Category: Seasonal

Wal-Mart Announces LEGO Brick Set Deals for Black Friday 2017.

We only have ten days to go before Thanksgiving, and Black Friday, of course, comes in the next day, where retail businesses get crowded by frenzied waves of holiday shoppers.  As expected, the biggest names in retail have started their promotions and pitches already.

As of to date, Wal-Mart has brought out its Black Friday 2017 ads, and as expected, they have a special treat or two lined up for solid fans of LEGO, either in the Classic line or the younger-geared Duplo series. Check these out:

For the regular LEGO range, Wal-Mart offers the LEGO Classic Creative Box (10704), a set of 900 bricks and assorted pieces with which young builders can create basically anything that they fancy: from space ships to boats, and race cars to flying monsters. The many possibilities with a LEGO brick is practically endless.

This is a perfect gift for a budding LEGO fan of at least age 4, especially if you’d like him to start really big with a pile of pieces to work with.

Next on the Wal-Mart Promos is the LEGO Duplo Creative Box (10854), the even younger version of set 10704, perfect for constructive tykes between ages 2 to 5.

It’s got 120 pieces, not much in comparison to its larger sibling. The variety of shapes and colors will definitely help young builders enjoy every second of their building experience. Set 10854 even comes with some minifigures of a boy and his cat for added fun with any resulting creations.

Both of these sets are normally priced at $39.99, but on Black Friday, Wal-Mart is offering them at a flat $20 each, whether they are in-store or purchased online. The offer’s good while supplies last, and there might be a chance it won’t. So happy building!

Amazon Takes 20% Off Their Price for the 2017 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar (75184).

The holiday season is almost here; the frenzy to get some seasonal shopping done is starting to build up into a fever pitch. Brands like LEGO make it a point to release their seasonal products quite early, like their various Advent Calendar sets that were put on their online shop, and Amazon, as early as September.

They have calendar sets themed after their City line (60155) and their girls-geared Friends line (41326), but for franchise fan-boys there can be no better acquisition than the LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar (75184), and Amazon has deemed it right to slash its price.

For those who feel that the $39.99 retail price of the LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar 75184 could do with a sale discount, Amazon is getting its Santa Claus hat on for them. They are slashing a good 20% off that number and offering the advent calendar to buyers for only $31.99, Prime shipping included.

Fans of Star Wars and LEGO ought to take up this offer now, if buying from Amazon, as this is likely the lowest the 75814 set will get this year. The advent calendar set from 2016 never went below $31.95 in discount price on Amazon.

The LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar contains 24 sweet mini-gifts of vehicles and minifigures of characters from the famous galaxy far, far away. The featured mini-spaceships include the Millennium Falcon (naturally), the Ghost from Star Wars: Rebels, Kylo Ren’s shuttle from The Force Awakens, a Y-Wing fighter and a TIE Striker among many.

Minifigures range from brave Rebels, to Stormtroopers from both the Galactic Empire and the First Order, with five blaster weapons among them. The unbelievably cute BB-8 droid is also part of the set, which includes a foldout play-mat featuring scenes from Episode VII. This Amazon bargain is calling to you, so follow General Leia Organa’s advice and “let it in.”

UK LEGO Online Shoppers Can Avail £5 Discount When Paying With PayPal.

As a truly global brand, LEGO has got plenty of special deals for their regular and loyal customers wherever they may be in the world. This is most excellently facilitated by the various options available on the online LEGO Shop, depending on region.

For instance, LEGO UK is offering a two-for one special offer for customers in the form of a free set and a generous discount for one particular payment option during checkout. It looks to be shaping up to be a great time of the year for British online shoppers who depend on the net payment platform PayPal.

So there it is. British costumers to the UK LEGO Shop website are guaranteed a £5 discount whenever they choose PayPal as their online payment method for their order. It’s a remarkable partnership between LEGO and PayPal Holdings, currently one of the largest and most trusted internet payment companies around, and a Fortune 500 member since June of last year.

That five-pound discount can be a helpful money-saver for the oncoming Holiday Shopping rush, and will definitely encourage shoppers to look towards the online LEGO Shop for gift ideas. Remember though, the discount is effective until December 13 only.

This works quite nicely with the other seasonal Holiday treat that LEGO UK has for consumers. They are also giving away a free 2017 24-in-1 LEGO Christmas Build (42053) for a minimum purchase of £60 in products. This of course stacks with the aforementioned PayPal discount of £5 whenever their payment method is selected at checkout. It also works with LEGO VIP points for even more fantastic savings.

