The excitement for now is with Black Friday, but quickly following in its heels is the last big celebration period of every year: the Yuletide Season. A great many global brands and companies have something planned for the occasion wherever they may be in the world, but The LEGO Group is one of those that are definitely on a whole other level when it comes to celebrating Christmas.
As per usual, the center of these Holiday events for LEGO is back in its home country of Denmark, at their company town of Billund. They also have a new festive venue wherein they could really hype up the local residents for the last month of the year: The Home of the Brick or LEGO House.
It also doesn’t take much of a genius to figure out that these events will involve LEGO brick building, and lots of it. All these will take place in the free-admission Square area of the LEGO House, where guests of all ages will be encouraged to put their builder skills to use in assembling whatever Holiday decors they desire. They’ll even have “Play Agents” on hand to help out with the building if necessary.
Here is the list of special events to be held at the Home of the Brick, courtesy of the LEGO website. Note that it starts on the very day after the special Airbnb hospitality event is held. Residents of Billund and tourists travelling there from late November to December will certainly have lots of LEGO fun there.
25-26 Nov: We build lots of small trees and plant them all over LEGO Square.
1-4 Dec: We build the big tree (up to 6 meters) and host a charity event with great giveaways.
8-11 Dec: We create decorations for the tree.
15-18 Dec: We make presents for the tree.
22-23 Dec: We add the last details and countdown to Christmas Eve.
We haven’t entered the first quarter of 2018, and yet we already have a glimpse of what LEGO has in store for Easter. Thanks to Bouwsteentjes, we have our very first image of what seems to be our next LEGO Seasonal Iconic Easter minifigure (5005249). 2018’s Iconic Easter minifigure still retains the cardboard box accessory as its predecessors, while the minifigure itself bears a new torso print. Check out the image below.
There are no specifics yet on when, and where we can avail of this latest collectible minifigure, nor did Bouwsteentjes mentioned anything about the source of its image. However, my best guess is that it will make its official reveal soon once the LEGO Store Calendars for 2018 rolls out.
Thanks again to Bouwsteentjes for sharing this image.
Black Friday is almost upon us, and in a few hours, the frenzied crowd of people will be rushing off into the streets to mark the beginning of the shopping season. So before you go outside for a shopping spree, you might be interested to know that Wildcard Toys will be offering a host of Black Friday deals that might interest you.
For a limited time only starting today at 7PM EST, you’ll find the following LEGO deals up online at Wildcard Toys:
LEGO Collectible Minifigures at 35% Off.
LEGO Star Wars BB-8 Minifigure and other Select LEGO CMFs for $2.99 only.
LEGO Dimensions Simpson Level Pack (71202) at $4.99.
Bulk Bags of Assorted LEGO Pieces for $7.99
For Funko Pop! collectors, you’ll might be glad to know that Wildcard Toys has an impressive stash of bobbleheads that are for sale for as low as 35% off. They also offer these select Pop! figures and so much more for only $4.99, including Barnes and Nobles exclusives such as Cat in the Hat, Big Bird, Belle, and Invisible Frodo.
There is still a lot more in store at Wildcard Toys, so be sure to check out their website while supplies last. Here’s a look at their promotional flyer for the rest of their Black Friday deals.
We’ll keep you posted during the weekend for their next wave of discounts for their Cyber Monday deals.
A few months after LEGO released a scale model of their new attraction in Billund, the LEGO House (21037) or Home of the Brick, LEGO has revealed another addition to their latest Skyline subtheme. Coming in at 597 pieces, the upcoming LEGO Architectecture Shanghai (21039) replicates five distinctively tall structures in Shanghai, China.
These buildings span centuries of architectural design, with one classical edifice and four modern locations, three of which are veritable skyscrapers, namely:
Longhua Temple
Radisson Hotel Shanghai New World and the Bund
Oriental Pearl TV Tower
Shanghai World Financial Center
Shanghai Center Building
Word of the LEGO Architecture Shanghai (21039) skyline set was first revealed by official sources in China, where the LEGO Group has maintained its most recent factory operating in Jiaxing since 2015, geared towards the Asian market. The global release for this set is on the first day of the New Year, 2018.
