Set Review - #10326-1: Natural History Museum - Icons - Modular Building

LEGO knows that every year is they keep producing awesome looking modular buildings that I’ll shell out whatever price they set and this year is no exception. #10326-1: Natural History Museum was released on 1 December 2023 for $299.99. It contains 4,014 pieces which works out to $0.075 per piece. This one is bigger than past sets as it includes a 32x32 baseplate and a 16x32 baseplate. Lots to dig into so let’s go…

The box is pretty standard. The front shows the full set with a set name logo and mentions the modular building collection. It also has the Icons branding on the bottom. The back shows the other modular building sets available now along with some of the features of this set.

The box contains the parts bags for bags 15 through 33 and then another box. When you open that box, you get the remainder of the parts bags, a bag that isn’t numbered, the base plates, and the instructions.

The instruction book is pretty hefty as you would expect for a set of this size. You also get the banners to hang on the outside of the museum advertising exhibits.

The first bag adds the flooring to the 16x32 baseplate. You also get a female minifigure that works at the museum.

Bag two adds some of the flooring to the 32x32 baseplate and connects the two together. I like the addition of some bones in the floor that are eventually covered up to be found at some later date.

The third bag adds in more flooring. You also get some plants on the outside, and a toilet in the back. There are also some tile pieces on the floor that end up being a clay pot that has fallen over. There’s also another surprise under one of the floors that I’ll save for when you build it or another reviewer spoils it for you.

Bag four adds tiling on top of some of the raised floor areas and adds in the front steps to the museum.

Bag five starts to add in some more details including more to the bathroom, a small lab area, some steps, and finishes off the flooring patterns.

The sixth bag makes the walls higher and adds in some doors.

Bag seven starts to add in some of the displays at the museum along with the front desk area. I won’t go through each of the displays so you can have fun figuring them out when you build the set (or just read the captions in the instructions that describe each one). You also get another minifigure who is a worker at the museum.

The eighth bag builds up some of the front of the building.

Bag nine starts to build up the olive green walls. You get railings at the entrance of the building and some windows as well.

Bag 10 builds up more of the details of the front and the walls of the sides of the building.

Bag 11 continues to finish off the front of the building with windows and some more olive green pieces.

Bag 12 tops off the whole floor with tiles so it can be connected to other floors. You also add in a set of stairs to go to the second floor.

Bag 13 finishes off the first floor. The front of the building gets some columns on each side of the door and then some minifigure statues as well. There’s some additional plant life too. Since I haven’t shown the back yet, there are a few details including a pipe which leaks water to let a plant grow, and a dog checking out the trash to see if there are any bones. There is a door in the back as well.

Bag 14 builds the dinosaur skeleton. As shown on the front of the box, the skeleton is not permanently fixed to the floor so you can pick it up and move it elsewhere as desired. It’s a pretty decent build considering the size and where they had to fit it. It does have some non-white pieces for attachments, but the light gray works.

Onto the second floor…

Bag 15 assembles the plates that make the base of the floor with two spots to look down and also let the stairs connect and dinosaur skeleton peek through.

Bag 16 builds up some of the wall and adds the base for where the model of the solar system is placed.

Bag 17 adds in some railings around the holes in the floor so no minifigures fall down. You also build the model of the solar system which is a great design at such a small scale. This bag comes with a boy minifigure.

Bag 18 adds some displays to the floor and adds a female minifigure with a camera. This minifigure has a prosthetic leg.

Bag 19 builds up the walls around this floor.

Bag 20 adds in some windows, more walls, and a few more displays to include a map with a rocket zooming by (Classic Space symbol???).

Bags 21 and 22 build up the wall structures and add in more windows.

Bag 23 finishes the floor with tiles on the top and you add on the plastic banners.

Bag 24 adds to the columns that match and fit right in with the first floor despite the break between the two floors.

Bag 25 attaches the plates that make up the third floor/roof.

Bag 26 begins to build up the roof area with a few plants and the start of some of the decorative architecture.

