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#2496 SET REVIEW: 71486 Castle Nocturnia

New for summer 2024, this DREAMZzz set bends gravity and uses an ambitious amount of SNOT techniques to do so! It’s also got some great colour choices and interesting minifigures, but is it worth the price?




Part Selection: NEW PARTS: Large raven, dual moulded black and trans-dark pink, x1. Dome 2 x 2 with crystalline detail at the top, trans-clear, x5. Both appear in every set this wave. NEW RECOLOURS: Minifigure Pedestal Ghost / Smoke with Marbled black and trans dark pink, x1. Arch 1 x 3 x 2 curved top, teal, x2. Dish 6 x 6 inverted solid studs, satin trans-yellow, x2. Maxaroni (new style), yellow, x4. Slope 75 2 x 2 x 3 double convex, bright light orange, x4. Slope 45 2 x 2 double concave, bright light orange, x4. NEW PRINTS: 1 x 1 cheese slope with lion eye on slope, bright light orange, x2. The following in one other new set: Tile, 1 x 2, trans-green, with house and trees print x1. Tile, 1 x 2, trans-yellow, with candy and cake print, x1. Tile, 1 x 2, trans-bright green, with gold stepped pyramid print, x1. The following in two other new sets: Tile, 1 x 2, trans-light blue, with skull island print, x1. The following in three other new sets: Tile, 1 x 2, trans-dark purple, with electronic devices print, x1. RARE PARTS: Red Panda, reddish orange, x1. Plant leaves 4 x 3, bright light yellow, x5.Technic Rotation Joint Cylinder with Pin Hole and Rotation Joint Ball Half, black, x2. Plate, modified 1 x 2 with horizontal clip on end, trans-clear, x8. Plant leaves 6 x 5, blue, x7. Plate, round 2 x 2 with rounded underside, orange, x2. Arch, inverted, 1 x 5 x 4, teal, x2. Wedge 6 x 8 pointed cutout, pearl gold, x2. Ring 7 x 7, black, x2.Glass for Door Frame 1 x 6 x 7 Arched with Notches and Rounded Pillars, trans-clear, x1. Dinosaur Tail / Neck Middle Section with Bar Hole and Technic Pin Hole, bright light orange, x1. Plate modified, 1 x 1 round with horizontal bar, bright light orange, x2. Arm long with technic pin and pin hole, reddish brown, x3. Barb / Claw / Horn / Tooth with Clip, Angled, reddish brown, x2. Plate modified 1 x 1 with horizontal clip, dark brown, x1. PARTS IN BULK: Plate 2 x 2 corner, white, x29. Plate 1 x 2, white, x33. Plate round 1 x 1, flower, medium lavender, x20. Plate round 1 x 1, flower, pearl gold, x48. Brick modified 1 x 2, masonry pattern, white, x32. Brick 2 x 2 corner, white, x20. Plant plate, round, 1 x 1 with 3 leaves, dark azure, x20. Bracket, 1 x 1 x 2 upwards, light bluish grey, x30. Slope 1 x 1 pyramid, light bluish grey, x26. STICKERS: One large clear-backed sticker sheet with many shield-shaped stained glass details. One smaller opaque sticker sheet with banner designs on it. SCORE: 4 out of 5 Parts Selection. A nice castle parts pack but with brighter colours than the normal grey and plenty of interesting elements for the DREAMZzz setting. It does feel like some of the NEXO shield stickers should have been prints, though

