Introducing LEGO Art
Posted by Huw,
LEGO has divulged details of a new product range aimed squarely at adults that will be launched on August 1st: LEGO Art.
It can be considered as a successor to the various mosaic sets that have come before, except that this time the pictures are licensed artworks and utilise coloured 1x1 round tiles or plates instead of monochrome square ones.
Four pieces are being released initially: 31197 Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe, 31198 The Beatles, 31199 Marvel Studios Iron Man, 31200 Star Wars Sith.
They are 48x48 studs in size, introduce a number of new elements including a larger brick separator, can be rebuilt into different images and, in some cases, combined to create larger pictures.
Read on to find out more...
The sets will cost $120 / €120 / £115 and contain between 2900 and 3400 pieces each. The Marilyn Monroe and Beatles pictures are formed using round 1x1 tiles, while Iron Man and the Sith use round 1x1 plates. So, sort of Dots for adults, then!
Each mosaic is built upon nine new 16x16 baseplates which are 1 and 1/3rd bricks high and connected by Technic pins for stability. A new wall hanging piece is provided but there are no pictures of it in the material we've been sent. That's the reason the baseplates are an odd height: to enable that piece to be connected underneath.
What we do have a picture of, though, is a new brick separator that looks capable of dealing with 6 tiles or 4 plates at a time.
The pictures are constructed one baseplate at a time and the instructions will show a simple diagram of the layout of plates or tiles required for each. It's unfortunate that the page of instructions has been blurred out in the picture below once it was realised it doesn't match what the guy is building!
Podcasts, intended to be listened to during construction, will be made available online to purchasers. They feature experts discussing the subject depicted in the mosaic and are about 90 minutes long.
31197 Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe can be built in one of four colourways, so a set of four -- for the princely sum of $480 / £460 -- will make an awesome display.
31198 The Beatles can also be built in four ways, one for each of the band's members. The pictures used are those found on the inner sleeve of the White album. Fans of the popular music quartet will most likely want a full set which thus makes it a very expensive proposition.
The pieces in 31199 Marvel's Iron Man and 31200 Star Wars Sith can be used to make one of three images.
Or, three can be combined to form a larger picture.
The sets will also come with a 2x4 tile printed with an appropriate signature or logo to add to the corner.
Here's product information for one of the sets that, once again, is full of 'fluff' intended to entice casual buyers that are not familiar with LEGO to purchase it:
31199 Marvel Studios Iron Man
US $119.99 – CA $149.99 – DE €119.99 – UK £114.99 – FR €119.99 – DK 1099DKK
Explore an awesome way to relieve stress with this art set
If you’re a Super Hero fan, we have a thrilling set for you. Build 1 of 3 portraits of the iconic Iron Man suits of armour with this LEGO Art Marvel Studios Iron Man (31199) set, while you relish a creative escape from everyday life.
Ingenious project
Build 1 of 3 detailed portraits of Iron Man’s armour, the MARK III, the HULKBUSTER MARK I or the MARK LXXXV. If you want more, buy and combine 3 sets into an ultimate Iron Man piece. As part of this new LEGO building experience, listen to the included Soundtrack for stories and cool details about the set as you build. Finish the project with a Marvel Studios signature plate, then display it on a wall or shelf.
Artistic mindfulness
You don’t need to be an artist or have loads of LEGO models to enjoy the satisfaction of completing this wall art kit. This LEGO Art set is part of a collection of building kits focused on music, art, design and architecture, which make great gifts for anyone (including yourself) seeking a new project.
- Build this LEGO Art Marvel Studios Iron Man (31199) set, featuring a model with 3 build options. Display your favourite version of Iron Man’s armour on your wall or shelf after you spend quality time making it.
- Set your creative side free with this 3,156-piece LEGO set that includes 9 canvas wall decor plates, a Marvel Studios signature plate, brick-built LEGO frame, new hanging element and piece separator for easy rebuilding.
- Relieve stress while you create a unique LEGO portrait of the MARK III, the HULKBUSTER MARK I or the MARK LXXXV armoured Iron Man suits. With the immersive Soundtrack, you can learn unexpected details as you build.
- Revel in your love of Super Heroes while building this unique LEGO kit. To really push your creativity, buy and combine 3 of the sets to create an ultimate Iron Man wall piece to display in your home or office.
- This 3in1 LEGO Art set measures over 15.5” (40cm) square. Display it on a wall or shelf, where its details help it stand out. It makes a great gift for you or another creative builder who’s into Super Heroes or Iron Man.
Transform your passion into art: the LEGO Group puts pop-art back in the picture for adult builders
New LEGO Art sets featuring Marvel and Star Wars characters and famous celebrities help adults get into the right ‘frame’ of mind while creating their very own masterpiece.
Billund, July 1st: Today, the LEGO Group is launching a new canvas for creative expression alongside a series of much-loved partners. Designed for adults who pride themselves on their love of pop culture, four new LEGO Art sets give creative adults a different way to transform their passion into art.
Those who love Warhol or Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles or iconic characters from the Marvel Universe and Star Wars galaxy can pay homage to their idols by creating their very own LEGO artwork portrait to proudly display in their homes, offices or wherever they enjoy their music, film or art.
The LEGO Art sets offer adults a new creative experience to help them relax and recharge as they transform a blank canvas (or in this case, small interlinking base plates) using LEGO tiles. Each set can be reimagined in a number of different ways to express the personality of each different builder, and to make it easy and simple for pop culture lovers to refresh the LEGO Art piece on display in their house. All four new sets come with a signature tile unique to the set that is worthy of any true work of art, and a new hanging element to make them easy to hang up and switch around.
With new research from the LEGO Group finding that 73% of adults often research new ways to help them relax, each LEGO Art set comes with a bespoke soundtrack that makes the perfect building companion. Featuring fascinating anecdotes from the creators of Iron Man and Star Wars, or those closest to the stories of Andy Warhol and the Beatles, the soundtracks dive deep into the inspiration behind each design to help adults fully immerse themselves in the building experience and unwind while they explore their love of music, art or film in a new way.
The LEGO Marvel Studios Iron Man set will be available exclusively from LEGO Retail Stores and LEGO.com in most countries while the other three sets will be available from retailers from 1st August 2020, or from 1st September in the US.
- LEGO Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe – Pop art admirers can now recreate Andy Warhol’s famous bright pink screenprint of Marilyn Monroe from 1967, or reimagine it in three different colours using LEGO tiles. As art and design lovers tailor the tone of their piece to suit their artistic temperament, they can tune in to new insights and details about Warhol from those that know him best.
- LEGO The Beatles – Music lovers can bring Beatle-fandom into the home with a LEGO portrait of their favorite band member, whether it’s John Lennon, Sir Paul McCartney, George Harrison or Sir Ringo Starr. Each set can be used to create four unique portraits or collect four and display the full band side-by-side. Fans can get by with a little help from friends of the Beatles as they switch their headphones over to accompanying soundtrack to listen to music and stories about the band as they build.
- LEGO Marvel Studios Iron Man – Super Hero fans can decide between powering their hero up with the MARK III, the HULKBUSTER MARK I or the MARK LXXXV with this 3-in-1 set. After the tough decision is made, builders can recharge by listening to cool details about the set and stories from Marvel Experts as part of the accompanying soundtrack. Fans who want to channel Tony Stark and ‘run before you walk’ can combine three of the same sets into one to create the ultimate Iron Man artwork.
