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.

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

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BrickCon 2011: A word from the Prize Goddess

Aaah, BrickCon. That magical time each fall when hundreds of LEGO fans descend upon the Exhibition Center in Seattle for a relaxing weekend of fun, friendship, and sleep.

Wait. I’m kidding. Sleep never enters the equation.

BrickCon has morphed quite a bit for me from my first event to now. I began attending BrickCon in 2005 (it was NorthWest BrickCon at that point). The ENTIRE event fit into the Rainier Room, which now is just the general assembly room. This year marked my seventh BrickCon and ninth overall event.

Time flies when you’re having fun, right?

What’s also changed quite a bit for me is how I experience BrickCon. In the beginning, I was simply an attendee. I registered, I went, I showed off my MOCs, and I went on my merry way. I’d help out coordinating the Castle display when I could. But in 2009, that changed. At one of the SEALUG meetings, it was mentioned that they needed someone to coordinate prizes. “I can do that,” I thought. So I stepped up.

So there’s the story of how I became Prize Coordinator for BrickCon. I can blame (thank?) Sean Forbes for the “Prize Goddess” moniker, and that’s the one that stuck.

Determining which prize goes what, where, and to who is an entirely scientific process, but not really. It’s taking a look once again at what I have to work with and spreading it across the four major ceremonies that have door prizes (Opening, Keynote, Awards, Closing). Making sure those are dividing properly and separate from what goes to the public is important, too. Part of my job ensures that any incoming prizes are dividing amongst the various pools, too, so that one event isn’t too overloaded. I try and keep Closing as short as possible, too, since by that time people typically are packing to head home.

This year we added a sort of “Santa Claus” prize pool for public and private hours. During the public hours, volunteers would wander around the crowds and hand small sets (provided by the con) and kid’s t-shirts (provided by the LEGO Store in Bellevue) to the kids. Watching their faces was amazing; the look of disbelief was typically first, followed by the giant smile. There was some suspicion that the gifts were completely free, but it was pretty easy to work around. Anyone who passed out those prizes had the same smile.

It’s incredibly busy working with the prizes. In terms of BrickCon, if it didn’t involve prizes, I typically had no information or clue about it. My focus was prizes; I needed to be available to receive incoming donations and prep for the next assembly. I had enough time in between assemblies to enjoy spending time with my friends and enjoying BrickCon for what it is.

Thanks to Joe Meno, Andrew Becraft, and Bill Ward for their photos!

Wrap up: Castle at BrickCon 2011

I have to say that Castle totally rocked this year. This was my sixth year being involved in the Castle section at the Con and I think this was the best so far. Everyone involved really stepped it up this year and they all deserve a round of applause.

The quantity of creations was overwhelming and we had to beg, borrow and steal more area (Many thanks to Steve Walker and Wayne Hussey for making that process virtually painless and to Scott Fowler for graciously giving up part of the neighboring Pirate tables). But quantity doesn’t really say much about a section. It was the quality of the creations that really blew me away. I knew that the builders who were coming had skills but they all out did themselves.

Our collaborative layout was packed with so many builds, flowing from one to another, that it was difficult to see everything and the section of stand-alone models was outstanding.

We had three categories for which builders could win a trophy and a LEGO set. The voters were very hard pressed to make their selections, but they finally did and the winning models and builders were:

Best Overall Castle Creation:
Hogwart’s Castle by Alice Finch
Photo of Hogwart’s by Bill Ward

Best Community Contribution:
Al Wahat by Sebastiaan Arts

Best Fly-in Dragon:
Whiskers by Myself

Hearty thanks also need to go out to the following people and companies: To Will of Brickarms for the awesome contributor packs and prototype weapons that he made especially for us, to Ryan of BrickWarriors for the sweet fig packs he donated and to Learning Loft Toys for the Lego set prizes they donated to our winners.

We all had a great time and plan to make next year even bigger and better. So if you want to ‘Go Medieval’ at BrickCon next year, please join us! BrickCon!!!

Wrap Up: Numereji 2421 at BrickCon 2011

First of all, I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to the Numereji 2421 display at BrickCon in Seattle last weekend! Because of your skill and creativity people got a much clearer idea of our vision.

We plan on a Numereji 2422 collaborative display at BrickCon 2012 and look forward to the return of great creations, changes to reflect the passage of time, and phenomenal additions.

