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.

TICO Mini Bricks. The New Tiny Kid on the Block.

During my recent trip to Taiwan, I came across a new line of micro brick construction toys called TICO. It appears to be a Taiwan made clone brand of the Japanese brand Nanoblock at only half the price. I bought a set, #3010 Battle Robot (RxB) for NT$180, which comes out to a little more than $6 US for around 80 pieces.

The elements are very tiny and are rather difficult to handle, requiring a great deal of fine motor control. The instructions are straight forward, however, they use a technique of hi-lighting the pieces used in the current step by showing the pieces a shade lighter. This is a problem when the set includes 2 shades of grey, creating confusion as to which shade of grey is needed at which step. Secondly, the elements have no way of locking the studs of a connecting element on the long axis of an element, allowing the element on the underside to slide around. This creates a lot of play in the construction, making it somewhat difficult to line pieces up correctly.

The final model is very loose and fragile as it has many one stud connections. The overall construction is less the sturdy, lacking in overlapping elements to lock things in place. If micro bricks are your thing, TICO Mini Bricks are an affordable alternative to the pricier Nanoblock. According to their website, TICO appears to have licensed sets for Totoro, Angry Birds and One Piece, which are all very popular in Taiwan.

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Registration for Brickworld Chicago now open [News]

You can now register for Brickworld 2013 in Chicago from June 12-16. This year marks an exciting change for one of the premier Lego conventions in the US because Brickworld will be moving to a new venue at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center that offers up to 148,624 sq. ft of space for the event. If you thought the previous Brickworld display area was big, the new place more than triples the size of the previous convention hall (see for yourself). I hope to see many of you there!

10232 Palace Cinema more pictures

More pictures of the upcoming modular building 10232 Palace Cinema have surfaced on Flickr. You can see them in this Flickr gallery.

WB Interactive announces 3 LEGO Legends of Chima games [News]

Speaking of Legends of Chima, today WB Interactive officially announced a set of three new games based on the theme.

The first game, LEGO® Legends of Chima ™: Speedorz ™ (whose name is trademarked in various ways, in case you missed it) launches today on LEGO.com and iOS (iPhone and iPad), while LEGO® Legends of Chima ™: Laval’s Journey will be released on handheld game platforms from Nintendo and Sony this summer.

Later in the year, LEGO® Legends of Chima ™ Online launches as a free-to-play “online world.” (And no, this isn’t the MMO based on Collectible Minifigures announced earlier this summer.)

Here’s the complete press release:

London, UK – 2nd January, 2013 – Enter and explore the Kingdom of Chima™ in three gameplay experiences, offering something for all types of LEGO® gamers! Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and The LEGO Group today announced the LEGO ® Legends of Chima ™ videogames, scheduled to roar into 2013 for various platforms. The three videogames will each provide an entirely unique and exciting adventure that builds to the next experience and complement the just announced LEGO Legends of Chima™ universe of products, which includes construction sets, vehicles, TV content and more. LEGO Legends of Chima™ is a fantasy adventure set in land inhabited by different magical animal tribes and tells the classic story of good and evil, friendship and family.

“We are doing something innovative with LEGO Legends of Chima™ by making three distinct videogame experiences on a variety of platforms,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Production and Development, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “By creating multiple LEGO videogame experiences for one brand, we are catering to today’s diverse gaming community, as well as establish a rewards system for players of all three games.”

LEGO® Legends of Chima ™: Speedorz ™, a racing mini-game produced by TT Games and 4T2, revs its way on to LEGO.com today and iOS tomorrow, 3rd January. Players will race against famous Chima™ characters, battle through iconic Chima™ locations, and unleash the power of CHI to boost their Speedorz, all while collecting studs and rewards to unlock more Speedorz and customize characters. The player’s goal is to become the ultimate champion and win Golden CHI, which transforms the world map and opens a new race level.

LEGO® Legends of Chima ™: Laval’s Journey, developed by TT Games, is scheduled to be available for the Nintendo 3DS™ hand-held system and for the PS®Vita system in summer 2013 and for the Nintendo DS™ hand-held system in autumn 2013. Players will embark on an amazing adventure into the world of Chima™ where the brave warrior Laval and his allies are called upon to fight for justice.

In autumn 2013, LEGO® Legends of Chima ™ Online , a free-to-play, online world developed by WB Games Montréal, will provide kids with a safe and incredibly immersive connected game experience. Players will be able to build and customize their kingdom in the world of Chima™, explore massive environments like the Falling Leaves Forest, take on missions to help Laval and his friends, uncover hidden secrets and treasures, earn rewards, and use LEGO bricks to build weapons, gadgets, and more!

