Recently two designer videos have been shared for some of the bigger 18+ sets that have been released recently. You can head over to the LEGO YouTube channel to learn more about the 76161 1989 Batwing and 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina models straight from the people who created them. You'll get to hear from Senior LEGO Designer Adam Grabowski, LEGO Designer Cesar Soares, and Graphic Designer Madison O'Neil as they discuss the designs, techniques, and even some easter eggs hidden within each of the sets. I love these little behind the scenes glimpses that we get and hope you all do too!

Join us on Sunday, November 1st for our next live build! Starting at 1 PM Eastern we'll be assembling LEGO Star Wars sets 75278 D-O and 40431 BB-8 over on the BZPower Twitch channel. I'm looking forward to seeing you all there, chatting, giving out some free sets, and discovering how this sculpture set and sketch set each come together. And don't forget to set your clocks back an hour on Saturday night for Daylight Savings Time!

We have a couple news items from LEGO Ideas to share with you today. Two projects have reached ten thousand votes of support and are entering the 10k Club! Go check out the Motorized Lighthouse by Roses Must Build and the Avatar: The Illuminated World of Pandora by bulldoozer. The first looks like it comes straight from a New England postcard, while the second captures the setting of one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. If you'd rather go behind the scenes, you can read the 10K Club Interview: Mark Fitzpatrick, creator of Schitt's Creek: The Rosebud Motel, and learn all about the builder and what their process was to create the model based on the popular TV show.

It's almost November already, somehow, which means I get to remind you to enter our raffle. The 2020 Member Raffle #10 closes on October 31st, so before you go trick-or-treating (that's a joke, stay at home and don't get COVID-19), click that link to go enter the giveaway. If you win, you'll get 75528 Rey, the Star Wars Buildable Figure representing the character's appearance in Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, but don't hold that against the set. (On a side note, I hear Ta-metru_defender loves to discuss how The Last Jedi is the greatest Star Wars movie, just don't tell him I sent you.) Anyway, anyone who's a member of BZPower can enter the raffle, and getting free LEGO on Halloween is definitely quite the treat, so enter now, before it's too late!

I love it when people make LEGO creations that you can wear! Considering we're only a couple days from Halloween, such builds are even more in season. BZPower Member 16N1K4 seems to agree with that sentiment, and recently shared his Plague Doctor Mask over in the Bionicle Based Creations forum. The creation is pretty fantastic just by virtue of its size and function, but it also manages to capture the shape and design of the iconic headware from the times of the bubonic plague. Which in a way is also appropriate considering the pandemic we still find ourselves in. Anyway, go check out this fantastic MOC and marvel at the great parts usage and the fact that you can even see out of it!

Who's ready to rock? If the answer is you, then come on by the BZPower Twitch channel tonight starting at 7:30 PM Eastern as we pick up our ersatz guitar and dive back into LEGO Rock Band. A fun, copyright-infringing time will be had by all as we play song after song in the effort to become the best minifigure band in all of LEGO-dom. And if you like watching LEGO videogames, and like helping sick kids, don't forget about our Extra-Life campaign, where we'll be gaming for twenty-four hours straight to raise money for kids in need. Thank you all for your support, and I'm looking forward to seeing you tonight!

Last month LEGO and Unity announced a new Microgame project that would enable everyone to make their own videogames featuring iconic LEGO minifigures and elements. Today they're revealing more details around that project, including the fact that creations made in Bricklink's Stud.io software will be able to be imported into games! To watch the new trailer, check out some screenshots, and learn more, read on!  

This past week, on October 21st, The LEGO Group announced that they were appointing Atul Bhardwaj to the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Digital & Technology Officer. Bhardwaj's pas experience includes Executive Vice President of Logistics and Chief Technology Officer of MediaMarktSaturn, a German consumer electronics retailer, Chief Information Officer of Tesco PLC, and partner at management consultancy Accenture. It is not mentioned who the previous CTO was, or if there was one, but hopefully this new addition to the management team will bring their varied experience to help LEGO continue to grow and thrive!

Since 2008 Extra-Life has been raising money for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals by enabling gamers to raise money through twenty-four hour marathons. I've been a supporter of their efforts for years, but I've always had a reason to not participate (usually BrickFair New Jersey or BrickCon). Thanks to COVID-19, my calendar is clear this year so from 10 AM Eastern on Saturday, November 7th until 10 AM Eastern on Sunday, November 8th I'll be streaming LEGO videogames for the kids! You can head over to our page to donate or help spread the word. We've got some great incentives, including Star Wars and Bionicle raffles, the ability to pick what game I play for and hour, and a NYCC 2014 Transparent Mask of Fire! I know 2020 has been a crazy year and not everyone can donate, but any support, even if it's just a Tweet or coming to watch, helps a lot. Thank you all!

