Set Review - #71018 - Series 17 Collectible Minifigures

After the LEGO Batman Movie collectible minifigures, it was good to get back to another series of original designed collectible minifigures.  Series 17 was released on 1 May 2017.  Oddly enough on the first day of the release, you could only purchase 5 at a time.  The next day you could purchase up to 32.  The price has held at $3.99 for a while now (I believe Simpsons Series 1 was the last set at the $2.99 price point).  This series contains 16 minfigures like the previous series versus 20 from Batman and 18 from Disney.  So let's get into the review of the minifigures.

I believe the last male surfer minifigure was from series 2.  This one has a wet suit, some facial hair, and a good blond hair piece for his head.  To me what stands out for this figure is the board.  The shark mouth on the board is an awesome design in my opinion.  It's a lot better than a lot of the plain boards of the past.  For reference, the Series 2 minifigure had a board with a palm tree and sunset on it.

Oddly enough, the Circus Strongman has an equivalent in series 2 as well, a weightlifter.  To be fair this one has a circus theme versus the sole lifting focus as the one in series 2.  The mustache in this one is a nice touch and the weight has a 100 label on it versus the weight lifter's plain weights.

The Gourmet Chef is different from most LEGO minifigure chefs.  The hat does not rest dead center on the head as it is crooked to the side and shows the woman's hair.  Also the whisk is new (I think) and the pie has strawberries printed on top.  This one could go well with the bakery in Assembly Square or the Parisian Restaurant.

From my NLS, the Corn Cob guy is "made by his mustache."  Without it, this one would be rather plain.  While there has been numerous minifigures dressed as animals, this is the second as a fruit/vegetable.  The first was banana guy in series 16.  I'm looking forward to seeing what other types of foods LEGO comes up with next for minifigures of the future.  

The Veterinarian contains a rabbit at the smaller scale of pets.  Originally dogs were much larger and have since shrunk similar to the one with the dog show judge in series 16.  The minifigure comes with blue hands (presumably wearing gloves, a name tag on her pants, and with a stethoscope around her neck.  

The Hot Dog Man is different than the hot dog man from series 13.  This one is a vendor selling a hot dog in a bun and a drink.  The minifigure comes with a tray and he is wearing an apron and the hat seen at some of the old fashioned fast food restaurants out there.  

Butterfly Girl looks like many of the little girls I see walking around these days only she into butterflies versus princesses.  The wings, face and hair decorations, tank top with the butterfly, and flowers all fit in with the over-the-top ways I have seen little kids walking around today.

The Roman Gladiator fits the theme of numerous other collectible minifigures to include the Roman Emperor from series 9 and the Roman Commander from series 10.  This one has a golden trident as a weapon, some brown gloves, and some rockin' abs.  

In my opinion, the Connoisseur should be called "French guy".  Not sure why he isn't, but whatever.  He apparently is a connoisseur of bread that is 2/3s his size.  He also has a bulldog type dog similar in size to the rabbit that the veterinarian has.

The battle dwarf is a newer design.  He's not really a Lord of the Rings type, but he is ready to kick some butt.  He comes with an ax and then a hammer with the drawing of a boar-like animal on it.  His beard is big and bright red as is his mohawk-like red hairdo.  

The Retro Spaceman is right out of the... is it the 70s?  Earlier?  Do kids these days even know what a retro spaceman is or was this minifigure solely build for AFOLs?

Speaking of kids not knowing where the reference comes from, do they know what this Yuppie minifigure is and when cell phones were that size?  The shades are pretty cool and I think the printed cheese slope is awesome.

Series 15 had a spaceman and series 17 has a Rocket Boy dressed up as a rocket.  I like the "kid drawn" classic space flag and the costume rivals some of the best seen at Halloween time.  I think this one is the best in the set, but that's just me.

The Dance Instructor is straight out of the 1980s.  The head band and outfit definitely come from that decade.  The water bottle is a new LEGO printed design with the H2O symbol.  And 1, and 2...

When I think of elves, I more often think of the small people that work for Santa Claus (versus the Will Ferrell movie).  Elf Girl Is clearly not one of those as she is the standard minifigure size and has a large sword and shield.  She is ready to take someone out.

