Even David Beckham Builds LEGO Sets

Thanks to Zusamengebaut.com for finding this one. Jimmy Fallon interviewed former soccer star David Beckham on “The Tonight Show” and our favorite “highly sophisticated inter-locking brick system” was the topic of conversation. Mr. Beckham’s wife likes to make fun of him on for his bricking hobby, but according to him he loves to build as it helps to calm him. In fact he’ll stay up late into the night to finish up a set.

The clip on YouTube is below. If you don’t want to watch the full thing, skip to the 3 minute mark. That’s when the discussion about the brick begins. And how do I get a free copy of the Millennium Falcon given to me?

Enjoy!

Set Review - #80104-1: Lion Dance

After two regional exclusives where everyone was mad they had to buy on the secondary market, LEGO has stuck to their word. #80103-1: Dragon Boat Race was released in 2019 and in 2020 so far two sets have been released. The first one I’ll review is #80104-1: Lion Dance and it was released on 15 January 2020 in the US for $79.99. With 822 pieces it works out to be $0.91 per piece. I manged to pick it up locally for ~$67 so I can’t complain.

I didn’t do any research behind the traditions behind the set, but the Brother’s Brick did. Check out their set review here if you want to learn more about the choice of colors and symbols used.

The box is bright and colorful with the set displayed on the front with a rat for the”year of the rat.” The back shows some of the play features and details of the set up close.

This set contains six parts bags and an instruction booklet that is wrapped to protect it. Additionally, you’ll notice there is no sticker sheet. WOOHOO!!!! There are a lot of printed elements in this set, but no sticker attachment required.

---

The first bag begins with a minifigure holding some lettuce to feed to the lions and two lions with identical builds. The lions both have minifigure legs attached into 2x6 bricks. The remainder of the lion is built off of there. The slopes on the side of the dragon are all printed which was awesome! The lion’s head has some fun details and piece usage with white banana pieces, white frogs, and the printed eye pieces. The head can rotate up and down and the mouth can be opened or closed.

Of note, this bag includes a teal piece separator for when you just can’t pry apart those plates.

---

The second bag includes a minifigure with fire crackers, three minifigures who play music (cymbals, a drum, and a gong), and then another dragon with a similar build technique as the previous two, but with some slightly different details and colors.

I like how the musicians were done. Especially the use of a large wheel as a drum. The stand they are on works great to fit them all and they tie into the color scheme of the set well. The drummer is on a spinning piece so you can move him back and forth as if he is drumming.

Lion number three has a slightly different mouth and some gold details along the edge of the body. Other than that, it is built pretty much the same except for the mostly white coloring.

---

The third bag is the stage. The lions don’t exactly fit on the stage after it is built and I didn’t try to have a dragon balance on one of the poles like shown on the box. Seems like it would fall over pretty quickly unless you got the center of gravity just so. And while it may not work great for a minifigure, you should definitely check out some of the videos of Lion Dances on YouTube. There are some crazy stunts that they do and the set will make more sense to you after you see what is going on.

The front paneling pieces in the center of the stage are pretty cool though. Could be useful in other MOCs down the road.

---

The fourth bag builds the last 2 lions and then a minifigure with Chinese calligraphy on a scroll or tablet. The lions use the same technique as the other 3 only have slightly different coloring with a focus on the color gold.

---

Bag 5 starts the gate structure. It’s a simple build, but I am a big fan of the printed tiles. The design on them is very cool and so is the coloring. You also get some more teal pieces and some gold fencing for decoration.

This bag includes an older male minifigure holding a paint brush. Supposedly it is the mayor and he is finishing painting one of the dragons.

---

The last bag (number six) finishes off the gate. The roofing is added, more frogs appear, and brightness of color abounds. The yellow and orange really make this gate stand out. I like how the designers achieved the Chinese architectural style without getting too crazy into detailed building.

Lastly, you get a minifigure dressed as a rat for the year of the rat. He rounds out a great assortment of minifigures in the set which help to make the set worthwhile.

