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.

LEGO Universe to close operations, lay off 115 employees [News]

Breaking news from LEGO. It appears that LEGO Universe will be shutting down at the start of the new year. My heart goes out to all those who will be losing their jobs. Here’s the press release:

LEGO Universe to close in 2012

Online game will close on January 31, 2012. The LEGO Group’s digital offerings will continue to develop over the coming years.

November 4, 2011 – The LEGO Group today announced that it will close LEGO® Universe, an MMOG (massively-multiplayer online game) that has been in operation since the autumn of 2010.

In spite of very positive player feedback and a large number of players in the free play zone, it has not been possible to convert a satisfactory number of players to paying subscribers. It has therefore been decided to close the game as of January 31, 2012.

“The LEGO Universe team can take pride in having developed and launched a great LEGO experience that many players will miss,” said Jesper Vilstrup, Vice President, LEGO Universe. “Right now, we have almost 2 million players in LEGO Universe, and we get extremely positive feedback from players. Unfortunately, we have not been able to build a satisfactory revenue model in our target group, and therefore, have decided to close the game.”

Despite the change, the ambition to develop and run a digital business remains. In future, it is the intention to further pursue cooperation with partners. The LEGO Group has a strong and continuing partnership with TT Games Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to create digital LEGO experiences within video games. A further expansion in the digital area will mainly be based on similar partnerships.

“The development of our digital offerings continues to be a very important element in our strategy,” said Mads Nipper, Executive Vice President, LEGO Group. “We have more than 20 million visitors on www.LEGO.com every month, and LEGO video games are among the bestselling children’s video games with sales of more than 60 million units in the last five years. Through our experience developing and running LEGO Universe, we have gained a lot of valuable insights, and we have a very strong foundation for future development in the digital area.”

As a consequence of the closure, the LEGO Universe staff has today been informed that the ‘Play Well Studios’ in Louisville, Colorado and the game’s marketing function in Billund, Denmark will be closed. This will affect 115 employees. All affected employees will be offered assistance in finding new jobs inside or outside the LEGO Group.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

LEGO Architecture 21010 Robie House 32% off from Amazon

Amazon.com keeps dropping the price of the recently released LEGO Architecture set 21010 Robie House. At the moment, it’s 32% off, for a savings of $64.

Price was one of the big complaints when this was released, so quit complainin’ and get shoppin’! Looks like it’ll make a great dark red parts pack.

Via FBTB.

Video from LEGO WORLD 2011

Peer Kreuger shares a short video capturing some great footage from LEGO WORLD 2011 that took place from October 19-26.

Thanks for the tip vmln8r!

Video from Brickworld Fort Wayne 2011

Brickworld Fort Wayne 2011 happened last month in October. This video by John Brune captured many of the stellar creations displayed at the event.

Dinosaurs return to LEGO with 2012 LEGO Dino sets [News]

I’m not sure where Brickshelfer grogall has gotten all the official photos of 2012 LEGO sets, but I keep finding more high-res photos of upcoming sets. The latest is the “Dino” line, reminiscent of the Dino Attack/Dino 2010 sets from a few years ago.

5885 Triceratops Trapper includes a tan triceratops with a bulky 4×4 vehicle:

The new dinosaurs reflect the improvements to animal molds and printing we’ve seen recently in other themes. The Tyrannosaurus rex in 5886 T-Rex Hunter looks simultaneously more LEGO-like and realistic (at least compared to the LEGO dinosaurs from the Dino Attack sets).

I’ll withhold judgment on the vehicle designs until I see them in person (presumably in January), but I really like what I’m seeing of the creatures.

2012 LEGO City sets bring hillbillies, bears, forest fires, & park rangers [News]

In an odd but awesome twist, LEGO City leaves the, well, city and heads for the hills in 2012. All of the law enforcement and emergency services that form the core of each year’s LEGO City sets are represented by wildland firefighters and park rangers instead.

Looks like there are some interesting new brick…bricks.

Oh yes, there are bears. I am so building a moonshine still out back of this hillbilly cabin.

In the same vein, the firefighters battle forest fires with their bulky wildland equipment.

I wonder if wunztwice will approve of the chainsaws…

Via Eurobricks.

4184 Black Pearl out + free shipping from LEGO extended [News]

A bit belated news for some, I realize — I’ve been sick — but 4184 Black Pearl is out now from multiple sources (text link goes to LEGO Shop; image link below goes to Amazon).

The highlight in this set for me is definitely the minifigs, with Davy Jones and the shark-headed Maccus. It goes for $100 (less at some big box stores at the moment) and includes 804 pieces.

Free shipping has been extended again from the LEGO Shop, with double VIP points through the end of October.

Finally, every purchase over $99 includes the first of a two-part Christmas vignette for free:

Here’s the second part, due out in November:

Creations for Charity store now open!