The LEGO Seasonal Christmas Build-Up (42053) is not the only holiday-themed set out now. Buyers can also check out Christmas Train Ride (40262) and Christmas Town Square (40263) for even more Holiday playtime cheer.

LEGO Seasonal Nutcracker (40254) Available as a Brick Friday Promo.

There’s just no end to the sheer number of promos that LEGO is hyping up for everyone as the year comes to a close. Seasonal sets are coming out once again with the holidays just around the corner, and some of these are really out to make an early start of things.

For instance, after Thanksgiving late this November, LEGO is turning Black Friday into Brick Friday with the seasonal release of the LEGO Nutcracker statue (40254). It is the company’s beautiful take on the traditional Christmas ornamentation, and LEGO buyers can have it in two ways.

The 230-piece LEGO Nutcracker set comes free to any LEGO shoppers with a minimum purchase of $99 from November 24 to 27. However, LEGO VIP members, will be entitled to a special, earlier two-day promo period from November 18 to 19, a whole week before the regular one.

The LEGO Nutcracker set seems to be larger than it looks and definitely looks great on a mantelpiece or cabinet to spread some Yuletide cheers. Its classic, subtle details are testament to LEGO’s classical appreciation.

For those who are familiar with the “Nutcracker” ballet, they’d recognize the mechanical basics of the LEGO Nutcracker real fast. The main nut-cracking action is in the chest cavity, with a crushing jaw on the chest manipulated by a lever at the back.

Be warned though – much like decorative nutcrackers made after the mid-20th Century, the mechanism is just for show because LEGO bricks are not tough enough to crunch real nuts. Oh well, it’s still a beautifully designed seasonal set that can easily be taken apart and stored once the holidays are over.

Last LEGO Store Calendar of the Year Now Available!

UPDATE: The official December LEGO Store Calendar is now up on LEGO’s servers. I’ve updated the images below to include those that are actually found on the calendar.

LEGO caps off the year with a string of promotionals that you can find in the LEGO December Store Calendar. This year’s last LEGO Store Calendar offers a mix of freebies coming from the LEGO Ninjago, Creator and Star Wars themes. Plus, it gives us an early access to some of LEGO’s 2018 sets. Check the images below, or you can download the entire calendar in PDF format right here. 

December 1 to 7: Free Master Wu Keychain (5004915) with a purchase of $35 or more of any LEGO products.

As we previously reported, the Master Wu Keychain is part of the series of freebies tied-in with the LEGO Ninjago Movie, earlier announced last July. Frankly speaking, there not much of a difference between this keychain counterpart of Master Wu as compared to those included in three TLNM sets: Master Falls (70608), Green Ninja Mech Dragon (70612), and Destiny’s Bounty (70618) so I expect that this will not be highly sought out for as compared to the LEGO Ninjago Movie Kendo Lloyd (30608) polybag.

The free Master Wu Keychain is valid from December 1 to 7 or until supplies last.

December 5 to 6: VIP Monthly Model Build is a Train (40250).

To reserve your spot, simply register for the December MMB by visiting shop.LEGO.com/Minibuild-Registration starting November 15. The LEGO MMB is meant for children ages 6 to 14, and must be completely built in store.

December 8 to 10: Double VIP Points on Everything.

If you still have time for some last minute Christmas holiday shopping rush, then you may want to go over your LEGO Christmas shopping list once again. For three days, you can earn those double VIP points while bagging those sets included in your LEGO wishlist. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed for that UCS Millennium Falcon.

December 8 to 17: Free LEGO Creator Mini London Bus (40220) with a purchase of $75 or more, or while supplies last.

Rolling out of its garage is the LEGO Creator Mini London Bus (40220), and it is back once more as a free promotional for a price point of $75 and more. It’s kind of nice of LEGO to bring back this younger sibling of the LEGO Creator Expert London Bus (10258) and have it offered once again with the same qualifying purchase when it first went live in 2016.

If you can hold on to that next LEGO purchase, and if you can add $40 worth of LEGO sets in your shopping bag, then this freebie is a better offer than that of Master Wu Keychain earlier mentioned.

December 15, 2017 to January 14, 2018: Free LEGO Star Wars Darth Vader Anniversary Pod (5005376) with a LEGO Star Wars purchase of $60 or more.

