Set Review - #71047: Dungeons and Dragons - Collectible Minifigures

Another collectible minifigure series… I’m not a Dungeons and Dragons fan by any means, but I’ve been hooked into collecting them all so I dove in. These were released on 1 September 2024 for $4.99 each. I think this price is a bit steep and this time I waited until the series went on sale before jumping in. The 6-pack boxes recently went on sale for $5 off the regular $30 price. Not the greatest price, but still not full price so I’ll take it. This series has 12 minifigures and they are all quite unique. Full disclosure, I know nothing about DnD so I’m not going to provide any comments about the theme itself. One interesting note on this series is that many of the figures came with two heads so you could make the minifigure a male or a female which is a nice change. I hope to see more of this, but don’t want to see an increased cost for it.

Halfling Druid: A bird, antler head piece, and a staff larger than the figure. This one is fun.

Dragonborn Paladin; With the recent resurgence of the castle theme, this figure has been pretty popular with a dragon head and dragon shield.

Elf Bard: the lute is a cool part and a gold colored sword… some cool accessories.

Dwarf Barbarian: I like this minifigure and the option for a male or female character is a bonus on this one.

The Lady of Pain: The head piece of this one interesting. I’m not sure how I feel about it as a whole without understanding DnD.

Szass Tam: What is this one? I’m not a fan of this one. It doesn’t offer a whole lot in terms of accessories.

Aarakocra Ranger: I think this one is pretty cool. I like the eagle head and the wings with the minifigure torso and smaller legs. The different bow and arrow piece is pretty cool too.

Tasha the Witch Queen: The witch hat on top of the hair is fun for this one.

Mind Flayer: I have no idea what this is, but the little walking brain creature is hilarious.

Gith Warlock: The eyeball on a stick is a great piece. No idea what it’s for, but I’m excited to see what MOC builders do with it.

Strahd von Zarovich and Tiefling Sorcerer: Two more characters that I’m not sure what to do with. No complaints here, just interesting and weird looking.

Set Review - #10314-1: Dried Flowers Centerpiece - Icons - Botanicals

The Botanicals line has continued strong with set #10314-1: Dried Flower Centerpiece which was released 1 February 2023. This one was priced at $49.99, but with all the sales can be found for around $38 right now. It’s going to be retiring soon so look for it to fall even lower as retailers look to get rid of inventory. The set contains 812 pieces which works out to $0.062 per piece. This isn’t bad although most of the pieces are rather small. If you really like the set, you can get more than one to make a larger display as shown on the back of the box. I just purchased one to build so onto the review…

The set contains seven parts bags and two instruction booklets. It’s possible to split the set up between two people so you could have one person build bags one through three and another builds bags four through seven.

Bag one assembles the base of the first half of the arrangement. Nothing overly extraordinary to report here.

The second bag adds in some of the plants around the edges of the base. The use of pieces is great with pumpkin pieces, crowns, whips, and Technic gears along with some of the usual plant pieces. Even if you don’t like botanical sets, you get some great colored foliage pieces for MOCs or forest scenes so it’s a good parts pack.

The third bag finishes up this half of the arrangement. The standout is the flower with the oar pieces connected to orange wrenches around a steering wheel type piece. The Ninjago hat as the center is great too. You also add in some other flowers to include some made with orange epaulets.

Bag four starts the other half of the arrangement. It looks very similar to bag one.

Bag five is similar to bag two. The build isn’t exactly the same, but there is some repetition between the two. It’s a smaller build so not too painful here.

Bag six finishes up most of this arrangement with the highlight being the rose. It’s impressive how the designers figured out how to overlap the wheel well pieces to create a flower like shape.

The last bag connects the two halves and also gives you the option to build a separate connecter piece. Buying two sets would allow you to connect the four halves and make a fun arrangement. You could put a real candle in the center or some other fun brick designed item to have a cool table decoration.

