Author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran (Page 1 of 26)

I didn’t think that I would get to this point but The Brick Fan celebrates ten years of being on the Internet. A decade ago, the domain was registered and I still remember where I was when I registered it. Longtime readers may remember that the site went by another name but due to a trademark violation of the original site name, I had to change it and I think it stuck pretty well, don’t you think?

The Brick Fan was born a few months after my return from the “Dark Ages” and I wanted to document LEGO sets that I bought back then. My first set that I got was the LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon (7965) which I still have built to this day. It went from me just taking pictures of various sets as a general hobby to going full time on it and reporting on LEGO news is what catapulted to what it is today.

Of course, it wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t for the readers who continue to support the site. I remember trying to get my name out there and to get 50 pageviews a day was an accomplishment to me. Then came 100 pageviews a day, then 1,000. After a year and a half, we finally got to 10,000 a day. Early last year, we managed to hit 100 million total views which is still a staggering number that I never thought it could reach.

I’m also surprised that I kept on grinding for this long. To think … Continue

A few days ago, the Toy Association announced that the 2022 New York Toy Fair was officially cancelled and it looks like the Germans are following suit as the 2022 Nuremberg Toy Fair has also been cancelled. The event was set to take place next month but due to the ongoing COVID pandemic and exhibitors withdrawing, the organizers has decided to move the event to an online platform. At this point, I won’t be surprised if the London Toy Fair was cancelled too but they stated last week that the event will go on as intended. It doesn’t really matter since London is a closed event and photography and sharing details is prohibited.

Cancellation of the physical Spielwarenmesse 2022

The toy industry has been looking forward to the world’s leading event for the sector at the beginning of February. The rapid growth of the Omicron variant in recent days, however, and the resultant increasing number of cancellations to stands, has left the organiser, Spielwarenmesse eG, with no alternative – with a heavy heart it has to cancel Spielwarenmesse 2022 in Nuremberg. As an alternative, exhibitors, specialist retailers and media representatives can meet up on the Spielwarenmesse Digital platform.

“We have fought hard to be able to hold the live event and we received strong support initially from toy markets worldwide,” says Christian Ulrich, Spokesperson of the Executive Board at Spielwarenmesse eG. A large number of suppliers without international distribution networks appealed to the organisers even in December to continue with the fair, which is so important

LEGO has announced that LEGO Digital Designer will be shut down on January 31 and LEGO BrickLink Studio will become the official 3D building app. LDD was released way back in 2004 and it was the main app used for digitial building and rendering. You can still download LDD until the end of the month but it won’t be updated or supported. After that, you can no longer download it.

In 2014, BrickLink created the BrickLink Studio and the program supported a number of other programs such as LDD and LDraw but it has since became one of the main focal points for BrickLink in the digital rendering space.

LEGO® BrickLink Studio to replace LEGO Digital Designer as the LEGO Group’s official 3D building app

The LEGO Digital Designer website will shut down at the end of January. BrickLink Studio welcomes LEGO Digital Designer users.

Billund, Denmark – January 12th, 2022: Today, the LEGO Group announces that BrickLink Studio will replace LEGO Digital Designer as the official virtual LEGO building software going forward. The LEGO Digital Designer (LDD) website will close on January 31st, after which time LDD will no longer be available for download. While downloaded versions of the LDD application will continue to work, people are encouraged to download BrickLink Studio, import their LDD files, and use Studio for 3D LEGO building files, and use Studio for 3D LEGO building.

LEGO Digital Designer was released in 2004 as the LEGO Group’s 3D building tool. LDD pioneered real-time rendering of LEGO bricks, virtual brick connectivity,

In the wee hours this morning, LEGO announced some big changes coming to the LEGO Pick a Brick program as well as Brick & Pieces. Both programs will now be merged to a single platform so consumers can browse single elements in a centralized hub. Furthermore, shipping times in the US and Canada will now be faster as there will be a new fulfillment are in the US warehouse which will drop shipping times from 13-18 business days down to 5. Lastly, there will be a new thing called Build a mini which allows you to create your own minifigures. Unfortunately, it is stated that the trial will only be in Europe and Asia.

Background

Our current Pick a Brick and Bricks & Pieces setup means that consumers aren’t aware of the two different experiences. During 2021 we’ve been running tests and meeting with different consumer groups to better understand the current consumer experience.

