LEGO City continues to embrace a new look and feel this year, with one of the more unique-appearing sets for the latest wave being the 60363 Ice Cream Shop. We have seen plenty of ice cream and other frozen treat vendors over the last few years, mainly in food truck or slushy van forms, along with various ice cream stands and freezers. However, this is the first time LEGO City has given us a full shop for some time. Is it worth the $AUD62.99/$USD39.99/33.99€/£29.99 being asked for it? Let’s take a look.
Growing up in the 1970s, it was apparent that the world was getting smaller: not so much by cumulative erosion by billions of residents shuffling along in their daily lives, but rather as air travel was becoming faster and more efficient. While air travel from the Antipodes to the rest of the world was most likely to be restricted to to 747 Jumbos and their variants, travelling at around 1037km/k (mach 0.84) my library books focussing on The Way Things Will Be In the Future reported that the Concorde has just started to fly across the Atlantic at over twice the speed of sound!
The product of a collaboration between Sud Aviation/Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation, the first prototypes started test flights in 1969. In 1975, it received its airworthiness certificates, with commercial flights taking off in 1976 . The Concorde fleet flew passengers for British Airways and Air France between London/Paris and the United states – particularly Washington and New York. Typically carrying between 92 and 128 passengers. In July 2000, an Air France flight crashed shortly after takeoff killing all on board.The fleet was grounded for a period while safety modifications were rolled out. The Concorde Fleet was retired in 2003, with the final flight in November.
And so…20 years later, the LEGO Group have announced their latest ICONS set – a 2083 piece model of the Concorde. Over 1m long, this scale model will be available in September (4th September VIPs/7th September Everyone Else). It will be priced at $USD199.99/€199.99/£169.99/299.99 AUD/1699.0 CNY/4474.7 TRY/84990.0 HUF/259.99 CAD.
If you have been following the Rambling Brick for a while, you might know I have a penchant for nostalgia. If you have seen my Instagram stories looking at market finds, perhaps it becomes more obvious that 80s and 90s LEGO fascinates me now more than it did at the time. Perhaps I am seeking something more than a nostalgia fuelled dopamine kick: also looking for a feeling of relaxed contemplation while living in an increasingly complicated world. During that period of LEGO History, the typical LEGO sets maintained a degree of simplicity while still being able to produce some substantial models with relatively few elements.
As a kid, I loved the idea of a treehouse: a place to escape and refashion the world in my image, where my dreams could come true. As my kids grew up, they would have great fun hiding out with their cousins in the Treehouse my father built for them. I suspect this love of arboreal habitation is not restricted to my family, as we have seen multiple LEGO treehouses popping up every year for the last decade. They ensure Kids have a place to call their own and think big.
The 71461 Fantastical Tree House is another of the heroes’ location sets, released as part of the first wave of LEGO DREAMZzz in August 2023. These builds are set in a dream world, where objects are shaped by the imaginations of the dream-crafting heroes of our Story, Izzie and Mateo and their friends. With 1257 pieces, this is the second-largest set in the wave. It has 4 minifigures, 3 ‘li’l guys’ and two buildable characters. With multiple rooms, personal spaces and striking blue foliage, this set has a lot to offer.
We are days away from the official release of LEGO DREAMZzz. One of the great things about the theme is the appearance of the villains. We have discussed the appearance of the Grimspawn and Night Hunter previously, but with this set, we finally meet the Big Bad of the series: The Nightmare King. This is one of my favourite minifigures of the theme. This set also brings us Zoey and Nova minifigures and the ‘advanced grimspawn’ Susan. But is this striking Black and Pink horse enticing for shoppers? Or will they overlook it in favour of the major set: Nightmare Shark Ship, which also comes with the Nightmare King, Nova and Susan? Read on to find out.
LEGO® DREAMZzz is shaping up to be one of the most colourful and eclectic themes that we have seen for some time. So far, we have looked at sets focussing on Creatures and Vehicles imagined by some of our heroes: Bunchu, Z-Blob,Space Bus and the Croc Car, to say nothing of the evil Grimkeeper. Today, we look at one of the first sets based on LOCATIONS in the LEGO DREAMZzz range: the Stable of Dream Creatures brings us a farmhouse and stables, which at first inspection feels like it might have come from LEGO Friends. On closer inspection, however, we see imaginative creatures and a colourful building with a warm palette and magical touches.
With 681 pieces, 4 minifigures and 3 of the little guys, along with some brick-built magical creatures, this set brings us a place for our heroes to chill out without any of the Nightmare King’s forces anywhere in sight.
Early in the publicity cycle for LEGO DREAMZzz, there was a Ninjago Short, in which we saw some of the imaginative vehicles that we would encounter in LEGO DREAMZzz. One was the ultimate Monster Truck: a Truck (well…car) crossed with a monster. Crocodile Car does what it says on the box. There is, of course, a Monster Truck as the secondary build, to say nothing of one of my favourite figures for the theme.
I have to admit, I am kind of excited for the new Ahsoka series (coming real soon now… or at least 23 August). And, after seeing a revamped Ghost unveiled a week or two ago, we have three new Star Wars sets revealed at SDCC today: Coming in September 2023: 2 from Ashoka (Ahsoka Tano’s T-6 Jedi Shuttle, and New Republic E-Wing™ vs. Shin Hati’s Starfighter™) and a new Buildable Sculpture…of Chewbacca
Here’s your first look at the hi resolution images from the long rumoured Gringott’s bank With over 4800 pieces and 14 minifigures, it is designed to fit in to be part of your diagonally display. It will be released on September 1 for VIPs and 4th September: Everyone else. It is priced at AUD629.99/ USD429.99/ £369.99/429.99€
One of the first major releases since Discovery took over Warner Brothers, Wizarding world is now under construction in partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products. A somewhat unwieldy name, if I say so myself.
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:
