One of the LEGO Speed Champions cars released earlier this year that we overlooked — perhaps distracted by the truly awesome 2016 Ford GT & 1966 Ford GT40 (my favorite Speed Champions set yet) — was 75877 Mercedes-AMG GT3. Before we dig into reviews of the summer 2017 LEGO sets, let’s catch up with this speedy little roadster.
Read the full review after the jump
Even though The LEGO Batman Movie has been in theaters since February, LEGO Batman is back this summer with a whole new wave of sets. Many of the sets this time around feature some of the more spoiler-ish elements of the movie, but nothing that will ruin the movie if you haven’t yet seen it. The flagship of this wave is 70917 The Ultimate Batmobile, which we got our first look at in February at the New York Toy Fair. It’s a massive creation from the film’s turning point that features a Batmobile, Bat-Tank, Batcycle, and Batwing all joined into a rolling fortress for Batman and his cohort. By far the largest of The LEGO Batman Movie sets, The Ultimate Batmobile has 1,456 pieces and will retail for $129.99 USD and should be available June 1.
The set includes 8 minifigures, along with a light-up Batsignal.
The Saturn V moon rocket is a masterpiece of engineering and remains the largest rocket ever successfully launched. Between 1967 and 1973, thirteen rockets left earth, taking us to the moon and building Skylab, the United States’ first space station. So it’s fitting that LEGO Ideas 21309 NASA Apollo Saturn V is the largest Ideas set produced to date, clocking in at a massive 1,969 pieces in an homage to Apollo 11. When countdown ends and the rocket set launches on June 1, 2017, it will retail for $119.99. Included is the Saturn V rocket in three stages, the command and service module, lunar lander, and command module with floatation device.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hit theaters last week, and although LEGO’s tie-in line of sets has been available for a little while, they’re still doing something special to mark the occasion. From now until May 19, if you buy over $35 of LEGO from the LEGO Shop Online or a LEGO store, you’ll get the nifty little mini set 30449 The Milano as a free bonus. It’s got an MSRP of $3.99 USD and has 64 pieces.
It’s a tiny set, but still fun, so we thought we’d give it a review.
If you’re in the market for a small LEGO set with fun colors and minifigures that look as equally at home in space as they do in a medieval castle, look no further than Ruina’s Lock & Roller [70349]. This set retails for $19.99 USD, but is currently on sale on Amazon for $15.99. It has 208 pieces, with the primary feature being a substantially sized vehicle called Ruina’s Lock & Roller (hence, the name of the set). The roller is essentially castle dungeon on wheels drawn by a GargoBike rather than a team of horses. Along with the gargoyle-inspired carriage, this set also includes three minifigures and two NEXO Power Shields (Gorilla Roar and Forbidden Power Wrecking Wrath) which are scannable and provide power-ups in the LEGO NEXO KNIGHTS game.
For long-time Star Wars fans, perhaps the most exciting thing to emerge from the current batch of LEGO Star Wars sets inspired by the Rebels animated TV series is the new Grand Admiral Thrawn minifigure, released as part of the 75170 The Phantom set, which depicts the modified Trade Federation shuttle that replaces the first Phantom part way through season 3.
Grand Admiral Thrawn himself was created by sci-fi author Timothy Zahn in Heir to the Empire, the first book in Zahn’s epic Thrawn Trilogy. TBB spoke with Timothy Zahn at Emerald City Comicon recently, and got his first impressions of the Thrawn minifig, which we’ll share later in our review.
Read the full review after the jump!
Collectible Minifigures Series 17 are due for release May 1 at the standard price of $3.99 USD, but if previous series have been any indicator, lucky shoppers may begin finding them earlier. We’ve already some reports that they’re on sale in LEGOLAND Billund, so if you’re excited about this series, start keeping an eye out now. We brought you an early review of Collectible Minifigures Series 17 a few weeks ago, but now to help you prepare for hunting for your favorite figures, we’re providing a Feel Guide.
