Free Limited Edition Holiday set with orders of $99 or more.
FREE Shipping on all orders of $49 or more.
offers Valid: Nov 23rd - 26th
Offers are Combinable (No Codes Required)
Additionally, the following sets will be marked down:
Product #
Product Name
Discount
8831
LEGO® Minifigures, Series 7
50%
8833
LEGO® Minifigures, Series 8
50%
9509
LEGO® Star Wars¿ Advent Calender
50%
850423
Minifigure Presentation Box
50%
5000215
Harry Potter: Building the Magical World
50%
10230
Mini Modulars
20%
2734
Straight Rails
20%
2735
Curved Rails
20%
3677
Red Cargo Train
20%
3841
Minotaurus
20%
3857
Heroica Draida Bay
20%
5609
LEGO® DUPLO Deluxe Train Set
20%
5945
LEGO® DUPLO Winnie the Pooh's Picnic
20%
5946
LEGO® DUPLO Tigger's Expedition
20%
7286
Prisoner Transport
20%
7346
Summer House
20%
7930
Bounty Hunter¿ Assault Gunship
20%
7962
Anakin's & Sebulba's Podracers
20%
9094
Star Striker
20%
5828
LEGO® DUPLO Big Bentley
15%
5885
Triceratops Trapper
15%
6869
Quinjet Aerial Battle
10%
9473
The Mines of Moria¿
5%
850506
Card Making Kit
20%
853091
Keychain Police Man
20%
853195
Brick Calendar
20%
853393
LEGO® Friends Picture Frame
20%
853414
LEGO® Star Wars¿ Magnet Set - Jar Jar Binks
20%
853421
LEGO® Star Wars¿ Magnet Set - Clone Wars
20%
2850828
Darth Vader Kids Watch
20%
2853508
LEGO® Star Wars¿ : The Visual Dictionary
20%
2856081
Darth Vader Minifigure Clock
20%
2856195
LEGO Minifigure Ultimate Sticker Collection
20%
5000143
LEGO® Star Wars¿ Boba Fett Watch
20%
5000249
LEGO® Star Wars¿ Boba Fett Minifigure Clock
20%
5000668
LEGO City Sticker Collection
20%
5000671
LEGO Star Wars Sticker Collection
20%
5001050
Star Wars ZipBin Large Millennium Falcon Messenger Bag
20%
5001097
Star Wars ZipBin Toy Box and Playmat
20%
5001159
Darth Vader Light Keychain
20%
5001160
Stormtoorper Light Keychain
20%
5001252
2013 LEGO Calendar
20%
5001310
Yoda Light Keychain
20%
5001311
Darth Maul Light Keychain
20%
5001313
Darth Vader Light Torch
20%
5001314
Stormtrooper Light Torch
20%
5001352
Monster Fighters Mummy Clock
20%
5001353
Monster Fighters Lord Vampyre Clock
20%
5001354
Monster Fighters Mummy Watch
20%
5001355
Ninjago Kai ZX Clock
20%
5001356
Ninjago Kai ZX Watch
20%
5001357
Ninjago Cole Watch
20%
5001358
Ninjago Lasha Watch
20%
5001366
Ninjago Loyd ZX Clock
20%
5001375
Monster Fighters Lord Vampyre Watch
20%
5001376
Lunch Box Blue
20%
5001377
Lunch Box Pink
20%
5001378
Lunch Box Red
20%
5001383
Storage Brick- 4 Blue
20%
5001384
Storage Brick- 4 Dark Green
20%
5001386
Storage Brick- 8 Blue
20%
5001387
Storage Brick- 8 Dark Green
20%
5001388
Storage Brick- 8 Red
20%
Most of these offers are also good at the LEGO store - if the item you want is out of stock online, you can try for the same pricing at the store. In the unlikely event that that doesn't satisfy your Black Friday weekend LEGO needs, you can also try the full round-up of promotions from other stores over at FBTB.
Details: This is the most effective and complex use of forced perspective I've seen to date. I can't even imagine trying to get so many scales straight, much less arrange them a natural-looking scene. Note the assortment of scales used on the foremost horse alone- very impressive. He could have built the jousters and left it at that, but the surroundings that appear as just a blur in the main picture are equally impressive. Be sure to check out all the pictures to appreciate all of the fantastic details and part usage, as well as microscale scenes that could be MOCs of their own merit!
Details: You may remember the spectacular pop-up model of Kinkaku-ji (the Temple of the Golden Pavilion) from a few years back. More recently, the builder has made another excellent pop-up temple - Nara, Japan's Todai-ji. This one also includes the Daibutsu inside the temple. Around the 1:52 mark, the video switches from a demonstration to CAD-based building instructions, complete with part counts for each step. All 8,816 pieces are accounted for, and there's a complete parts list with BrickLink part numbers at the end.
Details: Here's the start of a nice minifig-scale train layout - a shed and a signal house. I love the shed here - it's a very effective use of the "brick" brick element. This is a very classic use of the bricks and it works quite well. The simple ballast for the tracks is surprisingly convincing. I can't wait to see how the rest of the layout looks.
Details: There is a small LEGO train display at the National Toy Train Museum in Strasburg, PA. It recently got "refreshed", although I don't really know what it looked like before. It's a nice little layout - the buildings have that classic brightly-colored look, and it has a surprising amount of action for its size. Some of the trains are from kits, but more of them are original models. My favorite part is probably the subway tucked away underneath the street scene on the left side of the display.
