Articles

Here are the current LEGO Architecture sets created by Adam Tucker:

the Sears Tower (which made this Chicago list)

the John Hancock Center

the Empire State Building

and the Seattle Space Needle.

These will be showing up on LEGO Brand Retail or can be ordered here.

STX Europe will launch on 19 December a competition called the BlockDocker. The web-based contest can be entered at www.stxeurope.com The competition consists of two categories: Innovative and Oasis. The target is simple: In the Innovative category, the aim is to design a cruise ship of the future, keeping in mind the demands of tomorrow, i.e. eco-friendliness and entertainment innovations. The Oasis category challenges the competitors to build a replica of the Oasis of the Seas, the largest cruise vessel in the world, currently under construction in STX Europe's shipyard in Turku, Finland. The catch is that you are supposed to design both of the models using an online design tool provided by LEGO.

The winner of the highly challenging Innovative series will fly to Miami, and supervise his/her model being constructed in the Miami Seatrade Cruise Shipping event March 16-19, 2009. The winner of the Oasis series will be rewarded with an Oasis of the Seas engraved Apple iPod music player, as well as three models of his/her own Oasis LEGO design in a gift pack. The winner model of the Oasis series will be used as a corporate gift by STX Europe.

The competition starts on 19 December 2008 and ends on 9 January 2009. The winners will be announced on 19 January 2009.

See www.stxeurope.com for complete details.

Editor's note: Each category has a budget, so read the Block Docker webpage closely.Good luck!

Classic-Castle.com is holding its sixth Colossal Castle Contest, however, due to technical difficulties, submitting entries just started here .

For those interested in building an entry, the deadline is Dec 31, 2008. You can see the rules here .

BrickJournal was able to review the Medieval Town set, and in a preview from the next issue, you can read it here!

just broadcasted an episode that had a prominent LEGO prop.

The episode name is The Tower is Tall but the Fall is Short.

Here's a clip with the prop:

Here's the full episode, to give some context to the scene:

And who built the model? Some AFOLs!

Brickcon happened a couple of weeks ago, so here's a time lapse of the first public day:

Over 3000 attended that one day.

Kudos to the LEGO Systems office and Heidi Bailey of LEGO!

LEGO Set Designer Mark Staford and friend at LEGO World, Zwolle, the Netherlands.  Photo by Megan Rothrock.

BrickCon 2008 kicked off yesterday in Seattle, Washington with over 200 attendees. The keynote speaker for this year was Steve Witt from the LEGO Group, who made his presentation a group show about how sets are designed.

Helping him out were Matthew Ashton, Creative Director of Playthemes and Nick Groves,  one of the set designers in his group. Both of them gave a little peek as to how a set is designed, from concept to prototyping to review. And a surprise was unveiled...

A new set, coming from LEGO Direct, named the Medieval Market Village!

From the product description: 

Ages 12+.  1,601 pieces.

US $99.99; ¤99.99, CA $149.99, AU $149.99, UK £84.99

Expand your LEGO^® Castle kingdom!

This classic medieval village with marketplace is a perfect match for any LEGO Castle.  Full of authentic features, fun accessories and all-new animals to expand and enhance your kingdom; it includes two complete buildings with detailed interiors like a blacksmith’s shop with waterwheel-driven hammer, a food stand, tree, table, cart, cows, horse, chicken, rooster, duck, peasants, knights, rare elements and colors, and more! 

• Includes 8 minifigures: blacksmith, 2 soldiers, 2 male peasants, 2 female peasants and a boy minifigure!
• Play inside! The 2 two-story buildings feature a hinge system that allows you to open and close them as you wish!
• The yellow building contains the stables, blacksmiths shop and his home upstairs!  Help the blacksmith forge the swords with the working water powered trip hammer! Don’t forget to close the stable gates and feed the horse some carrots!
• Blacksmith’s home features pictures on the walls, opening windows, table and fireplace!
• The classically European styled blue building features a cozy tavern on the first floor and welcoming bedroom on the top floor!
• Lots of authentic touches: fireplaces in the bedrooms, pictures on the walls, dressing tables, working doors and windows and other interior details!
• The soldiers and peasants alike shop and eat in the marketplace filled with baskets of fish, apples and flowers. Sit at the table for a meal of ale, cheese and whole turkey but stay out of the way of the soldiers carrying the king’s treasure!

·  Buildings measure over 7.5” tall and over 9” long when open wide!

Available January 2009!

Here are links to more photos - click on the thumbnails to get a closer look!

Exterior view of blacksmith's shop	Exterior view of tavern	Interior view of both buildings	Closeup of blacksmith's shop	Closeup of minifigures	Minifigure lineup for set
Closeup of outdoor shop

Many thanks to Steve Witt and the LEGO Group for providing these images!

BrickJournal 3 Out!