Here are a few shots of the final build. It’s not very large, but my NLS found a way to display it in our house for the fall and it looks great. If you’re a fan of the Botanicals line, I recommend picking this one up before it is gone if you haven’t already. If you are looking for a good parts pack with some foliage pieces, this is one to look for some sales on Black Friday to grab it at a discount for parts.

Happy building!

Set Review - BrickCon 2024 - CON MODEL

I’m a little late in building this one, but I’m glad I finally put it together. Each year, BrickCon has a Con Model and each year it’s been an awesome build. This one contains 451 pieces and was designed by one of the BrickCon Foundation team members named Bre Burns. The box is very bright and colorful with the front showing a girl and her dog while the back explains the idea behind the set. The side of the box shows that the set is #83 of 250 total sets assembled.

The set contains a plastic bag of parts, a 16x16 plate, a custom tile, and an instruction booklet.

The instruction booklet shows the assembled set on the front. In order to keep costs down, the instructions are a little more complicated then what you’d receive from LEGO. There are a lot of parts in each step as it is assumed that the builders of these sets are experienced builders and they can handle the challenging steps.

The set has plates for a base, some internal Technic workings, plates on the top, and then the top has a number of small builds. There is a girl figure, a dog, and then various smaller builds to represent the some of the different themes from LEGO past and present. In the back left there’s a flower to represent the Botanicals theme. The girl is holding a land speeder from Star Wars. Below the land speeder is a pirate ship and then a mini-Technic construction vehicle. In the center are two vehicles which could be CITY or Speed Champions. Also there’s a miniature Galaxy Explorer zooming up. In-between the girl and the dog is a box of bricks. This includes a few bricks assembled to look like the BrickCon logo. The right side of the build has a microfigure to represent the Ninjago line. In front are a small castle and then a train.

Here’s the view from the front. On the front is the printed tile and a pattern of 1x1 plates.

From the side, you can see the crank which you can turn to get the movement. The parts that move include the dog’s tail, the center track with the two cars and the Galaxy Explorer, and then the girl’s right hand moves up and down to fly the Land Speeder. You can also switch out the Land Speeder for the Galaxy Explorer.

It was a great build and I’m glad I was able to get it at BrickCon this year.

Happy building!

Creations for Charity 2024 has Begun!

If you’ve been involved in the LEGO community for a few years, then there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Creations for Charity. This annual drive runs from 15 October to 30 November every year with a goal of raising funds to give LEGO sets to underprivileged kids. The charity was started in 2009 by Nannan Zhang and has been growing ever since.

The blog post kicking off the drive this year can be found here. There are a bunch of cool builds and instructions listed already so check them out. If you don’t want to buy anything, you can just donate. Also look for the Beyond the Brick crew to host another 24 hour live stream in November.

Thanks for supporting this great charity and happy building!

It's Time for the Bricklink Designer Program to Make some Changes

I was voting regularly in the Bricklink Designer Programs and posting how my votes did and how they didn’t do. I have since stopped. Don’t get me wrong, there are some really talented builders out there and it’s great to see the efforts they put into it. In fact, one of the sets I voted for in Series 5 made it through voting. It’s a fairly small build considering some of the monstrous builds in the running and it’s something we haven’t seen before which will be offered at a somewhat more reasonable price. I like it!

But Bricklink, it’s time for change!!!

I enjoy the different sets the Bricklink Designer Program puts out and the opportunity for fans to participate, but let’s give it some time off. The themes seem to be similar everytime with lots of submissions of castles, city buildings, space craft, and pirates. I think the building community needs to take a break. Let’s finish up Series 6 that is up for voting consideration and then take some time off. Set a date for when the next round will be and maybe even re-consider the guidelines.

Then let’s come back in 6 months? 1 year? 18 months?

In that time period, there should be lots of fresh ideas and builders will have worked out their designs to be ready for the round of voting. Then let’s get those sets out and delivered before we start yet another round.

The constant churn of sets kills the excitement for them. I know I placed some orders for round 2, but without going to the website, I forget what they even were. It’s the same for series 3. I had to remind myself what it was and what I could order. I then placed my orders and will wait until March 2025 until I even see the sets which I will have forgotten by then.

