Category: News

Registration is now open for Bricks by the Bay 2012

The 2012 Bricks by the Bay Convention registration is now open!

The 2012 LEGO convention for the bay area will be held Friday-Sunday, March 16-18. Benefits of attending the convention include:

  • Custom engraved name badge made out of LEGO bricks
  • Access to speeches, presentations, and discussion sessions
  • Show your models in the Grand Ballroom for convention attendees and the public
  • Become a vendor (additional fee applies) to sell LEGO and related products at the convention and public show
  • Exclusive discounts at the LEGO store (TBD)
  • Chance to receive free LEGO sets in Prize drawings and contests

The event theme this year is “Green.” It is inspired by the fact that St. Patrick’s Day takes place that weekend, but we’re not limiting it to that: any creative use of the color green, subjects relating to the environment, and of course Ireland or St. Patrick’s Day themed models are suitable. In 2010 our theme was “The Brick Artistic” and in 2011 it was “Creative Combinations.”

If you’re interested in attending the whole convention, read all about the Convention, Hotel, Registration, and Schedule, along with more information about the weekend’s events.

Not sure if you want to come to the convention or just the public day? Read our FAQ to find out more.

How to Register:

  1. Go to the hotel site and reserve your room if you’re staying at the hotel – $10 discount per room on convention fees.
  2. Go to our convention registration form and register for the con.

Participation Options:

  • If you’re bringing anything to display, we are using a wiki workspace to plan space for each theme. Request a wiki account and add what you are bringing to the appropriate wiki page(s). (Click the Edit tab at the top of the page you want to edit to get started).
  • If you want to volunteer to help behind the scenes, subscribe to our planning mailing list.
  • If you wish to be a vendor, first register for the convention, and then fill out out Vendor Registration form (everyone working your booth must be a registered attendee).

LEGO makes a deal with Marvel too?!

I just posted about the new deal with DC Comics, and now I hear that LEGO’s Disney deal has expanded to include Marvel superheroes as well! So it looks like we’ll be getting Spider-Man back also. According to an article on stitchkingdom.com:

The LEGO SUPER HEROES Marvel collection will spotlight three Marvel franchises – Marvel’s The Avengers movie, and X-Men and Spider-Man classic characters. The LEGO Marvel’s The Avengers movie line brings such ever popular Marvel characters as Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Loki and Black Widow to LEGO minifigure form. The LEGO X-Men collection includes minifigure comic versions of Wolverine, Magneto, Nick Fury and Deadpool, while the LEGO Spider-Man sets offer minifigure comic versions of Spider-Man, and Doctor Octopus. The first buildable characters in the LEGO SUPER HEROES collection are highlighted by Captain America, The Hulk and Iron Man. Select figures will be unveiled in the LEGO booth (#2829) during Comic-Con International at the San Diego Convention Center July 21-24.

LEGO Batman is coming back, with reinforcements!

Good news for superhero fans! LEGO and DC Universe (aka DC Comics) have announced a new partnership made through Warner Brothers that will have LEGO making new sets featuring Batman and other heroes from the DC Universe. According to an article in Variety,

The multi-year licensing deal, made through Warner Bros. Consumer Products, will start rolling out the new line in January, starting with 13 characters, including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and villains the Joker, Bane, Harley Quinn and Lex Luthor.

This is great news for minifig collectors and superhero fans! LEGO made Batman themed sets a few years ago, which have become highly valuable to collectors in the past few years. My advice? Buy as many of these new sets as you can afford and stick them in your attic for a few years, then sell on eBay.

LEGO Conference Table

Have you seen this? An Irish advertising agency called Boys and Girls has commissioned their conference table to be made entirely of LEGO bricks. They hired the architectural firm abcg Architects to design and build the table for the agency’s conference room at their Dublin headquarters.

LEGO Conference Table

Check out the article at The Resident Architect for more pictures and information. There’s a stop-motion video showing how it was built at the end of the article.

Bricks by the Bay 2011 Registration now Open!

I’m happy to report that the registration form for the Bricks by the Bay 2011 LEGO convention is now available for general registration. I’ve been working hard with a team of volunteers (we can always use more help if you are interested) to get the convention organized and planned.

