Some News Round-Up

If you have been making use of the RSS feeds on the right, you would have read these but just in case, here are a few notable ones:

• Brickset’s Huw reports from the 2011 London Toy Fair – See my summary of the various Q&A and comments below.
• Brickset’s yellowcastle reports that the Collectible Minifig Series 3 codes are either being mixed up or disappearing altogether – actually I’ve been relying on the ‘molest’ method so no diff. My finger/thumb is feeling bruised tho!
• Brickvention 2011 reports in Brickset & The Brothers Brick 
• Brickset has re-org their ‘Gear’ section – “Gear includes magnets, key chains, books, clothing and so on: basically everything that isn’t a proper construction set”.  I was actually struggling to categorise LEGO books for the Singapore S0937 forum (umm… I’m a ‘librarian’) and am really glad Brickset has managed to tackle the categories to come up with a good list of books. Yay.  
• FBTB reports new LEGO Toy Story alarm clocks that feature Buzz n Woody.

The comments QnA in the London Toy Fair report is really long, so I did a summary of what caught my eye:

• The new City marina sets float;
• Jack Sparrow minifig is different in each POTC set;
• 2 new Spongebob sets – “some sort of fairground rise and the other a vehicle” – EDIT: It’s 3816-Glove World and 3815-Heroic Heroes as listed on Brickset;
• SW calendar features “mini models from the entire galaxy and 8 minifigs” – one minifig is a new one described as “one of the figs has not appeared in any of the films, books, cartoons and is unlikely ever to” and “all the figs have appeared before, but one of them is in new clothes, and it’s not a queen Amidala“;
• 7879 Hoth Echo Base may be a TRU exclusive “no Hoth sets on display, and there isn’t one in the retailers’ catalogue either. Maybe it’ll be a TRU exclusive or something“;
• The Darth Maul and Savage minifigs have new horn pieces on their heads – “a new soft plastic horn piece, a bit like a washer that goes over the stud, and ends up flush with it. It looked very effective“;
• HP sets – some speculated minifigs based on Huw’s descriptions:
  • Battle for Hogwarts: “consists of a couple of towers and an entranceway” – Prof Sprouts in tan, HP, Snape, student (in new uniform, so can’t be Neville who is a Gryffindor – he is able to use the Gryffindor sword in the battle remember?)
  • Forbidden Forest: Hagrid, Narcissa (“two-colour hair: mostly brown with lighter brown or blonde highlights round the front edges, which I think is a first for a minifig“), HP, Voldemort (no centaurs!);
  • Knightbus: Purple, and with HP, Ernie & Stan.
  • http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/eskallon1/Eurobricks-Stuff/Harry-Potter/picture_2.png
• UPDATE on 30 Jan: And no stickers on the new Cars sets. Yippee!

Source: Brickset, FBTB, The Brothers Brick and also the many commentors in Brickset.

Free Download of Marcos Bessa’s Models

Update: I don’t know why, but I can’t link the pics to the websites.  So to be clear, you have to go to his blog to download the files (LINK HERE) and to Flickr to see the rest of his portfolio (LINK HERE)

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Remember Marcos Bessa? (Yep, he has become a LEGO Designer – read HERE).  The good news is that he has kindly put up his LDD files on his blog so you can now download for free his digital creations here from his blog.

I also just notice that Marcos shared his portfolio created in July 2010 for the LEGO Designer position.  Here’s a sample:

Nice huh? More in Marcos Bessa’s Flickr.

Making Your Own LEGO Bricks

… or minifigs, or whatever your heart desires in ABS plastic.

Fantasy? No, you can actually do it if you get a Thing-O-Matic 3D Printer Kit from MakerBot. It all gets kinda techical but this article from Guardian explains it well in layman terms.  The ‘Printer’ bit is a bit deceiving… the machines are “3D printers build up objects using layers of plastic”.

Oh, and you also have to have at least US$649 (for the most basic Cupcake kit) to US$1225 (for the latest Thing-O-Matic) and wait for up to 7 weeks after placing your order.  Remember to order the ABS plastic too.  A 5 pound coil of red/blue/green/yellow//pink ABS plastic costs US$65, and a natural one at US$45.  Fluorescent red costs more at US$70 for 5 lb and glow in the dark is the most expensive at US$46 for 1 lb.

I was curious and pulled up a comparison of all 3 models… and don’t understand… uhhhh… very very engineering language.  If you are game you can read more below.

And… this really reminds me of some in-game “The Sims” kind of gadget.  Even the name sounds like one. Come to think of it, I’m sure there was some machine/reward like that in “The Sims 3“…

Someone has already made some large minifigs (20 minifigs size x 4) and shared his blue prints. Looks good don’t you think?  By Michael Curry, aka Skimbal, more pics in his Picasa page.  Blue prints for the minifigs here in his thingiverse page.  

