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 trains at NMRA 2009 – this weekend

As part of the National Train Show on July 10-12, 2009 in Hartford, CT, Jamie Berard, set designer of the newly released ‘Emerald Night’ and employee of The LEGO Group (TLG), will participate as part of the show. Jamie will be giving a talk on both July 10 and 11 (Fri. and Sat.) about the design process and thinking that led up to the final ‘Emerald Night’ set, and about the Power functions components that support it. Fans are encouraged to participate to offer their views on the new platform. Jamie will also be available during the show for any questions you may have about his other excellent creations – Fast Flyer, Cafe Corner, Cool Convertible, Green Grocer, and newly announced Grand Carousel.

Also as part of this year’s show, Steve Witt, LEGO Community Relations Coordinator for North America, has graciously offered to host the traditional ILTCO pizza party at LEGO corporate headquarters in Enfield, CT after the show on Sat. July 11. Along with pizza and hanging out with Steve, Jamie and some of the LEGO Master Builders from Enfield, other events such as tours of the model shop and parts of the campus will occur. All AFOL train show participants are invited to attend.

Posting a heads-up for those on the East Coast of North America. If the pictures of past NMRA shows are anything to go by this promises to be a very impressive display of LEGO.

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7747 Wind Turbine Transport isn’t the Vestas Windmill, but it’ll do [News]

The rumored, non-exclusive LEGO windmill set appears to be on the horizon, in the form of 7747 Wind Turbine Transport.

The set isn’t available in the US yet (we got the tip from reader Matthew in the UK), so here’s a direct link in case the ones above don’t work:

http://shop.lego.com/Product/Default.aspx?p=7747

And for those of you wondering what the heck a “Vestas Windmill” is, 4999 Vestas Windmill was a special limited-edition set created exclusively for employees of the Danish wind turbine company Vestas. As cool as it was, it was never made available to the general public, which caused quite a ruckus in the LEGO fan community.

Though substantially smaller than 4999, Perhaps 7747 Wind Turbine Transport represents The LEGO Group listening to that hue and cry…

Battles Contest Winners Announced! [News]

The winners of Classic-Castle’s Battles Contest have finally been chosen. Not surprisingly, some of the winners will be familiar to TBB readers. But enough talking, here they are!

1st Place: Medieval Hooligan Brawl by forseti

2nd Place: Defending the Village by DNL

3rd Place: Defense of the Iron Oak by SuvieD

Best Vignette: Sir Wunstud jumped by Orcs by Rod Gillies

Congratulations to the winners! There were a lot of good entries in there and judging was very difficult. Way to go!

Call for presentations/sessions at BrickCon 2009

Three months to BrickCon!

BrickCon 2009 is looking for any talks, roundtables, and special activities you would like to see at the Con this year. Going to and putting on sessions are one of the things that makes a Lego convention fun.

Past talks have included manufacturing custom parts, an introduction to LDraw, and packing Lego models for shipment, among many others.

Roundtables, or moderated discussions, have included Moonbase standards and design, landscaping, and anything that someone can think of.

Activities already planned for this year include the Dirty Brickster and the Wacky Race.

All we need for more talks, roundtables, and activities are ideas and people to run with them. Projectors and a computer will be available (although bringing your own laptop ensures compatibility). All spaces can be configured with tables and chairs as desired.

Any registered attendee who would like to run a presentation or activity should e-mail proposals or questions to me (my first three initials @ morfydd.net—please mention BrickCon in the subject). If possible, please include a possible title, brief description for the event program, and any time constraints or facility requirements. Events are typically scheduled to run up to fifty minutes but can be scheduled for more or less time.

I need proposals by September 6 to have time to prepare the schedule and the program. Earlier is better.

BrickCon is an annual adult Lego hobbyist convention and exposition in Seattle. BrickCon 2009 will be October 1–4, 2009, in the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. For more information or to register visit
http://www.brickcon.org/

—
TWS Garrison
http://www.morfydd.net/twsg/
LEGO: CA+++ SW++ GA+c #++++++ LS+++ P+++++ YB77m

The Brothers Brick’s video coverage of BrickWorld 2009

This year at BrickWorld, we shot a video coverage of the convention that features short clips of fans and builders talking about LEGO. This started when Tyler (Legohaulic) brought the idea along with a brick-built TBB microphone. Everything happened spontaneously and we are able to share with you the faces and voices of many LEGO fans for the first time on the blog.

I’d like give special thanks to Tyler for doing pretty much all the work with the video and everyone who shared their moment of embarrassment with us. We certainly wished to get around to more of the great people there, but the four days went by too fast! I hope you enjoy our first ever video coverage of a LEGO convention.

In this clip: Jay Hanes, Mark Kelso, Brian Alano, Tyler Clites, Kyle Vrieze, Jenn Wagner, and Rae McCormick.

In this clip: Liam Heeger, Lee Jones, Brian Kescenovitz, Matija Grguric, Dennis Price, Chris Edwards, Fradel Gonzales, and Jon Walden.

In this clip: Dave Sterling, Stacy Sterling, Heather Braaten, Alex Eylar, Sean Kenney, Matt De Lanoy, Brian Bonahoom, Steve Witt, Mikael Sjostedt, and Mark Larson.

