LEGO News Archives | Page 232 of 413

LEGO Brick-Built Camper Trailer in Australia Claims Guinness World Record

Earlier this month we were treated to a showcase demonstration of the most absolute potential in LEGO brick building. That was realized in the life-sized accurate and functional brick-built replica of the celebrated Bugatti Chiron. It doesn’t run as fast as the real one, but it runs nonetheless using a staggering array of Power Functions motors. We’ve seen how LEGO Technic elements went into reproducing a Bugatti Chiron, but an uber LEGO fan from Queensland, Australia is challenging that achievement. With the help of volunteers, he constructed his own LEGO brick-built camper trailer based on a 1973 Viscount Royal caravan, and he got a Guinness World Record title for it.

Using a wide variety of LEGO pieces and elements amounting to almost 300,000 individual components, avid mobile camper and LEGO builder Ben Craig (plus assistants) took some 530 hours total over a five-month period to assemble his custom LEGO brick-built camper trailer. Glue (70 liters of it) was needed to strengthen the structure.

Amazingly, almost everything in the camper trailer is made of LEGO bricks, from the double bed to the side seats and square table to the cabinets and stove-oven. It has real electric lights and actual running water comes out of the LEGO faucet into the sink; now that’s attention to replicating details.

For their work, Ben Craig’s team got the official Guinness World Record the “largest LEGO caravan”. They beat the previous record holder by about 73,472 bricks.

Currently, Craig’s custom LEGO brick-built camper trailer is parked for display at the Brisbane Holiday Village at Eight Mile Plains for tourists there to snap pictures of. But soon it’ll be going on a grand Australia tour courtesy of Top Parks so more people can see it. Watch this video from Inside Edition to see how this world breaking feat was created.

More images here: Guinness World Records

Season 12 of The Big Bang Theory Features a Custom LEGO Brickfast

This past Monday began the last stretch of the CBS sitcom that, from 2007, has managed to endear itself to television audiences: The Big Bang Theory. September 24 was the premiere of the show’s twelfth and final season, and promises to (figuratively) go out like the explosion in its title. Why are we talking about this? That’s because part of the plot for S12 – Episode 1 of The Big Bang Theory offers a big shout-out to LEGO. The reference can’t get any louder when the episode starts with Sheldon (Jim Parsons) greeting Amy (Mayim Bialik) in the morning with a custom LEGO brickfast in bed.

Oh yes – the plate on Sheldon’s hand contained the usual custom LEGO brickfast of AFOL Champions: with bacon, eggs and pancakes made entirely of LEGO bricks, as confirmed by Bialik in her blog, mentioning that it was probably put together by an anonymous production staff builder.

That’s not the end of it though. Recall that Sheldon and Amy are on honeymoon at this point, and they’re going to have it at…wait for it…LEGOLAND Resort New York! Funny thing is that the theme park on Goshen, NY shouldn’t be open until 2020. And the visit’s off-screen, too.

LEGO and The Big Bang Theory have been in a real awesome partnership ever since LEGO Ideas churned out a (now-retired) set based on the sitcom (21302). Then in 2017 the show along with some of its fellow Warner Bros. TV productions received brick-built billboards courtesy of LEGO. That’s cool.

Here’s hoping we get more TBBT-LEGO shenanigans before the sitcom’s grand finale sometime next year.

LEGO Creates a Custom Brick-Built Ryder Cup Trophy to Celebrate First Ever Danish Captain

Every two years the greatest professional golfers from the United States and Europe band together to compete for the Ryder Cup, a prestigious competition that pits American and European teams for golfing glory on either side of the Atlantic. The latest Cup will take place at Guyancourt, Île-de-France over the weekend, and Denmark is celebrating. The reason for that is Thomas Bjørn, the first Danish golfer elected to be captain of Team Europe for the Ryder Cup. The country is jubilant enough, but the LEGO Group has plans to do more than cheer. They’re paying tribute to Bjørn with an appropriate a giant, brick-built Ryder Cup Trophy.

