Lego X-Wing unveiled in Times Square

Star Wars and LEGO fans got a big surprise in New York City on Thursday when the Danish toy company unveiled a massive X-Wing made of LEGO bricks to promote their new animated television special, The Yoda Chronicles The massive sculpture is actually a 1:1 scale model of the X-Wing fighter, the craft that Luke Skywalker flew in the original Star Wars films. Gizmodo reports that it measures an amazing 43 feet long, stands 11 feet high and has a 44-foot wingspan.


 

This is the largest LEGO structure ever assembled, it uses 5,335,200 pieces of lego.

Legoland latest press release 25 Apr 2012

Just received the latest press release on the new Malaysia Legoland (Johor).
more pictures at Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/LEGOLAND.my

Mr Siegfried Boerst, General Manager of LEGOLAND Malaysia, announced the official opening date. (thanks to ECL Tan for the pictures)

The official opening date is 15 Sept 2012. Currently the theme park is 70% completed. They expect to welcome 300,000 visitors per year, majority will be visitors from Singapore. The ticket price for 1 day is S$58 (for adult) and S$46 (for children). So far 35,000 had been sold, 33% is bought by Singaporeans. 

Construction for a new Legoland hotel with 249 rooms just started, it will take 2 years to complete. The hotel is tailored for visitors who intended to stay 2-3 days at the theme park.

LEGOLAND Malaysia Office building

Legoland Annual Pass Ticket update

LEGOLAND Malaysia: www.legoland.com.my

A fellow Singaporean blogger amodularlife had got her Legoland ticket from SISTIC (local ticketing outlet). An annual pass at S$80 (plus $3 ticketing charges), the pre-opening annual passes are designed to allow Legoland enthusiasts not only to enjoy up to three months in 2012 and all of 2013, making the annual passes a value buy. In my opinion, it will worth the value if we can visit the park at least 3 times or more a year, just to try out all the 40 rides.

According NST report 7,000 annual passes have been sold with Singaporeans accounting for 35% of sales. NST Report

Information on getting ticket from SISTIC (well, i'm not pay doing this promotion)
SISTIC Legoland Ticket

fellow lego blogger: amodularlife

Legoland Malaysia Latest Update Feb 2012

On Tuesday Straits Times, 31 Jan, there is a latest report on the Malaysia Legoland. Singapore visitors key for Legoland. I would just post a few statements here for your information. The news article talk about the new rides, visitors expectation, entrance cost and a few others.

"All in all 5 million lego bricks had been used for the Legoland."

"The day passes which will be on sale in 2 months, are RM140 for adult and RM110, RM30 discount for Malaysian showing their identity card. The Malaysia's opposition has criticised the government for pouring millions into a theme park which may never earn back its RM720 million investment."

There isn't any typo mistake....RM 720 MILLION!! for the manpower & cost of 5 million bricks?

The exact location of Legoland in Johor Malaysia, a 10 mins drive from Singapore

The park will be opened in September or October 2012. LegoAsia will be the first to visit the park and we will have a special field report with tons of pictures.

Lego Targets Girls with New Lego Friends Toys

Following the earlier Lego Friends post, check out this clip from Bloomberg on Lego business. Acheiving an amazing USD 1 billion sales in the US market in 2010, lego will now target the girls market.

Bloomberg news 23 Dec - Lego's push for Girls
Lego A/S, the Danish maker of plastic toy bricks, is rolling out Lego Friends, aimed at girls 5 and older, on Dec. 26 in the U.K. and Jan. 1 in the U.S. Gigi Stone reports on Bloomberg Television's "InsideTrack."

Lego Lord Of the Rings Coming Summer 2012!

Yes it is confirmed that Lego LOTR will be arriving in Jun next year!

it was first mentioned on Toyrak, Groovebricks, majorspoilers and a few others.

Press release on 16 Dec

Warner Bros and Lego have released news that they will be releasing Lego toys based on The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies. Check out the press release below:

Warner Bros. Consumer Products and The LEGO Group Build on Partnership to Produce Construction Toys for THE LORD OF THE RINGS™ Trilogy and the Two Films Based on THE HOBBIT

-Building Sets Based on Epic Film Trilogy and Forthcoming Theatrical Release Slated for 2012-

BILLUND, Denmark and Burbank, CA – December 16, 2011 – Warner Bros. Consumer Products and The LEGO Group announced today a partnership that awards the world’s leading construction toy brand exclusive rights to develop build-and-play construction sets based on THE LORD OF THE RINGS™ trilogy and the two films based on THE HOBBIT™. The multi-year licensing agreement grants access to the library of characters, settings, and stories for THE LORD OF THE RINGS property, as well as films The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again. LEGO® THE LORD OF THE RINGS construction sets are slated for a rolling global launch beginning in June 2012 in the United States, with LEGO THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY scheduled for later in the year.

“Only LEGO, with their expertise in the construction category, is capable of doing justice to the incredibly imaginative environments depicted in the world of THE LORD OF THE RINGS and the two films based on THE HOBBIT,” said Karen McTier, executive vice president, domestic licensing and worldwide marketing, Warner Bros. Consumer Products. “These films give life to amazing worlds and characters and we are thrilled to bring fans these products that deliver an imaginative play experience befitting of these beloved properties.”

The LEGO THE LORD OF THE RINGS collection will translate into LEGO form the epic locations, scenes and characters of Middle-earth as depicted in all three films, including The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

In late 2012, LEGO THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY will give fans of all ages a chance to build and play out the fantastical story and new characters of the legendary Middle-earth adventures depicted in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey from Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson, slated to premiere December 14, 2012.

