Review + MOC: 71481 Izzie's Dream Animals & 71483 The Never Witch's Nightmare Creatures from LEGO® DREAMZzz™

The first wave of LEGO® DREAMZzz™ underlined the building toy component of the theme by having different builds achieved through partial deconstruction of the first build and then adding to it with an alternate set of instructions. This idea is taken to the next level in the August 2024 wave with sets 71481 Izzie's Dream Animals and 71483 The Never Witch's Nightmare Creatures. 

With these sets only a minor part of the structure is shared between the alternative builds. Like in LEGO® Creator sets, 3 designs are offered for the price of 1 (at least in theory). How do these designs fare, what interesting parts do they consist of and what did they inspire me to build?

Products in this article were gifted by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own.
This article contains affiliate links to LEGO.com; we may get a small commission if you purchase.

Page contents

• Set 71481 Izzie's Dream Animals
• Set 71483 The Never Witch's Nightmare Creatures
• MOC by Eero: Cordelia
• Conclusion

71481 Izzie's Dream Animals

• Release date: 1 August 2024
• Pieces: 328

Price:

• US$ 39.99 on LEGO.com US
• CA$ 49.99 on LEGO.com Canada
• GB£ 34.99 on LEGO.com UK
• AU$ 59.99 on LEGO.com Australia
• NZ$ 64.99 on LEGO.com New Zealand
• DE€ 39,99 on LEGO.com Deutschland
• NL€ 39,99 on LEGO.com Nederland
• FR€ 39,99 on LEGO.com France
• PLN 169.99 on LEGO.com Polska
• NOK 529,90 on LEGO.com Norge
• DKK 349.95 on LEGO.com Danmark

Other countries click here

 

I will begin with the "good side". Izzie's animals are heavy on reddish orange, dark purple and medium azure. Surely such an intriguing colour scheme should have some interesting recolours?

New moulds

• Head 6 x 4 with Side Studs and Crosshole with Dream Red Panda Pattern in Reddish Orange (6487037 | 5722)
• Red Panda in Reddish Orange (6486043 | 108567) - also in 60424 Jungle Explorer ATV and on Pick a Brick
• Weapon Hilt with Bar, Hourglass with Opal-Trans Light Blue bar in Pearl Gold (6501459 | 5330) - also in 2 other August LEGO DREAMZzz sets

The most striking piece here is the big, unique red panda head, reminding me of furry helmets. This piece will be challenging to use in a MOC, and for a closer look at its measurements you can refer to Toby's introduction post. 

The red panda animal piece will surely have its fans. I find the sword hilt the most useful, though; the opal blue handle is mundane enough to look like silver, thus working as some jewellery such as a brooch or similar.

• 2x Brick Round 3 x 3 D. Tube with 45° Elbow and Axle Holes (Crossholes) at Each End in Dark Purple (6491527 | 5057)
• 2x Brick Round 3 x 3 D. Tube with 45° Elbow and Axle Holes (Crossholes) at Each End in Reddish Orange
  

The maxi-macaronis are the grand new pieces of the August LEGO DREAMZzz sets. I used the blue ones from 71480 Logan the Mighty Panda in a MOC in my previous article. This set offers four more in two decent colours. 10 axle holes ensure sturdy connections.

• Animal, Raven with a Black marbled pattern in Trans-Dark Pink (6466858 | 5272) - in each set of this wave
• Dome 2 x 2 x 2 with Crystallized Top in Trans-Clear (6466880 | 5334) - in each set of this wave

These are the key parts of this wave so this is not the first time you've seen this photo; and it won't be the last!

Recolours

• Dish 3 x 3 Inverted [Radar] in Medium Lilac / Dark Purple (6443492 | 43898)
• Windscreen 6 x 8 Curved in Reddish Orange (6508817 | 5274)
• 2x Brick Round Corner 3 x 3 x 2 Dome Top in Reddish Orange (6492177 | 88293)

It's surprising that dark purple 3x3 took this long, as the piece has been around since 2003. A printed version did actually appeared in some of last year's LEGO DREAMZzz sets. The reddish orange recolours are slightly less astonishing as the colour was only introduced this year.

