LEGO® NINJAGO® review: vehicle sets 71789, 71791, 71792 & 71794

From the very start the ninjas of LEGO® NINJAGO® have been moving around in all types of vehicles, be it cars, bikes, mechs, planes, canceled trains and many more. In this review I’ll be looking at 4 vehicle-orientated sets from the June 2023 wave. 

Namely, 71794 Lloyd and Arin’s Ninja Team Mechs, 71792 Sora’s Transforming Mech Bike Racer, 71791 Zane’s Dragon Power Spinjitzu Race Car and 71789 Kai and Ras’s Car and Bike Battle. Is it just me or are the name of sets getting to be a bit long lately?

LEGO® DREAMZzz™ review: the "Barrel Joint" sets 71453, 71454 & 71455

Tomorrow is August, meaning the new theme LEGO® DREAMZzz™ becomes available, and I'm starting my series of set reviews with three of its similar sets: 71453 Izzie and Bunchu the Bunny, 71454 Mateo and Z-Blob the Robot and 71455 Grimkeeper the Cage Monster. They all use the new barrel joint piece (Design ID 1994) for movement. 

Bunchu the Bunny and Z-Blob the Robot are the smallest sets of the line - save one polybag - and depict the main characters exploring their skills in the dreamworld. The slightly larger Grimkeeper the Cage monster is a villain set, showing the darker side of this theme.

LEGO® ICONS™ review: 10315 Tranquil Garden

When we first saw images of the latest LEGO® ICONS™ set, 10315 Tranquil Garden,  we were excited to see new elements, recolours and creative parts use all wrapped up in the aesthetics of a traditional Japanese garden scene.

The set was created in collaboration with Hoichi Kurisu, a landscape designer famous for his tranquil gardens across the world.  As they say in the instruction booklet, it's time to "make yourself at home, relax and be one with nature for a moment. Or stay as long as you like." 

Come this way...

LEGO® Friends review: 41757 Botanical Garden

One of the most keenly-awaited sets in the June wave of LEGO® Friends releases, 41757 Botanical Garden features a stylish butterfly house with cacti and succulents growing inside, along with an outside pond, overhanging cherry tree and three minidolls. It already seems to be a popular set with the AFOL community, so let's dive straight into the interesting parts included.

LEGO® Technic review: 42146 Liebherr Crawler Crane LR 13000

The Liebherr LR 1300 is the largest crawler crane in the world, capable of hoisting loads of 3,000 tons up to 236 meters. Naturally, such a massive machine requires a massive LEGO® Technic set, and 42146 Liebherr Crawler Crane LR 13000 delivers just that.

Let's take a look at this massive parts pack and see how that build stacks up!

LEGO® Marvel review & MOCs: 76251 Star-Lord’s Helmet

To get in the mood for reviewing LEGO® Marvel 76251 Star-Lord’s Helmet and hopefully coming up with some interesting MOCs, I grabbed my old Walkman, put in a pair of really fresh Duracell AAs, and did some quick brickdancing to a mix-tape of old skool tunes! Then I was ready to check through the new and rare parts before building the pencil-pot superhero head of the Star-Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy.

LEGO® ICONS™ review: 10321 Chevrolet Corvette

After some off-road adventures in the very British Land Rover Classic Defender 90, courtesy of Zach Hill’s review, today we take a look at a true icon of American automobile history. The release of LEGO® ICONS™ 10321 Chevrolet Corvette celebrates the car’s 75th birthday, and there is indeed much to celebrate, with new moulds, recolours, and prints.

LEGO® NINJAGO® review: 71797 Destiny’s Bounty - Race Against Time

Destiny’s Bounty has been the transportation of choice since the very start of LEGO® NINJAGO®, and we’ve seen many sets showcasing the flying ship already. When I did a search for them all, I was surprised to find only 6 versions (not counting 71756 Hydro Bounty). I'd felt sure we got a new ship for each season. 

In any event, the ship that crashed so many times, it has become a cliché has been rebuilt once again for the new Rising Dragons season, and today we’ll be seeing if version 7 can offer something new.

LEGO® 71799 NINJAGO® City Markets: Minifigures & Build

Following on from our in-depth look at the fantastic range of new elements in 71799 NINJAGO City Markets, it's time to build the largest Ninjago set ever.

Doing an element review before building such a large set does not help speed up the process, in fact it slows it down.  All the bags have to be opened and searched through to find the new elements and with 51 bags that takes a lot of reorganising. No complaints though, I was very happy to be constructing this set and putting all those new elements and recolours to good use...

LEGO® Disney™ set review: 43222 Disney Castle

The Walt Disney World® Resort Cinderella Castle received a paint job for the 50th anniversary of the park, changing the color scheme. This means the 2016 LEGO set 71040 Disney Castle is in need of an update. We've already taken a look at the new elements found in that update: 43222 Disney Castle, and today, my SO will be building the set to find all the hidden details.

