Lego and other brick toys

[Agent X]

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.

 

[Ceir]

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.