LEGO teases big announcement!

They're going back to wooden toys.

Return of Dimensions??

Still want a Lord Vortech minifig

Smart bricks, surely?

I guess itself been a while since their last utter failure at integrating smartphones with bricks, we were due another.

@MisterBrickster said:
" I guess itself been a while since their last utter failure at integrating smartphones with bricks, we were due another."

How many times will they fall for this to learn the lesson

the fartbricks?

Surely, Avatar wave 3

AI will be designing the sets now?

@domoka said:
"Smart bricks, surely?"

Correct, it's implicit in the quotes presented in the clip.

@domoka said:
"Smart bricks, surely?"

Yes surely. Ewww... but yeah that's got to be it.

They’re building a new facility in Venezuela?

The fourth dimension?

Oh dear, the stupid smart bricks are upon us

@Gibbo1959 said:
"They’re building a new facility in Venezuela?"

But it will only produce orange bricks.

Lego AI; Lego that collects its own Lego.

Lego Dimensions rerelease! (they missed the 10th anniversary but better late than never)

It’s all black, it’s going to be Batman related with some technic/app functions ?

easy, it'll be the Smart Brick or, less likely, some AI garbage

Had to laugh. It's already 5 January here in New Zealand when they announced it on their socials.

I doubt this is what it is, but I'm currently on the edge of my seat waiting to hear more about Pokémon. (I imagine that will probably happen on Pokémon Day at the end of February.)

Gonna be sick on clearance in 6 months.

TLG introduces the SMART BRICK tomorrow. We do not have special year 2026, like Space (2024) and F1 (2025). Instead we have Smart Brick in different themes.

Smart Brick (2026)
Formula 1 (2025)
Space (2024)

When someone announces an announcement, I prefer for that person to be Deadpool.

I thought Batman when I saw that image.

It all depends on what this new dimension is a dimension of. Sound? Sight? Mind?

As long as it is not overpriced and doesn't have stickers I am sure it will get an overwhelmingly positive response on here.

@ShinyBidoof said:
"As long as it is not overpriced and doesn't have stickers I am sure it will get an overwhelmingly positive response on here."

You are in for a rude awakening. The new "smart" sets will have the worst price-per-piece we have possibly ever seen.

Surely the only explanation is the return of Galidor! Heroes of the outer dimension! It's in the name!

Ooh ooh this is too much fun…

-in a shocking reversal, Consumers will now be required to provide LEGO gifts with any purchase
-all prints will be replaced with stickers, though stickers will now be Scratch-n-Sniff
-LEGO cars will no longer include doors as LEGO fully commits to their new Dukes of Hazzard license
-Sets will now be labeled by price point and not age (200+, 900+, etc)
-LEGO rebrands as VIGO to celebrate their new mantra, “Display Well”
-Paper bags to be replaced with plastic bags
-Piece counts will no longer be advertised so as to obfuscate set pricing
-LEGO announces the return of Bionicle…but only via the Brickheadz and DUPLO themes

Robotics that build and play with the sets for you.

@GirlWoman said:
"You are in for a rude awakening. The new "smart" sets will have the worst price-per-piece we have possibly ever seen."

And loads of stickers.

Jack Stone, that you? At the very least, Scala? No?!? What do you mean no?

Seriously though, oof. Smart Bricks are going to flop so bad it won’t even be funny. The Cantina sounds like it could be worth it on clearance, but the rest? Touch and your own risk.

"...And here we go!" - The Joker upon seeing this announcement of the announcement for smart bricks

@yellowcastle said:
"Ooh ooh this is too much fun…

-in a shocking reversal, Consumers will now be required to provide LEGO gifts with any purchase
-all prints will be replaced with stickers, though stickers will now be Scratch-n-Sniff
-LEGO cars will no longer include doors as LEGO fully commits to their new Dukes of Hazzard license
-Sets will now be labeled by price point and not age (200+, 900+, etc)
-LEGO rebrands as VIGO to celebrate their new mantra, “Display Well”
-Paper bags to be replaced with plastic bags
-Piece counts will no longer be advertised so as to obfuscate set pricing
-LEGO announces the return of Bionicle…but only via the Brickheadz and DUPLO themes"

At least CMF’s will be in bags again! But hey, you forgot that physical instructions will be phased out.

