The Brick Show – Page 267 – LEGO News & Happenings

From the Rumor Mill: LEGO iCreate Jewelry/Accessory Line to Launch in 2019

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Leave it to LEGO to find a way to expand your total brand experience with them far beyond what you might expect from toys. They’ve already made significant forays into the decorative market with their line of accessory items like minifigure keychains. But now they’re kicking things up a notch with a talked about comeback of the short-lived LEGO Clikits from 2004, now rehashed and rumored to be LEGO iCreate. Apparently LEGO is cooking up this new product line based on jewelry, of all things, that might appeal to girls who might already be into sets like that of LEGO Friends. As mentioned, this would be the second attempt by LEGO to introduce a jewelry/accessory line for the said demographic following the likes of LEGO Clikits.

The LEGO Clikits Fun Friends Hair Bands (4876), one of the many accessory lines from 2004 that is rumored to have inspired a new line of similar sets to be called as LEGO iCreate.

According to some reports shared within the LEGO community, the LEGO iCreate line has for its primary products, accessory bands that can be customized with LEGO pieces. No minifigures or similar items were reported part of iCreate.

Other potential LEGO iCreate sets include jewelry boxes that need to be assembled, and can be customized by mixing and matching components from different sets. That particular element of “personalization” is said to be one of LEGO’s key selling points for the iCreate product range.

LEGO iCreate is reported to debut sometime in 2019. For the moment however, this information on a new product line is merely a rumor. We’ll have to wait until The LEGO Group itself makes an official statement later on.

LEGO Ideas Product Idea Fiat 500 F Qualifies for 2018’s LEGO Ideas Second Review Stage

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Here’s another potential LEGO set in the future. The LEGO Ideas Product Idea Fiat 500 F makes it to the inner circle of qualifiers for the 2018 LEGO Ideas Second Review Stage.

Spotting trends can be an entertaining enough pastime, especially when writing news for toy brands like LEGO. Take for example the Product Ideas that have recently been hitting the 10-K support mark and getting into the Second 2018 Review Stage. There’s some trending going on with the sets in question.

Initially, we had a wave of space-related submissions as the first entries for the review stage. Now we’re looking at a possible trend of cars making it in now. First of these was the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 proposed for LEGO Speed Champions. Now we have a new automobile submission in the form of saabfan’s LEGO Ideas Product Idea Fiat 500 F.

The LEGO Ideas Product Idea Fiat 500 F Maybe Our Next Official LEGO Ideas Set

Created by veteran LEGO Ideas member Felix Steissen of Austria, (aka saabfan), the LEGO Ideas Product Idea Fiat 500 F is Felix’s next entry following the roaring success of the LEGO Ideas Apollo 11 Saturn V Rocket (21309) in which he was a co-creator. The Fiat 500 F is not specifically slated to be added to Speed Champions like the aforementioned Peugeot 205, but it’s really cool anyway.

Made of nearly 1,200 LEGO bricks, saabfan’s LEGO Ideas Product Idea Fiat 500 F “Cinqueciento” model is a beautiful recreation of what has been considered in automobile history as one of the first “city cars”, produced by Italian automaker Fiat from 1957 to 1975. When completed, it’s roughly the size of the LEGO Creator Expert James Bond Aston Martin DB5 (10262).

With the LEGO Ideas Product Idea Fiat 500 F joining the bunch, there are now two car-themed Product Ideas for the Second 2018 Review Stage of the LEGO Ideas platform. What are the chances that the next one is another car model as well?

LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle (71043) Designer Video Released

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It’s been something of a fashion for LEGO that, whenever one of their new sets of a certain size and complexity comes out, that they would produce a designer video with the set’s creative minds talking about its original and development. We’ve made sure to cover these whenever they pop up, like the designer video that was released for the LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) from last month.

Well now it’s time for a new vid detailing one of LEGO’s new major set release. And thanks to this LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle (71043) designer video, we now have a pretty good grasp on what to expect from this humongous set before its scheduled release next month.

Our hosts for this new video are LEGO Designer Justin Ramsden and Graphic Designer Crystal Fontan, part of the team that conceptualized the LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle (71043) and made it into a masterfully crafted reality, rendered in micro-scale. According to Ramsden, the features of the structure reflect everything that happened there in all seven years of Harry’s adventures. Check these out, and other details through their LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle (71043) designer video which you can find below.

In addition to his appearance in the video above, Ramsden himself will be present at the special launch event for the LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle (71043) this Wednesday, August 15, at the Leicester Square LEGO Store. This is a prime opportunity for Londoners to get their hands on the set early, and have them signed by Justin Ramsden too.

The LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle (71043) is currently up for preorder at LEGO Shop@Home, and will be officially released to the general public starting September 1.