Congratulations to the winners in our four categories who were acclaimed by peer balloting!

Best Overall: The Ark by Drew Ellis (also Best Capital Ship for the entire Space display)
Best Building: Communication Station Iris by Alex Fojtik (counter-rotating arrays of awesome)
Best Terrain: Numereji Ranchero by Josh Wedin (and unofficial sillyness prize)
Best Vehicle: Scavenger by Shane Weckstrom (NPU purple basketball player pants)

Special thanks to Brandon Bannerman for his CSS Howland hull design and for working on the hulk up to the wire.

Justin Pyne also deserves a shout out for his very close second in the Terrain category and for embracing the challenge of a peaceful space town. Shows heart in a youngster.

I also enjoyed displaying my own Earthship House, and a barn built from a sections of Howland hull. More pics of that once I get a good light box set up and get rid of this stalker rain that followed me back to San Diego.

Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

A few hours ago, the world learned that it had lost one of its most brilliant stars. Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs died after a lengthy illness.

Nearly every post I’ve written on this blog, every line of code, and every photo I’ve taken has made its way through the MacBook sitting here on my lap. But more importantly, Jobs inspired a generation of creative professionals to do amazing things with their imaginations. And no matter what kind of computer or mobile device you’re reading this from, I know that’s something all of you out there can relate to.

New brick separator adds Technic axle pusher, tile-removing wedge

Paul Lee just got back from a trip to Billund, where he picked up a brick separator with some new features.

Paul says:

The brand new debricking tool. It’s smaller. Streamlined down to about the footprint of a 2 x 10 plate. There are many notable new features. There is a technic axle pusher for removing those stubbornly embedded axles. There are of course the standard top and bottom brick removing configurations. Also new is the pointed wedge at the back end of the lever, very useful for popping tiles and splitting plates that the other end can’t. It basically doubles as an ABS thumbnail. It’ll do whatever you would do with your thumbnail without ruining your manicure. Lastly, another nice added feature is the jumper plate offset in the underside, allowing the removal of jumper plates that the previous version of the tool could not handle.

LEGO in the White House

This is such a great photo. President Obama casually sits on a desk talking to three beaming winners from a science fair, each proudly holding their trophies built from LEGO.

Official caption: “President Barack Obama congratulates Google Science Fair winners, from left, Naomi Shah, Shree Bose, and Lauren Hodge in the Oval Office, Oct. 3, 2011.”

Thanks for the tip, Bruce!

October 2011 LEGO sales & deals [News]

Between BrickCon and my birthday, October has been a great LEGO month for me for the last few years, but it looks like the rest of you out there can share in the joy with a plethora of LEGO sales throughout the month.

First off, LEGO.com is offering double VIP points for the full month of October, and it looks like all magnets are 50% off.

The new holiday set 10222 Winter Village Post Office has just been released.

And in case you missed it, 10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper Van is also out.

Not to be outdone by TRU’s Bricktober (which we won’t be supporting since they dropped FBTB, TBB, and Brickset all at once with no explanation a while back), Amazon.com has heavily discounted several large sets, starting with 7965 Millennium Falcon at 25% off, or $105.

25% off is nice, but Amazon has several more at 30% off, including 7066 Earth Defence HQ and 2507 Fire Temple.

Finally, if you’re in the UK, October 8th brings free LEGO sets from The Sun.

Registration now open for Bricks by the Bay 2012 [News]

Bricks by the Bay logo As announced at BrickCon this past weekend, registration is now open for next year’s Bricks by the Bay convention, March 16-18, 2012.

Here’s the full announcement:

For the serious LEGO® builder we again will offer a LEGO fan convention! The event will be held Friday-Sunday, March 16-18. Benefits of attending the convention include:

Custom engraved name badge made out of LEGO bricks

Access to speeches, presentations, and discussion sessions

Show your models in the Grand Ballroom for convention attendees and the public

Become a vendor (additional fee applies) to sell LEGO and related products at the convention and public show

Exclusive discounts at the LEGO store (TBD)

Chance to receive free LEGO sets in Prize drawings and contests

The event theme this year is “Green.” It is inspired by the fact that St. Patrick’s Day takes place that weekend, but we’re not limiting it to that: any creative use of the color green, subjects relating to the environment, and of course Ireland or St. Patrick’s Day themed models are suitable. In 2010 our theme was “The Brick Artistic” and in 2011 it was “Creative Combinations.”

