Latest news with #LEGOMasters
CBS News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
LEGO brick convention to bring fans, masters from around the world to Salem, Massachusetts this weekend
LEGO fans from around the world head to Massachusetts for Salem Brick Convention LEGO fans from around the world head to Massachusetts for Salem Brick Convention LEGO fans from around the world head to Massachusetts for Salem Brick Convention LEGO lovers from around the globe will head to Salem, Massachusetts, this weekend for a convention like no other. The Salem Brick Convention will be at Salem State University on Saturday and Sunday. "It's fantastic, There are several vendors that are going to be in the room with the coolest stuff that you have ever seen in your life. Little stuff all the way to gigantic things," LEGO vendor Doug Davis said. The family-friendly event features photo opportunities, LEGO city recreations, retired LEGO sets, and brick pits for both adults and children. LEGO merchandise will be available for purchase at the event from vendors. LEGO convention in Salem Patrick Durham was on Season 3 of LEGO Masters and became the oldest person to ever appear on the reality show, at the age of 75. He specializes in building Star Wars LEGO replicas, which can take him upwards of 85 hours. He says that he has to pause the Star Wars movies so he can take photos of the settings to recreate in his builds. "I did one LEGO show, and I had a little small build. I looked around and I saw these artists had great big giant things and I said that's the trick. I need to build big. And so I've been building big Star Wars creations ever since," he said. Durham said this build took him 45 hours to complete. CBS Boston "This is a remote location on Mustafar, a volcanic planet where Anakin and Obi-Wan had their final duel," Durham showed WBZ-TV. Durham took up the hobby of LEGO building after his retirement. He also has some fun with the builds he creates, allowing his imagination to shine through. Durham created a Star Wars dance party for one of his builds. CBS Boston He called this particular build "Club Vader" and had created a storyline for his creation. "Vader had a meditation chamber in there [his castle.] He gets grumpy, he wants to force choke people, and stab lightsaber holes in them. I have been a DJ since age 20. I felt sorry for Vader. I knew there was good in him. I gave him a mixtape and said, 'Vader buddy, get down with this music,' Durham said. Durham is excited to show off his pieces, but he's also pumped to see what others have made. "That's one of the first things I do, is go look around and see what everybody else did, because I might learn a building technique. I'm going to put that to use," Durham explained. Tickets are available for $13.99 online and $20 at the door. The event offers two timed sessions each day for visitors, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Each session will feature the same programming. Click here for more information about the event and to buy tickets. Part of the proceeds from the event are donated to Creations for Charity, which gives LEGO sets to children around the world during the holiday season.
The Guardian
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The galaxy far, far away comes to Melbourne in a new LEGO exhibition
When you hear the term 'dream job', what comes to mind? Movie star? Chocolate taster? Astronaut? Well, for kids big and small, Ryan 'The Brickman' McNaught has a fantasy career that's hard to top: judge of TV show LEGO Masters and certified LEGO professional. In his latest project, McNaught has channelled all his skill and passion into creating a 'galaxy first' LEGO Star Wars exhibition at Melbourne Museum. This cinematic-scale exhibition – which took more than 25,000 hours to complete, using more than 8 million LEGO bricks – offers visitors the chance to see some iconic Star Wars characters, spaceships and landscapes re-created in LEGO, as well take part in hands-on LEGO activities, such as building LEGO starfighters and custom lightsabers. The exhibition opens on 4 May. From kids to the young at heart, it's a rare chance to get up close with the galaxy far, far away. C-3PO and Ryan McNaught. Photo credit: Dani Evercroft. Visitors will find classic characters created by the LEGO master, including favourites such as C-3PO, Princess Leia and Darth Vader. Anyone who's ever tried to construct a small-scale LEGO Star Wars set will know what a challenge it can be, so it's easy to imagine the skill needed to build detailed versions of full-sized characters and spacecraft – some of which are as big as four metres high. McNaught finds joy in that challenge, and has plenty of favourites pieces he's excited to show off. 'Over the years I've always loved a 'cutaway' model where you can see the inside of something awesome, like the Death Star or a Star Destroyer, so they are super cool, but, unquestionably, my favourite [pieces] are the characters,' he says. 'Making a face in LEGO is easy, but making a face that looks like someone is hard – so hard that there aren't many people that can do it at all, so that makes them awesome.' As well as Star Wars characters in LEGO form, the exhibition offers an interactive, hands-on experience, with visitors getting the chance to build some LEGO sculptures of their own. There will be interactive elements and engaging experiences for fans of all ages. Battle scene exhibition. Photo supplied. 'I think [I'm most excited by] the interactive components of the exhibition where our models hopefully inspire people to make their own stuff,' McNaught says. 