---

Here’s the final set. Overall I think it’s great. You get 8 minifigures (not including the legs of the lion dancers) and some great pieces. There are no stickers and a lot of great printed pieces with some fun new details. Building this set really made me want to create my own scene with crowds watching, food stands, and other details. I’ll add that to my list of all the things I want to build in my spare time.

I definitely recommend this set and I think this line is worth it. I hope LEGO continues this line and comes up with other similar ones. Hopefully like me, you can find this one on sale to save some money. Just keep in mind that the shelf life of the set will not be long. I believe it is only supposed to be 6 months so don’t wait (can someone confirm that?).

What are your thoughts?

Happy building!

How to Get Rid of Your LEGO Collection

If you’ve ever done a search on YouTube or Google of LEGO collections, you’ve probably seen people showing off rooms or “brick caves” highlighting their builds, storage methods, and trophy sets. So what do you do with it all when it’s time to move on?

I found a video from a local news station in the Kansas City area talking about someone with that problem. First off, it must have been a slow news day if they had to show this, but he got some free publicity so maybe it wasn’t that bad. Secondly, who appraises LEGO collections?

Okay, watch the video and I’ll give my commentary and recommendations afterwards.

Retiring in Ecuador, can’t move your $78,000 brick collection, what do you do? Besides having the local news media come see it all, do you sell it all as a complete collection for $70,000? Do you sell items individually? Do you take a loss and sell the stuff to people who have Bricklink or EBay shops?

I think the most important decision you need to make is whether you need to make the most money selling your collection or you need to get rid of your collection fast. Or where you fall in the middle of those two…

Moving Fast:

Donate: Need to get rid of your bricks fast… give them away. I suspect you will have plenty of people who would love free bricks. If you don’t want to just give them away, look for a way to donate them. Can a charity sell them off and use the funds for good? Can a school or library or some other group use them for kids to build with? Depending on who you select and how much you donate, you might qualify for a charitable tax donation deduction. Check our the IRS website or ask your local tax expert/accountant for help there.

Find another seller: If you want to get rid of your bricks, you want some money out of it, and you don’t want to be bothered with the work, find a re-seller. Stores like Bricks and Minifigs in the US but sets or bulk parts and a quick Google search found a bunch of options out there for people who will buy sets or buy by the pound. You won’t get the most money for your bricks, but you’ll get rid of stuff fast and still get cash.

Post an Ad for Everything: Much like the seller in the clip above, post an add on any number of pages or forums hoping someone will want to buy it all. It might help to be in a LUG or have connections in the LEGO community to offload your stuff. No telling who you’ll end up dealing with though.

Make Money:

Sell on EBay, Bricklink, or other sites: Here’s your chance to set your prices on individual sets or even pieces and make a bit more money. This will take a bit longer and will require some effort. You’ll have to manage your store, deal with shipping and handling, do customer service, and all the fun stuff that comes along with it. The downside is you have to pay fees for the service and for the funds processing. So the money isn’t all yours for the sales.

Post an Ad for Individual Sets: If you want to avoid paying fees, find a local classified ad service for free or some other site you can use to post your sets. This probably will involve arranging meet ups with people and dealing with individual buyers. This will take a lot of time, but if you can wait to sell everything and deal with people, you can make a decent amount of money.

Garage Sale: Be prepared to haggle and deal with people all day who want a great deal. Probably not the best way to attract people who want LEGO sets, but you won’t pay any fees or anything. Good luck!

---

What other options are there? If I’m missing any, feel free to add them into the comments.

Or you could just not sell your bricks at all…

Happy building!

German LEGO Fans get Some Sweet Discounts on Amazon.de

One of my most popular posts is a conglomeration of various ways to save money buying new LEGO sets. You can see the post here. The post is focused on buying LEGO sets in the US, but what about outside of the US?

