Category Archives: News

LEGO Introduces Tyres Made From Fishing Nets

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After a week in which the news has been dominated by two classroom bullies picking on the clever kid because he doesn’t have the latest sneakers, we’re in need of some good news. And, thanks to LEGO’s ongoing journey towards more sustainable products, we have some!

LEGO bricks, made from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, are a ‘virgin’ plastic; non-biodegradable, and crude oil based. Which means they last for ages, but are created by drilling through the earth’s crust and sucking out the carbon-intensive liquid dinosaurs within.

Experimentations with recycled plastics have so far not yielded environmental improvements (and massive respect to LEGO for saying so), but this week the world’s largest tyre manufacturer (yes, that’s LEGO!) announced a breakthrough in their tyre technology,

“Indistinguishable from the existing tyres fans know and love”, LEGO have developed a new compound made from 30% recycled materials, including old fishing nets (a scourge of our oceans), rope, and used engine oil.

Due for roll-out (hah!) in 2025, 120 different LEGO sets are due to adopt the new tyres, which means if you buy a six-wheeled set such as the LEGO Technic 42203 Tipping Dump Truck, the equivalent of two of its tyres are completely recycled. And better yet, a little less fishing net will be indiscriminately killing marine life.

You can read The LEGO Company’s full press release about their new recycled material tyres at the LEGO Newsroom, and today we like LEGO even more than we did before.

Brickshelf Stay of Execution

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A few weeks ago we published the news that due to the passing of its founder, Brickshelf – and the two-and-a-half decades’ of Lego creations it stored – would cease to be available on March 1st 2025.

Unchanged since the turn of the millennium, Brickshelf was a time capsule for both the Online Lego Community and the internet itself, with both the site and the creations it housed being rather basic, right-angled, and unsophisticated. And it was excellent.

Admirably the estate handling Brickshelf’s cessation took the approach of alerting its users to the impending closure*, a message sites like this one could amplify (which we duly did on January 30th), allowing users to retrieve their images, and maybe even a new owner to be found.

Just two days on from our post, and Brickshelf’s alert was amended to include the following update;

“The initial notice generated many responses, including people interested in purchasing Brickshelf. Based on this response the estate will plan to keep Brickshelf online through mid April as discussions move forward with interested parties to purchase Brickshelf”

Whether or not new ownership is successfully established, this reprieve does provide users with a longer period to retrieve their images should they wish to, but of course we hope that this news means that the first (and last remaining) dedicated creation-sharing website may yet live on…

*See Sean Kenney, it’s not hard.

Fairwell Brickshelf

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As of 1st March 2025, Brickshelf is dead.

Older than YouTube, Facebook, Amazon Prime, and some of you reading this, Brickshelf has served the Online Lego Community for two-and-a-half decades.

With almost five million files across 430,000 albums, countless creations are hosted on Brickshelf and nowhere else. In particular these date from decades past, giving a glimpse into a time before unlimited parts access, digital designer, high resolution photo editing, and even many LEGO piece types themselves.

Many creations on Brickshelf therefore look rather right-angled, basic, and poorly presented by today’s standards, but – dare we say it – they were probably more fun. There was no pressure to find the perfect pieces, pay an extortionate price for them on Bricklink, nor spend hours in a home studio getting the lighting just right. You built, you published, and that was it.

That really was it too, as Brickshelf had no comments function, no html, no messaging, no groups, and not even the ability to use the spacebar in folder titles. It was simply a giant library of creations, and has stayed that way over the last twenty-five years. If you’d like to see not just what Lego creations were like at the turn of the millennium, but websites too, take a look at Brickshelf!

Time to do so is short however. Sadly Brickshelf’s founder Kevin Loch passed away last year, and thus his estate has begun the process of closing the site. Unless a buyer offers to take it on, access to Brickshelf and the five million files within it will cease on March 1st 2025, whereupon it will join MOCpages in the graveyard of creation-sharing websites.