• 4x Brick Round 2 x 2 D. Tube with 45° Elbow and Axle Holes (Crossholes) at Each End [LONG] In Medium Lilac / Dark Purple (6510160 | 5489)

This is the new, longer version, but the old shorter version (65473) had not appeared in dark purple either.

• 2x Minifig Head Plain [Vented Stud - 2 Holes] in Medium Nougat (6454735 | 3274) - also in 42625 Beach Smoothie Stand
• 1x Weapon Sword Crystalized in Opal Trans-Light Blue (6489687 | 79985) - also in 71486 Castle Nocturnia (see our review by TobyMac)

New prints

• Large Figure Shoulder Cover with Large Eyes  in Medium Azure (6487080)
• Tile 1 x 2 with Video Game Accessories Pattern in Trans-Purple (6523618) - in 3 other LEGO DREAMZzz sets

The shoulder pad has an identical eye print with the red panda head underlining the connection of the submodels. The mould (21560) has not appeared before in medium azure. Unprinted, this piece seems to almost be retired, being succeeded by the version with T-bar in one end (1686). It appears still every now and then with a head or face print.

Rare parts

• 4x Plant, Leaf 2 x 6 x 1 with 2 Studs in Light Aqua (6467799 | 3565) - also in 31211 The Fauna Collection – Macaw Parrots, see Tamara Dadswell's MOCs using this
• 5x Plant, Leaf 2 x 6 x 1 with 2 Studs in Medium Azure (6510112 | 6470919 | 3565) - in 2 other sets, new element ID

These are clean, simple shapes and thus easy to use outside of botanical creations. Which is a relief as they're blueish.

Sticker sheet

This set has a modestly-sized sticker sheet. I didn't apply them as some are intended for unique parts more useful as "nude". Here's an official render of the stickered A-model:

©2024 The LEGO Group

Minifigures

The root dreamling little dude has a new head print (6487079) which is also a recolour. The medium nougat body is a recolour as well (6501165). These pieces also appear in 71486 Castle Nocturnia.

New Izzie is also available in 71486 Castle Nocturnia which means she's considerably rarer than in the first wave. 

The new prints are:

• Legs Izzie (6487068)
• Torso Izzie (6501161)
• Cape Izzie (6499166)
• Head Izzie (6487066)

The other figure is Dizzie, the evil Izzie. She's also available in 71478 The Never Witch's Midnight Raven with a cloth skirt. The hairpiece is the most interesting here.

• Legs Dizzie (6487071)
• Torso Dizzie (6501089)
• Shoulder Wear (6511018)
• Head Dizzie  (6487069)
• Hair Dizzie (6503633)

The Dream Animals

The instructions have a rather cute cartoon story where the torso shared by the three models is an egg with the potential to hatch into these different, distinct animals. The first one is a giant, flowering red panda accompanied by two succulent side-builds.

Similarly to some wave 1 sets, this has macaroni tube legs while the new maxi macaronis are used on the imposing tail. The design is delightful but suffers from limited mobility. The tail and the hind limbs are fixed; only the head, forelimbs and back ankles are poseable. It also has a catapult, because this is a LEGO set after all.

 



The second model is a bird with some coral-like dream plants. I dig birds in general and this is sort of cute, but not very satisfying; the face-armour and beak combo do not flow.

Furthermore, the legs are fixed which limits playability. It's not an easy model to balance either.

The turtle is the only model with four posable limbs - something I really like. The side build is similar to the one with the bird but is divided into two bits of landscape. The printed shoulder pad head works a lot better on the turtle and the bird feels a bit like an afterthought.

The turtle is not easy to pose naturally as these animals mostly float mid-water or lay on a beach. This posture reminds me of Visorak and numerous other four legged "spiders" from the LEGO® BIONICLE® theme.

