Author: Allen "Tormentalous" Tran (Page 12 of 34)

It looks like Toys R Us will be making another comeback this year as CNBC is reporting that WHP Global has acquired Tru Kids, the parent company of Toys R Us, Babies R Us, and Geoffrey the Giraffe brands. It’s actually been three years since Toys R Us closed but they are planning to open stores again ahead of the holiday season. I’m not really counting the two pop-up stores that opened in Texas and New Jersey in 2019 which also closed down in January due to COVID-19. It was reported that that the new stores will be in various formats including flagships, pop-ups, airport locations and mini stores inside other retailers. There’s no word yet on how many locations will be opening at the start.

Hopefully the new owners will be able to pick up the piece of what Toys R Us used to be. If you’re new to The Brick Fan, many of you don’t know that I used to work at TRU right when this site was in its infant stages and I used to stock the LEGO aisle at my store. I eventually got transferred to Babies R Us and I stayed there until everything closed back in 2018 here in the US. There are still many TRU stores open around the world which still have LEGO exclusives, mainly in the Asian countries. Hopefully TRU and LEGO can continue their partnership once stores are running smoothly.

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

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

LEGO has launched a new sweepstakes on the Rewards Center for an antique Wooden Elephant Toy. It is an authentic wooden elephant pull-toy made in 1937 that comes in a sealed display case along with the art print. Obviously it isn’t bricks but is one of LEGO’s first toys they produced so that’s pretty cool. Each entry costs 50 VIP points and you can have a maximum of 50 entries for a total of 2,500 points. The sweepstakes ends on April 4.

Enter the VIP Sweepstakes now for a chance to win a true LEGO® collectible. This is a one-of-a-kind antique wooden elephant pull-toy made circa 1937. It comes in a sealed display case, with an art print suitable for framing. Together they make an amazing addition to the collection of any LEGO afficionado.

Maximum of 50 entries per VIP Member – please see full terms and conditions for details and eligibility requirements. Sweepstakes closes 4th April 2021. Eligible countries: Canada (excluding Quebec), Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Republic of Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Slovakia, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States. Please note, you are not eligible to enter from the following locations: Canada: Quebec is ineligible.

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

In the second episode of the LEGO Rebuild the World Creators series, actor and singer Billy Porter teams up with a couple of kids to build something creative or the campaign. Together, they design a crown that express their personalitites and promoting self-love. Check out the video below.

Billy Porter teams up with kids to build a red carpet look in celebration of self-expression

• The second in a new series of four films sees stage, screen and fashion icon Billy Porter showcase his new red carpet look inspired by self-love, happiness….and two children!
• Each film explores the importance of play and creativity and debuts new work from world-renowned creators, inspired by the creativity of children
• The films follow the creators’ process as they explore the unlimited creative possibilities that can be unlocked through LEGO® play

Billund, Thursday 11th March: Fabulous fashionista, musician and award-winning actor Billy Porter has revealed his latest red-carpet creation, a showstopping rainbow LEGO® crown inspired by the unlimited imagination of two new muses…siblings Clint and Josey.

In the new film released today by the LEGO Group as part of the Rebuild the World campaign, the creator famed for his killer red carpet looks gives viewers a glimpse into his design process. In a first for Billy, he called on the creative superpowers of kids to help inspire his most ambitious headpiece yet.

The LEGO crown is a tribute to self-love and free creative expression. It was created by Billy after he met Clint, 9, and Josey, 8, in the

A few hours ago, LEGO published their annual results from 2020 and it was concluded that they had very strong growth last year. Some of the main takeaways are below:

• Consumer sales grew 21 percent for the full year vs 2019.
• Revenue grew 13 percent to DKK 43.7 billion compared with 2019.
• Operating profit grew 19 percent to DKK 12.9 billion. Net profit grew 19 percent to DKK 9.9 billion. Profit grew strongly while the Group continued significant strategic investments in future growth initiatives.
• Free cash flow was DKK 11.5 billion.
• Grew global market share

Some of the top themes in no particular order were LEGO City, LEGO Technic, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Friends and LEGO Classic. In addition, LEGO Super Mario was one of the company’s most successful theme launches.

