Set Review - #60222-1: Snow Groomer - LEGO CITY

I tend to avoid some of the repeating CITY subthemes like police or fire, but I find some of the less repeating sets interesting sometimes. The last CITY set I reviewed was #60204: City Hospital (the previous City Hospital was 11 years prior). Today we’ll go through the smaller #60222-1: Snow Groomer. I’m not sure where this set fits in as it doesn’t really fall into the Arctic subtheme and there aren’t any other similar sets in the lineup and I don’t recall there being a skiing set out there unless I’m missing something. It’s an interesting concept nonetheless.

This one was released in the US on 1 January 2019. It contains 197 pieces and retails for $19.99 or $0.101 per piece. I got mine for this review from Amazon.com for 20% off or $15.99 ($0.089 per piece). It definitely pays to wait a few months to save a few dollars as the trend seems to be the Amazon.com, Walmart, and Target run sales soon after release these days versus having to wait for the end of a set’s life to catch it on clearance before it retires.

Here’s the box. The front shows the set with its snow cannon feature and the back shows the snow cannon again along with a minifigure happily building the set. It also shows that you can set up the snow cannon on the ground.

The contents include two parts bags, a small sticker sheet, and an instruction booklet. I was happy to see that the instruction booklet was nicely placed inside and not jammed in with a massive crease in it when you take it out.

The first bag builds the base. Some Technic pieces make up the main portion and then you attach on the treads. Then there’s a spot for you to attach the cab and the plow. But let’s focus on the wheel in the middle for a minute… I’m not a fan. It makes the set slightly off balance and a little unrealistic in my opinion. However, with an age range of 6+ for the set, I’m pretty sure the concern was that kids would be frustrated that the treads don’t move easily. The table surface I built on is a good example. With the wheel, the treads move great. To be fair, it is easy to build this without the wheel in the middle. It is there for the play factor and that makes sense to me.

Bag one also comes with the two minifigures. One is a male in a bright orange jacket with a winter cap and gloves on. He has some long side burns and a mustache too. The other is a female skier. She’s got a helmet, goggles printed on versus attached to the helmet, a ski jacket, two poles, and two skis. Both have no designs on their pants. I remember growing up and playing with LEGO with my sister. We would argue over who got the limited number of female minifigues that we had. Most were male and it made for a pretty lopsided town. I’m thankful that LEGO has changed and we now have a very diverse crowd. My town today has a great mix of the two genders.

The second bag assembles the cab on top and the snow cannon. It also adds the plow in front. The cab is pretty simple and comes with a coffee mug so the worker can drink and plow. The cannon feature has been seen before only this one shoots snow (white 1x1 round plates). I don’t think I’ve ever tested the feature before, but these things go pretty far when shot. I’m sure some parents will be vacuuming up some 1x1 round plates in the near future. You do get a few extras in the set though so a kid hopefully won’t lose them all right away.

The plow needs a redesign. I’m okay with how it looks, but the attachment is very awkward. You can see a lot of the Technic axles sticking out and the plow just slides in and is not held in place. My suggestion for a redesign would be to either modify the attachment of the plow or to cover it up somehow so it doesn’t look so awkward. I would also make it so that it stays on. If a kid is playing with the plow down and decides to back it up, the plow slides off. It needs to stay on. I would think the LEGO designers would have caught that when designing the set.

Overall it is a pretty neat set that we haven’t seen in the LEGO CITY range before. There are a few minor design flaws in my opinion, but an AFOL with a large parts stash could easily refine this set to make some improvements. The option to pick this set up on sale makes it a little easier to swallow so look for it at some of the big retailers at a discount. It may get discounted more closer to the Christmas season.

I think this one is a win. What are your thoughts?

Happy building!

Gartenschau Kaiserslautern, Germany - Back with Another Great LEGO Display in 2019

In case you missed it, I visited the Gartenschau in Kaiserslautern, Germany back in 2018. It just opened again for the season back on 1 April 2019 and I had the opportunity to go for a visit this past weekend. The ads for the park highlighted another big LEGO based display, but I wasn’t sure if it was just the same display from 2018 or not. I was pleasantly surprised that Lauter Steine eV put together another awesome display for 2019. There were some returning displays and items, but there were also some brand new ones. I was only able to get a few pictures, but I plan to go back soon and will post more. Here are a few highlights.

Some brick built, larger scale minifigures greet you as you walk in…

One of the new displays is of the Pfalztheater-Kaiserslautern (link should take you to a Google Images page for the theater).