The highwayman was quite possibly the most talked about minifigure in the set.  When LEGO announced that series 17 was coming out, they listed this one as a "mystery minifigure."  It existed as a black outline as it does on the minifigure packets.  In reading some of the other LEGO fan sites I tend to agree that I don't get LEGO's marketing strategy.  It was very strange in my opinion.  What was so special about this minifigure to hide it?  Don't get me wrong, it's cool with the cape, scarf over the bottom of the face, 2 pistols, and tri-corner hat, but beyond that I'm not really sure what LEGO was going for.  

So there is my take on Series 17.  Another great, original series in my opinion.  Scoop them up now before they go away and the prices go up on the secondary market.

Set Review - #10255 - Creator Expert - Assembly Square (Modular Building) - Part 3

Part 1 of the review        Part 2 of the review

It was a challenge, but I managed to finish the build before moving.  Here is the rest of the review...

The fourth set of bags contains 5 parts bags.  It includes the second floor build above the bakery and flower shop which consists of the dentist's office and photographer's office.  Below is the complete version from the front.  

The dentist's office is impressively full of details.  The chair, light, and trays for the dentist to use all look similar to many dental facilities.  I don't know about some of the tools that he has to use, but I guess they weren't going to make special tools just for this set.  

The photographer has a small shop attached to the dental office and he shares a waiting room with the dentist.  The camera itself is very old looking, but is a great design of an old camera by LEGO bricks.  There is a photographer minifig (is this the first mustache in a modular?) and then you can see the photograph 2x2 tile on the wall.  There is also a white background for taking photos.  The box shows the ballerina figure (shown later) posing on it.

The fifth set of bags contains 7 parts bags.  As can be seen below, this completes the floors above the coffee shop.  It includes a music studio/store, the dance studio, and then the top of the building.

The second floor is the music shop.  It contains a counter with cash register and then some instruments you can buy to include a drum set, saxophone, acoustic guitar, and an electric guitar.  The store looks a little bare, but I'm sure you could MOC up some good additional things to fill it up the store like records or other instruments.

The third floor is the dance studio.  It contains a bar, mirror (similar to the barber shop from the detective's office), and piano with a seat to play.  Beyond that, there isn't much detail which is okay in my opinion.  The dance studio also has a clear door that opens up to a small balcony which can be seen in the picture on the bottom left below.

To roof of the 3 story building in Assembly Square deserves some mention.  The design is fairly simple, yet it comes across as very detailed and architectural (If that's the right word to describe it).  The designers used a piece new to me that I found pretty cool.  Brickset says it appears in 6 sets so apparently I'm not up on my new pieces.  

The sixth and final set of bags contains 7 parts bags.  It completes the top floor of the right side building, the fountain, and lamp posts.  To start off, the top floor is an apartment for a LEGO fan.  The instructions show a female minifigure with a baby minfigure.  You can decide whether those are the only 2 occupants or who the true LEGO fan is in that apartment.  The apartment contains an interesting design for a couch that folds out to be a bed as well.  There is a small kitchen and toilet in a room too.  In terms of LEGO, there is a table with a train display (and a Horizon Express?), a box for the cafe corner, an Eiffel Tower, and a few others I'll let you figure out on your own if you get the set.  

The back of the set shows the outdoor patio area with a grill/cooking area, seating, and a plant that has seen better days.  

The roof over the apartment has another simple, but cool design which includes a spire and even a white chicken.  I was disappointed in the roof over the outside patio area as it contains 2 BURPs (Big Ugly Rock Pieces).  I thought that for a Creator Expert modular building and for the 10th anniversary set they would come up with some great design similar to what was done in the Parisian Restaurant.  Oh well.  It still looks okay, just a disappointment that it is such a big piece.  

Last up is the fountain and lights.  The lights are similar to others from other modular sets.  The fountain is a nice touch to the square.  

Overall it is another amazing build.  I wish I had all of my modulars built so I could add this one to the mix and take a picture.  In my opinion, the Creator Expert team did an outstanding job putting this one together.  I like the use of some of the colors and techniques from previous modulars and a few of the fan references like the AFOL apartment.  While this set is expensive, I found it to be worth the price (even if I used a lot of VIP points).  The build was exceptional and challenging, the types of pieces and colors were fantastic, and the design will go great in many CITY scenes.  Happy building!

Campaign Results - iCouldBe.org

From 1 January 2017 to 1 May 2017, 15% of the profits from Bricks for Bricks was going to iCouldBe.org.  This is a non-profit focused on connecting teenagers with mentors.  I found this group in 2017 and took on the challenge of mentoring 2 high school students who were multiple time zones away.  It has been enjoyable to interact with them to and try and share some of the wisdom that I have.  I'm proud to say that we raised $61 for he program to help them help teens.  One of the expenses the program has is background checks for mentors so this will help to pay for a few of those.