Based on these learnings our next step will be to create a new merged experience on LEGO.com. We’ll merge Bricks and Pieces and Pick a Brick into one front-end experience where consumers can browse our portfolio of elements in one place more easily.

Additionally, we’ll improve the shipping time in the US and Canada by implementing a new fulfilment area in our US warehouse. This will reduce shipping time for our top 1,600 elements from 13-18 working days to up to 5 working days. There will likely be some shipping delays for a short time after we launch this experience.

What’s

In a statement that released today, the Toy Association has announced that the 2022 New York Toy Fair has been officially cancelled. The event was originally set to take place in February 19-22 but due to uncertain times during the pandemic, the best choice was to cancel the event. As we know, the NYTF has been one of the main events that LEGO usually uses to reveal summer sets but it looks like they’ll have to find another way to show them off.

New York, NY | January 11, 2022 – The Toy Association, producer of Toy Fair New York, the largest toy, play, and youth entertainment marketplace in the Western Hemisphere, has announced the cancellation of Toy Fair New York, originally set to take place, February 19 to 22, 2022 at the Javits Center in New York City.

“Key to our efforts these past two weeks has been the balance of some 700 remaining committed toy manufacturers saying they need and want Toy Fair 2022 to build their businesses, weighing that against those departing and seriously on the fence, and needing to provide a sufficient quantity and quality across the retail buying community necessary to deliver a positive experience,” said Steve Pasierb, President & CEO of The Toy Association. “As that balance has shifted, we are obligated to make the best decision in everyone’s interest no matter how heartbreaking for so many and potentially damaging some business’ future prospects. The wide range of other events that occur across New York City during Toy Fair week

The LEGO VIP Collectible Coins are now available in the LEGO Rewards Center for those who didn’t get them last year. They cost 1,150 points each and the coin holder costs 700 points so if you’re brand new to the coins, everything would cost you 6,450 VIP points. If the coins aren’t your thing, 6,500 points would give you a $50 discount. LEGO stated that if the demand is low, it’s possible for those who already got one before to get a second one in the future.

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

When you make a purchase or, sometimes, carry out some other action as direct result of clicking on a link at The Brick Fan, we will receive a small commission.

The Brick Fan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

We partner with Rakuten Advertising, who may collect personal information when you interact with our site. The collection and use of this information is subject to the privacy policy located here: https://rakutenadvertising.com/legal-notices/services-privacy-policy/

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LEGO has announced that they will be bringing back the LEGO VIP Collectible Coins for those who missed it the first time around. For a limited time, while supplies last, you can get the coins in the LEGO Rewards Center starting on January 11. The times that they will be available are as listed below:

• In Australian and New Zealand: midnight Sydney time
• In Japan: midnight local time
• In Korea: midnight local time
• Europe: 11am CET/10am GMT
• United States and Canada: 9am EST

This second opportunity will only be available to VIP members who didn’t get any of the particular coins or coin holder which allow more people to get them. LEGO did state that if demand is low, they may open it up for VIPs to get a second coin. The coins originally cost 1,150 VIP points while the coin holder cost 700. I’m assuming they will be the same price as I see no reason why LEGO would change it.

LEGO® VIP collectible coins are back!

We’re making our LEGO® VIP collectible coins and coin holder available again on January 11, 2022 in our VIP Rewards Centre. Each coin (as well as the coin holder) is only available to VIP members who didn’t get any coins or weren’t able to complete their set last year. We expect supplies to run out quickly. If demand is lower than we expect, we may open the promotion up so VIP members can get a second coin. Keep an eye on the VIP

LEGO has revealed a new collaboration between the company and Pottery Barn Kids for a decorative collection for around the house. It includes a number of items with LEGO designs such as a sheet set, quilt and shams, pajama sets, playmats, and beach towels.

The foundation to our brands coming together is our shared belief that only the best is good enough. We loved seeing the LEGO design principles of playful and iterative storytelling woven into the beautifully crafted Pottery Barn Kids pieces. We look forward to this collection unleashing creativity and fun in children’s rooms, as it did within our teams when they came together to work on it. – Satwik Saraswati, Design Director, LEGO Licensing & Extended Line

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

When you make a purchase or, sometimes, carry out some other action as direct result of clicking on a link at The Brick Fan, we will receive a small commission.

