Category Archives: News

Stay current on the latest news and information about LEGO, from sales & deals to new set announcements. We also cover LEGO events and conventions all over the world.

New Architecture Set: 21012 Sydney Opera House [News]

LEGO has unveiled their latest addition to the Architecture line, the instantly recognizable Sydney Opera House. Probably the most recognizable building south of the equator, and now something of a national icon for Australia, the opera house was designed in 1957 by then-unknown architect Jørn Utzon, who hails from Denmark, much like our favorite toy company.
The new set looks fantastic, capturing the aura of the structure, if not precisely the detailed curves of the shells. The set will have 270 pieces, and will be available March 1st for $39.99 or €39.99.

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10224 Town Hall officially unveiled – due out March 2012 [News]

It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly five years since 10182 Cafe Corner was released. The latest LEGO Exclusive addition to the modular building series takes the structure’s scale to a new level, with the 2,766-piece 10224 Town Hall, due out next month.

See all the photos in my photoset on Flickr.

10224 Town Hall

Ages 14+. 2,766 pieces.
US $199.99 CA $249.99 DE 179.99 € UK 149.99 £ DK 1499 DKK
Keep the wheels of commerce turning with the authentic Town Hall!

This classic 3-storey town hall building is the latest addition to the LEGO® Modular Buildings series. This highly-detailed model features large entrance-way columns and coat of arms, a tall bell tower with clock and a large skylight giving a view inside the building. On the ground floor, the large hall, tax office and auditorium are perfect for servicing the town’s citizens. Take the working elevator up to the secretary and mayor’s offices on the second floor, furnished eloquently with desks, chairs, paintings and even a frog sculpture. There’s even a balcony for addressing the town’s citizens. On the third floor, a spacious meeting room features a large conference table, chairs, globe and plants. Includes 8 minifigures: mayor, secretary, bride and groom, press woman, janitor and 2 children.

Includes 8 minifigures: mayor, secretary, bride and groom, press woman, janitor and 2 children

Features painting, desks, chairs, sculpture, lamp, conference table, globe, plants and bench

Functioning elevator with space for 2 minifigures and ladder access to roof

Bell tower features bench and maintenance ladder

Roof features skylight with view inside the building

Measures 10” (25.5 cm) wide and 20” (50 cm) high

Address the citizens from the balcony!

Combine with other LEGO® Modular buildings like the 10218 Pet Shop and 10211 Grand Emporium!

LEGO Minecraft Micro World set officially unveiled, includes Micro Mobs [News]

There’s been a lot of speculation about the first LEGO CUUSOO set, so the official announcement is a welcome relief. The set is due out this summer.

The set splits into four sections.

See all the photos in my photoset on Flickr.

Here’s the official press release:

LEGO® Minecraft™ Micro World details unveiled, available for pre-order

BILLUND, Denmark – The LEGO Group and Mojang have released purchase details and pictures of the LEGO® Minecraft™ Micro World today.

The new set, which was the first to receive 10,000 votes of support from users on the global LEGO CUUSOO idea collection platform, will be available for purchase in summer 2012, but can be pre-ordered from today, exclusively through Mojang retail partner Jinx.com for $34.99 €34.99 at http://www.jinx.com/LEGOMinecraft. The sets will also be sold in select LEGO brand retail stores and the LEGO online shop from summer 2012.

“LEGO Minecraft Micro World is designed to celebrate the essence of the LEGO concept and the Minecraft gaming experience,” said Paal Smith-Meyer, Head of the LEGO New Business Group. Each set features four cubic modular vignettes that can be connected to recreate the Minecraft experience in LEGO bricks. One Minecraft block is represented as one 1×1 LEGO plate with a tile on top — not a perfect cube, but the best approximation at the chosen scale.

LEGO Minecraft Micro World includes two of Minecraft’s most iconic characters, Steve and a Creeper, represented as “Micro Mobs.” The model presents a standard for building a Minecraft world that can be configured any way the builder likes.

The surface of the modules comes off to reveal mines and hidden resources beneath. Fans can build their own landscapes, stack cubes on top of each other, to build the world of Minecraft as they wish.
The product was developed in collaboration with four LEGO fans: Chris Malloy, Michael Thomas, Kyle Tingey, and Bjarne Panduro Tveskov. These fans developed concepts alongside LEGO designers and helped shape the product into its final version.

Upon seeing the physical model the first time, Mojang founder Markus “Notch” Persson exclaimed: “Woohoo!”

LEGO CUUSOO is a website where LEGO fans can submit their ideas for new LEGO products and collect votes to make their ideas become a reality. They can also vote for other users’ ideas. It can be found at http://lego.cuusoo.com.

Ideas that are supported by 10,000 votes have a chance of being selected to become part of the LEGO Group’s product portfolio. Consumers who have their ideas chosen will earn 1% of the total net sales of the product.

Mojang will donate the 1% proceeds from LEGO CUUSOO to charity.

For more on the co-creation process for LEGO Minecraft Micro World, see the LEGO CUUSOO blog at http://legocuusoo.posterous.com.

