Set Review - #40619-1: EVE and WALL-E- Brickhead

Another Brickheadz aet for review… This one is #40619-1: EVE and WALL-E. It contains 155 pieces and retails for $14.99 in the US. This works out to $0.097 per piece. It was released on 31 January 2023 in the US and so far I have only seen it from LEGO, but not at Walmart or Target. Maybe that will change? This one is not branded for the Disney 100 anniversary, but its release happens to coincide with the anniversary. For those of you not aware, this is not the first WALL-E set. The first was #21303-1: WALL-E from the LEGO Ideas line.

The box is rather small, but this is to be expected for a set containing 155 pieces. The front of the box shows the two Brickheadz characters while the back gives the same shot and shows that there are bases for each character. Also of note, WALL-E is #193 and EVE is #194 in the Brickheadz line.

The set contains three parts bags. Two are #1 and one is #2. There are also two 8x8 black plates which are separate. Instruction booklet one is WALL-E and goes with bag one. Instruction booklet two goes with bag two and is EVE.

And here are the two. WALL-E has his lunch box and the plant in a boot. I think the designers capture the shape well and did a good job making decisions on the details to include or not. The eyes and sockets have the same shape, but they do not move around. Also the neck joint is there so you can have the head look up/down. The tracks are a good representation of the character and they are attached to the side while clear plates are used to keep WALL-E attached to the display plate. Besides the printed eyes, he also has a printed brick with the WALL-E logo.

EVE “floats” on a clear brick and captures the character well. White Nexo Knight shields are used for the arms and she has no printed piece. Interestingly, they added a small plant piece inside to be the space where she is supposed to store plants that she finds which is a fun detail you only know about if you build the set.

I included a picture of the side and back just for awareness, but there aren’t a lot of details you can see there.

Overall, they are good Brickheadz representations of the two characters. I recommend getting them if you are a Brickheadz collector or a fan of the movie or Disney stuff in general. Otherwise, I’d avoid this one as it doesn’t offer a whole lot else.

Happy building!

LEGO® Exhibition Visit - Kloster Machern, Bernkastel-Kues, Germany - Part 2

Here’s the second part of my visit to the LEGO® Exhibition in Bernkastel-Kues, Germany. If you missed the first part, you can see it here.

Star Wars did not have a big representation at this show, but there was a hangar of ships on display. Next to it was what looked like Lego Digital Designer and the build of the MOC on a computer screen.

Some nostalgia for you… here is a large 12V train set up with some of the old LEGO sets. It might not be some of the massively detailed train displays you see LUGs set up, but it was still cool to see the 12V trains chugging around the track.

I don’t know if this is a MOC of an actual train station or not, but I thought it was very impressive. I like how the designer incorporated the CITY base plates in the front. There’s a lot of action going on with a tow truck getting a car, construction on the tracks, and a painter at work near the pizza truck.

Next to the train station were a few trains. I would have preferred to see them going around a big display, but I’ll take whatever I can get.

The picture next to it is of a large church with some great lighting behind translucent colored bricks. This would have been cool to see with the lights off.

Next up is a large country western scene with a mid-1800s US-like Army and some Natives about to harass them. The scene was very detailed with the desert scene on the outside of a pretty detailed fort. I took the picture as the builder was showing off the inside of one of the buildings. If I spoke German, I would have more to say about this, but I don’t so just enjoy the pictures.

Not to be outdone, nearby was another country western scene. This one included a train, settlers with horses and wagons, the Confederate Army fighting the Union Army, cattle herders, a steam ship, and some Natives harassing some settlers and their wagon train. This scene was another one where it was hard to know where to look first. I can’t image how long it took to set up each and every single minifigure here. Very impressive!

This display was one of my favorite at the show. I apologize for loading all of my pictures that I took of this one, but as a fan of modular buildings I thought this Venice scene was awesome. The use of different colors helps the buildings to really stand out and the pieces used really create some cool details. I think about some of the pieces that I have and how I often don’t know what to do with them and then I look at buildings like these and realize how I could use them to make some very striking details on buildings.

See if you can pick out some of the pieces used to create details. I really like the scorpions and the Star Wars Battle Droid legs for detail. I also like how the one building uses the ball joints. Awesome work!

Here are 2 more buildings. One appears to be maybe an Asian restaurant while the other appears to be a LEGO® Brand Store.

While a lot of the builders were adults and many were from a LUG, there were also a few teens there displaying some items. I didn’t get pictures of them all, but this group stood out to me. They had a number of mechanical devices to include the amusement park below. They also had a rubik’s cube solver, a machine that held a pen to make some cool drawings, and a few other machines. Here’s a picture of their amusement park.

