For 80’s kids (and their kids, we have another appealing Cinematic Character from the studio of Steven Spielberg: Not Jaws, Not Indiana Jones but ET, the Extra Terrestrial.
Based on the LEGO Ideas Submission by French designer Lafabrick, LEGO Ideas Set 21370 E.T the Extra Terrestrial will be released on August 1 2026. The set has 1226 pieces and will be priced at $AUD229.99/ $USD139.99 / 129.99€ / £119.99.
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I mentioned in the post announcing the upcoming release of LEGO IDEAS set 21367 Tintin Moon Rocket that this set represents a key factor in one of the earliest fandoms I was part of: I first read Destination Moon in January 1977, during the summer holidays. As the new school year began, I hunted the books down, eventually hunting most of them down through various school libraries over the following years. As I put the rocket together, I was excited by a sense of nostalgia as a childhood memory, now pop-culture icon, came into being on my desk.
I am grateful that the LEGO Group sent this copy of the set over in advance of the release on April 1. This set is based on the moon rocket from TKel86’s LEGO Ideas submission, which also included a gantry. In the design process, the team decided to focus on the rocket, which ties into the two books telling the story of Tintin’s journey to the Moon: Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon. The rocket’s gantry is only a feature in the first of these. However, I might have some parts lying around the house, which I picked up for another project a couple of years ago.
During properation for this review, I had the chance to take part in a round table discussion with designers Jordan Scott and Ellen Bowley – I’ll add their insights as we go along…
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It’s January 1977 and 8 year old me is on holiday in New Zealand with my family and I am needing something to read. One day we are looking around in some local specialty stores (I seem to remember beeswax candles being bought at the time), and we take a detour to a book shop. I have never seen a tintin book before: More substantial than a 22 page comic – and with far more words than you might ever expect to see in tone too. I look over the shelves and one in particular catches my eye. Destination Moon. I am sure I was drawn to it by the large red and white rocket on the cover. I was a little disappointed when I discovered that the story continued in a second book, Explorers on the Moon. Not one to be deterred, I devoured every Tintin book that I could find in my primary school library.
The appeal of this rocket is undeniable: for me, I first saw it in the years between the end of the Apollo program, and the arrival of the Space Shuttle. And it was not until a couple of years later that I realised that this book predated the original Sputnik launch in 1957 by several years.
Fast forward some 29 years to 2006 and I am sitting down in front of the TV with my kids, while we watch the 1990s Adventures of Tintin animated series on DVD. At some point in the next year, my son is given a copy of Explorers on the Moon: at last we have the complete story.
Fast forward another twenty years to 2026 and the LEGO Group are proud to announce that LEGO IDEAS set 21367 Tintin Moon Rocket. With 1283 pieces, and including five minifigures (and one dog), the set presents the Rocket from Destination moon and Explorers on the Moon in LEGO Form. Based on the submission by Tkel86, the final model has done away with the gantry from the original submission, choosing to focus on the iconic rocket.
Read on for more pictures and the official Press Release…
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It was the mid-1980s, and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment seemed to do no wrong. On the tail of E.T. the Extra terrestrial (1982)and Gremlins (1984), in 1985 Steven Spielberg’s production company went on to present Back to the Future and The Goonies. While these are not the only films released by Amblin in that period, these four were all represented in LEGO Dimensions (released in 2015) – with various packs released over the years that the theme ran.
A couple of these films have also had sets released under the LEGO Ideas label – Last month’s LEGO Ideas Gizmo, from Gremlins, along with 2014’s Delorean Time Machine.
Today, we see the formal reveal of 21363 The Goonies. Like Gizmo, this submission was part of the ‘If we could turn back time – 1980’s’ challenge that ran on the Ideas platform in March 1984.
Based on the design by Delusionbrick, this set has 2912 pieces, and will be priced at $AUD499.99 /$USD329.99 / 299.99€ /£269.99. It includes 12 minifigures, and will be released on November 1 2025.
Plants are blooming for LEGO® Enthusiasts: since the introduction of the Botanical Range back in 2020, we have seen the arrival of 14 ICONs botanicals sets, 6 creator sets and two gifts with purchase. We have seen the 1000 piece LEGO Friends Botanical Garden, a set that was for many adults, their first Friends set.
Today, the LEGO Group unveiled 21353 – The LEGO Ideas Botanical Gardens. With 3792 pieces, this set has 12 unique minifigures. It has four birds, a dog, a frog, a bunny and a squirrel. It is two baseplates wide, 64 bricks wide, and it contains over 35 brick built species of plants. It will go on sale on November 4th (November 1 for LEGO Insiders), at LEGO Branded retail outlets, priced at $AUD499.99/ €329.99 / £289.99 / $USD329.99 / 429.99 CAD
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A new episode of the Extra Pieces Podcast, our ongoing collaboration with JaysBrickBlog, is now live. In this post, you will find the links to the sets we mention.
You can find the episode here or on your favourite Podcast Player. Please leave a 5 star review if you enjoy the episode, and let your friends know about it too, so you have something to talk about with them 🙂
In this episode, we look at Awesome August, and some of the recent releases, including the LEGO® Technic range and the LEGO Ideas Jaws Set. Jay presents his review of the Dungeons and Dragons Minifigfures due for release in September or October (depending on your location). We also look at the latest LEGO Ideas Announcement and speculate on just what might be going on with the ongoing review of the Pixar Lamp submission.
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The northern summer of 1975 was unlike any that had come before. There was a terrifying phenomenon never before seen: the cinema release that was so popular that people would queue up around the block to see it—the literal Block Buster. Forty-nine years ago last month, Jaws was released upon a population of unsuspecting holiday beachgoers!
The 1497-piece LEGO® set based on the 1975 summer blockbuster JAWS was designed by LEGO fan Johnny Campbell, and features characters Martin Brody, Matt Hooper and Sam Quint as minifigures, aboard the Orca boat – plus the shark, which can be displayed in its entirety OR with just the front half of the body, preparing to make a tasty snack of the fishing boat, ORCA.
The LEGO® Idea JAWS set will be available for LEGO Insiders from 3rd August 2024 and for all from 6th August 2024. It will be priced at €149.99 / 129.99 GBP/ $149.99/249.99 AUD/1399 CNY/199.99 CAD/3999 MXN.
Continue readingIn which I build the Saturn V Ideas set, almost lose it in a wind gust, consider the legality of the American flag on the moon and Jamie Berard helps us to establish that plates and tiles are more different than we may have previously considered…
I have just been fortunate to complete one of the most satisfying builds I have attempted in recent years. The LEGO® Ideas Saturn V Rocket 21309 was released on June 1st, to wide accalaim. The Rambling Brick was fortunate to secure a copy on release day, courtesy of of the LEGO® Community Engagement Team. Any opinions expressed here are, however, my own. The set has been subject to backorder on shop.lego.com for some time, and production continues to catch up with demand. This may take some time.
Since completing the model, I have been confronted by a severe weather warning, with the possibility of destructive winds – up to 120 km/h (roughly 70MPH). This is a shame, as the winter sun has been shining brightly today: just what you need to take stirring, outdoor shots of an amazing model. On setting the model up outside, it became apparant that there are reasons for spaceflights being delayed due to bad weather. I managed one or two shots before catching the falling bohemoth, as it attempted to attain equilibrium in its ongoing battle with the forces of nature. That is to say, i caught it before it hit the ground.
Perhaps I’ll try again on a less windy day.