The Chima™ Vault, which houses an exclusive reward system, will be accessible to players on LEGO.com/chima. While playing LEGO Legends of Chima™: Speedorz ™ and LEGO Legends of Chima™: Laval’s Journey , players will be able to earn points. These points can be redeemed through the Vault for a variety of unique content that players can use to enhance their experience in LEGO® Legends of Chima ™ Online.

What do you think? Discuss away in the comments!

All Jan 2013 LEGO sets now available – Arkham, Chima, TMNT, Friends... [News]

Continuing our post-holiday LEGO news catchup, this is just a quick reminder that all the January 2013 LEGO sets are now available from the LEGO Shop online.

Highlights include the new LEGO Batman set 10937 Arkham Asylum Breakout.

The rest of the 2013 LEGO Super Heroes sets are also online now, including new Spider-Man and other Batman sets.

The new LEGO Train set 10233 Horizon Express is out.

The full range of LEGO Legends of Chima sets are also available, and you can get a free Ewar’s Acro-Fighter with any $75 purchase.

The complete list of Legends of Chima sets:

(For behind-the-scenes technical reasons, that list took me forever, so we’ll just give you banner links from here on out.)

The LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sets were released a little early elsewhere, but they’re now on LEGO.com as well.

Finally (for today), LEGO Friends gets a complete refresh for 2013 with (count ’em) eleven new sets.

Bricks Cascade 2013 LEGO convention in Portland, Oregon

The 2013 North American LEGO convention season kicks off on March 7 with Bricks Cascade in Portland, Oregon.

Registration is now open. Here’s the official announcement:

Portland, OR – The Portland Lego Users Group (PortLUG) and Bricklandia, Inc. are pleased to announce Bricks Cascade 2013 open registration!

On Thursday, March 7, 2013, starting at noon, Friday, March 8, Saturday, March 9, and Sunday, March 10, 2013, our doors will be open for Convention members to attend our 2nd Brick Convention at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon.

Games, classes, competitions, and LEGO related announcements/ products will enhance the experience for convention members. Please go to http://www.brickscascade.com/page/convention to register and give automated PayPal payment to attend the convention. Introductory admission into Hall A for convention members and the entire event is $52 a person.

Public Exhibition of the event and its displays will be on Saturday, March 9 and Sunday March 10, 2013. Admission to the public display will be $8 per person, $28 per family (2 adults and up to 3 children).

We hope see you there!

New LEGO Friends blog – Heartlake Friends [News]

Our friend Ace (from FBTB) and his family have just launched a new website dedicated to LEGO Friends called Heartlake Friends.

Here’s what Ace has to say in the announcement on FBTB:

The goal of Heartlake Friends is to take an unbiased position to look past the noise of any perceived controversy and celebrate all the positive aspects and outcomes from LEGO Friends. Me being an adult male, I’m not exactly the target audience for the line, so this is where my wife steps in. She’ll be managing the content and together with our three year old daughter, we hope to make a compelling blog that you’ll want to visit and maybe even share with us your thoughts and stories on your experiences with LEGO Friends.

To get things started, Heartlake Friends is hosting a contest, for which the deadline has just been extended to Sunday, January 6. So, head on over to HeartlakeFriends.com to check out the news, reviews, and more.

First pictures of LEGO Architecture 21017 Imperial Hotel

Pictures of an upcoming Lego Architecture has surfaced for 21017 Imperial Hotel. There’s no word on the price or release date, but you can find more pictures on Eurobricks.

Edit (AB): A few notes about the real-world building: Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, and construction was finished on the Maya Revival-style complex in 1923, just in time for the Great Kanto Earthquake that same year. The structure survived, though with some damage, ultimately having to be torn down several decades later. This will be the first LEGO Architecture set inspired by a building in Japan.

Screaming through the Imperial Fleet

Jerac‘s TIE fighter is a realistic and elegant take on the iconic Star Wars ship. The combination of the round corner bricks and the printed dish makes for the best cockpit design I’ve seen for the TIE.

First picture of 10232 Palace Cinema

A picture of the next modular building was discovered on Lego Shop at Home of 10232 Palace Cinema. There’s no word on the release date or pricing, but I suspect it will be available sometime in the spring, which is the usual release time for modulars.

Via Brickset

LEGO Minecraft set back in stock – likely very briefly

It may already be gone by the time you read this, but in case it’s not, 21102 LEGO Minecraft is back in stock at the LEGO Shop online.

Lego StarCraft Hydralisk

The hydralisk is one of the most iconic creatures in the game of StarCraft, and Mike Nieves‘ Lego rendition captures the ferociousness of this feared zerg beast. Mike recently made an infestor and has plans to build other zerg units as well, and I can’t wait to see them.