LEGO games?" just doesn't read right!
There's also a new Architecture page as well, but sadly it seems the sets, like the page itself, are continuing to be targeted at the US market only. It looks as if there are more products planned in a 'discovery series' of sets to go alongside the existing 'landmark' and 'architect' series.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jul 13 2009 4:04PM
BrettSpiel.co.uk, the games website that carried early news about LEGO games has just posted an excellent article which incudes an interview with the lead designer Cephas Howard. If you want to know more about their evolution, go and check it out and leave Brett a comment to show your appreciation for his efforts in securing such a great interview.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jul 6 2009 3:25PM
There's not much going on this week in the LEGO world after the flurry of activity over the last fortnight!
Thanks to everyone who's emailed us to say that new sets are appearing in their local shops. If you've seen any near you, comment on this post and let everyone else know.
It seems that nearly all the known sets for 2009 have now been released so it could be a quiet couple of months for news if so. Looking at the list of most anticipated sets, which shows unreleased sets that people are most excited about, there's not much left on it: only the Advent calendars and a few SW, Power Miners and SP3 sets, so let's hope LEGO have some exciting announcements planned for the run-up to Christmas otherwise it'll be boring!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jun 30 2009 5:09PM
The countdown on the Games page still has a couple of hours to go but the sets are in the shop already! They are now listed on the Products launched in 2009 page and I have to say, the prices are quite reasonable. I'm hoping to get some promotional material from LEGO in the next day or so but in the meantime you'll have to make do with the descriptions on the LEGO site.
Update 1st July: the Games page is now live, but there's not much there, only links to the products in the shop.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by bluemoose, Jun 15 2009 2:54PM
Having briefly appeared on LEGO Shop UK last week, the Battle of Endor and Echo Base sets have today reappeared, along with some of the other new Star Wars LEGO sets - Corporate Alliance Tank Droid , Separatist Shuttle and Anakin’s Y-wing Starfighter .
(Thanks to 'jezandemmagower' for the info !)
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jun 12 2009 5:08PM
News of the range of LEGO games, to launched on 1st July, is now coming in thick and fast!
- games.lego.co.uk is now live, and contains a Flash animation. It looks good but doesn't actually tell you anything.
- This page on LEGO.com, entitled A new way to play, looks like it contains cool stuff but all the links I tried lead to the above Flash animation (thanks Saso)
- An article at BrettSpeil.co.uk actually has some useful information, like set numbers, prices and box art (thanks szww)
It does seem that these are set for release in Europe only, at least initially. I suspect LEGO will test the water with them and release them more widely later, perhaps next year.
Update: We are once again indebited to whung, who's posted good pictures of all ten games in his gallery on Brickshelf which I've added here. Having now seen them, I have to say they look pretty cool -- all very colourful and probably fun to play. (thanks waterjedi17 for finding them!).
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jun 10 2009 2:09PM
Recent integration of Brickset with Lugnet and BrickLink has highlighted the age-old problem of duplicate set numbers and the suffixes given to them by each site. Obviously the suffixes need to match if integration is to be completely successful but at the moment they don't in every case.
So, I want to do something about it, and I'd like your help. I'm looking for help comparing the BrickLink database with Brickset's so that the anomalies can be ironed out. Clearly the best way to do this is by some sort of database query or script, so if you think you're up to the task and can lend a hand, then please get in touch. I'll send you a dump of the Brickset data, we can download BrickLink's, and in return I'd like a list of changes to make and also possibly a list of sets listed at BrickLink but not here.
Up for it? Let me know! huw[at]brickset.com
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jun 9 2009 5:06PM
Hot on the heels of the chromed Darth Vader, fbtb.net brings news of a chrome stormtrooper! Apparently it can be bought at LEGOLand California, where I believe they are having Star Wars themed days this coming weekend. There's more photos at Eurobricks. Let's hope he becomes available everywhere!
Update 16th June: This will be available in LEGO stores and from LEGOshop.com in the next few weeks, according to brothers-brick.
(Thanks Nathaniel)
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jun 9 2009 7:58AM
The UK edition of the LEGO Club magazine, which I received today, has an advert on the back for LEGO games. It quotes a url, http://games.lego.co.uk, but at the moment that just redirects to the main LEGO home page. So keep your eyes peeled; presumably one day soon the site will be live.
There's been precious little information released about the games sets so far. I didn't see them when I visited the LEGO UK offices in February, and although they were on display at the London toy fair, which I didn't get to, photos weren't permitted. So, when the site is launched hopefully all will be revealed!
As you can see from the picture, there's a new kind of mini-minifig playing piece and a constructable dice which 'is built with different plates in each of the 10 LEGO games', so the magazine says.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jun 5 2009 11:47AM
I guess it was inevitable that I'd jump on the bandwagon sooner or later, so as of today you can keep up-to-date with what's happening at Brickset via Twitter. I've no idea what I'll post or how often, but I'll see how it goes for a month or two!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jun 4 2009 5:58PM
Brickset moderator and fellow Brickish Association member Martin has just opened a new online store, Brickends.com, to sell some of his excess stock as well as some treasured and collectible sets.
The site is currently geared up to ship to UK addresses but Martin is happy for Brickset members to contact him for shipping costs outside of the UK. Many of the items are 'one only' and there are some bargains to be had so be sure to get in quick!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jun 2 2009 5:41PM
Lego has signed a deal with Cartoon Network to create construction toys based on the huge-selling Ben 10 franchise, so says the UK toy trade magazine Toy News. "The range, based on the Ben 10 Alien Force adventures, is expected to launch globally in Spring 2010 and promises a new twist on the Lego building system", apparently. Read more at the Toy News site.
I can't say the news excites me, having never seen the cartoon, but having just checked out the Ben 10 website it looks like there's scope for some interesting minifigs. (Thanks Missingno!)
