It feels like just yesterday that we were getting our first look at Series 23, but I am excited to see the contents of Series 24 – due for release on the 1st January 2023. This set of 12 Minifigures feels like the fan-favourite set that could have been a pinnacle of the 90 Years of Play. You may have seen a leaked checklist circulating on social media, but the high-resolution renders of these characters have me feeling excited about a whole series in ways I have not felt for a couple of years.
As for Pricing: USD $4.99; CAD 5.99; £3.49;Germany: €3.99 AUD: to follow
Custom model company, Bricker Builds, have launched a brick-built Vibranium Necklace, with proceeds from sales going to the American Cancer Society. Designed by Lewis Meeny (@built_bricks), the model has 109 parts, including 7 custom chromed tooth elements, in its 109 parts, as well as a custom printed tile.
A couple of weeks ago, I subjected some of the forthcoming internal paper bags to some stress testing, to see if they were going to withstand travelling in a ‘deboxed’ fashion, as well as holding together while soaking in water. The bags held together, but waster certainly got into the bags, and I drew the conclusion that the bags were likely to be typically fit for purpose, but might not stand up to floodwaters in the way that plastic bags might.
Readers Sue Ann and Trevor got in touch, and suggested that I might be overselling the ability of the plastic bags to protect the LEGO® elements from flood waters (with their associated stink and filth). And so, I put them to the test.
What did I do? And how did they perform? Read on, after the break
**WARNING: This Post Contains Some Spoilers for the LEGO® Star Wars Advent Calendar. While the Minifigures present are revealed on the box, the box doesn’t show you the faces behind the masks.**
I was a little torn when I was offered the LEGO® Star Wars Advent Calendar to Review back in August. I mean, was I going to hold on to it until December, by which stage the set would be sold out (and so the review would benefit nobody)? Or open it up and spoil it all, months in advance? Not that the images on LEGO.com work to keep the contents a secret.
And so, prompted in part by the existence of this article on Medium.com, bemoaning the relative at the relative absence of female minifigures in the LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendars, I was promoted to open mine, to see if there were any surprises to be found inside. I’ll reveal my discovery later.
As it is also the VIP Weekend (2x VIP Points at LEGO.com), and with Black Friday Sales next weekend, it might just be the time to pick up that Calendar you were wondering about, before you need to start opening those doors on a daily basis.
Now, I don’t want to spoil the calendar experience, so I didn’t open up the doors. I just removed the recyclable tray from the box and picked out the bags containing minifigures. I can’t even remember where they came from: I just picked them all out and closed the box again. I’m sure this won’t cause any real problems…
As we approach the pointy end of the year, we are now beginning to get some information about next year’s releases: first up are the next wave of LEGO Super Mario sets. Once again, we have a collection of Character Packs, as well as Expansion packs, large and small. Here is a quick overview of the new sets: I’ll bring more information later, when I have had a chance to think about them properly. In the meantime, I shall be brief…
The latest in the World Landmarks collectionhas been officially unveilled today. for release on Novemeber 25,2022, 10307 Eiffel Tower continues with the recently established Black Friday Tradition of ‘Biggest set, in some way’ – started with the 10276 Colosseum (9036 pieces) and continued with 10294 Titanic (9090 pieces – longest ever) .
We can argue about the semantics if you wish. With 10001 pieces this might be the set with the second highest part count ever but I think we can argue that it is the biggest model released as a set using a number of metrics: I dont know that I would call the 31203 World Map a model… wall display/art sure, but not a model.
At a almost1.5m tall, there is no doubt that this is an impressive model. This is the third dedicated build (after 10181 – 2007; and 21019 in 2014) for the Eiffel Tower, but it has appeared as part of a magnet, as well as an Architecture Skyline, and Creator Postcard.
A couple of bits of news for Sydney-siders this week from the Certified Stores.
For Visitors to the BONDI store on Saturday 12th November, if you purchase the ‘LEGO Brand Store’ set you will also receive a limited edition ‘Sydney’ Tile to go above the door. These tiles have had limited release for a number of flagship stores around the world, and brings us in line with other flagship stores around the world, including London, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris and more.
At the AFOL Day at LEGO® House this year, visitors who purchased one of the commemorative minifigures were given a LEGO Wooden Duck. Well, not the Wooden Duck, but a 3D-printed Duck, printed as a single element. It was hinted that this was working towards a more general release.
Now, for a limited time, visitors to the LEGO house will be able to buy one of these elements, in conjunction with a printed minifigure.
For the better part of a generation, LEGO® MINDSTORMS has been considered the premier name in robotics education – both as a school-based educational tool, and as a consumer-level product: Even though I was at peak Dark Ages when the first set was released in 1998, I was aware of its existence, and before I had become engaged with the LEGO Community, I had somehow become aware that the RCX had been reverse engineered, with hobbyists developing ways to program it in ways not initially intended. But I digress. Kids brought up with those early sets are now well-established in their careers, which may in part be due to their engagement with MINDSTORMS at a formative time.
A couple of weeks ago, it was announced that the 51515 LEGO MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor, and with it, the LEGO MINDSTORMS Brand, will be retired at the end of 2022 – a little over 2 years since the set’s initial release in October 2020.
This brand, with a pedigree dating back to the 1980s, was being unceremoniously retired. Well, it will be at the end of the year. In part, this retirement means that the app now enters into its sunset phase, where no further development is taking place, but the software is maintained to run on contemporary platforms for two years, as required under European law. But what then?
Today, at the Chinese International Import Expo, the LEGO group unveiled some of the most anticipated sets for the new year.
Announced at the expo, and streamed on WeChat, we saw new sets in Duplo, Monkie Kid, and also commemorating the Year of the Rabbit. I apologize for the quality of images, caputered from the live stream of the press conference.
The Rambling Brick 
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