LEGO® House pre-opening event

The new experience centre/museum in Billund, LEGO® House, has now opened to the public but on Friday 22 September 2017 there was a special pre-opening event for hundreds of LEGO fans from around the world. I was lucky enough to be one of them, so here are some photos from the day. If you are planning to go yourself, you might consider any photos to be 'spoilers' but I am glad to report that there is just so much to do and enjoy inside LEGO House, the photos I'd seen beforehand really didn't spoil much for me and I trust this post won't either.

General manager of LEGO House Jesper Vilstrup welcomes us along with third-generation owner, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen. Behind them is a lenticular made of cheese slopes (Design ID 54200) that shows either the company motto or portraits of the four generations of family owners, depending where you stand.

70620 NINJAGO City

Today, Chris McVeigh (powerpig) reviews the fantastic new range of LEGO® parts found in 70620 NINJAGO City, the largest of the sets from The LEGO NINJAGO Movie range, which went on sale this month priced at £259.99 / US$299.99 / 299.99€.

At 4867 parts, NINJAGO City is one of the biggest LEGO® sets ever. It's visually rich, incredibly detailed, and great fun to build.

The city itself is divided into three sections, coinciding with three hefty building guides. Level 1: The Old World is built atop a murky waterway. On that level you’ll find a fish market, robot maintenance room, and the base of the elevator. Level 2: The Street is a busy pedestrian area that is home to shops and services, including a comic book store, clothing store, and crab kitchen. Up on Level 3: The High Rise, you’ll find Lloyd’s and Misako’s shared apartment, a rooftop sushi restaurant, and a luxury bathroom.

In this article I’ll discuss new parts and how they’re used, highlight some of the more interesting recolours, and then look at the set’s clever roofing techniques.

A Family Affair

When an additional copy of the new LEGO® Ideas set, 21310 Old Fishing Store, accidentally arrived at New Elementary Towers from Billund, I figured it was a serendipitous opportunity to do something a bit different. So I entrusted it to a new contributor, Jay Phoenix, with the open-ended and therefore challenging brief of "do something different with it". He did, and his mother Jea did too; she made the second model in this post!

Jay can be found on Flickr and Twitter. 

The modern world can be an overwhelming experience for some people – with such technical advancements as social media, smartphones and anti-spill bottles, some people just wanna retreat back to the good ol’ days where the best way to meet strangers was visiting the pub, phones were only used for phoning people and if you knocked over your cup of coffee the carpet below would have to live with the consequences. The Anton family largely fell into this group, and after their fishing store went bankrupt from investing in several dud products, they decided to do the most logical thing a family would do in this situation and completely rebuild their store into a small fishing boat so they could traverse the waves, away from the many trappings of today’s world.