As is standard for the Minifigures line, 71018 Collectible Minifigures Series 17 are each packaged in a blind foil bag, preventing buyers from knowing which characters they’re purchasing. That is, unless you use your nimble fingers to prod and poke the bags into revealing their secrets. We’ve already sorted an entire case of Series 17, so we’re here to help you figure out what you’re feeling inside each bag.
Click to read the full Feel Guide
The T-47 airspeeder, adapted for cold weather use on Hoth, is the most memorable Rebel vehicle introduced in The Empire Strikes Back, and has been a staple of the LEGO Star Wars theme. Commonly called the Snowspeeder, this hardy little two-man craft first appeared in LEGO form in 1999, with more than a dozen variations since across a variety of scales. The latest iteration is also the largest, and the Ultimate Collector’s Series 75144 Snowspeeder packs a massive 1,703 pieces. As we announced last month, it costs $199.99 USD and is set to premiere on May the 4th (aka Star Wars Day).
Like other recent UCS sets, the Snowspeeder includes a stand, information placard, and two minifigure pilots. The displayed ship comes in at 16 inches long, 12″ wide, and 9″ tall (41 x 30 x 23 cm).
Let’s see how the Snowspeeder stacks up.
Click to read the full hands-on review
As we reported from Toy Fair in February, the April 2017 LEGO Architecture releases include a redesigned Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (21035). The new LEGO Guggenheim includes 744 pieces and retails for $79.99.
This latest Guggenheim is a new edition of an earlier LEGO Architecture set released in 2009. We’ll compare the two versions later in this review.
With Rogue One: A Star Wars Story available for purchase beginning today, we’re circling back to some of the 2017 LEGO Star Wars sets we haven’t reviewed yet, starting with 75172 Y-wing Starfighter. This is the fifth minifig-scale Y-wing that LEGO has released since 1999 and the largest at 691 pieces.
75172 Y-wing Starfighter depicts a Blue Squadron Y-wing featured during the Battle of Scarif in Rogue One, with five minifigures. The set retails for $59.99.
Read the full review of this Rogue One set after the jump
With seventeen numbered series in, plus another 7 special series, LEGO Collectible Minifigures are just as popular as they were when they debuted 7 years ago. The wide cast of characters in each series, always sporting a variety of new elements, keeps fans coming over and over again. With such an open-ended theme, LEGO designers are nowhere close to running the well dry on popular and recognizable occupations for minifigures. 71018 Collectible Minifigures Series 17, which will be available beginning May 1, draws from this infinite well to add a host of interesting new characters, ranging from a Dance Instructor to a Gladiator. Aside from the box art revealed at the New York Toy Fair, we only got our first look at this series yesterday, so I was delighted to have my review case show up on my doorstep that same day. Let’s dig in, and see what Series 17 has to offer.
This year, the LEGO Technic theme celebrates a remarkable date — 40 years since the first Technic sets hit the store shelves in 1977. To mark that occasion, LEGO prepared a couple of surprises for the theme’s fans: a commemorative 1×3 white Technic beam with “40 1977-2017” print included in every set released in 2017, plus something truly touching — a remake of the legendary 8860 Car Chassis set from 1980.
After the instruction booklet became available online earlier this week, every LEGO fan can build his or her own modern copy of the iconic set using pieces from three 2017 Technic sets — 42057 Ultralight Helicopter, 42061 Telehandler and 42063 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure. The total price of these sets is about $120 USD/95€ for which you will get 4 vehicles at once. At the same time, those with a vast collection of Technic pieces will be able to build their own copy of the classic chassis without getting any new sets, although it would be quite a challenge to get all the pieces in correct colors. The chassis consist of 572 pieces, which sets the model right behind the 42063 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure in this year’s line-up with a price tag of approximately $50 USD/45€.
Read the full review of this unique LEGO Technic set