Thanks to all who bought great LEGO items from the store over the past few months and supported a great cause!

Set Review - #10255 - Creator Expert - Assembly Square (Modular Building) - Part 2

See part 1 of the review here

See part 3 of the review here

Assembly Square is slightly different from previous modular building sets.  There is a separate box inside the main box that contains bags numbered four through six.  The main box has bags one through three and the base plates.  The instructions are in a separate package, but there is not cardboard backing to it.  To be fair the book is quite thick so I don't think it will fold up during shipment.  Has anyone had this issue yet?  Also, no stickers.  YAY!

To start off, there are three bags labeled #1.  The first part of the build is uses the 2 base plates.  One base plate is the standard green 32x32 studs and the other is 16x32 studs in green as well. I haven't seen this one used in a while, but I do have some from when I was a kid.  Like the other modulars, this one contains a piece separator.  Here is the final build for the first set of bags..  

The designs for the sidewalks and floors are pretty intricate.  The addition of some angled tiled pieces in light gray and dark gray help to make it more detailed too.  The addition of some 1x2 plates with one stud help with play-ability later on when the various stores are finished and minifigs need to stand.

The carriage is part of the first set of bags.  It's a simple design as can be seen here.  

Next up is the second set of bags which includes 7 bags of bricks.  This includes the bakery and the flower shop along with a baker minifig and a minifig to work in the flower shop.  

First off... the bakery.  The left picture shows the front.  I like the use of the garage door pieces for the front window.  The design to add them in is pretty easy, but not something I would have thought of on my own.  Go Creator Expert team!  You can see the wedding cake in the front with the "wedding couple" on top.  The bakery has some great details to includes some cakes and other pastries on display throughout the store.  It also has an oven to cook the various items, but really no area to bake in.  I get it... not a lot of space and the designers did what they could given the space they had.

The flower shop is next and I included a top view here.  It is very detailed with various sizes of flowers.  As you can see, there is a bird and I think it is the first time there is a bluish-yellow bird.  Also, the design of the flowers that can be handed from one minifig to another is a first that I recall from any sets.  In this picture they are located right behind the minifig in a stand on the wall.

Above are pictures of the front and back.  The flower shop is actually completed in the next set of bags.  You can see the front of the bakery a little better with the pretzel on the front of the store and then I am also a fan of the bottom part of the half circle that will be completed in a later build as part of the floors above the bakery.  The awnings on the flower shop are fun shades of pink/purple too which help the store to standout.

The cafe makes up bag 3 with 4 bags of bricks.  The cafe is chuck full of some great details.  As you can see above, it includes a female barista and then a small dog.  Above and to the left is the front and exterior.  There is a fun 3D logo above the door for the coffee brand.  The steam coming out of the cup is a genius design.  The chairs on the outside are much fancier than the ones from the original Cafe Corner back in the day.  Inside, there's a couch by a table with some chairs and some fun lamps and various foods on the tables.  The barista has a small work station and cash register.  It definitely looks like a cozy place to sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee.

Next are pictures of the front and back of the set after the 3rd set of bags are done.  The left shows the completion of the flower shop to include the 3D flowers and some additional design to the front facade.  You can see on the right that the back of the flower shop has translucent green and clear pieces to let some natural light into the store.  You can see the window placement on the cafe and the green plant growing up the back of the cafe as well.  

So far so good.  No complaints yet.  Onto the rest of the build...

See part 3 of the review here

We're moving... again!

If you've kept up with the blog, you'll remember these posts from 2016 (#1 and #2).  My "other job" moved me from New Mexico to Florida.  Well, that "other job" decided it's time to move again.  Bricks for Bricks is now going to Alabama.  What does that mean?  The last BrickLink and Brick Classifieds  orders will be accepted on 30 April 2017.  Then on 1 May 2017 the store will be closed.  At this point, we'll have to move it all again and re-establish.  I am hoping to be back up and running in a month or two, but we'll see how things are going.

Thank you for your patience while this all happens!  Happy building!

