As we ease in to 2020 let’s have a look back at some of the weird stuff from 2019.
Throw your LEGO off stuff, it’ll be fun!
2019 was the year that LEGO encouraged fans to drop their LEGO off a high place with the Sky Police sub-theme and it’s new parachute element. The three part parachute features a circle of lightweight material with two sets of plastic straps. Finally LEGO has stepped up to the plate to take on those cheap plastic parachute people you find in Christmas crackers. I didn’t expect this to be as fun as it is but the parachute is actually pretty cool. I’m surprised I haven’t seen it pop up in more MOCs.
Just add water!
Emma’s Art Studio features some lovely pastel colours but it also has a weird play feature with the included canvas. What looks like a blank piece of blue material is transformed with a liberal application of water. As the water soaks in you’ll see a paw print pattern suddenly appear on the fabric. It’s a bit strange to see the LEGO box instruct you to get your LEGO set wet.
Shoot the fire!
Another weird one from the LEGO City theme. This time it’s the fire sub-theme. Several of these sets came with an interesting inclusion – a rubber bulb attached to a tube. Squeeze the bulb and blue elements representing water shoot out. This is actually a feature that worked quite well. It also had a distinct advantage over standard stud shooters in that it was a self-contained unit and doesn’t spread 1×1 rounds all over your house.
There’s an app for that!
LEGO has had several attempts of mixing real building and digital play. In 2013 they released Life of George. In 2014 they released LEGO fusion. Neither made their way to Australia. Well LEGO’s latest attempt was the Hidden Side theme which stepped up the Augmented Reality concept to another level thanks to advances in technology and smartphone cameras. These sets allow you to overlay a digital world over your physical builds. Judging by the deep discounts on these sets Australia wide, I don’t think it’s been a hit. I’ll be having a dig into that a bit more in a separate article.
What other weird play features did you come across in 2019?
Several sets mentioned in this article were provided to me by LEGO at my request. Opinions expressed are my own.
Life Of George was available here, I remember picking it up at Big W and going, “nahhh”, even though it was heavily reduced.
The sticker roll in Sweet Mayhem’s Systar Starship was an interesting one. The second wave of Lego Movie 2 sets were actually excellent (though awkwardly pitched/priced) and were a steal on sale before xmas.