Lego Previews

LEGO Books with exclusive minifigures

A number of LEGO books and encyclopædia offer exclusive minifigures for collectors to enjoy:

First up is the LEGO® Minifigures Character Encyclopedia . As well as information on the LEGO minfigure range, this book comes with an exclusive LEGO toy solider figure.

The LEGO® Batman Visual Dictionary also comes with an exclusive minigure of the caped crusader, in an "electro suit".

This LEGO® Ninjago Character Encyclopedia

comes with an exclusive "Green Ninja ZX". On an unrelated side note, when I was young, my parents had a green Citroen ZX. It wasn't made of LEGO, or a ninja.

Two Harry Potter books now, LEGO® Harry Potter Building the Magical World and LEGO® Harry Potter Characters of the Magical World

. Both sets come with different exclusive figures of the Boy Wizard, although I'm not really sure what the costume they're meant to be.

Again, several books in the same series. This time, Star Wars. First up are two encyclopedia: LEGO® Star Wars The Visual Dictionary (Dk) and LEGO® Star Wars Character Encyclopedia. These sets offer exclusive figures of Han and Luke, wearing their medals received at the end of Episode IV: A New Hope.

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The LEGO® Star Wars The Dark Side book also comes with an exclusive Minifigure. This time, it's a black hole with a question mark. Nah, it's actually Emperor Palpatine.

LEGO® Star Wars the Yoda Chronicles teaches you all about Yoda, apparently. It also features an exclusive Special Forces Commander, with a weird special forces helmet.

A Couple of smaller ladybird LEGO books now, which also come with minifgures (pictures have links):

LEGO X-Wing round-up

Recently, a giant LEGO X-wing was revealed in New York's Time Square. Weighing 23 tonnes and made out of 5.3 million LEGO bricks, it claims to be the largest LEGO model ever built.

Here it is being unveiled (Video via the Guardian)

Of course, this isn't the first LEGO X-Wing we've seen. This building-brick behemoth is a scaled-up version of this set:

LEGO Star Wars 9493: X-Wing Starfighter

Features include:

Includes 4 minifigures: Luke Skywalker, new Jek Porkins, R2-D2 and R5-D8

Features X-Wing Starfighter, 1 blaster, and 1 Lightsaber

X-Wing Starfighter features retractable landing gear, 2 proton torpedoes, opening cockpit and wings that fold into attack mode

Extra wing markings also included and you can set the wings to attack mode

X-Wing Starfighter measures over 12” (33cm) long

Of course, there's a smaller version available if that's your thing:

LEGO Star Wars Planets 9677: X-Wing Starfighter and Yavin 4

This adorable set contains a miniature X-wing, as well as a X-Wing pilot minifigure, and a mini Yavin 4 - the home of A New Hope's Rebel base.

Of course, you might want to go the opposite direction and build a larger X-Wing. That is, if you can afford this pricey set:

LEGO Star Wars 7191: X-Wing Fighter

Eighteen inches long, 13 inches tall and eight inches wide, this model represents a rather costly attempt to create a large X-Wing you can keep indoors. A cheaper (still over £200) alternative is available, and I think it looks a bit better too:

LEGO STAR WARS 10240 Red Five X-wing Starfighter

This beauty comes in at over 10" (26cm) high, 20" (52cm) long and 18" (46cm) wide.

Alternatively, there're are a few classic models still avialible, serving as useful reminder of how far LEGO Star Wars sets have come in the last few years:

LEGO Star Wars 4502: X-Wing Fighter

LEGO Star Wars: X-Wing Fighter Set 7140

LEGO 2013 Sets on Amazon

A range of new LEGO sets are now available on Amazon UK, including new LEGO City, Star Wars, Superheroes and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Here are some of the new sets, with links:

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

Dante's Divine Comedy

Mihai Marius Mihu, a Romanian artist, has spent seven months creating LEGO versions of the 9 Circles of Hell based on the descriptions given in Dante's classic Divine Comedy:

I. LIMBO 'A place of monotony, here the souls are punished to wander in restless existence while they moan helplessly in echoes between the ruins of a temple.'

I. LIMBO 'A place of monotony, here the souls are punished to wander in restless existence while they moan helplessly in echoes between the ruins of a temple.'

The first, Limbo, is pictured above. To see the rest of Mihu's creations, see the Telegraph.

Dr Who - LEGO Dalek

BBC's classic sci-fi series, Doctor Who, returned to our screens earlier tonight. The episode featured a return of the most iconic villains of the series, the Daleks. So, to celebrate, here're some LEGO Daleks: (please note, there is a licensed range of LEGO-esq Dr. Who toys already, see here and here for some examples.)