LEGO Overwatch Sets Coming in 2019.

Does anyone still recall last May, when came the seemingly joking news that LEGO was collaborating with PC game heavyweight Activision Blizzard to create some tie-ins for their most popular (and non-real-time strategy) game title Overwatch? If it needs repeating, yes it’s real, and this new bit of news confirms that LEGO Overwatch sets are really happening. Just as in April, when the newly-minted Wizarding World over-franchise comprising Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts was given a dedicated page all its own over at LEGO.com to display its tie-in LEGO products, so too now does Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch also receive that rare honor.

And just like with the first appearance of the LEGO Wizarding World mini-page, right now the LEGO Overwatch page is pretty bare-bones; just the Overwatch game logo and a teaser slogan reading: “Let’s get this moving!” We’re pretty sure it’ll be filled with information on upcoming LEGO tie-in sets soon enough.

As for what we might expect, the LEGO Overwatch page details might give hints. The faded background image is believed to be the Numbani stage, and the teaser line is what the game’s face character Tracer says whenever she pushes the payload cart in an Escort map. The best bet is that they’re battleground play-sets based on the mini movies such as this.

We also have an estimate on when these LEGO Overwatch sets will come out. The copyright at the bottom says 2019, so it looks like we might be waiting until early next year at the minimum. LEGO hasn’t quite failed with its franchise tie-ins yet; and I sincerely believe they won’t start with Overwatch. For now, lets appreciate how LEGO fans came up with their own version of custom LEGO Overwatch minifigs such as this one from Kaiju Dan.

We... Are Overwatch

 

Largest LEGO Great Ball Contraption Sets A New Guinness World Record

One of the most popular types of MOC to be made out of the LEGO Technic line is the so-called Great Ball Contraption. It’s essentially a variation of the sequentially complex and cumbersome “Rube Goldberg machine”, the only objective of which is to get a ball from A to B. The Great Ball Contraption has always been a crowd favorite among LEGO fan convention for its dazzling movements and amazing accuracy. A particular LEGO user group in Denmark has decided to take up the challenge of creating the largest LEGO Great Ball Contraption yet devised, building their project at Copenhagen’s LEGO World Denmark. Maico Arts completed a gigantic setup composed of 259 Technic modules assembled end to end to form the longest ball path.

It’s so long in fact that, once a ball starts rolling in this machine, despite all the Technic mechanisms helping it along, it would take 40 mesmerizing minutes to reach the end. The ball itself will pass through plenty of bridges, spinning wheels, and will even get shot up in the air, into a basketball hoop. Check out this video of the world record-breaking, largest LEGO Great Ball Contraption in the world.

This Largest LEGO Great Ball Contraption was put together by Maico Arts and his Dutch-Danish collaborators. He has had plenty of practice with it too, having once created contraptions that were featured on Guinness World Records thrice before. This creation is the fourth time he got in.

“To setup a circuit like this takes a long time,” says Maico Arts. “We started in the morning on the day before opening and ending late in the evening on that day.” He had succeeded in reclaiming the Guinness Record from Dalian Boca Education & Technology Co. Ltd.; in 2016 they had completed a Largest Ball Contraption with 197 modules.

Here’s A Great Way To Raise Funds for Charity: Help Build This Custom LEGO St. Edmundsbury Cathedral

Encouraging donations for the sake of charity using LEGO can take so many different forms, the same way the namesake bricks can be assembled into anything within limits of the imagination. Only this Monday, we talked about the Fairy Bricks Bikes to Billund challenge where they would travel on bicycle and ferry from London to LEGO House while supporters donated on their website to give LEGO sets to children’s hospitals. And then there’s this charitable initiative launched by St. Edmundsbury Cathedral in Suffolk over in the UK. They have a number of charities under their umbrella and have been thinking of means to raise funds for them. The answer came in the idea of involving charity donors in an ambitious project: a minifigure-scale, custom  LEGO St. Edmundsbury Cathedral to be collectively built.

