New Spring Festival, Monkie Kid and Duplo sets revealed at CIEE5.

Today, at the Chinese International Import Expo, the LEGO group unveiled some of the most anticipated sets for the new year.

Announced at the expo, and streamed on WeChat, we saw new sets in Duplo, Monkie Kid, and also commemorating the Year of the Rabbit. I apologize for the quality of images, caputered from the live stream of the press conference.

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Counting Down to 100 years of Play : Rampant Speculation 2022-2031

This last week or so, we have been counting down to the LEGO Group’s 90th anniversary. Today, we have reached the 10th of August 2022, and the LEGO Group are celebrating! After looking over the last 90 years, I thought we might take a moment to speculate about the directions that the company might take in the future.

It is speculation

Some will be exciting

Some will be mundane

Some will, quite possibly, be terrifying to us.

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Counting Down to 90 Years of Play, Part 7: 1992-2001

Welcome back to our continuing journey through the decades of the history of the LEGO Group, as we approach the 90th anniversary of the company on August 10, 2022.

Today, we enter the 1990s, the so called System Era, where we started to see playthemes diverge from the standard Town, Castle and Space. The company also starts to introduce new technologies, as well as embarking onto the World Wide Web.

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10497: Galaxy Explorer – Redefining an Icon. Rambling Review

When I first saw images of the new 10497: Galaxy Explorer, while preparing for LEGO Con, I found myself both a little excited and apprehensive. Excited because, like many LEGO Space Fans of a certain age, this set told us that the LEGO Group recognises the importance of Classic Space to its older fans, and there had been so much clamouring for proper Space Sets: sets not tied in with different third party licences like Super Heroes or NASA, and not linked into the increasingly complicated lore behind Monkie Kid and Ninjago. We have seen sets buying into the idea of Classic Space – exploration, team work, free of conflict – in LEGO City over the years, BUT while there might be ‘equivalent’ sets, they strive to be too realistic- insisting on putting visors on every helmet, windows and air lock doors on the moon base and insisting on astronauts only being able to drink a cup of coffee when in their standard overalls. So, to see the look of Classic Space preserved and revisited is more than welcome.

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Introducing Minifigures On Parade: a modular minifigure diorama format

It’s the LEGO Group’s 90th anniversary, and I think it is time we hold a parade. Get our minifigures out onto the streets, or the paths and roadways, and bring them together. But how?

In the past, I have based building challenges on an 8x8x8 Minifigure Habitat standard. This format has taken on a life of its own, with regular challenges run on instagram by @brickfambuilds, while others such as @cazmockett and @troublesbricking have worked on series of habitats using monochromatic minifigures.

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Life, The Universe and Everything by Toubles Bricking/Dana Knudsen
Monofigure Habitats: The Whole Stack
Monofigure habitats by Caz Mockett

While the habitat format is great for creating a space for a single mini figure, it is less easy to fit 2 or more minifigures into the format.

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