It’s a good thing that the LEGO Jurassic World magazine is now on one and a half month cycle, so there’s at least some stability there, given how much the publishing schedule of the other magazines has been thinned out or stretched to a point where every issue that still gets released feels like a surprise because you simply lose sight of the release dates in those long weeks.
The first thing of note in the February/ March 2023 issue is the new style of coloring. It’s not big news that each of the inking artists has their own style and that’s fair and square and logical with how the magazine is produced, but I feel this particular look is one step too far. It makes things look a bit too dark and the silky sheen with the inner glows/ inner drop shadows bleeding into certain areas feels weird. It’s plausible in that both comics play out at night and you’d have this odd “moonlight effect” to some degree, but if feels a bit too extreme here. It’s all too soft and there are e.g. barely any hard shadows in the panels. They need to take it back a notch next time.
The posters both aren’t very good, only recycling and repeating the ever same ideas and motives. It’s not even executed well from a technical standpoint with the orange wall looking murky and lacking any crunch. The bricks breaking out are a completely different color and don’t cast shadows, either. Some very unsophisticated Photoshop hack job!
Saving the day once again is the extra. It’s not very complex, but makes up for it with volume. It isn’t every day that you get two half-cylinders in a magazine “polybag” (they’re obviously paper now) and some 1 x 1 x 5 bricks. It’s supposed to be some sort of hatching/ growth chamber, but could just as well be a transporter from Star Trek or some sort of deep freeze hibernation thing. A slightly larger base plate and perhaps a few extra pieces could have elevated this to a level where it would almost compete with commercial sets.
On the whole this is a somewhat hum-ho issue and only the extra is adding some real value. Unfortunately we’re still in this slump with Jurassic World with no new sets on the horizon independent from the movies and so it’s all a bit too much rinse-repeat with the ever same content.
Mylenium's Brick Corner 