Lego Minifigures (71004) The Lego Movie Series Reviewed by WhiteFang

The new Lego Minifigures (71004) The Lego Movie Series is about to hit store shelves. WhiteFang has done a full detailed photo review over on Eurobricks. This new series is a slight departure from the normal Lego Collectible Minifigures. This is the first series to focus on one theme. Here it is the upcoming Lego Movie. It has been assumed that this would be Series 12 of these Minifigs, but there is no mention of a series number anywhere on the packaging. Instead Lego has made slight design changes to call it “The Lego Movie.” WhiteFang notes that we won’t be able to get a definitive answer on the nomenclature until the either Series 12 or Series 13 shows up. And, who knows where the upcoming Simpsons Minifigures will fit in.

The Lego Movie Series contains a whole lot of personality. The Lego heads (faces) are all new, with a wide variety of happy and angry expressions. Combined with some of the new hair pieces means that this set will blend in well with other Lego minifigures. It looks like Emmet, President Business, Scribble-Face Bad Cop, and the Panda Guy are the common minifies this time around. With Calamity Drone, Mrs. Scratchen-Post, William Shakespeare, Gail the Construction Worker, Velma Staplebot, and Marsha the Queen of the Mermaids being the rare figures.

This series contains 16 minifigures: Calamity Drone, Gail the Construction Worker, Abraham Lincoln, Larry the Barista, Panda Guy, Velma Staplebot, William Shakespeare, Taco Tuesday Guy, “Where are my pants?” Guy, Wiley Fusebot, President Buisness, Wild West Wyldstyle, Hard Had Emmet, Scribbe-Face Bad Cop, Mrs. Scratchen-Post, and Marsha the Queen of the Mermaids.

Check out the whole review of the Lego Minifigures, The Lego Movie Series, written by WhiteFang, over on Eurobricks: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=88428

Lego Parisian Restaurant Modular Building (10243) Reviewed by Huw

Lego has been steadily releasing new Modular Buildings for the past few years. The recent, Palace Cinema (10232), and Town Hall (10224) have proven extremely popular. The newest set is the Parisian Restaurant (10243) which should be hitting shelves in the near future. Huw, from Brickset, has recently posted an early photo review of this highly anticipated set. The Parisian Restaurant comes with the now standard 3 step instructions. Which, should take anywhere from 5-9 hours to complete.

There are a whole lot of new and rare pieces included this time around. The most recognizable is the new Lego Scooter. This little red Vespa influenced scooter is extremely cute, and fits in perfectly with the Parisian Restaurant. Also included are a whole lot bricks in the new Olive Green Lego color. Since the whole building is based on this rare color, the Parisian Restaurant is probably the best source for these parts.

Featuring five Minifigures, a chef, waiter, two restaurant patrons, and the female scooter pilot. As usual, these included Minifigs all feature the classic smiling Lego head. I like to think of the blonde man as a Lego Owen Wilson.

Huw notes that the increased detail means that the Restaurant takes longer to build. All three floors are furnished, with the bottom floor featuring an impressive amount of details. From the fully tiled flooring, to the full kitchen, everything here looks great.

The Lego Parisian Restaurant is an excellent new entry in the Modular Building theme. The previous two seemed to be missing a certain spark for some fans, but this set has reignited their enthusiasum. The other good news is that there are no stickers this time around. Everything here is given the premium treatment from Lego.

“Modular buildings have come a long way since Cafe Corner, which was just an empty shell, haven’t they…”

Make sure to go read Huw’s full review, with many more photos and details over on Brickset:

Part 1: http://www.brickset.com/news/article/?ID=8134
Part 2: http://www.brickset.com/news/article/?ID=8147

More details (including video!) of the Parisian Restaurant can be found on LegoGenre here: http://everydaybricks.com/lego-creator-parisian-restaurant-10243-modular-building-revealed/

Lego Life of George (21200, 21201) Review (Build Your Brain with George): Awesome!

A few years ago Lego released Life of George, a building game involving Lego and your phone. It has been an under appreciated experiment of combining Lego with technology. The original release of Life of George (21200) has recently been updated and repackaged as Life of George (212001). It seems like the only difference between the two is a redesigned box. The original box has almost no details and was quite minimalist. The packaging appears to have been created before the iPhone app was completed, so there are almost no similarities with the box and the app. There is also no mention of the Android version. All of these oddities have been corrected in the new release. The original box is pictured here.