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Miscellaneous news Posted by bluemoose, Jun 1 2009 2:05PM
Earlier in the year we heard a rumour that another installment in the LEGO Indiana Jones game franchise was in development. Last friday this was confirmed by the developers - "LEGO Indiana Jones 2 : The Adventure Continues" will be available in the Autumn/Fall, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii, DS, and PC. It will cover all four of the IJ films.
Today we heard that the other, altogether more bizarre, part of the rumour, that a LEGO Harry Potter game was also in development, is also true - "LEGO Harry Potter - Years 1-4" will be released sometime in 2010. This would strike me as very odd, as there haven't been any HP sets in quite a while now, except that the LEGO Batman game was released just as sets were disappearing from the shelves, and that didn't seem to affect sales of the game, or people's enjoyment of it !
Make sure you check out the 'teaser trailer' for LHP:1-4 !
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, May 30 2009 1:03PM
I'm back from my travels... I have no LEGO news other than I managed to get a 2230 airline special set from Thomson Airways on the way to Portugal :-)
It looks like it's been an exciting week here at Brickset though, and I thank Grahame and bluemoose for keeping you all up to date and the site in order. It looks as if I'll be heading to TRU tomorrow to bag a chrome Darth Vader; knowing my luck the offer will have finished or they've run out!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by bluemoose, May 23 2009 5:51PM
Toys-R-Us in the UK has just started a LEGO Star Wars promotion - spend £29.99 or more on LEGO Star Wars sets in a TRU store and receive a *free* Chrome Darth Vader, previously only available when pre-ordering the 2009 Vader's TIE in Sweden or as a random insert in North American LEGO Star Wars sets. They are apparently handed out at the check-out after you've paid.
Seems like it might be a Europe-wide promotion, but things are a little sketchy at the moment as to how wide-spread this offer is.
Thanks to Dr. Sinister for doing the research on this one ! And thanks to all the others that sent in the info.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by bluemoose, May 20 2009 4:16PM
It looks like Space Police III sets are now starting to appear in-store; Iain Adams reports finding a couple of the smaller 'Impulse' sets in Globus (Zürich) last weekend, and reports are also coming in of them being found in some TRU stores in the USofA. Happy hunting !!!!
UPDATE - New sets from other themes are also starting to appear across the US, although distribution seems a little patchy, with many areas still waiting for the sets. Sightings include Castle, Agents 2.0, Creator, Power Miners, etc., but the new Star Wars sets remain elusive. Thanks to everyone for reporting their finds !
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, May 17 2009 2:17PM
Many of the summer releases are now available for order at the Toys R Us website in the USA including new Agents, City, Power Miners and Space Police 3. We didn't previously have non-watermarked images of the 2009 Agents sets so, for your convenience, I've added them to Brickset :-)
(Thanks robjc)
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, May 8 2009 4:40PM
Regular Brickset visitors will know what's about to happen in 'space' but in case you need any clues head over to the new Space microsite at LEGO.com!
Perhaps the site's appearance signals the imminent arrival of the sets in question :-)
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Apr 22 2009 3:22PM
LEGO Rock Band confirmed: Rumours emerged a few weeks ago about this title, but now it's official: Traveller's Tales are set to launch a LEGO 'Guitar Hero'-style game in time for Christmas. You can read all about it, including a track listing at PCWorld.com. I've never played this sort of game but they do seem to be popular so I'm sure that, mixed in with LEGO, this one will be even more so, particularly with the younger crowd.
LEGO Battles screenshots: This website has screenshots of the forthcoming Nintendo DS exclusive game LEGO Battles as well as cover artwork. The blurb reads "LEGO Battles is based on three classic LEGO toy themes - LEGO Space, LEGO Castle, and LEGO Pirates - combining the trademark humor and endless customization of LEGO". If you don't already have a DS, is it worth buying a DSi for, I wonder?
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Apr 21 2009 2:15PM
If so, you have Brickset user ash_wik to thank for the availability of the Racers RC sets on LEGOshop.com.
He writes: "I sent a question/complaint to Lego regarding the 2 new RC cars, #8183 and #8184 (Track Turbo RC and Twin X-Treme RC) and their unexplained unavailability in Australia. The 2 sets were available in every other nation to which Lego ships its products. Following my complaint, Lego immediately made the 2 sets available in Australia, for $55.99 and $80.99 respectively. This comes as a huge relief to Lego RC car fans who can now purchase these sets online!"
LEGO's reply to him stated "There was a mistake in our website as they are also available in Australia. I passed on your comments to the website department and they have now corrected it. Thanks for pointing it out! You can now place your order if you wish :)"
So good news, and well done Ash!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Apr 21 2009 7:51AM
So says StarWars.com. I think 'exclusive' needs to be suffixed with 'in the USA' in their headline; I'm sure it will be available everywhere else through normal channels (LEGOshop.com etc.)
The article on the site is interesting as it has an interview with the LEGO Star Wars design manager who provides some background to the set's design. One thing I'm confused about is why it's in Clone Wars packaging: the MF didn't appear in CW as far as I can remember!
Release date is stated as being 1st July.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Apr 17 2009 1:11PM
Remember this article back in January about LEGO teaming up with Digital Blue to produce consumer electronics devices aimed at kids? Louis L emaled today to say he found images of the camera, MP3 player, walkie talkie and other devices on Brickshelf.
Except for the camcorder, they all look a bit garish for my liking but I don't think I'm the target audience. Let me know -- do they appeal to you?
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Apr 14 2009 1:30PM
It's been a quiet week for LEGO news. Here's a quick roundup of things people have emailed me about:
- The DK LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary book can be preordered from Amazon.com for shipping in September. It's also listed on Amazon.co.uk but can't be ordered yet.
