Set Review - #21343-1: Viking Village - LEGO Ideas

It’s LEGO Ideas set #51! This one is #21343-1: Viking Village. It is the result of the LEGO X Target fan vote that took place in May 2022 between this design and two other designs that reached 10K votes, but were not selected during their original reviews. Thankfully, this set is not exclusive to Target as you can buy it from LEGO as well. The set was released on 1 September 2023. It contains 2,103 pieces and retails for $129.99 in the US. This works out to $0.062 per piece which is quite good.

The box is black with the 18+ greebling and the Ideas logo. The front of the box shows the front of the set while the back shows another view and some of the play features of the set.

The set contains 15 numbered parts bags and two plastic rope strands for the rope bridge. The instruction booklet is in a cardboard envelope for protection. The instructions include details about Vikings, the fan designer, and LEGO designers .

The first bag builds a base to what will be a blacksmith’s hut. Like many of the recent sets, this one does not have a base plate, but instead puts plates together to create the base. The plates are light blue to capture that this village is near the water. Bag one includes a female minifigure. She has a paint brush and a hammer which has printing on it.

The second bag adds some details to the base and then builds up the structure of the blacksmith hut area. It comes with some extra gear stored on the wall and in a barrel nearby. Additionally, there is a simple Technic built function that lets you shoot the flames up as the metal worker is working. I like the use of the decorative, curved piece colored in white as chimney smoke.

The third bag finishes up the shop area and tops it off with a roof. The roof is removable in one piece so you can get inside as you need to. There are also a number of trees and plants on the outside added in. Most have white pieces on top for snow.

The fourth bag builds a base for what appears to be a main chamber type building. It includes a small fire pit in the middle of the base. This bag comes with a male minifigure equipped with a bow and arrow and a quiver of more arrows.

The fifth bag adds in some details to include a back wall with a throne in front and then the start of a front entry way. There are a number of printed tiles in this build and thankfully no stickers. Yay!

Bag six adds more details to include the side walls, turning the fire pit into a cooking area, and adding in some cooking gear, weapons, a cup, and a small lantern. This bag also adds in a male minifigure who appears to be the lead Viking. I failed to take a picture of it, but you’ll see it later in the review.

The seventh bag adds in some banners on the walls as tiles inside, front doors that pivot open and closed, and then the pitch section to create the angled roof.

The eighth bag completes the roof. The roof is held on by gravity and includes a roof/chimney section in the center. I like the details and coloring. It’s pretty simple, but achieves the desired effect. Plus there are gold colored hot dog pieces.

Bag nine starts the base to the next section of the build.

Bag 10 adds in some pieces assembled which end up as rock stairs and then some drying fish on a pole.

Bag 11 builds more base which attaches to the base from bag nine.

Bag 12 connects the two bases and adds in a lookout tower, some kegs of a beverage, and adds a female minifigure holding a shield and ax.

Bag 13 adds a small room on top of the small hill-like structure with the steps leading up to it. There is a door to get in and a ladder to climb up. Inside are a few food items and a small shelf. The windows have an interesting design for a window awning. I like how they used rod connecter pieces of different sizes to make it work.

Bag 14 adds the rope bridge. It uses the two rope pieces included in the set and then you add each of the bridge steps. It’s a little challenging to attach it all, but I managed.

The 15th and last bag adds walls and a roof on top of the room on top of the hilly area. The roof is built in a similar style as the throne room building.

The set comes with four Viking minifigures. I used my own plates to get them to stand up. You don’t get the plates in the set (sorry). Each comes with their own weapons/gear. I like the styles and I’m glad they have fun facial expressions. While I’d always like to see more minifigures, I think four is a decent amount for this set. If you are looking for more Viking minifigures, check out the Bricks for Bricks Bricklink store to grab some more.