So if you’ve been waiting for this news to register for the convention, your wait is over. Head on over to the site now and sign up!

http://www.bricksbythebay.com/register/

R.I.P. Daniel Jezek, Bricklink founder/owner

The LEGO community has lost one of its most valuable members. Daniel Jezek created and ran BrickLink, the online marketplace for secondhand LEGO parts and sets, which is a cornerstone of the LEGO hobbyist community. He will be sorely missed.

Daniel Jezek, 1977-2010 ... Rest in Peace

More information and a copy of his eulogy can be seen at a special page on Bricklink established in his memory.

Let Your Android Control Your Robot

Today, LEGO has announce a new Android App for LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT.  If you have an Android based phone, you can use this to manipulate your LEGO robots using Bluetooth.  I have a Motorola Droid, and I have two MINDSTORMS NXT sets, but have never built anything with them.  I really should get around to doing something about that.

(About half the words in this post are trademarks of someone or other, but I don’t feel like inserting all of the ® and “TM” indicators….)

Goodbye, nnenn

I was stunned to learn today of the passing of Nate “nnenn” Nielsen in an automobile accident. Keith of the Brothers Brick has posted an excellent eulogy which I encourage you to read along with the many comments from members of the online community included in the post.

It’s relatively rare that we learn of the death of a LEGO hobbyist, but whenever it happens I always wonder what would happen to my collection of bricks after I’m gone? Estate planning is always a touchy subject, but I would encourage everyone to give it some thought, as I will be doing.

And even if you’re not a space builder, consider building a Vic Viper for the Missing Man Fly-In at BrickWorld in Chicago in June or BrickCon in October. Keith is collecting contributions for a group display honoring nnenn’s work.

http://www.brothers-brick.com/2010/04/13/farewell-to-a-legend-mourning-the-passing-of-nate-nnenn-nielsen/

New Power Functions Remote Recall

I just got the following notice in my email from LEGO:

SAFETY RECALL NOTICE
Dear LEGO Consumer
In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the LEGO Group is voluntarily recalling the 8879 Power Functions IR Speed Remote Control unit, which poses a thermal burn hazard to users when  batteries inside overheat. The remote control unit was sold separately as item #8879 or was included in K8882 Power Functions Kit or the K10194 Emerald Night Collection.
We are writing to you because our records indicate that you purchased one of these items. LEGO Systems has found that some of the remote control units (the kind that was included in your set) are not performing correctly. If your remote is one of the affected you would have noticed that it becomes hot to the touch in the first 5 to 10 minutes of initial operation. If you did not experience this situation when you first loaded batteries into the remote then your remote is not affected. If your remote is affected, we ask that you return it to us in exchange for a new remote control unit.  Simply call 1-800-718-1858 between the hours of Monday-Friday 8am-10pm ET and Saturday-Sunday 10pm-6pm ET (if outside the US/Canada dial +1-860-763-3211) and we will give you instructions on how to return the unit and also answer any questions that you might have.
Thank you for your time and attention to this, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We wish your family many more happy and creative hours of building fun with LEGO brand products.
Yours sincerely
LEGO Consumer Services
LEGO Systems, Inc.
555 Taylor Road
Enfield, CT 06082

Mine seems to be fine – how about yours?

Ignite: Hillel Cooperman – “The Secret Underground World of Lego”

Hillel Cooperman gave an “Ignite” presentation on the adult LEGO community recently. You can see it here on Youtube:

I found this through a post on Facebook by Felix Greco (I don’t think I can link to that because of the way Facebook works). The comments were not entirely positive, mostly around the way he talks about the adult LEGO fans, implying that they are so nerdy that they don’t date. It does sound to me like Hillel is not entirely comfortable with his AFOLishness. If he hadn’t had a kid and a wife who was enthusaistic about Harry Potter LEGO, do you think he would’ve rediscovered LEGO? Somehow I doubt it. However, most of the presentation was pretty positive. I do think he needs to take more pride in LEGO as a hobby and not denigrate his fellow AFOLs. But all in all, it’s a pretty good overview of the LEGO scene, told in an engaging and lively manner.