Month: November 2016

50 Years of Ford GT at Le Mans [News release and video]

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Overnight AEST, Ford and LEGO® Speed Champions announced the release of  the Ford GT Race Cars that won the 1966 and 2016 (GTE-Pro Class) Le Mans 24 Hour Race.  The project had been hinted at earlier in the year when this video appeared around the inter webs, before the famed endurance race had started. Featuring #66, it was in fact #68 that ultimately took the donors in the GTE-Pro class this year.Untitled1.png

This new set features the #2 GT40 Mark II driven by theNew Zealand Drivers Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon in 1966 and  #68 Ford GT of Sébastien Bourdais (FRA), Joey Hand (US) and Dirk Müller (GER) from 2016.

Looking at both vehicles, they appear to be afflicted with the Speed Champions love of stickers, but unlike the current Ford GT Model, these appear to mainly involve the corporate livery and GT stripes, rather than key mechanical details of the vehicles such as the engine intakes and lights. I commend the design team for this.

ford-lego-gt40-gt

The design of the front of the GT40 also features some interesting work to achieve the correct angle (and unfortunately a couple of teeny tiny stickers. There are some fantastic examples of finger blistering details in the construction.

I might even buy this set just for the vehicles…

See an interview with the Design Lead, and rapid assembly of the set in the video below :

Craig Callum: Speed Champions Design Lead Interview

 

The set will be available to order on 1st March 2017 from shop.lego.com.  The set will be priced at £29.99 and €34.99 at that time.  Australian, US and rest of the world pricing is yet to be announced.

What do you think of this commemorative car set?  Does it already have you regretting your purchases over Black Friday?

 

Play Well

 

The Full Press release can be seen after the break…

Continue reading →

Brick Friday Sales: What have you done?

ramblingbrick Lego , ,

Its the weekend after the United States Celebrated Thanksgiving.  “Black Friday”/”Small Business Saturday”, “Cyber Monday” and the”Can you believe it’s almost Christmas?”  sales are upon us. In this globalised economy, the effects of the beginning of the ‘Christmas Sales Season’ now has effects all over the world.

Even the LEGO® online store has got into the spirit of things.

40223-1.jpgOf course, just how much it got into the spirit of things depends on where in the world you live: the Sales and Deals pages have differing content depending on the location you are in.

In Australia, we have some great regular prices on the new LEGO® Dimensions sets (so great, many consider them a glitch), but no discounts other than Pirates Chess(40158) which is normally $79.99 and currently reduced to $63.99.  We still pay shipping on orders less than $AUD200.

US and Europe have %20 discounts on many sets, and free shipping for VIPs on all orders.

There is one thing in common: The Free Gift with purchase Snow Globe 40223.  It is gorgeous.  And you only need to spend $AU120/$NZD140/£GBP60/$US99 or €65.

So I am curious.

Did you by anything from the LEGO® online store between 25th November and 18th December, and what was your motivation? The survey will take the first 100 responses, and has only 4 multiple choice questions.

Click here to take the Survey

Enjoy your Christmas sales season.

Play Well

Coming in 2017: The Future…

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Over the last couple of weeks, official photos of many of 2017’s sets have come to light: Creator,  Lego® Technic (celebrating 40 Years), Elves, DC Superhero Girls, City, Disney, Marvel Super Heroes, Nexo Knights, Architecture, Star Wars, and LEGO Batman movie.  I have lost count of the number of reveals that have occurred.

If you don’t like spoilers, look away now.

There has been a steady reduction in the number of unknown unknowns, with an increase in the known knowns, and clarification as to the nature of the known unknowns.

Some of the my highlights in the reveals seen to date:

LEGO® City has 40% female minifigures in the sets revealed so far. [Great for girls and their families who are not fans of minidolls]

city

The LEGO® Creator Expert 10255 Modular Assembly Square has so many great new pieces.

new-elements-10255

LEGO® Friends is no longer restricted to the bright pastel palette, and some more traditional colours are coming into play in 41311 Heartlake Pizzeria.  There are 3 male minidolls, and 6 puppies to add to the collection in the sets revealed so far for 2017.friends

LEGO® DC Super Hero Girls will add a some additional heroism, and villianism(?) to our minidoll collections.

dc-shg

This year’s Creator Ocean Explorer 31045 has grown up into next year’s Technic Ocean Explorer 42064

oceran-explorer-creatoroceran-explorer-technic

The Creator Mighty Dinosaurs 31058 looks like a terrific landscape parts pack:

creator-dinosaur

Elves continues with Goblins, and Emily’s little sister Sophie. More great fantasy landscapes and transportation

elves1elves2

LEGO® Ninjago sets seem to be a little darker this year… mainly in palette

ninjago

The LEGO® BATMAN Movie will bankrupt many of us with great looking sets and TWENTY, yes I said 20 Collectable Minifigures to collect…

batman-movie1batman-cmf

 

These are the things that have made ME look up and take notice. Many new sets have been previewed on other LEGO® News Websites lately. What has grabbed your attention?

And what other treats may there be to celebrate to 10th anniversary of ‘the really cool sets catering for AFOLs’ such as the first modular building sets, 10181 Eiffel Tower, 10182 Hobby Trains and of course 10179 Ultimate Collectors Millennium Falcon. I’m sure there is much left for us to see.

What are you looking forward to?

 

Play well

 

 

Play on: LEGO City My City 2

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As I browsed through my mobile platform’s App Store recently I came across a LEGO game that was new to me, the somewhat awkwardly titled LEGO City My City 2.  Having missed both the placement of a colon and LEGO City My City 1, I had no idea of what to expect.

