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Expansive LEGO Mount Rushomre Build Featuring at BrickUniverse Event at Raleigh, NC

LEGO-related news lately has been featuring some impressively large MOC builds. This week if you can recall, we covered a tabletop LEGO roller coaster and playground set that’s fit to earn a Guinness World Record. That MOC by James Burrows is also scheduled to go on the road for exhibition.

Speaking of which, Raleigh is hosting the BrickUniverse LEGO Fan Convention again this year, and on the coming weekend to boot. Like its official website says, we can expect plenty of big builds being showcased for participants and guests. One of them is a stunning scale copy of Mount Rushmore.

Created by Rocco Buttliere, a LEGO builder for Chicago, the sprawling model is made out of about 22,000 bricks, rendering Mount Rushmore – and the four Presidential faces carved on it – down to some sharp detail, including the rubble pile underneath.

And that’s only on one side of the whole build. The rest is given over to a recreation of the forested terrain and the rest of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial complex: visitor’s center, Lincoln Borglum Museum and Presidential Trail.

According to WRAL.com Buttliere took around 400 hours to finalize the design of his LEGO Mount Rushmore model, and that the actual construction took him 150 hours more. That’s par for the course for Buttliere, a well-known LEGO builder with international awards and exhibits of his work.

The BrickUniverse LEGO Con kicks off at the Raleigh Convention Center from March 9 to 10, 9AM-5PM. Highlights will include the usual free-building areas, meet and greets with popular builders, a Challenge competition Zone and a “Star Wars” set display.

Online Prize Draw on “Fantastic Beasts” UK Website Offers LEGO Tie-In Sets and Promotional Niffler Build, to Celebrate Home Video Release

The second installment of J.K. Rowling’s “Fantastic Beasts” film series, “The Crimes of Grindelwald,” premiered worldwide in November last year. It was the 10^th highest grossing film of 2018, and served to set up the Wizarding War that the original “Harry Potter” series referenced. Only in this year did it finally arrive for home media.

First, “The Crimes of Grindelwald” was made available for digital download last February. For those who prefer their media on physical copy however, the film’s Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD versions will arrive March 18 in the UK. To celebrate the occasion, Warner Bros. is partnering with LEGO to offer some nice goodies to “Fantastic Beasts” fans this week.

Back when the movie premiered in the UK, The LEGO Group helped with promotion by scattering large brick-builds of the surprisingly popular Niffler critter around London. One of these Niffler statues can soon belong to a lucky winner visiting the official “Fantastic Beasts” UK website.

This LEGO Niffler build is one of the prizes for the current “Wizarding Wednesdays” online contest. Those who enter the draw will stand a chance to win that, plus two major LEGO tie-ins released for “Crimes of Grindelwald” last year: Grindelwald’s Escape (75951) and Newt’s Case of Magic Creatures (75952).

While the Ultra HD, Blu-Ray and DVD media release for “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” is on the 18^th in the UK, it’ll be coming earlier for the US, next week at March 12.

LEGO Ideas Pop-Up Story Book (21315) Discounted in Amazon, Days After “LEGO Fold” Parody Ad

Earlier this week LEGO caused a stir in their corner of social media by “teasing” the LEGO Fold. Tech-heads would realize immediately that the toy brand was parodying the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Fold, which can convert from smartphone to tablet with the “Infinity Flex” feature.

LEGO fans on the other hand would recognize the LEGO Fold as an existing set from the LEGO Ideas line. Indeed, this is the Pop-Up Story Book (21315) that came out in November 2018. One could say that LEGO’s sendup of the Korean electronics giant’s folding phone reignited interest in the Pop-Up Book set. It couldn’t be coincidence that Amazon announced a sale of it.

For the curious, a check on the product listing for the LEGO ideas Pop-Up Book (21315) on Shop@Home would reveal that it remains available for its $69.99 retail price. Amazon just did one better by discounting their set listing 20%.