With the help of UK LEGO group Bright Bricks, St. Edmundsbury has received comprehensive building instructions for the brick-built model, plus all the bricks they would need to complete it. The nice part of their initiative is inviting visitors to the cathedral to participate in their model-building project for charity. They can pitch in with adding LEGO bricks to the miniature cathedral, worth £1 apiece.

Custom LEGO St. Edmundsbury Cathedral

This custom LEGO St. Edmundsbury Cathedral was officially begun back in May 28 of 2016, and according to cathedral officials the actual construction is now ¼ completed. The total brick count is at 200,000 so the donation total would eventually reach that much in pounds sterling throughout the initiative’s duration.

Bright Bricks, which conceptualized the model build, also created some exclusive LEGO-certified box models of St. Edmundsbury in small and medium dimensions (tinier than mini or micro-scale). These custom sets are limited-edition (500 each size) and can only be purchased from the cathedral’s model-build exhibit. They’re hoping it will become a local Suffolk tourist attraction.

This Brick-Built Bust of Winston Churchill in Harrogate, UK Gets Defaced with Theft of Brick-Cigar

The risk of having brick-built LEGO constructs being put on exhibit with near unrestricted access at public places is the possibility of it being tampered with. It’s fortunate enough for exhibits like the LEGO Park People in Houston to remain unmolested; other displays like a Duplo statue outside a Gloucestershire toy store that got its head stolen in March, are not as lucky as Houston. Now yet another mishap has taken place in the UK regarding a vandalized LEGO brick-build exhibit. This was in the Royal Hall Theatre in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Featured on display is a brick-built bust of Winston Churchill, with a cigar clenched between his teeth; but not anymore.

This LEGO brick-built bust of Winston Churchill was put at the Royal Hall at the request of the Harrogate Convention Centre, which would itself be playing host to a LEGO event, The Great Brick Adventure, on the August-September weekend.

brick-built bust of Winston Churchill

It was over the first weekend of August rather, when it was discovered that the usual cigar in the Churchill bust’s mouth was gone. Harrogate Convention Centre PR manager Richard Catton has launched an investigation on the theft, positing that it may have happened during a recent awards ceremony that was held in Royal Hall.

In line with the investigation, invitations have been given to all attendees of that ceremony for whoever was responsible to come forward and return the brick-cigar. Doing so would mean no charges will be filed against him with the police.

Catton did manage to find some humor in this occasion, describing the cigar-less LEGO bust of Churchill as “like Yorkshire pudding without onion gravy – just not complete.” He’ll also have other matters to attend to, such as preparations for The Great Brick Adventure at the Harrogate Convention Centre, running from August 31 to September 2.

LEGO Builder Recreates Custom High-Performance LEGO Car Engines

I don’t think we’ll ever get tired of reminding – and being reminded – that you can build almost anything you imagination desires with the help of a pile of LEGO pieces. They can be something simple as the Barnes & Noble Build and Take Hogwarts Express or its more complex official countepart which is the LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Express (75955). There are some builders out there who have made a business out of their uncanny knack for constructing complicated objects in LEGO. For instance, Instagram user replicamotorsport has gotten attention due to his talent at making some small-scale LEGO car engines with some intricate detailing.

Now, we’ve seen impressive LEGO-built engines ourselves, like the aircraft engine currently waiting for the LEGO Ideas 2018 Second Review Stage. But these custom LEGO car engines by replicamotorsport are something else with their accuracy considering their size, their average L-W-H dimensions being 7-4-5 in inches, but still remarkable in resemblance to their original full-scale real versions.

Already replicamotorsport has posted several LEGO engines on his Instagram page taken from some very impressive cars. There are flat-six engines as seen in Porsches and the Chevy LS, or a K-series inline-four like found on a Honda. They might even feature moving LEGO-piece pistons.

Copies of replicamotorsport engines have already been bought up by technically-geared LEGO fans and collectors who usually work with the more high-level lines like Technic. Each costs $35, but that’s money well spent for those eager to have physical copies of these MOC engines so they can rebuilt these themselves.

It’ll be great to look forward to what new future creations replicamotorsport will put up in his Instagram page, here.