- LEGO Star Wars The Sith – Celebrate iconic villains from a galaxy far, far away with this 3-in-1 portrait set. Choose between portraits that pay tribute to the Sith, with Darth Vader, Darth Maul or Kylo Ren, or take the artwork to the next level by combining three sets into an ultimate Darth Vader wall piece. The soundtrack means the Force will be with fans as they create their very own piece of wall art while listing to music from the films and fun stories from Star Wars
Louise Elizabeth Bontoft, Senior Design Director at the LEGO Group, commented: “We know adults are always trying to destress after a day at work, and we thought, what better way to help them switch off than by encouraging them to explore their favourite passion in a new creative way?
With these wider ranging designs, we believe that we can inspire film fans, music lovers and art and design aficionados to immerse themselves in a world of art and creativity linked to their idols. Through this new experience, we believe adults can unwind, engage in a mindful building activity and ultimately create a beautiful piece of wall art that perfectly reflects their personality.”
These new wall art sets are the second 2D tile creative concept to be announced by the LEGO Group this year, following the launch of LEGO DOTS, a new theme that offers children a new way to express themselves inspired by arts and crafts.
So, what do you think? Let us know in the comments or complete the poll below.
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183 comments on this article
Can't say I'm even slightly interested but I'm sure others can see the appeal. Interesting images choices for the mosaics.
That is a THICK brick separator!
They look cool, but I won't be buying these because the subjects don't interest me. I would buy a cityscape of these however. A paris skyline, or a Prague skyline.
OK, initial reaction out of the way.
These came out of NOWHERE. They'll probably be $200 a piece where I live. I'm curious why some sets use tiles whereas others use plates. And I'm also curious how the price-to-part ratios compare to something like purchasing the tiles/plates in bulk from BrickLink. As a DOTS fan, I'm particularly taken by the colours in 31197 and 31198, never mind the new separator.
@Huw: links in:
"Four pieces are being released initially: 31197 Andy Warhol's Marylin Monroe, 31198 The Beatles, 31199 Marvel Studios Iron Man and 31200 Star Wars Sith."
points to localhost instead of brickset.com
Finally! The dark red non-hollow stud is back!
Wow I’m shocked they’re using rounded tiles instead of the normal ones. I guess this gives them more of a modern art feel which is neat. As an adult who wears DOTs I’m beyond thrilled over some of these recolours and as a regular AFOL that new brick separator looks amazing!
I’m really excited to see where this theme will go. I won’t be buying any of these initial four as I’m holding out hope for Disney Princess and DC ones! :D I’m not knocking the quality of these though, they all look spectacular in my opinion. I’m amazed they can be transformed into different images. The LEGO designers never cease to amaze me.
They all look very nice! I like how you can build 3 or 4 portraits out of one set. Of course, the downside is if you want to see all 3 or 4 at once, then you really have to roll out the cash - or to make the epid Vader or Iron Man full length pictures. Cool idea for sure, just not something I can afford to like.
Not going to lie, these are better than I expected. I especially like how they are all 3 in 1, meaning you can change it up every once in awhile when you get bored of the image.
Sooo expensive...
...but I want it all hanging on my walls now. Crap.
"Are you a boring businessman adult that wears a suit, does their taxes and is too scared to face down the truth that they're actually a fan of a children's building block toy company? If so, boy do we have a new product for YOU!"
In all seriousness though, they're decent for what they are but just not my thing honestly - bring on more daft stuff like Monkie Kid and Hidden Side!
The ability to build several pictures from the one set is great, and I like the combined ones for Iron Man and Star Wars as well.
This is essentially the Lego equivalent of diamond painting, which is very popular but much cheaper.
I wonder if the price per part will be bad to avoid the stock being snapped up by resellers...
Those Sith though!! Those are all just epic.
So thats nearly £500 if i want to do the 4 variants of the Marilyn warhol print or all 4 Beatles then?I
Sorry had to check on my wallet there, it just had a coronary.
Despite being a Beatles fan and enjoying pop art, i still feel im not the target audience for these. Apparently that audience is 'people with a lot more money'.
Really excited to see these, the Iron Man picture looks fantastic. I love the ultimate Darth Vader, that would be fantastic hanging on my wall, but three copies of the set is a little bit too pricy for me.
Are the mosaics built on regular 16x16 plates, or are they new bricks? How are the separate modules linked together?
The 3 sets combined full Vader looks incredible, but I can't justify that $360 price tag. Same for the full length Iron Man. And if someone wants to have all 4 Beatles or do the four colourways Marylin Monroe, $480? That's just too much, at least for me it is.
LOVE THESE TO BITS
As someone doing Art and Graphics the Marylin Monroe is by far my favourite but as a fan of Beatles music I'm also I love with the Beatles set.
The Star Wars and Marvel ones are also bloody epic, big fan just shame i can't fork out the £460 to buy all of them day one.
It'll be cheaper to bricklink the studs and use the PDF instructions rather than buying these at retail.
This actually makes me much more excited about LEGO’s new shift to 18+ sets. It seems like they’re now making new product ranges I never would have expected them to, but am super excited about. The adult price-point is disappointing but still seems like a decent value for what you get (quality/piece count/display value). I quite like these, and I’m also excited to see what else LEGO does next!
The Sith ones are the best and I can see more Star Wars ones being released in the future. I think Star Wars fans will make up the majority of buyers because they're used to ridiculous ppp with the licence, but this is seriously over the top £115??!!!
The LEGO marketing\pricing group is bound to be sacked if this does't go down well...
WOW...love these and Marilyn is day one purchase for me.
As they are round tiles, hope you enjoy dusting
I like the Beatles best but cannot afford all of them to display together... The larger Vader one looks great too! But realistically I can only buy one so will wait for round two (if there is one) and hope for the aforementioned city skylines idea to come to fruition.
Would love to make the large Darth Vader...but buying 3 sets to do it will be pricey.
Oh I am getting three Sith ones to form Daddy Vader but I wonder if they will come up with a Jedi one (Luke, Ashoka and/or Bastilla/Rey) to balance the Sith one as well a Thanos to go against Iron Man.
I’m curious to see (or hear rather) what the ‘included soundtrack’ is for these, sounds like an interesting concept that isn’t really highlighted in this press release.
They look a lot better than I was expecting when the rumours of the theme came out.
That brick separator is one thicc boi!
I'd rather have some new original LEGO theme, than milking pop-culture references over and over again, brickheads, sketches, now this range.
I have to admit though, that this one seems the best, compared to brickheadz and bricksketches.
Love the look of the Iron Man and Sith sets but my first thought is wondering if it would be cheaper just to part it out separately.
Can we all as an AFOL Community agree to dub the new brick separator the Adult Brick Separator? It can only be purchased by 18+ year olds after all. "Kids, keep your hands off my Adult Brick Separator. Go use one of the dozens of orange kids ones you already have."
@NathanR2015 said:
"Are the mosaics built on regular 16x16 plates, or are they new bricks? How are the separate modules linked together?"
Pretty sure they are 52040-esque new bricks. Probably with peg connections.
I think the Warhol style lends itself best for that kind of product. Plus, even at the price mentioned a set of four will certainly be cheaper than a set of four of the original.
:-)
For me this theme looks promising, but those first motifs are not what I would buy. I'd love this for personalized images, similar to what they offer in the London store. Offer this via Shop at home and I'm in.
I feel the need for a Daft Punk version of these...
Just saw these on twitter and fell in love, but not with the price tag. Think I might grab some bases and studs off bricklink and DIY them.
Neat idea, but prohibitively expensive. Doubt we'll see a second series of these.
I personally find this much more appealing than the BrickSketches.
