Slushy Van 60384 Hands-On Review/ Febrovery Creative Prompt

It’s been a couple of years since we have seen a food van in LEGO city: we had -Pizza in 2017; Ice cream in 2020 and now, in 2023 we are getting a Slushy Van. (There was also the highly disguised ice-cream van in 2022, but it was really a criminal front)

The set is aimed at builders aged 5 and up, has 193 and is priced at 32.99AUD/19.99USD/£17.99 and 24.99CAD. How does it shape up? (Special thanks to the LEGO Group for sending this set over for review. All opinions are my own.)

Continue reading

80109 Lunar New Year Ice Festival: Hands-On Review

The Harbin Snow and Ice Festival is one of the more unique events associated with the period from late December to early February. Located in Heilongjiang, the northernmost province in China, the annual festival sees a large number of magnificent Ice and Snow sculptures on display.

This festival, and other like it are the subject of 80109 Lunar New Year Ice Festival. With 1519 pieces, it is one of two minifigure scale sets released this year celebrating the Chinese Spring Fesitvals.

Like the Temple Fair and Lantern Festivals, this set is rich in minifigures, and scope for story telling. Being set in a snow clad winter setting, it brings us a very different environment to these other sets. I was fortunate to receive a pre-release copy of the set for review, thanks to the LEGO Group. Let’s take a look at the build experience.

Continue reading

An Ice Place To Be: Revisiting Ice Planet 2002

The recent Fan Vote for a 90th Anniversary set that has taken place on LEGO Ideas has reminded many of us of many of the great themes that LEGO sets have explored over the years. While Classic Space, Castle, Bionicle and Pirates were the themes that the public were most fond of, there were a number of other themes that we were reminded of. One of these was Ice Planet 2002: released in 1993-94. My friend Jay, over at Jay’s Brick Blog made an impassioned call for voting for this theme, but alas, it was unsuccessful. But there is no doubt that it is a theme that has its stalwart fans: certainly it has a striking aesthetic,so I thought I would take a closer look, to see what the theme brought to the Space sets at the time, as well as why it might be deserving of some greater love going forward.

Continue reading