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2021 Fall LEGO Sets Available Now for Pre-Order

by Thita (admin) on July 8, 2021

There are a number of 2021 LEGO sets that are going to be released later this year but are already available for pre-order. While pre-ordered sets don’t get shipped until the actual release date (and you won’t be charged until then either), the benefit is that you don’t have to scramble to place an order when the set is available and risk getting the dreaded out of stock notification. You have the peace of mind that your order is already in, and LEGO will ship it as soon possible. Below is a list of all the sets currently available for pre-order that you can purchase at the Online LEGO Shop.

#10290 LEGO CREATOR PICKUP TRUCK: This set showed up a few days ago at the Online LEGO Shop without any official announcement. This is quite strange, as the large LEGO Creator Expert vehicles always used to get a special press-release. Anyhow, it features a generic 1950s American style vintage pickup truck (no license involved), designed especially for adult LEGO builders. It comes with a stepside bed, opening doors, hood, and tailgate and removable wooden side railings. There are also a bunch of accessories to create a seasonal display; a wheelbarrow with flowers and a watering can for spring, two wooden crates, tomatoes, carrots and a milk pail for summer, a crate with pumpkins for the fall, and a wreath and festive gift for winter. The vehicle measures over 5.5 in. (14 cm) high, 13 in. (33 cm) long and 5.5 in. (14 cm) wide. The set comes with 1,677 pieces and the price is $129.99. You can pre-order it today and it will ship from October 1st at the 18+ section of the Online LEGO Shop.

#10289 LEGO BOTANICAL COLLECTION BIRD OF PARADISE: We talked about this set already (see links at the end of this post), but to recap, it is the third set in the LEGO Botanical Collection (along with the #10280 LEGO Flower Bouquet and the #10281 LEGO Bonsai Tree. It features a brick-built version of a Bird of Paradise in a stylish black pot. It actually makes a really nice looking and unique house plant that you will never have to water (although you might want to dust it off from time to time). As a guide, the tallest leaf limb measures over 18 in. (46 cm) high and the flowerpot measures over 5 in. (13 cm) in diameter. The set comes with 1,173 pieces and the price is $99.99. You can pre-order it today and it will ship from August 1st at the 18+ section of the Online LEGO Shop.

#42126 LEGO TECHNIC FORD F-150 RAPTOR: This set also showed up at the Online LEGO Shop unceremoniously. It features Ford’s 2021 F-150 pickup truck with a V6 engine with moving pistons, plus suspension on all wheels. There are also four opening doors, an opening hood, and truck bed. The model measures over 6 in. (15 cm) high, 16.5 in. (42 cm) long and 7 in. (18 cm) wide, comes with 1,379 pieces, and the price is $99.99. You can pre-order it today and it will ship from October 1st at the LEGO Technic section of the Online LEGO Shop.

#76238 LEGO CLASSIC TV SERIES BATMAN COWL: This set is the latest in the LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Super Heroes helmets and cowls collection. It’s meant to be a display peace for adult collectors, with authentic details and a display stand. The model measures over 7 in. (19 cm) high, 3 in. (10 cm) wide and 4 in. (12 cm) deep, comes with 372 pieces, and the price is $59.99. You can pre-order it today and it will ship from October 1st at the LEGO DC Super Heroes section of the Online LEGO Shop.

#76237 LEGO MARVEL SANCTUARY II – ENDGAME BATTLE: There are quite a few LEGO Marvel Super Heroes sets coming later this year, and this one is already available for pre-order. The four-winged Sanctuary II spaceship features six stud shooters, opening cockpit with pilot’s seat and instrument panel where the mighty Thanos controls the ship. Down below in the cargo room sits the Infinity Gauntlet. The set contains three minifigures: Iron Man with blue power blasts and a shooter; Captain Marvel with fiery power blasts and a shield, and Thanos with a golden helmet and double-bladed sword. The ship measures over 2.5 in. (7 cm) high, 7 in. (18 cm) long and 14 in. (36 cm) wide with 322 pieces. The price is $39.99. You can pre-order it today and it will ship from October 1st at the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes section of the Online LEGO Shop.

LEGO STAR WARS SETS AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER: There are two LEGO Star Wars sets you can purchase now that will ship from August 1st; the #75314 LEGO Star Wars The Bad Batch Attack Shuttle for $99.99, and the #75296 LEGO Star Wars Darth Vader Meditation Chamber for $69.99. They are available for pre-order at the LEGO Star Wars section of the Online LEGO Shop.

