LEGO announces 40651 Australia Postcard
Posted by CapnRex101,
Images of 40651 Australia Postcard have been published on LEGO.com, joining past Postcard models representing New York, Beijing, London and Paris.
This set takes obvious inspiration from the vast Australian Outback and will be available in January, costing £13.49, $14.99 or €14.99.
View box images below...
I do find it interesting that LEGO has chosen to represent an entire country with this postcard, rather than a city as the previous postcards have done.
What do you think of 40651 Australia Postcard? Let us know in the comments.
79 likes
92 comments on this article
A rusty windmill, a shack, and a tree. Could be anywhere, really.
Seems odd when all the others include iconic buildings. Wonder how our friends down under feel about it?
Edit: I know. That's my Uncle's backyard (without the roo sign)!!
I thought it was Jack and the Beanstalk at a glance.
Interesting that they didn’t choose a specific city such as Sydney with the opera house to match the other post cards.
@StyleCounselor said:
"A rusty windmill, a shack, and a tree. Could be anywhere, really.
Seems odd when all the others include iconic buildings. Wonder how our friends down under feel about it?"
old out back theme Lego had in the past is back with no plane added to it
It looks like a dunny to me :-)
Strewth, it’s got a dunny!
On my wish list.
It's pretty silly, but it's certainly got a certain amount of charm to it. I particularly like the cockatoo and little qantas jumbo jet.
Liked the others, this one not so much. Low piece count too compared to the others
not enough spiders.
@StyleCounselor said:
"A rusty windmill, a shack, and a tree. Could be anywhere, really. "
hehe, yeah, but aren't all those things really iconic to Australia ;-)
No drop-bears?
NINE HUNDRED DOLLARY-DOOS?
Makes me wonder how rural backwaters of other countries would be rendered in a similar form.
Very cute, but kinda funny that they went with the whole "dilapidated shack" look rather than the opera house and harbor bridge.
Was this set designed by THE SIMPSONS writers? Where's the printed "30 Years of Electricity" postage stamp tile?
Could be pioneer America, bar the sign and no flag either. Somewhat Crocodile Dundee.
Still not a fan of this theme yet.
And where is the Modular!?!
@cofaigh said:
"not enough spiders."
...or sneks.
You all complaining about it, at least you're living in a place that Lego acknowledges the existence. More likely for Galidor to return than we see South American postcard and Architecture sets.
Oh... Is that an insult to Australians ?
Not a single animal ? Not a single famous monument ?
Not a reference to any popular sport in this country ?
I mean the Uluru mountain is so hard to do ? a Koala on the tree ?
I could stand if Lego made a Rand McNally set, but I'm not sure how they'd get the hats onto the minifigures' feet.
My father will adore this, while it needed a Kangaroo and Koala this is the type of shacks he loves as well he has always wanted to go to Australia.
Edit: does the set comes alive and dismantle the owner as all things from Australia do?
I do quite like it, although I would have expected something a bit more obvious like Sydney.
Still waiting for New York and London to come back in stock (if they ever do).
Best postcard so far
No roos or drop bears?
@cofaigh said:
"not enough spiders."
The spiders are under the toilet seat
Can’t help but love the look of it, hopefully when they get to doing Canada we get an outhouse too
@StyleCounselor said:
"A rusty windmill, a shack, and a tree. Could be anywhere, really.
Seems odd when all the others include iconic buildings. Wonder how our friends down under feel about it?
Edit: I know. That's my Uncle's backyard (without the roo sign)!!"
In all seriousness, as a postcard of Australia it’s kinda similar to our tourism adverts. Focus on one landmark from one State and all the others will complain. “It could be anywhere” was probably the design brief!
Has anyone from the LEGO company actually been to Australia? Stereotyping a continent... :(
Watch out for the giant cockatoos of Australia!
Should’ve been built upside-down and included spiders.
Dust and scrub, scrub and dust
While I like the inclusion of the thunderbox and Qantas plane, what's with the giant gum(?) tree and cockatoo?? Now people will think we have birds big enough to swallow you to go with all the other dangerous things!! And if you where going to put a bird in the tree, a kookaburra would be more appropriate given we have a little song for that.
