Lego is a product close to The Toy Detective’s heart – yet, closer still is the Moleskine notebook; because I almost alway carry one in an inside jacket pocket.
So, I could hardly contain my delight upon hearing that there would be a “cult limited edition” of my most trusted form of on-the-road stationery.
Previous special editions worthy of note include: Woodstock, Pac-Man, Petit Prince, Peanuts and Star Wars. This particular Moleskine will contain a Lego baseplate set in its front cover.
Also included are a set of sticker sheets, with both brick designs and Minifigure shapes. The notebooks also have embossed and decorated covers.
Released on the 1st March 2012, there are four notebooks to collect – with two sizes of lined and unlined Moleskines being released.
However, I’m surprised, surely squared notepaper would have been absolutely perfect for those Lego Master Builders and their thoughts upon their next grand design?
Informer: BrickStix
Sources: Moleskine, BrothersBrick & RevistaDesign
So, here I am again standing in a toy shop squishing the sealed foil mystery packs of Lego Minifigures in order to apprehend my most wanted little Lego person. Yes, Lego Minifigures Series 6 is now in all good toy shops, [and online from Amazon] again 16 original new characters have been created for children to collect, trade and play with.
For the record, The Toy Detective was on the look-out for the skater girl in this series; and yes, I was lucky. I wanted the skater girl for two reasons. Firstly, she has a great outfit which makes me think she’s a fan of Electo-Industrial music (and possibly a band named Terminal Choice). Secondly, I’ve a couple of the skateboarder figures from series one (definite Combichrist fan), so they’ll look good side-by-side.
I wouldn’t have been disappointed, if upon opening the packaging, I received a different figure; there are many desirable toy figurines in the range, including: an alien, a leprechaun, a surgeon and a butcher with an uncanny resemblance to a character in a BBC comedy series called The League of Gentlemen – to name but a few.
Being famous as a construction toy means that, of course, each Lego Minifigure needs to be put to together. A simple job (involving around half a dozen pieces), unless for some unknown reason you lack any knowledge of the anatomy of human beings; or any two-legged creature, be it real, mythical or alien.
Priced at £1.99, this toy continues to be a pleasing pocket money purchase that should enjoy a long life of play or display amongst aficionados of the plastic brick.
The 16 New LEGO Minifigures in Series 6
- Flamenco Dancer [easy to deduce her presence when feeling the sealed LEGO packets, because of her skirt shape.]
- Mechanic
- Classic Alien
- Bandit
- Minotaur
- Surgeon
- Butcher
- Lady Liberty [God bless the United States of America]
- Sleepyhead
- Leprechaun [fool's gold, fool's gold]
- Genie
- Clockwork Robot
- Roman Soldier
- Intergalactic Girl [surely a cosmonaut or astronaut]
- Highland Battler [for a free and independent Scotland]
- Skater Girl [and possibly a fan of electro band: Terminal Choice]
Minifigures Series 6
By Lego
For ages 5 years and older
Where to Buy Lego Minifigures Series 6
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£1.99 |  |
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£1.99 | |
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£2.00 | |
All prices correct at the time of publishing. Please check retailer for latest prices, availability and delivery information.
Features & Contents
- 1 minifigure
- 1 accessory
- 1 stand
- Instruction leaflet, that also pictures the collection
Product Details & Specifications
Product name: Lego Minifigures Series Six
Recommended age: for 5 years and older
Minimum age: 3 years due to small parts
Battery requirements: n/a
Safety considerations:
Assembly requirements: Simple assembly required
Manufacturer/Supplier: Lego
Manufacturer/Supplier no.: #8827 (item: 4642299)
Barcode (UPC/EAN): Varies worldwide, UK example: 5702014808805
Product dimensions: height c. 4.5 cm width c 3.3 cm
Product weight:
Packaging dimensions: 11.5cm x 8.6cm
Packaged item weight:
Country of origin: Made in China
LeapPad and Leapster Explorer owners will soon be able to enjoy episodes of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, The Adventures of Chuck and Friends and Pound Puppies.