Bag 27 adds in more of the roof walls and the door to the stairs to the second level.

Bag 28 starts to add more detail. The roof level includes a small office and you build out some of the details of the office. This bag comes with the museum curator minifigure.

Bag 29 adds the structure around the office area which actually looks pretty good considering there is an office inside.

Bag 30 builds up more of the architectural details for the roof.

Bag 31 finishes off the structural details, adds in a telescope for the curator to use and then adds in some sky lights that open up to both levels of the museum below for some natural light.

Flipping the set around, bag 32 adds in the roof/awning section of the front of the building that covers up the stairs leading into the museum. Now that I’ve flipped it around, you can see on the left and right side, there are some arch/window pieces. It’s hard to tell from the picture I used, but there are microfigures inside as miniature statues which is a fun detail.

Before wrapping up the build, here are the seven minifigures you get with this set minus the two statues. You get a good mix of workers and museum goers. It’s always great to have more, but I can’t complain with the offerings that come with this set.

Bag 33 adds some final details to include a park bench, a mail box, the blossoming tree, a lamp post, some birds, and the stand for the window washer to use to clean the windows.

Overall, it’s another great modular building to build. Someday I hope to assemble all of my modulars in one place, but for now, you get just an individual picture. The price continues to go up on these, but the piece count on this one is higher and it is larger so not too many complaints there. There are plenty of great pieces inside too so if you’re a MOC builder, you won’t be disappointed. If you’re a fan of the modulars, definitely look for an opportunity to snag this one. Maybe with a good GWP or double VIP points. I think it’ll be a while before we see a sale on this one.

Happy building!

Set Review - #43249-1: Stitch - Disney

LEGO is expanding the buildable characters that are less than a foot tall and about 6 to 8 inches wide. We had them with Star Wars and here we have it with Disney. #43249-1: Stitch was released on 1 March 2024 for $64.99. It contains 730 pieces which comes out to $0.089 per piece. This isn’t a bad deal, but I suspect if you wait until maybe closer to Christmas time, this set will be discounted 10% or 20%.

I took pictures during the build and somehow they got messed up when I transferred them to my computer so this won’t be the normal review (sorry).

Here’s the box. The front has the LEGO and Disney logos. It has the full set and then a cartoon drawing of Stitch on the bottom. The back shows how you can move some of the parts like his ears.

The set contains 7 parts bags, a small sticker sheet, and the instructions. The sticker sheet is the flowers for his Hawaiian shirt so it’s not a ton of stickers to place on the set.

Here’s a close up of the small instruction booklet and then I took a picture of the stickers and my computer messed it up somehow so it’s tiny. You get 12 full flowers and then 2 half flowers for the shirt.

The build starts with his torso and then adds his legs, arms, and then his head. The head comes off (as you can see). It’s attached by a Technic pin and you can rotate it as desired for display. The arms and legs don’t really move, but you can adjust his claws. As shown on the box, the ears can move and his mouth moves very slightly, but not by much.

The eye pieces are printed (thankfully) and you just put them in so it helps to make the build easier versus having brick built eyes.

The flower can be removed. There is a small piece to make a connection on his head as desired.

Here’s the final build. I added the ice cream cone in for this picture. You can take it out of his hand if you want. This picture also lets you see the stickers on his Hawaiian shirt. I’m guessing they didn’t print them on as it’s a curved piece. Maybe?

Overall it’s a fun set with some interesting SNOT techniques to get the shaping. My 6 year old helped me build it and we had a good time putting it together. It wasn’t too hard if you have experience building. The set has some playability, but is mostly a display piece. If you are a MOC builder, you get a bunch of brightly colored pieces if you just wanted to assemble this once and then take it apart. The price isn’t bad, but wait for a sale and you can get it at an even better price.

Happy building!

Set Review - #71045 - Series 25 - Collectible Minifigures

It’s series 25 already! How crazy is that? This batch was released 1 January 2024 and they are still $4.99 each. Individual minifigures are #71045 or you can purchase the box of six with set #66763. There are scannable codes on the boxes to tell which minifigures are inside so it should prevent the boxes from getting broken into like we saw with the last version. I’m more of a fan of the non-licensed versions that they produce so let’s take a look at this round.

