We’ve compiled all the weeks articles into this weekly roundup to keep you up-to-date and help digest the goings-on within the LEGO World. From this years LEGO Winter Village Collection set being revealed along with a smaller Seasonal set in the form of Santa’s Delivery Truck (40746). Sticking with the Christmas theme, two new Seasonal Mugs were listed on LEGO.com and are available now. Also two new Sonic The Hedgehog sets were also revealed and the release date of the upcoming LEGO Horizon Adventures game was also announced. A lot more happened during the past week so why not take a look at our recap below.

Pickup A Free LEGO Truck Sticker Set At Smyths Toys Superstores!

Double LEGO Insiders Points On LEGO® Lord Of The Rings Purchases!

LEGO Icons Santa’s Post Office (10339) Officially Announced!

LEGO Seasonal Santa’s Delivery Truck (40746) Announced!

Two New LEGO Sonic The Hedgehog Sets Revealed!

New LEGO Christmas Mugs Available Now!

LEGO Horizon Adventures Release Date Revealed!

LEGO Luggage Now Available At Costco UK!

Split-Screen Mode Coming To LEGO Fortnite Soon!

Masterbuilds From Around The World On Display At The LEGO House!

Meet The Designer Of LEGO Jabba’s Sail Barge (75397)!

Secret Life Of LEGO Bricks Book Now Available!

LEGO Creator Halloween Pumpkin (40697) GWP Official Images!

Blocks Magazine Issue 120 Coming Soon!

The Incredibles Come To LEGO Fortnite!

LEGO BrickHeadz Fortnite Brite Bomber (40728) GWP Details!

LEGO Ideas Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale (21348) Review

LEGO Ideas Feature: Modern Apartment Buildings By Andreas Brick

This set is a remake of the much desired 6276 Eldorado Fortress from 1989. Interestingly, the clipper in this remake is also a remake from the boat in 6277 Imperial Trading Post from 1992.

Being a kid during this era I’ve always admired these sets in the catalogs. I never could afford them back then however, so I’m really taken with this new set. The raised baseplate is replaced by a brick built ramp and the architecture of the build is remarkably faithful to the original despite using modern parts and colors and having a lot more parts included. The piece count for this remake comes in at a respectable 2,509. Some of the printing is really close to the 1980’s versions while other imperial guards from the past decades are also referenced in the minifigures. 

The set will appear in stores from July 4th and retail for £189.99 ($/€214,99). 

What do you think of this set? Are you looking forward to buying this? Let us know in the comments!

Official details:

Rediscover the world of LEGO® Pirates with the LEGO Icons Eldorado Fortress (10320) building set for adults. This tribute to the iconic 1980s model (6276) comes with new features that will thrill fans of the LEGO Pirates range. The brick-built base houses detailed rooms, and new building pieces allow for greater architectural expression while retaining the classic feel of the original playset.

Enjoy a mindful building experience
Uncover hidden treasures as you craft the iconic fortress brick by brick, including the admiral’s office, a pirate prison and an array of secret spaces. Combine the modular room sections to create different configurations and stage epic battle scenes with working cannons, 8 minifigures and a cool pirate galleon with printed fabric sails.

Make time for you
Spend quality time with premium LEGO sets for adults. This LEGO Pirates-themed building set makes an immersive project for you or a top gift for fans of classic LEGO sets.

• A classic LEGO® Pirates build for adults – Step back in time for a nostalgic building project with the LEGO Icons Eldorado Fortress (10320), a tribute to the iconic 1980s LEGO Pirates range
• What’s in the box? – Includes all you need to build the model naval fortress, pirate ship and rowboat, plus 6 imperial soldier and 2 pirate minifigures and skeleton, monkey, parrot and crab figures
• Features and functions – The fortress and brick-built base house an array of detailed rooms and the modular sections can be combined to form different fortress configurations
• A pirate-themed gift for adults and fans of the 1980s LEGO® Pirates range – Take time out for yourself or treat a loved one to mark any special anniversary or occasion

So what do we get?

The set consists of 1,072 pcs, including 3 minidolls. It retails for £74.99 / €84.99. The indicated age range is 12+. 

