Earlier in the month I was visiting Denmark, and had the opportunity to visit the LEGO Campus and have a conversation with LEGO Botanicals senior designer, Theo Bonner. In part one, we discussed recolours and the rationale behind new elements being developed in the Botanical theme. Last time, we spoke recolours and the introduction of new elements in Botanical sets.
Today, we discuss the flowerpot design in the 11503 Peace Lily, the fan base for LEGO Botanicals, designing 18+ sets for builders who have never built a LEGO set in their lives before and discover something what LEGO Star Wars and Botanicals have in common.
Branko’s been thinking a lot about Dreamzzz lately. Here is his first formal review for the wave:
I imagine the brainstorm sessions for the latest wave of Dreamzzz sets went something like this. Get a group of children in a room as ask them what they like. They all start shouting and words get thrown onto a whiteboard “Tigers! Knights! Tanks! Diggers! Sharks! Swords! Dinosaurs!” with a subdued “classic space” or “classic castle” mumbled by an aging adult LEGO fan in the back of the room. All that remained was to group these terms together and you end up with something like this Tiger Shark Tank.
This set ticks the boxes of having buzzwords, or clickbait, to make sure to appeal to as many sensibilities as possible. Not only is there a shark, and a tiger mixed, there is a reference to Black Falcon castle, another to Pirates and then there is a tank. The only thing to widen the appeal more was to add Space to the mix, but Mr Oz has done that plenty in previous iterations of Dreamzzz.
In December, 2025 I had the good fortune to visit LEGO Campus in Billund, Denmark. While there, I had the chance to talk with Theo Bonner – One of the Senior Designers working on LEGO’s Botanicals Theme. During the 45 minutes that we spoke, we covered a variety of topics including the challenges of flowerpots, new colours, storytelling the Botanicals consumer base, storytelling and the lack of Spinjitzu in Botanical sets.
Today, in the first of our four reviews of upcoming Botanical releases, we will take a look at the 11501 Tulip Bouquet, and in our interview extract, we talk about the challenges of recolouring certain elements, the new curved slope element and its connection to a space theme from around the turn of the century.
Since 2021 LEGO has released 10 small Technic monster trucks, linked to Monster Jam. LEGO generously sent us the latest pair to be released in January so we can share our own opinion on them.
Monster Trucks are unusual vehicles that you hope never to encounter on the road; they are designed to smash, jump flip and do other stunts that you do not typically want to associate with partaking in traffic. My expectation for a Monster Truck set is therefore in a similar vein; I expect this to provide some simple fun and smiles; something that triggers play.
I admit that I did not know what “Monster Jam” was (I thought a computer game) but courtesy of Wikipedia:
Monster Jam is a live motorsport event tour operated by Feld Entertainment. The series began in 1992, and is sanctioned under the umbrella of the United States Hot Rod Association. Events are primarily held in North America, with some additional events in other countries. Although individual event formats can vary greatly based on the “intermission” entertainment, the main attraction is always the racing, two-wheel skills competition, and freestyle competitions by monster trucks.
Come have a look at what we can learn about torque, power and acceleration for a Monster Truck. Oh, and we will also have a look at what this particular LEGO set has to offer.
The next wave of LEGO® Dreamzzz contains a collectable aspect, as such themes often do. In the past we’ve had spinners, golden weapons, shields… and in the 2026 Dreamzzz sets, we have two collectables; HUGE swords, and crystal creatures. The boxes seem fairly clear about this:
For your convenience we’ve put together a quick table to show you which variants you can collect in the 5 sets to be released in January 2026, so you can target your favourite parts.
The five sets generously provided by LEGO, to be released in January are:
I was quite excited when I saw the announcement of season 4 of LEGO Dreamzzz (as in: the 5 sets that are to be released in January 2026); they are all animals, reminding me much of Legends of Chima! And then it struck me; these are all LARGE sets!
When I was fortunate enough to visit LEGO during the LEGO inside tour in 2016, I distinctly remember LEGO designers explaining to me that in these ‘story’ themes they aim to have a set for every budget, from something tiny, to pocket-money sized all the way to saving-for-quite-some-time-and-hoping-santa-thinks-I-was-nice large. But this batch felt different, the smallest one, 71513 Nightmare Scorpion Digger comes in at a respectable 505 pieces, followed by 71508 Fox Guardian Mech with 883 pieces and the rest all over 1000 pieces! These all represent quite a significant investment.
I think these sets are all really great in different ways, read the reviews coming soon. But in today we are not discussing the quality of the sets, just the size.
Follow me as I investigate if this is a fluke, or a significant trend; have the sets for these story-based themes gotten larger over time? Do sets in story themes always get larger towards the end of their shelf life? Can we expect to see more from Dreamzzz?
If you happened to drop by a Build a Mini station in a LEGO® Store during the run up to Christmas in 2025, you may well have found the parts for a Golden Santa Claus. If you were lucky, the staff had already assembled them for you. If you have been following some of the long-running minifigure play sets, you have probably seen the tendency of golden minifigures to turn up in commemorative sets during anniversary years, in both Ninjago (10 years, 2022) and Harry Potter sets (20 years,2021).
While golden Santa appears very similar to the current Santa minifigure, which debuted in 2024, he didn’t always look so fine. Read on to find out more.
The 2026 Creator 3in1 sets are due for release on January 1 2026, and I have the full range to review, thanks to the LEGO Group. (All opinions are my own) Among the nine sets due for release, seven depict fish animals or birds in some shape or form, and only only 3 have more than 300 parts. Hopefully, we can get them reviewed in a timely fashion. Today, we will start with 31376 Cute Hamster with Flower.
BUT THAT’S not all. On my recent trip to Denmark, I had the chance to visit the LEGO Campus and catch up with Lennart DuPont Cort, one of the Creator 3in1 designers.
Richard on the left; Lennart Dupont Cort – Creator 3in1 designer on the right.
We had a chat about all sorts of aspects of the Creator 3in1 process, and I will include these details through the 3in1 reviews. We rarely get the chance to talk to members of the Creator 3in1 team, so this was a really exciting opportunity. Special thanks to the Community Engagement team at the LEGO Group for making this happen.
I have to admit, I have a rather soft spot for the annual modular set. When our family discovered that Adult Fans were a thing, back in 2009, we may well have picked up the modulars sets that were available at the time. Things have certainly changed over the years: faces have changed, flowers have changed, colours have exploded, and printed elements are more likely to replace a brick-built font on the building’s facade.
This new Shopping Street – incorporating a musical instrument store and a furniture store/carpenter – brings a few features that left me feeling nostalgic for the early days of modular buildings, while at the same time, feeling fresh and innovative. Let’s take a closer look.
It’s an annual highlight in the LEGO Fan’s calendar: the reveal of the Modular Building. Once part of Creator Expert, and now ICONS, Modular buildings were my gateway drug, deranging me down a slippery slope into accepting life as an Adult Fan of a Children’s toy, over 15 years ago.
This year’s model does not disappoint me.
We have two buildings-!- music shop and a furniture store (with an upstairs workshop), separated by an angled alleyway. They are joined by connecting walkways at the first and second floors.
LEGO ICONS SET 11371 Shopping Street will be priced at $AUD399.99/ $USD249.99 / 249,99 EUR / £229.99 The set will be released on January 1 2026 has 3456 pieces and seven minifigures- two of whom are twins.
