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.

Celebrate 10 years of LEGO Star Wars with a free limited-edition poster from the LEGO Shop [News]

Celebrate 10 Years of LEGO® Star Wars™ at 12:01 AM EDT tonight by getting a free limited-edition poster with any purchase on May 3rd and 4th (while supplies last).

The poster features 160 minfigs from the past 10 years. Don’t forget to check out the LEGO Shop online at 12:01 AM EDT on May 3rd to place an order and get your free poster.

Good luck, and may the Force be with You!

UPDATE 1: By popular demand, I’ve uploaded a high-res version of the LEGO Star Wars minifig poster to Flickr.

UPDATE 2: Unfortunately, the information we received about the Millennium Falcon discount and free poster didn’t indicate it was specific to the US & Canada. Sadly for our readers elsewhere, that appears to be the case.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.

The Classic Castle Battles Contest has begun!

Every year, I host a Medieval Battles Contest at Classic Castle Forums and now is the time!

So get out there and build the biggest, baddest battle you can!

There will be prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places….so you have a pretty good chance. Get cracking!

(The picture is of the winning battle scene from the first year of the contest…Jens was the builder)

LEGO wants to hear from you! [News]

The LEGO Group would like to hear from LEGO fans like readers of The Brothers Brick in a new online survey.

Read on for more information, including results from the December 2008 survey.

Note: For our American readers, note that commas and apostrophes are reversed in numbers. For example, 2,4=2.4 and 1.000=1,000. I’ve also added links in a few places.

As Adult or Teenage Fans of LEGO, you bring an important perspective to the LEGO Group. We respect your creativity and passion for the LEGO brand.

In December 2008, we did an online survey to learn more about the global AFOL (defined as ages 20+) and TFOL (defined as ages 13-19) communities and for your information, we have listed the key findings below. Now we ask you to take this survey again. It include some of the same questions, but also a set of new questions for you. These surveys will be conducted on a quarterly basis this year.

Please take a few moments to complete this short online survey to let us know your opinion on how we are doing.

You might notice that the link refers to the LEGO Kids Inner Circle; this is because Satmetrix, which hosts that site, is also supporting our efforts to track AFOL/TFOL opinions. Rest assured that this survey is for AFOL’s and TFOLs only.

Here are some of the key findings from the December 2008 survey:

The survey was completed by 6.500 (!) AFOLs and TFOLs. 19% of respondents were TFOLs, 81% was AFOLs. 94% were male, 4% female and 2% did not want to share gender.

When asked about likeliness to recommend LEGO products and services to friends and family, AFOLs are more likely to recommend than TFOLs. When asked what the LEGO Group can do to improve willingness to recommend, most frequent answers was, “better pricing”, “re-release classic sets”, “less custom made pieces” and “no more stickers, print on bricks”. This feedback has been communicated to relevant business units within the LEGO Group.

47% of AFOLs/TFOLs are NOT members of a LEGO User group. Among those who are members of LEGO User Groups, they are in average members of 2,4 LUGs.

In average AFOLs and TFOLs are spending in the area of USD 1.000/EUR 700 on LEGO product annually. 20% of this is spent on second hand purchases.

Favorite websites include Peeron, LEGO.com, The Brothers Brick, shop.LEGO.com, Eurobricks, Brickshelf, Bricklink and Flickr.

Thank you,
The LEGO Community Team

Take the Survey

Gary McIntire brings Legoland to Mythbusters

Legoland’s master builder and all-around great LEGO community guy Gary McIntire has helped out the Mythbusters crew with a LEGO related myth. Check out the press release:

LEGOLAND® California Model Builder Helps “Mythbusters” Dispell Myth!

Popular Discovery Channel Show Highlights Family Theme Park in Upcoming Episode

CARLSBAD, Calif. (April 28, 2009) – “Mythbusters” reached out to a Master Model Builder at LEGOLAND® California to help dispel a myth regarding a giant LEGO® ball on an upcoming episode of the popular international show airing April 29, 2009 on the Discovery Channel.

“It was an honor to be included in the project,” said LEGOLAND Master Model Builder Gary McIntire. “I have always been a huge fan of the show so for them to come and ask for my help was really a proud moment in my career!”

Show hosts Kari Byron, Tory Belleci and Grant Imahara trekked down to Carlsbad, California from the show’s home base in San Francisco to use McIntire’s expertise on how to build a nearly 10-foot LEGO sphere.

