I’ve uploaded a few of my photos from today to Flickr. We’ll fill this post with something more than this later, but first, sleep!
Nannan has also uploaded his photos:
Category Archives: News
BrickArms.com relaunches with M21, baseball bat, and Lee-Enfield [News]
Recent visitors to the BrickArms Web site will have noticed the intriguing message that they’ll be back soon with new products.
Just in time for BrickCon 2008, the site is now back online with all-new items, including:
We’ll of course have full coverage of other new BrickArms products announced at BrickCon in the coming days.
BrickCon 2008: Thursday October 2nd
Andrew, Josh, and I are at BrickCon this week (the third and last LEGO convention in North America of 2008).
As usual, Thursday is arrival and setup, and from our photo coverage you can see the 20,000 square feet of display area in the process of filling up with marvelous creations. Andrew and I have uploaded a few pictures to our respective Flickr photostreams here and here. We will keep you updated with news of the opening ceremony and other important events happening Friday.
P.S.- this blog entry was written in the comfort of Andrew’s living room. More blog fests from headquarters to come…
EDIT (AB): Lonnon Foster has also begun uploading photos to his Flickr photostream.
Announcing the Reasonably Clever Spooky Star Wars Contest [w00t!]
Having just announced winners for the Brick Science contest, Reasonably Clever is now co-hosting a new contest with TK 1420.
The Spooky Star Wars Contest challenges you to build a spookified Star Wars vehicle, a scene, an impulse-size creation, or the death of Jar-Jar Binks. (I’m sure we’ve all dreamed of ways that would go down.)
Judges include Steve Sansweet and Mary Franklin from Lucasfilm, as well as TK 1420 and Chris Doyle.
You can win some out-of-circulation LEGO Star Wars sets, so what’re you still doing reading this? Get building!
BrickCon 2008: Last-minute logistics (and more free stuff)
Apologies for boring 99% of our readers, but this is still the fastest way to communicate with the fairly large number of TBB readers who are attending BrickCon later this week.
Fill out your MOC cards now
MOC (My Own Creation) cards identify your LEGO creations for fellow attendees and the general public. They also help theme organizers like Josh and me plan for how much space is needed (more on how that relates to the zombie display later in this post).
Fill out your MOC cards on BrickCon.org. A couple quick points:
- Unless you want to spend the public hours explaining what “SNOT” and “MOC” are to kids and their parents, avoid “AFOL-speak” in your descriptions.
- Zombie creations go in “Other,” not “Train/Town” (whose organizers I suspect think they’re being invaded at this point; that doesn’t actually happen until Sunday).
Remember, only “registered” LEGO creations (ones with MOC cards) will be eligible for the various awards given out by BrickCon.
Pack your LEGO creations for travel or shipping
Before you stuff your LEGO into your carry-on luggage, consider reading the LUGNET post by Duane Hess and the Classic-Castle.com article by Lenny Hoffman about packing and shipping LEGO.
Wouldn’t you rather spend your time socializing and integrating your pristine creations into the display instead of rebuilding them?
Unload your LEGO at the venue
By now, you should’ve received a message from Daniel Brown with details on when, where, and how to unload your LEGO creations at Seattle Center. The loading dock is only available during the following times:
- Thursday 8am – noon
- Thursday 5pm – 9pm
- Friday 8am – noon
- Sunday 5pm – midnight
Please only use the loading dock if you have massive amounts to unload. For more details, please see Daniel’s e-mail. If you didn’t get that e-mail, let us know and we’ll post more information here.
(CC-licensed photo of the Space Needle by Chris Blakely.)
Get to and from the airport
I know several of you are looking to share rides between Sea-Tac Airport and the BrickCon venue at Seattle Center (301 Mercer St., Seattle, WA 98109). Transportation options include Shuttle Express, taxis, and rental cars — all available near baggage claim.
If you’d like to share a ride with someone to cut costs, post a comment here with your arrival time, and when two or more of you are interesting in connecting, I’ll put you in touch through e-mail.
Bringing stuff for the draft and Dirty Brickster
Drafting a LEGO set allows you to get parts in large quantities that you might otherwise have to buy individually (from, say, Bricklink). Read more about how the draft works on SEALUG.org. If you want to participate, the draft set for BrickCon 2008 is 7626 Jungle Cutter.