Here’s the final build front and back. From a price standpoint, it’s not too bad, but there are a lot of smaller pieces so that could be part of the reason for the low price per piece ratio. It is a pretty sizeable set though. When you connect the different sections it adds up to 18 inches long. The set has good playability and could easily be added to a larger Viking MOC if you wanted to. It was a fun build and has some good pieces. Not a lot of varying colors, but that’s to be expected considering the theme. Getting the four minifigures is a win too. Overall, I recommend the set. It’s a great build with a lot of potential. Maybe if you wait a year or two, it’ll even go on sale…

What are your thoughts?

Happy building!

Set Review - #21342-1: The Insect Collection - LEGO Idea

It’s the 50th LEGO Ideas set. I’m surprised LEGO didn’t make a big deal out of this one. Usually they celebrate all kinds of anniversaries. Oh well. #21342-1: The Insect Collection was released on 4 September 2023 for $79.99. It contains 1,111 pieces which works out to $0.072 per piece which isn’t too bad. A lot of the pieces are smaller, but some are special printed or unique pieces so that may make up for it.

For the review, the front of the box shows the three different models with the set name and Ideas logo on the top. The back shows another view of the set and some close up shots along with a display suggestion.

The set contains seven numbered parts bags. Bag one contains a piece separator. There are then four instruction booklets that come in an envelope (Thank you LEGO!). The first book gives some detail on the models and designers. Then the remaining three are for each of the builds.

The first bag begins building the Blue Morpho butterfly. It builds a base with a brick built plant or stick coming out of the base. Around the base are a few flowers and other plants and leaves.

The second bag adds the butterfly. The first instruction book shows the fan designer build of the butterfly which was built with SNOT techniques. This one is made with plates and tiles stacked on top of each other. The advantage is that they have some printed tiles on the edges of the wings. The disadvantage is the build isn’t as exciting due to the techniques used. It still looks great though as a blue butterfly with the different shades of blue. You also get a miniature honey bee. The bee is fun although I would rather have had a larger sized bee like the fan designer originally submitted. I guess this bee is more to scale so it fits into the scene better.

One bonus though is everything is printed. There are no stickers. YAY!

Bag three starts the Hercules Beetle build. The build starts off with a base similar to the last build. Then you add on a piece of a plant or a branch that the beetle is crawling on.

The fourth bag begins to build the beetle. It’s an interesting build with some fun techniques. The horn piece is big. I’m not sure if they are unique to this set or not, but it would have been interesting to see if they could have built it with additional pieces instead of one larger piece.

The fifth bag finishes up the beetle. You add in two blue mushrooms and then finalize the beetle. Besides the legs, you add in the wings and the covering of the back of the beetle (I’m not sure of the official term for it). You can pose the beetle with the wings out or remove the wings and have the yellow pieces covering the back. I like this feature and decided to picture it as if it’s just taking off from the branch.

The sixth bag starts the build for the Chinese Mantis. You start with the same base that the other two insects are on. Then you build a small stem with some leaves and flowers on it. There are also some round 1x1 red tiles printed as ladybugs. The fan designer submitted a larger scaled ladybug to Ideas and I would have preferred that as well, but I’ll take what they created.

The seventh and final bag adds in the Chinese Mantis. The designers did a good job capturing the shape and details of the insect. I like the use of the pistols at the bottoms of the legs and crow bars for antenna.

Here are the final builds. Definitely something outside the ordinary sets we see so that’s good. I would have liked to see more of the fan designer submissions (larger ladybug and bee), but I can’t complain with what we received. These are definitely display pieces which is fine for the 18+ audience in my opinion. Pricewise, it’s not bad considering the price for piece and maybe as it gets closer to retirement, we’ll see it go on sale which would be awesome.

What were your thoughts on this one? Can you mix them in with some of your Botanical sets?

Happy building!

Set Review - #21338-1: A Frame Cabin - LEGO Ideas - #46

How are we at the 46th set in the LEGO Ideas line? Where has the time gone? This one is #21338-1: A Frame Cabin. It was released back on 14 January 2023 in the US. It contains 2,082 pieces and retails for $179.99. That works out to $0.086 per piece which isn’t too bad. The set is jammed with a lot of details, but still has a lot of playability too. Plus it’s not just a front façade of a building like many sets are as the roof pieces come off for access if you want to play instead of accessing the back of the build. Before getting into the build, I thought this set would go well with #21318-1: Tree House if you wanted to build an outdoor scene or just a MOC of a scene in the woods. I’ll have to add that to my list of things to try someday.

