Real World Object

Feeling old in a good way with 31174 Retro Telephone

BrankotheFather Creator, Lego, Review , , , , , , , ,
LEGO Creator 3in1 Retro Telephone set features a blue rotary phone design, complete with a handset, flexible cable, and a yellow notepad with a pencil.

It has been a little while since calling someone by phone actually involved ‘dialling’ their number. This term is still sometimes used, although I suspect the majority of humans in Australia have not had the experience of turning a rotary dial on a phone to make a call since the late 1980’s

Image of the LEGO Creator 3in1 Retro Telephone set packaging featuring a light blue rotary dial phone along with a pencil and yellow notepad, showcasing alternative builds on the side.
Box packaging of LEGO set 31174 featuring a retro rotary dial phone design along with two alternative builds, a modern mobile phone and a flip phone.
A LEGO Creator 3-in-1 Retro Telephone set box, featuring a colorful design with illustrations of the rotary phone and alternative builds on its sides.
LEGO Creator 3in1 Retro Telephone set 31174 box showcasing the rotary dial phone, handset, notepad, and other alternative builds.

The LEGO Group provides us with a neat reminder of what phone calls used to look like with the new Creator 3in1 set 31174 Retro Telephone retailing for AU$39.99/£24.99/$29.99/€29.99 containing 383 parts, so you can have a bit of an idea of how it felt. Or flash back to years gone past…

Although this is a 3-in-1 set, the rotary dial phone is the clear hero of this set. Look no further for improvement in the alternative builds; the other designs feel like an afterthought in comparison. The rotary phone has a nifty design for the dial, and the cable between the handset and the base is worth the price of admission alone! Check out the video to see how the cable seems to defy the rules of the LEGO® system and appear fully flexible.

Read on to see what other phones are on offer and why explore the delight that the rotary phone has to offer.

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31147 Creator 3in1 Retro Camera: Pretty as a Picture?

ramblingbrick Creator, Lego, Review , , , , , , ,

Here at the Rambling Brick, photography has given us a lot of joy over the years – from travel, our earliest dabblings in Toy Photography, work with other organisations, and even with the family around the home. My father was definately an influence with regards to this: He has been giving thought to how he takes photographs for a while. I remember him getting a new Pentax SLR prior to a trip to New Zealand back in the 70’s, following on to a chain of EOS… both analog and digital, before settling in recent years on a mirrorless Fuji device. How things have changed over the last 24 years!

And so it was with some seriously nostalgic vibes that I approached this build.

31147 Retro Camera is part of the January 1 2024 Creator 3in1 range, which (for creator 3in1) is unique, as it is the first time in some years that no sets in the wave have been designed at minifigure scale (with the possible exception of 31152 Space Astronaut, which has room for a minifigure to sit down inside its head.) No houses. No Vans. No Shopping Strips or Amusement Ground Rides. Just real world objects (along with a 35th anniversary helicopter carrying truck), all competing for display space on your shelves.

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