I'm definitely buying 3 sets of the Sith to make the Darth Vader display. But I'm definitely skipping the Beatles and Marilyn. Iron Man... Hmm... Maybe if I find a discount later.
Oh but I really want them to to this with Harry Potter.
Cool looking. But sadly like almost everything Lego puts out this year, the price for what you get looks like a really greedy cash grab.
$120 is not cheap for such playability but it will be acceptable at 40% off. Those baseplates and hanging pieces are good reasons for purchase. With mosaic generator we can make our own pictures.
I know good art is "supposed" to be expensive, but this is a bit over the top. Both the Sith and Beatles versions appeal greatly to me as a fan, but the price for three or - heaven forbid - four of these is prohibitive. Given that the sets are almost exclusively 1x1 round tiles the ppp is actually quite high, I believe.
Wish I could unsee the three set-combination large Darth Vader image because at first I thought that one set looked a decent option, but having seen the big one the single set ones are not all that anymore.
Maybe I will just have to go for Lennon and be done with it, at least then you also get the new brick separator.
@chrisaw said:
"They look a lot better than I was expecting when the rumours of the theme came out.
That brick separator is one thicc boi!"
I'd like to go ahead and coin this the Thicc Separator in the AFOL community. Please make the thicc stick.
They are cool, but too expensive for me. I personally enjoy investing in normal Art from Artists. I am also not surprised, it seemed they were working towards this.
About that blurred instruction: they couldn't photoshop that s**t? really? lol
I see the appeal and would love a Sith and Iron Man one. Not at $120 a set, though. Sigh, that three-wide Vader is awesome.
@KamCheung said:
"$120 is not cheap for such playability but it will be acceptable at 40% off. Those baseplates and hanging pieces are good reasons for purchase. With mosaic generator we can make our own pictures."
Yes! Simple mosaic generator, or photoshop pixelation filter. I will definitely buy some baseplates when they hite Bricklink a loooooong time from now.
I'm not so sure how I feel about Vader seperate but the Vader combined looks amazing and would make the perfect display piece. I'll have to wait till I see the pricing in Australia though, with a $120 USD pricetag I can see these going for $150 AUD.
The round pieces are a very smart choice, since they'll prevent the insanity of alignment struggles. For smaller tilework, that's fine, but for an all-tile set, it'd be cruel to use squares.
If they continue the visual art theme for more of these, a Roy Lichtenstein piece would be absolutely perfect for the round tiles. I seriously doubt I'll ever own one of these, though, let alone four of each.
Neat concept, but not interested. Pretty pricey when you want a variety of portraits. My favorite band of all-time is The Beatles, but I gotta say that the Beatles' portraits in LEGO are ugly. My least favorite of these choices.
@dylanmitchell said:
"It'll be cheaper to bricklink the studs and use the PDF instructions rather than buying these at retail."
Really? That was absolutely not the case for the portrait mosaics.
Never really seen the appeal of these. It might just be my eyes - get too close and I have trouble seeing the image and can't appreciate them - recognisable from afar, but too far away to enjoy. Not for me then.
Indifferent to the particular sets/subjects chosen for this first round of sets, especially since I'm often drawn to themes that are more… whimsical/playful, if that makes any sense. Stuff like Ninjago, Elves, Bionicle, Friends, Dots, etc. Even if LEGO did a set as part of this line that appealed more to my particular interests, I doubt it'd take priority on my wish list over those other sorts of sets and themes.
Even so, I'm excited about a lot of the recolors, which will be useful for making custom LEGO Dots patterns! New Elementary goes into a little bit more detail about the new recolors, brick separator, and base pieces in this article: https://www.newelementary.com/2020/07/lego-art-new-mosaic-theme.html
I suspect this is likely to be reasonably popular… during some of my shopping trips for LEGO Dots I saw some other non-LEGO mosaic/pixel art products with a similar core concept, but LEGO seems like it would be more conducive to customization or rebuilding than some of those, which tend to involve glue/adhesives. Plus, I've seen how excited visitors often get about the mosaic section at LEGO conventions, so I know that even people with more of a casual interest in LEGO might still greatly appreciate the appeal of having stuff like this on display in their homes. I suspect that people who enjoy jigsaw puzzles would also greatly these sets as a similarly quiet, relaxing activity.
But even if a line like this never becomes a tremendous hit, I think it's the sort of thing that wouldn't have too hard a time justifying its existence. After all, it has very little reliance on new or elaborate molds, and most of the new elements it does feature are basic recolors that could just as easily show up in any number of other themes.
So I could see it ending up similar to LEGO Architecture in terms of achieving a long lifespan and resonating with people who wouldn't ordinarily be into LEGO, even if it seems fairly mundane to a lot of people who are into more typical sorts of LEGO themes.
1. They are too expensive.
2. The subject matter doesn't interest me. Maybe if they do some other major works of fine art I might be interested. A Chagall window would be amazing.
Should be Marilyn not Marylin :)
I like them, but not my subject matter. If there are more in future with different themes, I might be tempted
Like the idea, but far too expensive for me.... and just as a benchmark I can get 3200 black Plate, Round 1 x 1 (3023) for £64 listed as new on BrickLink
I won't buy any of them but I do like Marilyn Monroe, iron man and lord Vader very much!
Definitely am going to pick up pen copy of the Sith mosaic to build Vader and use the rest for extra pieces. The others don’t interest me though. Am still waiting for a Batman: The Animated Series mosaic. Some anime properties will also be nice (especially Evangelion, Violet Evergarden and Ghibli).
Interesting. A mixed bag for me. I far prefer the look of the tiles on the real people than the studs on the Marvel & Star Wars ones.
The price seeeems to be extortionate though. Seems like LEGO want it both way sometimes; charge more money when a set has a lot of large pieces, however, this one has 99.9% of pieces being the smallest possible size, and whilst I appreciate the price per piece ratio IS small on these sets, it still feels riotesly expensive to me.
Might look into the feasability of tracking down the appropriate number of tiles on the second market, but hmmmm.
Reasonably comfortable pass I think, although a shame.
For that money, I'd rather buy different Lego. But the new 16x16 elements have my attention...
@Librarian1976 said:
"1. They are too expensive.
2. The subject matter doesn't interest me. Maybe if they do some other major works of fine art I might be interested. A Chagall window would be amazing. "
I agree with this. Actual artworks would be preferable to licensed things like IRON MAN and STAR WARS. There's something funny about this bold new LEGO ART line where you can.... make a picture of DARTH MAUL. Nothing more ART than that!
The Marilyn Monroe quartet definitely shows the potential of this line, but I'm not a huge pop art fan so no dice. Maybe for some other popular works like STARRY NIGHT or THE SCREAM.
Also, I dislike the marketing language Lego is using for these new adult-centric themes. All this focus on STRESS RELIEF is a big turnoff. How about building something because it's FUN?
I could see people paying a great deal for van Gogh's The Starry Night
They look great, and the variety within each is brilliant.
But the price? Yikes!
Though I guess it's not beyond the wit of man to scale the images down by 1/2 and put e.g. all four Marilyn faces on one 48x48 mosaic, or down by 2/3 and put all four faces on 64x64 (two kits, leaving two bases spare). Though whether LEGO would get grumpy and order some spiteful takedowns we would have to wait and see.
Or even post mosaic plans for other pictures which can be done with the kits... Like maybe minifig versions of the Sith portraits...
I've done mosaics myself. I think using dots looks neat for the Marilyn ones, but the advantage with plates is you can use bigger plates for larger areas of colour and save a lot of expense.
@V_14 said:
" @NathanR2015 said:
"Are the mosaics built on regular 16x16 plates, or are they new bricks? How are the separate modules linked together?"