Speaking of LEGO Bionicle, I was horrified to see this set uses ball joints without the thorough axle hole to connect the legs. My generation still has nightmares of Makuta's head falling off because of the lousily connecting ball joint. Fortunately that's not an issue here. The ball joint mould was updated at some point to have better friction with its axle hole. Splendid!

71483 The Never Witch's Nightmare Creatures

• Release date: 1 August 2024
• Pieces: 457

Price: 

• US$ 44.99 on LEGO.com US
• CA$ 59.99 on LEGO.com Canada
• GB£ 39.99 on LEGO.com UK
• AU$ 69.99 on LEGO.com Australia
• NZ$ 79.99 on LEGO.com New Zealand
• DE€ 44,99 on LEGO.com Deutschland
• NL€ 44,99 on LEGO.com Nederland
• FR€ 44,99 on LEGO.com France
• PLN 189.99 on LEGO.com Polska
• NOK 609,90 on LEGO.com Norge
• DKK 399.95 on LEGO.com Danmark

Other countries click here

The evil counterpart of Izzie's Panda is a bit larger, with 129 more parts, 3 more minifigures and a 5€ higher price. At first sight this seems like a good deal. How does it fare?

New moulds

• Weapon Hilt with Bar, Hourglass with Opal-Trans Bright Green bar in Pearl Gold (6501460 | 5330) - also in 3 other August LEGO DREAMZzz sets
• Animal, Raven with a Black marbled pattern in Trans-Dark Pink (6466858 | 5272) - in each set of this wave
• 3x Dome 2 x 2 x 2 with Crystallized Top (6466880 | 5334) - in each set of this wave

In contrast to other sets of the wave, this set has not one but three of these fragmented domes. Refreshing!

• 4x Brick Special Cauldron Half 2 x 4 x 2 ⅔ in Pearl Titanium / Pearl Dark Grey (6466836 | 5271) - also in 71478 The Never Witch's Midnight Raven

Probably the most interesting new piece in the set, this is used as both Never Witch's cauldron and the torso of her creatures. However, when I first saw it I was sure it was designed to be one half of a diving helmet. Is it? I don't know. Will I build a MOC with it as a diving helmet? Yes I will. I haven't done that yet but stay tuned for my review of 71478 The Never Witch's Midnight Raven.

Recolours

• 4x Large Figure Limb Cover / Claw / Spike Large with Axle in Medium Lilac / Dark Purple (6500464 | 15362)
• 4x Brick Round 2 x 2 D. Tube with 45° Elbow and Axle Holes (Crossholes) at Each End [LONG] in Trans-Pink (6510161 | 5489)

New prints

• Slope 30° 1 x 1 x 2/3 with Dark Azure Eye print in Black (6487104) - with 1 extra (not pictured)
• Slope 30° 1 x 1 x 2/3 with Olive Green Eye print in Black (6487105) - with 1 extra (not pictured)
• Tile 1 x 2 with Video Game Accessories Pattern in Trans-Purple (6523618) - in 3 other LEGO DREAMZzz sets
•  Tile 1 x 2 with Castle Pattern in Trans-Orange (6523620) - also in 71485 Mateo and Z-Blob the Knight Battle Mech
• Tile 1 x 2 with Sweet Things Pattern in Trans-Yellow (6523613) - also in 71486 Castle Nocturnia
• Tile 1 x 2 with House and Tree Pattern in Trans-Green (6487074) - also in 71486 Castle Nocturnia
• Brick Round 2 x 2 x 1 2/3 Dome Top with Dark Purple/Bright Light Yellow Eyes print in Black (6487103) - Unique

It's nice that 3 of these dream tiles are the ones only available in the most expensive set.

Rare parts

• Flame / Vapor Trail 3 x 14 with Axle Hole and Dark Purple Marbled Center Pattern in Trans-Pink (6435598 | 1995) - also in 71469 Nightmare Shark Ship

This was the rarest of the signature "splat" parts in the first LEGO DREAMZzz wave so it's nice to see another appearance of it here.