Onto the review…

You get the standard box with the 18+ greebling and Ideas logos. The front shows the full set while while the back gives some additional details and dimensions.

The contents are 15 numbered parts bags with one unnumbered bag of larger pieces. A few of the numbers have more than one bag. You also get two instruction books in a paperboard envelope.

Here’s the envelope with the instructions and the two books. The instructions have some details on the designers, fan designer, and the model itself to read before you get into the build.

Bag one builds the base of the cabin and includes two minifigures.

Bag two adds in some tiles and studded tiles that end up as the front porch. You also add in some Thor’s Hammers for the masonry work in front of the cabin which is a cool building technique.

The third bag starts to pack in details. There is a small kitchen area with a sink, stove, extra wood to burn, storage for dishes, and then the start of some stairs. The other side of the room has a record player and a 2x4 printed tile that says “LEGO” as your floor mat. I believe this is the tile from #10290-1: Pickup Truck.

Bag four builds up the walls and support section for the second floor. The kitchen area gets a few more items to include a stove, chopping blade, and fire extinguisher. There are stairs put in above the kitchen area with a LEGO plate on a step for a minifigure to accidentally step on.

The other side adds in a guitar, shelving, and you can see a printed tile above the front door.

The fifth bag adds in tiles, jumper plates, and some plates as the outer siding of the cabin. Some are offset and they aren’t in any particular order which helps to make it look more like a cabin in the woods than a manufactured building. The front side of the cabin gets one of the newer butterfly pieces above the front door which is a nice addition.

Bag six decks out the front porch with a rocking chair, a small stove to fry an egg, steps up to the porch, a small bench with a lantern and mug, and railings for the porch. Then in the back you get a shower, bathroom materials (shovel, toilet paper), and what appears to be gas hookups for the stove (maybe).

Bag seven adds a tree which comes with a small storage area for extra logs to burn and a bucket with tools. The coloring of the tree is fun with the yellows and reds of a fall like tree. This section can connect to the main cabin with a small Technic axle into a Technic pin hole. This allows it to stay there, but it can easily be removed and placed elsewhere as we’ll see later. This section comes with a small blue bird to sit in the tree.

Bag eight builds the second floor which is a small sleeping area with a bed. It still has a bunch of details to include a book shelf, a map on the floor and some lamps.

Bag nine attaches the second floor to the first floor, adds the siding to the upper level similar to the lower level, puts a peak on the roof, builds up the chimney from the stove, and adds in a little more detail on the second floor.

Bags 10 and 11 build the large sloped roof. Each side is built the same per the instructions (if you want to follow them). Both come with a skylight and a printed tile with wood grain. Bag 11 adds the tiles and studded tiles to finish out the roof and then each piece easily slides on top of the cabin. There aren’t any actual connections which is fine. Gravity keeps it on and I’ve been able to pick up the cabin and move it around without losing the roof.

Bag 12 builds another section of the build that can either be a piece attached to the corner of the cabin or placed separate. It starts with some greenery, a small stream section, and a rock piece. These pieces are assembled with some various plant pieces around them. There is also a small… um… animal… it’s not a squirrel… is it a woodchuck? rat? I’m not actually sure. The set comes with birds and a spider… but I’m not sure on this one.

Bag 13 assembles the stems and branches of the two trees. They are built in a similar fashion, but you can change the angles as desired to make them look different.

Bag 14 adds leaves/color to one of the trees. You get some great fall colored pieces to fill out the tree on this one. There’s dark orange, yellow, gold, and a bright yellow. They make a pretty good color combination for my untrained eye.

