Month: August 2022

Time for a Little Light House Keeping. 21335 LEGO IDEAS Motorised Lighthouse Unveiled.

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Last week, we saw the latest LEGO Ideas set, 21335 Motorised Lighthouse officially revealed. I appear to be posting this a little bit late. But its an impressive looking set, if quite expensive.

This 2065 piece set is 50cm high, with the base measuring 26cmx26 (32×32 studs). Due for release on September 1st, 2022, the set includes a Powered-up Batterybox and Motor, as well as LEGO lighting. It will be priced at 299.99USD, 299.99€, £264.99, 2299.0 DKK, 469.99 AUD, 35980.0 JPY, 499.99 NZD, 379.99 CAD

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Happy Micropolis Day!

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[Edit: I may have originally posted this implying the 15th anniversary. That will be next year. I will now have a soothing cup of tea, before going to bed…]

I was having a chat with my friend Sue Ann the other day, and she asked ‘Did you realise it is the 14th anniversary of Micropolis this week? I thought you’d be interested because you have been promoting some other community building standards lately.’

Cultural Arts Centre with Hotels estate: by Sue Ann Barber at Brickvention 2014.

14 years already? It felt like only a couple of years since I first built a couple of modules using the collaborative city plan standard at Brickvention in 2013. Perhaps it was longer than I realised, as I wandered back through my Flickr gallery. ‘I don’t really know much about where it came from Sue Ann. Can you help me?’

And so, an hour or two later, she sent me this…

August 17th is Micropolis Day! On this day in 2008, Max Braun first presented the Micropolis concept to his local LUG, TwinLUG, and the standard was created.

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Collectable Minifigures Series 23: Rambling Review

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The announcement of series 23 of the collectable minifigures at LEGO CON in June surprised me a little. Since 2017, we have been presented with a set of ‘in-house’ figures, a Warner Bros licenced series (DC Super Heroes, Looney Tunes, Harry Potter, LEGO Movie/TLM2/TLMBM/TLNM) and a Disney licenced series (Disney, Marvel, Muppets). And the in-house series number has been the same as the year number. Now my ordinal sensibilities have been challenged, and I am not sure I like it.

That said, when we look at the figures presented in Series 23, it is appropriately timed, with many figures appropriate for the holiday season, including a Turkey costume, along with a snowman, reindeer costume, elf, nutcracker and Sugar Plum Fairy (or is it just the most generic toddler girl ever?).

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Classic Themes Build Challenge: Summary

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If you have been following us on instagram lately you may have encountered the 90th Aniversary Habitat/MOPs Classic Themes challenge that we have been running in conjunction with Jen @brickfambuilds. The challenge closed this week, and I’d encourage you to checkout the submissions over there following the tags #lego90habitats and #rambling90years in closer detail.

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Counting Down to 100 years of Play : Rampant Speculation 2022-2031

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This last week or so, we have been counting down to the LEGO Group’s 90th anniversary. Today, we have reached the 10th of August 2022, and the LEGO Group are celebrating! After looking over the last 90 years, I thought we might take a moment to speculate about the directions that the company might take in the future.

It is speculation

Some will be exciting

Some will be mundane

Some will, quite possibly, be terrifying to us.

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Counting Down to 90 Years of Play, Part 9 2012-2021

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We have been counting down to the 90th anniversary of the LEGO Group, which is now ( at the time of writing) only one more sleep away! We have travelled from the time that the company made wooden yo-yos and pull-along animals, and seen it pivot towards plastics and develop the brick. We have seen the Minifigure arrive and storytelling enter the fore. We have seen the company come back from the brink of financial collapse, to stabilise and start to grow.

As we travel through the 2010s, we get some new friends; storytelling becomes more animated, sustainability enters the agenda; and adult fans are asked for their ideas and become part of the acknowledged target demographic.

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Counting Down To 90 Years of Play Part 8: 2002-2011

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Welcome back as we count down to the 90th Anniversary of the LEGO Group on the 10th August 2022. When we last left off, we saw the LEGO Group expanding its portfolio and diversifying its playthemes. New Technologies were being embraced, as were new licensed themes. But in just a few years, the company might find itself in a bit of a pickle…

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Counting Down to 90 Years of Play, Part 7: 1992-2001

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Welcome back to our continuing journey through the decades of the history of the LEGO Group, as we approach the 90th anniversary of the company on August 10, 2022.

Today, we enter the 1990s, the so called System Era, where we started to see playthemes diverge from the standard Town, Castle and Space. The company also starts to introduce new technologies, as well as embarking onto the World Wide Web.

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Counting Down to 90 Years Of Play, Part 6: 1982-1991

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Welcome back to our countdown to the LEGOLAND Group’s 90th Anniversary on the 10th of August, 2022. Every day, we are taking a look at a selection of major developments in a decade of the LEGO Group’s existence.

Yesterday, we saw the release of the minifigure, and the starting points for the Classic LEGO® Themes: Castle, Town and Space. The stage was set for developing the focus of LEGO Play, at a certain scale, going forward. The release of the Erling brick in 1980 also presented great scope for innovation in the way that LEGO building would develop in the future. Now read on as we take a look at some of the more significant developments of the 1980s

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Countdown to 90 Years Of Play Part 5: 1972-1981

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Welcome back to the fifth instalment as we take a decade by decade look at the history of the LEGO Group, before they celebrate their 90th Anniversary on August 10, 2022. Last time, we left the 1960s behind: wheels and trains have entered the mix, and DUPLO is helping little people to build big things. Today, we move further into the ‘70s: an era where characters enter the mix, more realistic models are possible, and a new CEO enters the mix.

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