Let’s fix this churn. People voted, we released the winning ideas, ideas were finalized, then give more time for the sets to get out there. I only saw a few reviews in the fan media before the ordering Series 3. Provide more time to build the hype and get the information out. Is that castle really great or do I not have enough information, but I’m a castle fan and I don’t want to miss out on this chance to own a castle set? Maybe have the sets at the LEGO House, fan conventions, or some LEGO Brand Stores so people can actually see them. Then open it up for the pre-orders once the reviews are out.

Don’t let it die off once the orders are made. Continue the excitement. Keep touring the sets around. More review videos maybe? Create a few extra sets to give away as prizes via some sort of challenge or sweepstakes for people who missed out.

I clicked on “My Pre-Orders” on Bricklink and it takes me to my LEGO Shop @ Home orders. Then you have to sort through and find the right ones, which may be from over 6 months ago. It would be great if it took you right to the sets you have on pre-order. Also, more insight as to how close you are to receiving them. These are exclusive, limited run sets that just randomly show up at my door without a big fanfare or announcement from Bricklink or LEGO.

And as I continue my rant, how about some sort of Bricklink GWP? A printed brick that says “Bricklink Designer Program: Series X” or a build of the Bricklink logo.

I will stop rambling…

The bottom-line is that I think Bricklink needs to liven the program up and they are missing out on the opportunity to build the brand and grow the program into something really cool other than some sets you have to wait 6 to 9 months to arrive.

Happy Waiting!

BrickCon 2024... Another Year of Awesomeness!

This is not my first post about BrickCon and it won’t be my last. If you’re not familiar with BrickCon, it’s the longest running LEGO® Fan Exhibition in the World. It took place this year in Bellevue, Washington (near Seattle) at the Meydenbauer Center for the second year in a row. This year continued the hybrid version of the convention with virtual activities, virtual tours of the in person MOCs, virtual games, and access to the presentations. I had a great time as a a virtual attendee and virtual staff member I realize the virtual experience is not the same as in person, but $25 for all of that access is a great deal! If you didn’t attend in person or virtually this year, I highly recommend you check it out next year.

Random note, you can do a self guided tour of the convention here.

Besides some great presentations, hanging out with fellow fans of the brick, playing fun games, and having time to build, I also enjoy some of the great merchandise that is available for purchase. Here’s a quick rundown of what I grabbed this year.

First up, I grabbed a few shirts. The convention tee shirt was ~$20. The theme this year was Foundations which represented going back to the foundation of the hobby and where many adult fans started, but also highlighted how BrickCon is now a foundation. I also grabbed a polo shirt. It was a bit pricy, at ~$50, but it it seems to be a good quality shirt.

I also grabbed a swag bag which came in this bag with the BrickCon and Sasquatch Bricks logo. It also included this cool water bottle with the BrickCon logo.

The bag came with a few advertisements which would have been great if I was in person, but I’ll take anyways. It also had a few stickers, a lanyard, a copy of the program, and some minifigure capes from Cape Madness.

It also came with a Warrior Pack from Brick Warriors. My pack came with a few weapons and some armor for some knights.

BrickCon has the opportunity to trade parts with fellow attendees. As a virtual attendee, I didn’t get that chance, but I did get some great parts. Here are the ones I received. The full bag of the forest green, brick textured 1x2 bricks are awesome!. I also was super excited to see a 32x32 dark blue base plate. No complaints about the other pieces either. Definitely a great haul!

There was also a bag of printed bricks, a minifigure, and some animals. I like the seals and am not going to complain to have more butterflies. It’s a fun minifigure too! The printed white 1x8 brick states that it’s a recognized AFOL Networking Event 2024 on that side and then says BrickCon 2024 on the other side.

As an attendee, you get some printed bricks that you can customize. The blue 1x8 was standard, but I requested the yellow and red ones. I got one for the update to my business and the other one to highlight how I end my blog posts.