• 4x Plate Special 2 x 3 with Rocks in Magenta / Bright Reddish Violet (6439446 | 27261) - also in 71457 Pegasus Flying Horse
• 2x Plate Special 2 x 2 with Only 2 studs in Vibrant Coral (6469521 | 33909) - in 2 other 2024 sets

Sticker sheet

The sticker sheet is modest as well. I did not apply it; here's an official render of the set with stickers.

©2024 The LEGO Group

The Never Witch Gang

This set has five minifigures which is lot for this price point. We get one good guy against four bad guys and The Never Witch's Nightmare Creatures really lives up to its name! Never Witch herself already appeared in the earlier wave (review by Zachary Hill), but now she gets a new swirly stand piece (6502433) that appears also in 71478 The Never Witch's Midnight Raven.

Mateo is the main character and available in four sets of this wave, though once with a pauldron instead of the jacket. His hair has a slightly different print, featuring a red line in addition to the green one, probably in reference to the felt-tip pens on his new leg print. The head has more slime than before and the legs are dual moulded; this the main character after all.

• Legs dual-moulded Mateo (6526487)
• Torso Mateo (6493455)
• Jacket Mateo (6491524 | 5275)
• Head Mateo (6487046)
• Hair Mateo (6487055)

Doey is  - did you guess? - the evil version of Zoey. According to the dictionary, Doey means doe-like. A doe is a female hare, bunny, elk, kangaroo, squirrel, or goat. Now you know, though sadly she does not resemble any of them. Doey appears also in 71484 Cooper's C-Rex Robot Dinosaur (see our review by TobyMac).

• Legs Doey (6487062)
• Torso Doey (6490734)
• Shoulder Wear (6511018)
• Head Doey (6487060)
• Hair Doey (6490720)

The boys looks like they're from different metal genres: Madteo has Ziggy Stardust meets Kiss meets nu-metal energy, whereas Dogan has honest monster hard rock rubber muscle suit vibes.

Madteo is Mateo's evil version and all new. He appears in three sets of the wave. The parts are:

• Legs Madteo (6526493)
• Torso Madteo (6493621)
• Jacket Madteo (6491525 | 5275)
• Head Madteo (6487049)
• Hair Madteo (6487056)

For some reason Dogan is as common as Mateo, appearing in four sets. Maybe he appeals to kids.

• Legs Dogan (6487098)
• Torso Dogan (6493258)
• Shoulder Wear (6508633 | 5332)
• Head Dogan (6487096)

The Nightmare Creatures

This set consists of a small landscape element and one of the three alternative nightmare creatures. With 4 bad minifigures in at large, Mateo has lot to fight.

The side build features a cauldron and a tree with three caught dreams. This is welcome as they are impossible to display with the raven on top without toppling over. The base has a pin connection that enables easy halving, but I'm unsure why anyone would like to split a model this small.

The rest of the set has three alternative models. In contrast to the first wave, and some other sets of this wave, they're completely distinct models, more akin to LEGO Creator 3-in-1 sets. 

I start with the bird, as it appears in the main set picture. It's interesting that this wave includes two evil raven sets with different price points - reminding me of the two recent Simba sets.

The bird has a good silhouette; I like the wing feathers especially. The brick-build head is decent and it's nicely poseable.

 



My largest issue is the unfocused colour scheme, lacking good colour blocking. Having bright colour on wing feathers, claws and similar is good, but bright yellowish green pieces near the ankles and the light blue connectors of the joints and the wings - some of them colour locked - stand out irritatingly amidst the dark parts. The cluttered colours make the shaping hard to read.

The second model is an evil angelic avenger, very close to the original Z-Blob the Robot in design, but equipped with wings and a sword. This is more poseable and has better colour cohesion, but it's not as interesting and recycles old forms.

I made a mistake with this model. It should be accompanied with a small cute wolf model, but I missed it by making the alternative model hastily in the middle of the shoot. Oof!