First, a picture of the boxes of six. Nothing super exciting.

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My kids helped me put these together and they saw the fish with the Film Noir Detective and couldn’t figure out why it was there? Does it matter? This one is a fun concept and I’ve already seen a MOC or two posted using the minifigure as a main character.

Not our first gamer, but the E-Sports Gamer comes decked out with the most gear to include headphones, a controller, a keyboard, and the trophy.

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Everything castle seems to be popular lately so we’ll see if this one joins that party. the translucent red ax blades are pretty cool. I doubt Vampire Knight will be a new sub theme, but it’s pretty creative.

We’ve had numerous Olympians before. The Sprinter here is different as he has prosthetics on.

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Goatherd. Is everyone happy now? There’s a goat. I’m not sure why everyone is so excited about this goat, but it’s here. I hope you all can get some sleep at night now.

The Mushroom Sprite is very fun. The mushroom cap is a fun detail and you get a colorful butterfly as well.

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The Fitness Instructor comes equipped with a kettle bell, fitness drink, and printed abs. She looks like she could kick any minifigure’s butt.

The Triceratops Costume Fan is great. Could go well with the new Natural History Museum modular or maybe as a Jurassic Park visitor.

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Harpy is… um… what is it? Wings, claws, purple hair… okay?

Train Kid is fun with the costume similar to past boat and plane characters. We weren’t sure why he has an eye patch on. I assume he has an injury that he’s healing from. The printed part on the front of the train piece is a nice detail. You get two in the bag so figure out how to use the extra one.

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The Fierce Barbarian could be a good addition to a Viking Village. This is not the first time we’ve had a barbarian if you can remember back to Series 17. If you have the previous one, you can now grow your barbarian horde.

Lastly, we have a Pet Groomer. This one comes with a dog that I don’t think we’ve gotten before. The minifigure has a dual printed face and the apron is printed on the torso and legs.

There you go…Happy hunting!

Set Review - #10321-1: Corvette - LEGO Icon

The LEGO Icons line has been kicking out some classic cars pretty regularly at a similar scale and 2023 was no exception with #10321-1: Corvette. This is the classic 1961 version according to the instructions. This set was released on 1 August 2023 and retails for $149.99 in the US. With 1,210 pieces, it works out to $0.124 per piece which is pretty steep. There are a lot of larger pieces and some non-standard ones so I’m sure that added to the cost. I grabbed this one before Christmas from LEGO when they were offering 3X Insider Points so it was a slightly better deal. Still, look for opportunities to grab this one at a discount or with something better than just the standard high price.

The box showed up in a cardboard box designed for the set which was slightly damaged during shipping. The front shows the set with the Corvette logo, Chevrolet logo, Icons logo, and 18+ greebling. The back gives some additional shots of the vehicle and a schematic with dimensions.

The box contains nine individually numbered parts bags, a bag with the wheels, and then I got two of the new paper bags with the two windshields in them. The instructions come in a paperboard envelope for protection.

The instruction book has a few details about the vehicle and the set in the front before launching into the build. Sadly, this set comes with stickers. Thankfully, they’re all pretty small and add some decent detail to the set overall.

Bags one and two start with the chassis of the vehicle. There are a lot of Technic beams and pins that get connected together before you start to attach pieces that will contain the outer mold line of the vehicle.

Bag three gets some of the trunk built along with a bit of the front.

Bag four adds more of the trunk space along with some of the curves. When I started this build, we had a few days of nice weather before the cold spell that hit the US and I brought a table to build outside while my kiddos played with friends. A neighbor who walked by saw the box and said “That’s LEGO? Wow!” I agree. It’s not the blocky, rectangular sets we’re used to. There are a lot of curves to make this a smooth vehicle. The question I have is whether it’s too far. While I think the vehicle looks sleek, have we gotten too far away from the LEGO concept where we are not making whatever parts we need to get the shapes we desire? I’m not sure there is a wrong answer here. It’s really up to the fan base.

