LEGO News Archives | Page 178 of 413

“LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary – New Edition” Releases “Platinum Anniversary Version” with Extra Goodies

Earlier last May, LEGO Star Wars fans were able to acquire a big new reference book for their product line. That was when Dorling-Kindersley (DK) released the “LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary – New Edition.” This book is significantly updated with info on more recent LEGO Star Wars products, plus an exclusive minifigure on the cover.

If LEGO Star Wars fans haven’t purchased the new visual dictionary yet, then perhaps they’d like this alternative version instead. While the New Edition came out before the date, DK also has the 20^th Anniversary of LEGO Star Wars in mind. That’s why they also brought out a “Platinum Edition.”

This is a version of the new “LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary” that ties into the product line’s 2-decade milestone. New LEGO-Vader dominated slipcase aside the contents are the same as the baseline “New Edition,” including the Bacta-suit Finn minifigure. But this one has extras.

You might recall the gift-with-purchase ($35 min) LEGO Star Wars art print for May the Fourth. This 20^th Anniversary version has two such art prints, tucked in the slipcase with the book and minifigure. Those posters would make great additions in the walls of a LEGO Star Wars collector’s room.

So far, the special “LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary Anniversary Edition” is listed only on Shop@Home UK. The basic “New Edition” book that came out in April is still available on Amazon US and UK.

LEGO-NimbleBit’s “LEGO Tower” Mobile Game Ready for Pre-Registration; Free Minifigure Accessory for Registrants

It’s always exciting when a new mobile game of a theme you fancy starts building up for its release. Last March, LEGO announced its partnership with developer NimbleBit for “LEGO Tower,” launching this summer. It even has a LEGO Ideas contest tied to it, making possible DLC after its release.

But first, there’s the mobile game itself. “LEGO Tower” may not have come out yet on the major mobile platforms for iOS and Android. However, both the App Store and Google Play respectively are now allowing pre-registration. Mobile gaming veterans would know what that means: various bonuses are given to pre-registrants when they start playing.

For “LEGO Tower,” that pre-registration bonus looks to be a special minifigure accessory. LEGO collectors might recognize this helmet from Collectible Minifigures Series 15, the Flying Warrior. It doesn’t seem much, but every new piece of equipment in a soon-to-launch game is a welcome addition.

LEGO Tower pre-registration is now live on the App Store and Google Play! Sign up now and receive an exclusive piece on launch day! pic.twitter.com/qQRLNDw84B

— NimbleBit (@NimbleBit) May 3, 2019

“LEGO Tower” is a tower building game developed by NimbleBit. It’s essentially their hit app “TinyTower” but with a distinctive LEGO skin and thematic elements. Players can construct LEGO skyscrapers with each floor design taking after some product line theme or other. The towers are also populated with minifigures that can be customized with accessories.

We can expect the mobile game to launch as early as this summer. Meanwhile, the “Design a Virtual Floor” LEGO Ideas tie-in contest is currently on its judging phase. No less than 590 entries were submitted, with the winner having his creation become an official floor design for “LEGO Towers.”

LEGO Welcomes May the Fourth Early with “Star Wars” Sets and Promotions

This coming Saturday, the “Star Wars” fandom gets to go crazy in an awesome good way again. After all, it’ll be May the Fourth, and there are plenty of related “Star Wars” events, stuff and goodies waiting. For instance, LEGO has a few promotions in honor of this fandom occasion. Even better, they’re starting early.

Let’s reiterate what’s available for LEGO Star Wars fans and collectors on May the Fourth:

LEGO Star Wars Tantive IV (75244) – are you a LEGO VIP member? Rejoice! It’s on right now before the rest of the fans can get their hands on it Saturday
LEGO Star Wars Battle of Hoth – 20^th Anniversary Edition (75244) – size and scale shouldn’t matter as you recreate one of the highlights of “The Empire Strikes Back” with this set; it’s yours with a minimum of $75 in LEGO Star Wars products, while supplies last
LEGO Star Wars 20th Anniversary Art Print – why gaze on digital-format artwork when you can have a physical media to display in your room? If you spend at least $35 on LEGO Star Wars products starting this weekend, this art print can be yours; if you have the Battle of Hoth (75244) you already have this; again, while supplies last
Selected LEGO Star Wars products 2x VIP points – for VIP members, this needs no explanation

May the Fourth be with you on this new moment for celebrating all things “Star Wars.” We need something to keep ourselves busy until “The Rise of Skywalker” premieres December.