There was a classic space focused display last year with a big monorail. While they still have pieces of classic space, there are some changes this year. There is a Ice Planet themed section. The light in the room makes it hard to take photos, but it does make the orange and white of the Ice Planet theme look pretty cool.

Some classic space and M-Tron sets.

I was a huge M-Tron fan as a kid. I had a bunch of the sets and thought the magnets were great. Here’s an awesome M-Tron space station.

Benny’s Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! (#70816-1) from the first LEGO Movie makes an appearance.

As a kid, I saved up and purchased the Mega Core Magnetizer (#6989-1). Still a great set!

The first case has some larger scale, brick built versions of various pieces along with the brick art underneath. The next picture is a working minifigure head designed out of bricks clock.

The next two picture are various architecture themed type sets. There are some actual LEGO sets mixed in, but many are fan built sets in the format of LEGO Architecture. There are also a few larger scale buildings.

I took a picture of this display and the sign that goes with it, but the sign that goes with it is all in German and I haven’t translated it yet. So enjoy the picture and I’ll update this post with info on this display once I translate what this is.

26 April 2019: Okay, I had time to use Google Translate… long story short, this is a model of a power plant built in Germany in 1894.

I included a picture of the info sheet so you can try and translate yourself, but this display is of a section of Kaiserslautern that is being re-developed. The buildings are models of what the final area will look like.

A returning display from 2018 is the Cologne Cathedral. I talked about it a bit more during my 2018 post. My family was able to visit Cologne in December 2018 for the Christmas Market. We got to see the cathedral while there. It is incredible on the outside and on the inside! If you are ever there, definitely check it out. Here is the picture I took of the LEGO brick built version and then a picture of the actual cathedral that I took from the nearby Christmas Market.

I visited with my kiddos so I had to rush through the displays and get the the play area that they have. I didn’t get the pictures that I wanted so I’ll have to go back (oh darn!). Last two I’ll post for now… one is an Elves themed display and the other is a cool looking building that I’ll need to get a picture of the sign and translate. Sorry.

I have never been to a LEGO Fan Convention, but I imagine that going through Gartenschau Kaiserslautern is what it’s like. A ton of cool displays to look at everywhere. Well done Lauter Steine eV! It’s another incredible display this year and they did a phenomenal job putting it all together! If you’re ever in the area, you definitely need to check it out.

Happy building!

BrickLink AFOL Designer Program - Update

In case you missed it, the BrickLink AFOL Designer Program ended its pre-order sales on 15 April 2019. You can see BrickLink’s update here. You can see my post on the original program here. The roll up is:

-13 of 16 sets met or surpassed the limits set to go into production.

-1 set (Löwenstein Castle) is completely sold out (should LEGO bring back the Castle Theme?)

-Sets will begin to ship in May 2019. The box designs were released about a week ago.

-If you missed out on the pre-order period, sets will be available for purchase starting on 22 April 2019. I believe there is a cap on each set so don’t wait too long if you are interested.

If you ordered some sets like I did, you were supposed to see the charges hit your credit card on 15 April. That has not happened for me yet. I’m guessing maybe they will charge me when my sets ship? The web site says they are producing in batches so I am guessing I’ll receive both sets at different times.

I’m looking forward to seeing some of the set reviews on these sets. I’ll definitely be posting reviews of the two I purchased.

Now I just have to wait for them to arrive.

In the meantime, happy building!

Set Review - #71023 - LEGO Minifigures - The LEGO Movie 2

I fully admit, I am way late to the game with this review. All of the major fan sites have released their Disney series 2 collectible minifigure reviews and here I am just wrapping up the previous set. Better late than never I guess.

This set was released on 1 February 2019 in the US. It takes me a little over a month to get small packages (read USPS Retail Ground) over here in Germany so hence the delay. I don’t want to pay the exchange rate and VAT here so I wait for the cheaper minfigures I order from the US. Like previous Collectible Minifigures, these are $3.99 per bag. There are 20 minifigures total in the series.

A few changes this time:
-The size of the bag the minifigures come in is slightly larger in size from previous versions.
-A number of the figures have a clear plastic bag with parts inside the main bag. In most cases, the minifigure itself was in the clear plastic bag. Then that was inside the main bag with the instructions and any accessories on the main bag.
-The instruction sheet and minifigure picture list is folded up much smaller.
-This is just from my limited experience, but in the orders I placed with Shop @ Home, they all arrived with a wider variety of minifigures. In the past, I’d open up the first 10 or so and already have a lot of duplicates. This time I felt like I’d open up 10 and they were all different. I’m curious if LEGO made an effort to disperse the minifigures a little more or if it was just by chance with my orders.
-The base piece is white. While not the first time it’s been different from the black bases, it is the first time it’s been in white.

