More from Lego isn’t just for kids: the latest news for nostalgic adults and adult budgets
A dark tower fit to stand against Lego’s $500 Rivendell.
Nicolas Fremau, the hybrid architecture expert at Renault, used Lego to help build the prototype for the French car company’s E-Tech hybrid powertrain, as reported by Car and Driver:
In 2010, to the dismay of his family, Renault hybrid expert Nicolas Fremau spent his holiday break assembling a small-scale transmission out of Lego Technic parts... just 18 months after Fremau finished his Lego concept, Renault started testing the first functioning full-size LocoDiscoBox prototype.
They got the 10,000 votes to join these amazing Lego Ideas candidates. Outer Wilds and Interstellar builds come from fan designers I profiled here!
Many will enter, few will win: on Thursday, Lego greenlit a steamboat and a prize gumball machine but disqualified dozens, including the working mini bicycle I coveted and five Taylor Swift sets.
looks like a beaut. JB Spielwaren is listing it at a suggested retail price of €220, and Lego’s likely to charge the same in US dollars. (via Jay’s Brick Blog). There’s also a handful of new Lego Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog and Marvel sets coming, including a fantastic Milano ship from Guardians of the Galaxy with room for every Guardian in the cockpit.
The epic Saturn V and Space Shuttle Discovery didn’t come with a gantry, but Lego’s making up for it with the 3,091-piece NASA Artemis Space Launch System, coming May 28th for $259.99.
How much better is it? Here it is alongside all the other official Lego launchpad examples I could think of:
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The Tie is definitely the star, but I admit nostalgia for the rolling destroyer droid too. There’s also this kid-friendly version of Maul’s Sith Infiltrator with a slightly less-than-kid-friendly $70 pricetag, and an $80 Mos Espa Podrace diorama. I heard “Now THIS is podracing!” the instant I saw it, which I guess is a compliment!
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I’m still pretty proud of my big story on how Lego builds a new Lego set — but why not hear about the Lego Polaroid directly from its Lego designer? James May, who also recently worked on the BTS Dynamite and Hocus Pocus witches’ cottage sets, has now left the company to start a YouTube channel, design toys for UK schools, and also write for Brickset.
The highly anticipated Dungeons and Dragons set — inspired by this “Dragon’s Keep: Journey’s End” fan design — will be revealed at 1PM EST / 10AM PT next Tuesday. The actual release date hasn’t been announced yet.
The new minifig teaser below Lego’s countdown timer looks like a balanced adventuring party, and will probably work well as actual D&D character miniatures.
Lego has revealed its $299 Batman: The Animated Series Gotham City set (#76271), which features 4,210 pieces making up landmarks like the Gotham City Court and Arkham Asylum.
It also includes four minifigures of Batman, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and the Joker. The set comes out on April 4th, and you can check out even more pictures of it from Lego’s website.
The Lego Group’s running an online survey (via Jay’s Brick Blog) that starts out a tad boring, but soon reveals fun merch ideas!
Do note:
The designs showcased in this survey are purely conceptual. They represent imaginative ideas and creative exploration, but they do not guarantee or imply that LEGO® will produce them as actual products.
Remember Lego Masters Australia finalist Nick Lever’s amazing custom Nintendo Game Boy MOC? I built one to personally confirm its excellence.
But Lever wasn’t done: his new v7 instructions lets the D-pad move, the contrast knob spin, and reduces the bill of materials. Enough to justify opening mine up again, I’d say.
Oh, BTW... he’s now got Lego Game Boy Color MOCs too! Check one out at the end of my gallery below.
Maybe not the GOAT, but it comes with a goat... and you can put a cheesemaker, shieldsmith, town guard, weaver, carpenter, minstrel, and barkeep to work in their own little shops and posts. Then rob them blind with the thief or the tax collector. Hey, somebody’s gotta pay for that castle, right?
The buildings are hinged like the castle, too, opening up for play. $229.99, coming March 1st.
They’re all still available for the moment, but the Mountain Fortress in particular is going fast... Update: That’s one’s sold out. More about these unofficial official Lego sets in my story. You’ll need a BrickLink login and a Lego login to snag one. Checkout seems to be working: I successfully nabbed a Parisian Street.
The new sets celebrate the 25th anniversary of Lego Star Wars and most notably include a 9.5-inch-long Millennium Falcon and a 12.5-inch-long Tantive IV. Despite bringing the sets down in size, the Millennium Falcon still costs $84.99, while the Tantive IV is priced at $79.99.
There’s also a new R2D2, Invisible Hand, and Tantive IV diorama set. They’re available for preorder on Lego’s website and will start shipping on March 1st.
Here’s my video TL;DR on the new Lego Ideas Polaroid OneStep set and how it compares to the real thing! And here’s my exclusive story about how Lego designs such a set.
A Polish website appears to have leaked a listing for a Lego Polaroid camera, as reported by Jay’s Brick Blog.
Based the photos and the (machine-translated) description of the listing, it doesn’t seem like the camera can take real photos, but it apparently can spit out Lego-ified photos if you load them up.
Here’s some photos from the listing.
I kid you not: if I had to pick just one Lego set ever made, this epic transforming castle packed with clever details and play features would be the one. I sold off my airsoft guns to afford the $400 set at launch — now, Lego has it on backorder for $300 alongside the awesome Loop Coaster (also $300) and UCS Razor Crest ($420). I’ve never seen this one on sale before.
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