Set Review - #10255 - Creator Expert - Assembly Square (Modular Building) - Part 1

As an AFOL this is one of my favorite times of year, the arrival of the new modular building set.  Released on 2 January 2017, #10255 is the tenth year anniversary set for the modular building series.  The cost is $279.99 in the US for 4,002 pieces.  That works out to be $0.07 per piece.  This is typical for most of these sets in terms of price per piece, but 4,002 pieces is quite a bit more than usual.  There are 13 sets in all over the past 10 years and I am lucky enough to have 11 of them.  I'm missing The Green Grocer and Market Street.  

This will be a multi-part review as it will take me a while to build this.  For now, I have taken pictures of the box (for some real excitement).  So let the building begin!!!!!!!!

In case you missed it, here is the LEGO designer video.

See part 2 of the review here.

See part 3 of the review here

How did I miss this? A Lego Brickumentary...

Apparently I'm a few years behind.  Sorry.  The other day I got to watch "A LEGO Brickumentary" which was released in the US on 31 July 2015 (according to imdb.com).  Has everyone else seen this and I just missed it?  In case you haven't seen it either, this is a full up documentary on LEGO starting with the history of the brand and going into all of the modern day LEGO world to include AFOLs, conventions, LEGO Ideas (the film was done when it was still CUUSOO), using LEGO in films, the start of the Architecture theme, LEGO art to include a bit on Nathan Sawaya, and more.  

I did some searching online and a lot of the reviews of the film weren't so good.  Apparently it made much less than the budget of the film and there's a lot of trash talk.  As an AFOL, I say who cares about all of them?  I thought the film was awesome.  Interviews with members of the LEGO company to include builders like Jamie Berard and a look inside the company, how awesome is that?  I say when is video #2 coming out?

If you're an AFOL like me and you haven't seen it yet, definitely do it.  I'm not a Netflix-er, but it's probably there.  You can check out Amazon.com or Youtube to see it too.  It's worth your time.  Trust me!

Bricks for Bricks Campaign and Store Update - April 2017

In case you haven't seen, we've been running a campaign to raise funds for iCouldBe.org.  This is a website that runs a mentoring program for teenagers.  Adults apply to become mentors, build profiles, and then students select them to become mentors while they go through a program geared towards motivating them to be better students and to have successful futures.  As of the writing of this post, I mentor two students and I enjoy the program and sharing what I know with the two teens I mentor.  The program costs money as they have to maintain a staff, run the website, and conduct background checks on potential mentors.  To help fund that program, Bricks for Bricks is giving 15% of profits to iCouldBe.org.  The campaign started on 1 January 2017 and will end on 30 April 2017.

So where are we at?  We've had 26 sales and a profit of just over $147.  15% of that is just over $22.  Not that exciting and kind of disappointing on my part.  There's a reason for it though and it's something I need to look into changing as I continue to give back while selling LEGO products.  On BrickLink, many of the items that I have sold have been parted out.  Most often, minifigures are broken apart from sets and sold individually.  When either the parts or the minifigures are sold, but the whole set isn't sold, I typically don't show a profit until they are all sold.  So my revenue is higher, but doesn't show a profit that I can take 15% from to give to great organizations like iCouldBe.org.  

Any thoughts on how to change this up?  Please email me: store@bricksforbricks.com if you have suggestions.

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On a separate note, the store will be closing again... If you've followed me, you'll know that I had to pack everything up and move from New Mexico to Florida last summer.  This is due to what I refer to as my "real" job relocating me to Florida.  Well guess what?  My job is moving me again after less than a year!  The store will be shut down on 30 April 2017 and then re-opened in Alabama.  I'd like to be open again in June 2017, but I don't know how long the paperwork process is going to take to open up yet another business in a different state.  So I apologize for the inconvenience and will work to get up and running again as fast as possible.  Thanks again for all the support!  

Set Review - #60150 - Pizza Van

It's been a while since I've reviewed a LEGO CITY set.  If you've read some of my past posts, I have mentioned before that I am a CITY and TRAIN fan at heart.  It's been a while since I've had the space and time to build a large setup with trains going around a city, but that's where my LEGO passion lies.  Someday I plan to have a large space where I can build a big display.  In the meantime, I will pick up sets here and there to expand my scene-to-be.  

The CITY theme is geared towards kids.  The boxes say for ages 5 to 12 so clearly I am not the appropriate audience, but #60150 - Pizza Van is a set outside of the ordinary.  Typically CITY goes through sub-themes to include Police, Fire Fighters, Airport, and a few others that change out every now and then.  #60150 was released on 27 November 2016 at a retail price of $19.99 from LEGO (in the USA).  It contains 249 pieces so that makes it $0.08 per piece.  I picked the set up at 20% off for $15.99 at Amazon.com so $0.064 per piece (WOOHOO!).

