Let's see what's been going on over at LEGO Ideas lately! Two projects have gained ten thousand votes of support: Boeing 737 Passenger Plane by BigPlanes-Customs and Colosseum (Architecture Style) by SkyWalter. While both are base on real-world items, I like that neither is specifically an IP. Good luck to them both! Also, on Monday, two more 10k Club interviews were posted by Hasan and Jacob, Introducing BrickGallery of The Legend of Zelda BotW: Hyrule Castle! and Brett Cuviello, creator of The Iron Giant. It was nice to meet them!

I love that there are still so many fantastic Bionicle fan stories being written all these years later. BZPower Member VakamaMetruNui has been on a bit of a streak since June, filling up the Short Stories forum with a bunch of great reads. Their latest, Legends of the Bionicle: Tension Rising, looks at an alternate take on the legend where some heroes long-thought dead came back on the island of Metru Nui. Certain Matoran (and if you're a Bionicle fan you can probably guess who by the title) don't seem very pleased with this development and want to twist it to meet their needs. To see what happens when their plans mature, go read the story! And once you're done, be sure to let the author know what you think.

Tonight we will be continuing our journey to rock-stardom as we dive back into LEGO Rock Band. You can join us on the BZPower Twitch channel starting at 7:30 PM Eastern as we hook up our amp and pretend to shred the frets, minifigure-style. We'll see how many Rock Power Challenges we can make it through and how many cameos from famous musicians appear in the game. I look forward to seeing you all there!

Today LEGO is announcing their next Star Wars statue-style set that, while missing the initial hype-train from last year, is sure to be a huge hit. Joining the likes of Master Yoda, BB-8, and a Porg is 75318 The Child, straight out of The Mandalorian. The 1073-piece set will be releasing on October 30th (the same day that Season 2 of the show premiers!) and will sell for $80 in the US. To check out the adorable photos of this almost-life-size model, as well as the press release and a video, read on!  

In addition to the press release for 10275 Elf Clubhouse, LEGO - through our Ambassador Tufi Piyufi - has shared a little interview with the designer of the set. Chris McVeigh was well-known in the LEGO community before he moved to Billund for his Brick Sketches and retro technology builds, and now he's designing Winter Village models! If you're interested in learning about his journey from fan to pro, and what the thought process was in creating this year's seasonal centerpiece, read on!  

LEGO is making another big announcement today! They're lifting the lid on this year's Winter Village set: 10275 Elf Club House, focusing on Santa's helpers this time around. The 1197 piece set will go on sale in just two days on September 23rd and retail for $100 in the US. As always we've got the pictures and the press release, so read on to take a look!  

Today LEGO has announced a partnership with Adidas to bring die-hard sneaker-heads and AFOLs what appears to be a very limited edition run of A-ZX8000 LEGO sneakers. The design of these shoes definitely captures the playfulness and creativity of classic LEGO bricks, and presumably will be super comfortable as you show off your fandom while wearing them. We have images, the press release, as well as the details for how you can get a pair, so read on to check it out!  

I've been fascinated with LEGO cars for a few years now, and desperately looking to expand my Technic horizons given the lack of BIONICLE sets to buy. The Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 scratches both itches with a sleek design and plenty of Technic-al know-how. This 2019 set is still populating the shelves among several other Technic and System cars, so let's take it for a spin. Read, and watch, in this sports car review.  

Today LEGO is announcing their latest adult-focused set; joining last year's 1989 Batmobile is the next logical inclusion in the series: 76161 1989 Batwing! The 2,363-piece set will be available for $200 in the US starting October 21st for VIP members and November 1st for everyone else. It looks like it packs in a lot of details and great building techniques and really captures the look of the original from Tim Burton's film. To see the set in all its hi-res glory and read the full press release, read on!  

We'll be finishing our live build of LEGO Ideas set 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay tomorrow! Stop by the BZPower Twitch channel on Saturday, September 18th starting at 1 PM Eastern to watch the set come together and then get converted into the Black Seas Barracuda! I'm super excited to finish it up and hope you guys are too. Of course we'll be doing some giveaways as well, so there's no reason not to be there!

In one week, on September 24th, the LEGO House will be hosting its first virtual fan day that will be free for everyone to attend and watch. They will be hosting several sessions including an interview with Julia Goldin, the CMO of LEGO, a Q&A on product development, a virtual tour of the new fan creations recently put on display, and a presentation from the LEGO Quality team. You can find a newly-updated schedule shared by Jan Beyer on the LAN. You must register to attend, although registration is free, so if you think you can make it, go sign up!

Recently Sara Skahill shared a story on the LAN blog about the legend of the first model builder extraordinaire, Dagny Holm. In addition to being a LEGO set designer, where she climbed her way to being the company's chief designer until 1986, she was also responsible for many for the inspiring original models at LEGOLAND Billund, including the train that is still running today. It's impressive how one person could take what was at the time a brand new children's toy and immediately elevate it into an art form, possibly paving the way for many of the LEGO Certified Professionals and other brick sculptors we see today. Go give the story a read to hear her fantastic tale!