Unlike MOCpages however, Kevin Loch’s estate have notified Brickshelf users ahead of time, providing the opportunity to retrieve files, maybe find a buyer, and meaning that even a dead guy has managed to do a better job than Sean Kenney did.

For us here at The Lego Car Blog it means one fewer place to send our Elves in search of the best Lego vehicles the web has to offer, and that from 1st March 2025 any links to Brickshelf will no longer function, including those in this post.

Until then, we’d like to say a big posthumous thank you to Brickshelf’s creator Kevin Loch, and to his estate for handling its cessation with thoughtfulness and care. And to our readers; click here take a look at Lego-building circa-2000 whilst you still can!

LEGO Technic H1 2025 | Set Previews

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It’s a few weeks before Christmas
And all through LEGO’s HQ
TLCB Elves have been sneaking
Finding sets to preview.

Yes it’s that time of year once again, when a crack team of ‘volunteer’ Elves are thrown over the LEGO Company’s perimeter wall to uncover next year’s new Technic sets. This is the complete H1 2025 Technic line-up!

42197 Backhoe Loader

LEGO Technic 42197 Backhoe Loader

We kick off the 2025 Technic range with this, the new 42197 Backhoe Loader. A neat counterpart to last year’s 42163 Heavy-Duty Bulldozer, 42197 includes a raising front bucket via a worm gear and a roof mounted cog, a posable backhoe, and deployable stabilisers. Just 104 pieces are needed, it’s aimed at ages 7+, and it fulfils the starter-set brief beautifully.

42198 Bush Plane

LEGO Technic Bush Plane 42198

Trebling the piece-count is the 42198 Bush Plane, a welcome and too-rare foray into fixed wing aircraft.

Aimed at ages 8+, 42198 includes a flat-4 piston engine linked to the propellor and powered – we think – by an intriguing push-beam mechanism that simultaneously operates working ailerons (flaps) that flip in opposing directions to make turns.

Besides the rather clunky-looking landing gear, 42198 looks like an excellent small-scale set, with zebra-stripe stickerage and some good parts too, including propellor blades, new white beams, and a surprising number of gears. We like.

42199 Monster Jam DIGatron & 42200 Monster Jam ThunderROARus

After a short break away from Monster Jam for the Pull-Backs, LEGO is returning to the partnership for 2025. And that’s no bad thing, as these sets are really only designed for one purpose; being launched down a hallway and over a ramp made of books and a cereal box.

42199 Monster Jam DIGatron and 42200 Monster Jam ThunderROARus will no doubt perform said task admirably, and – outfitted with both stickers and teeth – they’re perfect for their 7+ target.

42201 Deep-Sea Research Submarine

On to one of 2025’s most unusual Technic sets, the 413-piece 42201 Deep-Sea Research Submarine. Reminiscent of the largely forgotten 1997 Divers sub-theme, 42201 looks rather un-Technic-y, despite being constructed almost exclusively from Technic pieces. A selection of cogs operate the pitch of the propellors and the grab-arm, and you’ll be able to scoop up the remnants of the Ocean Gate Titan when 42201 dives into stores from January 2025.

42202 Ducati Panigale V4 S Motorcycle

Wait, haven’t we done this already? Almost.

The 42202 Ducati Panigale V4 S moves one letter down the alphabet from 2020’s 42107 Ducati Panigale V4 R, and in doing so ups the piece-count by a thousand, the target age by eight, and the price by $100.

Measuring over 40cm long, the new 1,600-piece Ducati will arrive with a foot-operated three-speed (plus neutral) gearbox, a V4 engine chain-linked to the rear wheel, functioning steering, and working suspension, plus some spectacular looking bodywork.

Joining LEGO’s previous 1:5 scale Technic motorcycles (the 42159 Yamaha MT-10 SP and 42130 BMW M 1000 RR), the new 42202 Ducati Panigale V4 S is expected to cost around £170/$200 when it arrives next year, and whilst it does look to somewhat repeat its smaller 42017 brother, there have been dozens of red Ferrari sets to date, so a second (and much larger) Ducati is fine by us.

