Just a quick reminder that the LEGO City Space exploration sets are now available. This is a fantastic selection of LEGO City sets, inspired by real space exploration, including vehicles, spacecrafts, research station, and more. Below is an overview of the sets in the new collection, and I have also included video-review by JANGBRiCKS, so you can see the sets in detail.
➡ #40345 LEGO CITY MARS EXPLORATION MINIFIG PACK: This small set includes two astronauts, two space technicians, a brick-built portable lab, and a bunch of accessories (including two of those fantastic new geodes in trans-green). This is a good starter pack for space exploration, or could be used as an add-on pack for the larger sets. 44 pieces. Price: $12.99 – BUY HERE
➡ #60224 LEGO CITY SATELLITE SERVICE MISSION: This set features a NASA-inspired shuttle with opening cockpit, raising flaps on the wings, and space in the back for a satellite with opening solar panels. There is also an astronaut minifigure with what LEGO calls in the set description “Extra Vehicular Activity Suit”. A very important and noteworthy feature of all of the new LEGO City Space sets is that they are modular, and can be connected in many different ways. For example, this small shuttle can connect to some of the larger crafts in the other sets via LEGO Technic pins. Check the video-reviews below to see what I mean. Shuttle with flaps lowered measures over 1” (4cm) high, 5” (13cm) long and 6” (17cm) wide. 84 pieces. Price: $9.99 – BUY HERE
➡ #60225 LEGO CITY ROVER TESTING DRIVE: Here, we get a fairly large rover with removable cockpit, articulated grappling arm, tilting, removable solar panel generator and large all-terrain wheels. Accessory elements include two of those new special geodes. The two included minifigs are an astronaut and a ground crew technician. Rover measures over 3” (9cm) high, 5” (14cm) long and 3” (9cm) wide. 202 pieces. Price: $29.99 – BUY HERE
➡ #60226 LEGO CITY MARS RESEARCH SHUTTLE: Now we are looking at one of the bigger sets! It features a space research shuttle with opening cockpit, two large opening doors and space inside for the storage drone, plus a NASA-inspired Mars rover with articulated grappling arm, laser and tilting solar panels, storage drone with opening compartment, plus a helidrone with spinning rotor blade and scanner to read a secret symbol discovered on Mars. There are also two astronaut minifigs in different types of spacesuits. Lots of play value here, especially if you add the previously mentioned minifig pack to boost crew numbers. Research shuttle measures over 3” (9cm) high, 9” (23cm) long and 8” (21cm) wide. Mars rover measures over 1” (5cm) high, 2” (7cm) long and 2” (6cm) wide. 273 pieces. Price: $39.99 – BUY HERE
➡ #60227 LEGO CITY LUNAR SPACE STATION: This set fully takes advantage of the modularity of the new LEGO City Space collection with three detachable modular compartments that can be customized and rearranged around and on the central airlock compartment. There’s a kitchen module with plants and a pizza oven, a living module for sleeping and training (with treadmill, anti-gravity bed, and TV screen), and a lab module with light-brick and a couple of the new geodes. There is also a detachable satellite and detachable shuttle with opening cockpit and storage space. The occupants are two astronauts, two crewmembers, plus a robot. The set can also be combined and expanded with some of the modular sections of the other LEGO City Space sets. As you will see in the video-review below the modular system works really well, although there is still room for improvement. For example, the central airlock compartment isn’t large enough to accommodate a minifigure, and only serves as a hub to attach the other modules. Still, it is a great system that allows kids and adult LEGO fans to arrange and rearrange their space stations just the way they like. I might also be tempted to purchase two of this set to make an even larger station… just saying. Shuttle measures over 1” (4cm) high, 4” (12cm) long and 4” (12cm) wide. Satellite measures over 1” (3cm) high, 1” (5cm) long and 6” (17cm) wide. Kitchen module measures over 2” (7cm) high, 5” (13cm) long and 3” (8cm) wide. Lab module measures over 2” (7cm) high, over 2” (7cm) long and 2” (6cm) wide. Living module measures over 2” (7cm) high, over 2” (7cm) long and 2” (6cm) wide. Central airlock compartment measures over 2” (7cm) high, over 4” (11cm) long and 6” (17cm) wide. 412 pieces. Price: $59.99 – BUY HERE
