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.

Download the NinjaGo theme song – “The Weekend Whip” by The Fold [MP3]

LEGO NinjaGo

The NinjaGo theme song has been generating a lot of talk recently and I, for one, like it.

LEGO NinjaGo

The NinjaGo website has been up for a while now on LEGO.com, playing “The Weekend Whip” by The Fold (thanks to Paul Lee for identifying the artist and song name).

For those of you who think the song is as awesome as we do, LEGO has kindly shared the song for everyone to download.

Download “The Weekend Whip” by The Fold (3 MB MP3)

We’ll host the MP3 right here on The Brothers Brick for now, so download away!

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.

Collectible Minifigs, Series 4, have been announced! [News]

I just got news that these are the official pictures from LEGO. They look pretty darn good!

Fanwelt summary by Holger Matthes

As was pointed out by some readers we did not manage to cover anything much from the recent and enormous LEGO Fanwelt exhibition in Cologne. This wasn’t by choice but simply that TBB doesn’t have anyone in Europe. Luckily Holger Matthes (HoMa) was in attendence and happy to write us a summary as a guest author. Many thanks to Holger for his help.

LEGO Fanwelt in Cologne (Nov. 18-21st 2010)

The biggest LEGO event in 2010 in Germany was held recently in Cologne – to be more precise in the 12,500 m² large hall 5.1 of the Cologne Expo. Besides LEGO visitors could expore classic model railroading like Märklin and others and another hall was dedicated to handicarft. This concept went well and did not only attract grey-haired modelrailroaders but tons of families. Overall this combined expo hat about 60,000 visitors!

But let’s focus on the bricks: Besides lots of known and unknown individual MOCs by more then 250 exhibitors the Carnival Parade has drawn the most attention amoung the visitors. Cologne is one of the most important cities for Carnival in Germany though the oranisation commitee from the MBFR club organised a fan project where everyone was invited to bring Café Corner style houses (158), walking participants (63) and funny, colourful motive cars (56). The 64,5 m long parade was seen by many many real life LEGO fans and visitors and more then 17,000 minifigures!

Fans and visitors were called to vote for the best motive car. After all the 1875 votes were count, the winning car by Jürgen Bramigk was announced online

Not only the brick related figures were enormous: The exhibitors and organising team ended up in eating more then 100 litres of chilli con carne, 30 kg of french fries, 260 sausages, 35 kg of pasta, 150 schnitzel, gallons of coffee and more … all prepared by Jürgen and his kitchen team.

Special thanks to the MBFR-team around Tretty and all the exhibitors who realised a great expo!

LEGO Magnet sets to be glued [News]

With the release of the new Pharoah’s Quest sets, many people bought the magnets, as they are an easy way to get the more desirable minifigs. However, the magnet figs were glued to their bases.

When asked for an explanation, LEGO said that all magnet figs will be glued from now on. There was a contractual issue with the magnets in the licensed themes and they had to be glued. In order to make things more efficient in production, the decision was made to glue all magnet figs rather than run two seperate magnet lines (glued and unglued). This has caused a lot of consternation in the community.

What I would like to know is how you feel about it and why. Does this bother you or do you feel that it is a non-issue? Let us know in the comments and the information will be forwarded on to LEGO.

Only 5 days left in Creations for Charity 2010

The 2010 Creations for Charity sale ends December 7th and now is the last chance to get this year’s one-of-a-kind custom creations by fan builders and minifig customizers. So far we have raised over $7,000 through sales and donations! We hope to sell all the items, and as a result most creations are now discounted. Remember, your purchases make a lot of children happy!

LEGO and science: robot cat for scaredy rats

LEGO Mindstorms (and indeed regular technic) are a not unusual sight in science laboratories. Unfortunately I’m not lucky enough to need ‘work LEGO’ but I have looked jealously into labs that do. Typically it’s used to automate simple procedures or make quick reconfigurable rigs.

The Kim Laboratory of the University of Washington use LEGO in a novel way: to test fear in rats using the aptly named Robogator. This is certainly the first time I’ve seen LEGO used in neuroscience and I have to admit the idea of testing fear using a bright colourful toy robot is pretty clever and amusing. They have a few videos too.

Physorg have more details and I, in an astounding reversal of the usual, found the link on Boing Boing.

Creations for Charity: new items added!