Let’s look at the statistics. This giant, brick-built Ryder Cup trophy was built by LEGO master builders out of 169,397 bricks over a period of 264 hours. The finished construct is an impressive 2.38 meters tall. Captain Bjørn of Team Europe also got to see it.

“As a Dane, I am proud of one of my country’s most famous exports – the LEGO brick,” said Thomas Bjørn during the unveiling. He is confident that LEGO’s tribute to him and the golf competition he will be leading Europe’s finest to will inspire both golfers and sports-minded LEGO fans.

The Ryder Cup trophy built by LEGO is on display at West Championship Village for the whole Ryder Cup week, and visitors who want to snap a selfie with the brick monolith can do so after donating to the European Tour Foundation charity.

LEGO Retail Model Production VP Rasmus Dunn also remarked on The LEGO Group’s pride for Bjørn’s honor and duty, as well as their token of commemoration for his accomplishment. “This represents a huge effort from the team and we hope it will add to the Ryder Cup spectacle this week,” he said.

Skærbæk Fan Weekend Will Celebrate the Arrival of Bikes to Billund Team

LEGO holds such a universal appeal to so many people around the world that fan events are almost guaranteed every month somewhere. Of course, some of these occasions are more prominent than others, such as Skærbæk Fan Weekend on LEGO’s own home country of Denmark this weekend.

Skærbæk is a truly international event that’s frequented annually by hundreds of AFOLs from over 25 countries that have taken LEGO into their hearts. Held in the small town from which the event itself takes its name (80 miles south of LEGO-town Billund), its two days of official events that will be preceded by other events as early as Thursday.

One such advance event prior to the main Skærbæk Fan Weekend is a big AFOL party back in Billund, at LEGO House. That’s the very same place that serves as the goal for the almost-concluded Bikes to Billund charity race by Brickset and Fairy Bricks.

The bike team is on scheduled to arrive at LEGO House on Thursday, September 27. Not only will they be in time for the party but that they might also be greeted there by a special guest invited by LEGO.

But the real meat of the festivities will be at Skærbæk Fan Weekend on September 29 and 30. Registrations for the event have long closed but it’s already guaranteed to be a blast for the entirety of the LEGO fan community there.

Limited-Edition LEGO Classic 60th Anniversary Truck (4000030) Listed Again on Walmart

There’s just been so many different ways that LEGO has been celebrating their years of milestone anniversaries that it can get confusing to keep track of them all. One of their most popular has been the early-2018 release of the Classic LEGO sets available at Walmart. They were so popular that they sold out their limited quantities in no time. One of those rare sets from Walmart was the LEGO Classic 60th Anniversary Truck (4000030), a white-and-red pickup that beautifully recalls the brightly-colored and basic construction of retro LEGO much like its brother sets the House (4000028) and Windmill (4000029).

And the reason we’re talking about this now is that Walmart, for some reason, has just announced that they have the 60th Anniversary Truck (4000030) back in stock, for those who didn’t get one of the limited copies from earlier this year. Whether this is new stock or unsold numbers of the original 5,000 Trucks at Walmart hasn’t been clarified.

Originally priced at $19.99, the return of the LEGO Classic 60^th Anniversary Truck (4000030) is a tad cheaper at $19.97. As listed by Walmart, shipping becomes free if the total order is above $35. There’s also no word if the House (4000028) and Windmill (4000029) anniversary sets are coming back either. The last listing is that both remain out of stock.

When a Mutated, Custom LEGO Carrot Becomes Evil

That’s why I always prefer to go natural and organic, because this next hilarious build from Tyler puts it’s so succinctly. If you’re an 80s kid like me, then titles like “The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” will probably give you an idea why you should not take your food for granted. Yeah, eating vegetables are good for your body, but I guess this custom LEGO Carrot from the creative mind of Tyler (aka Legohaulic over at Flickr) will disagree otherwise.

