Review

Halloween BAM Figures Spotted in the Wild.

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Here we are on the eve of the final quarter of the year and our local LEGO Certified Store has already put the new Build-a-Minifigure (BAM) elements in the station, and loaded up some new figures into easy to carry 3-packs. With closing time mere minutes away, I didn’t have the time to see if there were any other new figures to be found. You may or may not find any when you next visit your local LEGO Branded store.

There is a distinctive Halloween flavour in the air with some of these figures, even though there are still more than 2 months to that time of the year. Lets take a closer look (Special thanks to Tash for her work on this week’s cardboard cut out backdrop).

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New ways to Play with the LEGO® City 60367 Passenger Airplane

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Aircraft are vital for creating connections between cities – both in real life and LEGO® Form. The first Minifigure Scale passenger planes debuted in the mid 1980s, and were relatively similar in design until 2006, with the arrival of large scale wing elements.

The New LEGO City 60367 Passenger Aircraft builds on the revitalization of the LEGO City reboot that we have seen this year. It brings us details that we have never seen executed in any of the dozens of airplane sets over the years, be they in Town, City, Friends or DUPLO. We have new livery, vehicles, uniforms and even a couple of characters that can be found in other aspects of LEGO City.

Join me as we check out all the new features and new ways to play with a LEGO Airplane.

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Jurassic Jeeps And Other Designer Insights [Designer Q&A]

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A little earlier this year, I put the two 2023 Jurassic Park sets containing the iconic Jeep Wrangler side by side, as a comparision of building techniques. I found the jeeps to be sufficienty different in the way they were constructed that it raised a few questions for me. I had the chance to put a couple of these questions to members of the design team, thanks to the LEGO Ambassadors Network. It was initially intended to address these questions at a round table meeting, but for various reasons, we ended up getting questions answered by email. I’d like to thank the team for taking the time to answer these.

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LEGO Super Mario: 71424 Donkey Kong’s Tree House [Review and Playthough]

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We have entered the 4th year of LEGO® Super Mario releases: First we met Mario, and learned to play against the clock. In 2021, we were introduced to Marios bigger brother, Luigi, and learned to play together. Last year, we met Princess Peach, and learned to share gifts with each other with each other. With each year, we have seen new and innovative ways to play as well as a new range of buildable characters.

This year, it feels a little different: There is no new Electronic Smart Character, and no set of Collectable, Buildable Fuigures. We have two subthemes of sets: one takes us back to the earliest days of Nintendo’s electronic entertainment, with Donkey Kong, and his subsequent adventures; and another featuring more Koopalings in flying ships.

Today, we will take a hands-on look at the first of these sets: 71424 Donkey Kong’s Tree House. This is the only set to feature the buildable Donkey Kong, as well as his Grandfather – Cranky Kong. According to lore, Cranky Kong is in fact the original Donkey Kong from the Arcade Game all those years ago. After All these years, I wonder if he has any misgivings towards Mario…

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LEGO® City 60363 Ice-Cream Shop is dripping with details!

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LEGO City continues to embrace a new look and feel this year, with one of the more unique-appearing sets for the latest wave being the 60363 Ice Cream Shop. We have seen plenty of ice cream and other frozen treat vendors over the last few years, mainly in food truck or slushy van forms, along with various ice cream stands and freezers. However, this is the first time LEGO City has given us a full shop for some time. Is it worth the $AUD62.99/$USD39.99/33.99€/£29.99 being asked for it? Let’s take a look.

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3660 LEGO Fabuland Fisherman’s Wharf [Retro Review]

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If you have been following the Rambling Brick for a while, you might know I have a penchant for nostalgia. If you have seen my Instagram stories looking at market finds, perhaps it becomes more obvious that 80s and 90s LEGO fascinates me now more than it did at the time. Perhaps I am seeking something more than a nostalgia fuelled dopamine kick: also looking for a feeling of relaxed contemplation while living in an increasingly complicated world. During that period of LEGO History, the typical LEGO sets maintained a degree of simplicity while still being able to produce some substantial models with relatively few elements.

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71461 Fantastical Tree House [ Hands On Review]

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As a kid, I loved the idea of a treehouse: a place to escape and refashion the world in my image, where my dreams could come true. As my kids grew up, they would have great fun hiding out with their cousins in the Treehouse my father built for them. I suspect this love of arboreal habitation is not restricted to my family, as we have seen multiple LEGO treehouses popping up every year for the last decade. They ensure Kids have a place to call their own and think big.

The 71461 Fantastical Tree House is another of the heroes’ location sets, released as part of the first wave of LEGO DREAMZzz in August 2023. These builds are set in a dream world, where objects are shaped by the imaginations of the dream-crafting heroes of our Story, Izzie and Mateo and their friends. With 1257 pieces, this is the second-largest set in the wave. It has 4 minifigures, 3 ‘li’l guys’ and two buildable characters. With multiple rooms, personal spaces and striking blue foliage, this set has a lot to offer.

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Enter the Nightmare King: 71457 Pegasus Flying Horse [Hands On review]

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We are days away from the official release of LEGO DREAMZzz. One of the great things about the theme is the appearance of the villains. We have discussed the appearance of the Grimspawn and Night Hunter previously, but with this set, we finally meet the Big Bad of the series: The Nightmare King. This is one of my favourite minifigures of the theme. This set also brings us Zoey and Nova minifigures and the ‘advanced grimspawn’ Susan. But is this striking Black and Pink horse enticing for shoppers? Or will they overlook it in favour of the major set: Nightmare Shark Ship, which also comes with the Nightmare King, Nova and Susan? Read on to find out.

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Friends + Elves = DREAMZzz? 71459 Stable of Dream Creatures Review

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LEGO® DREAMZzz is shaping up to be one of the most colourful and eclectic themes that we have seen for some time. So far, we have looked at sets focussing on Creatures and Vehicles imagined by some of our heroes: Bunchu, Z-Blob, Space Bus and the Croc Car, to say nothing of the evil Grimkeeper. Today, we look at one of the first sets based on LOCATIONS in the LEGO DREAMZzz range: the Stable of Dream Creatures brings us a farmhouse and stables, which at first inspection feels like it might have come from LEGO Friends. On closer inspection, however, we see imaginative creatures and a colourful building with a warm palette and magical touches.

With 681 pieces, 4 minifigures and 3 of the little guys, along with some brick-built magical creatures, this set brings us a place for our heroes to chill out without any of the Nightmare King’s forces anywhere in sight.

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Monster Truck Mashup: 71458 DREAMZzz Crocodile Car

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Early in the publicity cycle for LEGO DREAMZzz, there was a Ninjago Short, in which we saw some of the imaginative vehicles that we would encounter in LEGO DREAMZzz. One was the ultimate Monster Truck: a Truck (well…car) crossed with a monster. Crocodile Car does what it says on the box. There is, of course, a Monster Truck as the secondary build, to say nothing of one of my favourite figures for the theme.

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