Set Review - Airport VIP Service - #60102

It's been a while since I've had the space to set up a large city scene, but I'm a fan of LEGO City and mixing in the modular buildings and LEGO Trains that I have.  While LEGO puts out a large number of fire fighter and police sets in the CITY theme yearly, they rotate through aircraft every 2 years or so.  One of them is the set I'll be reviewing today, Airport VIP Service (60102).  It was released on 22 May 2016 in the US and is priced at $39.99 with 364 pieces ($0.137 per piece).  In my opinion it is a bit overpriced, but I caught it 20% off on Amazon.com for $31.99 ($0.088 per piece).  A little better in my opinion.  I'm glad I waited 5 months for it to go on sale.

The box shows the set which includes 4 minifigures (business woman, pilot, car driver, and airport worker), business jet, limo, and airport vehicle on the front.  The back shows all of the things you can do with the set.  The set is listed for ages 5 to 12 so I am not LEGO's main customer, but it works.

The contents come in 5 bags (which are numbered), 3 instruction manuals (shoved into the box), a sticker sheet, and then the bottom of the nose of the fuselage.

Instruction manual #1 is the airport truck with the "follow me" sign on the back and the pilot and business woman.  The airport truck could stand some re-design as the worker has to keep his arms up in the air to sit in it and drive.  The worker comes with a radio.  The business woman comes with a laptop and smart phone.  The pilot does not come with anything.

Instruction booklet #2 goes with bags 2 and 3 and it makes the aircraft.  It's a simple design with a few BURPs (big, ugly, rock pieces) and the stickers definitely help to make it look better, but are a challenge to put on.  I can't see a 5 year old putting them on as listed without adult help.  Here are pictures of the aircraft with the top off and then a view with the pilot and business woman.  The aircraft comes with a glass for her to have a beverage and a croissant to eat.

Instruction booklet #3 and bags 4 and 5 are the limo.  It includes the vehicle and driver.  Below are pictures of bag 4 complete and then bag 5 complete.  There isn't anything special to the vehicle.  There's a space for the driver and the passenger.  The vehicle comes with an "ice box" that you can put a popsicle in.  It doesn't really fit in much, but again I'm not the right age range.  Also I debate whether this vehicle should be 4 studs wide or 6 studs wide.  You could easily modify it to make it a 6 wide.  I'll leave it as 4 for now.

Here's a view of the inside with the minifigs.  There's space for the business woman to put her phone and laptop.  There's also a chart sticker that she can stare at on the cooler.  You can decide whether it is pointing up or down.

From this view, the cooler is a waste of space and adding a second seat in would be better.  Or maybe you could change the design of the cooler as the minifig has to take the roof off of the car before she can take the popsicle out.  Not very convenient if you're driving.   

Here's the final set with minifigs inside.  It doesn't have a lot of interesting building techniques and the piece selection isn't all that great, but if you're a CITY and airport fan, then it's a nice new addition.  If you can catch it on sale (it was 20% off on Amazon today - 22 Oct 16), it's even better.

Happy building!

Why Buy Bricks from LEGO when Amazon Discounts them?

The good news... right now (10 Oct 16) there are a lot of sales going on at Amazon on some great LEGO sets.

-Star Wars 75059 Sandcrawler
-- Retail Price = $299.99, Amazon Discounted Price = $262.98
-Ideas 21305 Maze
   -- Retail Price = $69.99, Amazon Discounted Price = $50.88
-Creator 31052 Vacation Getaways
    -- Retail Price = $69.99, Amazon Discounted Price = $55.99
-CIty 60134 Fun in the Park - City People Pack
    -- Retail Price = $39.99, Amazon Discounted Price = $31.99

There are a few more sets and possibly more will show up as we get closer to people buying for Christmas time.

The bad news... why should you buy straight from LEGO or LEGO Shop @ Home?  If you can wait it seems that Amazon (and often Target and Walmart) will discount the set eventually.  As long as you don't mind waiting a few months, it seems like the set you are looking for will be cheaper.  It's not the easiest thing to do, but it could save you big time.  The 4 sets listed above purchased on Amazon today versus from LEGO (like I did) would result in a savings of $78.12.  The Sandcrawler is rather pricey for a LEGO set, but if you planned to get it anyways, wouldn't you want to save some on it?  Hindsight is 20/20, but an extra $78.12 would be nice.  