Life of George contains:

144 Lego bricks
1 Play mat
1 George sticker
1 Life of George App
1 Build your Brain with George App

The normal retail price is $29.99 but can be found for much less. Amazon currently has it listed at ±$20.00.

Life of George

Life of George is a world wide tour where George is filling out his travel journal with photos. George finds himself exploring North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Each continent has many journal “pages” with a good amount of photo challenges to do. There is even a special Holiday 2012 chapter filled with many more levels.

If you happen to finish all of the include content, then you can move on (or skip) to the user generated challenges. This is where the creativity of Lego shines. The hundreds and hundreds (thousands?) of online user challenges offer many many hours of Lego fun. With just 144 Lego bricks and 6 colors, the variety of what can be built is limitless. Pikachu, Spiderman, Mario, Link, Jake, Mickey Mouse, Boba Fett, and Angry Birds are just a few of the challenges in the User Gallery.

There is also a Build Your Own mode, where your own creations can be photographed, documented, and uploaded for other Life of George users to view and build.

If you happen to have some friends or family around, there is a multiplayer mode to try out. After five quick challenges the scores are totaled and a winner declared. If you can find them, Life of George supports up to 4 different players.

To play Life of George, you need to use the included Lego bricks, the play mat, and your phone. Select which “photo” challenge to do, and then build it as fast as possible. There is a generous timer counting down, which can really build up the tension.

When the challenge is completed, you place the model on the play mat, and line up the board with the camera on your phone. This portion of the game can give some people trouble, but I found that if the whole play mat is in the camera frame then the app worked perfectly.

Life of George then compares your photo to the model, and assigns a score based on accuracy and quickness. The app needs to be balanced for people of all ages. So it can be pretty difficult to get a full 5 star score. To earn 1-2 stars you really need to mess up, most scores seem to land in the 3-4 range.

Overall the Life of George app is full of fun. Everything looks good and works well. Lego has been focused on making this a great experience. It alone is worth the price of admission.

Build Your Brain with George

Build Your Brain with George is another app that works with the Life of George set. Build Your Brain is free on the various phone app stores. This time around the focus is on small challenges that test your ability to recognize patterns, and non-traditional Lego instructions.

This time around George is now a host of a game show. Randomly assigning tasks from six different categories. Such as Silhouette challenges, Logic puzzles, Bonus modes, Memory challenges, and Shape Finding.

Some of these challenges are super easy, and some are really difficult. Once again the game can be played between 1-4 players. Competing for high scores, and the largest ”Brain Level.”

Build Your Brain with George is not as smooth of an experience as Life of George. A lot of the challenges can be unclear, and the camera recognition is not as accurate. The nature of Build Your Brain can lead to frustration, and the small technical issues do not help. It is still a good experience, and has a whole lot in common with the Nintendo games “Brain Age” and “Big Brain Academy.”

Conclusions

Lego Life of George is a whole lot of fun. Even the box says so: “Awesome!” The whole package adds up to be a good value. It is amazing to see what can be built with only 144 basic Lego bricks.

Lego Life of George (21201) is currently available at Amazon.

Lego Marvel Super Heroes Released & GameTrailers Review

Lego Marvel Super Heroes is out now. It looks like this one is another great game from TTGames. Featuring well over 100 different Marvel characters. Such as Iron Man, Spider-Man, Thor, the Hulk, Wolverine, Deadpool, Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Howard the Duck, and even Stan Lee. Keeping with the recent trend, the whole game features great voice work. Lego Marvel Super Heroes is available now for almost every videogame system: PS3, XBox 360, Wii U, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Playstation Vita, and the PC. With future releases planned for the XBox One, and Playstation 4. Available through Amazon now.

