LEGO celebrates SpongeBob Day!

It's SpongeBob Day! The LEGO Group dives down to Bikini Bottom with two new SpongeBob SquarePants sets, the 1,794-piece LEGO Icons SpongeBob SquarePants: Bikini Bottom (11386) and the 72-piece LEGO BrickHeadz SpongeBob SquarePants Figure (40858), both available 1st September.

Read the official press release:

"Embark on an underwater journey with the LEGO® Icons SpongeBob SquarePants: Bikini Bottom (11386) building set, a perfect gift for adult fans of the popular animated series. Enjoy the experience as you recreate SpongeBob’s pineapple home with a living room and bedroom; Squidward’s house with a living room, bedroom, bathroom and rooftop lounge; Patrick’s rock with a detailed interior; and a Jellyfish Fields scene. Relive iconic moments with favourite characters including SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star and Squidward Tentacles, Gary the Snail and DoodleBob. Discover items from famed storylines, including the boatmobile, Squidward’s clarinet and music stand and a portrait of Gary, plus lots of surprises. Bring your favourite scenes to any bookshelf, desk or display cabinet with this collectible home and office décor building kit. Build smarter with the LEGO Builder app, where you can rotate the model in 3D, zoom in and track your progress."

LEGO Icons SpongeBob SquarePants: Bikini Bottom is available from LEGO AU, CA, UK and US (affiliate links).

Will you be adding LEGO Icons SpongeBob SquarePants: Bikini Bottom to your collection? Let me know in the comments below.

Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill dies aged 78

Actor Sir Sam Neill, famed for his leading role in Steven Spielberg's dinosaur blockbuster Jurassic Park, has died aged 78.

Born in Omagh, Neill moved to New Zealand with his family when he was seven.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said Sir Sam "started out when there was barely a film industry in this country to speak of".

"For more than fifty years, he took New Zealand stories to the world and his talents helped make our film industry into what it is today – one of our greatest cultural exports," he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

The first film I remember seeing Neill star in was Omen III: The Final Conflict. He played Damien Thorn, son of the devil. During an illustrious career, he auditioned for the role of James Bond and later starred in Peaky Blinders.

In a statement to Variety, Spielberg paid tribute to Neill.

"I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic Park.

“Sam was exceptionally collaborative,” the Jurassic Park director said. “It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children.”

Spielberg concluded his statement by saying, “I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him. Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”

To this lifelong Spielberg fan, Neill will always be fondly remembered as Dr Alan Grant!

LEGO Icons Hubble Space Telescope

The LEGO Group has revealed the 1,252-piece LEGO Icons Hubble Space Telescope, a detailed replica that captures the essence of the legendary observatory that helped reshape our understanding of the cosmos, available from 1st August.

Read the official press release:

"Explore one of humanity’s greatest scientific achievements with the LEGO® Icons Hubble Space Telescope (11382) – a space decor building set for adults. Perfect as a gift idea for astronomy enthusiasts, this detailed replica captures the essence of the legendary observatory that helped reshape our understanding of the cosmos. Remove the exterior panels to reveal a detailed instrument bay depicting gyroscopes and primary and secondary mirrors. Position the solar arrays and antennas, open the aperture door and display the telescope on its stand, complete with an information plaque. The set also includes an astronaut minifigure for approximate scale representation. Build this space model with confidence using the LEGO Builder app’s detailed 3D instructions. Discover the inspiring range of LEGO Icons projects (sold separately) designed specifically for ages 18 and up. This set contains 1,252 pieces."

LEGO Icons Hubble Space Telescope is available from LEGO AU, CA, UK and US (affiliate links).

Will you be adding LEGO Icons Hubble Space Telescope to your collection? Let me know in the comments below.

Star Wars SDCC exclusive from Jazwares

Lucasfilm licensee Jazwares has announced its San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) exclusives, including a concept art variant of Boba Fett’s Slave I from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, which will sell for $60.

Read the official press release:

"Based on its concept art and model prototypes from the production of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back™, the Starship comes packed with a pivoting cockpit and wings, an opening side panel, a removable weapons rack, an extending boarding ramp, positionable chin cannons, a seismic charge hatch, and more."

The fan-favourite Ralph McQuarrie design will be a must-have for fans (myself included) when it goes on sale on Friday, 23rd July. I might ask Nick Smith, our US-based reporter who is attending SDCC, to pick one up for me if it hasn't sold out.

Are you getting the Jazwares Star Wars Micro Galaxy Squadron exclusive at Comic-Con? Let me know in the comments below.

Lucasfilm announces Star Wars: The Experience

Lucasfilm has officially announced Star Wars: The Experience, a large museum exhibit to celebrate the franchise’s 50th anniversary in 2027.

The roaming exhibit will contain more than 70 objects from a galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars: The Experience will open on 13th February 2027, just before the 50th anniversary re-release of the original Star Wars comes to cinemas. The exhibit will be on display at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, until 6th September 2027.

“Star Wars created a cultural landscape that spans decades and delivers massive, undeniable global appeal,” says Larry Dubinski, President and CEO of The Franklin Institute. “Its influence extends far beyond cinema—shaping entertainment, culture, technology, and business, while redefining how stories are created, experienced, and shared across generations. The Franklin Institute is excited to put Philadelphia once again at the center of a major cultural moment with another blockbuster world premiere exhibition in 2027.”

From there, it will visit cities all across North America over the course of 5 years. It will not be going overseas.