Back to bag four… you add stickers to the license plates. You get three so pick what you like. Also, the bumper includes some gray banana pieces which is a fun detail.

Bag five adds some details to the front of the car to include the mechanism for the steering column. It’s pretty similar to past vehicles, but that’s okay. I don’t buy Icons sets for functionality. It’s more of an added bonus. If you want functionality, go for Technic sets.

Bag six builds the sides of the front of the car to include the wheel wells. You also add in the bumper which includes more gray banana pieces.

The seventh bag adds in headlights using a piece that I haven’t seen used before. Maybe it’s new? You also add the curvature to the top of the car over the wheels in the front. You add in some tiles which are printed to get the racing stripe look. This bag also adds in both doors. They are built in a similar way only mirrored. You use some interesting techniques to build them, but there are more pieces which seem a bit specialized so you be the judge here.

The eighth bag adds the front hood and trunk in the back. The hood in the front opens from the back up versus the front. The fit didn’t seem quite right to me and I’m not sure if I did it wrong or that’s just how it’s intended. Also, the hood piece doesn’t stay onto the assembly that connects to the front of the car real well as you open/close it. The hood has some larger curved tile like pieces… again, helps the model look great, but seem to be rather specialized. I forgot to get a picture here, but you’ll see the engine parts next. You build an engine with this bag. The trunk is added as well. There is a small Technic piece that is loose that seemed out of place that you added in earlier. This piece is used to help you open the truck as it is hard to do otherwise. A smart move and it doesn’t really stand out so I appreciate the effort. There is a sticker on the trunk and I think I centered it okay.

I also failed to take pictures of the seats, but they get added here too.

Here’s the final build with a few picture of the final vehicle. Bag nine adds in the windshields, roof, an antenna, and the steering wheel. Overall, it’s a sleek looking build. I’ve already complained enough about the specialized parts. I enjoyed the build, but wasn’t so sure about all the parts. Also this car is a bit overpriced considering the piece count. The 3X Insider Points along with GWPs helped encourage me to grab this one, but I wouldn’t buy it without multiple promotions.

What are your thoughts on this one? Could have been better? Just right? Awesome?

Happy building!

Set Review - #10325-1: Alpine Lodge - Winter Village - Icons

The Winter Village theme continues with 2023’s Alpine Lodge. This set gets away from Santa and elves and is just a fun winter scene with some Christmas decorations included. The set was released for sale on 1 October 2023 and retails for $99.99. With 1,517 pieces, it works out to $0.066 per piece. LEGO has managed to keep the price of this set at the same range for quite a while now and the price per piece one this one makes it seems like a good deal even with a light brick included.

The front of the box shows the full set built from the front side. The back shows the other side of the set, some play functions of the set, and gives dimensions of the set once it’s built.

The set contains 10 numbered parts bags, two instruction booklets, and a small sticker sheet.

The instructions are designed so that you can build together. One person can work on the lodge itself and another can work on the ice skating area, snow mobile, tree, and out house. I built this set with my 6-year old. I found pieces for him and did some building, but he put most of it together without too many issues.

Only four stickers so not too bad. It could be worse. The stickers add some fun details to the set so I can’t complain there.

The first bag builds some of the smaller items in the set. This includes a snow mobile pulling a sled, an out house, and then a tree. It seems that every year the LEGO designers come up with another way to make a Christmas tree and this year is no exception. The sled attached to the snow mobile can pull minifigures or you can place the tree on top to carry it to the lodge. The outhouse is a simple design and looks like one should with a hole for taking care of business. There is a small tree next to it which is built using the fern pieces. The top pieces are white for snow. This bag contains a female minifigure with gray hair. She comes with a cap and goggles for driving around on the snow mobile.