If you are new to my site, I am temporarily living in Germany for a few years as my non-LEGO job moved me here. With that, I’ve been able to see bricks across Europe. I have also been able to see some of the LEGO set deals here in Germany. I checked out Amazon.de recently (February 2020) to see what they had and here are some of the highlights

#21045-1: Trafalgar Square - Architecture
Currently 52,99€ versus the 79,99€ German retail price (34% off).
At the current exchange rate, that puts it at $57.87 versus the $79,99 retail price in the US.

#60233-1: Donut Shop Opening - CITY
Currently 54,90€ versus the 79,99€ German retail price (31% off).
At the current exchange rate, its $59.95 versus the $89.99 US retail price.

#75253-1: Droid Commander - Boost
Currently 139,00€ vs the 199,00€ German retail price (31% off).
$151.80 at the current exchange rate versus the US retail price of $199.99.

#42083-1: Bugatti Chiron - Technic
Currently 265,97€ versus the German retail price of 369,99€ (28% off).
That’s $290.46 at the current exchange rate versus the US retail price of $349.99.

And finally…
#42110-1: Land Rover Defender
Currently 139,00€ versus the German retail price of 179,00€ (23% off).
In US dollars that’s $151.80 versus $199.99 US retail price.

Why am I highlighting these? Well if you do a comparison of what’s on sale in the US, you won’t see any of these listed today. It’s interesting that these are on sale in Germany, but not elsewhere. Perhaps sales of these items are lower in Germany? Maybe Amazon.de has a lot of inventory to get rid of? It’s very interesting to see the differences and very tempting to dip in and take advantage of some of these sales I can’t get in the US.

What are your thoughts?

Happy building!

Set Review - #75946-1: Hungarian Horntail Triwizard Challenge

This should be it for the 2019 Harry Potter serts. #75946-1: Hungarian Horntail Triwizard Challenge was released on 1 July 2019. It retails for $29.99 in the US. At 265 pieces, it works out to be $0.113/piece which seems a bit steep to me. Let’s dig into this one to see if it is really worth it.

The front of the box shows the built set in animated action. I think it would be better if the design was all brick built, but I figure they have to split out the bricks to show what you actually get in the set. The back shows some of the play features to include the tent opening and the movement of the dragon.

The contents are 2 numbered parts bags, a small sticker sheet, the instruction booklet, and the dragon’s wings.

---

The first bag builds Harry, Fleur, and the dragon itself. Given the scale of the set, I think the dragon was done quite well. The details and coloring are fairly close to what you see in the movie and thankfully it was not just a giant BURP that you attach to the wings.

---

The second bag finishes up the set with the tent used by the Triwizard Champions and then the chain to hold down the dragon that is guarding the golden egg.

The tent is a very simple build and doesn’t have much exciting to it. The stickers go inside the tent.

The egg and the holder are rather plain. From a play standpoint, it meets the mark, but it could also go well as a part of a larger MOC recreating the scene from the book/movie.

---

This set comes with 4 minifigures. They are the 4 Triwizard Champions… Harry, Viktor, Cedric, and Fleur. They are all in their uniforms for the dragon challenge. I think this is the first time they have appeared in these outfits, but I’m not sure. Each one has wands and Harry has his broom.

Overall, this set doesn’t have much to it. The price is a bit steep in my opinion for what you get even with the 20% off sale from Amazon.com. If you’re looking to pick this one up, definitely wait for a sale. The dragon is a pretty cool, but beyond that, the set lacks anything exciting. However, it could be a good start to a larger MOC if you are looking to re-create the scene from the movie/book.

What are your thoughts on this one?

Happy building!

Another LEGO Ideas Train Submission Reaches 10,000 Votes!

Back in July 2019, I brought up a submission by the builder Bricky_Brick on the LEGO Ideas platform. It’s an incredible looking train station with a train at the station. The details are impressive and the top clear piece is very cool. I’m not sure of the exact date (maybe 31 January 2020), but it achieved 10,000 votes and is currently marked as achieved support. Here’s a picture of the build, but go to the Ideas site if you want more photos.