If you’re interested in attending the whole convention, read all about the Convention, Hotel, Registration, and Schedule, along with more information about the weekend’s
events.

Not sure if you want to come to the convention or just the public day? Read our FAQ to find out more.

Check out the Bricks by the Bay website for complete details on how to register. And don’t miss coverage of last year’s BBtB on The Living Brick.

TBB posts now available via FaceBook and Twitter!

A while back, we asked The Brothers Brick fans on Facebook whether they wanted to see links to TBB posts on their Facebook walls. The overwhelming majority said yes, so for all of you out there on Facebook, you’ll start getting TBB updates right from inside your second-favorite website! :-P

And for all of you out there who don’t want to filter past my own Tweets, which frequently contain hashtags like #poetry and #archeology, to get to the ones with #LEGO in them, TBB now has its own Twitter feed, @BrothersBrick.

Follow @BrothersBrick

LEGO Twitter bird by Fredoichi

(Everything seems to be working great with Twitter, but there appears to be a bit of a delay between here and Facebook. We’ll give it another try tomorrow…)

LEGO Cuusoo Now in Open Beta [News]

The LEGO Cuusoo website has been enabling Japanese LEGO fans to submit their ideas (cuusoo means “imagination” or “wish” in Japanese) and have them voted on and maybe turned into an official LEGO set. The site is now also open in English as a Beta.

LEGO Cuusoo satellite

For those who want to jump to the case, the link to register is here. You no longer need an invite, and are free to go and submit and vote for models. I’ve even submitted one myself. What will you make?

LEGO mecha by Dan Rubin

Here’s the press release:

Turn your model wishes into reality with LEGO® CUUSOO
LEGO consumers can now give their great ideas directly to the LEGO Group using the LEGO CUUSOO website. Ideas that collect 10,000 supporters could be selected to become part of the toy manufacturers’ product line

BILLUND, Denmark – The LEGO Group announced today that LEGO® CUUSOO, its new international web-based open innovation and crowd sourcing platform, is now available in open beta.

LEGO CUUSOO is an idea collection system that asks the Danish toy manufacturers’ consumers to submit and vote for their favourite ideas for new LEGO products. 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 and sold in LEGO Brand retail stores and the LEGO online shop. Consumers who have their ideas chosen will earn 1% of the total net sales of the product

CUUSOO, which means ‘imagination’ or sometimes ‘wish’ in Japanese, has been developed with CUUSOO SYSTEM, a subsidiary of Japan-based Elephant Design that has worked with open innovation and crowd sourcing for more than 10 years.

The LEGO Group has worked with CUUSOO since 2008 on a Japanese site that has attracted hundreds of ideas and seen thousands of votes cast by a 20,000-strong community. Now the time has come to test the concept internationally.

The first Japanese product, the Shinkai 6500 submersible, went on sale in Japan in February 2011. The next Japanese LEGO CUUSOO model will be the Hayabusa unmanned spacecraft launched in the first quarter of next year. “Our fans and consumers have proved time after time that they have great ideas that can lead to products,” said Paal Smith-Meyer, head of the LEGO New Business Group.

“We have worked with our consumers in the past and continue to do so, for example in the LEGO Architecture series, which we developed with an architect and LEGO fan. LEGO CUUSOO is an attempt to gather more great ideas while streamlining the way we innovate and become inspired.”

“We see this as an investment in the future rather than for immediate sales gain. We are moving from a local Japanese pilot to see if the model is sustainable. We were pleased with the initial results, but we need to see how it will perform on a global platform with global distribution,” he added.

Announcing Creations for Charity 2011 [News]

The third annual Creations for Charity fundraiser has just begun. This is an opportunity for builders to donate custom Lego creations and raise money to buy Lego for underprivileged children during the holidays. In addition, it’s a chance for buyers to own an original Lego creation. MOC donations are currently being accepted until November 15, and the store will open from October 15 to November 30.

You can visit Creation for Charity’s new website for details and other exciting changes this year. Once again, I look forward to the generosity and enthusiasm of the Lego community to share our hobby with many children this holiday season.

Here’s a look at last year’s results and the amount of Lego that was donated.