Category: Featured

LEGO Star Wars Fans Launched Bricks for Hope, Building to Cure Charity Drive

LEGO Star Wars Fans is one of the many fandom groups you can find for the long-running Star Wars space opera franchise. They operate primarily as a Facebook Group and organize their activities as such, including their annual tradition of charity fundraising, like the one they recently finished for a children’s healthcare center in Georgia.

“Bricks for Hope, Building to Cure” was a just-concluded initiative by LEGO Star Wars Fans to drum up charity intended for Atlanta’s Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center of Children’s Healthcare. Thanks to online participants of the FB Group’s LEGO raffle prizes, they were able to put together a total check donation amounting to $3,700.

The LEGO Star Wars Fans donation was delivered to Aflac last week on Wednesday, September 12, by representatives of two of the group’s cosplay units, the 501st Georgia Garrison, Bespin Base – Rebel Legion and the Naast Clan, who appeared in costume and even brought several LEGO sets as gifts for the center’s young cancer patients.

Following an incident wherein members of the LEGO Star Wars Fans Facebook Group pitched in to financially aid one of their own who was diagnosed with a grave medical condition, this Star Wars fan community has been holding charity raffles every year in partnership with small LEGO retail business in Georgia State to donate to different medical and charitable beneficiaries.

The Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center official website has more details on how where charity from donors like LEGO Star Wars Fans will go.

LEGO Makes Statement on Social Media Influencers Following Recent Backlash

With the rise of social media as a tool for online mass communication over the past decade or so, came the prominence of social media influencers, celebrities with large online followings who are then courted by major companies to advertise their goods, in return getting paid with cash or free products.

Even LEGO gets into this social influencers action, which is why The Drum, a marketing industry website, has called upon it and four other big-brand companies to say their two cents on the latest social media scandal of an influencer campaign gone wrong, according to comments.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BnIlqUShl31/

UK-based influencer Scarlett Dixon (@ScarlettLondon) posted an Instagram promo for Listerine last August 31, which was eventually bashed by critical commenters for its “obviously staged” and “fake” styling. One heckler even mentioned how they wanted Scarlett to “step on a LEGO” for her “forced acting”.

To this little bit of controversy, The LEGO Group’s Director of Social Media and Search Lars Silberbauer noted that such flare-ups don’t, as detractors claim, herald the death of social media influencers as an advertising force. Rather, the whole model is undergoing an adjustment period. Despite hiccups, he says “It doesn’t change the fact that millions and millions of people all around the world are following and taking inspiration from Influencers.”

Silberbauer also made mention that LEGO also entrusts some influencing campaigns to The Drum to hype their various LEGO products. And recently, the company’s put an ad out for a new Social Influence Manager to work on YouTube. All in all, despite the nightmare unleashed on @ScarlettLondon for her Listerine post, she and her fellow social media influencers still remain…influential.

It May Not Be Over 9,000 Bricks, But This Brick-Built Vegeta in Great Ape Form Is Jaw-Dropping

If you’re anime fan, than you will probably agree that Dragon Ball Z and its cast of high-flying, hard-hitting, and battle-shouting warriors (yeah, there ARE a lot of shouting in DBZ) has become icons of the anime world. The first season of the classic Dragon Ball Z series introduces us to the Saiyan race, helmed by the self-proclaimed Saiyan Prince Vegeta. His confrontation with Goku during the first season of DBZ gave us a glimpse of his Great Ape form which literally crushed the living lights out of Goku. And this time around, as his way of tribute to the Prince of the Saiyan race, Japanese Master Builder Moko gives his interpretation of a brick-built Vegeta in minifigure scale, and the result is simply awe-inspiring.

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If you remember from 2 years ago, I featured Moko in several of my write-ups when he cleverly created his versions of a mecha-riding Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck minifigures, a custom LEGO Transformer Brick, and a LEGO Mechatrobot MOC. Now he is back and this time with a MOC that is grander in scale – in fact, at minifigure scale that makes a custom Goku minifigure seems like an insect in comparison.

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Moko never ceases to amaze with his brick-building techniques. His attention to detail in creating this brick-built Vegeta is astounding. The circles around his eyes, the ‘patch’ of hair underneath his tattered clothes, and the smooth flow of his gigantic tail were created by employing ‘organic’ or life-like building techniques using unconventional LEGO pieces (i.e. the emphasis around his eyes were achieved using minifigure arms while the tail’s flexibility is recreated by joining several tire pieces). He even recreated Vegeta’s damaged shoulder guard at properly balanced proportions.