Although they made it way back in 2017, BZPower member awesomenessborn only shared R3-3D5 [Sparring Bot] online recently, and I'm glad they did. I love the use of the Skull Spider masks in Spring Yellowish Green to add a splash of color - they also look like padding that you might expect to wear while practicing your martial arts. Otherwise the bot looks very agile and spindly and is sure to put up a tough fight in the ring with that wicked-looked staff. Oh and let's not overlook the inspired use of the Hero Factory 2.0 'mask' piece as the face of the creation with a cheese slope to fill in the mouth. Definitely go give the MOC a closer look and let the builder know what you think!

Today LEGO is announcing some promising new developments as part of their ongoing sustainability initiatives. Starting next year, LEGO will be introducing recycled paper as a replacement for the single use plastics that are currently used for the parts bags in sets. This will start out as a limited trial, but the goal is to remove all single use plastics and make their packaging completely sustainable by 2025. To read the full press release on these and other steps the company is making on their path to a better planet, as well as some images of the new packaging in use, read on!  

After a couple week break, I think we're ready to jump back on stage tonight for a new Twitch Tuesday. We've played most of the available games (for Xbox 360 and One, at least), but one of the ones we've skipped thus far is LEGO Rock Band. But tonight that changes! Join us on the BZPower Twitch channel starting at 7:30 PM Eastern as we rock out, minifig style, and see what Twitch does when you play a music game on their platform. I will do my best to not shatter your eardrums by singing along, but some of the tunes are so catchy! See you all tonight!

Earlier today two new 10k Club interviews were posted on LEGO Ideas and now later today we're letting you know about them! Hasan and Jacob from the Ideas team have sat down to virtually have a chat with Adam Hickey, creator of Queen - The Miracle Express and Thomas Wosch, creator of The Futurama Planet Express Headquarters to learn about them as LEGO fans and to hear about their experiences submitting projects on the site. They're both definitely passionate about the brick and their respective projects and give some really great advice about how to succeed on the platform. Go give both interviews a read to see what you think!

Jan Beyer from the LEGO Community team recently shared some awesome news about a new attraction coming to the LEGO House in Billund, Denmark. As you can read over on the LAN Blog, the home of the brick is getting its very own minifigure factory, allowing you to create your own custom fig featuring your own drawn designs on the torso or a few prints that are exclusive to the machine and the location. There are already minifig factories at the LEGO Stores in Berlin, Orlando and Amsterdam, so now there are four places around the globe to make a truly one-of-a-kind LEGO minifigure. I don't think I had heard about this attraction before, but it definitely makes me want to check it out once I'm able to travel again!

One of these days we'll get back to reporting on these weekly interviews promptly. Anywho, earlier in the week Jacob and Hasan shared the latest glimpses behind the scenes with some of the recent additions to the LEGO Ideas 10k Club. They start off by Introducing Liam Spall of the Working Waterfall - with Continuous Flowing Water! and continue by talking to Tong Xin Jun, creator of Spongebob Squarepants - The Krusty Krab. The two projects are just about as different as the builders, which makes both of their success stories that much more interesting. Give them a read to see for yourself!

Let us not forget what happened nineteen years ago today. We were here at Kanohi-Power and BionicleZone back then, and we all lived though 9/11/01 as a community. Nineteen years later, we are still here, members are still here - and the site, the members, and the world are just a little less innocent because of that day exactly nineteen years ago. The world is now different, as is our community that has lived through a difficult time - it is important to remember all those who lost their lives.

We gave you the options earlier this week and you asked for it! Tomorrow at 1 PM Eastern we'll start building LEGO Ideas set 21322 Pirates of Barracuda Bay over on the BZPower Twitch channel. As someone who grew up with the original Pirates LEGO sets, I'm excited for the nostalgia trip this set offers! I'm doubtful that we're going to finish in one session, so expect more pirates next weekend. See you tomorrow for building, chatting, and giving sets away!

Today LEGO is revealing the results of a partnership with Levi Strauss & Co. that was recently teased on social media. "LEGO Group x Levi's" is a collection of clothing and accessories that take the fun and creativity of our favorite building toy and turn it into wearable art that you can show off every day. Many of the offerings include a new silicone baseplate that you can build on with bricks or the included DOTS tiles. To check out the reveal video, see images of the products, and read the full press release, read on!  

After the announcement earlier today of the partnership between LEGO and Levi, we have received a list of the products that will be part of this collaboration. Unfortunately we don't have any additional images or any way to indicate which products correspond with the images we posted earlier, but I think for most of them you can figure it out. While the prices may seem high for some of these products, remember these are the MSRPs. Of course, with this being a high-profile partnership, I wouldn't expect them to go on sale much, so you had better start saving for that $300 Danish Tuxedo! Many thanks to BZPower's Ambassador Tufi Piyufi for passing these details on - now let's check them out!  

Today LEGO is officially revealing the latest Star Wars Master Builder set - 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina. The giant 3,187 piece set will be available starting September 16th for VIP members and October 1st for everyone else and will retail for $350 in the US. Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina, as it's officially known, is iconic and instantly recognizable from the original Star Wars film, and first showed us all what a "wretched hive of scum and villainy" looked like. To see what the new LEGO version looks like, and to learn more about the set, read on!