Now we have to hope LEGO selects it for review and then actually picks it up for a set. While it would be incredible to have this as a set, I don’t have high hopes. We’ll see… maybe they just need an amazing set to change their minds and inspire sales. I know I would definitely be in line to buy this one if it came out.

What do you think? Should LEGO make this set and would it sell? Or is this just another cool AFOL design that will remain in electronic form?

We Need Another Train - Latest LEGO Ideas Submissions

If you’ve followed my blog at all you may have seen some of my posts advocating for train sets. I’m a big LEGO train fan and I really want to see more Creator Expert type train models. As I have mentioned previously, LEGO doesn’t make a lot of money on these types of sets so they have stopped making them and they look for other ways to incorporate trains like with Disney or the Hidden Side.

Another option is to use the LEGO Ideas platform to bring a train model to the public. Currently the Toronto Rocket subway train by LegoVader217 is under review awaiting an announcement. Additionally, the creator BrickyBrick has a station he titled “The Train Station: Stud Gate” and it is rapidly approaching 10,000 votes (under 200 votes left at the time of this post). I wrote a post on that one here.

I don’t have high confidence that LEGO will produce either of these, but maybe they’ll get the hint given the number of train submissions on the Ideas platform. Or maybe they’ll move the train ideas to the BrickLink AFOL program now that LEGO has purchased BrickLink?

With all of this being said, there is another idea out there that I really like.

Train Collection by papat08
A Diesel-electric locomotive GE Dash 9-44cw BNSF on a track with some ballast on a display stand with the name on the front similar to the Architecture line. This one is a cool idea where you could just display the engine or use it as an engine on a train layout. There’s over a year left on this one and it has over 600 votes at the time of this post, but a lot more to go to get to 10,000. So go vote for this one. I think a train line for display would be awesome. So what do you say LEGO?

Have You Ever Purchased Your Bricks at Smyths?

Many Americans looking at LEGO fan media sites may have heard of a store called Smyths before and have never actually seen one. It is usually mentioned on some of the European sites. Well for those of you who are curious here’s a short peek into the store.

First, a quick overview… Smyths is a toy store located in the UK, Italy, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. While they have a physical presence, they also have an online presence too. You can order to have it shipped to your house with free shipping starting at 29€ or you can order online and pick up in the store.

The short story… it felt like a Toys R Us store back in the US before they closed only the words were not in English and there wasn’t a giraffe.

Let’s focus on the important part… or parts… or bricks…

The store I went into had one side of an entire aisle (maybe 75 feet long) full of LEGO sets. They appeared to have most of the themes too and the sets they did have were well stocked. They did not have the very large sets like the #75192-1: Millennium Falcon, but their online store lists the stock at each store. That way you can see where they have sets and go to another store to get what you want.

Some specific things that caught my eye:
-They did not have the latest collectible minifigures (the DC Super Heroes series). They still had Disney Series 2 and Series 19 and both were still at full retail of 3,99€
-They had the #42056-1: Porsche 911 GT3 RS from the Technic line still. This has been retired in Europe for over a year. I’m tempted to go back and get it as a set to hang onto to sell later since it has been retired in the US for a while now.
-#21046-1: Empire State Building was on sale for 69,99€. The regular retail price is 99.99€ according to Brickset so that’s pretty good. The regular retail in the US is $129.99 so the sale price works out to be around $77 with the currency conversion. That’s not too bad.

Overall, I’m not an expert on LEGO set pricing in Europe or Germany so I don’t know if the prices were on par with LEGO or higher or lower. I know Toys R Us used to raise prices on LEGO to above what you could get at Shop @ Home or in a LEGO Brand Store. If any Europeans are reading this, let me know what you think on pricing at Smyths.

My closest Brand Store is about 30 minutes away and this Smyths is about 25 minutes away in the opposite direction. I don’t have a pull to hit one over the other, but I do have to pay to park to visit the closest Brand Store. Also I still buy most of my bricks on sale from Amazon.com or through Shop @ Home so unless I find great deals on the local economy, it isn’t worth it with the exchange rate between the dollar and the euro.