“Our collaboration with Warner Bros. Consumer Products has delivered numerous worldwide successes in the construction toy aisle with lines like LEGO HARRY POTTER and LEGO BATMAN, introducing us to loyal audiences who love great stories, strong characters and the toys that they inspire,” said Jill Wilfert, vice president, licensing and entertainment for The LEGO Group. “It’s particularly exciting to now be able to create sets based on the fantasy worlds and characters from THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy and the two films based on THE HOBBIT, not only because we know they will foster collectability and creative play, but also because these are two properties that our fans have been asking us to create for years.”

Information about the sets and collectible minifigures from both collections will be unveiled at a later date at TheLordoftheRings.LEGO.com.


Blog post back in April 2011
(One of the top 10 popular posts for the last 30 days, ranked no.8)
Lego LOTR

Lego Man in Papers

Head-scratching in Florida over Lego Man

A huge Lego sculpture that mysteriously appeared last week on a Florida beach will remain in police custody for 90 days while investigators try to figure out its owner.

The more than 2.4m-tall Lego Man weighing about 45kg turned up on the sands of Siesta Key beach off Florida's gulf coast last Tuesday, but no one has claimed responsibility for putting it there.

A swimmer first reported the green, yellow and red sculpture which says " No Real Than You Are" on the front, and "Ego Leonard" on the back.

The Danish manufacturer of the widly popular brick-building toys - which opened the world's largest Legoland in Orlando, Florida earlier this month - has denied any involvement.

In January, grand piano appeared mysteriously on a tiny sandbar in Miami's Biscayne Bay, and weeks later, a 16-year old boy owned up.

He had moved the piano onto the beach with the help of his father in a bid to make a video to help him get into a Manhattan art school.

AFP, AP

if it isn't produced by Lego company, this giant minifigure should be Made in China.

Singapore The Edge News (Feb 28 - Mar 6)

The Edge Singapore issue 461 (Feb 28–Mar 6)

Was reading the edge, there was a picture of Obama watching the lego robotic demonstration.

Obama watches a Lego robotic demonstration while visiting Intel, which is still considered an icon of US innovation.

Hillsboro is the location of a large research and manufacturing facility for Intel Corp, the global semiconductor giant. On Feb 18 US President Barack Obama visited the site as part of his tour of the American heartland to drum up support for the restructuring of the economy and his plans involving education and innovation to help create new jobs.

Malaysia Legoland Update News 27 Feb

A report on today Sunday Times Life Section 27 Feb, Legoland across the Causeway.

Across the causeway, on behalf of readers not from Asia, Singapre & Malaysia are linked by 2 causeways, to go to this Legoland in Johor, we will take the shorter route using the 2nd Link Causeway which is just 15 mins drive from my current place. I will be planning for a trip when it opens next year!

With the western style modular houses of Green Grocer & Cafe Corner, well Asia has it unique row of traditional shophouses. Left to right KLinik Lee (Klinik means Clinic in Malay), Kedah Tayar Sen LYim (Tyre shop, Sen Lyim (meaning business in dialect), Kedah is a state in Malaysia), Pancy's White Coffee Bistro and Pin Pin Hair Cut.

I don't have a scanner, i had taken pictures of the content for reading.
30 million bricks used with 15,000 lego model structures!

Legoland targeting kids from 2 to 12 years old..well many AFOL will visit the place too!

CBS Lego AFOL

Check this recent CBS news report on AFOL, 4 Oct 2010.

Lego builds profit, market share in first half

COPENHAGEN

LEGO, Europe's biggest toymaker boosted profit and market share in the first half of the year, helped by sales of Star Wars and Lego City building-block sets and the introduction of new board games.

Net income jumped 64 per cent to 1.12 billion kroner (S$256 million) in the first six months, up from 684 million kroner for the same period last year, the Billund Denmark-based company said yesterday in a statement.

Revenue rose 34 per cent to 5.86 billion kroner, from 4.37 billion kroner, extending a growth streak that began in 2004.

The group said all its markets "recorded double-digit growth rates in its sales" during the period, including key markets such as the United States and Eastern Europe.

Classic product lines like Lego City, Lego Star Wars, Lego Technic and Lego Duplo generated the largest sales.

The compnay said that it increased its share of the global toy market to 5 per cent in the period as the market expanded by about 2 per cent.

That compares with Lego's 4.8 per cent market share for the whole of last year, and 3.6 per cent in 2008.

Lego said it has had a "positive reception" for the introduction of new board games such as Minotaurus that compete with products by market leader Hasbro.

The group's chief executive, Mr Joergen Vid Knudstorp, said yesterday that he was satisfied with the result.

"All our markets can report strong growth," he said in the statement.

"We are moving into our peak season when our market releases will include a number of brand new Lego Harry Potter products," he added.

Lego, which estimates that children spend five billion hours a year playing with its multi-coloured bricks, has bought licences from movie-makers including Lucasfilm and Walt Disney.

Meanwhile, Hasbro, based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in the United States, reported on July 19 that second-quarter revenue declined by 7 per cent.

The family-owned Lego does not release quarterly figures.

BLOOMBERG, AP


With the huge increase in sales, I guess lego price is just going up, the price is already markup by about 5-10% this year.

We had already sense the strong buying of lego in Singapore this year compared to previous years, it seems more and more people are jumping into lego. The speed at which lego is sold at the recent sales proved that the demand is getting stronger. Check my 20 Aug post.

As a vintage star wars collector, I don't collect Lego Star Wars now, as it is just too pricey in my opinion.. and true Star Wars collector will go into the original 80s vintage stuff, this is where the value lies.

Anyway...just have fun brickin'. I will make a post on the shipment I received last night.