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LEGO Mixels stop-motion videos

by Thita (admin) on December 16, 2014

LEGO Mixels – the crazy little characters introduced this year – have become quite popular with both collectors and LEGO fans who like to build their own models. Collectors like them because LEGO Mixels come in a series of numbered collectable packets, and LEGO free builders enjoy them because the sets contain some very interesting and useful pieces. And LEGO Mixels are also very cheap, so it is easy to collect them even on a small budget, and an inexpensive way to get a good selection of parts and colors. 🙂

While the LEGO Mixels sets are popular with all age-groups for the above mentioned reasons, there is also a TV show related to LEGO Mixels on Cartoon Network that is geared towards small children. The basic idea of LEGO Mixels is that there are various tribes, each with primary characteristic (we have talked about the tribes previously – see links at the end of this post). Tribe members can combine themselves to accomplish larger tasks that they can’t do alone, or different tribes can mix up to pool together their strengths.

And just like in the TV show, the LEGO Mixels sets can be built individually, or mixed up into combined models. The official LEGO Mixels website has many ideas and building instructions for these alternate models, and of course you can also come up with your own. In fact, there is a whole sub-culture that developed around LEGO Mixels where LEGO fans compete against each other in their Mixels building skills.

While LEGO Mixels have been incredibly fun, one criticism against them has been that the characters in the TV show don’t match the characters in the actual LEGO sets. Many other LEGO themes have accompanying TV-shows and short films (LEGO Legends of Chima, LEGO Ninjago, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO City, etc.), and in most of them the various characters look unmistakenably like LEGO minifigures, and often the background also looks LEGO-built. On the other hand in the LEGO Mixels TV-show the art-style has absolutely no resemblance to LEGO. The only similarity is that characters can be taken apart and combined in different ways.

However now LEGO released a series of short films where the actual LEGO Mixels sets were used. Whether this was in response to the criticism, or was it the plan all along, I don’t know, but I found them to be a lot more interesting than the TV show. They are still incredibly goofy with a very simple story-line that adults will likely not enjoy, however if you play close attention you can see some really clever building techniques in the mixed models. So far I have found six LEGO Mixels stop-motion videos on the official LEGO YouTube channel, and there will probably be more. The six videos are a LEGO Mixels Scorpi and Torts Mix, LEGO Mixels Glorp Corp Max, LEGO Mixels Gobba & Tentro Mix, LEGO Mixels Kraw & Flurr Mix, LEGO Mixels Jawg & Lunk Murp and LEGO Mixels Infernite Max. Each of the videos is less than a minute long, and you can watch them all below:

If you haven’t gotten any LEGO Mixels sets yet, I would highly recommend that you pick up at least a couple to try them out. Again, they are cheap little pocket-size sets with an excellent selection of very useful parts and nice colors. They make great little desk-pals and provide an excellent way to learn interesting building techniques. They can also be used for friendly building contests, birthday-parties, get-togethers, or just for messing around. So far three series of LEGO Mixels have been released (each with three tribes and a total of nine characters), with a fourth series one coming early next year – see links at the end of this post to read more about them. LEGO Mixels are available at most LEGO retailers and also at the Online LEGO Shop.

So what do you think? How do you like the LEGO Mixels sets and characters? Do you mix them up and make your own characters? Or do you use the parts to build something else? And what do you think of the new stop-motion videos? Do you like these or the TV-show better? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

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

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LEGO Ideas: Clash of Clans

by Thita (admin) on December 15, 2014

in Featured LEGO Creations

(Written by Nathan K. – ntk743)

It was over a year ago the last time I had an article published here, so I thought it was time to write again. A lot has happened to me in this past year, including moving from the US to Uganda, Africa with my parents. I carefully packed my most favorite minifigures for the trip in one of our billion suitcases, but unfortunately they were removed without my knowledge to fit in something else. So here I am, LEGO-less in a new country…

I have always been very organized with my LEGO sets; keeping them together like the Man Upstairs in The LEGO Movie. Which also meant that I didn’t really played with them as much. But I always loved minifigures and like to have them around. They are interesting and unique little people, especially some of the more recent ones, like Samukai from LEGO Ninjago, and the new characters from the LEGO The Hobbit sets. Would love to own Thorin, Bilbo, Smaug, and the rest! 🙂

Since I don’t have access to either my LEGO sets or LEGO minifigs, I have been playing Clash of Clans. Clash of Clans is a iOS and Android app where you build and defend your own clan base while attacking other players bases. If you have a smartphone or tablet you have probably seen that COC (Clash of Clans) is one of the top rated games. Some people can get a little too carried away and start spending hundreds of dollars for in-game accessories. I haven’t spent anything until just last week when they were donating all $5 purchases to Product Red (an organization that helps eliminating HIV/AIDS in Africa). I bought a pack of gems for the game, as it was for charity. 😀

As I have been really liking the game, I recently did a search on LEGO Clash of Clans to see if anybody built anything related to the game out of LEGO. Sure enough, there is someone who posted a LEGO COC project on LEGO Ideas. The creator of the idea goes by the name killarkai, and he makes some good points about why he thinks Clash of Clans would make a great LEGO set. This includes the immense popularity of the game: even two years after its original release it is still a chart-topping game with millions of people playing every day. In addition, the game is very simple to play and is popular with all skill levels, genders and age groups, including kids – the all-important demographic for LEGO.

Killarkai’s idea is a starter LEGO Clash of Clans set, comprising the most iconic building and units from the game. He also envisions LEGO creating a range of expansion sets with dark elixir drills, the barbarian king, dragons, hog riders, etc. People could buy different sets and recreate their own arrangement of the village. The starter set would include the Town Hall, Army Camp, Archer Tower, Cannon, Gold Storage, and Elixir Storage. Minifigures included are the Barbarian, Archer, Goblin and Wall Breaker. Items inside the Town Hall would include trophies, a painting of a P.E.K.K.A (the troops are studying whether it is a knight, a samurai or a robot), a map to plan out the next raid, barrel of elixir, chest of gold, and some weapons.

I think this is a very interesting and creative idea for a future LEGO set. As I said, the game is very popular, even amongst people I know. My uncle is a firefighter and both him and his co-workers play, and they are all in my clan. And when I first arrived in Uganda I was walking to class with some other American kids (yes, I’m not the only one!) and one of the first things they asked me was, “Do you play Clash of Clans?” – true story. 🙄

The LEGO Clash of Clans project still needs a lot of votes to reach the minimum of 10,000 that is needed for LEGO to consider making it into an official LEGO set. If you play Clash of Clans, and you think it would be great to have a LEGO Clash of Clans set, you can visit the following link to vote for it: VOTE FOR LEGO CLASH OF CLANS PROJECT. You can also check out the currently available LEGO Ideas sets designed by the LEGO fan community at the Online LEGO Shop.

So what do you think? How do you like the idea of a LEGO Clash of Clans set? Do you play the game? If you would like to join my clan in the game, it is Route 43. I’m a leader of 40+ people (including some I don’t even know). I would love you to come by and join us! And if you would like hear about my adventures in this new country, or you feel sorry for me and want to send me some minifigure friends, just comment below! 😉

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

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LEGO Mixels stop-motion videos

LEGO Ideas: Clash of Clans

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