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First Image of LEGO Unikitty Dr. Fox Magnifying Machine (40314) Revealed

If you need any indicator for how big LEGO Unikitty! is now, look no further than the never-ending parade of new sets and polybags depicting the cat/unicorn Master Builder and princess of the Unikingdom alongside her friends having fun in some pretty quirky set locales.

While the lion’s share of anticipation in terms of upcoming LEGO Unikitty sets lies in products like the Ultracatty & Warrior Lucy (70827) for The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, there are still little items in the line to consider, much like the Unikitty Castle Room polybag (5005239). One such set is coming soon.

This is the LEGO Unikitty Dr. Fox Magnifying Machine (40314), and it’s unique in that there are no characters included; just a large (life-sized?) version of a gadget used by Princess Unikitty’s Castle scientist Dr. Fox. It’s comprised of two distinct builds, a microscope-like device and a huge petri dish.

A total of 76 LEGO bricks and elements come together to form the setup of Dr. Fox’s Magnifying Machine (40314), including disk-shaped elements depicting stuff the magnifier is supposed to enlarged, all stored in the petri dish when not in use. While the existence of this Unikitty set is now known thanks to Brickset, LEGO has yet to reveal when it’s coming out. We’ll just have to stand by for further updates.

WATCH: LEGO Ideas Voltron: Defender of the Universe (21311) Designer Video

From days of long ago, from uncharted regions of the Universe
Comes a legend…the legend of Voltron, Defender of the Universe
A mighty robot, loved by good, feared by evil

As Voltron’s legend grew, peace settled across the Galaxy
On Planet Earth, a Galaxy Alliance was formed
Together with the good planets of the Solar System,
They maintained peace throughout the Universe…

Well, I guess that’s enough of the legendary blurb for now. We know the lowdown since late last month: our next much-awaited set, the LEGO Ideas Voltron: Defender of the Universe (21311) is coming, and nostalgic LEGO fans can’t wait. To gear up for the releases of LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) next week (for VIPS) and next month (for general consumers), LEGO has now uploaded the designer video for it. Featured on the video are model designers Niek van Slagmaat and Mark Tranter, who discuss the manufacturers’ process in transforming the proposal of Ideas member Leandro Tayag (len_d69) into the official product it is now.

Perhaps the biggest draw about this immense set was that Ideas Voltron (21311) is technically five individual brick-built models that combine into one giant mech. The nice part as we’ve seen from this designer video was that all components were poseable alone or together, articulating as either lions or robot limbs.

The LEGO Ideas Voltron: Defender of the Universe set (21311) will be available (in limited quantities) during the 2018 San Diego Comic Con starting Thursday (July 19) this week to next Sunday (July 22). LEGO VIP members can get it the following Monday (July 23). And finally, it’ll be available to all starting August 1.

Don’t Mess Around With This Large-Scale, LEGO Ultrakatty Brick-Built Statue at SDCC 2018

Following the reveal of our first wave of LEGO Movie 2 sets, now comes another attraction to watch out for (and to take selfies from) at the LEGO Booth once the San Diego Comic Con kicks in next week. Revealed via Twitter, this large-scale, brick-built statue of LEGO’s Ultrakatty stands at an intimidating 4 feet tall and measures 7 and a half feet long.

From the looks of it, LEGO seems to be giving much screen time in promoting this leveled-up version of Unikitty. Other than this brick-built statue, we also have the SDCC exclusive, LEGO Movie 2 Apocalypseburg Unikitty figure, and the recently revealed Ultrakatty and Warrior Lucy (70827) set. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am pretty much impressed on how Ultrakatty turned out. From the moment I first saw it in the sequel’s official trailer, I know that LEGO will definitely bank its bricks to it. I like the concept of a leveled-up Unikitty, it’s like giving her the potential of powering up depending on her current feelings or emotional state. Its like seeing a brick-built figure of a Zoid that has a capability of powering up many times over such as Goku from the Dragon Ball series. Okay, that might be a bit far-fetched. Anyway, we’ve seen these changes in Unikitty’s emotions many times in the first LEGO Movie and I’m excited to see another dimension of her character and abilities once the LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part hit theaters in February.

Traditionally, LEGO has often released 2 or 3 brick statues during this fan conventions such as that from last year’s Luke Skywalker in line with the promotions for The Last Jedi, Thor for MCU’s Thor: Ragnarok, and Flash for Justice League. We can surely expect another one to be revealed in the next few days just in time for the opening of the San Diego Comic Con, so be sure to stay tuned.

