Everyone’s a Winner with the LEGO® Ideas Minifigure Vending Machine

A LEGO Ideas Minifigure Vending Machine set displayed on a countertop, featuring colorful capsules and various minifigures, with kitchen utensils and decorative items in the background.

About 18 months ago, Rob Vangansewinkel’s Ideas submission based on a capsule toy vending machine was accepted. Today the final model has been revealed, and it is sure to excite many members of the broader LEGO community.

While the Vending machine is the primary build, fans are more likely to be distracted by the 16 minifigures encapsulated within. This set will be released on the 1st of June to LEGO Insiders and has a retail price of $AUD249.99 / €169.99 / £ 149.99 / $ 179.99.

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A Brief History of Crossing the Themes Part 2: Introducing Max Timebuster

The Characters in LEGO DREAMZZz travel from Brooklyn, to Fantasy worlds, to Villages to castle, to worlds made entirely out of Candy. But this is not the first time that being able to travel between different LEGO Themes has been used as a framing device for a LEGO narrative. Last time, we looked at the 6000 IDEAs book and followed the adventures of Mary and Bill as they traveled from Town to Space to Castle.

Today, we meet Max Timebuster, a miscreant who jumps between pages of the LEGO Catalog, gathering bits and pieces as he goes.

Joins us for a healthy bit of 90s nostalgia as we continue our survey of ways that LEGO Media have encouraged creative play by having characters Cross the Themes

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Piratepalooza 2020: Announcing LEGO Ideas Pirates of Barracuda Bay.

It is now almost 31 years ago since the LEGO Pirates range was released into the world. Inspiring years of adventure, pirates holds a special place in the heart of many Lego fans from the 80’s and 90’s , as well as those who came late to the party in 2009 and the early/mid teens.

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Piratepalooza Continues: Meet the Islanders

This year, we saw the 30th anniversary of the arrival of LEGO Pirates on the scene. Featuring ships, factions and named characters, Pirates also introduced some interesting elements to the mixture. After five years, perhaps in an attempt to move away from the obligatory Pirates versus Governor conflict, a new group of characters was introduced: Islanders.

With printed grass skits, and wearing horns in their hair, I probably feel a bit uneasy about saying anything about how these characters might reflect any culture living at the times during which the Pirates theme was set. Suffice to say, they provided variation in characterisation. I imagine that Pirates might be seeking to hide out on an island in the South Seas, and seek a degree of cooperations from the indigenous population. I am glad there were no ‘soldier faction’ figures included with the Islanders subtheme.

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Nostalgic Anniversaries Converge with LEGO Tower 1.4

Last week saw the arrival of the latest incremental update for LEGO Tower – version 1.4 – the casual game produced by Nimblebit in association with LEGO Games. For regular readers of this blog, it will come as no surprise that I was extremely excited by the content released. As well as some bug fixes, interface tweaks, new roof toppers and new floors to build, this update provided some new parts for players to collect and dress the residents of their towers. Full of nostalgia, these new elements include torsos from the 6000 Ideas Book, as well as Pirate figures (with the theme celebrating 30 years this year), adding to a collection of pirate hats added in V1.3 a couple of weeks ago.

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Piratepalooza: Celebrating the Innovations Introduced by LEGO Pirates.

Today, September 19, is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. To celebrate, I thought we might take a look at some of the innovations that we have seen introduced into LEGO through the original Pirates Theme.

As you may already know, LEGO Pirates turn 30 in 2019. Having made their debut in 1989, the Pirates sets certainly have a place in the hearts of AFOLs of a certain age. With obvious factions, great play features and rapid assembly, I can understand the appeal they might have to any child at the time of release.

While some of the features introduced in Pirates have been well observed by the LEGO Group over the years, others have been less thoroughly pointed out. So I thought we might take a look at some of these today.

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Set Sail For Forbidden Island 6270

Recently, I have found myself becoming nostalgic for a childhood I never had.

As I have previously mentioned, this year marks the 30th anniversary of LEGO Pirates. Now, thirty years ago, I had just turned 20 and was well established in my personal Dark Ages: So Pirates essentially passed my by. Or vice versa.

Earlier this year I came across a copy of 6270: Forbidden Island – available locally, for a reasonable price. Set sail with me now as I put the set together, and come to see just what made the Pirates sets so amazing back in their day!

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