We have been hearing a bit lately about the forthcoming Lego Vidiyo range – linked in with a new collaboration with the Universal Music Group. We know there will be Crazy Minifigures, Printed Tiles and an App. Today, we finally get a good view of all of the sets and figures to be seen in the first wave of this new line. With figures and tiles to collect, as well as the play aspect, releated to recording music videos using augmented reality, it is a very different type of theme compared to others we have seen before.
Read on for more details.
The LEGO Group and Universal Music Group (UMG) have today revealed the first range of products for LEGO® VIDIYO™ – a playful and innovative music video maker experience supported by a series of BeatBoxes, Bandmates, BeatBits and augmented reality – designed to celebrate and expand children’s creativity through play and music. The announcement comes on the same day that UMG label, Astralwerks, signs the first ever human version of a LEGO minifigure, L.L.A.M.A, to a global record deal. L.L.A.M.A’s debut single “Shake,” released on Friday February 19,features three-time GRAMMY® winner NE-YO and newcomer Carmen DeLeon. “Shake” is available for pre-save now at all DSPs.
Teased last month, LEGO VIDIYO sees physical and digital play come together as special effect ‘BeatBits’ and music inspired minifigures integrate and come to life through AR in a vibrant new app, available for download now.
The LEGO VIDIYO world includes an exciting product experience for all music-loving kids, inspired by a wide array of musical genres and musicians. Each product is designed to be played with alongside the free VIDIYO app, giving kids the tools to direct, produce and star in their own music videos.
BEATBOXES, BANDMATES AND BEATBITS
The first LEGO VIDIYO product drop consists of BeatBoxes, Bandmates and BeatBits. Fans will discover six unique portable BeatBoxes that each hold a minifigure representing a specific music genre, a scanning-stage, two special BeatBits and 14 random BeatBits. BeatBoxes can transport up to 16 BeatBits and have a building plate that can be customised with an awesome selection of LEGO tiles to suit the style of its owner.
12 Bandmates are also part of this first wave of VIDIYO products, offering a fun range of Mystery-Box collectable music-inspired minifigures. These each come with one special BeatBit and two random BeatBits. BeatBits are a creative and endlessly combinable system of audio-visual effects. They are lovingly printed, like little album covers, on 2×2 tiles representing music effects, character dance moves and scene props that come to life when scanned by the VIDIYO app. BeatBits, like instruments, are played LIVE during the performance and with 130 BeatBits launching in the first year, there’s always a new VIDIYO hit production to be made!
The Six Beatboxes And 12 Bandmate Characters Introduced Today Are:
· 43102 ‘Candy Pop’ in the Candy Mermaid BeatBox (Pop)
· 43103 ‘Pirate Punk’ in the Punk Pirate Beatbox (Punk)
· 43104 ‘Alien DJ’ in the Extra Terrestrial Dance Music BeatBox (ETDM)
· 43105 ‘Party Llama’ in the Party Llama BeatBox (Tropicon)
· 43106 ‘Unicorn DJ’ in the Unicorn DJ BeatBox (K-pawp)
· 43107 ‘Robot Break-dancer’ in the HipHop Robot BeatBox (HipHop)
· 43101 Bandmates: Red Panda Dancer; Cotton Candy Cheerleader; Shark Singer; Bunny Dancer; Discowboy Singer; Genie Dancer; Samurapper; DJ Cheetah; Ice Cream Saxophonist; Alien Keytarist; Banshee Singer; Werewolf Drummer
LEGO VIDIYO products will be available from March 1st and are just the first of many to come. BeatBoxes are priced at 19.99 EUR/USD/ 25.99AUD/29.99NZD with the Collectible Bandmates priced at 4.99 EUR/USD./ $5.99 AUD/NZD
There will be around 30 songs from UMG’s unrivalled global artists, including chart toppers and ultimate classics, all available on the app from launch, with new tracks added frequently. Each song has been programmed to work intuitively with all the BeatBits to ensure they link in harmony, including special music effects that match the beat of the track giving children an incredible level of creative audio customization.
Making a VIDIYO creation is easy – download the app, choose the music, scan the LEGO minifigures and BeatBits and see them brought to life through augmented reality, choosing between three different sizes – Mini (4cm), Medium (1.2m) and Mega (5m) for truly dynamic creations. Finally, record your masterpiece activating the selected BeatBits for an incredible 60-second performance, which can be saved locally in-app to show your friends and family, or trimmed and shared on a fully-moderated, kid-safe social feed!
As part of the VIDIYO app experience children can create their own bands for performances – select clothing, band names, and album covers. By taking part in regularly updated in-app challenges and scanning in products, points are earned which can be used to unlock additional customisation options such as costumes, accessories, choreography and stage layouts. Never before have fans been able to customise LEGO minifigures to such a level of detail, with many of the over 1400 unlockable elements only available through play time and challenge participation.
