Father-Husband-Marketer-Geek

There have been some amazing things built with Legos, and I'm not talking exclusively about the in-store displays like the fireman at Toys R Us, although he's pretty cool as well. Here are some of the other designs which have gained notoriety lately. Super Lego Stadium: The Android game "Angry Birds" has been recreated in legos: The invincible Iron Man: Pure artistic intrepretation: Intricate LEGO cities: Historical memorials: Of course, there are also many Christmas-themed Lego designs out there: Related articles These LEGO Brick Birds Are Angrier Than Ever [DIY] (kotaku.com) Lego.com: Up to 70% Off (forthemommas.com) 10 Facts About Lego Toys (quazen.com) Brickify turns your images into LEGO plans ()

Image via Wikipedia Our two year (and 2 months!) old has officially fallen in love with everything Thomas. From the moment my wife picked up a cheap Thomas and Friends DVD at Target , which he watched, mesmerized, he has evolved his love of trains to where his GeoTrax and Lego train sets are no longer sufficient. Now, his trains must be wooden, be propped up on a table, and the trains must be able to be manually pushed along. It does seem like a step backwards, after all, the GeoTrax ran on their own, as did the Lego set. The Thomas videos were a bit creepy at first, where the trains were speaking but their mouths were not moving. Yes, they were narrated ( George Carlin and Ringo Starr, nonetheless!) but it just wasn't quite right. They've since fixed this oversight and the newer films offer a true mouth-moving experience -- much more realistic. Now, to find the Sight and Sounds Deluxe set somewhere... Related articles by Zemanta Lego fish tan...

Someone took the time to recreate "Christmastime is here" starring the Charlie Brown gang....with LEGOs!

Blog posts here have been infrequent as of late, but it's not been due to lack of thought about the blog. It's also not because of lost interest in collecting villages, or because Department 56 has had trouble selling their luxury gift items. The main reason has been time management, or lack thereof. New responsibilities and a failure to adopt all of my old to-dos into the new, expanded list of to-dos. As part of a belated new year's resolution, I've come up with some ideas for the new direction of this blog: * Take on a brand new identity - we're going to become http://www.theholidaypost.com -- kind of a play on words, expanded topics, more diverse content, more interaction from our community of readers. * Adding a list of "featured collectibles" - unique holiday items which can be test releases for companies who may not be willing to produce a large quantity out of the gate, especially during this tight economy. * More original work from our audience: p...

First, a correction: the picture I used was not the correct one. A reader was kind enought to post a new comment on the last post " Integrating Lego into your Department 56 villages ": "Actually, that's not the set we're talking about. The set in question is this one: http://shop.lego.com/product/? p=5522&LangId=2057&ShipTo=US (and there's no photo of the box there). A fan uploaded some photos of the box and the exclusive "Golden Brick" onto BrickShelf: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi- bin/gallery.cgi?f=345682 ...and if you're interested in seeing LEGO buildings designed for a more D56-type layout (I haven't mixed-and-matched with the D56 houses, but I suspect it would work), I highly recommend trying out the blog Brick Town Talk -- there was even a house on there recently that showed how to build snowbanks. Also, do you have, by any chance, that magazine from when the LEGO North Pole house came out? If I recall correctly, it includ...

I was browsing the always interesting Department 56 group on Yahoo!, and read about a collector who uses Lego pieces within his villages. He wrote: "I just went to our "New Target Superstore", and found the 50th Anniversay Edition of the Lego Original Set. It is $39.99, well worth it. If you have the Lego North Pole building, it is a great addition to it for collectors. It has all the 1958,1968,1978 and other covers on the box. It really adds a lot to the D56 buildings and accessories. Check it out." That got me thinking of which Lego pieces and sets could be integrated within other villages. I did some more digging on Google. Here's what I found: Several lego holiday pieces on Ebay Here's the Lego 50th anniversary set (some readers and email software will not display the javascript properly. You'll have to come back to the blog to see the items): Related articles by Zemanta Would You Like to Build the LEGO Death Star with Me? The 50th Anniversary of t...

* Series designed for a younger demographic, so people can start developing an affection for the brand when they start earning the disposable income required to sustain the hobby. An example of this would be, perhaps, a Lego village? I know this sounds like blasphemy to most, but why not? It would be fun. * D56 could appeal to the craft set by releasing a series of unfinished buildings - paint your own. This could gain D56 into stores like Michael's and Jo-Ann Fabrics . * Combining the youth appeal and the craft element, D56 could go the next step and sell mold-making kits to bake your own village building. Anyone remember Shaker Makers or Shrinky Dinks * The poll on the sidebar illustrates several of the new building ideas we've gathered here. Only 9 people have voted so far, resulting in a tie between the Newport Mansions and the Dr. Seuss house. The poll will stay up until New Year's Eve.