Bag 15 puts greenery on the second tree with sand green, dark green, and an olive type color. I like how all three trees in the set have different colors. You can obviously change them as you want, but I just followed the instructions. I’m also a fan of the wildlife with a red bird and butterfly with these two trees.

Below the trees you get a spot to rest the canoe on some Technic parts. Underneath is a crate with some life jackets and a bottle of some sorts. There’s a barrel to the side of the one tree where you can place the oars.

This set comes with four minifigures. I don’t think any of them are unique or have any rare attributes, but they’re a good mix for this set. I’m okay with four adult minifigures versus including minifigures with the kid legs.

Here are some pictures of the final build with the different tree sections attached and then separate. Overall, this was a great build. I enjoyed assembling the set between the different build techniques and all of the little details. It wasn’t super hard to assemble, but it also wasn’t just stacking bricks on top of each other which was good. You get a lot of great pieces as well if you like to break apart sets for MOCs. Lots of printed pieces too and no stickers which was a bonus. I would price this set around $160 instead of $180, but look for opportunities to get it with gifts with purchase or double VIP points or on sale at some other retailer if you can find it on discount.

Another great addition to the Ideas line in my opinion. What did you think?

Happy building!

Set Review - #21334-1: Jazz Quartet - Ideas (#42)

We’re at LEGO Ideas set #42 already!?!?!?! What?!?!?! When did that happen?

This is #21334-1: Jazz Quartet. It was released on 29 June 2022 in the US for $99.99. The set contains 1,606 pieces which works out to $0.062 per piece. This set is very different from any other we’ve seen. I don’t think we’ve had a set with figures that look like this ever (or at least that I can recall) and the jazz/music theme is something out of the ordinary from what we usually see. Let’s dig into this set…

The box has a fun design with the 18+ banner and then a cool looking neon light style title in the top left corner of the front of the set. Then it shows the set and it looks like there’s a spot light on the them as if they are performing. The back shows how you can break apart the stage to re-arrange how the figures are positioned. The back also shows the dimensions and how the set looks in an actual room.

The set contains 11 numbered parts bags and two 16x16 black plates. The instructions are in a cardboard envelope for protection which is great as you can recycle the envelope and the instructions aren’t bent. There are five booklets in the envelope. The first one describes the set, talks about the fan designer, and gives information about the LEGO designers. The remaining booklets build each figure from the set and the figure is pictured on the front of each booklet.

The first bag assembles the start of the trumpet player. The build is fairly similar for each of the parts of the stage. The top uses a mixture of tiles and tiles with studs. There is also a slot for where the trumpet playing figure will be attached. I like how the edges of the stage are made of black and there are curves without studs. Also, the step down is cool to mimic a real stage.

The second bag assembles the trumpet playing figure. Initially, it doesn’t make sense what you’re building, but then as you put it together you realize what is a leg, arm, head piece, etc. The details are great with the suspenders, tile for a tie, jumper plate as the mouth as if he is blowing out into the trumpet, and the use of sloped pieces for the hair to show his hair style. The trumpet is a pretty simple assembly, but it looks pretty realistic for a brick built version.

Bag three builds the small section of stage that the bass player is on and then the bass player himself. The figure is great with the bow tie and slick hairdo. The ball and joint pieces are gray so they look a bit out of place, but I don’t think they completely detract from the figure. The slicked up hair above the forehead is great, but the open studs on top look a little off. I’m not sure of the right way to fix that? Maybe a reverse stud tile piece? I’m not sure they even make a 1x2 version of a reverse stud tile like that.

The fourth bag builds the bass itself. I think the designers did a great job recreating the shape using existing pieces in the LEGO world. The curves look great and even the S shaped pieces to show the holes where the sound comes out (okay, I don’t know the technical names of everything… sorry) looks awesome. The minor issues of the open studs and gray ball joints don’t really stand out when you put the full set together.

The fifth bag assembles the stage for the drummer. It’s a much larger section of stage, but still follows the same pattern and style as the other sections. Instead of the drummer being attached to the stage, you connect him via studs on the stage. This part was a little tricky to follow as I had to make sure I put tiles and jumper plates in the right spots. It matters as you need the drum set, seat, and drummer to fit on the stage.