Bag two builds a small ice skating area. It reminds me of the skating area from set #80109-1: Lunar New Year Ice Festival. There are translucent wall pieces placed on their side for the ice and then you use plates to create a shape around the ice for them. It’s a small skating area, but it gets the job done. There is a small dock leading to the pond. The dock has minifigure snow foot prints on it which is a fun detail. There is a table with some ice skates that I assume you are supposed to rent given the $100 bill that comes with the bag and is placed next to the skates. There are also two trees. One is a small molded tree and the other is similar to the one from bag one with the fern pieces. This bag come with one kid minifigure who has a hockey stick and puck. The minifigure comes with a hat and scarf as well as a hair piece. There is a small snowman like figure in the build as well. My kiddo thought the hair should go on the snowman.

Bag three starts the lodge. You start with the front wall which includes an arched doorway and a window. There are some good details here including the shutters, some plants as decor, the lamps around the door, and the use of textured bricks and different bricks to show details on the walls. This bag comes with a male minifigure who we can assume runs the lodge.

Bag four continues on this floor with the start of the chimney, a stack of logs, and building up some of the wall.

Bag five starts to add some structure on top of the walls so you can get to the next floor. You also get some details on the inside to include some chairs with a table, a drink and cookie area, and a guest sign in log. This bag comes with a female minifigure who we can assume is a guest at the lodge. She has a suit case. There is a small gray cat as well.

Bag six starts the next floor with building up the walls. This is where the use of the new-ish rounded pieces comes into play to create a log cabin effect. I like how they did this and overlapped them to make it look like they are stacked on each other. This bag also builds a small bird house with a red bird on the perch outside.

Bag seven builds the rest of the outside (seen in my picture for bag eight) and then details on the inside to include two beds, some night stands, and a dresser. There is a door that goes out to a balcony area and like the dock at the pond, there are two snowy minifigure footprints where a minifigure didn’t wipe their feet good enough.

Bag eight adds more to the chimney and some structure on top of the second floor. As mentioned, you can see how they finished up the log cabin look on the second floor. The light brick is buried in the chimney and my kiddo was concerned he wouldn’t be able to reach it to turn it on. More to follow there.

Bag nine adds the pitch of the roof, some decorations outside, and a Technic sub assembly that allows the roof to be attached on the front section. On the inside, there is a a bed, some furniture and a gift box with some binoculars inside. This bag also completes the chimney. You build up the outer section of the chimney and then a top to the chimney that you can press in to push in the light brick and light up the fire place.

The tenth bag wraps up the build. You add the roof onto the lodge. The front part of the roof attaches to the Technic sub-assembly from the last bag. The rest of the roof attaches to some Technic parts which connect to the lodge. All the roof is made of white pieces to represent snow.

Additionally, this build includes pieces to add a tree skirt and then put decorations on the tree built from bag one. They are just multiple colors of round 1x1 translucent tiles, but they work for decorations.

Not the best picture, but you can see how the light brick lights up a window on the second floor and then the fireplace on the first floor. This is a different from the usual usage of light bricks that light up one section/area of a build.

This build comes with five minifigures. They aren’t super out of the ordinary, but it’s a good mix for playability. For some context, last year’s set had six minifigures and the previous year’s set had four.

Here is the final build. I like where the design team went with the set this year. The price remained the same from the previous year, there are a decent number of pieces, there is some good playability with the set, and it comes with some good pieces. I definitely recommend this one if you haven’t been sucked in by the Winter Village sets already.

Happy building!

Set Review - #10318-1: Concorde - LEGO Icons

LEGO has gone into some different directions over the past few years and this set is another venture into something we haven’t seen before. #10318-1: Concorde is a model of the first supersonic, commercial airliner the world has seen. This set was released in the US on 4 September 2023. It contains 2,038 pieces and retails for $199.99. At that price, it works out to $0.096 per piece which is right about the 10 cent per piece average we all tend to use as acceptable for a set.

I ordered my set online from LEGO Shop @ Home. It arrived in it’s own box with some damage to the shipping box that caused damage to the set box (thanks UPS!). Nothing major and the set was still intact, but kind of disappointing.

