On occasion, I’ve bought non-LEGO building sets. Hasbro’s line, KRE-O, has produced some interesting — and very nice — Transformers and Star Trek sets that I’ve enjoyed building. Character Options’ Doctor Who sets were very nice and felt very LEGO-like. MegaBloks has made World of WarCraft and Halo sets that, while conceptually nice, weren’t funContinue reading “Adventures in Off-Brand LEGO: Castle Clash”
Category Archives: LEGO
The Itch to Build
In my closet there’s an ammunition crate, painted red. It’s where I keep my LEGO bricks. There are LEGO bricks in that crate that are older than some of my coworkers. No, I’m not kidding. There are some LEGO boat pieces (that float on water) that I know date from the late 1970s, and IContinue reading “The Itch to Build”
Adventures in Off-Brand LEGO: The Mini KRE-O Enterprise
Last summer, to tie in with Star Trek Into Darkness, Hasbro released several Star Trek-themed KRE-O sets. KRE-O is Hasbro’s LEGO-compatible building set series, and they’ve released Transformers, Battleship, and zombie-themed sets in addition to Star Trek. I’ve built some of the Transformers sets, and I’ve liked them. The bricks may be a little slickerContinue reading “Adventures in Off-Brand LEGO: The Mini KRE-O Enterprise”
Adventures in Off-Brand LEGO: Stargate SG-1 Deathglider Attack
Yesterday I went to Big Lots. It wasn’t the reason I went out — I needed to go to Kohl’s to buy a new pair of shoes for work, as the pair of shoes I had was utterly blown out — and since Big Lots is in the same area as Kohl’s I made aContinue reading “Adventures in Off-Brand LEGO: Stargate SG-1 Deathglider Attack”
On the Cost of LEGO and New Worlds to Explore
A few days ago on All Things Considered, NPR’s Planet Money wanted to know, “Why are Legos (sic) so expensive?” The segment compared LEGO to MegaBloks. While Mega’s products are less expensive, their annual global sales are only about 10 percent of LEGO’s. The segment pointed to several factors — better manufacturing techniques for LEGO,Continue reading “On the Cost of LEGO and New Worlds to Explore”
On Excitement for the LEGO Lord of the Rings Video Game
Though its existence has been known for weeks, today it became official with a press release and a trailer — later this year, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and TT Games will be releasing LEGO Lord of the Rings, a video game that transports J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic story of good’s struggle against the forces of evilContinue reading “On Excitement for the LEGO Lord of the Rings Video Game”
On LEGO Lord of the Rings
Today, I frightened my cubicle neighbor. I’d come into the office, and I walked into the middle of a conversation he was having with another writer in the Bullpen. “I bet,” said my cubicle neighbor, “that you can’t jump up and down for joy.” So without taking off my coat, without unslinging the BPRD bagContinue reading “On LEGO Lord of the Rings”
On the KRE-O Transformers Sets
Yesterday afternoon, a couple of us from work went to Target on our lunch break. While wandering around the store, I found myself back in the Toys section, looking at the LEGO sets they had. And there I saw the KRE-O Transformers sets. Hasbro has created a LEGO-compatible building system called KRE-O, and they’ve doneContinue reading “On the KRE-O Transformers Sets”
On Contemplating the Martian War Machine
On Saturday, I built the Tripod Invader, one of the sets from the new LEGO Alien Conquest theme which is based loosely on H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds and alien invasion B-movies of the 1950s. When I wrote about the set yesterday, I mentioned that I was thinking of modifying the Tripod InvaderContinue reading “On Contemplating the Martian War Machine”
On the LEGO Alien Conquest Tripod
This summer, LEGO introduced a new theme, Alien Conquest, based loosely on classic tales of alien invasion, from H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds to 1950s B-movies and Mars Attacks!. Flying saucers, alien motherships, and tripod walkers bring the alien armada to the doorstep of LEGO City. Yesterday, I bought the Tripod Invader set.Continue reading “On the LEGO Alien Conquest Tripod”