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There are a couple of new LEGO books that I wanted to show you today that were just released by DK Publishing; LEGO Ninjago: Build Your Own Adventure, and LEGO Friends: Build Your Own Adventure. Both books are similar to – and probably replacements for – the LEGO BrickMaster line, with included LEGO building elements and minifigs along with the book. The new books however are designed a bit differently than the LEGO BrickMaster books; instead of the book itself having a thick storage compartment for LEGO elements, this time we get a slip-case that contains a normal hardbound book and a separate box with LEGO parts. 🙂

BUild Your Own Adventure LEGO Books

LEGO NINJAGO: BUILD YOUR OWN ADVENTUREGet ready for your own Ninja adventure with this inspirational book. Build, play and learn all about the thrilling world of LEGO Ninjago. LEGO Ninjago: Build Your Own Adventure combines fan built inspiring ideas for building with exciting stories. In the pages of this book, you will discover an exciting LEGO Ninjago adventure story. You will also see some clever ideas for LEGO Ninjago models that might inspire you to create your own. There are no limits to what you can build. This is your adventure, so jump right in and get building. The boxed set includes: an 80-page book filled with stories, building instructions, tips, and ideas. 70 LEGO bricks to build an exclusive Ninja Mech. An awesome Lloyd minifigure. All the inspiration you need to build your own LEGO Ninjago adventure. Regular price: $24.99, sale price (at the time of publishing this post): $17.14 – BUY ON AMAZON

Build Your Own Adventure LEGO Ninjago Book 3

Besides the main model, which is the Ninja Mech, the book also includes other models that you can use as inspiration. These are grouped within the five chapters of the book that are based on different adventures (jungle battle, going underground, volcano quest, etc.). Please note that these are not alternate models that you can build with the same included pieces, but simply suggestions to build from your LEGO collection. As mentioned above, the included minifigure is Lloyd.

Build Your Own Adventure LEGO Ninjago Book 1 Build Your Own Adventure LEGO Ninjago Book 2 Build Your Own Adventure LEGO Ninjago Book 4

LEGO FRIENDS: BUILD YOUR OWN ADVENTUREA book with bricks that inspires kids to build, play, and learn all about the fascinating world of LEGO Friends. LEGO Friends: Build Your Own Adventure combines fan built inspirational ideas for building with enthralling story starters. In the pages of this book, you will discover an exciting LEGO Friends adventure story. You will also see some clever ideas for LEGO Friends models that might inspire you to create your own. This is your adventure, so jump right in and get building. This boxed set includes: an 80-page book filled with stories, building tips, ideas, and instructions. 73 LEGO bricks to create a cool, exclusive touring car. An awesome Liza mini-doll. All the inspiration you need to build your own LEGO Friends adventure. Regular price: $24.99, sale price (at the time of publishing this post): $12.37 – BUY ON AMAZON

Build Your Own Adventure LEGO Friends Book 1

The main model in this book is a touring car, which looks good. This book is also divided into five chapters with various inspirational models grouped around activities like a picnic, horse show, carnival and party. There are some small but clever builds, along with larger models. Again, these models can’t be built from the included bricks, but they are simply there to give you inspiration and ideas. The most interesting models are actually quite small and can be put together from just a couple of common elements, and even the larger ones you should be able to copy if you have an average size LEGO collection. The included mini-doll is named Liza, who pretty much looks like Andrea from the LEGO Friends sets.

Build Your Own Adventure LEGO Friends Book 4 Build Your Own Adventure LEGO Friends Book 2 Build Your Own Adventure LEGO Friends Book 3

I have been a fan of the LEGO BrickMaster books because they offer hours of play for kids; there is a story to read, characters to play with, and included LEGO elements for building. I do like that in this new format the book and the box are separate but still stay together within the slip-case; a handy way to keep everything together for transportation and storage. I’m hoping that DK Publishing will add other titles as well, just like they have done in the LEGO BrickMaster books line. Both books are recommended for children, but I admit I enjoy them as an adult as well.

