Some news round up

I guess most of my fellow AFOLs in Singapore have been busy hunting minifig series 4.  I actually haven’t had time to get any, so that’s a to-do this weekend…

Anyway, taking a break to share some LEGO news that I found interesting.

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1. Picture of latest architecture set Farnsworth House

Toys N Bricks shares a pic of 21009 Farnsworth House taken from the LEGO website.  You can read more from: http://toysnbricks.com/home/21009-official-picture/

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2. Groupon deal: $15 worth of eBay purchase for $7

Toys N Bricks also shared this great deal from Groupon for eBay.  Only valid till end of the month so don’t wait if you want to get some stuff from eBay k?  Before you run off to try and get a few dozen Groupons, take note that it’s limited to 1 per person and 1 per order.  Click here to buy this groupon.

Via: http://toysnbricks.com/home/usa-15-worth-of-ebay-purchases-for-only-7/

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3. Update on charity auction organised by TBB

The Brothers Brick showcases some great donations.  Personally I found these 2 to be the most interesting.  There are many other great creations you can see from here.  Note that shipping is free.

Btw, the ship is 3 metres long!  Do read more from TBB here: http://www.brothers-brick.com/2011/03/28/bricks-helping-japan-update/

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4. LEGO City ideas book

Killyrbf shares info on Sean Kenney’s Cool City.  Looks to have some nice city pics but at only 32 pages, I wonder if it’s worth getting?  Think I’ll hold out till Oct and see if anyone does a book review.  You can read more about the book from Killyrbf’s blog: http://killyrbf.blogspot.com/2011/03/build-me-city.html

The japanese idea book I mentioned previously is great btw.  Thanks to Jonathan who helped to get from Japan. 🙂

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5.  LEGO 3 in 1 Go Glow Light

ToyNews reports on yet another new LEGO licensed product.  Worlds Apart has tied up with TLG to create a 3 in 1 Go Glow Light that consists of a rechargeable night light, torch with colour change disk and an interchangeable Lego Minifigure.  

Those who have kids may be familiar with this product.  I’ve actually handled/played with (?) a Go Glow Light cos my niece and nephew have one.  Think it’s not a bad idea – soft induction to the world of LEGO ‘poison’ for your young one perhaps? 

Drawback tho? Nothing for girls AGAIN.  Geez… I’m sure it doesn’t take a genius to do a pink version with a nice fairy minifig right? (Like the one from the keychain).  Who knows, if TLG provides unique minifigs to Worlds Apart, they’ll even get some cross-over sales from AFOLs who must get hold of those minifigs.  Then again, a wider range is expected next year so there is still hope.

Via: http://www.toynews-online.biz/news/33672/Worlds-Apart-links-with-Lego

What the duck?

Erm… literally… if you’ll examine the lower left corner of this photo…

Yeah, see what I mean? 😛  Is that an actual set??

Anyway if you are curious where this is from, it’s Odaiba Venus Fort Japan, courtesy of LEGO-KEI.  You can also spot the top of the new LEGO book that I hope to get soon:

Enjoy build with Brick Toy
(Tsukutte asobu block gangu)

Price : 2,100 Yen (Tax Included)
127pages
Language : Japanese
An author : Yoshikazu Saito
Publisher : Socym

You can find out more about this book from Let’s LEGO, as Sachiko has included a translated table of contents for this book there.  

As for the minifig selection… good way to even out the sex ratio with some long haired beauties I think.

Of Lighted Nanoblocks & Pop-Up Books

Went shopping today and the 1st thing in the toy store that caught my eye wasn’t a LEGO set… (ok, not surprising since there were no new LEGO sets in the store right?).  Anyway, thought this Nanoblock Deluxe Edition Schloss Neuschwanstein looks amazing…

So I did more online research and using some google translate from the Diablock site:

Representative of the West German castle “Neuschwanstein Castle”is set to assemble. Number of parts to about 5800, nanoblock representations have been made to reproduce in full-on. The LED light up to the plate and the beautiful villa built in the dark.