Where I live in Germany, they do have Walmart/Target type big box stores, but their LEGO set selection isn’t very large. From the last time I was in the US, I recall that Walmart and Target have boosted their LEGO set offerings as Toys R Us went away. Smyths definitely seems like a decent option if you don’t live near a Brand Store and don’t want to shop online. I’ll have to pay attention more to see what their sales are like or if they ever have special offers.

In the meantime, happy building!

(and no, I was not paid to build this post or to advertise for the store… especially since my blog is written towards American LEGO fans and most Americans don’t have a Smyth’s nearby to visit)

Set Review - #75948-1: Hogwarts Clock Tower - Harry Potter

I am finally reviewing the last of the Harry Potter sets from 2019. This one is #75948-1: Hogwarts Clock Tower. It was released on 1 July 2019 for $89.99 in the US. With 922 pieces, it works out to be $0.098 per piece. This isn’t too bad, but I obviously would have preferred a lower price. I have not seen this one go on sale yet, but I did get it for double VIP points before Christmas so I can’t complain.

This set is based on the the fourth book/movie in the Harry Potter series titled “The Goblet of Fire.” The set itself portrays the Tri-Wizard’s Tournament Yule Ball. Onto the review…

The box front shows the front of the set assembled with the minifigures by tables and a Christmas tree. The back shows the internals of the set and some of the features to include the moving clock and how you can set up the minifigures to “dance” on one of the set pieces.

The set contains six parts bags and 2 light gray octagon pieces (not sure of the official name). The instructions are sealed with the stickers. The instructions are just instructions and no extra details or anything. The stickers are one sheet with multiple stickers and one with a larger sticker (ugh!).

The first bag builds a part of the ball room area. In seeing the pieces ahead of time, I was curious how it would all get assembled. In the end it turns out that there are System gear pieces versus Technic and they are linked together. You spin the light gray octagon around and the white circles rotate. Then you can position the minifigures so it looks like they are dancing. Definitely an interesting way to do this, but I’m not sure it adds much to the set. The set is listed as ages 9+ so maybe the younger crowd enjoys setting up the minifigures so they can dance.

There are 2 tables for drinks. The legs are icicle pieces and they have some fun “ice” decorations on top.

This bag also contains Viktor Krum and Madame Maxine, but I’ll go over the minifigures later.

The second bag adds a tower which can be attached using Technic pins to the ball area. The tower has 2 floors. The bottom floor is the bathroom where the students have to bathe to hear what the egg is telling them. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just watch the movie. The large mermaid sticker goes here and you get the fun of having a large sticker and trying not to get air bubbles in it. I was successful, but it took a few tries.

The upper level is Dumbledore’s office. The phoenix and sorting hat are stickers on the wall. The sword of Gryffindor is above him and the pensieve is there too (had to look up what a “pensieve” was). In terms of the actual locations in the castle, I’m not sure if they are all correct, but then again I am not sure of the floor plan of the actual castle so who knows? I think they were looking for the chance to re-create as many scenes as they could from the book/movie with this set.

Fleur Delacour and Albus Dumbledore come in this bag, but more on minifigures later.

The third bag starts the build of the actual clock tower. This bag builds the first floor of the clock tower. I think it is the room where students can put their names into the cup to be chosen for the Triwizard’s Challenge. I’m not actually sure and I’m not certain why the treasure chest is there. Either way, it serves as the base to the tower.

Ron Weasley and Cedric Diggory come in this bag.

Bag 4 builds another room. This one appears to be the defense against the dark arts classroom. I am a fan of how the external part of the clock tower looks. I’m not sure how accurate it is compared to the movies, but the design is simple, yet it looks like it is part of the castle. The build is mainly stacking bricks, but the designers get the detail across with some difference pieces and color changes.

