Never let it be said that we here at The Brick Show does not provide an equal coverage to all news and special events of import to the LEGO fan community, wherever they may be. Aside from happenings on both sides of the Atlantic, we also look to the Pacific.
In the Philippines, the local LEGO fandom organization Philippine LEGO Users Club (PhLUG) is organizing an event next month that is being billed as the biggest LEGO fan gathering and exhibition in that country this year. This is the AKBRICKADABRA 2018, to be held at Makati City in Metro Manila.
As is the standard with LEGO fan events such as these, the ABRICKADADBRA convention is planned to have a major MOC showcase, with PhLUG’s various builder teams working to design over a hundred LEGO MOCs for exhibition. This primary display will be joined by those of invited guest LEGO builders.
But there’s more in store for visitors and enthusiasts to the ABRICKADABRA 2018. In addition to the LEGO display, there will be contests such as MOC building competitions and LEGO videogames, a raffle with LEGO set prizes, and even a children’s play area and workshop to encourage their LEGO interest.
For buyers and collectors, the convention will also bring together a selection of choice LEGO deals for rare and uncommon product items. Both LEGO’s official Philippine distributor LAJ Marketing and highly-regarded resellers from the Manila area will be offering some sweet discounts and deals for sets, minifigures, rare bricks, etc.
The ABRICKADABRA 2018 Philippine LEGO Fan Convention will run for two days in the weekend, from May 26 to 27 (Saturday-Sunday), at the Century City Mall in Makati. For more information you can check the official PhLUG website at lug.ph, write them online at nut.phlugpress@gmail.com, or visit philippinelegousersgroup on Facebook.
We all know that at the heart of it, all of LEGO’s brick sets and related products today have an educational bent that’s fitting of the brand’s earliest roots. But their LEGO Education product line is pretty blatant about its theme, wearing the distinction of its educational aims with pride.
LEGO has just announced two new sets coming for the LEGO Education line, both of which are themed for space. These LEGO Education sets, named “Mission Moon” (45807) and “Into Orbit”, are to be promoted as the sets used by global participants to the 2018-19 FIRST LEGO League scientific challenge.
This annual worldwide gathering of young scientific innovators from elementary and high-school levels is a collaborative effort between LEGO Education, headed by Esben Stærk Jørgensen, and the international science-tech youth organization FIRST of Dean Kamen. It aims to have the participants compete in basic research to solve a particular worldwide problem, and propose a solution test-built in LEGO.
For the latest upcoming contest period of 2018-2019, FIRST LEGO League will have its entrants work on the principles of Hydro Dynamics, in conjunction with space travel technology. The two contest age groups with each use one of the new LEGO Education sets for their own research and testing challenges.
LEGO Education and FIRST are projecting about 350,000 children from all over the world will be participating in the FIRST LEGO League, with registration scheduled to start on May. They will be divided into two contest age groups, one from 6-10 years old and the other from 9-16 years old.
The two sets for LEGO Education being used in the challenges are compatible with the line’s mechanical app-based WeDo 2.0 Core Set, as well as other LEGO tech products like Mindstorms, which also features in the FIRST LEGO League. Meanwhile, the finals for the 2017-18 challenges are finishing this week.
When it comes to their full-customization BrickHeadz Go Brick Me set (41597), LEGO has been busy promoting all the fun things you can do. Foremost of course is the possibility of creating a BrickHeadz version of yourself with your own hands. But LEGO’s even making a contest out of it.
Now, LEGO Rebrick has announced a simple little competition – with prizes, naturally – that would spur those who have gotten the BrickHeadz Go Brick Me (41597) to let their creativity flow. As you may have guessed, the mechanic is just to interpret oneself in BrickHeadz form. The best designs win prizes.
All interested contestants of LEGO Rebrick’s “Your Brick Selfie” competition can submit their entries in the form of five photos of their BrickHeadz self, write a little description of their work on the submission form at the Rebrick contest page, and then send it off before May 8, 10AM EST.
