Lego and other brick toys

The problem with brick-build Star Trek sets is the design of the ships don't really lend themselves to sturdy model made out of interconnecting pieces WITHOUT needing specialty pieces for key structural points. Both Mega Blok Enterprises (2004 D and 2017 TOS) had single piece for their warp nacelle pylons, with the Kre-O Kelvin Enterprise being worse.

These ships will never look good in this form factor, but lego will always get a pass because of it's name.

As for the figures, I hate how Worf's baldric is printed and not a separate piece. That comes mostly from my frustration of the Kre-O Worf that did the same thing, and not use the bandolier piece from the Battleship/G.I. Joe figures to both add depth to the figure and result in a clean uniform to repurpose. (Also, mad I have yet to get him. Or Quark. Or Chang. Or the Andorian. Or TOS Spock.)

I'll wait until repros hit those $5 brick figure booths at conventions if I really want them.

I haven't kept up with the F1 sets much, picked up a couple a while back to check out, but...to paraphrase Bill Watterson, I think somewhere inside virtually everyone - sometimes not very far inside - is a little kid who thinks race cars, or airplanes, or whatever, are the coolest things on the planet. I had a moment today, and did a splurge on the big City F1 hauler truck.

It's a big chunker, that's for sure - no crazy techniques, the trailer is mostly a big box, all that - but it looks pretty dang impressive all together. Not a lot of exposed studs, and a decent amount of detail for an 8+ targeted set. The tilt cab with a little engine detail underneath was pleasant, and there's a lot of attention into keeping the color scheme without 'construction' colors peeking out. Also, for all the deco in the set, there are all of two stickers and they're both for the simulator room; everything else is either printed or brick built. Very tight and clean as a model.

The cars are the same cars from every other set in new colors of course, with the simplified liveries - especially so for the "RB20" that has no text on it at all because you can't market Red Bull to kids. Still not a bad build; though of course I wish the yellow on the Red Bull car had gotten another coat, it's quite apparent on the nose where the print is next to the cheese wedge.

Some pieces new to me in this set - the chassis piece for the semi cab is a lot more low profile than other big ones I've seen/used; the wine glass in the trophy, and the trailer hitch that clips onto a standard balljoint. The 1x2x2/3 arch and 2x2 boat dish in trans-red are a new color to me, and I can imagine the Classic Space folks liking those.

As far as value, it feels pretty on par for current Lego. If we take the orange McLaren standalone car as precedent, the individual F1 cars are $10. This means the semi itself is $80. Which doesn't feel too out of place for a seriously big City truck in today's prices, and doesn't seem to include much of a Licensing Tax for being F1. My nitpicking is pretty stodgy - kinda wish they'd gone for a tool cart and mechanic's station instead of the little simulator room, but it -is- something different and blends right in, and it fits for the actual target audience of this kit.

I bought the SSD over a year ago and then Falcon not long after. Tantive IV, Invisible Hand and Acclamator were all bought during Prime Days or Black Friday when they were marked down...even though you can usually find them at the marked down price. I added most of the minifigs from my older (late 90's / early 2000's Star Wars Lego sets) just to build them up a bit more, I really like it. I'm excited for the Venator class ship in January. I MIGHT grab the AT-AT when it goes on sale. I think next up for my is my old UCS Star Destroyer. I THINK I have all of the pieces in a box, could be a fun build again.

I picked up the Helicarrier from Walmart on Black Friday for half price. I saw it in the store along time ago, kept eye balling it, and when they had it for 50% off I couldn't say no. I need to work on finding a better home for it though.

SHIELD gotta keep an eye on all those aliens.

---Dave

Merry Christmas!

I got that set for my sister in law for christmas!

If I had a nickle for every hammer-wielding mech suit I've picked up on discount over the years, I'd have three nickles. Which isn't a lot, but......

It's funny to me that Thor is the shortest, and yet the only one with knees.

wonko the sane? said:

I got that set for my sister in law for christmas!

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I gave that one to my mom so she a) wouldn't have to worry about watering it, and b) wouldn't have to worry about the cat eating it.

I built it for her though, because at almost 80 her dexterity isn't what it used to be.

Spent the last of my Christmas gift money to pick up the Gameboy LEGO set, and I cannot praise it enough

If you have even REMOTELY considered this set you owe it to yourself to pick it up.

It is my favorite build EVER. The actual build process is amazingly fun and full of Easter eggs and building techniques I've never seen before. The end result is damn near one to one with an actual gameboy and it feels perfect in hand, down to the clickable buttons and D-pad.

Just amazing build and display piece. The highest Lego recommendation I've ever given.

I saw a post where supposedly people are finding ways to make the Lego set into a workable Gameboy.

I saw that too, which just kind of speaks to how well it's designed.

