Month: February 2017

Get a Grip: Enter the Goblins…Can They Hold Their Own?

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After a year exploring the relationships between the Elves and Dragons, 2017 sees the arrival of Emily Jones’s cousin Sophie.  Sophie is captured by the Goblins, and for further details, I suspect we will need to watch the Netflix LEGO® Elves Series. I have found the design of the minidolls has grown on me, over the years, and I don’t mind having them around the house.img_9913

The first half year sets feature seven different goblins.  I picked up a copy of 41184 Aira’s Airship and the Amulet Chase.  This set features Dukelin: A fierce looking, one eyed, spring yellowish green character, with navy blue hair and a similar coloured onesie.  The rest of the set is brimming with possibilities, so while I wait for them to come to fruition, I thought I would bring a short examination of the Goblin figure.

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Live stream build: 70900

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The Rambling Brick is now live on Facebook …

Come and join me as I put together 70900 : Joker Balloon Escape

The stream has now ended. Please feel free to watch all 48 glorious minutes of  static camera construction of this set. Who knows what the next marathon will be… or when…

Great small set. Batman and Coat tails Joker. Exploding energy facility and balloons.  Everyone loves balloons right? And a spare utility belt.  

4/5 Arbitrary Praise Units.
Play Well

If things don’t change, they just stay the same: SNOT Techniques in 31058- Mighty Dinosaurs

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Last February, I looked the 31045 Ocean Explorer Creator Set, and particularly the techniques used for ‘SNOT’ building. These building techniques help models made of LEGO® bricks gain an extra dimension as studs and bows move in different directions. As a reminder, when AFOLs and TFOLs talk of SNOT, they are referring to ‘Studs Not On Top’.  As a follow up glossary hint, AFOL and TFOL refer to ‘Adult/Teen Fan Of LEGO®’.

New SNOT Bricks

On the meantime, there has been a widening of the palette for SNOT components.  
Introduced early last year is the modified brick, 1x2x1 2/3 with 2x2studs on the side. Making its debut in the modular Creator Expert 10251 Brick Bank, its use has dramatically increased this year. For example, twelve these bricks form the basic ‘skull’ of the new BrickHeadz character sets.  Exploiting the measurement of 5 plates thickness=2 stud plate length, this brick has a square profile.  this allows bricks on the side to bind with studs on the side of adjacent bricks, although, as can be seen below, spacer bricks are required to bind with ‘regular’ bricks with studs on the side that are attached to the top of this part.

Another new piece, announced late last year as part of the 2017 modular building, 10255 Assembly Square, is the modified brick 1×1 with 2 studs on adjacent sides. This piece is just perfect for sitting in the corners that the ‘Travis’ brick- with studs on four sides- will never fit.

As you might imagine, these pieces are likely to revolutionise SNOT techniques, making them for more accessible to the average builder.

Today, I would like to look at the way in which these components are used in 31058- Mighty Dinosaurs.  Compared to the way in which SNOT components were used in last year’s Creator Sets, we have quite a different style to look at this year, affording create versatility and strength.

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LEGO® Packaging Survey

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Every so often, the Rambling Brick, along with other LEGO® Blogs and Recognised LEGO® User Groups are asked to distribute surveys to our members/readers from the LEGO® Group.

Today, we have a request from the Package Design Team.

Dear LEGO® user,
We are a team of packaging designers belonging to the LEGO® product development department. Our key mission is to design packaging that supports a strong LEGO® product experience. We are conducting this survey among RLUGs/RLFMs since we know that you (members and readers) have a great deal of experience with our products and packaging! To achieve our mission it is important for us to get an understanding of how you perceive the LEGO® packaging experience. Please help us by participating in a survey: http://lego.fluidsurveys.com/surveys/yma/afol-packaging-survey/
Please complete the survey before March 6, 2017.
Thank you in advance for your feedback – it is highly appreciated!
Kind regards,

The LEGO® Packaging Experience Design Team

Its new to me: stiffening the joints with Element 74261/6106472 (Element Exposition)

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Ball Cup, High Friction with Rubber.

elementAt least, that’s what Brickset and the LEGO Group call it. The name is a little awkward. And a little suggestive. Bricklink refers to it as a Hero Factory Arm/Leg Extender with Ball Joint and Ball Socket. Neither of these names is particularly catchy.