The myth originated with a YouTube video in which Indiana Jones fans reenacted the famous boulder chase scene from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” with the “boulder” being made of five-million LEGO bricks. The boulder is rolled down a steep street in San Francisco, crashes into a car, and remains somewhat intact. The “Mythbusters” team set out to discover if a boulder of that size could really be made entirely of LEGO bricks and still roll so smoothly down a steep hill without breaking apart into millions of pieces. In order to debunk the myth, McIntire and 20 others worked on building the ball using nearly one million LEGO bricks over the course of nearly two weeks.

“We have more than 15,000 LEGO models here at LEGOLAND California,” said McIntire, “and this is by far the singularly largest creation I’ve ever helped to build!”

The “Mythbusters” team spent a day at LEGOLAND California researching models similar to the one they needed to build studying sphere shapes such as the head of the giant 17-foot-tall pharaoh in the Park’s newest area, Land of Adventure and the dome of the Griffith Observatory in Miniland U.S.A.

To discover the results, tune into the Discovery Channel April 29, 2009. Please consult your local TV guide for channel and times in your area.

I was hanging out with Gary this weekend (all this travel has been keeping me from blogging) and he’s really excited about this episode. He said to keep an eye out for a time-lapse video of his hands building the Mythbusters logo. I’ll definitely be tuning in tonight to watch.

Registration now open for BrickCon 2009: Imagination in Motion! [News]

Registration is now open for BrickCon 2009! BrickCon is a private convention and public exhibition for adult fans of LEGO, and will be held October 1-4, 2009 in Seattle, Washington at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall.

BrickCon is the longest continuously running LEGO fan convention in the US. Last year’s convention drew more than 250 attendees from all over North America and Europe, with a significant contingent from Billund, Denmark.

As in years past, I’ll encourage those of you who haven’t been to a LEGO convention (or BrickCon specifically) to check out our past coverage of Brickcon here on The Brothers Brick and look through the photos in the BrickCon group pool on Flickr.

Highlights of last year’s BrickCon included the ChiefLUG BSG Viper Fly-In, the announcement of 10193 Medieval Market Village, and our very own Zombie Apocafest 2008.

For me, BrickCon is all about the people. Even though we’d been blogging together for nearly a year, I met Josh in person for the first time at BrickCon 2006. Similarly, Nannan and I met for the first time at BrickCon 2008.

LEGO conventions are also a good place to learn that LEGO fans don’t all look like their sig-figs in real life.

With an emphasis on a relaxed fan convention experience, BrickCon is a great way to sit back and get to know all those fellow LEGO fans you’ve only met online — an opportunity to talk about something other than LEGO, in some cases. That’s not to say that the public exhibition isn’t an awe-inspiring spectacle. BrickCon 2008 drew over 7,000 visitors in the 8 hours open to the public on Saturday and Sunday!

This year’s theme is “Imagination in Motion!” and looks to be even bigger and cooler. So, what’re you waiting for? Register today!

LEGO Builders of Tomorrow contest on WIRED GeekDad [w00t!]

Many of you out there first became an adult fan of LEGO when you bought LEGO for your kids (while some of us just never stopped).

LEGO Builders of Tomorrow set For LEGO fans like you, the GeekDad blog from Wired.com is currently running the perfect contest — the LEGO Builders of Tomorrow contest.

To enter, just add a photo of you and your kids building together to the GeekDad photo pool on Flickr. The contest ends next Thursday, April 30.

There’s LEGO to be won, of course, but the winning family also gets their picture featured on an upcoming LEGO set. In LEGO fandom, that’s pretty close to immortality.

VignetteBricks, Microbricks, MinilandBricks recruiting co-bloggers

Bruce NH sigfig Whether it’s in my list of 10 favorite LEGO blogs or as examples of the best LEGO blogs, Bruce H. operates several of the most influential and long-running LEGO blogs on the Web.

With VignetteBricks, MicroBricks, MinilandBricks, and now GodBricks, Bruce is looking for a little help from his fellow LEGO fans.

If you think you have what it takes to contribute to one of these blogs, head on over to Bruce’s call for co-bloggers to find out more.

BrickMania releases custom Panzer IV Ausf. G. LEGO tank kit [News]

The most frequent question we get from LEGO builders is How do I get blogged? But for all of you out there who read The Brothers Brick to see what we builders do, one of your most common questions is “Where can I buy that?” The answer is usually “You can’t.”

Daniel Siskind of BrickMania was one of the first LEGO fans to create and sell custom LEGO sets of his own design, way back in 1999 or 2000. After a five-year hiatus, Dan recently began producing new custom kits.