- The leaks from the Czech factory continue: Brickshelf has several galleries of pictures of summer release City sets (here and here)
- Rick A picked up a flyer in his local LEGO brand store in the USA which states "May The Force be with you! Shop online at LEGOshop.com on May 3rd and May 4th for an exclusive, limited edition offer celebrating the Lego Star Wars 10th Anniversary!". My contact at LEGO says "I can’t spill the beans just yet on what it is, but it’s pretty cool!"
- The Emerald Night shipping date has slipped in the USA to the middle of May. It's still middle of April for Europe (the 15th, tomorrow, in fact)
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Apr 8 2009 10:56AM
A few people contacted over the last few weeks to tell of a huge increase in the price of the pick-a-brick elements at LEGOshop.com. As I don't buy from there -- even at the old prices they were too expensive -- I didn't really take a lot of notice or appreciate the scale of the increase. However, now it would seem that LEGO have seen the error of their ways and have reduced them again. Here is the official communication from them:
Dear LEGO fans
Based on all the feedback over the past week regarding our new Pick A Brick elements and pricing we will reduce the pricing on LEGO Pick A Brick elements.
There were good reasons behind our decision to raise prices of this relatively operationally complex Pick A Brick service. However, over the last week we have realised, thanks to you, that it was unacceptable to raise the prices so steeply without notice. We have acted quickly and have taken the decision to reduce the pricing on LEGO Pick A Brick elements. The prices cannot return to the original 2008 level but the increases are now much smaller. We are pleased to now offer you the biggest, most comprehensive assortment ever including:
- More colours
- Most recent doors and windows are now available in PAB and MOD
- More longer beams to enable larger constructions
- More accessories (such as hats, wigs and mini figure tools)
- More mini-figs (now with girl and child (short legs))
- More cool tires and rims
We hope to welcome you back to Pick A Brick soon.
Your LEGO team
---
Let me know what you think. Are they priced reasonably now? Are there any bargains to be had?
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Mar 14 2009 10:30AM
I don't like to regurgitate news articles from Eurobricks but a recent one about new DK books warrants doing so. Anyone who has their Ultimate Lego Book
will know how good they are. The pictures in thomasdavi's flickr gallery show three new books:
Two are 'Brick Master' books, to be released in August, which come with 'up to 130 bricks' and presumably instructions for building many models from them.
The third, out in October priced £25, is probably more interesting to AFOLs: 'The LEGO book' which consists of 2 books in a slipcase one of which is titled 'Standing Small': A celebration of 30 years of the the LEGO minifigure'
I for one can't wait...
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Mar 12 2009 3:31PM
A reader contacted me today asking why I hadn't written about the chrome Darth Vaders that are appearing in sets, and on eBay, yet. Well, I guess I didn't think it particularly newsworthy as they've been around for a while.
But if you haven't heard, 10,000 chrome Darth Vaders have been inserted randomly into 2009 Star Wars sets and it seems people are now finding them. There's quite a few on eBay but they are going for high prices. If you're not lucky enough to find one and don't want to take the chance of not getting one you're going to have fork out a hefty sum, I'm afraid!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Mar 7 2009 7:05AM
Tim D posted a link in the Brickish forums to this image of Flickr which was found in LEGO's cache and appears to show flexible track for the RC trains track system.
What with this, and the new battery and remote controller for the RC trains, it's finally looking like the system might have potential.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Mar 6 2009 2:20AM
It may not be the best Clone Wars set but as of today you can pick it up half price at LEGOshop.com for £34.29 in the UK and $50 in the USA.
If you need Ahsoka and Anakin minifigs, this is an ideal opportunity to pick them up.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Feb 28 2009 4:30AM
Several of my friends over at the Brickish Association have launched a new website to celebrate 30 years of classic space. Here's the press release:
"March 2009 sees the 30th anniversary of the original Classic Space sets from LEGO. Now, three decades on, it’s time for a celebration of spacey goodness at www.neoclassicspace.com.
"Neo-Classic Space is a reimagining of the LEGO Classic Space range, using modern building techniques and parts. More than just inspired by the Classic Space sets, Neo-Classic Space is an extrapolation of the line into the 21st century and beyond. We aim to follow a carefully thought standard, which we feel is in keeping with the original designs.
"The culmination of a top-secret project planned over many months, www.neoclassicspace.com will present a new model every day throughout March, many from builders you already know and love, some from new talent you may not have discovered.
"This is only the beginning. It is time to retake space. We hope you'll come along for the ride!"
Go and check it out!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Feb 20 2009 5:00PM
A news release on the official LEGO Universe site has today announced that the launch is being delayed.
There's no new date given and no reason other than "(we) decided to delay the game’s launch so that it gets the full attention of our company and fans when it makes its public debut. We have a ton of cool new products planned for release in 2009, and want to continue developing the game to make sure that LEGO Universe becomes a truly great game and LEGO experience."
That sounds as if it will be launched when there are no 'cool new products' planned, so we could be in for a long wait. Usually it's technical problems that delay this sort of project but I'm not surprised that they are not admitting to that.
Personally I'd rather spend my spare time playing with real bricks with real people rather than virtual ones in a virtual world, but I'm probably not the target audience. I'm therefore not too distressed by the news.
(thanks wadaltmon)
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Feb 15 2009 2:16PM
LEGO has entered another deal with a major entertainment group, recently announced at Toy Fair, one that they have had dealings with before: Disney. Three lines are currently scheduled to come out of this agreement, Toy Story (Jan 2010), Cars (June 2010), and Prince of Persia (April 2010). No pictures were shown at Toy Fair.
Read the press release for more information.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Feb 5 2009 7:33PM
2009 is a big year for LEGO all around, however one area where they will really shine this year is in the video game section, with three big releases coming soon.
