Deep Dive

The Evolution of LEGO® Dragons: Part 2 the Legacy of Galidor.

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A LEGO figure standing next to a red dragon model, with a text overlay titled 'The Evolution of LEGO Dragons Part 2: The Legacy of GALIDOR'.

In part one, we looked at the development and history of the Classic LEGO® Dragon. Go on, read it now. It was posted nearly 18 months ago. Even if you read it back then, you might have forgotten some of the more salient points. The last variation of this appeared in the Adventurers Orient Expedition 7419 Dragon Fortress in 2004. But how did LEGO Dragons develop from here?

A row of colourful dragon toys in various designs, including a green dragon with red wings, and a black dragon with ornate patterns, accompanied by a large question mark.

If you have ever gone questing for a dragon, you be aware that you must often undertake some type of side quest before you reach your final goal. Here is the first. There might be several others to come..

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Are Our Dreamzzz Getting Bigger?

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Graph showing part counts of LEGO Dreamzzz story-based play theme sets from 2010 to 2025 with an upward trend.

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.

A collection of colorful LEGO model sets, featuring various animal-themed characters and vehicles, showcasing the large and detailed designs characteristic of the upcoming LEGO Dreamzzz series.

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?

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A Haunting We Will Go…31167 Creator 3in1 Haunted Mansion Review and a Brief History of Spooky Sets

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An animated image featuring a LEGO Creator 3-in-1 Haunted Mansion set, showcasing its structure and five minifigures including a vampire bride and Frankenstein's monster, along with spooky text elements referencing other LEGO themes.

I have a theory: Creator 3in1 sets and Collectable minifigures are the last bastion of the classic themes that we would love to see the LEGO Group bring back. Some of the August release Creator 3in1 sets – 31167 Haunted Mansion and 31168 The Medieval Horse Knight Castle – both seem to serve my point to a certain extent, calling back to Monster Fighters and Classic Castle, respectively.

In this review, we will look at the new Creator 3in1 31167 Haunted Mansion. This was released on August 1, and comes with 736 pieces and five unique minifigures. It is priced at $AUD149.99/ $USD89.99 / €89.99 / £79.99.

As I set out to review this set, I may have become distracted and started looking at other ‘Haunted Themes’ that we have seen across the years…

LEGO Creator 3in1 Haunted Mansion set 31167 featuring a spooky green house with ghostly elements, five unique minifigures, and the option to build alternate models like a ghost ship and ghost train.
LEGO Creator 3in1 set 31167 featuring a haunted mansion, ghost train, and ghost ship, showcasing the spooky theme.

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What’s up with white?

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A close-up of LEGO pieces in different shades of white, with text overlay reading 'I Spent My Afternoon Comparing These Two Shades-Of White'.

In which we examine a few elements in the new shade 426 White, and explore the effect of some of these changes and more.

While I was reviewing at the 10360 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft recently, I noticed that the white tiles and plates appeared to be ‘more white’, and indeed less opaque than that which had been seen in recent years. New Elementary published an article on article acknowledging this change and a revised cool yellow recently.

I am curious about the specific rationale behind the change, so I thought I would take a look at some of the parts in 10360, compare them with other examples that I have, and see if there are obvious advantages to the new pigment. I’ll also set a test in process, to see if this new pigment is able to resist yellowing on sun exposure.

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A Brief History of Crossing the Themes Part 3: Time Cruisers

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We are celebrating the final half of season 2 of LEGO® DREAMZZz by looking at themes, books and more that made a point of inspiring kids to combine sets of multiple themes in creative play. We have already looked at the 6000 Ideas Book and explored the adventures of Max Timebuster throughout the 1994 catalogue. Today we move on to one of the themes regarded as a spiritual predecessor to DREAMZZz, the 1996-97 Time Cruisers.

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A Brief History of Crossing the Themes Part 2: Introducing Max Timebuster

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The Characters in LEGO DREAMZZz travel from Brooklyn, to Fantasy worlds, to Villages to castle, to worlds made entirely out of Candy. But this is not the first time that being able to travel between different LEGO Themes has been used as a framing device for a LEGO narrative. Last time, we looked at the 6000 IDEAs book and followed the adventures of Mary and Bill as they traveled from Town to Space to Castle.

Today, we meet Max Timebuster, a miscreant who jumps between pages of the LEGO Catalog, gathering bits and pieces as he goes.

Joins us for a healthy bit of 90s nostalgia as we continue our survey of ways that LEGO Media have encouraged creative play by having characters Cross the Themes

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A Brief History of Crossing the Themes: Part 1 The Adventures of Bill and Mary/6000 Ideas

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In the run-up to the latest installment of the LEGO DREAMZZz animated series dropping on September 6 2024, I thought we might start a small survey of other ways that books, comics and other media have been used to encourage builders to ‘Cross the Themes’

The Storytelling behind LEGO DREAMZZz provides an interesting mechanic that allows fantasy creations to exist in the otherwise mundane world of LEGO City. Many of the sets in the theme exploit this excuse to mash up fantastical ideas with the mundane. The choices provided for each model also make it a little easier for kids to come up with a different final toy in the set.

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Fire finds its future: History and 60414 Fire Station Review

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Regular readers would be aware that I’ve spent quite a bit of time looking at the LEGO City Space sets this year – and they have brought just about everything you could ask for from a LEGO Space theme, with the possible exception of a revival of vintage colour schemes and monochromatic spacemen. I recently discovered some more LEGO CITY sets in the bottom of that shipping box – those from the Fire Brigade. It has been a few years since I looked at this CITY Subtheme. However, since LEGO City has undergone a design renaissance over the last couple of years, I was keen to see how things might have changed and approached it with an open mind. However, at the end of the day, my inner space fan has found myself wondering if it is hinting at something else…

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Bringing Myth and Magic to LEGO Castle: The System Years 1992-1999

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Last year, I started to explore the way in which the LEGO® Castle theme has developed over the years. In our first installment, we looked at some of the ‘Pre-minifigure’ Castle history and continued to look at the way the Castle theme developed during the period of LEGOLAND Branding (1978-1991). In particular, we saw the development of factions, advanced use of landscaping, compared to other themes and the development of multiple animal moulds.

But what happened next? We have previously seen that 1990s were a period of diversification of material in both the LEGO Town and Space themes, with an increased number of factions and sub-themes. I apologize to those who have been waiting patiently for the follow up to last year’s article: Let’s take a look to see what happens in the realms of the Castle themes during the SYSTEM era..

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New Cardboard Pick-A-Brick Boxes: semi-exhaustive testing.

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If you live within coo-ee of a LEGO Branded Store, you will probably be familiar with the standard pick-a-brick cup. Coming in 2 sizes, they provide LEGO builders with a fantastic opportunity to load up on a variety of elements in bulk, with out having to deal with online ordering and delivery times. However, as a stackable truncated cone, they can be difficult to fill to maximum efficiency. Especially if you are looking to stock up on basic bricks.

Sometime between now and the end of March 2024, the Plastic pick-a-brick (PAB) cups are being replaced by cardboard boxes. This is in line with the company’s goal to ditch single-use plastics in packaging by 2025. [the imprecise rollout date is dependent on when regions deplate their supply of plastic cups.)

The LEGO Group sent over a sample of the boxes to evaluate: and so I set out to answer the questions that many people have about these boxes.

And quite a few that they may not!

But before looking too closely at them, let’s remind ourself of the cups that will be replaced:

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