The wait is over!!! It’s taken quite a lot longer than we diehard LEGO fans are used to, but the first official images of LEGO 2016 sets are finally surfacing online. And that means that I can finally start my much-anticipated photo previews of every winter 2016 LEGO set! And just like every year, I want one of my personal favorites to kick off the previews–it’s the 2016 LEGO Creator Park Animals 31044 set with dog and ducks!

It’s become something of a tradition for TLG to release a new LEGO Creators animals multi-pack to begin every year’s assortment of new sets, and 2016 is going to be no exception! And while I don’t know if this set will win the cuteness award as far as these types of little Creator animal sets go, 30144 Park Animals is definitely in the running!

Even better, while the Creator sets usually hit stores “early” by arriving at retail in December instead of January, this year LEGO is making it official–the official release date for this 2016 winter set (and many others!) isn’t in 2016 at all–it’s 12/1/15! That’s gonna make holiday shopping more fun, that’s for sure!

The brick-built puppy dog is quite darling, and you’ll notice he has not only a waggable jointed tail, an opening mouth, and hinged legs, but also micro ball-joints (a la Mixels!) to give his floppy ears all kinds of posing possibilities!

Not to be left out, the big-eyed duck (that has a striking resemblance to Plucky Duck from Tiny Toons) has his own micro-joints, so he can pose with his wings turned any which way you want!

Initially I thought it was weird that this set comes with an adult duck and ducklings that are in different colors and don’t belong together, but my wife utilized her Biology degree to explain to me that that’s not how nature works. Whoops!

Regardless, I love this brick-built duck (which I believe is a mallard duck) and think it’s pretty heartwarming to see that it comes with its own trio of baby ducklings. Way to pull at my heartstrings, LEGO!

As is usual with these types of sets, the dog can be rebuilt into several alternate builds. While no hi-res images of the rebuilt Owl have been posted yet, we can see it on the box, and it is really cute. Like, unbelievably cute. Looks like I’m going to be buying a second copy of this set so that I can permanently have both the dog and owls built!

I can’t say the same, however, for this squirrel, which frankly looks demonic. Squirrels in general aren’t my favorite animals (my sincere apologies to all the squirrel-lovers out there), but this brick-built squirrel looks like something out of a horror movie. *shudder*

The set contains 202 pieces and will retail for just $14.99. That’s only 7.4 cents per piece, putting the Park Animals at well under my ideal price-point of 10 cents per piece! Even if most of the pieces in this set are tiny, that’s still a very good deal for a very sweet set.

The LEGO Park Animals 30144 winter 2016 set will be released on December 1st 2015 online and at the LEGO Stores. Whether or not other retailers will have the set in stock in time for that release date is up in the air, so you’re best off ordering online or directly at your official branded store if you want one on launch day.

What do you think of next year’s adorable box set of Creator animals, brick fans? Will you be adding this assortment of wild and domestic pals to your collection?