The front of the box shows the full set built minus the stand. It has the set name printed in the same font as printed on the aircraft. It also contains the Airbus logo. The box back includes some cut aways of the set to show what it looks like inside the various parts of the set. It also has a diagram showing the length of the set and a picture of the actual aircraft.

The set contains 12 parts bags and then another box inside with more parts bags. In the end you get 21 numbered parts bags with one bag per number. You also get a paper bag with the cockpit wind screen. This is my first look at the new paper bags. They look okay to me. I’m glad LEGO made the switch to something a little more Earth friendly. The instruction book comes in a paperboard envelop so it’s nice and protected.

The instruction book includes details on the aircraft, its design, and information on the LEGO design team.

Bag one starts off the build of the wing. It starts with the back of the wing and starts to move forward. The center of the wing box starts to build the hardware that will work the landing gear movement.

Bag two continues to move forward with the delta wing and Technic pieces to continue the gear mechanisms. Additionally, you build some orange pieces into some parts that help you build the wing assembly. These pieces clip on and are removed later on in the build.

I failed to take separate pictures of bags three and four. They build out the wing further and you get some of the main hardware of the rear landing gear assemblies.

Bags five and six continue to build out the wing box and the center fuselage section with the landing gear mechanisms. The bag five picture is of the top of the aircraft and the bag six picture is the bottom of the aircraft.

The orange build support pieces are removed at the end of bag six. Bag seven continues the wing build and adds on some larger pieces as the top of the fuselage. These pieces have printed windows on them. Bag eight continues the wing, Technic parts, and fuselage.

Bags nine and 10 build the forward edge of the delta wing and then the front fuselage section of the aircraft without the nose section. The bag 10 picture shows the place where the front landing gear will be stowed. For bag 10, you really had to pay attention to how the Technic pieces were assembled, but I think the instructions did a good join pointing that out. You install more orange plates for ease of build in bag 10. These are removed shortly, but they help to keep the set together during assembly.

Bags 11 and 12 start to look more like an aircraft with the wing compete. You also start to build the fuselage out more. Bag 12 includes a small section of the passenger compartment with two bathrooms and some seats. This is the only section of the aircraft with an interior and I’m okay with that. It’s a display model and not a play model (in my opinion).

Bag 13 adds in the wheels and completes the landing gear. The Technic axle in the rear of the aircraft is what will spin to raise and lower the gear. It’s an impressive assembly and I’m a fan of how the design team put it together.

Bags 14 and 15 add the engines on either side of the aircraft. The builds are mirror images of each other, but the slight repetition wasn’t too bad.

Bag 16 begins the cockpit assembly. It doesn’t look like much when completed as you can see, but it will come together in the next bag.

Bag 17 finishes the cockpit area along with the paper bag that was included with the windscreen piece. I was thankful for the printing and no stickers. The set is mostly white, but the red stripe and logo help to distinguish the set. As advertised, the nose does the “droop snoot” movement like the actual Concorde did which is some great functionality for the large set.

Bags 18 and 19 add the tail section of the fuselage. Bag 18 is mostly internal structure and then bag 19 adds the external panels and connects the section with the rest of the aircraft. Spinning the tail cone section will raise and lower the landing gear.

Bag 20 completes the aircraft. This includes the ailerons and flaps on the main wing, the tail, and rudder. This is all minor functionality, but another great addition to the model to make it seem more realistic.

Bag 21 finishes the build with a stand. Despite the massive size of the model, it all sits rather well on this small stand. The stand also includes a printed tile with studs on the back. So glad that it wasn’t a sticker!

Here’s the final monstrosity. It was a great build and I think it looks incredible. Despite the abundance of white pieces, there are a lot of great pieces for future MOCs (inside) if that’s what you do with your sets. I really enjoyed this one and would recommend it to anyone, but I will say that you need to consider your space limitations. It’s big and finding a spot for it could be a challenge if you don’t have a dedicated LEGO display location. Maybe hanging it from a ceiling would work? I haven’t found a spot for it yet.