Last up was the convention model. I forget the price… sorry. This one was designed by Bre Burns. Bre is a member of the BrickCon staff and also did a stint writing for the Brother’s Brick web site. As you can see, I haven’t built it and will do a set review once I get to that point, but from the introduction of the set at the convention, it looks awesome. I can’t wait.

Speaking of which, why are you waiting? Mark your calendar for July 2025 to go in and sign up for BrickCon 2025 in September (9-12 I believe). If you can’t attend in person, attend virtually.

Happy building!

Another LEGO Shop @ Home Shipping Fail - Late Night Delivery

I placed a few orders during the recent Back to Hogwarts promotion LEGO ran at the beginning of September. I bought a few items to build and a few for the Bricks for Bricks Bricklink Store. My orders shipped at various times and as per usual, I received shipping notifications. So far so good.

One of the orders was shipped via a company called OnTrac. Huh? Who are they? I was nervous, but I hoped LEGO had everything under control. The package tracking showed daily movement on the path to my house until it looked like it would show up the next day.

So there I was… getting ready for bed a little after 10:00 PM when I saw the front of my house was brighter. I went to go look and there was a van in the driveway with its lights on and someone walking up the walkway. I flipped on the outside light and by the time I got outside, the person was already walking back and there was a box on my porch. A quick look revealed the shipper was LEGO so I assumed it was legit. I later opened the box and my order was there.

I was a bit perturbed by such a late night delivery and it definitely spooked my family to have someone show up that late unannounced. Everyone else (Fedex, UPS, USPS, Amazon) delivers during normal hours unless you pay for a rush delivery or a late night Uber/Doordash. So I decided to write to LEGO Customer Service. I often get positive responses from them so it was worth a shot. I sent a note, voiced my frustration, and asked them to not deliver so late at night as I didn’t need the set at 10:30 PM.

Well… LEGO responded by flicking it off to OnTrac. They said they were sorry, but I should take it up with OnTrac. It wasn’t their problem to deal with.

So I attempted to deal with OnTrac. I messed with the automated chat function until I gave up. It appears there is no way to send them feedback. OnTrac, if you’re reading this, please don’t deliver to my house after 10 PM or even 8 PM. I say 7 PM is the latest. Nothing that I order is that important that it has to be there that night. Let your employees stay home and enjoy time with their families. They don’t need to be out hauling boxes around. Thanks for understanding?

Has anyone else had this issue? Or is it just me?

From Jaws to Sammy Sullivan - Interview with Skip Kodak (LEGO Group)

In case you missed it, LEGO is moving it’s USA operations from Enfield, CT to Boston, MA. To learn more about the move, the reasoning behind it, and to hear some more about LEGO, check out this interview with Skip Kodak, head of LEGO Group’s Market Group Americas. It’s a little over half an hour long and it has some good tidbits like how Sammy Sullivan got a LEGO set after the Olympics. Enjoy!

Set Review - #60441-1: Space Explorers Pack - LEGO CITY - Space Subtheme

I grew up building some of the Classic Space themes so I was excited to see a space like theme return in 2024’s CITY theme. I was able to catch a three pack on sale through LEGO Shop @ Home for $25 so I dove in. But let me back up… #60441-1: Space Explorers Pack was released on 1 May 2024 in the US for $31.99. It contains 426 pieces which works out to $0.075 per piece which isn’t too bad. The pack contains three of the space sets:

-#30663-1: Space Hoverbike polybag with 46 pieces which retails for $4.99

-#60428-1: Space Construction Mech with 140 pieces which retails for $10.99

-#60430-1: Interstellar Spaceship with 240 pieces which retails for $19.99

Here’s the box. The front shows all three sets with a SPACE logo and the CITY logo and it identifies it as a Super Pack. The back shows some of the play features with some graphics showing the minifigures doing their thing.

The set comes with four individually number parts bags, two instruction booklets, and a small sticker sheet.

The first bag starts building the spaceship. It also includes a minifigure which comes with a jet pack. For a CITY set, it includes some interesting build techniques, a new-to-me dark orange color that I haven’t seen before, and some other decent pieces.

