Author: BrankotheFather

LEGO® ICONS 11376 Model T Ford: A Classic Car, Over a Century in the Making

BrankotheFather Lego
LEGO ICONS 11376 Model T Ford set, showcasing a detailed model of a classic car with a black body, yellow front, and white wheels, displayed against a dark background.

More than 100 years ago when cars were an uncommon sight on roads, decades before Ole Kirk Kristiansen started making wooden toys, and long before the name LEGO was chosen, Henry Ford caused ripples in history with this car; the 11376 Model T Ford. This set comes with 1060 pieces for AU$ 199.99 / € 129.99 / US$ 129.99 / £ 119.99 and will be available from the 1st of March 2026 (113 years after the car that inspired it was first produced).

A model of a vintage car made from construction blocks, featuring a black body with white and black wheels, a brown front section, and a roof.

To say this is a ‘classic’ doesn’t quite do it justice. Many more (newer) cars would be considered classics, but this is a little different. Henry Ford decided he wanted to build a motor car for anyone, so that every family could own a car and “enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God’s great open spaces.” Up until that point cars were an expensive excess only for the wealthy. To achieve this dream, Ford used assembly line manufacturing, effectively kicking off the era of mass-production.

A group of children and a young adult stand together in a garden, posing next to a structure made of wooden toy trains and other wooden constructions set on a wooden table and ladder.
LEGO’s first product line is presented in 1932 (photo courtesy of LEGO.com)

It may feel like LEGO has been around forever (or certainly for as long most of us have been alive), but when LEGO was founded this particular car was already part of history. Notice in the photo above, showing he first production line with a car (on the right ladder) surprisingly similar to this car. Was that a model T?

Join me as I explore some history of classic cars with LEGO, and dive into this particular model, generously gifted by LEGO. All opinions are our own.

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42218 John Deere 1670H Wheeled Harvester, or pretzel deliverer

BrankotheFather Lego, Review, technic , , , , , ,
A LEGO model of a John Deere 1670H wheeled harvester with a mechanical arm picking up a pretzel from a plate.

In our review of 71513Nightmare Scorpion Digger we briefly explored how a smaller portion of Technic sets are for something other than cars. Here we can celebrate such a not-a-car set, with 42218 John Deere 1670H Wheeled Harvester, a small set with 117 pieces for AU$14.99/£8.99/US$9.99/€9.99

A toy tractor model made from building blocks, featuring a green body, yellow wheels, and a mechanical arm with a brown attachment.
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LEGO DREAMZZz 71514 Dino Jet, as in Dino-Soar [review]

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LEGO set 71514 Dino Jet featuring a large dinosaur model with orange and gray colors alongside a flying craft, set against a white background.

Dinosaurs are cool. Dinosaurs keep appearing in LEGO sets from time to time for that exact reason. Over time 305 sets have appeared with an association to the word ‘Dino’, of which 102 for Jurassic world! The most popular dinos in LEGO are raptors (74) and T-rexes (85) and various other theropods (two-legged dinosaurs, ancestors of birds).

Far less common are sauropods such as brachiosaurus, for which only 23 sets can be found and Stegosaurus for which we can only see 16 sets! Introducing 71514 Dino Jet, offering you both a stegosaurus and a sauropod in a two-in-one package! With 1007 pieces this set is the second smallest(!) set in the January 2026 Dreamzzz range and retails for AU$149.99/£89.99/US$99.99/€99.99.

A colorful LEGO dinosaur model with a mechanical design, featuring a long neck, a dinosaur-like head with sharp teeth, and a segmented body in orange and gray colors. The model stands upright with its arms and legs positioned to give a dynamic appearance.

LEGO generously gifted this set so we could share our own opinion on it with you. It is cool. It is dinosaur.

Read on if you would like some more details…

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Is that you Eris? 71512 Crocodile Submarine review

BrankotheFather DREAMZZz, Lego, Review , , , , , ,
A LEGO set featuring a crocodile submarine with a large head and bright colors, accompanied by a purple character wielding a bow and black creatures with pink claws.

Branko continues his reviews of the latest LEGO Dreamzzz Sets, and finds the ‘B’ on this one strangely familiar. In many different ways!

When LEGO gifted this set for review my eye was immediately drawn to the alternate build on the back of the box; the eagle. There is quite a lot to see in this set before we get to that point, so join me while I share my opinion on this set, and highlight several references and associations this set conjures.

A vibrant LEGO set featuring a blue and yellow eagle-themed robot with intricate details and an additional smaller black and purple figure, surrounded by several small spider-like creatures.

For example, is Logan the dreamworld manifestation of Marvel’s Rocket Raccoon? Does this mean Dreamzzz may become a licensed series after all, or does it still qualify as a story theme (read my essay on that here)? How does Eris the eagle tie into all of this?

This set was gifted by LEGO but all opinions are our own. 71512 Crocodile Submarine comes in with 1107pieces as the second largest and the second cheapest set in the Dreamzzz 2026 line for AU$109.99/£59.99/$69.99/€69.99

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71508 Fox Guardian Mech (or could it be a flying fox?) [review]

BrankotheFather DREAMZZz, Lego, Review , , , , , ,
Image of the LEGO set '71508 Fox Guardian Mech' featuring a green mech with a fox-like design, holding translucent green swords, with two minifigures in front.

