I have lost track of how many projects based on Nintendo's Zelda franchise have entered the 10k Club on LEGO Ideas, but it's a lot. Most recently is Artem Biziaev's Hyrule Castle (The Legend of Zelda), which is a great-looking castle set even without the videogame property. Clearly there's a big desire from fans for LEGO to create a set based on the franchise, so hopefully they make it happen at some point. As for this set in particular, the build has done an amazing job of adding a plethora of play features, from towers that spin to convert it into Ganon's Castle to hidden treasure and exploding walls. While I think it's best to keep expectations tempered here, we wish it the best of luck during the review phase!

On this week's episode of Bits N' Bricks, journalist Brian Crecente and documentarian Ethan Vincent talk to Elena Caton about LEGO Friends. No not the LEGO theme that came out in 2012 and introduced the world to minidolls, the PC game from 1999 that was released around the time of LEGO Scala. I know, I didn't know it existed either! You can listen to Episode 7 - LEGO Friends: A Conversation on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform to learn all about one of The LEGO Group's early forays into games and content targeted more directly at girls. It's definitely an enlightening listen!

We've made it to the home stretch of our Ninjago history lesson! Today we're starting in 2019 and ending on... today! We've got some more great concept art and prototype sets to look at, so let's not delay. Read on to finish up this trip down memory lane.  

We're playing LEGO Dimensions tonight because it's Tuesday and that's the thing we do! Come on over to the BZPower Twitch channel starting at 7:30 PM Eastern to watch! It'll be fun I hope, and we look forward to chatting with you all while we play.

Today LEGO is revealing the latest addition to the Ideas lineup: 21325 Medieval Blacksmith. Celebrating the rich history of LEGO castle sets and also a bit of a throwback to 3739 Blacksmith Shop, one of the first ever sets to be designed by a LEGO fan, this model is amazingly detailed and is sure to be a welcome edition to many a fan's collection. The 2,164-piece set will launch on February 1st for $150 in the US. To see how the Black Falcon Knights make their comeback, read on!  

Before more projects hit the ten thousand vote goal and we fall behind, let's check out the two latest creations to achieve the feat on LEGO Ideas. First, The Karate Kid "Wax On, Wax Off" by Delusion Brick seems to have latched onto the 80s nostalgia that's prevalent among builds, and also the success of Cobra Kai on Netflix. That doesn't mean it's not a fantastic MOC though, with tons of detail and possibilities to recreate key scenes from the film. Next, the Scania Next Generation S730 by mpj83 is one of the sleekest Technic semi-trucks that I've seen, and in addition to the awesome looks it has Power Functions incorporated into it so you can drive it around! Congratulations to both of the builders and we wish their creations the best of luck during review!

The LEGO Ideas team has teased us over on the LEGO Ideas Blog about an upcoming Castle set. The short video shows some knights in distress, injured after ferocious battles. Little information is given, aside from one sentence: "Time to get medieval!" We can hope and speculate that a new Castle set is coming, but that's all we can do until any official set is revealed. What do you hope Ideas is bringing to the classic theme?

Our journey through time comes closer to the present as we look at Ninjago over the years. Today we're examining 2016, 2017, and 2018, which saw the ninjas soar to new heights on the silver screen! (Remember when we could go to the movies?) Read on to see what LEGO was kind enough to share with us!  

Today in our look back at Ninjago through the years we've got three in our sights: 2013, 2014, and 2015. This definitely saw some changes for the theme and includes the period where it was originally going to end but was then brought back due to fan outcry and overwhelming sales. Read on to see some things you may not have seen before!  

Next year marks the ninetieth anniversary of The LEGO Group, which was first founded in 1932. While I'm sure LEGO will be celebrating in many ways we don't know about yet, they're revealing one of them today. LEGO Ideas is hosting a fan vote to determine the most popular 'classic theme' that will get a single commemorative set in 2022 based on what the fans want. To learn how you can cast your vote, read on or head over to LEGO Ideas!  

Today we're continuing our look back through the years at Ninjago, turning our focus to 2011 and 2012. We have some prototype sets, sculpts of new-at-the-time elements, some of the best selling Ninjago sets, and more. Read on to check it all out!  

Last week we highlighted Wadapan's Toa Tahu Awakens LEGO Ideas submission. Since then, it has gained over 500 supporters and been granted a full year to reach 1,000 votes (10% of the final tally required for review). To celebrate, Wadapan rendered Toa Lewa, his favorite, in the same style. Check it out in the Forums, and please support his Bionicle Ideas project if you haven't already too.

If you enjoyed our review of 71741Ninjago City Gardens and want to learn more about the set from the source, then you're in luck! LEGO recently shared the Designer Video for the set on their YouTube channel. Go watch to hear from LEGO Designer Markus Rollbuhler and Design Manager Michael Knap about all of the different rooms, details, and stories that can be found in the model. There's a tons of awesome references you can learn about from the two employees, and it's great to see how ten years of the theme are celebrated within!