Available at: Amazon and wherever books are sold. (Disclosure: LMOTD received a review copy)
Details: LEGO idea books turn out to be a surprisingly difficult concept today. Sure, there are many classics, going back to the 60's, but there hasn't been a new one since 1997. After all, since 1995, most LEGO lines have been short-lived play themes - it doesn't make sense for LEGO to publish great ideas for using parts that aren't likely to be easy for kids to find just a year or two later. That 1997 idea book was largely out of date by 1999. The rise of the internet hasn't helped either - usually an adult fan will post photos of great uses for new parts almost as soon as the kits come out.
The LEGO Adventure Book, written by former LEGO designer Megan Rothrock, was pitched to Brickset as something of a sequal to the classic 6000-1 Idea Book. While the Adventure Book does have some things in common with the official idea books, it really doesn't feel much like one. This isn't a small book on magazine-grade paper - it's a solid, 200 page hardcover tome. The brightly colored photos are accompanied by English-language text, which continues an adventure story through the whole book. Of somewhat more interest to LMOTD readers, though, is the 14 sections dedicated to specific builders besides the author. Real names, screen names, professions, nationalities, and URLs are given for each builder before a grouping of their models are showcased. The list of builders featured (they have an index on the last page) should sound pretty familiar: Craig Mandeville, Are J. Heiseldal, Moritz Nolting, Jon Hall, Pete Reid, Peter Morris, Mark Stafford, Aaron Andrews, Mike Psiaki, Katie Walker, Carl Greatrix, Sylvain Amacher, and Daniel August Krentz.
Page 8 introduces us to "Megs", the book's main character, and the next 8 pages show us how to build her "Idea Lab". From there we follow her through a number of "worlds" in her "Transport-o-lux". Megs is a minifigure version of the author, and all of the other builders introduced in the book are also shown as minifigures.
It's hard to say how well the LEGO Adventure Book will stand the test of time - the biggest drawback with idea books. It does make use of parts and colors that may turn out to be short-lived. Right from the beginning, we see parts used that are new for 2012 and unlikely to be readily available to kids in any meaningful quantity. Many of the themes represented will clearly appeal to certain age groups (there are two sections that touch on the Yellow Castle, one classic Space-inspired section, and sections for both Power Miners and Friends). Page 15 shows a great bookshelf technique, but the ends of the shelf are a part that's already been discontinued. In some cases (like the zoo scene), hard-to-find and long-discontinued parts are a major part of a scene that can't easily be worked around. The concept behind idea books has always been to inspire kids to build with parts they already have, and it's likely that this book will have no problem inspiring builders in the future. Some of these models will be out of reach for anyone whose collection doesn't span a few decades, but most of the designs are workable or at least easy to modify to whatever parts are available.
While featuring a variety of fan creations makes it easy to showcase great ideas and tie in with additional material online, it also increases the complexity of the models and the odds that kids won't be able to find the parts (or even be familiar with what sort of parts they're looking at). The various sections highlighting hobbyists and their MOCs are more like the official idea books, in that they largely show completed models that fit a particular theme (along with high-level instructions for a few of the models). While these sections are similar to what many LEGO blogs online already cover (ahem), they look great and serve to canonize a few models in a more concrete way than we can on the internet. However, the URLs are susceptible to the same time-sensitive issues as LEGO part selection - if any of these builders' flickr accounts cease to be accessible in the future, it won't be possible to view their other creations any more (of course, that's also the strongest argument for putting highlights of the hobby community into books like this one in the first place).
I was impressed with the variety of themes represented. The official idea books were always somewhat limited in that they stuck with common themes that LEGO sold sets in, but here, unofficial themes fit in nicely next to the "real" ones. Steampunk and mecha have been staples of LEGO conventions for years, and it was about time someone showed them and explained them in a straight-forward, kid-friendly manner that could be perused away from the convention crowds.
The techniques don't disappoint here either. A number of obscure and seemingly useless parts show up in clever places, all across the book. A "rock dragon" in the Power Miners section is a perfect excuse to show Hero Factory parts in a useful context, and probably my personal pick for the most clever model here. The written advice helps as well - concepts like "mirroring" sections of a model or cutting stickers for details can be explained quickly (as compared with in LEGO instruction books, where complete assemblies are pictures multiple times when they're largely the same).
The LEGO Adventure Book is both a welcome addition to the "idea book" genre and easy to appreciate as a hard-copy document of some of the online LEGO community's best work. The story's ending is a surprising and satisfying twist, although I'm not sure kids will appreciate it as much as seasoned fans (I suppose that's what they generally call "fun for the whole family"). We are (admittedly) biased towards this book due to having covered much of the same ground here, but I was surprised by how strong the book is - after all, idea books are rocky territory.
The LEGO Adventure Book is available starting today from No Starch Press. We've previously featured some of author Megan Rothrock's work. She was kind enough to join us at BrickMagic 2010, while she was still working for The LEGO Group.
Details: While there's no end to the amount of colors and techniques that can go into a LEGO-based mosaic these days, there's something to be said for the classic studs-up approach and the bright color pallette that's been available for decades. The design (drawn up by hand) looks completely convincing, and the pixelated effect removes nothing from the queen's likeness. While there's no end to the amount of colors and techniques that can go into a LEGO-based mosaic these days, there's something to be said for the classic studs-up approach and the bright color pallette that's been available for decades. The design (drawn up by hand) looks completely convincing, and the pixelated effect removes nothing from the queen's likeness.
This mosaic was built for Sean's recent children's book, Amazing ABC.
Details: Here's a clever and surprisingly effective way to churn out some Halloween pumpkins. I hadn't even realized that curved piece was out in orange, but apparently it's in a few current sets. The use of that tooth/horn element as the stem is similarly inspired.