The sixth bag assembles the drum set without the cymbals or high hat. The base drum has a pedal to play it and gets the round shape well to include allowing it to hold up the tom-toms. The tom-toms, snare, and the… I’m not sure what it’s called, are all round with the use of round bricks, plates, and tiles. The shapes of everything match what a drum set would look like quite well in my opinion. It’s not a large drum set with all kinds of extra drums, but it does the trick. You also build some stands which will hold up the cymbals.

Bag seven adds the cymbals. They are gold in color and look pretty accurate. I like how they did the high hat. It looks like you could actually hit the pedal to make it work and they use the cymbals in opposite directions to create the looks of a high hat.

The drummer looks pretty swank. The hat is simple, but gives him a cool look and the beard and bow tie add to it. Interestingly enough, none of the figures have eyes, but it doesn’t seem to matter with how these are built. The pants are gray so the connectors for the legs to the torso don’t stand out, but the shoulder sockets are gray. Not too big of a deal in my opinion. I’m a big fan of the drummer!

Bag eight builds the stage for the piano and piano player. I again had to pay attention to where the jumper plates and plates with studs on them went as it helps to make sure the piano and seat attach to the stage.

Bags nine and ten build the piano. It’s almost like a mini version of #21323-1: Grand Piano. I appreciated how the large one kept the shape of a grand piano and this one does the same only at a smaller scale. The piano isn’t as smooth as the larger Ideas set, but the outer edge is smooth. I like how the keyboard is printed tiles and you can still see the keys. The bench/seat looks like it belongs to a piano and the reddish colored tiles on top help to give it the look of a cushion.

Bag 11 builds the piano player and I think this design is awesome. Everything from the big poufy hair and the yellow headband to the yellow dress and heels really make her look like quite the soulful pianist. I also like the use of the gold rings as earrings. The way she’s built, she fits on the seat well and looks like she’s jamming away on the piano.

Here’s the final assembled set. In just looking at it, it looks like they are jamming away on stage. There isn’t any actual movement, but the poses really do add life to the set. I’m a big fan of this set and can’t wait until I have a place where I can display it. At $100 and over 1,000 pieces, the price works out pretty good for what you get. Plus there are no stickers and a few printed elements. If you don’t like the set, you get a bunch of great pieces for MOCs.

From my viewing of the fan media, this one came and then left the spotlight quickly which is too bad. I hope you enjoy it if you get to build it. Maybe we’ll see LEGO do more like these someday. What are your thoughts? Am I too positive on this one? Is it not as great as I make it out to be? Let me know what you think in the comments.

Happy building!

This is the LEGO® Train Set We've been Waiting for... (maybe)

LEGO announced the results of their latest Ideas round on 25 October 2022. There were 39 submissions that achieved 10,000 votes this round and oddly enough, LEGO selected 4 to become sets. This is after rounds where we’ve had over 50 submissions and only 1 was selected. I’m not sure how they figure it out, but I’m excited as this time a train submission finally made it over the hurdle into being selected to become a set.

Fan Designer Thomas Lajon (aka LEt.sGO) from France built a version of the famous Orient Express using the Bricklink software Stud.io and it was selected to become a set. You can read his 10K club interview here.

The fan design looks good and I’m sure some of the photo editing skills help, but he does mention in his interview that the wheels he used don’t fit on the track so hopefully LEGO can fix this when they get to work. Also, his set is 2,991 pieces so if it stays that large, I could see this being a $300 set (or more with a motor).

Here is a top view of the engine. It shares the same color as #10194: Emerald Night, but hopefully the design is different enough that we won’t see a repeat of that set.

Here is a top view of the passenger car with the roof removed. I wonder if the set will come with options so you can turn the car into a passenger car or a dining car or a sleeping car. Or if LEGO gets really bold, the set could come with more than one car… whoa!

So LEGO…. how can you get this set right for fans?

