Two weekends — Two LEGO Store Openings

Fresh off the plane from BrickCon — and yes, I know I still haven’t covered it yet (I’m getting there eventually 😉 ) — I went to not one, but two LEGO Store Grand Openings. This may be one of the first times that two LEGO stores have opened so relatively close, geographically speaking, to each other.

I can hear the complaints now, and I’m sorry that California has so many LEGO stores when you might not have any. It’s not like its my idea. For me I’m very grateful that I have so much access to LEGO, it certainly helps my business. 🙂

So, back to the Grand Openings. Two weekends ago the Mission Viejo store opened. Located in Orange County California, its a bit of a drive from my house, but as its very close to several of my LUGOLA friends, I’m up there all the time anyways.

Here’s what the new Mission Viejo Store looks like

I didn’t manage to get a picture of the interior of San Diego, but here’s a shot of the outside. It looks like it might be even bigger than the Mission Viejo one, but I’m not sure.
I really like the giant minifigs on the side 🙂

The main reason I am combining the two grand openings is that they both had the same building event — Giant LEGO Spongebob.

Here’s the 2 foot version

And here’s what he looks like at 8ft with Master Model Builder Steve Gerling standing by

The builds were the same, but they were also completely different. Mission Viejo is an indoor mall, so it was nicely climate controlled and better lit at night. The San Diego Fashion Vally mall is outdoor, so even with umbrellas, and the fact that its October, the mid-day sun was not fun to work in!

The set up was slightly different too as you can see:

Mission Viejo

San Diego
I am really surprised that hardly any LEGO fell in the water fountain that we were using as our backdrop. 😀

I helped construct a good deal of the San Diego one, in fact I started the build, and was on my knees a lot that first day putting all the bricks into place. By Sunday I couldn’t really help much as even with a ladder Spongebob was a little too tall for me. Somehow with both builds I got drafted to build the feet. That may not sound like a lot, but you haven’t seen the picture yet:

That’s me holding the small feet while the big ones are on the table. Fellow SandLUG member Michael Todd, dressed as LEGO’s original mascot, jumped in the picture too. 😉

Not only was Spongebob built, there were quite a few original creations too like this great giraffe

Some of San Diego’s finest, members of our local marines, came to help out too.

I also snapped this awesome Mario and Goomba created by Austin Scott at the San Diego LEGO Store

In addition to all the Spongebob fun, there are the Grand Opening exclusives that everyone always wants to see so here they are —

Mission Viejo Minifigs

Sadly no exclusive torsos in this one, but it does have the exclusive container and the printing on the backs

Mision Viejo Shirt

San Diego Minifigs

There is one exclusive torso — “I Love LEGOLAND” — and all have exclusive printing on back

San Diego Shirt

They were great events to help participate in and both stores have an awesome staff!!!

I look forward to finally being able to go to some of the LEGO store events now that the San Diego one is open and I know I’ll be spending a lot of time at both stores. 🙂

Life’s a Beach

Joshua Morris is known for his elaborate and creative MOCs (My Own Creations) and his newest is no exception. At first glance it looks like a pretty simple beach scene that he made primarily to show off all his new Collectible Minifigure Series 2 figs. But as you look closer you see the level of detail he’s put into this model.

I love how the Pharaoh is making sphinx and the Spartan is making a sand castle. 🙂

The wave the surfer is riding is an excellent use of a simple curving technique.

Great job Joshua!

Eurobricks Raffel and Mystery Treasure Hunt

Just like everyone else, the members of Eurobricks are searching for the new Series 2 Collectible Minifigures. But they are doing it in a fun and interesting way. A combination of a scavenger hunt and a raffle all rolled into one their newest contest is a bit of both. If you’ve been drooling to get your hands on the Pop Singer, Karate Master, Pharaoh, or any of the other figures this might be your chance.

They are systematically unveiling a figure a day and giving you a hint at where in the vast Eurobricks forums to find them. Once all 16 are revealed (they are on figure #5) you have to compile a list of the exact link of where the figures are and send it in. If your list is correct then you get put in the raffle for a chance to win one of the 16 figures.

I guess I’m not all that good at guessing the clues, I only found the first one so far and the others seem to stump me pretty good. Not that I’ve tried very hard. 😉

If you are not already a member of Eurobricks, then unfortunately you can’t enter. But if you are, this is a fun and interesting way to win one of the new figures. You can read all the official rules of the contest and then get hunting. Good luck! 🙂

Collectible Minifigure Series 2 starting to show up in the US

While Europe has had the new Collectible Minifigures for a while now, they are slowly starting to trickle over on this side of the pond.

There has been only one confirmed sighting that I know of so far, at least among my friends. Tony Sava down in Texas found them at his local Toys “R” Us. I imagine that if it is a one TRU, than it will be at many soon.

Like Series 1, this is a small production run. So if you see them, get them, as they will most likely disappear just as fast or faster than the previous set.

I don’t know what will be the “hot” figures from this set. There definitely seems to be more winners than losers in this one. There are so many fun new elements, my favorite being the tiny Minifig trophy the karate master has.

