Month: April 2022

75341: UCS Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder: Rambling Review

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Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder was the first personal vehicle that we were introduced to when Star Wars was first released in 1977. It truly embodied George Lucas’s notion of a ’used’ galaxy – where buildings and vehicles seen on screen had a few years or miles behind them, and were no longer in brand new condition. While the X-34 Landspeeder has been produced in several forms in the past, typically at Minifigure or microscale, it has often been at the expense of being able to brick build the fine details. By producing this set at a larger scale, many of these details are able to be demonstrated without resorting to stickers, except where necessary.

This latest addition to the Ultimate Collector Series has 1890 pieces and will be available from 1st of May, 2022. I was sent a prerelease copy by the LEGO Group for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

Without further ado, let’s take a look.

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SydLUG’s Brickbuilt Show Is Coming: May 7-8 2022

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After a delay from their initial February Dates, SydLUG’s new event – Brickbuilt – is coming up rapidly. Here’s the news, from their ambassador, Gregg Odlum …

What: BRICKBUILT SYDNEY 2022 – Sydney’s biggest LEGO event
Where: Accor Stadium (Stadium Australia) at Sydney Olympic Park. The event will be held in The Millennium Room, enter via Gate C near the Olympic Park Station)


When: May 7-8, 2022. 9am to 4pm Saturday; 9am to 3pm Sunday


Why: To Raise Money for The Children’s Hospital at Westmead


How do I join the fun?

Tickets are available here
Brickbuilt Sydney – NEW DATES 7 & 8 May 2022 Tickets, Accor Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park | TryBooking Australia

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The Muppets – 71033 Collectable Minifigures: Rambling Review

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Across generations, the Muppets have maintained their popularity for over 40 years. Be it in the original The Muppet Show (1976 -1981) or The Muppets (2015) or any of the multitude of movies in between, these characters created by Jim Henson have a place in the hearts of people, transcending generations. And so, when the news arrived that the Muppets were going to get their own collection of Collectable Minifigures, the world seemed to become just a little bit more excitable.

Like recent CMF series, this series contains 12 of the series most endearing characters, although there are a couple of notable ommissions. Does this leave scope for a future series, or other projects? We can speculate on that I am grateful that the LEGO Group sent a box of these figures for review – there are some long anticipated characters, and we have been excited to see how they would translate to minifigure form.

The figures will be officially released on May the 1st, although they have already started to show up in some parts of the world.

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75341 LEGO® Star Wars Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder Revealed

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As May the Fourth Approaches at what feels llike an ever glacial pace, it is time to see the official release images of the latest Ultimate Collector Series set: Set 75341 has 1890 pieces, comes with a Luke Skywalker minifigure, as well as a new exclusive C-3PO figure and will be priced at $319 AUD/$269.99 CAD/£174.99 GB/€199.99 EU/$199.99 US. It will be available exclusively from LEGO Stores.

Luke Skywalker, like any young adult around our world, values the freedoms that he has, despite the pressures from his Uncle Owen, and his X-34 Landspeeder is the key to those freedoms. While it allows him to go out to service the vaporators around the Lars’ moisture farm, it also gives Luke the chance to head over to Anchorhead, and catch up with his friends at Toschi’s Station.

This model is remarkably large, measuring 50cm longx 30 cm wide and 17cm high – significantly larger than any of the existing 6- 8 stud wide versions released over the years.

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LEGO® Star Wars: Death Star Trash Compactor Diorama [Hands On Review]

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When Star Wars was released back in 1977, I did not get to see it straight away. “Wait for your birthday,” I was told in July 1977. My birthday is in March.

And so I read the paperback (ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster), I bought a couple of action figures (Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. My brother got Princess Leia and R2-D2. Eventually, we worked together to buy the Landspeeder, with its authentic floating motion), and started to collect the Scanlen Trading Cards (On license in Australia from Topp’s).

In the absence of a colour picture book, streaming services, Blu-Rays, DVDs or a VHS copy of the film, the next best way to visually experience the movie was to collect these screen shots. As far as I can tell there were at least 4 series releated to the film subsequently known as a New Hope. I only ever found the first in our local shops. Back in the day, I am pretty sure that I collected all of these blue bordered cards, as well as the series of 144 Battlestar Galactica cards, and subsequently the Return of the Jedi Cards. As a kid, It made no sense to try and purchase an entire box. Why would I do that? I only wanted one piece of bubble gum. Unfortunately, I do not know what happened to my series of Star Wars or BSG cards. I still have those from ROTJ, and secretly hope that there will be a diorama related to that in the future, so I can wax nostalgic about them…

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New Botanical Collection: Orchid and Succulents revealed in time for Mothers’ Day!