@merman said:
"The Smart figs starting with Star Wars. They should just stick to bricks. "

If smart bricks are now a thing, does this mean we should call regular bricks “dumb bricks”?

Can we skip ahead a year to when they kill smartbricks again?

@CommanderR3x said:
" @merman said:
"The Smart figs starting with Star Wars. They should just stick to bricks. "

If smart bricks are now a thing, does this mean we should call regular bricks “dumb bricks”?"

Don't we already do that when we step on them? Along with more profane words.

Smelly bricks?

@Binnekamp said:
"Surely the only explanation is the return of Galidor! Heroes of the outer dimension! It's in the name!"

Such a clever teaser. Real fans notice these kind of eastereggs. We see what you did there, lego!

@GirlWoman said:
" @MisterBrickster said:
" I guess itself been a while since their last utter failure at integrating smartphones with bricks, we were due another."

How many times will they fall for this to learn the lesson"

How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?
-Background SpongeBob Character number 3

@Wallace_Brick_Designs said:
" @yellowcastle said:
"Ooh ooh this is too much fun…

-in a shocking reversal, Consumers will now be required to provide LEGO gifts with any purchase
-all prints will be replaced with stickers, though stickers will now be Scratch-n-Sniff
-LEGO cars will no longer include doors as LEGO fully commits to their new Dukes of Hazzard license
-Sets will now be labeled by price point and not age (200+, 900+, etc)
-LEGO rebrands as VIGO to celebrate their new mantra, “Display Well”
-Paper bags to be replaced with plastic bags
-Piece counts will no longer be advertised so as to obfuscate set pricing
-LEGO announces the return of Bionicle…but only via the Brickheadz and DUPLO themes"

At least CMF’s will be in bags again! But hey, you forgot that physical instructions will be phased out."

I considered instructions but it was just too scary a possibility to joke about…

@yellowcastle said:
"-Paper bags to be replaced with plastic bags"

This part specifically made me lol

@yellowcastle said:
"Ooh ooh this is too much fun…

-in a shocking reversal, Consumers will now be required to provide LEGO gifts with any purchase
-all prints will be replaced with stickers, though stickers will now be Scratch-n-Sniff
-LEGO cars will no longer include doors as LEGO fully commits to their new Dukes of Hazzard license
-Sets will now be labeled by price point and not age (200+, 900+, etc)
-LEGO rebrands as VIGO to celebrate their new mantra, “Display Well”
-Paper bags to be replaced with plastic bags
-Piece counts will no longer be advertised so as to obfuscate set pricing
-LEGO announces the return of Bionicle…but only via the Brickheadz and DUPLO themes"

Stop giving them ideas :)

…What would smart bricks even do? Genuinely asking

Znap II for sure :D

@yellowcastle I don’t know if you’ve been sitting on those or if that was all new material in response to this, but well done. :D

@Halex16 said:
"…What would smart bricks even do? Genuinely asking"

The smart brick will be activated when near a smart minifgure (a real thing, yes, we saw it in leaks) and then the smart brick will for example play famous Star Wars quotes, attributed to that minifigure. I imagine a smart brick in a TIE fighter will somehow play the TIE sound effect and there will probably be some integrated light as well. Sounds pretty standard to normal toys but it will make lego sets 20% to 30% more expensive and from what we've seen in blurry leaks, also much more ugly.

And the crowd goes mild.