42203 Tipping Dump Truck

We complete* the new 2025 Technic line-up with a neat mid-size truck of the type LEGO has built for decades. The new 462-piece 42203 Tipping Dump Truck features ‘HOG’ steering, and hand-cranked tipper, and, um… that’s it. Perhaps for £45 we’d have hoped for some basic oscillating suspension or something, but we’re in the minority. LEGO know it’s aesthetics that sell their products today, even Technic ones, and thus 42203 likely loses that extra feature in favour of decals and visual detail. And on those counts it scores rather well.

Aimed at ages 9+, the new 42203 Tipping Dump Truck will join the rest of the new Technic range in stores from early next year, with a few of the new sets (including this one) available to pre-order via the official LEGO website from now.

*Plus of course the 42204 Fast & Furious Toyota Supra Mk4, 42205 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray and 42206 Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 F1 car sets already revealed here at The Lego Car Blog, and the enormous new LEGO Formula 1 line-up of which the latter is part.

LEGO Technic 42204 Fast & Furious Toyota Supra MK4 | Set Preview

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Aaaand here it is! Probably the most over-hyped car in history, the source of a million internet arguments, and a vehicle countless LEGO fans have been waiting for ever since the company secured both ‘Fast & Furious’ and Toyota licensing rights. It’s that Toyota Supra; this is the brand new LEGO Technic 42204 Fast & Furious Toyota Supra MK4!

So does 42204 live up to enormous weight of expectation? Nope. Which makes it the perfect metaphor for the real thing. And after LEGO’s 42206 Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 F1 Car snuck in three-hundred more pieces than its Ferrari counterpart for the same cost (just like the real Red Bull F1 car), we’re beginning to think LEGO have a mighty good sense of irony.

Aimed at ages 9+ and with 810 pieces, the new 42204 Fast & Furious Toyota Supra Mk4 is rather smaller than its movie contemporary the Technic 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger from a few years ago. And nowhere near as good.

It is instantly recognisable though, in lurid orange, with truncated bodywork decals that are every bit as terrible as those on the real car, plus a load more for the intercooler, vents, side windows, rear lights, license plate… Still, if we were nine and LEGO asked us how ‘How many stickers would you like?, we’d have said ‘Yes’ too.

A working inline-6 engine, steering, removable targa roof, opening hood, and NO2 canisters in the trunk also feature, and you’ll be able to get your hands on the new LEGO Technic 42204 Fast & Furious Toyota Supra MK4 set for around £55 when it races into stores in March 2025.

For us, it’ll probably stay on the shelf. But LEGO know what they’re doing, and in targeting 42204 at the 9+ age bracket they’ll likely sell every one they can make. And that – considering said consumers were born fourteen years after the car’s appearance in the first ‘Fast & Furious’ movie – says everything about the appeal, and hype, of an orange Toyota Supra Mk4. Even if the reality doesn’t match it.

LEGO Technic 42206 Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 F1 Car | Set Preview

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Following our huge preview of the all new LEGO Formula 1 range, encompassing all ten teams and spanning themes from Duplo to Technic, there’s one more Formula 1 set that escaped the reveal. This is the brand new LEGO Technic 42206 Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 F1 Car!

Yes, like Red Bull evading the Formula 1 budget cap, or their team principal dodging responsibility for sexual misconduct, this new flagship Technic Formula 1 set eluded last week’s reveal. Although perhaps LEGO were waiting until Max Verstappen had wrapped up the Drivers’ World Championship for more clout.

Whatever, 42206 joins the equally-sized 42207 Ferrari SF-24 F1 Car previously previewed, and brings Verstappen’s title-winning F1 car to the Technic range. Like the Ferrari, the new Red Bull RB20 is aimed at ages 18+ and features a working V6 engine with spinning MGU-H unit, a two-speed gearbox, steering, suspension, operational rear-wing DRS, replica (although equal-width) Pirelli slicks, and a billion stickers.