– Built-in 3 LED colors, using three plates
· LED plate 3 attached (use of AAA batteries 9) * batteries not included
* Finished Size: H220 × W120 × D400mm (1 / 220 scale)

Original text in japanese:

西洋を代表するドイツの城「ノイシュバンシュタイン城」を組み立てるセットです。約5800個のパーツを使用し、nanoblockで再現できる極限までの表現がなされています。また、プレートにLEDが組み込まれており暗閣で美しく光ります。

• ・3色LED内蔵、プレート3個使用
• ・LEDプレート3枚付属(単4電池9本使用)　＊電池別売り
• ・完成品サイズ:H220×W120×D400mm(１/220スケール)

It’s got LED lights???  So a bit more online sleuthing… ta da…

It’s the 2nd Nanoblock set that I really like (the 1st is the Himeji Castle of course).

Anyway, it’s available at ToyStation in Singapore, or if you are in Japan, from Yodobashi or Amazon Japan.  Nope, I didn’t get it…

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Then I got home and had a lovely surprise…

See, I can’t remember what I ordered from Book Depository… 😛  Anyway a quick tearing of the well-wrapped package and…

Yippee!  I know, I’m kinda overaged for a pop-up book, but I thought it’s nice to have a 3D reference book.   Here’s the nice promo video that poisoned me…

Source of Nanoblock pic: Yodobashi & Nano-Jime

Japanese 8×8 Town

Since I can’t read japanese, the best I can guess is that these were created (?) during the “FLC(Fujiyama Lego Camp 2010)”.  LEGO camp?  The Japanese AFOLs met for a camp?  Anyway I thought the little town is very cute.  You can see more in this Brickshelf folder.

Source: legoblog via  LEGO Kei

LEGO MUJI sets – at a store near you in Dec?

Remember those LEGO sets created exclusively for MUJI last year? 

Ok, now that you get a better idea (yeah, paper & LEGO) and in case you want them, you may be able to get from your nearest MUJI store in December.  That’s what the official MUJI LEGO website says.  No details on whether any stores will be excluded from the wider distribution but I am hopeful that they will appear in Singapore (nah, no inside info just fingers crossed).  Not sure if I really want these tho… more for kids? 😛

Hironobu Sakaguchi is an AFOL too!

Hironobu who? You may not have heard of him but surely you have heard of the Final Fantasy series of games? Yeah, Hironobu Sakaguchi is the creator of that series.  He is a major deal in the game industry…

Read the story from siliconera.com, but here is the full story:

Hironobu Sakaguchi Gives Us A Last Story Update

By Ishaan . September 27, 2010 . 9:28am

In a recent update on the Mistwalker blog, The Last Story director, Hironobu Sakaguchi, reveals that he’s still fine-tuning the game, having been allowed a lengthy period to do so. But there’s still a lot of work to be done, he reveals.

“There is also a lot of fine tuning, but when those pile up, it could be big. God is in the details. But I recently feel and have a sense to say; maybe I will become lonely when The Last Story is completed. It is the same pain such as my own child starting their journey,” Sakaguchi writes.

By “his own child,” — he mentions that he considers The Last Story to be his child, too — Sakaguchi’s referring to his daughter who’s almost 17 and will be moving out to attend college in two years. Sakaguchi, who is based in Hawaii, would like her to remain on the West coast, but feels this might be a little selfish of him. Ultimately, heading to the East coast would allow her more opportunities for travel.

While he waits for The Last Story builds to be downloaded to his PC, Sakaguchi often occupies himself with creating Lego models. His latest were a Lego Wii remote and Nunchuk.

“Since I use them repeatedly like tens of thousands of times, it’s so familiar to my hand that I can put these together very quickly. To reproduce C and Z button of nunchakus was difficult, (^_^;” Sakaguchi writes. He jokes that the hand-written “Wii” on the remote didn’t turn out so great though.

Sakaguchi also tweeted an amusing picture of him “playing” The Last Story with his Lego controllers:

If you’re curious, here’s what the “beta” remote looked like, before he decided to add the power button. Amusingly, Sakaguchi’s bio on Twitter reads “bearded old man.”

Pentax Optio NB1000 with Nanoblocks

Nanoblocks seem to be really taking off.  These are real cameras, capable of 14-megapixel images and 720p HD videos.  Oh yeah, and you can build your own Nanoblock models on them and carry them with you wherever you go… they each come with a small supply of Nanoblock bricks.

Only in Japan…

From: Imaging Resource & GSMArena