You know Star Wars and Harry Potter and City and Friends . . . but do you recall the most festive advent calendar of them all? Deborah Higdon‘s LEGO hearts calendar, a response to LEGO’s #BuildToGive campaign, yielded this adorable little wooden reindeer on day 7. The sweet little guy (or gal) looks ready to guide Santa’s sleigh tonight—or just hang on your tree. Take a look at the builder’s Flickr page to follow along as the merry advent calendar continues till Christmas.
Christmas is now, for better or worse, behind us. You know what that means? Hallowe’en is only 44 weeks away! The reason I bring that up is because of Patrick Biggs‘ latest LEGO build. It may seem like a festive build at first – but don’t let that fool you. This isn’t Rudolph; it’s a being known only as R̵̂͠u̶͐͠d̵̈̀o̷͛̈l̴̀̓p̶̅͘h̵̎. And I’ll be honest, it gives me a touch of the heebie-jeebies. The spindly legs, the tentacle-like antlers, the piercing white eyes… Yep, that wreath is not throwing me off: this is definitely an early spooky season build.
What do you get for the LEGO fan who has everything? How about a custom creation. Even a small build can bring large amounts of holiday cheer, as Dan Ko demonstrates here. As part of a Secret Santa gift exchange, Dan called upon his excellent microscale skills to create this LEGO ornament featuring Santa Claus soaring through the air in a sleigh pulled by a single reindeer. Good microscale is about creative part use, and there’s lots of that at work here. The formal minifigure collar as Santa’s beard is a particularly nice touch.
For a number of years, LEGO has been slowly building out its Winter Village Collection with numerous sets featuring Santa and his elves, starting back in 2014 with 10245 Santa’s Worshop, and following up in 2020 with 10275 Elf Clubhouse. This year’s free Gift with Purchase holiday set adds one more elf set to the mix, along with an adorable brick-built reindeer in 40484 Santa’s Front Yard. The 317-piece set will be available this weekend, Nov. 20 and 21, for LEGO VIP members, and then will be available for anyone Nov. 26-29 with purchases of US $170 | CAN $TBD | UK £170 or more from LEGO.
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with a copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
The holiday season is around the corner, which means it’s time for LEGO to reveal this year’s addition to the Winter Village line, 10275 Elf Club House. The perfect sequel to 2014’s Santa’s Workshop, the Elf Club House includes 1,197 pieces, four minifigures, a reindeer pulling a sleigh, toys, gifts, and a Christmas tree. Earlier today we brought you a full, hands-on review of this brand-new set, but here are the official images and press release, along with an interview with set designer Chris McVeigh.
The set will retail for US $99.99 | UK £84.99 | EU €94.99 starting on September 23rd. The eleventh in the series, 10275 Elf Club House is the third fantastical Winter Village set, joining last years’ 10267 Gingerbread House and 10245 Santa’s Workshop from 2014. Continue reading
Another Brickheadz set has been revealed by retailer mir-kubikov. It will be released in the near future for the upcoming holiday season. Mr. and Mrs. Claus will be joined by LEGO set 40353 featuring a Reindeer, Elf, and Elfie. The set comes with add-on builds to complement seasonal scenes.
Click to see the details up close
Not many have figured out that Santa’s portly figure is dreadfully important to making sure he stays firmly in his sleigh at the speeds he needs to cover the world in a single night. A slight miscalculation on dietary needs lands him in trouble. Jason Allemann never ceases to amaze me with his elegant and magical mechanical LEGO builds. They’re often very simple but always hit a home run by capturing just the right details to make to hypnotize. This build has a playful theme with Santa Claus on a sleigh pulled by four reindeer that sway from side to side above a tiny village. It shouldn’t be too hard to spot Rudolph among his other mates and Santa hanging on for deer life.
Play the video below to see it in full action
When a model blends a host of tropes in the way Delayice does in this Xmas build, it sometimes ends up subverting the original theme. Maybe it’s me, but this snowman dressed as Santa has a weirdly uncanny quality–in fact, it’s almost creepy.
Maybe it’s his double whips, clutched in each hand, or then again it might be his glazed eyes, or even the mechanical looking reindeer pulling his tiny sleigh. There’s a thin line between the cute and the strange, and this unique creation brilliantly drives down that line.
