Ed Sheeran Donates Two LEGO MOCs to Charity Shop to Raise Funding for Hometown Hospice

What would be a quick description of Ed Sheeran? He’s an English singer-songwriter. His “Shape of You” is so darn great listening that it’s the most-streamed song on Spotify. He was a singing Lannister soldier cameo in the penultimate season of Game of Thrones. He’s also a celebrity LEGO builder.

One other thing we know about Ed Sheeran is that he’s greatly invested in charity works for the place where he grew up, at Framlingham, Suffolk. In particular he has made donations to the St. Elizabeth Hospice there, donations in the form of some of his personal belongings…and LEGO MOCs.

Included with his latest batch of contributions to a charity shop for St. Elizabeth, among articles like clothes, appliances and guitar stands are two works in LEGO: a brick-built self-portrait bust and a customized LEGO BrickHeadz of himself. Both were made during Sheeran’s spare time while on a concert tour.

The charity shop Sheeran gave these items to means to have them sold on eBay, with the resulting proceeds being given over to St. Elizabeth Hospice in Framlingham. Shop manager Rachail Pollard noted in interview that the British international music star hasn’t forgotten his roots, and his donations are welcome.

Framlingham’s St. Elizabeth Hospice has benefited much from Ed Sheeran’s charity drives. Back in 2016 they received £2,500 collected from charity shop sales of the singer’s clothes. These contributions help the institution in their mission of looking after their patients, many of them with progressive illnesses or in terminal care.

LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle (71043) Rumored To Be In Micro-Scale And To Have Nanofigures

We’ve been keeping a close watch on LEGO Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Great Hall (75954) over the past few weeks, most especially when it was reported that it could be releasing much earlier. But that set is not the only one coming soon that’s based on Wizarding Britain’s most prestigious school.

As early as October last year there has been talk about a whole Hogwarts Castle set for LEGO’s streamlined Wizarding World line (covering Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts). Other than its set number (71043), there’ve been no details about it. Recently however, news is circulating concerning the scale of Hogwarts Castle.

Having a LEGO structure matching the size of minifigures (UCS) would be the optimal scale for LEGO Potter-fans, but according to some sources, a more sensible size set forth by LEGO for this Hogwarts Castle (71043) is micro-scale, with nanofigures of HP characters for its complement instead. Eurobricks member FalconFan1414 disclosed over the LEGO fan forum that other than the fact that the Hogwarts Castle is expected to be of a UCS-type, it is also rendered in microscale similar to 2015’s SHIELD Helicarrier (76042).

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For an idea on how a Hogwarts Castle might match up to micro-scale, you can refer to the old LEGO Marvel Super Heroes set, the SHIELD Helicarrier (76042). You can see in the Amazon listing’s picture a size comparison of a structure/vehicle with LEGO nanofigures (and regular minifigures) for reference.

That might actually be not bad, and it keeps the LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle set (71043) from becoming prohibitively expensive. Right now we have only to wait for any confirmation from LEGO itself. And there’s still the Hogwarts Great Hall (75954) that’s still heading our way to anticipate for.

LEGO Test-Runs Its First Customized Minifigure Printing Service

After the success of its first LEGO Mosaic Maker, especially after arriving in the US, it seem that LEGO is once again pushing the boundaries of creative customization. The LEGO Store in Copenhagen, Denmark has just unveiled the company’s very first LEGO Minifigure Factory that allows users to have custom printed minifigs right out of the store. This months-long project was the brainchild of inventor and designer Jens Hjorth who finally shared this exciting milestone on his Facebook account.

The LEGO Minifigure Factory is still in its trial stages and is expected to be available in Copenhagen’s LEGO Store only for a test-run beginning today until tomorrow. The custom minifig printing machine allows users to choose and add predetermined prints on a white minifigure torso. As of the moment, the selections are limited since full-customization may be a bit tricky due to copyright issues that may ensue. However, the potential for such an in-store service is very exciting, and allow users to add some text and basic, simple designs of their own.