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The level of skill and effort that Moko showed in creating this MOC gets even more impressive when you realize that this MOC is at minifigure scale and highly articulated in spite of its massive size. Its jointed parts from the hip down to the ankles allow a variety of lower body poses for this brick-built Vegeta. His hands are superbly designed as well, with Moko giving considerable attention on how to make it life-like as much as possible.

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Moko also Tweeted this image to give you a better perspective on how big this version of Vegeta is.

If you like this MOC from Moko, be sure to visit his blogsite for more custom LEGO projects. The site is in Japanese so be sure to have Google Translate ready.

The LEGO Creator Expert Winter Village Station (10259) and Winter Holiday Train (10254) Available Again at LEGO Shop@Home

Just in time for today’s early VIP release of the LEGO Creator Expert Winter Village Fire Station (10263), shop.LEGO.com now brings back two previously released Winter Village sets to add more Christmas cheers to your collection. In case you missed out on these, the LEGO Creator Expert Winter Village Station (10259) and Winter Holiday Train (10254) are both listed again for sale at LEGO Shop@Home. Released in 2017 and 2016 respectively, it is rather unusual for LEGO to offer a Winter Village set that has been released two years ago. However, due to the positive reception of LEGO fans for these two sets since they ideally go together to create one complete Winter Village track system, LEGO decided to offer them again.

UPDATE: As of this posting, the Winter Village Station (10259) is now on Backorder at shop.LEGO.com.

So if you missed out on these two lovely LEGO Winter Village sets from two years ago, be sure to check them out at LEGO’s official shopping portals (and stay away from the fake ones) by simply clicking these links below.

 

LEGO Creator Expert Winter Village Station (10259)

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Head for home with the festive Winter Village Station holiday set, featuring a snowy railroad station with wreath adorned lampposts and clock tower, platform, mailbox, green trees, snowy grade crossing with twin barriers and lights, and a beautiful, festively decorated bus with opening doors and a luggage rack with removable luggage and gift wrapped packages. This LEGO® Creator Expert model also includes a ticket counter with a timetable and a transaction counter window with room for sliding out tickets to travelers, plus a coffee shop with a serving hatch and a detailed interior with an espresso machine, cups, cash register and a menu. Includes 5 minifigures.

 

LEGO Creator Expert Winter Holiday Train (10254)

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Gather the family for some festive LEGO® building fun with this charming model featuring a full circle of track, boarding platform with bench and lamppost, a Power Functions upgradable train engine with brick-built smoke bellowing from its stack, coal tender, flatbed wagon with a rotating holiday tree, toys and gifts, and a red caboose with a detailed interior and table. The train engine also features large and small red-colored locomotive wheels and the train is decorated with green wreathes, string lights and white tree elements. This LEGO® Creator Expert set includes 5 minifigures.

New and Exclusive LEGO Store D2C Sets Available Now

It is almost the weekends, and for those of you who are looking forward for that weekend build, this could only mean one thing: you can finally open this month’s next wave of new and exclusive LEGO Store D2C sets that you have just purchased today, thanks to your LEGO VIP membership perks. But before you do, be sure to wake up from this daydream and go out there and actually get your hands on the new LEGO Star Wars Betrayal at Cloud City (75222) and the holiday-themed LEGO Creator Expert Winter Village Fire Station (10263). These direct-to-consumer sets are now exclusively available for early VIP access starting today at all LEGO brand stores and at shop.LEGO.com.  Just click on the affiliate links below for more details.

LEGO Star Wars Betrayal at Cloud City (75222)

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Relive a world of unforgettable moments from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back or add your own fun twists to the story with this LEGO® Star Wars 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City set. The amazingly detailed set is divided into 4 sections, each depicting scenes from the classic movie. There’s a landing platform complete with Boba Fett’s Slave I ship, a detailed promenade, a dining room with seating for 5 minifigures, a garbage processing room with incinerator, and a sensor balcony for epic Luke vs. Vader Lightsaber duels. There’s also a carbon freeze chamber with a function to ‘freeze’ Han in carbonite, an interrogation chamber and prison cell, a secondary landing platform for the Twin-Pod Cloud Car, and so much more. Add an astonishing 18 LEGO minifigures plus 2 droids to the mix, and you have a set that Star Wars and LEGO fans of any age would be proud to add to their collection.