While I can laugh at the stuff in this postcard, it does feel weird to have had four showing famous landmarks of those cities and in this Australia gets represented as a whole by a tin shack and a dunny - I know we're the arse end of the world, but they didn't have to immortalise it in Lego form!!! lol
@ResIpsaLoquitur said:
"NINE HUNDRED DOLLARY-DOOS?"
Bullfrog = That's a stupid name, I would have called it a Chazwazzer
Reminds me of 6444 Outback Airstrip
Designers clearly been watching I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here for tips
@ferda said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
"A rusty windmill, a shack, and a tree. Could be anywhere, really. "
hehe, yeah, but aren't all those things really iconic to Australia ;-)
"
They could've at least added a bare-chested Chris Hemsworth.
Given Lego are releasing a koala in the next round of minifigures they could have put one in this!
A kangaroo (not a sign) or an emu (they have done an ostrich before) would have been awesome
The dunny, windmill and tin roof hut are nice features.
The brick built cockatoo only just recognisable
Something iconic (like Uluru as mentioned) would have been good.
The Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House have both been covered before in architecture
I suppose at least we got a look in.
@Kynareth said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
"A rusty windmill, a shack, and a tree. Could be anywhere, really.
Seems odd when all the others include iconic buildings. Wonder how our friends down under feel about it?
Edit: I know. That's my Uncle's backyard (without the roo sign)!!"
In all seriousness, as a postcard of Australia it’s kinda similar to our tourism adverts. Focus on one landmark from one State and all the others will complain. “It could be anywhere” was probably the design brief!"
Yeah. I get it. We have 50. Of course, many of those (from the flyover parts) don't really count. :0
They look like this postcard.
Can't believe they've released this April Fools so early and we still haven't heard about the 2023 modular!
Weird that all the other post cards have been cities:
- New York
- London
- Paris
But this one is:
- Australia
I was looking for the Loki gator to be included. Australia in this scene makes me think of crocodiles, from watching Steve Irwin shows years ago and really big snakes.
@Ridgeheart said:
"Ah, nice! Our first Borderlands-set!"
Crikey! And here I thought it was the Australian shack the Master disguised his TARDIS as in Spyfall (parts 1 and 2) of Doctor Who!
@bananaworld said:
"
@cofaigh said:
"not enough spiders."
...or sneks.
"
...or Crocodiles, deadly frogs, etc. (Heck, EVERYTHING in Australia wants to kill you. I don't even trust the koalas!)
@Crow5444:
You don’t see the plane?
@cofaigh:
Or snakes. Or sharks. Or crocs. Or rabbits, or cane beetles, or cane toads.
Topic nonetheless, the sand green leaves are delicious.
My friends, let us give LEGO the benefit of the doubt.
Clearly the set designers they sent down to Australia were not ready for any of it - the overly aggressive wildlife, the taste of vegemite, and the fact that the entire continent lives upside-down on a daily basis. Those of you from Australia, I salute your courage and fortitude, you succeed where many others have failed and you should be proud.
But for the rest of us basic normies, we're just not built different, so no wonder the LEGO designers went insane and cobbled this together in a panicked scramble while undergoing intensive therapy back in Billund.
I did think that was a kookaburra in an old gumtree, but I guess that might be a bit of a stretch...
I've liked the other postcards, but this one is a bit disappointing.
If it weren't for the Kangaroo sign, I would never have guessed what country this postcard was for. Honestly, I would have been pretty adamant that it was specifically a Western US postcard.
The Opera House has been done to death, I can think of 3 sets (2 Architecture, 1 Creator Expert) including the Opera House. It's nice to see the Outback. The shack reminds me of a pub somewhere on the Stuart Highway from back when I was a young backpacker.
How is this representing Australia. All the other ones had their major cities.
They couldn't do Sydney with the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Sydney Tower and Deutsche Bank Place.
And they're about to release a new koala piece too...
@GBP_Chris said:
"My friends, let us give LEGO the benefit of the doubt.
Clearly the set designers they sent down to Australia were not ready for any of it - the overly aggressive wildlife, the taste of vegemite, and the fact that the entire continent lives upside-down on a daily basis. Those of you from Australia, I salute your courage and fortitude, you succeed where many others have failed and you should be proud.
But for the rest of us basic normies, we're just not built different, so no wonder the LEGO designers went insane and cobbled this together in a panicked scramble while undergoing intensive therapy back in Billund."
