Wondering what’s coming your way for the Winter Holiday Village this year? Wait no more. Today the LEGO Group have revealed the upcoming release of two major holiday themed sets, coming in October 2025. the first is 10361 LEGO® Icons Holiday Express Train – the third winter holiday train and the first since the LEGO Group adopted the ICONs branding (and started to use a lot of pale blue in their winter holiday sets.)
There is also the massive 41843 LEGO Family Christmas Tree Decoration, with 3171 pieces. This Christmas Tree opens up to reveal a diorama stacked with minifigures.
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.
In the run-up to the latest installment of the LEGO DREAMZZz animated series dropping on September 6 2024, I thought we might start a small survey of other ways that books, comics and other media have been used to encourage builders to ‘Cross the Themes’
The Storytelling behind LEGO DREAMZZz provides an interesting mechanic that allows fantasy creations to exist in the otherwise mundane world of LEGO City. Many of the sets in the theme exploit this excuse to mash up fantastical ideas with the mundane. The choices provided for each model also make it a little easier for kids to come up with a different final toy in the set.
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.
As we have previously discussed, 2023 has been the most wonderful year for LEGO® Space fans – from City and Friends sets that are out of this world, Technic sets adding a bit of realism and a set of Collectable Minifigures just around the corner (if you are in the rest of the world – May 1) or a little further away if you are in Australia (1 June). While some might be anxiously awaiting some classic spaceships reimagined with parts and techniques of the 2020s (at this point, I only have hopes and dreams and not even a reliable rumour to hang my hat on). But, once the dust settles on Star Wars, we will be seeing two new sets with an adult focus launch on the scene: one for fans of Space Travel and one for fans of art and astronomy: 10341 LEGO ICONS NASA Artemis Launch System [3601 Pieces; AUD449.9/ €259.99 / £219.99/USD259.99] and 31212 LEGO® Art The Milky Way Galaxy [3091 Pieces; AUD299.99/ €199.99/ £169.99/ USD199.99]
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.
Today, Branko returns to look at the largest of the LEGO Technic 2024 Space sets. It keeps the white, light grey and reddish orange of City Space sets, but does it fit in? Read on to find out!
This year LEGO is really pushing the space concept across a lot of different themes which reminds us that LEGO plays across borders and you can mix an match to your heart’s content. For Technic it is quite new to offer such a clear connection for play to the minifig scaled worlds of LEGO City and Heartlake City. As we explored recently with 42178 Surface Space Loader, the space themed Technic sets promise to provide a playing platform for minifigs, although no minifigs are included in the sets.
How does this behemoth fit in this idea? Does it integrate nicely with other themes or is the scale not right? Join us on a journey to explore how minifigures and minidolls experience the largest of the Space Technic play-sets released so far, and how this set fares by itself, without minifigs.
The 42180 Mars Crew Exploration Rover contains 1599 pieces (a lot of pins) and retails for AU$ 199.99/£129.99/US$149.99/€149.99, which puts it among the range of largest Technic sets. It is not exactly cheap, even by Technic standards, but there is a lot happening in this set which we will explore further below.
Branko is back to check out another Technic Set: this time its an Orrery – 42179 Planet Earth and Moon in Orbit
My expectations for this set were very high; I have a fascination with space and I love an orrery (that is essentially what this set is) as a way of illustrating movements of our planet. This set allows you to explain several of the main impacts of the solar system on life on our planet, but it falls flat on one important point.
This 526 piece solar system containing a sun a moon and a the real estate of a whole planet, will set you back $AUD99.99/£69.99/$USD74.99/€79.99 which, considering current real estate prices in Australia, is not a bad deal!
Read on to find out why you should absolutely get this set to learn or teach about seasons while also having a neat display model, but also what my concern is with one aspect of the set.