I first encountered this piece when putting together the new Creator set 31085: Mighty Dinosaurs. While this is the first Creator set to feature it, it is by no means a new piece.

Appearing initially in 2012, this piece has featured heavily on the constraction figures, with themes such as Hero Factory, Bionicle 2: the Rebirth; Star Wars; Chima and DC Superheroes.  More recently is has appeared in several Ninjago sets and a couple of NEXO Knights sets, particularly those involving dragons or mechs, as well as the ClayFace Splat Attack (70326,70327,70593,70595,70627 and70904).  It was also present in 75156 Admiral Krennic’s Shuttle Craft, from Rogue One.  Having little experience with buildable figures such as Bionicle and the like, and having not put together the mech sets and large dragons from Ninjago, I was unlikely to have encountered it until now. Continue reading →

BMW Bring Brilliant Hover Bike B-Model To Life at LEGO World.

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If you happened to pick up the 42063 BMW R 1200 GS  Adventure Motorcycle in the last month or two (Europe, UK, $AUD 89.99- not yet in the US or Canada), you may have thought the B-model hover bike was a little bit of a fanciful creation.

This design however was created through cooperation between both the BMW Motorrad and LEGO Technic design teams.  Previously limited to the concept in LEGO form, BMW took the wraps off a life size concept model at LEGO world in  Copenhagen today.

 

framegrab_09-copy
The A and B models from 42063

More pictures after the break.
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Red vs Blue: Classic Creative Colour Boxes go Head to Head

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The Rambling Brick, and many of our friends are in Australia.  In order to distract ourselves from the rest of the world seeing the LEGO® Batman™ Movie this week, while we wait until the cinematic release at the end of March, I present this little diversion…  #SameBatTimeAusNZ

When the LEGO® Classic sets were launched in 2015, they promised an invigorated era of sets where bricks, plates and miscellaneous bits were what counted. It felt like a return to the Basic Building Sets of the 70’s, although  the evolved part and colour palettes see us now having access to a veritable cornucopia of colours, shapes and opportunities. Not so many options, however, that we don’t need to come up with creative solutions.  All of the Classic sets come with an ‘inspiration book’ – typically including a selection of models that can be constructed simultaneously.  The boxes are typically illustrated with a rainbow like arrangement of the pieces, according to colour.

So imagine my surprise as I entered a local retail space and saw boxes crowded together, labelled LEGO® Classic, but having a limited spectrum of colours featured in the box art. Now, it didn’t take me long to work out what was going on: I was aware that there were Green, Yellow, Red and Blue Creative Boxes coming out this year, but I had missed their arrival on shop.lego.com and hadn’t bumped into any reviews of them. (Read on after the break… for more )

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Brick Factor Melbourne: The Search for Melbourne’s Master Model Builder

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We have spoken a bit over the last few months about the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Melbourne, due to open at Chadstone Shopping Centre in April this year.  This weekend we saw the Brick Factor Competition: the winner of this competition goes on to be the inaugural Master Model Builder at the new centre.

BrickFactor Begins

With a starting field of around seventy builders from around the country,the first challenge on Saturday was to build something representing a sport or hobby with forty five minutes to build . For all of the competitive builds, only traditional LEGO® bricks and plates were available for use.  No wheels, no curves and no tiles. Yikes.

Round two involved constructing a sea creature, built with the assistance of a few children:   a great variety of creatures were seen. Continue reading →

Last Year’s Creator Sets Grow Up

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We interrupt the run up to Brick Factor (Melbourne) and The LEGO Batman Movie to present an irrelevant, personal observation…

Two of my favourite, small Creator Sets from 2016, the Ocean Explorer (31045, 213 pieces, $AUD 24.99) and Super Soarer (31042, 100 pieces, $AUD 15.99) have grown up.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say they were revamped, bulked up and given a new lease of life as Technic Sets.

Read on for further details after the jump…
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Brick Factor: Melbourne Legoland Discovery Centre

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We have just received a few details for the Brick Factor competition to determine the resident Master Builder at the new LEGOLAND Discovery Centre in Chadstone this weekend…

We’d love you attend Brickfactor – a unique public audition where candidates will be faced with thousands of LEGO® bricks and partake in a series of LEGO® building challenges in a bid to win the job of Melbourne’s Master Model Builder.

Hosted by Andy & Ben from CH9 show The Block. Bring all the family to enjoy a fun day out. Key timings of the event below. Continue reading →