'For example, making your own Star Wars fighter, then having it scanned and watching it fly around in combat out the window of a Star Destroyer.' The scene inside LEGO Star Wars: The Exhibition resembles a Star Wars film set, populated by life-sized droids, full-scale lightsabers and realistic starships. For McNaught and his team, building the LEGO Star Wars exhibition was a painstaking labour of love. It took, he says, a long, collaborative effort to get the exhibition off the ground. 'It's far from only me; we have a dedicated team of 38 people who make it happen,' McNaught says. 'It's nearly 25,000 hours of designing, engineering and building – there's so much work that's gone into it. I've personally been working on this project pretty much nonstop – apart from filming LEGO Masters – for three years.' Getting this project off the ground was no easy task. McNaught and the team needed a lead time of six months just to source the rare and unusual LEGO bricks required for these one-off builds. Even then, the skill needed was 'way over the next level', McNaught says. Ryan McNaught in the Millennium Falcon cockpit. Photo supplied. 'The thing with this exhibition is it is about firsts,' he says. 'There's a reason the majority of the models we have made have never been done before. It's because they are so hard, technically, and these models are pushing the limits of what LEGO can do. I mean, imagine making the first ever life-sized Princess Leia and not doing it justice?' Despite the thousands of hours and millions of bricks taken to bring the exhibition to life, McNaught feels as if he hasn't even scratched the surface of the Star Wars universe. 'The museum is only so big,' he says. 'The Star Wars galaxy is so content-filled I could make another two of this exhibition with all new things. Imagine Boba Fett's [starship] Slave I, or a giant sandcrawler as examples.' The Emperor's throne room. Photo credit: Eugene Hyland. It's fair to say that 'The Brickman' loves his job. He get a lot of joy out of all that planning and building with LEGO, and is excited by the impact that exhibitions such as this can have on visitors. 'I get to bring happiness to people, so that's pretty awesome,' McNaught says. 'Hopefully I'm inspiring a Sally or Johnny to take over from me one day.' After seeing the exhibition, visitors can continue their adventure by exploring the main Melbourne Museum galleries, with general admission included in all tickets. Embark on a journey through the galaxy's first LEGO Star Wars exhibition.
Perth Now
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
From a galaxy far, far away, comes LEGO Star Wars show
Two of the most powerful cultural forces in the universe - Star Wars and LEGO - have combined to create a galaxy-first exhibition. LEGO® Star Wars™: The Exhibition features characters and scenes from the iconic film franchise, painstakingly recreated in tiny plastic bricks - from the light-saber battle between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, to a two-metre-high recreation of the Death Star. The models were constructed using over eight million bricks - that's four 40-foot shipping containers full of LEGO - by the Brickman team at a workshop in the Melbourne suburb of Tullamarine. The project took dozens of people 25,000 hours to design and build over three years, one brick at a time. "All of these LEGO models here have no instructions," explained Brickman Ryan McNaught, Australia's only LEGO Certified Professional and one of the hosts of the hit television program LEGO Masters. "It's not like a big LEGO set that we buy and we can put them together, it's craftspeople of unique skill and talent putting those together," he said. It's expected more than 350,000 people will visit the exhibition at Melbourne Museum, which has already sold about 7,000 tickets before opening day on May the Fourth - Star Wars Day - otherwise known as this Sunday. Darth Vader and several Storm Troopers showed up at a media preview on Wednesday accompanied by ominous music, and were among the first to enter the exhibition followed by a large contingent of politicians and reporters. On show inside was a lifesize model of C-3PO built from pearl gold and metallic silver bricks, ordered especially from LEGO headquarters in Denmark. There was also a two-metre-high rotating Death Star, with cutaway sections showing hundreds of tiny LEGO baddies at work in various tiny scenes referencing the original trilogy. The Victorian premier Jacinta Allan - well versed in all things Star Wars - even hoped to try out the master of evil Emperor Palpatine's throne from the second Death Star, as Darth Vader and his cronies looked on. Lord Vader, am I allowed to take a seat?" she asked politely, only to get some intimidating deep breathing from the dark side in response. Never mind, she did hit the right buttons in the Millennium Falcon cockpit, sending it briefly into hyper-speed. The LEGO company's first intellectual property deal with a cultural franchise was with Star Wars back in 1999. "I wouldn't think that the Lego brand would be what is today, if it wasn't for Star Wars and that collaboration way back 25 years ago," said Troy Taylor from the LEGO Group. Among the most challenging pieces to build was a model of Darth Vader's helmet - as an iconic piece of pop culture, it had to be exactly right. The eyes of LEGO models are crucial to their success, and in Vader's case some rare windscreen bricks from 2012 managed to impart the appropriate amount of evil. The most challenging build of all, according to McNaught, was a 2.6 metre high model of General Grievous, a purely digital character who appeared in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and had to be a thicker construction in parts to make it structurally sound. Fans visiting the show will be able to make their own creations, such as LEGO light-sabers that illuminate on video screens and can be used for duels. "This sort of stuff has never been done anywhere in the world before, the combination of physical and digital," said McNaught. And as any Star Wars fan would know, building your own light-saber is the ultimate step to becoming a Jedi.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fox Sets Summer Premiere Dates for Animated Favorites, MasterChef, The Snake and More