Six bags to build them all! Well... at least that's all there is left to finish building the LEGO Lord of the Rings 10237 Tower of Orthanc. Join us on Sunday, January 17th at 1 PM Eastern on the BZPower Twitch channel as we complete construction on this obelisk while chatting with you all and giving out our usual bevy of prizes. We look forward to seeing you there and seeing how the set wraps up!

Time to round up the latest goings-on at LEGO Ideas! Two projects achieved ten thousand votes of support: Asterix and Obelix by ZetoVince37 and 4-1/2-Litre 1927-31 Bentley 'Blower' by bencroot19. It's not a 10k Club interview, but you can meet Arne Jahnke, the Fan Designer behind the LEGO 40448 Vintage Car! In celebration of the 10th anniversary the team kicked off a new contest: 10 Years of Ninjago! Build something that belongs in a Ninjago museum by February 16th and you could win a huge prize pack, including the new Ninjago City Gardens!

Among the assets LEGO sent BZPower as part of their ten year anniversary celebration of Ninjago was a whole bunch of concept art, prototype set pictures, and product images from the theme over the years. So much, in fact, that to do it justice we're spreading it over several stories so you can really dig in. This first installment covers 2009 and 2010, from before the theme was even released! Let's check it out!  

I mentioned this morning that you could expect to see a full review of 71741 Ninjago City Gardens soon, but I wasn't quite expecting it this soon! Apparently instead of sleeping, BZPower Forum Assistant Nuju Metru (you might have seen him on LEGO Masters last year) has assembled the 5685-piece set, taken pictures, made a video, and written up all of his thoughts on it for you all! If you'd like to learn all about this set from the ground up, and see how it compares to the original Ninjago City, read on!  

Can you believe Ninjago is turning ten years old this year? It seems like just yesterday that Bionicle was canceled and these sort of knock off Power Rangers appeared on shelves in their place. Since 2011, Ninjago has become one of The LEGO Group's biggest themes, with a TV show, movie, videogames, and more. For its tenth anniversary, LEGO has pulled back the curtain on the theme, sharing tons of assets, behind-the-scenes images, and prototype sets. It's too much to share at once, so today is marking the start of our Ninjago Anniversary celebration, with a press release from LEGO extolling how awesome the theme is.

 

Ten years later, Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu is still coming out with new episodes, and of course those episodes have sets to go along with them. Today LEGO is sharing four of these sets that are coming out in March, and I dig the Polynesian and Central American flair that the antagonists have. Also the Jungle Dragon is adorable. Read on to see the images and then let us know what you think of them in the Talkback!  

To call 71741 Ninjago City Gardens a poorly-kept secret is such an understatement that you don't just need a shovel to go find it, you need one of those oil-drilling rigs. But LEGO told us we couldn't share the images they sent us until today, so here we are. VIP members can buy it on [email protected] right now (assuming it hasn't sold out already) and it will be available to everyone else on February 1st, or whenever it comes off backorder. The 5685-piece set is $300 in the US, and despite that snark above, it looks beautiful and I want it. Read-on to see some pretty pictures, and make sure to keep checking back on BZPower where we'll have a full review of the set soon!  

If you're not familiar with Nathan Furst's work, then what are you doing here? Kidding aside, the composer of the scores for the first three Bionicle films took to Instagram yesterday to announce an intriguing event he's hosting. If you're available on Saturday, January 30th at 10 AM Pacific time, you'll want to to go read his message to see how you can get access to a private Zoom meeting. I assume space is limited to some degree, so if you're seriously interested, don't dilly-dally on signing up. I look forward to hearing what it's all about!

It's Wednesday, which means that a new episode of the Bits N' Bricks podcast has been released on YouTube and other podcast platforms. In Episode 6 - LEGO Builder's Journey, journalist Brian Crecente and documentarian Ethan Vincent look at the creation of this fairly recent game and how the studio grew from within LEGO to be and independent company supported by LEGO Ventures (which also is apparently a thing?). I remember hearing a lot of positive buzz about this game when it first came out on Apple Arcade, but sadly it was locked behind a paywall on a platform I didn't own. Thankfully, the podcast seems to suggest that not only will they be bringing it to other systems, they are still working on expanding it and adding more content! I'm excited to see what the future holds for Light Brick Studio.

The LEGO Ideas community doesn't know when to stop coming up with awesome builds! Just today, two more batches of contest winners were announced. Congratulations to Nenad_dmc, LLCoolD, and sdelrue, winners of the Build a Ghost You Are Afraid Of! contest. Further congrats go to aido_k, KalleRye, and AllAboutLego, winners of the Design an Iconic Ferrari Poster! contest. Go check out the fantastic builds and artwork! Finally, FastBrickStudios has designed The Simpsons - The Krusty Burger and it's gotten the ten thousand votes of support it needs to be considered for a future set. It's a great build with tons of details both inside and out!

