In the world of LEGO DREAMZzz, wannabee DJ Logan has often been afflicted by a limited ability to dreamcraft. In the first series, he was limited to manifesting in the Dream World as a dreamling type character. In the second series, he is far more likely to appear as a blue version of himself. While his dreamcrafting might be limited, set 71480 Logan the Mighty Panda makes me wonder if this ability is manifest sometime soon.

This set has two minifigures and one raven. It includes 342 pieces. It will be released on August 1 2024 and has a recommended retail price of $AUD49.99/$USD29.99/€29.99/£24.99 This set was provided by the LEGO Group: All opinions are my own.

Let’s take a closer look and see if this set is as much fun as it looks…

The Pieces

Thanks, as always, to the Knoller-in-Chief has laid our elemts out for preconstruction perusal. As you might expect from the image of the final model, there is a lot of blue and white in this set, with a bit of grey and blue for good measure. The most obvious new elements in this set are the new ‘Megaroni’ 4×4 curved brick, in bright blue – we saw this in reddish-orange and bright purple in Izzie’s Dream Creatures. There are a few articulating elements in grey, including Technic click joints as well as the large ball joint – with cups in dark blue. There is a printed 1×2 tile which we will look at later, as well as the 6×6 printed white dome, which serves to form the Panda’s head. A six-stud shooter appears in bright green, while olive shoulder pauldrons with 2 holes for 2.8 mm bar connections (or just added teeth) are also present. They attach via a 2×2 tube connection on the underside. There is a small sticker sheet – four with bamboo prints and 2 designed to give the pandas legs the look that they are wearing school sports shorts.

The Minifigures

There are two minifigures in this set – a new minifigure sized form of Llogan, and his evil doppelganger Dogan. The new Logan figure is wearing bright orange shorts, dual molded with dark azure legs. His dark blue torso features the school t-shirt under his jacket, which includes the Night Bureau logo on the reverse. The double-faced head includes a casually confident grin on one side, with an angry grimace on the other. the doppelganger features the same black hair, and the double sided head sees both a pale blue and yellow eye are present.

As with Izzie’s Doppelganger, Dogan appears to be a corruption of Logan’s Previous minifigure seen in 71477 The Sandman’s Tower.The hourglass iof the Night Bureau is replaced by the never Witch’s vortex, while the lines on the back of old-Logan’s hoodie are transformed into gashes on Dogan’s top.

I really like the armour element that the doppelgangers are wearing too – it looks like a distorted skull, hiding more nightmarish shapes into the villains clothing. this effect was also seen in the Nightmare king’s cloak, and Night Hunter’s scarf.

Once again, the Never Witch’s raven is up to no good, stealing more memories. This time, it looks like a windmill or cottage, atop a waterfall, featuring a skull shaped rock.

The Starting Build

We begin by setting up the Panda’s torso. A plate at the back, and SNOT elements encase the build. The triple curved slope bricks that make up the pectoral region are mounted on hinges. The stickers that go on them are designed to give a feel of bamboo – the snack of preference for the panda. The white radar dish forms a great round belly for the beast.

Click Joints at the shoulders giver the arms a wide range of motion, , and the joint is highlighted by the semicircular blue tiles surrounding it.

The large Megaroni elements are included in the arms and legs. Articulation at the ankle is limited, such that the foot cannot platar flex – which in turn would promote instability in the model. The claw element was introduced in Ninjago least year, and seems to becoming a staple element for hands and feets of creatures and mechs.

Having reached this point in the instructions, we are encouraged to choose: a walking panda warrior, or a crawling Panda tank.

Panda Mech

It is a few short steps to complete the Panda from this point.

We start by adding a few bricks into the top of the build, and adding a hinge for the hood. We use some lime green discs and the bright green stud-shooting element to craft the panda’s gun. The gun attaches to the palm of the panda’s hand, where his claws wrap around it.

The panda’s legs are mounted on ball joints, while the Technic Click joint is used at the shoulders. the printed face has a whole heap of attitude!

Panda Tank

It is quite simple to change between these two builds. While the core model is specifically set up for standing, our first step towards the Tank version is to set the legs up: we rotate the lower limbs so they face backwards and then rotate the feet so that the legs better suit a crawling posture. The head is attached a little differently to the standing version, and then the gun is mounted on the back. the final result is certainly more than a little intimidating.

My Thoughts

Like many of the sets at the lower-priced end of the wave, the actual events seen in the set may or may not occur. The Panda has not appeared on screen to date, and Logan has not been doppelganged (is that even a word?) as of the end of episode 10 of series 2. That said, I love the way that the doppelgangers riff on the earlier versions of the character’s figures. The shape of the armour around Dogan’s neck incorporates a distorted skull, which really contributes to part of the nightmare aspect of the Never Witch’s plans.

The Panda is quite stable and posable, and it is certainly my preferred build of the two. The Panda Tank is a clever idea, but the lack of flexion at the wrists makes it a little less effective for me. I like the new system-based pauldrons: They add a good break to the main model’s white and blue.

In conclusion

This set is priced on a par with the Marvel and DC buildable characters but with the added bonus of an alt build and two minifigures included. But I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a mech (there is room for Logan to ride inside the cabin), or is it another dream form for Logan?Gotta admit, though, the Panda can look like it means business.

I’m happy to give this set three-point-five out of five Arbitrary Praise units. The build is solid, and the figures well designed, but compared with the other DREAMZzz sets at the lower end of the range, it lacked some of the crazy fun and colours. I don’t think there is anything especially wrong with it: I have just enjoyed others more. That said, Logan’s character has grown on me this season, so perhaps I will rate it higher towards the end of the year.

71480 Logan the Mighty Panda will be released on August 1 2024, and has a recommended retail price of $AUD49.99/$USD29.99/€29.99/£24.99

What do you think of this set? Have I been too harsh? Leave your comments below

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Until Next Time,

Play Well!