While not as extravagant as 10316: Rivendell, the upcoming 10354 The Shire still has a lot to cover. While I am finishing the complete review, I thought we might look at the nine minifigures that come with this upcoming set. The Shire brings us nine minifigures: six old characters, and three new. Let’s take a look at how these figures compare with those found in 10316 Rivendell, and the previous wave of LEGO The Lord of the Rings sets, released in 2012-2013.
The LEGO Group provided this set for review purposes. All opinions are my own.
Rumors have been floating around for months, and even an own goal scored by the LEGO Events team announcing a set-signing event in early April on the LEGO website a few weeks ago. Finally, we can show you 10354 The Shire.
This set brings us to Bag End and the location of Bilbo’s Party, as seen in the first part of the Fellowship of the Ring. With nine minifigures, including Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf the Grey, Merry and Pippin, we also have a couple of new characters, including Rosie Cotton and the Proudfoots. The set has 2017 pieces and has a recommended retail price of $AUD399.99; €269.99 £229.99 $USD269.99. It will be released on April 2dn to LEGO Insiders, and available to all on April the 5th.
In this post, We’ll take a quick look at the set. Then I’ll bring some of my history with the Shire: from Discovering the Lord of the Rings, visiting the Hobbiton sets and building my version of Bag End a year or so before the official set was released in 2012. Then we’ll take a look at some photos of the set from the Fan Media Days in Billund last year, and hear some words from Kenyon Brady, one of the LEGO Designers who worked on the set. Finally, we will get to the official Press release, as well as details of the Gift with Purchase, available when the set will be released in early April.
Exciting news for Pokémon trainers everywhere: Today, the LEGO Group and The Pokémon Company International announced a new multi-year partnership that will bring LEGO® Pokémon™ to fans for the first time from 2026.
Pokémon first debuted as a videogame in 1996 before being developed further as an animated series and trading card game. This partnership seems set to launch in time for the 30th anniversary year. While the world might not quite return to the lofty heights of the Pokémania of the early 2000s, the property now has a transgeneration fanbase – something to be enjoyed by adults and children alike, with many of the same nostalgic feels that come along when your childhood favourites obtain new lease of life in your adult years.
Over the last couple of years, it has become increasingly common for a kid scaled version of a build to be matched up with an ICONS 18+. build, and this time it’s Mario’s turn. To celebrate March 10 (Mar10 day!), the LEGO Group and Nintendo have revealed a new large scale Mario build, complete with a Standard Kart from Mario Kart. The set has 1972 pieces and will be priced at $AUD250/ €169.99 / £139.99 / $USD169.99. It is due for release on May 15th 2025. The model measures 32cm long, 19cm wide and 22 cm high
It’s still March10 (Mar10 Day) in some parts of the world…
This has been a bumper year for Creator 3in1: Over the past decade, we have seen between 13 and 17 sets (including polybags) released over the course of the year. Here we are at the beginning of March, and that count is already up to 12. We typically see a few sets released around midyear, so I wonder if we will be edging a little higher than average this year.
One thing that has characterised the sets that we have looked at so far this year (31162, 31163,61165) has been the emphasis on organic-looking creature builds, with a limited primary colour palette: we have seen quarter circle curved slope elements emphasised in medium stone grey, tan, and black.
The 31170 Wild Animals Pink Flamingo broadens this palette further with the addition of these curved elements in vibrant coral and a great collection of light purple elements.The box demonstrates 3 models: the titular Flamingo, an axolotl and a galah – a pink parrot renowned for wreaking havoc on both the local landscape and soundscapes here in Australia.
With the latest episode in the Jurassic world Franchise arriving in cinemas in July 2025, the LEGO Group have revealed 6 playsets designed to tie-in with Jurassic World Rebirth. These sets are due for release in June 2025. You can check out my earlier survey of LEGO® Dinosaurs from across the years, here
We have a whole new cast of characters and brand new dinosaurs, including the Aquilops, Titanosaurus, and Spinosaurus, as well as a brick-built Mosasaur. Read on for more details and pictures.
I was all aflutter last week when the 40506 LEGO Fabuland Tribute was revealed. The idea of enlarging Fabuland figures is familiar to me: after all, I am now twice as tall and twice as round as a 5 year old. While I have previously reimagined some of these characters as Brickheadz, the interpretation here is much closer to the original figures with regards to their shape and function. But is it work a trip to Billund to pick the set up?
Yes it is. The End.
Sorry, you’d like some more details? please read on.
Dinosaurs have a broad appeal, from the young to the old. Is it the scale? Is it the lure of the relatively unknown? Is it just because we really enjoyed being terrified by Jurassic Park, back in the day? Today we see the official reveal of the largest Jurassic World set to date: the 3145 piece Jurassic World Dinosaur Fossils: Tyrannosaurus rex (T.rex) set. This is the largest LEGO® Jurassic World set released to date and offers a challenging and rewarding building experience for fans. Featuring a detailed T. rex fossil skeleton, over 1m (more than 3 feet!) in length, this set is sure to impress both builders and collectors alike. The set will retail for $AUD399.99/€249.99/£219.99/$USD249.99
Seven year old me is very excited. Six year old me would have been excited, but not had the patience to consider such a project.
It was the first day of Fan Media days 2024, and the team had us meet up at the LEGO House, where we were hearing about some of the upcoming plans. We made ourselves comfortable, while Stuart Harris, Master Builder at the LEGO house, sat in a chair next to a large black box with a question mark on it, opened a book, and spoke.
“It was a beautiful Spring Day in Fabuland and Edward Elephant was out in his garden…”
In which I get distracted by nostalgic content included on a sticker in a Ninjago set I don’t have, do some colouring in, review 3265 Sandy Seagull’s Aeroplane and 3697 Flour Mill and Shop, do some figure matching and ultimately spend the weekend trying to reconstruct that sticker in photographic form. Will I succeed?
I’ve been a bit busy away from LEGO® bricks recently. While I have dodged much of the upcoming March Madness preview season, I also failed to mention that the 71837 Ninjago City Workshops is being released on March 1 2025. Had I mentioned this at the time that it was first announced, I would have also most certainly highlighted the fact that the set includes a Fabuland Reference: One of the panels includes a sticker that highlights several Fabuland Figures, a couple of Fabuland sets with the word ‘Fabuland’ plastered across the middle of the poster in Ninjago script. While I don’t have a review copy of the Ninjago Workshops, I do have quite few Fabuland figures and elements lying around the place; accumulated over the years from various sources. Let’s take a closer look at what’s featured in the sticker and see if we can recreate the view in real life.
