The Brick Show

Malaysian Retailer Has First Images of LEGO Seasonal Santa’s Sleigh (40499)

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Seasonal LEGO sets can be counted on to pop up just ahead of the seasonal holidays of the year. And seeing as this is now September, some new seasonal sets celebrating one major holiday at year’s end are expected. LEGO Seasonal Halloween Owl (40497) came out in August, with Seasonal Penguin (40498) expected in October. Another yuletide-themed seasonal set numbered 40499 has also been rumored. Rather than the buildable cute animal of previous seasonal products, this one is a vehicle build. If you connected “Christmas” and “vehicle” together, then good guess. Santa’s Sleigh is possibly coming up, with images revealed.

Brickset.com was rather reluctant to feature this set, even with the crisp-looking product images. That’s because they found it on a Malaysian online retailer called Mr. Brick Hunt. No release date was given, but they price LEGO Santa’s Sleigh (40499) it at 269.9 Malaysian ringgits. That’s about $65.5 in exact conversion. It sounds like a reasonable price range, at least.

Looking at the set itself, Santa’s Sleigh looks like a pretty solid and varied build. The red sleigh has a driver’s section for Santa, a rear bin for his toys, and even a slide-out trunk. The Santa Claus minifigure himself has his Christmas list in hand. His cargo of presents includes a teddy bear, a pair of skis, a guitar and probably more.

By the way, does that brown box in the back inset photo look like a Sleigh GPS? NORAD must have been giving Santa some up-to-date navigation gear. And it’s not a sleigh without reindeer pulling it. Set 40499 has four buildable reindeer with harness, probably just enough.

It’s a good bet that LEGO Seasonal Santa’s Sleigh (40499) is coming next month. Let’s keep our eyes peeled on October 1, when more new LEGO sets will be released.

LEGO Stores Mexico Provides Clearer Image of LEGO Mini Disney Castle (40478)

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The Magic (in Mini form) is real. For Disney fans and LEGO collectors who feel the Disney Castle set (71040) is too big, they have an alternative. It comes in the form of LEGO Mini Disney Castle (40478), recently confirmed. LEGO even had an image of the box packaging in its official documentation. Of course, being found on a PDF, said image was too small and blurry when blown up. Luckily a better image of the set has surfaced, and from Mexico of all sources.

A big shout-out to Brick Fanatics for catching a recent social media post featuring the Mini Disney Castle. LEGO Stores Mexico posted it on their official Instagram page this past September 6. We get to see the fully-built LEGO Mini Disney Castle (40478) with its included Mickey Mouse minifigure. Superimposed on the picture to one side is the box. The promo image’s Spanish slogans translate: “Your favorite castle in miniature,” and “Look forward to it soon.” Gee, the photo tells more but the text keeps mum on further info.

What we know now

Thanks to the clearer image from LEGO Stores Mexico, we can at least discern some new details. The mini castle, like its bigger 71040 original, sits on a black base. Some colors are different since Disney World likes to repaint their central structure once in a while. Finally, the Mickey Mouse minifigure is actually a bit different from the one with set 71040. The older version had yellow highlights on his tuxedo; this one doesn’t.

The 404 number on LEGO Mini Disney Castle (40478) has hinted that this would be a gift-with-purchase. LEGO Stores Mexico however commented on its IG post that it will launch at their stores. There’s a possibility that it could be both, depending on whether it was store-bought or gotten from LEGO Shop@Home. Again, we wait until LEGO gives more clarification.

LEGO Ideas 2021 Second Review Stage Ends with 34 Submissions for Review

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With LEGO Ideas being a well-established venue for aspiring brick-builders to shoot for designing an official set, the number of submissions to the platform has only increased in recent years. In this Second 2021 Review Stage alone, 34 proposals passed the qualifying period before it ended this September 6. We had the sublime pleasure of featuring some of these winners of 10-K support for review. As expected, the batch is another blend of brilliant original creations and licensed-IP homages. Without further ado, let’s enumerate these hopefuls:

Imperial Island Fort
Movie Set
Lifeguard’s Shack
BTS Dynamite
A-Frame Cabin
Spaceballs
The Costume Store
Boston Dynamics Spot (1:4 Scale Motorized Model)
Medieval Tavern
Tavern Under the Snow
Women of Computing
Working Mini Golf Course
Brick Walk
Medieval Harbor
Floating Island (Tensegrity)
Scooby Doo Mystery Machine
Aircraft Engine Workshop
Airport Fire Truck Rosenbauer PANTHER 8×8
Gamestop Classic Shop
Traditional German Cottage
Outer Solar System
Knight Rider KITT and FLAG Mobile Command Unit
Jaws
Basement & Sewerage
Nyhavn – Copenhagen, Denmark
John’s Medieval Watermill
Carl’ House
The Nanny
Minas Tirith
The Apartment
The Medieval Fortress (Castle)
House of Time (Brick Show feature here)
The A-Team Van and Crew (Brick Show feature here)
Log Cabin

(Other Brick Show enumerated features are here and here.)

There was one new LEGO Ideas proposal that recent received 10,000 supporters. That would be Ralf Ranghaal’s impressive Land Ahoy. It’s a brick-built age-of-exploration map of an island, with 3D terrain, model ship and compass rose. The design is also capable of being rolled up partway, like a real map on parchment.

This submission missed the 2021 Second Review Stage and will be the first on the Third Stage instead. It’ll be interesting to see which of these mind-blowing proposals on Second Stage will get the final approval.

LEGO Ideas Sonic Mania – Green Hill Zone Set Rumored to Come Out Next Year, with Some Changes

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Just because a LEGO Ideas proposal got 10,000 supporters and passed a review stage for production, it doesn’t mean we will be seeing the fruits of that labor soon. LEGO Ideas member toastergrl first proposed her “Sonic the Hedgehog” set in early 2019. It gained 10-K support a year later and went into review. Then this February 2021 LEGO approved it as a new Ideas set. It’s now September 2021 and “Sonic Mania: Green Hill Zone” hasn’t made any further news. When is it coming out then? For now we only have some rumors according to The Brick Fan.

Details about the LEGO Ideas set themed after videogame icon “Sonic the Hedgehog” surfaced in Europe recently. First is the set name, 21331. Next is the possible retail price of 69.99 Euros, or $83.08 in exact conversion. Third is the expected release date, or dates. LEGO Ideas Sonic Mania – Green Hill Zone (21331) will be released either January 1, 2022 or in April. If both dates are valid then the New Year’s Day availability could be for the LEGO VIPs.

As for the set itself, the LEGO Ideas team may have made some alterations to toastergrl’s original design. That is their prerogative when turning an approved proposal into an official set. Apparently they’ve increased the scale of the environment but at the same time made things more “linear.” One feature of the original build was the versatility in connecting the environment pieces. How this will be translated into something linear has yet to be revealed. That is of course if these rumors hold true. Sonic ought to still remain a minifigure while Dr. Robotnik/Eggman and hench-bot Crabmeat are still brick-built. We really could use official word from LEGO about this. Chalk this one up for another speculation to verify later on.

Four Rumored Upcoming LEGO Harry Potter Sets for January 2022, Among them Two New Hogwarts Moments

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LEGO Harry Potter’s 20^th anniversary is such a momentous event for LEGO that its celebration could span a year itself. This 2021 alone saw the release of many impressive sets and extras from the line yet. And from the look of things, there is still more LEGO Harry Potter stuff to come whether in this year, or the next. For instance, Promobricks.de got word of a possible four more upcoming LEGO HP sets due in 2022. Two of them are new additions to the Hogwarts Moment sub-line. That means Potter-fan collectors could assemble a nice shelf-full of LEGO Harry Potter book/play-sets in no time.

The four rumored LEGO sets Promobricks discovered are Hogwarts Moment: Divination Class (75396), Hogwarts Moment: Defense Against the Dark Arts Class (75397), Hospital Wing (75398) and Hogwarts Suitcase (75399). The first two will apparently be of the same book-shaped play-set as the previous Hogwarts Moments. Set 75396 depicts one of Harry Potter’s least favorite classes as taught by Professor Trelawney. Set 75397 is of course the Voldemort-cursed Hogwarts subject, staffed mostly by incompetents and the secretly-malicious, with rare exceptions.