Perhaps more correctly LEGO City: My City 2, this is an app bundling various LEGO City  games for your favorite mobile platform.   Unless your favorite platform is Microsoft Mobile… If you prefer to play on desktop, you can find them here.  Th play experience is superior on the mobile platform, as the games are already loaded and ready to go!

Construction missions and Games are based around this year’s LEGO City Subthemes: Police, Prison Island, Fire, Airport and Volcano Explorers.  First you select a mission to complete – a number of bricks are required to be collected to complete these missions – building a new fire training facility, rebuilding an airport and so forth.  There are then a variety of mini games to play in order to gain studs.  Studs are gained by passing over them in the game field, completing the mission in the allocated time, and also a time  bonus.  Studs are converted to bricks at the end of a game.   The current exchange rate seems to be 10 studs to the brick.
img_2371 Continue reading →

Didn’t get Lester? 

ramblingbrick humor , ,

Dont worry, hardly anyone did!

With only 275 Lester figures available over the first week, and several thousand people in the queue, it was always low odds. We do know some were lucky enough to secure him. Congratulations to all who do: you are very fortunate.

I’ve obscured the number to leave an element of mystery.

In the mean time…. Continue reading →

Meanwhile, in Melbourne… the LEGOLand Discovery Centre needs your input.

ramblingbrick Lego , , ,

14238324_507348792801400_6595789620860487693_nWhile the Flagship London Store opens today, we have some exciting news for those of you located on the Antipodean side of the world.

Construction is now underway for the new LEGOLand Discovery Centre,  with the opening scheduled for Autumn 2017 -that’s sometime between March and the end of May.  Located at Chadstone Shopping Centre, in Melbourne’s southeastern suburbs, the time has come to ensure the Miniland Display has everything needed to ensure that the best of Melbourne is represented.  They are looking for you to vote for your Favourite Melbourne Landmarks to build from LEGO Bricks.

“...while we can’t build everything we’d love the help of Melbournians to decide which locations we cannot leave out.”

– Rob Smith, Merlin Entertainment plc Divisional Director

Click this link (which points to their Facebook page) to cast your vote.  Follow the links to the voting page.  DO NOT just leave a note in the comments.

Voting closes on November 30th, 2016 Continue reading →

Taking a Trip Down Memory Lane on a Double Decker Bus…(RetroRebuild 40220)

ramblingbrick Lego, opinion , ,

Previously on the Rambling Brick…

After obtaining set 40220 London Bus as part of the shop.LEGO.com promotion in November, the Rambling Brick was duly impressed, and put all of the stickers onto the set.  But there was a bonus sticker sheet in the set that featured Lester, the LEGO Minifigure Mascot for the New Flagship LEGO Store in Leicester Square.  This led to a tenuous link between Tim Brooke Taylor, Monty Python and the store’s opening week giveaways.  Overcome by a wave of nostalgia, he started imagining that he was back in 1976…

NOW read on….

An unhealthy fix of nostalgia.

As I looked at the 40220, and considered it’s design, it reminded me of all of many vehicle sets from the mid-nineteen seventies. The vast majority of LEGO Vehicles were four studs wide: whether a police car, an excavator, a bus or container lorry.

fourstud-wonders
Just some of the vehicles featured in the 1976 LEGO Catalogue.  Ignore the racing car: it is the exception that proves the rule. – Source  Brickset.com
Continue reading →

London: A Happening Place (London bus 40220).

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So I recently placed a shop.LEGO.com order, primarily because the small London Bus img_793140220 was being offered as a free gift with purchase over $AU120. And I am glad I did.  It cannot be a coincidence that there has been a rush on nifty London based sets appearing this year.  Any Day Now (well… November 17th) will see the opening of the LEGO Flagship Store at Leicester Square.  This promises to be quite a store, indeed one of the largest in the world.

So in 2016 we have seen the Creator Big Ben (10253); Buckingham Palace  in the Architecture range (21029) and now the iconic Double Decker London Bus (40220) has made an appearance, along with the teasing images of Lester, the minifigure mascot for the new store.

Continue reading →

Why would you ever buy LEGO at full price from the LEGO store?

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Double VIP points.

Free Gift with Purchase over $AU120

Free Shipping on purchases of $AU200.

This is what I was hearing from the shop.LEGO.com banner ads as October 2016 got underway. Should these statements affect whether or not I go to the online LEGO store? I sat down to work out a solution to this conundrum, and who knows, it might just influence my behaviour in the future…

[Editors note: the principles of calculating the best value time to purchase from shop.LEGO.com, or your local LEGO store are consistant, however individual thresholds for shipping and the value of special offers vary between markets. You should always make your own decisions regarding your own money.  The LEGO Group is sure to release something else that you wish to buy in the future, so don’t worry if you can’t spend all of your money at once. Now read on…]

IMG_7931.jpg
Conscious that I had not place a shop.LEGO.com order for some time, the LEGO Group offered this bonus gift with purchase over $120.  My will crumbled instantly.

The shop.LEGO.com promotion for October, if ordering from Australia, was the London bus set (40220).  Initially revealed around the same time of the ‘Big Ben’ Creator set, it instantly appealed to me.  Decidedly smaller than minifigure scale, it reminded me almost instantly of the sets available in my childhood.  In those days, many ‘LEGOLand’ vehicles were 4 studs wide, whether they were a go-cart, family car, a fire truck, and earthmover or a semi-trailer. This is a set that I was terribly keen to get my hands on.

And it got me thinking: What should encourage me to make a purchase from shop.LEGO.com, when many of my local major retailers regularly offer 20% purchase price? Continue reading →