Creator 3in1

31150 Wild Safari Animals? yes, Yes and YES

BrankotheFather Creator, Lego, Review , , , , , , , , ,

Today, I’d like to welcome Branko as a contributor to the Rambling Brick Team. He’s been providing some editorial assistance for a little while, and today we publish the first of his reviews. 

When LEGO recovered from their near bankruptcy, they re-focused on what LEGO does well; building different things with the same bricks. For me that was highlighted best with the animal sets, and this Wild Safari Animals box reminds me a lot of one of my old-time favourites: 4884 Wild hunters. That is a very good start.

31150 Wild Safari Animals is the largest of LEGO’s creator 3-in-1 set launched in January 2024 and will set you back AU$99.99/£59.99/$64.99/€64.99 for 780 pieces (pretty similar across currencies at time of writing). The tent-pole of this set is the tall giraffe with flamingo and tree, both of which are already great, but in addition alternate instructions are included for a lion with butterfly or a pair of gazelle. With this set you should not be wondering if you should buy it, but rather, should you buy one, two or more!

This box is filled with pieces in soft colours that are usually quite rare (Medium Orange, Nougat, Medium Nougat, Magenta, Dark Pink, Bright Pink), a nice build experience without repetition, and five models that each deserve to be seen

Isn’t there anything disappointing about this set? Surely LEGO cannot release a perfect set right at the start of the year? Read on to find out; there will be animals, there will be LEGO pieces, there will be Pilates with impressive core control and there may be a crocodile and perhaps even a tiger (in Africa?)!

I’ll look at three mains aspects of this set to determine its worth; the finished sets, the pieces provided in this set, and the experience of building these models. For a set to be considered perfect it will need to score well in all these categories, as well as a final value-for-money adjustment.

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31147 Creator 3in1 Retro Camera: Pretty as a Picture?

ramblingbrick Creator, Lego, Review , , , , , , ,

Here at the Rambling Brick, photography has given us a lot of joy over the years – from travel, our earliest dabblings in Toy Photography, work with other organisations, and even with the family around the home. My father was definately an influence with regards to this: He has been giving thought to how he takes photographs for a while. I remember him getting a new Pentax SLR prior to a trip to New Zealand back in the 70’s, following on to a chain of EOS… both analog and digital, before settling in recent years on a mirrorless Fuji device. How things have changed over the last 24 years!

And so it was with some seriously nostalgic vibes that I approached this build.

31147 Retro Camera is part of the January 1 2024 Creator 3in1 range, which (for creator 3in1) is unique, as it is the first time in some years that no sets in the wave have been designed at minifigure scale (with the possible exception of 31152 Space Astronaut, which has room for a minifigure to sit down inside its head.) No houses. No Vans. No Shopping Strips or Amusement Ground Rides. Just real world objects (along with a 35th anniversary helicopter carrying truck), all competing for display space on your shelves.

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40562 Creator 3 in 1: Mystic Witch: Gift With Purchase 14-31st October

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It’s a funny time of the year: the Christmas/Holiday season sets have been announced, but the Gifts with Purchase are a bit unpredictable until we enter November: We went with early October purchases to secure the Gift with Purchase Ideas Set ‘Ray the Castaway’ and then out of nowhere… This Happens.

The 40562 Mystic Witch set is a Creator 3-in-1 set that will be available as a gift with purchase in the second half of October 2022 (there might even be a day or two of overlap with double GWP Points if you are really clever). In Australia, the purchase threshold is $165 AUD (or $USD100/€100/£100 ROTW): Perfect if you are looking at 10308 – The Holiday Main Street in time for the holidays- or another copy of 10497 Galaxy Explorer because it is an awesome set!

I was fortunate to be sent a copy to look at: will it be enough to trigger purchases during the latter half of October, before the Christmas GWPs start to appear, and indeed before Black Friday in November? Let’s take a look!

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Add Life to LEGO City with Creator 3in1: 31131 Downtown Noodle Shop [Rambling Review]

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Earlier in the year, I spent some time looking at LEGO City, and how things were different to the LEGO Town of old. In part, that is because there are fewer buildings that are not garages, police stations, fire stations, or crime scenes, compared to the olden days. Houses, cafes and other businesses: LEGO Friends has had them for years, and we have started to see a shift in the nature of LEGO City in 2022: a new school and a green grocers are amongst this year’s new additions. But, of course, for the better part of a decade or more, additional houses and businesses have been appearing in the Creator 3in1 range, giving us lots of additional buildings to flesh out our town. I was therefore excited when the possibility to review some of this year’s creator 3in1 sets came my way. Recently, we looked at the Viking Ship and Midgard Serpent. Today, I would like to present 31131 Noodle Shop. This set was provided for review by the LEGO Group, but all opinions are my own. These sets will be release in Australia and Europe on June 1st, and August 1st in North America. The set has 569 pieces and will retail for 69.99AUD/44.99 USD/44.99€/£39.99

The noodle shop draws in a number of colours that have been in short supply, except in expensive sets – light nougat and olive green, and demonstrates a variety of building techniques and ornamentation – perfect for developing your MOC skills, while adding any nature of businesses to your town. As well as a noodle shop and apartment, there is a games arcade and also a cafe/apartment/bicycle repair workshop.

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The Vikings Are Back: 31132 Viking Ship and Midgard Serpent [Rambling Review]

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In recent years, Creator 3in1 seems to be used to revive a classic theme where there are no current plans to revive it: We can look to the 31109 Pirate Ship from 2020, or last year’s 31120 Medieval Castle as examples of this. In 2022, we can look forward to 31132 Viking Ship and the Midgard Serpent. I have been fortunate to have received a copy of this set from the LEGO Group to present to you today.

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It’s Out of This World: Creator 3 in 1 31115 Space Mining Mech [Review]

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I recently reviewed the upcoming LEGO® Creator 3in1 set 31116: Safari Wildlife Tree House, due for release on March 1 2021. Another Creator 3in1 set due for for release on that date is the 31115: Space Mining Mech.

The set has three alternate builds, all based around space exploration, and particularly mineral surveying/collection.

This Creator 3in1 set has 321 parts, and will retail for $AUD32.99/ £24.99 /USD24.99 and €24.99. As such, it looks like particularly reasonable value for Australians, where, after currency conversion, we seem to have the best value compared to these major currencies. So should we exploit this relative bargain and buy many? Read on for my thoughts.

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