LEGO 10223 Kingdoms Joust

Kingdom’s Joust was just unveiled for the first time last night at BrickCon. And yes, it looks just as gorgeous, if not more so, in person as it does in the pictures.

Jousting sets have a special place in my heart because one of my favorite Castle sets, Knight’s Challenge, came out when I was a kid. And yes, I know I’m showing my age.

I’ve always loved Castle theme, Forestmen most of all which debuted the same year — 1988. I also created a Miniland scale Renn Fair when I was at LEGOLAND California with a jousting scene.

This new set, similar in the feel and design of the Medieval Market Village, is elegant and fun all rolled into one! Now all we need is the rest of the castle to go with it.

10223 Kingdoms Joust
Ages 12+. 1,575 pieces.
US $119.99 CA $149.99 DE 119.99 € UK 99.99 £ DK 1099.00 DKK AU 199.99 AUD
Watch the Knights battle it out at the Royal Joust!
It’s the most exciting event on the LEGO Kingdoms calendar! Join the King and Queen at the Royal Joust as the knights on horseback battle it out for the hand of the beautiful Princess. This detailed set recreates all the majesty of a medieval pageant, from the large, 6-roomed castle with linked wall extensions, 2 knights’ weapons tents, royal viewing box, jousting fence and of course 2 magnificent jousting horses. Combine 2 Kingdoms Joust sets for a scene that is truly fit for a King! Includes 9 minifigures: king, queen, princess, lion knight, falcon knight, young squire, nobleman and 2 soldiers.
• Includes 9 minifigures: king, queen, princess,, lion knight, falcon knight, young squire, nobleman and 2 soldiers!
• Knight minifigures include armor decoration, helmet, jousting pole, shield and 2 extra weapons!
• Features castle with 6 detailed rooms with lots of accessorie and 2 knight’s tents with weapon holders!
• Open back for easy access to linked wall extensions!
• Also features royal viewing box with flags and coat of arms!
• Includes 2 knight’s horses with detailed decoration, weapon holder and armored headgear!
• Explore the castle rooms!
• Battle it out for the hand of the princess!
• Combine 2 Kingdoms Joust sets for a scene fit for King!
• Castle measures 20″ (51 cm) wide and 12″ (30 cm) tall!

Available for sale directly through LEGO® beginning
January 2012 via shop.LEGO.com, LEGO® Stores or via phone

I love the lady in the green dress!

So much awesomeness, so little money. Once again my wallet is already hurting from the sets I want to buy next year.

’61 Dodge Polara…Aztec Gold

Lino Martins is known as “THE car guy” for two very good reasons:

1. He’s the founder of LUGNuts on Flickr
2. He builds models like this:

This chopped and lowered custom ’61 Dodge Polara is called Aztec Gold and features a fiery hot lowrider paint job, ruby jeweled grille, classic white interior and shimmering pearl gold accents throughout. The strange engine under the hood is a Long Ram and the spare tire cover on the trunk lid blazes in yellow and gold like the Aztec sun.

This was built for the Plus Or Minus Ten challenge over at LUGNuts where we had to build any vehicle from the year we were born…plus or minus ten years. In this case I went minus ten with this flashy ’61.

Now even Lino will tell you that I’m not into cars, but when something this snazzy and this plaid comes along, I just have to stop and take note of it. The coolness meter just blew up after seeing this one!

Be My Brickentine Contest

Will you be my Brickentine? Just in time for Valentine’s Day Klementina Kos has started a new contest. And, as I am one of the judges I figured I better let everyone know about it.

Be My Brickentine – Men’s Contest 2011

NEW CONTEST!! Join our group for all questions and adding entries!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1578666@N20/pool/with/5337226004/

With Valentine’s Day approaching, Klementina is organizing an international contest named “Be My Brickentine”. I am looking for the most original or seductive love story.

Award:
All 16 of minifigure collectable series 3 – get them all!
Free world wide airmail shipping included!

Start: January 8, 2011

End: February 14, 2011

Results:The winner will be announced on February 25, 2011

Organizer: Klementina Kos

Awards provided by: Brickarchitect

Judges: Stacy Sterling, Mariann Asanuma, Klementina Kos

Goal:
The main goal is to win the hearts of our female judges. Love can be expressed in different ways: through songs, gifts, love letters, etc. Be creative, build the most original seductive or love story. Show us your seductive capacities, what you would do to win her heart. Prove that love can be expressed through bricks as well!

Judging:
Judges will pay particular attention to the originality, details, setting, quality of pictures (not a condition), but also to the romantic aspect of the entries.

Rules:
1. Only men are allowed to compete, no women will be allowed to enter the contest.
2. Only one entry per person. Each creation may have accompanying text (optional). Entries may be minifig or other scale. Entries that were published before the beginning of this contest (January 8, 2011) are not allowed.
3. Minimum resolution for photographs is 800×600 pixels. Some basic editing in Photoshop is allowed – cutting out the background, editing color, contrast, etc. LDD is not allowed.
4. Only original LEGO parts are allowed. Entries that have non-LEGO parts will be disqualified, and authors will be notified.
5. You need to post your entries to MOCpages or Flickr group for this contest.
www.mocpages.com/group.php/15409?message=edited
www.flickr.com/groups/1578666@N20/pool/with/5337226004/

If you didn’t notice, this contest is for men only, no girls allowed. But, as most builders are men, that isn’t too big of a deal. So start building and good luck guys!

Destroy the Neighbors

Jalkow made this cute model for the Classic Castle Contest.