The second bag finishes the space ship and I must say it looks pretty sleek. There are some cool play features like when you push in the power back on the top and it opens up the engine area. The cockpit opens up and the minifigure will fit inside (without the jet back and reclined slightly). The modified space logo looks pretty cool too. I like this one!

Bag three builds what would have been a polybag. This one is small with not much to it. For a small build, it’s not bad, but it isn’t my favorite. You get a little speeder type ship and then a section of the planet where the space minifigures are mining. If I understand it correctly, they mine the trans-clear purple sparkly crystals and turn them into power sources which they use to power their vehicles. You get another minifigure so that’s a good part of this polybag I guess.

Bag four builds a mech. I know there are some mech fans out there so be warned that this one is small and not one of those super huge, detailed mechs. For what it is, it’s not bad. The mech has an arm to grab and an arm that punches which I would assume is used to break apart rock to get to the crystals. Besides the mech, you also get a small section of the planet with crystals and then a small mining droid. The stickers are applied to this part of the build.

Here is the final set with all the components. If you can find this set on sale and you were looking to check out this theme, this is a good way to give it a shot. I enjoyed the build, you get some good pieces, it comes with three minifigures, and my kiddo who built it with me enjoyed playing with them too. I will be watching for more sales in this theme to check out some others.

What are your thoughts on this set and theme? Did it stray too far from the original space theme or is it in line with Classic Space?

Happy building!

LEGO Brand Store Visit - Tysons Corner, VA

I’ve been to this LEGO brand store before back in 2016 and ended up stopping by again 8 years later. I visited on a Friday afternoon and it was pretty busy with lots of families and adults alike. They were pretty well stocked with just about everything, but the majority of the stuff was at full price except for a few discounted Dreamzzz sets.

The front of the store had a few large scale minifigures from the Dreamzzz line shown here. They also had a large shark minifigure, but I couldn’t get a picture because there were either shoppers or workers in front the whole time.

All the large figures had a sign next to them with the total number of pieces used, it’s weight, and the amount of time that it took to build the large figure.

I was excited to see the new Technic McLaren P1. I hope to own it some day, but I’ll wait for a sale or enough Insider points to get it cheaper than the $450 retail price (before sales tax).

The store had a few new sets on display which were built to include #10368-1: Chrysanthemum and #10369-1: Plum Blossom from the Botanical subtheme as well as #10337-1: Lamborghini Countach 5000 Quattrovalvole (another set I hope to own if I can find it at a discount).

One Easter Egg from the store… they had #75371-1: Chewbacca™ holding one of the roses from the botanical theme. If you look closely, you’ll notice the minifigure version is holding a small bunch of red flowers too.

I wanted to try out the Pick and Build wall with the new boxes. The pricing was $9.99 for the smaller box and then $17.99 for the larger box. The taxes were pretty awful as well so it probably wasn’t worth it, but my kids and I had fun filling the boxes. Definitely can’t fit as much in them as you could in one of the cups, which was a disappointment. The store had a pretty good selection of parts though to include a lot of gold colored pieces. The theme they were running was to build a race car. They had wheels, steering wheels, some windscreens, and other parts you could use to build a car.

Here is the “Large” box. It was slightly overfilled as I did my best to stuff in as much as I could (unlike the lady next to me who stole a part by putting it in her pocket and then pulling out a tissue like she was putting her hand in her pocket to get a tissue… yeah I saw you!). The store worker didn’t seem to mind that my box was stuffed. He put a sticker on it to keep it closed and off we went after paying (and not stealing). My kiddos got boxes as well and we failed to label them before leaving he store. We figured it out later on though pretty easily.

Here is the full stash. I went for mostly small pieces, but I threw in a few larger bricks and plates. Lots of flower pieces including some of the larger ones. Also some clear windows and lamp posts. If I lived closer and was working on a particular build, it would have been good to stop with a list of items I was looking for. I don’t live near an official brand store so it was fun to stop by one and pick out some stuff. We’ll see when I visit another one. In the meantime, happy building!