MECHS!!!! -- Bricks in the News - NPR

A lot of the Fan Media sites are quick to publish articles when LEGO shows up in popular media or a larger news media site. I caught one yesterday that I haven’t seen posted elsewhere. It was posted on 28 November 2022 on NPR. The article is written by Rakiesha Chase-Jackson. It’s titled “How Legos helped me rebuild my foundation.”

And before I go any further, I will acknowledge that there are some fans out there screaming about the misuse of “Legos” and how she should have said “Lego Sets” or Lego Bricks” or something like that. It’s all good friends. Not the end of the world. We get what she’s talking about.

You can find the NPR article here. It’s a good story about someone stumbling into the hobby and how they came to enjoy it. I think it also does a good job pointing out the benefits of LEGO producing sets in different themes to appeal to different audiences. Not everyone has to be a die hard Star Wars fan. Some people are really into mechs.

Enjoy the read. Happy building!

Brick le France - with beaucoup de retired sets

If you’re an American AFOL, you’ve probably glanced at notices for new sets and have seen pricing in other countries listed. You’ve probably also seen AFOLs from around the world complaining about how sets are priced in their country as compared to US prices. As an American AFOL living in Germany, I figured I would take a look to see what I could learn.

Before I go into a specific example, I wanted to point out a difference in taxes. In the states, depending on where you are, you pay a sales tax. This tax is priced in after you make the purchase. So LEGO sets its retail price (or Walmart, or Amazon.com, etc.) and then you pay an additional percentage at checkout. In Europe, from what I’ve seen, the Value Added Tax or VAT is built into the price. Your receipt tells you how much the item actually was and what you paid in VAT. So keep that in mind for those Americans who forget the sometimes 8% to 10% sales tax that gets added onto purchases.

Back to my main point… I stopped at a Cora store in France a few weeks back. For those of you in the US who have never been, Cora is kind of like a Walmart only the one I went to was much nicer than a Walmart. While there, I of course had to check out the LEGO selection.

First off they had a lot of retired Collectible Minifigures, but not the current Harry Potter Collectible Minifigure series.

As you can see from the pictures, they had the Ninjago movie minifigures still on sale for €3.99 each. These were released back in August 2017 in the EU and apparently they still have them at retail price. Next you can see the Batman Movie Series 2 minifigures. These were released in the EU on 1 January 2018 and Cora had them for €3.50 which is less than the original retail of €3.99. Finally they had the Series 18 minifigures for €3.50. They were released back in April and again Cora had them for less than retail. I’m wondering if this is a trend in Europe or an anomaly. At Walmart or Target, usually collectible minifigures go fast so I was surprised to see so many options

Next up were a few City sets.

You can see #60104-1 - Airport Passenger Terminal - Retired in France in November 2017. Retail was €99.99, but selling for €94.99. Also #60051-1 - High-Speed Passenger Train - Retired in France in June 2018 and selling for €10 under retail. #60052-1 - Cargo Train is right next to it. It retired in June and they still have it selling at the original retail price. The last one I’ll mention is #60103-1 - Airport Air Show which retired in France back in January 2018. I have no idea on pricing from the picture I took because the label does not match the set. Anyways, interesting to see some retired sets still out there.

I didn’t go nuts taking pictures of all of them and I didn’t buy any either, but one that stood out was #75105-1 Millennium Falcon. It retired in France back in January 2018 and was done in the US back in November 2017. It was still at Cora and there were multiple copies. I know I have seen the price of that set going up on BrickLink.com and I may have been one of the sellers of those a few months back.

If any Americans are reading this, should I have bought some of the retired sets you can’t find in the states anymore? Even with the exchange rate of around $1.20 to the Euro, would it be worth it? What do you think?

Set Review - #71019 - The LEGO Ninjago Movie Collectible Minifigures

The LEGO Ninjago Movie comes out on 22 September 2017.  Numerous set announcements have come out with sets based on the movie and you can see the trailer here.  With this movie as like the LEGO Batman and The LEGO Movie, there is another set of Collectible Minifigures.  Released on 1 August 2017, the Ninjago Movie has 20 unique minifigures.  They are $3.99 at retail price and you can order up to 40 from LEGO Shop @ Home.  Since the movie isn't out, I can't comment on any of the characters in terms of their roles in the movie, but here is what I think of the minifigures.  

Zane - First up on the left is Zane.  In that sweater, he looks like he could win an ugly sweater contest.  

Lloyd Garmadon is next in the middle. I like the bowl and spoon although the spoon is pretty big compared to the bowl.

GPL Tech -  This character is great!  The huge glasses and lab coat, laptop, and coffee mug.  Nice!

Jay Walker - The selfie stick is a nice touch.

Misako - Has there been a character with that color orange hair yet?

Shark Army General #1 - I'm curious to see the movie to find out what this character is about. 

Gong & Guitar Rocker - Is LEGO running out of ideas.  How many rockers have we had in the past?  Let's see, we've got the Rock Star from Series 12, the Monster Rocker from Series 14, and Glam Metal Batman from The LEGO Batman Movie.  I think they need to start coming up with some other ideas.

N-POP Girl - The Uni-Kitty shirt is nice.  I almost missed it at first.  Her hair, while a different color, is the same as Nurse Harley Quinn from The LEGO Batman Movie.  Her skirt/tutu looks familiar too.  

Cole - I don't remember the last time I saw an old school stereo like that.

Master Wu - This is a great character.  I like the hat and the box of corn flakes.  

Sushi Chef - Now I'm going to have to make a sushi restaurant.  The little rolls are a nice addition to the figure.

Lloyd - This series comes with 2 Lloyds.  This figure has a hair piece and then a mask piece.

Garmadon, Flashback Garmadon, Volcano Garmadon: The 2 torsos are a first for any of the collectible minifigure series releases as far as I know.  I like the taller figure design.  I wonder if we'll see this method more often in the future?

Shark Army Great White, Shark Army Angler, and Shark Army Octopus are some different characters for sure.  The octopus is the first time I've seen one of the LEGO guns that shoots a 1x1 round tile piece.

Spinjitzu Training Nya and Kai Kendo are the last 2 to make 20.  We've had one similar which is back in series 15, the Kendo Fighter.  

Overall, should you buy this series.  To be fair, LEGO has me addicted and I have this strong urge to collect all if the figures in every set they release.  Also to be fair, I run a store and sell the extras so if I get a figure I don't want, I put it up on Bricklink.  If you are addicted like me, run out and grab them.  If not, there are a few figures that are fun, but to me nothing over the top.  Maybe my mind will change once I see the movie.