I build all of my Northern hemisphere sets upside down so they look realistic. Makes the Eiffel Tower hard to display though.
It's also missing the Amazon River from 6490.
However that Kangaroo sign is pretty cool. It even has bricks on the ground on that sign. Could it be that we’ll be getting kangaroos in the future? We’ll get the koala in the cmf, maybe next season kangaroos?
The kookaburra laughs at this lame creation, even if it isn’t sitting in that tree.
@anthony_davies said:
" @GBP_Chris said:
"My friends, let us give LEGO the benefit of the doubt.
Clearly the set designers they sent down to Australia were not ready for any of it - the overly aggressive wildlife, the taste of vegemite, and the fact that the entire continent lives upside-down on a daily basis. Those of you from Australia, I salute your courage and fortitude, you succeed where many others have failed and you should be proud.
But for the rest of us basic normies, we're just not built different, so no wonder the LEGO designers went insane and cobbled this together in a panicked scramble while undergoing intensive therapy back in Billund."
I build all of my Northern hemisphere sets upside down so they look realistic. Makes the Eiffel Tower hard to display though. "
Not all heroes wear capes.
Shut up and take my money.
Maybe this is representing Ballarat?
Got curious and there are so many Australian landmarks, natural ones throughout the continent Lego could've done (if they wanted to mix it up and not do a cityscape), like Uluru, some water with the Great Barrier Reef, a Captain Cook statue with a nano-fig, the 12 Apostles, The Three Sisters and the Bungle Bungles. Things like that.
Or do like the big stuff, The Big Merino, The Big Banana, the Big Pineapple, The Big Prawn and The Big Golden Guitar.
I very much like the concept of these postcard sets, but once again the execution is lacking. This might actually be the worst of the bunch....
Strewth! Imagine if they put a giant spider in the tree instead of the giant cockatoo! It would set back Aussie tourism here for the next 100 years. I hope those tourists in that Qantas survived that giant bird though. They can be a nightmare around the airports here.
@datsunrobbie said:
"No drop-bears?"
Oh they are there but they wouldn’t be drop bears if you could see them
I like the kangaroo sign and then that’s it. Every silly cliche about Australia really.
I wanted a koala :(
Weird that every other one gets at least two major architectural landmarks and Australia gets a delapidated shack in the desert...
At first glance, I thought this reference was a neat reference to 6444. Just without the plane.
I think its pretty cool! All its missing is a little V8 Interceptor
This is probably the biggest insult to Australia since the Simpsons came here. Like, our whole country is represented by a rusty shack in the outback, when 90% of the population lives within 50 km of the East Coast? Inconceivable!
I like the Qantas plane though. Let’s hope it manages to get past the fabled and very deadly giant cockatoo (yes those are an actual thing down here ;) )
I like it and will be getting it.
Points added for the little out house, but points taken away for the QANTAS representation up there on the top left.
It used to be a fine airline that we were very proud of, but now it’s just… a joke. Eww.
If you notice the map marker is aligned roughly to the centre of the continent, so at least its somewhat accurate.
Maybe the sydney opera house was too iconic, maybe they cant get the license sorted,.
I like this set as it's NOT yet another Sydney Opera House set, so many tourists think that's all there is to Australia,
In saying that I like this set, What I think could've improved this is:
The sign saying "The Outback" as well as Australia.
The background having an image of Ayers Rock far off in the distance beyond the shack.
Having a real Cockatoo piece created instead of it being brick-built.
Including the new Koala piece from the upcoming CMF!.
Or having a kangaroo piece created.
But in saying that I'll be getting this set.
How did Lego acquire the "Courage the Cowardly Dog" license? Where is Courage?
Seriously, we have windmills and shacks all over Texas. We even have the Qantas flight to DFW and cockatoos are in the local pet shops. OK, you got me. We dont have kangaroo crossing signs, but as some have already indicated, Lego does have a koala mold. If you are going for the more outdoorsy side, why not the Great Barrier Reef or Ayers Rock.
As for including/excluding the Opera House because we have already seen it, think for a moment how often the Eiffel Tower gets depicted in Lego form. The omission of Sydney landmarks altogether makes me wonder if the designer is from Melbourne.