First of course, is the highly anticipated Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) LEGO Universe. This PC game is scheduled for release sometime this year and will deliver character customization, player interaction, and the ability to create your personal avatar as a real LEGO figure and get it sent to you.
Next is LEGO Racers: The Video Game. All we know about this title is that it will be coming out sometime this year, thanks to the actual LEGO Racers sets.
Last is LEGO Battles, recently announced by TTGames, the minds behind LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Indiana Jones, and LEGO Batman. Only for the Nintendo DS, this game features several characters from our favorite LEGO themes, such as Pirates, Space and Castle, with the ability to build and battle other players on the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. This game should be out sometime in the third quarter of '09.
So there is all the news we have for you gamers out there. If you find anything we haven't heard about, please, let us know!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jan 30 2009 8:28AM
A friend went to the London Toy Fair and said he saw these and they were pretty cool. I can't find any images anywhere but there's an article at Toy News Online which provides more information.
In fact, I haven't found any images taken at the London Toy Fair. When I've been in the past they have been very strict on photography so presumably that's the case again this year. If you come across any, let us know!
Update 2nd Feb: The Telegraph website has a picture of one of them, Rameses Pyramid.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jan 11 2009 4:24AM
An interesting story has been published on many news sites and was picked up by Google News concerning a licencing agreement between a company that makes 'Teentronics' (Digital Blue) and LEGO:
"Digital Blue, a leading innovator in electronics and software for the youth and teen market, today announced a licensing agreement with LEGO Systems, Inc., the world’s leading construction toy company, to create a LEGO-inspired line of electronic gear. The line is scheduled for release in the summer of 2009 at price points ranging from $19.99 to $59.99.
"Digital Blue will apply its expertise in value-priced digital and video cameras, MP3 players and other electronic gear to an extensive youth audience and to LEGO fans worldwide by creating four imagination-inspiring lines, including:
- Brick-Built, Portable Electronics: The line features fully functional digital cameras, MP3 players, walkie talkies and USB drives that appear to be built from classic LEGO bricks.
- BIONICLE: Digital products that bring the excitement and action of the BIONICLE legend to life for boys ages 7-11. This line launches with digital cameras at Toys “R” Us. The remainder of the line is scheduled to be released in fall 2009 in tandem with the BIONICLE direct-to-video feature, and includes a stop animation video camera. It’s designed to appeal to a broad age range, including teens, and features the elemental essence of LEGO style.
- Home Electronics: Boom boxes and alarm clock radios that feature classic LEGO brick elements scaled to oversized proportions. "
The products will be available in the US, UK, Canada, Mexico, France and Germany, apparently. The Digital Blue website might give you an idea what to expect, but there's not mention of this there yet.
Thanks to mbamcooley for first alerting me to this. Sounds interesting!
Update: If this is what they look like, then I'm not so sure about them!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jan 6 2009 2:34PM
Hot on the heels of the Power Miners microsite, the Pirates site is now live on LEGO.com. There's a couple of nice wallpapers to download already; hopefully the first of many :-)
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jan 5 2009 3:19PM
The Power Miners microsite at LEGO.com has been updated recently and now includes instructions for all the sets and the combination models. I like to collect LEGO wallpapers but there is only one available there so far...
Thanks to tmyork for the news.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Dec 31 2008 8:06AM
2009 is almost here, and we are all excited for the return of Pirates and (sort of) the Rock Raiders. But let’s look back at some of the highlights our favorite toy company had during the current year, because whether it was a new robotic arm for your minifigure, or a mask of life for your favorite Toa, we can all agree 2008 was a banner year.
Old favorites
Creator continued its tradition of not including figures with any sets in the theme, but gave us great reason to buy some extras to populate its brilliant minifigure scale sets, such as 4996 Beach House or 4997 Transport Ferry.
City started off with a bang, bringing a new subtheme into play, Cargo, featuring long-awaited mail vehicles and other things essential to getting LEGO sets to our doors, as well as a sprucing up to the Police line. The expansion wasn’t done yet, as the Coast Guard arrived on the scene in late 08, making all our LEGO cities that much more realistic.
Castle brought two brand new factions our way, (after a small preview to U.S. audiences in 07) the Trolls and the Dwarfs, each with their own unique building style. Knight armies were also built up, and an expansion to our Castles was even released in the form of 7037 Tower Raid.
Space was back in a big way, with the Mars Mission theme bringing with it new, poseable alien commander figures, as well as some interesting design throwbacks to some of our favorite Space sets. Unfortunately, this is the last year for the Mars Mission theme, but don’t worry, Space won’t be leaving us again that soon!
And of course, the Racers blasted back onto shelves in 08 with more Tiny Turbos, more Power Racers, more Ferrari, and (we hope) more sales! There was another feature added this year, but you should check out the licensed themes for that.
A new feature for most of the above themes is a return to form of sorts for the LEGO Company, with the new Impulse range. Consisting of several small, reasonably priced sets, they made it easy to create armies of Knights, Spacemen, Policemen, and Garbage men(?), as well as making it easy for the average kid to start down the same path we did, however long ago that may have been.
Licensed themes
LEGO dug deeper into the Lucasfilm legend this year with the release of the new Indiana Jones theme, which brought Adventurers-style building back to the store shelves. Along with several successful sets, a video game based on the theme was released, earning itself a place in the top ten best-selling Wii games of 2008 in North America.
SpongeBob SquarePants saw three new sets in 08, and Batman came back, too, bringing along the new Harley Quinn minifigure. No doubt thanks to the release of the new film, The Dark Knight, the much-requested Tumbler was released as well. A video game was also released for him.
And the Racers finally saw minifigures again with the Speed Racer subtheme based on the movie based on the animated series based on the 1960’s comic book from Japan. No doubt this got the nostalgia going for a number of Adult Fans Of LEGO.