➡ #60228 LEGO CITY DEEP SPACE ROCKET & LAUNCH CONTROL: This is another fantastic set in the collection with so much to see and play with! It includes a modular, multi-stage NASA-inspired rocket that can be customized in different ways with the booster, payload storage and cockpit modules, space telescope with folding solar panels and magnifying glass (this is so simple but cool!). The rocket launches from the launchpad with opening tower arms, and there is also a rover with articulated grappling arm, and a separate research area with geode retrieval training. The launch control tower features a detachable window section for easy access, foldout function for different layouts, and a super cool countdown function and animated function behind the displays (make sure you watch the video on this!). In addition to the already built in functions, you can also slide in your mobile phone as a screen for interactive play opportunities with the LEGO City Explorers app (which is also demonstrated in the video below). But that’s not all! There is also a track system with two stops and two cars that wraps around the whole compound. The included minifigs are two astronauts, two scientists, a launch director, and a ground crew technician, plus a robot. I can’t emphasize enough how cool this set is. Watch the video-review and be amazed! Rocket standing measures over 16” (42cm) high, 4” (11cm) wide and 2” (6cm) deep. Launch Control closed measures over 7” (18cm) high, 5” (13cm) wide and 5” (13cm) deep. Launchpad with closed tower arms measures over 9” (24cm) high, 4” (12cm) wide and 4” (12cm) deep. Monorail track measures over 3” (8cm) high,14” (36 cm) deep and 18” (47cm) wide. 837 pieces. Price: $99.99 – BUY HERE
➡ #60229 LEGO CITY ROCKET ASSEMBLY & TRANSPORT: You might have thought the awesomeness stopped with the last set, but there is more! This is another huge set, featuring a large multi-stage rocket with opening cockpit module and rover payload module, large rocket transport crawler with opening cab, tracks, tilting rocket cradle support and launchpad, rover transport truck with articulated grappling arm and flatbed, and a rover with extending arm and drill bit. It also includes a rocket assembly frame building with crane, rover lab with opening door, raising platform and rotating arm tool, launch control room with rotating satellite dish, computer and rotating screen, plus a ground build with geodes, rock, and a light pole. The seven minifigs are two astronauts, two ground crew technicians, a launch director, scientist, and a lab mechanic, plus we also get a robot figure. Here also, the rocket is modular, so you can configure it in different ways and combine it with modules from the other sets. Rocket laying down measures over 3” (8cm) high, 16” (43cm) long and 5” (13cm) wide. Transport crawler measures over 4” (12cm) high, 11” (29cm) long and 5” (15cm) wide. Truck measures over 3” (8cm) high, 6” (17cm) long and 2” (6cm) wide. Assembly frame building measures over 8” (21cm) high, 11” (28cm) wide and 4” (12cm) deep. Rover lab measures over 4” (12cm) high, 7” (18cm) wide and 7” (19cm) deep. Launch control tower room measures over 4” (12cm) high, 5” (15cm) wide and 2” (6cm) deep. 1,055 pieces. Price: $149.99 – BUY HERE
➡ #60230 LEGO CITY SPACE RESEARCH PEOPLE PACK: If you want to boost the number of LEGO City Space minifigures in some of the other sets, here you can get a bunch of characters in different jobs relating to space travel and exploration. This set also features a spinning G-force astronaut training machine with two seats, treadmill, rocky ground scene, drone with spinning rotor, plant growing pod, robot stand, computer stand, a test rocket with stand, and a robot. The fourteen minifigs include seven astronauts, a reporter, a camera operator, personal trainer, a drone engineer, a rocket engineer, a mechanical engineer, and a botanist. There are also a large number of minifig accessories; some useful like the printed pieces and geodes, and some funny like the alien head on a stick. 209 pieces. Price: $39.99 – BUY HERE
All in all, this is probably the best LEGO Space collection we have gotten for a long time. The color-scheme is pleasing and cohesive, the minifigures are nicely detailed, and the modularity of the entire collection is excellent. There are a few negatives too, like that the white printing on the cockpit pieces doesn’t match the white of the rest of the elements, and that the interchangeable modules are sometimes not as modular as they could have been. But all in all this is an excellent collection that down the road could invoke the same nostalgia in today’s kids that the LEGO Classic Space sets did for the generation of kids growing up in the ’70s.
If you are interested to check them out, all the new LEGO City Space sets are available at the LEGO City section of the Online LEGO Shop.
Speaking about today’s kids, also note that several of the sets come with Instruction Plus instructions available in the LEGO Life app for smartphones and tablets (we talked about this a couple of days ago). The easy-to-use, intuitive digital building instructions let you zoom, rotate, and visualize the models as you build them. Instructions Plus is primarily meant for guiding younger builders through the building process, but it can be enjoyed by older LEGO fans as well. All you need is a smartphone and the free LEGO Life app to access Instructions Plus.