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The new botanical Collection debuted in January 2021, and exceeded expectations for introducing a new range of LEGO sets, designed for display around the home. Bringing us 3 sets – The Floral Bouquet, Bonsai Tree and Bird of Paradise Flower – all suffering from ‘hard to getness’ in their first few months – the LEGO Group has now revealed two more sets for release on May 1, available to preorder from 15 April…just in time for Mothers’ Day in some countries (Australia included).

The new sets include an Orchid, designed by Mike Psiaki, and a selection of different Succulents, brought to us by Anderson Ward Grubb, lead designer on the Floral Bouquet.

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Greebling is Good. 75329 LEGO Star Wars Death Star Trench Run Diorama: Hands-On Review

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This year seems to be the Official Year of the Diorama, with 3 LEGO® Star Wars dioramas announced last week, as well as one in Jurassic Park. Last week we took a look at the new LEGO Star Wars Diorama Dabobah Jedi Training Ground. With a clearly defined border, an exclusive R2-D2 minifigure, along with Luke and Yoda, this set gave us a glorious rendition of an organic swamp landscape, with different earth tones, greens, a swamp of varying depths and plant life. Today, I would like to go the the other extreme in design for these Star Wars models: occupying the same footprint as Dagoboh, the 75329 LEGO Star Wars Death Star Trench Run diorama features 3 visible colours in the scenery, a more induction, inorganic design than Dagobah as well as no minifigures, 2 TIE Fighter’s; Darth Vader’s Advanced TIE and an X-wing fighter – All in microscale.

So, how does it fare? Is it a reasonable build, with interesting details? Or is it a big slab of grey, missing all of the things that made the Dagobah set such a highlight in the release calendar for the year? Read on, and perhaps you might decide that this is the set you have long been waiting for. Or not…

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76956 T. Rex Breakout [Hands On Review]

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It’s the mid 90’s, Ann (Knoller-in-Chief and fundamental emotional support for The Rambling Brick) and I are visiting some friends: she is a former work colleague of Ann’s. He is an audiophile, and has just bought a brand new CD Player, sound processor and a sub-woofer. We are listening to a demonstration CD including a collection of recordings, including amongst other things, the 1812 Overture – one of the gold standards up to this time for testing the bass response of your Hi-Fi system. Included on the CD is an audio extract from Jurassic Park – from around the 1 hour, 2 minutes and 10 second mark. The sound of running water – the rain – and a low frequency boom. Another. And Another. The glass of wine on the table starts to vibrate, and I am taken back to that night in the cinema a few years earlier. Lightning flashes, thunder sounds, and the Dinosaur roars before the track ends and the sound shifts onto the Blue Danube. At least I think it was the Blue Danube. It was a while ago and I was having a delightful evening.

But that scene: drama and danger, screaming and the shouting preceded by a low ground vibration remains one of the iconic scenes of the film. The T.Rex breaks through the no-longer-electrified fences, scaring the kids, eating the insurance company’s lawyer and knocking the car hither and tho. This new set, available in late April/early May, 2022 (pre order now on LEGO.com in some markets), has 4 minifigures and 1212 pieces. I am grateful to the LEGO Group’s AFOL Engagement team for sending me a copy for early review.

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New LEGO X IKEA Collaboration Announced. This Time, AFOLs Are The Focus [April Fools]

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**apologies to everyone who thought this was real. As much as I’d like it, it was part of a hoax perpetrated for April Fools’ day, 2022.

Thanks for reading!

When the collaboration between the LEGO Group and IKEA was first announced several years ago, LEGO Fans around the world were initially excited. However, when it became apparent that the Bygglek boxes were limited in use for kids to clean their bricks off the living room table in time for dinner, AFOLs were left somewhat despondent.

Today, the next chapter in this great Scandinavian Corporate Lifestyle Collaboration is written. Not only have we received news of a new product, we have also been treated to a glimpse at the release roadmap going forward over the next few years. A new desk optimised for building LEGO sets promises to revolutionise the AFOL LEGO Building experience, providing solutions for all but the most common problems that AFOLs experience in their daily builds.

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