I think it would be great if LEGO did more sets like this one. Is anyone else on board with that thought?

Happy building!

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 - #76419-1: Hogwarts Castle and Grounds - Harry Potter

How many different versions of Hogwarts Castle can LEGO come up with? We’ve had all of the minifigure scale modular sections and then #71043-1: Hogwarts Castle which is about half of the castle. On 1 September 2023, we got #76419-1: Hogwarts Castle and Grounds. This one contains 2,660 pieces and retails for $169.99 which works out to $0.064 per piece. This Hogwart’s set is the first one that has the full castle all in one set. It’s a much smaller scale than the others, but it works and still captures a bunch of details. Onto the review…

The box front shows the full set build. There’s a Harry Potter logo and the 18+ greebling on the bottom. The back of the box shows some of the details of the set and the other side of the set.

The set contains 22 numbered bags with one bag per number. There’s also a 16x16 black plate and then the instructions are in an envelope. There are two instruction books. The instructions start with some details on the set and the castle. Throughout the instructions, there are various notes about some of the sections of the castle.

Of note, I did find at least one error in the instructions where they listed the wrong piece and showed a different one being installed.

The build starts with some of the sections underground. Bag one builds the chamber of secrets and then the Devil’s Snare. Bag two builds the room where they chase the keys, the Wizard’s Chess board, and then the room where Harry meets Professor Quirrell and finds the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Bags three and four build out more of the base and some of the cliff sections around the castle. Of note, you get a 1x8 black tile with “Hogwart’s Castle” printed on it similar to how the Architecture sets are built.

Bag 5 continues to build out the base of the castle and more of the cliffs around the edges. Then bag 6 starts to build the top with a lot of olive green pieces for grass coloring and a bunch of jumper plates to hold future sections of the castle. There are also some light gray tiles as walking paths around the castle.

Bag seven builds the last underground section which I think is Snape’s potions library (maybe). Bag eight continues the base to include more of the cliff edge and a pathway made up with some sloped dark tan sloped pieces.

Bag nine adds more of the cliff section and some plates to build up on. Bag 10 adds in the boat house at the end of the dark tan path you build.

Bag 11 adds in a lot of the water pieces. I like the use of dark and light colored translucent blue tiles to make some different colored water. You also include a section in the bottom right which is where the Durmstrang Ship will go later on in the build.

Bag 12 starts the Great Hall. I like how this one is buildt separately and then added to the rest of the castle at an angle.

Bag 13 finishes up the Great Hall and adds it to the rest of the build. As mentioned, I like how it’s installed at an angle. You also add the bridge which works out okay, but the supports don’t quite touch the bottom so it looks a little odd if you look closely.

Bag 15 tops off the quad area and then the Headmaster’s Tower. Bag 16 builds another section of the castle. The instructions say that this area contains the girl’s lavatory area where Moaning Myrtle lives. I appreciate how some of the building techniques create the details and then there are some printed pieces mixed in. Thankfully, no stickers. YAY!

Bags 17 and 18 build the East Wing according to the instructions.

Bag 19 builds the astronomy tower which is the tallest point of the castle and is built using some SNOT techniques.

Bag 20 starts a corridor section that is completed in the next bag. More printed bricks again which is great.

Bag 21 finishes the corridor in this section of the castle and then adds in the greenhouses. It also adds in some walls and some gemstone and ice cream pieces as miniature trees and plants.

Bag 22 is the final bag in the set. It builds the Whomping Willow, the Durmstrang Ship, the Pegasus and Beauxbatons’ Carriage, and then finally the Architect of Hogwarts golden minifigure. The first three are all fun miniature builds and if you know the Potter world, you can easily pick up on what the builds are representing. The minifigure is a nice addition to the set and to the gold anniversary minifigures, but it really isn’t a known character. It’s fun that they came up with an idea of what the architect might look like, but I don’t see this minifigure as a must have collectible just based on it being a made up character. I guess it’s better than yet another Harry Potter minifigure.

