Branko is back with another review. This time its the Technic 42167 MACK LR ELECTRIC GARBAGE TRUCK, part of the January 2024 Technic range. Interestingly, the scale appears just about right for some other play themes…
LEGO communities have been committed to cleanliness, garbage disposal and emission reduction, expressed historically with cleaning and garbage vehicles and, in recent times, with electric vehicles and even electric recycling trucks! Until now, most of these vehicles seem a bit undersized for serious garbage management until now; introducing 42167 Mack LR Electric Garbage Truck available for AUD 59.99/£29.99/US$32.99/€34.99 containing 503 pieces*. The arrival of this truck certainly caught the attention of Friends Emma and River, who felt that their own (albeit colourful) truck looked a bit underwhelming in comparison.
*Technic sets typically contain a lot of pins and connectors that I would not equate to a full ‘piece’. More on this below.
Today, lets take a look at the 70431 Space Explorer Rover and Alien Life – the 6 wheel rover of this year’s City Space Redux. This set draws on the long pedigree of Exploratory rovers, and brings some alien life to the story. It has 311 pieces and is priced at $AUD49.99/$USD34.99/€29.99/£24.99
I’ve been a bit distracted, by other things in life, over the last week or two, but I’m starting to get back on track.
If you are the parent of small children, there is a better than even money chance that you have been exposed to one of the Disney adaptations of a Classic Fairy story at some point or another – either animated, or reimagined in real life. Or even, considering the recent Lion King CGI release, Real Life™
Sets related to the Disney Princess branding have been a staple of licensed minidoll sets for several years now, but I have not spent much time with them. Today I have taken a look at one of this year’s sets based on Aladdin: 41161 Aladdin and Jasmine’s Palace Adventures. Is it based on the 1992 Disney Animated film, or the 2019 Live Action remake? This year, we see two of the three sets ever related to this story (ever) released, so I think it is safe to think that perhaps more than a little inspiration was taken from arrival of the new film. Join me as we explore the set, and take a couple of liberties along the way…
The callout on the Friends Set packaging has had an update in 2018… a sign of things to come.
Recently, we have seen images of the new LEGO Friends Sets for 2018, and there have been a few interesting surprises. Not only the presence of teal, but our protagonists have had a bit of a makeover. In fact, this is possibly the most obvious aspect.
Andrea, Emma, Mia, Olivia and Stephanie. Changing eye colour, fading freckles, altered skin tones, bigger smiles and new (or no) lipstick! Just part of the shakeup in 2018
All sorts of theories have been bandied around: colored contact lenses, eye damage due too much time in the tanning salon, extreme perms, but perhaps the most simple answer is that after five years, the line is getting a bit of a refresh…
Here is the official word from the Friends Design Team about the new looks that we are seeing in 2018:
Every year we strive to innovate and make our products even better for children all over the world. A lot of effort has gone into the development of the LEGO characters and universes across our entire product range, so it makes us very happy when changes are noticed.
LEGO Friends in 2018 looks a bit different than what it has in the past. To be specific, the 5 main characters have a slightly different look but also the city and the citizens of Heartlake City have changed.
But what are the reasons for the change?
Firstly, we want to assure you that all 5 friends are still there in 2018.
Andrea, Mia, Emma, Stephanie and Olivia – they all still exist! Also the character’s main interests and personalities remain mainly unchanged.
What you will see in 2018 is an evolution of LEGO Friends, a progression of the story and characters to make sure children get an even greater play experience. Every year more than a million children and parents reach out to us and share what they love and what they would like to change. In the LEGO Friends range children told us that they would like even more differentiated characters and also suggested improvements to Heartlake City.
We always take great care to listen to input from children, and the LEGO Friends team has worked hard to make even more engaging and relevant experiences for children – and also make the LEGO Friends universe more true to the actual world children live in.
Taking a starting point in reality, we’ve made the characters more diverse in their appearance and have added more depth to their personality. And of course, they still live in Heartlake City. But just as the characters have changed, Heartlake City has become more differentiated and rich. There are different districts and there are other citizens that play a more active role in the story.
The changes we have made does not change the fact that previous and new LEGO Friends sets will cater for great building and play experience in 2018 and beyond, and we hope to inspire even more stories and play opportunities for children in the future.
While we can think what we like about the changes, it will add to the ongoing diversity in our characters. For the last five years, Heartlake City has been a relatively homogeneous town- it will now go on to reflect more closely on the world that the target market wish to play in. For those of you who who have a Minidoll based city layout, you have a whole new collection of faces for the town.
Personally, I like the fact that we now have vintage Friends Minidolls to collect. What do you think about the new look? Why not add your comments below, and follow the Rambling Brick for new stories, updates and random opinion.
