Month: October 2018

Transparent Stickers In LEGO® Sets: An evolving improvement.

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In which one sore point amongst LEGO Fans (Stickers) will result in talking about a sore point for Star Wars Fans (The Last Jedi).  I then proceed to subject some recent stickers to physical abuse and science. My final conclusions catch me by surprise and may well influence my opinions for years to come.  Now read on….

I have been thinking about the stickers provided with some LEGO Sets recently.  And not in a bad way. This has surprised me.  For a number of years I have found myself becoming anxious at the prospect of placing a stickers on a set, defacing a perfectly good LEGO Brick, as well as making a sticker non usable: this is almost counter to the notion of the LEGO System, where you can take a collection of elements, and reuse them, time and again, confident that they will always function as they have been intended, and integrate with elements of the past and future.

I have recently found myself excited at the prospect of using some stickers that have been produced: particularly some of those supplied with the Arctic Scout truck (60194) and the Stygimoloch Breakout  (75927), amongst others.

The Sticker Sheet from the Stygimoloch Breakout Set 75927
The computer screen and extended workstation keyboard from 60194

I would like to apologise if I triggered an angry, anxious or otherwise negative emotional response with that previous statement. In our minds we all have some strong opinions one way or another as far as the Use of Stickers in LEGO Sets is concerned. LEGO Bricks have been adorned with decorations, printed or stickers, for the better part of 50 years.  I still have Minifigures from nearly forty years ago still sporting their original adhesive labels, as well as elements featuring stickers from the 70’s: including these flags. Admittedly, the years have not been kind, but do stickers today last as long?

 

Continue reading →

Giving the Arctic Scout Truck a BOOST [60194/17101]

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In which I struggle with the ideas of combining two sets into a completely seperate model, attempt to answer the riddle “What do you get if you combine a truck with a LEGO Robot?”, and find a sticker sheet that I really really like……

A couple of weeks ago, I brought you the first part of my look at the 2018 LEGO City Arctic Scout Truck. As a medium sized city set, I thought it was pretty nifty: a bit of landscape, a dog and polar bear, a few different figures and  cool (Ahem!) truck, with drive wheels and caterpillar tracks. How could it be improved on?

Now, some days I worry about the kind of LEGO builder I have become. The idea of taking a recently built set, and combining it with another set, featuring a similar colour palette caused me a little consternation. Both sets would now be potentially irreversibly combined. Or uncombined. I found myself lacking the necessary motivation to carefully seperate both sets at the end of the exercise. Perhaps this is a clear signal to continue the sorting exercise which I began last year, before getting a little… distracted. Again. Continue reading →

Once Upon an Idea [Announcement 21315]

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21315_Front_01Once Upon a Time, there were two LEGO® Fans who had an Idea.  

Grant had the Idea first, to make a pop-up book out of LEGO bricks.  Then he reached out to Jason, who had an Idea before.  They told their friends about the Idea, and those friends told their friends. Eventually, a Lot of People said that the Idea was good.

This meant that the Idea was taken to be read and reviewed by the wise people, who had to work out if the it could be made Real.  After much thought, it was announced to be so. The designers went to work: taking the Idea, and striving to produce a set that more than ten thousand people would want. Continue reading →

Blizzard Exclusive Set: Omnic Bastion 75987

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IMG_2931For the last few months, we have been teased with announcements of a forthcoming range of  LEGO® sets based on the video game Overwatch.  Last week, out of the blue, Blizzard, the publisher behind the game, announced immediate availability of the BlizzCon Exclusive ‘Omnic Skin Bastion75987’ set from their Gear Store.

IMG_2952
It’s a lovely model, but is that “Blizzard Exclusive” sticker worth the price? 

This was a bit unexpected, but offered some interesting opportunities as a retail experience.  The set is available more places than shop.lego.com can supply, and shipping is (by Australian standards) pretty reasonable.

Now, I don’t play Overwatch, but my son, a couple of weeks out from his final school exams has been quite a keen player, and was excited to see this new set. I ordered one shortly after it became available and then proceeded to wait. I did not have to wait long, however.

The set cost $USD25 plus approximately $USD10 for shipping to Melbourne (although adding extra sets only increased the shipping by 1-2 dollars per set – you may wish to purchase in conjunction with a friend or two and split the shipping). Having placed my order on October 12th, the parcel arrived via Federal Express on October 16th.  I don’t think I have ever received LEGO  from overseas quite so quickly. Continue reading →

Tee-Ing off with Uniqlo [Rapid Review, Uniqlo LEGO®️ T-shirts]

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Just as spring was getting underway, I was excited to see Japanese clothing manufacturer Uniqlo release a new range of licensed LEGO®️ themed T-shirts this year. In keeping with the 40th birthday of the Minifigure and 60th Anniversary of the LEGO Brick, the shirts have some appropriately historical themes.

I purchased two online for $AUD19.95 each, and they were delivered within a few days. I ordered one with a Classic Space logo on the front, and another with the current LEGO logo on the front. When I unwrapped them I had a pleasant surprise, discovering that there is additional printing on the back.

Now, retailers often use young, good looking models to demonstrate their wares. Uniqlo yet their garments model themselves on the website. The sun was shining today, so in the interests of demonstrating the look on an older, overweight subject, I have agreed to take one for the team. (Photos by Tash Jones)

The I’m wearing XL, and find them not too tight a fit on my body – I prefer a loose t-shirt to a close fitting one. The cotton material is soft, and not flimsy. They both have a pocket sewn over the left breast. Now I have something new to wear to Fan events, LUG Meetings or when I’m just seeking inspiration for writing a blog post!

While more expensive than plain, unlicenced shirts I feel they offered reasonable value, and I have always found the quality of Uniqlo garments to be pretty good.

I apologise for the quality of the model, but what do you think of the shirts? You can find the LEGO branded garments in store, or online at Uniqlo’s website.

Do you like to wear your favorite brand on your clothing? What’s your favorite shirt in this range?

Why not comment below, and sign up for notifications of new posts. Until next time…

Play well.

Things are Pretty Cool in LEGO® City

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IMG_2816In recent years, the LEGO® City sets released in June have featured an adventuring/exploration theme. The folks from the City have been Exploring the Deep Sea (2015); Volcanos (2016) and the Jungle (2017).  After a stand-alone Arctic theme in 2000, and a successful excursion from the City in 2014, we return, once again, to the polar regions.

I have found myself picking up a couple of sets in this theme, but would like to focus on one particular set: 60194 – the Polar Exploration Truck. As the other minifigures and vehicles might creep into photographs today, I’ll disclose the presence of the 60190 Arctic Ice Glider(RRP $AUD9.99) and 60191 Arctic Exploration Team (RRP $AUD15.99) floating around in the build space as I took some pictures.

There are a few things that I find myself immediately warming to with this year’s Arctic sets: Continue reading →