“Your Brick Selfie” entries will be looked over by a panel of judges from LEGO’s BrickHeadz dev team. Based on four equally-scored categories (originality/coolness, details, theme relevance and best LEGO use), they’ll select one grand winner and two runners-up, plus a bonus prize winner that’ll be totally chosen at random
The Grand Winner will win a US$200 shopping spree on shop.LEGO.com, a certificate, and a flood of BrickHeadz figures (12 from LEGO DC, Marvel and Star Wars; 1 Go Brick Me (41597) and 23 other BrickHeadz sets that will be sent off one they’ve been released, including 12 retailer exclusives. Its kind of exciting to hear that LEGO has these 23 soon-to-be announced BrickHeadz sets in the works so we’ll surely pay close attention to this.
The runners-up will each receive a certificate, the same set of 12 BrickHeadz figures received by the Grand Winner, plus 11 more sets of that line that will come once released. Finally, the randomly chosen Bonus Winner gets the same BrickHeadz sets as the runners-up. That’s a lot of prizes.
Once again, you can learn more about LEGO Rebrick’s “BrickHeadz: Your Brick Selfie” contest on their official site right here.
LEGOLAND Discovery Centers are the “little brothers” of the big LEGOLAND theme parks. They are family attractions usually located wholly indoors within commercial complexes in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Their smaller scale also highlights the prestige and responsibilities of one man in every LLDC: the “resident” Master Builder.
Now, one of LEGO’s soon-to-be opening LLDCs, the Discovery Centre in Birmingham, UK, will be holding a special one-off event to choose a dedicated and skilled LEGO enthusiast to be its first Master Builder. This is “The Brick Factor”, to be held this Saturday, March 24 just outside Debenhams.
Following initial applications, LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Birmingham has invited 40 finalists to compete for the title of Master Builder, with 20 scheduled for the morning (11 AM GMT) and the other 20 in the afternoon (before 3 PM). The contestants’ abilities will be professionally judged as they build their hearts out.
Among the panel of judges are Abraham and Guy from the reality competition “LEGO Masters” which aired on British TV network Channel 4. And the contestants will have every opportunity to impress them, since they’re all given no less than 90,000 various LEGO bricks and building elements to work with.
The winning contestant of “The Brick Factor” will be assigned as Master Builder of LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Birmingham once it officially opens in the summer. Like his fellows across all LLDCs around the world, his duties include building and maintaining the LEGO displays in the venue, along with giving free LEGO-building lessons to the Centre’s daily rush of child guests.
Could you believe the number of promos and contests that LEGO and affiliated groups are launching just to send one lucky winner to LEGO House in Billund? First there’s one from LEGO Rebrick. And now we have a contest from hit LEGO podcast Beyond the Brick added to the mix.
Much like all the rest, this contest by Beyond the Brick is their part in the wide celebration of LEGO’s 60 Years of the Brick. The objective for interested participants is simple: they simply need to create a custom MOC that could be seamlessly incorporated with an official LEGO set.
Sounds simple? Well, the combined official and MOC LEGO display must be small enough to fit in a suitcase, as the winner will be taking it with them, intact, to Billund. The prize round-trip is scheduled for September 26, 2018 – October 2, 2018, in time for the Skærbæk Fan Weekend.
That’s one of the biggest LEGO conventions anywhere in the world, and the winner of Beyond the Brick’s contest will get to display their work there, which would also include a trip to LEGO House. They’ll get to room with the Beyond the Brick team during their stay, plus meals.
But while the contest winner gets to hang out at Billund during Skærbæk, the runners-up won’t be going away empty-handed. The second placer will receive sets of LEGO House (21037) and the Tree of Creativity (4000026). Third place gets only the LEGO House (21037) but hey, it’s a cool set.
For more information on Beyond the Brick’s 60 Years of LEGO Brick Skærbæk contest, you can check out the details and the rules at their Flickr group page here. The contest period is until April 30 only, so if you want a shot at flying to Billund, go join now.
The last LEGO Rebrick competition, to have a winning MOC design be put on display at Billund’s Home of the Brick in Denmark, will not be closing until next month. But already they’ve got a new contest up and running, this one involving a very specific product line: LEGO Friends.
Several other LEGO themes have already played with having buildable go-kart vehicles for their constituent minifigures, but this 2018 is the first time the Friends line will be focusing on this same gimmick. Now Rebrick is inviting interested builders to get really creative with the Friends girls and go-karts.