It might be well desgined and all but at the end of the day, its not much use to me when I still own a Game Boy colour plus a Game Boy Advance and the games, will I not played them in a long time, I still own them and should be working just fine, while this doesn't do much or warrent me buying, so its a easy pass!

Darth_Prime said:

I saw a post where supposedly people are finding ways to make the Lego set into a workable Gameboy.

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My local shop doesn't care about street dates, LOL. At least I don't have to worry about having trouble getting it on release date.

So the Collectable Minifigures series 29 is due May 1st, but my Walmart apparently don't care 'bout no stinkin' street date:



Dominique the Cyclops became a Vampire Hunter in this continuity, apparently? This is probably the coolest figure this wave, with intricate printing and a cool gunblade accessory. Fits really well with the Steampunk Inventor from a couple waves back, but could also expand the Monster Fighters lineup from many years ago...



The Bionicle Cosplayer is a close second for best of the series. Bionicle was not my thing, Lego-wise, but I appreciate what it did for the brand. This minifigure version is pretty sweet, and the mask looks like what I remember of early Bionicle.

"...you could call it a Mecha-Godzilla!" But since it is more t-rex than Godzilla, I probably won't. The robot t-rex does what it says on the tin. The minifig head has printing for open and closed apertures, and the battery accessory is kinda neat. I can see this one being an animatronic nightmare to terrorize the other dinosaur costume figures...

The full lineup. I highly recommend using a QR code scanner to pick out the figures you want. If my scans are accurate, I still have the Trash Monster, the Dragon Chocolatier, and the Mysterious Ronin (named La-Loyd with 2 Ls) to open. Kinda interested in the diver, but mostly just for the clownfish, and the Cute Witch just for the cat. It's not my favorite CMF series of all time (that was the Space series...), but there's some solidly decent figures here.

Haywire said:

View attachment 35758

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Shockwave, is that you?

I do want the robot t-rex. I don't have a clue where I'll put it, but it looks cool.

I should pick up the tuba player, too. And if they start doing others in later series, especially ones with marching bass, snare, and toms, it could get really cool.

...the rest of my early bird haul.
I was really excited for the Trash Monster, as it looked a lot like the Slime Monster from the Vidiyo minifigs that i wasnt able to find. The little round tiles with the flies printed on are great!
The Chocolatier is probably my least favorite of the group, although the decorating tool is a cool build (I left out the wand that makes it look like it is dispensing chocolate), and the chocolate dragon is deliciously cute!
Lloyd Mysterious Ronin is a neat Ninja figure that looks nicely detailed. I think the hood with the hair sticking out is new? New to me, anyway. The Blobtron (Slimetron?) figure is impressed by the Ronin's mastery of the power of GREEN!

Anyway, if you want to find one of these without buying a bunch of random figures or paying eBay markup, there are different scanners that can be used on the QR code next to the barcode on the bottom of the box. Even a generic QR code scanner will at least give you the number codes. Here are the Series 29 CMF codes I have (US codes, other countries may differ):

6605270 Robot T-Rex
6605264 Bionicle Cosplayer
6605267 Monster Hunter
6605269 Trash Monster
6605262 Chocolatier
6605266 Mysterious Ronin

Haywire said:

View attachment 35776
...the rest of my early bird haul.
I was really excited for the Trash Monster, as it looked a lot like the Slime Monster from the Vidiyo minifigs that i wasnt able to find. The little round tiles with the flies printed on are great!
The Chocolatier is probably my least favorite of the group, although the decorating tool is a cool build (I left out the wand that makes it look like it is dispensing chocolate), and the chocolate dragon is deliciously cute!
Lloyd Mysterious Ronin is a neat Ninja figure that looks nicely detailed. I think the hood with the hair sticking out is new? New to me, anyway. The Blobtron (Slimetron?) figure is impressed by the Ronin's mastery of the power of GREEN!

Anyway, if you want to find one of these without buying a bunch of random figures or paying eBay markup, there are different scanners that can be used on the QR code next to the barcode on the bottom of the box. Even a generic QR code scanner will at least give you the number codes. Here are the Series 29 CMF codes I have (US codes, other countries may differ):

6605270 Robot T-Rex
6605264 Bionicle Cosplayer
6605267 Monster Hunter
6605269 Trash Monster
6605262 Chocolatier
6605266 Mysterious Ronin

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Do you know if the chocolate dragon is a new piece? It'd be neat to have some with actual baby dragon decos

Badgertron said:

Do you know if the chocolate dragon is a new piece? It'd be neat to have some with actual baby dragon decos

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I'm pretty sure it's the same mold as the baby dragon that came with the Tiefling Sorcerer in the Dungeons and Dragons CMF series, but without any printed details.