I Am A Few Days Late With This Release,

the latest offering from LEGO,

plastic flowers and trees, 

the new sets include a LEGO flower bouquet, 

and a LEGO bonsai tree, 

the LEGO botanical collection includes a number of elements made from plant-based plastic, produced using sustainable sourced sugarcane — a move LEGO announced in 2020, the flower bouquet set is composed of 756 pieces, while the bonsai tree set has 878, image credit LEGO/ DesignBoom, LEGO flower bouquet + LEGO bonsai tree, priced at £44.99/$49.99/€49.99 each set, available exclusively at LEGO.com and LEGO stores from 1st of January, how did I manage miss the release of this LEGO product? thinking about it, the reason must have been the night before!

There Are Not Many People,

that can claim that they have,

over 100 million individual pieces of LEGO, which collectively weigh around 11 tons, but Li Zhining can! we have featured LEGO many times before, but not many are of this size, photographs China Focus,

 the 4-meter-long by 2.4-meter-wide model of the Forbidden City was created by a Guangzhou-based LEGO fan named Li Zhining, over an entire year, it features over 70 palaces and 9,000 houses of the three main halls of the Forbidden City, the moat and all the turrets,

 .even more impressive is the fact that the LEGO artist didn’t use any custom made bricks, instead relying only on his huge collection of standard pieces, Li Zhining told Chinese reporters that he fell in love with LEGO in 2008 and has been obsessed with it ever since, He didn’t say where he stores all those bricks, but admitted that some people call him a “LEGO maniac”,

he has named the work “I am Chinese” and is only the latest addition to this dedicated LEGO fan’s portfolio of impressive creations, in the past he reportedly built LEGO models of Notre Dame cathedral, Westminster Palace, Canton Tower and an iconic World of Warcraft setting, among others, 11 tons of LEGO bricks, amazing!

I Never Knew,

that there are professional LEGO technicians and builders,

 but there are, 15 technicians at the last count, and here is the work of one of them,

 Jumpei Matsui, is a certified professional LEGO technician, 

 and using the painting as a guide by Rinpa artist Ogata Korin in the early 18th century, titled “Wind God and Thunder God,”  Jumpei Mitsui made the masterpiece that is now displayed at Narita Airport, just head up to the 4th floor of Terminal 1 where you will find a newly opened LEGO store, 

with the mural on show, as an aside if you want to be a professional LEGO builder, here is the inside story of the UK's only professional LEGO technician, and it is not all fun and games, Duncan Titchmarsh is the UK's only certified LEGO technician, and founder of Bright Bricks, a professional LEGO building company, his company employs almost 50 people - including a team of 25 LEGO builders, who can earn between £15,000-£25,000 per year depending on experience and proficiency, so if you like LEGO there could be a job waiting for you!

Hokusai’s “The Great Wave Off Kanagawa,”

is perhaps one of Japan’s most iconic images,

the wood block print has now been created in 3D using LEGO, all photographs courtesy Jumpei Mitsui,

Jumpei Mitsui is a certified professional LEGO builder, has completed what can only be described as a masterpiece: a LEGO replica of Hokusai’s “The Great Wave off Kanagawa,” 

Hokusai’s iconic woodblock print was always something he wanted to build, explains Mitsui, but never had the chance until now. In ensuring that his 3D lego replica not only payed homage to the original but also captured the dynamics of crashing waves, Mitsui says he read several academic papers on giant wave formations, as well as spent hours on YouTube watching video of waves. He then created the sketch below, 

which was used to create the final model, Mitsui LEGO sculpture is currently on display at the Hankyu Brick Museum in Osaka, a space dedicated to showcasing the works of Jumpei Mitsui, Japan’s only certified professional LEGO block builder,

we have featured many posts about LEGO and its professional builders, there are a few here, I do not think this will be offered as a box set like many other offerings from LEGO, for one thing even for a professional it took 400 hours to build! Mitsui snapped together 50,000 cobalt and white LEGO into an undulating wave that mimics the original woodblock print, the finished work is over 5 feet across, having said that it took 400 hours to build, with all of the current and future lockdowns maybe it might be worth selling it as a box set!

New From LEGO,

a typewriter,

there is a slight problem with this,

I am guessing a number of LEGO fans,

have absolutely no idea what a typewriter is,

but do not let that put you off of the product,

suggested by a fan via the LEGO Ideas submission section of the website, the idea was then developed by a team from the company who worked to create a merging of LEGO Technics and LEGO Systems in the final model,

the mint green mid-century typewriter is a beautiful, realistic homage to the models of the 1950s and 1960s and comes with working keys and roller that will accept paper, 

a graphic designer was employed to create a super clean new font for the keys and designed the retro branding,

the typewriter is out of stock at the moment as it is not due for release until later in July, but when it dos go on sale it is priced at $199.99 via the LEGO online store, did I mention you can not actually type on it, but you never know, someone might find a way of producing a kit that will enable you to type, all images © LEGO.

