Tag: Review (Page 58 of 85)

LEGO Creator 2014 Holiday Exclusive Toy Workshop (40106) Review

October 26, 2014 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 0 Comments

During the whole month of October, when you purchase over $99 or more at LEGO Stores and on Shop@Home, you are eligible for the first of two FREE exclusive holiday sets for 2014, the LEGO Creator Toy Workshop (40106). The contents of the box include three un-numbered bags, one white 6×8 plate, one nougat 6×8 plate, and a small instructions booklet.

LEGO Creator 2014 Holiday Exclusive Toy Workshop (40106)

For the minifigures, you have a male and a female elf. For the male elf, the torso is a dark red flannel shirt and it has in a couple of LEGO City sets before. The dark tans legs that are used are from Bilbo Baggins and many others. He has a smiling expression and the elf ears and green hat piece is the same ones that we’ve seen on other elves.

The female elf is also a combination of parts that we’ve seen before. The blue sweater with purple scarf torso has been used in a couple of older Winter Village sets as well as the 2012 Holiday Set. The legs are short light bluish grey. She has a double-sided face with a smile on one side and a scard look on the other. Again, the elf ears are the same as the male elf. She also has a paintbrush as an accessory.

For the set itself, you have a small toy workshop as well as some already assembled toys including a yellow bulldozer, a green steam engine train, a soldier nutcracker, and a couple of presents.

The toy workshop is a … Continue

The Art of the Brick: A Life in LEGO Book Review

October 25, 2014 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 1 Comment

Every piece of art comes with a story and renowned LEGO artist Nathan Sawaya has told his story behind his many creations in his latest book, The Art of the Brick: A Life in LEGO by No Starch Press.

The book consists of 248 fully-colored pages and retails for $29.95.

The dust jacket shows an image of one of Nathan Sawaya’s most recognizable creations, “Yellow.” The inside of the jacket gives a short overview of what A Life in LEGO is about.

Nathan Sawaya is renowned for his incredible, sometimes surreal, sculptures and portraits—all made from LEGO bricks.

The Art of the Brick is a stunning, full-color showcase of the work that has made Sawaya the world’s most famous LEGO artist. Featuring hundreds of photos of his impressive art and behind-the-scenes details about how these creations came to be, The Art of the Brick is an inside look at how Sawaya transformed a toy into an art form.

Follow one man’s unique obsession and see the amazing places it has taken him.

The book is separated into a number of small chapters, more than 40 in total. These chapters focus on each of Nathan’s builds and he tells you what inspired the particular projects. For example, Nathan originally thought that Yellow represented death but after looking back, it is actually about opening yourself up to the world without being afraid of what it may bring.

Another story that I enjoyed in A Life in LEGO is the one about Dinosaur which was displayed at the Lancaster … Continue

LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes Toys R Us Bat-Signal Review

October 18, 2014 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 1 Comment

Earlier today was the LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes Bat-Signal event at Toys R Us stores throughout the US. Kids had the chance to build it there and take it home along the comic book that was given out at San Diego Comic Con 2014.

The Bat-Signal build itself is very simple. The signal itself sits on a turntable piece and swivels up and down using the mechanical droid legs with TECHNIC pin. The most unique element in the build is probably the Batman logo radar dish which only appears in one set, The Batcave (6860) from 2012.

Overall, it was a pretty crowded and the store employees didn’t set up until 10 minutes before the the event started. It also looked like there was very limited quantites available so if you didn’t get there early to get in line, you were probably out of luck.

If you want to build your own, below are the instructions for the Bat-Signal. You can also download the instructions in PDF format here courtesy of fellow SandLUG member Charlie.

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

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Beautiful LEGO 2: Dark Book Review

October 17, 2014 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 0 Comments

Coming off his very successful book, Beautiful LEGO, Mike Doyle is back with a sequel, Beautiful LEGO 2: Dark. Mike Doyle is an internationally acclaimed artist and his work has been shown in many exhibits like Gallery1988 and the Columbus Museum of Art.

Published by No Starch Press, Beautiful LEGO 2: Dark is a fully-colored 340 page hardback and it retails for $39.95.

The image of the dust jacket is from Mike Doyle’s Sickening Sweet and the back has images of builds from various builders. The inside flap gives a description of what the book is about.