Total Sensory Space Debuts at LEGOLAND Windsor

Theme parks are often touted to be the happiest places on Earth, especially if said parks belong to some big-brand name companies. Still, very popular (heavily-visited) theme parks run the risk of being perceived as crowded, noisy and over-flashy. Some park guests might need a nice quiet place to get away from all of that. And LEGOLAND Windsor may have hit on a solution for their crowd-weary visitors with their conception of the Total Sensory Space. Located in the LEGO Friends-themed Heartlake City area, this indoor attraction is being promoted by LEGOLAND Windsor as a welcome calming environment, great for guests with “individual sensory needs”.

With its offerings of interactive visual projections, bubble-blowing tubes, vibrating beanbags, musical sound pads, fiber-optic decorations and activity touch-panels, all under soft lighting, the Heartlake City Total Sensory Space has been designed to give just the right amount of sensory needs, and there’s a particular sort of guests who will get the most benefit out of the room’s various features: those within the autism spectrum.

Total Sensory Space

LEGOLAND Windsor’s Total Sensory Space director Vanessa Ford is proud at what the park managed to achieve with their attraction. We hope that people of all ages with sensory needs enjoy the area, and that it contributes to making a great day out even better,” she said. And in fact, their Sensory Space facility has already received positive reviews from the UK’s National Autistic Society.

For more information on LEGOLAND Windsor’s Total Sensory Space, and for inquiries and ticket bookings, you may visit LEGOLAND Windsor at their official website here.

This Micro-Scaled LEGO Ideas Voltron Is The Cutest Defender of the Universe

I have to admit: while Lendy Tayag’s LEGO Ideas Voltron (21311) is mightily flying all across the globe, I am still waiting patiently for my wallet to recover and say yes to my next LEGO wish list which of course, includes the LEGO Ideas Voltron set on the top of the list of this nerdy 80’s fan boy. The good thing is while waiting for my wallet to wake up from its brick slumber, Lendy was kind enough to share a mini, or more accurately, a custom micro-scaled LEGO Ideas Voltron set that any true-blue fan can assemble and will surely adore.

Over at his Facebook page, and as his way of saying thanks to all who have supported his LEGO Ideas set, Lendy shared this simple, yet overly cute micro-scaled LEGO Ideas Voltron model of the iconic defender of the universe, complete with building instructions and parts inventory.

Micro-Scaled LEGO Ideas Voltron

micro lego ideas voltron 2

A quick overview of the inventory shows that this brick-built custom micro model of LEGO Voltron consists of common elements that may just be sitting around in your own LEGO collection. I’m quite sure that I have these pieces on hand, save for the gold star symbol. A visit at Bricklink will surely cover all these needed parts and much more.

Thanks Lendy for this share and I will surely look forward to have my LEGO Ideas Voltron box signed anytime soon.

LEGO Powered UP Rebrand Combining Powered Functions 2.0, Boost and Education Under One Umbrella in 2019

One of the significant advances made by LEGO in terms of technology for their products was the introduction of mechanical parts that can be driven by electrical power to operate particular sets. What these electronic systems were called depended on the line they’re part of, but for the most part they fell under Power Functions. Most recently LEGO has been promoting a new series of Power Functions 2.0 components for some of their latest sets like several trains on LEGO City and the App-Controlled Batmobile (76112). But all of a sudden The LEGO Group has announced a new product rebranding which it refers to as LEGO Powered UP

LEGO Powered UP
The App-Controlled Batmobile (76112) utilizes LEGO’s Power Functions 2.0

In this feature renaming, LEGO Power Functions 2.0 will be grouped together with other electronic component systems like LEGO Boost and WeDo 2.0 of the LEGO Education line under a unified banner. These features will now be collectively branded as LEGO Powered UP across all products using them.

scaled 17101 alt06
The LEGO Boost Creative Toolbox (17101)

To coincide with this rebranding all unique features from the previous electric parts systems will become common, such as replacing infrared sensors with wireless BLE connections and compatibility with downloadable LEGO mobile apps. The degree of connectivity and functionality being offered by LEGO Powered UP is greater than anything before.