Dirty Brickster is a LEGO “white elephant” gift exchange. Bring something that would be worth $10-20 to the recipient, wrapped.
Help bring some order to the Great Chaos of the Zombie Apocafest
With so many last-minute, “Oh, I’m so there!” contributions (thanks in no small part to BrickArms’ generosity, I’m sure), we don’t have a very good sense of how many zombified LEGO creations to expect for the Zombie Apocafest.
Filling out a MOC card will help, but could we also get a quick roll-call from readers planning on bringing a building? (Vehicles will be easy enough to incorporate into the display.) I’ll be at the venue nearly all day Thursday to help with setup — Castle and the zombie display in particular.
Build your GO MINIMAN GO Photo Contest entries
If you haven’t entered our GO MINIMAN GO Photo Contest yet, you can do so right there at BrickCon.
Just swing by The LEGO Group’s table, dig through the bricks, build a vig or dio, have it photographed, and fill out the entry form. Oh, and you get to keep what you build.
Get your Brothers Brick LEGO brick
Last but not least, the first 100 people who come up to Josh, Nannan, or me and say “It’s a brick-built world out there” will get a custom-engraved brick — your choice of “The Brothers Brick” or “Brothers-Brick.com”.
Oh yes, this is gonna be the best BrickCon yet! See everybody in a couple of days!
Let us know what you want to see from BrickCon 2008
For those of you who can’t make it to BrickCon 2008, Josh, Nannan, and I will be covering the con starting this Thursday.
We want to know what you’re most interested in seeing from us. By voting in the new poll and leaving a comment here, you can help shape our coverage of BrickCon 2008. Our coverage of BrickCon 2008 is in your hands.
(Photo by Adam Hally.)
So, do you want to get to know some of the people behind the creations featured here on The Brothers Brick? Are you most interested in product announcements from LEGO, BrickArms, and other companies? Maybe you want to see more pictures of people’s creations and group displays. Let us know!
Note: If you see an error when you try to vote, rest assured that your vote is still being counted. It’s a conflict between two WordPress plug-ins.
[poll id=”14″]
Welt der Steine fan event in Vienna, Austria on October 4-5, 2008 [News]
Austrian LEGO fan group LGOE (not a typo — it stands for LEGO Gemeinschaft Österreich) will be hosting an event next weekend in Vienna.
Here are the details in German (courtesy Verena Schaden):
Die LEGO® Gemeinschaft Österreich lädt euch ein zur
Welt der Steine – taucht ein in das bunte Reich der LEGO® Fans
4. – 5. Oktober, 10 – 17 Uhr
Veranstaltungszentrum Simmering
Simmeringer Hauptstr. 96a, 1110 Wien
Kontakt: info@lgoe.at
And in English:
Name of the show: Welt der Steine (means: World of Stones)
Date: October 4 – 5, 2008
Time: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Location: Veranstaltungszentrum Simmering, Simmeringer Hauptstr. 96a, 1110 Vienna, Austria
Contact: info@lgoe.at
LEGO Factory adds new bricks, plus cool fan-created stuff you can buy [News]
Chris Doyle sends word that the parts from Custom Car Garage are now available from online Pick A Brick
. New parts include the great pilot torso originally from the redesigned Naboo fighter
.
RP Cuenco used 2,558 bricks from LEGO Factory to build a case for his Mac (via Gizmodo):
Bricked Mac – Time-Lapse from RP Cuenco on Vimeo.
What’s so cool about LEGO Factory and online Pick A Brick is that you can buy individual parts, as well as sets created by fans using LEGO Digital Designer, ranging from a Mini Stephen Hawking by Ochre Jelly for $1.86 or the aforementioned Bricked Mac for $376.65:
And for our non-US readers, a direct link to online Pick a Brick: Pick a Brick.
LEGO Batman: The Video Game now available [News]
LEGO Batman: The Video Game was released this past Tuesday. I’d hoped to play the game and write a review, as I did for LEGO Indiana Jones: The Video Game, but I won’t have time to do that for a couple weeks.
McDonald’s has of course had Happy Meal toys inspired by the game available for a while (very funny photo by FiddybobiddyFiddy):
William Eng has a bunch of pictures from the LEGO Batman launch party, including this cake by Elisa Strauss:
Mariann Asanuma contributed this mosaic to the launch event:
LEGO Batman: The Video Game is available on the following platforms:
- LEGO® Batman™: The Videogame – Nintendo Wii™
- LEGO® Batman™: The Videogame – PlayStation® 2
- LEGO® Batman™: The Videogame – PlayStation® 3
- LEGO® Batman™: The Videogame – XBOX 360™
- LEGO® Batman™: The Videogame – Nintendo DS™
- LEGO® Batman™: The Videogame – PSP®
- LEGO® Batman™: The Videogame – Windows PC
New BrickArms Zombie Defense Weapons Pack at BrickCon 2008 [News]
BrickCon 2008 begins this Thursday! When I announced prizes and giveaways for the Zombie Apocafest, I realized we needed a good way to repel the zombie menace.
What better way to fend of that flesh-eating horde than with a special set of weapons designed for just that purpose from BrickArms?
In addition to the other prizes and giveaways, BrickArms and The Brothers Brick will be handing out new Zombie Defense Weapons Packs to everyone who contributes a building or vehicle to the Zombie Apocafest display. That’s right: BrickArms for free!
The weapons pack is full of the tools of the zombie-hunting trade:
- SW500 Magnum Revolver (for stopping power; x2)
- M21 Sniper Rifle (for keeping your distance)
- Mk48 Mod 0 Machine Gun
- AK Assault Rifle (doesn’t jam as easily as the M4/M16)
- Uzi Submachine Gun (x2)
- Bipod (x2) and Monopod (x3)
- Combat Shotgun (brand-new prototype)
- M1 Garand Rifle (in black)
- M1 1911 .45 Pistol (backup weapon #1)
- Baseball Bat (backup weapon #2)
- Glow-in-the-dark Zombie Head
If you don’t have time to build something for the display, you’ll be able to buy your very own Zombie Defense Weapons Pack at the BrickArms table. And if you can’t make it in person, BrickArms will be making these available through the re-launched BrickArms.com.
Well, I’m off to finish up my final building for the display and begin creating the horde itself… :D
How to buy your 7979 Castle Advent Calendar [News]
FINAL UPDATE: As of October 20, 7979 Castle Advent Calendar was no longer available from LEGO Shop @ Home.
UPDATE (1:30 PM PDT, 9/27/08): I just got off the phone with LEGO Shop @ Home, and they said that there are still some left, so if you couldn’t call or weren’t able to get through yesterday, you should still be able to order today.
As we promised yesterday, here’s how US and Canadian fans can get their hands on the coveted 7979 Castle Advent Calendar set:
- Call LEGO Shop@Home at
1-800-453-4652 (English) or 1-877-518-5346 (French)1-800-835-4386. - Give them the code
JesterUS(for the US) orJesterCAfor Canada. - Order no more than 2 copies of 7979 Castle Advent Calendar, and nothing else! (This will keep the lines free for others trying to order. You can always add other sets to your order later, before it ships.)
Prices:
- US: $29.99 USD per set, plus shipping.
- Canada: $39.99 CAD per set, plus shipping.
7979 Castle Advent Calendar available in US, Canada on Sept 26 at noon [News]
UPDATE (9/26/08): You can order your copy of the set by following the directions in How to get your 7979 Castle Advent Calendar, currently at the top of the front page.
A couple weeks ago we found out that 7979 Castle Advent Calendar would likely not be available in some of the markets where LEGO is normally available, including the US and Canada.
Today, I’m pleased to report that a very limited number of this set will be made available starting Friday, September 26 at noon Eastern Daylight Time (9:00 AM Pacific).
The set will not be made available to the general public through the LEGO Shop online, so you’ll need a special code from us. With that code, you’ll be able to call the LEGO Shop at Home service, give them the code, and order up to two (2) sets per household.
Note: If for some reason Brothers-Brick.com isn’t available for you around noon EDT tomorrow, the code will also be made available through the LEGO Ambassadors representing the various LEGO fan communities, including Classic-Castle.com.
This is great news for the LEGO fan community here in North America, and demonstrates the power of coming together behind a common cause and the persistence of our advocates on the LEGO Community Team.
Please check back again tomorrow at noon Eastern (9:00 AM Pacific) for the code you’ll need when calling LEGO Shop at Home.