All the early reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. Such as this Lego Marvel Super Heroes review from GameTrailers:

Lego United Nations Headquarters (21018) Reviewed @ Toys N Bricks

The newest set in the Lego Architecture theme, the United Nations Headquarters (21018) is now available
(Amazon). With 597 pieces and a $49.99 price tag this is one of the more reasonably priced Architecture sets. Over at Toys N Bricks, Brickbuilder0937 has recently posted a full pictorial review of the set. The Lego United Nations Headquarters seems to be one of the best Architectures sets with an extremely accurate (for Lego) and professional design.

The set depicts not only the U.N. tower, but the other four surrounding buildings too. By the time you complete the base, the layout of the complex is very apparent.

If you have been looking around for “1 x 2 trans light blue” bricks then this is the set to get, with 155 included. They are put to good use, creating some beautiful windows. This set also features some of the “smoothest” brick built slopes. Achieved by combining “headlight bricks” and the “1 x 1 with stud-on-one-side” bricks. These half step slopes can be seen on the smaller surrounding buildings.

The little Lego lever is a perfect representation of a flag pole, one of the best details in this set. Making the building instantly recognizable as the U.N. Headquarters. Just don’t accidentally brush up on those levers.

The whole build is quite a bit larger in person then it looks on the box. Which, is the opposite effect from most of these Architecture sets.

“In the past I was skeptical of buying the Architecture series sets because they seemed small for their price, but after seeing how accurate and profesional this model was, I was impressed.” — Brickbuilder0937

Read the full Lego United Nations review over at Toys N Bricks: http://toysnbricks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=9403

The Lego United Nations Headquarters (21018) is available from Amazon: here.

HispaBrick Magazine 017 – Vehicles, Mindstorms, Reviews & Interviews

The best digital Lego Magazine is back. HispaBrick Magazine 017 is available now for download as a PDF in english or spanish.

Featuring articles on Lego vehicles, Mindstorms, Robotics, Modular Landscapes, & Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Plus many reviews and interviews. This 100 page PDF is full of so much Lego content it might be the greatest issue yet.

http://www.hispabrickmagazine.com/en/content/english-hispabrick-magazine-017

Lego Star Wars: Jabba’s Sail Barge (75020) Reviewed by Csacsa234 @ Eurobricks

The new Lego Star Wars: Jabba’s Sail Barge (75020) has officially been released and is starting to show up at some retailers. This set comes with 4 minifigures (Slave Leia, Max Rebo, Weequay, and Ree-Yees), 1 bigfigure (Jabba the Hutt) and 1 droid (R2D2). It contains many hidden play features, and some nice details. Jabba’s Sail Barge comes in at 850 pieces and a $119.99 price tag. Which is a good deal cheaper then the previous Jabba’s Sail Barge (6210) on the secondary market.

Eurobricks user Csacsa234 has already posted a full photo review. Noting that there are hidden pirate cannons, flick firing missiles, undercarriage wheels, a removable deck/roof, and foldable sides/walls. This set is full of play features.

Inside Jabba’s Sail Barge is a kitchen, jail, throne room, and a music stage. Max Rebo and his futuristic piano (or is it an organ?) steal the show from Jabba in this set. He just happens to be a perfect Lego minifigure, oozing cuteness and a hot blue color scheme. Interestingly, Lego has provided film (thin plastic) sails for the Sail Barge which will hopefully last a long time. There are also 26 stickers, which luckily are not required. Jabba’s Sail Barge looks great with and without stickers.

The Lego minifigures are extremely detailed. With a newish version of R2D2 (grey top, and better printing), Slave Leia, Jabba the Hutt, Ree-Yees, Weequay, and Max Rebo. While the Jabba the Hutt and his goons look great the real star is Max Rebo (sorry Leia). Just look at that little blue dude.

Go check out the full review of the Lego Star Wars: Jabba’s Sail Barge (75020) with more photos and details over at Eurobricks: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=85841

Jabba’s Sail Barge is usually on sale for a few dollars off over at Amazon, check it out: Lego Star Wars: Jabba’s Sail Barge (75020)

Lego Sydney Opera House (10234) Review by Drudoo @ Eurobricks

The new Lego Sydney Opera House (10234) has been reviewed by Drudoo over at Eurobricks. With 2,989 pieces and a $320 price tag, this new Creator set is one of the biggest Lego releases this year. To say that this is only an upgrade to the original Lego Architecture Sydney Opera House (21012) is an understatement. Everything about this set is different and it even hides a few surprises. There are so many pieces and bags that the set comes in multiple boxes, just like the massive Lego Star Wars Death Star (10188). Lego made the smart decision of including the instruction manuals and such in a separate card board reinforced bag. Preventing the problem of bent instruction manuals. It would be nice if this would become standard for all their sets.