In other words, those who still haven’t gotten the set can have in for only $55.99 at the Amazon listing. Nobody knows how long this sale will last past the return of the Pop-Up Book (21315) in the spotlight. So if any LEGO collector that hasn’t got it still wants it, then here it is.

The LEGO Ideas Pop-Up Story Book (21315) has a sweet mechanical function to change from book to fairy tale stage. It features two stories: “Little Red Riding-Hood” and “Jack and the Beanstalk,” and includes relevant minifigures plus pieces to create Grandma’s house or the beanstalk.

Hereford LEGO Builder Requesting Brick Donations to Complete Old House Model for Brick History Exhibition at Real Old House

In Hereford, UK there’s an old house built during the 17^th Century that serves as one of that cathedral city’s main tourist attractions. Constructed in the half-timbered Jacobean style and painted black and white, the Old House – now a museum – is the subject of a LEGO build that’ll soon become part of its own exhibits.

With the Hereford Old House soon to host a LEGO Brick History Exhibition, Shona Ashton has decided to contribute a brick-built scale model of The Old House. Thus far her project has progressed thanks to contributions of bricks from donors in her community; but her build is not yet complete.

With the Brick History Exhibition kicking off Saturday next week Ashton, a designer from the local New Model in Technology and Engineering (NMiTE) school, has put out a request on the local press and social media. Her LEGO Old House is still several bricks short.

Ashton’s post on her Twitter page actually lists the specific LEGO bricks and elements she needs to finish her Old House model. From her recent photo of the build, it’s still missing pieces for roof tiles and the white “timber” to fit between the black “posts” on the second floor.

Besides Shona Ashton’s Old House, other models to be showcased by NMiTE builders at the LEGO Brick History Exhibition will be builds of various mobile phones, the DNA double-helix, the Big Bang, and LEGO statues of Martin Luther King and Mozart, among others. The exhibit, launched in partnership with the Herefordshire Council, begins March 16.

New “Build a LEGO Church” Fundraising Event for Washington National Cathedral Earthquake Damage Repairs

LEGO has long been an uncommon but effective partner with drives for charity. They’re either given away as donations by charitable organizations, or actively used in raising funds. An example of the latter was the campaign by St. Edmundsbury Cathedral in the UK last year. A similar charity drive is now open in the US, specifically in the national capital.

The Washington National Cathedral was built in the early 20^th Century and is part of the National Register of Historic Places. It sustained damage during a 2011 earthquake, necessitating repairs that are ongoing to this day. But funds are drying up and more is needed.

Much like what happened in St. Edmundsbury Cathedral, the WNC is in turn spearheading a LEGO building campaign. Visitors to the cathedral will be given the privilege of adding a brick to the scale replica of the WNC for every $2.00 donated to the repair fund. LEGO volunteers would supervise the model’s construction, guiding donors where to put their pieces.

In an interview with DCist the Cathedral’s communications chief Kevin Eckstrom relates that the 2011 Virginia Earthquake caused them $34 million worth in damages. So far only $15 million have been successfully repaired, hence the idea for the LEGO campaign.

We suppose it shouldn’t be a surprise why the Washington National and St. Edmundsbury LEGO campaigns are similar; both were initiated with assistance from the UK-based LEGO group Bright Bricks. The WNC charity project, when finished, will have 400,000 LEGO pieces (potentially making $800,000 in donations), 13 feet long and 1,400 pounds heavy – the size of a minivan in estimate.

The charity campaign began last Friday, March 1. For the occasion, the mascot of the Washington Nationals MLB team Teddie placed the LEGO-brick cornerstone on the model. This commemorates Teddie’s origin, President Theodore Roosevelt, doing the same for the actual WNC way back in 1907.

LEGOLAND California Has New LEGO Pod – “Creative Rings” (853922) for Customizing Accessories with Decorative Studs

No sooner have we caught word that LEGO was releasing a seasonal costumed minifigure in a pod (confirmed now too), than another pod set from them has been spotted. Shoppers at LEGOLAND California Resort has found this item in their LEGO Shop. No minifigures or brick constructs in it; rather, its contents are accessory-making stuff.