The rules are simple. Contestants need only to build a go-kart scene with LEGO Friends minifigures and building elements on an 8×12-stud base. It can be an interpretation of a Friends character’s go-kart, or have the minifigures act out a skit with a MOC go-kart, or even create a racetrack mock-up.
As this Rebrick contest is all about LEGO Friends, the rules stipulate that the resulting brick-and-minifigure vignettes must star any or all of the Friends girls (Olivia, Mia, Andrea, Emma, Stephanie) and relate to the Heartlake City setting. No 3rd party properties must be included in the Rebrick competition entries.
There will be three winners for this contest. Two runners-up will win four of the promised official LEGO Friends Go-Kart Racing sets ($150 value), and a choice of up to $200 worth of LEGO products on shop.LEGO.com. The grand winner will get 12 2018 Friends sets including the Go-Kart ones ($430 value), their choice of $600 worth of items in shop.LEGO.com, and a special trophy courtesy of the LEGO Friends design team. The prize sets will be delivered once available.
This Rebrick competition will last until May 2, plenty of time for entries to pile up. Visit the Rebrick contest page here for more details, and to see the entries that have already been passed.
The Home of the Brick, aka the LEGO House in Billund, Denmark has earned its reputation as one of THE places that serve as a gallery where great LEGO artwork around the world could be displayed as “decorations”. Having a builder’s work shown there is a major bragging rights reward.
In fact, LEGO Rebrick is ready to help aspiring builders get their next masterpiece displayed within the Home of the Brick in the future, as they call all LEGO fans to “Help Decorate the LEGO House”. Here’s your chance to get your work noticed by LEGO tourists coming to Billund.
This LEGO Rebrick contest comes in two categories: Nature and Minifigure Interiors. In the Nature category, builders must make a display of min. 4×4 studs to max 64×32 studs, with a max height of 60 bricks and no overhanging parts beyond 64×32 studs. Subjects can be plants, animals and flowers.
For the Minifigure Interior category, the subject must be a minifgure-scale interior of a room, with a min. baseplate of 16×8 studs to the same max base, brick height and overhanging restrictions as the Nature category above. Interior elements may include furniture, ornamentation, and of course minifigures to populate the set.
LEGO Rebrick will choose a total of 10 winners for each category, each of whom will get an autographed LEGO Architecture The LEGO House (21037) set, plus getting their brick-work exhibited at the real Home of the Brick (builder name and set description included), shipping expenses paid by LEGO.
If a busy builder with multiple entries wins more than once, then along with the signed LEGO Architecture LEGO House (21037) they’ll also receive another LEGO set of their choice, limited to a max price value of $75. The deadline to submit entries is April 6, 2018 so get building!
If you recall last month, the LEGO Ideas Team launched a contest that pools the best original ideas for the next Gift With Purchase (GWP) set through crowd voting within the LEGO Ideas community. Dubbed as LEGO Ideas Moments in Space, the contest seeks out the best build that may be adapted as the next GWP set to be offered sometime in 2019.
Exactly a week ago, a Grand Prize Winner has already been declared – the Cosmic Rocket Ride! (Coin Operated) by mjsmiley. This winning entry garnered the highest score amongst 1,000 and so entries with the following criteria in mind:
Overall coolness and originality: 25%
Most inspired details: 25%
Relevance to contest theme: 25%
Best use of LEGO elements: 25%
This is no easy feat, considering that mjsmiley’s creation bested more than a thousand other entries. The contest also gives special mention to 10 runner ups, and in case you’re interested to see these entries, just head over to the LEGO Ideas blogsite. Now I have to say that I really appreciate how mjsmiley’s Cosmic Rocket Ride turned out. From its color scheme, minifig scaled-build, crank play feature that allows the Rocket Ride to move, and its overall simplicity, in these aspects, this set is an absolute winner. Needless to say, it’s not hard to imagine how this nice, little cute build can become the next GWP set.
However, as it turned out, not everyone shares a common understanding if this is indeed an original work or not, especially for one keen AFOL, who spotted the apparent similarity of mjsmiley’s Cosmic Rocket Ride! to an already existing LEGO set. The case (or set) in question is the Rocket Ship Arcade LEGO Manager Exclusive set given away to attendees of LEGO’s annual Brand Manager Retail Conference back in 2016.
