Tiger

Tiger! Shark! Tank! – 71515 [review]

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A colorful LEGO set featuring the Tiger Shark Tank from Dreamzzz, showcasing a large shark with various attachments and accessories, along with minifigures and crystal creatures.

Branko’s been thinking a lot about Dreamzzz lately. Here is his first formal review for the wave:

I imagine the brainstorm sessions for the latest wave of Dreamzzz sets went something like this. Get a group of children in a room as ask them what they like. They all start shouting and words get thrown onto a whiteboard “Tigers! Knights! Tanks! Diggers! Sharks! Swords! Dinosaurs!” with a subdued “classic space” or “classic castle” mumbled by an aging adult LEGO fan in the back of the room. All that remained was to group these terms together and you end up with something like this Tiger Shark Tank.

A colorful LEGO set depicting the Tiger Shark Tank, featuring a tiger-striped shark front and tank tracks, showcasing intricate design and various LEGO elements.

This set ticks the boxes of having buzzwords, or clickbait, to make sure to appeal to as many sensibilities as possible. Not only is there a shark, and a tiger mixed, there is a reference to Black Falcon castle, another to Pirates and then there is a tank. The only thing to widen the appeal more was to add Space to the mix, but Mr Oz has done that plenty in previous iterations of Dreamzzz.

A LEGO minifigure with white hair and glasses, wearing a blue torso with a planet graphic.

71515 Tiger Shark Tank contains 1548 pieces and retails for AU$229.99/£129.99/$139.99/€139.99. Follow me to read why you want this set.

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LEGO® City Presents: The New Adventures of Johnny Thunder and the Jungle Explorers

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This is essentially a review of the 2024 LEGO City Jungle Explorers subtheme. I may get distracted along the way and explore aspects of the Adventurers Theme. Readers are warned of upcoming rabbit holes and narrative cul-de-sacs. Normal service shall resume shortly

From 1998 to 2003, the LEGO® Adventurers theme represented the pinnacle of in house, story-driven themes – complete with heroes, villains, exotic locals and angry locals, the theme felt like a cross between Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park. And while both of those themes were years away from formal licensing, Johnny Thunder, Pippin Reed and Professor Articus Kilroy led the way, travelling through Egypt, the Amazon, and Asia…with a stop by Hollywood along the way.

We have seen recent remakes of Professor Kilroy and Pippin Reed in ICONS and IDEAS sets, but this year, Johnny Thunder returns at the other extreme of price points in a couple of the new LEGO City Jungle Explorers sets. Thanks to the LEGO Group for sending me sets from the LEGO City range to review. Before we dive in too quickly, lets take a look at the ways that Johnny has appeared over the years.

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Tyger Tyger Burning Bright: Majestic Tiger [Hands-On Review]

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Tyger Tyger, burning bright, 
In the forests of the night; 
What immortal hand or eye, 
Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 

The Tyger, William Blake

Organic forms were, once upon a time, difficult to construct with any significant degree of realism using LEGO bricks. If you were to attempt such shapes in before the turn of the century, you would have created a relatively blocky form. The continuing evolution of elements over the last 15 years has led to the parts palette including a significant number of curves, both along the vertical and horizontal planes of an element’s axis as well as bricks with studs on the side, and a variety of clip and bar connections. These have seen the LEGO System continue to evolve beyond a simple toy and into a model-making medium, allowing these organic shapes to become easier to replicate. Once restricted to fan creations, the 31129 Majestic Tiger brings a demonstration of complex techniques, and downright elemental trickery that would not have been so easily possible in 2020!

This set also has alternative models of a red panda, as well as a koi fish. I will come to these in a subsequent review, but I was keen to share the details of the tiger with you today.

I would like to thank the AFOL Engagement Team from the LEGO Group for sending this prerelease set to the Rambling Brick for an early review.

The set is due for release on the 1st of January 2022, and has 755 pieces. It will cost AUD79.99. International pricing is yet to be revealed.

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