1 - Make sure this train fits on LEGO gauge rails. I’ve been to multiple places where I’ve seen fans posting about their disappointment in #76405-1: Hogwarts Express Collector’s Edition. A lot of fans were super excited about a details, non-CITY train coming out geared towards train fans. There was a lot of disappointment when the community found out it couldn’t be run on your existing track and it was just meant as a display piece. So keep it on the L-Gauge rails LEGO!

2 - Additional coaches would be great. Or let me rephrase that…. Additional coaches would be great if I didn’t have to drop another $300 on a copy of the set.

3 - Make sure we can motorize this train. Does a motor really need to cost $40? While being able to display #10277-1: Crocodile Locomotive was nice, moving it to some LEGO track with a motor made it that much better. Oh and if you missed the Crocodile Locomotive set, I have one available in my Bricklink store.

To be fair, this is not an easy task. Build a product that does all that and that won’t cause me to break the bank. Don’t worry LEGO designers. I have faith in you! You can do it! I look forward to seeing the final product in a year or so.

In the meantime, happy building!

Set Review - #21333-1: Vincent Van Gogh - The Starry Night - Ideas (#41)

Set #21333-1: Vincent Van Gogh - The Starry Night was released in the US on 28 May 2022. I’ve had the set for a bit, but it took a while to put together as my NLS wanted to help and doesn’t dedicate as much time to brick building as I do. It’s finished now and I’m happy to review it as this one is completely out of the ordinary from any set we’ve seen in the past in my opinion. It contains 2,316 pieces and retails for $169.99 in the US. That works out to $0.073 per piece which isn’t too bad.

We’ve seen a lot of designs hit the 10K votes mark on the Ideas platform and this was one that when it hit 10K, I really hoped it would become a set. It was selected and I think the designers did a great job sticking to the original design while making it better. I usually wait until the end to give my overall impressions, but I’ll give it up front for this one. This set is incredible! The colors and how the original work of art is portrayed in brick form are amazing. It was a fun build and it’s quickly recognizable as to what it is. I understand that it might not be something everyone will like, but if you have the slightest interest in this set, I recommend giving it a shot. You won’t be disappointed in my opinion.

The box shows the set on the front and then the back shows it on display, a comparison to the actual painting, and then the minifigure feature where you can put it on a stand as if it is painting while looking at the larger set.

The contents are 20 parts bags labeled one through nine, two loose plates, and then the instruction manual comes wrapped.

I got this note in my set. I have yet to see a set without any of the single use plastic packaging. Looking forward to it though.

The first bag builds the Van Gogh minifigure with a small easel to paint on. The minifigure comes with a brush and painting palette. Thankfully, there are no stickers and everything is printed.

You then start the build with some mostly sub structure underneath to support the village and the rest of the build.

The second bag starts some of the microbuild of the village. Even if you’re not a fan of the set, you still get some great parts in some cool colors. This build has a lot of plate usage so get ready for that if you decide to jump in.

The third bag builds a separate section of the painting that is attached later. We did a lot of double checking the instructions and making sure it was all done right after each layer. It helped having two people as we could check work and hunt for pieces to make the build go smoother. With that being said, we still made a bunch of mistakes during the build.

The fourth set of bags completes the separate build and attaches it to the main build. The interlay of colors and staggering of the plates looks fantastic. I like the micro build houses and the church in the center is cool.

The challenge we found was when you go to attach pieces or try to press parts together, various pieces would fall off since it is a SNOT build. I recommend being careful in how you hold it and where you apply pressure so it doesn’t fall apart.

The fifth set of bags builds the sky background. There was a definite bonus here to team building as one person grabbed plates while the other attached plates. We did our best to match the instructions, but could have been slightly off somewhere. I’m not sure it really matters as in the end, the goal is to build the sky and I’m pretty sure no one is going to sit next to your build and figure out whether it matches the instructions perfectly or not. For this section, you also attach some of the connections on the front for the stars as well as the piece on the back to hang the set up on a wall. This is the same piece used with the LEGO Art sets so I’m guessing it works fine, but I haven’t tried to hang it up yet.