Rare $70 Commemorative LEGO Istana Set from 150th Anniversary Open-House, Reselling Online for Over $100

Just as April was ending, we reported on a most uncommon limited edition LEGO set in Singapore. A LEGO build of the Istana presidential palace was commissioned by the country’s president to celebrate the complex’s 150^th anniversary. The set was launched at Istana’s open-house this May 1, with its limited numbers snapped up by collectors.

Visitors to the Singapore Istana this Wednesday could avail of the LEGO-brick version by donating $70 to the President’s Challenge community outreach. But there were only 500 sets prepared, in small plastic bags with inserted building instructions. They were gone in two hours. That’s that.

Or at least, that’s how it should’ve been as a one-day special tie-in. But some of those who bought the LEGO Istana mini-set were simply interested in reselling them online. Several listings of the special-edition set on eBay and Carousell have mind-boggling prizes of $100-300.

There have been attempts by other LEGO fans to simply replicate the official Istana build on their own. Builders on Facebook such as Artisan Bricks and the SG AFOL Brick Marketplace have put forth their interpretations of Singapore’s presidential residence. In case of the latter, they’ve sold complete sets of their version for S$42, lesser than the official set price. Their sets used bricks sourced from Bricklink and Brickfinder; they sold out quite fast too.

As expected, the design for the limited-edition LEGO Istana commissioned by the Office of Singapore President Halimah Yacob was developed by a LEGO Certified Professional. In her speech during the set’s unveiling this May 1 she said, “The Istana is an iconic landmark in Singapore, having been an important part of our history and national identity. I hope Singaporeans will appreciate this special and unique keepsake, and through it, look back to our journey together as a nation with pride.”

More Spacey Goodness with Official Images of LEGO City Mars Exploration Rocket Transport (60229)

In late April, the next chapter of 2019 releases for LEGO City was unveiled (via a Dutch toy retailer). The upcoming sets offer players a chance to go into space, to the moon and beyond, until Mars. Six space-themed LEGO sets had their official images revealed that day. It turns out there’s more to show.

Sometime we’re just amazed at how fast many online LEGO or toy retailers in Europe can get these images out. This time it’s the turn of Playzone, a retailer from the Ukraine, to impress. Promo Bricks notes they’ve got a listing of the largest LEGO City set in this batch.

At 1,055 pieces the LEGO City Mars Exploration Rocket Transport (60229) will dominate any space setting that combines all its fellow sets into one location. It should; after all, it’s a Mars rocket on a tracked carrier transport. Completing the look are set-pieces for mission control and mechanics, plus a smaller truck and exploration rover.

Space exploration enthusiasts in the know with the latest news would think the rocket booster designs featured in this set are sort of like what private company SpaceX is doing. The space capsule seats two astronaut minifigures, and there are more support personnel (and a robot) at work everywhere else.

When LEGO fires up the imagination, they don’t pull their punches. LEGO City builders who want to expand their brick-built community for exploring the final frontier will want this Mars Exploration Rocket Transport (60229) as part of their urban planning. On that thought, the rest of the 2019 space-themed City sets will go equally nicely.

Designer Video Released for LEGO Star Wars Tantive IV (75244)

How would LEGO hype its “Star Wars” Tantive IV set (75244)? Let us count the ways. We know its VIP release is on the day before May the 4^th, its official availability date. We know it’s a prize for an ongoing LEGO Ideas contest. Some LEGO Stores are also offering a micro-scale Make and Take event, again on May 4.

And then there’s the stop-motion ditty the put up recently. But here’s one more little treat for “Star Wars” fans to digest before the set finally comes. It’s a major LEGO release, right? That means it’s getting a designer video.

Just so we know, our hosts this time are Model Designer César Carvalhosa Soares and Graphic Designer Maddy O’Neill from The LEGO Group. They are, of course, part of the team that conceptualized what became LEGO Star Wars Tantive IV (75244). We’ll get to hear their tales on how the project came together into this neat model set we’re sure “Star Wars” fans will adore.

Though it’s cramped inside for minifigures, the Tantive IV set (75244) comes with six anyway. In a way, that can help the model act for two periods of the “Star Wars” franchise. We have the prequels where the ship is commanded by Senator Bail Organa, and the original where it’s Princess Leia’s ship. The crew and droids even carry over from both of these timelines.

All told, this set is one of the highlights for the ongoing 20^th Anniversary of LEGO Star Wars this 2019.

Belgian Retailer Shows First Official Images of Summer 2019 LEGO Duplo Sets

Is the wave of announcements for summer-release LEGO sets in this year over yet? Not by a longshot. While a lot of the major themes and franchises for which LEGO makes tie-ins of have been made public, there’re still some lines waiting. Now it’s the turn of Duplo to promote.

