The BrickUniverse Lego convention is taking place in Dallas this year on November 13-15 at the Irving Convention Center. This is a 3-day convention for where builders can exhibit their creations, participate in games, contests, raffles and interact with the public during the exhibition on the weekend. Registration is $60, but it can be free if you bring MOCs to display. Check out photos from their previous convention in Raleigh and visit the BrickUniverse website to learn more about the event.
Sean Kenney‘s latest Lego sculpture captures the magnificence of the Eiffel Tower in a giant model using 67,470 Lego bricks. At 7.25 feet tall, it’s even taller than the average NBA player! Check out the creation on MOCpages to see detail photos and behind-the-scenes shots of this iconic monument.
In November last year, LEGO announced two new ideas sets. By now the birds set
Several of us at The Brothers Brick are fans of the show, but being a physicist, I was the lucky guy granted the opportunity to review this. Having worked in both a physics and an engineering department of two universities, the characters from The Big Bang Theory are very recognisable. There may even be a bit of Sheldon, Leonard, Raj and Howard in me. This is not my life story or a review of the TV show, however, so I will cut straight to the chase: the price is pretty steep for only 479 parts, so if minifigures aren’t your thing or you don’t like the show, this set is not for you.
The minifigures are the highlight of the set and probably the main reason why anybody would want this. All seven characters are instantly recognisable and come with new printed parts for the faces and clothing. The prints are highly detailed and look crisp, with Amy’s knitted vest and the tiny flowers on Bernadette’s skirt standing out in particular. The backs of the torsos are also printed. The upper and lower parts of the legs on Amy and Bernadette are molded in different colours, to represent skirts, with the obvious advantage that the figures look decent when seen from the back (in more ways than one).
As a bonus all the figures have reversible heads, with happy faces on one side and an alternate expression on the other. Bernadette’s is a particularly menacing angry look and Penny’s will also be instantly recognisable to any fan.
Continue reading
Primed to be unveiled in person this Friday at San Diego Comic Con, LEGO has given us the go-ahead to let our readers see the newest Ninjago set, 70751 Temple of Airjitsu. It’s very rare that LEGO makes minifig-scale sets this large in its non-licensed themes, with the exception of the Expert Creator sets like the modular series. At 2,028 pieces for $200 USD, this set is quite the heavyweight for LEGO’s kid-oriented theme. LEGO VIP members will be able to purchase the the Airjitsu Temple beginning Aug. 18.
The official press release and more photos are below the jump. Continue reading
Registration is open for BrickCon 2015, and the countdown helpfully reminds me I have 85 days to build something. BrickCon is taking place Oct. 1 – Oct. 4, 2015, in Seattle, Washington.
As a reminder, there’s a tiered approach to registering: the earlier the better. If you are participating in any games, you will need to sign up either at the time of registration (recommended) or prior to 9:00 am Friday morning.
1. Early Bird Registration is $60, and is available until Aug. 1.
2. Regular Registration is $75, available Aug. 1 – Sep. 18.
3. Late Registration is $100, after Sept. 18.
4. Door Registration is $120, during the event.
Hotel Info is now up on BrickCon‘s website. All prices below do not include additional charges such as occupancy taxes and parking. Here’s a quick breakdown:
Maxwell Hotel – $149
Quality Inn & Suites – $119
Hampton Inn & Suites – $159
Other hotels, as well as booking instructions for those above, can be found here.
Regular readers of this blog will be no stranger to Guy Himber’s Crazy Bricks, which has been classing-up the world of figs for years now with top hats, skulls, and all manner of other unique accessories. But Guy’s latest offering, Crazy Arms, could be a game changer for mini-fig fans.
These patent pending replacement arms not only offer better poses for your figs, but also solve the problem of how hard it has always been to remove and re-insert the standard arms into the standard torso. How? Watch the video below to find out!
Crazy Arms will only be available through a Kickstarter project. So if you want to get your posable fleshy hands on some, you’d better back it before the end of the month!
LEGO has just announced the next large Creator vehicle, a Ferrari F40. This supercar follows in the line of popular models such as the still-currently available Volkswagen Camper Van and Mini Cooper, and the now-retired Volkswagen Beetle. 10248 Ferrari F40 has 1,158 pieces, and will retail for USD 89.99, EUR 89.99, GBP 69.99, and DKK 799.00, and will be available starting August 1. The official press release is below the jump.
