RLFM

10325 Winter Village Alpine Lodge Revealed.

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We are approaching the end of September, and around the world, people are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the annual Winter Village set. Today we can reveal that the set for 2023 is a warm and cosy alpine lodge. Over the last few years, we have gone from the fantasy of the Gingerbread house and the Elves clubhouse to the urban reality of Santa’s Visit, and the holiday main Street. This year, we are headed out of town, as we move towards the Alpine Lodge. With 1517 pieces, 5 minifigures and a brick built outhouse, the LEGO® Icons Winter Village set will be available for LEGO insiders from 1st October 2023 at www.LEGO.com/alpine-Lodge and LEGO Stores for all from 4th October 2023 priced at €99.99 / £89.99 / $99.99/ 899.0 CNY/ 169.99 AUD /129.99 CAD.

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75367 Star Wars Venator-Class Republic Attack Cruiser officially Revealed

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This year marks the the 20th anniversary of the Clone Wars – the animated series from Genndy Tartakovovsky – introducing new characters and events to the Star Wars storey, it helped to prepare viewers for the Revenge of the Sith in 2005 – introducing characters such as General Grievous, Asajj Ventress and more.

To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of delving into the mythos of the Clone Wars, the LEGO Group have today officially revealed a 5374 piece version of one of the the Republic’s Capital ships, the Venator Class Attack Cruiser. Priced at 649.99 USD/649.99 EUR /999.99 AUD/559.99 GBP /15254.9 TRY /263990.0 HUF /849.99 CAD/5499.0 CNY, the set will go on sale on 1st October for LEGO Insiders and on the 4th for everyone else.

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Halloween BAM Figures Spotted in the Wild.

ramblingbrick Lego, Minifigures, Retail , , , , , , , ,

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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LEGO® Braille Bricks Come Home

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When the LEGO Foundation’s support of Braille Bricks, as an aid to teach the Braille alphabet to blind children and their families was announced back in 2019, the acclaim was universal. When they started to roll out in 2020 to organizations involved in supporting the blind, people’s enthusiasm continued, although there was some disappointment at the fact that the bricks were not available for purchase.

Starting in September this year (pre-order available now, in some markets), the bricks will be available for purchase through LEGO.com. There will be two forms of the Bricks: an English version and French – the French version of Braille features around 14 additional characters, allowing for the different accent marks used, compared to English. German, Spanish and Italian sets will be available next year.

I’ll have my review coming soon, but you can read on for further details.

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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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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]

ramblingbrick DREAMZZz, Lego, Review , , , , , , , , ,

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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