Everything You Want to Know About LEGO F1

LEGO has long had a close connection to motor racing, having released hundreds of racing car-related sets over the years. With the recent announcement of a multi-year partnership between LEGO and F1 racing, we thought we’d take a look at the history of LEGO Formula 1.

AFOL Diaries - What To Do When Everyone Around You Hates LEGO

Let's face it, LEGO collectors are not easy to live with. We take up huge amounts of space with our gigantic sets and unopened boxes, such that there's cardboard and plastic everywhere. Then there's the hours spent immersed in building or keeping up to date with the latest LEGO news and views, in which we're oblivious to anyone else around us. And let's not mention the constant fretting that your LEGO may in any way get harmed. It's enough to drive your partner, housemate, or family member to despair.

Where Are All the LEGO Aeroplanes?

This might seem like a silly question, as LEGO has produced a long line of aviation themed sets over the years. However, the vast majority of these have fallen under the City theme, meaning the aircraft themselves lack detail and are often built using large moulded pieces, which many AFOLs hate.

Is LEGO Running Out of Ideas for its Collectible Minifigures?

The Collectible Minifigures (CMFs) series began in 2010 as is now on its 23rd iteration, covering over 350 minifigures. The theme has pushed the minifigure blueprint to its limit and has produced some amazing and never seen before designs, including plenty of new moulds for minifigure parts and accessories, many of which are one of a kind. Because of this, they have well and truly earnt their “collectible” mantle.

Will LEGO Release A Star Wars Lightsaber Collection?

LEGO's Star Wars Helmet Collection has proven a hit with fans since it debuted in 2020. However, the number of iconic headgear that is yet to be boxed up in a LEGO set is fast running out, and next year could see the last sets in this range (if we haven't had them already).

Five LEGO Ideas Projects to Support if You're a History Fan

LEGO has a rich history of, well, history. Historical based themes used to form the backbone of the LEGO catalogue, and produced sets centering on medieval knights, the Wild West, pirates and buccaneers, Vikings, ancient Egypt and more. However, lately LEGO's focus has been on licensed franchises that are typically sci-fi or fantasy based. We have seen small revivals of classic themes, thanks to sets such as the Lion Knights' Castle and Pirates of Barracuda Bay, which have partially satiated the appetites of LEGO fans with a love of the past. But if you are like us, and are still hungry for more classical sets, then we've provided five of the best history-based Ideas projects that you can give your support to.

Five Ideas for the 2023 LEGO Lord of the Rings Set

A recent rumour circling the LEGO world is that the company is planning to release a large scale direct to consumer (D2C) Lord of the Rings set next year. It's reported that the set's price tag will sit at €500, which would likely equate to a piece count of around 6,000. If such a big model does emerge (as the rumours are still very much whispers at the moment), there are a number of possibilities for what LEGO could do. In this article, we highlight five locations from the movie trilogy we would like to see in brick form, and which deserve their own set.

6 Licensed LEGO Themes We're Not Going To Get

LEGO's first licensed themes started in 1999 when they released the first Star Wars and Duplo Winnie the Pooh sets. Since then, LEGO have produced themes and one-off sets based on a wide range of franchises, and the number of these increases with every passing year. Such is the breadth of LEGO's licensed back catalogue that fans of various TV series, movies, and video games are ever hopeful that there will one day be a set or theme of their favourite franchise.

Unfortunately, there are some themes that are very unlikely to be seen in the foreseeable future. In this article we highlight six of these and explain why they won't come to pass.

What Will The 2023 Jurassic World Sets Look Like?

This year saw the culmination of the Jurassic World trilogy, and with no further movies from the franchise planned, the future of the associated LEGO theme is in doubt. Thankfully, next year marks the 30th anniversary of the first Jurassic Park movie, which is an opportunity to give new life to the now directionless theme. This has not gone unnoticed by Universal who are reportedly seeking to capitalise by extending the life of LEGO Jurassic World into 2023 with sets commemorating the iconic movie.

