If you grew up with LEGO in the ‘80s, you probably spent most of your time building spaceships and castles: two of the brand’s most iconic and loved themes. So to celebrate the company’s 90th birthday, LEGO is resurrecting and reimagining both of those themes with two new sets that will be impossible to resist to those who’ve been playing with LEGO for decades.
The LEGO Lion Knights’ Castle
Based on the 627-piece LEGO King’s Castle first released back in 1984, the new LEGO Lion Knights’ Castle features over seven times as many pieces as the original, and is hands-down the most detailed and complex medieval build LEGO has ever created.
Weighing in at a whopping 4,514-pieces, the LEGO Lion Knights’ Castle features hinged sections so it can be completely closed up as a self-contained structure, or spread open to reveal an equally detailed interior with bedrooms, kitchens, a dining hall, and even an armory. Castles were built to fend off intruders, after all. On the outside of the Lion Knights’ Castle you’ll find a working drawbridge, a trap door leading to a dungeon, moving walls and secret passages, a water wheel, thatched roofs, and greenery. It also includes over 20 minifigures like knights, wizards, forest people, blacksmiths, plus a pair of LEGO horses (not seen for quite a while now) and a cow.
The LEGO Galaxy Explorer
There are a few themes that can lay claim to the brand’s enduring popularity, but what really made LEGO the iconic toy it is today was the space theme, particularly the 318-piece Galaxy Explorer set that was released in 1979. It was massive for its time, and packed full of features that had never been seen in LEGO sets before.
43 years later, the original Galaxy Explorer has been resurrected as a new 1,246-piece set that carries forward the original’s blue and grey colour scheme, as well as those wonderfully retro yellow-tinted canopies. The ship also has the same delta wing design as the original, but cranks the detailing and greebling up to 11 and beyond. Its three landing legs now fully retract, and the living compartments inside are accessible via an extendable ramp that can also be used to deploy a rover. The new Galaxy Explorer includes four classic minifigure astronauts in red and white suits, plus a robot companion.
The new LEGO Galaxy Explorer will be available first, with pre-orders starting on June 18 for $A179.99, and general availability on August 1. The LEGO Lion Knights’ Castle is understandably quite a bit more expensive at $A599.99, and is skipping pre-orders for a general availability starting on August 8.
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