Special congratulations to TBB’s own Chris Malloy for his involvement in the launch of the first global LEGO CUUSOO project!

Let the inevitable discussion ensue.

FBTB covers Toy Fair 2012 in NYC – LEGO LOTR, Star Wars, Monster Fighters [News]

While we were distracted by images of the 2012 LEGO Avengers sets that Marvel released, our friends over at FBTB were busily covering all the news from Toy Fair 2012 in New York.

Leading the way, we finally have detailed photos of the LEGO Lord of the Rings sets (full coverage). I’m particularly excited by the new articulated horses.

Helm’s Deep looks like a great set for Castle builders and LOTR fans alike.

The LEGO Star Wars license was renewed for another 10 years, with lots of new sets this year. I’m liking the new Jabba’s Palace (full coverage).

The brand-new “Monster Fighters” theme harkens back to the LEGO Studios sets of a decade ago, with some interesting new figs (full coverage).

More photos to pore over in the FBTB photostream, and write-ups on FBTB.net.

Images of Lego Avengers sets

Marvel has revealed the first pictures of some of the upcoming Lego Avengers sets. The sets and minifigs look good except for Iron Man, who must have been modeled after a bobblehead version :)

Via Brickset

PCHLug’s 101 Challenge: Podracing! [Contest]

Pacific Coast Highway Lug (PCHLug), in association with FBTB, is hosting their 101 Challenge, and this month’s theme is Podracing. For contest rules and prizes, click here! To post your entries (or check out who’s entered), head on over to the Flickr group.

Best of luck!

LEGO Minecraft Set Officially Announced

Until now, the LEGO Minecraft project has been undergoing the standard review process that all projects coming out Cuusoo will have. However, LEGO has now officially decided that the Minecraft project has what it takes to be a viable set. You can read the press release here.
The set seems to be picking up a lot of interest outside of the normal LEGO fan circles, even getting a nod in this week’s Penny Arcade comic (strong language).

Official LEGO Moleskine notebooks coming in March 2012 [News]

For the past decade or so, I’ve done all of my writing in nothing but Moleskine notebooks. Moleskines have never been more than an arm’s length away, accompanying me on trips to England, New Zealand, and Ireland, capturing details and inspiration for my life on the literary fringe. Occasionally, I’d jot down ideas for LEGO builds.

With the upcoming release of officially licensed LEGO Moleskine notebooks, I’ll have a dedicated place to put my lists of micro-space ship classes, World War II vehicles, plans for next year’s collaborative display, and sketches of interstellar refueling depots.

All four are available for pre-order on Amazon.com:

I’ve ordered all four, and I’ll let you know what I think when they arrive.

Brickvention 2012 round-up

I’ve just returned from Melbourne where I attended my third (maybe fourth…) Brickvention. Each year this convention gets bigger and, more importantly, better. A huge thanks to the organisers for making it such a great event.

For those who could not attend here’s a selection of some of the great creations that were on display. Or of course you can find your own by wading through the tags or Brickvention group. And if you took photos please remember to add “Brickvention” and “2012” to your tags and submit it to the group.

Mark Curnow (Brickton) brought this utterly amazing version of Bumblebee from the new Transformers movies. This thing was incredible, both for size and detail. It was funny coming up to it from behind where it looked like a jumbled bionicle creation (with no offense to the great bionicle builders out there) but from the front you realised the jumbling was 100% truth to the source material.

With full stands and an incredible minifig selection, Jennie Sasson bent walls to capture the geometry and activity of a Quidditch tournament. Her use of 3D for the players gave the tournament a wonderful feeling of action.
The Canberra LUG brought along this wonderful rollercoaster using the old blue track. Watching it zip around the track was a pleasure. I know David Boddy has some great videos of the show too.
I have to admit I missed Travis Matheson’s ‘Nova’ ships at the actual event, but having spotted the pictures now I really regret it. Some excellent microscale love.

And of course these are merely a few of the many great models and displays that the 10,000 audience members got to see. We’ve already seen Ryan’s rocket and I’ll blog Mike Pianta‘s and my creation later.

PS. Excuse the messy pictures. WordPress hates this sort of layout for some reason. And I hate taking too much space or boring you with excess words to fill space.

Teens send Lego minifig into space

Two 17-year-olds from Toronto made a balloon to fly a minifig and camera 24 kilometers into the air. Check out the news article for photos and a video of this amazing feat.

Via Toys N Bricks

New modular building 10224 Town Hall revealed [News]

Official photos of the latest addition to the modular building line surfaced recently. At 2766 pieces with 8 minifigs, 10224 Town Hall appears to be the largest modular building to date.

Here it is with the other recent modular buildings:

Our contacts at LEGO promise to share details about pricing and availability closer to the official announcement, but enjoy the photos for now.

Introducing r/afol on Reddit

Matt De Lanoy made a Lego version of the Reddit alien for the newly launched subreddit for Lego fans, r/afol. You don’t have to be an AFOL to join as the group seems to focus more on MOCs and building techniques.