5 Upcoming Movies and TV Series We Want To See LEGO Sets For

Willow was a 1988 fantasy film directed by Ron Howard and executively produced by George Lucas. For many, Willow isn't a household name, but the movie was by no means a flop, as it made a healthy profit at the box office. Willow also picked up two Academy Award nominations for sound and visual effects, which were pioneering for the time, but received two Golden Raspberry nominations for Worst Screenplay and Worst Supporting Actor.

Are Male Minifigures Worth More Than Female Minifigures?

We recently investigated the levels of female representation in LEGO minifigures and found that there are significantly more male minifigures. This also got us thinking about whether there is any preference towards male minifigures amongst collectors. To find this out we looked at sales data on Bricklink over the past 12 months for each minifigure released between 2015 - 2019 and categorised the gender of them all.

Is LEGO Sexist?

The LEGO Group has consistently ranked amongst the world's most reputable brands according to annual surveys. It's extremely rare that you hear a bad word said about them. In fact, I can't think of a single time I've been within earshot of someone uttering a criticism and LEGO in the same sentence. Their products are loved by millions of people, both young and old, and their logo is recognised all over the world. In addition to selling products, they also perform various charitable acts through the LEGO Foundation and are pushing a strong sustainability agenda. It would seem then that they have all bases covered...

But what about gender equality? Are LEGO ensuring what men and women are suitably presented in their products? We were curious to find out, so we looked at all the minifigures released from 1 January 2018 to 1 July 2022, of which there were a little over 4,000, and categorised the gender of them all to see the proportion of male and female minifigures. This exercise was not possible for all minifigures, predominantly due to the absence of a printed headpiece or if the minifigure was unnamed and non-human. Examples of these include Stormtroopers and droids under the Star Wars theme and Pyro Vipers under the NINJAGO theme. Many minifigures of skeletons, statues, and babies were also not possible to categorise. Furthermore, there are a significant number of characters in Minecraft, Super Mario, and Unikitty themes whose gender is not specified. However, every attempt was made to assign a gender where possible, and in total, the number of uncategorised minifigures was relatively small, making up less than 9% of all the minifigures in this analysis.

Will We Get any LEGO Rings of Power Sets?

Amazon Prime's much hyped and keenly anticipated The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power series will land on our devices in September. As the name suggests, it's based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and is set thousands of years before The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It's been 8 years since the last on-screen instalment of Middle Earth action, so Tolkien fans have been waiting patiently for more for some time. The same can be said for LEGO fans, as the last sets based on the fantasy world left shelves a year later in 2015.

Those relatively new to LEGO have had to fight it out on the secondary market to get their hands on any Hobbit or LotR-based sets and minifigures, and pay the eye-watering prices that these now command. We can also feel sorry for Tolkien fans that were on the LEGO scene from 2012 to 2015, as considering the expansiveness of Middle Earth and the many different locations and characters that featured in the film franchises, the 40 sets that were produced under the two themes seems a bit miserly.

LEGO Buildings We Are Yet to See

Town was among the very first LEGO themes to come into being, along with Castle and Space, all of which started in 1978. In 2005, Town was rebranded to City, presumably to reflect a greater level of ambition and encompass the wider collection of sets being released under the theme. For over four decades, LEGO has churned out a constant stream of urban-related vehicles and buildings, with a back catalogue now comprised of hundreds of sets. This serves as the perfect starting point and inspiration for anyone wanting to build their own metropolitan paradise. And this is just what many LEGO enthusiasts, young and old, are doing, as LEGO's most abundant theme is also its most popular.

What's Next For LEGO Harry Potter?

LEGO Harry Potter has been around now for over two decades and is one of LEGO's most successful themes. The popularity of the Boy-Who-Lived and the wider wizarding world is still very high despite the last of the Potter films having been released over 10 years ago and the publication of the final book being even longer ago. This demand shows no sign of stopping, and so there's no reason to believe the theme will be discontinued any time soon. However, with over 130 sets have been released, many fans may be wondering where the theme can go next.