With just a handful of pieces, Tyler managed to whimsically capture the poor bunny’s dilemma. This carrot-turned-nemesis is easily recognizable. I love how Tyler managed to give this vengeful custom LEGO Carrot a personality of its own by using several green leaves pieces. The color is also spot on, as well as the many points of articulation that its legs and arms provide. But perhaps the best part of the build are the eyes and eyebrows – it reminds me of the determined and exaggerated eyes of Earthworm Jim. Plus the bunny… oh I surely hate to be in his fur right now.

Be sure to see the rest of Tyler’s original creation on Flickr to see more fun and wacky LEGO builds. He is also one of the bright, talented minds behind Build Better Bricks together with Sean Mayo. B3 is currently running its latest Mushroom Series inspired by characters and elements from Nintendo so do check it out as well.

LEGOLAND Windsor Is Looking for a new LEGO Model Maker

LEGOLAND Windsor Resort has been quite busy in recent weeks. Last month they opened their first “Total Sensory Space” for the benefit of their guests with special sensory needs. And of course, they’re gearing up for the start of the annual Brick or Treat festival this coming October. That’s all a lot of exhausting work. Perhaps it’s so much work, in fact, that LEGOLAND Windsor, or rather its parent company Merlin Entertainments, is looking to hire any LEGO builder in the UK with good enough skill and confidence in said skill to work as a LEGO Model Maker for the park.

It’s said that all brick-built models in LEGOLAND Windsor, when taken apart, will amount to more than 90 million individual LEGO pieces. That pretty much tells you what mount of work a newly minted LEGO Model Maker can expect when he takes up this job at LEGOLAND.

What’s more, the new modeler’s first major undertaking with LEGOLAND Windsor is the building of “spooky new models” to decorate the Brick or Treat “Haunted House Monster Party” attraction. They can expect to be putting together “creatures crawling in search of blood to terrorize your neighborhood” once they get hired.

And it will be a quick hiring to be sure. Applications sent to Merlin Entertainments for the new LEGO Model Maker at LEGOLAND Windsor will only be until September 28, at 11:59 PM. Whoever gets hired can enjoy a competitive salary, an employee’s 40% discount on LEGO products, 28 days of holiday and 20 free tickets to all Merlin Entertainments park attractions.

Apple Park Never Looked So Good in LEGO Bricks

There are just so many structures in the world that so deserve to be lovingly created in LEGO; the exhibit structures one might find in the Miniland sections of every LEGOLAND theme park and Discovery Center are testaments to that. And they don’t even have to be towering skyscrapers either. Some fairly impressive LEGO MOCs are builds that sprawl over a large area, like ancient hillforts and sports stadiums. Well now, builder Spencer_R on flickr has likely outdone them all with his replication of the Apple Park campus. That of course means a painstakingly detailed construct of the famous UFO-inspired building.

Conceptualized by the late great Steve Jobs, Apple Park took about three years to build from its 2014 groundbreaking to finally being opened to employees just this 2017. It speaks of the sheer scale and complexity of the buildings in the whole area, that Spencer_R himself needed two years to complete his own LEGO rendition.

Stats-wise, the brick-built Apple Park needed about 85,000 LEGO pieces to assemble. That number includes 1,647 tree elements (whether they’re of the new sustainable plastic material or not hasn’t been clarified). The whole complete set also weighs 77.5 pounds altogether.

Spencer_R describe his Apple Park and similar wide-area LEGO MOCs as “ground-scrapers” to contrast with the soaring skyscrapers. He was inspired to make it after seeing the real Apple Park under construction back in 2014, particularly the spaceship campus building.

More photos of Spencer_R’s Apple Park build can be seen on his flickr page, along with his various other LEGO MOCs that he has constructed for about 15 years straight.