Of course, LEGO licenses are all follow-ups to the original Star Wars deal, and the little LEGO people in a galaxy far, far, away broke much new ground this year. Although many classic-styled sets were released including the instant classic 10188 Death Star, the Expanded Universe came into play in a major way this year. For starters, a set based off the best-selling video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, was released in January. But the big news this year was the start of The Clone Wars subtheme. Bolstered on by a brand new movie/TV show based on a little-explored area of the Star Wars timeline, the new sets gave us many new Jedi figures, all rendered in the unique style created by the show.
Other endeavors
The most hated and most loved LEGO theme ever, BIONICLE, made sure we all remembered 2008 as a big year. Whether we follow the story or not, who didn’t notice the giant, complicated-looking red, blue, and green vehicles with a small BIONICLE figure gripping the handlebars, and wasn’t tempted to try it out?
On a sad note, the Japanese mecha inspired EXO-FORCE theme was discontinued in 2008, following the dismal sales of the 2007 line, with only seven small, jungle-themed sets to mark its passing.
Secrecy returned to the LEGO universe with the launch of the new Agents theme. Similar to 2001-2005’s Alpha Team, it features a team of secret agents attempting to stop an evil mastermind. Dissimilar to Alpha Team, the mastermind and his minions came with several new cyborg/mutant pieces, making one of the most unique minifigure lineups ever.
The Future
Several of us have seen some of the 2009 lineup, and I think we can all agree it is one of the best ever, with several of our favorite themes making a comeback. 2008 definitely left its mark on LEGO, and hopefully, with the strong line-up of current themes, we will see an even bigger and better mark at the end of next year.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Dec 24 2008 6:43AM
I'd like to wish all Brickset users a Merry Christmas! I hope Santa leaves you all lots of rattling boxes under the tree or in your stocking. There won't be any under my tree unfortunately, but I did get to the Brighton LEGO store yesterday to buy my own presents (10 or so 2009 sets!)
Be sure to log in tomorrow and let us all know what you received.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Dec 11 2008 3:07PM
Jan from LEGO has asked me to ask you to participate in an online survey:
"As Adult Fans of LEGO, you bring an important perspective to the LEGO Group. We respect your creativity and passion for our brand.
"Please take a few moments to complete this short online survey to let us know your opinion on how we are doing.
"We promise to listen to you and use your feedback to improve!
"You might notice that the link refers to the LEGO Kids Inner Circle; this is because Satmetrix, which hosts that site, is also supporting our efforts to track AFOL opinions. Rest assured that this survey is for AFOL's only. "
There's a question about favourite LEGO websites: don't forget to mention Brickset as one of yours!
As they are interested in responses from adults, please only respond if you're 18+.
Thanks!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Nov 23 2008 6:29AM
Being in the UK I have no idea what 'Black Friday' is but Brian in the USA emailed us to say "I have some Black Friday news. I found out some info regarding LEGO sales that could benefit bricksetters in the US. I have learned about K-Mart (Buy 2 Get 1 free), Wal-Mart (7094 Castle Siege %50 off $48.88), Target (Imperial Star Destroyer for $69.99 instead of $99.99) and TRU (selected sets %40 off-just don't know which sets). "
I hope that's of use to you!
(update: if like me you don't know anything about Black Friday, find out at Wikipedia)
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Nov 16 2008 9:10AM
I thought I'd start a new thread for reports of 2009 sets. Please comment on this article only if you have new news about set availability. Here's some to start off:
7631 is available from the LEGO store in Bellevue, WA (thanks to David H). A shop worker there says he expects a lot more 2009 sets to appear the first week of December, which will be just after Thanksgiving which is when they usually start to appear.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Oct 31 2008 1:04PM
I'm sure everyone not in the UK will be pleased to see we won't be posting news articles every day about it any more :-) It has been a lot of fun reading all the comments received.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Grahame, Oct 29 2008 4:38AM
7871 Creator Whale
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Grahame, Oct 28 2008 4:51AM
7611 Racers Police Car
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Grahame, Oct 27 2008 2:35PM
7797 Biplane
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Grahame, Oct 26 2008 3:41PM
7873 Jet Plane
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Grahame, Oct 25 2008 5:27AM
4938 - Fire 4x4
This set was previously available from Quick fast food restaurants in continental Europe, Sept. 2007. Our picture is from that promotion.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Oct 24 2008 11:29AM
A racing car!
From 2007, this set was one of three included with the Sep-Oct 2007 BrickMaster magazine. It was also available from C1000 stores in the Netherlands with biscuit purchases.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Grahame, Oct 23 2008 1:43PM
7604 - Creator Triceratops
This set, from 2006, was available from C1000 stores in the Netherlands with cookie purchases.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Grahame, Oct 22 2008 1:59PM
The one you have all been waiting for! Set 5626 - Coast Guard Bike
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Oct 21 2008 5:39AM
A nice Creator lion (or is it a dog)!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Grahame, Oct 20 2008 2:42PM
4992 - Fireboat. This set was previously available from Quick fast food restaurants in 2007 throughout continental Europe, and was one of two sets included with Nov-Dec 2007 BrickMaster magazine.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Oct 19 2008 7:08AM
Mini digger, 5627. The paper's a bit more expensive today, at 95p.
I forgot to mention yesterday that if you're in Scotland the offer is available with the Daily Record.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Oct 18 2008 5:40AM
Today's free set with the Daily Mirror (65p) is 4991 Police Helicopter.