Fans (including our very own Nick Smith) attending San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) this month will get the first look at the care put into curating this exhibit over more than four years of collaboration, with exclusive exhibit renderings and other new details.

Are you planning on visiting Star Wars: The Experience? Let me know in the comments below.

Star Wars fans patrol seaside town

Star Wars fans descended on a Lancashire seaside town for a free six-and-a-half-hour themed event, featuring costumes, market stalls and more.

For years, local fans have organised meet-ups at Cleveleys, on the Fylde Coast, where Andor season one was filmed on the seafront. Cleveleys was transformed into the planet Niamos as part of the filming for Andor in 2021.

Jessica Monger grew up in California, not far from Star Wars creator George Lucas and moved to Cleveleys on the Fylde Coast in 2012.

"I still get giddy thinking about it, especially since I grew up in California next to Modesto, where George Lucas was from," the Star Wars superfan said.

Andor is a prequel spin-off series set before Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on Disney+.

"So I move halfway across the globe, and it's right here at my doorstep - yeah, it's brilliant," said Monger, who has lived in the UK for more than 15 years.

Organisers said the event's emphasis was on community spirit and accessibility. This is the way.

Star Wars: Visions gets striking spin-off

On Friday, Lucasfilm dropped an official trailer for Star Wars: Visions Presents - The Ninth Jedi on Disney+ and Hulu, first revealed at Anime Expo 2026.



Read the official synopsis:

"This summer, trust in the Force and listen to your heart when Kara resumes her quest to find her missing father and evade Jedi Hunters in Star Wars: Visions Presents - The Ninth Jedi, a new limited series from Lucasfilm and Production I.G."

The 8-episode limited anime series is part of an all-new Star Wars: Visions Presents banner, which allows filmmakers to tell longer-form Star Wars: Visions stories. Picking up not long after the events of the Visions shorts, in the new series, Lah Kara continues to train in the ways of the Jedi under Margrave Juro amid an epic journey of self-discovery as she and Juro’s small fellowship of Jedi-in-training embark on a quest to save her father.

Star Wars: Visions Presents - The Ninth Jedi, an all-new anime series, streams on 5th August on Disney+ and Hulu.

Are you looking forward to Star Wars: Visions Presents - The Ninth Jedi on Disney+ and Hulu? Let me know in the comments below.

Sony to end physical discs on PlayStation

Sony has entered the digital-only chat by announcing it will no longer produce physical discs for new games releasing on PlayStation in January 2028. Does this suggest the PlayStation 6 (PS6) will be digital-only?

The Tokyo-based electronics giant has also announced that 551 digital movies from Studio Canal would be removed from the PlayStation Store.

This is an anti-consumer practice.

The halcyon days of midnight launches are gone forever post-pandemic, and vertical companies will have complete control over distribution, availability and dynamic pricing.

There are also cybersecurity concerns. Who else remembers the infamous PlayStation Network (PSN) hack of 2011?

An online backlash from console gamers (myself included) has witnessed satirical responses from Domino’s Pizza and KFC mocking Sony’s profit-driven decision with clever viral marketing.

What are your thoughts on Sony ending physical media on PlayStation? Let me know in the comments below.

Grand Theft Auto VI is digital-only

The highs of Summer Game Fest 2026 gave way to negative news, including studio shutdowns, layoffs, and further price increases for current-gen consoles. To cap it all, Rockstar Games announced pre-orders and a release date for Grand Theft Auto VI.

Read the official synopsis:

"Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida — forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive."

GTA VI heads to the state of Leonida, home to the neon-soaked streets of Vice City and beyond, in the biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series yet. With a reported budget of over a billion dollars and featuring a female protagonist (Lucia), GTA VI was originally due to be released in 2025.

The long-awaited next instalment in the GTA franchise will be released on PlayStation 5 (PS5) and Xbox Series X|S on 19th November and will be digital-only.

This has sent shockwaves through the console community regarding physical vs digital media ownership.

Since 2021, along with Game Pass Ultimate, I've bought digital-only games on sale on the Xbox Series S, but I still like buying physical releases on PS5. However, I've pre-ordered the Grand Theft Auto VI: Ultimate Edition.

As a fan of GTA since GTA III, GTA VI is my most anticipated video game in years! Good thing I upgraded my PS5 with a WD_BLACK 2TB SSD before RAMageddon!

Rockstar Games has yet to announce a third official trailer for GTA VI. Given the unprecedented hype surrounding the video game, there's no need.

Pre-order Grand Theft Auto VI at Amazon (affiliate link).

Are you looking forward to Grand Theft Auto VI? Does it matter that it's digital-only at launch? Let me know in the comments below.

Star Wars: Starfighter footage shown by Disney

During an Infinity Vision presentation in Barcelona, a certification program launched by the Walt Disney Company that verifies premium large format (PLF) cinema screens, Disney showed footage from Star Wars: Starfighter.

The footage was shown behind closed doors to industry professionals attending CineEurope.

Matt Smith, star of Doctor Who and House of the Dragon, has seen a rough cut of Star Wars: Starfighter and describes it as "absolutely blinding!"

According to a synopsis published on IMDb:

"In a rebuilding galaxy, a solitary pilot becomes entangled in a crucial mission as new threats emerge. Their journey may alter the future of the Force itself."

The upcoming film directed by Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine) stars Ryan Gosling, Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings, and Amy Adams.

Star Wars: Starfighter, a standalone story set 5 years after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, is due for release on 28th May 2027 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of George Lucas' space opera.

Are you looking forward to Star Wars: Starfighter? Let me know in the comments below.