If that’s still something of a long wait for you, then you might consider making plans to travel to Shanghai, specifically Shanghai Disneyland, on December 2. That’s when the Shanghai (21309) set will become available in advance at the theme park’s LEGO Store.
What’s more, there will even be a special guest appearance of Master Builder Jamie Berard during the first day of the set’s launch. By then he would be fresh from his hosting stint at the special Airbnb accommodation promo at the LEGO House in late November (promo joining period is over now, by the way), ready to sign the boxes of 21309 as they are sold.
If you recall, we previously mentioned about a special tour and accommodation experience that has been offered by LEGO, and global hospitality provider Airbnb, in which a lucky applicant can win for himself and three companions a one-night stay at The Home of the Brick, aka LEGO House in Billund, Denmark.
There the winning group would be treated to a unique brick-themed hotel stay, and be able to see whether they can realize what they answered in the Airbnb contest application form: “If you had an unlimited supply of LEGO bricks, what would you build?”
News flash: this one-of-a-kind experience will happen next week, on November 24. And the deadline for submissions for answers to the promo question on Airbnb is this Friday, November 17. The exact time till the offer ends is at 6:59 AM GMT, so this is something to bear in mind for non-European applicants, as the LEGO House one-night stay is open to fans worldwide.
Just to refresh your memories – in order to qualify, the answer to Airbnb’s question must be between 50 to 500 words. Furthermore, children in your party of 4 must be at least 4 years old.
The winning group’s stay at The Home of the Brick in Billund will be overseen by Jamie Berard, one of LEGO’s Master Builders and prolific set designers responsible in creating some of the most awesome LEGO sets around: the Cafe Corner (10182), Emerald Night (10194), Tower Bridge (10214), and Assembly Square (10255) just to name a few.
Once the group has settled in on the evening of November 24, they will be free to build to their hearts’ content, with Jamie helping them along.
Time is running out! If you’re still down to win a visit and stay in the LEGO House, go to the Airbnb page for this unique experience and answer their question now! Good luck!
Toys ‘R’ Us in the UK sure loves their LEGO “Make and Take” events during the weekends. After indulging in the hype of The LEGO Ninjago Movie with a chance for guests to bring home an Ice Tank polybag, now the global toy retailer’s UK stores will be heading back to the galaxy far, far away with their next Make and Take Building Event.
This event has already been held in US and German Toys ‘R’ Us stores, so this time it’s the turn of their British cousins to offer a model of the ball-shaped astromech droid BB-8 for guests to Make and Take.
Quite obviously, it’s not the 1,000-piece, LEGO Star Wars BB-8 (75187) but rather a build-your-own mini version using specific existing LEGO Parts, the instructions to which are available for download online. It uses no unique printed parts and its round body is but a rough approximation of a sphere, but hey, even a rudimentary TRU Millennium Falcon polybag is popular enough to sell out.
Anyway, UK customers who would like to get their hands on building their own mini BB-8 had better make their way to their nearest Toys ‘R’ Store on Saturday, November 18, between 11AM and 1PM (just like last time). It’s likely that the promotional event will also include a scavenger hunt through the store like stateside.
All this of course is in anticipation for the much awaited Star Wars Episode VII – The Last Jedi, which comes to UK cinemas on December 14 and stateside on the following day. Just so you know, the second wave of LEGO Star Wars sets based on the film – while officially not out until 2018 – were spotted in some retailers already.
LEGO bricks have long been a simple, quickly acquirable and popular medium of custom model construction. A lot of monumental ideals – both figuratively and literally – have been realized through the use of sometimes thousands upon thousands of LEGO pieces to erect surprising accurate scale models of buildings over the years.
One recent example of this art is the LEGO reproduction of the Duomo cathedral in Florence, Italy. The LEGO Group itself is an old hand at these large-scale constructions. In fact, one of their builds which currently holds a Guinness World record, will soon be put up for display in Brighton, UK.
This is the all-LEGO wind turbine, one built by LEGO back in May as both an attempt at the Guinness Book of World Records, and a celebration of the company’s early achievement of their target use of 100% renewable energy. LEGO had invested in wind farms in Germany and the UK, as well as solar panels in China, to power their factories and offices in those respective countries.