Pretty sure they are 52040-esque new bricks. Probably with peg connections."
I explain in the article. Does anybody read the actual text, or just look at the pictures? :-)
I really like the idea, but need to think about the pricing... it's not unreasonable, given licensing as well, but it works out quite expensive and I'm not decided if I'd rather buy these or more conventional sets.
However, super happy to see something new, and I would really love to see something like skylines done like this, maybe famous city views. And how about movie scenes? The possibilities are pretty great!
These look...interesting. They might manage to entice me if they go on sale at a decent reduction, but I'm not going to bite at full price when it's that high.
This new marketing direction from Lego is starting to concern me though. The best Lego sets have always been ones where Lego just did what they've always done, to the highest standard. Is there a particular need to keep trying to find new niches to invest in, rather than just releasing excellent sets in the more standard formats? It implies that either they're losing confidence in their traditional approach, or they feel that they're not capturing the market as well as they could - and while I could understand the latter, if it's the former, I'd be worried!
@bacon1986 said:
"Can we all as an AFOL Community agree to dub the new brick separator the Adult Brick Separator? It can only be purchased by 18+ year olds after all. "Kids, keep your hands off my Adult Brick Separator. Go use one of the dozens of orange kids ones you already have.""
ABS sounds good :-)
This set should come with an app where you can upload a picture and it will generate a mosaic using the parts of the sets you bought. Sounds like a very simple app to make and could add a lot of value to these sets.
Gobsmacked. Love them. Wow.
LITE BRITE!
I think these are pretty darn cool, but wow, what an expensive proposition if you want to do the triple murals, all four Beatles or all for Monroes.
Wow, mosaics... just like they did in 2007. So adult.
Love these but I’m already sick of LEGO acting like adults were never welcome before and that liking LEGO at an older age is taboo.
@willworkfortoys said:
[[ @chrisaw said:
[[They look a lot better than I was expecting when the rumours of the theme came out.
That brick separator is one thicc boi!!!
I'd like to go ahead and coin this the Thicc Separator in the AFOL community. Please make the thicc stick. ]]]]
I’ll back you up on that one.
I think they're cool, but they're a bit expensive
BUT if they do some Nintendo or Disney stuff I really might get them
Especially Nintendo would be cool, they could do so many NES/SNES pixel art ones
Fancy box, podcast, X-in-1, and combinations, they're really building a new kind of building experience here. I'm curious to take a look at those instructions booklets. Interesting new parts. Price is understandably high.
I really like this, although none of these first four models interest me. Please make Daft Punk, or some way to order custom artwork.
Very excited about that new brick separator ...
@Huw said:
" @V_14 said:
" @NathanR2015 said:
"Are the mosaics built on regular 16x16 plates, or are they new bricks? How are the separate modules linked together?"
Pretty sure they are 52040-esque new bricks. Probably with peg connections."
I explain in the article. Does anybody read the actual text, or just look at the pictures? :-)"
Ooops... Guess I was too distracted by the photos of the new sets to read properly!
I hope they'll sell that Brick Seperator seperately at some point.
Also those 16x16 plates look useful.
Maybe they'll make one with more classic LEGO designs like the LEGO Logo as studded mosaic could be very nice.
I love pop art and pop culture and think that these are great. The fact that they are 3 or 4 in 1 makes it even more appealing.
There I was happy that the recent SW and Marvel sets have been underwhelming and thus saving me money and then TLG release this withe option to buy 4 MM. so tempting.....
Roy Lichtenstein next please
Nice idea. Ridiculous pricing.
I am confused why they used round tiles for Marylin & They Beatles but studs for Iron Man & The Sith. I prefer the tiles to the studs but really dig Iron Man, especially the 3 set extended image.
Unlike other, I believe the price is reasonable at $120 for 3100+ pieces but I might create a BrickLink order of the tiles to compare prices.
@ChocolateCrisps said:
"These look...interesting. They might manage to entice me if they go on sale at a decent reduction, but I'm not going to bite at full price when it's that high.
This new marketing direction from Lego is starting to concern me though. The best Lego sets have always been ones where Lego just did what they've always done, to the highest standard. Is there a particular need to keep trying to find new niches to invest in, rather than just releasing excellent sets in the more standard formats? It implies that either they're losing confidence in their traditional approach, or they feel that they're not capturing the market as well as they could - and while I could understand the latter, if it's the former, I'd be worried!"
I agree. I would very much prefer they just release more sets in the standard format.
That said, these do intrigue me a little bit. I think I might like one eventually, but considering the price, I'll have to wait and see what other pieces they come up with before making a decision.
Pricey, but the rebuild-ability is great. Buy one of any of the four and you have 3-4 different ways to display it. Buy the Sith or Iron Man trios and you've got two different ways of displaying all three--four different pieces of artwork.
I also think people seriously underestimate the cost of buying all of the tiny parts.
Big Beatles fan, so it's a no brainer. Although they're good value they are still expensive. I hope they will be available for at least a two year run, it will take that long to acquire all four band members. Sorry Ringo, you'll be last lol.
Sorry, you lost me on "round". If these had been built with regular 1x1 and 1x2 plates (you can never have too many of these!) I'd probably bought one or two, to get a nice mosaic and and some extra semi-rare pieces for MOC/MOD projects. But round plates/tiles are far less interesting/useful, and reduces the parts value significantly. The base plates looks rather bulky too, I'd rather prefer regular 8x8, 8x16 and 16x16 plates for my mini-modular builds.
At first I thought the "thicc" separator could potentially be more gentle than the regular one when removing large plates etc, but the picture indicates that the lower side ends with a narrow edge on each side rather than a full 4-wide face, which really makes me question its usefulness. Hopefully that's just a photoshop error, or it would be *really* bad design.
Well drats, and I just stocked up on Ministeck. Seriously though, they are pretty cool. And it's interesting the use of the black plate behind it will make them a little less bright than they would be otherwise. And round plates makes for trivial alignment, without which the relaxation would go out of the window for most. But that will still happen once your partner finds out how much you spent on getting all four.
1000% getting 3 Iron Man and 3 Sith to make the big ones.
I'd rather get a framed poster and spend the difference on booze.
Interesting idea for those with a lot of patience, attention and small hands, as you will be sticking on 16 x 16 x 9 = 2304 tiles. I can see why you would need the 90 minute pod cast to pass the time. Assuming they give you 2500 tiles to make the alternative images, that will be around 5p a tile which as noted is a bit expensive, but then it would be fairly difficult to find these quantities on bricklink. You could buy standard 1x1 plates but these have also become popular for automated robotic mosaic creators using pixelated photos. Interesting that they have created nine new 16x16 frames which needs to be included in the cost, but for the DIY solution you could use a 48x48 classic baseplate 10701 and put in a picture frame. Either way the picture will only be 15x15 inches which seems a little small for all the above effort.
Wish they had put palpatine instead of kylo ren as the third Sith, ren is not even a proper sith!!!!!!! I think these look great and would love to own the Sith and iron man ones but will not be able to justify the outlay to get the wall art versions
@LegoSolo77 said:
"Big Beatles fan, so it's a no brainer. Although they're good value they are still expensive. I hope they will be available for at least a two year run, it will take that long to acquire all four band members. Sorry Ringo, you'll be last lol. "
How dare you!!! Ringo is the greatest.
Actually, of the four images, I do think Ringo is the better image. It might just be the photo, but John and Paul don't quite look right to me.
