A couple months ago, we published our in-depth review of #71486 Castle Nocturnia, the largest LEGO Dreamzzz set released to date! It was a traditional set review exploring how this set will appeal to adult LEGO builders.

My original plan was to focus on just the four smallest sets in the summer Dreamzzz lineup — giving them to my almost 6-year old to see what he thinks of the sets. After he completed the first four sets in record time, I decided to let him try the three larger ones. As he built the sets, I was looking for any difficulties he encountered building the models. Afterwards, I encouraged him to try at least one of the B-models for almost every set.

The four smaller LEGO Dreamzzz sets released this summer.

The four smaller sets:

• #71479 Zoey’s Cat Motorcycle
  226 pieces, ages 7+, $20, available now.
• #71480 Logan the Mighty Panda
  342 pieces, ages 7+, $30, available now.
• #71481 Izzie’s Dream Animals
  328 pieces, ages 8+, $40, available now.
• #71483 The Never Witch’s Nightmare Creatures
  457 pieces, ages 9+, $45, available now.

He made quick work of these first four sets, so I decided to let him keep going with the harder sets as well. As we will discuss later, he only had a few minor challenges with the three larger sets which we built in the following order:

• #71484 Cooper’s Robot Dinosaur C-Rex
  917 pieces, ages 9+, $80, available now.
• #71478 The Never Witch’s Midnight Raven
  1203 pieces, ages 9+, $100, available now.
• #71485 Mateo and Z-Blob the Knight Battle Mech
  1333 pieces, ages 10+, $130, available now.

When we built these sets, only the first half of Season 2 has been released. These sets feature ‘bad guy’ versions of all of the main characters, but we had not seen all of them yet in the show. (ex: Mateo vs. Madteo, Izzy vs. Dizzy, or Cooper vs. Dooper.) That didn’t bother him at all — He was inspired to imagine alter-ego bad guy versions of characters from other stories he enjoys as well.

I’ve organized this article into three sections, the first section is focused on the four smaller sets, followed by the three larger sets, and finally a discussion of the complete lineup. Sets have been ranked and rated despite the compressed format which explores 7 sets in a single article.

Note: I want to be clear—just because my 5-year old was able to build sets recommended for ages 7-10+, I think the age recommendations are consistent with other LEGO sets and offer a good rule of thumb for less experienced builders. In particular, #71485 Mateo and Z-Blob the Knight Battle Mech (the only 10+ set) is clearly the hardest set in the lineup due to the physical awkwardness of combining the large torso and leg modules without dropping anything.

The four smaller sets

Each of these four sets are pretty small projects which many people will build in a single session. All four sets contain a single instruction booklet, one sticker sheet, and three or four numbered bags. Consistent with most of my other reviews, we did not use the stickers.

#71479 Zoey’s Cat Motorcycle

The smallest of the 8 sets released this August, #71479 Zoey’s Cat Motorcycle contains just two minifigures (Zoey and Dooper) and a relatively straightforward motorcycle build with a printed cat face (on part ???).

This set contains three numbered bags, a small sticker sheet, and instruction booklet.

Some of the more interesting parts in this set were the two Technic wheels with integrated tires which debuted in #xxxxx Spike Prime set. Another cool part which is not included in any of the other sets in this wave is the new Minifigure bow that can shoot tiny arrows. It’s a bulky looking part compared to the classic bow, but the additional play feature was popular with my son.

#71479 Zoey’s Cat Motorcycle main build is straightforward.

The main model is exactly as advertised, a simple motorcycle featuring a cat-face in the front. It is a straightforward build that doesn’t take long to complete, and the final model is pretty small.

The alternate build has a more dynamic composition.

Changing it to the alternate model doesn’t take very long because the central cat element remains unchanged. I do think this version looks cooler, and it is fun to swoosh the cat around the room. That said, my son wasn’t that excited to start building this set, and he also wasn’t that excited to play with either version of this model once it was completed.

#71479 Zoey’s Cat Motorcycle struggles to compete with the larger sets because it’s a pretty limited set with limited play features, contains only two minifigs, and the alternate build isn’t very different. Given the relatively high price for what you are getting, this set only manages a Good (3/5 star) rating.

#71480 Logan the Mighty Panda

I’m not going to lie, I immediately thought that #71480 Logan the Mighty Panda was a weird looking set when it arrived in the mail. The blue color doesn’t make sense for a panda (although it does make sense for Logan the character). I also think that the angry panda face is a bit weird looking and I don’t prefer the level of violence implied by his machine-gun hand.

#71480 Logan the Mighty Panda – The back of box shows both of the builds.

Getting into the build, we find another pretty straightforward project. There weren’t any difficult parts where he needed help, or any obvious errors in the completed model. One advantage of the small size is that it is pretty easy to pose and is very stable. (Larger mechs tend to struggle in this regard, as we will discuss later.)

The alternate build poses the panda figure on all fours and moves the machine gun to it’s back. Again, it is only a small change from the first version so it doesn’t entertain kids for very long. I think this is a fun alternate pose, but the overall composition is a bit awkward.

The alternate build is just a small change, resulting in this strange-looking pose.

