Blog And News Articles

An image of the June 2017 LEGO Store calendar has appeared, and it looks like a new Carousel will be coming to the Fairgrounds theme. The rumor of a new Carousel started back in January, but gained a lot of traction over the last week. Set 10256, Fairground Carousel, appeared on Brickset earlier this week, which added fuel to the fire. Early this morning, part of the June 2017 calendar appeared online, and it seems that the Carousel will appearing in June. (Image from BrickGeekz Facebook page) The Zombie Apocalypse Initial concern from BrickPickers could be classified as the "Death Star Effect." Would we be getting a new set, or, as many feared,…

THought this was funny! Grown-Ass Men Denied Entry to Lego Playground, Say It's a Human Rights Violation

Here is the list of current and upcoming polybags in the LEGO world. If you've found a polybag that's not on this list, or have any update to give us, please note it in the comments below. This information is put together from a number of different sources on the Internet, including real world reports. Availability in your area may vary. This information is US-based. These are from within the last 12 months. Polybags Currently Available Set # Theme Set Name Locations 30350 City Drilling Machine Walmart 30347 City Fire Car…

As with most Lego promotions, you must spend a required amount of money to get the 'free' item. Many folks also use promotion stacking on http://shop.lego.com which is the process of spending just enough money to earn multiple promotional items. After waiting too long to order products at shop.lego.com to obtain the popular 40252 Mini VW Beetle promotion (sold-out online), I visited my local Lego mall store. This store had current promotional sets available including 40252 and the 40265 LEGO Friends Tic Tac Toe set. The purchase requirements were to spend $50+ for the VW Beetle set and $20+ in Friends items for the Tic Tac Toe polybag. Both are popular items…

Hello LEGO fans...Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. It's that time of year again. Time to raise money for my son Max's school, St. Paul School, in Burlington, NJ. After a very...VERY...successful first BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE in which we raised over $62,000.00 for the school, a year has passed, and it’s time to raffle off some dynamic LEGO gifts for charity. The money we raised last year literally kept the school open...which is a great thing. It's a special school that once again was voted BEST Private School in Burlington County, NJ, by The Burlington County Times, along with numerous other awards, such as: CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE 2017 BRICKPICKER LEGO RAFFLE FOR…

I never had a LEGO system scale AT-ST. I got a UCS one from a comic shop, but that's not really the same. Even when I was a kid in the 80's, this was never my favorite vehicle. Now I look at my AT-AT and feel like it's missing something. The AT-AT is missing its little brother AT-ST. I was so excited to find out that this vehicle was coming for Rogue One. I really needed to fill out my display. It doesn't matter what minifigures are with it, as long as it fits with my Original Trilogy stuff. I didn't want to backtrack and find the 2007 system scale version because a set that's a decade old usually looks like a set that's almost 10 years old. This set looks good on the box…

For decades, the problem with collectible toys has been degradation of the materials. For most toys made in the past 40 years or more the main component is ABS plastic. ABS plastic breaks down and changes color as it ages. This process can be accelerated via exposure to UV rays (sunlight or fluorescent bulbs), Heat, and chemical reaction to other plastics. Most collectors have fought a losing fight to prevent their lighter colored plastics from turning yellow (or green if there is a blue coloration to the piece.) For many years various solutions had been proposed to roll back the scourge of time. Solutions included (but were not limited to) a good scrub, bleach,…

The Ultimate Collector Series, or UCS for short, of LEGO sets tends to focus on the Star Wars brand. These UCS sets are the gold standard by which Star Wars sets are judged. They tend to have a much higher piece count and are much more detailed than the standard run of the mill sets. In 2000 the earliest Ultimate Collector Series began with the 7181 TIE Interceptor and the 7191 X-Wing. Like my previous article Brick by Brick, Breaking Down Expensive Lego Sets: 10212 UCS Imperial Shuttle we're going to be taking a look at what makes up one of these sets, in this case, 7181 TIE Interceptor. When looking at an old and expensive set that you want to buy, how do you d…