You can also see a video of an actual to-scale 2×2 brick:

Loads more videos about ‘makerbot’ in youtube.

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As the last post for 2010, happy new year to all readers!  Wishing all a healthy, peaceful and wonderful year ahead. 🙂

LEGO Creationary on iPhone, iPad & iTouch

Update : Had a go and it’s not the most fun game… but it is FREE, so can’t complain much.   Took some screen captures and will update tonight.

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Just had to do a quick blog.

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LEGO Systems Translates Award-Winning Build-and-Guess Fun of New Creationary Board Game Into First Official LEGO® iPad Application

-Hours of Mobile Fun for Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch Available Now for Free Download-

ENFIELD, Conn., Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — LEGO Systems, Inc., the North American division of the world’s leading construction toy brand, today announced general availability of the first official LEGO® branded application for iPad – a true-to-the-original board game version of Creationary, which tests how quickly players can guess what is being built from LEGO® bricks. The free game works on iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch mobile devices.

Players “roll” the LEGO dice to find out which of the 4 randomly selected categories they are guessing: nature, vehicles, buildings or things. The game starts building an object from that category out of LEGO bricks, and players must guess which of the four possible answers is correct by tapping the illustration that they think matches what is being built. The faster players guess correctly, the more points they earn. As the game is played over time, the more difficult it becomes. If players guess incorrectly, the game ends. Scores can be shared with friends via email or on Facebook.

With 100 models available at launch in infinite play combinations, and plans for periodic and seasonal model refreshes, the mobile version of Creationary will delight passionate fans with an on-the-go way to play while also recruiting new fans – and families to LEGO board game play.

“LEGO bricks, whether in physical or digital form, provide hours of shared family fun, and mobile devices are a perfect way to take LEGO play on the go,” said Michael McNally, brand relations director, LEGO Systems. “More than 2.5 million people are using our LEGO Photo application, so we were inspired to celebrate the success of our new LEGO board games with another app that brings LEGO bricks to life in an entirely new way.”

The collection of 10 LEGO Games caters to a wide range of purchase and play occasions, ages, play types and price points. Each board game provides everything needed to start building and playing right out of the box, including customizable LEGO dice and separate building and game play instructions. LEGO Games are designed to be a new game every time they are played, encouraging children of all ages to build the game differently or change the rules and dice to keep game play fresh and exciting.

Download the free LEGO Creationary game in the App Store on iTunes. For more information on LEGO Games, visit http://games.LEGO.com or ‘Like’ us on Facebook.

Source: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lego-systems-translates-award-winning-build-and-guess-fun-of-new-creationary-board-game-into-first-official-lego-ipad-application-106974978.html

Blogged via iPhone

Building Tips & Fun Stuff on LEGO.com

I’ve been exploring the Lego.com site and wanted to share some discoveries…

1. Creator Building Tips – Really cool tips from some of your favourite designers can be found using the link below. Being more of a City gal I especially like the tips for corner doors, sliding doors, making furniture, fireplace… (k, you get the idea) but vehicle and creature tips are also available.

LINK: Creator Building Tips

2. City Downloads – Think the printable coloring sheets and join the dots activity sheets would be good for kids?

LINK: City Downloads

3. Star Wars Fun – Of course I would mention Star Wars.  Loads of comics and movies (you must have seen the latest being circulated around fan sites…) can be viewed from the SW site.  A must for any SW fan.

LINK: Star Wars Movie & Comics

4. Collectible Minifigs – I find the masks, games & movies interesting.

LINK: Collectible Minifig Masks   /   Collectible Minifig Games /  Movies

That’s all… loads of games but I didn’t feel up to trying… if you know/come across other cool stuff on the LEGO site, do share by leaving a comment k? 

Click HERE to select the product page you want to visit.

P.S. Ran into some technical problems while trying to insert pics (to jazz up this post) so… I give up… am gonna play with some real life bricks now. 😛

The Burrow Alternate Build Instructions

Alternate build instructions for Harry Potter set 4840 The Burrow can be downloaded from here.

Yeah, was debating this is worth a post on it’s own but I do like the new HP series a lot. 😛

For non-HP fans, this cottage can be added to your medieval village as well?

Source: Thanks to Grogall

Free Harry Potter 2010 Minifigure Poster

While some fans in UK were lucky enough to get their HP sets ahead of the official release date, I’ve had to settle for reading reviews while waiting for HP sets to arrive in SG.

Now there’s something else I can look at and share with HP fans. You can download this cool LEGO Harry Potter mini-poster from Amazon USA.

Get the Mini-Poster by clicking here

(You must have Adobe Reader 9 or later to be able to view this mini-poster)