First Wave of LEGO Movie 2 Official Set Images and Product Details Released

After LEGO’s initial reveal via Twitter of the first three tie-in sets slated for the upcoming LEGO Movie sequel, we now have our first wave of the LEGO Movie 2 official set images, names, and descriptions released via LEGO fan site Brick Fanz. These sets are scheduled to be showcased during next week’s San Diego Comic Con from July 19-22.

If you will notice, most of these LEGO Movie 2 official set images already appeared in the official trailer for the LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, and our predictions for future sets were quite spot on. As it turned out, we now have the official name for the overgrown but battle-ready, Unikitty that we saw in the trailer. I love how the Ultrakatty & Warrior Lucy set turned out, considering that the former is almost at minifigure scale as seen in the trailer. The set descriptions also offer a glimpse of some of the subtle points of the film without being too spoilery. I also find it curious to see that LEGO opted to provide us with multiple Emmet and Lucy minifigures in this theme. I’m not really sure if they are exactly the same minifigs across these sets, or if they will come with different face printing. As a last note, it looks like LEGO has also introduced one never-before-seen character for the LEGO Movie 2, which is Sharkia. She seems to be a mechanic of sorts, and it remains to be seen if she is a friend or foe for our master builders.

With that said, check out these LEGO Movie 2 official set images and let us know what you think in the comments below.

70827 – Ultracatty & Warrior Lucy – $ 29.99

Includes new-for-January-2019 Lucy and Emmet minifigures, plus a brick-built alien invader with a chomping mouth and rotating cyclops eye.
Ultrakatty features a minifigure cockpit with legs, posable head with 3 alternative facial expressions, and a posable tail and legs.
Includes Lucy’s crossbow weapon
Accessory elements include Lucy’s quiver and ‘STOP’ sign shield element.
Recreate fun-packed scenes from THE LEGO® MOVIE 2.
Ultracatty measures over 3 “(8cm) high, 8” (21cm) long and 3 “(8cm) wide.
$ 29.99 USD

70829 – Emmet & Lucy’s Escape Buggy – 49.99 USD

Includes 3 LEGO MOVIE characters: LEGO Emmet minfigure, Lucy minfigure and Sharkia minifigure, plus 3 brick-built figures: MetalBeard, Star and Heart.
Escape buggy features 2 minifigure seats, a removable roof, opening doors and hood, arrow gun (non-shooting), suspension and big wheels with rubber tires.
Buildable base features on explode function, container with fuel tanks and a canister with translucent flame element.
Weapons include Lucy’s crossbow and Sharkia’s crowbar.
Accessory elements include Lucy’s quiver and ‘STOP’ sign and MetalBeard’s internal organs.
Emmet, Lucy and Sharkia minifigures are new for January 2019.
Recreate fun-packed scenes from THE LEGO® MOVIE 2 with this cool creative toy.
Escape stroller measures over 5 “(15cm) high, x” (22cm) long and 5 “(13cm) wide.
Buildable base measures over 3 “(8cm) high, 1” (5cm) wide and 2 “(6cm) deep.
$ 49.99 USD

70830 – Sweet Mayhem’s Systar Starship – 69.99 USD

Includes 5 LEGO MOVIE characters: a LEGO Emmet minifigure and Lucy minifigure, plus a Sweet Mayhem mini-doll figure and brick-built Heart and Star toy figures.
Sweet Mayhem’s Systar Starship toy features an opening cockpit for a mini-doll or minifigure, a retractable landing gear, a roll of stickers, a disc shooter and an opening prison cell with a removable control panel and a gun.
Weapons include Lucy’s crossbow and Sweet Mayhem’s gun.
Accessory elements include Lucy’s quiver and Sweet Mayhem’s adjustable wings, helmet, 2 hearts and translucent-blue boosters.
Emmet and Lucy minifigures and Sweet Mayhem mini-doll figure are new for January 2019.
Recreate fun-packed scenes from THE LEGO® MOVIE 2 with this awesome building toy.
Measures over 5 “(14cm) high, 6” (16cm) long and 11 “(28cm) wide.
$ 69.99 USD

LEGOLAND Windsor Starts Summer of Fun Event by Trading Bricks for Sand Sculptures

Normally when one mentions sculptures being built on a LEGOLAND theme park somewhere in the world, the immediate assumption is that it’s a brand new multi-brick model or edifice designed by that park’s master builders and put together with high ladders and even cranes. It’s a LEGO park after all. Well, with the UK now getting started with their summer season, LEGOLAND Windsor is joining the fun by introducing a new sculpture to advertise the park’s Summer of Fun beach-party themed event period. But rather than splurge on more bricks to assemble, this build is a sand sculpture like you would find on a beach.