As the base for the Opera House is built up, it is noted that this whole set is extremely sturdy. With none of the wobbly problems that some of the larger sets in the past have had. The Lego Sydney Opera House contains so much tan, but does a good job of not being boring. The set really starts to get interesting when building the “sails.” These structures are surprisingly technical, and are not as simple to build as they look. Using a combination of technic and advanced building techniques to achieve the correct angles and placement of every part.

Drudoo is about half way through documenting and reviewing the Lego Sydney Opera House. Make sure to check out the full review for many more pictures and details. Keep an eye out for updates as the Opera house gets completed, they will be coming “as soon as possible.”

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=85886

Lego Mindstorms EV3 (31313) Reviewed by Lee Hutchinson @ Ars Technica

The new Lego Mindstorms EV3 (31313) is almost here with an official release of September 1st. The early reviews are starting to be published, with an especially good review by Lee Hutchinson over at Ars Technica. The whole 601 piece set includes an Intelligent EV3 Brick, 3 servo motors, a remote control, a color sensor, a touch sensor, an infrared sensor, an instruction manual, and Mac/Win software. And, to no surprise, no batteries.

“Still, price is really the only downside to this set. They’re ludicrously fun to play with, and I had a great time sitting on the floor like a kid piecing a robot together (and the whole process was made even better by the fact that I got to do it on the clock!). It’s hard to deny that making robots and then programming them to do your bidding is just straight-up awesome.”

Check out Lee Hutchinson’s full review of the Lego Mindstorms EV3 (31313) over at Ars Technica: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/08/review-lego-mindstorms-ev3-means-giant-robots-powerful-computers/

For a quick video review, Lee Hutchinson made a great video:

Lego Architecture Studio (21050) Review by Jim Butcher @ Eurobricks

The LEGO Architecture Studio (21050) is a very mysterious set. Currently only available in the United States, this set can be hard to find. Because of this, the set is wrapped up in mystery. Jim Butcher got his hands on this massive set and broke it open to document and review what he found. The Architecture Studio contains 1,210 pieces and comes in a very unconventional box. Most official Lego sets are released in a flat(ish) rectangle shaped box, not so for the Architecture Studio. This is a huge package. Taking up the space of 3 or 4 normal Lego sets. Inside is a very unique set, that Lego has never produced before.

Besides the 1,210 Lego pieces the set comes with two clear sorting trays. Fun fact: these sorting trays are official Lego pieces. They work well, and help to manage the massive amount of like sized/shaped pieces. Speaking of which, almost every piece is white. With the exception of a handful of transparent pieces. The whole point of the Lego Architecture Studio is to use the included pieces to begin building technically minded architecture models. The monochrome color scheme helps break the Lego models down to their core concept, while reinforcing the minimalistic goal of the set.

The large Lego piece count and sorting trays are not the main focus of this set. The instruction manual or book is the star. A huge 272 page perfect bound book. Featuring tips, building techniques, styles, history, and general information about Architecture and Lego. The book does not contain standard instructions. No step by step builds of famous architectural models. Instead the book features very general instructions, often showing the building of a model across only 3-4 steps. The Lego Architecture Studio (21050) is an educational and inspirational set, sharing more in common with Lego Mindstorms then Lego Star Wars.

Read the full review by Jim Butcher over at Eurobricks: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=85176&st=0

Lego Architecture Studio (21050) Book Download

UPDATE: It looks like Lego has taken the file offline. ~~Lego has offered a .pdf download of the whole 272 page book from the Lego Architecture Studio (21050). This is huge download, at 413 MB. Check it out here:~~
~~http://cache.lego.com/bigdownloads/buildinginstructions/6062928.pdf~~

Amazon has the set for sale, but like other recently popular sets it comes and goes out of stock often. Check it out on Amazon here: LEGO Architecture Studio (21050)