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April 2024 – New LEGO Sets & Promotions

by Thita (admin) on April 1, 2024

Happy April! Spring is here! LEGO just released a bunch of new sets and there are also a couple of new freebies, so let’s take a look at what’s new this month!

FREE GIFT-WITH PURCHASE SETS: You will get the #40683 LEGO Flower Trellis Display with purchases of $150 or more until April 16th. And if you purchase the newly released #21348 LEGO Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale by April 7th, you will receive the LEGO Dungeons and Dragons Mimic Dice Box for free.

LEGO BATMAN SET NOW AVAILABLE: The #76271 LEGO Batman: The Animated Series Gotham City is now available. This 4,210-piece backdrop measures over 30 in. (76 cm) wide. It incorporates 15 removable panels that reveal the inside of Wayne Manor, the Batcave, and Arkham Asylum, and the activities of numerous villains from Batman: The Animated Series. The set also includes 4 minifigures – Batman, The Joker, Harley Quinn, and Catwoman. A removable Batmobile and Batwing are also included. The assembled model can be mounted on a wall or stood on a surface using a flip-out stand. The 2 sets of included building instructions allow 2 people to work on the model simultaneously. Price: $299.99. Available at the LEGO Batman section of the Online LEGO Shop.

LEGO CITY SPACE SET NOW AVAILABLE: The #60439 LEGO City Space Science Lab is now available. This is an additional set to the new LEGO City Space collection and features a fold-out domed laboratory that unveils a series of rooms, including a botanical tower of alien plants, a control room with 2 workstations, a sleeping quarters, and a kitchen with juice and water dispensers. The set also includes a planet exploration vehicle with wheelchair access, a food-delivery drone, 2 space crew minifigures, and an alien figure for futuristic play. Price: $34.99. Available at the LEGO City section of the Online LEGO Shop.

LEGO FRIENDS SPACE SET NOW AVAILABLE: LEGO Friends is also getting a new space exploration-inspired set. The #42602 LEGO Friends Space Research Rover is now available. It tells the story of Olivia and William, exploring an uncharted planet. They’re searching for signs of alien life and the rover with wheels has everything they need, including a toy science lab and hover scooter. Price: $49.99. Available at the LEGO Friends section of the Online LEGO Shop.

LEGO DUNGEONS & DRAGONS SET NOW AVAILABLE: The much talked about #21348 LEGO Dungeons & Dragons: Red Dragon’s Tale set is now available. It features a buildable tavern with a removable roof and an upper level for easy access, a dungeon and a tower, plus a posable Cinderhowl the Red Dragon figure that can be wrapped around the tower. The set also includes 6 minifigures – 4 brave adventurers, an innkeeper, and a dragonborn – plus lots of monster figures, including a beholder, an owlbear, and a displacer beast. Each minifigure, apart from Alax Jadescales, has an alternate head so you can choose your own look. Price: $359.99. Available at the LEGO Ideas section of the Online LEGO Shop.

LEGO MARVEL SUPER HEROES SETS NOW AVAILABLE: There are a couple of new construction figures for Marvel fans; the #76284 LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Green Goblin for $34.99, and the #76298 LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Iron Spider-Man for $29.99. Available at the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes section of the Online LEGO Shop.

LEGO TECHNIC SET NOW AVAILABLE: The #42196 LEGO Technic Lamborghini Huracan Tecnica Orange is now available. Its features are designed to thrill fans of super sports car toys and include a replica V10 engine, opening doors, and steering. Price: $49.99. Available at the LEGO Technic section of the Online LEGO Shop.

Although this month is not as full of new sets as previous months, several amazing sets remain to put on your wish-list. Also, remember all the other cool new sets released this year. There is plenty to choose from!

What do you think? Are you excited about any of the new sets? And are you planning to get any of them? Feel free to share and discuss your favorites in the comment section below!

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

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Brick Breakdown: LEGO Creator Red Fox

by Thita (admin) on March 30, 2024

in Other LEGO Sets & Themes

(Written by William)

I always had a love/hate relationship with the LEGO Creator line. It is a series of sets prioritizing building in its purest form, offering two or three alternate models. This diversity is, of course, a positive aspect, as you get more building experience for your money. However, it is also a weakness as the models often compromise on the design to accommodate all alternate builds. This has been especially true for sets featuring brick-built animals. But then something changed…

A year or so ago, I built the #31129 LEGO Creator Majestic Tiger. It contained a level of detail I’ve only found in the highest-priced LEGO Creator Expert sets. It made me question what I thought I knew about LEGO Creator. So, when LEGO offered us the chance to review the new #31154 LEGO Forest Animals: Red Fox, I jumped at the chance to check it out.