Guests to LEGOLAND Windsor will most definitely appreciate the sight of giant LEGO minifigures sitting on lounge chairs at the beach, all rendered in nicely-packed sand. This is the handiwork of professional sand sculptor Raymond Wirick, hired by LEGOLAND Windsor to illustrate “Summer of Fun”.

LEGOLAND Windsor Senior PR Manager Lauren Moss is well aware that most occasions when celebrated by the park and resort is celebrated by a new build, but they wanted to try something new by getting Wirick to make a sand sculpture for their summer event, which will last two months.

Aside from the minifigure sculpts, the main attraction of LEGOLAND Windsor’s “Summer of Fun” event is a “pop-up beach” featuring sand, pails, shovels and deck chairs for resort guests to build sand-castles and more to their hearts’ content. This will be around in LEGOLAND Windsor from July until September 2.

LEGO BrickHeadz Builder Mobile App Launched for Android

It’s hard to miss the fact that LEGO is heavily invested on other forms of media and communication well outside its core offering of toys and educational children’s products. Films and TV shows? They’re covered. How about videogames? LEGO has them too, from console titles to some fun mobile apps. And it’s incredible how many LEGO mobile apps they’re developing concurrently. Aside from baseline LEGO builds rendered in AR, and the app controls for the new LEGO Batmobile (76112), there’s a new app launched that’s based on the popular BrickHeadz line of cute brick-built figures. It’s called (simply) BrickHeadz Builder.

If you have seen LEGO Studio-AR in action then you have an idea how LEGO BrickHeadz Builder works: access to and manipulation of virtual copies of official LEGO sets to build and place on an AR environment in your phone or tablet. The primary focus however is the assembly and editing of a BrickHeadz figure serving as your player avatar.

Once your BrickHeadz is complete, you can participate in challenges and mini-games to unlock more stuff and BrickHeadz characters, build other LEGO sets, place sets and BrickHeadz to make your own vignettes to save in photo or video, and even set AI patterns to your BrickHeadz and let them do their own thing on-screen.

LEGO Group VP for Digital Games and Apps Sean McEvoy has great hopes for LEGO BrickHeadz Builder to become a hit with mobile gaming and LEGO fans. “We hope this new digital experience will inspire children to continue exploring their creativity and imagination in the physical brick world, where building possibilities are endless,” he said.

For the moment, LEGO BrickHeadz Builder is only available for Android devices, and can be downloaded from Google Play Store. It’s completely free and features no in-app purchases at all.

LEGOLAND Discovery Center in Manchester Is In Need of A New Master Model Builder

This could well be the ultimate AFOL dream. The LEGOLAND Discovery Center in Manchester, UK is looking for a new Master Model Builder and the job description is to build and play with LEGO every day (for 5 working days that is). It is expected to draw thousands of applications worldwide considering the fact that the position is so rare that one has even a higher chance of being an astronaut! As mentioned on the LEGOLAND Manchester’s recruitment page, the unique position is one of only 23 in the world, less than a fifth of the number of trained astronauts. Currently the LEGOLAND branch has Alex Bidolak as its resident Master Builder, and soon he will be joined by the successful applicant.

Qualified applicants will go through a series of paces headed none other than by the theme park’s ‘toughest’ panel of judges – LEGOLAND’s Creative Crew made up of children ages 6 to 10.

The kids panel will challenge applicants to come up with their own series of creative builds, giving them the chance to show off if they have the bricks for the position. As far as LEGOLAND Discovery Center in Manchester is concerned, this is the very first time that they followed this recruitment strategy, giving it a fun, LEGO twist. After all, the spirit of LEGO is all about playing well.

According to Jenn McDonough, General Manager of Manchester Cluster, Merlin Entertainments, “This is a hugely exciting time at Legoland Discovery Centre Manchester. Such is the success of our popular family attraction, that we now need a second master model builder to join the fast-paced and brilliantly creative team here, to provide guests with an even more memorable and fun experience whilst visiting the attraction.”

So if you think that you have what it takes to be the next Master Model Builder of the planet, then be sure to submit your intention right here. Afterwards, check your email to confirm your interest and wait for your next big, brick-building adventure.