A portion of the building instructions of the Rocket Ship Arcade LEGO Manager Exclusive set from 2016.
Rumors were rife when Brickset forum member Bumblepants called out how similar this winning entry is to that of the Rocket Ship Arcade. Now to be fair, there are still notable differences between mjsmiley’s work (who also goes by the name Mark, as I got to know his first name through one of his comments in my previous article) from the ground up: we have a slightly different base with plenty of modifications to make it more attractive, a relatively different color scheme (though there is still the conspicuous red and yellow pieces), and an over-all different rocket design.
But considering how samiam391 feels about it – the original uploader of the instructions for the LEGO Manager Exclusive set – he believes that someone have definitely benefited from his humble contribution in the forum. It should be noted though that samiam391 does not claim ownership for this set, for what he did was to only share the existing instructions to the Brickset community in the hope that others will appreciate this set as much as he does. To quote,
It would definitely seem that someone abused the gift and used the instructions for their own personal gain to win a contest.
If they truly did rip off the instructions then I hope one day they are challenged by their conscience.
It’s a shame, but life is much too short to get upset about it. At the end of the day, I’ve probably distributed close to 200 copies of the instructions and will continue to do so for as long as people request them. The true joy for me in all of this is getting to help my fellow AFOLs and friends add a fun little model to their cities. Keep building!
Another build inspired by the Rocket Ship Arcade (from Brickset forum member, elspankdog).
Now, I am not the one to judge the intentions of people particularly in a case like where a winning LEGO entry seems to have been called out for allegedly plagiarizing an existing work. Giving the benefit of the doubt to the designer and creator this LEGO Ideas winning entry, then one can argue that perhaps mjsmiley REALLY does not know that such a set exist, which leads to the possibility that this fan-made set is completely original. Perhaps it’s just by sheer coincidence that his entry is very similar to that of the LEGO Managers exclusive… so, what could be the odds about that happening? As I said, I am not in the position to pass judgment whatever mjsmiley’s motives are, but it certainly raises questions on how “original” an entry should be. Will simply replacing a part here and there from a copied work will already qualify it as an original work? Were the panel of judges of the LEGO Ideas Moments in Space contest aware of an already existing set that may look strikingly similar to what they have chosen to be as the winning entry? These questions may likely pass off unanswered.
Since LEGO has already made the announcement and will unlikely retract their decision for any reason, I guess only time can tell how much of the Cosmic Rocket Ride build will be modified or retained once the final design is revealed sometime next year.
So what do you think LEGO fans, do you believe the LEGO Ideas Moments in Space Grand Winner is 100% original? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
When it comes to superb custom brick built creations that you can actually build on your own, none comes first other than Build Better Bricks. For almost a year now, Master builder Tyler Clites have wowed us with his original LEGO MOCs based from various LEGO themes and IPs that we wish could have happened as an official LEGO set. Thankfully, we stumbled upon the idea of making these custom LEGO sets accessible to like-minded LEGO fans, giving everyone the opportunity to build these uber impressive creations. Hence, Build Better Bricks (or B3 for short) was born, and together with builder extraordinaire Sean Mayo, the site’s repertoire of quality custom LEGO instructions just keeps getting better and better. You’ve seen the videos of these custom sets, and also heard our thoughts on them, and this time we’re giving everyone a chance of owning one of these cool, custom LEGO sets.
To celebrate the launch of B3, Brick Show will be doing a giveaway where you get a chance to bring home an actual custom LEGO MOC of your choice from any of the sets listed at Build Better Bricks. The cool part is, we’re not just giving away its free instructions, but we will also send the needed LEGO pieces to build them! Check out Jason’s announcement, followed by some of our favorite MOCs from B3.
You can choose from any of these custom LEGO models and more from B3’s website. To join the giveaway, simply head over to this link and follow the instructions on the page. It’s basically helping us spread the word about B3 through various social media channels and on the web. Again, if your entry is chosen via electronic raffle, you’ll receive not just the building instructions to create these MOCs, but also the pieces to build them all for free. So help us spread the word about Build Better Bricks and support Tyler and Sean’s work.