What do you think? Do you like the LEGO BrickMaster books? And what do you think of this new line of building your own adventure? Do you feel they are better or worse than the BrickMaster books? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the LEGO Books section for more book reviews, or select from the following related posts:

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LEGO Super Heroes Jokerland review

One of the most talked about 2015 summer LEGO sets has been the #76035 LEGO Super Heroes Jokerland from the DC Comics universe. The set is big, bad, and incredibly fun. Plus there are eight minifigures; several of them unique to the set. So let’s take a closer look. 🙂

#76035 LEGO Super Heroes Jokerland

Here is the official description of the set: Rescue rookie heroes from the horrifying Jokerland! The Joker and his team of villains have transformed Gotham City’s amusement park into the nightmarish Jokerland and trapped Starfire, Beast Boy and Robin. Drive to the rescue with Batman in the awesome Batmobile. Dodge the cannon and target the clown robot with the shooting missiles. Then it’s time for some serious super-jumping action to bring down the villains. Bam! Topple The Penguin from his podium. Wham! Launch a perfectly aimed jump to release Robin from his upside-down bike ride with Harley Quinn. Pow! Take down Poison Ivy from her swinging branch. Finally, knock The Joker from the clown’s mouth down the slide and into the poison pool chamber! Includes 8 minifigures with assorted accessories: Batman, Robin, Beast Boy, Starfire, The Penguin, The Joker, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. 1037 pieces. Price: $119.99 – BUY HERE

#76035 LEGO Super Heroes

Basically what we have here is an amusement park that has gone bad, which actually opens up the opportunity to place this set right into your LEGO City layout. The fact that the various rides are separate units allows you to put them in whatever configuration you want – making the set extremely versatile. It would be quite fun to mix the LEGO Super Heroes Jokerland with the #10247 LEGO Creator Ferris Wheel and the #10244 LEGO Creator Fairground Mixer for a huge fairground with hidden evil rides. Just sayin’… 😈

#76035 LEGO Super Heroes Jokerland Review

There are four rides in the set, and again, you can configure them any way you want. The Joker ride features a clown face with tilting hat, rolling eyes, mouth with podium for The Joker, slide, poison pool chamber and a mirror house. It is the largest of the rides and measures 11” (29cm) high, 9” (23cm) wide and 3” (9cm) deep. As you will see in the video-review below by JANGBRiCKS it is full of fun play-features. The Poison Ivy ride features 3 seats, man-eating plant with snapping jaws, and handcuffs. The Harley Quinn ride includes a motorbike in a new color, attachment underneath for captured passenger, handcuffs, Super-Jumper-activated bike launch function, and garbage cans on fire! The Penguin ride features rear-wheel-operated rotating duck seats, The Penguin’s podium with Super-Jumper-activated-toppling function, penguin, handcuffs, 3 dynamite sticks and hidden sharks. There is also a clown robot with a firing cannon, 3 cannonballs and a dynamite stick.

#76035 LEGO Super Heroes Jokerland Batmobile

If that’s not enough, the set also includes a really good looking Batmobile with opening cockpit, two spring-loaded missiles, two rear stud-shooters, and giant batwings. The Batmobile is quite large at over 2” (7cm) high, 9” (24cm) long and 2” (7cm) wide. JAGNBRiCKS mentions he doesn’t like the round piece at the front that hides the stud-shooters, but I think it looks great. If you don’t like it, you can also take the pieces off and the stud-shooters will still work just fine.

#76035 LEGO Super Heroes Jokerland Good Guys #76035 LEGO Super Heroes Jokerland Bad Guys

The minifigs in the LEGO Super Heroes Jokerland are excellent. There are eight minifigs in total: Batman, Robin, Beast Boy, Starfire, The Penguin, The Joker, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. Several of the minifigures are unique to this set, while others are variations we haven’t seen before. Batman has legs with two color plastic that represent boots, and Robin has two color plastic on his arms for shirt-sleeves. Starfire and Beast Boy are completely new characters, with Starfire having some really nice metallic printing on her arms. Seven of the eight minifigs have alternate faces and they all come with front and back torso printing. As you can see, LEGO did an excellent job on all of them, which should make collectors very happy.

All in all this set is a great combination of fun play-features, versatility, interesting elements, and a great selection of minifigures. DC Super Heroes fans probably get it right away, and as I mentioned it can also be interesting for LEGO City fans as a unique addition to their city layout. The price is on the high side, but it is not unreasonable based on the piece-count. There are so many exciting new LEGO sets in this price-range however that I think it will come down to which one do you like the best. The #76035 LEGO Super Heroes Jokerland is definitely a strong contender and there is really nothing negative I can say about it. The set is available under the LEGO DC Super Heroes section of the Online LEGO Shop.

Shop LEGO DC Super Heroes

So what do you think? How do you like the LEGO Super Heroes Jokerland set? Are you planning to add it to your collection? And what do you think of the minifigures? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the LEGO Super Heroes section for more news, reviews, and discussions, or select from the following recent posts:

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