The set even has the same $49.99 price point as the Majestic Tiger as well as the same 9+ age recommendation. Thus, I was curious to see if LEGO designers could duplicate the awesome design and building experience of the Majestic Tiger set. So, let’s dig in and see just what this set offers.

LEGO CREATOR RED FOX – THE SCULPT

A big problem I have had with past LEGO Creator animals has been with the shaping and detail work. Normally, the lines of the creature are correct, but the texture is just not right. This is no surprise since LEGO parts are, by their nature, hard bits of plastic. Thankfully, over the years, LEGO released a wide range of interesting pieces with angles and slopes that are great for shaping.

In this set, the most notable shaping elements are the various tooth-style pieces. By layering these parts, LEGO designers were able to create the rough spiky tufts of fur that make up the coat of the Red Fox. They even managed to use some of the distinct fang elements off the side of the fox’s head for this purpose. Add to this a variety of slopes and angled wedge plates and the result is something that practically looks fuzzy.

After building the model, I personally had to make sure that it was indeed rated for a 9+ builder. My impression was that it was for someone a bit more advanced. While most of the older LEGO Creator animals felt like the end product was a toy to play with, the fox is much more like a piece of art to display.

LEGO CREATOR RED FOX – THE ARTICULATION

The next big area I’ve had issues with when it comes to LEGO Creator animals is the articulation. It is not the fact that they don’t have it. In fact, most LEGO Creator animals have a good deal of articulation. Rather, the problem stemmed from how over-exposed the joints often are.

To get a full range of movement, it is necessary to let the joints move. This means giving them a bit more space to operate. This has been a big detractor for me since those joints became unavoidably obvious and gave the product an often creepy quality.

So you can imagine my shock when I saw how LEGO designers solved this issue in this set. In previous articles in this series, I’ve mentioned collaring a joint. This is where you build up a shield to hide the joint. This method often restricts the capability of the joint but it highly increases its aesthetic value. This technique worked especially well in the #76217 LEGO Groot statue. However, what do you do if you still need a decent amount of flexibility? Simple; add another joint.

In the fox, the neck section contains two ball-joints, and both are hidden away. The head covers most of the small ball-joint that connects to the top of the neck so it doesn’t need that much hiding. This is good since that’s where most of the head movement comes from. However, the neck is connected to the main part of the body using a large ball-joint and plenty of fancy collaring.

This collar is built at an angle since it needs the neck to angle out from the body. This still allows for a bit of twisting in that transition space, giving the fox a remarkable amount of flexibility. This style of compounded joint usage is also seen in the back legs of the fox. Each of the legs has four joints which help create a realistic sitting and standing pose. Overall, only where the tail connects in with the body do you see a truly exposed joint.

LEGO CREATOR RED FOX – FINAL THOUGHTS

I didn’t mention this before, but when you build the fox, you will also build an extra little nature scene. It is a snowy landscape with a mushroom on one side of a broken stump with new growth on the other side. It really solidifies the scene of time and place where you can find the red fox.

Despite it not being too difficult to put together, the stump has a fresh feeling about how it is shaped. Just like the fox’s fur, the designer of this model was a master at using elements to create an elegantly imperfect shape.

In the end, the main advertised model of this set really holds up well. It has an exquisite look that makes it perfect as an art piece with the option of two other animals. And it does this at a fairly reasonable price. You truly get an expert-level building experience here. In the video below, I talk about the set in a bit more detail.

So, if you’re like me and mostly wrote off getting any LEGO Creator animals, you might want to give this one a second look. And even if you are not happy with the end result, you’re still getting a wide range of earth tones that cost a little over $0.07 a piece, which is a phenomenal price for parts. At the very least, the LEGO Creator Forest Animals is one series I won’t be ignoring. If you would like to check it out, it’s currently available at the LEGO Creator section of the Online LEGO Shop.

What do you think? How do you like the LEGO Creator 3-in-1 animal sets? Do you have a favorite so far? And what do you think of the LEGO Creator Red Fox? Do you have it already? Are there any other interesting building techniques you have noticed in the set? Feel free to share your thoughts and own reviews in the comment section below!