Funky Zoo: Degano Desert Habitat

A giant hourglass stands in the middle of a desert zoo, and absolutely nobody is paying attention to it. Camels queue near a makeshift scaffold, a cyclist weaves through the chaos, zookeepers in hard hats argue over signage, and somewhere in the background a dinosaur-sized serpent is making its presence known. This is Marino Degano's Funky Zoo series (part of the Heye "To Be Continued" range), and the desert habitat is as densely packed as they come.

Every square inch has something going on. The hourglass itself contains an underwater scene at the bottom and an open ocean at the top, which sits at odds with all the sand and camels around it. There are road signs pointing nowhere, animals doing things animals shouldn't, and enough tiny human characters to keep you spotting new details well into the third evening.

As a build, expect a genuine challenge. The sandy beige tones dominate at least half the image, and the cartoon linework means many adjacent pieces share very similar colour and texture. Sorting by the larger colour blocks (the teal hourglass, the green borders, the sandy centre) is the sensible starting point.