Onto the minifigures…. and keep in mind that I have still NOT seen the movie as of the writing of this post. Hopefully that doesn’t qualify me for banishment from the AFOL community.

Hula Lula is the minifigure with the light green hair. She has a vinyl record and a microphone. Her grass skirt is a fabric piece that you have to insert into the leg studs while assembling her.

Candy Rapper has pink hair and is holding a microphone and cassette tape. She has the skirt similar to many others. She’s also giving an eye wink. I’m a fan of the different colored hair pieces on both of these minifigures.

Kitty Pop comes with a guitar and microphone. Her hair piece has ears and she has a tail.

Flashback Lucy has a microphone and gold record award plaque for “Everything is Awesome.”

Apocalypseburg Abe has the steampunk look and comes with an ax. His outfit is pretty creative and i like the goggles attached to his top hat.

Sherry Scratchen-Post & Scarfield are repeats from the first LEGO Movie minifigure series only in Apocalypseburg style this time. Scarfield’s mohawk haircut style is great.

Again, I have yet to see the movie yet so I don’t know why the “Wizard of Oz” crew is in this series, but we have the Cowardly Lion with his bravery award and the Tin Man holding his ax and his heart.

And then we have the Scarecrow with his certificate and then Dorothy Gale & Toto.

Awesome Remix Emmet with his overpriced coffee, smart phone, and headphones.

Vest Friend Rex comes with his mini-velociraptor.

Gone Golfin’ President Business has the standard yellow hand and then a hand with what I assume would be a golfing glove. I’m waiting for someone to make a golf course with the club from this minifigure. Or maybe a mini golf putt-putt course

Apocalypse Benny has a mech arm and a tool box. Other than that he looks the same as the last movie.

Battle-Ready Lucy has a brown hood with goggles. She has some arrows in her quiver and is holding binoculars.

Uni Kitty comes in her happy form versus Angry Kitty.

Swamp Creature is holding a whip and has a fun print on his chest. The head piece is pretty cool too.

Watermelon Dude is holding a slice of melon and has an over-sized slice on his head. This one ranks right up there with many of the costumed minifigures from past sets.

And finally, more costumed minifigures!

Giraffe Guy is holding some leaves and has a giant giraffe head costume on.

Crayon Girl is holding a 2x2 tile drawing of a minifigure head.

Both of these are great. I’m a big fan of all of the costumed minifigures. I think it’s partially because you can easily mix them into a larger city scene display as Easter Eggs for people to find.

Overall, I think LEGO didn’t disappoint with this series. The characters from the original series were done up well, the Apocalypseburg style is fun, the costumed characters are a win in my book, and the “Wizard of Oz” gang look pretty good too. My preference is the more free form Collectible Minifigure Series sets versus the ones attached to a licensed theme, but I think this time LEGO did a good job of matching the theme and giving the fans a bit more.

I’ll be back (late) with the Disney Series 2 in a few months!

Happy building!

Heirs to the LEGO Fortune

I saw this online and it didn’t get any traction on any of the other fan web sites so I’ll throw it out there.

Bloomberg.com posted an article on 1 April 2019 titled:

Lego Heirs' $16 Billion Fund Is Bracing for a Bleaker Future

While it is not about building, giving, or LEGO fandom, it does say how much money LEGO has brought its owners through the years.

And apparently if you have a lot of money, you invest in solar energy and wind farms. Or maybe you profit from selling a brick version and invest those profits into a real one?

Set Review - #60204-1: City Hospital - LEGO City

The CITY theme has a bunch of re-release sub-themes every year. The Fire and Police sub-themes always seem to re-appear. Well the Hospital sub-theme (or is it medical?) is one theme that is not often repeated. The last version came out in 2007. It was #7892-1 and I actually have it. It’s not that great of a set, but I do like the sub-theme. Since then there have been a few other themes that have had hospitals to include Duplo and Friends. Thankfully it returned to CITY and on 2 June 2018, #60204-1 was released in the US. It retails for $99.99 and contains 861 pieces and 13 minifigures. At that price it is $0.116 per piece which is a bit high in my opinion. It does have some large pieces which drives up the cost of plastic and there is a light brick which adds onto the price as well. Onto the review…

The box is pretty big with the front showing the full set and the back showing some of the play features like usual. My container got a bit banged up on the way to my house, but I can’t complain. It was packaged well… just had a lot of opportunities to get beat up on the way to Germany.