BrickJournal's latest issue is out in newsstands and online! This issue has a cover model by Bryce McGlone and event reports from Brickworld,  FIRST LEGO League World Festival (Atlanta) and Piece of Peace (Japan). There's also some behind-the-scenes reporting about the design of the new Volkswagen Beetle set and Custom Car Garage, not to mention building instructions and an interview with the CEO of the LEGO Group. You can order BrickJournal here. BrickJournal was also positively reviewed by Library Journal.

GOOGLEGO Announced

As noted in his post on LUGNET , Mike Gallagher presented his website. His site is a map or location-based reference for the LEGO building community. This site will be searchable and categorized, so clubs and events and other points of interest can be easily found.

Those interested in helping Mike can contact him at his e-mail.

With the help of Mike Huffman, there is now a new event calendar used by BrickJournal. As noted in his LUGNET post, it had become quite an effort to maintain the Journal event calendar, as it was done literally by reading through many different sites to update. 

The new calendar is from Google Calendars, and has some features that the older calendar lacked, including overlaying different types of events and activities onto one single calendar. Currently, there are LEGO Contests, LEGO Conventions, LEGO Displays, LEGO Fan Club Events, and LEGO Mindstorms and FLL Events. There are efforts to add more features, so any suggestions and comments are welcome!

More importantly, the calendar has now been opened up to people in the community to help update the many events and activities that happen throughout the world. Clubs and other groups are encouraged to join and help create a worldwide reference for AFOLs and public alike to see what is happening in the community. You can see the calendar by going to the calendar tab above or by going here.

Those interested in being part of the 'calendar crew' can contact me at my e-mail.

Thanks to those who have already stepped forward and also to Mike!

• Store will officially open for business on Sept 18
• Grand Opening Celebration Weekend will be Oct 3 – 5
• Master Builder will be Dan Steiniger
• Model being built will be Yoda
• Master Builder Event happens all 3 days in the JC Penney Court
  Friday 11 – 7, Saturday 10 – 6, Sunday 11 – 6
• AFOL Volunteers are needed, included at least 1 expert builder who can help Dan actually build the model!
  Volunteers will get a special reward at the store!
• On Saturday, Oct 4, the first 300 customers in the store to spend $35 will get a FREE exclusive make & take set of the Liberty Bell, complete with crack and moving clapper! This set is not available for sale.
• On Sunday, Oct. 5, the first 300 customers in the store to spend $35 will get a FREE exclusive child’s size LEGO Store t-shirt, featuring the LEGO Minifigure holding the state flag! This shirt is not available for sale.
• Exclusive sets and t-shirts will also be given out as trivia question prizes by Dan throughout the event at the build site!
• Fans can also enter a raffle in the LEGO Store for a chance to win a $100 LEGO Store Gift Card!

• Store will officially open for business on Sept 12
• Grand Opening Celebration Weekend will be Oct 11 - 13
• Note: This event runs Saturday > Monday due to the Columbus Day holiday.
• Master Builder will be Dan Steiner
• Model being built will be Yoda
• Master Builder Event happens all 3 days in the Macy’s Court
  Saturday 10 - 6, Sunday 11 – 6, Monday 11 – 7
• AFOL Volunteers are needed, included at least 1 expert builder who can help Dan actually build the model!
  Volunteers will get a special reward at the store!
• On Sunday, Oct 12, the first 300 customers in the store to spend $35 will get a FREE exclusive make & take set of a Baseball Player, complete with bat, red hat and socks and home plate! This set is not available for sale.
• On Monday, Oct. 13, the first 300 customers in the store to spend $35 will get a FREE exclusive child’s size LEGO Store t-shirt, featuring the LEGO Minifigure holding the state flag! This shirt is not available for sale.
• Exclusive sets and t-shirts will also be given out as trivia question prizes by Dan throughout the event at the build site!
• Fans can also enter a raffle in the LEGO Store for a chance to win a $100 LEGO Store Gift Card!

• Store will officially open for business on Sept 25
• Grand Opening Celebration Weekend will be Oct 17 - 19
• Master Builder will be Dan Steiniger
• Model being built will be R2-D2
• Master Builder Event happens all 3 days in the Center Court
  Friday 11 – 7, Saturday 10 – 6, Sunday 11 – 6
• AFOL Volunteers are needed, included at least 1 expert builder who can help Dan actually build the model!
  Volunteers will get a special reward at the store!
• On Saturday, Oct 18, the first 300 customers in the store to spend $35 will get a FREE exclusive make & take set of Sacramento’s Transcontinental Railroad Engine, the Gov. Stanford Steam Locomotive, complete with moving wheels and realistic details! This set is not available for sale.
• On Sunday, Oct. 19, the first 300 customers in the store to spend $35 will get a FREE exclusive child’s size LEGO Store t-shirt, featuring the LEGO Minifigure holding the state flag! This shirt is not available for sale.
• Exclusive sets and t-shirts will also be given out as trivia question prizes by Dan throughout the event at the build site!
• Fans can also enter a raffle in the LEGO Store for a chance to win a $100 LEGO Store Gift Card!