Thursday, November 22, 2012

Black Friday

10% OFF + FREE Shipping + Exclusive Holiday Set. Valid 11.23.12 - 11.26.12
LEGO Shop at Home's Black Friday sale starts in a matter of minutes and lasts through Monday the 26th. The promotion is similar to last year's:
  • 10% off all orders of $149 or more
  • 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.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Amazing Forced Perspective Jousting

Name of Model: M.O. Round 3 - George G. vs P. Voranc
Created by: George G.
Found at: http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/344290
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!

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Todai-ji and Daibutsu

Name of Model: LEGO Pop-up Todai-ji + Daibutsu (Buddhism) レゴで飛び出る東大寺
Created by: talapz
Found at:
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.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Small engine workshed and Signal House

Name of Model: Small engine workshed and Signal House
Created by: michaelozzie1
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/54395270@N08/tags/shed/
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.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

National Toy Train Museum Display

Name of Model: National Toy Train Museum WamaLTC Display
Created by: Cale Leiphart, WamaLTC
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/steampoweredbricks/sets/72157631931333354/
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.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

The LEGO Adventure Book

Name of Book: The LEGO Adventure Book
Created by: Megs(Megan Rothrock)
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.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Queen Playing Card Mosaic

Name of Model: Queen playing card
Created by: Sean Kenney
Found at: http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/337786
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.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Small Pumpkins

Name of Model: Lego Pumpkin Halloween
Created by: customBRICKS Kristi "McWii"
Found at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/custombricks/8142491242/
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.