Brian Williams brought an incredible Indiana Jones display to BrickWorld, which featured intricately lighted scenes in addition to the overall layout (even the banner is a LEGO mosaic). The display won the “World of Lights” award for its best use of lights at the convention, all 128 hand-wired LEDs to be exact.
I really need to keep better track of my imaginary adventures. I did have real adventures in Italy in March/April of this year, and kept a journal for the first time, which was well worth it. Because of that, this creation by Rod Gillies (2 Much Caffeine) of the “X marks the spot” scene from “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” in the Venice library caught my attention. He’s been making a whole series of scenes from Indiana Jones movies using some parts from the newer official sets to portray other favorite scenes.
There is a lot to like in this creation, but oddly enough my two favorite things are the stanchions at the left, and the use of the different dark gray tiles to create the X on the floor, especially cool that he made it at the appropriate angle. I really appreciate the variety of colors that show up now that I’m sorting my 25+ year accumulation of LEGO for the first time.
[Edited to fix some inaccuracies-Thanel]
LEGO Space Police, Agents 2.0 and other third-quarter/summer 2009 LEGO sets have been out for a month or so, but the rest of the new sets are now available from the LEGO Shop online.
First up, 10196 Grand Carousel incorporates Power Functions and plays music. The set is also the first to feature tan beards.
New LEGO Star Wars sets feature vehicles from the Clone Wars, including 8037 Anakin’s Y-Wing Starfighter and the Venator
playset.
Other new LEGO Star Wars sets include:
The newest magnet sets make buying rare LEGO Star Wars minifigs affordable, including the LEGO® Star Wars™ 10th Anniversary Stormtrooper™ Magnet for $10. I call him “Chromy”.
The latest LEGO Indiana Jones sets take us back to the classic trilogy.
Finally, trolls and dwarves from the current LEGO Castle theme get their own Battle Packs.
And remember, by clicking through to the LEGO Shop online from The Brothers Brick, Brickset, Peeron, FBTB, or elsewhere, you’re helping to support the LEGO fan community and to keep these community sites running. Thanks for your support!
Chris McVeigh (Powerpig) designed this townhouse entirely in LEGO Digital Designer, based on the buildings in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The top of the square part is excellent. Like LEGO sets of the 70’s and 80’s, the back is open and has a fully detailed interior (photos forthcoming, Chris promises).
Oh fine, here’s a chipmunk photo, too.
TT Games and LucasArts recently announced LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues.
Due out this fall for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSP, Windows, Wii, and Nintendo DS, the game is apparently going to include all of the content from the first LEGO Indiana Jones, along with new objectives, a new Crystal Skull section, and a level editor (a first among the current generation of LEGO games).
Eurobricks member svelte_corps has reviewed four of the upcoming Indiana Jones sets available mid-2009.
7195 Ambush in Cairo:
7196 Chauchilla Cemetery Battle:
7197 Venice Canal Chase:
7199 The Temple of Doom:
Legoland’s master builder and all-around great LEGO community guy Gary McIntire has helped out the Mythbusters crew with a LEGO related myth. Check out the press release:
LEGOLAND® California Model Builder Helps “Mythbusters” Dispell Myth!
Popular Discovery Channel Show Highlights Family Theme Park in Upcoming Episode
CARLSBAD, Calif. (April 28, 2009) – “Mythbusters” reached out to a Master Model Builder at LEGOLAND® California to help dispel a myth regarding a giant LEGO® ball on an upcoming episode of the popular international show airing April 29, 2009 on the Discovery Channel.
“It was an honor to be included in the project,” said LEGOLAND Master Model Builder Gary McIntire. “I have always been a huge fan of the show so for them to come and ask for my help was really a proud moment in my career!”
Show hosts Kari Byron, Tory Belleci and Grant Imahara trekked down to Carlsbad, California from the show’s home base in San Francisco to use McIntire’s expertise on how to build a nearly 10-foot LEGO sphere.
The myth originated with a YouTube video in which Indiana Jones fans reenacted the famous boulder chase scene from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” with the “boulder” being made of five-million LEGO bricks. The boulder is rolled down a steep street in San Francisco, crashes into a car, and remains somewhat intact. The “Mythbusters” team set out to discover if a boulder of that size could really be made entirely of LEGO bricks and still roll so smoothly down a steep hill without breaking apart into millions of pieces. In order to debunk the myth, McIntire and 20 others worked on building the ball using nearly one million LEGO bricks over the course of nearly two weeks.
“We have more than 15,000 LEGO models here at LEGOLAND California,” said McIntire, “and this is by far the singularly largest creation I’ve ever helped to build!”
The “Mythbusters” team spent a day at LEGOLAND California researching models similar to the one they needed to build studying sphere shapes such as the head of the giant 17-foot-tall pharaoh in the Park’s newest area, Land of Adventure and the dome of the Griffith Observatory in Miniland U.S.A.
