The first half of the second season of DREAMZzz dropped on Netflix and YouTube a month or so ago, and the next wave of sets will be released on August 1st. I am excited to have been sent these sets by the LEGO Group ahead of their general release. As always, all opinions are my own.

This set will contain minor spoilers for Season 2 regarding the appearances of characters and models in the first 10 episodes.

71481 is the third smallest set of the August 2024 wave of LEGO DREAMZzz sets and one of the more interesting small sets centred on our heroes. It has 328 pieces and a recommended retail price of $AUD59.99/USD39.99/£34.99/€39.99.

As with the other smaller sets in this wave, we do not see the animal builds in this set appear in the first half of the season, but I feel the set truly captures the spirit of the DREAMZzz sets and is a fun addition to the wave. But first, let’s take a look at the minifigures.

Minifigures

The set comes with two minifigures: Izzie and Dizzy. Izzie’s minifigure was one of the highlights of season one – appearing in several different forms – and the second series brings us a new version of her torso and leg prints and a new double-sided face print and sword. She has the same hair as we have previously seen. In this set, she is up against her evil doppelganger, Dizzy. While Izzie is predominantly coloured bright orange and lavender tones, Dizzy is predominantly black, with bright purple and lilac details, and her head is white with one yellow and one blue eye. eyes. Her hairpiece is the same mould as Izzie’s but is translucent black/purple in colour. Dizzy has a short knife with a jewel-encrusted handle.

Izzie also has a small blue and purple cape over one shoulder. The printing on her legs seems to extend around to the sides of her hips.

The Dizzy Figure appears to be more of a corruption of Izzie’s season one figure, including the breast plate, belt and lace up boots. The printed purple highlights on the figure better match the series one version than the figure included in this set.

Dizzy’s new sword has a light transparent blue, crystalline blade, while the handle resembles an hourglass, with additional framing that can accepts a stud.

Along with the minifigures, there is a Dreamling figure in nougat, with a lavender sprout from its head, as well as a couple of normal sized minifigure head elements, with a lavender flower. Izzie is also accompanied by a red panda. This elements is identical to that seen in the recent LEGO City Jungle Explorer sets. Dizzy is accompanied by a transparent purple and black raven element.

The parts

As always, thanks to the Knoller-In-Chief for her assistance in laying these elements out. As you can see, there are a few colours dominating the palette: there is a good amount of the new reddish-orange colour (for those asking, I will stop referring to this colour as new in 2025), bright orange, medium lilac, medium lavender and medium azure.

A few other elements caught my eye while preparing to build the set, including the new 4×4 curved brick. If the 2×2 version is called Maxaroni, this one would be Megaroni. There are 5 points on each end to attach a Technic axle, running at 90º to the plane of the end. It comes in Medium-lilac and reddish-orange. There is a reddish-orange opaque element that looks like it was a windscreen in a previous life. There are also two printed animal head elements: one is used for the red panda, while the other is a variation on a Bionicle pauldron and has been printed with a nondescript pair of eyes. It is used for a turtle and bird head in this set.

The Build

As with all DREAMZzz sets, this one proceeds until we reach a branch point. In this set, it looks like a giant egg. I appreciate the way that the rounded form is achieved by tilting the curved slope elements on hinges.

We assemble the forces of evil, in this case, Dizzy, the raven and a stolen memory (it turns out this is the Never Witch’s schtick). The raven takes a memory – in this case, a printed tile – in a dome: a new element with a crystalline top.

The instruction manual then explains each option separately, allowing us to choose between building a red panda, a bird, or a turtle.

Let’s take a quick look. at each build.

Red Panda

Technic ball joints form the front shoulders, which are surrounded by flowers – stickers on curved slopes, as well as added using small mixel joints. The rear legs are fixed at the hips but flexible at the ankle. The Megaroni elements are used to form the curved tail, capped off with a radar dish and bursting into a broad flower at the tip. A few leaves and round plates are left, forming a couple of flowers on the ground. A small saddle is added and features a pivoting net: just the thing to fling the floral heads at any of the Never Witch’s minions!

Bird

I was quite surprised by this model. The legs are curved backwards as you work down to the feet, so they are at the model’s centre of gravity. The wings are given a floral look, and a small beak is added under the printed eye element. the leftover curved bricks go towards the construction of vegetation. We also add a pivoting net, used to catapult the floral heads at the enemy.

The final bird is swooshable, but perhaps not as much fun as other swooshable sets in the range.

Turtle

The final build is a turtle. Rounded plates and tiles line up with the curve of the headpiece. Leaf elements, along with the lavender-coloured curved slopes and DOTS tiles cover up the the surface of the flippers. The saddle has a couple of jet-shaped flowers on either side. I am completely happy with the idea of this being an additional method of propulsion for the turtle. Whether the turtle can fly or not is probably up to the viewer. I probably failed to subject this to a swoosh test. Again, more colourful vegetation is constructed using the leftover curved elements!

My thoughts

This is a fun set to build, although rebuilding between forms relied on separating a lot of small elements and reassembling them in very similar (but not identical ways), and as such, I found the process became a little tedious after a while. I am sure everyone will have a preferred model in the set: I was quite taken by the way that the bird could balance, when it feels like it shouldn’t. I also really appreciate the colourful vegetation which really adds to the environment, to say nothing of how well the bird swooshes.

I love the updated look for Izzie. Her debut last year was one of my favourite minifigures ever, and the designers continue to impress with the appearance of these characters. The evil Doppelganger Dizzy pays great homage to last year’s version and keeps the sets fresh—although we have yet to see this specific character appear in the series. The minifigures included in DREAMZzz sets are always top-notch.

The addition of the red panda element in this set feels a little non sequitur, as it has not featured in the series to date. However, given we only saw one appear in the smallest Jungle Explorer City set with the latest wave, I appreciate that another one has casually come our way. I was expecting this to manifest in the illustrated story in the instructions as a plushy as Izzie lay sleeping in bed, but she was accompanied by her Bunny instead.

In conclusion:

Despite the irritation I experienced while swapping between models, it is still fun to play with and provides lots of elements for constructing fantasy creatures and landscapes. I give this set three and a half Arbitrary Praise Units out of five (3.5/5). This might be, in part, due to personal bias. I felt the value possibly felt lost in between the larger elements included in the set. I am curious to see how this stacks up next to the Never Witch’s Nightmare Creatures, which looks like it might hold a bit more relevance for only a few dollars more (why do the bad guys get the best toys?)

I’d love to know what you think of this set. Does it hold appear for the parts, for the characters or the builds? Or all three? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

LEGO DREAMZzz set 71481 Izzie’s Dream Creatures will go on sale on August 1 2024. It has 328 pieces and a recommended retail price of $AUD59.99/USD39.99/£34.99/€39.99.

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Until Next Time,

Play Well!

This set was provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes. All opinions are my own.