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The machine itself is user friendly, and quite efficient allowing a good number of minifigs to be printed at any given time. LEGO has not released any official word or statement about the Minifigure Factory, and we still have to see if this service will be available in the US. For now, the price point for each custom printed minifigure is around $5 considering the current conversion rate. I just hope that similar to the LEGO Mosaic Maker, LEGO fans around the world will eventually have their try on the LEGO Minifigure Factory. With is relatively low price point and cool customizations, I’m pretty sure that the Minifigure Factory will be a hit to all LEGO fans as well.

Thanks again to Jens Hjorth for sharing this piece of great news.

 

Go Retro With This Fully-Functional, Custom LEGO Nintendo Arcade Cabinet

We can never be certain when we say that a LEGO MOC we see online is the greatest custom build ever done, because sooner or later it will be overturned by another work. And this new MOC is impressive in execution, not to mention fully functional, seeing guaranteed frequent use.

Builder Helen Sham made an MOC geared for fans of retro video-gaming by constructing an arcade game cabinet using LEGO bricks. The build is about the size of an actual arcade game, but compensates for the smaller dimensions by filling it to the brim with gaming details to geek over.

According to Sham, her LEGO arcade cabinet was the fruit of six hours’ design work and 27 hours of actual building using 15,000 individual LEGO bricks. The finished work is about over five feet tall and weighs close to 30 kilos, that being the combined weight of the bricks and the retro Nintendo console emulator the cabinet was built over. Watch this video for a closer look. Thanks to Brothers Brick for sharing this video.

Yep, console. One can tell from the screenshots of the game at work on the cabinet’s screen. The brick-formed details were a dead giveaway too; Nintendo’s Donkey Kong may have had an arcade version, but pairing it with the NES-released Super Mario 2 clinches things.

Still, the whole package is a beauty, and the controls work too. Helen Sham has done a solid one for both fans of Nintendo and LEGO builders everywhere. About the only con we can see about this MOC cabinet is it’ll be hard to clean, especially if played on often.

From August to July: LEGO Harry Potter Sets Might Release in US Earlier than Expected

The reporting of LEGO-related news is often a dynamic process, since stories considering products and events tied to the brand have a tendency to change with noticeable frequency. Only yesterday, we briefly mentioned an upcoming LEGO Harry Potter set with a minifigure included in a Potter activity book. Something’s changed.

Initially said set, the Hogwarts Great Hall (75954) is but one of several LEGO Harry Potter goodies that have been slated for release this coming August, two months from now. Come this week, that information is now old news stateside, as certain elements are indicating that the date’s moved up.

One might consider it rather ironic that European LEGO news site Eurobricks might get the first whiff of news that the LEGO Harry Potter sets will now become available in July. They already have some of the sets in question available over there by now.

Before this can be downgraded to mere rumor however, Wal-Mart briefly listed Hogwarts Great Hall (75954) and its fellows for July 1 before they were taken down. We’re getting the sinking feeling that they might be doing that deliberately now.

Aside from the Hogwarts Great Hall (75954), the other big LEGO Harry Potter set coming out is the Hogwarts Express (75955), a train set fully compatible with existing LEGO train tracks (explaining why it has none of its own) as well as internal space to install optional Power Functions capabilities as needed. LEGO Potter-fans might not need to wait much longer with this latest development.

New LEGO Ninjago Game (40315) Polybag Images Surfaced

Promobricks has just shared our first images of a new LEGO Ninjago polybag that fans of the theme might find interesting. Following the reveal of the first polybag of the LEGO Ninjago Dragon Hunter (30547) under the Realm of Oni and Dragons subtheme, it seems that LEGO has released another one in a similar vein. The LEGO Ninjago Game (40315) polybag features a gameboard and a few LEGO pieces to create some form of armament and ministructures. There is little information available about this polybag as of the moment, but from the looks of the image, it seems to follow the typical gameboard format with some minifigure cut outs included, less the minifigures obviously.