It’s also interesting that Playmobil just recently came out with a whole collection of space exploration sets in their own City line. It includes a large space station, rocket, launch site, space shuttle, research vehicle, rover, and several accessory sets. Although Playmobil is not a construction toy, their themes are very similar to LEGO themes, and the sets are usually modular to allow different configurations. In case of the space exploration sets, they come with removable and interchangeable modules and pods, and in some ways, I like them even better than LEGO’s own arrangements. Anyway, I know that many LEGO fans are also fond of Playmobil, so I thought to mention their new line. I’m including a couple of video-reviews below, so you can see what the Playmobil sets look like.
What do you think? How do you like the new LEGO City Space sets? Are you planning to get any of them? Or perhaps even collect the entire selection? Which one is your favorite set? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below!
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Wow! I need a bigger Lego room. These are fantastic. I especially like the space station build. The Arctic station has always been a favorite of mine. The space station is similar. Great sci fi stuff to fuel the imagination!
So, the choice between space station or space assembly station which one would you pick? If I get the space station , I’ll have enough money to buy other space sets to go with it. But, the space assembly station is unique and different from other space themes in the past. 🤔
Best space sets for some time! The whole series is fantastic. I’m very impressed. Might have to get them all. Santa, please help me!
I have to say I’m not a huge fan (and I love the space theme). The minifigures are great and I’ll definitely be getting both sets of those. The space station is good, but maybe fractionally too small. I wanted to like the rockets and shuttles, but I can’t. The shuttles are either ridiculously out of scale or just not as attractive as previous LEGO shuttle models and the rockets (which I really want to like), are ugly and their modular nature makes it look awkward. Anyway to each their own.
Hm… I like this collection, but I understand not every set appeals to everyone. I do agree that the modularity sometimes feels a little forced and not the most logical.
O k , that it . Playmobil space station is way better than the Lego one. I’m in . I used to collect Playmobil in the early 80s buy, lost interest as I got older. I ‘m back! It’s a perfect excuse to give myself a Lego break.
Have fun! I have some of them already and they are truly nice. 🙂
Wow! Those Playmobil sets look cool. So admin, do you collect Playmobil too?
Yes, I do! Not on a big scale, but I do have a Playmobil Castle/Medieval Town setup, and I also have some of their space sets. 🙂
Can you write about it? I haven’t even seen Playmobil since the 80s! I know this is a Lego blog, but Playmobil is often compared to Lego.
Sure, I can write an article about my Playmobil adventures. 😀
Here in Sweden, it’s been a permanent big seller since the 70’s-80’s, I think there still is a Playmobil section in every larger toy store.
Wow! I’m jealous! Here I haven’t seen Playmobil in ages! But I just looked it up since admin brought it up, and it looks like they have some great sets, and much improved on the designs too. But the figures are still very much recognizable.
Where do you guys buy Playmobil? ToysRUs used to carry them, but I haven’t seen any since they closed. We liked to get some of their sets from time to time.
If you have a Tuesday Morning overstock store, check their toy aisle. My local one has some Playmobil sets, but I have no clue if they’re current, discontinued, or what. They occasionally have LEGO too (and Breyer horses, my other collection/addiction).
https://www.tuesdaymorning.com/ has a store locator
Oh, sweet! Thanks for mentioning that! 🙂
Sometimes barnes& noble has some sets but, not a lot. I did look on Amazon and found some sets there. That’s all I know.
They have their online shop, https://www.playmobil.us/shop-online/shop, where you can purchase all their sets. Shipping is free over $35, and they often have substantial discounts. And they also offer a freebie with every order over $40. The only thing not available through their website is their mystery figures (which is similar to LEGO’s Collectible Minifigs). They also have a really good shopping catalog, which you will receive with every order you place. The shopping catalog is updated twice a year. 🙂
I just went on the playmobil web site and asked for a catalog. I hope it’s free.
Yes, it is free! And once you place an order, you will automatically receive future catalogs, like with LEGO. Also, I highly recommend signing up to their email mailing list. They won’t spam you. Maybe send out an email once or twice a month, whenever they have sales. Their sales are very good. 25-30% off is very common, and they are sometimes even better than that. Compared to LEGO, Playmobil is delightfully cheap even at full price. 😀
I had a discussion with my family. About collecting playmobil sets and they think it’s a step backwards . With Lego you can be more creative in building whereas Playmobil is a set that just has a few pieces that need to be put together. At least I can get the catalog.