LEGO® Friends review + MOCs: 41759 Heartlake City Bus

Beginning our look at the June 2023 wave of  LEGO® Friends sets, 41759 Heartlake City Bus offers a modest range of new and recoloured elements. Today I'll be discussing them all, as well as the build itself and some MOCs I made inspired by the new moulds.

LEGO® Disney™ review: 43225 The Little Mermaid Royal Clamshell

The LEGO Group are showering a plethora of products upon us in 2023 to celebrate 100 years of Disney™, and there's also a live-action version of the classic animation The Little Mermaid which was  released in May. 

Satisfying both these events, set 43225 The Little Mermaid Royal Clamshell is a large display piece featuring three of the movie's underwater scenes, all ensconced in a giant shell. Let's take a look at the minifigures, interesting parts and techniques it has to offer, with some additional insight from two LEGO® employees who worked on the set: design master Marcos Bessa and senior graphic designer Niken "Nikki" Ayumurti Hartomo.

LEGO® ICONS™ review: 10320 Eldorado Fortress

Pirates beware! The legendary Eldorado Fortress from 1989 returns on 4 July 2023 as a LEGO® ICONS™ set, so we got our telescope out to scan for new elements on the horizon. What has changed since the original LEGO® Pirates version came out 24 years ago, and how does the set look placed next to the Blackseas Barracuda from 2020?

LEGO® Monkie Kid™ review: 80047 Mei's Guardian Dragon

Monkie Kid and his bold companions charged into our collections a little over 3 years ago. I'm tempted to do one of those "how it started vs. how it's going" memes but that's perhaps redundant, as it's clear to see that the sets are still doing really well and continue to offer something a bit different. I'd appreciate wider availability but if the way to maintain a theme is by having it exclusive to LEGO.com in some regions, then so be it!

LEGO® ICONS™ review: 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90

Renowned for its aid in off-road adventures, scientific expeditions, or even just pulling stumps from farmers' estates, the Land Rover Defender is one of the world's most iconic four-wheel-drive vehicles. For the off-roader's 75th birthday, The LEGO Group and Land Rover are celebrating with a new  LEGO® ICONS™ vehicle: 10317 Land Rover Classic Defender 90.

This Classic Defender built with Sand Green LEGO® System bricks contrasts 2020's modern Olive Green LEGO® Technic Defender, but that hasn't stopped designer Kurt Kristiansen from incorporating numerous Technic functions and customization options. With its 2336 pieces and $240 price tag tying it with 10274 Ghostbusters ECTO-1 for the most massive LEGO Icons vehicle, the Land Rover has a lot to prove. Read on to see how the Rover does that, including insights from the designer.

LEGO® Monkie Kid™ review: 80048 The Mighty Azure Lion

The next set we are going to look at from the June 2023 wave of LEGO® Monkie Kid releases is 80048 The Mighty Azure Lion. As you will see, that's a bit of a misnomer, since a lot of the interesting new pieces are actually Dark Turquoise, but I'm splitting lion hairs here and really ought to get on with the review!

LEGO® Monkie Kid™ review: 80046 Monkie Kid's Cloud Airship

The June 2023 wave of the LEGO® Monkie Kid theme includes four sets. In this review, I will be taking a look at the smallest of them, 80046 Monkie Kid's Cloud Airship. 

LEGO® NINJAGO® Spinjitzu review: Rise of the Tri-Baller

Spinjitzu has been practiced from the very start of the LEGO® NINJAGO® theme. Over the years, many different iterations have been released in sets, and the June 2023 wave adds a new version: Dragon Power Spinjitzu. Three ninja each get their own set: 71777 Kai’s Dragon Power Spinjitzu Flip with 72 parts, 71778 Nya's Dragon Power Spinjitzu Drift with 57 parts and 71779 Lloyd's Dragon Power Spinjitzu Spin with 56 parts. 

These small sets include a nice new mould. But before we take a look at that, I’ll have a quick look at the sets themselves and the other elements found in them. 

LEGO® Monkie Kid™ review: 80049 Dragon of the East Palace

Coming on 1 June, 80049 Dragon of the East Palace is the largest LEGO® Monkie Kid™ set of 2023, although exceeded in element quantity by The Heavenly Realms – see Caz's review here. Based once again upon the book Journey to the West, this set depicts what occurred when the Monkey King got his magical staff from the Dragon King of the East.

LEGO® Review: 71795 NINJAGO® Temple of the Dragon Energy Cores

After publishing our overview of all new elements in the Summer 2023 wave of LEGO® NINJAGO® sets, the most commented on elements were the new balls. At the time of writing, the new series hadn't officially started yet, so it was unclear what the spheres represent. 

The best clue comes from the name of one particular set: 71795 Temple of the Dragon Energy Cores, so let's kick off our series of reviews of the Ninjago Dragons Rising wave with this set.