The Panzer IV Ausf. G. tank kit from World War II comes in Afrikakorps tan, with a unique BrickArms prototype MG42 machine gun.

Dan’s Panzer tank kit includes 690 pieces and sells for $99.95 with instructions on CD.

LEGO Star Wars 2009 7753 Pirate Tank and 7778 Midi-scale Millenium Falcon revealed on StarWars.com [News]

Apparently, StarWars.com is getting all the exclusive details about the upcoming 2009 LEGO Star Wars sets. I didn’t notice when I blogged 7754 Home One Mon Calamari Star Cruiser, but the site also has articles about 7753 Pirate Tank and 7778 Midi-scale Millenium Falcon.

From the Clone Wars animated TV series, 7753 Pirate Tank could be at home in the 2009 LEGO Space Police theme.

The pirate figs (Hondo Ohnaka and Turk Falso, apparently) look unlike any other LEGO Star Wars minifigs I’ve ever seen.

7753 Midi-scale Millenium Falcon is the ~~third~~ fourth scale in which the Millenium Falcon has been released, following 7190 and 4504 at minifig-scale, 4488 at mini-scale, and 10179 at UCS scale.

Read the interviews with Jens Kronvold Frederiksen in the articles about the Falcon and tank on StarWars.com.

StarWars.com interviews 7754 Home One Mon Calamari Star Cruiser designer Jens Kronvold Frederiksen [News]

We first saw prototypes of LEGO Home One at Toy Fair 2009 a couple months ago, but StarWars.com has an interview with Jens Kronvold Frederiksen, who designed the upcoming LEGO Star Wars set 7754 Home One Mon Calamari Star Cruiser.

The article also includes our first look at high-resolution shots of the box art and minifigs.

In fact, Jens tells StarWars.com that “all the mini-figures except the A-wing pilot are brand new!”

Read the full interview on StarWars.com. For those of you wondering what a “Toys R Us Exclusive” means, it just means that TRU is the only store other than the LEGO Shop online and local LEGO Stores that will carry the set.

LEGO Rock Band game confirmed for Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, & DS; due holiday 2009 [News]

LEGO Rock Band logo Although LEGO Rock Band has been rumored since January, with a major leak earlier this month, the game was nothing more than speculation. A press release today, however, confirms that LEGO Rock Band is very real.

LEGO Rock Band Guitarist

The console versions will be co-developed by TT Games and Harmonix, while the Nintendo DS version will be developed by TT Games, Harmonix, and Backbone — all for release during the 2009 holiday season.

Naturally, players will be able to customize their little plastic rock stars, as well as support staff like roadies, managers, and the ubiquitous entourage. Interpret “entourage” how you will, but I plan on making a bunch of minifig groupies that look like they staggered off of the Rock of Love bus.

The press release states that the game will feature “brilliant chart-topping songs and classic favorites suitable for younger audiences,” and goes on to list several:

Blur: “Song 2”
Carl Douglas: “Kung Fu Fighting”
Europe: “The Final Countdown”
Good Charlotte: “Boys and Girls”
Pink: “So What”

What, no Iron Maiden or Black Sabbath? Claims to suitability for “families, tweens and teens” makes me think we won’t see the same sort of set lists I love from Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, but I hope having TT Games involved will ensure the same level of excellence we’ve experienced in the LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Indiana Jones video games.

As alluded to in the press release, the list of parties involved in this game is mind-blowingly complex:

TT Games
The LEGO Group
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
MTV Games
Harmonix Music Systems
Backbone Entertainment
Foundation 9 Entertainment

Click the thumbnails below for larger versions of screen captures from the game:

: LEGO Rock Band Guitarist

: LEGO Rock Band Singer

: LEGO Rock Band Singer

: LEGO Rock Band Drummer

: LEGO Rock Band logo

You can read the full press release on Business Wire.

Via Joystiq, Kotaku, PC World, and just about every other tech/gadget site out there, with hat-tips to about five thousand of our readers. Hey, we can’t always be the ones to break major LEGO news. ;-)

First high-res pic of 8038 The Battle of Endor [News]

UPDATE: 8038 The Battle of Endor is now available from the LEGO Shop online.

Chuck Citrin has uncovered a high-resolution picture of the forthcoming LEGO Star Wars set 8038 The Battle of Endor on Kastor’s Korner:

When we say high-res, we’re talking 3666 x 2531, so there’s a lot to take in — not least of which is Leia’s new hair, printed Ewoks, and some very cool torsos on the Rebel troopers.