The official return of Castle - lol

@yellowcastle said:
" @Wallace_Brick_Designs said:
" @yellowcastle said:
"Ooh ooh this is too much fun…

-in a shocking reversal, Consumers will now be required to provide LEGO gifts with any purchase
-all prints will be replaced with stickers, though stickers will now be Scratch-n-Sniff
-LEGO cars will no longer include doors as LEGO fully commits to their new Dukes of Hazzard license
-Sets will now be labeled by price point and not age (200+, 900+, etc)
-LEGO rebrands as VIGO to celebrate their new mantra, “Display Well”
-Paper bags to be replaced with plastic bags
-Piece counts will no longer be advertised so as to obfuscate set pricing
-LEGO announces the return of Bionicle…but only via the Brickheadz and DUPLO themes"

At least CMF’s will be in bags again! But hey, you forgot that physical instructions will be phased out."

I considered instructions but it was just too scary a possibility to joke about…"

I think they realized that was a bad idea, when they took the survey down quickly, then said, basically, "We were just asking!"
I was able to do the survey. I told them if they discontinued physical instructions, I would drastically reduce my Lego purchases.

@domoka said:
"Smart bricks, surely?"

Probably, but don't call me Shirley.

Lego is sure obsessed with bringing out stuff hardly anyone wants.

@GirlWoman said:
" @ShinyBidoof said:
"As long as it is not overpriced and doesn't have stickers I am sure it will get an overwhelmingly positive response on here."

You are in for a rude awakening. The new "smart" sets will have the worst price-per-piece we have possibly ever seen."

Worse ppp ratios even than 10701 ? Or 9709 ??

:p

'Smart' bricks might be interesting, it just really depends on the actual implementation, how well it's done (quality), durability, price, etc. We'll see and if it sucks, it'll be another cheap Lego year for all of us... ;)

The big announcement: 3220 was not the father after all.

@moepony said:
"Lego AI; Lego that collects its own Lego."

Anything to artificially drive up demand and price ….

2028: Lego retires SmartBrick after disappointing sales.

Cannot stress enough how little I'm looking forward to this announcement and the subsequent sets. These won't be cancelled soon enough.

I’ll reserve judgement until we know more - from what I’ve heard as someone with a decidedly Pokemon-is-the-only-nintendo-thing-that-matters perspective the Mario app integration is pretty decent and appropriate to the IP, but much though I love the minifigs and kits for Hidden Side and Vidyo the app integration there cannot be called a triumph, nor the box design that tried to emphasise it - but I confess the track record is not inspiring, if this smart brick thing is indeed what may be announced. And I really don’t buy Lego kits to spend more time looking at a screen. But maybe it will be perfect and fun! It’s possible! I like it when things are good and not bad, personally, so it would be nicer if it was.

@Mister_Jonny said:
"Lego Dimensions rerelease! (they missed the 10th anniversary but better late than never)"

They actually did something for that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LSFfApgoB8

@Andrusi said:"It all depends on what this new dimension is a dimension of. Sound? Sight? Mind?"

You're traveling through another dimension -- a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's a signpost up ahead: your next stop: the Twilight Zone!

@Hiratha said:
"I’ll reserve judgement until we know more - from what I’ve heard as someone with a decidedly Pokemon-is-the-only-nintendo-thing-that-matters perspective the Mario app integration is pretty decent and appropriate to the IP, but much though I love the minifigs and kits for Hidden Side and Vidyo the app integration there cannot be called a triumph, nor the box design that tried to emphasise it - but I confess the track record is not inspiring, if this smart brick thing is indeed what may be announced. And I really don’t buy Lego kits to spend more time looking at a screen. But maybe it will be perfect and fun! It’s possible! I like it when things are good and not bad, personally, so it would be nicer if it was."

There’s a key difference there. Hidden Side and Vidiyo both used the app during play. Mario, from what I understand, only uses it to download updates, but the interaction is 100% self-contained on LEGO hardware during play. They do a good job of programming when they only have to manage one system. It’s when they have a multitude of OS and hardware combinations that things get janky because they never develop for the full spread. They only do it for the most likely combos. I know it was a different company (TT Games), but I had the same problem with the LEGO games for PC, where the fact that I ran an AMC processor caused problems during gameplay, which prevented 100% completion on one of the Indiana Jones games, and prevented completion of one Story Mode mission on the first Batman game. Got a Wii, rebought everything, and they all worked like a charm.