As A Kid,

Lego sort of passed me by,

I went from Meccano, (which is a lot different in the 1950s than it is today), to trains, stamp collecting, fishing, photography and that was it, somehow I missed out on the Lego craze, but there is no denying it's popularity, judging by the 8 Lego Lands around the world, so here is another post about the famous building brick,

where they spring to life in these advertising campaigns, 

 developed by Asawin Tejasakulsin, a senior art director at Ogilvy & Mather in Bangkok, Thailand, the two series, Imagine and Build the Future, amplify the childhood wonder central to the Lego brand, devising playful scenarios that successfully interact with reality, in Imagine, storybook animals come to life, 

while in Build the Future, 

 children assemble the uniforms of their dream jobs, all using Lego bricks,

You can see more work by Tejasakulsin on Behance, they tell me that lego bricks are one of the most painful things to walk on in the home, good job they do not make transparent ones,

oh wait a second they do!

LEGO Is In The News Again,

it was only,

a couple of days ago I mention that a new set was being made after gaining 10,000 votes, and here is another set in the making,

the Sonic the Hedgehog LEGO playset will be an actual product soon! The concept, which was proposed by 24-year old Viv Grannell, recently just got 10,000 supporters in the LEGO Ideas website. Grannell’s concept also had won the approval of LEGO,

image credits toastergrl/ LEGO IDEAS/ Technabob, as an aside, if you think stepping on a  Lego brick is painful, wait until you step on Doctor Robotnik’s drill hand!

and if you are into Sonic, here is the video.

I Have Mentioned Before,

as a kid I never really got into LEGO,

it was Meccano or fish, so I was interested to see this aquarium that could be the latest from the LEGO company, turn the handel and the aquarium comes to life, the fish swim, the crab jumps, and the starfish spins, this is all packed into a detailed and ornate aquarium made entirely out of Legos, have a look, and if you want to vote at this link, this project is hoping to gain 10,000 free supporters/votes over on Lego Ideas, if it gets the 10K supporters, Lego will take it to their review board and decide on making it an official Lego set, Lego andfish way to go!

Hardly A Week Goes By,

without me noticing a piece about Lego,

so here is our look at the product from Mike Doyle, 

 who is a Lego based artist, author, and curator,

he has produced a book that explores natural wonders from undersea landscapes to a family of sea otters produced from over 3,500 LEGO pieces, this book collects the works of several dozen artists who capture natural scenes from our planet’s Animal Kingdom and beyond,

so if Lego is your 'thing' (what do you call somebody that is a Lego enthusiast?) here is his new book and no I am not on commission.

I Have Never Been A Fan Of Lego,

but as a kid played with a small set,

but for Myself and Dad it was always Meccano, but this Lego boxed set caught My attention, for the wrong reason! a gift for true enthusiasts of both the toy brick company and Star Wars, the Ultimate Collectors Series Millennium Falcon is the single largest and most expensive Lego kit ever sold, presented in a huge box full of 7,541 pieces, 

 In fact, the box is so heavy that Lego teased on Twitter that they’d have to add wheels and a handle so customers can get it out the door, 

it comes with 10 minifigures, including Leia, C-3P0, Han and Chewbacca from the trilogy and Finn, Rey, BB-8, ‘Old Han’ and two porgs from The Force Awakens, You can even spin the original Han and Leia’s heads around to reveal optional faces outfitted with air respirators,

 and now we are coming to my interest in it, not to play with, but as an investment! fans who missed out on the 2007 model still pay up to $3,000 in the rare occasion that one pops up on eBay, when new they sold for US$500, and Lego expects the new set to sell out, so if you buy one remember keep it in its original packing, do not open it and wait for hopefully the price, in a few years time, to skyrocket like the real Millennium Falcon, if there was one, or alternatively let the kids play with it, but where is the fun in that? all you would do is watch your investment tumble quicker than a tumbling thing, so if My hunch is correct be first in the queue on October 1st when the sets are offered for sale, of course the sets may not go up at all, but do you want to take a chance that they will not? it appears the sets will sell for about US$800,

and here is a video about how the sets were designed, happy shopping!

If You Have Ever With Bare Feet,

trodden on a piece of it,

 I think you would agree that what the world does not need is more LEGO,

 but if you are a LEGO fan,

 this new offering is the kit for you,

 Next month marks the 50th anniversary of NASA’s 1969 mission, which landed astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon,

 to celebrate the semicentennial event, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 

 has teamed up with LEGO to release a 1,087-piece replica of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module,

 the model is equipped with both descent and ascent features and comes with with a base plate that mimics the surface of the Moon— including embedded square holes that match the astronaut figures’ foot prints,

LEGO launched the sale of the model earlier this month. You can find this LEGO set and other NASA-inspired space modules on their website, thank you but no thank you!