Packaging

In the box we get 7 numbered plastic bags. Unfortunately we’re still waiting on the paper replacements, even with the latest wave of sets. The instruction book and sticker sheet are protected by a big cardboard envelope. In the past I have had quite a few of those damaged so this is a great solution. The big trans-clear elements are in the bags together with other bricks, so unfortunately these were slightly scratched. 

The build and building techniques: 10/10

The start of the building process isn’t that great. In the first steps we’re immediately applying the stickers for Liann’s book. After that we build a small 4×4 picnic side build where aligning all the 1×1 tiles and plates is a bit annoying. After that the fun starts though. In the first bag we build the pond next to the building. This is a rather interesting build. It’s partly similar to the ‘Lunar New Year Ice Festival (80109) building technique. It’s a lot smaller of course which makes it less repetitive and there’s also ducks and plants in the pond which require a more detailed build. There’s also a clever way to attach the tree (which is saved until the final bag). With my MOCs I often knock trees over so I’ll definitely get back to this technique for my own builds. 

Bags 2-5 contain the building and interior while bags 6 and 7 are mostly 2 trees. I don’t want to spoil anyone’s building experience by giving away too much of the nice techniques. So instead here are some pictures from the progress. 

I noticed some extra care had gone into figuring the building order. When you expect to finish a section first, you’re actually jumping to another section to avoid repetition. For instance the tiling on the left side of the building is saved for later. Also, stickers are spread out through the build to give a more pleasant building experience. Most of the sets I build I get bored quite early on, which is why I don’t build that many sets anymore. This set however, I enjoyed from the second to the final page.

Playability: 10/10

There are 3 minidolls included in this set: Liann, Niko en Adi. For minidolls fans this might be too few, on the other hand it might broaden the appeal. People who don’t like minidolls might not be too bothered with 3. The butterflies in the dome can circle around which is the major play function. 

In the instruction book there’s an overview with all the flowers, plants and trees that are in the build. When building a flower, plant or tree there’s a picture and the official name. This adds an educational element but can also be considered as a play element. I think this is a really nice feature. 

Parts: 10/10  

Usually I would discuss parts first, since sets are often just part packs to me. With this set it felt like the right thing to get into this a bit later. When looking at the parts in the biggest quantities there’s some interesting picks. We get 27 bright pink leaves. This is the first time that this element is appearing in this color. We get 22 sand green 1x2x3 window frames and glass windows while the 1x2x2 frame in sand green is new in this colour and has 4 included. And of course we get a great number of white bricks, plates and tiles in various sizes. There are also quite a few posing stand elements (65578) included in both trans clear and green. Finally there’s a nice amount of trans light blue tiles, slopes, panels and bricks to create the pond and waterfall.  Of course this is just a brief summary. The point I want to make with this summary is that we get quite nice parts for making your own buildings making this set a great resource. 

There’s quite a few animal pieces in this set as well. We get 2 printed variations of the butterfly, ducks, Koi fish tiles (these occurred first in the 80107 Spring Lantern Festival) and a white bird that’s used as a decorative element in the fountain.

Then there’s the new and recolored parts. Some of these appear in other Summer 2023 sets, others are exclusive. The big trans clear panel and dome pieces are real eye catchers and made it possible to create the roofs. Most of the other parts are used to create the plants included in the build. The saxophone was one of the most surprising part choices for me. Finally the butterfly and duck recolors are really nice. The duck isn’t as cartoony as most Friends animals can be. Over the last few years I noticed some inconsistency in the printing quality. Luckily the butterflies are beautifully done, making these really desirable parts. 

In conclusion:

Is this really a Friends set? Had the minidolls been replaced with minifigures this set could have been sold as an Icons set. There have also been some LEGO Ideas submissions for a botanical garden. This set wouldn’t look out of place for those as well. The color palette is rather subtle for Friends and most of the stickers are done in a rather sophisticated style. The building techniques are interesting enough for advanced set builders and it’s elegant enough to be a display model. 

To be honest this set has everything I expect a LEGO set to be. The build has interesting techniques and is hardly ever repetitive. It’s educational in a fun way, teaching about several different flowers. The part selection is amazing, it includes some great new parts and recolours. It doesn’t have a lot of big parts that are less versatile for MOC building. And some very useful parts like the sand green windows come in great quantities. And last but not least the price is very reasonable. Based on piece count and quality of parts I wouldn’t have been surprised if this was a €110 set. I would have waited on a discount if that had been the case though. Since it’s quite a bit cheaper I feel this is amazing value for money. Considering the task of designing a 12+ Friends set with a broad appeal, this piece count and this price, I don’t think LEGO could have done any better. No matter if you consider this for a playset, display set for an AFOL collection or just a parts pack, I’ll recommend getting this one in all instances. 

