Every LEGO DREAMZzz set to feature a 2-in-1 ‘guided creativity’ experience

The LEGO Group’s freshly-announced theme DREAMZzz takes some cues from Creator 3-in-1 sets, offering multiple build options for each set.

These days, it’s unheard of for a new LEGO theme to launch without some sort of gimmick. It’s not enough for the sets to just be toys – there’s got to be some other hook, an extra layer that makes it more exciting for kids and draws them away from their regular themes to try something new. Themes like NEXO KNIGHTS, Hidden Side, VIDIYO, and Super Mario all had different approaches to changing up the LEGO formula, but their central gimmick can be boiled down to the same thing: app compatibility.

The push to tie LEGO sets into apps for mobile devices over the past several years seems to be a response to where kids’ interests lie in the modern world. Anyone who has a young cousin or a kid neighbor has certainly heard the now-classic phrase “you got games on your phone?” Capitalizing on this trend makes sense, but the LEGO Group’s attempts haven’t always been well-received. VIDIYO’s heavy reliance on app integration turned it into one of the worst-performing LEGO themes in years, and negative reviews for LEGO Super Mario sets still regularly cite the sets’ lack of instructions.

With the introduction of LEGO DREAMZzz, the LEGO Group has done away with app compatibility in favor of a focus on the appeal of LEGO itself: using your creativity to build and rebuild.

DREAMZzz is launching alongside a TV show, but that’s been standard for a while now (NINJAGO, Friends, and Monkie Kid all launched with tie-in TV series). The central gimmick of the toys, though, is something we haven’t seen across a whole theme before. Cerim Manovi, Design Director on LEGO DREAMZzz, calls it ‘guided creativity’. In each DREAMZzz set, you build a central model linearly up to a certain point, using around 60 to 80 percent of the bricks. Then, the instructions split into two paths in what Manovi calls a ‘choose your adventure moment’.

According to Manovi, the goal of the theme was to give kids a push to inspire their creative confidence when dreaming up their own LEGO builds. “What we want is [for] the kids to see they’re not just supposed to build the perfect model as it is on the box. They’re actually also okay to create something on their own… It’s just a simple tool to take away the fear of the blank canvas.”

With Creator 3-in-1 sets, kids have to completely take apart a model before rebuilding, which can be a daunting task. In LEGO DREAMZzz, when you only have to take apart small sub-assemblies, it becomes clearer to kids how much small modifications and rebuilding can change and enhance their LEGO play experiences – and they’re more likely to start doing it on their own.

If any of the LEGO DREAMZzz choose-your-build gimmick seems familiar, it may be because the LEGO Group has been trying out a similar concept in NINJAGO sets for a while. NINJAGO Evo sets feature a main build with multiple bonus “stages” where builders can add on extra weapons or flourishes. It’s not exactly the same as the rebuild idea in DREAMZzz, but they both feature a core build with modular add-ons.

There’s still some time to go before we can see if this unique gimmick will work for LEGO DREAMZzz in the way the LEGO Group hopes it will. If it does, it could end up inspiring a whole lot of kids to get into free-building LEGO in a way no other theme has.

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