Again, I found that my son didn’t engage with the completed model all that much. He did pose the mech and created a small scene, but this was limited by the lack of a competing force for the panda to attack besides the small bird (which is included in every set in this wave, so I now have eight of them!)

Combined with the relatively high price, I think #71480 Logan the Mighty Panda is the weakest set in the entire lineup, earning the middling Acceptable (2/5 star) rating. That said, this set may still resonate with families who love LEGO Dreamzzz, and especially kids who feel a kinship to the character Logan.

#71481 Izzie’s Dream Animals

The summer Dreamzzz lineup starts to hit its stride with #71481 Izzie’s Dream Animals, which allows you to build a red panda, a bird, and a sea turtle.

The main build featuring a red panda is extremely fun, with a cute face print and floral details on the shoulders and tail. The vibrant purple and orange color scheme makes sense given that Izzy has the most colorful imagination of any of the main characters.

Starting to build the Red Panda. (Photo: Amy Alphin)

He really liked the main build, so I did not force him to build the alternate builds. I do like that they are quite diverse and leverage additional printed parts not required for the main build.

#71481 Izzie’s Dream Animals features three quite different models.

#71481 Izzie’s Dream Animals is a good LEGO set that will appeal to many children, and some adult builders as well. I appreciate that this set offers not just two but three different models, and despite sharing the same round torso the rest of the models are quite different. They even included a second printed face element that is only used for the bird and sea turtle alternate builds. That’s why this set earns the Recommended (4/5 star) rating. I just wish it was less overpriced!

#71483 The Never Witch’s Nightmare Creatures

The largest of the four ‘small’ sets is #71483 The Never Witch’s Nightmare Creatures. It also offers three models in one set, a small raven, a ‘bad’ Z-Blob mech, and a menacing-looking wolf. In order to achieve these three different models, we have different printed eye elements for each of the three models. We also get five minifigures, which is a lot for a medium-sized set. This includes both Matteo and Madteo, Doey, Dogan, and the Never Witch – a bad guy battle pack!

#71483 The Never Witch’s Nightmare Creatures

The main model is a menacing bird featuring a striking black, pink, and purple color scheme. Doey (‘bad’ Zoey) is riding on the bird’s back! On the ground we have a small vignette featuring a cauldron containing a pink potion, and a pink tree with two captured dreams hanging from the branches. (The cauldron is built using two halves of a new element which is designed such that 2×2 Click Socket, 2-Ends (part 48172) fits inside. You actually get four of these in this set because another pair are used to attach the wings to the bird’s torso.

When given the opportunity to build one of the alternate models, my son was much more excited to build the bad Z-Blob. He really likes Matteo, and has built several sets featuring Z-Blob from previous series. It is a menacing mech with an impressive-looking sword. We finish the model by building a small wolf, adding additional play value to the finished model.

The alternate model features an awesome ‘Bad Z-Blob’ Mech.

Unlike the previous three sets you get to disassemble the model most of the way before building the next model. This results in triple the build time, at least for kids which are willing to build all three models. Some patience is needed when building the alternate models, since you will need to dig through three bags of parts to find the piece you need.

When asked why this was his favorite of the four smaller sets, he simply explained that it was best “because it has cool new pieces, you know” At $45 for 457 pieces and 5 minifigures, #71483 The Never Witch’s Nightmare Creatures offers a pretty average value. Thankfully, it offers an above-average build experience, earning it a Recommended (4/5 star) rating.

The three larger sets

With larger and more expensive sets come higher expectations: bigger and cooler models, more minifigures, and more play value. As we will learn, this is a bit of a challenge for a few of the larger sets in this summer’s lineup.

#71484 Cooper’s Robot Dinosaur C-Rex

The idea of a giant robot mech is appealing to me as an adult, but my son was only moderately excited about building this one. I couldn’t get a clear answer why, but my best guess is that the blue and red color palette combined with the rough-looking exterior detailing just didn’t capture his imagination.

#71484 Cooper’s Robot Dinosaur C-Rex

In practice, this doesn’t seem to be a super fun build experience. The robot’s body is quite blocky, and he encountered an issue attaching the legs that I think others will encounter as well. The joints where the legs attach to the body attach easily but are very loose unless you insert a standard Pin, Friction (part 2780) inside of the joint first. The problem is that it’s easy to miss this step in the instructions when you are eager to attach the legs.

I was surprised that he wasn’t very excited to build #71484 Cooper’s Robot Dinosaur C-Rex.

That said, once we resolved the issue he really liked how a motorcycle is hidden inside of the dinosaur’s belly. It helps that the character who drives the motorcycle is the painfully cool Zoey with her industrial aesthetic.

The alternate model sticks with the dinosaur theme, featuring a Pterodactyl instead.

The alternate build also looks cool, featuring a Pterodactyl built around the same square stomach area where the motorcycle is hidden. We did not end up building this alternate build because he wasn’t excited about it.

Overall, #71484 Cooper’s Robot Dinosaur C-Rex offers a better value than most of the other sets in this wave, with 917 pieces and 4 minifigures for $80. While it wasn’t a hit in our home, I think this is a decent set overall which it still earns a Good (3/5 star) rating.