The contents include 9 parts bags, 5 8x16 light gray plates, the instruction books, and a sticker sheet. The instructions and stickers were in a separate bag. While it is extra packaging, I like that they are protected versus some of the cheaper sets where they get all folded up and jammed into the box during packaging. I was especially thankful given the damage the outer box received on the way to my house. At least the instructions and stickers didn’t take the brunt of any of it.

There are a bunch of stickers… 26 numbered in total to include some that have more than one per instruction number. There are quite a few, but in my opinion, they add to the detail of the set so I made sure to place them all.

There are 6 instruction books. One is for the helicopter and some minifigures. One is for the ambulance. Four of them are for the hospital structure itself. The picture on the outside matches what the build is as well.

The first bag includes a helicopter, helicopter pad, and 5 minifigures (4 full size and one baby. The minifigures are a man with flowers, a woman, a baby with a stroller, a figure who we assume is a painter or some sort of handyman who has a cast on his arm, and the helicopter pilot. There is also a wheelchair that can be used for the man who broke his arm I guess. Not a bad selection of figures to start. As for the helicopter, I am not a fan of CITY helicopters in general. If you’re going to do one right, it needs to be larger with a bit more detail. This one has a purpose of carrying a small container of important medicine or something in a bulky container that sits on one of the landing skids. Really? The main rotor is pretty unrealistic as well given that it’s just 2 1x8 plates. I’m sure it has to do with kids enjoying playing with helicopters built out of LEGO bricks and not at all for AFOLs who want details on all sets to include those designed for kids.

Bag 2 starts off the ambulance build. It builds the frame and then the hood, doors, and some of the outer walls. It also includes a stretcher, a female EMT/driver, and what appears to be a miner who comes with hair, a helmet, and a bandage to put over his head. I guess he forget to wear the helmet so he has to wear the bandage due to his injury.

The third bag completes the ambulance. It’s not a bad design. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but I think it looks a bit more realistic versus what some past versions have looked like. The only design change I would make would be to have 2 doors that open out versus one door that swings up. In terms of the play factor, I think this one is missing some EMT equipment. Maybe a few small bags of equipment or something for the EMT to use when going on a call. Could also be something to design later with your own parts.

Bag 4 starts to build the hospital itself. The first floor includes a sliding glass door, a very small snack shop with a newspaper and LEGO set, a single seat waiting area, and what will end up as the Emergency Room entrance. I understand it is a CITY set meant for 6 to 12 year old kids, so instead of criticizing LEGO for poor design, I’m going to see it as an opportunity to make improvements. I see opportunity to add some floor tiles for decoration, expand the gift/snack shop, provide a true waiting area, and maybe even an information/check in desk.

This bag also includes 2 female medical personnel. They both have glasses on and blue scrubs for pants.

The fifth bag completes the first floor. This includes the roof, the ambulance/Emergency Room entrance, a cart for the ER with some equipment, and a computer built into the wall. There’s a lot of potential here for expansion to include a built up ER with beds, monitors and medical equipment, a nurses station, a door for the ER entrance, maybe a covered entrance for the ambulance… lots of possibilities, not a lot of time.

Bag six starts work on the second floor with an optometry section. There the… I don’t know what it is called… the optometrist gives you different lenses and always asks “1 or 2?” There is also a computer scan or some sorts and 2 eye charts. The charts are a kid version and then the adult version with letters. The adult eye chart cleverly reads “if you can read this, you have good vision.” I would have added in a chair for the patient to sit in versus the little lime green tile with studs on the floor for the minifigure to stand on.

The seventh bag completes a lab of sorts for the second floor and the doctor or technician who works there. There is a microscope, a skeleton, a syringe, and then an x-ray viewer. The viewer isn’t super great, but it isn’t bad for a CITY set. There’s a red brick light that is set up on some pieces. You then have 3 stickered windows that you can slide in front to project the image on the wall. The one I show is of a broken minifigure arm. There is also one of a broken minifigure rib and one of a minifigure who swallowed a LEGO cherry whole. This section attaches to the second floor right next to the optometry section. It is oddly placed, but I think some work on the second floor on top of a re-designed first floor could provide much better detail.

