In one week, on September 24th, the LEGO House will be hosting its first virtual fan day that will be free for everyone to attend and watch. They will be hosting several sessions including an interview with Julia Goldin, the CMO of LEGO, a Q&A on product development, a virtual tour of the new fan creations recently put on display, and a presentation from the LEGO Quality team. You can find a newly-updated schedule shared by Jan Beyer on the LAN. You must register to attend, although registration is free, so if you think you can make it, go sign up!

Recently Sara Skahill shared a story on the LAN blog about the legend of the first model builder extraordinaire, Dagny Holm. In addition to being a LEGO set designer, where she climbed her way to being the company's chief designer until 1986, she was also responsible for many for the inspiring original models at LEGOLAND Billund, including the train that is still running today. It's impressive how one person could take what was at the time a brand new children's toy and immediately elevate it into an art form, possibly paving the way for many of the LEGO Certified Professionals and other brick sculptors we see today. Go give the story a read to hear her fantastic tale!

Although they made it way back in 2017, BZPower member awesomenessborn only shared R3-3D5 [Sparring Bot] online recently, and I'm glad they did. I love the use of the Skull Spider masks in Spring Yellowish Green to add a splash of color - they also look like padding that you might expect to wear while practicing your martial arts. Otherwise the bot looks very agile and spindly and is sure to put up a tough fight in the ring with that wicked-looked staff. Oh and let's not overlook the inspired use of the Hero Factory 2.0 'mask' piece as the face of the creation with a cheese slope to fill in the mouth. Definitely go give the MOC a closer look and let the builder know what you think!

Today LEGO is announcing some promising new developments as part of their ongoing sustainability initiatives. Starting next year, LEGO will be introducing recycled paper as a replacement for the single use plastics that are currently used for the parts bags in sets. This will start out as a limited trial, but the goal is to remove all single use plastics and make their packaging completely sustainable by 2025. To read the full press release on these and other steps the company is making on their path to a better planet, as well as some images of the new packaging in use, read on!  

After a couple week break, I think we're ready to jump back on stage tonight for a new Twitch Tuesday. We've played most of the available games (for Xbox 360 and One, at least), but one of the ones we've skipped thus far is LEGO Rock Band. But tonight that changes! Join us on the BZPower Twitch channel starting at 7:30 PM Eastern as we rock out, minifig style, and see what Twitch does when you play a music game on their platform. I will do my best to not shatter your eardrums by singing along, but some of the tunes are so catchy! See you all tonight!

Earlier today two new 10k Club interviews were posted on LEGO Ideas and now later today we're letting you know about them! Hasan and Jacob from the Ideas team have sat down to virtually have a chat with Adam Hickey, creator of Queen - The Miracle Express and Thomas Wosch, creator of The Futurama Planet Express Headquarters to learn about them as LEGO fans and to hear about their experiences submitting projects on the site. They're both definitely passionate about the brick and their respective projects and give some really great advice about how to succeed on the platform. Go give both interviews a read to see what you think!

Jan Beyer from the LEGO Community team recently shared some awesome news about a new attraction coming to the LEGO House in Billund, Denmark. As you can read over on the LAN Blog, the home of the brick is getting its very own minifigure factory, allowing you to create your own custom fig featuring your own drawn designs on the torso or a few prints that are exclusive to the machine and the location. There are already minifig factories at the LEGO Stores in Berlin, Orlando and Amsterdam, so now there are four places around the globe to make a truly one-of-a-kind LEGO minifigure. I don't think I had heard about this attraction before, but it definitely makes me want to check it out once I'm able to travel again!

One of these days we'll get back to reporting on these weekly interviews promptly. Anywho, earlier in the week Jacob and Hasan shared the latest glimpses behind the scenes with some of the recent additions to the LEGO Ideas 10k Club. They start off by Introducing Liam Spall of the Working Waterfall - with Continuous Flowing Water! and continue by talking to Tong Xin Jun, creator of Spongebob Squarepants - The Krusty Krab. The two projects are just about as different as the builders, which makes both of their success stories that much more interesting. Give them a read to see for yourself!

Let us not forget what happened nineteen years ago today. We were here at Kanohi-Power and BionicleZone back then, and we all lived though 9/11/01 as a community. Nineteen years later, we are still here, members are still here - and the site, the members, and the world are just a little less innocent because of that day exactly nineteen years ago. The world is now different, as is our community that has lived through a difficult time - it is important to remember all those who lost their lives.

