The seventh annual Creations for Charity sale starts today! From now until the end of November, you can buy a custom creation to help raise money to buy Lego sets for underprivileged children. These creations are all built and donated by the fans, and there’s more to come throughout the sale. Anyone can donate a creation before November 15th by visiting creationsforcharity.org and submitting a donation form. Take a look at some of the creations for sale so far:
Dave E. over on the Brickset forums has compiled a fascinating summary of the evolution of the LEGO palette over the past 40 years. Dave wrote an program to analyze the Brickset database, pulling part inventories for the last 40 years’ worth of sets. He says he ignored a few special themes known for their rampant use of unusual colors, such as Duplo and Fabuland.
This chart compiles the colors as a percentage of the total parts produced each year, so while a color’s percentage may decrease from one year to the next, its actual quantity produced may increase if LEGO manufactures more total pieces the next year. This chart also only accounts for a set’s release year, and not the subsequent years in which that set may have been produced, nor the quantities LEGO produces, so it only approximates what a collector would have if they were able to buy one copy of each set in its release year.
Well, it happens to the best of us, I guess. While I was at work, TBB went down again, and I’ve just gotten the site back up after several hours of intermittent downtime. While MySQL database repairs, Apache rebuilds, and PHP version upgrades all help in the short term, Brothers-Brick.com has been running on the same physical hardware for too long. Unfortunately, migrating to new or upgraded hardware isn’t free.
Photo by TBB Server Downtime Contest winner Leopold Mao
While we try to be good LEGO community members by sponsoring contests and events using the extra funds our loyal readers help us with, there’s also the very unsexy, much less visible business of hosting a website that receives several hundred thousand visitors a month.
So, to get us to the point where we can consider migrating Brothers-Brick.com to an improved server, you can help by buying your LEGO from the LEGO Shop online and clicking through from Brothers-Brick.com when you make any Amazon.com purchase. That’s right, any Amazon.com purchase — not just LEGO. Buy your next HDTV, paperback, music MP3, or Post-It notes from Amazon, and you’re helping The Brothers Brick at no extra cost to you.
Hey Folks!
It’s the Lemur here. Just got back to the compound after a great weekend in Seattle, at BrickCon. There were lots of tasty creations there and I was able to get my paws on all kinds of cool swag.
Caylin let me check out everything on the condition that I not break anything and that nothing got eaten. I took a few little nibbles here and there but was able to stay out of trouble, for the most part. I did accidentally clear the building during public hours, but that really wasn’t my fault. Who knew the shiny red “fire alarm” panels weren’t for public consumption? Anyway, the Fire Department responded quickly, nobody got hurt and I got to sit in a fire truck.
Paul Hetherington won “Best in Show” with his motorized Steampunk robot called “Unchain My Heart”. It kind of creeped me out but it was very well built. I even sat on its head and no breakage occurred.
Today at the New York Comic Con, LEGO officially pulled the curtain from their newest line, Nexo Knights. A cross between Space and Castle, Nexo Knights features knights in robotic power armor riding mechanical hovering horses and driving giant vehicles. The Nexo Knights theme will be accompanied by a companion app titled Merlok 2.0, as well as a 20-episode television series chronicling the adventures of the knights. It airs in December.
While many of our viewers will no doubt be having flashbacks to Knights Kingdom II right about now, it looks like these sets will at the least feature a lot of new parts great for Space and Mecha builders. We also still haven’t seen the full set lineup, so keep your eyes out for the rest of the sets.
Read the full press release after the jump. Continue reading
While the majority of us were recovering from BrickCon this past weekend, LEGO slipped a set announcement out. LEGO Ideas has revealed the final design for 21304 Doctor Who, featuring The Eleventh Doctor, the Twelfth Doctor, Clara, a Weeping Angel, and two Daleks.
The set will be released in time for Christmas on December 1, and will cost $59.99.
AndrewClark2’s Doctor Who and Companions was too great for just one Doctor, who we decided to include two! You can buy yours December 1st, in time for the Doctor Who Christmas Special, for a recommended retail price of USD $59.99 / EUR €59,99. You might want to keep an eye on that Weeping Angel though….
Here is the official product description:
Construct a stunningly detailed LEGO® version of the iconic TARDIS® and role-play the Doctor’s time-travel adventures! Created by fan-designer Andrew Clark and selected by LEGO Ideas members, this set is based on the BBC’s popular and long-running television series about a Time Lord – the Doctor – exploring the universe in a blue police box. Due to trans-dimensional engineering, the TARDIS is bigger on the inside than the outside and this cool multifunctional set includes the console room that houses all the flight controls. Regenerate the Doctor and defeat the evil Daleks™ and a Weeping Angel with the help of his extraordinary companion Clara. Then close the doors of the TARDIS and launch into another dimension! Includes 4 minifigures with assorted accessory elements: the Eleventh Doctor, the Twelfth Doctor, Clara Oswald and a Weeping Angel, plus 2 Daleks™.