The other sets will be available as follows:
- Sat 18th: 4991 - Police Helicopter
- Sun 19th: 5627 - Mini Digger
- Mon 20th: 4992 - Fireboat
- Tue 21st: 7872 - Creator Lion
- Wed 22nd: 5626 - Coastguard Bike
- Thu 23rd: 7604 - Creator Triceratops
- Fri 24th: 7452 - Green Racers mini car
- Sat 25th: 4938 - Fire 4*4
- Sun 26th: 7873 - Jet Plane
- Mon 27th: 7797 - Biplane
- Tue 28th: 7611 - Racers police car
- Wed 29th: 7871 - Creator Whale
- Thu 30th: Carry case
- Fri 31st: Stickers
If you want more than one of each, stagger your trips to the till (or use both ELC and Woolies) as the coupon states 'one free LEGO item per reader' so they might get shirty if you pitch up with 10 coupons :-)
You need just 7 tokens (+ £6.50) to claim all 14 items by post, so if you buy a paper each day for the next fortnight you'll be able to get 2 sets.
Happy collecting!
Oh, and while you're in Woolies check out the LEGO aisle today and tomorrow because it's 3 for 2 on all toys! That might make the cost of the overpriced Clone Wars sets more palatable.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Oct 15 2008 2:56PM
mastermind emailed us to say that from Saturday, the Daily Mirror will be giving away 12 LEGO sets!
He has no more details but I suspect they'll be polybag sets, and will probably be a different one a day for 12 days.
If you're in the UK, be sure to get down to your newsagent and check it out. I wouldn't bother actually reading the newspaper though :-)
Update: there's a bit more information on the Mirror website:
"Starting on Saturday 18th October we're giving away 12 brilliant LEGO toys FREE with the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror. It all starts with a police helicopter on Saturday and then pick up another great item every day!
"LEGO is Britain's favourite toy and this collection is perfect for Christmas. We'll also be giving you a carry case, playmat and LEGO stickers too. You'll be able to pick up the toys each day from Woolworths and Early Learning Centre stores or apply by post and get the whole set before Christmas. See the paper for full details."
Update: thanks to billding for finding this page on the Mirror website which shows the following 12 sets:
- 4991 - Police Helicopter
- 5627 - Mini Digger
- 4992 - Fireboat
- 7872 - Creator Lion
- 5626 - Coastguard Bike
- 7604 - Creator Triceratops
- 7452 - Green Racers mini car
- 4938 - Fire 4*4
- 7873 - Jet Plane
- 7797 - Biplane
- 7611 - Racers police car
- 7871 - Creator Whale
Not bad for free!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Oct 14 2008 2:20PM
For the first time in several years, a Belville set has been spotted at U.S. retail! The only confirmed sighting so far is of 7583 Playful Puppy, and that has only been seen at Toys"R"Us. The Toys"R"Us website has three sets listed; the aforementioned 7583 Playful Puppy, 7585 Horse Stable, and 7587 Horse Jumping. This could mean that LEGO is trying again to reach the girls market in the United States. Will they be successful? Only time will tell.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Oct 9 2008 11:39PM
There has been a lot of discussion about this year's store exclusive sets, particularly Star Wars 7679 Republic Fighter Tank. To help clear up any confusion, we are listing below all exclusives released in the U.S. this year and where you can find them, and we will also be sure to inform all Brickset users as soon as the four upcoming Target exclusives have been released at LEGO S@H. Please note that all sets listed below are also available from the official LEGO site, subject to availability of course.
Target:
- City 4210 Coast Guard Platform
- Star Wars 7679 Republic Fighter Tank
- Agents 8636 Mission 7: Deep Sea Quest
- BIONICLE 8942 Jetrax T6 (yellow)
Toys"R"Us:
- SpongeBob SquarePants 3832 The Emergency Room
- Castle 7041 Troll Battle Wheel
- Indiana Jones 7628 Peril In Peru
- Mars Mission 7649 MT-201 Ultra-Drill Walker
- Star Wars 7680 The Twilight
- Star Wars 7681 Separatist Spider Droid
- City 7731 Mail Van
- City 7732 Air Mail
- City 7733 Truck & Forklift
- City 7734 Cargo Plane
- Agents 8638 Mission 8: Volcano Base
- BIONICLE 8953 Makuta Icarax
Wal-Mart:
- Star Wars 7678 Droid Gunship
- BIONICLE 8952 Mutran and Vican
- BIONICLE 8954 Mazeka
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Sep 8 2008 4:56PM
If you've been wondering why news here has been a little slow lately it's because I've been beavering away building for the largest LEGO show in the UK, in Swindon in 4 weeks time.
If you're going to be in the area be sure to drop by. There'll be close to 50 Brickish Association members displaying all sorts of models and it's expected that visitor numbers will exceed last year's 3,500 over the two days.
Staff from a LEGO brand store will be in attendance selling all the latest kits, so once you've seen what we have built you can bolster your own collection then go home and build something better!
There will also be many fun hands-on activities including building a giant mosaic, demonstrations of virtual LEGO building, play tables, brick engraving and loads more.
More information can be found on the Brickish and the STEAM museum websites.
I hope to see you there. I'll probably be manning the train layout for a lot of the time, so do drop by and say hello.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Sep 8 2008 4:49PM
Thanks to those of you that sent me images of the Power Miners. You can see them here at Brothers-Brick. Despite what has been written there, I think they show promise and have a great colour scheme.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Sep 8 2008 4:43PM
Details are sketchy at present, but it seems that, to tie in with the release of the LEGO Batman game, McDonalds Happy Meals, in the USA at least, will feature LEGO toys. You can read all about it by searching using Google.
bsmarthen reports that there will be 8 'sets': The Batboat, The Joker Helicopter, Batman and Batarang, Mr Freeze, The Batmobile, The Penguin and Submarine, Robin and The Joker.