We gave you the options earlier this week and you asked for it! Tomorrow at 1 PM Eastern we'll start building LEGO Ideas set 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay over on the BZPower Twitch channel. As someone who grew up with the original Pirates LEGO sets, I'm excited for the nostalgia trip this set offers! I'm doubtful that we're going to finish in one session, so expect more pirates next weekend. See you tomorrow for building, chatting, and giving sets away!

Today LEGO is revealing the results of a partnership with Levi Strauss & Co. that was recently teased on social media. "LEGO Group x Levi's" is a collection of clothing and accessories that take the fun and creativity of our favorite building toy and turn it into wearable art that you can show off every day. Many of the offerings include a new silicone baseplate that you can build on with bricks or the included DOTS tiles. To check out the reveal video, see images of the products, and read the full press release, read on!  

After the announcement earlier today of the partnership between LEGO and Levi, we have received a list of the products that will be part of this collaboration. Unfortunately we don't have any additional images or any way to indicate which products correspond with the images we posted earlier, but I think for most of them you can figure it out. While the prices may seem high for some of these products, remember these are the MSRPs. Of course, with this being a high-profile partnership, I wouldn't expect them to go on sale much, so you had better start saving for that $300 Danish Tuxedo! Many thanks to BZPower's Ambassador Tufi Piyufi for passing these details on - now let's check them out!  

Today LEGO is officially revealing the latest Star Wars Master Builder set - 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina. The giant 3,187 piece set will be available starting September 16th for VIP members and October 1st for everyone else and will retail for $350 in the US. Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina, as it's officially known, is iconic and instantly recognizable from the original Star Wars film, and first showed us all what a "wretched hive of scum and villainy" looked like. To see what the new LEGO version looks like, and to learn more about the set, read on!  

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been breaking out the fabric and thread to make masks for themselves (or to sell). BZPower Member Mushy the Mushroom decided to use the situation as a challenge to incorporate our favorite Bionicle mask that covers the lower part of the face into a face covering. Go check out her 3-Ply Cloth Vahi Face Mask + Sewing Pattern and Tutorial to Make Your Own to see the process, the end result, and to download the patterns if you want to make your own mask! The design works very well and it certainly makes me wish I was more handy with a sewing needle to assemble one myself. Go let Mushy know what you think of the creation and if you make one of your own, share some pictures so we can see!

Earlier today Hasan Jensen let everyone know that A Record Breaking 35 Product Ideas Qualify for the Second 2020 LEGO Ideas Review, which beats out the 26 from last time. This includes four projects that we hadn't even shared with you yet:

• The Ocean House by Hanwasyellowfirst
• Medieval Market by CARLIERTI
• Ratatouille: ReOpen The Doors! by BRICK PROJECT
• Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout Course by The Real Ashnflash

Good luck to all the ideas about to be reviewed!

Back in 2012, LEGO gave out exclusive X-Men Phoenix minifigs at San Diego Comic Con. Now they have brought one out to raffle off through Shop at Home's VIP rewards. Check out the rewards page to find the contest. It'll cost you 50 VIP points to enter, but if you win it comes encased in a fancy display. The contest ends today thought, so check it out while there's still time.

Hey, let's have a BZPower Set Review about making something pretty. Earlier this year, LEGO released their line of Dots sets, where you can build colorful bracelets and room decor. Today, BZPower Reporter Xccj shows off his fabulous hands to look at a couple of the bracelet sets, including 41900 Rainbow Bracelet, 41912 Love Birds Bracelet, and 41903 Cosmic Wonder Bracelet.  

Earlier this week, the Commercial Observer reported on a new lease and construction permits filed by LEGO to begin work on a new LEGO store in Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York. They will be moving from their current 3,500 square-foot location to the 10,000 square-foot space currently occupied by AllSaints, making this store bigger than the 7,700 square-foot shop in the Flatiron District downtown and one of the largest LEGO stores in the world! The store looks like it will be moving a bit more towards the perimeter of the plaza and won't be right next to the iconic ice rink anymore, but I think the tripling of the space more than makes up for the two minute walk to get there. LEGO hasn't officially announced the move yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we see some construction photos posted online!

We're going to be doing our next live build on Labor Day this coming Monday! The LEGO Group was kind enough to send us 80013 Monkie Kid's Team Secret HQ and we're looking forward to assembling it with you all and checking out the biggest set from this wave. Come on over to the BZPower Twitch channel starting at 1 PM Eastern on September 7th to watch things come together. We look forward to building with you and giving away some sets as we do so!