Month: January 2017

Hold On to your Hard Hats! We visit the LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre, Melbourne

ramblingbrick AFOL life, Lego, LEGOLand, preview , , ,

We have exciting times ahead in Australia: Recently we had the opening of the first Certified LEGO Store on the Gold Coast. Meanwhile, a lazy 18 hour drive (approx 1759 km, 1087 miles) away in Melbourne, we are looking forward to the country’s first LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre  opening in mid April.img_3977

In coming weeks, we will see the Brick Factor Competition, which will see some of our top LEGO builders vying for the role of Master Builder for the centre, but today, we have something a little special.

While others were comparing the size of the queue and pick-a-brick hauls, a small number of Melbourne’s LEGO Bloggers and Instagrammers had the opportunity to visit the building site with members of the team from the LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre.  Located on the top floor of the recently redeveloped area of the Chadstone Shopping Centre, the LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre is located opposite the cinema complex.

At this stage it is very much a work in progress: the builders are on site, fitting out is incomplete and bubble wrap abounds! As such, we had to don our hard hats and high-visibility vests for the purposes of the walk through.

If you wish to avoid any spoilers of what to expect when you arrive, stop now. All you need to know is: Admission will cost around $32 per person over three years of age.  Annual passes are available now for the introductory price of $73 each.  Each person over the age of 3 must have a ticket. During public admission times, all adults must be accompanied by a child. AFOL nights are likely to occur on a monthly basis. There will be a shop…

Further details will become available closer to the opening date, which will be in mid April.

Continue reading →

BrickHeadz Superheroes: Coming in March

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Today, The LEGO® Group officially announced the release date for the highly anticipated BrickHeadz range.  Previewed last year, with a few San Diego  Comic Con Exclusives, this new range seems to be entering the space occupied by collectables such as Funko Pop! vinyl figures, but with a constructible twist. The initial wave contains a selection of DC and Marvel Characters, but the press release promises many, many more to come… Who would you like to see? (Pricing, availability  and images after the break) Continue reading →

Play on:Mighty Micros the 2017 update

ramblingbrick Lego

No sooner has the park level been unlocked, and  we have seen another update to the LEGO DC Superheroes Mighty Micros App this week.

With this update, we add new heroes and villains to the game, and both can act as chasers or chasees (or chased).

  • Helicopter Batman and Killer Moth
  • Superman and Bizzarro
  • Wonder Woman and Doomsday

Continue reading →

Happy Lunar New Year: Year of the Rooster (40234)

ramblingbrick Lego

For the third year, LEGO have released a seasonal set to commemorate the Lunar new year, featuring animals of the Chinese Zodiac.

The previous two sets, for the year of the sheep and the year of the monkey were only available in Asia.  This year’s set, for the Year of the Rooster, was previously announced to be exclusive to the Shanghai and Leicester Square LEGO Brand stores.  Imagine my surprise as the word went around last week when one of our local department stores, Myer, announced that it would have some available. Admittedly not in all stores. Only four out of more than sixty locations nationwide will have it available (two in Melbourne, two in Sydney). Fortunately, one is my local.  Free with a purchase of 88 dollars or more.  When I went,  it coincided with a weekend with 25% off LEGO. As a result of this, I spent a bit more than $88. img_9423

Continue reading →

Better Suit Up – a New and Simple Minifigure Mech System 70366: Battle Suit Lance

ramblingbrick elements, Lego, NEXO Knights, reviews , ,

Exo suits hold great appeal for LEGO Space builders. The retired EXOForce theme, as well as the success of Pete Reid’s LEGO® Ideas Exo-Suit 21109 attests to this. This project was brought to fruition with the aid of LEGO® designer Mark Stafford, one of the design lead’s on EXOForce.

exosuit
LEGO Ideas ExoSuit 21109 – image from brickset.com

However, as appealing an idea as it is to put a minifigure into such a suit, it is can be made quite challenging by the finger blistering use of tiny, greebling pieces to put together a model that is extremely detailed, but otherwise full of pieces that a seven year old may otherwise inadvertently condemn to the vacuum cleaner.

Continue reading →

Play On: Mighty Micro’s Park Level now unlockable

ramblingbrick Lego

An update to the LEGO® DC Superheroes Mighty Micros App released in November has made the Park Level Playable. I feel sad that I only discovered this level now.

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Whats in the Box?

Game play is essentially the same as both the City and Island Levels, but the fresh music and scenery adds to the playability.

Unlocking the level is dependent on collecting studs while playing the game: it took me four rounds to collect enough to unlock the level, having previously unlocked all available levels and characters. Continue reading →

 Blind Bag 70372: The increasingly complicated mathematical relationships of the NEXO Knights.

ramblingbrick elements, Lego, NEXO Knights, reviews ,

January 2017 sees the release of the next wave of NEXO Knight sets.  Entering the second year, we see new colors entering the overall design aesthetic, particularly dark grey and purple, as we now have silicon based allies for Jestro and his cronies.