UK LEGO Store Offering Chance to Make a Custom LEGO Harry Potter Wand

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We’ve been noticing quite a number of LEGO Harry Potter events going on early this month and last, but they’ve been notably happening in other branded retailers carrying LEGO products, from Target to Barnes & Noble. What about LEGO itself? Wonder no more now that LEGO Stores – at least in the UK – are cooking up just that. Much like the Barnes & Noble thing that went on during the first weekend of August, this is a Build & Take event, only it’s lasting from the about middle of the month to early September. The subject for building is one of Harry Potter’s most iconic and ubiquitous items: your very own custom LEGO Harry Potter wand.

Thus far, the only LEGO Store to have set a date for holding this wand-building event is the one in Watford, Herefordshire, UK. During Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, from 2 to 4 PM, the store will invite children ages 6 to 14 to participate in making a Harry Potter wand they can later take home.

For the LEGO Store Watford, they’ll be running the event starting next on August 13 up until the first Sunday next month (September 2). Other LEGO Stores in the UK and the world are following suit, like with London’s Leicester Square store.

While we wait for further news, remember that there are a lot of new Wizarding World LEGO Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts sets already released or just about to. In addition, the film Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is coming this November.

Imperial Probe Droid and More Included in LEGO Star Wars UK Mag Issue 38

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A few times before we covered issues of the official LEGO Star Wars Magazine published in the UK, and the nifty special minifigures or polybags that came with them. Well now, LEGO Star Wars UK edition has brought out its issue 38 featuring two limited-edition polybags; one fixed and the other randomly chosen and added. The latest giveaways for LEGO Star Wars UK mag are an Imperial probe droid as seen in Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, accompanied in the packaging by a random polybag featured from previous issues. Apparently they still have a few pieces left to distribute.

From a certain point of view, the Imperial probe isn’t entirely new itself. Such a probe droid was already included in a past issue of LEGO Star Wars UK mag from two years ago. This time though, it comes with extra bricks to build a stand.

Now as always, you can expect articles, LEGO Star Wars comics, posters, puzzles and games, plus build instructions to make more models and fixtures from the Galaxy Far, Far Away. This LEGO Star Wars UK mag is now available in the UK at £5.99 a copy.

For those who are curious, LEGO Star Wars magazine UK edition has already spoiled what comes next in their issue 39 for September, a minifigure of prequel-era Obi-Wan Kenobi in pilot gear with a lightsaber. It’s up to you if you’ll get the Imperial probe plus extra old set now, or save for next month.

LEGO Incredibles Video Game Gets Summer-Themed DLC: Parr Family Vacation Pack

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It’s now close on to a couple of months since the official release of LEGO Incredibles, the WB Interactive-Traveller’s Tales videogame adaptation of the Disney-Pixar 3D-animated franchise. That title blends together elements from the original 2014 movie and some from its sequel, which had premiered simultaneously with the release date. With LEGO Incredibles now likely available with many of its target fandom, it’s a great time for WBI-TT to start dropping their downloadable content, similar to the title’s plethora of sibling games. And the developers have been only too eager to oblige at last because we now have the LEGO Incredibles Parr Family Vacation Pack DLC to celebrate summer.

The Parr Family Vacation Pack provides the Incredibles and their steadfast ally Frozone with the appropriate duds for a great day out in the beach. No masks to keep their secret identities with though, but who cares? It’s all good fun.

About the only shortcoming to this LEGO Incredibles DLC is the lack of a new playable stage to go along with the new duds. Oh well, it’s still plenty cool considering summer is still on. The Parr Family Vacation Pack retails for £1.59 or $2, available on PC/Xbox starting today.

Filipino AFOL AC Pinlac Awarded for Custom LEGO Flower Designs in July’s Bricks by the Bay CA Event

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It’s very amazing sometimes how inspiration for the most unexpected things can strike the most unexpected person at the most unexpected time. Such was the situation for Amado Canlas “AC” Pinlac, a Filipino engineer based in New Jersey, when a few years ago he was tidying up his home and found some stray LEGO bricks belonging to his high school-age sons. On a whim, AC Pinlac began assembling those LEGO pieces, aided by his engineering background and spurred by his Star Wars fandom. That led him to design some alien-inspired LEGO-built flowers, and his work was commended in several past events.

From NJ, Pinlac found himself in no less than Billund, Denmark last year, where he became the only Filipino out of 34 exhibitors to get his brick-built flowers displayed at the LEGO House itself. Much attention was paid to his LEGO plants’ extraterrestrial styling, though Pinlac says they were rooted in real exotic flora like the famous insect-trapping pitcher plants.

And then, just this past July during the Bricks by the Bay LEGO event in the Santa Clara Convention Center, Amado Pinlac showcased five of his brick flowers, where they received an award citation for “innovative use of LEGO parts”.

