Review: 10343 Mini Orchid and 10344 Lucky Bamboo from LEGO® Botanicals

In July, I reviewed LEGO® Botanicals sets 10368 Chrysanthemum & 10369 Plum Blossom. They were pronounced to be two of the Four Gentlemen: a set of traditional plants in East Asian culture. The remaining two are bamboo and orchid. Those flowers are less straightforward to make into LEGO sets: orchid because it already appeared in sets 10311 Orchid and 43237 Isabela's Flowerpot (review of 43237 by me, again), and bamboo because it's basically some sticks, and thus not interesting… or so we thought. 

On 1 January 2025, sets 10343 Mini Orchid and 10344 Lucky Bamboo will be available, and today I am going to see if they are worthy successors to the first pair – both of which got good marks from me.

Review + MOC: 10359 Fountain Garden from LEGO® Icons

August 2023 saw the introduction of LEGO® Icons 10315 Tranquil Garden, a Japanese-inspired model which is a little bit larger than minifigure scale and features modular components to vary the garden layout. At the time, we assumed that this was a one-off.

However, set 10359 Fountain Garden, led by senior designer Henrik Saaby, will be released on 1 January 2025 under the new LEGO Icons sub-theme "Gardens of the World". Let's take a look at the parts and construction of the Fountain Garden to see what delights await.

Review + MOC: 71478 The Never Witch's Midnight Raven from LEGO® DREAMZzz™

The last 2024 LEGO® DREAMZzz™ set we're reviewing is another great example of the quirky set design of this original theme: a witch's hut nested atop a gigantic raven. So far, I've been critical towards many sets of this wave due to unfocused and messy set design. I've associated this with the alternative builds. I like how these sets offer different designs using the same parts, emphasising the nature of this medium – but so far, it has deemed sacrifices on the design coherence.

Obviously, it's much easier to make one focused set design with a specific set of parts. In this respect, 71478 The Never Witch's Midnight Raven is closer to the original August 2023 wave. There is a distinct B-Model, but it shares about 85% of the structure with the main model while still supporting very different play patterns. How does the raven fare?

Review: LEGO® 40702 Christmas Picture Frame gift with purchase

Still doing your Christmas shopping – or just starting? After midnight Friday 13 December 2024, the 40701 Ballerina & Nutcracker Scene is gone from LEGO.com, but a new Gift with Purchase (GwP) becomes available that isn't limited to LEGO® Insiders and has a lower threshold. Let's pull out those holiday snaps in readiness for 40702 Christmas Picture Frame. 

Review: 10342 Pretty Pink Flower Bouquet from LEGO® Botanicals

2025 is not here yet, but we're having an early start with the new element mega-party pack, LEGO® Botanicals 10342 Pretty Pink Flower Bouquet. The "Botanical Collection" no longer sits under the LEGO® Icons branding and instead becomes its own theme, so are these plant sets still worthy of adult hobbyists?

Review: 40701 Ballerina & Nutcracker Scene gift with purchase

Starting midnight Friday December 6 2024, a new Gift with Purchase (GwP) becomes available to LEGO® Insiders... plus, LEGO® Insiders 2x Points are back too! 

So let's get into the spirit of the holidays with 40701 Ballerina & Nutcracker Scene.

Review: 10350 Tudor Corner from LEGO® Icons Modular Buildings Collection

The latest set in the LEGO® Modular Buildings Collection was announced yesterday as 10350 Tudor Corner.  The set is a corner building which houses a restaurant, a haberdashery, a clockmaker’s workshop and an attic apartment.

Let's take a look at the new elements and the eight minifigures first, before groundwork starts on the pub.

Review: 10363 Leonardo Da Vinci's Flying Machine from LEGO® Icons

Humankind has been dreaming of taking to the skies ever since we saw birds and insects soaring. Many flying machines have been designed in the past, usually unsuccessful, and one of the most famous was sketched in the 15th century by all-round Renaissance genius Leonardo Da Vinci. Today, we’ll build a LEGO interpretation of his designs with LEGO® Icons set 10363 Leonardo Da Vinci’s Flying Machine.

Review: 40729 Shackleton's Lifeboat GwP for LEGO® Black Friday

A tie-in gift with purchase (GwP) of the Brick Friday 2024 release 10335 The Endurance, which I reviewed earlier this week, LEGO® Icons 40729 Shackleton’s Lifeboat is a minifigure-scale replica of the James Caird – which is the lifeboat that Shackleton used to save his crew, as we will see in the second half of this review.