My guess is LEGO is aware of this and they are still making money through Amazon although not as much as they could be.  Also, LEGO keeps some sets in their pocket that are never discounted.  Modular Buildings, Collectible Minifigures, a number of the Creator Expert sets, and a few others are never discounted (I don't expect to see the Technic Porsche GT3 RS discounted).  We'll see if LEGO keeps it that way or not.  

So what should you do?  I'm curious to hear your opinions, but my opinions are to do your best to get the best price you possibly can.  Wait a while to see if you can get a set at a discount, but if it's a set you are really looking forward to, then go for it.  Really it's all about how much do you value the purchase.  

Happy building!

Set Review - Creator - Vacation Getaways - #31052

I got this set a while ago and for some reason I forgot to post the review.  Sorry.  Set 31052 is part of the Creator line and is titled "Vacation Getaways."  It was released on 22 May 2016 and has a retail price in the US of $69.99.  That's $0.088 per piece for 792 pieces.  Here is my review...

Here is the box.  The front shows the camper with boat, picnic area, trees, and wildlife design.  The back shows the larger boat and the small house options as well.

First part of the build at step 17 is the start to the base, 2 minifigures (a female and male child), a chicken leg and a camera).

Next up you can see how the back opens up.  You can also see the start of a table area for eating meals.

We now have 2 seats in the front, a door on the side, and the living area built.

The designers used SNOT to put the front windshield in.  You can also see what the pull out looks like.  Pull out?  Is that what you call it?  Or is it an extension?

Here is the final build to include a small motor boat, some wildlife, and 2 trees.

Here is a look with the top removed with a better look at the eating area, kitchenette, bed, toilet, and driving area..  It also shows how the top comes off for access.

Set contents are 9 bags and the instruction booklet that is protected in a bag (Thanks LEGO!).

Step 31 of the build is still more of the base

Step 65 and it's starting to look more like a camper now.  The back is mostly done and we're starting to build up the front as sides as well.

Here is a close up during the build of the kitchen area, the bathroom area, and the bed area that pulls out.

The actual camper vehicle is done here.  We just need to add all of the extra parts on the top where the storage area is.

Here is the build with the grill, table, chairs, and skateboard set up along with the awning out for some extra shade

Final thoughts...
     -I'm a big fan of the Creator line.  It focuses on the building and not the licensed themes that are very popular.  I only built one of the 3 instructions included, but I thought it was a great build.
     -Lots of great pieces.  If you don't want to use this for your City scene or elsewhere, you can break it a part for pieces to use in your MOCs.
     -The cost is good and as of the date of this write up (10 Oct 16), Amazon has the set 20% off so if you're reading it around that date and were looking to get this set, now's the time!
     -If you're a fan of sets with lots of details, then this set is probably not for you.  Go for the VW Van.  This set is for building multiple sets with a single set of pieces.

What are your thoughts of this set?  Post them below!

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LEGO® Store Review - Mall of America

I have been good at putting a new blog post up weekly until last week.  I have a good excuse though...  I happened to be away and I had the chance to tie in LEGO® while I was away.  In case you all weren't aware, the Mall of America is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota (okay, it's actually Bloomington, but close enough).  It's very large and has a ton of stores inside along with an amusement park.  You can go to the link above to see more about the mall, but back to the important stuff... the mall contains a LEGO® Brand store.  

Fitting with the largest mall in the US, the LEGO® store comes across as large too.  Here is the front.

First off, it has its own building area with couches and tables.  The tables have built in base plates to make stacking bricks easier.  The store also has a number of very large brick built models on top to add to the expanse of the store.  I'm not sure if they are permanently there or if they swap out models... I didn't think to ask.  

Here are some closer shots  of the models.

The inside of the store didn't have much different from other stores other than it seemed a little more spread out.  They had the standard building areas for kids (or adults) and all of the sets seemed to be in stock.  One thing that I noticed in this store and maybe it is in all stores, but I wasn't paying attention, was that the really big expensive sets were not stocked on the shelves.  They just had a single version of each one.  A customer in line ahead of me purchased the Star Wars Sandcrawler (#75059) and the worker told him that they only keep an empty box of the set out so kids don't wreck them.  The worker mentioned that some people buy these as collectors items versus buying the set to build it.  I was glad to see that they took note of that and were trying their best to help their fans out.  Another note on stock levels in the store, they had the Volkswagen Beetle (#10252) and the Disney Castle (#71040) available (at the time of this post #71040 was sold out online).  You'll also notice that they have the standard display case windows around the store.  The windows in the picture show some of the sets available to include the modular building #10251 - Brick Bank and #10248 Ferrari F40.  

