Lego Friends: Lovely Hotel, A Wonderful Cafe Corner (10182) Mod

The Lego Friends theme has been a wild success for Lego. The first truly successful “girls” line of Lego. There have been many other attempts by Lego to break into the “pink“ isle at the local toy store. But this has lead to a lot of criticism about the separation based on gender of Lego themes. And this segregation away from the other Lego sets certainly doesn’t help Lego keep a gender neutral position. There sure is a lot of pink, purple and tan in the Lego Friends theme, but the building designs, techniques and imagination involved are the same that makes Lego so popular.

One of the most impressive Lego Friends MOCs is this Lovely Hotel. The actual design is almost an exact match to the famous Lego Cafe Corner (10182). The designer of this put a lot of work into modifying the Cafe Corner, and converting it to the Friends color scheme. With some really great ideas, such as using the hair decoration pieces for window dressing. Even the trademark entry sign has been recreated with flowers and ice cream (the original is made from ski’s and a coffee mug). It makes the ground level of the Lovely Hotel an Ice Cream parlor instead of a Cafe, which is a great fit with this theme. This whole build almost feels like it is made out of candy, and it could easily fit into a larger candyland theme.

More information about the Lego Friends: Lovely Hotel can be found here:
http://legoblog.exblog.jp/15189357/

The site is in Japanese, so some details, such as the designers name are still a mystery. If you have any information feel free to leave a note.

Lovely Hotel Update:

Some new information and photos of the Lovely Hotel have popped up online, see them here: http://everydaybricks.com/more-details-about-that-charming-lego-friends-lovely-hotel/

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Thorin II Oakenshield, King Under The Mountain, & King Of Durin’s Folk.

The Lego Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon’s Chopper by Project Azazel

The Lego Walking Dead is probably the last theme Lego would ever license. Easily one of the most emotionally devastating comic/television/video game series out there. The creator and author of the Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman, made a wise decision to focus on the living characters instead of the zombies. The scariest moments are always what the humans are doing to themselves. With truly horrific characters, such as the Governor, Negan, and Merle Dixon. But for every memorable villain there are many more memorable “heroes,” and everyone has a favorite. (Lee Everett!)

Here, Flickr user, Project Azazel has created a Lego vignette titled “The Walking Dead ‘DD’ Chopper.” Showing off a Lego Daryl Dixon and his motorcycle. A perfectly assembled scene, completely capturing the character of Daryl. Everyones favorite good guy with a bad guy reputation. He is easily underestimated, even though he may be one of the strongest in the surviving group. Nobody is going to mistake this as anything other then the Walking Dead. The Lego motorcycle may be the star here, it is a great example of how to assemble seemingly useless pieces into something greater.

Check out more Lego Walking Dead over at Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/project_azazel/9218969092/

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Wonder Woman’s Wonder Bread.

Lego Minifigures by 713 Avenue

The Lego Minifigures have sure made an impression. There are well over 150 minifigures spread across 10 releases (and 1 special Olympics release). From several Roman soldiers, to futuristic spacemen and robots, these collectable (or is it collectible?) minifigs have covered almost every topic and theme imaginable. It is hard to imagine just how many of these blind packages figures have been created. There are just so many…

Flickr user 713 Avenue has created many group photos showing off the amazing variety of these collectable minifigures. These would make for some great backgrounds if high resolution photos are ever released. For now 1024 pixels wide versions on Flickr will have to do.

Lego Minifigures on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seven13avenue/9246224307/

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Super Best Friends.

Lego Despicable Me Minion Party

It looks like the Lego Despicable Me Minions are having a party, celebrating the release of their new film: Despicable Me 2! These goofy guys make for some great Lego MOC figures. Full of personality and charm, these Minions will be there when you need them. Just don’t expect them to successfully assemble that Ages 6+ Lego set. These Lego Minions are the creation of derjoe, and can be found over on Flickr. The use of the Lego Magnifying Glass is impeccable, and the eyes are decivingly clever (white Lego round plate with hole, and brown pneumatic tubing). These Minions sure have a lot of SNOT (Studs Not on Top) going on!

Find more Lego Despicable Me at derjoe’s Flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53163759@N04/9239418722/

LegoTessa has also designed some Minions (and included instructions!) find out more here:
http://everydaybricks.com/tessa-and-her-despicable-me-minions/

Despicable Me Lego Minions by BricksBen: http://everydaybricks.com/despicable-me-lego-minions/

Tessa And Her Despicable Me Minions

The supervillain Gru has a whole army of Minions. They come in all shape and sizes, but have one thing in common, they are all lacking in the intelligence department. For Minions, oddly enough, they have a whole lot of heart. Often finding themselves in situations of maximum comedy. With the new movie (Despicable Me 2) almost here, a whole lot of Despicable Me MOCs have been popping up. Tessa has created an amazingly simple version of Lego Minions. Using a small amount of common Lego pieces, almost anyone can create these little guys. They sure are cute.

Tessa has even provided simple instructions, showing how to put these little guys together. Make sure to check it out over at YouTube: http://youtu.be/BCh5njxThm0

You can find more photos of these cute little Lego Minions over at LegoTessa:
http://legotessa.wordpress.com/2013/07/04/tessa-and-her-minions/

If you’re looking for some more Minions check out the Minion Party here:
http://everydaybricks.com/lego-despicable-me-minion-party/

Despicable Me Lego Minion by BricksBen: http://everydaybricks.com/despicable-me-lego-minions/

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Superman’s Superbike.

Lego Castle: King’s Castle (70404) Reviewed @ Eurobricks!

Lego has recently restarted its Castle theme. This may be the first time that two fantasy based Lego themes have overlapped. Lego Castle and Lego the Lord of the Rings / the Hobbit are both themes that share common designs. It has never been a better time for fantasy Lego fans. The new Lego Castle theme is actually very similar to the previous Kingdoms theme. Almost matching up set for set, with very few new ideas. For collectors of Lego Castle the minifigures are going to be the main draw here.

oo7 has recently posted up a full pictorial review over at Eurobricks of the new Lego Castle: King’s Castle (70404). This is the big flagship set for the theme and seems to have hit all the checkboxes for a Lego Castle. The standard Gatehouse, Kings keep, curtain wall, and two towers all combine to create a great modular castle. Perfect as the Crownies seem to be defending against the included siege engine and Red Dragon minifigs.

This castle comes with the Lego King, Knight, and two Archers. While on the “bad guy” side you will get a Red Dragon Knight and two Raiders. The Lego King usually comes with a chromed sword, but here comes with a pearlized sword. It comes off looking not as regal, but is also not that much of a loss. The best minifigs here are the Crown Knight, and Red Dragon Knight.

As usual the Castle set is modular and can integrate with other Lego Castle sets. For instance adding the Lego Castle: the Gatehouse Raid (70402) to the castle will match the design and scale perfectly. There are a lot of different options that you can choose for the castle layout.

Check out the full review of the Lego Castle: King’s Castle (70404) over at Eurobricks:
http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=84348

You can find the new King’s Castle over at Amazon.