To discover the results, tune into the Discovery Channel April 29, 2009. Please consult your local TV guide for channel and times in your area.
I was hanging out with Gary this weekend (all this travel has been keeping me from blogging) and he’s really excited about this episode. He said to keep an eye out for a time-lapse video of his hands building the Mythbusters logo. I’ll definitely be tuning in tonight to watch.
Just in time to add regular LEGO sets to your reduced-price Pick A Brick order, the LEGO Shop online is holding a fairly huge sale, with many items 50% off or more.
LEGO Star Wars 10186 General Grievous™ is down to $30 from $90:
Sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads are $10 off in LEGO Agents 8633 Mission 4: Speedboat Rescue:
And don’t forget that there are some awesome new sets from the LEGO Shop, too. 10194 Emerald Night should be shipping soon, and 10195 Republic Dropship with AT-OT Walker
is now available.
Check out all of the discounted LEGO sets now!
I’m sure most of us remember the scene from the opening of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where teen aged Indy chases down some relic thieves on a train.
Brian Williams has built an amazing rendition of that train. Complete with a chase over a flatbed car. He’s made some excellent custom stickers to add the extra details specific to the movie as well. I just hope that there’s a lion and a whip inside there somewhere.
He’s also built some other great Indiana Jones creations, like the tank to the right, which are on his flickr account.
The Brothers Brick got an invite to the LEGO Preview at Toy Fair 2009, but we just couldn’t make it. :-( The good news is that our pals from FBTB and BrickJournal are covering this important event.
Although we’ve seen quite a few of the late 2009 LEGO sets from the earlier Canadian toy fair, there are still some surprises in store for LEGO fans.
The big news — particularly among LEGO Star Wars fans — seems to be the announcement of 10195 Republic Dropship with AT-OT Walker, here being shown off by Erik Varzegi:
Other major LEGO Star Wars news includes a playset of Admiral Ackbar’s Home One (the result of fan voting back in May 2008), with these minifigs:
Personally, I’m most excited about the new Space Police sets, including 5971 Gold Heist:
In other news, LEGO and Disney have announced a deal to release LEGO sets based on three Disney movies: Toy Story, Cars, and Prince of Persia. (What, no LEGO Wall-E?)
Check out more photos from Ace Kim, Mike Crowley, and Joe Meno.
There are a lot of photos to go through, so let us know if you see something particularly cool we should highlight.
From Bricks to Bothans re-launched today with a new look, more news, and a new attitude. The biggest change for regular visitors of FBTB.net will be that LEGO news will cover all licensed themes, not just Star Wars.
In particular, I’m looking forward to FBTB’s upcoming coverage of Toy Fair New York! (Graphic by Mike.)
On a personal note, FBTB was the place where I first “de-lurked” and joined the online LEGO fan community, so the site will always hold a special place in my brick-built heart. It’s great to see the current admins taking the site in a fresh direction, and I look forward to spending more time on FBTB in the future.
All the good times on the old forums have been archived, so you can still go back and revisit the final zombie apocalypse, but head over now and register on the new FBTB Forums.
UPDATE: Nearly all of the LEGO sets featured in this post are now available, including LEGO Space Police, Castle, and Agents 2.0.
————
LEGO fans don’t normally get an official look at third-quarter LEGO set releases until Toy Fair New York in mid-February. However, CTV technology journalist Kris Abel visited the Canadian Toy & Hobby Fair in Toronto this past weekend, posting a full run-down of the late 2009 LEGO releases.
We’ve confirmed with The LEGO Group that this is official. Although Kris Abel reports that many of the sets and box art are still prototypes, his photos of the sets themselves are pretty good. In keeping with our new policy, then, here goes…
First up,
5972 Container Heist opens up to reveal a massive cannon:
If you can’t see the photos, click the links at the bottom of this post.
5974 Galactic Enforcer has classic (dare I say Classic?) lines:
The alien criminals in the LEGO Space Police sets have several new, unique pieces:
In LEGO Star Wars news, Endor gets a bunker (8038), the Y-Wing gets a facelift (8037), the Neimoidians get their own shuttle (with Nute Gunray minifig?), and 7749 Echo Base includes a first-ever LEGO tauntaun:
LEGO Power Miners sport a larger rock monster and a very large drilling platform:
The LEGO Indiana Jones assortment includes a boat chase, a pair of fighters, and a new Elsa Schneider minifig:
On the LEGO Castle front, the trolls get their castle and the undead make their return in 7079 Drawbridge Defense:
Finally, LEGO has announced MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0, with a new color sensor.
You can read all of Kris Abel’s coverage on his blog:
We’ll expect even more complete coverage at Toy Fair New York in a few weeks from the usual suspects. In the meantime, share your thoughts in the comments.