Sculpture

71426 Piranha Plant: Hands-On Review

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The Piranha Plant first appeared in Super Mario Brothers, back in 1985 and has been a stalwart enemy of the franchise since that time. We have seen several of these gigantic carnivorous plants crop up in the LEGO Super Mario sets, but they have been a relatively small scale models, designed to be used in the Gamer Mode for LEGO Super Mario. This 540piece sculpture looks like it might promise to bring a little more joy to a bookshelf than previously encountered Piranha Plants. I was delighted when the LEGO Group sent a copy of this set over: it feels that while we have had an onslaught of LEGO sets aimed at adults in recent years, there has been a relative paucity of sets that might come at less than $100 AUD, not releated to flowers, Star Wars or Super Heroes while still leaving enough room on your shelves for other things. This set does both with a RRP of AUD94.99 (59.99USD). This is just shy of the $99.99AUD shelf price of your standard botanical Collection set

So, is this set worthy of your time, real estate and hard earned funds? Lets take a closer look…

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71411: The Mighty Bowser [Rambling Review]

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Almost as consistent as the appearance of a certain Italian Plumber across a series of Nintendo Video Games over the past 30 years has been that of Bowser: ruler of the Koopalings, a fierce, fire breathing, Princess stealing warrior tortoise. We have seen him appear in 2 previous forms over the years: One in several of the LEGO Super Mario Expansion packs (Bowsers Castle, and Princess Peach’s Castle), and a microscale version in last year’s ‘?’ Block.

This is the Super Mario tie-in set to be specifically aimed at adult builders, and it promises an intriguing large scale build, imposing to display, but also incorporating some play features, posability as well as some impressive puppet like movements.

As I write this review, I am almost as far from the model as I can possibly be, on a little holiday before attending the Skaerbaek Fan Weekend. Fortunately, I got the model built and photographed before I left.

So, how does the model stack up with the stated aims? We shall start off with a general look at the finished model, before diving into an in-depth, spoiler-filled look at the build. I’d love to know if you appreciate this style of review, so drop me a line in the comments below, or reach out on social media. I still have some more Mario sets to review, and these will be coming up after we return from holiday.

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75308 R2-D2: Hands On Review

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The astromech droid R2-D2 was one of the first characters that we met at the beginning of Star Wars (Episode IV a New Hope to the Younglings). Along with C-3PO, he (why is it virtually always he?) is one of the few characters to be involved in each of the films of the Skywalker Saga. As such, he was felt to be a suitable subject for the set celebrating 50 years of Lucasfilm, as well as appearing in time for May the 4th celebrations this year.

The set will go on sale May 1, exclusively at LEGO Branded Stores, including the online store, priced at 199 EUR/USD – 179,99 GBP – 329.99 AUD – 269.99 CAD.

The AFOL Engagement Team of the LEGO Group sent me a pre-release copy of the new 75308. Join me as we wander through the build, and see if this set has sufficient material to justify an outlay of your money.

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This is the Way: 75318 The Child [Review]

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The Mandalorian, season 2 premieres this week on Disney +. In preperation, we were rewatching season 1. Towards the end of the first episode, but before the big reveal, Miss 18 speaks up: “It’s Alright, I guess, but I don’t get the hype about Baby…” and the hood pops up on the ‘pram’, revealing the child within ,”Oh my goodness, it’s so freaking gorgeous, I get it now.”

It was a masterstroke of Disney Merchandising, last year: there was no merchandise featuring The Child, who appears to be, more or less, a baby of the same species as Jedi Master Yoda. We never saw it coming, there were no spoilers on the toy shelves, and before we know it, we were going weak at the knees with adoration.

The Minifigure was introduced with the Spaceship ‘Razor Crest’ set earlier this year, based on the torso for the LEGO baby.

The set is due for release through LEGO any day now, but one of my local retailers had some stock on the shelves a day or two ahead of time. I picked up a set, handed made a contactfree credit card purchase, brought it home, and started bingewatching the rest of season one. Costing $AUD119.99, with 1073 pieces, the set is designed for builders of 10 and older.

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How Did The Dinosaur Get Its Roar?: Iconic sculptures for an Iconic Space

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On the top level of the LEGO House, when it opens in September, you will find the  Masterpiece Gallery: a space filled with models contributed by AFOLs from around the world. This space has eight skylights, arranged as the studs of a 2×4 brick.  In the space between the studs, there will be three round podiums representing the tubes in a 2×4 brick: each with a very special model in position.

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Stuart Harris,Senior Designer for the LEGO House announces the iconic models to go into the Master Piece Gallery in the LEGO House at the recent Fan Media Days.

At the recent Fan Media Days, Senior Designer in LEGO House, Stuart Harris, was able to reveal that the three giant models on the three podiums in the gallery will be a LEGO®DUPLO® dinosaur, a LEGO®TECHNIC® dinosaur and a LEGO® SYSTEM® dinosaur. Building the same dinosaur in these three systems will result in a very different result reinforcing the message about the endless possibilities of the LEGO brick.
Input for these models was received from a group of 26 AFOLs from around the world, and specific aspects of interest to their design was taken to the model design team.  Look out for the Neat Parts Usage in some of the photos below.

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