There is a very nicely done review of all the figures on Eurobricks and Tony was nice enough to compile a barcode sheet for the US.

What’s even more exciting is that Steve Witt confirmed LEGO already has up through Series 5 designed and that they will keep making them as long as they are popular.

I look forward to the hunt and good luck at finding your favorites! 🙂

Are LEGO sets gender biased?

There has been a discussion going on lately on the Flickr group FFOL Brick Chick (Female Fans of LEGO) on whether LEGO as a company is gender biased or if it is the parents that buy into the stereotype that LEGO is a boy’s toy. Now with only 40 members in the FFOL group and 6,220 members in the LEGO Flickr group this is a valid point of discussion.

Here’s a little bit of what I said on FFOL:

I think it is a little bit of both the parents steroetyping and LEGO itself for still not getting what girls want. Even while LEGO tries to make inroads with female LEGO fans, they still mainly market and produce sets for boys.

No, I didn’t see LEGO as a gender biased toy growing up, but then again, I was more of a tomboy than a girlie-girl anyways. But even I made mostly houses and castles as a child. In fact the whole reason I got into LEGO was that I saw it as miniature houses that I could take apart and build in what ever way I wanted.

As I got older and realized that I was the odd girl out with most of my friends and family (heck, I took all my brothers’ LEGO when they grew out of it) and that most girls, including my sister stopped playing with LEGO when they were still kids. I also realized how much LEGO miss marketed their products, making it very clear what the “girl” sets were with pastels and pinks in the sets.

In fact, it seems that they were less gender biased when I was a kid in the 80s. At least then they didn’t make all the girl’s sets pink. Granted, that was because they didn’t have pink or much more than the six colors at that point but still.

According to Steve Witt, there is a new line of girls sets coming out next year that “is nothing like you’ve seen before” (direct quote). And that these new sets will have four new colors. I’ll still wait and see on that one.

But at the same time, I also asked Mads Nipper if they were ever going to produce a dollhouse-like set. He said no, and yet now we have the new city set that I could only call a dollhouse.

My real question is this — does LEGO even realize what constitutes as a girls versus a boys set? My own conclusion is no. I honestly don’t think LEGO even knows what they already have and what they need.

In the New York Times there was a recent article that talked about this:

There’s a particular kind of story one reads occasionally, making fun of the worst excesses of political correctness. But this entry is about the other extreme—a toy manufacturer so far in the dark ages that even Don Draper might snicker. I’m told that the latest craze among the toddler set is Lego Minifigures—little people to inhabit the recently-built creations of your own little person. I’ve been looking forward to the day I can build Lego houses with my daughter. But we won’t be playing with these Minifigures. You see, there are sixteen characters in the set, but only two are female. That’s the sort of gender ratio you see at a typical economics conference, but even we economists know that we need to do better. But the lesson that Lego leaves for impressionable minds is even worse. The two female characters are a cheerleader and a nurse. Even on Mad Men, Peggy Olson rose to copywriter.

Even Barbie stopped saying “Math class is tough” eighteen years ago.

Now knowing what I know of how LEGO is trying to find a better balance of male/female sets and representation, this article is a little harsh. But at the same time, even the next Collectible Minifigure series is stereotypical = pop singer, witch, and “baywatch” babe lifeguard for the female figs. Females can just as easily be Karate masters, surfers, etc., etc.

Of course since they are minifigs, you could always make the “boy” figures “girl” figures and vise-versa. 😉

So what do you think? And what can we do to change it?

LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 2

Grogall of Eurobricks has provided us with the first hi-res images of the LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series 2.

There are quite a few wonderful gems in this set. The Pharaoh, the Centurion, and the Surfer all look really cool. I have to say, one of my favorites is the Karate master with the trophy. 🙂

The coolest thing is that when I was at Bricks by the Bay Mads Nipper said that the plan for these collectible minifigures is to have two series a year until they either run out of ideas or they stop being popular. From the vast popularity that is already evident both on and off the internet I don’t think that will happen anytime soon. 😉

Collectible Minifigure Series 2

Although we have yet to see the first wave of these Collectible Minifigures which are set to be available in June, the first images of the Series 2 are already showing up thanks to the Toy Fairs. Proceed drooling now — 😀

This is by no means an official list but it does mention a couple more figures you can’t see in the picture:

– female lifeguard (Baywatch minifig)
– vampire
– judo fighter (with a great detail: a mini-trophy that looks like a mini-figure)
– Mexican with Sombrero
– 70s like guy with black curly hair
– witch
– Pharaoh
– Roman (or Greek) soldier
– surfer
– guy with skis
– female singer
– weightlifter
– thief
– ringmaster

One assortment contains 60 figures. Each assortment is planned to contain all 16 figures, but there may be 10 of a certain figure and only 3 of another.

Series one is supposed to be out in June as we all know, the second series in September will be packed in blue bags by the way.

via homoludens of Eurobricks.com

These Collectible Minifigures are making me excited about minifigs again. And all the fun new elements that these figures have makes me even more excited! 🙂