Blocks magazine issue 132 out now
Posted by Huw,
Here's the press release for the latest issue of Blocks magazine:
Twenty years ago, LEGO City brought the real world back to the brick and proved that the company still knew how to make classic toys – so Blocks is speaking to the people who made it happen. This month’s issue also goes inside 75419 Death Star with the designer, reveals what it’s like to intern at the LEGO Group and deep dives into an amazing build inspired by The Elder Scrolls Online.
Issue 132 is available to order worldwide as part of a subscription or as a single issue at blocksmag.com and or in UK stores.
Blocks subscription prices will increase in November, so now is the time to commit for 12 or 24 months to avoid the upcoming price increase. Existing subscribers are welcome to renew early.
Blocks subscriptions are better value than ever, as single issues are now £9.75 delivered within the UK (due to rising mailing costs) – however a one-year print subscription in the UK is just £64.90, for a saving of £52.10.
Every month there’s a prize to win for subscribers – Blocks is giving away two 40820 Up-Scaled Santa Minifigure sets! To be in with a chance of winning, take out a subscription before November 6, 2025.
LEGO City has been building for 20 years now – and it has all built on the essential foundation in 2005 with the launch of Police, Fire and Construction. To mark the milestone, Design Master Henrik Andersen reveals the original fire truck that set the tone for the entire theme. Senior Model Designer Bjarke Lykke Madsen explains how he crafted 7237 Police Station and Design Manager Ricco Krog discusses taking the theme beyond the urban environment.
In a galaxy far, far away from the town centre, Design Manager César Soares spent a year crafting the Emperor’s ultimate superweapon – 75419 Death Star. In an exclusive interview, he talks about crafting this unique take on the iconic space station and putting fun references to LEGO Star Wars into the model. There’s even a peek at the original sketch he made when he was given the assignment.
Before you can design a 9,000+ piece set though, you have to make a start at the company. Rachael Easton has done just that and completed an internship in the design department. She explains what it’s like to step into the world of bricks and get a taste of what a LEGO career is all about.
Thorsten Bonsch built an epic model inspired by The Elder Scrolls Online and it provides some fantastic ideas that you can incorporate into your next project. The builder discusses the creation and highlights some key features that are particularly worth paying attention to.
This month’s Quick Builds – each one with full instructions – are a chibi take on the Black Pearl (also known as 10365 Captain Jack Sparrow’s Pirate Ship), a tiny version of DC Batman 76300 Arkham Asylum and a modern spin on Exo-Force 7711 Sentry.
You can also learn the story of aquabricks – an unreleased LEGO system that was designed to be a fully modular water play concept. It would have been different, it would have been messy… but it looks like it would have been fun too!
There’s a lot more besides in Issue 132 of Blocks, the monthly magazine for LEGO fans. Within this 116-page magazine you’ll also find a classic advert for the Yellow Castle, amazing MOCs influenced by Asia, the story of a brick-built marble run and much more.
Blocks is giving away 40820 Up-Scaled Santa Minifigure! To be entered into the prize draw and to get Blocks magazine delivered every month – ahead of the shops – visit www.blocksmag.com and check out the money-saving subscription deals available.
For entry into the prize draw, you must have an active Blocks subscription at 11.59pm UK time on November 6, 2025 (existing subscribers will automatically be entered into the prize draw).
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9 comments on this article
I was curious about those shields - they're pretty unique, in that they're yellow. Unfortunately, the flame-print appears to be a sticker. You can still make a Fire Knight faction for your ever-expanding Castle-collection, but it seems that faction just doesn't have enough in their treasury to spring for the high-quality stuff.
Boo, hypothetical Fire Knights. Boo. It's no wonder you guys never made it.
Nostalgia hit me hard, the golden age of Lego.
If I see this in store, I'll be picking this one up - Very fond of 7237-2
I'd get it sent, but my postie has a tendency to fold or curl items when shoving mail through door grrr!
Sounds interesting, wish interviews like these were freely available.
I'd be interested to know why City ignored construction after 2008. Kids LOVE construction (eg Paw Patrol's characters are just dog versions of the three 2005 themes: Police, Fire & Construction).
Yet for Lego City after 2008/2009 we had Mining and Demolition, later mining again. All of which were interesting and unique especially the first two.
But construction has never returned as a proper sub theme, instead we get the occasional mobile crane or dump truck as either separate Great Vehicles sets or within a larger unrelated set such as Town Square which had a mobile crane.
We did get a couple more construction sets recently but they were still marketed as standalone sets and there's no construction site compared to 2008's excellent playset of the same name or 2015's fun demolition site (which you could actually demolish)
Similarly Harbour. The last time we got a proper harbour theme was 2011. Kids love boats that float (it's why lego puts Boat Really Floats! often on boxes) and we have a wide variety of hulls now.
