Tim Schwalfenberg has just come back from the subjugated provinces and hung up his Roman Legionnaire’s battle gear, which looks stunning displayed in all its glory.
Tim’s been busy in his Iron Builder competition against Matt De Lanoy, and has been rolling out top-notch models left and right. Here are a few of my favorites, but be sure to check his flickr stream for the rest.
For 2015, LEGO is rolling out 3 themed Advent calendars: Star Wars, City, and Friends. As with previous years’ Star Wars Advent Calendars, an exclusive holiday-themed Star Wars minifig is included. This time it’s C3-P0 dressed as Santa Claus, riding a sleigh pulled by an R2-D2 with reindeer antlers. The City calendar has a mini Santa train and loads of toys, while the Friends calendar includes parts for a small hockey match and a lot of accessories – both pretty par for the course.
UPDATE: Didn’t get your hands on this year’s Advent Calendars? Follow along with our virtual LEGO Advent Calendar starting December 1st!
75097 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar includes 292 pieces (available from Amazon.com and the LEGO Shop)
60099 LEGO City Advent Calendar includes 278 pieces (available from Amazon.com and the LEGO Shop)
41102 LEGO Friends Advent Calendar includes 233 pieces (available from Amazon.com and the LEGO Shop)
For those who’d rather wait to reveal all the surprises inside the Advent calendars, I’ve placed the full set images after the jump. Click to reveal.
The best sleuth in the business is back at it, in brick form this time, thanks to the handiwork of Hacim Bricks and UmmWho. This particular iteration is, of course, from the popular and much lauded BBC series Sherlock.
Our friends over at Beyond the Brick also did a short video on it when it was recently displayed at BrickFair Virginia.
Anyone who saw this year’s Mad Max: Fury Road will instantly recognize this model by Matt De Lanoy as the most metal truck ever to appear on screen. The Doof Wagon, as it’s known in the Mad Max universe, carries the hortator for Immortan Joe’s crazed army of raiders, blasting out an insane rock ballad while the truck screams across the desert in the middle of pitched combat.
Here’s your first look at the latest set in the popular Winter Village series, 10249 Winter Toy Shop. Now, some of you may be scratching your heads, wondering why this looks so familiar: this set is a re-release of 2009’s 10199 Winter Toy Shop. This time around LEGO has swapped out a few colors, and added a few pieces, bringing this version to 898 versus the original’s 815, which is apparently enough to justify a $20 price bump. It will retail for $79.99 USD, available beginning in October.
It is disappointing that LEGO won’t be releasing an all-new Winter Village set this year, but should make folks happy who missed out on the Toy Shop the first time around. Let us know in the comments if you think a re-release like this is great for fans, or just disappointing. Don’t forget to pick up the last several Winter Village sets, which are still available: 10235 Winter Village Market, and 10245 Santa’s Workshop.
Full press release below, and the full gallery on flickr.
10249 Winter Toy Shop
Ages 12+. 898 pieces.
US $79.99 – CA $99.99 – DE 69.99€ – UK £59.99 – DK 599.00 DKKEnjoy the holiday season with the Winter Toy Shop!
Welcome to the Winter Toy Shop! The holiday season has arrived and the toymaker is busy finishing off his latest creations! Outside, children ski and snowboard, and a freshly built snowman sparkles in the light that shines from the toyshop tower. Help decorate the huge tree that stands at the center of the square, play with the curious kitten on the cozy wooden bench or join in with the carolers beneath the ornate streetlamp. This charming set also features a ladder, trees in various sizes, jack-in-the-box, a toy biplane, helicopter, rocket, train, race car, truck, robot, tugboat, teddy bear and a wrapped gift. Have fun building this enchanting winter wonderland! Includes a snowman and 8 minifigures with assorted accessories: a male caroler, female caroler, a woman, 2 men, 2 boys and a girl.
