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LEGO Santa’s Workshop available now!

by Thita (admin) on September 17, 2014

in LEGO Exclusives

The official LEGO holiday set for 2014, the #10245 LEGO Santa’s Workshop is now available for LEGO VIP members! (It will be available for non-VIP members on October 1st). Make sure you are logged into your LEGO VIP account when you visit the Online LEGO Shop, so you can get it early. 🙂

The #10245 LEGO Creator Santa’s Workshop is part of the very popular LEGO Winter Village series that started back in 2009, with one set each holiday season. They are medium-size LEGO sets with sweet Christmas scenes that kind of look like a Thomas Kinkade painting. For a lot of families it has become a tradition to set up the ever-expanding LEGO Winter Village around the Christmas tree. Because LEGO only releases one set a year, they don’t require a huge financial investment or take up a lot of space, and provide lots of family fun for the holidays. So far six sets have been released, and they are listed below for your reference:

#10199 LEGO Winter Toy Shop – released in 2009 – RETIRED
#10216 LEGO Winter Village Bakery – released in 2010 – RETIRED
#10222 LEGO Winter Village Post Office – released in 2011 – RETIRED
#10229 LEGO Winter Village Cottage – released in 2012 – RETIRED
#10235 LEGO Winter Village Market – released in 2013 – AVAILABLE
#10245 LEGO Santa’s Workshop – released in 2014 – AVAILABLE

Going back to the 2014 LEGO Winter Village set, here is the official description of the #10245 LEGO Santa’s Workshop set: Have festive family fun building Santa’s Workshop! Enjoy the magic of Christmas with Santa’s Workshop, a festive addition to the LEGO Winter Village Series! Gather your family around the Christmas tree to build this enchanting winter wonderland. Help the elves make the toys, feed the reindeer and help Santa load up his magical sleigh. Santa’s wife has baked cookies and the clock tower shows it’s nearly time for Santa to deliver the presents—all at the most wonderful time of the year! Includes 6 minifigures: Santa with red gift sack, Mrs. Claus with cookie tray and 4 elves with pointy ears and hats. 883 pieces. Price: $69.99 – SEE MORE PICTURES & BUY HERE

Also, below is the designer video for the #10245 LEGO Creator Santa’s Workshop, so you can see all the sweet details. I have to say I’m very impressed with that sled and I really like the little assembly-line for the elves (is that Benny’s Spaceship the little elf is holding?). Also, I think the reindeer are really cute. I have heard some people mentioning they would have preferred moulded animals, however brick-built creatures are just more LEGO-ish and fun. At least that’s what I think. Although I’m surprised none of them has a red nose.

The LEGO Winter Village sets (as well as the LEGO Christmas Calendars we talked about the other day. (See: 2014 LEGO Advent Calendars & More!), and are usually gone if you wait too close to the holidays. If you are a LEGO VIP member you can get it now, or you can wait until October 1st when it becomes more widely available. The benefit of getting it now is that you will definitely have it before the crowds attack LEGO stores ad the Online LEGO Shop, and the benefit of waiting until October is that you will get a free exclusive holiday set with two more elves and a little workshop for them (plus double VIP points the entire month).

So what do you think? How do you like the LEGO Santa’s Workshop set? Are you planning to get it? Do you collect the LEGO Winter Village series? Feel free to share your own thought and opinion, and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

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

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Custom LEGO RiGGED System by BrickForge

by Thita (admin) on September 16, 2014

in LEGO Customizers

You may remember that recently we talked about a new set of accessories by BrickForge, one of the most prominent LEGO customizers (see: Custom LEGO WWII Items by BrickForge). These items are actually part of a brand new product-line introduced by BrickForge called the RiGGED system, which allows LEGO fans to design and decorate their minifigs in a lot more creative ways than before. A second set of accessories have been just released within the same line, so I thought to write an update.

Custom LEGO by BrickForge WW2-Axis-Get-Rigged

According to BrickForge’s blog, RiGGED stands for: Rapid – Interchangeable – Guns – Gear – Equipment – Design. The RiGGED system is a type of MMA (Modular Minifigure Accessory) structure and consists of traditional 3mm & 1.5mm peg & hole combinations integrated into quality ABS minifig accessories. Armors, belts, straps & other types of pack devices contain a series of 1.5mm pegs; constructing a three-dimensional canvas to which minifig enthusiasts can attach a number of other RiGGED accessories. The mix of which spawns hundreds of color/type combinations making each minifig more unique than the previous.

Custom LEGO by BrickForge WW2-Allies-Rigged

“MMA – Modular Minifig Accessories are clearly the next evolution of 1.5” scale figure elements.” says Kyle Peterson (a.k.a. Armothe), owner of BrickForge Minifig Accessories. “Instead of a single piece of armor with various details molded into the design, the RiGGED system offers enthusiasts the opportunity to build their own custom body armor; where details consist of actual elements that can be pieced together to form a complete assembly.”

Custom LEGO by BrickForge WW2-Allies-Rigged-Dynamics

BrickForge has introduced the RiGGED system with its recent assortment of World War II accessories. Wave 1 consists of 17 elements in 6 colors. The Field Suspenders and Haversack are composed of pegs while most hand-held pieces are molded with a corresponding cavity. In addition, most firearms have removable attachments such as scopes, magazines & bipods – useful for creating multicolored accessories. Wave 1 elements like the Haversack can also attach to existing BrickForge elements like the Shock Trooper Armor & Tactical Vest.

Custom LEGO Military Accessories by BrickForge

And the recently released Wave 2 introduces 20 new accessories modeled after items used by the AXIS powers during World War II, such as Fallschrimjager, Afrika Corps & Nachtjager.

“Wave 1 was about the heroes, Wave 2 introduces the villains.” says Armothe. “Well, I suppose one could argue they were heroes for their country – either way minifig fans have a few more RiGGED accessories to mess around with”.

The new wave includes a printed M35 German Helmet, two-tone Stick Grenade, Field Cap, Satchel, Modular Vampir rifle, and more. Because elements are engineered with the RiGGED system they inherently couple with items from Wave 1, expanding customizing possibilities. There are also plans for a Wave 3 of accessories (and probably more) and new colors.

I’m really excited about this new system and the possibilities. I’m not so much into the World War I and II era, so I haven’t gotten any of the accessories yet, but I’m planning to get at least some to try out. It is interesting to know that they are quite similar in concept to the Mega Bloks modular minifigure accessories, especially in the Mega Bloks Call of Duty sets. I always liked the options the modular system offered, and was hoping that something similar will be used by LEGO at some point. So I’m happy to see BrickForge’s pioneering work in this regard, and I hope that they will also expand the system into other themes.

Custom LEGO BrickForge and Mega Bloks Comparison

If you are interested in the new selection you can check out BrickForge’s Online Shop. Here I’m directly linking to the new WWII items, but you can also check out their full selection from the sidebar. BrickForge representatives also frequently attend LEGO shows and conventions, so if you happen to visit one, check out the vendors. It is really nice to see all the custom LEGO items in person. Please note that I have no affiliation with BrickForge. I just really appreciate their talent, work-ethics, and products.

So what do you think? How do you like BrickForge’s WWII selection? Are you planning to get any for your own minifigs? 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 Santa’s Workshop available now!

Custom LEGO RiGGED System by BrickForge

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