Minifigures: Mrs Castillo. Exclusive Variant! New and exclusive prints! A small old lady with a special body piece and built-up backpack. She has white hair and a staff with an hourglass on it. Izzie. Variant is in 1 other set. New prints and sword recolour! Girl with bright, vibrant, outfit, translucent, iridescent hair, a small, swirly, blue and pink cape piece, and a crystal sword. Mateo. Exclusive Variant! New prints! Boy with coiled hair, modern teen outfit except for large silver shoulder pad, and green slime sword. Mateo and Izzie use a new dual-moulded golden hourglass sword hilt piece. In Izzie’s the glass is trans-blue, in Mateo’s the glass is trans-green. Madteo. Variant is in 2 other sets. New jacket, prints, and hair recolour! Evil version of Mateo with dark bluish grey puffer jacket and dark, creepy, colour scheme, wielding a large, corrupted-looking pencil. Dizzy. Variant is in 2 other sets. New armour, prints, and hair recolour! Evil version of Izzie with dark, creepy, colour scheme, a dual moulded black and trans-pink slimy, spikey, armour piece, and a dark pink tattered waist cape, wielding a corrupted-looking sword. Never Witch. Variant is in 3 other sets. Woman with coral pink hair and a creepy black crown, wearing black armour and with a jewelled staff. All figures have dual sided faces. Mateo’s legs are dual moulded. Izzie and Madteo’s legs look dual moulded but aren’t. Images of the sides and backs of their legs, where the side printing stopping shows the outfit seemingly also awkwardly being different. Z-Blob. Variant is in 4 other sets. Bar with light cover (Bulb)/ Bionicle Barraki eye piece in trans-bright green with 2 eyes print. Doomblob. Exclusive variant! New and exclusive print! Bar with light cover (Bulb)/ Bionicle Barraki eye piece in black with 2 mean eyes print. Sneak. Vairant is in 4 other sets. Small black dragonlike creature with minifigure head and large bat ears.

Techniques: This set is a great example of how using SNOT connections can strengthen your build. The wings of the castle attach sideways on SNOT bricks. Images of 1 x 2 and 1 x 1 SNOT bricks in tan and medium nougat. Long submodels of plates and tiles connect to lines of brackets, holding everything together. Image of back of the Castle, with long rectangles throughout the frame highlighted. Inside the Castle, there is a bookshelf. Rail plates add some different-sized books to the shelves. Image of bookshelf with one shelf taken out and given an exploded view showing a 1 x 2 x ⅔ SNOT brick is used to put 1 x 2 plates and 1 x 2 plates modified with side rail on their sides as books. The floor below the bookshelf is a bathroom with a toilet, toilet paper, and a sink, leading out to the waterfall. The bathroom sink and window make clever use of brackets. Image of exploded view of the sink and window. At the core is bracket 2 x 2, 1 x 2 centred. The front studs hold up tiles as the window. On the back is a bracket 1 x 1 x 1 placed in the middle, with a tap 1 x 1 on it. This is all on top of a SNOT brick with a 1 x 2 half cylinder on the side as the basin. On the bottom floor is a small table with a sweet treat made from a dark azure 1 x 1 round with 3 leaves and a magenta 1 x 1 ice cream piece.

Image of the castle flipped over so the area with the blue tree is facing upwards. Diddy Kong arms make a winding tree root! One of the roots of the tree is pointed out as made from a string of reddish brown arms long with technic pin and pin hole. On the beige tower (still sideways in this orientation) is a crossbow. The crossbow uses 2 of Barb / Claw / Horn / Tooth with Clip, Angled in reddish brown as its arms. PHIL THE MANTICORE. Image of large lion with stained-glass wings. The wings are a large circle with almost feathers made of stickered translucent NEXO shields around the circle. The circles are 7x7 rings. Clips on swivel plates connect around them. NEXO shields then go on the clips. SNOT bricks and brackets form the core of the head. Image of the head but with one side removed, showing many different SNOT bricks and brackets that allow building in all directions.

Close-up image of the white tower with a large hourglass in it and bright light orange pointed roof and gold accents. Thank goodness for NEXO KNIGHTS! Some of the key parts for the tower’s spiky aesthetic originated in the now retired theme. Image of 2 x 3 tile modified pentagonal, white. Image of Wedge 6 x 8 pointed cutout, pearl gold. Image of weapon, spear tip with fins, pearl gold. The pointed roof has small gold spikes at its corners. Rounded 1 x 2 plates are at the corners and rotated outwards so the spikes can attach there. The spire at the top has trans-yellow 1 x 2 curved slopes centred around a white 1 x 1 brick with studs on all sides. The hourglass itself relies on technic weapon hilts, hose nozzles, and domes. It is held up by being sandwiched between large technic plates. It all sits on a large 4 x 4 turntable piece. Round 1x1 tiles sit loose in the dome as sand! The section on the turntable has a rounded grey plate sticking up at the front, which, on the tower, sits between two 1 x 2 plates with side rails. The modified plates block either side of the grey rounded plate so the hourglass is locked at a 45 degree angle. SCORE: 4 out of 5 Techniques. This set is ambitious with its SNOT building and pulls it off well. Also, there are some good part usages throughout that really work.