LEGO SUPER MARIO SETS AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER: There is a whole collection of LEGO Super Mario sets coming later this year, and two of the most popular ones are already available for pre-order; the #71391 LEGO Super Mario Bower’s Airship Expansion set for $99.99, and the #71387 LEGO Super Mario Adventures with Luigi Starter Course for $59.99. This is the second starter course under the LEGO Super Mario line, with an interactive Luigi figure featuring a color sensor, an LCD screen to display many different instant reactions to movement, and a speaker that plays sounds and music from the video game. Both sets will ship from August 1st, and are available to pre-order at the LEGO Super Mario section of the Online LEGO Shop.

#31121 LEGO CREATOR 3-In-1 CROCODILE: One of the upcoming LEGO Creator 3-in-1 sets that will be released on August 1st is available for pre-order in North America (please note that this set has been available already in other regions). The set features a crocodile with poseable body and opening jaw with accompanying bird and fish skeleton, and it can be rebuilt into a snake with a moving body and jaw, or a frog with an extending tongue and movable legs. The Crocodile measures over 1 in. (4 cm) high, 14 in. (38 cm) long and 4 in. (12 cm). The set comes with 454 pieces and the price is $29.99. You can pre-order it at the LEGO Creator section of the Online LEGO Shop.

What do you think? Are you planning to take advantage of the pre-order period and get any of these sets early? Which one(s)? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below!

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

➡ LEGO SHOP IN USA: Online LEGO Shop USA

➡ LEGO SHOP IN CANADA: Online LEGO Shop Canada

➡ LEGO SHOP IN UK: Online LEGO Shop UK

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Customizing the LEGO Art World Map Mosaic

by Thita (admin) on July 7, 2021

in Featured LEGO Creations

(Written by Geneva – gid617)

When I reviewed the #31203 LEGO Art World Map (see: LEGO Art World Map Mosaic Review), I mentioned that I thought this set had a lot of educational potential. Today we’ll take a look at a few designs I came up with—and maybe I can inspire you to customize the set your way!

As a reminder, the World Map comes with instructions for a bathymetric design that looks like this:

But it also has a lot of extra tiles, especially coral and orange. Coral and orange really stand out though, and I definitely wanted to get rid of them before I started adding stuff. There were almost enough extra greens and blues to replace all the orange and coral. Greenland grew a little.

For my first customization, I traced Ferdinand Magellan’s route around the globe. Magellan was the first to circumnavigate the globe in recorded history—although he didn’t personally make it all the way around. In fact, only twenty-nine of his men made it back home.

Besides removing the coral and orange in order to make the red line stand out more, I also had fun adding a mosaic ship. You could easily do this same kind of thing for other voyages of discovery!

Next I wanted to trace a world empire. The Roman Empire came to mind. But the Roman Empire was actually very small!

So I tossed that idea and did some research to find a larger Empire. Turns out, the British Empire was the largest ever. Depending on how exactly you define areas of control/conquest, the British Empire covered about 25% of the world.

I outlined the British Empire in gold… and ran out of gold, so I went for red plates inside. This would have looked better with a less multi-colored ocean I’m sure.

Besides tracing empires, this technique would be useful for highlighting any country you might be studying.

Now for a third version of the map – which was actually the one I thought of first – I built micro versions of a few famous landmarks and attached them in the right places (more or less). You could get a lot more in depth on this, but since my oceans are still colorful, I wanted to keep the landmarks fairly uncluttered.

If you really wanted landmarks to stand out (you could also try animals, minifigures in different cultural themes, foods from different cultures, what have you), the best thing to do would be to get some extra blue dots and make the oceans less colorful.

After all the scholarly research I had to do for those maps, I couldn’t resist trying something a little more whimsical for my last customization. Arr, me hearties—I built a pirate map!

My line of thought here was: “There’s nothing like enough blue and green, so I’m going to need to use the tan and yellow… hmm… tan and yellow… a parchment border? Pirate map!”

Of course, taking all those dots off and putting them all back down was about as much fun as it sounds. But I went one better and moved the continents down by six studs. Hey, if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it right!

You may also have noticed that I switched the dark blue shadow for a silver shadow. I got that idea from Elspeth de Montes’ map (a great example of an all-blue version of the World Map). I had lots of silver dots, and I wanted to keep the dark-blue in case I needed them for the oceans.

Then I added a few fun things to make the blue and green dots go farther (getting rid of Antarctica meant I had a lot more ocean to cover!). A few of my landmarks stayed, too, and I also hid my initials in the bottom right corner. And I live in South America, so that’s where the X had to go!

If you’re feeling inspired to customize the #31201 LEGO Art World Map, you can find it, along with the other LEGO Art mosaics, at the LEGO Art section of the Online LEGO Shop.

What do you think? Do you agree that the World Map could be a fun way to teach kids some geography and history? Does the map look better to you without the orange and coral? Which of my customizations would you leave on the wall if you were me? Let me know what you think in the comment section below!

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

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2021 Fall LEGO Sets Available Now for Pre-Order

Customizing the LEGO Art World Map Mosaic

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