I remember when the leak for this LEGO set first surfaced. "What? Princess Leia wears purple and green? Admiral Ackbar is in it? Is this a new B-Wing?" It excited me inasmuch as any new Star Wars set does. Plus, we didn't know that it was called Resistance Troop Transporter. As images got larger, my enthusiasm diminished. When it hit the stores, and there was no other new Star Wars to buy, I was back on board. So let's take a look at the set that never made the Kessel Run. Let's Review. REVIEW: SET DETAILS Set #: 75140 Name: resistance Troop Transporter Theme: Star Wars Parts: 646 Price: $69.99 Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At $69.99 the …

Vinicius & Tom

Today, we are happy to report that our second book "The Collectible LEGO Minifigure: Values, Investments, Profits, Fun Facts, Collector Tips" is now available for purchase. This was a fun book to put together since we were able to work with the Lego community to obtain fun photos of Lego minifigures in action. In the coming weeks, we will be announcing winners of the contest that we had when we first introduced that this book will be published. The first review of the book has been published by Huw over at Brickset and he states that "Nevertheless, it is a fascinating book that will appeal particularly to minifigure collectors." Huw Millington and Dr. Dave Watford h…

As much as I enjoy LEGO's super hero offerings, sometimes they put out characters that I just don't really care about. It's not that I don't like Doctor Strange, I just really never cared about him at all. When I first saw this set, I was struck with how interesting it looked. It's kind of like the Big Bang Theory set, but more interesting. You know, because of a giant Cthulu monster popping out of the wall. This set is exclusive to Target and to LEGO Shop at home, or LEGOLAND shops. This is the only set made for the forthcoming Doctor Strange film. It's much like last year's Ant-Man set in that regard. REVIEW: SET DETAILS Set #: 76060 Name: Doctor…

Many Bothans died to bring us this set breakdown. Well, not really, but something like that had to be said. Actually, many people tend to confuse which Death Star the Bothans died to bring information about, and this is canonically the right one. The Ultimate Collector Series Death Star II is a pretty good representation of the object from the movie. I mean, as far as unfinished balls are concerned it really hits on all cylinders. OK, I kid, I kid. I really do like how they designed the final look, Released in 2005, the UCS Death Star II sold for $298.99. The set contained 3441 pieces. As of July 2016, used copies were selling for about $893 and u…

Here is the list of current and upcoming polybags in the LEGO world. If you've found a polybag that's not on this list, or have any update to give us, please note it in the comments below. This information is put together from a number of different sources on the Internet, including real world reports. Availability in your area may vary. This information is US-based. These are from within the last 12 months. Polybags Currently Available Set # Theme Set Name Locations 30347 City Fire Car TRU 30349 City Sports Car …

Is it really that good? is the question I intend to answer from my point of view in this blog. Lego set 75060 depicting Slave I in UCS style has been jubilated on every Lego related forum, in every review. So, conscious of these reviews and opinions, is the build still going to be great? Can we believe the hype? If you're like me, you already know my answer because the first thing you did when clicking on this blog is scroll down to read my conclusion. For those who are not like me and want to read the whole article, I tried to write down my thoughts and feelings (immediately) after each step of the build. I won't tell all surprises and advanced building methods I encount…

I remember that there was a weird point in the 90's when second string comic characters suddenly became popular. Inexplicably, guys like Ghost Rider, Silver Surfer and Moon Knight picked up in popularity and no one could explain it, so we all just sort of went along with it. Ever since then, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Ghost Rider. Possessed stunt rider Johnny Blaze or geeky teenager Danny Ketch transforming into the spirit of vengeance and riding a flaming motorcycle while flailing away at bad guys with chains of fire really warm the memory box. I never tainted my memories of those fantastically bad years of reading comics by watching that Nick Cage atroc…

Thanks to forum member @ravenb99, we have a list of the possible discounts being offered on items at Lego Retail Shops and Online. I only say possible because this year, Lego chose not to send the list out to their affiliates. The list appears to be as one would expect. Take a look. I may have missed an item or two copying items over from the original list found here. Chances are, it's 20% off As we head into the Holiday Season LEGO is excited to be able to promote a few great offers! On November 25th LEGO will be offering Free Shipping on all orders through 11/28! Plus you can shop the Brick Friday Sale featuring select products while supplies last and qualifying…