As for the two non-Hogwarts Moment sets, Hospital Wing (75398) appears to be another Hogwarts set-piece. Similar to Hogsmeade Village (76388), Chamber of Secrets (76389) and others, 75398 takes a castle location and expands it. And the Hogwarts hospital is famous for having Harry as a near-regular patient. The last rumored set is Hogwarts Suitcase (76399), replicating a Hogwarts student’s suitcase in brick form. Apparently this set is customizable in appearance to reflect different owners’ Houses, and has a working lock-and-key mechanism. These rumored sets are coming on New Year’s Day 2022, supposedly.

First Image Found of LEGO Mini Disney Castle (40478) Set

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Going into last weekend, the buzz that LEGO was making a mini-version of Disney Castle (71040) had intensified. The LEGO.com Building Instructions portal recently listed an entry for LEGO Mini Disney Castle (40478). It pretty much confirmed the set’s existence and identified it as a gift-with-purchase item. But at the time there were no other bits of info available. There wasn’t even a picture of the assembled set or its packaging; operative word being “was.” As might be expected, the first image of LEGO Mini Disney Castle was released Saturday.

Brickset.com notes that LEGO Mini Disney Castle (40478) now has several declarations of conformity on the LEGO.com Legal section. On the declarations, all dated September 3, is a small image of the set’s box packaging. One can perceive from the grainy details the faithful recreation of the original 71040 set down to minute details. About the only changed details seem to be the gold detailing on the castle’s towers. Then again the Disney theme parks do refurbish the decorations on the actual buildings every now and then. You can compare the look of the 567-piece mini-Castle in the image above, with the 4,080-piece 71040 below.

There’s one other point of reference for scale we can go on. Apparently set 40478 also includes one Mickey Mouse minifigure. He seems to be the same design from 71040, and as we know that set was big enough for minifigs to play in. Mickey standing next to the mini-castle in the box image comes across to be slightly taller than the drawbridge. On a scale like that a LEGO/Disney collector with limited display space may appreciate this possible GWP. Presently, we don’t know what promo/pricing the LEGO Mini Disney Castle (40478) will be attached to. However speculation pegs its release sometime this coming October.

Win the Hottest LEGO Harry Potter 20th Anniversary Sets on this Latest LEGO Ideas Contest

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If the release of some magnificent LEGO sets like Hogwarts Icons – Collector’s Edition (76391) hadn’t clued you in, LEGO is currently celebrating 20 years of the LEGO Harry Potter line. And what better way to spread the joy than for LEGO to give some of their latest HP sets away? But this is not without some effort, of course. LEGO Ideas has launched a contest accepting all Potter-Brick-heads looking to dazzle the Brick Wizarding World. For the 20^th Anniversary of LEGO Harry Potter, what magical build can you offer to win five related sets including Hogwarts Icons – Collector’s Edition (76391)?

As one can gather from the contest details page in LEGO Ideas, the objective is a LEGO Harry Potter MOC. It has to be, according to the contest people, a “magnificent magical creative” build. And as an additional thematic challenge, the build must have the number “20” displayed somewhere. 20 years of LEGO HP and we mustn’t forget. Ideas members looking to participate can present a physical build or one designed via digital tools (eg. LEGO Brick Designer). Only five photos from multiple angles and focused on details and features are needed. For best resolution the shortest edge has to be 1080 pixels at minimum.

This LEGO Harry Potter 20^th Anniversary contest is already running now until October 6. The Grand Prize winner gets these:

Hogwarts™: Polyjuice Potion Mistake (76386)
Hogwarts™: Fluffy Encounter (76387)
Hogwarts™ Chamber of Secrets (76389)
Hogwarts™ Icons – Collectors’ Edition (76391)
Fawkes, Dumbledore’s Phoenix (76394)

Two runners-up will win the following:

Hogwarts™ Icons – Collectors’ Edition (76391)
Limited Edition Minifigures (now numbered 6232944)

So either way, winner or runner-up will receive a guaranteed LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Icons – Collector’s Edition (76391) set. Given delivery delays in North America (mollified only by LEGO Shop@Home US already accepting pre-orders), this might be a more fun way to get this beauty.

Please refer to the contest page for further details and judging criteria. A winner (and the runners-up) will be chosen by on October 21, and officially announced on the 28^th.

