Month: October 2020

This is the Way: 75318 The Child [Review]

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The Mandalorian, season 2 premieres this week on Disney +. In preperation, we were rewatching season 1. Towards the end of the first episode, but before the big reveal, Miss 18 speaks up: “It’s Alright, I guess, but I don’t get the hype about Baby…” and the hood pops up on the ‘pram’, revealing the child within ,”Oh my goodness, it’s so freaking gorgeous, I get it now.”

It was a masterstroke of Disney Merchandising, last year: there was no merchandise featuring The Child, who appears to be, more or less, a baby of the same species as Jedi Master Yoda. We never saw it coming, there were no spoilers on the toy shelves, and before we know it, we were going weak at the knees with adoration.

The Minifigure was introduced with the Spaceship ‘Razor Crest’ set earlier this year, based on the torso for the LEGO baby.

The set is due for release through LEGO any day now, but one of my local retailers had some stock on the shelves a day or two ahead of time. I picked up a set, handed made a contactfree credit card purchase, brought it home, and started bingewatching the rest of season one. Costing $AUD119.99, with 1073 pieces, the set is designed for builders of 10 and older.

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LEGO Games x Unity – Celebrating 25 years of LEGO Games

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In a year where too many collaborations is barely enough, LEGO are launching another- this time with games development platform Unity: Over the last few years, Unity has become one of the premiere game development platforms, providing the backbone of many of the games omn the market today. This year, LEGO Games celebrates 25 years, and has collaborated with the makers of Unity to see a Unity LEGO Microgame – essentially a beginners game development environment – become available.

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Building the ’89 Batwing – Review: 76161

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The Batwing was only given a couple of minutes of screen time in Tim Burton’s BATMAN (1989), but it was key to a number of iconic images from that film. The LEGO Group sent over a copy of the new 76161 to review: how does it fit in

It was the mid-year holidays in 1989, and Blockbuster movies were yet to have global release dates. And in the Northern Summer of 1989, this was one of the greatest years for the popcorn industry: Ghostbusters II, Star Trek V, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: as these franchises were coming to an end, one was threatening to rise up: In Australia, we had heard tales from across the seas, of people buying a full priced ticket in the US that summer, just to see the trailer for Tim Burton’s Batman – and then leaving the cinema.

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Won’t you show me how to get…. [LEGO Ideas 123 Sesame Street Announcement]

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Sesame Street debuted on American Television in November 1969. That makes it 51 years old in a couple of weeks. For people of my age, it was probably one of the first American programs that we watched as children: learning our ABC, that one of these things not being like the other, and wanting to count because ve love to count. It’s around the same age as DUPLO. give or take a couple of months.

Today we see the announcement of 21324 123 Sesame Street, the latest in the LEGO Ideas range. It is due to be released on November 1, 2020 and comes with 1367 elements. It has a recommended retail price of £109.99, €119.99, $USD119.99, $CAD149.99 and AUD $199.99. With 6 muppet based minifigures, the set has a surprising recommended age range of 18+.

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New LEGO® Certified stores Coming to Adelaide and Melbourne before Christmas.

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When we spoke to one of the executive directors of the Alceon group – the company rolling out a lot of the LEGO® Certified Stores around Australia – last year, we had high hopes for a rapid rollout of LEGO® Certified stores around the country. Then the COVID-19 pandemic, with its associated retail lockdowns and looming recession came along, and those plans were put on hold for a while. In the last week or two we have seen announcements for a new store at Marion in Adelaide, and a second store in Melbourne, at Highpoint shopping centre.

This is along with the opening of a store in Charlestown Square in Newcastle, back in August. In recent weeks, hoarding has appeared outside the store in Marion, and yesterday we heard the official announcement for the new store at Highpoint.

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adidas And LEGO Embark On A Plan To Play Together For The Next Few Years

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It started with some casual livery in in the stands of Old Trafford in February, then recently blew up all over the world as LEGO fans discovered just how dedicated the collectors of Sneakers can be, and now both LEGO and adidas have announced a multiyear partnership. this collaboration will see new co-created products to inspire creativity and foster a more playful, positive and inclusive world for adults and children from any background or sporting ability,as this latest press release goes on to say…

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21323 LEGO Ideas Grand Piano [Review…and more]

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In which I reminisce about childhood music lessons, and evening television, build the LEGO® Ideas Grand Piano while listening to some of my favorite piano music. Then I troubleshoot it, with some help from the fan designer.

Somewhere lost in the midsts of time, I spent my Thursday evenings going to piano lessons. My personal progress was approximately in proportion to my lack of commitment commitment to regular practice, but I enjoyed nonetheless. During the early 80’s, I found these lessons to be a little bit of a drag: Doctor Who tended to shown on the ABC from Monday to Thursday: and the final episode of any story (back then they were typically 4 episodes long) would due to screen at the same time as my lesson. No Netflix, no iTunes, no DVDs and the timer in a VCR could easily be disrupted by failing to find a blank tape before I headed off to my lesson.

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Ferrari Speed Champions: F40 Competizione vs F8 Tributo

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Speed champions have been an integral part of the LEGO® Lineup since 2015. Frequently criticised for a reliance on stickers, and a slightly weird proportion, these car sets underwent a significant design change in 2020: an increase in the typical width of the models to 8 studs. Ostensibly allowing some improved detailing, without an increase in stickers, as well as allowing minifigures to sit side by side. I thought I would take a look at the first of the 8 stud wide Ferrari models – 76895 Ferrari F8 Tributo, with the last of the 6 stud wide models: 75890 Ferrari F40 Competitizione.

While there are roughly 30 years in between the origins of these cars, there are sufficient elements in common to make a direct comparison of the LEGO versions worthwhile.

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Sustainability Roundtable: Paper Bags and More

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Recently, The LEGO Group announced that they were accelerating their timetable for eliminating single use plastics from their packaging. I had the opportunity to attend a roundtable meeting discussing the LEGO Group’s Sustainability Ambitions. Along with with ambassadors fro several Recognised LEGO® Fan Media and recognised LEGO® User Groups, this online meeting was with Tim Brooks, Vice President for Environnmental Responsibility, as well as Sustainable Materials Directors, Anne Boye Møller and Steen Kjeld Bach Pedersen.

The prime focus was on the recent announcement of the forthcoming trials of paper bags to replace the plastic bags used in LEGO® sets. However, there was a general discussion about the sustainability agenda at the LEGO group, the elimination of single use plastics, the LEGO Replay program, and the importance of children in establishing this agenda.

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