Here is the box.  Nothing special or out of the ordinary here.

Here are the contents.  It contains 2 bags of parts, 2 instruction booklets, and a sticker sheet (that were shoved into the box).

Bag 1 contains the minifigures.  It has a male figure who is the chef and a female figure who could be a customer or the delivery driver or a customer who stores the pizza on their scooter.  The female figure has hair and then a helmet for riding the scooter.

Bag one comes with a table and umbrella for figs to stand and eat in the shade, the scooter with a pizza box, and the pizza.  There is one full pizza and then 2 pieces of pizza.  I'm not sure if this is the first set with the pizza pieces, but I think it's a great addition to LEGO's stash of bricks.  I remember growing up as a kid and having almost no options for food.  LEGO has come a long way with the various food options.  Pizza was one of the first that I can recall and now we have individual slices besides the entire pie.  

Onto the build.  Nothing extraordinary here.  It's a simple build of a vehicle without a ton of intricate parts.  The instructions are obviously not meant for AFOLs, but for kids as it goes one piece at a time.  I had it assembled quickly.

Bag 2 finishes up the set.  

Should you get the set?  If you're a CITY and TRAIN nerd like me, then it is definitely a different piece to add to your display.  With some of the recent park themed sets, it could be good to have a food truck at your park.  In my opinion it's not a bad set to give to kids either.  A lot of play options with the set alone between the scooter, truck, and food serving options.  As always with some of the simple CITY sets, they left a lot of options for making changes to include swapping pieces to adjust the color scheme or maybe changing up the front of the truck which to me isn't that impressive.

What do you think?

Happy building!

Caught in the Madness - A Really Cool Set Collecting Dust

Some history on me... growing up I really liked the LEGO space themes.  Classic Space, Space Police, M-Tron (probably my favorite), Blacktron, Ice Planet... all awesome!  I still have all the sets too.  I used to build space bases, fly around the space ships, explore new planets, put the bad guys into Space Police jail.  Lots of fun.

When I saw that the LEGO Ideas program was putting out a set in the theme of Classic LEGO Space, I was sold.  The set was announced in late 2014 with a You Tube clip that built a story behind the set.  The set was officially released on 28 December 2014 in the US and fans like me went nuts.  I ordered one fairly quickly and soon thereafter LEGO Shop @ Home was sold out.  As you can imagine, the price on eBay, BrickLink, and other sites started to go higher.  I think everyone expected the same thing as #21110-1 Research Institute.  Released on 2 August 2014, it's run ended on 14 December 2014.  After just 4 months, LEGO ran out of inventory and they weren't producing any more.

I was able to get 2 sets.  One for me to build and one in the hopes of selling at a profit to fund my addiction... I mean building hobby.  This was good until LEGO announced that they were putting the set back into production.  The limited inventory was gone as it popped back up on LEGO Shop @ Home and then even at Amazon.com.  After a few months, Amazon.com started to discount the set.  I picked up a few more thinking they would all sell out soon and it would be great to get a few at a discount to sell.  I was wrong.  The price plummeted even after LEGO was done selling them and it has remained there as the excess inventory is still out there.  

So what is the lesson learned from my quick blurb?  2 things actually... one is that The LEGO Group has realized that short run sets that are very popular are not good for the fan base.  They have tended to (not always though) do second production runs often when they see a large demand.  This was done again with the Disney Collectible Minifigures.  So wait it out and don't spend more than you should on sets.  The second thing is if you are looking to sell a set in one of these hypes, you need to sell it early.  After the hype dies away, the market goes with it.  The key warning was when Amazon.com put them on sale (side note, as of today 7 March, they are still on sale) and then I should have known selling them would be tough.  If you can get a really good discount, then go for it.  Otherwise, hold off as it is hard for the small seller to compete with Amazon.com.  

So here they are... I have 5 that I am storing.  They have all been purchased for retail price or lower.  At this point I can't sell them and make a profit because you can get them on Amazon.com for less then retail price with free shipping.  I can sell for less than retail price, but I can't offer free shipping on them without taking a loss.  Any thoughts on what I should do?  Feel free to let me know what you think at store@bricksforbricks.com.