BILLUND, March 10, 2021: The LEGO Group today reported earnings for the full year 2020. Revenue for the year grew 13 percent versus 2019 to DKK 43.7 billion and consumer sales grew 21 percent over the same period. Operating profit was DKK 12.9 billion, an increase of 19 percent compared with 2019. The brand’s global market share grew globally and in its 12 largest countries.

Niels B Christiansen, CEO, said: “We are very pleased with these results. They show the timeless relevance of the LEGO brick and learning through play. This performance is also a testament to the passion, creativity and resilience of our people. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, they worked tirelessly to keep the world playing.”

Consumer

To celebrate International Women’s Day, LEGO has recreated the iconic 1981 ad and recognizing the female leaders of tomorrow. They are launching a new campaign to encourage young women on their journey to becoming the decision makers, role models and changemakers of the future – whatever their interests, passions or career aspirations may be.

Visit LEGO.com/futurebuilders and parents can upload an image of their child holding their LEGO creation and you can get a poster back in a similar style of the old ad. Read more about it below.

Celebrating the female leaders of tomorrow as the LEGO Group recreates iconic 1980s advert

The LEGO Group is calling on families to help celebrate the skills, interests and creative potential of the next generation of female leaders by recreating its iconic 1981 LEGO® advert.

On the 40th anniversary of the ‘What it is is beautiful’ advert, the LEGO Group is launching the campaign to support this year’s International Women’s Day on March 8. The campaign is designed to encourage and champion today’s young women on their journey to becoming the decision makers, role models and changemakers of the future – whatever their interests, passions or career aspirations may be.

By visiting LEGO.com/futurebuilders, parents and legal guardians can find inspiration and submit a photo of their child holding their LEGO creation, along with a few words that describe their child’s creative approach. A unique poster, in the style of the iconic 1980s advert, will then be emailed back (Available in English or German) – ready to be

Ever since LEGO started the 18+ sets, some of the builds had used instructions with black backgrounds to correspond with the feeling of being more adult-oriented which also included the black boxes. Some of the builds including the Crocodile Locomotive (10277) use darker pieces and it makes it somewhat difficult to see where the pieces go.

Some fans took to LEGO Customer Service to give their feedback and it looks like LEGO will no longer be using the black backgrounds including Sam Walker over on a Facebook group. This will definitely help visually impaired builders as well as builders with good eyesight who also think that it is hard to see. What did you think of the instructions using the black backgrounds and did it give you issues building as well?

I’m happy to let you know we’ve been listening to feedback about the background colour in our building instructions. We’ve done lots of testing already and have plans to move away from the black backgrounds entirely.

We recognise how important it is to be mindful of visual and colour impairment when we create our building instructions. We have LEGO designers with colour impairment helping us improve in this realm.

We can’t give you a timeline or further details about improvements to the background colour in our instructions, but we’re making sure we listen, learn, and get better.

**Via Brickset**

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

When you make a purchase or, sometimes, carry out some other action as direct result of clicking on a link at

LEGO has released a lot of new stuff on the LEGO Rewards Center that you can redeem for the month of March. The main thing that most people will be interested in is the LEGO Octan Logo Collectible Coin. This is the third one that has been released for the series and it costs 1,150 points.

The other new rewards are for LEGO VIDIYO. The minimum you have to spend is 50 points where you can unlock the VIP Virtual Pass. This allows you to unlock some of the various Digital Asset Packs as well as giving you an entry into the VIDIYO Sweepstakes. Speaking of the Sweepstakes, this month is for some signed Roller Skates by L.L.A.M.A.

Unlock your VIP Virtual Pass and access this character digital asset pack filled with fun downloadable VIDIYO “merch” like: • Digital watch faces • Desktop wallpapers • Video conference backgrounds • Mobile wallpapers

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

LEGO has revealed their next LEGO House exclusive set which is The Brick Moulding Machine (40502). The set has 1,205 pieces and retails for 599 DKK and you can only get it at the LEGO House.

LEGO® House reveals new LEGO House Exclusive product: 40502 – The Brick Moulding Machine

The newest product in the Limited Edition series of LEGO® House Exclusives is soon to be available at the LEGO House Retail Store in Billund, Denmark.

Ever since the opening of LEGO® House, it has been an important milestone for LEGO House to create exclusive products because we believe they add significantly to the experience of visiting LEGO House – the pinnacle LEGO experience.