I love the concept and the execution seems very solid! Multiple images in one set is a definite plus, and the combination images look great! The price is definitely giving me pause, but I appreciate the detail having 3000+ pieces gives them.
Fingers crossed we get more images in the future - I would love to see landscapes or mythical creatures -- dragons, anyone?
The 3-high Vader picture is lovely, but not £345 lovely :(
These baseplates seem to be compatible with the Micropolis standard, as far as I can see.
Yes, yes, and an extra yes just to be sure! This is the kind of experimental LEGO themes I like! The star of the show are still the bricks with the technology aspect to the side as a nice bonus if the builder would like it. These also provide a relatively unique kind of building experience with an end product that looks great, with an option to make even more. While buying three or four copies is a bit of a stretch, I appreciate that the option is there!
I think LEGO should make a note to do something similar in the future with lines like Hidden Side and Mario. The tech is nice to have, but the product on it's own needs to be the main draw to purchasing it.
@Soupperson said:
"Wow I’m shocked they’re using rounded tiles instead of the normal ones. I guess this gives them more of a modern art feel which is neat. "
I'm very very glad they decided to use round tiles and plates. The pain of aligning 1x1 square tiles in architecture sets, or even corner tiles in dots sets, magnified tenfold to become the entire building experience would be simply miserable. Using round pieces will make the experience so much easier and more enjoyable.
This is an easy pass for me.
They’re so expensive for what looks like a large dots pack.
Also, putting small tiles on a plate is the most boring way to play with LEGO.
Yes the finished product looks ok but I’d rather just buy a finished one, I wouldn’t care to put the time in to get there.
Last moan (must’ve got out of bed wrong this morning!) the individual Darth Vader look terrible, the full one is so much better.
The best thing to come out of here is that brick separator! The mosaics are cool and there is a market for them so I think these will definitely do fine at the least. Not for me though and I'd rather have a UCS or Expert model than this. Of course, something better than UCS or Expert is always welcome but this ain't it.
I think this is really good, something I'm surprised lego haven't done before, but the real stumbling block is the price. I am not paying that for these subjects, which feel a bit like obvious choices, particularly the sith.
I would like a balanced choice of adult star wars sets, all the new ones lean towards the dark side, it would be nice to have the light side have something out of the busts and the portraits.
I would have liked to seen an architectural landscape or two, they would work really well in conjunction with the skyline sets. Even ones of the trains in their original enviroment perhaps, or the modular buildings.
Good idea lego, just a little disappointed with the first batch of sets.
While this is a nice idea (and I totally dig the fact that you can build multiple pics with one set), I feel that they are too niche for me as a MOC/set builder.
TLG marketing is trying to entice more casual LEGO afficionados (definitely not AFOLs) with a thick enough wallet.
I can surely see those "sets" skyrocket at the aftermarket when they stop being produced but frankly, these are something akin to a puzzle that you assemble and you put it on a wooden/glass frame. Definitely not something you will dismantle, then build again, then dismandle again.
I totally love that separator though! Makes building and dismantling 1x1and 2x2-round-tile-paved city squares A LOT easier and anxiety free!
Very cool, but too expensive for me. I would rather have other sets.
UCS Brick Separator for $120. Sounds fair.
WTH, this came out of nowhere. Totally awesome that they are so flexible and can be combined, but not totally awesome that I'm going to pay $120 for one. Alas, 3-wide Darth Vader, you were always but a pipe dream. To the Etsy-mobile! *nanananana!*
Someday we'll wake up and Lego will have achieved its dream of becoming a collectibles only company.
Hi Huw
The latest link for 31199 LEGO Art Marvel Studios Iron Man makes use of localhost. https://localhost:8080/sets/31199-1
Be nice if there was a multi pack price if you want to commit to the collection or larger displays.
t h i c c s e p a r a t o r
John Lennon? Really? He financially supported the IRA, a terrorist organisation, and admitted to beating his first wife. Weird and more than a little disturbing decision by LEGO.
Those are some CHUNKY baseplates - 1 1/3 bricks high and 16x16?!?!? Those will be a pretty penny on the aftermarket!!!!
I think those 9 baseplates (if folks desire to use them) will temper a lot of the "I'll just bricklink these instead" ideas out there.
I'm intrigued why some use studs, and others use tiles
@Zander said:
"John Lennon? Really? He financially supported the IRA, a terrorist organisation, and admitted to beating his first wife. Weird and more than a little disturbing decision by LEGO."
Vader killed kids. Iron Man was a drunk, McCartney had an affair, Harrison set amazing standards for drug use and Marilyn Monroe did the horizontal shuffle with JFK.
You can find the negative in just about anything if you want to. Or you can celebrate the positive.
Damn these look good and are innovative. Pricey yes. But they will intro a lot of new fans to our hobby. I like it. Hope I can afford one of these...this Covid stuff has really hurt me financially this year so far. But I’ve been able to spend more time building and rebuilding older sets with my soon to be 16 year old. Maybe we can work on something like this together?
Cool very cool product.
They look pretty cool! Love the Warhol, Iron Man & Star Wars mosaic pictures - shame about the price tag, especially to create the bigger images. Will most likely be purchasing though. Better than I thought they were going to be from the rumors.
If they are successful I would love to see some David Bowie, classic Disney, classic comic or other Pop Art style pieces!
Am also loving the new 18+ LEGO releases and box art look
Iron man example.... Do you got buy 3 get the big picture one?
This is out of left field but I totally love it. As a big Lego Star Wars collector I was almost certainly get the triple Darth Vader one. However, I even love the Beatles and Andy Warhol ones. So expensive but very tempting!
I was almost ready to dunk on these but I really like the THICC separator.
To anyone complaining about the price (myself included): just think what the development and testing of the new Brick Separator must have cost. Surely a fortune ;-)
$120 isn't so bad for one. Wall decor is expensive. The tackiest poster in a decent frame will still set you back at least $50.
$360 or $480 for the larger combos, though. I think at that price, you can get way better Beatles, Warhol, Star Wars and Marvel wall art!
Have they said why 2 use tiles while the other 2 use plates?
I think these are a really great execution of a boring idea. Love the multiple variants from having several sets, and the podcast idea is fab
But most importantly..
Thicc brick separator!
"To really push your creativity, buy and combine 3 of the sets" ... I don't quite think that's the thing I'll be pushing, doing that...
The round tiles look really good, but I wonder if they used them because they are easier to apply. Straightening out 1x1 square tiles is the worst part of any build, and doing that 1000s of times would have been frustrating!
I think the price is great, seems like it would work out to be 3 or 4 cents a piece!
First of all: It is not art. Second: It looks bad and assembling it seems a boring and tedious task. But I can see the appeal this may have to some people. So let them have it and let us hope all this 18+ rubbish is forgotten in two and a half years.
I wonder why some sets include 1x1 round tiles and some 1x1 round plates?
Between this and Dots, the sheer amount of 1x1 round tiles coming out of the factory must be astounding.
At first, I was excited and going to get The Sith. But why? I could get posters with similar art for FAR cheaper. I buy Lego because building with bricks and having a 3D model is super rewarding. This seems more tedious than anything. I really wanted the big Vader but I'm not spending almost $400 on it. I'll just get posters.
$120 a piece, eh?
Using round pieces was really the only way to pull this off. With square pieces I would not want to build one of these, even if I was paid $120. :-D
Take. My. Money.
125€, yikes...
Have pre ordered one and qualified for current freebies a nice little offset.
@shirhac said:
"First of all: It is not art."
There is a lot of art where such a definition is questionable. This is similar to an old technique that was used by italians and others to create mosaics in stately homes and other places.