Originally not slated to be completed until 2020, the early completion of their renewable energy use target spurred The LEGO Group to have a wind turbine built with LEGO bricks at Liverpool.
Said wind turbine, constructed by LEGO Certified Pros Duncan Titmarsh, Georg Schmitt and Balázs Dóczy, used up 146,000 LEGO blocks (the Duomo model only had 20,000), and is now recognized by Guinness as the largest wind turbine made out of LEGOs.
After some time on display at Liverpool (close to the wind farm invested on by LEGO), the turbine will be moved from its original site (depicted in our pictures) to the seaside resort of Brighton in East Sussex County. For those in the area, and tourists too, they will be able to see the LEGO wind turbine at its new location in Park Square, ate Brighton Marina.
When a company has such a rich and vibrant history behind it, they can certainly put that to good use by inviting their loyal fans and followers to tour that history with them.
That’s pretty much the main deal with The LEGO Company and their LEGO Inside Tour, a wondrous excursion that the company describes as a once-in-a-lifetime experience. They’ve got several tour schedules set up for next year, and registration is open.
Yes, there’s already a LEGO Live event happening in New York in February next year, but for longtime and dedicated LEGO fans with some money saved up, the LEGO InsideTour 2018 could stand to be another pinnacle of their total lifetime experience with LEGO and their products.
Throughout the following year, The LEGO Group will be guiding five groups of about 80 or so attendees at a time through some of the most memorable locations in the company’s long history as one of the world’s major toy brands.
It all takes place in LEGO’s home, the town of Billund in Denmark, and will include tours of the house of LEGO founder Ole Kirk Kristiansen, exhibits of original 1930s LEGO sets and models, and an excursion through a modern factory with chances to meet personally meet LEGO personnel and set designers. Each tour session lasts 3 days, so groups will be staying at Billund’s Hotel LEGOLAND in between company visits.
At the end of the tour, participants will receive an exclusively numbered set produced specifically as a gift for the LEGO Inside Tour, and in close collaboration with Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen. This year, tour participants received the LEGO House Tree of Creativity (4000024), a shout-out to the grandiosity of the actual 15-meter, brick-built Tree of Creativity nestled right in the middle of LEGO Square.
2017’s LEGO Inside Tour Exclusive Gift Set – The Tree Of Creativity (4000024)
Here are the five LEGO Inside Tour schedules throughout next year, for your reference:
May 23-25
May 30-June 1
June 13-15
September 12-14
September 19-21
Note however, that the registration period to join one of these tour groups is really short. It starts November 6 2017 at 10 am until Friday November 10 2017 at 10 am. All dates and times are at Continental Europe Time.
Do note that participants will need to arrange their own travel to Billund, as the LEGO Inside Tour only kicks off from the starting point at Hotel LEGOLAND, not far from the town’s international airport. Visit LEGO.com for more information, and then sign up for registration here.
This is somewhat of a revival from LEGO, but with a different twist. Reminiscent of the LEGO Truck Show marketing tour of the late 90s, LEGO will offer once again a unique, family-oriented event that will literally feature millions of LEGO bricks, tons of hands-on building events, life-size builds, workshops from renowned LEGO Master Builders and much more. The LEGO Live inaugural event will run from February 16-18, where the show promises a fully immersive, one-of-a-kind experience that will appeal to LEGO fans of all ages. Some of the highlights of the LEGO Live event include a range of interactive play zones, a Master Lab Help Desk, a huge selection of LEGO sets for sale, and a selection of ‘show only’ souvenirs.
If you wish to book as early as now, tickets are already available for purchase online. Check out the full press release below. Will give you updates as soon as more information comes in.
SPECTACULAR AND BRICK-TACULAR LEGO® LIVE IS COMING TO NEW YORK CITY FEBRUARY 16-18
Inaugural show will feature 65,000 square feet of immersive experiences, hands-on building activities, live performances and demonstrations for families and visitors of all ages at Pier 36 in Manhattan.
NEW YORK (November 6, 2017) – LEGO® LIVE will debut a unique blend of imagination, creativity and play for the first time in the United States with a major family event February 16-18, 2018 in New York City. This new official LEGO event will transform Pier 36 in Manhattan into a brick-built family adventure filled with playful activities, performances and more for both kids and kids at heart. Tickets are now on sale at legolive.frontgatetickets.com.