It all comes across as overwhelming, but LEGO is giving their more tech-oriented fans time to digest this rebranding. All sets with the mentioned features releasing this year will still bear Power Functions 2.0 and such on their respective packaging. Expect LEGO Powered UP to replace those labels by 2019 though.

For more details, check out this transcript of a recent LEGO Q&A. We’ve included an excerpt here describing one of the new advantages of Powered UP.

…All elements can now be electrically identified, so when attaching e.g. a train motor, the Hub and the App can now recognise it is a train motor. This allows us to help younger users put things in the right place. Another benefit is that we can optimise functionality based on particular elements, for example when using a train motor or the add-on light, the handset increments/decrements power (good for train / setting light) but when using the medium motor, the handset sets 100% power when a button is pressed down (good for RC vehicles)…

So what do you think about these recent developments about the LEGO Powered Up line? Do you think this is a welcomed move as far the LEGO community is concerned? Let us know in the comments below.

This Custom LEGO Chocolate Frog Card Is Surely Magical

If you’ve been keeping up with our news, then you know that LEGO has a wave of Harry Potter merchandise that has been released or will be releasing soon. From the newly-premiered Collectible Minifigures (71022) to the upcoming Hogwarts Castle (71043), that’s a whole lot of minifigures and nanofigures to pick up. But what do we do with them? Perhaps add them to past LEGO Harry Potter play-sets? But Dutch LEGO fan Daan de Ruijter has a sweet MOC idea: how about mounting the minifigures into a brick-built, custom LEGO Chocolate Frog Card?

If you recall from the books and films, Chocolate Frogs are a popular Wizarding World chocolate brand that includes animated pictures of famous Witches and Wizards in the known Potter-verse, encased in pentagon-shaped trading cards. Daan de Ruijter has conceptualized a custom LEGO Chocolate Frog Card case that’s shaped like the original one as seen in the Harry Potter films.

You can even build your own custom LEGO Chocolate Frog Card, since de Ruijter was kind enough to share the building instructions on how to make this MOC online via his website. Also included on the instruction page are links to the list of the LEGO parts and pieces (and respective quantities) needed to make one of these Chocolate Frog cases, so you can order those parts as needed from LEGO’s Pick A Brick page, or via Bricklink.

With the option to put down the LEGO Wizarding World minifigure’s name on the card case using water slide decals, this custom LEGO Chocolate Frog Card by Daan de Ruijter’s is one of the most awesome ways to jazz up your choice of all the collectible minifigures coming out. We give due credit to de Ruijter for his creation.

The LEGO Ideas Product Idea Toronto Skyline Will Be a Great LEGO Architecture Set

It seems there’s a rising trend of Product Ideas on the LEGO Ideas platform that’s specifically tailored for an existing LEGO product line. We saw this recently with a 10-K passer for the Second 2018 Review Stage, being a Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 that’s being proposed by its creator for the LEGO Speed Champions series. Now, a new submission has been put forth on LEGO Ideas by Canadian member Nathan Beyerle (nbeyerle). His Product Idea is a multi-building model skyline in the vein of the LEGO Architecture series:the LEGO Ideas Product Idea Toronto Skyline.

So it is with great Canadian pride that nbeyerle is presenting his Product Idea for a LEGO Architecture set based on Toronto, capital of the province of Ontario and biggest city in Canada by population. His skyline features (left to right) Rogers Centre, CN Tower, First Canadian Place, Fairmont Royal York, and Nathan Phillips Square. Needless to say, it follows a similar layout to the upcoming LEGO Architecture Las Vegas (21047) set.

LEGO Ideas Product Idea Toronto Skyline

Nathan Beyerle used about 800 LEGO pieces to build his LEGO Ideas Product Idea Toronto Skyline; and they’re all spot-on in detail, given nbeyerle lived in the city for eight years. “I’ve always been a fan of architecture,” says nbeyerle. “And it’s a global city and it should be represented in Lego.”

The LEGO Ideas Product Idea Toronto Skyline was posted on August 1, and at present it has gained 658 supporters on the Ideas platform. It does look spiffy, so we wish it the best of luck gathering the big 10-K with the over-400 days it’s got left.