Category: Contests

Second Fan-Vote for LEGO Ideas “Galaxy of Celebrations” Contest Concluding Today

For our readers who keep tabs on aspiring sets trying to make it on LEGO Ideas, here’s a contest-related update. From November last year to January last month, a LEGO Star Wars-themed contest dominated the Holiday season and beyond. “A Galaxy of Celebrations” challenged participating Ideas members to make “Star Wars” brick-films of characters celebrating Earth holidays. The entries went through two review stages and fan votes up until now. The first fan-vote chose winning brick-films from four holiday categories. The second fan-vote would choose a grand winner from those four category victors. And well, that vote’s about to close.

As of this writing, the second fan-vote for LEGO Ideas contest “A Galaxy of Celebrations” is mere hours from ending. The final date of February 7 has arrived. Now, the votes will determine which brick-film producer will claim the ultimate prize of a UCS AT-AT (75313). All fan-vote 1 winners are already assured a UCS Republic Gunship (75309) and earlier AT-AT set (75288) each. Following the conclusion of this fan-vote, LEGO Ideas will announce the “Galaxy of Celebrations” winners next week, February 24.

While all this is going on, the latest LEGO Ideas contest is already halfway through its idea intake phase. “Afro-futuristic Building with Ekow Nimako” invites interested participants to build their vision of Afro-futurism. This contest is the brainchild of Canada-based LEGO Artist Ekow Nimako. Prizes include both official LEGO sets and an Afro-futurist sci-fi Nimako custom build. Idea intake began February 1 and will end next month on March 8.

Ideas Contest “Galaxy of Celebrations” Crowd Vote Begins

The 2021 Yuletide season saw the duration of one of the longest LEGO Ideas contests in recent memory. It was “A Galaxy of Celebrations,” where contestants must make a brick-film of LEGO Star Wars characters celebrating Earth holidays. The Ideas crew awaited entries from interested members from mid-November to mid-January this year. We could understand why the contest eventually attracted plenty of brick-film entries. After all, who wants to pass up a chance to win the awesome UCS AT-AT (75313)? Anyway, it’s been two weeks since the idea intake phase for “Galaxy of Celebrations” ended. Now, the fans will vote.

Starting this past Friday, January 27, the Crowd Vote for LEGO Ideas’ “A Galaxy of Celebrations” contest has begun. The Ideas review crew already helped by pruning the 195 initial brick-film entries to 20, further divided into four categories. Our featured Earth occasions celebrated by the LEGO Star Wars cast are: Father’s Day, May the 4th, summer and the Holidays. Fans on LEGO Ideas can vote for their favorites on each category until February 3. The category winners will win an initial batch of prizes and undergo a second fan vote later. The ultimate winner gets that sweet UCS AT-AT.

You can check out the “semifinalist” brick-film entries on LEGO Ideas’ blog post concerning the “Galaxy of Celebrations” fan vote. Voting will be done on the official contest page here. The second crowd vote will be on February 13 after a three-day second Expert Review period of the category winners. And after nearly four months, we’ll know the final results of this contest February 24.

LEGO Ideas “Galaxy of Celebration” Contest Ends Entry Input; Fan Vote 1 Starts Jan. 27

When was the last time we covered a Contest on LEGO Ideas? Apparently it was way back in November. An average LEGO Ideas Contest duration tends to be just over two months. Roughly one month of that time would be spent allowing Ideas members to submit entries. The most recent Contest on the other hand ran twice as long in terms of Idea Intake. We could pretty much understand, given the medium being requested by the Contest. Taking LEGO Star Wars sets/characters and doing brickfilm of them celebrating Earth Holidays “Star Wars” style? It’s a lengthy production process true; but this week it finally ended.

ideas contest galaxyceleb 1

January 13 marked the end of taking entries for the LEGO Ideas “A Galaxy of Celebrations” Contest. While there were little to no Idea Input in the first few days, ultimately over 120 brickfilms were submitted. These videos depict the Star Wars cast celebrating various holidays, from Yuletide to Father’s Day to (naturally) May the 4th. From the final batch of brickfilms, a LEGO Ideas review will select 20 submissions for a fan vote. The fan vote will choose four especially great brickfilms for further review. These will move onto a second fan vote where a grand winner will emerge.

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The first fan vote winners (4) will receive a LEGO Ideas tote bag, UCS Republic Gunship (75309) and AT-AT (75288). Of course, all entrants will want to be chosen as the grand winner in the second fan vote. For their efforts the final victor gets the hot UCS AT-AT (75313). That would explain why the brickfilms just exploded well into December 2021. Let’s look forward to this Contest’s first fan vote starting January 27 until February 3. We’ll have an idea on what to expect for our four winners then.

LEGO Ideas Fender Stratocaster Contest Winners Revealed

This past September was a major positive for musically-inclined LEGO collectors. That month saw the introduction of the LEGO Ideas Fender Stratocaster set (21329). Their excitement may have only been topped by October 1 when the set in question officially released. A few days later, LEGO Ideas launched a contest for their member builders. Ten winners will be chosen to receive the Ideas Stratocaster and other goodies. One of them however, the Grand Prize recipient, would also get a real Fender Player Stratocaster guitar. After about a couple months’ idea submissions, review and crowd vote, the winners are officially revealed.