#71478 The Never Witch’s Midnight Raven

I was curious to see if my son’s enthusiasm for the smaller set featuring a bad-guy bird would carry over to this larger Raven model. It definitely did, and he was about equally excited to start building #71478 The Never Witch’s Midnight Raven and the large Z-Blob mech we will talk about shortly…

#71478 The Never Witch’s Midnight Raven is an intense-looking model.

This large model has excellent building instructions, and he didn’t need any help whatsoever in building the main model. I was pretty impressed, because it’s quite a complicated shape and features a lot of off-angle connections to create the organic shapes of the head and wings.

The alternate build doesn’t change much, so it adds little additional play value.

The biggest downside of this set is that the alternate build adds very little to the set, simply building a small brick-built spider and removing the small building from the back of the bird and placing it on bird-like stilt legs.

The small house on chicken legs is clearly inspired by Baba Yaga’s Hut from Slavic folklore.

Thankfully, the main model is really cool which is why it was my son’s favorite of the three larger models. This fondness for the build process and completed model earns #71478 The Never Witch’s Midnight Raven an Excellent (4/5 star) rating.

That said, I think that #71483 The Never Witch’s Nightmare Creatures offers a better value because it captures a similar aesthetic in a much less expensive model. They are honestly both good choices so let your budget and personal preference guide your choice.

#71485 Mateo and Z-Blob the Knight Battle Mech

This was the one that our son was probably most excited about building, even though it didn’t end up being his favorite. #71485 Mateo and Z-Blob the Knight Battle Mech features and imposing mech takes Z-Blob and Matteo to a whole new level of hugeness.

#71485 Mateo and Z-Blob the Knight Battle Mech

In the main model, we get a huge mech holding a massive sword in one hand and a shield in the other hand. This is a large model and it comes in a suitably big box. I was surprised to see four thick instruction books for the three models you can build.

This is a big set and it comes in a big box.

The reality of this set do not quite live up to his hopes because it was difficult to build, mainly due to the large size which makes it hard to assemble the large leg and torso assemblies. Even once it is complete, it is not very poseable because there is a very limited range of motion for the legs before the figure topples because it is top-heavy.

The large model was difficult for a very small builder to pose. (Photo: Amy Alphin)

We did encounter a problem with the build instructions in both this set and Cooper’s Robot Dinosaur C-Rex – the large click-hinges used to attach the legs in both models require that you insert a 1×2 Technic Pin in the middle of the hinge before attaching the legs. This is not as clear as it could be in the instruction booklet. Furthermore, I just do not think that it is a very well-designed part if the hinge is only strong when you add an extra Technic pin in the middle.

Alternate models include a blasters for arms, and a four-legged jousting creature.

When it comes to alternate builds, there are two of them: A hulking Z-Blob Robot with blasters for arms, and a four-legged creature holding a jousting pole and what looks like a radar gun. As the main model was pretty challenging, we didn’t try building any of the alternate builds for this one.

All said, the bold-looking model on the front of the box over-promises compared to the reality of this set. The high cost, complex build process, and wobbly legs make this set a hard sell. The 10+ age mark is appropriate here, since it is much more difficult to build and pose than the other sets in this review. It does look cool though, which is why #71485 Mateo and Z-Blob the Knight Battle Mech still manages a Good (3/5 star) rating.

The complete lineup

After completing all of the models, I had a stack of completed models with some featuring the main models and others featuring the ‘b-models’. The obvious way to wrap up this kid-focused review was to let my son play with them!

My son created this awesome battle scene using all seven sets.

My basic plan was to put them all on my seamless white backdrop and let him decide how to pose them into a large scene. I am expecting to see a big battle of good versus bad, with them on opposing sides. I didn’t give him any other instructions, and I am especially curious to hear how he deals with redundant characters as there are four Dogan’s, three Matteo’s and two of almost everyone else across these seven sets… Will the duplicates team-up, or get put into the bin of storage?

Conclusions

As I’ve already provided a rating for each of the seven sets, I wanted to close with some general thoughts across this fantastical lineup of LEGO sets. And that’s one of my main takeaways right there – these are fantastic sets with a ton of bright colors, interesting parts, and several of them feature compelling alternate builds as well.

They add up to a rich brick-built world that I believe is even stronger than the show they are based on. I have not watched every moment of every episode from Season 2, but I can say confidently that the sets are pretty closely aligned with what you see on screen, and that the show remains playful and creative, but honestly a bit confusing and unfocused.

The good news for parents is that there are a couple standout sets here, and they aren’t even the most costly ones. #71483 The Never Witch’s Nightmare Creatures ($45) is probably the better set featuring the Never Witch and a better value, but #71478 The Never Witch’s Midnight Raven may be more appealing to some folks. Representing the good guys, #71481 Izzie’s Dream Animals ($40) is my favorite because it is so playful and offers several alternate builds.

I hope you enjoyed this kid-centered look at the rest of the sets in the Summer 2024 LEGO Dreamzzz lineup. I enjoyed discovering new parts across these sets, and seeing which of the sets captured my son’s imagination the most – good luck posing all of your minifigures into a similarly elaborate battle scene!