In this job, you spend a lot of time at the end of the year looking back and rethinking everything that crosses your desk. What have been some of the highlights, lows, and memorable moments? We’ve covered a lot of this in our Alternative Gaming Awards and more serious GOTY articles – but clearly, my life is about more than just video games.
Regular iGamesNews readers will know that I’m an old LEGO fan and I love it when LEGO and video games crossover – it’s two of my favorites colliding in an exciting way, or just plain fun. It’s been a great year too, with Lego Sonic making its debut, the Mario series continuing, and the glorious Pac-Man arcade machine that I love. There is also a great Lego video game called Lego 2K Drive. So: All in all, it’s been a solid year.
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Overall, it’s been a great year for LEGO. I’ve enjoyed a lot of non-play sets this year – including an awesome Indiana Jones diorama, a fantastic fan-designed space homage from the LEGO Ideas series, and a fabulous Viking settlement that really tickled my itch that it was built through My favorite childhood castle and pirates.
This year, though, one set does stand out more than the rest of the range for me – surprisingly, it’s LEGO’s newest modular building, set 10326, the Natural History Museum.
Interestingly, this is the best build of the year and we only plan to build one modular building per year. But come 2023, as LEGO moves the schedule forward, we’re getting two sets – these sets that previously arrived in January will now arrive every December. This is the second module this year after Jazz Club – but in terms of quality and value it’s definitely the first.
If you’re not familiar with the series, what I mean by “modular” is basically a random name for the adult LEGO City buildings. LEGO is now classified as part of the LEGO Black Box “Adults Welcome” range, which has released modular buildings every year since 2007. The buildings live up to the modular moniker in two ways: First, each set is made up of different “modules” that incorporate different floors or sections of the street-facing building, complete with interiors and lovely story details. Secondly, and most importantly, the buildings form a flexible urban street, with built-in connections connecting them together into a street or block form. Buildings can be arranged in any order you like, creating a custom street scene.
By releasing a set every year (and retiring old ones at a similar rate), LEGO can always maintain a small street’s worth of modular building production at any one time. It has created a line of high-end, high-priced, large sets that actually have a real collectible element to them. Full disclosure – I’ve been obsessed with these models for some time now, and on the desk where I’m writing this I can see 12 of them, including some custom designed ones.
Anyway, with this explanation and disclosure in mind, let me simply commend the 2023/4 module – Natural History Museums. Long story short: awesome.
Covering a wider area and having only been used in a few groups before this, it is a lovely building full of history – a museum spread over two floors with huge vaulted ceilings. From a design perspective, you can see echoes of the British Museum of Natural History and other world-renowned institutions. Inside you’ll find a range of exhibits, as well as a small rooftop office where the museum director will conduct his research.
The centerpiece of the museum is an ornate brick dinosaur skeleton that spans two floors and is a major attraction. Elsewhere, there are wonderful Easter eggs – like a historical display that pays homage to old castles and pirates, and a small room to gaze up at the stars, complete with mini model rockets and a fabulous but tiny model of the solar system .
As is standard with the series, this set is packed with delightful tiny details, plus fascinating use of parts and building techniques, making it a LEGO nerd’s dream. LEGO only keeps a limited number of bricks and pieces in production at any given time, and each brick and piece comes in a limited range of colors – so fans and official designers alike have to craft their worlds with the pieces available. . My favorite touch in this series is the curly whip, usually seen in the Indiana Jones series, here it forms part of the ammonite shape. This is so clever.
To me, modular buildings generally represent the best cross-section of “mature” LEGO. That said, they’re handsome enough that an adult could place them on a den shelf without feeling any serious embarrassment – and they’re well-thought-out in their construction and presentation. The build techniques will leave you stunned, or better yet fill your brain with ideas for your own custom build.
That being said, modules rarely top my LEGO best of the year list simply because their numbers are notoriously numerous. Usually, some surprise ends up taking away all the marbles. 2022’s modular backend features a stunning lighthouse, a massive bowser, and an incredible retro castle. 2023 also has plenty of lovely surprises – but the Natural History Museum still stands above the rest.
Now we start waiting for modular construction in 2024. Will it end up being a hospital? Putting it on my most anticipated list for 2024, right next to Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Final Fantasy 7 Reborn…