The Brick Fan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

We partner with Rakuten Advertising, who may collect personal information when you interact with our site. The collection and use of this information is subject to the privacy policy located here: https://rakutenadvertising.com/legal-notices/services-privacy-policy/

www.thebrickfan.com/

The LEGO Group has announced that they will be expanding the manufacturing capacity at the Jiaxing, China factory to support long-term growth in the region. The expansion will include a new automated high bay warehouse which allows more potential production capacity.

LEGO Group expands manufacturing capacity at its factory in Jiaxing, China to support long-term growth

Shanghai, January 4th, 2022: The LEGO Group today announced it will expand its factory located in Jiaxing, China creating additional capacity to meet long-term growth in China and Asia.

Carsten Rasmussen, Chief Operations Officer in the LEGO Group said: “In recent years we have seen strong demand for the fun, creative, high quality and safe LEGO play experiences across Asia and especially in China. To ensure we can delight many more children and fans, we are investing in expanding production capacity and new equipment in our Jiaxing factory.”

The Jiaxing factory currently employs 1,200 people. The expansion will include a new automated high bay warehouse, moulding facility and building for processing LEGO elements, which will add 42,000 square meters of built-up area to the current site and will significantly increase the potential production capacity.

Work on the expansion has commenced and is expected to be completed during 2024.

In recent years, the LEGO Group has invested in building its business in China to bring the benefits of LEGO play to more children. Last month it celebrated the opening of its 300th LEGO store in Haining near Jiaxing city.

Richard Wong, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Asia Manufacturing, said: “We

It’s been a few days since the new year has rolled over and I’ve finally had time to do a recap on what happened last year on The Brick Fan. As usual, we take a looks at some of the stats and how they compare to previous years.

We’ve continued to grind it out last year and as a result, we ended the year with 31,523,189 page views which is a 22.2% increase from 2020. The unique visits went up 37.9% while first-time visitors increased by 33%. One little highlight is that we’ve crossed the 100 million page view mark early last year which is kind of mind blowing to me.

There was a total of 1,095 posts for 2021 which was the most that we’ve done in a single year. The highest traffic day was July 6 with 178,139 views which was a day after the LEGO Ideas Seinfeld (21328) was revealed. Apparently, the post got viral on the Google Chrome Suggestions so that helped a bunch with the views.

Our social media accounts have steadily increased but we do need some work on Instagram as it barely gained any followers. The numbers below are what we ended the year with.

Facebook: 20,106 likes/23,250 followers (7.68% increase)
Twitter: 11,962 followers (10.5% increase)
Instagram: 16634 followers (1.3% increase)
Reddit: 1572 readers (192.2% increase)

2021 was actually a busy and fairly stressful year for me on the site and personally and I’m surprised that it gained as much traction as it did. All the work was 99% … Continue

Today is LEGO Build Day which is essentially a day where you can build anything you want. Whether it is a brand new set that you got from Christmas or something original from a pile of random bricks, today is just a day to have fun with LEGO. Use the hashtag #LEGOBuildDay on either Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to show off what you created.

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

When you make a purchase or, sometimes, carry out some other action as direct result of clicking on a link at The Brick Fan, we will receive a small commission.

The Brick Fan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

We partner with Rakuten Advertising, who may collect personal information when you interact with our site. The collection and use of this information is subject to the privacy policy located here: https://rakutenadvertising.com/legal-notices/services-privacy-policy/

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I just want to take some time and say Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates and hopefully you got all the LEGO that you wanted. The year is slowly coming to a close and it still hasn’t gotten back to normal yet but I want to thank everyone who takes time out of your busy day to come to this site. Feel free to post pictures below of what you got for Christmas, I look forward to seeing them. Stay safe and happy building!

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

When you make a purchase or, sometimes, carry out some other action as direct result of clicking on a link at The Brick Fan, we will receive a small commission.

The Brick Fan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

We partner with Rakuten Advertising, who may collect personal information when you interact with our site. The collection and use of this information is subject to the privacy policy located here: https://rakutenadvertising.com/legal-notices/services-privacy-policy/

www.thebrickfan.com/

LEGO has kicked off a new survey in the Rewards Center to measure the interest of some new LEGO subscription programs. Under the “Get More Points” tab, the survey gives you 150 VIP points for completing and it asks you about two different subscription plans. Both plans will cost $4.99 per month and they will both include the following:

• Free delivery on your LEGO purchases
• Early access to products, experiences and content (video, audio, building instructions & games)
• Access to limited edition products
• Purchase from back catalogue (get sets from previous years, etc.)
• Return used bricks and receive discounts/points to use elsewhere with TLG
• Free gifts with every purchase

Other than that, both plans have slightly different features. The first plan allows you to track your collection digitially using a LEGO wallet while also having your other LEGO experiences in one place. The second plan focuses more on the learning aspect of LEGO where you have workshops and courses from LEGO experts.