Animation and unscripted series will dominate Fox's summer schedule, as evidenced by the lineup of premiere dates the network announced on Thursday. Fox's rollout includes return dates for animated series like Bob's Burgers and Family Guy, as well as premieres for reality programs including MasterChef (returning for a 15th season dubbed Dynamic Duos) and unscripted newbie The Snake, hosted by comedian Jim Jefferies. More from TVLine The Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3: Conrad Interrupts Belly and Jeremiah's Bliss in Teaser Trailer Save the Dates: Julie Plec's We Were Liars Premiere, The Old Guard 2 on Netflix and More LEGO Masters Season 5's Big Franchise-Themed Challenges Revealed (Exclusive) Scroll down for a complete overview of Fox's summer rollout, which also includes newly announced finale dates for all your favorite in-season shows: WEDNESDAY, MAY 78 pm The Masked Singer Season 13 finale (two hours) MONDAY, MAY 129 pm AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: MISSING PERSONSHosted by Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner, America's Most Wanted: Missing Persons is an all-new, three-week format that centers on finding missing people and reuniting them with their families. THURSDAY, MAY 158 pm Next Level Chef Season 4 finale SUNDAY, MAY 188 pm The Simpsons Season 36 finale9 pm Krapopolis Season 2 finale MONDAY, MAY 19 8 pm LEGO Masters Season 5 WEDNESDAY, MAY 218 pm MasterChef Season 15 (aka MasterChef: Dynamic Duos)9 pm GORDON RAMSAY'S SECRET SERVICE In a Gordon Ramsay series first, Chef Ramsay will venture into struggling restaurants under the cover of night. With the help of a secret source on the inside, he'll gather raw, unfiltered evidence and get a 360-degree view of the major issues facing each restaurant, allowing him to take drastic measures to transform each eatery and its staff. THURSDAY, MAY 228 pm Farmer Wants a Wife Season 3 finale (two hours) MONDAY, MAY 268 pm America's Most Wanted Season 3 finale TUESDAY, MAY 279 pm Alert: Missing Persons Unit Season 3 finale THURSDAY, MAY 298 pm Bob's Burgers Season 15B8:30 pm Grimsburg Season 2B9 pm Family Guy Season 23B9:30 pm The Great North Season 5B MONDAY, JUNE 29 pm The Quiz With Balls Season 2 TUESDAY, JUNE 38 pm The Cleaning Lady Season 4 finale TUESDAY, JUNE 108 pm The 1% Club Season 2 (now hosted by Joel McHale)9 pm THE SNAKEHosted by comedian Jim Jefferies, The Snake assembles 15 masters of manipulation from various persuasive professions with unique skill sets to compete in an outrageous array of challenges and twists — all of which help contestants slither toward becoming that week's Snake, the most powerful position in the game and ultimate decider of who stays and who goes. What will you be watching on Fox this summer? Best of TVLine Yellowjackets Mysteries: An Up-to-Date List of the Series' Biggest Questions (and Answers?) The Emmys' Most Memorable Moments: Laughter, Tears, Historical Wins, 'The Big One' and More 'Missing' Shows, Found! The Latest on Severance, Holey Moley, Poker Face, YOU, Primo, Transplant and 25+ Others
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
LEGO convention coming to Springfield in May
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Ozarks LEGO fans will be saying, ''LEGO' to the convention,' next month, as a massive LEGO convention is coming to the Springfield Expo Center soon. According to a news release, the LEGO Brick Convention — which is available for LEGO lovers of all ages — arrives in Springfield on Saturday and Sunday, May 10 and 11, marking the first LEGO convention Springfield has seen so far. The event will support Creations for Charity, with a portion of the convention's proceeds going to the all-volunteer nonprofit organization. Creations for Charity is an organization that buys new LEGO sets for underprivileged children around the world during the holidays, according to the news release. At the convention, professional LEGO Artists will come in from around the United States to display their LEGO creations and to meet with fans. Truck driver wins $50,000 Powerball prize in Strafford Additionally, there will be meet-and-greets with LEGO celebrities, including the cast from the LEGO Masters TV show. 'LEGO fans will be able to get creative in the Construction Zone, with thousands of bricks available, as well as live builds to watch and engage with,' the release says. 'Galleries have also been set up with life-sized and extraordinary LEGO models on display.' Other attractions include: LEGO Retail: purchase LEGO merchandise, retired LEGO sets, new LEGO Sets, Hard-to-Find LEGO, and goodies from multiple different vendors Star Wars Zone: Amazing LEGO creations from the Star Wars universe Brick Pits: with thousands of LEGO bricks to build with Castle Build Zone: build a medieval LEGO creation onsite Professional LEGO artist meet-and-greets Fan Zone: epic LEGO creations built by local fan builders Ticket purchases and more information can be found at Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
