42180 Mars Crew Exploration Rover:Does size matter?

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Today, Branko returns to look at the largest of the LEGO Technic 2024 Space sets. It keeps the white, light grey and reddish orange of City Space sets, but does it fit in? Read on to find out!

This year LEGO is really pushing the space concept across a lot of different themes which reminds us that LEGO plays across borders and you can mix an match to your heart’s content. For Technic it is quite new to offer such a clear connection for play to the minifig scaled worlds of LEGO City and Heartlake City. As we explored recently with 42178 Surface Space Loader, the space themed Technic sets promise to provide a playing platform for minifigs, although no minifigs are included in the sets.

How does this behemoth fit in this idea? Does it integrate nicely with other themes or is the scale not right? Join us on a journey to explore how minifigures and minidolls experience the largest of the Space Technic play-sets released so far, and how this set fares by itself, without minifigs.

The 42180 Mars Crew Exploration Rover contains 1599 pieces (a lot of pins) and retails for AU$ 199.99/£129.99/US$149.99/€149.99, which puts it among the range of largest Technic sets. It is not exactly cheap, even by Technic standards, but there is a lot happening in this set which we will explore further below.

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Batman the Animated Series (finally) comes to LEGO with a 3-D poster of over 4000parts!

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Batman- The Animated Series first aired in 1992 on Fox Kids in the US and was sent out worldwide over the next few years. After first experiencing the Comic version around that time, I was rapidly hooked on the Art Deco design, a new broody Batman, and a virtual absence of any form of wisecrack which had defined the Batman of my childhood- syndicated reruns of the 1966 Batman series. That series may have had the most iconic Batmobile at the time. Still, the city was otherwise soulless, save for the occasional guest star that Batman and Robin would encounter as they climbed walls on the BatRope.

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71815 Kai’s Source Dragon Battle: Hands On Review

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Today, we look at another smallish Ninjago set: 71815 Kai’s Source Dragon Battle.A couple of weeks ago, I took a look at Young Riyu. While a fun set, it felt like it was lacking something.
The 4+ Ninjago set Kai’s Source Dragon brings us four minifigures, a 4-winged Wyvern (technically, as there are only two legs), some entrapping vines and a cannon.
At $AUD39.99/$USD37.99/€37.99/£31.99, it is a bit more expensive than other smaller sets in the Ninjago Dragons Rising range this year. Let’s take a look and see what it has to offer:

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For Science! 42179 Planet Earth and Moon in Orbit

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Branko is back to check out another Technic Set: this time its an Orrery – 42179 Planet Earth and Moon in Orbit

My expectations for this set were very high; I have a fascination with space and I love an orrery (that is essentially what this set is) as a way of illustrating movements of our planet. This set allows you to explain several of the main impacts of the solar system on life on our planet, but it falls flat on one important point.

This 526 piece solar system containing a sun a moon and a the real estate of a whole planet, will set you back $AUD99.99/£69.99/$USD74.99/€79.99 which, considering current real estate prices in Australia, is not a bad deal!

Read on to find out why you should absolutely get this set to learn or teach about seasons while also having a neat display model, but also what my concern is with one aspect of the set.

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LEGO Technic Space: 42178 Surface Space Loader LT78

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“Two Space Rover sets available priced at AUD49.99/USD34.99” was not on my 2024 Bingo Card! Personally, I was pretty satisfied when 60431 Space Rover and Alien Life came out in January. It gave us a couple of minifigures, some aliens and a really zoomable Rover. Fast forward two months, and I seem to be looking at another Rover – This time, it’s a Technic set, with a similar (give or take connector mins) number of pieces and a similar price. How does 42178: Surface Space Loader LT78 compare with 60431? Do we have interesting mechanisms and playfeatures? Will it still seat a minidoll or minifigure? Join us while we take a look.

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LEGO Animal Crossing: 77046 Julian’s Birthday Party – Just Add Minifigures!

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It’s Julian’s birthday… or will be soon, any way. This villager comes with all you need to set up a great party for your minifigures – whether they are from the Animal Crossing universe or not.

This 150 piece set comes with one minifigure and a pile of presents and cake! It will be on sale on March 1 and will cost $AUD19.99/$USD14.99/€14.99/£12.99. Let’s take a closer look!

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Animal Crossing for the Uninitiated Part 1: 77049: Isabelle’s House Visit [Hands On Review]

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Today, I’d like to take my first look at one of the upcoming Animal Crossing sets – Due for release in March 2024, with 389 pieces, Isabelle’s House Visit is one of the larger sets in the range. It has a recommended Price of AUD69.99/USD39.99/€39.99/£34.99. The set has 2 minifigures, and an opportunity to decorate it as you wish.

It is almost inevitable that someone will compare Animal Crossing sets with Fabuland , the play theme that ran from 1979-1989 , so I shall look to compare and contrast different aspects of both of these themes, as we move through the sets. As I am a relative novice in Animal Crossing, I have asked my daughter, Tash, to provide some insight into what’s going on.

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The Longest LEGO Dragon Appears in Sydney.

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Last Weekend, our Sydney correspondent Branko took a trip to Haymarket where LEGO Australia were in the process of engaging members of the public to build the world’s longest LEGO Dragon. The head and tail were already built, but the forms of the dragon’s body needed to be covered in scales, and so visitors were offered an 8×8 plate to fill and place on the dragon.

Fencing inadequate for petting zoo in Haymarket

“Last weekend anyone could come to Haymarket to decorate the world’s longest LEGO Dragon. The dragon wound itself through the pavement like a sea serpent with two parts of its back rising out of the floor to be decorated on the sides. Anyone could drop by to decorate a 8×8 plate with Dots and place on the side of the dragon. Staff were cheerful and happy to have a chat, children and adults alike were deeply focused on building their contribution. The dragon was about 20m long (nose to tail) but the majority of the body was hidden under the pavement.”

Read more for more images…

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Baby Riyu is growing up: 71810 Young Dragon Riyu [hands on review]

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Baby Dragon Riyu was one of the cutest elements to be released with the first wave of Ninjago Dragons Rising sets. Now, as we approach the launch of the second season, he is starting to grow up. This set, due for release in March 2024, gives us our first take on a fully articulated Young Dragon Riyu. The set comes with 3 minifigures: Sora, Arin, and a wolf mask warrior, and it has 132 pieces. The set has a recommended retail price of $AUD24.99/$USD15.99 /€14.99 /£12.99.


Does this set have anything new to offer us? Or is it more of the same ‘Small Dragon’ models we have seen over the last few waves of Ninjago Core sets?

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43242 LEGO®|Disney Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Cottage Officially revealed

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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was Walt Disney’s first Animated feature, in a world where cartoons were 7 minutes long. At 93 minutes, it exceeded expectations, and remains a favourite around the world. As a kid, I found myself consistently frustrated by my ability to only remember 6 dwarfs at any one time. With the benefit of Google, I can tell you that they were Doc, Gumpy, Bashful, Happy, Sleepy ,Sneezy and Dopey. Six out of those seven dwarfs are not happy.

Today, the LEGO Group announce the upcoming release of the Dwarfs cottage from the feature film, complete with all of the dwarfs, Snow white, Prince Charming and the Evil, poisoned-apple-bearing Hag! The set has 2228 pieces and will retail for  €219.99 / £189.99 / $USD219.99/$AUD399.99/1899 CNY/89990 HUF/$CAD289.99/5399 MXN. It goes on sale to Insiders members on March 1st, and every one else on June 1…3 months later! (awaiting confirmation that I actually read this correctly!)

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