Beautiful LEGO 2: Dark showcases dark LEGO masterpieces from artists around the world. From realistic sculptures of creepy crawlers to impressionist works of shadowy nightmares, this collection will leave you marveling at every turn. But dark has its lighter side, too with sculptures of dark chocolate as well as plenty of black humor on display.

Gothic fantasies and sci-fi horrors come to life in scenes created entirely with the simple LEGO brick. Step into a world of pure imagination in Beautiful LEGO 2: Dark.

The book is separated into 37 short chapters in addition to the preface and the contributors section (index). The index gives you information about each builders’ usernames online for Flickr/MOCPages as well as a link to their profile so you can follow more of their work there. Four of the chapters are actually short interviews of some LEGO builders including Bart De Dobbelaer, Tim Goddard, Brian Kescenovitz, and Mihai Marius Mihu and they … Continue

Steampunk LEGO Book Review

October 16, 2014 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 0 Comments

A new batch of books have come in from No Starch Press and I’ve been excited for these when I first heard about them. The first book that I’ll be reviewing is Steampunk LEGO by Guy Himber. If that name sounds familiar, may have heard of it before in the LEGO community.

Guy’s LEGO creations are very well known in the community and he even has a couple of successful Kickstarter projects like Pigs vs Cows, SKULLS!, and Munchkin Bricks. Guy also has an extensive background with special makeup effects and animatronics in many feature films such as Independence Day, Alien 3, and the Underworld trilogy.

Steampunk LEGO is a hardback book filled with 200 fully-colored pages and it retails for $29.95.

The first thing that you admire is the very nice cover of The Golden Empress by V&A Steamworks (Guy Himber). The cover is actually a jacket that is designed by Sylvain Amacher (https://www.facebook.com/captainsmog). The back of the jacket shows an image of Guy’s HMS Moondreams’s Voyage to the Moon. The book itself is a blue hardback with “Steampunk LEGO” embossed on the front and on the spine. With or without the book jacket, it’s great to show off either way. The pages of the book itself has this old-school feel to it. It’s hard to say how it feels like but it’s glossy but has a certain texture to it that makes it feel old. I’m not sure if all the books are like that or just mine, not … Continue

LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 12 (71007) Review

October 14, 2014 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 6 Comments

It’s been a while since I got these but I finally have some time to do a review for the Series 12 of the LEGO Collectible Minifigures (71007). The packaging for this series goes back to a bright yellow for this release which is very similar to what Series 1 had. Each minifigure costs $3.99 each and there are 16 different minifigures to collect.

LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 12 (71007)

Unlike any other Collectible Minifigure series, Series 12 is the first of what could be subsequent series that collaborates with the LEGO Minifigures Online MMO video game. On the back of the promotional poster, there is a code that you can enter to unlock the corresponding minifigure in the game.

Wizard

The first minifigure in Series 12 is the Wizard. He seems to be a Wizard that specializes in astronomy considering that the whole minifigure is filled with a design that is covered with stars and moons. According to LEGO’s website, the blue robe that he wears is call the Robes of Many Pockets. His staff is made up of three components: a rod, a telescope, and a blue gem. The cloak is two separate pieces which uses the new type of fabric that’s been introduced in recent sets. The wizard hat is a new element with a slight curve at the tip.

How to feel for the Wizard: Feel for the large dress/robe leg piece as well as the curved tip on the wizard hat. He comes 4 in a box.

LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 12 (71007) - Wizard

Hun Warrior

The Huns were a group of nomadic people … Continue

LEGO Store October 2014 Monthly Mini Build Event Frankenstein Monster (40104) Review

October 7, 2014 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 2 Comments

The first Tuesday of the month is here again and that means LEGO Brand Stores held the October 2014 Monthly Mini Build. For this month, it is a Halloween themed build with the Frankenstein Monster (40104). My store was extra busy today considering that it is Double VIP Points month. Also this month is also the release of the Series 12 LEGO Collectible Minifigures (71007) and many people were trying to feel for the ones they want. As you can see from the images, it was pretty packed.

For the mini build itself, the Frankenstein Monster is a very simple build. You start at the legs and build up to the head. There is no special building techniques or any articulation on the model whatsoever. It seemed that many kids enjoyed the model because Halloween is coming up and it’s something they can use to decorate their house with.

It doesn’t say on the November 2014 LEGO Store Calendar but next month’s build will be a cool Rocket on a launching pad (40105).

LEGO Store October 2014 Monthly Mini Build Event Frankenstein Monster (40104)

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

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