A Rose By Any Other Name [review 40460, 40461]

When we got our first look at the Flower Bouquet, one of the first questions that people asked was ‘Why are the roses that colour? Surely they should be red.’ I should know, I was one of those people!

A few weeks ago, while we were taking part in a round table discussion (along with other Fan Media) with the designer of that set, Anderson Grubb, a few things came up in the discussion:

One of the overarching design goals was for it to surprise people with what subtlety, what simplicity, what elegance we can achieve with LEGO Bricks.  Those are adjectives I don’t think you would hear a lot of people necessarily use about a LEGO toy. Many other positive adjectives (were goals) like elegant, sophisticated – I hope we achieved that. One of the things that came first to mind was that we have this beautiful soft peach colour, and we’ve barely used it. We’ve certainly never used it like this….

Anderson Grubb, designer of the 10280 Flower Bouquet set.

And so, in part that challenge was to drive that set towards surprise, subtlety and sophistication. And while you cannot deny the subtlty of that colour, it is probably not what many people would expect from a rose.

As we approach February, and with that, the 14th – Valentines Day , we find our selves reminded that

Roses are red, Violets are blue

This poem can’t express my Feelings for you

Anon.

And so, at this point our attention turns to roses, and indeed rose buds, which are a traditional gift at this time of the year..

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Ninjagopalooza: Magazine Cover Minifigures

Now, I don’t have the greatest collection of Ninjago sets or minifigures. I just haven’t really focussed on collecting the theme. But I was recently wandering through my local newsagenct, and saw a collection of LEGO themed magazines, mostly imported from the UK, and one in particular caught my eye:

Ninjago Legacy Magazine #7, an alleged special edition. A huge picture of Jai on the cover. But lets be honest, this isnt what caught my eye: it was the attached blister pack of minifigures! It might not be the latest magazine – travel time to our side of the world is often a bit prolonged, but that doesn’t change the personal value of the figures on the cover to me!

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LEGO® CAR FAMILY ADDS A NEW VERSION OF A LEGEND: TWO-IN-ONE LEGO PORSCHE 911 TURBO AND 911 TARGA SET REVEALED

The Creator Expert, and now 18+ sets featuring various iconic motor cars have been popular for a few years now, and this year the LEGO Group are taking a trip back in time to the late 1970s- early 80s with announcement of 10295: LEGO® Porsche 911 Turbo and 911 Targa – Two builds in one (but only one at a time…).

As a child of that era, this was the car to aspire to, as a sign of success. Many of my peers were found with magazines containing pictures of this car, under the bed…

Due for release in March 1 (February 16th for VIPs online), this set has 1458 pieces, and gives you the option to build either the 911 Turbo, or the Targa version.

The set will cost $USD149.99/€129.99/119.99 GBP/229.99 AUD/199.99 CAD/1499.99 BRL

The LEGO® Group has wound the clock back to the era of big hair, new wave and punk rock for the launch of the latest LEGO car set, the two-in-one LEGO Porsche 911 Turbo and 911 Targa bridges the gap across two decades to unite this pair of iconic sports cars.

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Happy 63rd LEGO® Patent Day

On January 28, 1958 at precisely 1.58 pm the application for the very first LEGO® brick patent was filed at the Danish Directorate for Patents and Trademarks. Soon after, patent applications were filed in numerous countries around the world.

In the months after the application for the Danish patent, applications were filed in countries such as Norway (March 12, 1958), Sweden (March 22, 1958), Germany (April 10, 1958) and Holland (April 14, 1958). Also in 1958, applications were filed in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy.

The following year, in 1959, the LEGO reach was increased even further to include countries such as Israel, South Africa, England, Poland, Ireland, Turkey, Finland, Portugal and Spain.

And today, as we know, LEGO play is reaching millions of children all over the world.

More information has come to light about the development of the development of the LEGO Brick. Speaking with Kristian Reimer Hauge, one of the Corporate Historians at the LEGO House as part of Brickvention online, told me that ” there was a meeting in 1958, on January 23rd, between Godfredt Kirk Christiansen, second generation owner , and some other people. And that is where they came up with that [the idea of tubes underneath the bricks.] Five days later, on January 28th, we took out the patent for the LEGO Brick. That is a new discovery for us.”