The first three exclusive products were the LEGO House Architecture set, the LEGO House Tree of Creativity, and the LEGO House Dinosaurs.

One thing is remaking our iconic models in LEGO House into LEGO sets. But since we also want to tie the LEGO Group and not least the LEGO Group history closely to LEGO House it made a lot of sense for us to introduce this new series that we call: The LEGO House Limited Editions. The Wooden Duck is the first item in the series of LEGO House Limited Editions.

We are now happy to announce the latest product in our Limited Edition series – The Brick Moulding Machine! The Brick Moulding Machine is representing an era in the history of the LEGO Group going from producing toys in wood into plastic. It is the story about putting all efforts

Okay a lot of you guys have emailed me asking me to post about this piece of news that came out yesterday. In 2022, LEGOLAND Florida and Peppa Pig will be somewhat coinciding with each other. Merlin Entertainments, which is owned by The LEGO Group, is working with Hasbro to create a standalone Peppa Pig theme park inside of LEGOLAND Florida.

As we all know, LEGO and Hasbro are competitors, especially in the building block world with Hasbro producing their MEGA lines. We most likely won’t see any LEGO Peppa Pig sets any time soon or at all. Could this partnership open up to the companies sharing their licenses with each other?

**Via People**

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.

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LEGO has launched a new series of short films featuring cultural creators to showcase the creativity of kids as part of their Rebuild the World campaign. The first film shows artist Alexa Meada building her latest masterpiece with feedback from siblings, D’Elijah and Kyrie. Check out the video below.

The LEGO Group partners with cultural creators to showcase children’s creativity and inspire them to ‘Rebuild the World’

• The first in a new series of four films sees award-winning perspective artist Alexa Meade debut her latest masterpiece
• Each film will explore the importance of creative play and debuts new work from world-renowned creators, inspired by the creativity of children
• The films follow the creators’ process as they investigate the breadth of creativity that can be unlocked through LEGO® play

Thursday 25th February, 16:00 CET: Award-winning US perspective artist Alexa Meade has today unveiled her latest work, a new surreal sculpture made from over 12,000 LEGO® bricks. In a [new film][1] released today by the LEGO Group as part of the Rebuild the World campaign, the artist best known for her optical illusion paintings, reveals how the new piece was inspired by two children she worked with during lockdown.

The film welcomes viewers into Alexa’s kaleidoscopic home in Los Angeles as she starts the creative ideation for her new masterpiece. Here, the artist who usually paints real people to look like 2D portraits meets with siblings, D’Elijah and Kyrie, who reintroduce her to the joyful medium of LEGO play. The result, an amazing rainbow alien

LEGO will be testing out a new thing for the Pick-a-Brick service in the UK in which they will have a minimum purchase amount. This minimum order will align with the price of a large Pick-a-Brick cup in LEGO Stores in the UK which is valued at £11.99. The test will run until there is an appropriate sample size of generated orders. This test could also be rolled out in other countries in the near future.

Starting February 23rd LEGO.com will be running a test in the UK to help us get more info about having a minimum purchase amount for Pick A Brick orders. The minimum order value will be aligned with the price of large Pick A Brick cups in LEGO Stores (£11.99). The test is going to be visible to all shoppers in the UK.

There are currently two different element purchase options on LEGO.com, Pick A Brick and Bricks and Pieces. While these might appear similar the infrastructure behind each of these services is very different. From packing to shipping, Bricks and Pieces infrastructure is designed to assist with small orders to help the end user complete a project or replace lost elements. Pick A Bricks infrastructure is quite the opposite as it was designed to fulfil large bulk orders. The one thing that was not within the structure of Pick-A-Brick was the online experience allowing small orders.

Small orders impact the internal processes, and this provides the opportunity to test a minimum order value. This can also help align the Pick

At the beginning of the month, LEGO launched a new playlist on Spotify called LEGO White Noise which is pretty much an ASMR playlist of LEGO bricks to help builders relax. They have just shared a new video of a behind the scenes look at how the sounds on the tracks were made. An interesting note they made is that they used over 10,000 LEGO bricks using different combinations of actions, surface textures, and recording techniques to finalize the tracks. If you haven’t listened to it yet, there are seven tracks available for your listening pleasure.

