The latest LEGO® Icons set has been revealed, a 4154 piece model of a tropical aquarium.
If you have been observing the range adult-focused LEGO models released over the past few years, you will have noticed a number of recurring , popular subjects for realisation in LEGO models. One is the Botanical collection, debuting as a subset of ICONS in 2021, life size flower models have taken the world by storm, and (re) introduced LEGO Bricks to people who may not have picked one up for years. In parallel with this, life size real-world objects have become a trend that transcends third party IP: starting with the LEGO Ideas Typewriter, taking in a Globe of the World, Harry Potter artefacts, Disney Villain VHS cassettes, video game consoles and sports shoes.
And today we see a set revealed that combines the two: a collection of corals and anenomes that rival the Botanical collection in their crazy, colourful parts usage in the outline of a fishtank that looks to be the right size to fill up a dentist’s office.
Set 10366 has 4154 pieces and will be priced at $AUD699.99 / $USD479.99 / €449.99 / £399.99. It goes on sale on the 13th of November 2025. Let’s see what we know from the press release:
We first took a look at Lightbrick Studio’s Builder’s Journey back in 2021, and while that game has been updated a couple of times, the announcement of their latest game, LEGO Voyagers, back in June that really piqued my interest. We bought a copy of the game from the Nintendo online store, and sat down with our regular games correspondent, Harry, as we played the game through over the course of a few nights. Read on, below the break, to read his review…
Birds are dinosaurs. This is no longer a weird statement but well established; birds are the only dinosaur species still alive today. It’s no accident that Jurassic Park III starts with an opening shot of a raptor-like claw that turns out to belong to a bird, but I digress.
If you look carefully at birds you can see the connection to dinosaurs, but you also see that these are beautiful animals that see almost alien compared to ourselves with a range and variety that make my heart sing. The pattern of feathers with intricate colour patterns, the ability to puff up and move these feather jackets and then the ability to fly (for most of them)! If dinosaurs have manage to stay around this long and develop such beautiful variation, then there is hope yet.
A few years ago I built the beautiful rainbow lorikeet from Gabriel Thomson at which time I came to appreciate my love for our feathered neighbours. I also discovered that rainbow lorikeets are not entirely comfortable around a brick-built rendition of one of their brethren.
Out of all the brick-built LEGO animals I seem to fairly consistently be attracted to birds, and this 31173 Tropical Toucan is no different. With 225 parts it is quite a small set but it captures the shape of this striking bird very nicely and (spoiler) it is very nicely priced.
LEGO generously provided this set for review, but I present my own opinions. Please read on if you want to read a bit more about the other two models that are offered in the box, and what on earth a Toucan has to do with hotels/restaurants in the Netherlands (no Toucans are a tropical species, NOT native to the Netherlands).
When 10328 Bouquet of Roses was released in January 2024, I suspect the LEGO Group knew they had a hit. The set periodically sells out, and compared to actual red roses, it offers pretty good value. Naturally, I was a little intrigued when I saw an updated ‘bouquet of pink roses’ looming on the horizon. This set has an almost identical part count – and what appears to be a couple of subtle differences.
The set has 789 pieces and will be released on October 1st 2025, selling for $AUD99.99/ $USD59.99 /59.99€ / £54.99. This set was provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes. All opinions are my own. Let’s take a closer look.
Growing up in the 1970s and ‘80s meant that sitcoms from the 1960s were standard after school fare in Australia, and among these was the Addams Family. Occasionally it would alternate with the 1973 Cartoon, and eventually the inevitable slew of reunion specials that littered the prime time of the off seasons of the early 1980s television. There was something about the on screen chemistry between John Astin and Caroline Jones, to say nothing of her deadpan delivery of concepts that would shatter the sensibilities of a dormitory suburbia.
Or perhaps it is just nostalgia calling.
It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the remakes, reboots, new Addams Family, New Addams Family Reunion Special or the New – new Addams Family (1998) or any of the movies. They just didn’t seem necessary. The stories were perfect in scary Black and White: the arrival of colour didn’t seem to add anything other than the need for a greater special effects budget.
