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LEGO 60th Anniversary set promo starting!

Just a quick reminder that the #40290 LEGO 60 Years of the LEGO Brick set is available this weekend (January 28th)! We have talked about this special release before (see: 60 Years of the LEGO Brick Anniversary Set), but to summarize, this is a free promotional item to commemorate the 60th anniversary of LEGO brick patent, filed back in 1958. 🙂

The #40290 LEGO Promotional 60 Years of LEGO Brick is packaged in an old-style LEGO box with the classic color stripes to represent the basic LEGO colors. The box itself brings back so many nostalgic memories for LEGO fans who grew up in the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s!

The set includes 421 pieces to build mini versions of four iconic releases from the past; the #375 LEGO Classic Castle Yellow Castle from 1978, the #497 LEGO Classic Space Galaxy Explorer from 1979, the #6285 LEGO Pirates Black Seas Barracuda from 1989, and the #6399 LEGO Town Airport Shuttle from 1990.

All of these sets are much-talked about fan-favorites to this day, and the mini versions include some sweet details. For example, notice that the mini Yellow Castle has an accurate (albeit much smaller) red drawbridge, and the entire castle opens up on hinges like the original. The Galaxy Explorer includes a tiny version of the small rover that came with the set, and even the moulded moon surface baseplate is recreated as accurately as possible in such a small scale. The Airport Shuttle features the popular LEGO monorail system LEGO fans are still asking the company to bring back. And the little Pirate Ship sports the iconic red and white stripes on its sails. I think the more you look at these mini models the more you will appreciate them. Maybe that’s just the result of nostalgic memories bubbling up from the past, but I think they look really nice.

Besides the mini models, the set also includes a 60 Years of the LEGO Brick 2×4 tile that is included in all of the recently released LEGO Classic Building Bigger Thinking sets as well.

The #40290 LEGO 60 Years of the LEGO Brick is free… but, you will have to spend $125 between January 28th and February 14th at official LEGO stores and the Online LEGO Shop. I think that’s not an unreasonable threshold for receiving a 421-piece free set that otherwise would cost somewhere around $35-$40, but it is still a considerable purchase.

This promotion is a good incentive to try out some of the recently released January 2018 sets we talked about before (see: January 2018 – New LEGO Sets & Promotions). This includes the #10260 LEGO Creator Downtown Diner, the latest in the LEGO Modular Building series, the #21039 LEGO Architecture Shanghai set, five new brickbuilt characters in the LEGO BrickHeadz collection, and many new sets under the LEGO Classic, LEGO City, LEGO Creator, LEGO Disney, LEGO Elves, LEGO Friends, LEGO Juniors, LEGO Minecraft, LEGO Nexo Knights, LEGO Ninjago, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO DC Super Heroes, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, and LEGO Technic categories. Also, don’t forget some of the recent big releases like the #70922 LEGO Batman Movie The Joker Manor, and the #10256 LEGO Creator Taj Mahal. Have fun shoppin’!

What do you think? How do you like the #40290 LEGO 60 Years of the LEGO Brick? Are you planning to do some shopping during the promotional period to receive it? What are you going to get? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

{ 43 comments… add one }
  • DavidH January 27, 2018, 10:32 AM

    Thanks for the heads up. I’m one of the old guys here, so this set means a lot to me. I wish they would also release some medium size remakes of the same sets. Full size maybe too much, but I think medium size most people would appreciate. Especially the Galaxy Explorer and the Yellow Castle would be great.

    • admin January 27, 2018, 2:48 PM

      That would be awesome! I vote, yes! Not that my vote would really count… 😀

  • brickhead January 27, 2018, 10:38 AM

    I agree with David. We need some midi size classic sets! 😀

  • Tony January 27, 2018, 12:33 PM

    I want to get this set, but the amount you need to spend is pretty steep. I might wait until it’s available on eBay or something.

    • Håkan January 27, 2018, 12:52 PM

      Not sure if eBay will be worth it, since I guess most of the sellers would be scalpers trying to make some bucks. Maybe you can turn up with some buyer who isn’t that interested in the complementary set.

      • admin January 27, 2018, 2:50 PM

        That’s a good point. I have traded a number of freebies I was not interested in with others who really wanted it. I would try trading or buying locally first before going to eBay. eBay fees are extremely high (10%), so sellers have to list their items fairly high to compensate. If you can’t find it locally, I would try BrickLink, where selling fees are much lower (3%).

        • Håkan January 28, 2018, 11:24 AM

          On the other hand, I think the only rare part is the printed “60 years” tile (which really isn’t necessary for the builds), so you could probably just Bricklink all of the necessary bricks separately relatively cheap, and download the instructions.

          https://candidbricks.com/2018/01/02/instructions-available-40290-60-years-lego-brick/

          • admin January 28, 2018, 11:50 AM

            Yes, of course. They are not complicated models. The real treasure here are the box and the instructions! It’s a historic set, lovingly wrapped in nostalgia. 🙂

  • PrashBricks III January 27, 2018, 1:00 PM

    I like the fact that it is classic, my father had the space set, and I played with it when I was small at my grandmother, but I do think the set is pricy, because:
    1. It is just a micro-version of 4 sets.
    2. The spaceship costed like 40/30 guilders at that time [according to my father].

    Off-Topic:
    I am busy building my own hardware for personal gaming purposes [a custom metal gameboy], and I already figured out most of the specs. This is like my first gaming hardware project, and the people over at my discord say it is pretty easy.

    • Håkan January 27, 2018, 1:30 PM

      Well, it sounds pretty advanced to me, but if you trust the people at your discord(???), it might be worth a try…

    • admin January 27, 2018, 2:51 PM

      Have fun with your Gameboy project! Sounds interesting! 😀

      • PrashBricks III January 29, 2018, 12:45 PM

        Thank you😀! I will certainly have fun with it. If I finished it I might try to make a Lego version of it [The Lego version will of course not be functional]…

    • Mother Lydia January 28, 2018, 12:41 AM

      I don’t know about the spaceship, but I wanted that Yellow Castle. And my parents could not afford it at the time. If it was $30 or $40 at the time — well, that was a lot more then than it is then. My parents tell me what their mortgage was at the time and you couldn’t rent something now for TWICE that much money. And they struggled to make their mortgage. So you have to think about the value of the cost as well as just the numbers.

      • admin January 28, 2018, 11:44 AM

        Yes, LEGO was always a luxury toy, even more so in the past than it is now. We got one or maybe two small to medium sets per year as kids, and we were super happy and grateful.

        • PrashBricks III January 29, 2018, 12:44 PM

          Oh, I forgot about the fact that money was worth more in the past…

          • Håkan January 30, 2018, 6:36 AM

            Inflation, yeah…

  • BLProductions January 27, 2018, 2:43 PM

    I like all four models, though the micro Black Seas Barracuda is my favorite. $125 is a lot, but seems reasonable for 421 pieces, in light of other 200+ piece promos of late that were given away for $100. That said, I will definitely not be getting this, as I don’t have $125 to spend.
    Also: https://brickset.com/article/33855/collectable-minifigs-series-18-revealed Those are some weird outfits…. I like the dragon-guy, and will try to get him. I might go for the cactus one as well. The rest are certainly neat, but I’m not particularly interested in any of them.
    Finally, I’ve found an anomaly with the Ninjago Season 8 episodes. Everywhere I look on the Internet says the episodes are airing on the 29th (Monday), yet when I look through the TV show guide I have, I don’t see Ninjago anywhere in the schedule for Cartoon Network. Has the air date (or the channel?) of the episodes changed, or is my guide wrong? 😕

    • admin January 27, 2018, 3:03 PM

      I have seen the Series 18 sets a few days ago, but there has been some dispute over at the Ambassador Forum if we can post the pictures or not. I decided to stay on the safe side and not talk about them yet. But they will be out soon anyway. I really like this series because it’s so creative! I love the brick boy and girl, the cactus, the flower, the dragon, the cowboy, the rocket, the elephant… pretty much all of them. And I also really like the new balloon pieces! This is like the third balloon we get! I guess LEGO can’t make up their mind. 🙄

      I have the same questions about the Ninjago episodes. The Ninjago wiki says it will start airing on the 29th, but I’m not seeing any evidence of this as of now. We just have to keep our eyes open, I guess.