This fifth and latest promotional pod is a nod to Star Wars’ 40th anniversary, with the iconic Sith Lord being the highlight of this minifigure promotional. This latest minifigure version of Darth Vader seems to be a redesign over previous ones, and bagging this freebie is the best way of adding him to your collection. The smallest set by far in which you can add the Sith Lord in your roster of LEGO Star Wars minifigs is thru the Darth Vader Transformation (75183) set retailing for $25. For a price point of $60 and above of any LEGO Star Wars products, this is certainly a good catch.

Lastly, LEGO certainly knows how to end the year with a bang, with several 2018 sets being available as early as November 25. I am particularly excited for the LEGO Creator Modular Skate House (31081) which is a part of LEGO’s early reveal of its 2018 LEGO Creator line-up. Of course, we also have the re-released LEGO Creator Expert Taj Mahal (10256) – the now 2nd largest LEGO set ever made, having been bested from its throne by the UCS Millennium Falcon (75192) – scheduled for another run starting November 27.

The December LEGO Store Calendar also gives us another treat by giving us a peek of one of the 2018 Nexo Knight sets which is the Berserker Bomber (72003). It was previously reported that the Nexo Knights theme was given another year, with six additional sets slated for next year accompanying a new story arc.  We’ll talk more about that later in my next post.

 

This Year’s LEGO Seasonal Christmas Build-Up (40253) Promotional, Now Up at LEGO Shop@Home.

Whenever the Holiday Season comes around, leave it to LEGO to have something with which to celebrate this happy occasion with their loyal builders and fans. One of their traditions in this time of year is their holiday promotional, the LEGO Seasonal Christmas Build-Up 24-in-1 (40253) set.

This set contains an average of over 200 LEGO pieces, and can be put together to form several Christmas holiday symbols from the iconic to the off-the-wall. Soon it will be time to mark the days to December 24th when LEGO presents this year’s version of their Holiday Countdown Set, available from November 1 to 15, both in-store and at shop.LEGO.com.

Although at first glance (especially by those who bought the similar it last year), the LEGO Christmas Build-Up (40253) set looks rather similar piece-wise to the 2016 version (40222), the 254 pieces included in this box are all new ones for the year. Ranging from single-peg components to wide bases, this set will have young builders creating a great variety of season relics.

There are pieces to form a large brown reindeer, a Christmas tree, an Advent Wreath and even a snowmobile among others. The real fun is figuring out all 24 different creations that can be made.

That last part has a clarification, however. The 24-in-1 label on the box art is not entirely accurate in that, while LEGO has pegged a total of 24 possible builds out of the set, you can’t have all 24 assembled at once. There can be only several of the total at any given time, and that’s quite the downer.

The LEGO 2017 Holiday Countdown set is available from this November by means of LEGO’s Shop@Home platform. It will come free with any online purchase worth a minimum of $99, and it will be on offer for as long as supplies last.

LEGO Ideas Women of NASA (21312), Christmas Build-Up (40253), and More Now Available at LEGO Shop@Home!

November is finally here, and this means that it’s time to gear up for some serious LEGO holiday shopping. LEGO Shop@Home has been recently updated to include several new sets, especially that we are a few weeks away before Brick Friday kicks in. For more details on what to expect from the LEGO Store this month, check out the LEGO Store’s November Calendar.

Among these exclusives to hit the shelves at the start of this month, we have the NASA-inspired LEGO Ideas Women of NASA (21312) retailing for $25, It comes in at 231 pieces and features four minifigures of the most prominent women in the field of space exploration.

Star Wars fans may be delighted to know that a couple of new LEGO BrickHeadz is now available to add to your collection. The LEGO Star Wars BrickHeadz Finn (41485) and Captain Phasma (41486) sets are now officially available, each retailing for $10.  These are the first commercially available, non-exclusive LEGO Star Wars BrickHeadz sets made available, other than the super rare Boba Fett and Han Solo in Carbonite (41498) NYCC exclusive. However, as LEGO announced during this year’s New York Comic Con, fans can expect more LEGO Star Wars BrickHeadz – four to be exact –slated to be released sometime in January and April. Be sure to check out Jason’s review of the Finn and Captain Phasma BrickHeadz to know more what to expect from these eye candies.

 

Finally, one of this year’s LEGO holiday promotional is now live. From November 1 to 15, any LEGO purchase of $99 and above entitles you to a free, LEGO Christmas Build-Up (40253). This set comes in at 254 pieces that allows you to build 24 different Christmas themed minibuilds, similar to what LEGO offered last year with its Holiday Countdown Calendar (40222).