Much like the real Red Bull F1 Team, the new 42206 set manages some trick accountancy too, costing the same €229.99 / $229.99 / £199.99 as its Ferrari counterpart, but with three-hundred more parts (although we’re not sure where they’ve all gone). How’s that for attention to the back-story! Thus if price-per-part is your thing, 42206 is the better value of the two 2025 Technic Formula 1 flagships.

You’ll be able to get your hands on the new LEGO Technic 42206 Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 F1 Car when it races into stores in March 2025, joining the rest of an expansive LEGO Formula 1 line-up.

LEGO Formula 1 2025 | Set Previews

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LEGO have long dabbled in officially-licensed Formula 1 sets. Tie ups with Scuderia Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and others in recent years have strengthened the collaboration, but today we have an announcement on a whole different scale. Partnering with Formula 1 itself, as well as all ten individual teams within it, we can reveal no fewer than thirty-one new Formula 1 licensed sets, spanning Duplo, City, Speed Champions, Technic, Icons, and even pocket-money Collectables (as per the Minifigure Series). This is the brand new LEGO Formula 1 2025 line-up, and it’s massive!

LEGO Technic 42207 | Ferrari SF-24 F1 Racing Car

We kick off the new 2025 Formula 1 line-up with the largest set in the range, the Technic 42207 Ferrari SF-24 F1 Racing Car.

Constructed from over 1,300 pieces and aimed at ages 18+ (thereby making it acceptable for dads to buy one), 42207 recreates Ferrari’s occasionally-winning 2024 racing car with authentic livery decals, replica printed (but inaccurately equal-width) Pirelli tyres, working steering, all-wheel suspension, a V6 engine with a spinning MGU-H unit, functional rear-wing DRS, and a two-speed gearbox.

Despite being a six gears short of the real deal, the rest of the specs look pretty good, and you can get your hands on 42207 for the not inconsiderable sum of €229.99 / $229.99 / £199.99 when it races into stores in March 2025.

…

LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell

From a car near-ish to the front of today’s Formula 1 grid to the one absolutely at the front of it some 32 years ago, this is the brand new LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell set.

Also aimed at ages 18+ because, you know, the whole dad thing, the new 10353 set brings one of the greatest moustaches in racing history to the LEGO Formula 1 line-up. Oh, and the utterly dominant Williams Racing FW14B.

Recreated from almost 800 pieces, 10353 brings the legendary Williams-Renault FW14B to life with working steering, a detailed (although static) replica of the V10 engine that powered it, authentic (and – hurrah! – staggered width) Goodyear slicks, plus some wonderfully accurate period decals. Except the tobacco ones of course.

It also includes a definitely-not-to-scale approximation of the man who drove it to the 1992 World Championship, which frankly feels like a missed opportunity. Imagine how good the brick-built moustache could be if Mansell was scaled appropriately.

Missed moustache maximisation aside, the LEGO Icons 10353 Williams Racing FW14B & Nigel Mansell set looks to be a decent addition, joining the Icons 10330 McLaren MP4/4 & Ayrton Senna set already on sale, and correcting that set’s equal-width tyre flaw. Expect 10353 to cost €79.99 / $79.99 / £69.99 when it arrives in March 2025, which seems like rather a lot. But then Mansell’s moustache probably needs license all of its own.

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LEGO Speed Champions 77242 Ferrari SF-24 F1 Race Car / 77243 Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 F1 Race Car / 77244 Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS W15 F1 Race Car / 77245 Aston Martin Aramco F1 AMR24 Race Car / 77246 Cash App VCARB 01 F1 Race Car / 77247 KICK Sauber F1 Team C44 Race Car / 77248 BWT Alpine F1 Team A524 Race Car / 77249 Williams Racing FW46 F1 Race Car / 77250 MoneyGram Haas F1 Team VF-24 Race Car / 77251 McLaren MCL38 F1 Team Race Car

Lego Speed Champions Formula 1 2025

Yes, every single team on the 2025 Formula 1 grid will be available in LEGO Speed Champions form!

Averaging around 260 pieces, each 2025 Speed Champions Formula 1 Race Car set does a pretty good job of replicating its real world counterpart, with unique mini-figure drivers, accurate sponsorship liveries (recreated via a lot of stickers), and decent effort made to reflect the subtle nuances in design between the teams.

