LEGO News Archives | Page 252 of 413

LEGO Chief Of Emerging Platforms Talks About Company’s Direction In Developing Content For Amazon Alexa And Beyond

Way back in May, we covered a unique new product service by LEGO that was developed in cooperation with the massive online marketplace platform Amazon. This was LEGO Duplo Stories, which works as a downloadable Skill for the Amazon Alexa smart speaker to narrate interactive stories based on recently released LEGO Duplo educational building sets.

This is merely one of several significant collaborations between LEGO and Amazon, and it apparently runs against the grain of what other companies on the online retail giant are doing which is plastering search advertisements. Instead, LEGO’s keener on content production for consumers on Amazon.

The LEGO Group’s Head of Emerging Platforms, James Poulter, is seeing the rising trend of Amazon Alexa owners using the smart speaker for online purchases; it’s telling over 80% of 2017 online sales combined for LEGO, Hasbro, Mattel and Nintendo were done courtesy of Amazon, according to a Jumpshot analytics study.

According to Poulter, other companies could do well to follow LEGO’s example of looking at Amazon as more than “just a retail platform”. While he does concede that there are risks to companies cooperating with Amazon to such an extent, one can’t discount the potential to be capitalized on, now that the retail giant is steadily increasing its variety of content services like Freetime Unlimited subscriptions and of course, Alexa.

To this, LEGO’s emerging platforms boss is seeing possibilities: in the vein of Amazon Alexa and its LEGO Duplo Stories, there would come a time when a customer’s LEGO order done on Amazon, for example, would have new Skills being downloaded onto the user’s Amazon Alexa speaker, which will then ask the customer if they were satisfied with their delivered service.

In addition to Alexa Skills, LEGO is also looking on developing AR options with Amazon as innovative means to sell more products, letting consumers preview their online purchases before committing to buy them, for example.

Manchester LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Welcomes Newly-Opened Great LEGO Race VR Experience

LEGO must have hit a gold mine in terms of fun fusions when they decided to develop and build a virtual reality roller coaster ride for their LEGOLAND theme parks. Well, to be precise, only two of them have the Great LEGO Race VR Coaster right now: Malaysia and Florida.

LEGO also offers a smaller-scale version of this attraction, the Great LEGO Race VR Experience which debuted at the Boston LEGOLAND Discovery Center. Not wishing to have one location hog such cool stuff, a second VR Experience has since been opened across the Atlantic at the Discovery Centre in Manchester.

The VR Experience version, for those not in the know, is a race sequence with LEGO vehicles and minifigures reminiscent of the Wacky Races shorts, running about two minutes and thirty seconds, viewed in the first person via VR goggles. All that’s lacking is the exhilaration of seeing that, while seated on a roller coaster.

Nevertheless, the Manchester LEGOLAND Discovery Centre is thrilled to finally have the VR Experience as part of their attractions. “We were the first LEGOLAND Discovery Centre in the UK, and remain the largest,” says their general manager, Jenn. “So it is fitting that we are spearheading this entirely new concept.”

For those who wish to check out the UK’s first Great Lego Race VR Experience in Manchester, do note that it’s priced separately from the entry tickets to the LDC, with £5 for each “passenger”. Normally reserved to children accompanied by adults, grown-ups can avail of the LDC’s “AFOL Night” every first Wednesday of the month to enjoy the VR themselves, at the same prices.

VR fiends interested in going to Manchester to try this out can book their tickets at the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre – Manchester’s official website right here.

Upcoming London Film and Comic Con to Feature LEGO Star Wars Diorama of Endor

That was an awesome San Diego Comic Con which just took place over the weekend, full of great reveals and previews. In the case of LEGO, they boasted impressive displays, great collectible exclusives and even an early chance to get the latest Ideas set; all in all, a fun time. While the SDCC has wound down, in the UK, a whole continent and ocean to the East, there’s another – similar – event set to begin. This is the London Film and Comic Con, a comparable British counterpart to the stateside cons. This means another fun-filled fandom weekend, but in the UK.

Like SDCC, the LFCC has large exhibition areas for particular fandoms within its venue at London’s Olympia Centre. One of these is the Star Wars Fan Zone, organized by Fantha Tracks, and part of their various displays is an impressive LEGO Star Wars diorama depicting the Forest Moon of Endor.

