Tag: lego city

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

Kristel’s Lego Friends Emma’s Place 01

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.

Kristel’s Lego Friends Emma’s Place 02

The second floor features a Fashion Design Studio.

Kristel’s Lego Friends Emma’s Place 03

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

Kristel’s Lego Friends Emma’s Place 04

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 Winter Village Market (10235)

Lego Winter Village Market (10235)

Lego has announced its latest entry in the Winter Village theme. The Lego Winter Village Market (10235) will be available in October, just in time for the upcoming holiday season. This new set will come 1,261 pieces and be part of the Lego Creator theme. The whole set will include 9 minifigures, with Lego specifically calling out that there will be 3 females, 2 males, and 4 children. Sadly most of these minifigs have been seen in other previous sets.

This Winter Village is actually a Winter Carnival. Featuring a brick built Merry-Go-Round, Bucket Challenge carnival game, and 3 food stands. The Carousel includes two horses, with some extremely lovely bridle printing. This set is great for filling in your Winter Village with more life and activity.

It is not too late to build your own Lego Winter Village. Some of the sets from previous years are still available, for instance the Lego Winter Village Cottage (10229) can still be purchased at Amazon.

Check out the official Lego Design video for all the details:

http://youtu.be/KVnqxgxiwQw

“Bring home the holiday spirit with the Winter Village Market, continuing the popular LEGO® Winter Village Series. Turn the handle and take a ride on the rocking horse as the carousel spins! Visit the carnival booth. Fill up on holiday and fair favorites including a pie, pretzel and croissant at the baker’s stand, chicken and sausage at the grill stand or sweet treats at the candy shop. Celebrate a holiday season full of traditions and building with the Winter Village Market! Includes 9 minifigures with accessories: 3 females, 2 males and 4 children.” — Lego

Lego Winter Village Market (10235) Detail

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

Lego Friends: Lovely Hotel Package

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.

Lego Friends: Lovely Hotel, a Cafe Corner Mod

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/


Lego City: Undercover

If you happen to be one of the lucky few people out there to own a WiiU, Lego City: Undercover is considered one of the best games available. It has been 8 years since TT Games first released Lego Star Wars and many people think that the formula is wearing thin. The co-op action-adventure game does many things right, but the same complaints (wonky camera, bad AI, etc.) have haunted the series for years. And, although these complaints are valid, overall the Lego series of video games are some of the most charming available.

TT Games and TT Fusion surprised many people by creating an open world action-adventure game. Lego City: Undercover is a breath of fresh air. It has successfully merged the gameplay of more adult titles such as Grand Theft Auto into a more friendly package.  It is also rare to see a Lego game not based on a licensed property, and this may be the first video game to do one of the core Lego themes justice. Lego City has never been this interesting before.

Check out this surprising review from GameTrailers: http://www.gametrailers.com/reviews/q0a4go/lego-city-undercover-review