Value for money: 10/10

How do you like this Botanical Garden set? Has it grown on you reading this review? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

So let’s get this out of the way first. I’ve done a few posts about Friends sets now and it’s clear to me some people dismiss the Friends theme just because of the minidolls. There are however also minidoll fans among the AFOLs. Due to this controversial matter I will always judge Friends with a neutral approach to the dolls. I will review this set for the build and parts included in those and everybody can have their own opinion on the dolls.

So what’s it all about? The set consists of a few builds: the kitchen/food stand, a separate mixer build, a table with chair and a small tree with rabbit build. The dolls included are Paisley and Luna. For Luna a wheelchair is included, making this available in a small set for the first time (previously available in the skate park set). This is a great choice since it will allow more kids to play with more diverse dolls and normalize representation of differences in ability. 

At first I was stunned by the piece count for this price. Looking at all the parts however, Most of them are rather small. Looking at the bright side that also means a lot of spares. The set is really suitable for a parts pack. It’s a nice variety of parts that’s well suited for any MOC plans one might have. Some coral and magenta parts are included but the majority of parts will have a broader appeal. However most of these parts are rather common and readily available in other sets. There are 2 stickers in this set, which is a shame. The pancake prints are really great and if the sign and cushion were printed as well that would have improved the set. Cushions are often used in Friends interior so a print could have been used again in other sets. The sign would have needed a slight redesign to make it suitable for a printed part. 

Parts: 8.5/10 

The set is a bit all over the place. The mixer is a really nice play feature and an interesting small build. The shop itself is really nice as well. Well decorated and equipped. However… At some points I just have the impression things were unnecessarily added to increase the part count. For example: the rabbit with carrot and tree build doesn’t really make sense. The only reason I can think of is to include an animal because young girls often like animals. Also the tiling on the sides of the stand appears to serve no real purpose and is hardly visible. On the other hand, an actual pan is not included and the pancakes are supposed to be made on 2×2 black jumpers. Also some jumper plates within the stand to position a doll in between the cash register and kitchen equipment would seem logical to me. Furthermore the print quality of the instructions is rather poor. The coral parts looked to be dark pink in the booklet. Luckily there’s no dark pink parts included so it sorted itself. However for more complex builds with more subtle color variations this could be a headache. It’s only small things but judging it as a set it’s choices like this that make it a bit messy to me. 

Building techniques: 6/10

Playability 10/10

In conclusion:

To be honest I expected to be really positive about this set. It’s a cool parts pack for a reasonable price. The builds look fun and kids will no doubt have fun playing with this. However if I were to use this set in a city layout I would feel the need to make quite a few modifications. Like I noted before, it’s really cool LEGO pushes for inclusive play by making the wheelchair available in an inexpensive set. But if I had to give my fair assessment, I’d recommend buying the printed pancake tiles on Bricklink or Pick a Brick once available and pass on this set. Those are the real highlights of this set, the rest is not that special unless you’re a minidoll fan ;-).

Value for money: 6/10

How do you like this pancake shop? Does it stir your apetite? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

There are new additions to LEGO Harry Potter in the form of a microscale Hogwarts Castle & Grounds (76419). Coming our way from LEGO Marvel is the stunning Captain America’s Shield (76262). There’s also a couple of interesting LEGO Star Wars sets Ahsoka’s 332 Company Clone Troopers Battle Pack (75359) and Yavin IV Rebal Base (75365).

Thats not all, we will also be treated to more LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog, Minecraft, Technic, City, and Friends, as well as the LEGO 2023 Advent Calendars.

Official details should follow soon, we hope, for all these new sets, so watch this space!

For me personally both the LEGO Friends chalet and igloo have a cute design and on first glance include some new dogs, closely resembling Huskies. As far as we’re aware these will be the final Friends sets to release this year. Finishing a great year for the theme in style.