The eighth bag starts the third and final floor. This section is the Labor and Delivery section of the hospital. Bag 8 includes the start of the floor, and another medical staff minifigure, and a bassinet for the baby. The bassinet includes a baby bottle and at the end it has a picture and some sort of label scribbled on it.

The last bag (#9) is the final bag and finishes up Labor and Delivery. It includes a delivery bed, a monitor of sorts, and a red and blue… I’m not sure what they are. Some sort of monitor attachment maybe. There is also a light attached to the ceiling. My favorite detail on the inside is actually the sticker on the wall. The fish design is fun and makes the room look very kid friendly (although that’s not what you are thinking when the kid is being born).

Here are the minifigures. In my opinion, they help to make the set a bit more worth buying. Besides the sheer number, you get a good collection of city figures, another baby minifigure, the 4 medical staff members, and 2 EMTs.

Here are the front and back of the building. It’s designed for play versus display or detail so in my opinion it’s lacking in some detail. The third floor only takes up part of the floor versus the second floor. There could have been some different choices in they types of clinics available. Or maybe they could have built some patient rooms? Or maybe we just need to expand it on our own?

Overall, not a bad set. A bit pricey, but considering the number of minifigures and the length of time between hospital set releases in the CITY sub-theme, it might be worth it. Wait for double VIP points or a good free offer set before you get it from LEGO Shop @ Home. Or maybe Amazon.com, Walmart, or Target will have a sale?

If anyone has modified it or put additions onto the set, let me know. I’ll be happy to post your versions for people to see how you spruced it up.

In the meantime, happy building!

Set Review - #70841-1: Benny's Space Squad - The LEGO Movie 2

From what I can tell, the LEGO Movie 2 was released on 8 February 2019 in the US. Is that right? Well it’s the end of March and I have yet to see it. I’ll get there, don’t worry. And you don’t have to worry about spoilers in this post if you haven’t seen the movie either.

From the last movie I wasn’t a huge fan of the sets that came out. I bought a few, but that was it. With this movie, there really haven’t been any sets that I saw and immediately wanted to add to my collection. That was until I saw #70841-1: Benny’s Space Squad. I was a huge LEGO space fan as a kid. I collected some of the Classic sets and then some of the others like Blacktron, M-Tron, and Space Police. Some really great sets… those were the days…

Well the LEGO Company knows that there are suckers like me out there who miss our kid days and would love to see more LEGO space. In the first movie we had #70816-1: Benny’s Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! This time around we have Benny’s Space squad. It was released in the US on 10 January 2019. It contains 68 pieces and has five minifigures (well four and a droid). At $9.99 that makes it $0.147 per piece which is pretty steep… As I mentioned, I’m a sucker for space so I bought into the overpriced set.

With only 68 pieces in the box, it’s a pretty small box. The front shows the set while the back shows the features. It also names the characters. Kenny (yellow), Benny, Lenny (pink), and Jenny (white). I can’t wait to see MOCs appearing with a bunch of pink Lenny minifigures and spaceships made of LEGO Friends colors. The pink is a fun addition to the yellow, blue, and white space minifigures. I think I have red and black from back in the day and if you bought the Exo-Suit (#21109-1), you have green too.

The contents are two small parts bags and an instruction booklet. Nothing special considering it’s such a small set.

It’s a pretty simple build. There is a small ship that is built in the Classic Space colors. There is also a small dune buggy type vehicle that two of the minifigures can ride on. There is a droid this you get to build as well. The minifigures each come with an accessory. I assembled them for the picture based on the instructions. Some interesting things about them… the metal detector is different from the old space line. The detector portion itself is flat versus having a stud and hole like back in the day. Also the radio that Benny is holding has a different design on the one side. It’s indented versus flat. That’s the first time I have seen one like that.

Benny is the only minifigure with two facial expressions (happy and sad). The rest of the figures just have the old fashioned two dots and a line for a mouth.

Overall it’s a minifigure pack. I bought the set because I liked the minifigures. So if you’re interested in the minifigures like I was, then go for it. Otherwise, don’t bother. There isn’t much of a build involved and not a ton of great pieces or just pieces in general.

I haven’t seen this one on sale yet, but hopefully it’ll catch at least $1 off at some point. Maybe before next Christmas?

Happy building!

Set Review - #75954-1 - Hogwarts Great Hall - The Wizarding World - Harry Potter

Okay, the last of 2018’s Harry Potter sets. Sorry it took me so long to get through them. Thankfully I finished before the 2019 wave comes out (assuming that happens).