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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The LEGO March 2021 Store Calendar is now available and we can see some of the promotions and events that will be happening during the month. There are a few cool gift-with-purchase promotions that will be going on throughout the month so get your wallets ready.

March 6 – 14: Free LEGO Amelia Earhart Tribute (40450) with purchases of $100 or more, while supplies last.

March 15 – April 5: Free LEGO Seasonal Easter Bunny’s Carrot House (40449) with purchass of $60 or more, while supplies last.

March 15 – April 5: Free LEGO Seasonal Easter Chick (30579) with purchases of $40 or more in store only, while supplies last.

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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Last month, LEGO announced a partnership with fashion company HYPE for a new line of streetwear that is inspired by LEGO Ninjago. The collection has been available in the UK and other parts of the world for a while now but North America has been left out in the cold.

I reached out to LEGO Customer Service to see if the collection will be coming to the US and it doesn’t look like that will be happening any time soon. I’ve been told from LEGO CS, “At this time, we are not offering the Ninjago x HYPE™ products in the US.” They didn’t say anything further than that. It’s a bummer that we won’t be getting it since it was a pretty hyped announcement and people were excited for it and there’s no word on when it will be released here, if ever.

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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The Toy Association 2021 Toy of the Year Awards have been announced today and LEGO has been declared the winner in a few categories. LEGO was nominated in seven different categories and they have won in the following:

Construction Toy of the Year

• LEGO Star Wars The Razor Crest (75292)

Playset of the Year

• LEGO Super Mario Bowser’s Castle Boss Battle Expansion Set (71369)

Specialty Toy of the Year

• LEGO Ideas Grand Piano (21323)

Collectible of the Year

• LEGO Super Mario Character Packs (71361)

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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The LEGO Group has announced a new partnership with the DQ Institute which is one of the world’s leading think tank on digital citizenship and online child safety. With more kids being online, this is a new learning experience to teach kids how to be more responsible to others in the digital world. You can read more about it in the press release below.

THE LEGO GROUP PARTNERS WITH THE DQ INSTITUTE TO EMPOWER CHILDREN TO BECOME RESPONSIBLE DIGITAL CITIZENS

Billund, February 9th 2021: The LEGO Group has today announced a new partnership with the DQ Institute, a world-leading think tank on digital citizenship and online child safety. The partnership will see the two organisations work together to help children develop the skills they need to thrive in the digital world.

As part of the partnership, the LEGO Group has today launched a new, interactive, fun and safe learning experience, based on the DQ (Digital Intelligence) framework that was pioneered by the DQ Institute. The experience has been co-designed by the DQ Institute and the LEGO Group to teach children vital digital empathy skills at a time when they are spending more time online than ever before.

The interactive experience on www.LEGO.com/kids-saferinternetday will help children explore what digital empathy means and why it is so important; helping them to be aware of, sensitive to, and supportive of one’s own and others’ feelings, needs, and concerns online. During this fun and accessible learning experience, LEGO® Minifigures will present children with a series of dilemmas that they may

For those who are artists, LEGO World Builder is looking for people who can create some banner art depicting some of the most extraordinary women of all time as LEGO minifigures for their image library. Three designers, at minimum, will be greenlit, and upon submitting the Winner’s Affidavit and the IP Assignment, will each receive $250 as compensation. You can read the full list of rules in the link above.

A variety of genres, sub-genres, and mashups make up the LEGO World Builder platform. And now is your chance to contribute your ideas. Just take a look at the world tags on the left side of the Discover page. You can choose from Action, Adventure, Escape, Magic, Science Fiction and many more! How best would you introduce these icons in minifigure form? Sally Ride was the first U.S. woman in space, but perhaps there are greater adventures for her across the universe. Mix and match genres for your banner images . . . Let your imagination roam, because you can submit up to 5 entries!

At this point, you may be wondering what exactly is a banner image. A banner image is the first thing people see when exploring an architect’s world on the LEGO World Builder platform, along with the world’s title and genre tags – so it’s important that the image itself makes a strong, visual impression and motivates people to click in and explore the world. You’ll notice after visiting the Discover page that you probably feel more compelled to click into worlds