Toys R Us Canada Announces Its Bricktober 2018 Giveaway Schedule and Make and Take Events

We know the spiel by now: Toy ‘R’ Us may be dead in the US, UK and Australia, but in several other countries life sort of goes on. In Canada for instance, under its current owners Fairfax Financial, its 82 stores north of the border continue to operate as normal. That means of course that the signature seasonal event traditions of the Toys ‘R’ Us brand remain alive and well. Seeing as September is coming to an end that would mean only one thing: Bricktober 2018 is still up and running in the country. From exclusive LEGO gifts to “Make and Takes”, it’s all good.

Now, we already know what Bricktober LEGO minifigure collections are up for grabs in the remaining Toys ‘R’ Us stores the world over, but there’s still the matter of schedule. Canada has its own dates of availability for the sets, thus:

October 5 – 11: LEGO Ninjago (5005257)

October 12 – 18: LEGO Jurassic World (5005255)

October 19 – 25: LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (5005256)

October 26 – November 1: LEGO Harry Potter (5005254)

Remember, each Bricktober minifigure collection can be had free with every minimum $75 LEGO set purchase at TRU Canada, once every week for repeat regular LEGO shoppers.

As for the Make and Take events, Toys ‘R’ Us Canada has two lined up. First is the LEGO Jurassic World theme with a Triceratops build scheduled on October 13. Next is the LEGO Harry Potter event with the famous Mini Flying Ford Anglia model slated on October 27.

These events run from 11AM to 1PM, with a max number of 150 sets allotted per every TRU Canada store. US shoppers need not fret, though. LEGO has already confirmed that Barnes & Noble is carrying the LEGO Harry Potter Bricktober set. There are also rumors floating around that the rest of the Bricktober 2018 series will be offered at LEGO brand stores around November or December. We’ll keep a close eye on that and keep you posted.

LEGO DC Super-Villains Extended Gameplay Features Gorilla City

After catching a glimpse on all of the DC characters that will be included in LEGO DC Super-Villains video game, TT Games Developers Phil and Matt shares some of the new things to expect from the upcoming video game. Playing through the Gorilla City level, Phil and Matt demonstrates how things work in the world of LEGO DC Super-Villains.

If you recall, we already featured a 19-minute extended gameplay of LDCSV when it was shown in Gamescom 2018 at Germany last August. The said gameplay gave us an idea on how the overarching story evolved, and the different various customization of the player’s avatar aptly named as Rookie.

In this latest Gorilla City gameplay video, Phil and Matt highlights certain details about the new minifigure character designs such as those from the DC Rebirth re-launch. The Gorilla City gameplay video also showed the usual LEGO video game staples such as puzzle solving, the use of specific abilities to do specialized tasks (I love how the Reverse Flash’s speed can come in handy allowing access to the Speed Force and Luthor’s X-ray ability revealing mechanical parts behind walls), building certain in-game structures, kicking some minifigure baddies and a dash of healthy LEGO humor. Yeah, give it LEGO and TT Games in coming up with a LEGO banana and use it as battering ram.

We also get to see certain mechanics of Boss Fights, in this case with Gorilla Grodd going against Solovar. Phil also revealed additional boss fight levels where you are pitted against some of DC’s notable superheroes, such as Beast Boy and Raven in their own unique arenas, and many more. It is quite exciting to see how these things will turn out actually. It’s not every day that you get to stumble on a video game that allows you to play as the villains in order to thwart the good guys. Given the complexity of the different motives and agendas that each villain has – in this case Luthor going out of his way to recruit Gorilla Grodd, while the latter only wishes to gain control of Gorilla City and snatch it from Solovar – it is interesting to see how the plot thickens throughout the game.

The LEGO DC Super-Villains video game is scheduled to be released on October 16, and comes with a physical Deluxe Version retailing for $74.99. Pre-ordering the Deluxe Version allows you early access to the game’s Season Pass and an exclusive Lex Luthor minifigure. While you’re at it, check out our initial collection of LEGO DC Super-Villains printable coloring pages.