There are no teaser images for this diorama, and fans in the UK will have to wait until LFCC starts to actually see it, but this LEGO Star Wars rendition of Endor will be said to include all the iconic locations and set pieces from Return of the Jedi: Ewok village, Imperial shield station, perhaps even the speeder bike course.

Aside from the Endor diorama, Fantha Tracks promises that their Star Wars Fan Zone will include cosplay groups, licensed merchandise, fan exhibits, and even several guest actors from the films like Peter “original Chewbacca” Mayhew and Ray “Darth Maul” Park.

The London Film and Comic Con will start this Friday, July 27 and ends on the following Sunday, July 29.

LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes Knightmare Batman Accessory Set (853744) Coming In September

It seems that LEGO still has something in store for DC and Justice League fans. The LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes Knightmare Batman Accessory Set (853744) has now been listed at shop.LEGO.com, and is scheduled to be available in September. It features another rendition of the Dark Knight based on the scene where Batman had an apocalyptic vision of a world ruled by fear from a raging Superman, as seen from the DCEU film Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. This particular Batman minifigure sports the sand brown trench coat he is seen wearing in that particular scene. Here’s a closer look at the said minifig.

The LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes Knightmare Batman Accessory Set (853744) has 46 pieces, including two Parademons and some pieces to build a turret, and will retail for $12.99. Here’s the official product description for your reference. I reckon that this accessory set will be a hit for Batman minifig collectors once it is made available in September 1. To be honest, I lost count already on how many LEGO Batman minifig variants are out there to the extent that I feel the LEGO DC Super Heroes theme is quite over saturated of it already. But I guess having a LEGO Knightmare Batman minifig can be a forgivable exception.

LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes Knightmare Batman Accessory Set (853744)

46 pieces; $12.99

Prepare for a fright with Knightmare Batman™!

Let the battle commence against the Parademons with this LEGO® DC Super Heroes 853744 Knightmare Batman™ Accessory Set. This cool toy for kids features Batman’s turret with 2 stud shooters and 3 minifigures with assorted weapons, including the new-for-September-2018 Knightmare Batman minifigure and his rifle with an attachable LEGO tile of The Joker’s face.

Includes a new-for-September-2018 Knightmare Batman™ and 2 Parademon™ minifigures with detachable wings.
Batman’s turret features 2 stud shooters.
Weapons include Batman’s rifle (with an attachable decorated LEGO® tile of The Joker’s face) and the Parademons’ 2 stud shooters.
Recreate the famous Knightmare scene from the Batman™ v Superman™: Dawn of Justice movie.
Turret measures over 1” (3cm) high and 1” (5cm) wide.

LEGO BrickHeadz Jack Skellington and Sally (41630) Now Listed At LEGO Shop@Home

LEGO Shop@Home has finally rolled out a bunch of official images and product description for another pair of LEGO BrickHeadz set that fans of Tim Burton’s witty, gothic animated masterpiece A Nightmare Before Christmas have been watching out for since its ‘unintentional’ Walmart listing (aka leak) . The LEGO BrickHeadz Jack Skellington and Sally (41630) dual set is now listed at shop.LEGO.com, and is slated to be available to the public starting August 1. The dual set marks the 25^th year anniversary of the of the original Disney blockbuster film, featuring Jack in his famous monochromatic color scheme, and Sally with her ragdoll patchwork clothing.

The LEGO BrickHeadz Jack Skellington and Sally (41630) set comes in at 193 pieces and will retail for $19.99. Check out the rest of their images and product description below.

LEGO BrickHeadz Jack Skellington and Sally (41630)

193 pieces; $19.99

Spook your friends with LEGO® BrickHeadz construction characters featuring Jack and Sally!

These LEGO® BrickHeadz™ construction characters featuring Jack Skellington & Sally are fun to build using LEGO bricks that recreate all their iconic details, including Jack’s frightful smile and black pin-striped suit, plus Sally’s decorated eyes and scruffy rag doll look. They also stand on buildable collector’s baseplates with BrickHeadz logo for easy display in your home, office or anywhere you like.

Buildable Jack Skellington and Sally LEGO® BrickHeadz™ construction characters feature authentic details from the original Disney blockbuster, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas movie, including Jack’s creepy mouth and black pin-striped suit, plus Sally’s decorated eyes and scruffy rag doll look.
Each LEGO® BrickHeadz™ construction character comes with its own buildable collector’s baseplate.
Have fun growing your LEGO® BrickHeadz™ collection with other characters from your favorite TV series, games and comics.
Disney Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas toys stand over 2” (7cm) tall without baseplate.
Baseplates measure over 1” (4cm) square.