Suffice to say, I was intrigued when I saw Netflix launching a series following the life of Wednesday Addams as she heads off to a boarding school for ‘Outcasts’ – Nevermore Academy, where Gomez and Morticia originally met. It’s the Addams Family meets Tom Brown’s School Days in the American backwoods. Wednesday’s characterization as a cynical teenager with a morbid curiousity, forced to make friends she has no interest in, and accompanied by the disembodied hand and household helper, Thing, the first season worked for me. Meanwhile, the underlying mystery of the second series felt a little disjointed, as B and C plots Lurched backwards and forwards through the story. Still, All’s well that ends.
The fact that Netflix wont allow me to take a screen shot can be can be quite frustrating!
Among other things, Wednesday’s second season also brings us a little of Thing’s life beyond that of faithful retainer to the Addams Family. It is in this context that Wednesday’s roommate, Enid Sinclair, and her friends welcome Thing to their friendship group, and present him with an apartment in an old trunk. Certainly a glow up from the small box he lived in back in the 60s. It is this ’apartment’ that set 76785 Thing’s Apartment is seeking to replicate.
With 828 pieces and priced at $AUD129.99/€79.99/$USD89.99/ £74.99, this set will be released in October 2025, just in time to prepare for Halloween.
This set was provided by the LEGO Group for Review purposes, but all opinions are my own.
Do you know the feeling of having too much cake with icing and a soft drink? Perhaps you’ve seen the effect such a combination at a children’s party? That is the feeling I got from this set.
The highlight of this set would obviously be the unicorn. As it turns out, this singular unicorn shares its habitat with two pegasi! Although, is this really a habitat? Or something else? I felt confused when building this set, and perhaps that is a good thing.
The ‘due-to-license-issues-officially-not-my-little-pony‘ set, 31175 Unicorn Castle is retailing for AU$59.99/£34.99/$44.99/€39.99 and contains 390 parts and three tiny horse-adjacent creatures. The creatures are probably the main selling point, but there’s quite a bit more in the box; perhaps a bit too much. Read on to see what this set has to offer, and find out if this is for you.
It has been a little while since calling someone by phone actually involved ‘dialling’ their number. This term is still sometimes used, although I suspect the majority of humans in Australia have not had the experience of turning a rotary dial on a phone to make a call since the late 1980’s
The LEGO Group provides us with a neat reminder of what phone calls used to look like with the new Creator 3in1 set 31174 Retro Telephone retailing for AU$39.99/£24.99/$29.99/€29.99 containing 383 parts, so you can have a bit of an idea of how it felt. Or flash back to years gone past…
Although this is a 3-in-1 set, the rotary dial phone is the clear hero of this set. Look no further for improvement in the alternative builds; the other designs feel like an afterthought in comparison. The rotary phone has a nifty design for the dial, and the cable between the handset and the base is worth the price of admission alone! Check out the video to see how the cable seems to defy the rules of the LEGO® system and appear fully flexible.
Read on to see what other phones are on offer and why explore the delight that the rotary phone has to offer.
We continue our look at the September Nike releases today with a look at 43010 Nike Slam Dunk. When I first saw pictures of this set, I felt it was setting out to imitate the posters of the 80s and 90s, with creative photography photography capturing the action from around the court, the crowd looking on, with the Nike Sports Star front and centre. Does it succeed in this? Lets take a closer look.
Death Stars, in various shapes, sizes and forms played an integral part of the original Star Wars Trilogy. Along with the 75192 Millenium Falcon, the LEGO Star Wars Death Star play sets experienced remarkable longevity on the store shelves (Falcon – 8 years and counting;10188 – 2008, but still seen on the shelves until 2014, and 75159 was on the shelves from 2016 for another 4 years or so).
Launching in October 2025 is the largest LEGO StarWars set (by both piece and minifigure count) – 71459 Death Star. While the first two Death Star play sets were spherical, this latest version addresses one of the biggest issues confronting LEGO StarWars Ultimate Collector Series sets today: Storage space.
Melbourne LEGO® Lovers, rejoice. MUGs, the Melbourne LEGO Users Group have their inaugural Melbourne Brick Show coming up this weekend. at the Coburg Town Hall. The show will be open from 9am -4pm Saturday; 9am-3pm Sunday. Tickets are available online here