The hosts of Beyond the Brick is starting a Kickstarter project to produce a DVD of Brickworld Chicago 2015 featuring coverage of the convention and interviews with builders. For $20, you can get a copy of the DVD, but those who contribute more can look forward to custom minifigs and creations, and even commissions.
Somewhat to my shame, in my time as a contributor to this blog, I have not been a particularly prolific writer. This was particularly true at times when I was also busy writing things for work or dealing with a lot of deadlines, as I have been for a while now. I think all of us at TBB have been struggling with similar issues lately, as you may have gathered from the reduced frequency of posts. Even our lemur isn’t safe, although, to his credit, the kitchen tiles in the compound are now shinier than ever. Since for me stress-relief is a big reason for building, perhaps surprisingly, the upshot of being busy at work is that I do build lots of new models. This is far easier and also more relaxing than writing.
I’ve been working on a collection of famous vehicles from movies and TV series for about two years now, but by October last year I felt I was about done. However, enthusiastic reactions and suggestions for new ones that I got when I displayed them at the Great Western LEGO show in Swindon (UK) made me decide to continue and to diversify a bit more, by including helicopters. The vehicles in the picture are most of the ones I built since. I already wrote about Blue Thunder and Airwolf, in the back row, but you may not have seen any of the others. The third helicopter is the UH-1H “Huey” that serves as the personal transport for the surf-obsessed and completely insane Lt.Col. Kilgore, from Apocalypse Now. The other vehicles are Korben Dallas’ flying taxy from The 5th Element, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Capt. Nemo’s car from The League of extraordinary gentlemen, the Munster Koach from The Munsters, the GM Ultralite police car from Demolition Man, the AMC Pacer from Wayne’s world and, last but not least, the motorcycle with sidecar from Indiana Jones: the last crusade, all built to the same scale.
To be continued…
It’s time! Registration is now open for BrickCon 2015. The convention is set for Oct. 1 – Oct. 4, 2015, in Seattle, Washington at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. This year’s theme is MOCking History.
Cost to register depends on how early you do it:
1. Early Bird Registration is $60, and is available until Aug. 1.
2. Regular Registration is $75, available Aug. 1 – Sep. 18.
3. Late Registration is $100, after Sept. 18.
4. Door Registration is $120, during the event.
For those of you who wish to sign up for Games, you can now do so during the registration process.
137 days in counting!
LEGO ReBrick has partnered with McLaren to put together what is really quite a sweet contest. I’m not easily wooed by contests, but I am a sucker for supercars, and the prize on this contest is a paid visit to a UK racetrack with McLaren. Below is the official press release, and here’s the official contest site. Good luck to all our readers, and may the best car win!
Do you dream of designing your own luxury Supercar? Well, now is your chance to live out that dream: In collaboration with McLaren Automotive, ReBrick and LEGO® Speed Champions ask you to build the McLaren road Supercar of the future.
What supercars will be accelerating on the country roads and autobahns in the future? Help McLaren build the future of Supercars in LEGO version and get your LEGO Supercar displayed on the McLaren Automotive stand at the 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed in United Kingdom plus win LEGO® Speed Champions prices. The winner and a guest will be flown to United Kingdom and get VIP entry tickets to the Goodwood Festival of Speed as McLaren Automotive guests on Sunday 28th June 2015.
In 2013, McLaren Automotive launched the groundbreaking McLaren P1™ to critical acclaim. The aerodynamic shape was penned by the renowned McLaren Automotive Design Director, Frank Stephenson, who explained that:
“Our main objective with the McLaren P1™ was to design the best drivers’ car in the world, on road and track. Managing airflow in and around the car’s bodywork and optimizing aerodynamics was key in achieving this goal. This design philosophy crafted the highly unique and emotive shape of the car”.
To learn more about the McLaren Automotive supercar range, please visit: cars.mclaren.com
The latest edition of the free online Lego fan magazine, HispaBrick, is now available. In this issue you will find some extraordinary medieval constructions by Cesar Soares, the creative process of the science fiction genius Pierre E. Fieschi or how to create Japanese dolls by Mike Dung, and you will learn a little more about Paul Vermeesch, another one of the Great Creators of the world. Check out all this and more on the HispaBrick website.