What do you think of these sets? Does any of these sets spike your interest? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Ever since I got my hands on a few discounted LEGO Friends sets a few years ago I’ve been mostly disappointed with LEGO City sets. Even in the smaller Friends sets I was pleasantly surprised with the level of detail in brick built landscaping. Yes, not everybody is a fan of minidolls or the abundance of pink parts. I’m not a minidolls fan either. This is not my point though.

My take on this will be very biased and nostalgic. I grew up with LEGO sets from the eighties and nineties. Every curve or angle needed to be built with rather simple parts and limited colors. This has shaped my use of LEGO bricks and taught me to express myself creatively. One of the themes I frequently got was Town, the current City theme. So judging sets for children (when buying presents etcetera) I will always look for a challenging build suitable for their age. To give a similar experience like LEGO was for me as a child.

However, looking at the current City range the building experience just doesn’t look right above 5 or 6 years old. Yes, kids will play with the sets for sure. However the ‘educational’ quality of sets in this theme just isn’t there like I remember it to be. Especially buildings lean heavily on big bricks or panels. Or use very specific parts that replace brick built solutions. In my view this results in very simplistic sets. Is that really what LEGO is about these days? Stuntz is another example within the City range showing this trend. Big ramps and specialized big parts for playing with the bikes. Surely this will provide loads of fun for younger kids. However, when kids grow older interest in playing that way will fade. And the toy will just end up not being used anymore because of limited rebuilding options.

There are indeed plenty of interesting parts like animals or minifigure parts that make City sets worth buying. So even AFOLs will contribute to plenty of sales for the City theme. This means there might not be an economic necessity for LEGO to change anything to the range of sets.

But here I want to go back to compare product ranges between City and Friends again. Looking at the Summer 2023 wave, the Friends wave has a very clear age range from easy to harder to build sets. The 41737 Beach Adventure Park might be the best example. It’s a 1,348pcs 12+ set featuring Technic play functions.

This buildup isn’t that obvious within the City products range. All sets provide more or less a similar building experience focused on big parts. Also advanced techniques like Technic play functions are absent from the bigger sets

And next to that there seems to be a cycle of releasing updated versions of the same sets over and over. The food stalls are mostly ice cream, pizzas, burgers or hotdogs, where Friends has a big diversity in food parts.

And the ever present police chases and fire rescues can be a bit lackluster at times as well. The sub themes like Arctic/Space/Jungle/Miners also come back with similar color schemes every few years. Last year provided an exception with the farm subtheme, but 3 out of 4 sets retired within 6 months. Hardly enough to judge the potential success I’d say. Of course kids are the target audience for City and they won’t be aware of the repeats if they grow up.

So Friends tried to freshen up the theme with the reboot of January 2023. Introducing new characters, artwork and changing the color palette. And only judging by AFOL reaction this has been rather successful. Friends is perceived as being more interesting as it used to be. So is it time for City to get the same treatment? New sub themes, more diverse sets, adding sets with more advanced building experiences?

What do you think? Is LEGO City great the way it is right now or would you like to see the theme changed? If so, what changes would you like to see? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

What do you think of these sets? Do you have any favourites? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Monkie Kid’s Cloud Airship (80046) :

540pcs/7+/£42,99/€47,99

Mei’s Guardian Dragon (80047):

605pcs/9+/£46,99/€52,99

The Mighty Azure Lion (80048):

789pcs/9+/£64,99/€74,99

Dragon of the East Palace (80049):

2.364pcs/10+/£169,99/€189,99

The set includes microfigures of Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and Olaf. I particularly like how Olaf is done and would mind picking up this set for him. What do you think? Comment below.

Anna and Elsa’s Magical Carousel (43218):

175pcs/6+/€20,99

One in particular is a long time coming, the buildable Minifigure, with his iconic red torso and blue legs. Lift up his hat and you find a smaller version sat at a control panel using joysticks to give commands, how fun.

Other sets include a lovely yellow Land Rover Classic Defender, another flower, jade Rabbit and more. Take a look below for yourself.

