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LEGO Movie 2, Spider-Man & Toy Story 4 Sets

by Thita (admin) on April 27, 2019

LEGO usually releases new sets at the beginning of the month, however, whenever larger waves are expected, they often release at least some of the sets a bit earlier to minimize strain on their website and spread out the rush of new orders. As April is usually a big month with new releases, it makes sense that several sets became available early. This includes the second wave of The LEGO Movie 2 sets, the LEGO Spider-Man: Far from Home sets, and the LEGO Toy Story 4 sets. So let’s take a closer look at what we got in these collections.

➡ SECOND WAVE OF THE LEGO MOVIE 2 SETS: We get three new sets in this wave; the #70837 LEGO Movie 2 Shimmer & Shine Sparkle Spa, the #70838 LEGO Movie 2 Queen Watevra’s So-Not-Evil Space Palace, and the #70839 LEGO Movie 2 The Rexcelsior. The #70837 LEGO Movie 2 Shimmer & Shine Sparkle Spa features an arched entrance, buildable loudspeakers, lever-operated revolving wall for Balthazar to ‘transform’ into a vampire bat, hot tub with an opening lid and trapdoor function, buildable sink, 2 removable tables, 6 brick-built potion bottles and assorted elements. Characters include Washed-out Wyldstyle, Benny, Balthazar, Calm-Down Kitty, Flaminga, Eight, Archimedes, and Balthazar vampire bat. The #70838 LEGO Movie 2 Queen Watevra’s So-Not-Evil Space Palace features a rotating top section with an opening, detachable rocket for Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi, detachable pods for other characters, security room, detailed dining room and a DJ booth. Characters include Bachelor Batman, Celeste, plus Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi, Ice Cream Cone, Star, Royal Guard and 2 Heart brick-built figures. Both sets come with lots of interesting pieces and sparkly colors. The #70839 LEGO Movie 2 The Rexcelsior is the largest set in the collection and features Rex’s spaceship shaped like a clenched fist. It has opening doors and lift-off roofs, dual microfigure cockpit, and a detailed microscale interior with various rooms and compartments. The handle at the back has a trigger to activate the rapid-fire, 6-missile spring-loaded shooter. Characters included are Stubble Trouble Emmet and Rex Dangervest, plus Emmet and Rex microfigures, and 5 micro raptor dinosaurs. The measures over 7” (19cm) high, 15” (40cm) long and 8” (21cm) wide, so yes, it’s big! You can find all the new sets, along with the previous releases at The LEGO Movie 2 section of the Online LEGO Shop.

➡ LEGO SPIDER-MAN FAR FROM HOME SETS: We recently got the new LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Avengers: Endgame sets, and now three new LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Spider-Man: Far from Home sets are also available; The #76128 LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Molten Man Battle, the #76129 LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Hydro-Man Attack, and the #76130 LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Stark Jet and the Drone Attack. I have to say that the fire monster in the #76128 LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Molten Man Battle looks especially good! It is over 7” (18cm) tall, has posable joints, a gripping claw, 6-stud rapid shooter, buildable ‘melting’ objects including half a car, street lamp and a traffic light attached to its body, molten lava elements and attachment points for minifigures. The three minifigs included are Spider-Man, Mysterio and a firefighter (trying to put out the raging fire monster with a tiny fire extinguisher – funny!). The #76129 LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Hydro-Man Attack includes MJ, Peter Parker, Mysterio, and Hydro-Man, plus a small slice of Venice. The jet in the #76130 LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Stark Jet and the Drone Attack is elegantly shaped and includes adjustable wings, an energy bomb storage compartment, a dual minifigure cockpit with a rear passenger seat and an opening hatch function, plus a couple of stud-shooters. You can press the button on the top of the jet to drop energy bombs or let Spider-Man swoop down on his spider web string. The set includes Happy Hogan, Nick Fury, Spider-Man, and Mysterio. Note that these sets qualify you for the free exclusive #40334 LEGO Avenger’s Tower with purchases of $75 or more. Check the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes section of the Online LEGO Shop.

➡ LEGO TOY STORY 4 SETS: There are seven new LEGO Toy Story 4 sets; six in the LEGO 4+ line (formerly LEGO Juniors), and one under LEGO DUPLO. The sets include the #10766 LEGO Toy Story Woody & RC, #10767 LEGO Toy Story Duke Caboom’s Stunt Show, #10768 LEGO Toy Story Buzz & Bo Peep’s Playground Adventure, #10769 LEGO Toy Story 4 RV Vacation, #10770 LEGO Toy Story Buzz & Woody’s Carnival Mania, #10771 LEGO Toy Story Carnival Thrill Coaster, and the #10894 LEGO DUPLO Toy Story Train. Although the sets are meant for younger builders they can be also interesting to older fans due to the interesting decorated elements, and the minifigures. Note that the minifigs come with regular heads instead of the specialized pieces the previous Toy Story sets had. You can find the sets under the LEGO Juniors section of the Online LEGO Shop.

Also, remember that the LEGO Powered Up components are now available individually. We talked about them a few days ago: LEGO Powered Up Parts Now Available! You can find them in the LEGO Power Function section of the Online LEGO Shop.

What do you think? How do you like the newly released sets? Do you have any favorites? Are you planning to get any of them? 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:

➡ LEGO SHOP IN USA: Online LEGO Shop USA

➡ LEGO SHOP IN CANADA: Online LEGO Shop Canada

➡ LEGO SHOP IN UK: Online LEGO Shop UK

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LEGO Magazines Update & Current Issues

by Thita (admin) on April 26, 2019

in LEGO Books & Magazines

Just wanted to update you on some of the LEGO magazines that are on my desk right now and I flip through whenever I have some free time. Some of them are primarily for kids, others for teens and adults, but they are all great reads for LEGO fans.