Brick Fanatics gives us this heads-up on the winners of the LEGO Ideas Fender Stratocaster contest. The lucky submissions are an eclectic selection of brick-built dioramas, buildable figures and tile-art. The Grand Prize goes to _Regn who depicted the iconic electric guitar as a negative space build, as shown below:

Grand Prize: “Making Waves Through the Ages” by _Regn

ideas stratocaster contest regn grand 1

For his efforts, _Regn receives the Ideas sets Grand Piano (21323) and Fender Stratocaster (21329), plus the real deal. The following runners-up only gets the sets, but all winners received a LEGO Ideas tote bag too.

Like we said, there are ten winners. But one of them, Picea, got two entries chosen by crowd vote. Neither sets got enough votes to be named Grand Prize winner however.

LEGO Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2021 Promo Rundown

In case the excitement of the LEGO VIP weekend this past weekend made you forget: that was only the appetizer. The real highlight of November for shoppers is Black Friday/Cyber Monday. For the year 2021 that runs from November 26 to 29. LEGO’s November 20-21 VIP weekend had some special offers recurring for Black Friday. And of course, let’s not forget the LEGO Star Wars UCS AT-AT (75313) launching that day. We’ll also get new treats, some of which go active only on Cyber Monday. The Brick Fan got the scoop on a Cyber Monday VIP gift. LEGO Shop tells us the rest of it.

About that LEGO VIP item, it was spotted by The Brick Fan first on LEGO Shop Australia. They also posted the Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotions, seconded later by the rest of LEGO.com worldwide. What are we expecting this weekend? These:

lego holiday tree instore gwp

  • LEGO Star Wars Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber (40483) – GWP with the UCS AT-AT (75313), a Black Friday launch
  • Seasonal set Santa’s Front Yard (40484) – GWP with LEGO purchases over $170
  • Seasonal Holiday Tree – in-store GWP with LEGO purchases over $40

And here we have the LEGO VIP exclusive offers:

  • Rewards Sale – vouchers and discounted VIP rewards starting Black Friday
  • VIP Sweepstakes – VIP members can join, no purchases needed; chance to win 1 million VIP points!

Finally, these VIP offers kick in ONLY for Cyber Monday, November 29:

lego vip blanket

  • LEGO Fleece Blanket – GWP with VIP purchases over $200
  • $5 discount voucher – get with redemption of 455 VIP points (usual rate at 650 points)

Enjoy your Black Friday/Cyber Monday LEGO shopping! This too is but a prelude for the hectic Holiday rush, after all.

LEGO Ideas Stratocaster Contest Now on Crowd Vote

Almost two months will have passed since the release of the LEGO Ideas Fender Stratocaster (21329). This set, which builds the iconic electric guitar (in two color options) plus Princeton amp, is undoubtedly a hot seller. To make things easy for collectors, LEGO Ideas launched a contest early in October. Ten lucky participating Ideas members could snag the Stratocaster set (21329). The grand winner will additionally receive not just the Ideas Grand Piano (21323) but a genuine Fender Player Stratocaster. The entry phase ended November 4. Following expert review, LEGO Ideas have put the best submissions to the Crowd Vote.

ideas stratocaster contest hendrix

To emphasize the musical nature of this contest’s prize, LEGO Ideas selected 40 entries during their expert review. It’s a Top 40 countdown, get it? The fan vote started last Friday, November 19, and will continue until this Friday, the 26th. Take a look-see now at these lucky review passers. They’re all brick-built diorama homages to the Stratocaster and its place in rock music history. No coincidence that the 40 entries contain a lot of Jimi Hendrix. You can also spot some Beatles and Buddy Holly, or even Green Day if you want something “recent.”

ideas stratocaster contest beatles

Of the Top 40 submissions to this LEGO Ideas contest, ten will get the Ideas Stratocaster (21329). Nine of these will be runners-up, with the last claiming a real Stratocaster guitar (#0144502513) on top of things. If you’re a member on LEGO Ideas, why not cast your vote? The winners will be announced December 2.

LEGO Ideas Ninjago Game Contest Showcase: Watch and Vote Now

As we’ve featured before, the LEGO Ideas Ninjago 1-Button Game Challenge is one of the most technical contests they’ve held. Not many Ideas members could just program a microgame using the game engine of Unity, LEGO Ideas’ contest partner. All the same, a lot of submissions were made during the intake phase until early November. The Ideas expert review thinned these entries down to 15. These microgames now face the vote of the LEGO Ideas community for a week-long period. The winners have cool prizes waiting for them by next month. But what do these competing microgames look like anyway?

The Ideas team has that covered, thanks to this video from Unity’s official YouTube channel. Two LEGO reps and one Unity do a pick-and-play showcase of the Top 15 Ninjago 1-Button Game challenge entries. Despite the title, the theme of the microgames didn’t need to strictly be LEGO Ninjago. That means you’ll be seeing some interesting simple-to-play games in the showcase. If you’re a LEGO Ideas member, you can vote for your favorite at the official contest page here.