Creations for Charity has added new items for the fundraiser. We have already sold 76 creations and raised over $6,000 with two weeks left. Take a look at what’s new and check out the discounted items. Help the children and be thankful if you’re able to buy LEGO for yourself or family and friends this holiday season.

Brickvention 2011: Jan 14-16 Melbourne [News]

Once again it is Summer and that means it’s time for Brickvention. As Australia Day falls on a Wednesday this year Brickvention breaks from its usual tradition of falling on the long weekend and will be held from the 14th to the 16th of January instead which hopefully means cheaper flights and accomodation.

Registration is now open so if you haven’t already started planning your trip now is a good time. One other notable change is that this year it’s in the all new venue of Melbourne Town Hall due to the enormous crowds at last years event.

In a nutshell:

What is Brickvention?

Brickvention is the premier convention event for the Australian LEGO® Community.

Brickvention is a 2 day event for AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO®) Like other conventions, it offers workshops, presentations, special events and challenges.

The event celebrates the coming together of the fan community that has evolved as a result of the Internet and exploring and developing the LEGO® hobby.

Brickvention occurs annually on or near the Australia Day weekend in January.

When is Brickvention?

Brickvention 2011 will be held on Saturday the 15th and Sunday 16th January 2011. The Saturday is for registered attendees and is aimed at Adult fans of LEGO®. Sunday is the Public Day where everyone is welcome.

Where will Brickvention be held?

Brickvention 2011 will be located at: Melbourne Town Hall, corner of Swanston St and Collins St, Melbourne :

Who can come?

Saturday the 15th includes sessions intended for AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO®) 18 years of age or older. Younger convention attendees are welcome to come with a registered adult, but keep in mind many of the activities outside of the Public Expo are targeted toward adults.

Sunday the 16th is the Public Expo, allowing the general public of all ages to watch LEGO® builders at work and view LEGO® creations and displays. – registration is not required for the Public Expo.

How much does it cost to attend?

Convention: Saturday the 15th includes sessions intended for AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO®) to get together and discuss LEGO®, building techniques, models etc. and includes a number of events such as presentations and competitions. – Please register for these competions prior to Brickvention.

$50 for Full registration (over 15)
$25 for under 15 registration. Children under 15 attending the 2-day convention must be accompanied by an adult

Public Expo: Sunday the 16th from 10am – 5pm is the Public Expo, allowing the general public of all ages to watch LEGO® builders at work and view LEGO® creations and displays. Registration is not required for the Public Expo.

Adults – $6
Children – $3
Family – $15 (2 adults and 2 children)

If you’re in the neighbourhood I highly recommend attending. It’s by far the biggest AFOL convention in Australasia. I’m already fully booked.

First look at 8803 Series 3 Collectible Minifigs

After his speech at BrickCon, Hillel Cooperman was rewarded with the luck finding series 3 minifigs early at a Fred Meyer store. 11 cases later, here’s a first look at the contents of each box and the minifigs themselves.

AFOLcon coming to the UK 28th April – 2nd May 2011 [News]

A new type of LEGO convention is coming to Europe next year, balancing the private convention experience I know I enjoy at US conventions with the public exhibition time that’s been bringing in the masses for years.

AFOLcon will be held between April 28 and May 2, 2011 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.

Here’s what the organizers say:

Come to AFOLcon and get the inside track on what is happening in the LEGO world. We have a busy schedule of private, AFOL-only events for you to take part in. Listen to guest speakers from LEGO, TT Games and more. Unless you live in Billund, there’s no way to get closer to to LEGO than at AFOLcon!

Read more about the events and activities on AFOLcon.com.

Announcing PCHLUG – Pacific Coast Highway LEGO User Group [News]

For all you LEGO fans in California between BayLUG and LUGOLA — that means you, dear readers in Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Goleta, and everywhere else along scenic 101 — there’s a new LEGO Users Group founded by one of our favorite people, Tommy Williamson, who’s created one of the classiest LUG logos of all time.

Check out PCHLUG.com for details.

Get TBB on your iPhone with the Bricking News app [News]

Ever wanted a native iPhone experience for browsing LEGO news and creations on The Brothers Brick? Well, now there’s an app for that. The Bricking News app — developed by FBTB’s Ace Kim — lets you access FBTB, Eurobricks, Brickset, and The Brothers Brick, along with an easier way to view LEGO pictures on Flickr.

Check out Bricking News in the iTunes App Store, and download it for just 99 cents.