If you’re now preparing that comfy little LEGO Christmas corner just in time for the holidays, then be sure to check out the rest of LEGO’s Christmas seasonal sets such as the Christmas Train Ride (40262), and Christmas Town Square (40263) both of which retailing for $10. While you’re at it, you may also want to take a look at this year’s holiday themed D2C set which is the LEGO Creator Winter Village Station (10259).

Shop.LEGO.com in the UK Offers Three Freebies Only For Today.

If you’re living in the UK and you’re holding on to those LEGO purchases over at shop.LEGO.com, then today might be the best time to hit that add Checkout button. As Brickset noted, there are currently three LEGO freebies (with qualifying purchases) up for grabs right now at LEGO’s UK online shop.

LEGO Juniors Racer (30473)

This polybag comes free with any purchase of LEGO Juniors set until November 12. The LEGO Juniors Racer (30473) polybag comes in 30 pieces and a racer minifigure.

LEGO Seasonal Christmas Build-Up (40253)

This year’s 24-in-1 seasonal set comes free for any LEGO purchase of £60 until November 22. Coming in at 254 pieces, the LEGO Seasonal Christmas Build-Up (40253) offers 24 different mini-builds, though not all of them can be built simultaneously.

LEGO Exclusive VIP Set (40178)

Perhaps this is the best freebie of all, currently offered to all LEGO VIP members. But you have to hurry, because this offer is valid only until today. As of this posting, the LEGO Exclusive VIP set (40178) is still available via shop.LEGO.com for every minimum purchase of any LEGO products worth £100 and above. The LEGO Exclusive VIP set is a rehash of 2014’s similar promotional, the LEGO Brand Retail Store (40145). However, I must say that I like the most recent one better in terms of design and aesthetics. If you’re a LEGO VIP member and wish to bring this one home, today is the last day for you to catch this one.

Legoland New York Project Launched – Will Open in 2020.

LEGO is such a major toy and media brand all over the world that it is no surprise that they have gotten their own line of theme parks, starting with their first at Billund in Denmark (near the original LEGO factory site). Today, Legoland is a major tourist destination, with no less than eight theme parks under that banner in seven countries.

Merlin Entertainments, the UK-based theme park company that is the majority owner and operator of the Legoland parks, has three more projects underway: two in Asia and the third stateside, Legoland New York which has just started construction.

It was Merlin Entertainments CEO Nick Varney, who declared the official launch of Legoland New York. Construction would begin soon at the proposed site at Goshen in Orange County, New York following the approval of the town board.

Once building is completed sometime in 2020, the park, located due south of the former Arden Hill Hospital, is expected to open seasonally from April 1 to November 1 and will be the ninth Legoland in the world. While the theme park itself is seasonal, Merlin Entertainments is also erecting a nearby Legoland Hotel, one that will be open all year round.

The Legoland parks pride themselves on being a world of fun and adventure for families with young children. Their rides and attractions are mostly being given educational and learning elements, geared for child guests of ages 2 to 12. The same can be said of the Legoland Hotel, with its interactive environment featuring plenty of LEGO models and brick-themed guest rooms.

The New York theme park will join with its older Legoland siblings in Denmark, UK, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Dubai and the US (Carlsbad and Florida). A tenth Legoland in South Korea is also in the works with a 2019 completion date.

LEGO Christmas Build-Up (40253) Official Images Now Available.

Earlier last September, it was revealed in LEGO’s Italian Store Calendar that set 40253 or the LEGO Christmas Build-Up will be one of this year’s seasonal LEGO Store giveaways. November’s LEGO Store Calendar in the US finally set it in stone when it officially announced that the LEGO Christmas Build-Up (40253) set will be a free promotional that comes with a qualifying purchase of any LEGO products worth $99 and above.  Taking its cue from last year’s Christmas build and re-build set which is the Holiday Countdown Calendar (40222), this year’s seasonal freebie also highlights a similar play feature, coming in at 254 pieces.

Recently, LEGO’s servers have already been updated to include all the official images of this exclusive, LEGO Store giveaway set to be released from November 1 to 15, or until supplies last. Slightly similar to the highly popular LEGO Advent Calendars, the LEGO Christmas Build-Up (40253) allows young builders to create, and re-create 24 unique micro-builds. Take note that these builds cannot be built simultaneously, even with 254 pieces available at your disposal. We just have to wait and see until this set becomes available next month to exactly know how many micro-builds can you create out of this LEGO set, without taking apart the rest. We’ll keep you posted once Jason and Stephen picks this up and reviews them.

In the meantime, can you guess what objects these micro builds represent? Some of these can easily be recreated with relative ease using any of your existing LEGO pieces. So what do you think brick fans, which of these can you easily build?