Explore the Interactive Features of 72031Yoshi’s Bike

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There are a few things that make playing Mario Kart Fun: one is beating the computer powered racers around the track. Another is thwarting the efforts of your families and friends by throwing bananas and shells at them. The Standard Kart was missing any form of Power-up. Today we look at the 72031 Yoshi Bike. With a Brick-built Yoshi, Yoshi themed cycle, and a new Mario Kart ‘?’ Brick, it has the potential to make the race a bit more fun. How will it turn out? Is it worth adding this $AUD19.99/USD14.99/€14.99/ £12.99 set to grid?

Lets take a look. We will explore the build, look at the power-up – use it in a single-player time trial and a two-player race, and see how the experience pans out for us. We shall also see how legacy powerups (Yellow ? blocks, POW, Time Bonus, Star Power and Super Mushroom) work in this setting.

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LEGO Mario Kart: a new paradigm with 72032 Standard Kart

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If you have been following Rambling Brick for a while, you will know that I was quite taken by LEGO Super Mario when it was first released. The timed gameplay provided interesting challenges, maximizing the capabilities of the Smart Brick/Mario figure. Each subsequent year saw new environments and new capabilities. I drifted away over the last year or so, with too many other shiny things providing a distraction, but the Mario Kart wave has piqued my interest again.

Mario Kart on the Wii was the game my family first bonded over on the Nintendo Wii, years ago. Fifteen years later, we still play on the Nintendo Switch from time to time. I was keen to try the LEGO version, so I dropped into my store and (delighted to see the set on the shelves on New Years Eve), picked up the 72032 Standard Kart. With 174 pieces, and priced at $AUD29.99/$USD19.99/€19.99/£17.99, it felt like a reasonable price of entry to the theme. But is it enough on its own?

Let’s take a closer look…

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40756 Lucky Knots [review]

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This set has been revealed as a gift with purchase throughout January 2025, in conjunction with Spring Festival celebrations later in the month. The threshold for this set has not been revealed at the time of writing, but has been reported as being a relatively high £135. That said, there are lots of new sets about to be released, including the 10355 Blacktron Renegade and the 10350 Tudor Corner Modular Building, along with the international release of the Chinese New Year sets, new sets from City, Creator 3in1, Friends and more, so reaching that threshold should not be too hard.

This set was sent to us by the LEGO Group for review purposes, but all opinions are our own. Let’s take a look, and see what you think.

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31162 Creator 3in1: Cute Bunny

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We have been browsing through some of the LEGO Creator 3in1 sets for the January release, particularly those looking at creature builds. I have another today: 31162 Cute Bunny has 326 pieces and will be priced at $AUD29.99/£17.99/$usd19.99/€19.99. There are three builds – a rabbit, a seal pup, and a llama. The LEGO Group provided this set for review purposes, all opinions are my own. Let’s take a closer look.

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31163 Creator 3in1 Playful Cat Review

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Continuing our look at some of the upcoming creator sets, today we look at 31163 Playful Cat. This set has 407 pieces and is priced at AUD39.99/USD24.99/€24.99/£19.99. It goes on sale on January 1 2024. This set comes with 3 builds: the playful cat, the puppy, and the pigeon. Let’s take a closer look.

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Creator 3in1 31165 Wild Animals Panda Family (All Forms)

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LEGO® Creator 3 in1 is going in for creature modeling in a big way in 2025, with six of the nine new sets featuring creatures, real or imagined. The LEGO Group have sent a few of these sets over for review. (all opinions are my own)

Today, I’d like to look at 31165 Wild Animals: Panda Family. With 626 pieces, and priced at $AUD59.99 / $USD39.99/ €39.99/ £34.99. the set brings us builds with the theme of animal families – featuring an adult and its young. Here the builds include Pandas; Orca and Penguins. Lets take a closer look.

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Seasons Greetings

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The Knoller-in-Chief and I wish you a Merry Christmas/Happy Holiday and a wonderful New Year.
Thank you for being so supportive over the last few years: 2025 will see us working to attain balance between new reviews and nostalgia, while a few ongoing series will hopefully reach their conclusion. Thanks to @max2022branko for joining the team this year, and easing the load.

What are you looking forward to next year?

10355 Blacktron Rengade: Construction, Criticism and Creative Prompts.

ramblingbrick 18+, ICONS, Lego, Review, space , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The 10355 Blacktron Renegade is the latest of the LEGO sets from the 1970s-80s to be revised an updated to suit the contemporary adult builder, longing for a hint of nostalgia. In this review, I will look at the build process and components, how the set stands on its own merits, as well as in comparison to the original 6954 Renegade from 1987. We shall also take a look at the 40650 Blacktron Cruiser from 2023 and see if it can be made to fit with the components of the updated craft. I shall NOT attempt to recreate the box art of the classic set at this time. This set was provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

Here is a picture of the box lifted from the LEGO Website. I’ll Explain why shortly…

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10355 Blacktron Renegade Reborn!

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After a seemingly endless parade of Spaceships in 2024, throughout City, Technic, Friends, Classic and Dulplo, it seems that ICONs is trying to scrape through before the 2025 Formula One dominance kicks in. And what a way to go, with a reimagining of the 1987 classic, 6954 Blacktron Renegade. The original version cemented Blacktron’s Bad boy image by its blatant disregard for the symmetrical spaceship design that was the norm in LEGO Space to that date. The new one doubles down and embraces the legacy of the first iteration of Blacktron.

The set will be released on January 1 2025, and comes with 3 minifigures, a droid and 1151 pieces. It will be priced at $AUD179.99/USD99.99/€99.99/£89.99

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Not quite poly, this bag: 30701 LEGO® Botanicals Field Flowers

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Today, Branko take a look at the final, and smallest, Botanicals set due for January 2025 release. While this set was provided by the LEGO Group:

LEGO has provided us with 30701 Field Flowers polybag… no, not polybag, a baggy of sorts. All opinions are our own. When I heard this set was coming I was ready for a rant about polybags being plastic and LEGO was supposed to phase out plastic packaging etc etc etc, and then this bag arrived: a paper bag. Rant over.

For years, polybag has been the popular name for small LEGO sets packaged in these little plastic bags made from PolyPropylene (PP) plastic (category 5), hence the name ‘Poly-bag’.

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