Pinlac’s flowers were described as “very artistic” by Bricks by the Bay president Eric Wilson, who might have something in common with the “accidental” designer by the serious nature of their non-LEGO profession (he’s a biochemist). As for Pinlac, he hasn’t forgotten his land of birth and has donated more plants to the Philippines, where they are on roving tour moving between LEGO Stores in the Metro Manila capital area.

source: Inquirer.net

Build the Future Event Featured at the Annual LEGO Park Holon in Israel

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Ever since early July, Peres Park on the city of Holon in Israel has been host to an annual summer event brought to them courtesy of The LEGO Group, transforming the humble public garden into the lively LEGO Park. Filled with LEGO-themed amusement rides, attractions and interactive activities, it comes off as a seasonal taste of the permanent LEGOLAND theme parks to a country that doesn’t have one yet.

On its final month, LEGO Park Holon, held at the Toto Arena in Peres Park, is now focusing its promotion on an interactive attraction called The Dream Tower, a skyscraper under construction where children are given free rein to build it up using building cranes and conveyor belts bringing near-countless LEGO bricks to use. Participants are even given hard hats and yellow work vests to wear.

Putting the spotlight on an exhibit that’s built by children is brilliant considering the current theme of LEGO Park Holon, which is being held there for the sixth year in a row this 2018. The theme is “Building the city of the future”, and it somehow coincides with a recent advertising campaign developed for LEGO that goes “Build the Future”.

Other attractions at LEGO Park Holon are a LEGO Ferris wheel, a castle themed after LEGO Friends, a LEGO Marvel bungee jump platform (with LEGO Spider-Man prominent on the imagery), a kiddie electric train and big plasma screens featuring the latest LEGO videogames from WB Interactive and Traveller’s Tales. Security and safety personnel at the park are dressed like Minifigures from LEGO police station sets.

LEGO Park Holon is still ongoing and will wind down on August 31. Holon city is only due south along the coast from Tel Aviv where a recent LEGO exhibit was also held last July.

Source: Holland Review

Autodesk’s Brickbot Project is Able to Sort and Actually Build Using LEGO Bricks

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LEGO as an invaluable tool for learning not only applies to people, especially children, but also to machines. It has been proven, if only little by little, with research undertaken by various groups such as Autodesk. This team has been working on developing machine learning capabilities to improve industrial robots. Such industrial robots, like the ones found in car assembly lines, are usually seen as effective in putting things together. But it’s an open secret with tech researchers that most industrial robots, when encountering something not part of its programmed routine, will mess up their work. That’s what Autodesk’s “Brickbot” project is hoping to address.

The San Francisco-based research group assembled their Brickbot, consisting of two manipulator arms and a camera-sensor suite, to do something that would be effortless for a child but complex for a “smart” machine: sorting through components in a container then assembling them into a whole. Guess what the pieces used are. Well, that’s right – it’s LEGO. Click the thumbnail below to see the Brickbot in action.

Autodesk’s co-head researcher Yotto Koga explains the use of LEGO pieces for their machine learning development with Brickbot, saying, “By starting with plastic bricks, we’ve been able to keep the project manageable while still having the freedom to experiment from the design stage all the way to a finished product.”

With the promise being shown by the performance of Brickbot in discerning and putting together LEGO pieces, Autodesk is ready to see how this machine learning potential can be used in actual industrial robots, with future collaborations planned with a manufacturer and a construction outfit.

LEGO Builder Makes a Giant Flying Foam Version of Helicopter from the International Jetport (6396) Set

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There’s never an end to the amazing things one can do when inspired by LEGO. If you search enough, you might find a number of brilliant home tinkerers who have taken model sets of LEGO vehicles and created larger mechanized versions of them, and then posted their machines’ performances online. Adam Woodworth, known on YouTube as ajw61185, is one of those customizers who have made remotely operated drones of vehicles from a multitude of toy franchises. His latest video shows his latest work, a foam-built and enlarged replica of a helicopter that was part of a 1990 LEGO set, the International Jetport (6396).

Everything about this LEGO-inspired flying contraption was lifted from the design of the International Jetport (6396) set’s helicopter model, and was made out of lightweight foam including the pilot minifigure in the cockpit. The only details not found in the LEGO chopper were the internal motors that drive the foam-version’s main and stabilizing rotors.

If you notice, the model’s rotors don’t actually perform the lifting and flying action for this foam model. Instead, Adam Woodworth snuck in some drone mini-quad rotors on the helicopter’s landing struts. With the whole thing mostly built of foam, the drone rotors (nearly invisible against the black skids) are able to do their work well.

This isn’t the only enlarged foam-constructed LEGO vehicle model that Woodworth has worked on. You can find more incredible videos of a LEGO space shuttle and light aircraft on his ajw61185 YouTube channel as well.