There is a lot of potential for a harbour theme, 2011 was good in that it covered both recreational and industrial.
Yet like construction all we've gotten is the occasional speedboat or light yacht under Great Vehicles.
It is true that recently we did finally get another cargo ship but its only one set (which so far seems largely unavailable in Australia).
Also the people packs, an excellent idea that sadly just died. I do not believe that the only people buying those were city-building AFOLs (which is still a reasonable market given that we buy multiples).
Kids love characters and I know when I was young I never had enough civilians for my town.
They were also just good gifts and value.
Personally I think Lego went too specific with things like Mountain/Camping or Space which cant really be used elsewhere compared to Fun at the Park.
I was hoping for a Fun at the Market or Fun at the Mall, the former with little stalls similar to Lego Winter Village Market set.
20 years? I thought City had been around since at least the early Eighties when I was a kid. Or do they just mean the "City" branding on the boxes?
Because even while in my childhood every City set was simply branded LEGOLAND (just like every Castle or Space set for that matter) on the box and only called "Stadt" (i. e. City) in the catalogue, it still had the same types of sets as in the City theme today.
@Brickchap said:
"Sounds interesting, wish interviews like these were freely available.
I'd be interested to know why City ignored construction after 2008. Kids LOVE construction (eg Paw Patrol's characters are just dog versions of the three 2005 themes: Police, Fire & Construction).
Yet for Lego City after 2008/2009 we had Mining and Demolition, later mining again. All of which were interesting and unique especially the first two.
But construction has never returned as a proper sub theme, instead we get the occasional mobile crane or dump truck as either separate Great Vehicles sets or within a larger unrelated set such as Town Square which had a mobile crane.
We did get a couple more construction sets recently but they were still marketed as standalone sets and there's no construction site compared to 2008's excellent playset of the same name or 2015's fun demolition site (which you could actually demolish)
Similarly Harbour. The last time we got a proper harbour theme was 2011. Kids love boats that float (it's why lego puts Boat Really Floats! often on boxes) and we have a wide variety of hulls now.
There is a lot of potential for a harbour theme, 2011 was good in that it covered both recreational and industrial.
Yet like construction all we've gotten is the occasional speedboat or light yacht under Great Vehicles.
It is true that recently we did finally get another cargo ship but its only one set (which so far seems largely unavailable in Australia).
Also the people packs, an excellent idea that sadly just died. I do not believe that the only people buying those were city-building AFOLs (which is still a reasonable market given that we buy multiples).
Kids love characters and I know when I was young I never had enough civilians for my town.
They were also just good gifts and value.
Personally I think Lego went too specific with things like Mountain/Camping or Space which cant really be used elsewhere compared to Fun at the Park.
I was hoping for a Fun at the Market or Fun at the Mall, the former with little stalls similar to Lego Winter Village Market set. "
You have forgotten the face of Emmet Brickowski. Which is weird, considering it's the default Lego smiley face.
Surely very interesting to read.
@iamkevinwill said:
"I'd get it sent, but my postie has a tendency to fold or curl items when shoving mail through door grrr!"
I have the same problem with my posties. Mags, paperback books etc all get destroyed as the postie forces them through my letterbox. I always buy it from a shop. Morrisons Daily and WHSmith carry it. TGJones might, too; I’m not sure.
@AustinPowers said:
"20 years? I thought City had been around since at least the early Eighties when I was a kid. Or do they just mean the "City" branding on the boxes?
Because even while in my childhood every City set was simply branded LEGOLAND (just like every Castle or Space set for that matter) on the box and only called "Stadt" (i. e. City) in the catalogue, it still had the same types of sets as in the City theme today. "
I think Blocks is referring to the formal City brand which is odd because a) as you say, the theme has existed since the late ‘70s even if it was branded differently and b) who cares about formal branding?
@Zander said:
"I think Blocks is referring to the formal City brand which is odd because a) as you say, the theme has existed since the late ‘70s even if it was branded differently and b) who cares about formal branding?
"
It makes perfect sense to me. Remember, there was a full hiatus of the town theme for two entire years (2001-2002), coming immediately after the theme's failed shift into City Center. And when lego town did finally come back, its design philosophy was clearly very different than either classic Town or City Center, and the new approach went through multiple iterations. First we got World City, with its "near-futuristic" aesthetics, and then finally the City that we know today.
So it's not really semantics at all. There's a clear break between old Town and nu-Town aka City, and it should be real interesting to hear from the designers about how they rebooteed the theme.