Today LEGO is revealing the newest Ideas set, 21340 Tales of the Space Age. The 688-piece set will feature four vignettes in striking colors depicting sci-fi scenes in a vintage style. The four scenes can be displayed separately or connected together, as well as standing up or hanging on a wall. The set will be available for LEGO VIP members starting May 5, with general availability May 8, and will retail for US $49.99 | CAN $64.99 | UK £44.99.
The set is based on a submission to LEGO’s crowdfunding platform by Jan Woźnica which was chosen in the first 2022 round and we featured back in 2021 when he first entered it into the LEGO Ideas “Out of This World” challenge.
21340 Tales of the Space Age | 688 pieces | Available May 8 (May 5 for VIPs) | US $49.99 | CAN $64.99 | UK £44.99
Here’s the official press release from LEGO:
REACH FOR THE STARS WITH THE NEW LEGO TALES OF THE SPACE AGE
12th April 2023: The LEGO Group unveils a set bound to blast off the shelves – the LEGO Ideas Tales of the Space Age set. Based on minimalistic expression of the romance of the universe, alongside having the same visual style as the classic posters from the 80s, the set colourfully expresses the tales of the space age with a retro graphic made from LEGO bricks.
The four-piece postcard sized set is vibrant and showcases an overarching story of a space shuttle, moon base, black hole, lunar eclipse, different star constellations and more. Additionally, it offers lots of flexibility in how it can be arranged, as each picture is physically independent of the others.
Designed by Poland based, LEGO fan designer Jan Woźnica who is an IT Professional when not building with LEGO bricks. Jan entered the LEGO Ideas ‘Out of This World’ challenge and was inspired by the classic sci-fi posters and book covers when creating this design.
They did not blow it much this time round. But the LEGO designers had to make changes – to justify their paychecks.
P.S. One of them is an instant reminder of this: https://cdn.freebiesupply.com/images/large/2x/london-underground-logo-png-transparent.png.
Tbh….this looks like a gwp rather than a full set to me
Missed opportunity to use black 2×1 bricks with cross-shaped technic axle hole with white techic axle 2L to represent stars. Would have been nice without resorting to printed pieces, especially when the rest of the builds are so clever.
The fourth design is a whiff. If it glows in the dark that’d be something, I guess. The “ring” (If indeed it’s meant to be a ringed planet/moon) should’ve been angled; the way it’s perfectly level does not match the design aesthetics of the other three (Although I see they’ve tried to make the comets/meteors also parallel to the ground in most of these photos, for some bizarre reason. But they can be reoriented, so whatever). The horizon also should’ve gone with only greens instead of mixing in blues, and the ground should not have been pitch black. Bizarre.
Using printed/stickered tiles for stars is straight-up bad. What are we even doing here with these builds if we’re using those?
Making the “ground” dark blue in the meteor/comet one is also a misstep. Now it’s water, but still has radar dishes somehow? Give it literally any other color but a water color (And I don’t like the dishes being black, either; they don’t pop anymore).
Now for my most minor quibble: I preferred the lonely rover not having a structure alongside it. Since I can solve this issue with extraordinary ease, I only mention this to satisfy the completionist within myself.