Welcome all to what may become a monthly roundup of many things plastic and cuboid. This January, we’ve had highs such as the release of the first Stranger Things playset (sorry Brickheadz) in nearly 7 years, and baffling moments such as the 175 USD Lego x Crocs clogs, and even Lego’s newest foray into electronic play: the Smart Brick.
January 1st
January always opens with what must be the highlight of the year for AFOLs all over, one of the biggest new release days of the year! Among the standouts in my opinion were the previously Creel House as well as the newest addition to the modular building series – Shopping Street.
However, far and away the best new release belongs to Speed Champions. If you’re going to treat yourself to a Lego model anytime soon, make it the ‘Time Machine from Back to the Future’ (it’s the Delorean, why did they give the set that name?). You not only get a plethora of prints and the iconic duo in minifigure form, but somehow there was still space in the £22.99 pricetag to fit the necessary pieces to convert the model from the 1st film’s design to the ’Part 2’ design – and that’s not even touching on the elegance and form-factor that has become synonymous with Speed Champs.
Roundup of Reveals
Ocarina of Time – The Final Battle
Let’s open strong with a return to the Kingdom of Hyrule; this 1003 piece set releases for £99.99 ($129.99 USD) on March 1st. Whilst not personally being a massive Zelda fan, I can still appreciate the lengths this set goes to to recreate that final battle with loving attention to detail, without being slavish. Plus, the minifigures are for the most part stellar: Gannon has clearly absorbed the majority of their budget, with his dual moulded legs with print on the side of them (take notes £900 Death Star). The quality on Gannon does not however mean the titular heroine is left lacking, Zelda is an all-round faithful recreation of her in-game model. To round off the Tri-Force weilders is Link, who is unfortunately just a straight re-release of the one from 2024’s Great Deku Tree – could we not have at least gotten a new face, or even the pre-existing ocarina mould.
The Lord of the Rings: Sauron’s Helmet
The Helmet Series has always been a strong staple of 18+ Star Wars, with breif appearances in other themes (Marvel, Batman), and now it’s making its way over to one of the most iconic helmets in fiction. The Sauron Helmet is an all-round impressive and intimidating model, my only quam with the build is the fact the main spikes don’t angle inward – a minor niggle. To make up for that though, a minifigure of the Dark Lord himself is included, a first of its kind for the Helmet Series. Now whilst this is just a re-release of the Barad-dˆur minifig, I have less issue than with the Link because the Sauron figure was practically perfect in every way, and originally came in a significantly more expensive set. However that £64.99 ($69.99) price tag is definitely a tough pill for only 538 pieces. This set releases on March 1st too and is available for pre-order now!
The Lord of the Rings: Minas Tirith
A brief interlude now into something I can’t show you, the $600 Minas Tirith set leaked recently and it’s frankly stunning; a microscale exterior with a minifig-scale throne room from Return of the King and a couple of other rooms dotted around the model. A stellar selection of minifigs are included too, some of the highlights of which being a new King Aragorn, as well as our first official physical Denethor and Faramir figures. This is supposedly lined up for a June 1st release, and an official reveal is imminent. Whilst this will be a most wanted item for many-a-collector, Rivendell will always have my heart.
Pokémon
Now onto what could possibly be the biggest new IP for the Lego group, the pocket-monsters themselves. The £54.99 ($59.99) Eevee is probably my personal favourite of the Pokémon sets, it just what Lego Pokémon should be to a tee: no thrills, just a Pokémon we love in accurate and articulate glory. The Pikachu and Poké Ball on the other hand I’m very mixed on, I love the concept, but find the execution a bit messy, I can’t put my finger on it, but something is just off. I cannot deny the value for money though, 2050 pieces for £179.99 ($199.99) is an all too rare price to parts balance nowadays.
Lastly ‘Venusaur, Charizard and Blastoise’ is a £579.99 ($649.99) set that looks amazing, genuinely amazing. But, and it’s a big one, what is that price? Whilst I can say that amount of Lego you get (6838 pieces) is worth the price tag, I don’t think product of those pieces is; it’s fundamentally a statue of the stage 2 of the 3 original starters, and at that price just seems excessive and locks many out of getting even one of these icons of Pokémon. On top of that, the display base eats a significant chunk of the budget away from the big 3 themselves, and without it, the price could’ve been reduced significantly. Basically, amazing, but pricey as. These all release alongside a Kanto badges gwp (with purchases of the biggest set) and a Pokémon centre Insider reward, available for 2500 insiders points, and are available on the 27th of February or for pre-order today.
Lego Smart Bricks
It feels only right to end off with possibly the most controversial Lego news of the month, the new ’Smart Play’ system releasing March 1st. The initial wave will be of Star Wars sets, including 3 that include a mix of Smart Bricks and minifigs, and another 5 Smart Brick compatible sets, which feature the electronic characters and tags, but lack the brick that ties it all together. So the big question is, does it live up to the hype or the hate? Well, I’ve got an unfortunately unhelpful answer: it’s too soon to know. Even though we are only just over a month from the release of these sets, we haven’t seen full hands on display of anything more than prototypes from people with experience testing the bricks. I think the true testing grounds for these parts will be if they manage to continually engage kids or if they are short lived fad; from a collector’s perspective though, I don’t think these sets are particularly worthy of note, they look frankly ugly, with or without the Smart Bricks – gaping holes, and obnoxious actuators galore. However, assuming the Smart Bricks work as well as promised, the value of these sets are so close to being there, especially compared to Lego Mario and when considering the standard Star Wars tax.
Particularly, I find the Millennium Falcon and Throne Room Duel with A-Wing to be a solid (but expensive) gateway package, being £89.99 ($99.99) and £139.99 ($159.99) respectively, for a total of 7 Smart minifigures, and 2 Smart Bricks included in the throne room. Alternatively, the Darth Vader’s Tie Fighter is the cheapest set to include a Smart brick, at £59.99 ($69.99). However, fundamentally, I find these sets to be perfect for Lego store interactivity tables, and not much else.
That’s all from me this month, it’s been a busy month in the world of Lego, and it’s not looking like we’re getting a break anytime soon, with the reveal of minas tirith in the near future, as well as the official release of a number of new IPs rumoured!
Daniel goes by BrickbuiltDengar online. When not playing Lorcana or building Lego, he’s exploring the wonders of the cosmos.
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