Playmobil is more about play than building, so I can understand the reluctance if someone is primarily into building. Playmobil is closer to DUPLO in the sense that there are larger modular sections that come together rather than building with small parts. For example, Playmobil castles are made up of wall sections that can be configured to make differently shaped castles. They are very similar to the DUPLO castles in this regard. But, if you want to add some extra small detail to a castle wall, you can’t do that, just like you can’t do that with DUPLO (unless you mix in some regular LEGO).
Adjusting to Playmobil takes a bit for a LEGO fan. But I also have a giant DUPLO castle, so for me the transition wasn’t that drastic. However, I did toy with the idea of mixing Playmobil with LEGO to add some of the smaller details I wanted. But then I decided to keep it purely Playmobil. (I also keep my DUPLO castle purely DUPLO.) My Playmobil Castle display is only 1×3 feet, but I’m cramming in as much as I can.
Playmobil really have some beautiful sets, especially in the Castle and History line. I don’t intend to get deeply into the hobby as it does take up a lot of space, but I think making a small display is worth it. Anyway, I will write up an article at some point in the near future, and we can discuss it further. 🙂
Yeah, Playmobil is more of a modeling toy. It always has been. Germany has a long history of modeling toys, marketed on a big scale since at least the 19th Century.
What other modeling toys they have in Germany? Can you mention some brands? I’m just curious.
I would be curious to know this too.
Hmm, the one I thought about first is Märklin, which make famous model trains. Then there’s Schleich, who mostly makes figurines and is paricularly famous for producing the Smurfs.
Apart from that, I had to look things up, but I could find Schuco, Fleischmann, Siku, Piko, Christian Hacker, Elastolin and Vollmer/ Viessmann…
Some of those are historical/ bankrupt, though.
Elastolin produced some rather well made miniature Nazi Soldiers during the WWII era, but had to renew their assortment after the WWII, when the old models had become too controversial.
There seems to be rather few German manufacturers of model kits, though. It might mostly be an Eastern European and Asian tradition…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scale_model_kit_manufacturers
That’s a good resource! 🙂
Christian Hacker sounds like an interesting brand name. What do they make? 😀
I think they were an old doll house brand. It was a huge market in the 19th century, but today model trains and to some degree cars seem to be a bigger seller.
http://www.oldwoodtoys.com/hacker.htm
Those are some really nicely made toys. I would love to see a documentary or something like that on old toys like these! There is the Toys That Made Us, but that mostly focuses on American toys.
And they’re a bit later, as well, focusing on the 1970’s and 1980’s, if I recall correctly. But I believe there are plenty of picture books and museums around the world, for the interested.
Hmm, I might possibly buy the minifig pack, and the shuttle polybag if I could get it separately for cheap, but I need to think about both space (as in shelf space) and costs currently, to do much splurging…
*Satellite polybag*, sorry…
Speaking of Playmobil, I see that they now have an in-house theme “Dinos”, which has an ‘evident’ inspiration from Jurassic Park, similar to the Lego “Dino” theme…
I remember that Playmobil earlier shunned away from similar themes, since they thought they were too ‘phantasy’, and wanted at least some basis in reality. At least, they avoided mixing dinosaurs and cavemen, since it was considered unscientific…
Yeah, Playmobil started going towards fantasy a couple of years ago because they realized it sells better. And there is more coming. I’m most sad about their Castle line, which was always based on Medieval European life and was quite realistic. Playmobil Castle started going a bit towards fantasy in the past couple of years, but next year it is going to be even more so. 😐
Oh yeah, I didn’t own a lot of castles as a child, but I think I had a king, maybe a queen, a throne and a few knights with weapons and horses. Also some loose silverware like chalices and dishes.
It also seems the f-spelling is better than ph-, in this case.
Yes, that’s pretty much what we had too. Just some Playmobil figures, and we built our own castles from cardboard, various household items, and other miscellaneous stuff. 🙂
I built (or rather ‘decorated’) my own Futuron base from some rounded styrofoam packaging after my family had bought some stereo or something.
I think one Christmas I received a home made castle for my Lego minifigs that my brother had built from matchboxes and painted plaster, as well.
That is, gypsum plaster gauze…
What a lovely gift! 🙂
Oh! I loved those big stereo boxes! They were like a whole castle or landscape by themselves! 😀