One of Lego's 2016 Holiday promotions is now available now, the much anticipated 40223 Snowglobe set. This available is considered "Early Access" for VIP members in the U.S. and Canada. It also appears the general public (non-US and CA Lego residents) will be able to get the Snowglobe set from Nov 25th to the 28th. The Snowglobe is only available from November 19, 2016 through November 20, 2016 or while supplies last. 1 set will be included with each online and in-store orders costing more than $99. Note: Offers not valid at LEGOLAND® Parks or LEGOLAND Discovery Centers The Snowglobe promotion should quickly disappear if prior seasonal promotions are an ind…

Star Wars fans love stuff that made short appearances in the films. I remember as a kid how much I enjoyed my Empire Strikes Back AT-ST walker and the adventures my figures went on in the Twin Pod Cloud Car. I also remember my cousin's Darth Vader's TIE Fighter. I couldn't have one because I already had a TIE Fighter. Vader's TIE wasn't as much background as those other 2 examples, but it wasn't a major ship in the movie. It had a few minutes of screen time in a New Hope and then basically never appeared in a film again. It served as the template for the TIE Bomber, but that was hardly the same ship. This was Vader's ship. It wasn't a standard TIE, and what kind of havoc …

I don't collect modulars. I don't build modulars. I hear about them a lot though. When I do hear about them, one set seems to be spoken about more than any others. The Green Grocer pops into conversations about modulars seemingly more often than any other. Whether it's the difficulty in getting the Sand Green pieces or how good it looks, or how expensive it is, it's a popular topic of conversation. Wait, you might say. If I have no experience with this set, why should anyone want my opinions about it? Well, that's a fair question. I'm not really going to be presenting my opinions about the set, about its looks or the difficulty level of building it. Instead, I am pro…

I don't know about anyone else, but I like looking at bulk lots and playing a guessing game about what might be there. Sometimes I can figure it out and come out well, other times I am left scratching my head wondering what other people are seeing that I am not. I usually assume that it's a modular building and shrug it off as my lack of experience with them. However I don't have to shrug it off, I could educate myself. I begin my analysis by picking out a desirable set. In this case, I have chosen 10190 Market Street. Market Street was made in 2007 and retailed for $89.99. This set was significantly cheaper than any of the other modular sets when it was released. Th…

Today we are announcing the winners of the Brickpicker Minifigure Book Photo Contest. Now that we have two books out there in the wild I can say that it is not easy. Ed has a few months of sleepless nights and or nightmares and I become a stalker looking to get permission to use photos in books or I pretend I am a photographer and take a few thousand photos hoping one is good enough. With that being said, I have to say that the first book was super exciting mostly because it was our first book but the second book was a lot more fun. For one thing, we knew what to expect overall, but it was a lot more fun because we got to deal with and see what type of photos the publ…

Just for fun: I came across this article on MSN: Most Popular Stereotypes About Each State Each slide uses Lego as a visual aid, enjoy: http://stephcurry.co/stereotypes-by-state/?utm_source=FP4&utm_medium=2&utm_content=32533493385&utm_campaign=FP4-Stereotypes-1

As a lifelong Star Wars fan, I know that I am either supposed to be super excited by every new thing or super critical of them. Isn't that the way that fandom works? Love the innovation or hate the fact that it's not just like the stuff that I loved when I was 7. I'm cautiously optimistic about Rogue One. The Hovertank however struck me as a bad design. It's dull and boxy. It makes me think of nothing so much as a much more boring version of the Republic Fighter Tank. I got to thinking about it, and maybe I was judging it too harshly. So, I got one to build for myself and see if it turns out to be better than I expect. REVIEW: SET DETAILS Set #: 75152 Name: Impe…

Many Lego-related blogs are written about modern sets. This especially applies to investment-related blogs. In a series of articles I try to generate enthusiasm for some of the more interesting vintage Lego sets. We enjoyed building them as kids, whereas probably more often we jealously admired them in our best friend's collection or in the Lego catalogue we devotedly picked up in the toy store. This is primarily a blog of nostalgia. However, investing in vintage Lego can be an interesting and fun pastime. The quest to find rarer sets, to restore incomplete sets and to assess your recently purchased lot of bricks can be exciting, relaxing and rewarding. In this …