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 Star Wars 10188 Death Star 15% off at Amazon.com [News]

As Ace rightly guessed over at FBTB, Amazon.com has followed the lead of another store and discounted 10188 Death Star 15%, which works out to $60 off ($340 instead of $400).

With free shipping and no tax in most states, it’s a pretty sweet deal (if you don’t balk at $340 on a four-year-old LEGO set, but your mileage may vary).

As you may recall, the Internet has been swooning over this set for more than four years now, making 10188 Death Star one of the longest-lived LEGO Star Wars sets in history. With most LEGO sets now on the shelves for no more than two years (many for only a fleeting few months), this might be your last chance to pick up this iconic set.

EDIT: Bob notes in the comments that 10212 Imperial Shuttle is also on sale, 19% or $50 off.

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High-res pictures of new 2013 Ninjago and Legends of Chima LEGO sets

Brickshelf user grogall has high-res pictures of the new Ninjago and Legends of Chima sets. Lego did a great job of making some really interesting minifigs and increasing the availability of olive green elements.

LEGO Hobbit sets out now from the LEGO Shop [News]

We expected LEGO to officially release the LEGO Hobbit sets on December 1st, but they’re now available (perhaps spurred on by their early availability from places like Amazon.com). All of the new Hobbit sets are out on LEGO.com, and free shipping applies on orders over $99 through December 18.

Here’s the full list of sets:

79000 Riddles for the Ring: 105 parts and two minifigs (Bilbo Baggins and Gollum). This is a nice little set — we’ll have a full review up later today.
79001 Escape from Mirkwood Spiders: Includes 298 pieces and four minifigs (Fili, Kili, Legolas, and Tauriel). Read my review of 79001 here on TBB.
79002 Attack of the Wargs: 400 pieces at $49.99, and minifigs include Thorin Oakenshield, Bifur, Yazneg, and two orcs, plus two wargs. This is another set I picked up early here in Seattle, so I’ll try to get a review posted here on TBB later today as well.
79003 An Unexpected Gathering: My current favorite set of all time. With an MSRP of $69.99, Bag End has 652 pieces and six minifigs — Gandalf, Bilbo, Balin, Dwalin, Bofur, and Bombur.
79004 Barrel Escape: This set includes 334 pieces at $39.99, with five minifigs — Bilbo, Oin, Gloin, Thranduil the Elvenking, and a Mirkwood elf guard.
79010 The Goblin King Battle: At $99, this set has 841 parts and 7 minifigs — Gandalf, Dori, Ori, Nori, the Goblin King, a goblin scribe, and two goblins.

I know we’ve had a lot of sales news lately, but a percentage of everything you buy on the LEGO Shop and Amazon.com goes toward supporting what we do here on The Brothers Brick, from servers to contest sponsorships. Thanks very much for all your support over the years!

LEGO Hobbit sets available on Amazon.com [News]

3 of the new Hobbit sets have shown up on Amazon, keep your eyes peeled for the rest to make their way for sale soon. The list includes: LEGO The Hobbit An Unexpected Gathering, LEGO The Hobbit Escape from Mirkwood Spiders, and LEGO The Hobbit Riddles for The Ring.

BrickArms featured on NPR & in new book on “makers”

I’ve been a fan of BrickArms ever since Will Chapman won me over during a talk at BrickCon way back in 2006. Since then, Will has expanded his business to a new dedicated location, released more new designs than we can keep up with, and been featured in numerous publications and media outlets.

NPR logo The latest coverage of BrickArms was on NPR today. Will explains how his son’s interest in World War II inspired him to create BrickArms, and the story covers a bit of the process Will uses to design his minifigs and accessories. You can listen to the full story on NPR.org.

Following the feature Chris Anderson wrote for WIRED magazine a couple years ago, he expanded the piece into a full-length book titled Makers: The New Industrial Revolution.

I haven’t read the book yet, but we’re told that BrickArms features prominently in the longer work as well, providing an example of how individuals and small business can incubate innovation and deliver interesting new products, without the staff and apparatus of traditional corporations.

If you’ve read the book yourself already, let us know what you think in the comments.

LEGO Shop Black Friday 2012 deals start at midnight EST / 9 PM PST thru 11/26

“Brick Friday” is back at the LEGO Shop Online. The sale starts at midnight EST / 9 PM PST tonight and lasts through November 26 (aka “Cyber Monday”).

Free shipping on orders over $49.
Free exclusive holiday set on orders over $99.
10% off all orders over $149.

In addition, LEGO has discounted over sixty products between 5% and 50%. Highlights include this year’s LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar at 50% off.

The other items discounted by 50% are:

Highlights from items discounted by 20% include:

Link for U.S. readers

Link for Canadian readers

Link for U.K. readers

New 2013 LEGO Galaxy Squad set pictures

Here is a scan of the upcoming Lego Galaxy Squad pictures courtesy of Cupishalfempty, who purchased a set from a Toys R Us in Canada. He has also posted pictures of the set including a parts list. I am eagerly looking forward to the purple cocoons.