LEGOLAND New York Promoted by 95-K-Plus Brick-Built Yellow Cab-Dragon on Streets of NYC

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The LEGOLAND theme parks have weathered the global epidemic that started in 2020 with some poise and dignity. They closed when mandated and resumed operating whenever circumstances and regulations allowed. For LEGOLAND New York, originally set to open in June last year, the pandemic dealt a heavier blow. Not until this May until July that the theme park in Goshen, NY could finally welcome its LEGO-loving guests. And they’re certainly making up for lost time. LEGOLAND New York has been busy promoting itself over the past few weeks. Their latest impromptu attraction is a life-sized fusion of a New York symbol with a LEGOLAND icon.

370 hours, two NYC icons and one life-sized LEGO build living at @LEGOLANDNewYork for all your picture-snapping needs. 📸 🐉 🚖 pic.twitter.com/hVfMXP58Re

— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) September 2, 2021

As detailed in the LEGO Group’s official Twitter page, professional builders have assembled a 1:1 scale brick-built photo-op spot. For the most part it looks like a LEGO New York City yellow cab. Then you notice the LEGOLAND Dragon head on the hood and tail on the trunk. The whole thing was built out of 95,410 LEGO bricks. A professional building team took 370 hours to assemble it. It was recently unveiled on the streets of NYC as an ad for the theme park. By now it’s back in LEGOLAND New York as a new park attraction piece.

It’s easy enough to pose for photos or videos in this LEGOLAND NY Yellow Cab/Dragon brick sculpture. The right side of the “vehicle” is actually wide open, allowing easy access for tourists to sit and pose. This is sure to become a prime photo-op spot at the theme park, which most recently opened its Hotel last August 6. If conditions are cool then a day trip to LEGOLAND New York can cost a minimum $67.99 via online booking. It’s better than the $89.99 price if buying a ticket on the day itself.

HenkvdL05’s A-Team Van is His Second LEGO Ideas Proposal to Get 10-K Support on 2021 Second Review Stage

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We can’t help but feel concerned about the titanic workload the review crew for LEGO Ideas 2021 Second Review Stage. Their most recent proposal that reached 10-K support was at the start of this week. Now we have another one before the week is out (even if this is September and that was August).

This new passer also reinforces a prevailing sense of nostalgia, featuring famous vehicles from 1980s media. There’s Scooby-Doo and the gang with their van, and Michael Knight’s talking super-car alongside their support truck. The latter’s creator HenkvdL05 pulls a hat trick regarding that theme with yet another 10-K submission.

Talk about famous vehicles from 1980s pop media and it’d be a crime to skip “The A-Team.” Sure, the titular crazy-awesome bunch of fugitive ex-soldiers-turned-mercenaries used a nondescript black GMC van with red trim. But what a beauty that rolling arsenal was all the same. HenkvdL05 pointedly designed his build in this proposal around LEGO’s recent (since 2020) 8-stud vehicle width standard. That means this A-Team Van is scaled to standard-sized minifigures. There’s still enough inside room for the minifigs to sit side-by-side in twos. That was pretty much the setup with the A-Team whenever they rolled out.

Of course the main cast of the show isn’t skipping out from their own LEGO Ideas proposal. There’s “Hannibal” Smith, “Faceman” Peck, Mad Murdock and BA Baracus, with appropriate props to boot. They can jump right into the van, which has an easily removable roof for play purposes. The vehicle itself has working doors: driver and passenger, rear, and sliding side-door. Its interior also includes communication and electronic-equipment LEGO pieces to make things lively.

HenkvdL05 now has two proposals aimed at getting a LEGO Ideas set for the 2021 Second Review Stage. And in total, there are over 30 for the reviewers to look over. We can’t help but wonder how many of these proposals will become official at the end of this period.

LEGO Marvel Eternals Sets Confirmed for October Release

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The LEGO Marvel Eternals sets now have a confirmed released date, as confirmed by LEGO’s home shopping portal. LEGO Shop@Home has now officially listed these four tie-in sets, with a release date of October 1st.

Though images of these sets were well-circulated online several months ago, their official product descriptions now give us a better look at what to expect from them once they are made available next month. And the timing of the release couldn’t be better considering that MCU’s Eternals will finally arrive in theaters come November 5th.

There is no option to pre-order the LEGO Marvel Eternals sets, but you may want to add these to your LEGO wishlist right now. And while you’re at it, check out their official images below. You may also click on their respective affiliate links for full product descriptions.