Video trailer for Ninjago game exclusive to Nintendo DS

"Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has released a new trailer for the upcoming Nintendo DS game, LEGO Battles: Ninjago. Exclusive to the Nintendo DS, the game is meant to “compliment” the LEGO Ninjago sets available at retailers."

Click on this link to see the video at the site
new LEGO Battles Ninjago at nintendogal.com

Is Obama coming out of his "dark ages"?

Obama's LEGO Lesson (from CNN.com)

The adult LEGO fans sometimes speak of the "Dark Ages" when they did not play with LEGO, and many proudly recall the model they bought as an adult that "brought them out of the Dark Ages".

Maybe this is Barack Obama's moment to rediscover his childhood love of building LEGO towers.

.“I used to build some pretty mean LEGO towers when I was a kid,” the president told an audience of mostly Intel employees.  “I thought I could participate, only these students used their LEGO’s to build models, to build robots that were programmable, to model brains that could repair broken bones.”

Details and the full story at this link: Obama's LEGO Lesson

International Toy Fair in New York City - LEGO booth photos

Toy Fair 2011 - lots of new LEGO sets, models and themes announced.

Great sets of pictures from the LEGO booth at the International Toy Fair in New York City!
Check them out at this link: fbtb on flickr - collections

LEGO PriceWatch - 20% off new Ninjago at ToysRUs 17-24 Feb

ToysRUs Catalogue page (page 8)

Cars 2 - new models in 2011 - photos & link to more photos

New models for 2011 - lots of photos of other sets at "From Bricks To Bothans" web site. Link here: fbtb.net cars-2-sets-exposed

Star Wars Miniland Coming To LEGOLAND California

Recently I blogged the Millenium Falcon model being transported to this new display, opening March 31.
The web site "From Bricks To Bothans" (FBTB) attended a press event at the start of the year and reported details, with photos from the LEGOLAND workshop. See details and more photos at this link:
    fbtb.net star-wars-miniland-coming-to-legoland-california

Excerpt from the press release: ... "The roughly 2,000 LEGO STAR WARS models are being developed and built by eight model designers and two animation electricians at our sister park, LEGOLAND Deutschland in Günzburg, Germany. It is up to the Master Model Builders at LEGOLAND California to bring the scenes to life with the help of animation electricians, technicians and landscapers all working to ensure the LEGO models appear as realistic as possible with special effects and landscaping.

LEGOLAND workshop. Gary McIntire with Miniland Tauntaun 1

Planning started in March 2010. The individual film scenes were selected after careful consultation with Lucasfilm Ltd. Pictures and drawings of the figures, spacecraft, vehicles, landscapes, etc. were taken as the basis for the detailed construction blueprints. The model designers used a special LEGO drawing paper for this, on which one square is equivalent to one LEGO knob. In the next step, they calculated how many bricks and which colors and forms would be needed for the models. For particularly difficult model parts, prototypes are first built, before the model is constructed brick by brick. To help the LEGO models last longer, all of the bricks are glued together and then sprayed with a special UV coating.

Authentic STAR WARS sounds, actions and lighting effects help to make the models even more lifelike. For all models, only commercially available LEGO pieces are used.

LEGOLAND Deutschland and LEGOLAND Billund will also be opening new STAR WARS Miniland displays in 2011."

New Disney/LEGO sets for 2011 - prices & dates are for USA

LEGO Sets announced for Disney/Pixar’s Cars 2 include:8200 Radiator Springs Lightning McQueen (35 pieces) – $6.99 (May 2011)
8201 Classic Mater (52 pieces) – $6.99 (May 2011)
8206 Tokyo Pit Stop (147 pieces) – $14.99 (May 2011)
8424 Mater’s Spy Zone (114 pieces) – $14.99 (May 2011)
8426 Escape at Sea (159 pieces) – $19.99 (May 2011)
8486 Mack’s Team Truck (374 pieces) – $39.99 (May 2011)
8638 Spy Jet Escape (339 pieces) – $49.99 (August 2011)
8487 Flo’s V8 Cafe (517 pieces) – $59.99 (May 2011)
8639 Big Bentley Playset (743 pieces) – $69.99 (August 2011)

LEGO Sets announced for Disney‘s Pirates of the Caribbean include:4181 Isla de Muerta (152 pieces) – $19.99 (May 2011)
4182 The Cannibal Escape (279 pieces) – $29.99 (May 2011)
4183 The Mill (365 pieces) – $39.99 (May 2011)
4184 Black Pearl (804 pieces) – $99.99 (November)
4193 The London Escape (463 pieces) – $49.99 (May 2011)
4194 Whitecap Bay (746 pieces) – $79.99 (May 2011)
4195 Queen Anne’s Revenge (1,097 pieces) – $119.99 (May 2011)
4191 The Captain’s Cabin (95 pieces) – $11.99 (May 2011)
4192 Aqua de Vida / Fountain of Youth (128 pieces) – $19.99 (May 2011)

