Awesome Toy Blog

Star Wars Day is May the 4th (get it? May the 4th??) and to celebrate LEGO Star Wars is creating a virtual mosaic experience for fans. This Friday, May 4th (Avengers opening day), visitors of any LEGO brand retail stores and LEGO.com are encouraged to build a LEGO Star Wars creation, take a photo of their creation and then upload it to the starwars.lego.com/creations page. These images will then be compiled into the largest ever LEGO Star wars virtual mosaic image to be revealed on May 5th! To top it off – one random submitter will will a Lego Darth Maul desktop build.  Happy Star Wars day!

  

I guess that it’s also app night here on AwesomeToyBlog, as I also wanted to pass on the news that Lego has their DC Super Heroes Movie Maker app now available on iTunes for free. This app lets you create a LEGO stop motion movie on your iPhone. It features simple tools and guides allowing you to shoot, edit, score your movie and save it to your phone to share. Check out the trailer below, or just go to iTunes and download the app – its free, so you’ve got nothing to lose!

 

Yet another reason to go to see “The Avengers” on opening night, Lego has announced that they are distributing 2 Million posters featuring ‘The Avengers’ done minifigure style. Check out the image below – really starting to get excited for this movie!

If you’re a fan of both modern architecture and Legos – Dwell magazine and Pacific Standard Time have announced a Modern Home Design competition where you put your building and design skills to the test. The task is to build a modern home completely from Lego blocks. 5 finalists, based on online voting, have their buildings go to the ‘Dwell on Design’ conference where they will be judged by a panel of judges. Prizes include VIP ticket to Dwell on Design and two (2) LEGO Architecture building sets: LEGO Architecture Empire State Building and LEGO Architecture Burj Khalifa for finalists with the grand prize being a cash prize of $250.00, a  “Ice Cube” poster, and a selection of LEGO Architecture building sets including: LEGO Architecture Solomon R. Guggenheim® Museum, LEGO Architecture Fallingwater®, LEGO Architecture White House, LEGO Architecture Rockefeller Center, LEGO Architecture Farnsworth House, and LEGO Architecture Robie House. Entries are due March 29th! You can see all the details, including entry information here.

Sideshow Collectibles posted an update to their website today with an announcement that they’ll be offering Lego sets on their website in the near future. Buy purchasing the sets through Sideshow there’s access to the flex pay system and 5% cash back as part of their Sideshow Rewards program. Check the vague, detail lacking announcement on Sideshow’s website here.

 

One of the new lines featured at Lego’s Toy Fair collector’s event was ‘Monster Fighters’ – sets that pair up classic monsters with the people hunting them. Based on the first impression of the sets – these would be ripe for some back story. Well, as it turns out, there is one and in conjunction with the crowdsourcing platform Tongal – you have the opportunity to add to the ‘Monster Fighters’ universe. Lego is looking for creative, fresh and unique animated shorts to support the release of ‘Monster Fighters’. The total cash prize for this promotion is $20,000! To read more about the project, check out Tongal – but hurry the concept phase of the competition ends on the 15th of March. If you want to see the story behind Monster Fighters keep reading after the jump.

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One of the announcements out of the Lego Collector’s Event is that their renewed their Star Wars license for an additional 10 years. This is great news, Lego has done a great job of keeping this line fresh and I look forward to seeing what the future holds! Keep reading to see the full press release for the announcement.

“The Force” Remains with The LEGO Group

-World’s leading construction toy manufacturer renews deal
to solidify LEGO® Star Wars™ franchise development-

BILLUND, Denmark (February 13, 2012)- (Virtual Press Office) – The LEGO Group and Lucasfilm Ltd. today announced renewal of the Star Wars™ licensing deal that, 12 years ago, transformed a construction toy theme into a global entertainment property with strong cross-generational, multi-platform appeal. Fans can look forward to LEGO® Star Wars product and content development for the next 10 years, according to the terms of the deal.

The LEGO Group first acquired the rights to manufacture LEGO toys based on the Star Wars universe in 1999, marking the first time in its global history that the world’s leading construction toy manufacturer would represent someone else’s story and characters in the LEGO world. What was once considered a licensed novelty is now considered a core LEGO franchise, similar to LEGO CITY, and ranks among the company’s global top themes.

A best-seller since its introduction, LEGO Star Wars has experienced tremendous growth over the last six years in particular, due to the continued strength of core construction toy development and expansion to video games, publishing, television and video content and other relevant categories for fans of all ages.

“It is very rare to find an evergreen property that delivers growth year on year in toys, even in years without events driving box office buzz, yet Star Wars defies all odds, continually reinventing itself, and our LEGO business continues to grow exponentially,” said Jill Wilfert, Vice President of Licensing and Entertainment for The LEGO Group. “Star Wars is a cultural phenomenon that shares many characteristics with the LEGO brand–cross generational appeal, versatile story and character content, creativity and imagination—and we believe that we can continue to grow LEGO Star Wars for many years to come.”

“We are delighted to have extended our long and very successful relationship with LEGO Group,” said Derek Stothard, Senior Director for Global Toys and Hardlines at Lucas Licensing. “Bringing together these two iconic global brands has created something special that is enjoyed by kids, families and fans everywhere.”