LEGO Star Wars 8038 The Battle of Endor and 7749 Echo Base now available [News]

Following quickly on the latest LEGO Star Wars and Indiana Jones sets, 8038 The Battle of Endor and 7749 Echo Base are also now available from the LEGO Shop online.

The Endor set includes 12 minifigs and a great-looking AT-ST. The rebel commando minifigs have torsos that will work really well for military minifigs.

For only $25, Echo Base has a Tauntaun — let me repeat: a Tauntaun!!! — Han Solo, two rebel troopers (with new goggles), and two Imperial snowtroopers.

Summer 2009 LEGO sets out now: Star Wars, Indy, Grand Carousel, etc. [News]

LEGO Space Police, Agents 2.0 and other third-quarter/summer 2009 LEGO sets have been out for a month or so, but the rest of the new sets are now available from the LEGO Shop online.

First up, 10196 Grand Carousel incorporates Power Functions and plays music. The set is also the first to feature tan beards.

New LEGO Star Wars sets feature vehicles from the Clone Wars, including 8037 Anakin’s Y-Wing Starfighter and the Venator playset.

Other new LEGO Star Wars sets include:

7748 Corporate Alliance Tank Droid with a pair of Clone Troopers wearing jet packs.
8036 Separatist Shuttle with Nute Gunray and Onaconda Farr (Greedo!) minifigs.

The newest magnet sets make buying rare LEGO Star Wars minifigs affordable, including the LEGO® Star Wars™ 10th Anniversary Stormtrooper™ Magnet for $10. I call him “Chromy”.

The latest LEGO Indiana Jones sets take us back to the classic trilogy.

Finally, trolls and dwarves from the current LEGO Castle theme get their own Battle Packs.

And remember, by clicking through to the LEGO Shop online from The Brothers Brick, Brickset, Peeron, FBTB, or elsewhere, you’re helping to support the LEGO fan community and to keep these community sites running. Thanks for your support!

Legoland California hires 5 new Master Builders [News]

Legoland California just finished their hiring competition and selected 5 new Master Builders, as well as 4 Associate Builders!

Among the finalists are some very deserving builders, including several that will be familiar to Brothers Brick readers.

After participating in a routine job application process, finalists were subjected to a timed, two hour build-off, which narrowed the field down to nine who were offered jobs.

See the full article in the North County Times and video coverage from CBS8 in San Diego. Congratulations to the new employees of the Lego Company!

New Master Builders:

Mark Larson
Ryan Wood
Joel Baker
Brian Heins
Amanda Juon

New Associates:
Dana Bradsema
Eric Christie
Bryan Decker
Samuel Swiger

Thanks to Bill Toenjes for the heads up on this very cool information!

LEGO fan weddings feature LEGO cakes, toppers, bees, and even garter belts

Space-zombies need a chaser. Since LEGO unicorns are in short supply, we’ll go with LEGO weddings. Ryan and Katie aren’t the only ones who’ve celebrated their love with little plastic bricks.

Chris Wunz created a series of five vignettes as his cake toppers when he married Erin last year (see all five on Flickr):

One of my favorite LEGO-themed cakes is the one Louise and Greg Tudor had at their wedding (full photoset). Greg made LEGO cufflinks for the groomsmen, and a Classic Space minifig even adorned Louise’s garter belt!

Even celebrities get in on the LEGO wedding action. Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz commissioned Nathan Sawaya to create this enormous bee as a wedding gift for Ashlee Simpson:

Finally, Cake Wrecks had a great roundup a while ago of some very cool LEGO cakes, including this wedding cake for Alex & Adrian:

Congratulations to all the happy couples!

LEGO pirates ply the crystal-clear waters of Portugal

Portuguese LEGO fan group 0937 hosted the 2nd TomarLEGO between June 11 and 14 in Tomar.

One of the centerpieces of the event was an enormous, custom-built tank full of water, plied by a fleet of LEGO Pirates.

See lots more photos from this event in Rupi’s Brickshelf gallery.

UPDATE: Biczzz has a full roundup of all the photo galleries from attendees, along with a few videos like this one below.

BrickWorld 2009, Saturday and Sunday

My apologies for slacking off on the last two days of our 2009 BrickWorld coverage (unless you’d rather read what I write at past 3 a.m. for both nights). Now that the event is over and I’m back with a nightmare of bricks to sort, I’ll wrap things up with a few concluding words. This year’s BrickWorld set records in every way. With over 550 attendees, 25,000 square feet of LEGO, special guests from LEGO execs and more, we’re left to wonder how this year’s even can ever be topped.

Planning for BrickWorld 2010 has already begun, and this time the coordinators have booked the entire Westin hotel just for us LEGO fanatics.

See more pictures of BrickWorld on Flickr.

BrickWorld 2009, Friday June 19th

Continuing coverage of this year’s BrickWorld, I bring you photos from Friday of the four day weekend event. A few noteworthy news items to mention include an unofficial announcement that LEGO will be producing Disney themed sets starting with Toy Story, Cars, and Prince of Persia. Also, BrickArms and BrickForge bring new items and colors to the show, which will result in our usual review soon. Stay tuned as we bring you more coverage from the front line.

Meanwhile, check out more pictures taken by Chris Edwards, Bill Ward, and Bluesecrets.