Today I’ll be looking at 2 new LEGO® sets released in January 2021: 40460 Roses and 40461 Tulips. At first glance they appear to be smaller versions of the 10280 Flower Bouquet that Thomas Jenkins reviewed recently. I’ve built that set myself, and I was pleasantly surprised by the overall build experience and end result, so I’m curious if these 2 smaller sets will bring some of the same colour and joy as well.
20 January 2021
LEGO® review: 40460 Roses & 40461 Tulips
Today I’ll be looking at 2 new LEGO® sets released in January 2021: 40460 Roses and 40461 Tulips. At first glance they appear to be smaller versions of the 10280 Flower Bouquet that Thomas Jenkins reviewed recently. I’ve built that set myself, and I was pleasantly surprised by the overall build experience and end result, so I’m curious if these 2 smaller sets will bring some of the same colour and joy as well.
18 January 2021
LEGO® Technic review: 42125 Ferrari 488 GTE 'AF Corse #51'
Nothing compares to the intensity of the FIA World Endurance Championship. 24-hour long races, mid-race driver changes, and multiple car classes sharing the track are a monumental challenge for any team. Race team AF Corse and racecar builder Ferrari have had an incredibly successful partnership in endurance racing, while The LEGO Group and Ferrari have enjoyed similarly astounding teamwork bringing over 50 co-branded sets to fans since 1997.
The new LEGO® Technic 42125 Ferrari 488 GTE gives racing fans the biggest Prancing Horse set ever with 1677 pieces, over 300 more than previous record holder 8653 Enzo Ferrari 1:10. At 48 cm (18¾”) long this model breaks the 13-year hiatus since the last 1:10 Ferrari model. This set is now available priced at US$169.99/ CA$229.99/ £169.99 / €175.45.
11 January 2021
LEGO® Ideas review: 21323 Grand Piano
Released in August 2020, 21323 Grand Piano is an unusual and remarkable LEGO® product. For the few of you still unaware of it, let’s start with the quickest of rundowns. Measuring 58 x 38 x 16 cm (23 x 15 x 6 in) and weighing over 6kg (13 lb) in the box, this is a faithful LEGO representation of a working grand piano. Lids flip open, the stool rises, the keys strike strings – and it kinda plays music too; a Powered Up electric motor can be activated by a phone app to make the keys move while music plays on the phone.
07 January 2021
LEGO® Trolls World Tour review: 41258 Vibe City Concert
The explosion of colour that is the LEGO® Trolls World Tour theme concludes with its final encore: 41258 Vibe City Concert. With 494 pieces, five weird and wonderful minifigures and an original retail price of US$59.99 / £54.99 / 58.48€ it is the largest set to come from this theme.
05 January 2021
LEGO® Star Wars review: 75274 TIE Fighter Pilot Helmet
In March 2020 The LEGO Group released a series of ‘helmet’ sets under the 18+ branding featuring designs from Star Wars and Iron Man. I eschewed the perhaps more iconic Stormtrooper and Boba Fett for the sleek TIE pilot fighter, depicting John Mollo’s design from the original film in 1977.
Before the build, let’s take a look at its parts which are fairly standard for the most part – in fact, quite a nice aspect to the inventory is its prevalence of simple elements. Well over half of its 724 pieces are plate or some kind of useful modified plate!
01 January 2021
LEGO® Technic review & MOC: 42123 McLaren Senna GTR
Alongside really big licensed LEGO® Technic cars like the Chiron and the Sián are the smaller - but still sizeable - licensed cars intended to be more affordable. while still bringing accuracy and build quality that both kids and adult collectors will appreciate. 42123 McLaren Senna GTR is the latest of these cars. Let’s see if we have a champion on our hands, or if it should have made a pit-stop before primetime.
This 830 piece set costs 49,99€/ US$49.99/ £44.99/ AU$89.99/ CA$69.99 and is available from today, 1 January 2021.
30 December 2020
LEGO® Botanical Collection review: 10281 Bonsai Tree
Much like building with LEGO® bricks, bonsai is the art of replicating its subject at a much smaller scale. As such, a LEGO bonsai tree is a match made in heaven.
It’s exciting to see the LEGO Group continue to branch out into the adult market. 10281 Bonsai Tree is one of two sets from the new Botanical Collection, a sub-theme of the Creator Expert series. The Bonsai will be released alongside 10280 Flower Bouquet (read our review here) on 1 January 2021 and will be priced at US$49.99/ €49.99/ £44.99/ AU$89.99/ 449.0 DKK/ CA$69.99.
LEGO® Botanical Collection review: 10280 Flower Bouquet
I’m not a fan of plastic flowers, but after a quick glance at the box of the new LEGO® Flower Bouquet I’m already starting to change my mind.
10280 Flower Bouquet sows the seed for the new Botanical Collection, which currently includes one other set, 10281 Bonsai Tree, which I have also reviewed. They're an exciting new addition to the 18+ range, offering something quite unique: non-licensed, non-minifig, real-world scale display pieces. Plus, at US$49.99/ €49.99/ £44.99/ AU$89.99/ 449.0 DKK/ CA$69.99 they're among the least expensive of the new adult-oriented sets.
27 December 2020
LEGO® Chinese Festival review: 80107 Spring Lantern Festival
The second Chinese New Year set for 2021 is the larger 80107 Spring Lantern Festival, introducing LEGO® fans to this special day in traditional Chinese New Year celebrations with a stunning 1793-piece Chinese Garden display. As discussed in our preview article, this is another set filled with wonderful pieces, but does the building experience live up to the hype?
