Lego

10264 Corner Garage Modular Revealed

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The Modular buildings have been a highlight of the release calendar for many AFOLs.  After years feeling as though they were set in a golden age, with an architectural style from the 1920, and happy smiley faces everywhere. In 2017, we celebrated a decade of what would now be called the Creator Advanced Modular buildings with the release of assembly square, with nods to the entire previous series in that set.  And then everything changed.

The 2018 modular building, Downtown Diner had a sleek new look: taking its architectural cues from the 1950s (60th anniversary LEGO Brick Patent celebration any one?), and replacing the traditional minifigure smiley face with more contemporary designs. And the return of Teal. Lots of Teal! Since then, there has been some speculation about the future directions of the modular line: Would the architectural style return to the older style we had become used to? Will it be a street corner or straight street? Would the smiley’s return? and even “Will there even be another modular building?”

Today, the LEGO Group has revealed the 2019 release: the corner garage.  Continuing on in the 1950s style we see the action spread out over three levels: A corner garage on the ground floor, a veterinarian’s office on the next level, and then an apartment on the upper level.

The set comes with a great range of minifigures, and while many of the torsos have been seen before, some are certainly new. Looking at our cast of characters, I believe the vet and the Motor Scooter rider have new torsos.  The face with sunglasses appears similar to one seen before, although there appears to be a deliberate skin blemish on this one ( technically making it new.). I see Jo the mechanic has a cap with some of her hair showing underneath.

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The Rambling Brick’s Advent-ure 2018 #3

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As we continue along our journey through LEGO Winter Holiday Celebratory Sets (It is the 20th Anniversary of LEGO Advent Calendars), we look to an annual seasonal range that has become part of many a LEGO Fan’s run up to the Christmas period. Typically released around the start of November, the Winter Village Set has become an annual highlight of the LEGO release cycle. This series takes a trip back in time, before the domination of television or personal electronics for your entertainment: children riding sleds, carollers singing in the town square, Christmas trees for sale and frozen ponds become impromptu skating rinks. It feels like the world of the Rankin-Bass stop motion Christmas television specials of the 1960’s and 70’s.

Debuting in 2009, we have gradually built up the village. Starting with the Toy Shop (10199), we have added the Bakery(10216), post office10222, market place 10235 and most recently the fire station, amongst others.

The buildings in this series feature detailed doll’s house style interiors, often with a light brick powered fireplace.

The line has not been without controversy: In its sixth year, we moved to the North Pole, building Santa’s Workshop (10245). A slight reboot for the line, changing location after five years? This set was well received.

However, in 2015 the village took a direction which was notappreciated by a fan base craving a new pre-Christmas treat: a reissue of the Winter Village Toyshop (10249)A highlight of these or the original Toy shop was the giant Christmas tree, and as this set was now long retired, the reissue allowed late adopters the chance to have the tree as a feature for their village square.

The 2016 saw the release of a holiday train, great for adding some colour and movement to the village, and 2017 saw a return to the traditional village location.

In 2009, the range was incorporated into the Creator Expert line, although you could certainly argue that many of these sets are relatively simple on their construction, in comparison to, for example, the major landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House, or the annual modular buildings.

Let the Winter Village’s Light Shine.

For myself, I remain amazed that we see a new design for the lamp posts in every set, with no two being quite identical.  I presented an overview of these designs last year, while looking at the Christmas Build up set.

There is no doubt the the Winter village has inspired many great layouts at exhibitions, as well as MOCs, setting out to fill the gaps in the village range. Of course, the Winter Village is not just limited to these sets, but also features in some smaller, Gift With Purchase sets… but that’s another story!

Who knows where this range will head next. Would you rather rather see previous designs rereleased or completely reimagined? Why not leave your comments below, after we check out this year’s Friend’s advent calendar

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The Rambling Brick’s Advent-ure 2018 #2

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Today, we continue our Advent journey, reviewing Celebratory Sets from the Holiday season. Yesterday, we took a look at the first Advent Calendar from 1998.  Today we travel further back, to 1977, when the first Brick Built Santa Sets were released.

 This is set 246 Santa and Sleigh. It is one of the earliest festive season sets produced.  With just 68 pieces, this set is all about using basic bricks to put together Santa, a reindeer and the Sleigh.  The design aesthetic is typical of Scandinavian Christmas Decorations and trinkets of the time, and I could see this happily sitting amongst them on a mantlepiece. Another example of late 70’s design is 245 ‘Two Santas’. According to Bricklink, this set was released in 1978, and was perfect if you had several children in the house ready to come to blows over the presumptive ownership of the LEGO Santa model. Comparing these two sets,  I love the way that two roof tiles are used to make Santa’s hat. I see that by turning them around,  they can be jaunty and jolly, or strictly business-like, depending on whether you have been Naughty or Nice.

Seen in the Vault in Billund, according to Brickset: Two Santas 245

Catching up with our Friends #2

Window number two features the ‘Flying Music’ symbol, which makes me wonder if this might be a build associated  with Andrea in some way.