DUPLO Sets announced for Disney/Pixar’s Cars 2 include:5817 Agent Mater (11 pieces) – $14.99 (May 2011)
5818 Luigi’s Italian Place (22 pieces) – $19.99 (May 2011)
5828 Big Bentley (67 pieces) – $39.99 (May 2011)
5829 The Pit Stop (52 pieces) – $49.99 (May 2011)

DUPLO Sets announced for Winnie the Pooh include:5945 Winnie’s Picnic (13 pieces) – $9.99 (March 2011)
5947 Winnie’s House (40 pieces) – $29.99 (March 2011)

More photos and details at Stitch Kingdom (link: stitchkingdom.com disney lego )

 

More LEGO cake ideas - Star Wars meets Indiana Jones

More shots and bigger pics with more detail and different angles at this link: indiana-jones-and-star-wars-get-mashed-into-a-lego-cake at uberreview.com

My cake has LEGO bricks in it!

What a great idea!

Smallvillenews (the maker) says, "It was my first ever attempt at making a cake and it took me 10 hours over 3 days to make… Nothing will ever take away the joy on my sons face when he saw this on his 8th birthday".

Source (link): funny-food-photos-lego-constructed-cake

Video of Series 4 and Series 5 Collectibles from International Toy Fair, plus more

Series 5 consists of:

- Cave Woman
- Clown With Pie
- Dinosaur Suit Guy
- Boxer
- Dwarven Warrior
- Gladiator
- Detective
- Cleopatra
- British Royal Guard
- Female Zoo Keeper
- Eskimo
- Male Snowboarder
- Scholar
- Gangster
- Female Rapper
- Guy In Red Shirt & Cap (Lumberjack)

Actual video images of Series 4 and 5 was released from the International Toy Fair in Nurnberg this week.
Go to link at LEGO Collectible Minifigs series 4 and 5 - video on YouTube to watch it yourself!
Also, new themes - Alien Conquest (expected July 2011).

Also, video has lots of Pharaoh Quest minifig images.

Collectible Minifigures - Series 5?

There is a strong rumour & a picture on the web regarding the series 5 minifigs.

Here is a list of the supposed names of the nine minifigures:

• Adventurer
• Boxer
• Cavewoman
• Cleopatra
• Clown with Pie
• Dinosaur Suit Guy
• Dwarf
• Gladiator
• Irish Royal Guard

Due to the photo being marked "confidential", I can't show the photo here, but the link to the site with the photo is: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1186828/pics/Series5Collectifigs.jpg

Lighting and LEGO photography - continued

Death Star battle: why couldn't they afford guard rails on such an expensive Death Star? 

Continuing my observations of how effective good lighting adds to the drama of  a LEGO scene or model, imagine this just lit in a flat normal way. Have a look at the larger photo and more from Legoagogo at this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48033223@N04/5227883455

Again, lighting makes a strong difference to improve the picture of this fanastic model by Legoagogo. See the bigger photo at: "Deep core 6 is under attack" by Legoagogo at Flickr

New regular blog page = "Fresh Flickr fotos"

I am starting a new regular page called "Fresh Flickr fotos", showing great new LEGO designs or photos just added to Flickr in the last 7 days or less. I hope it saves you some time, and gives you new ideas. New postings under this name at least twice a week. Let me know if you like it.

<<  Recent Flickr pic "WIP" from BCth (posted: Feb 1, 2011).

Lots of good ideas here - worth looking at the bigger pic (with more detail) at this link: WIP - by the Bcth - Flickr

New LEGO Nasa sets for 2011

For the 30th anniversary of the real Space Shuttle, LEGO teams with NASA for a new range of launch pads, space shuttles etc. More photos and other sets here at: http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/38299/lego-nasa-space-station-set 

Maersk Train set spotted in Dutch store

The iconic Maersk image first appeared in LEGO in a classic Container Ship (set nbr.1650) in 1974. Trucks appeared in 1980, 1985 & 1995, then a new Maersk Sealand Container Ship (set nbr. 10152) was released in 3 editions in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and most recently Set 10515 in 2010. There is a dedicated group of LEGO train fans, who have been eagerly awaiting a Maersk train LEGO set.