I don't suppose they'll feature many real LEGO parts and they certainly won't have any minifigs in them but it'll be interesting to see what they are like and whether they appear in other countries.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Aug 28 2008 2:50PM
Eurogamer reports that Travellers' Tales, the developers of all LEGO video games since 2005's smash hit LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game, and including the upcoming LEGO Batman: The Video Game, are producing a TV show based on the LEGO Batman property. This will be the first such endeavor since 2002's ill-ending Galidor series. Eurogamer also reports that more LEGO games are in the works.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Aug 22 2008 2:27PM
"It's not every day that a children's toy becomes a design icon but in the case of LEGO's minifigure, those tiny plastic male and female figurines that animate (in an inanimate sort of way) children's building block creations the world over, icon status seems oddly fitting"
Continue reading an interesting article on the Wallpaper (a UK design magazine) website, which includes a neat set of pictures, to celebrate the minifig's 30th birthday.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Aug 22 2008 7:47AM
Britain's Daily Mail newspaper features an article about the Taj Mahal model today and if you were up early enough you may also have seen it mentioned on BBC Breakfast at 7:15 when they reviewed the day's papers.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Aug 20 2008 3:30AM
Update (22nd Aug): the Brickshelf gallery is down again!
There (was) some exciting stuff to see: the return of minifig pirates which'll be welcomed my many and perhaps more interesting minifig farm sets including combine harvesters, tractors and cows! It'd be nice to have seen pigs, sheep and chickens as well but with luck they'll follow on in future years or maybe later next year.
We won't be adding the images to Brickset because they are from the retailers' catalogue and LEGO usually get upset when we use such images, particularly so far ahead of their release. We'll get all the set numbers added, though, ASAP.
Thanks to Fighter95 and ajbellinger for the news and everyone else who emailed me the pictures. (I don't need any more!)
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jul 18 2008 4:25PM
When I visited The Vault in Billund in 2004, I found an empty box for a classic space set that was previously unknown. There was much excitement at the time although I speculated that it might just be a mock-up because, unlike every other set in there, it was just an empty box.
Now that the LEGO collector's guide has been published, we have a means of verifying whether the set exists or not and I'm sorry to say that it would appear that it doesn't as it is not in the book.
It's interesting to see that someone has attempted to inventory the set on Bricklink, and someone even has the parts for sale. I guess they listed what they saw in the box pictures.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jun 21 2008 2:48PM
Tontonsega wrote to tell us that Coast Guard set 4210 is available in France as an exclusive in King Jouets stores at a cost, he thinks, of €50.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Grahame, Jun 6 2008 9:42PM
There is a new LEGO store now open in Friendswood, TX, just south of Houston. It opened to the public last Thursday morning and the grand opening is planned for the weekend of June 20-22, 2008.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jun 6 2008 2:35PM
Aaron wrote to us to say "There is a Lego store opening in Chandler Fashion Square in a few weeks, grand opening on June 27th. This is pretty exciting news for AZ Lego fans since the closest Lego store is in California."
Sounds like excellent news if you're in Arizona -- if you are why not get along to the opening and meet up with other Brickset users!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Mar 2 2008 3:06PM
Pegasi sent me a link to what looks to be the most comprehensive collection of photos of forthcoming sets taken at the (presumably New York) 2008 Toy Fair. Check out the photos on flickr then discuss them here.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Feb 23 2008 7:48PM
Thanks to bmwlego, we have a link to a coupon for $5 off for any $25 or more toy purchase at U.S. Target stores, including LEGO. Now you can grab an extra MX-11 Astro Fighter for free next time you go shopping at Target!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Feb 8 2008 2:20PM
If you live in Canada, one of your major LEGO suppliers will no longer carry our favorite building product. Yahoo! reports that Wal-Mart stores in Canada will no longer be carrying the LEGO brand, due to a rise in the Canadian dollar, among other things. No word when this will go into effect.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jan 20 2008 3:26PM
The appearance of the Argos catalogue in January is often the first opportunity people in the UK get to buy the new sets in their local shops. This year is no exception, there's a good selection of new Star Wars, City, Technic and Bionicle sets available. You can check them out on the Argos website.
This year's 'half-price' set is the 7723 police seaplane, 'reduced' from £35 to £17.50.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jan 14 2008 5:19PM
Several people emailed us to say that the Indiana Jones microsite on lego.com is now live. Go and check it out; there are some cool wallpapers and clips from the movies, sadly not done in LEGO though, which suprised me because I am sure I have seen the boulder scene from the first movie rendered in LEGO before, about when the Studios sets came out. Does anyone else remember this?
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Dec 16 2007 6:52PM
The UCS Death Star II, normally around $300, is currently on clearance for $194.99 at the U.S. Target website! Better yet, they are currently offering free shipping on this item. This will not stay around for long, so grab it while you can!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Dec 2 2007 2:16PM
Toys"R"Us in the U.S. is having another LEGO sale! This week, all sets from the City, Castle, Mars Mission, Technic, BIONICLE, EXO-FORCE, Aqua Raiders, and Racers themes are buy one, get one 50% off! I assume that this includes the 2008 sets from these themes too. Sadly, Star Wars and other licensed themes are excluded from this offer.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Nov 6 2007 7:48PM
The highly anticipated LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga video game has started its release wave in North America today! Those in the UK unfortunately have to wait until this Friday, as far as I can tell, that is still the release date. The game combines the first two LEGO Star Wars games, and also adds new features and characters, so even if you have the first two, this one is still worth picking up. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga is available for Nintendo DS, Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Oct 27 2007 7:34PM
The Toys"R"Us Big Toy Book Sale starts tomorrow in the U.S., and there are some LEGO items included in the sale! The sale lasts until Nov. 21.
Creator: 4957 Ferris Wheel. Regularly $69.99, now $59.99!
Creator: 4958 Monster Dino. Regularly $89.99, now $69.99!
City: 7994 LEGO City Harbour. Regularly $89.99, now $69.99!
Mars Mission: 7699 MT-101 Armoured Drilling Unit. Regularly $79.99, now $69.99!
Star Wars: 7665 Republic Cruiser. Regularly $99.99, now $89.99!
