Have you ever wanted to get that certain minifig but don’t want to pay for the full set? Once again, many of your prayers are answered with these two upcoming minifigure packs, featuring Chancellor Palpatine, Nute Gunray, Onaconda Farr, Han Solo, Paploo, and scout trooper. I forgot to mention that the magnets are just part of the packaging :)
Update: in addition, you can get three of your favorite Toy Story characters as well :)
It looks like someone got their hands on the next volume of the minifigure collection series. What I see is an awesome lineup of some of the most coveted lady minifigs in Lego history including: the forest woman, white ninja, and the doctor with the pigtail hair.
Via Eurobricks
Update: here’s an official picture from Toys N Bricks:
The first full-length LEGO Movie, The Adventures of Clutch Powers, has just been released. You can buy it from Walmart.com (and Amazon.com
Here’s the trailer:
Via Toys N Bricks
StarWars.com has high resolution pictures of the entire lineup of late 2010 Star War sets, including 8093 Plo Koon’s Starfighter, 8095 General Grievous Starfighter, 8096 Emperor Palpatine’s Shuttle, 8097 Slave I, 8098 Clone Turbo Tank, and 8089 Hoth Wampa Cave.
8093 Plo Koon’s Starfighter (175 pcs, $24.99 USD / $34.99 CAD): Includes Plo Koon and R7-F5 minifigures
8095 General Grievous Starfighter (454 pcs, $49.99 USD / $69.99 CAD): Includes General Grievous, Nahdar Vebb, and EV-A4-D minifigures
8096 Palpatine Shuttle (592 pcs, $59.99 USD / $79.99 CAD): Includes Palpatine, Darth Vader (wounded), Clone Pilot, and Medical Droid minifigures
8097 Slave I (573 pcs, $79.99 USD / $109.99 CAD): Includes Boba Fett, Bossk, Han Solo and Han Solo (in Carbonite) minifigures
8098 Clone Turbo Tank (1139 pcs, $119.99 USD): Includes Anakin Skywalker, Clone Trooper, Clone Commander, Tactical Droid, Cad Bane, Ahsoka Tano, and Aayla Secura minifigures
8089 Hoth Wampa Cave (297 pcs, $39.99 USD): Includes Luke Skywalker (Hoth), Zev Senesca, a Skeleton and Wampa minifigures
LEGO Star Wars fan favorite 7754 Home One Mon Calamari Star Cruiser is on sale at 30% off from Toys R Us.
30% off brings the price down from $109.99 to $76.99. The deal works both in stores and online.
All indications are that this is not, in fact, a trap.
Documentary filmmaker Jess Gibson has just completed a 30-minute movie about adult fans of LEGO here in the Pacific Northwest. You can watch the complete “AFOL: A Blocumentary” right here:
AFOL A Blocumentary from Jess Gibson on Vimeo.
Jess attended BrickCon 2009, joined us for a SEALUG meeting, and interviewed many fans who’ll be familiar to readers of The Brothers Brick:
The description on Vimeo says that this is the “first in a series of Blocumentaries about the Adult Fans of LEGO,” so we’re looking forward to more from Jess Gibson in the future.
You might remember the grand theft LEGO story a week ago about Mark Benz who lost $6500 worth of custom creations in a car theft. According to the San Jose Mercury News, about two thirds of the creations were recovered on the night of February 16th, when police found it in an unoccupied stolen vehicle in Castro Valley. Most of the recovered models had been partially or wholly disassembled. The recovered LEGO was returned to Mark, though some was retained for the investigation.
Mark also sent out a press release on behalf of his family:
Late last night Fremont Police contacted a man who’s LEGO creations were stolen recently with good news. A pick-up truck, stolen in January from Fremont’s Niles District and recovered in Castro Valley yesterday, contained a big pile of LEGO. The police asked Mark Benz, President of the Bay Area LEGO Club to help identify the find. Their search for the truck and toy thieves continues based on other evidence found in the truck. If you have any information on either crime, please contact FPD Detective Veteran at 510-790-6800.