Click below the break to see where the 2018 Friends Advent Calendar takes us today. 

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The Rambling Brick Advent-ure 2018 #1

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This year, we have celebrated a HUGE number of anniversaries associated with the LEGO Group. Sixty years of the LEGO Brick, Forty years of the Minifigure, Twenty years of Mindstorms and Ten years of Power Functions.

Regular readers will have followed my 40th anniversary of the minifigure covert celebration articles, and have come to realise that I am always happy to draw a long bow when it comes to searching for coincidences.  Imagine my joy when I discovered that this is also the twentieth anniversary of the first LEGO Advent Calendar: released in 1998.  And so my theme is set. In order to avoid perky spoiler photos of the Friends Advent Builds, I will start each post in this series with a brief presentation of one of the sets or themes  produced by the LEGO Group in the celebration of the Christmas Holiday season.

Can I find twenty four themes to fill the period of advent? Time will tell.

Brick Based Advent Calendar: 1298

This year’s LEGO Friends Calendar contains no minimills, and consists predominantly of  mini builds. However, this is not the first time a ‘mini build centric’ advent calendar has been released.

In 1998, the LEGO group released their first advent calendar. Set 1298 had 24 mini builds, in the style of older angular LEGO builds.  It would appear that there was no need for significant variations between the different builds, although we do see a variety of boats, planes, cars and creatures. The same Santa minifigure even appears twice!

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Learning from our Friends: Sitting Side by Side in LEGO® City [41348 Service and Care Truck-review] [Building Techniques]

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In which we take further inspiration from LEGO® Friends, by looking at Olivia’s Service and Care Truck.  We follow up by developing a modification to allow two minifigures to sit side by side in a contemporary vehicle, that otherwise only seats one.  Now read on…

Last time, we looked at a couple of Olivia’s vehicles from Friends – from 2016 and 2018.  Both of these cars have our friends sharing the two seats in a 4×3 space, allowing them to sit side by side in a vehicle that is six studs wide – within the constrains of a four stud wide cabin (so long as there window are open). Today I would like to look at another of  her sets from this year. Who knows how it might inspire us…

Looking out for her Friends on the Track: Service and Care Truck 41348

Zobo takes the Wheel

The Service&Care Truck (41348) which was released in the mid-year wave of friends sets in 2018, and has 244 parts. It seems to fit in a similar  part count and price point (AUD29.99/€19.99/£14.99/USD19.99) as Olivia’s Mission Vehicle. 

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LEGO® Movie 2: New Trailer and further sets Announced [News]

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As we get closer to the release of The LEGO® Movie 2 , the LEGO Group has  released details of new sets, as well as a new trailer on their Facebook page, with further details coming out via the Brothers Brick, and the LEGO Ambassador Network:.

There is something for everyone in this selection: minidolls and minifigures; juniors and older; Duplo and Juniors. Included amongst these are  new classic spacemen in blue, yellow and pink as well as some essential starter sets for buildling classic style spaceships (Printed classic space logos on 2×4 sloped bricks’; 4×3 transparent yellow slopes), and some brick built and highlights from the Systar System.

Larger images and descriptions after the break.

The building style ranges from simple Duplo Constructions, through to a post apocalyptic wasteland, via space and a psychedelic shape changing character in the form of Queen Watevra Wanabi. I have heard rumours of a new colour coming to the palette next year… and I see the stripe on the side of the bus looks like it could be Salmon/Vibrant Coral. To say nothing of at least another three Unikitty variations for the collectors. Certainly, there is something for everyone, but if you want to hold on to your wallet, you might need to accept that not everything is for you!

All sets listed are slated for release on December 26th.  The LEGO Movie 2 is due for release on February 6 in most of the world.  Warner brother via IMDB lists the Australian release date as 28th March. Delayed Again.

Yesterday, a collection of ‘Hero Shots’ of the main characters were released on twitter

These go me a just a bit excited: follow on after the break for the trailer and set details.

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Fitting In With Your Friends.

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In which we visit the rebooted world of LEGO Friends and see how Olivia has changed.  I at a two of her vehicles from recent years. I then find myself wondering about how they manage to fit two minidolls side by side in a standard width car, but that seems to have eluded minifigures in LEGO City.  I’ll wait until next time to try and solve this problem.

We have long recognised that one of the challenges of teenage years is fitting in with your friends. “What if they don’t like my hair style? What if we’re all wearing the same earrings? What if I want to…? What if…? And so on. Total. Drama.

Friends has come a long way over the last five years, and this year we have seen new episodes and new stories of Heartlake City. Today I also look at several vehicles, which demonstrate ways in which two minidolls can be sat side by side. 

Our friends in Heartlake City are pretty good together. After five years, several subtle artwork redesigns and, now, a solid reboot, they are still a pretty tight group. Whether baking cupcakes, celebrating birthdays, going sailing or taking on a robot army and saving the local community, we have seen them come to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, with the power of friendship winning out at the end the day!

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