In terms of the store, the workers were pretty involved with customers.  Many were walking around with constructed sets or parts of sets and they all seemed to be answering questions.  One was explaining to a family with kids how to best stack pieces in a pick-a-brick cup to get the most pieces in there.  She said that they "didn't want to pay for air."  The customer service interactions were definitely at a higher level than the Tysons Corner Center store I went to this past summer.  They also had some of the larger sets on display outside of the windowed display areas to include the Technic Bucket Wheel Excavator (#42055) which was built and by the registers.  Also, one of the windows had some creations built by "our model builders."  I'm not sure who they are, but here is a picture of what they built.

As for buying anything, while the store was fully stocked with all of the current sets I didn't get any new sets.  For one, it's tough to buy something when you know you can get it cheaper elsewhere like at Amazon or Walmart.  I did see one set of parents checking the price of a set at an online location and deciding not to buy due to a cheaper price elsewhere.  The other reason, the sales tax at the store was higher than what I pay locally in FL.  Ordering online from Shop @ Home makes the most sense if I'm going to pay full price for a set directly from Shop @ Home.  I did get a container of bricks from the Pick-a-Brick wall.  The contents of the wall were the same from over the summer when I went to the Tysons Corner Center store, but I still got some pieces.  I realize that it makes it look bigger, but why the need for the giant wall with the fake bricks in the top drawers?

Hopefully I'll make it to more of the branded stores to see which are better or worse.  If you have one nearby that I should checkout some day, please let me know.

Happy building!

Is now the time to buy? - Fall 2016

I don't have any sets to review this week or interesting LEGO® related stories, but I can say that I've been buying a bunch for the store to plus up sets and some sets that I plan to break apart for minifigures.  If you pay attention to the sales out there (for the US) at Amazon.com, Walmart, and Target there have been a lot of sets for more than 20% off and oddly enough a lot for 30% or even 40% off.  

If you haven't read any of my previous posts about buying sets, I highly recommend using some of the online tools that scan all of the sites for sales.  My favorite is Brickset's buying tool.  It shows the sales from LEGO®, Amazon.com, Target, Walmart, and Bricklink.  On the linked page you can see the top sales and then if you drill down you can see all of the sales down to some that are only 1% off.  A screen shot from the site is below.  It's pretty easy to use.

As for themes, it seems that there are sales for all of them.  Friends, City, Train, Disney Princess, Technic, Nexo Knights, Ninjago, Architecture, Minecraft, Dimensions, Creator, Duplo, Super Heroes, and... did I miss any?  Oh yeah, Star Wars.  If you've ever paid attention to Star Wars sets, they often are not on sale and they are usually very expensive.  You can now find a few for 30% off and a bunch for 20% off.  Search for them and if you had planned on picking up one, get them while they are discounted.  Some of the sets have been listed for a while, but others are only or a limited time.  For example, Kylo Ren's Command Shuttle - #75104, was 20% off at Amazon.com and Target for only a few days.  Then it slipped back to 12% off on Amazon.com.  Also to note, Amazon limited the number of Kylo Ren's Command Shuttles you could buy to only one.  I did not see what Target did.  A disappointment to note... Target discounted the Star Wars Sandcrawler - #75059 by 10%.  It's not a lot, but I have never seen it discounted before.  The sale was misleading though.  You couldn't order the set online, you had to get it in the store.  Of course, none were in stock within a 50 mile radius of my home.  Stink.  What is not listed?  Collectible Minifigures, Speed Champions, Exclusives, and some of the newer sets that were just released.  

What does this tell us?  Are inventories high and retailers are just trying to unload stock?  Are they trying to get early sales ahead of the Christmas season?  Are these just teaser sales that will end in a few days/weeks?  Time will tell I guess, but if you are a LEGO® fan and have been looking for a particular set, now is the time to pick one (or more up).  What are your thoughts?

Set Review - Porsche 911 GT3 RS - #42056 - Technic - Part 5

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

I finished!  WOOHOO!  Let me tell you, it was a great build.  It took me about 3 weeks too.  Some days I put more time in then others and some days I wasn't able to build at all.  I'm glad to have a space where I can leave things out right now.  Onto the finale!

Here's the box for #4, the construction before the build starts, and the start of the instruction booklet.  