Display Value: The strong SNOT building means you can easily flip the castle to make use of it having 3 “correct” ways up. As far as DREAMZzzz sets go, it’s an okay-sized pile of parts left over for use in the alt build. Image of small pile of mainly grey and beige parts, some extra brackets, technic bricks, and long tiles. MAIN BUILD: Image of the castle with the beige and red tower pointing upwards, with the blue tree area sideways to the left, and the white and gold tower sideways to the right. The set overall has a triadic colour scheme of blue, yellow and red. But within each section there is also intrigue! Colour palette drawn from the blue tree area of reddish brown, dark bluish grey, teal, blue, dark azure, and reddish orange. This more natural area uses cool, analogous, blues with a complimentary pop of reddish orange! Colour palette drawn from the beige tower of red, dark red, reddish brown, medium nougat, tan, and light bluish grey. The neutral colours in this area make the small amount of red really stand out. Colour palette drawn from the spikey golden tower of orange, pearl gold, bright light orange, bright light yellow, and white. Bright, analogous, shades of yellow and orange draw the eye to the tower.

ALTERNATE BUILD: Image of the castle with the white tower pointing upwards and the beige tower sideways on the left and the teal area sideways on the right, but this time the central tower has no hourglass and roof and instead has the blue tree. In the beige tower is built a white and gold cannon, the Lumitron Blastoria from the DREAMZzz animated series. On the teal grass is a small beige building with a red roof. The building has a banner on its side, a red 2 x 3 pentagonal tile. This tile only has a sticker in the alt build. We recommend leaving it off if you prefer the main build. Colour palette taken from the middle tower of white, bright light yellow, pearl gold, reddish brown, blue, and dark azure. The dark of the reddish brown is striking against the pale yellow and white and compliments the blue. Colour palette taken from the left tower with the light cannon of light bluish grey, white, tan, bright light orange, pearl gold, reddish brown, and red. This area uses quite a hot palette, reflecting the powerful weaponry within it! Colour palette taken from the right area with the teal of teal, dark tan, tan, medium nougat, reddish orange, and red. The cool teal of the grass compliments the warm tones of the building. For tips on how to use colour theory in YOUR builds, check out post #2418! Image of cover slide of Tips and Bricks post 2418, Beginner Series lesson 4: Colour Theory. SCORE: 4 out of 5 Display Value. The interesting architecture and great colour choices make this set truly eye-catching. The size and shape can make it awkward to fit on a shelf, though.

Value for Money. Image of Castle Nocturnia. 71486: Castle Nocturnia £169.99 $199.99 €199.99 1742 parts. Image of a tall white and gold spire with gears coming out of the sides. 71477: The Sandman’s Tower £79.99 $89.99 €89.99 723 parts. Image of an immense pagoda with ornate details. 80058: Celestial Pagoda £124.99 $149.99 €139.99 1621 parts. SCORE: 3 out of 5 Value for Money. Considering similar fantastical fortresses currently on the market, Castle Nocturnia doesn’t seem to be totally worth its higher price, even with its large footprint. For example, for $50 less, you could buy the Celestial Pagoda, which is also very big and has almost as many parts.

Interview: Question: What were the main inspirations for the LEGO DREAMZzz theme? Answer: “A mash-up of ideas, like exploring the difference between consciousness and sub-consciousness, and how that impacts us. We were inspired by many mythologies and legends.” Image of DREAMZzz Pegasus set. Image of Never Witch. Question: What have you learnt from previous original themes that you used for LEGO DREAMZzz? Answer: “With Elves, it was great to take learnings and inspiration from a target audience of mainly girls, and use this to help us with DREAMZzz, which is targeted to boys and girls equally.” Image of elf mini-doll. “With Hidden Side, we got to see the benefits of having contemporary and relevant characters, which we used to inform our high-school-friends-turned-dream-chasers in LEGO DREAMZzz” Image of DREAMZzz main characters, a group of modern kids and a school teacher. Thank you to Cerim Manovi and the LEGO DREAMZzz team! Image of Castle Nocturnia’s box. What do you think of the Castle Nocturnia? Is it a set worth dreaming about? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

We also got the opportunity to ask some questions to Cerim Manovi, the DREAMZzz creative lead! Thank you very much to him and the LEGO Ambassador Network.


[Review products provided by the LEGO group, but all opinions are our own and honest - we don’t have to praise sets to keep receiving them. #gifted]

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