26 December 2020
LEGO® Chinese Festival review: 80106 Story of Nian
I was really excited when the two new Chinese Traditional Festival sets were revealed in November for their wonderful builds and parts, but are the actual products as exciting as the official pictures suggest? In this 3-part review series I will examine these sets closely, starting with the smaller set, 80106 Story of Nian. Since I have covered most of the new parts in the preview article, we will instead jump right into the models and take a more thorough look at the parts in my concluding article in a few days' time.
24 December 2020
LEGO® CITY Review: 60292 Town Centre and 60306 Shopping Street
Today I complete my reviews of five LEGO® CITY sets to be released on 1st January 2021. So far we looked at 60304 Road Plates and then 60290 Skate Park with 60291 Family Home, which leaves 60292 Town Centre and 60306 Shopping Street. So let's head into town for some shopping!
22 December 2020
LEGO® CITY review: 60290 Skate Park & 60291 Family Home
On 1st January 2021, fans of the LEGO CITY theme will be treated to the release of five new sets to help them develop their LEGO metropolis, which I have received to review, namely 60290 Skate Park, 60291 Family Home, 60292 Town Centre, 60306 Shopping Street and 60304 Road Plates.
Of course, the first thing I did was build all five sets and put them together into a City layout to see what could be made from them.
20 December 2020
LEGO® Super Mario review: 71386 Character Packs – Series 2
I did not pick up any of the little Super Mario impulse polybags from Series 1 so I was not sure what to expect prior to reviewing the Character Packs from Series 2. Now that I have, it seems that I’ve been missing out!
I have been a casual Super Mario player in my time. I played a couple of games on the GameCube (showing my age there) and enjoyed some handheld adventures along with a bit of Mario Kart but I am not by any means a hardcore plumber nut. Even so, every bag I opened was a joy. A combination of nostalgia, great design and a flurry of interesting parts poured out of each one.
18 December 2020
LEGO® Technic review: 42124 Off-Road Buggy
Hot on the wheels of 2019’s 42099 4x4 X-Treme Off Roader comes the equally extreme (but slightly less off-road) LEGO® Technic 42124 Off-Road Buggy. It contains 374 pieces, will set you back US$129.99/ £119.99, and you’ll need a smartphone and 6 AA batteries to run the Control+ hub.
There’s a lot to digest here including plenty of new and unusual parts, Control+ elements and the accompanying app – so let’s get stuck in!
15 December 2020
LEGO® CITY Review & MOCs: 60304 Road Plates
After months of rumour and speculation, the new LEGO® CITY Road Plate system has been finally unveiled. This review will examine the new elements in set 60304 and how they can be integrated with an existing City layout, either using regular baseplates or a modular system such as MILS.
In 2 future articles I will also look at the interesting elements in 4 other sets in this 2021 City release: 60290 Skate Park and 60291 Family House, 60292 Town Centre and 60306 Shopping Street.
14 December 2020
LEGO® Friends review: 41430 Summer Fun Water Park
Friends sets are well known for their abundance of vibrant hues, spot-on colour blocking and innumerable details. 41430 Summer Fun Water Park is no exception. This bundle of joy has 1001 pieces, four Minidolls and is priced at US$99.99/ £89.99 / 97.47€.
10 December 2020
LEGO® DOTS review: 41914 Creative Picture Frames
LEGO® DOTS is best known for the colourful tiles and customisable bracelets, but that’s not all the theme has to offer. Today I’ll be reviewing 41914 Creative Picture Frames, one of the various “desk accessory” sets. This set comes in a larger sorting box than the Mega Pack or the desk accessories from the first half of the year, with a larger part count to match. As such, there’s a lot to look at, so let’s get started!
09 December 2020
LEGO® ART review: 31202 Disney’s Mickey Mouse
If you’ve been following our articles recently you may have guessed this review was coming! TobyMac dived into LEGO® ART 31201 Harry Potter Hogwarts Crests which teed me up for a go at the slightly smaller but similarly impressive 31202 Disney’s Mickey Mouse.
I must admit, when the first round of Art sets were revealed I wasn’t exactly blown away. That was due in equal parts to the subject matter and the inescapably sly marketing which requires you to spend upwards of £400 for a complete set of all four possible images.
03 December 2020
LEGO® Monkie Kid review & MOCs: 80015 Monkie Kid's Cloud Roadster
Arriving in the second wave of the new-ish Monkie Kid theme, alongside 80014 Sandy’s Speedboat and 80016 The Flaming Foundry, is the medium-sized 80015 Monkie Kid’s Cloud Roadster. With five minifigures and 659 pieces, this vehicle is the second-largest set of the wave and retails for £54.99 / $69.99 / 58.48€. With an interesting minifig lineup, a promise of useful parts in interesting colours and a smaller villainous side-build adding play value, this set seems like a good time for kids and AFOLs alike. Let’s see if it can soar through the clouds, or if it’s left in the dust!
30 November 2020
LEGO® City review: 60260 Air Race
Today we’ll be looking at 60260 Air Race, a LEGO® City set that contains 140 parts, and includes 2 helicopters, an airplane and 3 minifigures at an RRP of £24.99 / $39.99 / 29.23€. Judging by the box-art, the helicopters can actually fly, so let’s take off!