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Posts tagged Lego
Festive holiday fun – Lego style
If you’re looking to keep the young ones busy this holiday season, you may want to head on over to the Lego site to download some building instructions with a distinct Christmas flavour.
You’ll need to supply your own collection of coloured bricks, then download the individual instructions.This may form the basis for a Lego-themed Christmas…
Then, the building fun can begin.
For those of us in sunny climes the subject matter is applicable, though luckily, a plastic snowman won’t melt 
Naming Lego elements
There are many, many different Lego elements in existence. Each tends to have a very formal description, though those are rarely used when play takes place. Giles Turnbull has written a great article on the self-evolving language Lego fans use to refer to these various bits and pieces.
Read A Common Nomenclature for Lego Families.
Lego-themed books
Two books arrived for the boys last week. Lego-themed, of course. Firstly, to enhance our skills at identifying all those characters running around in Lego Star Wars on the PS3 and secondly as a source of more Lego inspiration. Both books are available from Amazon and are DK releases.
The Lego Book is presented in a slipcase that contains two books. The Lego Book provides an overview of the famous Danish company and tells the story of its humble beginnings and all the way to the present day. From producing various wooden toys, inventing the now-famous brick system, the production of the mini figure, specially licensed product editions, robotic kits console games and the 2010 Lego Universe, fans will find a heap of illustrations, full colour pictures and a fair bit of text. The second book in the slipcase is a specific edition dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Lego mini figure and provides plenty of background and illustrations.
The Lego Star Wars Visual Dictionary is for fans of the wide array of Star Wars merchandise produced by Lego, as well as the successful computer game. A fair bit of detail is provided about current sets, collector’s editions and special items that were manufactured. A section of the book deals with the creative process and what it takes to get a new Lego kit from concept to store shelf. The highlight for eager young eyes is the special edition mini figure included with the book. That mini figure is sure to have some degree of collector’s cred: it was produced exclusively for the DK book.
Don’t be fooled by the appearance of the Visual Dictionary: at least half of the thickness is due to the mini figure’s integration into the front cover. Nonetheless, this is a sure winner with the young Star Wars fan – and dad likes it too
Lego Prawn
District 9 is the first locally-produced science fiction movie that has made it to an international release. Within record time, a Lego fan has been able to model one of the prawns shown in the movie using Lego bricks.
The prawn is by Adrian Florea.
Lego on a shirt
ThinkGeek‘s latest T-shirt offering is for those individuals who don’t mind running around with a three-dimensional, potentially bulky accoutrement hanging off their chest. The Brick Construction T-shirt incorporates a Lego baseplate, providing ample room for Lego nuts to add bricks to their heart’s content.
The baseplate is removable and is the platform for all construction projects that will be carried around wherever the wearer may wander. Best suited for flat, mosaics in my opinion. But who am I to argue that carrying around a Speed Racer toy isn’t a bad idea…
Star Wars chess
Brandon Griffith has built a custom Lego Star Wars chess set pitting Vader’s Dark Side against the Rebel Alliance.
More photos of this fantastic build on his Flickr page.
Dune: the brick planet
As a fan of Frank Herbert‘s Dune saga, I quite enjoyed seeing this Lego recreation of the famous desert planet Arrakis, complete with sandworm.
Methinks the locals are a tad too close…
More pictures here.
Tick Block, Tick Block
This Lego Clock Radio is not produced by Lego, but is another example of a licensed product tugging at wallets of Lego fans. Ten times the size of a Lego block, the clock radio does what clock radios do: it provides an AM/FM radio and an alarm. The two studs provide volume adjustment and tuning.
Unfortunately available only in the US for now, the Lego Clock Radio retails for USD 30.
Bricks and studs. A movie.
Of all companies, Lego has been staunch in resisting licensing deals and Hollywood exposure. Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Sponge Bob are a few examples of how licensing deals saved the company from disaster. With a brighter sales outlook and toys that are becoming more and more popular, Lego is now setting its sights on Hollywood.
According to Variety, the movie will mix live action and computer animation. The action adventure is aimed at families and will be set in an alternative Lego world.
Somehow, I can’t see this working too well…but I’ll probably be one of the first in line to see it if/when it makes it to the local cinema.
Flexible train track
It’s an unfortunate fact that Lego‘s packaged rail pieces don’t contain a single variant of track but rather include two different types in the same box. #7896 contains both straight and curved track pieces. No matter how many of those one buys, there’s simply no way one will ever end up with enough straight sections of rail. Now there’s a solution to the conundrum of having to use many curved segments to extend a Lego railroad: a flexible track.
#8867 contains 64 track elements which are snapped together.
Each element can be used individually, or a number of them can be snapped together as required to created any layout imaginable. Best of all, there is no specific start or end piece: each track element is a piece of track in its own right.
64 pieces strung together can create a railroad segment that is 204cm in length, which is then positioned as required.
A great solution for anyone running the latest Lego RC trains!
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