Alquemie Group and The LEGO Group today announced that Western Australia’s first LEGO® Certified Store will open in late 2021.
The landmark new store will be situated in prime position at Karrinyup Shopping Centre as a signature LEGO brand immersive retail experience.
Richard Facioni, Executive Chairman, Alquemie Group said the new store would capitalise on the enduring appeal of the renowned LEGO brand and bring a world-class retail concept to WA.
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There is something about Brickheadz. While they started off as a way to brick-build characters from popular culture, the theme had been showing signs of slowing down in recent years. This year, we have seen the format reborn with the introduction of the Pets sub-theme. We have seen some awesome animal format Brickheadz this year, and this latest wave has me quite excited with an overdose of cuteness. This wave consists of 3 sets: 40480 Ginger Tabby; 40481 Cockatiel and 40482 Hamster
Each of these sets comes with 2 figures: Adult and offspring. As well as a basket or nest for them to hang out in.
The sets are fairly similar in structure, but each feature various techniques that set them apart from the others. As such, we will wander through each set in turn, and then look at other directions that Brickheadz could potentially turn, away from ‘non human’ character representation.
So, read on for my review, and an idea of what might happen if you cross a nostalgic childhood theme with this character format.
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Today marks the anniversary of the first episode of Seinfeld going to air in 1989. This show about nothing in particular set the standard for sitcoms in the 1990’s, although, like Friends, it has dated, but maintains a loyal following.
The set, based on Brent Waller’s LEGO Ideas submission will be released later this month to VIPs, and essentially incorporates the studio set for Jerry’s Apartment, as well as the stage of the comedy club where the iconic opening and closing monologues took place.
Set 21328 has 1326 pieces, 5 minifigures and is priced at €79.99 / $USD79.99 / £69.99/ 129.99 AUD/ 109.99 CAD
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The Bounty Hunter Boba Fett first appeared in the Star Wars Holiday Special, all the way back in 1978, but he didn’t really hit his straps until the arriving in The Empire Strikes Backin 1980. His starship, Slave I, has been subjected to over a dozen reimaginings in LEGO® form, from key rings to Advent calendar’s to UCS and all sizes in between. The last version of the ship was released in 2019, as part fo the 20th Anniversary Collection.
Boba Fett has reappeared in the world of the Mandalorian, during the second season, and so the ship has been reissused to fit in with that world, at a smaller scale to some seen in recent years, but more akin to that in the 75222 Betrayal at Cloud City from 2018. We have a new Boba Fett Minifigure, in keeping with his appearance in the Mandalorian, as well as another appearance of the Mandalorian in beskar armor. We can have a chat about the name change on the box later. I saw the set briefly at the Fan Media Days, when Jay, from Jay’s Brick Blog and I had a chat with the LEGO Star Wars Team.
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I have received a note from the casting team at Endemol-Shine, the production company looking after LEGO® Masters Australia- they are looking for passionate LEGO builders to apply for season 4.
The show has certainly raised the profile of Adult LEGO Builders in Australia over the last few years, bringing a return to family evening viewing.
If you are interested, you can read more, and apply, here.
The Northern Summer 2021 wave of LEGO® Star Wars sets focuses almost entirely on sets based on Television Series: Clone Wars season 7/The Bad Batch and the Mandalorian.
At LEGO® Con on the weekend, 3 sets from the Mandalorian were officially revealed – The Imperial Armored Marauder, Boba Fett’s Star Ship (the ship formerly known as Slave I) and the Imperial Light Cruiser. All three of these are integral to key moments in the series, and along with 75299 Trouble and Tatooine, as well as the 75314 The Bad Batch Shuttle shows an ongoing commitment to presenting more LEGO® sets from the newer, Disney managed, faces of the franchise.
The AFOL Engagement team at the LEGO Group sent over a copy of the the new wave to review, including the Clone Wars sets, and today, we will take a look at the 75311 Imperial Armored Marauder. Appearing in the Mandalorian, series 2, episode 4: The Siege, the Armored Marauder is a heavily armoured version of the Troop carrier, seen in the finale to season I.
The set has 478 pieces, and 4 Minifigures. It will cost $59.99 AUD, and go on sale on August 1st. Is this an enjoyable build, or just a big grey box with guns? Read on to find out.
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It’s Almost here: LEGO CON, where we will get a couple of hours of presentations and previews direct from Billund. While the event will be live streamed from LEGO.com, I will be mashing the refresh button, typing along with the event.
We will start with the AFOL Preshow, including @trickybricks, @fourbrickstall @IV_LEGO and more, before moving onto the main event.
The Event will be hosted by Melvin Odoom and Michelle Khare
We will be seeing new products from Minecraft, Star Wars, Super Mario, Technic and more. We will also see the results of the ‘I love Sports’ contest on LEGO IDEAS announced. Join me at 5pm London time, 12 pm US Eastern; 9am US west coast; and stupid o’clock AEST(0200). Leave your comments below.
What are you hoping to see announced at LEGO-Con?
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Clone Force 99, also known as the Bad Batch, are introduced at the beginning of the final season of ‘The Clone Wars’, and have subsequently spun off into their own series, following the end of the wars, and the execution of Order 66 by the Clone forces of the Grand Army of the Republic.
As such, the team and their adventures open up a rich new vein of material for LEGO® sets. 75314 the Bad Batch Attack Shuttle is one such craft. The set has 969 elements, and will go on sale on the 1st August 2021. The RRP is $AUD 149.99/USD99.99
I was excited to receive a copy of this set to review by the LEGO® AFOL Engagement Team. I was late to appreciate The Clone Wars, only coming to watch it during the extended pandemic lockdown last year. I am grateful to my son for encouraging me to do so, as the wealth of stories contained within helped me to appreciate the Prequel Trilogy all the more.
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I had been somewhat oblivioius to the Clone Wars for many years, and it was only during the lockdown last year that my son started to introduce me to the rich tapestry of characters and stories in the series. It almost had me appreciating Revenge of the Sith in a whole new light.
75310 Duel on Mandalore is the smallest of the LEGO Star Wars sets to be released with the new wave, and while it might only contain 147 pieces, the $19.99 USD. (AUD 32.99) price tags suggests that this set is about far more than the build.
The duel between Sith Lord/Crime Lord, Darth Maul, and Jedi Dropout Ashoka Tano takes place in Season Seven of The Clone Wars, as part of the Seige of Mandalore story arc.
These two characters are highly desirable in minifigure form, and it is good to see them in a relatively inexpensive set. This continues the trendof key characters available in smaller sets, a key example of which would be 75299 Trouble on Tatooine – released earlier this year – which gave us the Mandalorian, the Child and a Tusken raider for 44.99 (AUD).
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Each year, we hear more and more about the steps that the LEGO Group are taking towards developing a more sustainable brick: elements from Bioplastic; Eliminating single use plastics, use of renewable energy and more. Today the LEGO Group have announced progress in the development of a brick made of recycled PET – the plastic commonly used in plastic bottles.
While the prototype bricks are still undergoing testing for suitability as a substitute for the current ABS bricks, there are still a few questions to be answered, including durability, strength and indeed the ability to ensure that they can be consistently coloured.
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