LegoGenre | 00329: Mean Street

Mean Street.

LegoGenre | 00322: Overwhelmed

Overwhelmed.

Lego Friends: Emma’s Place, A Lovely Modular Building MOC

It turns out that Lego Friends fits into the Lego System very well. It’s success means that this theme will probably be staying around for years. So far, the Friends theme has been offering many unique Lego pieces and exclusive colors. Focusing on pink, purple, blue, and green has made these sets instantly recognizable (for good or bad). There have been a few amazing MOCs (My Own Creation) combining the Friends theme with other Lego themes. Some of the best creations are those involving the Modular Buildings. These super detailed buildings can be described as a sort of “doll house” for the Lego fan.

This Lego Friends themed modular building is called Emma’s Place. This design would fit into the modular buildings very well. Especially the Lego Pet Shop (10218) and the Lego Cafe Corner (10182). Emma’s Place is a single building that combines the the Beauty Parlour, Fashion Design Studio and Karate Class together. The all glass (plastic!) entrance into Emma’s Place is a great design; opening up into a full Beauty Salon.

The second floor features a Fashion Design Studio.

Emma’s Place is topped with a Karate Dojo, where all the friends can attend Karate Class.

Emma’s Place is a great MOC built by Kristel. Who has built many other Friends themed creations. You can find more details over on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kjw010/8993657558/

LegoGenre has featured other Lego Friends themed Modular Buildings, most notably the “Lego Friends: Lovely Hotel, A Wonderful Cafe Corner (10182) Mod” which can be found here.

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.

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

LegoGenre | 00286: Bird Watching

Bird Watching.

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/

New Lego Architecture set: United Nations Headquarters (21018)

It looks like the next set in the Architecture theme will be the United Nations Headquarters (21018). This set has a lot of creative details. The little Lego joysticks/levers for flagpoles, a technic brick for a fountain, and little Lego grill pieces set together for windows.

This years Architecture sets have all been great. With the Imperial Hotel (21017) and the Leaning Tower of Pisa (21015) being released so far, it will be interesting to see what else Lego will release this winter.

Big thanks to Flickr user motayan for posting the first photo.

Lego Bob’s Burgers!

Bob’s Burgers is one of the best animated programs on TV right now. Everyone seems to have a favorite character, from the chef and father Bob Belcher, to the youngest daughter Louise Belcher. This Lego MOC features the restaurant and home of the Belchers. The green and yellow colors would fit right into a Modular Building scene. Everything is pretty accurate, just shrunk down to Lego minifig scale. I can imagine Bob, Linda, Tina, Gene, Louise, Jimmy Pesto, Mort & Teddy all having their many adventures here.

Plasmachild, of Flickr, built this MOC. Make sure to check out all the details: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50349134@N05/6239498662/

The Unsung Hero.