This one was spotted in a Dutch store . No idea yet of price or general availablity

More pics, info and scan of sticker sheet at this link: http://www.railbricks.com/railblog-categories/power-functions/235-maersk-train-and-pfs

LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean - first photos on mtv.com

New LEGO sets for later in 2011 - first exclusive photos just posted on MTV.com

Whitecap Bay

Captain's Cabin

See the full gallery of eight photos at this link: mtv.com - LEGO Pirates exclusive . Click on the thumbnails at that site to see bigger pictures.

More LEGO special effects photography by Avanaut

I had to add another photo from Avanaut to show how much the extra effort makes a LEGO scene come alive. Most of Avanaut's special effects are done with standard household materials. See the other blog entry below for links to more details on  how to do these sort of effects in your photos.

Good lighting of LEGO photos

It is interesting to compare a commercial photo with a "mood" effects shot of the same thing.
See what a difference lighting and display technique make to the outcome of these too shots of almost the sme thing - a section of set 7623 - Temple Escape. It looks like a clip from a movie, but it is just standard LEGO well photographed.

The details of how it was done (underwater & with a drop of milk!) and other Flickr images by Avanaut can be seen at this link here: Avanaut at flickr.com
Lots of great photos with special effects here, especially Star Wars (including Hoth snow scenes!)
Compare the photo above with a normal photo (below) of the scene from the standard set photos.

:

LEGO Geisha by RongYIREN

Great clean but effective design & technique by RongYIREN. Go to the Flickr link here to see more detail: RongYIREN's Geisha

For more of RongYIREN's creations, (including lots of mechs) go to his photostream at this link: RongYIREN's photostream

Badass LEGO guns book

Book available at Amazon.

From the bookstore site:
“Badass LEGO Guns is packed with building instructions for five impressive looking “weapons” built entirely from LEGO Technic parts. In this heavily illustrated 4-color book, you learn how to use LEGO Technic pieces to build working model guns like the Warbeast, a sophisticated, fully-automatic submachine gun; Parabella, a semi-automatic pistol; Thriller, a slide action crossbow pistol with smooth cocking and chambering mechanisms; and the Magic Moth, a simple butterfly “knife” built with Technic pieces.”

“Martin Hudepohl, a.k.a. Xubor, built his first LEGO guns in the early 1990s and has been developing ever-more sophisticated models since. He is a freelance programmer, who also composes original music. He lives in Germany.”

Video trailer at this link: http://youbentmywookie.com/wtf/badass-lego-gun-demostration-trailer-11362

Pricewatch LEGO - Myer - TOYS up to 2/3 full price.

It's back. Myer's "Buy 2, get 3rd free" offer. Finishes Saturday apparently. See the flyer details larger (bottom right) at link: http://www.myer.com.au/whats-on_latest-news_detail.aspx?view=408

iPhone LEGO case

How cool is this!? It makes me wish I had an iPhone, just so I can get it a LEGO case! Options of clear, black or white for US $20 plus postage
only through Amazon at this stage, but I am not sure if they will ship this to Australia - not all Amazon can be shipped internationally.

For the techies: If you have ever had your own idea for a custom item that fits your LEGO (like this case) then you should go to this link (http://blog.smallworks.com/ especially then scroll down to their December 13 entry where they show the actual molding process. They also discuss the problems of uneven cooling of the hot ABS plastic within the mold and show an AutoDesk animation of this hot plastic flow!)

LEGO for breakfast?

What would you make for a LEGO dessert? (via: http://legoexpress.tumblr.com/)

BIG LEGO Star Wars models!!!

The new models arriving at LEGOLAND California, which will be  will be the first of three parks to launch the Star Wars Miniland, including six scenes from the movie series, and one from The Clone Wars, comprised of about 2,000 individual models and over 1.5 million bricks, including a giant Millennium Falcon, an AT-AT, an X-Wing Fighter, along with other smaller characters like an AT-ST and R2-D2. It is expected to open to the public in March.

More photos and video at this link: technabob.com/blog - legoland-star-wars-model-pics

LEGO Grafitti and Street Art

Interesting concept that I just found. LEGO and grafitti combined!

Cole Blaq combines LEGO with a radical approach to art (including grafitti style) to come up with some great designs. This is some shots of his piece called "The Burn". See his name spelled out. This LEGO sculpture is lit using one downlight to great effect.
See more shot of this at http://coleblaq.blogspot.com/search?q=LEGO+Graffiti

See some of his other works like these by clicking this link:  coleblaq.blogspot.com LEGO Graffiti

Series 3 - dot sheets to identify contents

"From Bricks To Bothans" is a great site to keep an eye on. They ran an article with pictures of the series 3 packs, with the dots on the bottom highlighted with a marker pen.
fbtb.net series-3-blind-pack-code-cracked

See the photos of the packs here:
Their cheat sheet can be printed from the same page.
 