A must-attend event for any LEGO fan, LEGO LIVE NYC will include a range of interactive themed play zones, each offering a distinct experience – from classic building challenges to using coding and robotic technology to program a multifunctional model. Fans will also be able to meet LEGO Master Builders at the Master Lab Help Desk, where builders can get one-on-one advice and show off their creations. Show guests can explore the latest LEGO building sets, compete in exciting building challenges, and take photos with LEGO models based on beloved characters from iconic films and LEGO properties such as Star Wars™ and NINJAGO®. Among the many experiences, families will find:
LEGO® Life: Maximize your show experience via the LEGO Life app, a safe, social network for kids who love to build. The app will offer details on show activities and insider tips, and the LEGO Life team will host exclusive opportunities to build, capture and share unique LEGO creations made at the show with the broader community of LEGO fans in the app.
Meet the Masters on the Main Stage: Meet a LEGO Master Builder and learn building tips and tricks in live demonstrations, competitions and Q&A sessions.
LEGO Architecture: Build together to create the iconic skyscrapers that make up the Manhattan skyline in this community building area.
LEGO Minecraft™: Journey with Steve to build your way through the iconic and ever-popular Minecraft universe with the thousands of specialty LEGO pieces found in this creative building zone.
Coding Corner: Build, code and play with the new LEGO BOOST and heritage LEGO MINDSTORMS® toolkits to test your skill in creating your own LEGO robot.
LEGO Shop: Browse a huge selection of LEGO sets for builders of all ages, or select from an assortment of “show only” souvenirs.
“New York City is home to many of the world’s most dedicated, creative and passionate LEGO fans, so we are thrilled to debut this one-of-a-kind experience with families in the tri-state area,” said Michael McNally, senior director, brand relations at LEGO Systems, Inc. “We can’t wait to see how that inherent creativity comes to life as we engage New Yorkers and visitors alike in memorable hands-on, minds-on LEGO play experiences for the entire family.”
Tickets are now available and can be purchased at legolive.frontgatetickets.com. $30 General Admission, $45 VIG (Very Important Guest) and $75 VIK (Very Important Kid) ticketing options are available.
Be sure to follow @LEGO on Facebook and Instagram and @Lego_Group on Twitter to stay up-to-date with the latest information on LEGO LIVE. Follow along and join the conversation using #LEGOLIVENYC.
For more information on LEGO LIVE, and to plan your visit, please visit liveevent.lego.com.
LEGO LIVE NYC is organized by Parallel Live in partnership with LEGO Systems, Inc.
In this day and age, one of the best media expressions of architecture has come in the form of scale versions of structures built using the very ubiquitous LEGO blocks. There have been countless stories about famous buildings and monuments being given the replica treatment.
The most recent build of note is in Italy, where a high school student and avid LEGO builder decided to realize his vision of the Duomo, also known as the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. The result is an astoundingly accurate rendition that, for a time, will be a local tourist attraction.
Giancinto Consiglio, a 17-year-old student from Italy’s Puglia region, was inspired to do a LEGO scale model of the Duomo cathedral following a tour of Florence, the capital of Tuscany region.
Impressed by the majesty of the 11th-Century cathedral building and the adjoining baptistery, Consiglio would use a CAD program on his home computer to generate a 3D model of the structures, and concluded that, to translate the CGI into a real model, he would need a total of 20,000 LEGO bricks, in 400 various shapes and ten different colors.
Once preparations were complete, Consiglio would return to Florence to construct the LEGO model of the Duomo, working inside the nearby Grand Museum. His attempt was promoted by museum staff as a special event, the work made open for viewing by visitors.
The budding Master Builder was helped by members from various AFOL groups such as Toscana Bricks, the Italian LEGO Users Group (ITLUG), and many interested builders from the area.
Ultimately the scale LEGO Duomo, standing 150 cm x 60 cm x 65 cm, was finished in one day. It will stay in the Grand Museum as a special free-view exhibit until November 9, when it will be moved to the Bricks in Florence Festival the following November 11 to 12.
For more details on this amazing project, visit Florence’s La Repubblica news site. Image credits to La Repubblica.