I kinda like it, looks like Daly Waters to me. Images of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge have been done to death so it's good to see something else represented. The windmill, shack and dunny are all well done, although the tree (guessing it's gotta be a gum tree) looks too big - maybe some type of forced perspective. Not sure I'll be including the Qantas jet given the current reputation of the airline.
@FuddRuckus said:
"It's also missing the Amazon River from 6490."
Wrong country and continent, dude!
OK, but now all I want is a LEGO Kangaroo part... haha
Interesting.
Would have preferred a Sydney postcard, with Opera House, Harbour Bridge & Sydney Tower (set on the water’s edge, with a blue sky), but I guess we have the Architecture set for that!
I’ll probably pick this up, eventually. If I can find one in store….
Yeah, I’m suddenly (meaning actually about 7 hours ago) getting a really twisted idea from this. Apologies in advance to all Australians!
Does Lego really "represent an entire country with this postcard"?
Sometimes I lament the stereotypical portrait of Canada in international media. Looking at this really put things into perspective.
@Tupperfan:
Hey, watch out or yours will end up being a hockey fan two-handing mugs of beer and maple syrup.
@lemish34 said:
" @FuddRuckus said:
"It's also missing the Amazon River from 6490."
Wrong country and continent, dude!"
I'm aware, but LEGO produced a set called "Amazon Crossing" with a 4x4 crossing a river as part of the 1997 "Outback" subtheme, which also included 6444 that has been mentioned by several commenters here. Explaining the joke eliminates its humor, but hopefully this helps.
I bet the design committee said, 'Let's do something that Australia's universally famous for other than the Sydney Opera House'. After several hours head scratching, and dismissing Kylie Minogue and Fosters, they gave up and settled on a dunny!
This represents an American's or European's cartoonish ideas of Australia. I think it's a bit too broad. I live in Melbourne but I think city by city postcards - e.g. one for Melbourne, Sydney or Hobart would have been preferable to this.
@Bevan:
Except whenever I think of Melbourne, all I come up with is the Sydney Opera House and that bridge (with or without the Olympic rings on it), because apparently whenever anyone produces a show in Australia, they flip a coin to decide between Sydney's harbor and the foot of Ularu.
As an Aussie, I like it. I think it's representative of a larger portion of the country. It is also something less obvious than the opera house. I was thinking Uluru would have been better but might have been harder to make more interesting....... it is just a big rock after all.
I haven't bought the other postcards cos to me they were boring..... but I'll get this one.... probably cos it reminds me of where I grew up ??
@Murdoch17 said:
" @bananaworld said:
"
@cofaigh said:
"not enough spiders."
...or sneks.
"
...or Crocodiles, deadly frogs, etc. (Heck, EVERYTHING in Australia wants to kill you. I don't even trust the koalas!)"
Koalas can get quite aggressive when they are mating and they sound scary as a child (one starting bellowing outside my bedroom window one night when I was about 6 or 7)
@cofaigh said:
"not enough spiders."
Today I did not see a single spider!
@Markbrow10 said:
Today I did not see a single spider!
That is a victory.
@graymattr said:
"Has anyone from the LEGO company actually been to Australia? Stereotyping a continent... :("
I'm fine with this, at least it's not the bloody Opera House/Harbour Bridge/Centre Point Tower! I live in the outback and I think it's great!
@ferda said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
"A rusty windmill, a shack, and a tree. Could be anywhere, really. "
hehe, yeah, but aren't all those things really iconic to Australia ;-)
"
USA western deserty part?
@BluYoshi89 said:
"OK, but now all I want is a LEGO Kangaroo part... haha"
That SHOULD have been included in 21326
@BluYoshi89 said:
"OK, but now all I want is a LEGO Kangaroo part... haha"
That'll be saved for an 'I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here' set :-)
Even if you recognize the country, the set still remains ugly.
For all those saying it’s too stereotypical, it actually DOES represent a part of Australian life that is a beloved ritual for many of us: flying across the desert to get to Bali.
@Shado_wolf:
Ularu's problem isn't specifically that it's "just a big rock". So is pretty much every mountain around the world. Ularu is just so uniformly shaped that it would look fictional as a LEGO construct. Mt. Fuji in Japan, a nearly perfect shield volcano, has the same problem.
Honestly, I really like it.
It whimsical and doesn't take itself too seriously, perfect Aussie postcard.
(I live in a city on an island nowhere near the outback and I think it's great).