Spongebob Squarepants: 4982 Mrs. Puff's Boating School. Regularly $49.99, now $44.99!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Sep 24 2007 6:31PM
If you live in the U.S., head over to your nearest Toys "R" Us, or their website, for their Bi-annual buy two get one free sale on most LEGO sets! The themes included are Creator, City, Castle, Mars Mission, Racers, Aqua Raiders, EXO-FORCE, and BIONICLE. Star Wars is not included, sadly, and the Racers deal does not apply online.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Jul 28 2007 6:27PM
Reported this week at the International Comic-Convention was a brand new LEGO theme getting its own videogame! From the creators of the LEGO Star Wars series and BIONICLE Heroes, comes LEGO Indiana Jones: The Video Game! Check out the Official site here!
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jul 28 2007 11:54AM
The Autumn/Winter Argos catalogue is out today and there's loads of new sets in it. Check them out online here.
Several Castle and Mars Mission sets are apparently exclusive to Argos in the UK, and as anticipated, the green dumper truck 7998 is now 'half-price' at £17.50.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Jul 19 2007 10:59PM
Brickshelf has a new message on its front page, and a much more positive one at that. Brickshelf will not be shutting down! Thanks to all who made this possible, and saved one of our favorite sites.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Jul 16 2007 3:28PM
Brickshelf.com is back, until July 31st. After that, it will be shutting down, for as near as I can tell, permanently. This may be the only time you have to save your files, so save them fast, before they are lost forever.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jul 16 2007 12:00PM
Several members are posting pointless comments to news articles. May I remind you that this is NOT a discussion forum; please only post comments which are relevant to the topic in question and which will be of interest to others. The majority of you are doing that; it would thus be a shame if I have to introduce moderation to prevent abuse, I'm sure you'll agree.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Jul 14 2007 8:39PM
Brickshelf.com is currently down, with a message saying it has discontinued operation in its place. It is unknown if this is permanent, or just maintenance. We will keep you updated on any new developments in this. In the meantime, if you need to show off your LEGO creations, the LEGO.com galleries are still up.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jul 12 2007 3:18PM
It seems awfully early in the year to be seeing a long list of next year's sets, but Eurobricks is reporting that such a list was found on Amazon.de. I can't see them there now so perhaps they have been removed. The English translations, provided by a Eurobricks member are:
LEGO Technic 8290 - Mini Fork Lift
LEGO Technic 8291 - Motocross Bike
LEGO Technic 8292 - Truck with lifting ramp/platform
LEGO Technic 8296 - Beach Buggy
LEGO Action 7723 - Police Water Plane
LEGO City 7741 - Police Helicopter
LEGO City 7743 - Police Surveillance Car
LEGO City 7744 - Police Station
LEGO Indiana Jones 7620 - Indiana Jones Motorbike Chase
LEGO Indiana Jones 7621 - Indiana Jones and the lost Grave
LEGO Indiana Jones 7622 - Chase of the stolen Treasure
LEGO Indiana Jones 7623 - Escape from the Temple
LEGO Impulse 5610 - Construction worker
LEGO Impulse 5611 - Street cleaner/scavenger
LEGO Impulse 5612 - Policeman
LEGO Impulse 5613 - Firefighter
LEGO Impulse 5614 - The Good Magician
LEGO Impulse 5615 - The Knight
LEGO Impulse 5616 - Mini Robot
LEGO Impulse 5617 - Alien Jet
LEGO Racers 8490 - Desert Hopper
LEGO Racers 8491 - Ram Rod
LEGO Racers 8492 - Mud Hopper
LEGO Racers 8493 - Red Ace
LEGO Racers 8494 - Ring of Fire
LEGO EXO-FORCE 8111 - River Dragon
LEGO EXO-FORCE 8112 - Battle Arachnoid
LEGO EXO-FORCE 8113 - Assault Tiger
LEGO EXO-FORCE 8114 - Chameleon Hunter
LEGO EXO-FORCE 8115 - Dark Panther
LEGO EXO-FORCE 8117 - Storm Lasher
LEGO Star Wars 7667 - Imperial Dropship
LEGO Star Wars 7668 - Rebel Scout Speeder
LEGO Star Wars 7669 - Anakin's Jedi Starfighter
LEGO Star Wars 7670 - Hailfire Droid & Spider Droid
LEGO Star Wars 7671 - AT-AP Walker
LEGO Star Wars 7672 - Rogue Shadow
When we have confirmed them, we'll add them to the database. I'm going to guess that 'impulse' is a range of small sets to encourage impulse buying, perhaps like the Playmobil sets that contain one figure and a couple of accessories.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jul 3 2007 3:44PM
Jasen over at new LEGO site Brickbitz reports that Woolworths in the UK now have some of the summer releases including 7992 Container Stacker for £20, 7998 Heavy Hauler for £35 and 7663 Sith Infiltrator for £35. He has posted a review of the Sith Infiltrator and concludes that it's way over-priced and I have to agree with him, particularly as it's likely to be $35 in the USA.
I really don't know why we have to pay such a premium for Star Wars sets on this side of the Atlantic. I for one will be voting with my wallet and won't be buying them at least until they are 1/2 price in Argos next year.
Hold fire on buying the Heavy Hauler -- this is the set that, like 7906 fire boat, will be marked down to a far more reasonable 1/2 price once it has been on the shelves for a couple of weeks.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by Huw, Jul 1 2007 4:20AM
Here's a fantastic picture of the Indiana Jones minifigure obtained by Joe Meno. See a larger picture and read more in his Brickjournal blog.
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Miscellaneous news Posted by shima55, Jun 28 2007 12:53PM
Hot on the heels of the news that the Toa Mahri are available in stores, LEGO.com has updated their BIONICLE site. There is too much new stuff to list here, but make sure you visit, as I'm sure a lot of work went into it.
