Today, after weeks of speculation, leaks and teases, LEGO announced the forthcoming release of Creator Expert Set 10258: London Bus. With over 1680 pieces, this is the largest London Bus set released to date.
The set will be physically unveiled at the five LEGO Brand retail stores in the London Area on 1st of July, and launched at the online store on 1st August 2017. Early Access will be available for VIP customers from 17th July. The Australian price is will be $199.99.
Larger than life characters need larger than life figures. As such, over the last 18 years, the ‘Bigfig’ has been developed to cover situations where a regular minifigure feel a bit… inadequate. Especially useful for Rock Monsters, Snow Monsters and Trolls, they have also been used to represent super sized villains such as Darkseid, Thanos, Gorilla Grodd, Dogshank and Killer Croc, and heroes such as the Hulk and Maui.
Compared with regular mini figures, they have no leg or neck moment, and only in relatively recent years have they had rotating wrists. What they lack in movement, they make up for with an imposing physique. The degree of sculpted muscular definition varies, as does the amount of printing.
A great hulking(sic) figure, this version of Bane comes from the second wave of The LEGO Batman Movie sets, specifically 70914: Bane Toxic Truck Attack. I would like to compare the advantages and disadvantages of the moulding of this bigfig in comparison to the smaller figure, with multiple printed muscles. Fortunately, this set provides us with one of those as well, in the form of the Mutant Gang leader. We will also compare this figure with the only other bigfig currently active in my collection: Maui from Moana. Continue reading
In a week where too many Ninjago Movie Announcements are barely enough, tonight (Melbourne time) we saw the second wave of Collectable Minifigures based on the LEGO Ninjago Movie 71019 announced on their Facebook page:
The LEGO Ninjago Facebook page tonight revealed the first 10 of 20 collectable mini figures, Blind bags, numbered 71019, to tie in with the LEGO Ninjago movie this September:
LEGO have officially announced the Ninjago City 70620 set via their Facebook channel. It is due to be released on September 1, and will be available initially through the direct to consumer channel. Details can be found at shop.lego.com here. Or here, in the Australian LEGO store.
Tying in with the LEGO Ninjago movie, this has been the latest set to be revealed, with official announcement of another yet to come.
With 18 figures and 4867 elements, this set sets the stage for life in Ninjago City! So much life and activity! It may not officially be a modular town set, but with a little ingenuity I am sure it can be made to fit!
More images, and the description follow after the break! Continue reading
I have a problem.
Well, I have several, but only one is particularly relevant to you today. It is to find order amongst the chaos. Yes, we are talking about sorting the LEGO collection: mine has gotten a little out of hand.
This topic is frequently brought up discussion groups, so I thought I would tell you where I have been, and let you know where I am going. I know many of you have well sorted collections/resources, some are a little more…chaotic.
My current collection of building bricks has evolved from my children’s collection: started around 10 years ago.
In those early days, after graduating from one box, Continue reading
The LEGO Batman Movie coming to DVD/Blu Ray/ 4K-UHD and digital formats! After waiting six weeks from the international release for it to arrive in Australia, it turns out we only have to wait until June 28 – fifteen days after the US release. Already, we are staring to hear some of the marketing buzz. In the US, Target already has an edition with Batgirl Polybag (30612) and four post cards. And Walmart is offering a special edition Bluray-DVD-Digital Download and Lunchbox (with removable cape!) pack. We are still waiting to hear if any of these will be coming to Australia. I would be really excited if the Batgirl Polybag makes it, as it does appear to be another different figure to the one that appears in regular sets and different to the one that appears in the LEGO Dimensions ‘Play the LEGO Batman Movie’ Pack .
JB Hifi have announced that they will have, somewhat erroneously, an exclusive minifigure with all formats including DVD, Blu Ray, 3D, 4K and Ultraviolet! Erroneously, because they then go on to list the bonus minifigure as being the polybag: 30524: The Mini Batwing.
At least, even though it is not an exclusive minifigure, it is a poly bag, which rarely arrives in Australia out side this kind of promotional exercise.
So I have been talking about the LEGO House a bit lately. It’s an exciting project, occupying the centre of Billund, due to open at the end of September. Like all new buildings in recent years of significance to LEGO, it has been immortalised in set form. Unlike many of the new factory sets, this one is available to purchase at almost all businesses around Billund. Except the LEGO Shop at the Airport, and LEGOLAND itself. You can pick it up at the bakery, the restaurant, the other restaurant, the supermarket and the LEGOLAND Hotel, just to name a few. No doubt, many of these businesses have been impacted by the construction, and the chase for this set may be an attraction to get tourists to venture into town. Now that the LEGO House is nearing completion, due to open in just over three months, the set is likely to have an extremely limited shelf life.
The Rambling Brick has been informed that it is highly likely that a new set based on the LEGO House will be unveiled once the facility is fully operational. No hints, clues or sneak previews have been presented. Anything that follows is pure speculation.
Packaged in the same firm black cardboard box as the Billund Airport and Architecture sets, this one is somewhat unique: It is a LEGO model of a building that had not yet been built, but designed to look as if it were built of LEGO bricks, looking like a LEGO Model. And it does.
Has your city been under represented in the LEGO Architecture range?
LEGO Rebrick is running a Skyline competition: design a historical, present day or futuristic skyline for a city (up to 8×36 studs);
Looking for Inspiration? Continue reading
I haven’t only played with LEGO in my life. Back in Christmas 1974 we received our first Playmobil Knights sets. We were frustrated by the legs being locked together, and I managed to give one of our figures independently moving legs. It took quite a bit of force!
I hadn’t ever really considered Playmobil to be a competitor with LEGO as I grew up. One was for building with, one was for role play/ setting up dioramas. That was easy in 1975, before mini figures with silly faces and moving limbs existed. And that seems to be how it has been culturally in Australia. LEGO is available in most toy shops and department stores, and large retailers (Thinking target, Kmart, Big W) While Playmobil has almost exclusively been in the domain of the smaller, independent toy shop. We have continued to pick up the occasional playmobil set, especially for Grandma and Grandpa’s holiday house, where our children would often play with them. With the exception of a nurse in 1978, be have basically stuck with variations of the medieval theme.
I knew Playmobil had continued to be a thing, but I hadn’t really worried about it. Then coming home through Belgium in 2016, I saw an orange Porsche 911 on the shelves at the Duty Free Shop in the airport.
This struck me as a little too coincidental. Continue reading