A deal struck with Hasbro means that more downloadable videos will be available through the LeapFrog Connect app centre this month. Each of these downloads will contain two episodes from the chosen animated TV show and will sell for between $5 to $10.
Hasbro is expected to provide more content for LeapFrog Explorer devices. The LeapPad (an iPad-style tablet computer for children) was one of the most popular toys of 2011.
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With the presents unwrapped and played with for a mere day or two, the time is right for new ranges of Lego to be launched. After all, there’s Christmas money and gift vouchers just waiting to be spent.
Lego Friends have been launched in time to ring-in the new year of 2012. The range, along with new Ninjago toys, are available online at Toys”R”Us for home delivery, and will arrive in stores soon.
Lego Friends marks yet another attempt by the company to grab a slice of the lucrative girls collectibles market. While Lego, as a plaything, is neither specifically for boys of girls, recent years has seen the line of products become perceived by much of the public as a “boys” toy.
This renewed attempt to appeal to a great number of girls is not without some slight controversy, many of Lego’s (and many now grown-up) female fans took exception to all the pink, pets and chillaxing [stet] with the girls. There’s also some discussion and protest being expressed through the social media website Twitter, via hashtag #LiberateLEGOs.
Naturally, for a toy manufacturer this is all about sales and after four years of intense research, Lego may well have yet another most wanted toy in the shops, only this time displayed along-side Sylvanian Families and Polly Pocket in toy stores.
Taste in toys has always divided children, be it Barbie verses Bratz or Lego verses Playmobil; so it is without doubt the following video clip will make some girls delight and others cringe:-
The LEGO Friends Line-Up
Stephanie’s Bakery (3930): the finishing touches are being prepared for a garden party.There’s fresh-baked cakes to remove from the oven, dishes in the sink to be washed and the umbrella garden table needs setting – £4.99.
Olivia’s Tree House (3065): all of the friends love meeting in this treetop retreat to play games and camp out under the stars. Climb the folding ladders to watch the ladybirds, catch butterflies and feed the cat. Watch the ocean waves or wish on stars through the telescope. Stash secret treasures in the hidden compartment and decorate the whole fort with wildflowers – £19.99.
Olivia’s Workshop (3933): help Olivia create a remote-controlled pet robot or inventions in her workshop. Olivia loves tinkering with her toys to make cool creations. Write plans on the chalkboard and examine crystal under the microscope. Use the power tools to put the robot together then oil him with the oil can! Work on parts for new inventions in the vice or on the workbench, then store it all away in the shelves and rack of chemist jars – £9.99.
Emma’s Splash Pool (3931): the friend’s favourite place to be in the summer is Emma’s Splash Pool. Head over to Emma’s place to work on your tan in the lounge chair, cool off in the pool or have an ice cream in the fresh air – £4.99.
Olivia’s House (3315): home to Olivia, her parents and her pet cat is this big, bright house with lots of rooms for hanging out and having fun. Help Olivia to grill up a barbecue for the girls. Get the lawnmower out and mow the lawn and swing in the yard. An ideal home to host a sleepover or have a party. This house is built in sections for easy rearranging and you can decorate, customise and rebuild it – £69.99.
Heartlake Dog Show: it’s a great day to be a pretty puppy in Heartlake City. Mia is taking her two puppies to the annual Heartlake Dog Show. Help her to show them off on the podium and runway for the judges. Guide the pups through the obstacle course. Will Mia’s puppies win a prize? Set come with Mia Ladyfig figure and 2 puppies – £19.99.
Mia’s Puppy House (3934): not only an abode for one of Mia’s canine friends but also the place for grooming (in time for that Puppy Show, no doubt). Use the soap, spray bottle and tub to help Mia give her puppy a bath. Brush its hair on the grooming table and dress it up with a pretty bow – £9.99.