If you like LEGO Star Wars....

 Paul Yperman's Star Wars Droid Control Ship = 30000 pieces & 2 years later. How does something like this begin? Paul says, "Some years ago I walked into a second hand book shop and I bought a Star Wars Cross sections book. In the center stood the Droid Control Ship. It blew my mind and I knew I had to build it."

Lots more pics at this link here: Paul Yperman's Droid Control Ship on mocpages.com

Poseidon/Zeus WIP, Ares, Aphrodite WIP | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Poseidon/Zeus WIP, Ares, Aphrodite WIP | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Great mash ups of LEGO minifigs by zeessi to make something even better!
Have a look at some of the older and newer photos of designs by others in the linked set of Flickr favourites too.

LEGO technique - stained glass and floor mosaic - The Princess and the Pea

The Princess and the Pea: The Queen and the Pea | Flickr - Photo Sharing!: "Katie Walker"

Lego mini castle | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Lego mini castle | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Bigger is not always better. Very impressive!

Self-Loading LEGO Dice Tower

A bit of fun, exploring levers and ramps and angles. Check out this dice loader and thrower!
It is simple, but still worth watching the video at this link: http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/01/self-loading-lego-dice-tower/

LEGO model of the day at blxbrx - Escherisms

If you are not following Fascinating LEGO Model of the Day then you should. This one is from a couple of days ago. The special feature in this set of 5 different creations and photos by Blixe63 on Flickr are the optical illusions of M.S. Escher. I am told that, "No, these are not photo-shopped."  Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/35385165@N05/tags/mcescher/
(Via: http://lmotd.blogspot.com/2011/01/more-escher-esque-illusions.html)

Series 3 Collectible Minifigs (green bags) in Target $4.90 each

Barcodes are gone, & ID "bumps" are in for Series 3.
See the printable ID sheet available in the "Useful Links" below right. The "dots" are not so clear now.

Brickvention 2011 & Ryan in The Age again

Another article with the Love Boat in The Age - see link here: theage.com.au - The older kids on the block

Brickvention 2011 & Love Boat in The Age newspaper

Brickvention 2011 is in The Age newspaper, and Ryan McNaught - Australia's own - and only 1 of 12 worldwide certified LEGO professionals - is exhibiting his new creation - The Love Boat.

"Based on the vessel in the long-running American television show, The Love Boat is split in half to reveal the inner workings of life on board the good ship romance.

There's a little yellow Captain Merrill Stubing, the long-time leader of the cruise ship, and a host of B-grade actors who set sail over the years, including a plastic David Hasselhoff and Engelbert Humperdinck.

Tiny motors power the boat's propeller, lifts and lifeboats, which are all remote-controlled.

"It's got over 500 little LED lights in it, including flashing lights in the disco and the rudder at the back of the ship moves," said Mr McNaught, who built the model in the garage of his Pascoe Vale South home."

Go to the full article in The Age at this link: theage.com.au lego fans labour of love 2011 01 04

Collectible Minifigures Series 3 - available in AU at LEGO S@H

Collectible Minifigures Series 3 - now available at LEGO S@H (Shop at Home).
Price is higher than previous series (1 & 2). This series is AU $4.99 (a 25% increase).
Look for discounting in the larger stores when they get stock to get them moving.

PriceWatch LEGO

Kmart Victoria Gardens (Richmond, Vic) has Harry Potter's Freeing Dobby at $9.00 on clearance = 40% off normal price of $14.99 (LEGO Shop at Home).
Not bad for 3 minifigs (Harry Potter, Lucius Malfoy and Dobby).

Custom LEGO Speeder Bikes (LSB) design competition - entries closed

A few days back I wrote a blog entry about the custom speeder bike design competition on Flickr. It was to close at midnight 31/12, but the judges extended the deadline to midnight 1/1/11 (Central European Time) to see the effect of New Year's cheer on LEGO designers.
Some designers chose to base their designs around a LEGO Collectible Minifigure as the pilot. Special link here: flickr.com LSB comp: Minifig pilot & theme (I like the one based on the Man in the Gorilla Costume from Series 3 minifigs (which are out soon in AU - see my prior blogs for how to ID - no barcodes this time!).

No LEGO Speeder Bike competition results announced yet, but have a look at some entries and details posted on Flickr. Link here: flickr.com LSB page2