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Win LEGO Friends set, book & stickers!

by Thita (admin) on March 24, 2013

in Community News

LEGO Friends have been a big hit with young girls and adults alike. Girls like the characters and the story-based sets, and adults the beautiful pastel colors and tons of accessories that come with the LEGO Friends line.

Besides standard LEGO Friends sets there are also books, accessories and tons of other fun stuff under the LEGO Friends label. Today I would like to show you two products by DK Publishing, a well-known publisher for their beautiful and very high quality LEGO books and BrickMaster sets. Then I tell you how you can get your very own copies. 😉

LEGO FRIENDS BRICKMASTER BOOK & SET: As you probably know already BrickMaster books are fun picture and story books for children that also include LEGO bricks and minifigs. Within the stories there are instructions to build various small sets from the included LEGO elements. These books have been very popular as they provide both fun and education. They are also great for collectors of unusual LEGO sets.

The LEGO BrickMaster books are hard-cover with full color pages, and there is a built in compartment behind the front cover where the LEGO elements and minifigures are included. Below is the official description of the LEGO Friends BrickMaster book:

When the girls of Heartlake City are around, there’s always something cool to do! Now young girls everywhere are invited to join in the fun with DK’s LEGO Friends: BrickMaster book. They can follow Mia and Chloe as they search for buried treasure hidden somewhere in Heartlake City or create an adventure of their very own. Featuring more than 100 LEGO bricks, two LEGO minifigures, and an entertaining book packed with exciting stories and clear building instructions, the LEGO Friends: BrickMaster book will bring creativity and fun together in a way like never before!

The LEGO Friends BrickMaster book is 47 pages long and includes five chapters; all short and fun stories about Mia and Chloe’s adventures. It also includes all the LEGO pieces needed to build the sets described within the story, as well as two mini-dolls; Mia and Chloe. The chapters are as follows:

Chapter 1: Mysterious Map – includes building instructions for building a bed, chair, window, and planter with plant.
Chapter 2: Building Fun – includes instructions for building a raft, an apple-tree, a work-bench, and an axe.
Chapter 3: Setting Sail – includes instructions for building a mast and rudder for the raft, a lookout point (which is a fun micro-build), and another tree.
Chapter 4: Cave Discovery – includes instructions for building the cave, a table, and some awesome treasure the girls have been after.
Chapter 5: Bejeweled – includes instructions for building a fireplace, a sofa, and table.

❗ The LEGO Friends BrickMaster book is available at bookstores as well as on Amazon. The regular price is $29.99. Amazon’s price right now is $19.79. You can get it here: BUY LEGO FRIENDS BRICKMASTER BOOK

LEGO FRIENDS ULTIMATE STICKER COLLECTION: If you or your kids are into stickers and like LEGO Friends, this LEGO Friends sticker collection is a must! Seriously; it has over 1,000 reusable full-color stickers related to LEGO Friends! There are stickers of all the mini-dolls, their accessories, activities, pets, etc. Many of the stickers are full-size (meaning the real size of the mini-dolls), and there are also small square stickers that would work well in a diary or notebook. The LEGO Friends sticker book also includes a 32-page story section where you can learn all about the girls and their hobbies, and place the larger stickers. Here is the official description:

The LEGO Friends Ultimate Sticker Collection contains more than one thousand full-color reusable stickers of all the LEGO Friends mini-doll characters and their accessories, pets, and favorite places! The book is packed full of information about the girls of Heartlake City; readers can find out about each characters’ likes and dislikes, pets, special talents, and the city they live in. Lively captions provide bite-size LEGO Friends facts, while caption headings match up with the labels on the sticker pages, providing extra help for children to complete their sticker books.

❗ The LEGO Friends Sticker Book is available at book-stores as well as on Amazon. The regular price is $12.99. Amazon’s price right now is $9.35. You can get it here: BUY LEGO FRIENDS STICKER BOOK

Now, as far as how you can get your own copies of both of these LEGO books, DK Publishing was kind enough to provide two copies of each book for our readers in a fun little contest/giveaway, so here you go: THE LEGO FRIENDS BOOK CONTEST

➡ HOW TO ENTER: In the spirit of LEGO Friends let’s keep this simple and fun. To enter the contest just finish the following sentence in the comment section below:

If I win the LEGO Friends books I will…

➡ WHAT ARE THE RULES: Nothing difficult; just complete the sentence. You can say whatever you like. One entry per commenter please. If you comment more then once, only the first comment will count. Other than that just keep common-sense courtesy and manners otherwise your answer can be as serious or funny as you want! Have fun!

➡ HOW TO WIN: Contest will run from now until Sunday, April 7th at midnight US EST. Once the contest is closed I will ask my little sister to pick two numbers between however many comments are there. (So if there are 100 comments I will ask her to pick two numbers between 1 and 100. Don’t worry; she is old enough to know her numbers!) Whichever numbers she picks are the winning comments.