LEGO BrickHeadz Mickey (41624) and Minnie (41625) Now Available in Toys R Us Stores in Canada

Earlier last month, we have our first teaser for the arrival of the next Disney-inspired LEGO BrickHeadz set dedicated to the duo that started it all. It has been long overdue, especially that a substantial number of these relatively new LEGO BrickHeadz collectibles have been dedicated to mostly, well, Disney brands and titles. Though we’ve known about this upcoming set for quite some time already, LEGO officially teased on their arrival just earlier last month. And this time around, thanks to Brickset, we now have reports that the LEGO BrickHeadz Mickey (41624) and Minnie (41625) are now available for sale at certain Toys R Us stores in Canada.

The above image of this LEGO BrickHeadz Minnie set was snapped by a Brickset forum member, which is reportedly available for retail at TRU Canada stores. The LEGO BrickHeadz Mickey (41624) and Minnie (41625) comes in at 109 and 129 pieces respectively, each expected to retail for $10 each, and slated to arrive in LEGO Stores and shop.LEGO.com starting August. If you’re raring to have these latest BrickHeadz sets ahead of their official release date in the US, then you may want to check out this particular eBay listing for details. Here is a closer look at their respective box arts as posted on the auction site.

I’m not really a fan of the BrickHeadz line, but I find some of their design and building techniques quite interesting. The design for Minnie’s skirt for this matter is quite amusing. I like how the designers figured out a way of recreating it in LEGO, but it’s quite unnatural that her hands seem to pass through the sides of her skirt. I would like to see also how the couple’s ears were mounted on the sides of their heads. In any case, these newest LEGO BrickHeadz Mickey (41624) and Minnie (41625) pair is expected to be a hit among fans of the theme, especially that their release marks the 90^th anniversary of Disney’s most longstanding and iconic cartoon character.

I’ll keep you posted on these new sets once more information is available.

LEGO Releases Official Building Instructions of LEGO SDCC 2018 Exclusives

As much as I would love to have been present at the recently concluded San Diego Comic-Con 2018, unfortunately, I simply can’t make it half-way around the world to join what could be the world’s largest gathering of super cool comic book fans. I guess it safe to assume that I’m not the only one having these sentiments considering that the annual SDCCs have drawn throngs of fans not only in the US, but also around the world. And for those who are geographically challenged to experience this one-of-a-kind fan convention, LEGO seems to have a soft spot for these challenges is very keen to them as well. Having an active presence throughout the annual SDCCs for the past few years, it has been customary for LEGO and other exhibitors, to release certain comic-con exclusives that you’ll never find anywhere else. These year’s SDCC exclusive sets come from LEGO’s largest licensed themes such as those coming from Marvel, DC Comics and Star Wars. Though these 2018 LEGO SDCC exclusive sets are made up of LEGO parts and pieces that you can easily find from your own LEGO bin, the look and feel of its packaging gives it an undeniable air of rare exclusivity. Like them or hate them, LEGO takes its fan base very seriously and has now made available the building instructions to create your very own LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon Cockpit (75512), LEGO DC Super Heroes Aquaman and Storm (75996), and my personal favorite, the LEGO Marvel Ant-Man and the Wasp (75997) sets.

Check out these official building instructions for the above mentioned LEGO SDCC 2018 exclusives, and see if you can build them using your own LEGO bricks and pieces. Click on the set names below to directly access and/or download these instructions in pdf file format.

LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon Cockpit (75512)

203 pieces

LEGO DC Super Heroes Aquaman and Storm (75996)

197 pieces

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Ant-Man and the Wasp (75997)

218 pieces

What’s your most liked among these SDCC 2018 LEGO exclusives? Share thoughts and suggestions in the comments below.

Happy building!

LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) Is Now Available for VIP Members

As we already recounted at the close of SDCC during the weekend, limited quantities of the LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) set went for sale at the LEGO booth throughout the comic convention, with each box made extra special with autographs from some of the people and designers behind this largest LEGO Ideas set to date. With the SDCC 2018 wrapping up, the LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) is now available for LEGO VIP members at their nearest LEGO Store or at shop.LEGO.com starting today.