Box 4 comes with 4 parts bags.

The build starts with the driver's side in the front with the bumper, turn signals, headlights, body around the wheel, and door.  

Finalizing the door is next to include the driver's side mirror and the door handle.

Next up is the rear of the car.  You complete the engine cover and distinctive tail fin.  I show one picture with the trunk open and one with it closed.

To the left is the build at step 847.  It's pretty much done.  I'm not sure what the flexible, rubber like pieces are called, but they are added in to help create some of the curves.  You can see a bunch by the hood, around the windshield, and then running to the back.  

After you finish the back, you keep rotating the car and move around to complete the passenger side door, wheel cover, and headlight.  

The next step is to add the rims and wheels.  The wheels come in a separate box.  They are inside the box and the rims are on the top of the box.

Here are some final pictures...

At the back of the instruction booklet, it says you get get a free gift by entering your vehicle code at LEGO.com/technic.  Well that's not true.  You need to go to http://www.lego.com/en-us/technic/codebreaker.  If you're wondering what it is, you get a digital certificate that says you have a set and then a bunch of high resolution photos that can be used as wallpaper for your phone or computer (or printed I guess).  They are pretty sharp and hey, it's something else that you get for buying the set.  

Also if you go to the LEGO.com/technic web site, they have a bunch of promo videos along with a video about them packaging the set in one of their factories.  Again, nothing fancy, but interesting to see where your set came from.  

Final words... if you've read this far and through all 5 parts, then thank you.  Please leave feedback or email me with your thoughts... should I make these much shorter and to the point or is it better to see all of the details?  Anyways, back to the set...  If you can't tell, I think this set is awesome!  The build was incredible, the final set design is sleek, and to be honest, I have never build a LEGO® set like this.  I'm really impressed with how this turned out from the start with packaging and design to the finish in having the final product.  Well done LEGO®!!!!!

Set Review - Porsche 911 GT3 RS - #42056 - Technic - Part 4

View Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 5

Before I start this one, just a quick note.  For those of you who follow the blog, I recently moved from NM to FL.  My FL home is slightly bigger and my NLS agreed to designate some space for building activities.  I purchased 2 metal shelves for storage and placed a wood board on top for building.  Now I have a standing desk where I can build at.  Also you'll note that some pictures are at night with a light on and some are during the day.  I don't have a light box yet.  I'm working on it.  So I apologize up front that the pictures aren't all the same.

Box 3 of this set is assembling more of the body to include the rear, the hood and the roof.  This one starts in the instruction booklet at #532.  Before we start, here is box 3 with a picture of the hood on the box and in the instructions.  I also included the build at the end of box 2.

Next up are the contents.  It only has 4 bags of parts and it uses some of the parts from the bag included in box 1.

Some pictures of the build...  First off is some work on the back of the vehicle.

Next up is more work on the back.  The break light and turn signals are there along with the bumper and a GT3RS sticker.

The top of the car is shown with the back here.  

Another view of the back just so you can see more detail.  This one is of the passenger side in the back. 

Here's a view from the front so you can see the hood.  Still need a lot more detail here, but I think that'll all be in the next box.

A top shot of the whole set at the end of box 3.

Back to building!!!!!

Bricks for Bricks Campaign - Starting 1 September 2016

Bricks for Bricks is finally set up in Florida!  Thanks for being patient during the move and transition.  Besides having to move everything, it takes a lot of paperwork to start up a business so I'm glad to finally be in action.

Now that we're setup, it's time to put the focus back on giving back.  Our last campaign generated $125 for Pencils of Promise.  I've tried to focus the campaigns and sales events on supporting kids and learning since LEGO® products are geared towards kids (okay and some towards us "kids at heart" too).  For the next campaign I've decided to focus on kids again and to find something in Florida as it's the new home of the business.  In searching around, I found the Studer Family Children's Hospital at Sacred Heart in Pensacola, Florida.  Listed as #1 on their Christmas Wish list are "LEGO® Sets/LEGO® Friends."  

Starting 1 September 2016, 15% of the profits from the Bricks for Bricks store and our Brick Classifieds store will benefit the Children's Hospital.  We will put those funds towards buying some new sets to donate to the hospital.  This campaign will end on 16 December 2016 so we can get the sets to them in time.  

Thanks for reading and for your interest in helping out!

Oh and if you've read this far, the Bricks for Bricks store will offer free shipping on minifig orders over $30.  Just input the code "BforB" at checkout.