Stephanie’s Pet Patrol (3935): Stephanie has her cool quad bike ready to patrol for lost or wounded pets. Help her to rescue the animals of Heartlake City. Go off-road and find animals to bring to the veterinarian or to take back home to their owners. There’s a trailer to load them into for transportation. A bunny either gets rescued or tags along for the ride; luckily Stephanie has a carrot to give to the ceature – £9.99.
Heartlake Vet (3188): if you’ve had the patience to read this far, then you’ll know Heartlake City has numerous animal inhabitants. So, it’s only right that the city has its own veterinary surgery, called Heartlake Vet. Mia helps out and learns to take care of her furry friends. Help the veterinarian to get all of the all so cute little creatures back to tip-top health. Examine them on the examination table, check temperatures, apply the ice pack, listen to heartbeats and feed the animals their medicine. Weigh them on the scale and even take x-rays. Cages can be decorated with butterflies, ladybird and flowers. Set includes 3 animals, Mia and Veterinarian Sophie mini-doll figures – £19.99.
Stephanie’s Cool Convertible (3183): pick up the rest of the LEGO Friends for a road trip full of fun and adventure. Stephanie loves cruising in her Cool Convertible. Help her wash it to a sparkle and load her puppy into the backseat. Top destinations may, or may not, include the beauty shop, to the beach, or just go on a road trip with the girls – £14.99.
Andrea’s Stage (3932): Andrea is the biggest star in Heartlake City and she loves to perform for her LEGO Friends and fans. Help Andrea to put on her best performance yet. Shine the spotlight on her as she plays the piano. Then crank up the boom box as she sings into the microphone. Finish it off with a dance to your favorite song – £9.99.
Emma’s Design Studio (3936): help Emma create her next fancy fashion design. Use her laptop for inspiration and design table with colour samples to create fun fashions. She can take photos of her work with the camera and turn up the tunes with her mp3 player while she gets creative. Emma has everything she needs to create trendy new dresses and the coolest clothes for all of her friends to wear – £9.99.
City Park Cafe (3061): Andrea works at the Lego Friends City Park Café and loves dishing out tasty treats, when she is not singing into her broom and daydreaming of her big performance. It’s the perfect place in Heartlake City for all of the LEGO Friends to meet for milkshakes and burgers or to chill and have fun. You can bake goodies for the girls in the café kitchen, complete with everything you need to serve up café cuisine in style. There’s even an outdoor dining area, the perfect place to enjoy a milkshake in t he sun. Order up a sweet snack, serve the customers and pay with LEGO money bricks. Includes 2 Ladyfigs: Andrea and Marie – £29.99.
The recommended age for these kits varies from between 5 and 6 years upwards, not suitable for children under 3 years of age due to small parts.
Lego Friends are available to order now from Toys R Us in Great Britain.
]]>Owners of LeapFrog’s new and most wanted LeapPad and the established Leapster Explorer will soon be able to enjoy a range of videos apps available from the LeapFrog download centre [or, center, if you're in the USA].
Agreements signed with HIT Entertainment and Nickelodeon means that video episodes of Thomas & Friends, Fireman Sam, SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Bubble Guppies and Team Umizoomi will be available to download directly to LeapPad or Leapster Explorer.
Three Thomas & Friends and three Fireman Sam videos have been confirmed. Jill Waller, vice president of LeapFrog, stated: “We are very excited to expand our digital learning library with a brand like HIT that shares a similar promise to entertain kids while they learn some of life’s most important lessons…”
]]>The LEGO brick in its simple form, has been a popular plaything amongst both boys and girls for decades.
The privately-owned Danish company has been enjoying financial success against the tide of economic gloom in recent years, however, it’s by becoming an increasingly firm favourite among boys, that has seen LEGO’s sales become a threat to the world’s two largest toymakers: Mattel and Hasbro.
1999 saw the introduction of a range called Slizer. Using parts from the Technic range of construction toys and additional unique parts, Slizers went against the familiar format of fire stations and airports — and looked more like a toy you would see placed in a shop with action figures, such as Transformers.