 

LEGO Creator Expert Winter Village Fire Station (10263)

Exclusive LEGO Store D2C Sets

Welcome to the snowy LEGO® Creator Expert 10263 Winter Village Fire Station, where the firefighters are enjoying the calm of the holiday season. This delightful LEGO set features a 2-level, holly-adorned building with an upper-level kitchen, complete with a red telephone, table, fold-down bed and a LEGO light brick. Behind the large red fire station doors, you’ll discover firefighting equipment and a fire pole, while outside there’s an ice rink with a decorative firefighter statue, a decorated Christmas tree with transparent star and gifts, plus a bench and lamppost. This set also features a classic red fire truck with a turntable ladder, hoses, toolbox and deep-tread tires. Gather the family and bring the magic of the holiday season to your home with this festive LEGO Creator Expert set. Includes 6 minifigures, plus baby and Dalmatian figures, and a brick-built snowman.

 

For a closer look at the features of this new and exclusive LEGO Store D2C sets, you may watch this first review video for the Betrayal at Cloud City (75322) set, and a nice designer video of the Winter Village Fire Station (10263). Happy building!

The LEGO Education Master Educator Program 2019 Officially Announced

It is no secret that the LEGO Group has always been an advocate of learning through play, so much so when it is facilitated by the cutting edge technology and creative use of the LEGO brick. This is the impetus behind a particular subtheme of LEGO products which is widely known among schools and the academe, particularly the LEGO Education line of sets. These are non-retail sets and can only be ordered directly from LEGO, or any of its authorized international partners. LEGO takes education and learning seriously that it even came up with a certification program to recognize those dedicated builders who choose to utilize their teaching skills by utilizing LEGO bricks. Earlier this year, TLG introduced a new certification scheme connected to their LEGO Education line, dubbed as the Master Educator Program.

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The Master Educator program is a LEGO Education network that brings together primary and secondary educators who effectively use products from the Education line and other LEGO sets as tools for teaching. This is in conjunction with LEGO Education’s objective of promoting hands-on learning for skills development. Already LEGO Education has an initial group of certified Master Educators. In the US they comprise teachers from primary and secondary education – elementary, middle school and high school – that integrate various LEGO teaching tools and methods when educating their students.

Master Educator Program

But LEGO is keen on growing the number of Master Educators under their Education label. If you’re a schoolteacher who loves LEGO and are interested in learning how to make the best use of them for education, you can sign up for the Master Educator application. You’ll be notified by LEGO Education on when in 2019 their application process begins.

LEGO City Magazine Issue 7 Now Comes With Two LEGO City Freebies

The latest issue of LEGO City Magazine is now available, and Issue #7 has double treats for subscribers and fans that will pick up a copy. The LEGO City Magazine Issue 7 now comes with two foil bags instead of one, and for this month’s issue we have a free LEGO City Octan Race Car with a driver minifigure, PLUS another mini vehicle set with its respective minifigure driver as well. The second foil bag may vary though, as shared by Brick Fanatics.

Images courtesy of Brick Fanatics.

The second foil bag freebie seems to be based on previously released free sets as bundled before with past issues of the LEGO City Magazine. Though the LEGO City Octan Race Car foiled bag is pretty much consistent across copies of the LEGO City Magazine Issue 7, the second freebie is somehow random as observed by Bricks Fanz. This particular copy of issue 7 has in fact, an extra minifigure instead together with several fire fighting accessories.

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Image courtesy of Bricks Fanz

Inside, the LEGO City Magazine Issue 7 is jam-packed with the usual comics, activity sheets, puzzles, posters and even post cards to share with friends. This current issue also gives us a glimpse of what free item to expect from next month’s issue which is a policeman minifigure and a motorbike. If you’re still missing a mini motorbike in your LEGO City collection, then this is the most cost-effective way to bag this.

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Image courtesy of Brick Fanatics.

WATCH: LEGO Creator Expert Winter Village Fire Station (10263) Designer Video

Along with the early VIP-access of the LEGO Star Wars Betrayal at Cloud City (75222) set slated for tomorrow, September 13, it will be joined by another direct-to-consumer set which is the LEGO Creator Expert Winter Village Fire Station (10263) that I wrote about last week. This year’s winter village set features the classic fire station, with several mini-builds that perfectly conveys the holiday cheers. Behind the creation of this set is Lars Joe, one of the creative minds behind the LEGO Creator theme, and the LEGO Designer of the Winter Village Fire Station. He shares some of the things that he love about this new set, and the many cool features and details that go along with it. You can hear more from Lars in this LEGO Creator Expert Winter Village Fire Station (10263) designer video. Watch this.

One of the things that I like about this set is the level of details that Lars gave to it. From the features of the fire station itself, even to the small details included with the minifigures such as the nice printed sweater for the baby minifig, and the new firefighter uniforms that closely resembles the classic policeman minifigure. There’s also the inclusion of a light brick that adds to the Christmas evening vibe, and the new botanical elements made from sustainable materials adorning the fire station’s facade. It may not be as big as a typical modular building, but it is by far the tallest among the Winter Village sets, and would stand out very well together with the rest of the sets included in the theme.

