Work in Progress: LEGO Medieval Market Village

This week, I am working on building the LEGO Medieval Market Village. At first, I was a little underwhelmed because the baseplates were small, it reminded me of a Harry Potter castle. But wow does this set come together really nicely. It really clicked with me halfway through the first building when I closed it so it truly looked like a building. Loved it. There is so much detail here, I can see why everyone calls this set an absolute classic:

LEGO Medieval Market Village

Some Interesting LEGO Accessories & Products

I wanted to share some shots of LEGO products that I normally don’t pay attention to. I was surprised that many of these items even existed. First up is LEGO Minifigure Speech Bubbles. I can’t believe these even exist!

LEGO products

Next, is LEGO Stop Animation Software, with video camera and two minifigs. Again, I was surprised at this one:
LEGO products

I’ve seen this before online, but had never noticed it in person, “The Original LEGO Brick” retro set #5549. It wasn’t with the regular sets, but by the Duplo stuff:
LEGO products

I honestly don’t even know what this is – some kind of Duplo product that seems to have no relation to bricks of any type:
LEGO products

A cute little idea here, a LEGO Creationary game. Again, I had never heard of this – where you seem to have to build items that are on the cards. This is the Toys & Sports Booster Pack:
LEGO products

I found the next two at my local foodstore, and don’t recall seeing them in the regular Ninjago section before. They are “articulated figures with clip-on battle sound bases.” It looks just like another way to market keychains to me. For some reason, I felt like these might actually be even a little larger than regular minifigs, but I’m not sure:
LEGO products

LEGO products

All in all, cool to see these other products LEGO came up with.

Incoming: LEGO Millennium Falcon

The sales & deals forum at Toys n Bricks alerted me to a great price on the LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon, so I picked up (another) one:

LEGO Millennium Falcon

The deal involved buying online with a coupon, and then choosing to pick up in the store. When the employee went to get mine, I noticed four others in there waiting to be picked up by others!

LEGO Millennium Falcon

Coming Soon: My LEGO Classic Castle Crusaders Army

I lucked into a deal on an army of class LEGO castle Crusaders minifigs. I have been cleaning them up, so I thought I would give you a preview of the lot. Castle has always been my favorite theme, though I am just learning that this torso design signified “Crusaders” as opposed to “classic castle” or “black falcons.”

I have a pretty big stash of castle minifigs packed away that I will have to dig out. But for now, I present about 50 minifigs being dried after a light clean up:

LEGO Classic Castle Crusaders Minifigs

About 50 minifigs and accessories:
LEGO Classic Castle Crusaders Minifigs

Helmets:
LEGO Classic Castle Crusaders Minifigs

Shields:
LEGO Classic Castle Crusaders Minifigs

New LEGO Sets Arrive: VW Camper, Winter Village Post Office & more

I stopped by the LEGO Store in Rockefeller Center to check out some of the latest sets. The store from the outside:

LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

Double VIP points in October:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

The LEGO Volkswagen T1 Camper Van set 10220. Really impressive, much larger than I expected for some reason. Definitely planning on picking this up:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

The LEGO Winter Village Post Office on display, with Rockefeller Center in the background. A nice looking set, nothing unexpected, but a great addition to the line:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

I am very impressed that LEGO is keeping three sets from the winter village series on the shelves:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

The box to Winter Village Post Office set 10222. Looking at it now, I’m surprised it doesn’t say the set name on the front.
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

The VW Camper box. I think they only had two on the shelves, even though the display is front and center when you walk into the store:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

The new Life of George iPhone app set:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

I loved seeing this, a family picking out the LEGO Death Star, and it taking two of them to carry it across the store to the register. It was the last set on the shelf, and the box was a little rough. You can see the hole on the shelf in the back left of the shot:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

On the pick-a-brick wall, for some reason, these caught my eye:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

A LEGO Store employee refilling the pick-a-brick wall. Magic in those little boxes.
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

Three series of collectible minifigs on display:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

I had never paid much attention to the selection in the build-a-minifig displays. Some torsos:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

More torsos:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

Some heads:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

And… more torsos:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

An appearance of the Super Star Destroyer, plus THREE other $250+ LEGO Star Wars sets:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

They still had tons of Maersk container ships in stock (here and high on the shelves:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

City magnet sets are already on sale:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City, Fall 2011

I stopped by LEGO section at FAO Schwarz in New York City to see their Fall selection. Nothing too unusual, but always nice to see how they display their LEGO. For such a large display area, they have a surprisingly limited number of sets. Yes, the shelves are full, but you see the same set repeated again and again. The LEGO section is also the hardest to get to, all the way in the back corner of the second floor. It is next to the famed piano featured in the movie Big, and next to the Playmobil toys. The overall display is custom made for LEGO, but to me, doesn’t fully evoke LEGO, as much as some kind of gears of a machine. A few exclusive sets not seen at regular Toy Stores, such as UCS Imperial Shuttle, and Tower Bridge. The one surprise was a nice selection of LEGO Books. Onto the images:

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City

LEGO at FAO Schwarz in New York City

LEGO at Toys R Us in Times Square, NYC

I had a few minutes to pop into the Toys R Us in Times Square, and grabbed a couple dozen shots of the LEGO section. The store is right in the middle of Times Square:

LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

The LEGO section is on the second floor, and has very large LEGO buildings of famous New York landmarks:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

It’s one of the few Toys R Us locations that has some of the hard to find items. But… because the rent is so high in Times Square, there is a significant mark up on most LEGO sets here. So, even with a sale it really isn’t worth it to buy from this store. They had one Imperial Shuttle with a crushed box in the corner:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

And a bunch of Tower Bridges:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

The Technic section:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

A life size LEGO statue of Jack Sparrow:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

Creator:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

Plenty of Collectible Minifigs series 5, plus the holiday promos:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

Pirates of the Caribbean:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

Woolworth Building:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

No idea which building this is:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

The Hearst Building:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

Statue of Liberty:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

Ninjago:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

Empire State Building with King Kong:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

Star Wars:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

Some “other” Ninjago stuff:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

Atlantis:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

Harry Potter:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

Chrysler Building:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

City:
LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC

LEGO at Toys R Us Times Square, NYC