Durmstrang Ship

Pegasus and Beauxbatons’ Carriage

Architect of Hogwarts

Whomping Willow

Here is the final build from a few different angles. Overall, it’s a great set. You can buy the various sets to piece together the castle or get the larger castle, or just get this one and be done (assuming you don’t collect minifigures). It’s great that you get the full castle and a bunch of details from the books in one set. The minifigure isn’t a standout to me, but it’s nice that they included one. The price per piece is good although the pieces are a bit smaller so you would hope that would be the case. If you’re a Harry Potter fan or enjoy Architecture themed sets, I highly recommend this one. Look for opportunities to grab this one with double Insiders points or great GWP offerings in the future.

Happy building!

Set Review: #76413-1 - Hogwart's: Room of Requirements - Harry Potter

Here’s a review for #76413-1: Hogwarts™: Room of Requirements. This one was released on 1 March 2023 and retails for $49.99 in the US. It contains 587 pieces which puts it at $0.085 per piece. I grabbed this one on sale from LEGO Shop @ Home with GWPs so even better. This is not the first venture into this section of the castle. This set focuses on a scene from the last book/movie “The Deathly Hallows”, but we had #75966-1 back in 2020 which was from “The Order of the Phoenix” book/movie which focuses on a separate scene in the room with a different purpose.

Nothing overly special about the box. It is pretty standard with how the front and back usually look for a Harry Potter themed set.

The set contains four numbered parts bags, and instruction booklet, and a sticker sheet. My sticker sheet was smashed into the box and had a pretty sharp crease in it. I was not happy with that, but thankfully, it didn’t wreck the overall look of the set when I was done putting it together.

Unlike most Harry Potter sets, the first bag actually starts with the top of the structure. You build a small roof section and then a larger one with a spire. The one with the spire has a space underneath the spire where a scroll is set for reading. I’m not sure what the reference is to in the movie exactly so it’s relevance in the set is unknown to me.

You get two minifigures in this bag. One is Harry and the other is “The Grey Lady” (Rowena Ravenclaw’s deceased daughter).

The second bag assembles the ground floor of the build. This is the entrance to the Room of Requirements. There is a door (with stickers that you put on both sides) and then the inside starts to build all of the various things that are stored in the room with two cases with cups in them.

There are some straight and curved tiles placed around the door frame on the inside of the room. These tiles have stickers. I had a challenging time putting the stickers on the 1x6 pieces and an even harder time trying to line up the curved stickers on the curved tiles.

The Draco Malfoy minifigure comes with this bag.

The third bag adds more to the room to make it taller. You also tack on a few more stickers for details. You see a number of Technic axle and pin holes throughout the build which will make more sense after the next bag.

On the outside of the build you put together some doors/wall pieces that slide back and forth so you can cover the door to the room similar to the movie. It’s not flush with the wall like in the movie, but it gets the job done considering the cost of the set and the space available for the build.

The Hermione minifigure comes in this bag.

The last bag wraps up the set with a lot of the various items inside the room of requirements to include boxes, books, a chair, a helmet, a record player, and the lost diadem that they are searching for in the movie/book.

The minifigure in this bag is Blaise Zabini who I don’t remember from any of the other movies, but it could just be me.

Lastly you build the fire dragon that Blaise casts in the Room. You can have the dragon as one long piece or you can split it up. The set comes with some extra Technic pins so you can connect the dragon to the various pin holes around the set. This is a fun play feature and I like how the designers added this one in.

5 minifigures in this set. All are exclusive so even if you thought you had all of the Harry Potter minifigures, there is yet another one. No major complaints here, but nothing super exciting.

Here’s the final build. Like the other sets, this one is modular and connects to the various Harry Potter sets to help you build out a full Hogwart’s Castle however you want to. The set has some good play features with the moveable doors in the front, the fire dragon that can be moved around, and some stuff to scatter around the room. You can also use your own pieces to add to the clutter in the room.

Overall, it’s not a bad set and the price per piece isn’t too bad. It’s gone on sale once so wait for another round of sales before you grab this one.

Happy building!