This LEGO pod, numbered 853922, doesn’t seem to have a name on its packaging. But based on the building elements it contains, online sources have dubbed it “Creative Rings.” That’s because the pink-colored pod has a number of plastic ring elements and a wide selection of plastic studs for “gems.”

For a small set that’s apparently marketed for girls, the Creative Rings (853922) seems smartly put together. It’s got a number of plastic rings (open-ended to easily facilitate finger size) with pegs on top to attach decorative pieces to. A lot of them are stud-pieces you might find in other sets – flowers, crystals, heart- and star-shapes. They even include colored circular bases that can go over the ring pieces. And the lid of the pod has a mirror on the inside for posing hands at.

Considering the packaging and the LEGOLAND logo at the back, we surmise that the LEGO Creative Rings pod (853922) is a LEGOLAND Resort exclusive that will (primarily) be available only at the LEGO Stores of the theme parks in question. Priced at $8.99, it’s about the same range as other LEGO pods already out there.

Judging from this and the upcoming Seasonal Easter Chicken pod (853958), it seems LEGO is putting a renewed focus on using the pod concept for more than minifigures and accessories. We’re curious as to what other LEGO pod products will come out in later days.

Select LEGO VIP Members Get Offer to Test Upcoming Digital LEGO VIP Card App

For a long time now, part of the LEGO purchasing experience in stores and online is their special VIP program. Who would say no to early availability of the most in-demand upcoming sets? The membership cards are pretty cool too, especially the “Star Wars” variant, and there’s lots of extras that get added on top.

But LEGO has decided that the VIP card was due for an update, to match this tech-heavy age. After considering how many people already use mobile devices to rack up purchase points via online-connected apps, the toy global giant has decided to do the same.

As of this writing, a number of active LEGO VIP members would have received emails from the company. This is an invitation to help test the new Digital VIP card system. These digital cards would most likely be electronically-generated bar codes and serial numbers displayed on a smartphone app.

A VIP member could download the LEGO VIP app and register to get their digital card, which when displayed on a phone can be scanned during purchase to top up points. This option is apparently immediately available already to Black VIP cardholders. When they use the digital VIP card app for the first time they’ll get asked to transition their physical card to a digital alternate.

LEGO’s Digital VIP Card app will be made available on both primary mobile OS platforms: Apple’s iOS and Android. With this, LEGO can also directly send updates about product info and launch dates on user’s phones and tablets. The app of course can show accumulated points for their users’ accounts.

It hasn’t been stated yet when the Digital VIP card app will be made available for general use, but it’ll be a big step up for the LEGO VIP program when the time comes. Above image is courtesy of Brickfanz.com.

Florida LEGO Store Owner Makes MOC Roller Coaster, Soon to Be Declared World’s Biggest by Guinness

While LEGO has long been producing brick sets based on roller coasters like the Creator Expert one (10261) from last year, creative builders have strived to do custom builds, as big as they could with all the bricks they might have on hand. One toy store owner in Florida may have just created an MOC worth a Guinness World Record.

Said LEGO roller coaster MOC was the brainchild of James Burrows, who runs The Brick University in Spring Hill. Using over 300,000 different LEGO pieces and elements, Burrows erected a monstrosity comprised of more than 91 feet of coaster track. With Power Functions, he can send his brick-built coaster along its course at scale speeds of 68 miles an hour.

The MOC coaster setup dominates a tabletop display that takes up most of the center space of Burrows’ store. But aside from this main attraction, he also built an amusement park around the coaster itself to really complete the package.

Featuring rides like a drop tower and other facilities like a mini golf course and cinema, the LEGO theme park and the roller coaster in the middle is then populated by close to 2,000 minifigures, some of which are riding on the coaster of course. Info on that powered brick-built ride has already been sent on by James Burrows to Guinness, which will soon certify it as the largest LEGO roller coaster in the world.

