Tickets go on sale today for Brickvention 2025. Return to the Royal Exhibition Buildings in Melbourne for Australia’s Premier LEGO FAN EVENT. Use our link to enter a draw for a Brickvention Merchandise voucher, just for readers of the Rambling Brick.
Special Offer for Rambling Brick Readers:
Tickets for the public expo are now available. Readers of the Rambling Brick who use this link to buy their tickets before December 15th, 2024, will be entered into a prize draw for a voucher to spend at the Brickvention Merchandise Stall.
If there is one thing that is bound to raise the hackles of many AFOLs, it’s the offer of removing a something that they regard as an intrinsic part of the experience. And yesterday’s survey on the topic of Digital vs paper instructions certainly raised a few hackles. And then, it was mysteriously removed.
Today, we have received an official response from the LEGO Group on the subject.
A Couple of years ago, the LEGO Group changed the nature of their printed instructions, in the name of sustainability: The duplicated box art was replaced by rendered images, the instructions began to included an avatar based progress marker, and they introduced a congratulatory starburst every time you successfully completed a sub-build. But this reduction in the amount of cover ink used (and in turn the amount of processing necessary to recycle the paper) came at a time when it felt like instructions were getting thicker than ever.
Edit 20th September: the survey appears to have been taken down.
Today, Lego insiders is asking your opinion on paper instructions, and using digital instructions, with a short, and possibly leading, questionnaire. you can find it here: https://www.lego.com/en-au/insiders/activities. It’s worth 50 Insiders points.
I might suggest you do the survey before rereading my editorial from the time. This was one of my slightly more crazy tinfoil conspiracy theories of the time. But let’s take a Quick Look at how some of these things might have come to pass – for better or for worse.
Next year is a big year for new LEGO Collaborations: a few weeks ago they announced a multiyear partnership with NIKE, and today they have announced a new strategic partnership with Formula 1, just in time for the events’ 75th anniversary.
The new arrangement will see LEGO-based activities around the track. It will also give all 10 current teams representation in the LEGO Portfolio, with sets for all ages.
Earlier in the year, the LEGO Group announced a collection of motor racing-based sets for this year, and it sounds like the company will be in overdrive next year.
The LEGO Group has today announced a new collaboration with visionary artist and designer Pharrell Williams, inspiring everyone to unlock their creativity and unleash their limitless potential through LEGO Play.
Today’s announcement also sees the release of a new LEGO set designed in collaboration with Pharell. Over the Moon is a space shuttle with a golden canopy and a vibrant jet stream of colors. For Pharrell, the infinity of space was the first catalyst for his imagination, showing him that there are no limits to what we can explore.
It’s just past the 29th of August in some parts of the world, but it would be remiss to let the day go past without acknowledging that this was the day in 1977 that INTERLEGO AG (as they were then known) filed the patent documents for the LEGO Minifigure.
These little guys have been travelling with me, from time to time, since the late 1970s so I found them a cake.
Happy Birthday.
Patents were filed simultaneously in Australia, Denmark and the United Kingdom, with other countries to fill soon afterwards. Read on to see some of the Australian patent application documents.
Since they were first revealed in the closing days of 2020, the Botanical collection continues to attract new adults to the mysterious world of LEGO building. They were certainly high on the list of sets that seed some of the most imaginative alternative parts usage in any retail set, even if there is the slight ‘cheat’ of being able to recolour elements to create the desired effect.
It might still be the closing days of August, but before we know it, it will be October, and the Christmas specific stock will be released. This year, there are two new additions to the Botanical Collection with a holiday bent: a Poinsettia and a wreath. Both sets are now available for preorder, in preparation for release on October 1 2024. The 10370 LEGO Icons Poinsettia will have 608 pieces and be priced at € 49.99/ $USD49.99 / £44,99 / AUD 99.99, while 10340 LEGO ICONS Wreath has almost 1200 pieces, and has a recommended retail price of €99.99/ $USD 99.99 / £ 89,99 / 169.99 AUD. Read on for more Details:
Today, the LEGO Group and Nike, Inc. announced a new multiyear partnership aiming to elevate the power of creative play and sport. Kicking off next year, we can probably to see a series of co-branded products combining the imaginative power of LEGO and the ‘Just Do It’ Spirit of the Nike brand
At this point, the exact results of the collaboration remain to be seen: Will we see some new LEGO shoes now that the Adidas partnership has kicked in? Will there be Nike sports-branded sets reminiscent of those from the early 00s? Will it be LEGO co-branded clothing with a LEGO GOAT on the front? (Greatest Of All Time)? Or will it be more like the last time NIKE collaborated with the LEGO Group back in 2002-2003? More on that later…
Back on March 10 (Mario Day), the LEGO Group teased next year’s release of LEGO Mario Kart sets. Today, at the gamescom event in Cologne, six new Mario Kart sets were revealed. The new sets will bring a new look to the Super Mario range when they launch on January 1 2025 and will bring some of the relatively under-represented characters from Super Mario to LEGO Form. We will also see the classic Mario Kart course features: ‘?’ block, wheels and banapeels, to name a few.
To add a layer of digital play, fans can also add a LEGO® Mario™, LEGO® Luigi™ or LEGO® Peach™ (figures not included) to the new Mario Kart sets which takes the interactive experience into high gear when putting one of the figures into the driver’s seat. This includes iconic Mario Kart audio and visual effects for race-starting, horn-honking, kart-drifting and gliding sounds from the game. Players can also use these characters to scan Item Boxes, allowing them to collect extra coins and help boost their score as they finish the race!
After a blurry sneak preview by French retailer FNAC last week saw Universal Pictures wield a big stick and serve copyright strikes against folks who reposted them on Instagram last week, we now have access to the high-resolution images of these new sets – and while I might have initially been indifferent to the notion, I only saw the show once back in the days when my kids were still pretty small, I was perpetually tired, and after settling down in the warm, comfortable seats in the theatre surrounded by music, one thing led to another and I dozed off.
That said, these sets appeal to me more than I was expecting. Pre-orders open today, and they go on general sale on October 1, 2024, ahead of the November release of the Movie. Let’s take a closer look.