Set Review - Porsche 911 GT3 RS - #42056 - Technic - Part 3

View Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 4 - Part 5

If you can't tell, I'm taking my time putting this set together.  To be fair, if I sat down to crank it out, it would take a day or two non-stop.  So let's get right to it...

Box 2 is the body of the car.  The instruction book talks about how during the building of an actual 911 GT3 RS, they have a stage where the "drivetrain is connected to the body of the car."  This section starts at instruction number 324.

Box 2 contains 9 parts bags which are shown here.  

Here's the build at instruction 349.  This is the body at the front of the car.

Here is instruction step number 403 with the front together and then the start of the driver's side.

Here's #454.  Front and sides are done and working on the back.  You can see some of the red pins that are not pressed in all the way throughout the model.  While building I was wondering what they were for, but they ended up being the way to attached the body to the drivetrain.  There were a few steps where all you had to do was just push in red pins.  

#483... almost done with this section.

Here is the final of this section with the body attached to the drive train.  The seats and roll bar are in place now.  

Just another shot from the front.  Okay, enough already... time to get back to building more.  Happy building!

Set Review - Series 16 Minifigures - #71013

I thought they were supposed to be out on 1 September, but I was totally wrong.  I'm not sure of the exact release date, but I checked the LEGO® Shop at Home web site one day and "tah-dah," they were sold out. What?  I kept checking back and happened to catch them available during a double VIP point weekend.  I ordered a bunch and it was a good thing because they are sold out again as of the time of this post.  I haven't checked to see availability at other retailers, but typically they sell quick at places like Target and Walmart.  Has anyone had any luck?

Onto the minifigures...  So these are $3.99 like past collectible minifigures and there are 16 as opposed to the Disney minifigures where there were 18.  

Here are the first four.  The ice queen looks pretty mean and is in line with some other past mean female minifigs to include Maleficient and Spider Lady.  I assume she is shooting ice out of her hands, but I can't be sure.  I've seen two names for the next one.  One is Arabian Knight and the other is Desert Warrior.  I'm not sure which is right, but his weapon is about as tall as he is.  Next up is the cyborg.  I like the blue hair piece.  It looks like you could put it on Wyldstyle if you wanted to switch her hairdo around.  The last in this row is labeled on brickset as "imp."  He looks like he'd fit right in with the series 14 Halloween themed minifigures.  

Spooky boy is the male version of the Series 12 Spooky girl.  The hiker has some new features that I haven't seen before.  He has a compass and map which both are new and a backpack that is different from the past standard minifigure backpack (I'm a fan of this character).  Next up is the wildlife photographer.  She has a camera and most importantly she comes with a small penguin.  This follows the theme of minifigures with various animals such as the skunk with the animal control officer.  The final one in this row is the kickboxer.  I like the option to put her hair on or her helmet and then there's a brick included to hold her helmet when she's not wearing it.  

Two comments on these four.  First off is the kid in the penguin outfit.  I think it's great!  Some of the most popular Collectible Minifigures have been minifigures in animal outfits like the shark man or piggy guy.  This minifigure is interesting because it comes with ice skates and a base plate.  With the ice skates you can't put the minifigure on the base plate so not sure why it's there other than that's what they always do.  Second comment about these four is the Dog Show Judge.  I found the size of the dog interesting.  In my review of the Fountain, you can see the size of most pets in the LEGO® brand.  This dog doesn't quite fit in based on its size.  Or maybe the one in the Fountain is too big?  There's a cat in this minifigure and it's about the same size as this dog.  So what's the right size next to a minifigure?

The acoustic guitar is an awesome addition to the minifigure repertoire.  We can add it to the saxophone and a few others that have appeared.  I think the banana guy will be another winner along with hot dog guy.  The sunglasses are a nice touch.  Finally, the last minifigure I show is the babysitter with a baby minifigure.  The baby minifigure was added to the LEGO® wold in the recent City People Pack.  I'm surprised it showed up again so quickly, but am glad to see it.  It's like you're getting two minifigures in one pack.  Bonus!  

Overall I think LEGO® did another great job with the design of these minifigures.  In terms of the numbers of each they product, I'd prefer even numbers of all so I wouldn't get a lot of some and only a few of others.  In the end LEGO® just wants to make money so they won.  If you're good at feeling through bags, then keep at it.  I'm not so good at it so I'll keep buying a bunch and selling the rest.  What were your thoughts on series 16?