These may have been the best part of the show. The creativity here is astonishing. They took existing sets and built them using what I can only assume was with parts they had on hand or could get to easily. They had #21303-1: WALL-E build out of various pieces and then the two sets pictured below. The first was #71043-1: Hogwart’s Castle. I first looked at it and was like, that’s a cool looking castle. Then I was like, wait! That’s a real set only with different pieces. How cool is that? That’s some impressive work, but it was probably substantially cheaper than buying the actual set. Next up was #21315-1: Pop-Up Book. They took the design, used the pieces on hand, and added in I <3 U as the item that popped up.

My inability to speak German hit me here as I couldn’t ask questions, but bravo to the person or people who built these. They did an awesome job and did something I have never seen done before. They definitely get my best in show award.

Congrats if you made it this far and thanks for checking it out. I hope to get to more shows in Germany before I depart.

In the meantime, happy building!

A Fix for WALL-E

I reviewed set number 21303 here.  It is WALL-E from Disney Pixar's movie about the trash collecting robot that ends up helping to save the human race.  Anyways, the original design was somewhat flawed.  WALL-E's eyes kept spinning around and it was tough to lock them into one place.  In reading some of the LEGO fan sites out there, there were a number of reports that a fix was in place.  I wrote to LEGO customer service and received a response back that yes indeed a fix was in place.  A few days later I received a bubble envelope in the mail.  It contained the following items:

-a small parts bag
-an instruction sheet that shows how to prep the set for the fix
-an instruction booklet for the fix

The final set doesn't look much different from a quick glance.  Here it is along with some of the extra parts.

The close up here shows the new ball joint that prevents WALL-E's eyes from randomly rotating around.  In my opinion, the fix was a success and it doesn't change the set's design drastically enough to be an issue.  I also applaud LEGO's handling of the redesign.  I was sent the fix promptly and at no cost.  It shows that LEGO values their customers and wants to make sure their products are of the highest quality.  

If you've purchased WALL-E or done the fix, I'm curious to know what you think.  Please post your thoughts in the comments.

A Fix for WALL-E

If you read my post from Friday (11 Dec) you saw that I purchased LEGO's WALL-E set and I mentioned how the head swivels very easily.  LEGO had been working on a fix, but I hadn't heard what the timeline would be for it.  Well the good news is I e-mailed LEGO Shop at Home customer service and mentioned that I purchased the WALL-E set before the fix was implemented.  The response I got back was that they had sent me the new parts and instructions and I should receive it in 7-10 business days.  SCORE!  No cost to me either so another bonus.  

So once the package arrives, I'll post some info on the fix with pictures.

Set Review - WALL-E - 21303

Well it's about time that I got a chance to build some more.  As you can see by the title, I assembled WALL-E which is set number 21303.  WALL-E is part of the LEGO Ideas program where fans build sets and submit them onto the site.  Then other fans can vote on them.  If a design received 10,000 votes, the LEGO Ideas team will review the set to see if they will consider it for production.

WALL-E was picked up as a 2015 set and released on 25 September 2015.  It costs $59.99 in the US and contains 677 pieces.  That works out to $0.088 per piece so around the average.  Here are a few pictures of the front and back of the box.

Like many of the previous LEGO Ideas sets, this set comes with a thick instruction book that starts with some information about the designer and the set itself.  

The set contains 9 bags along with the instructions.  The bags are not numbered like some sets are so you have to open them all and build at once.  One of the bags contains just the treads to WALL-E's tracks.  The set also contains an orange piece separator.  

The build itself was not overly challenging, but my guess is some younger children would need some help with some of the parts that are a bit more challenging to put together.  I built the set over a few nights of free time.  I completed through #38 in the instructions after my first night.

You can see most of the main part of WALL-E's structure here and the start to the door that he opens to crush garbage into blocks.  After the second night I had a good chunk of it done minus an eye and his hands.

After my third night of building, I finished the set.  Here are some pictures of the final product.

Overall, I think the design is well done.  They did a great job capturing the design of WALL-E.  Having the plant is a nice touch.  It always amazes me how people can use LEGO to construct things that look very close to the real thing.

One note is the design of the head.  The swivel is rather loose and it doesn't stay in one place.  LEGO has come up with a new design for the swivel.  It includes some additional pieces and new instructions.  If you bought the set early on, you can find the instructions and some details here.  I e-mailed LEGO customer service to ask about how I can get the new pieces and instructions.  I will do another post once I get an answer.  In the meantime, from reading the various LEGO fan sites, it looks like if you buy WALL-E now, you will get the upgraded design.  If anyone has purchased it recently, let me know.

Should you buy this set?  In my opinion a lot depends on whether you are a fan of WALL-E or not.  Those that don't know the movie or didn't enjoy it may not enjoy having this set.  As a fan of the movie, I thought it was great and am glad I got it.  The price is about on par with other sets on a price per piece ratio so not too bad.  The build is very creative and if you want to take WALL-E apart, there are some great pieces to build other designs with.  I'm sure a lot could be done with the tracks.  Another bonus to the design, there was no sticker book.  All of the pieces that would have stickers are printed onto the parts themselves.  

If you got this set and have built it, please let us know what you think in the comments area. I'm curious to hear what other fans have thought.