If you can’t wait until December for your Doctor Who fix, LEGO Dimensions also features the Twelfth Doctor and a miniature TARDIS, available in November on Amazon.
The 7th annual Creations for Charity fundraiser is now accepting donations of custom Lego creations to sell and raise money to buy Lego for underprivileged children. The store opens from October 15th to November 30th where you can buy one-of-a-kind Lego models made by builders from around the world. Check out the creations sold last year and visit creationsforcharity.org to learn about the fundraiser and see how you can take part in the Lego community’s annual tradition of giving back.
My feed today is overflowing with photographs of sunny downtown Seattle posted by fellow LEGO builders arriving in town. I guess that means BrickCon must be happening! On Thursday morning, builders from all four corners of the globe will begin setup of the 30,000 square foot space for this 14th incarnation of the longest running LEGO fan convention on the planet.
CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS for the public exhibition. That way you won’t have to stay in line as long when you get there. And when you’re done enjoying all the creations and have blown your wad at the vendor stalls, remember that the Seattle Center is at your disposal for fun and frolicking.
The public exhibition runs from 10-4 Saturday, 9-3 Sunday. BrickCon is the home convention of the Brothers Brick, so most of us will there for the festivities (we’re the dweebs in the green shirts!). Will the lemur be there too? Who can say ;-)
As always, I will be LIVE TWEETING photos from all four days of the event, including sneak peeks at all the secret fun and games that go on outside public hours. You have been warned!
LEGO Dimensions is finally available for purchase. If you’ve been excited to have LEGO versions of Portal, Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, DC Superheroes, Back to the Future, Wizard of Oz, and tons of other themes all interacting together (or maybe you just want the physical minifigs) then there’s no need to wait any longer. Hop over to your local store and pick it up now, or hit the Amazon link below to support The Brothers Brick.
Photo courtesy of AC Pin.
Dear readers, if you love SPACE!, here’s a deal too sweet to pass up. Right now, Benny’s Spaceship, Spaceship, Spaceship! (70816) is on sale on Amazon for almost 25% off the normal $100 price tag, making it a fantastic deal with 980 pieces for $75.99. It’s rare to see large and popular sets like this go on much of a sale, and this set is surely nearing the end of its availability. If you’re still on the fence about this one, take a look at our review of Benny’s Spaceship (spoiler: we love it).
If you haven’t yet seen A LEGO Brickumentary, find a theater playing it or rent it on Amazon or iTunes. It’s a fascinating look at the impact that our favorite toy brick has on the lives of fans and regular non-fans alike. The documentary covers all aspects of the intersection of bricks and people, from custom models like we feature here at TBB to LEGO being used as a therapy tool. Full disclosure: several of our contributors, including myself, have cameos in the documentary (here’s a picture I took at Brickcon). Just chalk that up as another reason to go see it! The film will be available for purchase Nov. 3, but is now available on Amazon for streaming and pre-order: just click the picture below. You can read the official press release after the jump.
That’s right, the grand pappy of LEGO conventions opens its doors soon in Seattle, Washington. For builders, it’s time to finish up those creations and make final preparations – the most important of which is to REGISTER! Regular builder registration ends September 18th (this Friday) after which the fee jumps from $75 to $100. As well as saving you money, registering before this deadline also secures your engraved badge bricks and goodie bag, so don’t delay. Visitors to the public exhibition (October 3rd and 4rd) can buy tickets either at the door or online, but we strongly recommend online to reduce your wait time on the day.
The theme of BrickCon this year is MOCking History, so expect some interesting mashups of the past, present and future. All the usual building categories (Space, Town, Castle, and so on) will be represented, as well as several new ones… Alongside a new Wild West display will be the Battle of Bricksburg, a civil war collaborative diorama sponsored by The Brothers Brick. BrickCon is also pleased to introduce Screen Scenes, an area dedicated to mini-fig based builds inspired by film, TV, and videogames.
As well as registering themselves, builders should also remember to register their creations. Table space is not infinite, and theme coordinators need to know what people are bringing ahead of time, so that layouts can be properly planned. Bringing an oversized, unregistered MOC during setup is considered very bad form, and may result in your build not being accommodated.
Now is a great time for builders to explore the BrickCon website to find out about all the games, sessions and other activities being offered. There’s always a lot going on, so it helps to plan ahead so you don’t miss out. This year’s parts draft sets are 41085 Vet Clinic and 41075 The Elves Treetop Hideaway. There are also 26 different vendors peddling all kinds of LEGO wares. And if you like scoring stuff, consider supporting the BrickCon Video Kickstarter by our pals over at YouTube channel Beyond the Brick, to guarantee a souvenir video of the whole event and some cool one-of-a-kind rewards.
The Brothers Brick is a proud sponsor of this event. If you have any general questions, we’ll certainly do our best to answer them in the comments. Or you can contact the Con organizers directly. Otherwise, we look forward to seeing you all – and your creations – in a couple of weeks. Make sure to come find us and say hi! But please do NOT pet, feed, or make eye contact with the lemur…
…it’s his mating season.
