🚀 A Blockbuster Week for LEGO Fans Worldwide
If the summer LEGO season peaked in July, then August blew the roof off the LEGO factory. With over 100 new sets that hit the shelves this month, August 2025 now stands as one of the biggest LEGO release months in history. And this week, in particular, delivered a mix of clone troopers and castles, cars and princesses, rumours about the Death Star GWP (a tie-fighter with a couple of stormtroopers and a pilot), and even a surprise open-world Batman game announcement.
Back here at Redmond’s Forge, it’s been equally turbocharged:
- We picked up and reviewed new Speed Champions and lots of McLarens.
- Took a cross-channel trip to the UK for rare Star Wars LEGO.
- Made five big haul pickups around Wicklow and Dublin.
- Built and began displaying two Speed Champions, preparing for a F2 MOC, and a trip to the LEGO Belfast opening night.
- Continued planning and cataloguing for the LEGO Museum.
Let’s dive into all the details from this jam-packed week.
📰 LEGO World News Round-Up
💥 Star Wars: Clone Wars Wave Dominates
- New Clone Wars sets from August continue to receive massive praise:
- Republic Juggernaut
- V-19 Torrent
- Wicket the Ewok BrickHeadz
- UCS AT-ST Walker
These sets are being dubbed “some of the best kits this year” according to outlets like GamesRadar.
🏰 100+ August Set Releases
- Neuschwanstein Castle (Architecture),
- Batman Forever Batmobile
- Spider-Man Subway Scene,
- Haunted House 3-in-1,
- One Piece Going Merry & Baratie,
All released this month as LEGO’s biggest launch wave yet.
🦇 Surprise Announcement: LEGO Batman Game
- LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight announced at Gamescom
- 2026 release across platforms
- Inspired by Nolan + Reeves universes
- Features co-op mode, Arkham-style combat, and detective vision
- Wikipedia Source
👑 LEGO Disney Princess: Villains Unite
- New animated special dropped on Disney+, August 25
- Features Ariel, Moana, Belle, Cinderella and more
- Facing off against Gaston, Ursula, and Jafar
- Part of World Princess Week festivities
🌑 Death Star GWP Rumours
- According to leaks on Reddit, the upcoming UCS Death Star may ship with a Tie-Fighter & 3 mini-figures Gift With Purchase, possibly a vignette-style build but it does not seem to include exclusive mini-figures.
- This could boost the total minifig count to 41.
- No official confirmation from LEGO yet – file this under watch closely.
🛒 Our LEGO Haul Adventures This Week
19th–25th August 2025 was an exceptional week for hunting:
🔹 Wicklow Trio – Greystones, Arklow & Bray
- Greystones €40
- 21172 Minecraft The Ruined Portal
- 42167 Technic Mack LR Electric Garbage Truck
- 60249 LEGO City Street Sweeper
- Plus a full storage box of LEGO
- Arklow €35
- A full box of loose LEGO – will be washed and parted out
- Bray €30 Included in bulk – full summary to follow once verified
🔹 Dublin Double – Stillorgan & Hollystown
- Stillorgan €200
- 35kg of LEGO, mostly LEGO Friends
- Hollystown €30
- 70321 NEXO Knights General Magmar’s Siege Machine of Doom with instructions, but no box
That’s a total of €305 across 5 pickups, each box filled with unique potential for sets, parts, and MOCs, especially valuable for the Friends display section, Minecraft rebuilds, Speed Champions, and Technic part bins.
🏁 Speed Champions: McLaren F1 & Formula E
At Redmond’s Forge this week, the Speed Champions builds took centre stage, both for reviewing and as prep work for the custom McLaren Formula 2 MOC.
We built the LEGO Speed Champions 76924: Mercedes-AMG G 63 & Mercedes-AMG SL 63 set, originally picked up in a Greystones haul but finally opened at the kitchen table this week.
Meanwhile, we also unboxed and prepped:
- McLaren F1 Team MCL38
- McLaren Formula E NEOM variant
These will serve as the base vehicles for the custom-modified MOC, where the minifigure will match a certain driver’s number (17), helmet colours, and sponsorship. The F2 build based on its F1 counterpart is being planned for a glass display case and given to the sponsor, while the Formula E conversion will be cased in perspex to distinguish between eras and handed over also – I will of course make 1 of each for the collection in Redmond’s Forge.
The detail, colour matching, and sponsor placements are being finished now — full blog and display reveal coming soon.
🛸 Trip to the UK: A Star Wars LEGO Rescue
On Thursday, August 22, we crossed the Irish Sea for a very special mission: a UK trip to collect a rare Star Wars LEGO haul, including:
- Several boxed and loose sets from the 2008–2012 golden Clone Wars run
- A complete 7676 Republic Attack Gunship, including all minifigs
- Near-complete AT-AP Walker, Separatist Shuttle, and more
- A surprise inclusion: original 7153 Jango Fett’s Slave I minifig parts
The seller had been advertising these as a “job lot of space LEGO,” but what we recovered was LEGO Star Wars gold. Expect a full restoration post on Redmond Reviews soon, including side-by-side comparisons with current 2025 releases.
🧱 This Week’s Builds at Redmond’s Forge
🏎️ Kitchen Table Builds
- Speed Champions 76924 – Mercedes duo
- Prepped McLaren F1 + Formula E cars for custom Rodin conversion
- Part sorting and pre-washing for Greystones and Arklow loose LEGO
🔧 On the Restoration Table
- Star Wars 7676 Gunship – Initial clean-up began
- NEXO Knights Siege Machine – Ready for rebuild
- Sorting and checking contents for dozens of Friends and Minecraft bags