The third model is a larger wolf. The head looks great from the front, utilising various curved parts effectively. The printed cheese slope eyes work well here and I'm happy to see more printed eye pieces. They're a great solution that's between prefabricated head moulds and completely brick-built character designs.

Sadly the back of the head is horribly flat, though I do like the bushy tail. The rest of the shaping is decent, but again, the noisy colour scheme makes the model and its overall shape hard to read.

MOC: Cordelia

I have a promise to keep: to use those "cauldron" halves as their definitely, surely designed for use as a retro diving helmet. Luckily, they appear in another set I'm due to review, 71478 The Never Witch's Midnight Raven, so instead I was able to get distracted by the interesting dark purple, magenta and marbled trans-pink pieces this time.

 



The colour scheme steered me towards gothic and fateful aesthetics, and the finished character looks like someone you'd meet at a convention. Just as well, as I haven't really built a character in such a style before. 

The first thing I built here was the boot lacing; the nightmare creature set has five of those magenta bull horns (counting the extra), but luckily I had a lot more.

One of the skills of a builder is to use pieces in a way that obscures their real shape. In my previous article I used maxi-macaroni tubes to build Samus' curved body. However, most parts of a human being are not shaped like macaronis and in Samus' case I had to embed the inner sides of the tubes into the torso. 

On this MOC, which I named Cordelia, I've used those maxi-macaronis, this time in dark purple, as the upper legs. Now, human thighs are not really curved, as the bones inside are straight, but there is a slight curve on the muscle. By angling the cone above the knee joint slightly forwards I was able to have this curve while still keeping the hip joint directly above the knees. Of course, the backside of the thigh is not concave, but with a petticoat that covers the back of the upper leg I was able to mostly hide the shape.

This was the hardest part usage challenge here. I was also puzzled by the smaller 2x2 macaroni tubes in the upper torso. They form the soft curves of the bust and the shoulders. This means the shoulder joint is angled 45 degrees downwards which is not realistic nor ideal in the posing viewpoint, but I liked the silhouette and I was able to play around the limits by spinning the shoulder joint in very unhealthy angles in some poses.

There are many pieces here that appear in the reviewed set but were supported by larger quantities from other sources. These include the claw pieces and Nexo shields in dark purple and minifigure hands, boat studs, hollow spikes and rock plates in magenta. 

Probably the most interesting piece uses are in the hair, which uses Never Witch's swirly stand and Dizzie's hair piece from Nightmare Creatures set - and another of both from the yet unreviewed 71478 The Never Witch's Midnight Raven. It's basically like time travel.

Conclusion

I'm not quite sure what to think of these sets. I think that having three distinct models is a good, LEGO-like approach and if it encourages kids to make their own models it's all the more successful. On the other hand, the finished designs do not reach the quality of LEGO DREAMZzz Wave 1 a year ago. They are noisy with jumbled colours and, in the case of Izzie's Dream Animals, lacking in the joints department.

When looking at value, there is a huge difference in numbers. 71481 Izzie's Dream Animals has a high price of US$39.99/ £34.99/ 39.99€/ AU$59.99 for 328 pieces, two minifigures and one little dude. By comparison, 71483 The Never Witch's Nightmare Creatures packs 457 and 5 honest minifigures, which for US$44.99/ £39.99/ 44.99€/ AU$69.99 is nothing to sneer at. 

It feels like a good introduction to the wave for those interested in the lore, as it has all the new bad guys except Dooper and Dizzie. However, its parts selection is average at best, while Izzie's animals pack a wide array of new moulds and recolours.

Neither of these sets is a slam-drunk hit, but the concept is nice. Time will show if the alternative model approach can be combined with beautiful set design. In this aspect, LEGO Creator sets like 31150 Wild Safari Animals and 31154 Forest Animals: Red Fox could be regarded as paragons.

Set 71481 on LEGO.com
Set 71483 on LEGO.com

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