Green and gold, favourite national colours in Australia, but I think my appreciation for this set has little to do with that. 71508 Fox Guardian Mech is the second smallest set released in the new Dreamzzz wave, coming in at 883 pieces for AU$129.99/£69.99/US$79.99/€79.99. As I mentioned before, these sets are not small or cheap, but they are good!

The official name of this set it ‘Fox Guardian Mech’ and I typically associate the word ‘Mech’ with a large robot occupied by a pilot (like a Jaeger in Pacific Rim, or powered armor like in Avatar). LEGO is partially to blame for this, with so many sets labelled ‘Mech’ containing piloted robots. Ninjago in particular has been releasing mechs with someone driving them. Coming back to this set; this fox does NOT contain a set for someone to drive it so it almost deserves a different qualification. Also, the alternative build could equaly qualify as a Fox Guardian, so should the name perhaps just be Fox Guardian?

LEGO gifted one of these guardians for use to review, so join me as we present our own opinion on this set, and explore what it has to offer.

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42220 Monster Jam Sparkle Smash: Is a Unicorn a Monster? [review]

BrankotheFather Lego, Review, technic , , , , , , ,
A colorful unicorn-themed monster truck with glittery decorations, showcasing large wheels and a playful design.

A sparkling unicorn-themed monster truck. I know that the word ‘monster’ in this name refers to the truck, not the theme of the decorations, but I am just used to monster trucks having appearances that match the loud, powerful, anything-but-subtle destruction and mayhem they can cause.

Does this mean, perhaps, I should reconsider my understanding of unicorns? After all, Unikitty is not known to be the most stable and coherent entities in the LEGO universe; perhaps unicorns like a bit of roar and thunder? I still do not know, but I can say that I don’t mind this style of Monster Truck.

LEGO gifted us a copy of 42220 Monster Jam™ Sparkle Smash™, one of the new Monster trucks to be released in January 2026. The set contains 243 pieces and retails for AU$44.99/£24.99/US$34.99/€29.99.

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Nightmare Scorpion Digger 71513, an issue with construction [review]

BrankotheFather DREAMZZz, Lego, Review , , , , , , , , , , ,
LEGO set featuring the Nightmare Scorpion Digger 71513 with mini-figures, a crystal, and spiders, highlighted with colorful pieces.

Branko woke up from a dream wondering if Construction Equipment was on the way out. He couldn’t get back to sleep until he came up with the answer…

In January 2026 LEGO will release another wave of Dreamzzz sets and the balance between ‘dream’ and ‘nightmare’ seems solidly to have swung towards ‘Dream’. There is only 1 set out of 5 in the wave that is considered a nightmare, and it is the smallest of the lot at that. Cue “Nightmare Scorpion Digger 71513”, coming in at 505 pieces for AU$79.99/£44.99/US$49.99/€49.99. This is not a small set, it’s just the smallest of the lot (read more on that here).

The sets in this series are all associated with animals, and some machinery, but it struck me that this particular one is very strongly related to construction equipment. In recent years fans of Technic have been complaining a bit about a reduction of the number of construction equipment sets, so this left me wondering. Has construction gotten into bad books? Is digging holes no longer considered cool?

Join me as we have a quick look to see if Technic fans are objectively correct in their gripe, and then we will cheerfully ignore that and have a look at how construction equipment is used to create this particular nightmare creature.

This set was generously gifted by LEGO, but the expressed opinions are my own.

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Tiger! Shark! Tank! – 71515 [review]

BrankotheFather DREAMZZz, Lego, Review , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
A colorful LEGO set featuring the Tiger Shark Tank from Dreamzzz, showcasing a large shark with various attachments and accessories, along with minifigures and crystal creatures.

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.

A colorful LEGO set depicting the Tiger Shark Tank, featuring a tiger-striped shark front and tank tracks, showcasing intricate design and various LEGO elements.

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.

A LEGO minifigure with white hair and glasses, wearing a blue torso with a planet graphic.

71515 Tiger Shark Tank contains 1548 pieces and retails for AU$229.99/£129.99/$139.99/€139.99. Follow me to read why you want this set.

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It’s a matter of torque – 42219 Monster Jam Grave Digger [review]

BrankotheFather Lego, Review, technic , , , , , , ,
LEGO Technic monster truck model of the 42219 Monster Jam Grave Digger with a blue and black design featuring flames and monster-themed stickers.

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.

From this I deduce that the set on review today, 42219 Monster Jam™ Grave Digger™ Fire and Ice contains the ™ symbol (twice!) for a reason and relates to a real vehicle. The set comes with 263 pieces for AU$44.99/£24.99/US$34.99/€29.99.

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.

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Dreamzzz 2026 Collector’s Guide

BrankotheFather DREAMZZz, Lego, Review , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
A visual guide to the 2026 LEGO® Dreamzzz sets featuring minifigures, swords, crystals, and creatures organized by set numbers: 71508, 71512, 71513, 71514, and 71515.

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:

A display of five LEGO® Dreamzzz set boxes, showcasing various colorful designs and characters, including a dragon and robotic figures.
A stack of LEGO® Dreamzzz sets, showcasing colorful boxes with character illustrations and collectible swords.

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:

We will refer to their set numbers in the images below

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