      • BLProductions January 27, 2018, 8:14 PM

        Yes, I heard about the issue of legitimacy for posting the CMF pictures. Brickset hasn’t been told to take them down yet, but at the same time they’re obviously not official LEGO images – they are just cropped pieces of an official image. The new balloons are interesting: it seems they might be 3 pieces: two top halves and the “string.” The slit in the top is a bit odd, though. There’s another new kind of balloon as well, I think: the clown is holding two of those shapable balloons, which are transparent as well.
        Here are some images that are official, however: https://brickset.com/article/33889/speed-champions-images-revealed There are some neat cars in this wave. I really like the Fiesta, if only for the great parts and the color. There’s a new piece on it too, a 2X2 triangular tile; I wonder how that will tesselate with the Nexo shields. I also like the use of the curved rails for the finish gate in the Ultimate Ferrari set. 🙂
        I’ll try to keep an eye on the schedule for Ninjago. They must be airing soon; the date they aired in Australia was correct. Maybe they’ll air on the Monday after this (February 5th). 😕

  • Nigel January 27, 2018, 5:35 PM

    I have been waiting to make my purchase until this freebie. Hopefully it’ll be available just after midnight, else I’ll buy tomorrow!

    • nigel January 28, 2018, 1:01 AM

      Lovely. Live in the UK and I finally purchased Apollo Saturn V. All paid for with VIP points as well… glad I saved them 🙂

      • admin January 28, 2018, 11:45 AM

        Awesome! Enjoy your Saturn V! It is a surprisingly complex set I had a great pleasure to build.

        • nigel January 30, 2018, 3:30 AM

          Thank you 🙂

  • Legostuff71 January 27, 2018, 10:40 PM

    So, I Finally finished the NINJAGO city set( yay) and I did make Jawa base / workshop . I even through in assassin droids for the Jawas protection( IG-88’s droids ). So, thinking what my next move is theirs NEXO KNIGHTs , CITY sets and MARVEL/ D C Comic sets . I can use the bad guys from NEXO KNIGHTs and put it with my space sets ( which means I’ll have to bring out my space sets). The mountain police sets ( the smaller sets) I was going to bring out my creator mountain cabin set and make it into to a mountain police station. The other sets are just add ons to my other MARVEL – D C sets. What do you guys think?

    • admin January 28, 2018, 11:42 AM

      Sounds like a plan! I especially like your idea of mixing the Creator Mountain Cabin with the Mountain Police sets. It’s a great combo! 😀

  • jjava January 28, 2018, 9:18 AM

    Been waiting for this day. Just placed an order. 😀

    • admin January 28, 2018, 11:45 AM

      Sweet! Feel free to share what you got, if you like. 🙂

  • Laurie January 28, 2018, 9:43 AM

    Just ordered the Lego Fishing Store…and got this free set with my order., I can always us spare parts.. I had 65.00 worth of leg points that I used up.. Can’t wait for my kids to build that fishing store it would go great with the Destiny Bounty large ninjago boat… Epic… The only other sets of interest this year is all Lego Elves, maybe the Batman u decided… And I’m not sure about the diner, might pass on that one… We have the Lego decetive office on the way, and I managed to scavenger Lego parts, and buy some missing pieces to build the Lego brick bank…. So much fun, granted we do not have the original mini figures that came with the set, however I’m cool with that 🙂

    Is it me or is the price going up and the piece count falling down..,

    • admin January 28, 2018, 11:48 AM

      Oh! That’s actually a great idea! Mixing the Fishing Store with the Destiny’s Bounty! The Diner will be around for at least a couple of years, so you will have time to make a decision on it. The Detective’s Office and the Brick Bank are both very good sets.

      10 cents/piece has been the norm for LEGO sets for quite a while now, and both this year and last year we got a large selection of sets that was even below that, so I’m not seeing any uptick in prices.

      • Laurie January 28, 2018, 7:49 PM

        Well my prices are Canadian Dollars and with the Government TaxZillas on the loose, it is going to get very costly..

        • admin January 28, 2018, 9:34 PM

          Oh, you have TaxZillas too???!!! 😐

  • Legostuff71 January 28, 2018, 2:12 PM

    I’m leaning towards that idea myself. I’ll have the the Forest police down aways ,so if the Mountain police need back-up they got it. Plus I would add a camp site for my camper collection.

    • admin January 28, 2018, 3:03 PM

      Lots of shady things can happen in a campground, so good thing you will have the police around! 🙄

  • Legostuff71 January 28, 2018, 5:31 PM

    “Lions, tigers and bears oh my “too.Lol!

  • A Stark February 1, 2018, 4:12 PM

    SOLD OUT! I just tried to place an order of $130, and the promo set didn’t appear in my cart. I called Lego and was told they ran out of it this morning and couldn’t tell me any additional info at the present. What a bummer–only 5 days into a 18 day promotional period? I know the fine print says “while supplies last,” but it sure seems they might have not had enough supplies!

    • admin February 1, 2018, 4:45 PM

      Are you serious???!!! That’s not good! 🙁

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