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The LEGO Group Releases 2017 Half Year Results, Profits Down

September 5, 2017 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 71 Comments

LEGO has just released their financial details for the first half of 2017 and it’s not looking too good for the best toy brand in the world. Compared to the same time as last year:

– Revenue down 5 percent to DKK 14.9 billion compared with DKK 15.7 billion
– Operating profit down 6 percent to DKK 4.4 billion compared with DKK 4.7 billion
– Net profit down 3 percent at DKK 3.4 billion compared with DKK 3.5 billion
– Cash flow from operating activities was DKK 4.6 billion compared with DKK 3.9 billion

LEGO Group Chairman, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp stated,

We are disappointed by the decline in revenue in our established markets, and we have taken steps to address this.

We are working closely with our partners and we are confident that we have the long-term potential of reaching more children in our well-established markets in Europe and the United States. We also see strong growth opportunities in growing markets such as China.

Some of the best performing themes for 2017 include LEGO City, LEGO Friends, LEGO DUPLO, and LEGO Technic, all in-house IPs. The LEGO Batman Movie also did very well.

As a result of the profit decline, the company will have to trim its total global workforce by about eight percent which is about 1,400 jobs by the end of the year.

The LEGO Group will now have to restructure the company as well as having to clean up their inventory to simplify the business model.

What are your thoughts on this surprising … Continue

Rest of LEGO Toys R Us Bricktober 2017 Sets Revealed

September 4, 2017 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 13 Comments

It looks like we have a look at the full line up for the Toys R Us Bricktober 2017 promotion thanks to BrickSamurai. I’ve already talked about the The LEGO Batman Movie (5004939) and the LEGO City Jungle Exploration (5004940) but we can now see the other two sets in the series.

There will be a generic minifigure series that includes a boxer, a hippie, a cheerleader, and a sailor. These minifigure don’t look that special as they are recolors of previous minifigures. The cheerleader looks to be the human form of the Zombie Cheerleader from the Series 14 Monsters Collectible Minifigures. This is listed as set #4 for of the series.

The other set based on LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu and not on The LEGO Ninjago Movie as previously rumored. The minifigures in this set include a white Nendroid, Neuro, Acronix, and Season 4 Rebooted version Kai, confirmed by Simon Lucas. This one is listed as the first set of the series.

Now that we’ve seen all of the Toys R Us Bricktober 2017 sets, the most interesting one is definitely the one for The LEGO Batman Movie. The other sets are fairly bland but the Ninjago one does look somewhat interesting. There’s no word on when Bricktober is here in the US but it’s usually in October so we have a few more weeks before we know the details.

LEGO Star Wars BB-8 (75187) Available on Amazon

September 4, 2017 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 0 Comments

One of the more popular LEGO Star Wars sets that was released during Force Friday II was the brick-built BB-8 (75187). It eventually became temporarily out of stock on Shop@Home and from what I saw, it was flying off the shelves at the LEGO Store an at Toys R Us. Fortunately for you, Amazon still has it available at retail price of $99.99 with Prime shipping.

This faithfully reproduced LEGO® Star Wars incarnation of the diminutive BB-8 droid from the new Star Wars movie trilogy makes the perfect gift for any Star Wars or LEGO fan. Turn one wheel at the side to rotate the detailed head, and another to open the access hatch and extend the ‘welding torch’. This faithfully reproduced model also comes with a display stand, decorative fact plaque and small BB-8 figure, making it a great display piece for any bedroom or office.

LEGO Ideas NASA Saturn-V Launch Umbilical Tower Achieves 10,000 Supporters

September 4, 2017 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 4 Comments

The NASA Saturn-V Launch Umbilical Tower by whatsuptoday is the latest project to hit 10,000 supporters on LEGO Ideas. Continuing on the Space project hype, it is supposed to be an add-on to the LEGO Ideas NASA Apollo Saturn V (21309) consisting of about 2,998 pieces.

It now joins Gilmore Girls – Luke’s Diner, Wonders of Peru, NF-15B Research Aircraft, I Am Your Father, and NASA Space Shuttle as the projects to reach the Second 2017 Review Stage.

Last Day for LEGO Star Wars Force Friday II Promotion

September 3, 2017 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 0 Comments

Today is the last day for the LEGO Star Wars Force Friday II promotion at Shop@Home and as of this post, you have less than 12 hours to get your orders in for the promotional items. You’ll still get Double VIP Points on all LEGO Star Wars items and the exclusive UCS Millennium Falcon poster but the Scarif Stormtrooper (40176) is now out of stock. Instead with your purchase of $50 or more, you’ll get the Admiral Yularen (5002947) which is left over from the May the 4th promotion in 2015. There’s also a number of sets still on sale but there’s also some sets that’s out of stock or on backorder.… Continue

LEGO Star Wars UCS Millennium Falcon (75192) May Be Extremely Limited at Release

September 3, 2017 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 17 Comments

The announcement of the LEGO Star Wars UCS Millennium Falcon (75192) was a pretty exciting event a few days ago but the actual release of the set on September 14 may be one of the most stressful things you will experience while purchasing a LEGO set. I’ve heard from a very trusted source that the set may be extremely limited upon its release, at least at LEGO Brand Stores, so much that you may have to line up early for a chance to get it. When I say early, I mean very early. Think of something like lining up for Hall H for the Marvel panel at San Diego Comic Con. I’ve been talking to some fans and they’re telling me that they will be lining up in the middle of the night to be one of the first people in line when the store opens.

As for online ordering, I expect it to be backstocked then temporarily out of stock in the first few minutes it goes live. I’ve also heard that if you’re lucky to get your order in, the set will be shipped triple boxed so it won’t be damaged during shipping. Even at the $800 price point, I have a feeling that the UCS Millennium Falcon (75192) will be more hard to get than the LEGO Ideas NASA Apollo Saturn V (21309).

Of course, this is all hearsay but I trust my source enough to do a dedicated post on it. You may say that this might cause a ruckus but … Continue

LEGO City Jungle Exploration (5004940) Bricktober 2017 Set Revealed

September 2, 2017 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 4 Comments

A few days ago, I reported on the new Toys R Us The LEGO Batman Movie Bricktober 2017 set and now we get to see another set from the wave. PromoBricks has been sent an image of the LEGO City Jungle Exploration (5004940) which is the third set in the Bricktober 2017 series. There is also a set based on The LEGO Ninjago Movie that is rumored for the wave as well. We should know more about these sets soon as Toys R Us starts to roll out ads for this promo.