That’s right, for the rest of July the LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) is now available for grabs by LEGO VIP members starting Monday, July 23. This next period will run just over a week more until at long last, the set becomes available to the general consumer starting on the first day of August. It most definitely won’t be long now in any case.

The LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) set has been billed as the largest LEGO mech-type set ever built made up of 2,321 pieces, and is unique for being a combiner of five articulated figures that form a fully poseable and sturdy humanoid robot figure. The model comes with accessory shield and the iconic “Blazing Sword”.

New Facts About “The LEGO Movie 2” Revealed At SDCC 2018 Panel

One of the major reasons for any fan (with ways and means) to come to the 2018 San Diego Comic Con was the huge amount of panels for every upcoming comic book, video game, film, or any media imaginable. LEGO of course has its own share of these things. In particular, there’s star-studded the panel for The LEGO Movie 2.

Granted, the movie is still some seven months away from cinemas, but it’s never too early to drum up interest with strategic reveals such as with the film’s first trailer released last June. But in the LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part panel during SDCC’s last leg during the weekend, the dropped hints are heavy and hard-hitting.

Sitting on the SDCC panel were writers and producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, animation director Trisha Gum, and voice talents Chris Pratt (Emmett), Elizabeth Banks (Wyldstyle) and Stephanie Beatriz (new character Sweet Mayhem). One can’t help but be impressed with Miller who did the panel with a broken wrist done up in a cast (that’s also been doodled on to look like Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet).

Among the details dropped by The LEGO Movie 2 panel involve how the storyline follows up from the 2014 original’s ending, where Finn, the boy whose playtime with his father’s basement LEGO set created the story itself, now has to share with his sister. Her introduction of LEGO Duplo to the mix triggers an “alien war” scenario in Bricksburg that turns it into an apocalyptic warzone, where The Second Part picks up years later (in-universe).

Lord talks about how the central conflict in LEGO Movie 2 is brought about by the clashing imaginations of Finn the “story-maker” and his sister. Gum then describes the plot and visual escalation of the sequel as blasting off “out of the basement into the Systar system”, while new footage from the film was screened.

Even Chris Pratt got into talking about how the events and elements of the movie have grown bigger from the first installment, comparing it to his own casting history. When he voiced Emmett in The LEGO Movie back in 2014, he was easily known by his role in NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation; by the time his voice work was done, he was cast by Marvel as Star-Lord, and the rest was superhero blockbuster history.

To illustrate that point, Pratt reveals that he is also voicing a minor minifigure character, one that’s a fun fusion of Star-Lord and his other new big role as Owen Grady the Raptor wrangler from Jurassic World and its sequel. And as a reminder, JW and Marvel both have LEGO sets with Pratt’s characters on them.

All these info tidbits point to the great potential The LEGO Movie 2 has in surpassing what surprise box office success its predecessor had years before. We’ll have to wait for February 2019 to see if all these hold true.

Thanks to We Live Entertainment for covering the panel.

Ninjago Season 9 First Episode On Cartoon Network To Premiere In August

Since May, LEGO has been hyping the 9^th season of Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu on Cartoon Network, with a rather dramatic trailer that illustrated the dire circumstances of the main characters, separated between two worlds with an ascendant Lord Garmadon about to cement his rule over all. The thing is that nobody knew then when Ninjago season 9 will premiere.

At first, the announced Ninjago panel for SDCC 2018 didn’t offer any clues on the show, and even floated speculations that the ninth season might be the last, with the wording of the panel’s official description. But before the panel played out on Sunday, July 22, one of the LEGO Ninjago series’ co-creators finally dropped a hint about Season 9.

Tommy Andreasen went up and revealed that “Hunted”, the latest season of Ninjago: Masters of Spinjiztu will premiere next month on Cartoon Network. Specifically, it will begin on August 11.

Just as a refresher: Ninjago season 9 – “Hunted” sees Lloyd and Nya trying to fight an increasingly futile rebellion against Lord Garmadon, with most of their friends banished to another dimension filled with dragons and dragon-slaving tribes, where they must try to survive and find a way to get home.

Perhaps Andreasen’s dropping of the start date for Ninjago season 9 on Cartoon Network will whet fans’ appetites for what other things will be revealed about the show and its future direction in the panel proper. You can count on us to deliver the goodies when they come to light.