Should make a fifth Beatles mosaic that will be the cover for the White album.
These looks amazing. The large Vader is epic! I would love to have that displayed in my house.
The price however for mainly 1x1s is too much imo. I will probably attempt to build with my existing pieces and some PaB orders.
These sets are good, but ouch. Very overpriced, like all the other LEGO 2020 sets. :(
However, being a Marvel fan, these sets are very cool. I really dig the designs of these, and It's a new idea that, unlike LEGO Mario, does work out, in my opinion.
Still, the price bug me. I want them, but I am NOT paying that price for them.
Lego is far too greedy. One set alone is already way overpriced, now they want us to buy multiple? Not to mention those don't really take any designing work. Probably a computer program could do the job. They are just existing picture/pixels in Lego form anyway. If people really want those "pictures" they would already have or rather have the actual pictures instead, which cost way less (may just print them out from a printer) and look more or less the same (or maybe an actual picture would look even better) from a distance. Also, really sad to see the mainstream keep ignoring Dooku and Sidious as Siths. Why does it always have to be Vader and Maul. To me Dooku and Sidious are far cooler and more unique.
I see the connection here, and the timing. First they introduce "DOTS", Now, they introduce Lego ART. TLG is teaching us to innovate and create. Take it to the next level of 2D building.
DOTS, meet Lego ART. Now, you may kiss your bride. :D
@LJ_McGowan said:
"I'll have to wait till I see the pricing in Australia though, with a $120 USD pricetag I can see these going for $150 AUD."
You might be disappointed then; these are up on the store already and are $199.99 AUD!
If they were $50-$75 each I would get them, (probably all of them, and then again to make the big image as well), but in Canada they are $150 each. Which is way too high for a bag of 1x1 rounds to stick on a plate. Just saying if LEGO figures out that if they lower the cost on some of it’s products, it would generate more revenue over all, in just units sold.
This is insanely awesome.
I'd definitely want one Iron Man, I'd make the LXXXV one.
I love the Sith, I'll probably get three and do the big Vader one, but making three headshots would be cool too.
I have no interest in these at all. They're just boring. Now, if they were lenticular using cheese slopes, like some MOCs I've seen, I 'd be interested.
I would have preferred 1x1 square plates or tiles as hundreds of leftover round 1x1-s and tiles especially are not that desirable in other builds. And then theres the problem of getting dust out.
Will LEGO release Mosaic maker software/feature on their website and what about bulk bags of other colors? How large arrays can the technic pins support - 9 panels as shown or more before warping kicks in? How much would such sets cost if LEGO would discard the licensed themes most of us probably don't care about? (I bet people would rather make a mosaics of their dead cats than dead celebrities)
@560heliport said:
"Now, if they were lenticular using cheese slopes, like some MOCs I've seen, I 'd be interested. "
Ooh! Can you imagine how cool the large Darth Vader would be if his lightsabre lit up as you moved past him (or switched off depending on the direction you were moving)?
@Wrecknbuild said:
" @bacon1986 said:
"Can we all as an AFOL Community agree to dub the new brick separator the Adult Brick Separator? It can only be purchased by 18+ year olds after all. "Kids, keep your hands off my Adult Brick Separator. Go use one of the dozens of orange kids ones you already have.""
ABS sounds good :-)"
Absolutely! Use the new ABS to separate your ABS plastic parts, 4 studs at once to give your abs a workout.
Just one thing... KYLO REN ISN’T A SITH!!!!! HE’S A POWERFUL WARRIOR IN THE DARK SIDE OF THE FORCE!!!!!!! (According to J.J Abrams anyway)
Now that my point has been made, this looks excellent. As an Art Student myself, this seems like a must get for me. Love the Sith and Beatles in particular. However the price is way too steep if you want multiples of the same one. In particular, just having John or Paul won’t really work without the others.
I might just get the Sith. The headshots look excellent.
Wow, so to get all 3 Sith builds as well as the larger vader build. I will have to buy 6 of these? Not cool Lego! Not cool at all!
Cool! Hope to see more ART per say - like Mondrian (colorful squares - could use large plates and give it a 3d look) or Henri Matisse. OR EVEN SCULPTURES!!!!
@TheWackyWookiee said:
"Just one thing... KYLO REN ISN’T A SITH!!!!! HE’S A POWERFUL WARRIOR IN THE DARK SIDE OF THE FORCE!!!!!!! (According to J.J Abrams anyway)
Now that my point has been made..."
{Yoda voice} Mentioned by jjb5000, it was. Reading threads before posting, you must learn! {End Yoda voice}
Sculptures from famous artists would be a nice addition to this series - and 3D is closer to what Lego is for -and not flat mosaics. Like Nike of Samothrace, Michangelo's David or Umberto Boccioni's Forms (the sculpture on the French 20 Euro Coin) or Bourgeois’ Maman (the large spider scupture) - there are many possibilites!
@kolaxanthe said:
" @LegoSolo77 said:
"Big Beatles fan, so it's a no brainer. Although they're good value they are still expensive. I hope they will be available for at least a two year run, it will take that long to acquire all four band members. Sorry Ringo, you'll be last lol. "
How dare you!!! Ringo is the greatest.
Actually, of the four images, I do think Ringo is the better image. It might just be the photo, but John and Paul don't quite look right to me."
I only worked out which one was Paul by a process of elimination!
@TheRightP_art said:
"Definitely am going to pick up pen copy of the Sith mosaic to build Vader and use the rest for extra pieces. The others don’t interest me though. Am still waiting for a Batman: The Animated Series mosaic. Some anime properties will also be nice (especially Evangelion, Violet Evergarden and Ghibli)."
Would LOVE some BTAS mosaics!
So, next step is a "Go Brick Me" style set and software to convert an image to directions and colors. Right? Maybe black and white images.
A definite buy for me. I will be buying Marilyn for my office at work, it's a perfect blend of recognized art (that I am not really a fan of) done in my favorite colors in LEGO.
I am totally for LEGO developing an adult market line of items to draw in new adults & so that their products are not just seen as a children's toy. I work with people of varying ages who only see LEGO as something they buy their children or grandchildren to play with. Most look at me like I am a mental case & roll their eyes & snicker about the fact I still "play" with LEGO. There are a few that are interested in the sets I take to work to build on my breaks (yes to reduce stress& for my enjoyment.) LEGO is my form of meditation, it helps me to relax & makes me happy. I do have to admit though, that I feel like a kid at Christmas when my LEGO order arrives. I can't wait to open to the box & start "playing".
PPP looks good at first, but 99% of what's in these sets are 1x1 studs, which are trivial in their value. You might find this funny, but the only part that interests me is that industrial-grade brick separator.
"Three combined can create a larger picture". Yeah, that's all well and good for 3 $20 sets, but not 3 150 sets. $450 is a LOT of money. At that kind of cash, you're getting into high-end RC cars. If I'm spending $450 on something, that's what it would be. My new phone cost about that much, and I had to go with the payment plan.
I hope these sell well, but I think this is another "genius decision" by marketing. I guess, in my opinion, flat 2-dimensional models aren't what I think of when the word LEGO gets brought up. For the cost of these sets, I can have a large structure, large vehicle, or a large Technic set, in some cases with motorized and/or pneumatic features.
@vader11 said:
"Not to mention those don't really take any designing work. Probably a computer program could do the job."
According to creative lead Samuel Johnson "the pixellation was designed “pretty much by hand” by the LEGO design team."
https://www.newelementary.com/2020/07/lego-art-new-mosaic-theme.html
@vader11 said:
"Also, really sad to see the mainstream keep ignoring Dooku and Sidious as Siths. Why does it always have to be Vader and Maul. To me Dooku and Sidious are far cooler and more unique."
