If you happened to drop by a Build a Mini station in a LEGO® Store during the run up to Christmas in 2025, you may well have found the parts for a Golden Santa Claus. If you were lucky, the staff had already assembled them for you. If you have been following some of the long-running minifigure play sets, you have probably seen the tendency of golden minifigures to turn up in commemorative sets during anniversary years, in both Ninjago (10 years, 2022) and Harry Potter sets (20 years,2021).
While golden Santa appears very similar to the current Santa minifigure, which debuted in 2024, he didn’t always look so fine. Read on to find out more.
It was 2005 and the LEGO Group was in the process of turning away from near collapse and ruin. The Evergreen Town range had been out of development for a few years while licensed themes such as Star Wars and Harry Potter occupied the company’s mind (great ini the years a film was released, less so if it wasn’t). The closest thing to a ‘Real World’ town theme was LEGO World City. There were a smattering of fire craft, a train with station and engine shed, and an airplane done out in 13 different liveries. Nothing really felt complete, except for the police with their car, helicopter, truck and station (and some villains in a hovercraft as a separate set to boot). Had World City drifted a little too far from its roots? Were kids failing to relate to it? As the company underwent a ‘back to basics’ as part of its financial recovery, so too did World city get Revamped.
The LEGO Group and Formula 1 revealed their upcoming multiyear collaboration earlier in the year. Today, as the Sun Rises on the Las Vegas Grand Prix, we see the first batch of sets to be released as part of this team up. There are sets from Duplo, LEGO City, Speed Champion and a set of collectible F1 Cars that will be just the perfect size for a pocket money set. In the mean time, there will be new ‘Build the Thrill’ activities on and off the Track. Next year, 2025, sees the 75th anniversary of Formula 1, so these sets will be released just in time for the party!
The DUPLO and City Sets are due for Release on 1st January 2025, while the Speed Champions are set to hit the streets on 1st March 2025. The collectable race cars will be released 1st May 2025.
Robot World is one of the more intriguing sets in the August (USA)/June (rest of the world) LEGO® City range. On the outside, it appears to be a rollercoaster/amusement arcade built around a Gundam-type statue. I might not have thought such a thing to be probable until I recently found a giant Gundam Statue outside a shopping mall in Tokyo. But, in reality, this set calls back to many aspects of LEGO History, hitting the nostalgic cues for people of a certain age. These people are probably younger than me!
This is essentially a review of the 2024 LEGO City Jungle Explorers subtheme. I may get distracted along the way and explore aspects of the Adventurers Theme. Readers are warned of upcoming rabbit holes and narrative cul-de-sacs. Normal service shall resume shortly
From 1998 to 2003, the LEGO® Adventurers theme represented the pinnacle of in house, story-driven themes – complete with heroes, villains, exotic locals and angry locals, the theme felt like a cross between Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park. And while both of those themes were years away from formal licensing, Johnny Thunder, Pippin Reed and Professor Articus Kilroy led the way, travelling through Egypt, the Amazon, and Asia…with a stop by Hollywood along the way.
We have seen recent remakes of Professor Kilroy and Pippin Reed in ICONS and IDEAS sets, but this year, Johnny Thunder returns at the other extreme of price points in a couple of the new LEGO City Jungle Explorers sets. Thanks to the LEGO Group for sending me sets from the LEGO City range to review. Before we dive in too quickly, lets take a look at the ways that Johnny has appeared over the years.
Part of the appeal of playing with LEGO sets is the sense of nostalgia: a longing for things gone by. Part of the appeal can be relating to a third party franchise that appealed to you as a child, such as Star Wars, Superheroes (either type), Ghostbusters, Indiana jones or even Disney. Then, there is the appeal of playing with the LEGO themes which were important in your childhood. And this year, we seem to be getting more than a casual nod and wink to some of these themes that we have in years!
This year’s City Space subtheme brings us a huge variety of sets, from the small one man flyer, to small to medium space ships, to a fully fledged base and a space station. These sets are united through a common colour scheme and the use of modules used in various sets, incorporating the docking linkage element and appear throughout the City, Friends and Technic space themed sets.
When we compare the variety of sets in the LEGO City Space (2024) range, it compares pretty favourably with Vintage space ranges as Classic Space, Ice Planet and Exploriens: We have a small flyer, space ships of various sizes, as well as both small and large rovers, and a large, planet-bound base. The Modular Space Station could be considered to be the equivalent of a base or a larger spaceship.
It is one thing, however, to have an equivalent product range, but how do they compare with sets from the olden days? Today I thought we might take a look at a couple of ‘Large Rover’ sets with a few decades between them: The City Space range is blessed with the 60432 Command Rover and Crane Loader and I thought it might be interesting to compare it with one of the largest rovers ever: 9689 M-Tron Mega Core Magnetizer. If nothing else, it gave me an excuse to unpack this 503 piece bohemoth from 1990. It was the largest set in the M-Tron range. Unlike virtually every other Space range released over the years, M-Tron lacked a fixed base. To make up for this intrinsic defect, the Mega Core Magnetizer travelled the planet’s surface, carrying cargo, dispatching buggies and flyers, and embarking on a world of exploration and logistical management.
New space-themed Minifigures in the BUILD A MINIFIGURE Station were revealed at an AFOL event put on by Australian LEGO Certified Stores tonight. The three figures are part of a wider assortment, but I was possibly a bit distracted to notice what else was becoming available…(skip to the end to see that pack)
These figures draw heavily on this year’s LEGO City space sets for inspiration. Read on to see them in greater detail.
When I looked at 60343 Space Base and rocket Launchpad last week, I felt it was a fantastic set, with a lot to offer: A base, crane, rover and space craft, all in the one box. Just what you need to start a moon colony. But at $USD135/$AUD250, its a bit of a tall ask. Especially if you have already invested in a few of the other spacecraft this year. This set brings us a small base only for a much more palatable $USD35/$AUD70. Not only that: it can be used to extend the base in the larger set. But does it contain enough to get going with the play action? Let’s take a look
This set was provided by the LEGO Group for review purposes, all opinions are my own.
It is not uncommon that the largest set in a LEGO® CITY wave is some form of ‘omnibus set’ – containing a ‘best of ‘ of the range. The largest set in the January 2024 range of LEGO City certainly gives us this: a truck, a crane, an airplane and air traffic control tower, a laboratory and a cafeteria. Along with plenty of minifigures and pets, and a bit of scenery for good measure. Just not where you may have traditionally found them: it’s not downtown or the outer suburbs, but rather outer space.
This year’s trans-theme Space branding has generated a significant amount of interest between AFOLs of a certain age, particularly those who might have grown up with themes from the 80s or 90s. The sets appearing in LEGO City have been suitably impressive, offering some great value, not to mention play experiences at the lower end of the range. This set has lots of minifigures, a planet based rover, a building with a laboratory, as well as roof top crane, and command tower. The shuttle features a detachable module which can be used to transport scientific specimens from point A to point C. These were all integral features of Space Base sets that were available ‘back in the day’.
So, how does the largest set available at present shape up? Let’s take a look at 60434 Space Base and Rocket launchpad, the largest set in the current wave of CITY Space. At $AUD249.99/$USD134.99/£124.99/€139.99, this set has 1422 parts- close to the fantastical ideal of 10US cents/part. The set sits well and truly in the realms of the omnibus grandparent set: at the top end of the range – typically reserved for special presents from grandparents, containing multiple different play scenarios.