Your vote could decide which of these plucky microgame designers win the prize LEGO sets and paid Unity perks. Remember that each Ideas member can vote three times per contest, and only once per single entry. The crowd vote ends next Thursday, November 25, with the winners being announced December 2.

LEGO Ideas Ninjago 1-Button Game Contest to Reveal Entry Showcase for Crowd Vote

On the last day of September, LEGO Ideas launched a contest in collaboration with the Unity game engine. While primarily themed for Ninjago, the contest encouraged submissions of any 1-button-control microgame using the Unity engine. LEGO Ideas promised some sweet prize sets for the winners, including the late addition of actual Ninjago products. The “Ninjago 1-Button Game Challenge” idea intake ended this past November 4. Expert review of the microgame submissions ended today, November 18. And on this day, the voting phase for this rather technical contest finally kicks off.

LEGO Ideas and Unity plan to present a full showcase of the entries for the Ninjago microgame contest tomorrow. But already you can check out the submissions on the Ideas contest page to prepare for the crowd vote. This phase will last until November 25, with the official winners to be announced next month, December 2. Aside from the LEGO sets and Unity paid subscription/assets, winners will also get some extra fame. That’s because their creations might find themselves loaded on mini arcade cabinets soon to appear on LEGO Stores. Real-world LEGO shoppers worldwide could spend time to play the winners’ 1-button microgame masterworks. Now that just went beyond awesome.

LEGO Ideas Contest: Star Wars Holiday Brickfilm!

One can’t help but feel the Force at work if they take a look at this latest LEGO Ideas contest. From its information section at top, it officially began this past Tuesday, November 16. The IP involved: “Star Wars.” And a while ago we just covered LEGO’s reveal of two Star Wars sets releasing January next year. Yes, we’re not getting these ones until the start of next year. But surely many collectors must have formidable LEGO Star Wars ensembles. If they happen to be members on LEGO Ideas and would like to do brickfilms, then they should consider this.

In “A Galaxy of Celebrations,” there are celebrations happening across the (LEGO Star Wars) Galaxy. Your objective, should you choose to join, is to interpret certain Earth Holidays using (preferably) Star Wars elements/minifigs. It could be traditional Holidays (Christmas/Hanukah/New Year), “break” holidays (Spring/Summer), or Father’s/Mother’s Day. But if you really want to sell the “Star Wars” celebration, maybe make your production for “May the 4th.” Then, you must capture your creation on brickfilm, lasting no less than 15 seconds and no more than 30. For the final detail, you can make a silent brickfilm, or with sounds following these conditions.

Background music, if any, must be “royalty-free.” If you want sound effects, LEGO Ideas will allow you use of official Lucasfilm SFX. A library of these is now available on the Ideas server (member-access only). Note that these sounds must only be used in your planned brickfilm, and nowhere else.

What Prizes are at Stake?

The Galaxy of Celebrations contest will have two voting phases. Four entries will be chosen in the first phase, all of which will win these:

  • Republic Gunship (75309)
  • AT-AT (75288)
  • LEGO Ideas tote bag

Of the four, one lucky brickfilm will be chosen in the second vote. The winner will receive the brand-new LEGO Star Wars UCS AT-AT (75313). Two AT-AT Walkers! How can a Star Wars collector say no?

The current idea intake phase will run from now until January 13 next year. I guess you can make use of the upcoming 2022 sets if you wait. Anyway, Expert Review will last from the 13th to 27th. The First vote will start then, and end on February 3. A second review will last until the 10th of that month, with the next vote until the 17th. Wait for the winners’ announcement on February 24.

WATCH: LEGO Ideas Fender Stratocaster (21329) Designer Video

There’s no denying the LEGO Ideas Fender Stratocaster (21329) has become one of the biggest set releases this year. After its October 1 release the Ideas Strat was the subject of a Contest back on LEGO Ideas. Days later, LEGO did a showcase on Tomas Letenay, the Ideas member from Slovakia who originated the build. It was a short video snippet about the man behind the product idea. However, a LEGO designer video it wasn’t. And over a month after its launch, LEGO finally released the official video for its latest LEGO Ideas Fender Stratocaster (21329). Check out the video below.

As seen in the video above, two LEGO designers and a graphic designer talk the audience through the set’s evolution. Marin Stipkovic and Ricardo Dias reminisce about developing the pieces, such as the tuning keys and the “strings”. This being a licensed IP set, aesthetic elements such as accurate brand lettering were important. That part gets covered in the video by graphic designer Beatrice Amoretti. One can tell that a lot of love was given to forming the guitar, its accompanying amp, and its accessories. Truly, the LEGO Ideas Fender Stratocaster (21329) is a must-have for musically-inclined LEGO collectors, reasonable at a $99.99 price range.

In other news, the Ideas contest to win a Stratocaster set (21329) and a real Player Strat is nearly done. The idea intake phase, which began back on October 5, times out this November 4. Experts will review the submissions until the 18th, followed by a Crowd Vote on November 25. The winners will be announced next month, on December 2.