Hogwarts™ Great Hall (#75954-1) was released in the US on 24 Aug 2018. It retails at $99.99 in US and I have yet to see it on sale at Amazon.com or anywhere else for that matter. The set contains 878 pieces and 10 minifigures. This puts it at, $0.114 per piece which is a bit steep in my opinion. Is it worth it? Let’s dig in.

Here’s the box. The front shows the set while the back shows the play features (pretty standard). The back shows that you can connect this set with #75953-1 Hogwarts™ Whomping Willow to expand your play with the castle. The Great Hall set has portions of the first 2 books to include “The Sorcerer’s Stone” and “The Chamber of Secrets.” For example, the Mirror of Erised is from “The Sorcerer’s Stone” while the basilisk is from “The Chamber of Secrets.”

And hardcore Potter fans help me out here… At what point did the basilisk chase Professor Quirinus Quirrell like it shows on the bottom left corner of the front of the box?

This set contains 6 parts bags. Bag 1 has a piece separator included in it. The instructions are bagged and include the sticker sheets. The set also includes 3 dark gray plates to include 2 which are 16x16 studs and 1 which is 8x16 studs.

The first bag includes one of the boats used to transport the first year students across the lake to get to the school. It is the same boat used back in the old Pirates theme days. It also includes a basilisk from “The Chamber of Secrets,” Fawkes the phoenix from “The Chamber of Secrets,” The Mirror of Erised from “The Sorcerer’s Stone,” and Dumbledore, Hermione, Harry, and Draco minifigures. Everything is pretty simple in terms of the build. The basilisk seems pretty lame in my opinion, but I don’t have any recommendations to make it better other than to just not include it in the set as the basilisk never appears in the Great Hall. This bag also includes Hedwig (Harry’s owl) and the Sorting Hat.

The second bag starts to build the Great Hall itself. The build is fairly simple and not very complex. It’s mostly stacking parts on top of each other. Kind of boring…

Bag three continues to build up the Great Hall. I expected a bit more detail in this set as compared to #71043-1 Hogwart’s Castle as this one is larger. It was interesting how some parts had more detail while others didn’t have any additional detail. One area in particular that caught my eye were the windows. In #71043-1 the windows, while small, had colored translucent plates behind the grills used for the windows to give them the stained glass look. This set does not have color in the windows at all. The reasoning probably is that they could either have the design on the window or the color, but not both. I don’t know. Does anyone have any ideas on how to make the windows colored while retaining the same look that it has now?

Bag four continues the build to include the walls and the tower. There are a number of stickers that add detail to include the clock and some of the brick design stickers on a few of the larger wall pieces.

The fifth bag builds up the inside of the hall. There are candles on the ceiling and the house banners. If you’ve watched the movies, you can see the candles floating. I think LEGO did a decent job making them float. The parts look a bit ugly, but I get what they are trying to do. As for the banners, you can flip them around to see all four of the houses so everyone is represented. Finally, there is a stairwell that is added and the stairs can close up. I don’t recall where the stairs are used in the books/movies, but it is an interesting piece that I have not seen used before.

Before I wrap up the build, I wanted to hit on a few of the accessories. The first is the Mirror of Erised. You get a few choices of what to put in the mirror as you can see. I get why they did it, but I think they could have cut back on the set cost by just having one piece and a clear sticker. The 4 stickers and extra piece don’t do much for me. Is it for the play factor?

You also get a boat and a basilisk. I find both of these extraneous and not needed in the set. I guess when the students first arrive in their first year they take the boat and one of their first stops is the Great Hall, but I would rather they focus on making the Great Hall more detailed than having one of the boats. Same with the basilisk. I’m pretty sure it never was in the Great Hall. They could do a Chamber of Secrets set and put it in there, but it’s just additional bricks to help jack up the price.

As mentioned earlier, the set comes with Scabbers, Hedwig, and the Sorting Hat. I’m okay with these being in the set. They all were in the Great Hall with the main characters at one point or another.

And here we have the main reason for the set. This set is a (very expensive) minifigure pack. You get (top row, left to right) Ron Weasley, Susan Bones, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter all with the short minifigure legs. In the bottom row (left to right) you get Professor McGonagall, Professor Quirinus Quirrell, Rubeus Hagrid, Albus Dumbledore, and Nearly Headless Nick.