Star Wars is as relevant—perhaps more relevant—today than it was in 1977 when it was introduced, and in 1999 when the first of the next three episodes began to be told. For 2011, Star Wars is the #1 property and #1 license for Boys ages 6 and older according to NPD Group, and has been a top 3 boy’s license for the last 11 years. The LEGO share of the property continues to grow, as new generations of children discover, engage with and explore the Star Wars stories through constructive play.

A global toy phenomenon
LEGO Star Wars continues to rank among the best-selling global toy lines, with in excess of 200 million boxes sold worldwide since its 1999 launch. More than 340 LEGO Star Wars models have been developed, replicating iconic scenes and starships, as well as more than 425 minifigures from the Star Wars universe. Sets depict everything from the feature film Saga to the animated television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Four cross-platform LEGO Star Wars video game titles have changed the face of casual gaming, selling in excess of 30 million units, and are reciprocally driving desire for building toys and video games while also bringing families together to share both forms of play. The line has inspired short- and long-form entertainment in the form of mini movies and the first-ever 30-minute television special, LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace, aired on top children’s networks around the world, including Cartoon Network in the U.S., Super RTL In Germany and on France TV, and is now available on Blu-ray/DVD. LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary from Dorling-Kindersley has been on the New York Times Bestsellers list for 81 weeks, topping the list at number-one for 18 weeks. Additionally, the franchise is the basis of the first-ever LEGOLAND® Park Miniland display area based on a fictional environment, which debuted last year in Carlsbad, California, Billund, Denmark and Gunzburg, Germany and opens this year in Windsor, England.

Lego held their annual Toy Fair Collector’s Event this morning, giving the media their first look at the 2012 product this morning – and providing breakfast! Highlights of the event were the reveals of both the ‘Lord of the Rings’ and the Marvel sets. Also debuting at the show were the ‘Monster Hunter’ sets – some great minifigs in these sets.

Not pictured, but included in the press guide – the Lego Architecture line is continuing into 2012 with releases pending of Big Ben, the Sydney Opera house and the Namdaemun Gate. When I get back to Phoenix, I’ll post images of those sets – but very glad to see Architecture continuing another year.

Check out the gallery below for tons of Lego goodness.

Lego has gotten fans and collectors talking this week with two announcements of new product lines.  Earlier this week, Lego announced their “Lego Friends” line.  Targeted at young girl, this line features revamped – almost Polly Pocket-esque – mini-figures and lots of pink, blue and purple bricks.  Of course geeks of all flavors are up in arms about gender stereotyping and other things, so I’ll let google be your friend on this one.  For some images of the sets and figures, check this out.

Today’s announcement focused on the addition of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ to Lego’s list of licensed properties. I’d expect these sets to be on display at Toy Fair in February with a global launch in June 2012.  You can read the full press release here.

With this holiday season having the first Lego Star Wars advent calendar, Lego has set-up a small Star Wars holiday site featuring a Santa suit clad Yoda. On this site, Lego has 3 free holiday e-cards and as an incentive for sending them to your friends and family, for each card sent Lego will donate to Toys For Tots!  This is a fantastically easy way to make a difference for a child this holiday season – and the middle card is pretty awesome to boot!  Head over to www.legosantayoda.com, send a card and help a kid.  Couldn’t be easier!

Great (unofficial) news for fans of Lego’s collectible minifigures line.  It looks like the series will continue into 2012, as images of waves 6 and 7 have been posted on-line (first at www.spielwaren-hegmann.de/then on flickr by fbtb.net). As with the previous series there are some stand-out figures (butcher, pajama guy, hippie) and some continued themes (cave-people, tennis players, another skateboarder).  Check them out below; series 6 could be showing up in stores as early as December if last year’s release pattern holds.

Last week on Cartoon Network, the first Lego Star Wars animated special; The Padawan Menace, premiered.  I had the opportunity to attend a screening of the special and thought it was a fun, light-hearted take on the Star Wars universe.  If you saw the special and loved it…or missed it, you’re in luck as the DVD and Blu-Ray release details have been announced.  Coming September 16th to both formats, this animated special is available for pre-order now at Wal-Mart.com (just $13!) and includes an exclusive Han Solo mini-fig.  After the jump, check out the official press release which has all the details of what is included on the disc.

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Just a quick reminder that the first full length Lego Star Wars adventure is set to premiere tomorrow on Cartoon Network at 7PM Eastern.  I had the opportunity to attend a screening while at SDCC, and the special is a fun and fantastic animated adventure.  To whet your palate, check out the trailer below.

 

Earlier today, the news hit that not only would Lego be releasing construction sets based on DC Universe properties, they would also be releasing sets based on Marvel properties as well!  At preview night, Lego had a bit of a teaser on hand as they had a select few mini-figures from each Universe.  And frankly, they looked great.  Check them out in the gallery below; I’m going to have to get my hands (or claws!) on these!

Lego sent over an announcement for their brand new 30-minute animated Lego Star Wars special that’s set to air on Cartoon Network in just a few weeks.  Debuting July 22nd at 7:00 PM (Eastern and Pacific) this special features animation and humor in the style of the Lego Star Wars games.  Check after the jump for full details on this special – Lego Star Wars: The Padawan Menace!

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