Following the Guinness recognition, Burrows will make his titanic MOC available to LEGO expositions for display. He’s already got such events lined up in Indianapolis, Charlotte and Asheville. To facilitate its transport, he says he needs to divide it all into four main sections to fit inside three shipping crates.

Burrows will accompany his soon-to-be-record-holder LEGO coaster on its expo displays. After all, it makes for great promotion for his store The Brick University, to help sell his stock of LEGO products at the events. “I get to play with Legos in front of thousands of people,” he says regarding his livelihood. “I enjoy what I do for a living.”

“LEGO Movie 2 Video Game” Announces Second Free DLC Pack “Galactic Adventures”

The long-awaited sequel to the surprise 2014 megahit “The LEGO Movie” arrived in cinemas early in February. While it couldn’t quite live up to the hype of its predecessor, “LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part” at least got good critic reviews and entertained those who did come to see it.

Later that month the videogame adaptation from TT Fusion was released. In true game company fashion that base title was quickly followed by the expected DLC. The “Prophecy Pack” brought elements of the first film (and its game version) to “The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame,” adding characters like Vitruvious and Lord Business to the cast.

Now, another rush of downloadable content has been announced by TT Games and WB Interactive. Nintendo Insider reports that this free DLC pack, called “Galactic Adventures,” will expand on the film’s present setting by adding three locations, each with their own story quest to complete.

The first new level, “Dis-Harmony City,” gives players control of General Sweet Mayhem. Set following the scattering of the LEGO Justice League in their futile defense of Bricksburg from the Duplon invasion, players must have Mayhem track down the JL members and convince them to switch sides, as eventually seen in the “Catchy Song” footage.
Next, “The Queen’s Palace” once again features General Mayhem in the timeframe leading up to Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi’s wedding to LEGO Batman. The wedding preparations aren’t complete, Queen Watvera’s gone full Bridezilla, and it’s up to the player to help Mayhem to damage control and get the story on track.
The last level of “Galactic Adventures” takes place on the “Rexcelsior” spaceship of Rex Dangervest. Trying to keep this spoiler-free, the location is a prequel of sorts, retelling how Rex met and trained his raptor crew. In between training the raptors with fun activities, he also needs to keep the Rexcelsior shipshape if he’s going to make his fated meeting with Emmet. And we won’t say anything more beyond that.

“The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame” DLC pack “Galactic Adventures” is expected to come out this April. The game itself remains available for Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.

Local Owners Ponder Sale of LEGOLAND Malaysia Resort

Through the UK theme park operating company Merlin Entertainments, LEGO lends its name to the various LEGOLAND Resorts all over the world. With eight already open and no less than three more under construction, LEGOLAND is steeping up to be a major international theme park chain. LEGO fans and their families enjoy these resorts greatly.

In Asia, two LEGOLAND parks can be found. One of them is LEGOLAND Malaysia Resort in Iskandar Puteri, Johor District. The original theme park complex opened in 2012, followed by LEGOLAND Water Park in 2016. It boasts being the first LEGOLAND to feature the company’s virtual reality roller coaster attraction.

But for all its hype, LEGOLAND Malaysia hasn’t been getting a lot of visiting guests especially in 2018. According to Bloomberg the park’s Malaysian owner, the state-owned sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional, has begun considering options for selling the resort.

Finance insiders shared with Bloomberg that Khazanah is waiting for suitable offers before committing to an announcement of the sale. This was revealed through a recent Kuala Lumpur press conference with the sovereign wealth fund’s managing director Shahril Ridza Ridzuan. No final decision on the matter has been made although interested buyers are already welcome to initiate talks with Khazanah.

If a deal to sell is made soon, the current valuation of LEGOLAND Malaysia Resort is 1 billion Malaysian ringgits ($245 million). This includes the theme park’s debts, exacerbated by low visitor counts last year.

For travelers planning to go to Malaysia (or Singapore, which is closer to Johor than Kuala Lumpur), they can check out booking options for the LEGOLAND Malaysia Resort, LEGOLAND Water Park and the LEGOLAND Hotel at their official website here.