Building the Sets For Lego's New Animated Series Is Like a Choose Your Own Adventure Book
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Building official Lego sets has always been a linear experience: you start on page one of the instruction book, and work your way through each step, one by one, until you end up with the model pictured on the box. But with Lego’s new DREAMZzz line, builders finally have a say in how the model they’re building turns out.
Although The Lego Movie and Ninjago are two of the more popular movies and TV series featuring plastic bricks, Lego has actually been churning out animated series, movies, and direct-to-video specials since as early as 2003 with its now-retired Bionicle line. Today, the company announced its latest animated property, a new streaming series called Lego DREAMZzz that will premiere on May 15 on platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, but can also be watched, completely free, on Lego’s YouTube channel.
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As the animated series’ title strongly implies, Lego DREAMZzz is all about exploring the often confusing, but always completely original, world of dreams (and nightmares), and the show’s storyline involves five school friends (Mateo, Izzie, Cooper, Logan, and Zoey) who become part of a secret agency that allows them to consciously explore the dream world and solve problems, or defeat enemies using something called “dream crafting,” where they build or modify real world objects using a heavy dose of imagination.
The show is targeted at younger viewers who are happy to modify and upgrade their own official Lego sets (something Lego encourages as evident by the plot of the original The Lego Movie, even if many AFOLs—adult fan of Lego—struggle with the idea) and the Lego DREAMZzz storyline carries forward to a collection of 10 new sets, debuting later this Summer on August 1, that are loosely based on reality. Imagine having a dream where you’re riding on a school bus that turns into a rocket ship, and you’ll understand the inspiration behind the new DREAMZzz sets.
What’s unique about the new collection of Lego sets is that, for the first time, as kids get near the end of the instruction manual, they’re given the option to complete the set in two different ways. It’s reminiscent of those classic ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books from the ‘80s and ‘90s that had readers making decisions on behalf of the characters, and jumping around the book to create a unique storyline, but with the Lego DREAMZzz sets, it’s all about customizing the model to accomplish different tasks.
Lego DREAMZzz Mr. Oz’s Spacebus
One of the larger sets in the new Lego DREAMZzz collection is the $100, Mr. Oz’s Spacebus, who is a teacher at the kids’ school who also happens to be a part of the secret agency. The set features a school bus/rocket ship hybrid that can be customized with rockets, a giant dream cannon, or an accompanying mini spaceship, and includes Grimspawn minifigures which are one of the series’ baddies.
Lego DREAMZzz Izzie and Bunchu the Bunny
In order to retrieve her plush bunny stolen by a Grimspawn, Izzie ‘dream crafts’ a giant version of the toy in this $140 set that can be customized with either roller skates and gloves, or bee wings and a giant stinger.
Lego DREAMZzz Crocodile Car
The Night Hunter, one of Lego DREAMZzz more prominent antagonists, has captured a character named Jayden and taken off on some kind of bat-winged nightmare motorcycle. The most logical way to rescue him—at least in the dream world—is the $60 Crocodile Car set that can be built with a disc launcher or customized as an off-road vehicle with a mini-boat.
Lego DREAMZzz Mrs. Castillo’s Turtle Van
The younger Lego DREAMZzz characters are joined by several older mentors, including Mrs. Castillo, who arrives in the dream world with a van that has been turned into a turtle. This $48 set can be assemble with the van in party mode (cowabunga!) or converted into a submarine.
Lego DREAMZzz Mateo and Z-Blob the Robot
The cheapest set in the new Lego DREAMZzz lineup is the $20 Mateo and Z-Blob the Robot featuring, as the name implies, a blob-like sidekick that turns into a towering robot in the dream world that can be built with blasters or customized with a jetpack.
Lego DREAMZzz Grimkeeper the Cage Monster
There’s a fine line between dreams and nightmares, and the Lego DREAMZzz collection includes some truly nightmarish creatures, like this $38 Grimkeeper the Cage Monster who can apparently capture and imprison you in your sleep. The set also includes a smaller version of the Z-Blob sidekick that can be built as a mini-plane or a hoverbike.
Lego DREAMZzz Pegasus Flying Horse
In Greek mythology, Pegasus is a winged stallion who’s pure white in color, but in the Lego DREAMZzz world, the creature answers to the Nightmare King, and is happy to do his bidding. This $50 set includes Pegasus ridden by Susan who has captured Zoey’s friend Nova, and kids can help Zoey rescue her by building either a bird companion, or by giving Zoey a pair of wings of her own.
Lego DREAMZzz Stable of Dream Creatures
The $80 Stable of Dream Creatures looks like a zoo as drawn by a two-year-old, and includes mythical creatures such as a flying flower deer, a cat cactus, and dream blooms as well as towering wheat that can be turned into grain using the wind-powered mill.
Lego DREAMZzz Nightmare Shark Ship
Who hasn’t woken up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night after a nightmare involving a giant shark turned into a pirate ship? This $140 set has kids building the Night Hunter’s preferred mode of transportation: an undead shark ship, that can be customized with powerful engines and sails, or wheels that turn it into a rolling tank.
Lego DREAMZzz Fantastical Tree House
Every team needs their own headquarters, and for the Lego DREAMZzz crew, it’s this $110 Fantastical Tree House with three sections that include play areas like Mrs. Castillo’s kitchen, a living room, Izzie and Mateo’s bedroom, and a lookout tower, that can be built in either party mode, or defense mode.
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