Dooku and sidious have different colors besides mostly red and black, the pieces for them probably wouldn't have been able to switch into Vader
I do agree they need more love though
(Is Kylo Ren even a proper Sith?)
I am more excited for these than I should be. They look fantastic but the price tag for 3 copies to make the epic big one makes me cry... The thicc brick separator is a very welcome addition but I am still thinking how it is supposed to help you with breaking down Beatles or Marylin as these have 1x1 tiles, not studs.
They sure look interesting. I like how the larger Ironman picture is formed, but that's it. I won't pay $360 for over-glorified wall poster.
I'll wait for the inevitable $800 for Seurat's "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte", which is the most natural subject for this kind of thing.
Maybe if the warhols sell okay there be Lichtensteins in the future.
Why did they include Kylo in that Sith pack? He is neither a Sith nor is he iconic (well maybe he is iconic for bad villain design).
@cody6268 said:
"PPP looks good at first, but 99% of what's in these sets are 1x1 studs, which are trivial in their value. You might find this funny, but the only part that interests me is that industrial-grade brick separator.
"Three combined can create a larger picture". Yeah, that's all well and good for 3 $20 sets, but not 3 150 sets. $450 is a LOT of money. At that kind of cash, you're getting into high-end RC cars. If I'm spending $450 on something, that's what it would be. My new phone cost about that much, and I had to go with the payment plan.
I hope these sell well, but I think this is another "genius decision" by marketing. I guess, in my opinion, flat 2-dimensional models aren't what I think of when the word LEGO gets brought up. For the cost of these sets, I can have a large structure, large vehicle, or a large Technic set, in some cases with motorized and/or pneumatic features. "
Yeah it seems that, parts-wise, the main thing these sets have going for them are the new recolours, and the new separator. Hopefully those new recolours start appearing in other themes soon so their prices stay low and I can BrickLink them. I think these sets deserve to be bought for their intended use. Good thing they aren't targeted at AFOLs!
with any drawing program you can make these yourself. heavily overpriced. a no go for me
I just realized that these set numbers don't leave a lot of room for Creator 3-in-1 in later years due to the first two digits being 31. I wonder why LEGO went with this designation for LEGO Art. Classic and Duplo have a similar numbering conflict and Classic has been promoted to the 11 prefix.
I think this is a great way to attract new adults to Lego--only 2 new moulds (the 16x16 thick baseplate and the new brick separator), or perhaps 3 if the piece to use for hanging the finished product is also new. (Bet that third part had already been invented for use in the Dots picture frames, though.) This even turns the problem of color variation into an asset, since extra shades and nuances are always useful in this sort of design. Not only does this method have a Dots-like vibe, but it also could be combined with some of the techniques used in the BrickSketch line--and the round tiles/studs don't all have to be the same height, either. I don't want any of the sets Lego is offering, but I'd certainly enjoy getting my hands on some of those baseplates to do some experimenting on my own. Wonder how long it will be before the special parts show up in Bricks and Pieces?
Oh, and the software for converting your own photographs to this sort of thing already exists--mostly to help people designing their own cross-stitch needlework. Or, as has already been mentioned, there's a Photoshop filter to do it, and no doubt plenty of apps for smartphones also exist.
as much as i like the idea. that is a steep price. oof
also didn't they do this in the past with Mosaic ?
Those Beatles sets contain a bit more than 2900 pieces. You need about 2300 tiles (48 x 48) to create one picture. That means you've got 600 "extra pieces".
So, buying 3 sets will leave you with 1800 extra pieces. That means you only need about 500 pieces to create the 4th set. I guess you can buy those pieces a lot cheaper on BL than buying a complete 4th set.
For £460 I could commission some original artwork for my wall. Or for about £10 I could copy these designs with hama beads...
the sets look nice but they are expensive. the only set i will buy is that of batman---if they will ever release one.
@MrClassic said:
" @vader11 said:
"Not to mention those don't really take any designing work. Probably a computer program could do the job."
According to creative lead Samuel Johnson "the pixellation was designed “pretty much by hand” by the LEGO design team."
https://www.newelementary.com/2020/07/lego-art-new-mosaic-theme.html "
So? My point is pretty clear. This CAN be done by a computer program. Of course a human could do it too in this case. I am not saying this is done by a computer, but it could! And of course Lego would do say it is done by a designer (even if it is not or minimal), imagine what if they say it is done by a computer bot lol No one would pay that price if it is by computer.
@Osteele98
The argument could be said for Dooku, but Vader and Vader are as different as Vader and Sidious. Sidious is mostly black too if they pick the black robe and Maul has red on his face. Should have at least switched Kylo to Sidious. Kylo is not even a Sith and I don't think he is more popular than Sidious, at least for me.
@vader11 said:
" @Osteele98
The argument could be said for Dooku, but Vader and Vader are as different as Vader and Sidious. Sidious is mostly black too if they pick the black robe and Maul has red on his face. Should have at least switched Kylo to Sidious. Kylo is not even a Sith and I don't think he is more popular than Sidious, at least for me."
They have to keep something for the next wave.
$120 is only a big price tag if you compare it to the typical LEGO sets designed for play and marketed to parents who are buying for their children. From what I have read, TLG is trying to crack into the higher end of the adult interior design market with these, and less so the other 18+ sets, as there is still some playability overlap in the Crocodile.
When you look at these products in the light of home decor marketed to people with upper class jobs and disposable income the price tag seems right on target. A majority of the readers and folks leaving comments about price are at the boundary of the target audience for these sets, although the LEGO company recognizes that many of us will still be interested.
For the record, I don't have the extra cash to justify these. The product is well-designed and I think it will do very well.
@Brent007 said:
" @vader11 said:
" @Osteele98
The argument could be said for Dooku, but Vader and Vader are as different as Vader and Sidious. Sidious is mostly black too if they pick the black robe and Maul has red on his face. Should have at least switched Kylo to Sidious. Kylo is not even a Sith and I don't think he is more popular than Sidious, at least for me."
They have to keep something for the next wave.
"
That's not the point. We are not sure if there's a next wave and if there's one we are not sure if they will include them. Second, why can't they release Sidious/Dooku first then? And this is also true for many other situations including non-Lego products. They just ignore them and in many cases they were never released as products. What's more ridiculous is that they rather include a non-sith (Kylo) instead of a true sith. SMH
At first based on the set titles an the last line of mosaics LEGO did I wan't expecting to enjoy these, but I adore them!
Those new Baseplates sound fantastic. If you're listening LEGO, please, please, PLEASE release them for separate purchases. Those would come in super handy for landscaping, and with Technic ingratiation I could even see people making a fully brick built shelf out of them
The fact that the models can be rebuilt is really exciting to me. If each of these was just one image it'd be pretty boring, but having 4 alt instructions for each (even if some require multiple purchases) really bumps up the amount of display and building options. From the cover photo I wasn't interested in the Monroe one, but seeing that you can actually make all the different color combos for the full image hooked me.
Personally, I don't think I'm gonna go out of my way to buy these, there's a lot of expensive LEGO that came out this year that I'd much rather spend my money on, but if I could afford it I'd love to have 'em, especially the Sith one. Good job LEGO!