Each will cost around $27 / €27 / £21, with all aimed at ages 10+ and perfectly placed for the pocket-money demographic. Except – weirdly – the cars wearing Red Bull branding, which quietly state an age of 18+. If ever there was proof needed that energy drinks are bad for you…

All ten of the new Speed Champions Formula 1 sets look like they’ll be an enormous hit (we might even buy ourselves the 77245 Aston Martin Aramco F1 AMR24 Race Car, if just to recreate various acts of Lance Stroll stupidity in the office), and you’ll be able to get your hands on each of them from March of next year.

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And that’s not all! For LEGO fans under ten, a further twelve 29-piece Formula 1 collectible sets and six Formula 1 City sets, encompassing all ten teams, will launch in January 2025, plus for really young builders there’s even a Formula 1 Duplo set joining the line-up too.

It’s perhaps the post comprehensive licensing partnership LEGO have delivered yet, and with Formula 1 teams and the stupid sponsorship branding that accompanies them (Cash App VCARB being the current most egregious example) changing so regularly, there’ll be no shortage of new liveries and teams to keep the LEGO Formula 1 line-up perpetually fresh.

LEGO Icons 10335 The Endurance | Set Preview

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The LEGO Icons range has brought some spectacular real-world vehicles to the hands of LEGO fans. The Corvette, Countach, Camaro, Concorde, and many more besides have been recreated brilliantly in brick form to date, but we didn’t expect the next set in the Icons range to be a 1912 Norwegian three-masted schooner. And nor for it to be quite so wonderful. This is the LEGO Icons 10335 Endurance.

Now lying at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, the ‘Endurance’ carried Sir Ernest Shackleton and a crew of twenty-seven to the edge of Antarctica in 1915, where the ship became trapped in pack ice and was slowly crushed.

Neither Shackleton nor his crew were lost in the sinking, surviving an incredible feat of, well… endurance, to make it to Elephant Island in three of the ship’s small boats in April of 1916, before Shackleton braved the open ocean once again to reach South Georgia and raise a rescue party.

Recreating the ship at the heart of the amazing Antarctic survival story, the brand new 10335 set is constructed from over 3,000 pieces, includes ten sails and rigging, and an intricate multi-level deck with stairs, cabins, a steam engine, an operational rudder, and the Endurance’s four detachable lifeboats (three of which made that astonishing journey in 1916).

Costing £229.99 / €269.99/ $269.99, the new LEGO Icons 10335 The Endurance is certainly a set aimed at adult collectors rather than children or casual fans, but it just might be LEGO’s most beautifully executed replica yet. It reaches stores at the end of November 2024, some 108 years after the crew of the Endurance were finally rescued from a remote island in the Southern Ocean.

Lando Drives a Life-Size LEGO McLaren P1

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LEGO’s near 4,000 piece (and near £400) 42172 Technic McLaren P1 set is pretty big. This one however, is rather bigger.

Constructed from a steel frame and over 342,000 LEGO pieces, this astonishing life-size LEGO McLaren P1 took a team of twenty-three specialists from both LEGO and McLaren 8,344 hours to develop and build.

Powered by 768 LEGO Power Functions motors and a car battery, this full-scale replica of one the world’s most iconic hypercars is the first life-size LEGO model to lap a racetrack. In fact, it is the first life-size LEGO model able to steer at all, and who better to steer it than race-winning McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris.

Rumoured to be capable of around 40mph, the life-size LEGO P1 may not quite be able to match the real McLaren’s 217mph top speed, but watching Lando pilot it around the Silverstone Grand Prix track is perhaps even more exciting than watching him driving his usual wheels.

Take a look at LEGO and McLaren’s incredible feat of engineering in the video below, and click the link above to check out the rather smaller (but still pretty impressive) McLaren P1 you can own for yourself.