Obviously, this is still in the early stages and does not mean that LEGO will actually be doing a subscription service. Personally, I chose the first plan as those features are geared towards me more. If you have younger kids, maybe the other plan with the learning features are more suited for you. Again, you can get 150 VIP points for completing the survey but you have until January 7 to do so.

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

When you make a purchase or, sometimes, carry out some other action

We already know that LEGO will be rolling out paper bag packaging in early 2022 but it looks like we have our first official set to be released with them in the 2021 LEGO Employee Gift.

Thanks to BrickFanz, we have a first look at the paper bags in the LEGO Ninjago The Temple of Celebrations (4002021). Similar to the size of the current plastic bags, they now include a base to stand the bags up and a tear strip to open up. In addition, the bags now also double up as a coloring sheet if you desire.

Note that not all 2022 sets will have these new paper bags when they are released as it is still a gradual rollout with 100% sustainability by 2025.

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

When you make a purchase or, sometimes, carry out some other action as direct result of clicking on a link at The Brick Fan, we will receive a small commission.

The Brick Fan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

We partner with Rakuten Advertising, who may collect personal information when you interact with our site. The collection and use of this information is subject to the privacy policy located here: https://rakutenadvertising.com/legal-notices/services-privacy-policy/

www.thebrickfan.com/

The LEGO Group has announced that they will be building a new carbon neutral factory in Vietnam. To continue with their sustainability mission, it will cost more than $1 billion to build and it will be the company’s first carbon neutral factory. Construction begins in the second half of 2022 and production is set to start in 2024.

The LEGO Group announces plans to build new factory in Vietnam to support long-term growth

• Site set to be the LEGO Group’s first carbon neutral factory.
• Investment of more than US $1 billion to create up to 4,000 jobs.
• 6th LEGO® factory to expand Group’s global manufacturing footprint and support long-term growth in Asia-Pacific region.
• New factory set to start production in 2024.

Billund, December 8, 2021: The LEGO Group today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park Joint Venture Company Limited (VSIP) to build a new factory in Vietnam. The facility is planned to be the company’s first carbon neutral factory and will include investments in solar energy generation.

The LEGO Group will invest more than US $1 billion in the 44-hectare site in the Binh Duong Province around 50km from Ho Chi Minh City and create up to 4,000 jobs over the next 15 years.

Construction is set to begin in the second half of 2022 and production is due to start during 2024.

The new factory will be the LEGO Group’s sixth manufacturing site and second in Asia. It is being built to support additional long-term growth in

LEGO has revealed a new BETA building experience that will be on the LEGO Building Instructions app called LEGO Build Together. This new building experience allows multiple people to build a particular set in an innovative way. The idea came from Dominik Brachmanski who pitched it last year and the BETA will be launching on December 13.

The experience can be used up to five people and each person needs to have the app installed on their phone or tablet. At launch, there will be six products supported on the BETA which includes:

• 60307 LEGO CITY Rescue camp
• 60292 LEGO CITY City Town Center
• 60291 LEGO CITY Family house
• 60302 LEGO CITY Wildlife Rescue
• 10270 LEGO Creator Expert Bookshop
• 31097 LEGO Creator 3in1: Townhouse Pet Shop & Café

The LEGO Group launches BETA ‘Build Together’ experience, a fan-built innovation that provides new ways to physically build LEGO sets together as a group

The LEGO Group today unveiled a new BETA building experience that will soon be available on the LEGO® Building Instructions app, called Build Together. The innovative feature opens a new dimension of interactive building, designed to multiply play value while turning LEGO building into a social, cooperative activity, that both families and friends can enjoy together.

LEGO Fan Dominik Brachmanski from Germany is the mastermind behind the idea, which is now being rolled out globally as a BETA version with the aim of testing and gathering valuable insights on how to optimise this interactive experience before potentially