With the advance notice from online LEGO retailer Mister Bricks from Belgium, we now have official images for four new LEGO Duplo sets. Like with many of the sets we’ve previewed before, these are expected to come out in summer 2019. One of them is even a Disney tie-in set.

Perhaps it would be better to just show what’s coming:

Mickey’s Vacation House (10889)

Baby Animals (10904)

Tropical Island (10906)

World Animals (10907)

The set numbering fills in some of the gaps from this earlier announcement of 2019 LEGO Duplo sets. But there’s still some more set numbers unaccounted for.

Set 10889 aside, the other Duplo sets in this batch are all of a wildlife theme just as the earlier 2019 set announcements were of a city aesthetic. There’s quite the large variety of animal figures with most of the sets here. Nature-loving children and LEGO collectors would love these.

LEGO Disney Collectible Minifigure Series 2 (71024) Available Now on Shop@Home

These past few months have seen quite a bunch of Disney love LEGO news. We got the Ideas Steamboat Willie set (21317) this April. And in March we had the wonderful announcement of a new batch of Disney collectible minifigures (71024). It was scheduled to release in May. Well, it’s May now so it’s arrived.

In case you need a refresher, the LEGO Disney Collectible Minifigure Series 2 (71024) consists of 18 minifigs, many of which are new-for-2019. They come in packs of 60 collectible minifigure polybags, priced at $3.99 per polybag. The featured characters run the gamut from Disney Animated films (plus Pixar and Touchstone), to TV series and classic “black and white” shorts.

As has been detailed around the end of March, collectors who would buy a 60-polybag pack can count on having two complete 18-character sets in all. Three new characters are “Chase” variants to hunt down.

The recent introduction of the LEGO Disney Collectible Minifigure Series 2 (71024) on Shop@Home makes for a rather sparse release wave at the start of May. Still, we can count on the availability of upcoming new sets to pick up again later on. The summer period’s still on after all.

Mystery LEGO Minifigs Features a Possible LEGO Stranger Things Theme

There are a handful of stranger things that have been made into LEGO sets in the past. That’s rather appropriate when one considers the rumors flying around recently. Was LEGO partnering with Netflix to make tie-ins for their hit streaming sci-fi horror series set in the glorious era of eighties? Apparently they are according to some telling images. The German online LEGO retailer Lucky Bricks added a product listing that all but confirms that a LEGO Stranger Things line are now on its way. Shown here is what appears to be a minifigure pack, depicting “Stranger Things” characters Dustin Henderson and the monstrous Demogorgon. The set is numbered 75810.

It’s quite possible that this is linked to the mystery LEGO set that’s supposed to be launched later this month. It’s getting a late-night intro at the Flatiron LEGO Store in New York on May 14. In London, the Leicester Square LEGO Store will launch the mystery set at midnight. But is that set this Dustin and Demogorgon pack (75810)? Or is it something else.

“Stranger Things,” which debut on streaming in the Netflix platform 2016, was an audience magnet due to its creepy-fun premise and its nostalgic 1980s setting. Two seasons have already be run, with a third season, featuring a time-skip, will premiere this July 4, on Netflix.

Humble Bundle Packs Up to 8 LEGO Games on Steam for $12 Max Bundle Price

IGN’s Humble Bundle has been doing gamers a great favor by making available old game titles in very affordable bundles. The more you pay the more Steam games in a bundle you get, with proceeds going to different charities monthly. Last year they surprised players of obscure LEGO games by briefly making 2014’s “LEGO The Hobbit” a free Steam download.

Now they’re at it again for LEGO titles from WB Interactive and Traveller’s Tales. Humble Bundle’s latest LEGO bundle has eight games in it. Normally, altogether they’re priced at $169. But this bundle offers them all for just $12 total.

How low can they get? And that question’s asked in a positive context. Well, just paying $1 minimum for the bundle gets a Steam gamer “LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4” and “LEGO Batman: The Videogame.”

Pay more however, say, more than $8.43 average, and the bundle will include “LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7,” “LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes” and “The LEGO Movie – Videogame.” Finally, the full $12 will unlock the last three: “LEGO City Undercover,” “LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham” and “LEGO Worlds,” though the last one may not be available in all territories.

This latest LEGO-themed Humble Bundle can be redeemed on Steam still for 12 more days as of this writing. Charitable proceeds from this transaction go this month to Entertainment Software Association Foundation. You can however, choose your own charity here.