➡ LEGO LIFE MAGAZINE: The 2019 April-June issue of the LEGO Life Magazine is now available. As you may know, the LEGO Life Magazine is basically the same as the discontinued LEGO Club Magazine, published directly by LEGO. It is a free magazine designed for kids between ages 5 and 10 that is mailed to their home four times a year. Every issue is packed full of LEGO news, interviews, comic adventures, games and puzzles, building challenges and cool creations built by LEGO fans all over the world. There are also occasional sneak peeks at the latest sets and themes. The print version of the LEGO Life Magazine is not available in all countries, but the PDF version can be downloaded from the LEGO Life Magazine website. (The website tends to be late with publication. At the time of this writing, they still only have the January-March issue.) You can request the magazine or download the PDF version at the LEGO Life Magazine website.

➡ LEGO NINJAGO MAGAZINE: We talked about the LEGO Kids Special Editions magazines some time ago (see: Fun LEGO Magazines by Minifigs & More!). They are similar to the LEGO Life Magazine with puzzles, games, posters, and comics that kids can enjoy. They are official magazines published by Media Lab Publishing on behalf of LEGO. A unique feature of these magazines is that they also include a minifigure with accessories in a foil packet attached to the front. Another unique feature is that unlike the LEGO Life Magazine which covers many different themes and topics, each issue of the LEGO Kids Special Editions magazines cover one interest. So far, they have released magazine featuring LEGO City, LEGO Friends, The LEGO Movie 2, and LEGO Ninjago (we talked about all of these at the link above). Recently, they released a second magazine featuring LEGO Ninjago, this time with a Cole minifigure and a double-sided poster with Master Wu on one side and Ninjago heroes and villains on the other side. Like the previous publications in the series, this magazine is 35 pages long, and the price is $10.99. They are available at newsstands and at OnNewsStandsNow.com.

➡ BLOCKS MAGAZINE: This monthly magazine is published in the UK, but is also available in the US at select bookstores (Barnes & Noble is a good source in the US) as well as through their official website. You can subscribe to one year of issues, two years, and get individual back issues as well. To give you an idea, a one year subscription (12 issues) for LEGO fans in the UK is £54.88, in Europe £83.88, and for the rest of the world £98.88. (This comes to about $10 per issue for LEGO fans in the US, which is on par the price of other niche/hobby magazines.) PDF version of the magazine is also available. The magazine is aimed at older teens and adult LEGO fans and it includes set reviews, interviews with LEGO designers, interviews with prominent members of the LEGO fan community, news, events, guest articles by LEGO fans, custom builds, building techniques, reports from community events, articles on LEGO’s history, etc. Each issue is around 110 pages long with so many articles that there is plenty to read for the entire month, until the next issue arrives. If you would like to learn more, visit their website at BlocksMag.com.

➡ BRICK FANATICS MAGAZINE: This is another subscription magazine for teen and adult LEGO fans published in the UK by the same team that runs the BrickFanatics.com website. Five issues have been published so far. While Blocks Magazine has European size A4 pages (somewhere between a US letter and legal paper), the Brick Fanatics Magazine is half that size, so it’s small and easy to carry around. The total page count per issue is about 80. The content is very similar to Blocks Magazine; set reviews, interviews, news, events, building techniques, etc. It’s interesting that the UK can support two magazines like this, but I guess that’s a good thing for the community. This magazine also offers one and two year subscriptions with prices about the same as Blocks Magazine for the UK, and better for the US ($7 per issue). Both magazines offer free shipping for subscribers. Individual issues are available at select books stores (Barnes & Noble in the US). For more information, visit BrickFanatics.com.

➡ HISPABRICK MAGAZINE: This magazine for teen and adult LEGO enthusiasts started in 2008 as an initiative of some Spanish LEGO fans in order to preserve the best custom models and articles that were published in their community. From the third issue on, the magazine has been published in two editions of identical content – one in Spanish and one in English. Thirty-two issues of the magazine has been published so far, with usually 2-3 new issues per year. The printed version of the magazine is available in Spain by an on-demand printing service, and the free PDF version can be downloaded at HispaBrickMagazine.com.

In summary, there are several magazines available for LEGO fans, both young and old. If you have kids, I recommend signing them up for the LEGO Life Magazine. It’s free, and includes plenty of games, reading material, and other activities for young LEGO fans. The LEGO Kids Special Editions magazines are not subscription based, and issues only come out sporadically, so they could make extra special gifts for young LEGO fans. For older LEGO fans, both Blocks Magazine and the Brick Fanatics Magazine could be a good option. They are very similar, so if you are interested, I would recommend picking up one issue of each and see which one you prefer before subscribing. For casual digital reading, HispaBrick Magazine is a great choice.

The benefit of LEGO magazines over LEGO books is that they offer fresh, relevant, and up-to-date information on current events and information. The downside is that they are not as current as online LEGO news sites and forums can be. However, magazines can compensate for this by publishing high quality, in-depth articles on a particular topic that LEGO news sites usually don’t have the time and resources to write. If you want to delve deeper into LEGO-related topics, magazines can be a good option.

What do you think? Are you subscribed or have any copies of the LEGO magazines mentioned here? How do you like them? Would you recommend them to other LEGO fans? 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:

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LEGO Movie 2, Spider-Man & Toy Story 4 Sets

LEGO Magazines Update & Current Issues

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