Unlike the LEGO Endurance it comes with minifigures, making it a highly desirable gift with purchase for LEGO Insiders purchasing set 10335 from Friday 28 November to Monday 2 December... if stocks last that long!

Review: 40668 Captain America & Red Hulk from LEGO® BrickHeadz™ Super Heroes

LEGO® BrickHeadz™ 40668 Super Heroes Captain America & Red Hulk are tie-ins with the new Captain America: Brave New World movie due for release in February 2025.

These LEGO Brickheadz characters represent the Sam Wilson version of Captain America, portrayed by Anthony Mackie in the movies, and U.S. President Thaddeus Ross in his Red Hulk form, to be portrayed by Harrison Ford.

Set review: 10335 The Endurance from LEGO® Icons

Black Friday falls this week, and the big release on the day is LEGO® Icons set 10335 The Endurance; a recreation of the ship used by Ernest Shackleton in his attempted expedition to cross the Antarctic. 

After I examined what the LEGO Endurance is made of last week, let us now look at how she is built. In addition to that, I have a short historical overview about Ernest Shackleton and the real Endurance.

Review: 40699 Retro Record Player GwP for Black Friday/Cyber Monday

As well as 40700 Winter Holiday Train which I reviewed earlier, the Black Friday/ Cyber Monday weekend includes a second Gift with Purchase (GwP) with a higher threshold. 40699 Retro Record Player is available to LEGO Insiders from midnight 29 November to 2 December 2024.

Review: 21350 Jaws from LEGO® Ideas

Growing up near many of the Massachusetts shooting locations for 1975's Jaws, my interest was understandably piqued when The LEGO Group announced development of a set based on the film. Now, just a year-and-a-half after that announcement, I'm excited to examine the final set and the parts it contains. Fortunately, almost all of these elements are now available for purchase via the LEGO® Pick a Brick service, if desired in quantity.

Review: 40700 Winter Holiday Train GwP for Black Friday LEGO® Toy Deals 2024

Several Christmas-themed LEGO® trains, both big and small, have appeared over the years and this coming holiday season brings us 40700 Winter Holiday Train, a Gift with Purchase (GwP) available to LEGO® Insiders from midnight 29 November to 2 December 2024.

Review: 71485 Mateo and Z-Blob the Knight Battle Mech from LEGO® DREAMZzz™

A big mech calls for a big name and 71485 Mateo and Z-Blob the Knight Battle Mech is certainly a long one for this 1333-piece set. Though I can't help but think simply going with Mateo and Z-Blob the Knight Mech would have been enough. Surely 'Knight' and 'Mech' suggests battling is a given, right? We might never know, but by reading this article you will know if this LEGO® DREAMZzz™ set is worthy of the Round Table of New Elementarian Knights. 

Review: 71814 Tournament Temple City from LEGO® NINJAGO®

71814 Temple Tournament City is the largest set in the 2024 LEGO® NINJAGO® lineup, and as a substantial set of 3489 pieces, it has plenty of interesting parts to talk about. Many of them are now available from LEGO® Pick a Brick (PaB), where you can buy them in bulk.

Review: 76289 Thor vs. Surtur Construction Figure from LEGO® Marvel

76289 Thor vs. Surtur Construction Figure takes its cues from 2017's Thor: Ragnarok. The giant fire demon, Surtur was predicted to destroy Asgard and is depicted here as a large-ish construction figure.

From an initial look, the parts are pretty, but I'm not sure everything about this set is going to Ragna-rock my world!

Review: Cerebro Gift with Purchase from LEGO® Marvel

From midnight Friday 1 November 2024, two new LEGO® sets come with their own Gifts with Purchase (GwP) only for LEGO® Insiders: set 21353 The Botanical Garden comes with 5009005 Entrance Gate, and set 76294 X-Men: The X-Mansion comes with the subject of today's review, 5009015 Cerebro.  

Let's roll with Professor Charles Francis Xavier to find out if his mind-enhancing machine is a big ball of fun, or sends us into a coma.

Review: 42177 Mercedes-Benz G 500 PROFESSIONAL Line from LEGO® Technic

LEGO® Technic is having a strong year, with loads and loads of cars to enjoy. We’ve had sportscars, racecars, supercars and F1 cars in various scales. All of these have one thing in common: they need tarmac to drive on. To go off trail, we need something special, and that’s where today’s set comes in. Set 42177 Mercedes-Benz G 500 PROFESSIONAL Line sure seems to have the right look, so let's take it for a drive.

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?