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LEGO Star Wars Imperial Landing Craft (75221) Box Art Images and Product Description Released

German Star Wars fan site StarWarsCollector.de has released the official product description for the LEGO Star Wars Imperial Landing Craft (75221), including its box art images. First unveiled to LEGO Star Wars fans during this year’s New York Toy Fair, the Imperial Landing Craft is a larger remake of its earlier (and less accurate) model (set 7659) launched in 2007. This newer version of the Imperial Landing Craft is noticeably larger at 636 pieces. It also features a different set of minifigures including: a Sandtrooper Squad Leader, Sandtrooper, Imperial Shuttle Pilot, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and R2-D2. This new LEGO Star Wars set is expected to arrive in store shelves in August, retailing for $89.99

Here’s a rough Google Translation of its official product description   of the LEGO Star Wars Imperial Landing Craft (75221), together with its box art images.

LEGO Star Wars Imperial Landing Craft (75221)

636 pieces; $89.99

Fly with the LEGO® Star Wars Imperial Landing Ferry (75221) to carry reinforcements. Always keep the shooters ready if you encounter resistance. As you arrive at your destination, swing your wings up for a perfect landing. Open the sidewalls, drive off the ramp and let the reinforcements out. Then sit back in the cockpit, close the hatch and fly back to your base!

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LEGO “Harry Potter” Activity Book from Scholastic to Include Harry Minifigure

Early last May, we covered the listing, on Amazon, of several LEGO activity books from famous publishing label Scholastic. Two are based on LEGO franchises and are expected to come out this August. One book is based on iconic Scholastic-published book series Harry Potter, and will become available in December.

Each of these activity books also has the usual free included minifigure, although during their initial Amazon listing the spaces on the book covers where the figs were featured appeared blank. Now at least, we have an idea what the Harry Potter Scholastic activity book will pack with each copy.

As can be seen on the cover picture, the included LEGO minifigure with the Harry Potter Activity Book is, well, the Boy Who Lived himself. This minifig version of Harry is wearing the Hogwarts uniform sweater that became more familiar in later films than the robes from the earlier ones.

If that Harry Potter figure looked familiar to our readers, that’s because it’s apparently the same figure that is part and parcel of the massive Hogwarts Great Hall (75954) set that’s due to come out this August. You can see him in the set photo below, dueling with Draco Malfoy.

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In a way, if a LEGO Harry Potter collector is interested in a new variation of the Harry minifigure, but is loath to buy a big honking set for it, then Scholastic’s LEGO Harry Potter Activity Book is a cheaper alternative. Watch out for it on December 26, 2018.

LEGO Creative Storybook (40291) Promo Ending this Week

LEGO has got so many promos happening at their online and branded shops, giveaways with durations that go across months, blending from one promo to the next. For instance, right now the LEGO Creative Storybook set (40291) is the current offer running since May. But its time is running out.

We first got news about the Creative Storybook (40291) thanks to a printed promo flyer from LEGO Germany, where it was slated to become available for local LEGO shoppers with a minimum total purchase of €65 from June 4 to 24. Its counterpart US promo pegs the required minimum purchase at $99, and actually ends up a few days shorter.

Just a heads up, the LEGO Creative Storybook set (40291) promo will end this Wednesday, on June 20 after starting this month on the fourth. Said set is a diorama honoring famed Danish fairy tale author Hans Christian Andersen, shaped in the form of an open book with “pop-up” scenery.

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One factor that gave positive reactions to the Creative Storybook (40291) with LEGO builders was its coincidental resemblance to the next LEGO Ideas set to watch out for: the “Pop-Up Book” by JKBrickworks. This approved LEGO Ideas project was somewhat similar to the LEGO Creative Storybook, but larger and with a true “pop-up” function enabling it to be closed and opened, with building scenery standing up on point.

June 2018 may be over halfway done, but there are still many more LEGO promos and giveaways in store. Check back to our coverage of their LEGO Store calendar here.