Hey there, what are you up to on this lovely Tuesday? If you're not busy, why not come by the BZPower Twitch channel at 7:30 PM Eastern to watch us play some LEGO Dimensions? It's been a lot of fun so far seeing all the different mashups that have appeared in the game, and the retro arcade levels last week were a nice bit of nostalgia! We'll have to see where we end up this week and what sort of zany adventures we find ourselves in. Look forward to seeing you there!

What's new on LEGO Ideas from the past few days:

Two projects have achieved ten thousand votes:
• The X-Files: I Want To Believe by BrentWaller, who's no stranger to the platform
• The House of Chocolate by Lepralego is an interesting build not based on any IP
• 10K Club Interview: Truman Cheng, creator of Vincent van Gogh The Starry Night and LEGO Doggo - are two very diverse projects from the same builder that both got 10k votes at the same time
• Congrats to the winners of the LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor Contest

Today LEGO and HYPE are announcing a new collab (not to be confused with a collaboration) celebrating the now ten-year-old theme of Ninjago. The urban streetwear collection will be available in but youth and adult sizes starting January 14th on LEGO [email protected] and January 15th from HYPE's online store. If you love Ninjago and want everyone around you to know it, look no further. The press release uses the phrase, "loud and proud," and while some of the designs are a little more subtle, many will make it very clear you love the ninjas - and there's nothing wrong with that! To see the collection of t-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, pants, backpacks, and more, read on!  

At the beginning of the year The LEGO Group expanded their executive leadership team by appointing Colette Burke as Chief Commercial Officer. With twenty-five years of experience at the electronics company Bose under her belt where she most recently held the position of Vice President Global Sales, Burke seems more than qualified to take on this new role at our favorite toy company. She will be focusing on the company's global commercial strategy, which is a pretty big thing to be responsible for! We'll have to wait and see if any big changes arise from this in the near term, but I'm sure people wouldn't be upset if it sets stopped getting sold out online, hinthint.

Our next LEGO live build is tomorrow, January 9th! Come by the BZPower Twitch channel starting at 1 PM Eastern on Saturday as we go into the archives and pull out 10237 The Tower of Orthanc from The Lord of the Rings, which has been our most-requested set based on your feedback! I'm looking forward to working on this, even though we probably won't finish in one day. We hope to see you there to chat with us and, if you're lucky, win some free LEGO sets!

Didn't I just report on three projects that reached ten thousand votes of support on LEGO Ideas? Well it looks like I was too fast for a change because yesterday another creation joined the 10k Club: Castle of Lord Afol and the Black Knights by SleeplessNight. In addition to the fun reference in the name, this project reminds me of the Pirates of Barracuda Bay insofar as the sense of nostalgia and the attention to detail it offers. As someone who loved LEGO Castle as a kid, this model looks great and I would love to add it to my collection to remind me of the giant castle sets I never got growing up. Best of luck to it when it eventually enters the review phase!

Just a few days after the most recent review period ended, three new projects have already achieved ten thousand votes of support on LEGO Ideas. Let's check them out:

• The Shire, the Hobbithole of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins by TB Brickcreator is not the first idea of this sort to go into review but is still a great build!
• The Office by Lego The Office is the third time this user has submitted such a project, and it keeps getting better each time!
• Among Us: The Skeld Detailed Map by VaderFan2187 is the second Among Us project to reach 10k, and is certainly cashing in on the cultural zeitgeist!

I definitely sense a theme with all these projects, and there's clearly a demand for these IPs. Good luck!

There's a lot of fantastic mecha and robotic LEGO MOCs out there, and I love them even more when they get some context. BZPower member JakTheMad recently shared The Cradle over in the Bionicle-Based Creations subforum, showing their Security ExoFrame being assembled by a robotic gantry. Obviously the build gives off some Iron Man vibes, but also some Vitruvian Man ones as well. While there's a lot of great techniques and details at play, the brick separators were a fun addition that caught my eye and made me chuckle. All-in-all the creation is a great melding of Constraction, Technic, and System elements that you really should take a closer look at and share your thoughts with the builder!

Today the latest episode of the Bits N' Bricks podcast was released, adding to the exploration of journalist Brian Crecente and documentarian Ethan Vincent into the history of LEGO Games. The main focus of Episode 5 was the recent collaboration with the Unity game engine on the LEGO microgame, which we shared last year, but it also went back to look at some of the interaction LEGO has had with fans, from the LDRAW and MLCAD fan projects to LEGO releasing LEGO Digital Designer and creating the LEGO Factory and Design byME programs. We got to hear once again from Tormod Askildsen and get an inside look at things. I was really interested to hear about 'LDD Pro,' which is apparently the latest version of the program which is still under active development. Go listen and learn for yourself!

A stunning System build for the Bionicle theme has appeared on LEGO Ideas: Toa Tahu Awakens by user wadapan. Using Mixel joints and some fantastic System parts, the project recreates Tahu on the beach just after assembling himself from his canister, which is also part of the set. More impressive is that Tahu can be disassembled and fit into the can, or you take the can apart and add Tahu Nuva armor onto the build. Check it out, give it some support, and remind LEGO that the love of Bionicle is truly alive.