• Includes 8 minifigures with assorted accessories: a male caroler, female caroler, a woman, 2 men, 2 boys and a girl
• Features a toyshop, large Christmas tree with decorations, ladder, bench, ornate streetlight, carrot-nosed snowman and a cat
• Toyshop features a LEGO® light brick, cash register, clock, chair, table, tools and a ladder
• Accessories include a wrapped gift, snowboard, skis, 5 wreaths, 2 sets of strings lights, 2 top hats, 2 carol songbooks and 10 toys, including a jack-in-the-box, a toy biplane, helicopter, rocket, train, race car, truck, robot, tugboat and a teddy bear element
• Also includes trees in various sizes and snow elements
• Light up the toyshop tower with the LEGO® light brick!
• Decorate the Christmas tree!
• Enjoy the holiday season with this fun, festive model!
• Winter Toy Shop measures over 6” (17cm) high, 7” (19cm) wide and 3” (10cm) deep
• Christmas tree measures over 5” (15cm) high, 4” (11cm) wide and 4” (11cm) deep
LEGO has raised the curtain on its latest set, 21303 Wall•E. This is our first official glimpse of the finished product since an official Wall•E set was announced over a year ago, and we’re excited to bring our readers a full hands-on review of this set tomorrow!
LEGO Ideas member MacLane is an animator and director at Pixar Animation Studios, and built his original WALL•E model around the same time the character was being built digitally at Pixar in late 2005. Since then, Angus has refined his model, most recently by collaborating with LEGO Designer Steen Sig Andersen and WALL•E director Andrew Stanton to bring the official LEGO Ideas version to life.
You’ll be able to purchase your own WALL•E starting September 1, for a recommended retail price of $49.99 / EUR 49,99.
You can read the rest of the press release over at the LEGO Ideas blog.
An iconic landmark in the automotive world, the Land Rover Defender launched in 1948 and has been in production continuously throughout the next 67 years. Sadly, this classic 4×4 model is coming to an end, as Land Rover have announced that 2015 will be its final production year. To commemorate it, Nick Barrett built this magnificent fiery-red model, complete with its recognizable white roof and a loaded interior. It also includes fully opening doors and hood, as well as working steering, suspension and pistons.
Japanese builder Takeshi Itou has been one of the most influential castle builders in the LEGO community, raising the bar worldwide, beginning when fans were first discovering each other online. His gorgeous castles rely largely upon older pieces and clean lines, clearly inspired by the golden age of LEGO castle lines in the 1980s. Takeshi’s latest piece is this gorgeous elven safehold.
When Takeshi began posting his castles in the early 2000s, he took the fan community by storm, and his influence still ripples down through many well-known builders today. While current trends in castle building emphasize a ramshackle aesthetic, with rough edges and extreme amounts of detail, Takeshi’s work remains in the style of the classic official sets, pushing that aesthetic to new heights. Brothers-Brick has been covering his work since the blog began 10 years ago, and one of my favorite pieces is this replica of Hikone Castle in Japan. 8 years after its creation it is still well worth checking out. Takeshi’s Volcano Tower also was enormously influential on my own building style in the early 2000s, showing me that dioramas with landscaping were possible at a time when the majority of builders still placed their structures on naked baseplates.
When you absolutely, positively need covering artillery, you can’t do better than Stud Systems’ War Weasel Advanced Howitzer 9. Fully packable, the Howitzer is ready to be towed to a new position at a moment’s notice by the accompanying heavy duty cargo truck.
Kyler Wilson has built a series of wickedly cool minifig-scale arcade machines. I love the different genres you can pick out from the machine styles and the simple graphics on the screens. I think these would look fantastic in a future Modular set of an 80’s-style arcade.
WingYew takes us time traveling in an unnamed city with a MOC that spans a hundred years, from the arrival of streetcars to the proliferation of megachains. The dueling coffeeshops are replete with excellently detailed interiors and give a striking sense of how little has changed – and exactly how much has changed.
Ok, so this clown is actually about as non-creepy as clowns gets (which is to say it’s still a little creepy), but it’s a great design by Logey Bear. The ruffled collar made from robot arms is a great technique, and the rubber bands forming the mouth give this clown a sock-puppet vibe.