LEGO Technic Mercedes-Benz G 500 Professional Line | Set Preview

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The Lego Car Blog Towers is surrounded by Mercedes-Benz G-Wagens. And none of them look like this. This is the brand new 42177 Technic Mercedes-Benz G 500 PROFESSIONAL Line!

Available from today, LEGO’s latest 18+ set brings one of the world’s most iconic, and douchiest, 4x4s to the Technic range.

Constructed from 2,891 pieces, 42177 is one of the largest officially-licensed car sets yet, and is packed with working functions. These include a six-cylinder engine, all-wheel suspension, all-wheel-drive with two working diff-locks, functioning steering, a D-N-R gearbox with high/low transfer, opening doors, tailgate and hood, new off-road tyres, and a host of off-roady accessories.

It also looks properly accurate, no doubt helped by the G-Class’s breeze-block proportions, with some subtle stickerage to enhance the realism.

So why doesn’t it look like any of the actual G-Wagens that surround our office? Because it isn’t a matt-black private-plated AMG G 63. And for that alone, we love it.

The new LEGO Technic 42177 Mercedes-Benz G 500 PROFESSIONAL Line is available now, and you can get your hands on the only six-cylinder not-black G-Class we’ve ever seen for £220/$250.

LEGO Technic 42172 McLaren P1 | Set Preview

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LEGO’s long-standing relationship with McLaren has borne all manner of models over the years, from classic Formula 1 cars to Extreme-E racers, and life-size replicas to Speed Champions miniatures. This though, has instantly become our favourite LEGO McLaren collaboration to date; it’s the brand new 42172 Technic McLaren P1.

Part of LEGO’s flagship Ultimate Collector Series, the new 42172 set recreates McLaren’s iconic P1 supercar in a huge 1:8 scale from a whopping 3,893 pieces, many of which make their debut on this set.

These new parts include never-before-seen curved wheel-arch panels, lovely gunmetal wheels, and the utilisation of flame yellow, with the resulting model looking wonderfully accurate to the mighty 900bhp decade-old supercar.

Underneath that well executed exterior are a V8 engine linked to a 7-speed transmission, all-wheel independent suspension, opening butterfly doors (which required an all-new mechanism), working steering, and deployable rear wing.

There’s also a serious level of attention to detail, both within the engine bay and interior, making 42172 one of the few sets to carry the ’18+’ age stamp that we can well believe.

The brand new LEGO Technic 42172 McLaren P1 set will be available to purchase exclusively from LEGO online/stores from August 1st 2024, carrying a price-tag to match the set’s enormous scale. Expect to pay £389.99 / $449.99 / €449.99, with each set including a unique serial number that unlocks bonus content, and even your non-LEGO-fan friends to want it.

Technic 42174 Emirates Team New Zealand AC75 | Set Preview

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It’s new set time here at The Lego Car Blog! And this one… isn’t a car.

Boats have rarely appeared in the Technic line-up over the years, still less those that don’t have an engine. However for 2024 LEGO aren’t just returning Technic to the waves, they’re doing so using only the power of the wind. This is the brand new LEGO Technic 42174 Emirates Team New Zealand AC75!

Authentically replicating the Emirates Team New Zealand racing yacht, the new 42174 set brings the world-famous America’s Cup race to the Technic range for the first time.

Huge sails printed with the accurate sponsors including Omega, Toyota, and Emirates are among a number of never-seen-before parts and colour combinations, with just under 1,000 pieces in all making up the set.

Those sails can be controlled correctly too, thanks to accurately replicated ‘sheets’ (ropes to non-sailing people) and mechanics, plus the AC75’s cleverest trick is also faithfully recreated in Technic form; two deployable hydrofoils that extend via hand-cranked pneumatics.

A display stand, an 18+ black box, and a £105 price-tag make 42174 a set squarely aimed at adults, and if you like the way the wind is blowing you can set sail with Emirates Team New Zealand from August of this year.

LEGO Icons 10338 Transformers Bumblebee | Set Preview

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TLCB Elves have lost their tiny little minds today, because everyone’s favourite Transformer will soon be available as an official LEGO set; this is the brand new LEGO Icons 10338 Transformers Bumblebee!

