LEGO ICONs appears to be on a roll with its collection of large-scale aircraft. In 2023 we saw the 10318 Concorde, and last year we gained the 10360 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft – a combination 747 and Space Shuttle. This April, athe 11378 DC-3 Pan American Airliner is being released. Introduced in the 1930s, the DC-3 was the first airliner to be able to cross the continental United States in only 18 hours, with 3 stops. Carrying up to 36 passengers, it had a top speed of 333km/h. The DC-3 was in production until 1942. While around 600 DC-3’s were built, its military equivalent, the C-47 Skytrain, was produced in the thousands.
The LEGO Group sent this set over for an early look, ahead of it’s April release – but all opinions are my own. Let’s take a look at the pieces, the minifigures, and the final build, and then consider reasons that might exist behind some of the design choices with this set.
The LEGO Group’s Deep Fandom Team is calling on the wider LEGO® community provide some opinions about the role LEGO Plays in you life, and how you engage with the company and the bricks!
“At the LEGO Group, the best part of what we do is the community that builds alongside us. We’re exploring new ways to really listen to you, and your feedback is a vital piece of the puzzle. We want to hear about your individual LEGO journey; what inspires you, what you enjoy, and where you think the hobby could grow. While we’d love for you to share this survey with your friends and fellow fans, please make sure your own answers reflect your personal views and habits. We’re here to listen to you.”
It’s been a few months since the last Nike release, and today the classic Nike Air Max 95 has been officially revealed in brick-built form.
With 1213 pieces and one minifigure and priced at $AUD149.99 / $USD99.99 / 99.99€ / £89.99, the set will be released on March 28 2026. To my eyes, it appears to be one of the more interesting Nike Shoe releases to day – particularly when considering the different shades and textures featured in the model.
I mentioned in the post announcing the upcoming release of LEGO IDEAS set 21367 Tintin Moon Rocket that this set represents a key factor in one of the earliest fandoms I was part of: I first read Destination Moon in January 1977, during the summer holidays. As the new school year began, I hunted the books down, eventually hunting most of them down through various school libraries over the following years. As I put the rocket together, I was excited by a sense of nostalgia as a childhood memory, now pop-culture icon, came into being on my desk.
I am grateful that the LEGO Group sent this copy of the set over in advance of the release on April 1. This set is based on the moon rocket from TKel86’s LEGO Ideas submission, which also included a gantry. In the design process, the team decided to focus on the rocket, which ties into the two books telling the story of Tintin’s journey to the Moon: Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon. The rocket’s gantry is only a feature in the first of these. However, I might have some parts lying around the house, which I picked up for another project a couple of years ago.
During properation for this review, I had the chance to take part in a round table discussion with designers Jordan Scott and Ellen Bowley – I’ll add their insights as we go along…
It’s January 1977 and 8 year old me is on holiday in New Zealand with my family and I am needing something to read. One day we are looking around in some local specialty stores (I seem to remember beeswax candles being bought at the time), and we take a detour to a book shop. I have never seen a tintin book before: More substantial than a 22 page comic – and with far more words than you might ever expect to see in tone too. I look over the shelves and one in particular catches my eye. Destination Moon. I am sure I was drawn to it by the large red and white rocket on the cover. I was a little disappointed when I discovered that the story continued in a second book, Explorers on the Moon. Not one to be deterred, I devoured every Tintin book that I could find in my primary school library.
The appeal of this rocket is undeniable: for me, I first saw it in the years between the end of the Apollo program, and the arrival of the Space Shuttle. And it was not until a couple of years later that I realised that this book predated the original Sputnik launch in 1957 by several years.
Fast forward some 29 years to 2006 and I am sitting down in front of the TV with my kids, while we watch the 1990s Adventures of Tintin animated series on DVD. At some point in the next year, my son is given a copy of Explorers on the Moon: at last we have the complete story.
Fast forward another twenty years to 2026 and the LEGO Group are proud to announce that LEGO IDEAS set 21367 Tintin Moon Rocket. With 1283 pieces, and including five minifigures (and one dog), the set presents the Rocket from Destination moon and Explorers on the Moon in LEGO Form. Based on the submission by Tkel86, the final model has done away with the gantry from the original submission, choosing to focus on the iconic rocket.
Read on for more pictures and the official Press Release…
This year, to celebrate Mario 10th day, the LEGO Group has upped the ante on last year’s 72037 Mario and Standard Kart with a brick-built Luigi with the Mach 8 Kart.
This new set, 72050 LEGO® Mario Kart™ – Luigi & Mach 8 has 2234 pieces and is priced at $AUD 279.99/ £159.99 / €179.99 / $USD179.99. It is available for preorder now, and will be on the shelves on April 1, 2026