Mr. Benz, builder of the missing Lego creations, was delighted that some of his LEGO was found and returned, saying “Thanks very much to the law enforcement agencies involved. It’s great they found much of it!” About the LEGO creations themselves, he said: ”Some are in fair shape while others are completely wrecked,” adding ” The thieves have not been caught….YET.”
Only about two-thirds of the stolen LEGO creations were retrieved, and many reduced to a pile of LEGO “rubble”. Ghirardelli Square and two other models were broken into several large pieces. The Conservatory of Flowers and other model SF landmarks are now only a 50 pound box, about the size of a bar refrigerator, of [seemingly] random LEGO. All of the stolen LEGO trains, along with hundreds of LEGO trees, and other items remain missing. “I hope they find the rest when they catch the crooks,” Benz said.
Nevertheless, Mr. Benz is excited to soon have some of the LEGO back, and plans to rebuild as many of the famous SF Landmarks as he can in time to display them at the Bricks by the Bay LEGO Fan Convention at the Fremont Marriott, in April.
[Mark sent along a little additional information so I added to the post, with Nannan’s permission -Thanel]
In our interview with Angus MacLane back in 2008, we asked him why none of the toys in the previous two installments of the Toy Story series were LEGO. Read the interview to find out, but that gap has been corrected in Toy Story 3.
They’re a bit hard to spot in this screen cap by Bill Toenjes, so check out the photo on Flickr for notes and the full-size version. Watch the complete trailer for more LEGO, as well as a notable appearance by Totoro.
In related LEGO + Pixar news, this year’s giveaway Toy Fair premiums from LEGO included a CubeDude Buzz Lightyear signed and numbered by Angus himself (via FBTB’s complete Toy Fair 2010 coverage):
Now I’m mad that LEGO didn’t send The Brothers Brick an invite to this year’s Toy Fair. Hey LEGO, what gives? I demand my CubeDude Buzz Lightyear!
Finally, Toy Story director (Toy Story 3 executive producer) John Lasseter received the LEGO treatment at Toy Fair with this great bust built by Erik Varszegi (via Gizmodo):
Figures.com has detailed pictures of the upcoming Harry Potter sets for late 2010. Although you won’t be getting four Snapes in 4737 Quidditch Match, you can count on expanding your collection of Harry Potter minifigs with popular characters such as Ginny Weasley in the non-existent burning of 4840 The Burrow and Luna Lovegood with her Spectrespec glasses in 4841 Hogwarts Express. Check out more pictures in the gallery to see what all is new.
Click here for more new pictures from the other themes.
As several commenters noted, one theme missing from the recent news about late 2010 LEGO sets was any reference to LEGO Harry Potter. With part one of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie due out this November, the omission was striking.
LEGO Harry Potter fans need fear no more. Some of the LEGO Harry Potter sets planned for an October release include:
New minifigs include Bellatrix Lestrange and Luna Lovegood.
UPDATE: Toy Fair 2010 has revealed first photos of 2010 LEGO Harry Potter sets.
Here’s the full press release:
BURBANK, Calif.–(EON: Enhanced Online News)–Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP) announced today an extension of its successful partnership with leading toy manufacturer, The LEGO Group, to bring the magical world of Harry Potter to fans everywhere. Under the agreement, The LEGO Group is creatively tapping into the Harry Potter magic to develop spell-binding construction sets and a board game inspired by the property in anticipation of the November 19 theatrical release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I, as well as the upcoming release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in 2011.