The king is planning how he’s going to defeat the neighbours. The head of his army helps to make sure the knights understand what they’re supposed to do.

Entry for the Preparing for war-category of CCC8, over at Classic-castle.

What got me at first was the very impressive stained glass mosaic

But I also fell in love with the mini Castle, mini knights, and tiny town.

Design the Brickworld 2011 Event Kit

Merry Christmas everyone! Although this year still has a few more days to go, some are looking towards the future — as in BrickWorld 2011. Every year BrickWorld, along with several other LEGO Conventions, has one or two event kits that are exclusive to that particular year. Normally it is designed by someone that is involved with running the convention and is not revealed until you get there. This year BrickWorld is doing something different. This year they are hosting a contest to see who can come up with the best representation of “5″

Design the Brickworld 2011 Event Kit

Brickworld is celebrating its 5th anniversary in 2011, and we’re giving you the opportunity to design the convention’s event kit that reflects the theme of “Five.” What does “Five” entail? Almost anything. 5 colors in your MOC. 5 towers on your castle. 5 minifigs in your MOC. 5 cars on your layout. 5 engines on your spaceship. 5 engines on your train. So, have some fun with five of something.

Details:

-The event kit is a small commemorative model comprised of about 150 pieces.

-The parts should be currently in production so we can purchase them in bulk.

-The model is meant to be built and displayed by both children and adults, so it should not be too fragile.

-CAD entries are accepted.

-The deadline is January 31, 2011.

-Please submit a picture of your design to this discussion thread or email the picture to me (mr.bley@gmail.com) if you don’t have a Flickr account.

The winning design will be made into the event kit. You will receive a copy of the kit and be credited for its design.

Naturally I couldn’t help but throw my own hat into the ring.

So if you are interested in sharing your design with hundreds of people, make a model and good luck!

LEGO Mousetrap plus a Contest

I don’t normally post about the same person twos time in a row, but I’ll make an exception for Nannan. His LEGO Mousetrap was just too good to pass up. Especially what he wrote under the picture — “Works on AFOLs too.”

In a totally unrelated, and yet just as tempting to AFOL’s, additional post Nannan is also running a contest on the LEGO Flickr group — Build a turkey, win a gold one!

Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a gold LEGO turkey? Now you can score this real-gold plated LEGO turkey, the only one ever made from ChromeBricks, and it’s awesome. Simply build a turkey in the next three weeks and post a picture here, just in time for Thanksgiving. Yum.

A specially gold chromed turkey by Chromebricks is the much coveted prize of this fun and interesting challenge.

Snow White, Trick or Treat

Paul Hetherington, better known as the BrickBaron online has a knack for the interesting when it comes to LEGO building. Fresh off his award winning Best in Show Mardi Gras spectacular at BrickCon Paul created this model for the upcoming Halloween contest over at LEGOPIRATE.

I love the elements that he used to create the lettering of “trick or treat” and making Snow White so much taller than her dwarves is perfect.

What a wonderful treat for Halloween!

Kevin Chen as R2-D2

LEGO Purists, especially Star Wars Fans, might cringe at the brick modification on this model, but I found Morgan190′s entry in the Eurobricks’ “Let’s Go Cosplay” Contest adorable.

Kevin’s costume was constructed by first hollowing out R2′s head and body pieces with various tools including an xacto knife and electric drill– I would’ve used a dremel if I had one. I cut the studs off the top of the droid torso and drilled a hole for the minifig’s head to fit into. Because the holes in the side of the body are too large for a minifig’s arm pegs, I trimmed a toothpick down to the right size and attached both arms to it, allowing them to remain attached to the body while maintaining their full range of movement.

Kevin Chen, rookie cosplayer and avid R2 fan, is on his way to his very first Star Wars convention!

This is the overall vignette shot showing Kevin Chen in his R2 costume, waiting on the subway platform.

Okay, so it is modified, but at the same time it looks great! And who hasn’t seen some one dress like that for Halloween?

BrickWorld 2010 Recap

BrickWorld, what can I say? It was cool, crazy, and a whirlwind of LEGO goodness.

I took about a billion pictures (okay maybe just 600).

Adam Tucker kicked it up a notch by creating a working “wooden” roller coaster.

One of the most enjoyable new challenges was the boat race.

Mike Tighe’s “Fire Boat” although not the fastest, was certainly the most memorable.

Nannen Zhang and Tyler Clites’ Containment Diorama stole the show with its presentation.

It was great finally meeting some of my internet friends from all over the world in person. I met people from Canada, Europe and even Australia. Some of us have been online friends for years, but we had never met face to face.

I really enjoyed Pepa Quin’s Futurama layout, but then I am a big Futurama fan.

I got an exclusive scope from Kyle of BrickForge — new prototypes that should be available within a few months

I have to say the new Centaur body is my favorite.

I’ve got much more to share that will most likely be in several posts. I’m totally exhausted, drained, and still riding the BrickWorld buzz. BrickWorld was everything I thought it would be and more. To check out all my photos of the event go to my Flickr Photostream.

Are you a Brick of Character?

One of the cool things about going to a LEGO convention is the trophies that are awarded for the different categories. Having done my share of musicals in the past, this one immediately caught my eye on Flickr.

This trophy is for the “Brick of Character” award and will be given away at the upcoming Bricks by the Bay in April.

I look forward to seeing this along with all the other trophies in person. And don’t worry, for those of you who can’t make it to this convention I’ll be sure to do a post or two in it.

And great job to Tommy Williamson aka Geeky Tom for making this little gem.