Back to the big screen!!!!!

 Despite Lego releasing their new but also disappointing "Smart Play" sets which are releasing March 1st, the start of 2026 is not all doom and gloom. With the Mando and Grogu movie coming out this year, Lego is naturally ensuring there are plenty of mando themed sets available. For the January wave this includes 75437- Cobb Vanth's Speeder (£24.99), 75436- The Mandalorian & Grogu's Speeder bike (£8.99) and 75443- Grogu's Homestead (£17.99). 

Things get even better when you look at the upcoming April waves, with: 75445- Anzellan Starship (£64.99), 75444- AT-RT Attack (£39.99) (photo to the left), 75460- New Republic X-Wing Starfighter (£59.99), 75447- The Razor Crest (£139.99), 75446- Grogu (Mandalorian Apprentice) (£119.99) and 40856- The Mandalorian and Grogu: Allies & Villains (£34.99). Yeah, too long for one sentence. 

Ok, I'll start the criticism, a lot of these sets are way over priced, but then so is pretty much all Lego Star Wars. The Anzellan Starship minifigure line up confuses me, obviously Grogu and the Anzellans are from smaller species so the size of their figures makes sense, but I'm surprised that there aren't any proper minifigures in a set like this. From the pictures, it looks like you can make a B1 battle droid from a mismatch of different colored parts, but I personally don't count B1 or B2 battle droids as proper minifigures. 

I was very intrigued by the 40856 brickheadz, in particular the Imperial remnant snow trooper. When I saw the grey portion of the face I was really confused, it wasn't until later that day that I saw the leaked images of the action figure that this is a new variant of Imperial Snow trooper. 

I wasn't sure how to feel about a new snow trooper variant being introduced into canon, but as for the brickheadz, it does look like a good brickheadz representation of the action figure, so I guess I can't complain. It was actually only yesterday that I learned that this isn't actually a new variant of imperial snow trooper, it's merely the classic imperial snow trooper, but with the front-most part of the helmet removed. I hope we get a proper Lego minifigure of this trooper later in the year or next, it would be great to army build with a couple of the snow variant of the imperial AT-RT driver form 75444. 
I personally will probably be getting at least one of the AT-RT attack, a copy of the new republic X-Wing and possibly a copy the Cobb Vanth's Speeder. 

May the bricks be with the Mando and Grogu movie, hopes it knocks it out the park. 

TheLegoAddict

Dumb bricks

 At this point in mid-February, Lego Star Wars has released it's 2026 January wave, and over the last few days, we have had several upcoming sets be revealed, (Most if not all are available for pre-order). 

New for Lego Star Wars this year is the "Smart Play" brick and features. This promises to provide practical sound effects involving particular characters and ships/vehicles. The sets also include "Smart minifigures" which can interact with the smart brick including vehicles. A variety of different sounds can be produced by coming into proximity with other smart bricks. 

Whilst a cool concept, the results have been disappointing so far. You can find videos online which show the smart bricks in action producing their sound effects, and frankly, I don't think anyone is impressed. From what I've seen, none of the sounds are even realistic to sounds in the shows and movies. The ships don't have their iconic sounds, the music in the cantina set isn't even the music in any of the scenes and the "speech" from the smart minifigures don't even resemble real words. 

Unfortunately, even the build designs leave a lot to be desired. To accommodate the smart brick and keep them accessible, the builds are designed around the smart bricks. The result of this is that the ships look terrible, the location sets like the Mos Eilsley Cantina doesn't look too bad, but the lack of a Han Solo minifigure in that set is totally illogical. 

From what I've heard about current rumours for later in 2026, there should be more of these Smart Play sets, so we'll have to wait and see if any of those are any better. 

May the bricks be with all Lego fans. 

TheLegoAddict

Probably not an addict?

 I started collecting Lego from a young age. I was about 3, maybe 4 when my parents bought me a box of generic Lego building blocks. It was actually bought with the intention to help me develop my early communication skills. I was always a naturally quiet person, and so the bricks were meant for a game to help draw me out of my shell. 

Myself and one of my parents would each have the exact same bricks,  same number, same shapes, same color's. One of us would build a random shape with all the bricks and without showing the other the build, guide the other in building the exact same 3D structure. The key was to give as much detail as possible. Precise descriptions of the specific piece required and exact instructions down the correct studs to place one piece atop another. I think this did actually help me a little, though I am definitely still an introvert. 

From there, Lego became my main toy of choice throughout my childhood. (HotWheels were a close second). Over years my inches expanded and shrunk. I still have everything I bought or was given to me, so I have of box containing my Chima, Ninjago and Hero Factory sets which no longer really interest me, but I keep out of refusal to let go. 

Nowadays my interests lie in STARWARS, DC and Medieval/fantasy, though anything else random which is close to heart also gets honorary mentions, such as the speed champions Audi Quatro and Back to the Future DeLorean. (The later still in my shopping bag on the Lego insiders app). 

There are multiple ways of defining most words, for addiction there are definitely several depending on where you search. Ironically, none the ones I've read seem to apply to my situation with Lego. Many definitions evolve around the subject having no control over there desire for a particular substance or activity. Although I now only collect my precious pieces of molded plastic, the fact is, unless I place myself on a buying ban, I can easily loose control of how much I spend. The situation has only gotten worse since I started collecting custom minifigures and decals. I am actually on a buying ban as I write this, which will remain enforced for the foreseeable future. 

So I guess I'm technically NOT a Lego addict, but I'm definitely not far off. 

I suppose this blog is about me trying document my thoughts on Lego related things as they come up. I'm not sure quite how often I'll be uploading stuff, but I'm aiming for at least once per calendar week. I'm also planning on getting back into YouTubing, but I'm mostly still just planning stuff at the moment. I'll be using it to create and share Lego video content which I hope other fans of Lego enjoy. I am currently studying at university, so time isn't exactly an abundant resource, we'll see how things go. 

May the bricks be with whoever reads this. 

TheLegoAddict