Scaled Up LEGO Minifigure (40649):

654pcs/10+/€49,99

40643 Jade Rabbit (40643):

288pcs/8+/€19,99

Land Rover Classic Defender (40650):

150pcs/8+/€14,99

Birthday Cake (40641):

211pcs/7+/€14,99

Lotus Flowers (40647):

220pcs/8+/€12,99

There’s some great sets coming in June, with plenty of colorful builds for all ages. For me personally this is the theme for the younger audiences that provides the best building experiences so I was really looking forward to seeing these. I was not disappointed. All of these sets are releasing 1st June according to JB Spielwaren.

Fun Beach Buggy (41725):

61pcs 4+ €9,99

The smallest of all new sets, featuring Liann and Zac minidolls and a pug and small dolphin. Being 4+ the build is rather simple.

41734 Lifeboat (41734):

717pcs/7+/€84,99

Based on a catamaran, this set has a focus on an ocean cleaning crew. Featuring newly recoloured dolphins and 4 minidolls.

41736 Sea Rescue Center (41736):

376pcs/7+/€49,99

Being Friends of course there needs to be an animal rescue center. A variety of sea animals is included in this set, including a new sea otter. And among the 3 minidolls are Autumn and Leo (I don’t know all the names, sorry Friends fans).

Beach Adventure Park (41737):

1348pcs/12+/€99,99

We posted our first look on this set earlier, you can read it here.

Sports Center (41744):

832pcs/8+/€94,99

There’s plenty of activity in this sports center. Basketball, football, tennis, and climbing wall as the most noticeable activities. The rotating scoreboard is a fun detail. I assume these pieces will be printed, as stickers would peel off rather quickly. Featuring 4 minidolls there must be plenty of play opportunities with this set.

Autumn’s Stable (41745):

545pcs/7+/€62,99

This set featuring Autumn and one of her Friends must be among my favorites from this wave. It has a bit of a similar style as the Ideas A-Frame cabin. The design is clearly inspired by a forest-like environment. Red leaves first seen in the A-Frame cabin are included, just like the relatively new ‘fern’ piece.

Riding School (41746):

134pcs/4+/€29,99

A simple yet elegant stable for a younger audience. Including a horse and a foal. Mia from the ‘old’ Friends cast is included along with Aliya. A funny play feature is the spinning wheel to decide if the horses get brushed, fed or rested.

Heartlake City Community Kitchen (41747):

695pcs/8+/€69,99

A fun restaurant kitchen. 4 minidolls are included and luckily Churro the ‘Grumpy’ Cat also makes an appearance. Possibly some new printed food parts as well. The stairs leading up to the roof terrace are a nice detail, making this stand out from earlier Friends restaurants.

Heartlake City Community Center (41748):

1,513/9+/€149,99

The biggest set from this wave. This colorful apartment block is a great addition to sets like 41704 Main Street or 41732 Downtown Flower and Design Stores. A big 8×16 billboard on the side looks really amazing, hopefully that’s a print. There’s plenty of architectural details incorporated in this set. It looks like we get newly recoloured masonry bricks which is always nice to get. There’s 5 minidolls included and one of the dogs on wheels.

Message Van (41749):

446pcs/6+/€29,99

Little activist Peter wants to protect the tree where an owl has his nest. I suspect there will be plenty of social media outrage how LEGO dares to produce such a political set. Aliya is there with her news van to report the story and Darrel is the ‘bad guy’ with the chainsaw. Just on storytelling a big well done to the designers, one picture of this set tells so much!

Sea Rescue Plane (41752):

203pcs/6+/€19.99

A rather straightforward set compared to most of the others. I’m not sure we’ve seen this Beluga whale in white before. But it’s mostly a two seater plane without a lot of additional features.

41753 Pancake shop (41753):

157pcs/6+/ €9,99

A cute little set featuring minidolls Paisley and Luna. It’s not clear from the pictures if the pancakes are stickers or prints. Of course I’m hoping for prints which would make a great addition to the big variety of Friends food parts. I have my doubts if the price is correct based on the contents of the set.

Botanical Garden (41757):

1,072 pcs

So far only one ‘lifestyle’ picture has emerged from this set on the JB Spielwaren Instagram and it simply looks stunning. Once more details are available we will keep you up to date. Some newly recoloured plant pieces can already be spotted, just like a possible newly printed butterfly in the top of the dome.

Heartlake City Bus (41759):

480pcs/7+

We had our first look at this set yesterday, you can read it here.

What do you think of these sets? Do you have any favourites? Share your thoughts in the comments!