The Creations for Charity store is now open where you can buy a custom Lego creation to fund the donation of Lego sets to Toys for Tots during the holidays. There are an unprecedented 35 MOCs to kick off this year’s store opening, and just about all are one-of-a-kind works sold on a first come, first serve basis.

More MOCs will be added to the store as new donations come in, and you can donate a Lego creation by November 15. I recommend checking the Creations for Charity website for updates on the fundraising progress and previews of new MOCs for sale, and above all, I hope you’ll take part in this year’s effort to brighten the holidays of many children.

Series 6 & 7 Collectible Minifigs revealed [News]

Nannan just posted about the 6860 Batcave and other 2012 sets, but I think this deserves its own post: We now have our first decent/official photos of the upcoming Collectible Minifigures Series 7.

Here’s what I’m seeing, with names I make up as I go along:

Internet Geek
Bride
Daredevil
Operatic Viking Lady
Tarzan & Cheetah
Easter Bunny
Swimmer
Tennis Player
Riot Grrrl
Aztec Warrior
Bagpiper
Future Cop 3000
Flower Child
Necromancer
Little Red Riding Hood
Poseidon/Neptune

Quite a diverse bunch!

EDIT: Not sure how we missed these, but here’s Series 6 (via Toys N Bricks):

High-res image of 6860 The Batcave and more 2012 sets

The official high-res image of 6860 The Batcave has been released. There are also additional pictures of 2012 sets from Star Wars, Cars, Spongebob, and Series 7 Minifigs posted on FBTB’s Flickr photostream.

LEGO Technic 8110 Mercedes-Benz Unimog U 400 [News]

The VW Camper Van isn’t the only German vehicle released in LEGO form this year. Long-time readers of the blog will recall that I’m obsessed with the Mercedes Unimog, and I’ve featured several — starting with Adam Grabowski’s Unimog back in 2006. Adam now works for LEGO as a designer. I don’t think Adam works on Technic sets, but it’s nice to see an official LEGO version of this awesome vehicle.

It’s been out for a few months, but I suspect it might be news for a couple of you out there. TechnicBricks has the full review.

Great Western Lego Show 2011 – guest report by JasBrick

A certain LEGO convention here in Seattle wasn’t the only major event happening this past weekend. To share what was going on in England, we’re pleased to bring you this guest report by JasBrick.

Whilst pictures from Brickcon this weekend tantalised those of us that could not get there (I almost fell off my chair when I saw the Tower of Orthanc by OneLug) I am pleased to say that my own weekend was filled with a Lego event closer to home… Steam: The Great Western Lego Show.

Since 2002 the annual Great Western Lego Show has been held in Swindon UK and this year was another amazing event that proved that this is the biggest Lego event in the UK calendar. The event is organised by Martin Long and a team of dedicated volunteers from the Brickish Association and is set in the impressive surroundings of the Steam Museum that is dedicated to the history of the British Railways (which means a serious number of Lego train MOC).

Steam consists of two public exhibition days and some fantastic opportunities for AFOLs to socialise (some people are still hungover ;-)). One thing that really stood out for me this year was the fact that the Lego company really made an extra effort to support this event with the presence of two designers (Jamie Berard and Morten Graff-Wang) over the whole weekend and the simultaneous unveiling of the new Castle Joust set in conjunction with Brickcon.

In addition to a huge number of pretty amazing standalone MOCs like Eyrie Town by Rod Gilles (2 much caffeine, an online friend that I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time at this event).

What makes Steam really special is the number and scale of collaborative displays at the event. One of my favourites was The World of Harry Potter that included a series of amazing scenes from the films recreated in Lego. Here is one picture of the Great Hall from Hogwarts by Thorskegga:

And the defence against the dark arts classroom by Andrew Danieli:

One event that dominated the early part of 2011 was the Royal Wedding in April and Warren Elsmore and a team of helpers have created one of the biggest builds I have ever seen with a very accurate recreation of Westminster Abbey… just look at the size of that monster:

For those more interested in Sci-Fi there was plenty on display such as the amazing layout by the Peter Reid (legoloverman, who also impressed me with a few wonderfully detailed custom minifigs that he had created before finally seeing the light and putting such heinous behaviour behind him) and Tim Goddard (RogueBantha):

Humour and amazing building combined in The Seige of Haradford Castle where James Pegrum (peggyjdb) was ably assisted by Barney Main (slyowl) in a rather vicious battle fought between the fleshie and yellow armies over the battlements of a truly impressive castle built by James. The battle progressed throughout the weekend culminating with a win for James after sneakily taking advantage of the fact that Barney had to leave early.

The above are just a few of the highlights of this tremendous weekend and please check out the Gimme Lego blog by Dr. Dave Watford for more insight into the event and the following galleries to see what amazed the over 7,000 visitors to this year’s display.

Looking forward to next year already!

Jas