In the years that followed, not only did LEGO introduce further action figure style kits (in the form of Bionicles, Hero Factory and more), the company also start getting heavily involved with film and comic book licenses (spin-off merchandise), with Batman, Spiderman and Harry Potter to name but a few.
While many girls have enjoyed the creative play LEGO bricks allow and have become avid collectors of Harry Potter construction kits, overall the range is now seen as a “boy’s toy” and is often kept as far away from dress-up tiaras and dolls’ houses as shop managers can possibly make it.
Four years of exhaustive research by LEGO hopes to change that, as the company launches LEGO Friends. Boxing day in the UK and new year’s day in the USA, will see the beginning of a $40 million marketing campaign for the new range of toys.
Not only will LEGO Friends kits feature plastic bricks in new pink and bright shades of colour, but also a redesigned version of the minifigure, called the ladyfig, is central to the company’s lastest attempt to win the hearts, minds and ultimately the pocket money of girls of 5 to 8 years of age.
The five ladyfigs are 5 millimetres taller than the familiar minfigure. They have more realistic skin-tone (instead of yellow), have more shapely fashion doll-like figure and a more detailed moulded hairstyle.
LEGO has tried to capture some of the girls’ collectible and craft toy market before; with, at best, moderate commerical success. Ranges, such as, Belville, Beach and Clik Kits all failed to enjoy the popularity experienced by Star Wars, Bionicle, Ninjago and alike.
The new range hopes to capatilise on the ladyfig being an “avatar” that girls can identify with, while the kits availble will allow for more imaginative “role-play”, rather than the “linear” building of a structure.
Informers:-
Business Week: Lego Is For Girls
Wired (GeekDad): Lego Friends: It’s Lego But, You Know, for Girls
New York Times (Motherlode Blog): Lego Goes After Girls
Being Geek Chic: Lego Friends – a Lego Fail
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LEGO and Warner Bros. have announced today the signing of a deal that will mean The Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit construction sets should be available in the shops from summer 2012.
The Lord Of The Rings Lego sets are planned for release into United States stores during June 2012, with other countries following soon afterwards.
The LEGO The Lord Of The Rings collection will feature building sets from all three films in the trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King.
Later in 2012 Lego sets based on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will appear with The Hobbit: There and Back Again construction toys to follow at a later date.
Karen McTier, executive vice president, domestic licensing and worldwide marketing, Warner Bros. Consumer Products, stated: “Only LEGO, with their expertise in the construction category, is capable of doing justice to the incredibly imaginative environments depicted in the world of THE LORD OF THE RINGS and the two films based on THE HOBBIT,”
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, directed by Peter Jackson and starring Luke Evans, Elijah Wood and Cate Blanchett, is slated to premiere 14th December 2012.
Details about the sets and collectible minifigures will eventually appear on a dedicated Lego website: TheLordoftheRings.LEGO.com.
There is still some last minute hope for those wishing to buy a VTech Innotab for Christmas, without paying over the odds. LeapPad is much harder to find from well-known retailers, so snap one up quickly from eBay or Amazon, while there is still a chance.
UPDATE 17th December 2011
The chances of getting one from a well known retailer before Christmas, has now become very remote. So, that leaves eBay and Amazon as the best hope.
I’ve just witnessed a LeapPad auction end at £88 (plus P&P) and an InnoTab auction end at £85 (again extra for delivery). A little eBay tip: if you’re looking for a deal, select “Time: Ending Soonest” on the “Sort by” menu button that appears on the right hand side of the screen above the product list. John.
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At this very moment, John Lewis and The Entertainer have the InnoTab in stock online for home delivery. eBay prices of VTech’s iPad-style tablet computer for children are not too expensive, Please note, that the pink version is exclusive to Argos in Britain, so if you cannot get it at the catalogue store then it maybe worth buying from eBay as soon as possible.
LeapPad prices are higher on auction sites and from third party sellers, however, too many traders have tried to profit on the back of the high demand for this LeapFrog product, so (as I write this) prices are around £100 – £110; and not the double money some of the eBay listers were hoping for.