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What if they introduced a new Technic pin, and nobody noticed?

While putting together the Colosseum, reader JdV noticed that the black Technic pins joining together parts of the base were not the same as the Black Technic friction pins that he had come to know and love over the past 30 or so years. He then asked me what I knew about it?

Nothing. so I took a closer look at the element, and saw that it had some definite differences in design.

But is it significantly different? Is it functionally different? And can we fathom why it has been introduced? I dove headfirst into the Brickset database, pulled out my trusty Macro Lens and Digital Micrometer, and set about my investigations…

I went back to where the initial query began building the Colosseum:

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Capture the Beat of Your World with LEGO® VIDIYO

For the last few months, since the first images were seen in the LEGO Print catalog, we have been curious to see what the new Lego Vidiyo theme might have in store for us. Born out of the Collaboration with the Universal Music Group which was announced last April, we finally have the first details of this new theme, aimed predominantly at tweenagers.

A few weeks ago, the product page went live in the ‘kids’ section of the LEGO website, but it has merely teased the existance, without providing any real information about the theme. – well no more than giving us a pair of maracas to click on to elicit a shaker sound.

So, is there any more to it that that? It would seem so… read on for more information, images and a teaster video…

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Recognised LEGO® Fan Media Round Table with Designer of 10280 Flower Bouquet: Anderson Grubb

Just before new year, we revealed the new Botanical Series sets, aimed at adult builders. The 10280 Flower Bouquet is quite unlike any LEGO® Set we have previously seen. Recently, I had the opportunity to take part in a roundtable discussion with the designer of the set – Anderson Grubb. A number of Recognised LEGO® Fan Media and Online Communities also participated, including Blocks Magazine, Brick Fanatics, Brickfinder, Brick Journal, The Bricks King Podcast, Bionicle fan community BZ Power and the Women’s Brick Initiative. We had the chance to talk with Anderson for about an hour. What follows is an edited transcript of the conversation we shared. We discussed the elements of subtlety and surprise; modelling organic shapes and why that colour was chosen for the rose…

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IKEA Announce the Australian Release Date for their LEGO Collaboration: Bygglek

Several months offer the launch in the USA and Europe, IKEA Australia have now announced that the Bygglek collaboration with the LEGO group will be available for purchase, in store and online, from February 17th 2021.

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LEGO IDEAS® 21325 Medieval Blacksmith: Hands-on Review

Despite being a theme that was there In The Beginning, when the Minifigure Era of LEGO® arrived back in 1978, Castle has not been well represented in more recent years. It is probably closer to 10 years since we saw any buildings geared more towards medieval life, rather than warring factions of knights, kings, monsters and castles.

Castle sets of the Fantasy Era were one of the mainstays in our house when my children were starting to play with LEGO, around the time that I emerged from my Dark Ages – sets such as the the 10193 Medieval Market Village, and the 7189 Mill Village raid (the sole minifigure scale set to come with not one, but two goats.) were among our favorites. As such, there has been quite a bit of excitement – both in our household, and amongst the AFOL Community regarding the forthcoming release of the LEGO®Ideas 21325 Medieval Blacksmith.

I was fortunate to be sent a prerelease copy of the set for review by the LEGO Group. All opinions are my own. Provision of materials for review does not guarantee a positive review.

The set will be released on Febrary 1st 2021. It contains 2164 pieces, and will cost 149.99 USD/ 199.99 CAD 146.99 EUR / 134.99 GBP /249.99 AUD

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LEGO IDEAS® REVEALS MEDIEVAL SET STARRING THE UNSUNG HERO OF THE MIDDLE AGES – THE HONOURABLE BLACKSMITH [Announcement]

A little over eighteen months ago, Clemens Fiedler’s LEGO® Ideas Submission ‘Medieval BlackSmith’ reached 10000 supporters on the crowd-sourcing platform. Finally, we can reveal the official details about this set. Last year, 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay saw classic Pirates given the LEGO Ideas/ AFOL Audience Treatment. This year, the 21325 Medieval Blacksmith sees the same treatment meted out on the Classic Castle/Medieval Market village style sets.

With 2164 pieces, and costing 149.99 USD/ 199.99 CAD 146.99 EUR / 134.99 GBP /249.99 AUD, this set will be released through LEGO Branded Retail on February 1st.

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