@Huw said:
"I explain in the article. Does anybody read the actual text, or just look at the pictures? :-)"
Based on the comments on things like Super Mario articles I'd say yes, most people do just look at pictures
So I would love to get the Beatles and the Sith sets. But if I were to display the Beatles, it would look pretty strange to only display one, and quite honestly I’d rather fork out a lot of money for an excellent condition White Album, which while expensive, would be much cheaper. For that matter, a Butcher Cover ought to be more affordable as well.
As for the Sith, obviously Vader is the star so I could easily just get one, but the larger Vader is sooooo much better looking. And at that point, why don’t I just buy myself a Death Star?
Ultimately, these sets are nothing more than laying mosaic tiles, just without the grout and easier cleanup. I would much prefer to take on a technically challenging build, learn some new techniques, and get a 3-dimensional work of art.
If I had a desire to have any of these images as wall art I suppose it might be in line with the price of high quality framed art, but I’m much happier with my cel from Yellow Submarine hanging on the wall as it at least is an actual work of art and not just a mass produced version of it.
Cool idea, but I’m afraid I’ll have to pass. But I do hope this is a sign there will be more Beatles sets in the future. How cool would a minifigure representation of Sgt Peppers be, assuming of course it didn’t cost $1000!
At $200 each LEGO can shove it. Between my spare pieces and bricklink I can do this way cheaper.
@Brikkyy13 said:
"At $200 each LEGO can shove it. Between my spare pieces and bricklink I can do this way cheaper."
Exactly. Not to mention you can make whatever mosaic you want at way cheaper price.
@dylanmitchell :
To build them according to the instructions, you'll need the exclusive 16x16x1-1/3 bricks. Otherwise you'll have to figure out a different way to hang them on a wall. The Sith and Ironman ones are built with 1x1 round plates and include seven previously unreleased colors. The Beatles and Marilyn ones are built with 1x1 round tiles and include nine previously unreleased colors. So, if you want to Bricklink the parts, and you're thinking you can do it at the same price that black 1x1 round plates sell for (which seems to be the benchmark most people pull up when complaining about the price of a set that costs less than $0.04/pc), keep in mind that any Bricklink sellers are going to have to price those high enough to recoup the cost of the entire set if they plan to make any money. For starters, maybe take a peek at the price to get 3000x dark-blue 1x1 round plates.
@8BrickMario :
Round parts also smooth out the pixelization a bit. It may not seem like much, but these are basically desktop computer icons that have been blown up to the size of a computer screen. Square parts do look quite a bit chunkier, which is why people have come up with so many alternate ways to build mosaics with greater resolution. That said, I just pulled out The White Album, and I figured out why people are complaining that they look terrible. On the back of the lyric booklet are all four of these images in B&W (there are also larger full-color versions on the center four pages). John, George, and Ringo are depicted from the shoulders up, while Paul's picture is just his head. The photos are all rectangular, and measure about 4 studs x 6.5 studs. Here, they're all square and fill out the frame. All four have been vertically compressed. George and Ringo have the least amount of compression, while Paul has the most because they weren't able to crop out much of the image (just removing a few more studs of hair from the top). For some reason he also looks Hispanic.
@WemWem :
Two of these _are_ actual art. The Beatles mosaic comes from their White Album, while Marilyn is based on a Warhol piece.
@LegoRobo :
This is the fifth iteration of a brick separator that we've seen. The Type 1 had a thick handle, and was useless for tiles and Technic. The Type 2 doubled the functionality by incorporating methods to remove those parts. The LEGO Nintendo Wii-mote promotional photos showed a variant on the Type 2 separator that was only one stud wide (and red), but they never actually released it. Instead, we got the minifig crowbar, which turns out to work very well for removing small tiles from a 1x channel, even if it would have been nice to give it more of a handle. And then this Type 3 separator makes the fifth version. None of these offer exactly the same functionality, and due to the large size of this (and the fact that so far it's only being packed with mosaic sets), the Technic axle remover would probably be more limited in its usefulness. It would also make this less comfortable to use for removing tiles, because you're probably going to have the meaty part of your thumb pressing down right where it would be located.
@daVisionary :
Supposedly they're trying to figure out which option people prefer. I'm wondering if color availability may have actually had a hand in picking which mosaics got which parts. Another possibility is that they went with plates for the fictional characters and tiles for the real people.
@axeleng:
It's possible that they just got a bit too aggressive when editing the image. We've seen other instances where they accidentally cropped part of the element out when prepping it for use on actual set packaging. All of the shots the Type 3 Separator show it in that exact same orientation, and we haven't seen a single shot of it just sitting nearby in the "in progress" shots. If you think about it, that end would be completely useless for removing 1x1 round plates, as no part of it would rest against them to act as a backstop. I've never tried to pry 1x1 round plates up with the tile end, but due to how much higher the flange sits, and the fact that this has angled sides, I don't think it'd work without leaving marks on the underlying studs.
@rslotb:
Honestly...I find 1x1 square plates are much easier to get lined up. You can press a long part into their sides to straighten them out, so the only tricky part is whether you want all of the logos oriented in the same direction or not. Round plates have logos that can rotate to any angle, and 1x1 round tiles have the same issue with a visible blemish near the pip. Square tiles can either be a lot easier or a lot harder. There's not really any blemish on the top surface, so the same trick that works on plates can be used to straighten them out, without any need to worry about orienting the logos the same...except if you care about the orientation of the logos on the back side (in which case you have to be able to read them to get them lined up the same).
@jaredhinton:
So build just the top third of the Vader one and display that by itself.
@Zander:
They already made him into a minifig, and it's kind of hard to explain why you released a Beatles set that only incorporates three of them. He's also remembered a lot more for his peace activism, where he even went so far as to refuse to write an anti-war song that encouraged violent protest (as many of his contemporaries were encouraging him to do), instead writing Revolution/Revolution 1 (let's just pretend Revolution 9 doesn't exist).
It appears Lego has copied this design concept from a small woman-owned company located in the Midwest called Pix Perfect. They even used the same Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe image that this company used to create one of their pieces. It’s all over their Instagram @mypixperfect if you scroll down a bit. In my opinion, Pix Perfect offers more value since they provide 400 of each color on their kits, so you can create whatever design you want and reuse it over and over again to change your design. Plus it’s cooler because their pixels are special sequin pixels that hang from pegs so they shimmer and move which reflect the light, so they kind of look like LED lights lit up when they flutter.
@Pixelfan:
Back when The Lion King came out, there were people who griped that it was just a direct rip-off of an anime work called Kimba. Except a lot of us pointed out that it was really based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. You're kind of standing on the same shaky ground right now. Between the various mosaic kits that they had already offered, and various other concepts out there like Lite Brite, some product line where you arrange plastic beads in a pattern and then fuse them together with heat, and who knows how many other similar products that have been produced by an array of toy and art/craft companies, I don't think you can really point to any recent startup and say they specifically copied the idea from them. And certainly you can't point to something as ubiquitous as the Warhol Marilyn print and say that anyone except for Warhol's estate has any real claim of ownership on it. Well, maybe whoever actually produced it for him in the Factory, since he directed and/or took credit for art in the Factory more than actually creating it himself.
@Pixelfan
It's a mosaic. Admittedly, it IS cutting edge technology. I mean, the Greeks and Persians and Hindu and Chinese all did this type of work long before Rome was founded. So your outrage makes me laugh. Thank you- it's been a grim kind of day. And please, remember that society has existed long before the internet and long before anyone was "woke".
Overall, I like the effect. It's ineresting. But for $120US, I"m not interested. At $40 it would be a very hard sell.
Yet another case of TLG trying to compete with the nostalgia market, with a price point that doesn't compete.
@VerMonster:
The question was never if society existed before anyone was "woke", but if it still does now that they are.