LEGO Store, Rockefeller Center NYC

Town Hall has arrived in the Rockefeller Center store in NYC. Let’s take a look…

It’s still pretty amazing to me that LEGO is paying to have a large store right in front of this landmark:
LEGO Store, Rockefeller Center NYC

Town Hall, and a pretty amazing view of Rock Center. Interesting to see the scale difference between these four sets:
LEGO Store, Rockefeller Center NYC

The Rockefeller Center store:
LEGO Store, Rockefeller Center NYC

Star Wars sets, plus Cars:
LEGO Store, Rockefeller Center NYC

I just love seeing those three big sets next to each other on the shelves. That Death Star box has been on the shelves for years!
LEGO Store, Rockefeller Center NYC

Technic:
LEGO Store, Rockefeller Center NYC

They used to have a small counter here, but got rid of it.
LEGO Store, Rockefeller Center NYC

City:
LEGO Store, Rockefeller Center NYC

Odd that they put Town Hall at child-level. You would think a brand new $200 set would be positioned at adult-eye level. Also odd that the Super Heroes sets are shoved in the corner there. Nice to see Medieval Market Village still graces the shelves:
LEGO Store, Rockefeller Center NYC

More City, including Bank Transfer:
LEGO Store, Rockefeller Center NYC

Still some red box Ninjago sets in stock:
LEGO Store, Rockefeller Center NYC

Tower Bridge is another set they put down at kid-level:
LEGO Store, Rockefeller Center NYC

Lots of purple… Friends:
LEGO Store, Rockefeller Center NYC

Loads of Harry Potter still in stock too. When Diagon Alley finally sells out, I think that will be a hot set on the aftermarket. Very unique to the overall lineup:
LEGO Store, Rockefeller Center NYC

LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

I took a trip over to the Toys R Us in Times Square NYC to check out their latest LEGO offerings…

Times Square, the Toys R Us is just to the right:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

Outside of Toys R Us is a community of characters, all waiting to take their photos with you, for a small tip:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

Here we are in mid-March, and TRU still has plenty of Star Wars Advent Calendars still in stock. At least they dropped the price to $35:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

The main Star Wars section, a mixture of older sets and newer sets:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

Still plenty of the Rebel Hoth Battle Packs in stock:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

Millennium Falcons:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

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

Some of the LEGO sculptures that hover over customers:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

Plenty of older collectible minifigs and snow man polybags:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

The real gold, the exclusive sets:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

Technic, and unbelievably, a good stock of Prince of Persia:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

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

Some of the rarer sets to find in a Toys R Us:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

More modulars:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

The pricing is higher at this TRU because of the cost of real estate in Times Square:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

They mislabeled the “Super Star Destroyer” as the “Star Defender.” But at $399, that is standard retail for this set:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

I hate to say it, but in a battle, the Mega Bloks sculpture would blow away the LEGO sculpture:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

City sets:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

Pet Shop was priced at MSRP as well:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

Imperial Shuttle has a significant markup:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

Still plenty of Harry Potter in stock. $37.99 for the regularly $19.99 Quidditch Match set:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

Dino:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

Alien Conquest still not moving:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

Super Heroes:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

City:
LEGO at Toys R Us, Times Square

Town Hall Arrives at the LEGO Store

It was nice to walk up to my local LEGO Store and see Town Hall prominently displayed in the window:
LEGO Store

They only had one box on the shelf, with a big dent on one corner, but luckily they had more in the back, one of which I bought.
LEGO Store

Amazing how many high priced collectors sets LEGO has in stock now:
LEGO Store

A wall of LEGO:
LEGO Store

Still plenty of Pirates of the Caribbean in stock:
LEGO Store

They were preparing a special Friends-themed promotion:
LEGO Store

Buckets of very cool pieces:
LEGO Store

You can see the final promotional piece just below the counter – an ice cream stand:
LEGO Store

They also got dark red 1×2 bricks back in stock on the Pick A Brick Wall:
LEGO Store

Still have the big dragon in stock:
LEGO Store

Plus lots of Dino:
LEGO Store

Mindstorms and Technic:
LEGO Store

Alien Conquest is still hanging around:
LEGO Store

They can finally keep Super Heroes sets in stock:
LEGO Store

Three HUGE Star Wars sets, plus many others:
LEGO Store

The monthly mini model builds for 2012 so far:
LEGO Store

Easter polybags:
LEGO Store

Friends:
LEGO Store

City:
LEGO Store

This wedding set was out of stock for awhile:
LEGO Store

First time I remember seeing Super Heroes magnets:
LEGO Store

LEGO Town Hall: The One Modular Building To Rule Them All!

Excited to start building LEGO Town Hall #10224. At 2766 pieces, it is going to be a big build! I love the dark orange color of the building – a nice tone that should fit in well with the rest of the street.

The box, with a different orientation than the other modular boxes:
LEGO Town Hall 10224

Back of the box, always interesting to see which 2 other modulars they feature:
LEGO Town Hall 10224

The price… by far the most expensive modular, but also the biggest. My gut is this is more for the adult collector anyway, so going bigger may be an experiment for them.
LEGO Town Hall 10224

The contents of the box.
LEGO Town Hall 10224

The three manuals. Level 2 is the thinnest:
LEGO Town Hall 10224

The first modular (I think) that has a single baseplate instead of two put together:
LEGO Town Hall 10224

All the bags for the first floor:
LEGO Town Hall 10224

A few bags for the second floor:
LEGO Town Hall 10224

And all the bags for the third floor and roof:
LEGO Town Hall 10224

Excited to get started!

LEGO or Brix Blox

My wife has quite the sense of humor. After a recent thrift store outing, she came home and announced she got me a box of vintage LEGO, with original box, manual, etc. She then presented me with this:

Brix Blox

I am fortunate to have a wife who not only supports my LEGO hobby, but has a sense of humor about it. So, for 50 cents, we are the proud owners of a vintage Brix Blox set. Looks as though it is from the 1970’s, and marketed through Sears. Let’s take a peak inside the box:

Brix Blox

The pieces are larger, similar to Duplo, but have a harder feel than Duplo, much more like regular LEGO. They fit together with a satisfying click and feel. Just basic shapes and colors. Here is the manual:

Brix Blox

Inside you are reminded of the simplicity of plastic building blocks prior to the 1980’s, where everything is constructed from large rectangles. “Boy on wagon” is one of the more interesting suggestions in the manual:

Brix Blox

You are certainly reminded of the imagination aspect of these vintage toys, especially when looking at “freighter or “chicken”:

Brix Blox

All in all, it was fun to check out the set. But, I think I will stick with LEGO.