Via Brickset

Bring LEGO Stephen Hawking home for the holidays

Speaking of the inimitable Mr. Iain Heath of The Living Brick, it’s been nearly six years since his Miniland Stephen Hawking began taking the Internet by storm. Iain’s latest experiment in cloning little plastic cosmologists has been successful, and you can own your own LEGO Stephen Hawking with The Standard Model.

Iain surprised me with a copy of his custom set yesterday, so here’s a quick review. (No photos of my own, since the whole point of a custom kit made by a fan is the parts list and their personal design.)

One of the reasons Iain’s LEGO version of Professor Hawking has stayed viral for so long is that it evokes the man himself so well. I had the privilege of hearing Stephen Hawking give a lecture on M-theory here in Seattle this summer, and Iain has captured the nuance’s of his appearance wonderfully, from the angle of his head to the computer he uses to communicate.

The instructions are clear and easy to follow, printed on nice glossy paper. It’s always interesting building someone else’s design, since it gives you a view into their thinking process. Iain’s model is full of one-stud connections and bricks attached at odd angles — this isn’t a model to give your six-year-old to play with on the floor.

At $39.99, you’re not buying this model to use the parts in your own LEGO creations. Iain has only produced a limited run of 100, and you’d be buying it because you think it’s awesome (like I do) — or because you know it’d make a perfect gift for that LEGO fan who has everything. “The Standard Model” will make an excellent display model on the desk or mantle of any fan of the universe, Stephen Hawking, and little plastic bricks.

You can pick up your own copy of The Standard Model from Amazon.com. If you can’t find the link later, just remember TheStandardModel.info (which’ll take you to Amazon).

UPDATE: Iain is running a bit of a Black Friday sale of his own. Enter the promo code “BROBRICK” at checkout and you’ll get $10 off. Combined with free shipping from Amazon, that makes this a pretty sweet deal for a custom LEGO kit. The sale starts at 6 AM PST on Wednesday (Nov 21) and runs through midnight on Sunday.

Police fire on developmentally disabled man waving LEGO gun

In news that proves again that taking your life-size LEGO guns outdoors isn’t such a great idea, a sheriff’s deputy in Woodinville, Washington (near Seattle) fired on a man waving what appeared to be a gun.

Here’s the AP story in its entirety:

King County Sheriff Steve Strachan says he’s grateful a deputy did not injure a man who waved a gun made of Lego toy building bricks.

The deputy had responded to a report of a man waving a gun at passing cars Thursday in Woodinville. The man raised what appeared to be a gun at the deputy who fired several shots.

The suspect dropped to the ground unhurt. Deputies discovered the gun was a toy and the man was a resident of a nearby home for developmentally disabled adults.

Via The Seattle Times.

Another Times story adds, “The man, who deputies have encountered before, has a ‘fascination with guns’ and had made the handgun out of black Lego blocks.”

Thankfully, this story ended without injury, but this type of situation is why the Seattle Police Department influenced the absence of realistic LEGO guns at BrickCon…

UPDATE: Local TV station KOMO has an updated story with pictures of the gun.

LEGO
Photo by King County Sheriff’s Office

Get a jump on Black Friday deals with free shipping, free holiday set & more [News]

Today only, members of the LEGO VIP Program get early access to “Brick Friday” sales.

The free shipping amount has been lowered to $49.
At $99, you get this year’s exclusive holiday set for free (which can’t be purchased separately).
At $149, you get 10% off your whole order.

And since we haven’t mentioned it yet, the LEGO Shop now has a Retiring Soon page that highlights LEGO sets for which production runs will not be renewed, and so whatever LEGO currently has in stock is all that’s left.

Chief among these is the classic LEGO Castle set 10193 Medieval Market Village, unveiled at BrickCon 2009.

Don’t miss the rest of the Retiring Soon sets on LEGO.com.

Pop-up LEGO Todai-ji opens to reveal Giant Buddha

Back in 2009, the Internet marveled at Japanese builder talapz‘s mind-boggling pop-up Kinkaku-ji pavilion. Now, he’s at it again! This time, he’s built Todai-ji, a temple in Nara, Japan that houses the world’s largest bronze statue of Buddha.

Nara was one of Japan’s first capitol cities, before Kyoto and Tokyo. Todai-ji and the Giant Buddha (Daibutsu) are part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, encompassing treasures from the period of ancient Japan (AD 710-794) that shares the city’s name.

For those of you inclined to try building your own pop-up Todai-ji, there is hope! In the second half of the video, talapz provides step-by-step instructions (449 steps) to build your own pop-up Todai-ji temple from a parts list — complete with Bricklink IDs — of 8816 LEGO elements. Good luck!

Hillel Cooperman’s BrickCon keynote video now online

Since BrickCon 2010, we’ve been treated to Hillel Cooperman‘s hilarious opinions about the world of LEGO fandom. This year’s keynote address is now online, and gives you a flavor of what it’s like to get in a room and laugh together with 500 of your closest friends. This year, Hillel shares a lovely retrospective of the first 10 years of the longest-running LEGO convention.

Warning: This is an uncensored video at a convention for adult LEGO fans. Expect the occasional four-letter word…

http://youtu.be/vRPnKoWF6qw