Season 2 of Star Wars - The Mandalorian premiers in a week! I can feel the excitement! To celebrate, we're building a bunch of LEGO sets from the show this weekend - so many, in fact, that we're spreading it out to Saturday and Sunday! Join us tomorrow, October 24th, and Sunday, October 25th, on the BZPower Twitch channel starting at 1 PM Eastern both days to watch them come together. Of course we'll be giving away a bunch of LEGO Star Wars Buildable Figures throughout, so all the more reason to come by and chat with us as we assemble these sets from a galaxy far, far away!

After a tease earlier this week, LEGO is officially revealing the latest set to join the Ideas lineup. Introducing 21324 123 Sesame Street, celebrating the classic children's show from the mind of Jim Henson. The model is releasing on November 1st for $120 in the United States and contains 1367 pieces. To check out this awesome, nostalgic model including five brand new minifigs, and to see the full press release, read on!  

A new blog entry was posted by Hasan yesterday over on LEGO Ideas. The short video doesn't reveal much, but we do get a good look at the Cookie Monster minifig that will be a part of the 123 Sesame Street set, and he looks great! I'm excited for this set and looking forward to the imminent reveal. As someone who watched Sesame Street all the time as a kid and a lifelong lover of Jim Henson's work, this will definitely be something we'll be taking a look at on BZPower. As soon as we can share more info on the set, you can expect to see it here too!

I was catching up on some topics in our Bionicle Discussion forum recently and came across a couple of questions that were asked that our readers can perhaps help bring closure to. The first comes from Illuminatus who wants to know about All Insane Kids and Dial Zero - apparently there are rumors that the band that did Hero and Caught in a Dream later became Dial Zero and we're looking for evidence or confirmation to put it to rest. Meanwhile, Cheesy Mac n Cheese is wondering if anyone has or can help track down a Missing (very short) 2006 TV bumper featuring the Piraka that was used on Comcast's On Demand service back in the day. It seems like fans never stop having questions about Bionicle and anything relating to it, which is awesome! Hopefully you all out there can help shed some light on these subjects!

Tuesday again already? Well I guess we'll have to play some videogames tonight then. Come on by the BZPower Twitch channel starting at 7:30 PM Eastern as we dive back into LEGO Rock Band. I think we're a little bit over halfway done with the 'campaign,' at least as far as beating the Rock Power Challenges goes, so we still have a few more weeks to step on the stage and play song after song until our fingers get blisters - but that's half the fun! Looking forward to seeing you all tonight to chat as we play!

If you missed out on the adidas Originals ZX 8000 LEGO sneakers last month and are still craving some LEGO footwear, then you're in luck! Today LEGO and adidas have announced an official and extended partnership that will include footwear, apparel, and hardware (not sure what that means) made by adidas and covered with LEGO branding. They've shared a short announcement video along with a press release, which you can read on to check out. No products were announced today, but they promise we'll see the first ones before the end of the year!  

The past week has seen two new creations achieve ten thousand votes of support on LEGO Ideas, tossing their hats in the ring of consideration to be made into actual sets. First up we've got the Classic Castle by DERBOOR, which captures some of the feel of those castle sets from the 1980s while using modern parts and building techniques for a higher level of detail and fuller presentation. Next up is a bit of a unique one, the Open MRI by Apollo Exconde, who is a MRI radiographer and built the model to help explain to patients the MRI procedure in one of four configurations depending on the situation. These two projects probably couldn't be more different, which certainly says something about the Ideas platform. Best of luck to them both when they get to the review phase!

The Harry Potter fandom has been in a weird place the past few months, given the brand's creator, author J K Rowling, tweeting some very hurtful things against minority groups and people. Boycotts of the Wizarding World products have occurred, while actors from the movies have shared nothing but love for all fans. LEGO, a big distributor of such products, have addressed their ties to the brand and its cashflow. Read on for their message of inclusion and their business details for the sets.  

It was announced this past week over on StarWars.com that a new Star Wars Holiday Special would be coming out this year. Forget 1978's mess with Chewie's son Lumpy and Boba Fett on a dinosaur, this year it's all about LEGO! The brick-infused show will be premiering on Disney+ this Life Day - November 17th for those of you not keeping track - and will feature voice talent from the live action films and animated shows. Among the cast will be Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico, Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker, Tom Kane as Yoda and Qui-Gon Jinn, James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Dee Bradley Baker as the clone troopers. The LEGO Star Wars games and shows have always had a great sense of humor while sticking to the core of what makes the universe great, so I'm definitely looking forward to checking this installment out in a month!