➡ WHAT YOU WIN: The winning commenters will receive two LEGO books: the LEGO Friends BrickMaster book, and The LEGO Friends Ultimate Sticker Collection book.

➡ HOW TO RECEIVE YOUR PRIZE: If you are the winning commenter I will contact you by email. Please make sure your email address in your comment is correct! You send me your shipping address (no PO Box please) and DK Publishing will send you both LEGO books! Best of luck! 😛

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Brick Breakdown: LEGO Ninjago Samurai Mech

by Thita (admin) on March 23, 2013

in LEGO Ninjago

(Written by William)

In this Brick Breakdown series I’m reviewing official LEGO sets but with a bit of a twist. Instead of just writing a general review I focus on unusual and clever building-techniques LEGO designers used in the set. This way we can all learn new building ideas to use in our own LEGO creations, or at least get some inspiration to look at LEGO elements in a different way. 🙂

One of the coolest sets in 2012 has to be the #9448 LEGO Ninjago Samurai Mech. It features Samurai X’s main mode of transportation, and it does it in style. Anyone who has seen the Ninjago cartoon-series knows this is a very accurate recreation of the mech featured in the show. Now it’s time to explore why this is better than other LEGO mech models.

➡ LEGO JOINT-STOPPING TECHNIQUES

Every mech LEGO puts out is typically fully equipped with remarkable joints. These are often ball-joints that have decent stability along with an impressive array of movement options. However what separates the Ninjago Samurai Mech from the rest of the mechs released by LEGO is how movement is limited. This is actually a good thing.

LEGO builders will often spend a great deal of time figuring out how to make a certain section move on a mech. Less time is spent devising ways to stop a joint moving in a specific direction making the mech’s movement look unnatural. This is not the case with the Ninjago Samurai Mech.

Upon closer inspection you will notice moving flaps around the hips, knees, and shoulders of the Samurai Mech. You will see small obstacles preventing movement surrounding the head cockpit. There are also small lift-arm protrusions at the ankles to prevent the foot from being angled awkwardly.

The result is a LEGO mech that maintains its stance based on its limitations. This gives it a very interesting effect and a good dose of reality. Ultimately you think of it only as the Samurai Mech and not just a lot of LEGO elements slapped together in a cool way.

➡ ADVANCED LEGO SNOT TECHNIQUES

The first encounter LEGO builders have with LEGO SNOT (Studs-Not-On-Top) techniques often comes from a decorative element. It usually takes the form of a vehicle’s bumper or special design on the side of a building. When it comes to the world of LEGO mech design, SNOT reaches a whole new level. Arms, legs, hips, feet, hands, and even torsos will often be constructed using this technique.

LEGO slopes and tiles see plenty of usage in creating interesting shapes with this technique, where the studs end up sideways. The Ninjago Samurai Mech goes one step further and uses unconventional elements like shaped LEGO bricks, LEGO windows, spinner tops, and saw-blades to achieve the same goals as LEGO slopes and tiles would.

SNOT is a technique that is almost impossible to teach to a new LEGO builder just by giving instructions. It has a lot to do with finding creative orientations of normal LEGO elements to make them appear more than they are. Therefore it is a great idea to examine each element of the Ninjago Samurai Mech (i.e. arms, legs, feet, etc.) and identify the techniques you find most interesting. This will hopefully allow you to imitate concepts successfully in your own LEGO models.

➡ APPLYING WHAT YOU LEARN

Getting a handle on how to make successful stops for joints is no easy feat. It will take lots of practice to work your way up to the level of the Ninjago Samurai Mech. In the meantime, start experimenting with more limited joint-movement. A good place to begin is with a basic hinge. Then you can try combining that with a swiveling component. Once you’re satisfied with the results, integrate the various mech joints LEGO has to offer. Both the LEGO Creator line and LEGO Hero Factory offer excellent choices for finding the appropriate joint pieces.

As for improving your LEGO SNOT work, start by designing something simple. Try creating an arm, neck, or tail with numerous segments. Set a goal to make each and every segment distinct while still matching the other segments. Since these types of LEGO builds are often seen from multiple directions and are highly mobile, they give you a good framework for figuring out creative designs while also keeping the part-count manageable.

I hope I helped you look at the Ninjago Samurai Mech from a bit different angle. Instead of just building LEGO sets according to the instructions and try to finish them as fast as possible, it is a good idea to pause at times and study the building-techniques used. This will make you appreciate LEGO sets even more and ultimately become a better free-builder.

What do you think? How do you like the advanced LEGO building techniques used in the Ninjago Samurai Mech? Is there any other LEGO mech design that you really like? Have you ever tried to build your own LEGO mech? How did it turn out? Feel free to share in the comment section below. Would love to hear about your own discoveries! 😉

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

Brick Breakdown: LEGO City Alarm
Brick Breakdown: LEGO Battle of Helm’s Deep
LEGO Ninjago Samurai Mech Review
Small Things Come in Quick Packages! MBA-2 (LEGO mech-building)

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Win LEGO Friends set, book & stickers!

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