Tag Archives: Niek van Slagmaat

Niek van Slagmaat is a designer with the LEGO Group in Billund, Denmark. His credits include Voltron and many sets in the Hidden Side and Chinese Festival themes.

LEGO Ninjago 71756 Hydro Bounty – Turns out everything *is* better under the sea [Review]

There’s been a lot of focus lately on the massive 10294 Titanic, but did you know LEGO has also released a lot of things that also deal with nautical themes? Why, there’s even a whole season of LEGO Ninjago shows and sets devoted to that sort of thing! The flagship of the Seabound sub-theme is LEGO Ninjago 71756 Hydro Bounty – a 1159 piece set available now from the LEGO Shop Online for US $129.99 | CAN $169.99 | UK £119.99. It has a whopping ten minifigures, a giant submarine packed with surprises, and even a fun twist on a Stingray muscle car. Sound too good to be true? Read on and judge for yourself!

Click to read the full hands-on review

LEGO 10273 Haunted House designers reveal the hidden secrets within Manor Von Barron [News]

An adoring army of adventuring LEGO designers have donned their disguises to discuss the droves of delightful secrets hidden within the exhilarating new 10273 Haunted House.

In the video, they exude their love for the original Adventurers product line, show details from past LEGO sets that made it into Manor Von Barron, and make the free-fall ride nearly as tall as a person to see if it will still work.

Click to watch the video and see all the hidden secrets of the LEGO Haunted House

The 6 new LEGO Hidden Side sets for 2020 include a haunted lighthouse and fairgrounds [News]

Today, LEGO has taken the wraps off the January wave of sets for its augmented reality theme introduced earlier this year, Hidden Side. Each brick-built set pairs with the Hidden Side app to create a game about finding and catching ghosts to save the fictional town of Newbury. The new wave of six sets features more locations around the town such as a fairground, portal, and even a subway station, each with a spooky twist. There’s even an ominously named “Lighthouse of Darkness.” The new sets will be available immediately after Christmas, beginning Dec. 27.

Part counts and US prices are yet to be revealed, but you can check out the rest of the set information below, along with the official press release outlining a study on the effects of physical versus digital play in children.

Continue reading →

LEGO to release Exclusive sets inspired by traditional new year festivals for the China and Asia Pacific markets [News]

LEGO announces region specific sets for the China and Asia Pacific Markets that’s slated to be released from January 1st, 2019 onwards. At the moment, two sets showing events from the festivities related during the Lunar New Year’s celebration are featured. The two sets are scenes celebrating the family dinner on the Eve of Chinese New Year, and the famous Dragon Dance. According to Niels B. Christiansen, Chief Executive Officer of the LEGO Group, this is the first time LEGO has made sets for a specific country or region.

80101 Chinese New Year’s Eve Dinner

Click here to learn more about the new sets!

LEGO’s largest-ever Ideas set, 21311 Voltron [Review + Video]

LEGO’s largest mech ever has landed, bringing with it a wave of 1980s nostalgia. Based on the cartoon TV series that began airing in 1984, Voltron: Defender of the Universe, this huge robot has taken a long, winding route through LEGO’s product development, arriving more than two years after the project surpassed the 10k-vote mark needed for LEGO to assess the project. With 2,321 pieces, 21311 Voltron is the largest Ideas set to date. It will be available to LEGO VIP members beginning July 23, with full availability Aug. 1, and it will be priced $179.99 USD.

Watch our video review here, and read the in-depth full review below:

Click to read the full review of 21311 Voltron!