The inside has details from the movie to include the chalk board with a sticker that tells from things from the book/movie, the glass where Mad Eye put something inside, and then there are a few items along the wall as well as one chair for a student.

Hermione Granger is in this bag even though I didn’t include the minifigure in the picture.

The fifth bag almost finishes the clock tower and it includes the Harry Potter minifigure. The outside includes the clock face which is a cool printed piece. The clock hands are pieces from the standard LEGO tool kit (and you get the extra tools for other MOCs). The roof slopes here or at least you complete part of the slope.

Inside this floor is the hospital or clinic or whatever they call it. There are 2 beds for patients. This is the first time where I’ve seen LEGO use jumper plates so the minifigures can actually lay on the bed.

Also, based on watching the movies, the clock is near the hospital area so this is somewhat accurate to have these two sections nearby each other.

Much like #75954-1: Hogwarts Great Hall, this set has a decent number of minifigures which makes this set a must have for fans of the Harry Potter minifigures. All of them are in their Yule Ball attire which I’m not sure has been done before. Does anyone know?

I’ll use the order of my picture below to go through them:

Cedric Diggory - This minifigure last appeared in the Harry Potter collectible minifigure set (#71022). Not bad considering he only makes an appearance in one book.
Fleur Delacour - This character is also in #75958-1: Beauxbatons' Carriage: Arrival at Hogwarts™ so the second time she’s appeared in a 2019 set.
Viktor Krum - I think this is the first time since the return of Harry Potter in 2018 that we’ve seen this minifigure.
Madame Maxine - This character is also in #75958-1: Beauxbatons' Carriage: Arrival at Hogwarts™ Hermione Granger - I’ve lost count of how many of the big 3 we’ve seen. Hermione has on a dress and instead of giving her a slope bottom to show the dress it is just printed on. There is a printed 1x2 brick with a 1x2 plate below it. I’m not sure why they didn’t go for a smaller slope piece like Fleur has on, but okay.
Harry Potter and Ron Weasley are in a lot of sets. Now you get them in their Ball garb.
Albus Dumbledore - Dumbledore is in his Ball garb as well. What I found interesting is the head of this minifigure has his glasses on one side and no glasses on the other.

Overall, a good collection of minifigures in my opinion. Everyone has a wand too.

The sixth bag completes the build. The roof and the last turrets on top of the clock tower are built. You also get a small Christmas tree for the ball room. Additionally, a second, smaller clock is added to the main clock face.

Overall, the build is not too complicated, but it does have some interesting techniques like the gears used for the dancing area. There are some decent pieces for other MOCs although not a wide range of colors. The designers crammed a lot of play features into a small area that were probably spread out across the castle, but I get why they did that. It probably doesn’t match the actual castle from the movie, but again it is designed for play and not as a Creator Expert type set. In terms of price, the set is about average in terms of price per brick and I have yet to see it go on sale. Like #75954-1: Hogwarts Great Hall, this set has not been on the active sale list on places like Amazon.com. If you are looking to pick it up, look for other opportunities like discounts at specific retailers or promotions from LEGO itself.

Like most of the other Harry Potter sets, if you’re not a fan of the series, I don’t recommend picking up this set. The build wasn’t that great, but fans get some great minifigures and another piece of the book/movie series.

What are your thoughts on this one? Just another play set or a well designed version of Hogwarts?

Happy building!

$8,299 Raised For the Red Cross in Australia

If you missed my initial post, Jay’s Brick Blog, run by an Australian AFOL, kicked off an impromptu campaign to collect funds for the Red Cross in Australia. The goal was to raise funds to help those impacted by the bushfires going on. Thanks to 302 people from around the world, Jay reported the following:

You can read Jay’s campaign post here. Bricks for Bricks got a call out so thanks Jay for the mention!

It’s great to see the LEGO fan community come together to do good in this world. Not only do we enjoy building, but we’re good people who like to use our brick hobby to help others.

Thanks to those of you who supported Jay’s campaign!

Happy building!