Kategoriarkiv: International

Best of Lego 2015

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2015 was a great year for Lego, again. Looking at the entire lineup, there is far more greatness than anyone can really afford. This year alone, we got the gigantic SHIELD Helicarrier from the Marvel movies, the Ultimate Collector Series Slave One for Star Wars fans, a great Ferrari F40 model, a charming Kwik-E-Mart from The Simpsons and the imposing Ferris Wheel, as well as the regular modular house and a couple of 1500+ parts sets in the most popular themes: City, Friends, Star Wars and Ninjago, including the amazing Temple of Airjitzu. This year also saw an avalanche of Minecraft sets, the first The Force Awakens ships and a few brilliant Lego Ideas sets. We also got extensions of the Friends minidoll idea with both Disney Princess and Elves. Obviously I had to pass on several sets that would have been cool, but these are the best of what I got. ... Läs hela texten

Sarah Alainn #3: ”F”

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It’s quite exciting to follow the career of Sarah Alainn. Only a few years ago, after noticing her on the fantastic Xenoblade theme ”Beyond the Sky”, I could only find a few practice videos from school sessions on Youtube. Now she’s doing all kinds of promotions and collaborations, and happily she’s still making just the kind of music I enjoy – sweeping, powerful ballads.

Her third album, F, is no exception. Thematically, it comes a little closer to the first album Celeste than the poppier Sarah, especially the extended edition released earlier this year. There are more classically inspired tracks like ”Air”, ”Pie Jesu” and ”O Holy Night”, the last of which was recorded with a Vienna boy choir. It’s also one of few Christian songs that I really, really love despite having no trace of Christianity in me, but generally I prefer it with a male singer. ... Läs hela texten

Sarah extends ”Sarah”

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Half a year ago Sarah Alainn released her second, self-titled album. I liked it. I still listen to many of the songs, with ”Beyond the Sky”, ”Dream As One” and ”Always With You” in permanent rotation. Today the extended version of the album was released, and happily enough the new songs can be purchased separately on Itunes in a ”premium selection”.

The main attraction is obviously ”Let It Go”. Sarah’s version of Idina Menzel’s fantastic Frozen song is good and shows off her range, but it’s a comparison that she just can’t win. It’s not a question of skill, it’s just so perfectly suited to Idina’s rougher, older voice. A slight disappointment overall. So is the dance remix of ”Dream As One” with the same general vocals as the original but with ridiculous beats, removing all of the amazing Mitsuda melody. ... Läs hela texten

Lego Neo-Classic Pirates: Eldorado Fortress

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As I decided to remake Black Seas Barracuda, I wanted to do something for my soldiers as well. I actually came up with the idea while rebuilding the original Eldorado Fortress. The parts are pretty chewed up by now, and it shows much more on the white walls. So I thought about simply ordering new replacements. I was going to build on top of the old raised baseplate, so I went into Lego Digital Designer and followed the instructions. Pretty soon I realized that it would be much better to actually improve things here and there, like adding more realistic colours. After completing the entire thing, I was asked to make my own baseplate as well. This complicated things. ... Läs hela texten

Lego MOC: Shaana

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I guess it was inevitable. I’ve been creating new versions of Shaana in practically every medium since I first came up with her in 1995. She’s been in tons of games, I’ve made big and small plastic models, a Ral Partha miniature and a 1:6 scale doll. And when I returned to Lego, she was one of the first custom minifigs I created. I’ve even made a Friends minidoll out of her. So when the new, smaller balljoints were introduced with the Mixels theme in 2014, I started thinking about building my own, large scale Shaana, inspired by all the cool, posable mechs that Lego create. ... Läs hela texten

Lego MOC: Detective’s Office Hair Salon 80’s style

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lego_detectivesoffice_moc_01

While the Detective’s Office is overall a great set with a great look, parts of it really doesn’t fit in my modular street. I’ve established that the Trendy Arcade and Fancy Suites are in 1986, so a really old-fashioned hair salon would be out of place. Luckily I also bought the Friends Heartlake Hair Salon at the same time, which gave me plenty of materials for an upgrade.

Ally is the grand-daughter of Al, who ran the original barber shop. While she still runs the business, she has updated it for a modern look and now mostly caters to female customers. She repainted and rebuilt the old cabinet, unaware of its previous role in the smuggling business. There are also minor additions around the place, but the main difference is the front display, which now has a much more modern look. And maybe she needs a striking look to attract customers, considering how colourful the local clientele is… ... Läs hela texten

Lego Detective’s Office (10246) *cue smooth jazz*

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(to set the mood, here’s some fitting background music to this review)

The tenth and latest Lego modular building has arrived, to the usual fanfare and hysteria. Already out of stock on the official site, where it’s exclusive, this will probably be a sought-after set for quite some time as they catch up with demand. Still, when it was first leaked the Detective’s Office (DO from now on) was divisive. Whereas most modulars have been fairly large, solid three-story buildings, DO was a neat downtown mix of slightly rougher houses. It doesn’t exactly fit alongside Green Grocer or Pet Shop but has an identity all of its own. Also, it can be noted that the upper roof section is pretty much on the same level as Fire Brigade’s, so it’s not exactly tiny either. Downstairs there’s a pool hall and a barber shop, and upstairs there’s a classical detective’s office packed with detail, as well as an apartment section used for illicit activities (more on that later). ... Läs hela texten

Review of Lego Disney Princess: Elsa’s Sparkling Ice Castle (41062)

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I wasn’t expecting to find this set for quite some time. This set from Lego’s Disney Princess line was due to be released in January 2015, but it seems they decided to rush it for the Christmas shopping season, at least in Europe. It was available on its own, without any of the other Disney Princess sets, in a huge custom display. Apparently Lego understands how critical the Frozen license is this year. With the movie barely a year old, Elsa and Anna were crowned official Disney Princesses already and then made into a set that is sure to top shopping lists wherever it’s available. ... Läs hela texten

Lego Modular MOC: Tea Garden Café

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The thing about Lego is that while you’re building one thing, you get inspired to build another thing. While I was finishing Fancy Suites, I started thinking about making another building, based on one of my very first sets, Tea Garden Cafe with Baker’s Van. I had quite a lot of the parts needed, but as it often turns out with these things, I eventually made a bunch of orders both from Lego and Bricklink to get exactly what I needed. So while it’s a much smaller building than Fancy Suites, there’s still a lot of stuff in here. ... Läs hela texten

A closer look at Lego Smaug

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The images of The Lonely Mountain, Lego’s flagship set for this part of The Hobbit, leaked early. And they were rather disappointing. Many had expected to get a huge, brick-built Smaug to dwarf (heh) the greatest Ninjago dragons. That didn’t happen. Instead we got a maxifigure that seemed to be a slight remold of the generic Castle dragon released last year, and another Lego The Hobbit Wall ™. Not to mention that the price was way higher than sets with similar piece counts, like the Mines of Moria. Disappointment all around, mostly. ... Läs hela texten