Source: Manchester Evening News

For SDCC 2018 Attendees: Lottery Results To Bag These LEGO SDCC Exclusive Items Will Be Released On Friday

If you are attending San Diego Comic Con next week, chances are you’re their not just for the panel interviews and events, but also for the LEGO SDCC exclusive items that will be out for grabs. These items are treated as gold in these fan conventions, with aftermarket prices (shame to those scalpers) that can soar to ridiculous heights especially at eBay. To address the situation and to ensure fairness in the distribution of these limited, ultra rare LEGO items , SDCC organizers have set up an online, electronic lottery system to determine qualifying attendees.

Though the SDCC Exclusives Portal has already been closed at 12PM (PDT) today following the deadline for submission of interest, for those who are fortunate enough to make it on time, the SDCC website announced that the Exclusives Portal random selection process will take place on or around July 13, 2018.

For a quick recap, here are the LEGO SDCC exclusive minifigures that will be given away during specific days at this year’s San Diego Comic Con.

LEGO DC Black Lightning – July 20, 10AM-12PM (PDT)

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Sheriff Deadpool – July 21, 2018; 10AM-12PM (PDT)

LEGO Movie 2 Apocalypseburg Unikitty – July 22, 2018; 10AM-12PM (PDT)

Keep your fingers crossed and let us know in the comments below if you’re attending this year’s SDCC and if you made the cut in having these LEGO SDCC exclusive minifigures.

LEGO Partners With The London Natural History Museum For A Quest With Plantus Maximus

The recent introduction of the LEGO Plants from Plants (40320), a collection of botanical-themed building elements advertised as being the first set wholly manufactured using plant-based plastics, is the first big step by the company towards the use of sustainable materials for its products; the promotional push speaks for itself. In fact, there’s going to be a LEGO event for UK fans happening on the first weekend of next month, and it will be in association with a celebrated institution, the London Natural History Museum. Themed after one of LEGO’s ongoing promotions for the Plants from Plants (40320) set, participating children at the Natural History Museum will come up with their own sustainable superhero figure made of building elements from LEGO’s Plants from Plants (40320). They’ll do this by checking out museum exhibits to learn about nature and environment together with LEGO’s first botanical superhero, Plantus Maximus.

Taking only an hour long per session per day, the “Quest with Plantus Maximus” will have groups of five participants per session (3 children, 2 adults), and their sustainable superhero creations will get to join LEGO’s original character Plantus Maximus (made of the Plants from Plants parts) in a conceptual wildlife-friendly city of their own design.

Do note that while the London Natural History Museum LEGO event is free, interested builders in the area must book to join online at the museum’s official website. Said online booking for “Quest with Plantus Maximus” should open before the event period running August 3-5.

LEGO’s sustainable “Plants from Plants” set will have an official launch this coming August 1.

Weekend LEGO Fan Convention and MOC Exhibit in Santa Clara, CA with Bricks by the Bay 2018

Starting this Thursday is one of the major LEGO conventions to be held annually on the West Coast. The Bricks by the Bay is a big gathering of LEGO builders and fans around northern California, and an epic showcase of the best latest MOCs from creators in the area.

Running from July 12 to 15, Bricks by the Bay will be composed of two facets: the full four-day convention itself for participating LEGO builders with MOCs to display, and the two-day exposition of said MOCs on Saturday and Sunday (July-14-15) for general public admission and fun.

For those who are interested to attend the entire four-day convention, the only registration possible for joining the Bricks by the Bay 2018 will be at the door of the venue of the Santa Clara Convention Center. It’s $105 per late participant, and though they may no longer receive event souvenirs or exclusive freebies and there might be no guarantee that any MOC they brought could make the judging, still, attending the workshops and listening to master builders are all worth it. On the other hand, for those who are interested only to attend the 2-day public expo, you may click here to purchase tickets.

Once you’re registered however, it’s all LEGO-building paradise and camaraderie with workshops, games, panel speakers, meet-and-greets with famous MOC builders and more, especially considering the general theme of this con is Animation. Later guests who will arrive for the public exhibit are sure to find some mind-blowing MOCs in that theme (Saturday 11AM-3PM; Sunday 10AM-4PM).

In addition, there will be vendors on site for any exhibit viewer who has been inspired by what they see to purchase a LEGO set or two, plus various accessories. It’s a building bonanza from Thursday all the way to the start of next week with the Santa Clara Bricks by the Bay LEGO convention.