L.L.A.M.A
As if today’s product reveal wasn’t exciting enough, this partnership sees UMG label, Astralwerks, sign a new artist – a live action, human version of the DJ Llama minifigure from the Tropicon BeatBox. L.L.A.M.A refuses to be attached to any one genre, preferring to be as fluid with his music as he is with his imagination. “Labels are for clothes,” he quips. “No musical style is off-limits for me. I just want to work with people that don’t take life too seriously.” And L.L.A.M.A wants to harness that mischievous free-spiritedness to “inspire curiosity,” as he puts it, in audiences too.
The Los Angeles DJ and producer, newly signed to Astralwerks, approaches both his music and the world with curiosity, playfulness, and joy. VP Marketing, Luke Armitage, Astralwerks comments: “It’s an honour to sign the first ever llama and LEGO minifigure to a global record deal. When L.L.A.M.A first played us the early demo of ‘Shake’, we all knew we wanted to work with him. The LEGO Group’s partnership with UMG completely aligns with our mission to surround the electronic music space with innovation.”
LEGO VIDIYO is aimed at children aged 7 – 10 and provides a safe universe where they can traverse the worlds of physical and digital play. As LEGO VIDIYO requires verified parental consent – along with anonymity – and with external moderation of all content uploaded to the App feed, parents can be reassured their child is unleashing their creativity while staying safe online. Fans can stay tuned to L.L.A.M.A and his crazy plans via his social media channels @musicbyllama.
“Play and music are both universally appealing and have a fundamental impact on the development of children. With LEGO VIDIYO we can now provide a kid-safe space for children to express their playful creativity through music video making to develop these new skills” said William Thorogood, VP and Executive Producer of LEGO VIDIYO, the LEGO Group. “The partnership with UMG brings with it innovation on so many levels, from an exciting new music centred product and app experience to ground-breaking ways of engaging fans with the signing of L.L.A.M.A. LEGO VIDIYO has been tested with over 1,500 families across North America, Europe and Asia and the response we have seen has been incredible, with children and parents all excited to be able to bring LEGO minifigures to life in their very own unique, creative Music Videos. Now that LEGO VIDIYO is out in the wild, I’m so excited to see what the young creators of today have in store!”
Joshua Burke, VP, Strategic Marketing & Global Partnerships, Universal Music Group adds, “It’s an exciting day for LEGO VIDIYO, finally revealing the full experience and topping it with the first ever record deal for a LEGO minifigure. Music goes hand in hand with creativity and plays a role in a child’s development, all these new products, BeatBits and characters will inspire young people as they discover music, artists and new sounds from around the globe. While expanding their creative and technical skills and having fun – children will be learning, experimenting and expressing themselves in their very own music videos.”
How does VIDIYO work?
Download the app – The LEGO VIDIYO app works with and without the physical VIDIYO parts – a free demo rotation of minifigures, songs and BeatBits is provided as part of the app experience.
Select a song – From the wide array of regularly updated tracks across all sorts of music genres – powered by Universal Music Group.
Scan your BeatBits and minifigures – You can load in all of your characters so that you can create a band of three and two stage performers using the different characters you have obtained. Once scanned, select your characters and customise their appearance, band name and ‘album covers’.
Time to create! Choose your characters for the 60-second performance and your line-up of BeatBits, which are each colour coded: Black for visual effects, Pink for costumes, Aqua for sound effects, Orange for comedic effects, Yellow for dance moves and Green to change scenery and background. Then scan your stage, whether it’s your bedroom, backyard or a brick-built model – in just three seconds, your location is scanned and production countdown starts.
Share your creation – Selecting the best 5, 10 or 20 seconds of the performance, you can now upload and share your masterpiece with other young creators to the app feed, once passed moderation. Any content featuring personally-identifiable information, such as children starring in the video, will not be approved for app feed upload, but can be stored locally in-app, to be enjoyed in-person with friends or family members.
Push your music video making skills – Take part in challenges that task you with using specific effects or making creations inspired by seasonal moments and cultural happenings! Challenges help push your creative skills and unlock special customisation elements – like new costumes. See productions from other creators and discover new music with the VIDIYO app social feed.
Fans can live the VIDIYO lifestyle through a capsule collection of apparel inspired by L.L.A.M.A and produced by Bravado, UMG’s industry-leading merchandise company. Available atwww.musicbyllama.com from February 19th.
Personally, I think these new figures look amazing: some are giving me amazing retro Fabuland Fever Dream Vibes (in a good way).
The BeatBit tiles look like they will be a collectible, well sought by AFOLs and kids alike – albeit for different reasons.
I don’t personally feel that the Augmented reality will be more than a novelty for the majority of AFOLs, but I can see it being a huge drawcard for kids of a certain age. Certainly the product doesn’t focus on the traditional building activities, which has been the mainstay of LEGO focussed activity in the past. However, I can see that it will still serve as a creative outlet for kids around the world.
What do you think of the new figures and tiles? Does the Augmented reality aspect of the product appeal to you? why not comment below, and until next time,
Play Well.
WOW! 😀 Admittedly, i didn’t read much about how the concept actually works, because i was distracted by the bright colours and crazy Minifigs!
Of course, i’ll need them all now. Maybe x2. 😉