Constructed from 950 pieces and matching the scale of the previously revealed Creator 10302 Optimus Prime set, 10338 adopts the new ‘Icons’ marketing, meaning a black box and an 18+ target age, which has nothing to do with build complexity and everything to do with the acceptability for dads to purchase one.

That said, the model is reasonably complicated, being able to – according to the box – ‘convert’ (if only there was another word for when something changes into something else…) from car to robot via some clever hinges, section rotations, and limb extensions.

Said car is not the Chevrolet Camaro from the Michael Bay-era Bumblebee however, and nor is it a Volkswagen Beetle as per the G1 cartoon, although it does have a loose passing resemblance. Instead it’s a slightly sad-looking caricature of something trying to be vaguely ’50s (a Nissan Figaro sprung to our minds), presumably for licensing reasons, although of course LEGO do have a license with both Chevrolet and Volkswagen, which feels like a missed opportunity.

Still, a giant transforming car-robot is always welcome, and you can get your hands on the new 10338 Transformers Bumblebee set from July 1st for around $90 / £90. And, thanks to the black box, even if you’re a 40-something dad.

LEGO Icons 10337 Lamborghini Countach 5000 Quattrovalvole | Set Preview

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The Walkman, the Rubik’s Cube, Breakdancing, the Synthesiser, Big Hair, and Cocaine could all all lay claim to being the most 1980s thing. Here at TLCB however, we think it could well be a white Lamborghini Countach 5000 Quatrovalvole.

The Countach was actually born a decade earlier, but by the ’80s had morphed into an outrageous caricature of itself, perfectly encapsulating the Decade of Excess.

It’s also perhaps the most Lamborghini of Lamborghinis, and therefore the ideal choice to recreate in LEGO form. On sale from next month, LEGO have done just that, with the brand new Icons 10337 Lamborghini Countach 5000 Quattrovalvole.

Constructed from just over 1,500 pieces, the new set includes the Countach’s scissor doors, V12 engine, deep-dish wheels (although we’re not quite sure the rear tyres on the real thing were twice as wide as the fronts), a detailed interior, plus opening front trunk and engine cover, and – to our eyes – it looks absolutely terrific!

Sales begin via lego.com next month, when you can get your hands on the new 10337 Lamborghini Countach 5000 Quatrovalvole set for around $180 / £160. Rubik’s Cube and Cocaine optional.

LEGO Technic 42175 Volvo FMX Truck & EC230 Electric Excavator | Set Preview

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Following our preview earlier this month of the brand new H2 2024 LEGO Technic sets you may have been wondering where the promised fourth real-world vehicle was. Well today can we reveal all, starting – as the more eagle-eyed reader will have spotted – with the new 42175 Volvo FMX Truck & EC230 Electric Excavator not being one real-world vehicle at all, but two.

Following a long tradition of truck-with-trailer-and-vehicular-load Technic sets, 42175 ushers Volvo’s off-road FMX truck and electric EC230 tracked excavator into the Technic line-up, bringing pneumatics back in the process.

Aimed at ages 10+ and constructed from 2,274 pieces, 42175 features working steering, a tilting cab, and a six-cylinder engine on the truck, fold-down ramps on the trailer, and a 360° slewing superstructure and a two-stage pneumatically-operated bucket arm on the excavator.

There’s also a ‘charging station’ that can be lifted off the trailer by the excavator for when it needs some more electricity, which we can only assume in real-life would be a giant battery or – more ironically – a diesel generator. Either way it looks a bit pointless within the set, doing precisely nothing whatsoever.

The three other components (truck, trailer, excavator) look sufficiently playable however, if a little under-endowed aesthetically for the £170 / $200 asking price. This is particularly true for the excavator’s bucket arm, which uses two small buckets to create one of the correct size. If this approach isn’t to support a B-Model, it’s a bit of a corner cut.

Still, 42175 could be a worthwhile addition to the 2024 Technic line up, and you’ll be able to get your hands on it when it reaches stores in August of this year.