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Nightmare Scorpion Digger 71513, an issue with construction [review]

BrankotheFather DREAMZZz, Lego, Review , , , , , , , , , , ,
LEGO set featuring the Nightmare Scorpion Digger 71513 with mini-figures, a crystal, and spiders, highlighted with colorful pieces.

Branko woke up from a dream wondering if Construction Equipment was on the way out. He couldn’t get back to sleep until he came up with the answer…

In January 2026 LEGO will release another wave of Dreamzzz sets and the balance between ‘dream’ and ‘nightmare’ seems solidly to have swung towards ‘Dream’. There is only 1 set out of 5 in the wave that is considered a nightmare, and it is the smallest of the lot at that. Cue “Nightmare Scorpion Digger 71513”, coming in at 505 pieces for AU$79.99/£44.99/US$49.99/€49.99. This is not a small set, it’s just the smallest of the lot (read more on that here).

The sets in this series are all associated with animals, and some machinery, but it struck me that this particular one is very strongly related to construction equipment. In recent years fans of Technic have been complaining a bit about a reduction of the number of construction equipment sets, so this left me wondering. Has construction gotten into bad books? Is digging holes no longer considered cool?

Join me as we have a quick look to see if Technic fans are objectively correct in their gripe, and then we will cheerfully ignore that and have a look at how construction equipment is used to create this particular nightmare creature.

This set was generously gifted by LEGO, but the expressed opinions are my own.

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Are Our Dreamzzz Getting Bigger?

BrankotheFather Deep Dive, DREAMZZz, Lego, Review , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Graph showing part counts of LEGO Dreamzzz story-based play theme sets from 2010 to 2025 with an upward trend.

I was quite excited when I saw the announcement of season 4 of LEGO Dreamzzz (as in: the 5 sets that are to be released in January 2026); they are all animals, reminding me much of Legends of Chima! And then it struck me; these are all LARGE sets!

When I was fortunate enough to visit LEGO during the LEGO inside tour in 2016, I distinctly remember LEGO designers explaining to me that in these ‘story’ themes they aim to have a set for every budget, from something tiny, to pocket-money sized all the way to saving-for-quite-some-time-and-hoping-santa-thinks-I-was-nice large. But this batch felt different, the smallest one, 71513 Nightmare Scorpion Digger comes in at a respectable 505 pieces, followed by 71508 Fox Guardian Mech with 883 pieces and the rest all over 1000 pieces! These all represent quite a significant investment.

A collection of colorful LEGO model sets, featuring various animal-themed characters and vehicles, showcasing the large and detailed designs characteristic of the upcoming LEGO Dreamzzz series.

I think these sets are all really great in different ways, read the reviews coming soon. But in today we are not discussing the quality of the sets, just the size.

Follow me as I investigate if this is a fluke, or a significant trend; have the sets for these story-based themes gotten larger over time? Do sets in story themes always get larger towards the end of their shelf life? Can we expect to see more from Dreamzzz?

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