Month in Review: January 2015

February 1, 2015 | 7

It’s unbelievable that it’s already February! One month of the year down and I’m still trying to get used to the fact that it’s 2015!

Month in Review is a new monthly series that will go up at the end of each month, recapping some of the top stories and highlights of the month. Hoping to make this a great way to catch up on reviews, news articles or other posts that you may have missed from the month.

Let me know in the comments if you find this format useful or if you have any suggestions on how I can improve these posts! You can click on the images to jump straight to the corresponding blog posts.

Reviews

79016 Attack on Lake-town : The second smallest set in the very limited release The Hobbit theme was an average build, containing a nice selection of useful parts and minifigures that was pulled down by a very hefty pricetag. Score – 2/5

LEGO Minifigures Series 13: Series 13 kicked off 2015 with a bang with classics such as Hot Dog Man, Unicorn Girl and the best LEGO Minifigures lineup yet. The Series is an army-builder’s dream and sets the bar really high for LEGO’s beloved Collectible Minifigures series.

41062 Elsa’s Sparkling Ice Castle : Elsa and Anna make their debut into the Disney Princess theme in spectacular icy fashion with Elsa’s Sparkling Ice Castle, a must-have for any Frozen or transparent-brick fan. This set seems to be emulating the popularity level of last year’s Research Institute, being sold out through most official online retail channels. This set arrives in Australia in March. Score – 5/5

21301 Birds : The 9th LEGO Ideas set propels the team to greater heights with Birds, a beautifully designed set that blurs the line between building blocks and art. This is by far the prettiest LEGO Ideas set released and is a must-have for any LEGO fan. Score – 5/5

Events

Brickvention 2015 – I had an amazing time at Brickvention 2015 where volunteers amassed an impressive display of LEGO MOCs (My Own Creations) that had a little bit of everything – epic Lord of the Rings battles, towering castles, mind-bending train displays, Miniland scale dioramas, mosaics and even a huge DUPLO town.

Towers of Tomorrow: An exhibition celebrating the skyscrapers and modern architectural marvels of Asia, I had a great time admiring Ryan McNaught’s towering creations at the Museum of Sydney.

News and Happenings

LEGO Snubbed by the Oscars – In what I consider the most treacherous act since Judas betrayed Jesus, The LEGO Movie missed out on being nominated in the 2015 Academy Awards.

LEGO Pirates 2015: We also got a sneak peek at the return of one of LEGO’s most beloved classic themes, Pirates! Refreshed for 2015, LEGO’s band of scallywags set sail for the high seas in March 2015.

LEGO announces Scooby Doo theme: LEGO also dropped a delicious bomb by announcing the Scooby Doo theme which will debut in toy stores in August 2015. The colourful characters and themes should make for a wonderful transition from Cartoon to LEGO bricks making this one of my most anticipated themes of the year.

UCS SHIELD Helicarrier – Marvel and LEGO drop a huge bomb on the legions of Super Heroes fans with the announcement of the very first Marvel UCS-scale set, The SHIELD Helicarrier. Measuring 80cm long, this behemoth of a set has Marvel LEGO fans’ wallets pleading for mercy, come its official launch date of March 2015.

#HotDogGate becomes a thing : LEGO fans finally learn the meaning of “collectible toys” and “supply and demand” as the price of Hot Dog Man rockets upwards, with fans using Series 13’s star minifigure as a tradable commodity. This is my first satire piece but I plan to write a more detailed observation on this soon.

Summer 2015 sets debut at Nuremberg Toy Fair: I didn’t make a post about this, but I made an Imgur album which was shared on the Jay’s Brick Blog Facebook page of some of the upcoming Summer 2015 LEGO sets which were on show at the Nuremberg Toy Fair. The second half of the year is shaping up to be an awesome one for LEGO fans with an excellent lineup which includes a new LEGO City Divers subtheme, this awesome looking Town Square (above), Ninjago, Minecraft, Creator and Popstar-themed Friends sets.

That’s it for the January 2015 recap, let me know in the comments about your thoughts on this format and if there’s anything I can do to improve the Month in Review articles for next month. What was your favourite LEGO highlight of January 2015?