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The LEGO Creator Expert Winter Village Fire Station (10263) comes in at 1,166 pieces and includes 6 minifigures: 3 firefighters with new classic firefighter uniforms, ice hockey player, musician with saxophone, and a girl with a scarf. It also includes a baby minifigure with a printed sweater, a Dalmatian, and a buildable snowman with a curved top hat. It is expected to retail for $99.99 USD and will be available for LEGO VIPs on September 13, and a general public release starting October 1. You may check out shop.LEGO.com for other holiday-themed sets.

Check Out This Very First Video Review of the LEGO Star Wars Betrayal at Cloud City (75222)

Starting September 13, LEGO VIP card holders will now have the chance to bag the very first LEGO set tagged with the Master Builder seal approval. The LEGO Star Wars Betrayal at Cloud City (75222) brings together the most memorable and iconic scenes from the Empire Strikes Back under one, featured-pack LEGO Star Wars set. So before you head over at your local LEGO Store or hit that buy button at shop.LEGO.com, the cool guys of IGN gives as a sampling of what to expect from this 2,800+ piece set. Thanks to Max Scoville and Brian Altano, it looks like we have our very first video review of the LEGO Star Wars Betrayal at Cloud City (75222). Check out their video below.

Nothing beats seeing the actual set, and this is especially true with the Betrayal at Cloud City (75222). I have to say that I didn’t imagine this to be this huge. The footprint alone for the completed build is quite impressive. As revealed by LEGO through the set’s official press release earlier last month, this very first Master Builder set comes with tons of play features that sets it apart from other LEGO Star Wars UCS, sets which is mostly meant for display. However, I have to agree with the IGN people that the set does not even remotely look like the Cloud City as we know from the films. In fact, the overall feel and design of the LEGO Star Wars Betrayal at Cloud City (75222) makes it look like a cross-sectioned Death Star.

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Though some older LEGO fans may consider this as a turn-off for certain reasons, the Betrayal of Cloud City (75222) set makes up for it through the sheer number of minifigures and play features that are included into it. The set comes with a whopping 18 minifigures, including minibuilds of Boba Fett’s Slave I, an all-red Twin-Pod Cloud Car, and the iconic Han Solo in carbonite prison plus several action-packed features to relive those unforgettable Star Wars Episode V scenes.

Thanks once again to IGN for sharing this first video review of the LEGO Star Wars Betrayal at Cloud City (75222). And in case you’ve set your eyes to this set as a first day buy (and with enough cash to spare), this first Master Builder set will retail for $349.99 USD and will be available starting tomorrow at shop.LEGO.com and all LEGO brand stores in the US and other parts of the globe.

LEGO Speaks Up Against Fake LEGO Shopping Sites

Not so long ago, the LEGO news community – us included – shed a collective spotlight on the rise of some very suspicious fake LEGO shopping sites online. The insidious thing about these LEGO marketplaces are either their aping of the official shop.LEGO.com web design or the unbelievably low prices on offer.

We at The Brick Show have joined our contemporaries in telling all LEGO fans and collectors who read our news to stay away from these fake LEGO shopping sites. And now, our voices are being joined by the final authority in these things, The LEGO Group itself, in the form of an official statement about these posers.

LEGO’s word on the matter:

We are aware of the existence of websites that mislead consumers in different ways and we take all of these incidents very seriously. While we cannot comment on our specific actions, what we can say is that when we are made aware of or observe any situation where consumers are misled and our intellectual rights are violated we always take the appropriate actions to protect consumers as well as our brand.

We believe that consumers should always be aware of when they are purchasing a genuine LEGO product and when they purchase something else – and they should not be misled during the process of purchase.

We are aware that it may be difficult to identify a fake website, but if in doubt, consumers can be certain that the official LEGO shop on http://www.shop.LEGO.com is genuine.

Remember, shop.LEGO.com and trusted market platforms like Amazon are the only online places you can be sure to buy and get genuine LEGO sets at the right prices. As a rule of thumb, if the prices mentioned in any of these questionable, fake LEGO shopping sites are too good to be true, then they’re probably are. Making your purchases over LEGO Shop@Home and Amazon via our affiliate links also helps legit, LEGO-oriented blog sites such as ours to be up and running.

Yes, everyone wants the most out of their hard-earned bucks, but the investment that you will put on genuine LEGO sets will ensure that you receive a true product guaranteed to last years of play.