If the leaked X-wing is anything to go by, everything with a smart brick will be smaller, uglier, and more expensive. Looking forward to its inevitable downfall.

What if we all just waited to see what this announcement actually is? And if it's the smart brick, what if we actually tried it out- or watched some reviews to make an informed decision?

Nah, that'll never happen.

@560heliport said:
"What if we all just waited to see what this announcement actually is? And if it's the smart brick, what if we actually tried it out- or watched some reviews to make an informed decision?

Nah, that'll never happen."

If they wanted us to do that, they wouldn’t have announced an announcement. The only point of doing so is to get people speculating. Otherwise they’d have just waited a day and made the actual announcement.

Plastic Bricks being discontinued for digital bricks!! Lego iBricks. Seriously wouldn't surprise me with the way the world is going.

@yellowcastle said:
"Ooh ooh this is too much fun…

-in a shocking reversal, Consumers will now be required to provide LEGO gifts with any purchase
-all prints will be replaced with stickers, though stickers will now be Scratch-n-Sniff
-LEGO cars will no longer include doors as LEGO fully commits to their new Dukes of Hazzard license
-Sets will now be labeled by price point and not age (200+, 900+, etc)
-LEGO rebrands as VIGO to celebrate their new mantra, “Display Well”
-Paper bags to be replaced with plastic bags
-Piece counts will no longer be advertised so as to obfuscate set pricing
-LEGO announces the return of Bionicle…but only via the Brickheadz and DUPLO themes"

Duplo Bionicle would be diabolical.

If the market has ever been just, let it be this time. The Smart Bricks initiative needs to fall off a cliff. I don't know why LEGO refuses to learn that LEGO buyers don't want high tech, but I really hope this is the most resounding refusal on the part of the consumer base yet. The timing makes this likely; toys and entertainment spending is at dire lows as the cost of living has gotten worse, and LEGO optics haven't been worse in decades, so this idea ought to be tone-deaf enough on all levels to make LEGO pull the plug early.

I was always hoping for the return of Light N Sound bricks.

Loved that woo-woo-woo of the police one.

@NeptuneIce said:
"Plastic Bricks being discontinued for digital bricks!! Lego iBricks. Seriously wouldn't surprise me with the way the world is going."

After 3 years there will be a per piece subscription price to continue your licence to use your digital bricks.

@yellowcastle said:
"-Paper bags to be replaced with plastic bags"
Nah, they're going to replace paper bags with non-recyclable plastic-infused paper bags, so they can easily heat-fuse them together instead of resorting to glue.

Oh. Wait. That is actually what they ARE doing.

There's just no quarter for satirists these days!

@AndyB1 said:
"The smart bricks are pretty groovy actually, speaking as a playtester. "

Also speaking as a playtester, they were amusing for five minutes with the portaloo noises but unless there’s been a radical upgrade the sound files were too compressed to be anything more than a gimmick.

@peterlmorris said:
"I was always hoping for the return of Light N Sound bricks.

Loved that woo-woo-woo of the police one. "
Congratulations, 2026 is apparently going to be a good year for you as long as you don’t expect much beyond that sort of noise.

Why am I NOT excited about this announcement?

Cant wait to not use the app again!

@Halex16 said:
"…What would smart bricks even do? Genuinely asking"
Move out of the way when they sense that you are about to step on them!

Now THAT would be smart bricks!

Self dusting and self sorting bricks (or just white bricks which don't turn yellow would be a bonus...)

Anyone have any ideas WHEN the announcement will actually be made today?
After all, even here in Europe the 5th has already passed the halfway mark, and in other parts of the world it's almost the 6th already.

Maybe the smart bricks concept has already been scrapped after TLG executives read this Brickset comments section.
;-)

@StolenEyes said:
"LEGO are bringing Fabuland characters into the 21st century with a series of updated sets. First up will be Cathy Cat's Mech Suit and Bonnie Bunny's Attack Fighter.

(It's just going to be smart bricks, isn't it? Oh well.)"

Cathy Cat's Combat Contraption -versus- Bonnie Bunny's Battle Blaster