“The world of Harry Potter has inspired some of our most successful products and we are thrilled to continue creating imaginative play opportunities for fans everywhere”
“We have enjoyed a longstanding, successful partnership with The LEGO Group around Harry Potter and we are delighted to continue this relationship as we approach the release of the seventh film,” said Karen McTier, executive vice president, domestic licensing and worldwide marketing, Warner Bros. Consumer Products. “Fans of the franchise will be excited to discover the wonderfully original LEGO products inspired by the beloved stories and characters.”“The world of Harry Potter has inspired some of our most successful products and we are thrilled to continue creating imaginative play opportunities for fans everywhere,” said Jill Wilfert, vice president, global licensing for LEGO Group. “The magical stories brought to life in the films give us the potential for an incredible array of offerings, the best of which are represented in our upcoming lines.”
Based on the compelling stories and characters of the Harry Potter films, the new line includes six construction sets derived from iconic scenes and locations, including the Hogwarts Castle, Hagrid’s Hut, Hogwarts Express and Quidditch Match and leveraging building surprises of previously released LEGO® Harry Potter sets, some of which ranked among all-time LEGO best-sellers. Available in October, the sets feature new and newly decorated minifigures, like Bellatrix Lestrange and Luna Lovegood.
Additionally, as the LEGO brand rolls into the board game category for the first time in 2010, it brings the Harry Potter property with it in a premium, constructible board game called Hogwarts, launching in August. Players build and then move throughout the iconic castle to be the first to collect various objects to win the game – but even the most skilled players can be foiled by an ability to move classrooms around the board.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and TT Games also announced LEGO® Harry Potter™: Years 1-4, the latest addition to the blockbuster LEGO video games franchise. Releasing this May on multiple gaming platforms, the game takes players on a magical adventure through the first four Harry Potter books and movies, as they build, make potions, solve puzzles and cast spells.
And don’t forget that TT Games is releasing the LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 video game later this year as well.
The Kockice Klub is making their first Lego exhibition in the city of Velika Gorica in Croatia on Sunday, February 14. My friend Matija Grguric wanted me to pass the word, so if you’re in Croatia or the surrounding countries, this is an event you may want to attend.
Typically our little stories about LEGO in the wider news have a tendency to engender some sort of controversy, but one thing I hope most us can agree on: It’s not cool to steal someone’s LEGO collection.
According to the Oakland Tribune, nightmare became reality for Mark Benz, 49, of Fremont, CA. Mark, who is president of BayLUG, drove the creations back from Palo Alto, where he had a large part of his collection on display at the Museum of American Heritage for a display with other BayLUG members. When he got home, he left the collection in his truck for a about a week. On the morning of February 3rd, he found that $6,500 worth of his LEGO collection had been taken in a vehicle burglary the preceding night. Mark told me in an e-mail that, “It feels crummy! Like somebody took years of your life, along with the cost of the bricks!”
According to Mark, the following models and elements were taken:
“About 20,000 parts forming 20 square feet of LEGO models of San Francisco waterfront landmarks: Ghirardelli Square, the new Conservatory of Flowers, Palace of Fine Arts, Maritime Museum and municipal pier, and the USS Pampanito [submarine]. Also, trains taken: California Zephyr, Whale Car, red SW1000 diesel and freight cars, at least 4 small classic town sets: Camera car, speedboat, ultralite and 1 other, about 60 baseplates, and all of the trees used to scenic common areas of BayLTC layouts.”
We thought it might be worth passing along the information since quite a few of you are going to be scouring BrickLink, craigslist, e-bay, classifieds and garage sales for LEGO anyway, so y’all might be the perfect people to keep an eye out for signs of Mark’s stolen LEGO.
Mark also wrote that he’d “very much like to thank all the BayLUG members and All Fans of LEGO (AFOLs) who’ve expressed condolences and sent pictures and support concerning this theft.”
If you run across a sale of LEGO that’s uncannily similar to Mark’s collection and/or a deal that’s too good to be true from the San Francisco Bay area, please do the right thing. I think empathy should be enough, but Mark is offering a $500 reward for the recovery of his collection.
If you have pertinent information, contact Detective Bill Veteran of the Fremont Police Department at 510-790-6800.