The Rambling Brick made its debut almost 12 months ago with a review of Ultimate Macy – boasting new pieces, new colors and a new go get’em heroine, it was an interesting starting point for me in the theme.

This year sees the launch of the Battle Suit NEXO Knights.  After last year’s Ultimate series, these shake things up a little, putting each of the knights into small mech-suits.

So I decided to pick up Battle Suit Lance.  However, when I reached the shelves, I got a surprise…

This is set/pack 70372. Five shields in a blind bag: We have spoken previously of the use of the NEXO Knights’ shields to provide power ups in battle in the Merlock 2.0 App. You can now get five shields and some other pieces in a blind bag. Continue reading →

71017 – Batman Collectable Minifigures: In order of appearance

ramblingbrick Collectible Minifigures, Lego, LEGO Batman , , ,

Holy palindromic numbers, Batman!

The 71017 LEGO® Batman Minifigures have hit the shelves, bounced once, and just about left them!  Get them while you can, as they will only be available for a limited time.

All of the figures have full size legs, and many feature two tone legs.  Some of the accessories are completely new, original and a little bit hilarious. including the lobster, the plate with lettuce print, rubber duck floatation ring.  Others are fantastic recolorations (because we so needed a pink battering

There are some outright strange figures coming up in the LEGO Batman Movie, as seen in the series of collectable minifigures. And while many have not had a mainstream movie appearance, many have existed for quite some time.

Here are the figures in order of appearance (as best as I can determine…): Continue reading →

Melbourne’s Legoland Discovery Centre is looking for a Master Builder

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So… you love building with LEGO bricks, you have a degree of skill in this area, and you want to change your job?  The new LEGOLAND Discovery Centre in Melbourne is looking for a Master Builder: Apply through the link at Merlin Entertainment . The top 100 applicants will go through to the BrickFactor Competition, which is used to select the Master Model Builder for the Melbourne LEGOLAND Discovery Centre.

 

Read the press release for further details:

 

MEDIA RELEASE 4 January 2017

SEEKING LEGO® BUILDING EXPERT TO BECOME MASTER MODEL BUILDER

Discover your dream job with LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre Melbourne.

Ultimate job.jpg

LEGOLAND Discovery Centre is on the hunt for Australia’s best LEGO® builder! Would you like to play with LEGO® all day everyday? Do you have the nation’s best brick-building skills? If so, LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Melbourne needs to hear from you.

The search is on for a creative LEGO lover who wants to build a career out of LEGO bricks and join the team as Melbourne’s Master Model Builder in 2017. The position, while unconventional, is 100% legitimate and ensures that one lucky person will land their dream job at LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Melbourne when it opens in April 2017.

The top 100 most talented and fortunate applicants will be invited to take part in the Brickfactor challenge held at Chadstone – The Fashion Capital on 11 and 12 February to compete for the honour of being crowned the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Melbourne Master Model Builder.

This unique public audition process aims to find the most skilled and creative model builder, who will develop new features in the attraction, curate special exhibitions, build new models, and share their special building skills and techniques with hundreds of thousands of children and families visiting the Centre. During Brickfactor, candidates will be faced with thousands of LEGO bricks and partake in a series of LEGO® building challenges.

Drew Grove, General Manager of LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Melbourne, is looking forward to finding Australia’s best LEGO building talent, with that spark for creativity and imagination destined for block building greatness: “We’re thrilled to launch the brand new LEGOLAND Discovery Centre right here in Melbourne in April 2017 and to search for the perfect addition to our creative team.”

“The Master Model Builder will play a vital role in bringing excitement to the centre, creating new and amazing LEGO masterpieces in the Creative Workshop, and helping children learn through play,” he said.

Applications are open now for this once in a life time job at www.merlincareers.com.au. Successful applicants are invited to apply to compete in Brickfactor now.

Located inside Australia’s leading shopping centre, Chadstone – The Fashion Capital, the Discovery Centre will be the ultimate indoor LEGO playground with more than two million bricks housing MINILAND Melbourne with iconic buildings and landmarks, alongside a number of LEGO themed zones for kids and their families including an interactive LEGO laser ride, a Merlin’s Apprentice ride and a 4D cinema. The Master Model Builder will live in their special Master Model Builder studio next to the attraction’s Creative Workshop.

A recent SEEK study has revealed that 41% of people plan to change jobs in 2017 but only 22% will actually make the change. LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Melbourne is calling on Australians to take a brick out of their box by joining that 22% and get out of jobs they don’t love for a chance to build their dream career into a reality in the New Year.

To find out more about LEGOLAND Discovery Centre and to register for the latest news visit http://www.LEGOLANDDiscoveryCentre.com.au

#BrickFactor #LEGOLANDDiscoveryCentreMelb #LEGO #NewYearNewJob

 

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