Students first… who the heck is Susan Bones? I initially thought it was Ginny Weasley, but then I looked at the box and saw that it was Susan Bones. I don’t recall her being named in the movies and my NLS who has read all the books didn’t recall her either. I had to do a Google Search to find out who she was. Definitely an odd minifigure choice.

Okay, onto the larger minifigures. I like how they made Hagrid a larger figure. The arms snap in with Technic like pins and the torso is a much larger piece too. I’m sure it’s out there, but I can’t recall this design being used. In the Ninjago movie Collectible Minifigure series, Garmadon has 2 standard minifigure torsos stacked on top of each other to create his height. I like what LEGO did for Hagrid better to make him larger.

A number of these minifigures only show up in this set so it could help the price of the minifigures go up on the secondary market. I wouldn’t buy this set hoping for that though.

The sixth bag completes the build. The tower is finalized to include a few rooms in it which I should know, but I don’t and then Fawkes who normally lives in Dumbledore’s office. Maybe it would be better if I knew what the rooms are, but the tower doesn’t do much for me. I’m sure it is there for play purposes. And I added another picture of the Great Hall just because. The last bag is just the tower build and it connects to the Great Hall.

Overall, I was disappointed in this set. The cost is too high compared to what you’re getting. The 10 minifigures are great, but there are some excesses that should have been done away with like the basilisk, the boat, and the extra Mirror of Erised designs. There are also a lot of larger brick wall pieces which I’m sure add to the cost of the set. I would have rather seen more focus on details and the build versus making it an easier build to put your minifigures in.

If you’re looking to get this set, wait for it to go on sale. It’s not worth it at the current high price point that it’s at.

What are your thoughts?

So That's Why We Haven't Seen More Creator Expert Trains!

I wrote a post a while back complaining that it’s been a while since we had a Creator Expert style LEGO train. Well I think I may have found our answer.

I found an interview with LEGO Designer Jamie Berard by the show Assembled which is an interview done by Mike Psiaki. It’s about a 30 minute interview and I found it pretty interesting. They talk mainly about the new Roller Coaster set (#10261-1)., but they also talk a few more topics like set re-releases and to the point of this post, Creator Expert trains.

Mike asks why there aren’t more Creator Expert themed trains at the 27:50 mark or so. Without directly stating it, Jamie’s response is pretty much that LEGO doesn’t make the money they want to on Creator Expert themed trains. There is a subset of LEGO fans out there that love trains, they each buy one or two of the train sets and that’s it. So LEGO will release the standard LEGO CITY passenger and freight trains on a regular basis, but that’s mostly it.

Jamie also brings up some of the other ways they have tried to incorporate trains. The goal is to get a group that enjoys another theme and to add a train to that theme. He brings up #10254-1: Winter Holiday Train as an example. There is a larger group that enjoys the Winter Village theme. They may not be into a Creator Expert style train, but when a train fits in with the Winter Village theme then it is a buy for them.

After hearing that, you can tell LEGO has done that elsewhere. For example the Hogwarts Express (#75955-1) and the upcoming Hidden Side theme has a set titled Train (#70424-1). It will be interesting to see where else LEGO can add the train line into another theme in the future.

With that being said it leaves us LEGO Creator Expert train fans left out. As Mike mentions in the video interview, he likes the Winter Holiday Train, but it’s not on par with the Horizon Express (#10233-1). I don’t think the LEGO Ideas platform will work either based on Jamie’s interview response. If LEGO doesn’t think there is a market out there to sell advanced train sets, then even if a train set does get 10,000 supporters it might not go into production. Another way to get advanced train sets out there might be the Bricklink AFOL Designer Program. There are some design limitations that I’d have to look up and there are potentially some piece restrictions too, but it could be a possibility. If BrickLink sees this program as a way to increase profits in the future, then submitting train designs there might be the better way to go versus LEGO Ideas.

Dear LEGO,
I would still like to see more Creator Expert themed train sets. Thank you for your understanding!
-Bricks for Bricks

Bricklink AFOL Designer Program

If you look at any of the LEGO related fan sites recently you have probably seen plugs for the Bricklink AFOL Designer Program. Back in 2018 I remember this program being announced and the initial response from the community was “huh?” Why should we submit designs for people to vote on and then if they get enough votes, the design gets made? That sounds a lot like the LEGO Ideas program. I will be honest and say I saw it come out and then ignored it. Thankfully, not everyone did… so let me give a quick explanation of how it works in case you haven’t been following this effort.