Here’s a close up of the village area with the sky background and then some of the extra pieces. Most sets will have a few one by one plates or tiles left over, but this section had a larger number of plates left. I assume this was because you would have made a mistake and the designers understood how painful it would be to tear down the whole sky to grab a specific plate or two. Good thinking!

The sixth set of bags adds the frame. Don’t be intimidated by all the black pieces. It wasn’t too hard to assemble and I think it looks great and helps to make the set pop out versus just having the set on its own. It also includes a Technic pin on the bottom in the front right side that you can use to help the set stand up vertically on its own if you don’t hang it on a wall.

Number seven adds in some of the stars and then more of the sky just on the horizon. The printed disc/saucer pieces are a nice touch to the set and I think are an improvement from the fan build.

The eighth set of bags adds the… um… not an art history buff here… swirl? I’m not sure what it is, but it’s a cool add and I like how the designers created the curves and angles using the various pieces.

The ninth set of bags adds the big tree in the front, a few buildings, and then the Technic element to allow the minifig to “paint” in front of the set. I really enjoy how parts are added on top to show depth and to give it a three dimensional feel. The tree especially has a more realistic look on top of the “painting” as it is built on in layers of pieces.

It was great build, you get a lot of great pieces, and I think it looks amazing. This won’t go on sale anytime soon so wait for double VIP points or a cool GWP to snag this set. I highly recommend this one.

Happy building!

Why Not Have More Ideas Sets?

In case you missed it, LEGO and Target partnered up to produce a set that achieved 10K votes on the Ideas platform, but didn’t get produced as a set. There were three options and they were put to a fan vote. The choices were a Viking Village, Marine Life, or working mini-golf.

The voting wrapped up and the results were posted. The Viking Village won the vote per the post on the LEGO Ideas site. The set will be sold at Target, LEGO Brand Stores, and LEGO Shop @ Home in the US. I’m not sure of the retailers who will get it outside of the US, but don’t panic if you don’t live in the US and have Target. I haven’t seen anything about when the set will be released. Maybe a year from now?

This brings up an interesting point. Don’t we already have a program to bring rejected LEGO Ideas projects to life?

Isn’t the BrickLink Designer Program the place to bring back rejected Ideas sets? I guess this program limits sets to a 10K production run and has limited availability, but still. Why is there one more program to produce these projects?

My proposal would be to just select more Ideas sets through the Ideas line versus bringing them back through various ways again and again. The issue I’ve heard is LEGO doesn’t have the capacity to produce more at a time then they already are, but then again, aren’t they involved in these programs? I guess the BrickLink program puts more on the fan designer, but couldn’t LEGO do the same for Ideas? Maybe they could publish their guidelines and make fan designers meet them. That’s just my opinion anyways.

I’m glad to see another set coming via fan vote, I just think we could streamline the process versus having various programs to bring Ideas projects to life.

What are your thoughts?

Happy building!

Just so you don't think I'm slacking off...

I try to put out a blog post once a week. Someday I’ll work to put out more, but for now with all of the other life commitments, we’ll stick to one. This one will be short as I’m busy with some new arrivals.

The first one is #21333-1: Vincent Van Gogh - The Starry Night. I was excited to see this one come out and I really liked the final design they came up with. I’m mid-build right now so no spoilers before the final review, but so far so good. I managed to pick it up with some VIP points and when #40567-1: Castle Hideout was the promotional set so I can’t complain.

And then in my building backlog…. I also picked up a copy of #42143-1: Ferrari Daytona SP3. I want to say it’s a Technic Supercar, but the official branding is now “LEGO Technic Ultimate Car Concept Series” so let’s get it right. My version is way easier to say. Thanks to a whole bunch of VIP points and then the recent double VIP point period, this one wasn’t so painful to get. I’m looking forward to digging into this one and I promise to get a review out.

Have you grabbed any of the newer sets that have come out over the past month or two?

Happy building!