After LEGO Rebrick’s Great Mountain Chase photography contest, comes the next high-octane competition that will test your brick-building mettle. Season 8 of LEGO Ninjago has introduced the latest bunch of baddies that is causing mayhem in the city of Ninjago. The Sons of Garmadon is bent on resurrecting their master Lord Garmadon – the ninjas’ former enemy – at all cost. It’s up for the young heroes of Ninjago to foil their plans and retrieve the powerful Oni Masks.
This time, builders are tasked to create the craziest and most out of this world conclusion to LEGO Ninjago’s short video, Chasing the Mask of Vengeance by coming up with their very own brick film about how they think the chase should end. To have a pretty good grasp of how your own version should bel like, watch the video clip below.
That video was a real cliffhanger to say the least! Now it’s your turn to think how this story should be concluded. Simply get your bricks and camera and start making your very own LEGO Ninjago film. There will be five grand winners to be selected, and each of them will be bringing home a customized winner’s trophy from one of LEGO Ninjago’s designers, a winner’s certificate, and this year’s first wave of LEGO Ninjago sets.
Kai – Spinjitzu Master (70633)
Nya – Spinjitzu Master (70634)
Jay – Spinjitzu Master (70635)
Zane – Spinjitzu Master (70636)
Cole – Spinjitzu Master (70637)
Katana V11 (70638)
Street Race of Snake Jaguar (70639)
O.G. Headquarters (706340)
Ninja Nightcrawler (70641)
Killow vs. Samurai X (70642)
Temple of Resurrection (70643)
LEGO is also throwing in one surprise LEGO Ninjago swag package which will be shipped to the winners once it’s released this summer. To have an idea on what this set could possibly be, check out my post on the details of these upcoming Summer 2018 LEGO Ninjago sets. Here’s the rest of the contest description and rules:
CONTEST DESCRIPTION
How would you end the “Chasing the Mask of Vengeance” video (featured below)? What crazy, unexpected turn will you have the video take? What sort of funny thing will happen to the Ninja? What kind of stunts will they pull? What sort of fight scene will they have? You decide! Create a brickfilm using NINJAGO characters to end the video. If you don’t have the exact characters or pieces, just re-create them the best you can to tell your story. Show us your thrilling conclusion!
Before you start please check out the entry guidelines and how to enter in the RULES.
Entry Deadline
Submit your entry no later than March 15th at 2018 at 10:00AM EST.
If you’re not sure what time zone you’re in here’s a time zone converter.
Judging
A panel of judges from the LEGO NINJAGO team will select five grand prize winners in five different categories – Best Brickfilm, Funniest Moment, Best Stunt, Best Fight Scene, and Viewer’s Choice.
They will judge entries upon:
– Overall coolness and originality: 25%
– Video Quality: 25%
– Relevance to listed categories: 25%
– Most inspired details: 25%
It is up to the judges to place an entry in a given category based on their category. The winner for the category “Viewer’s Choice” will be voted for on LEGO Life. The NINJAGO team will pre-select 10-15 entries, which will be uploaded to LEGO Life for the community there to for their favorite brickfilm.
Please see the prizes section for further details.
How to Enter
– Watch the LEGO NINJAGO “Chasing the Mask of Vengeance” video (featured above)
– Create your brickfilm according to the RULES. Please note only original audio is allowed
– Upload your video to a video hosting site of your choice and copy the URL to your video in the URL field on the entry page on LEGO Rebrick
– Take up to five screenshots from your video and upload them on the entry page on LEGO Rebrick
– Use the description field to tell us how you made you audio– then hit submit
– When you receive a “Success!” pop-up notification after clicking “submit” on the entry submission page, your entry has successfully been submitted. Our moderation team will review it within 1-3 working days to make sure it fits all the contest rules
– Tweet or share your entry on the LEGO Rebrick Twitter and Facebook Page with the hashtag #RebrickWeeklyPick for a chance to have your entry shared on these channels as a Pick of the Week!
Be sure to check out LEGO Rebrick’s set of contest rules and have your entries submitted on or before March 15 at 10AM EST. So have your bricks ready and camera on hand, and build your own action-packed LEGO Ninjago ending. Happy building!