Over 400 designs were submitted to Bricklink by September 2018. Between November and January, LEGO and Bricklink got together to review designs. The review team ended up selecting 16 designs. Those designs were posted on Bricklink (here) in January. From January until 15 April 2019, anyone can go and vote with their wallet on one (or a few of the designs). If the design you vote on reaches the required number of votes by 15 April, the design goes into production (and you get charged on 15 April). From that point, Bricklink (not LEGO) will work on getting parts and putting the packaging together. Then they will ship (for free if you use the pre-order time) sometime in the May time frame.

I recommend checking out the Bricklink page to get more information on how this project works if it still sounds confusing. Also, the Beyond the Brick team did some press for the program as well. There are some good videos they made to include an interview with Jamie Berard (LEGO Designer), an interview with Tormod Askildsen (LEGO’s AFOL Engagement Team Lead), and then one with Russell Callender (BrickLink Catalog manager). Of the three, I found the interview with Jamie Berard the most interesting. One because it went through how he was selected to join the company and two because he talks about why the Bricklink AFOL program is cool. What it boils down to is that LEGO designers really have to put a lot of thought into how things are constructed and what techniques are used as their designs reach huge audiences across the world. With this program, the goal is not to go in and do major design changes to a proposed set. Since the program is targeted to AFOLs, they figure that AFOLs can handle some different techniques that are not allowed in official sets. To me, that is a big selling point.

Enough about the program, let’s talk about the designs. There is still over a month to go so you have time to put your pre-orders in. As of the writing of this post, 10 of the 16 designs have met or exceeded their crowdfunding goals. I voted for two and I’ll mention two that I deem as honorable mentions.

The first one is called Skyline Express by user Jazlecraz. At 1,373 parts and $139.99, it works out to $0.102 per piece. It’s a bit high, but not too bad. The coloring is very simple, but in my mind this set opens up a ton of possibilities for adding more track, stations, scenery, or even modifying the monorail train itself. The builder has posted that he’s working on instructions for adding an M-motor to the set so make it motorized so that would be a great addition. I don’t know about anyone else, but as I kid I always saw the LEGO catalogs with the monorails in them and was never able to get one so this I saw this as my chance. If you need a reminder, there was the Classic Space version (#6990-1 Monorail Transport System), the theme now known as CITY had #6399-1 Airport Shuttle, and finally another space version (#6991-1 Monorail Transport Base). This set is slightly different as it uses the rail from the Roller Coasters (#10261-1 Roller Coaster or #31084-1 Pirate Roller Coaster). The rails match the color of #31084-1 so you can get that set and use the rail to expand the Skyline Express rail. There’s also a small juice bar in the station with JüS spelled out in tiles (I even figured out how to get the umlaut over the U in there).

Picture from BrickLink.com

The second set I backed is called “Bikes!” and it was built by user mdt.maikel. This one is 529 pieces and goes for $49.99 which works out to $0.094 per piece. It’s slightly under the so called 10 cents per piece average, so not too bad. I like this set because it is something different. I’m a big CITY and Train fan and my goal is to one day have a house with a basement that I can take over with a large CITY display. This one is not in line with the usual stream of CITY sets that come out of the LEGO Group. There are a lot of official sets with cars, fire trucks, and police vehicles, but not one dedicated to bicycling like this set. It will definitely add a welcome change to any LEGO CITY scene.

Picture from Bricklink.com

Two honorable mentions that I liked, but didn’t end up backing.

The first is called The LEGO® Story. It’s by user BrickJonas and contains 1,442 pieces for $99.99 ($0.07/piece).. This one highlights the 60th anniversary of the brick and contains four different vignettes dealing with LEGO”s history from making wooden toys, to the first plastic bricks, to designing the models, and finally modern production. I thought this one was pretty cool, but alas I don’t have an endless budget to buy LEGO sets.

The second is called Eight Studs and it is by user kleinraum. It’s 1,393 pieces for $9.99 ($0.072/piece). This one is a modular living area in the shape of a 2x4 brick or two 2x2 bricks. If you check out the set’s page you’ll see that it can be customized to look a few different ways. Definitely check it out. It’s a cool design.

Photo from Bricklink.com

Photo from Bricklink.com

To be fair, I’m not saying that the other 12 sets I didn’t mention are bad models. I’m just showing you the ones that interested me the most. There are some great designs from some talented builders. If you aren’t interested in purchasing, be sure to check out what is out there anyways. Maybe next time when Bricklink puts out a call for designs you can submit yours.

Happy building!