Good luck in you search for these most want items. I hope your children’s LeapPad and InnoTab Christmas dreams come true.
Where to Buy LeapPad Explorer
Where to Buy VTech InnoTab
In the US, Toys R Us is the place to go if want to get your hands on one of this year’s most wanted toys – the LeapPad Explorer. Over 30,000 units of the learning tablet computer for children will be available to buy at the toy superstores as they open at 6 am on Saturday 10 December.
Not only will the elusive LeapPad be re-stocked, other popular ranges, such as, Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, Let’s Rock Elmo and Xia-Xia will also be available to buy.
Saturday also sees the close of a two day sale and the beginning of a new set of “Doorbuster” offers, with a varitey of reduced prices, multi-buy promotions and other deals.
These special deals end at 1 pm, while supplies last.
- BUY ONE, GET ONE 50% OFF ALL Barbie toys
- BUY ONE, GET ONE 50% OFF ALL Nerf
- BUY ONE, GET ONE 50% OFF ALL LEGO construction sets
- BUY ONE, GET ONE 50% OFF ALL Bakugan figures and accessories
- BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE ON ALL Disney DVDs and Blu-Rays
- BUY ONE, GET ONE 50% OFF ALL Video games, accessories and guides
- 50% OFF Moon Dough Super Value Pack – Was: $29.99; Now: $14.99
- 30% OFF LeapFrog Leapster 2 – Was: $49.99; Now: $34.99
- 25% OFF I Am T-Pain Mic – Was: $39.99; Now: $29.99
- 20% OFF ALL Schwinn bikes
- SAVE $30 on SmarTrike Red or Pink Zoo Trikes – Was: $129.99; Now: $99.99
Highlights of the doorbusters available in-store only starting at 6am on Saturday, while supplies last:
- BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE ON ALL Girls Squinkies Bubble Packs
- FREE $100 Toys”R”Us gift card with the purchase of Sony 16GB Tablet
- FREE $30 Toys”R”Us gift card with the purchase of any Apple iPod 8GB Nano
- FREE $20 Toys”R”Us gift card and $15 iTunes card with the purchase of any iPod Touch
- SAVE $20 on Let’s Rock Elmo – Was: $59.99; Now: $39.99
- SAVE $70 on Imaginarium City Central Train Table – Was: $169.99; Now: $99.99
- SAVE $45 on Justin Bieber Tour Bus with Exclusive Justin Bieber doll – Was: $99.98; Now: $54.98
- SAVE $25 on FAO Schwarz®-branded 18″ Toddler Dolls – Was: $59.99; Now: $34.99
- 50% OFF Razor® S Scooters – Was: $39.99; Now: $19.99
- 50% OFF Alphabet Elmo – Was: $29.99; Now: $14.99
- 25% OFF ALL Annoying Orange products – prices vary
- 25% OFF ANY LEGO Heroica Board Game – prices vary
- 20% OFF Lalaloopsy Peppy Pom Poms Cheerleader doll – Was: $24.99; Now: $20
You’ll need to act now, and will probably have to pay over-the-odds if you want to buy a LeapPad Explorer as a Christmas present.
It’s worth keeping an eye on the websites of companies, such as, Tesco Direct, Argos and Toys R Us for a chance to secure one of a limited supply of stock at £79.99.
Hamley’s has also been getting some stock but are charging £100 for the LeapPad.
Currently the easiest way to get your hands on this iPad-style tablet computer is through Play.com, Amazon.co.uk and eBay.
Prices will be considerably higher that what shops would have charged and be aware that in many cases a private individual will be responsible for sending the item to you, so check feedback rating, etc. before committing to part with your cash.
Skip The Entertainer, when hunting for a LeapPad, they have not been stocking the tablet computer – but they are a good source of compatible Explorer game software cartridges. Don’t waste your time with Early Learning Centre or Mothercare, searching for this educational learning device at these retailers appears to be futile.
Finally, for those that ask – no the LeapPad has not been recalled for any reason. It’s simply so popular that it is often out of stock in the shops.