Set Review - #31109-1: Skull Island - Creator 3-in-1

Here is the last review for #31109-1. The Pirate Ship is here and the Pirate Inn is here. Skull Island is the smallest of the builds and I found there were a lot of pieces left over when it was complete. The design includes a brick built raft, a brick built row boat, and then the island itself. The island includes a brick built palm tree and a brick built monkey. The skull itself protects a pirate treasure of gold coins (1x1 round plates) and the treasure chest. The skull is mounted by a Technic axle and you can spin a wheel to have it move up and down. It doesn’t move much, but it would scare away anyone trying to steal the treasure.

The pictures below include the front and the back of the build. Overall, I think the skull could look slightly more realistic, but I guess that’s what is left up to the builder to adjust as required. The three builds for this set are all great and I could see wanting to keep all three assembled (I don’t plan to buy two more of these sets). They all would be a great part of a pirate scene or layout.

I haven’t bought a 3-in-1 set in a while, but this one was definitely worth it. I highly recommend this one… especially if you can find it on sale like I did. The builds are great and the pieces available are useful in other builds.

What are your thoughts on this one? A great addition for your Pirates or a lame attempt?

Happy building!

BrickCon 2020 - Intro and SWAG

I attended BrickWorld Virtual in May of 2020 and when I saw that BrickCon was also virtual this year (2-4 October), I had to sign up. If you’ve never head of it, BrickCon is normally a Seattle based convention. Based on a search online, it has been going on since around 2002 and is usually the first weekend of October. Hopefully someone can correct me if I’m wrong.

The convention was in the Pacific Coast of the US time zone so being 9 hours different didn’t help much as I would miss a bunch of the late night/early morning happenings. I did however sign up to be a “trusted virtual guide.” I don’t know how trusted I can be with leading people around virtual conventions, but it gave me a chance to help out and meet some new people. I’ll go into the convention in a separate post. For now I want to talk about the swag.

To attend as an AFOL you had to pay a bit more than the $5 the public paid, but they had various levels ranging from $25 to $90. I went for the biggest package being that it was my first BrickCon and I wanted to see what it was all about. So here’s what I got…

Tee-Shirts!

The first one is the Convention shirt and was designed by Kevin Hinkle. I definitely had my phone and computer on so that accurately reflects me(no tablet though). The next one is my TVG shirt to designate that I was one while on screen. I didn’t have the background set up for Zoom and you really couldn’t see the shirt, but that’s okay.

Also included were a few printed bricks. You had the option to get some custom ones so I got one that had my blog name. It also came with the yellow BrickCon 2020 brick. Finally, it had the white one which on the back says it is a recognized AFOL Networking Event. I stacked that on top of my BrickWorld brick so I can say I have attended two.

Still more swag… Next up was a baby minifig with the BrickCon logo on its shirt. Super awesome! Also, there was a 2x4 tan tile with the logo for this convention to include the date. Note the blue plate behind them is just from my collection to take the picture. It didn’t come with the swag pack.

Additionally, there was this fun pin with the logo. I’m not sure of the reason for the split up. Is it supposed to be like the shape of the LEGO House®?

I have not been to a physical convention yet, but apparently BrickCon hands out bags of parts for you to trade with other attendees. They did the same this year and you could then set up trade with people who live near you or I guess mail them to each other. I got six different parts and thankfully they are not standard bricks or plates. There’s a printed window panel, a tile with studs on the bottom, a larger window frame, a round 2x2 with an odd bottom (not sure what to call the light greenish one), a gold colored slope, and then a light gray 1x1 roof type slope. I’ll have to figure out how to build with these, but since I had never seen most of them, I’m pleased with what I was sent.

Lastly is the Con model. This one was designed by Chris Molloy. He’s the managing editor for the Brother’s Brick and a LEGO Ambassador. I have not built the set yet, but will and will post a review. The model is in a post disaster type world with a space minifigure exploring the ruins. The space minifigure comes in a rare orange color in the classic space theme. There are a few other cool pieces included. I look forward to digging into it.

Okay, that’s the cool swag. Are you drooling yet? I was super excited to get the container in the mail.

I’ll post later on some of the events I attended.

Happy building!

Set Review - #75969-1: Hogwarts Astronomy Tower - Harry Potter

The Harry Potter sets are back for another round. The 2020 releases came out in late August in the US and in early May in Germany. A few of them are already on sale here in Europe so I picked them up and will let you know what I think.

The first is #75969-1: Hogwarts Astronomy Tower that was released on 24 August 2020. It contains 971 pieces and 8 minifigures and retails for $99.99 in the US. That works out to $0.103 per piece. I found it locally for around $74 and thought that was a much better deal.

The box format looks similar to last year. The front shows the set with a digital background and the three main characters from the movie in the upper right. The back shows some of the play features and the back side of the set.

The set contains 6 parts bags and the instructions which are wrapped up in plastic with the stickers. There is also an 8x16 dark gray plate that comes separate.

The sticker sheet isn’t too bad although I don’t like trying to put the smaller stickers on the larger pieces as you’ll see later. I can never seem to properly center them.

Bag one builds the green house. It’s a simple build, but the roof is done differently. There are no stud connections and instead it is attached based on friction between the pieces. I found it to fit well and wasn’t super loose. This bag has the minifigures for Harry and Professor Horace Slughorn. It also has Hedwig the owl.

The only other notable part of this build are the Mandrake plants which are printed 1x1 round bricks. They have a plant piece attached and I thought this was a nice detail in the set and I was glad it wasn’t a sticker.

The second bag starts the base of the tower. It’s a fairly simple build, but I do like the curves and arches and how they add detail to the castle look. The use of stickers on the front columns wasn’t fun to apply. You can see from my picture that I didn’t put them on evenly.

The inside of this part has a classroom. It is maybe a potion classroom with various items to pour into pots. This is a cool part of the set, but is rather small. It needs expansion in my opinion.

Bag 3 builds the roof of the bottom portion of the tower. I like the design and the use of angled plates to create the detail. The spires are fun too. The inside adds a few candles hanging from the wall.

The fourth bag adds to the base of the tower which is hooked into the other section with Technic pins. This section appears to just be a hallway. There’s a shovel hanging up and well that’s about it. There’s also a decoration with red lanterns/balls. It appears this is part of the scene from book number 6 “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” where Professor Slughorn hosts a “Slug Club” party before Christmas. This set includes a table with a food set up and Neville serving a drink. Hermione is the other minifigure included here.

The fifth bag builds the next floor up and includes Luna Lovegood. This floor is the Ravenclaw common room which I don’t ever recall seeing in the movies. Was it mentioned in the books? It’s a pretty simple set up with a few beds, the house colors as a sticker, and some books on a brick books shelf.

Bag six builds the last floor and roof for the astronomy tower. It has the actual astronomy tower portions with the telescope. The minifigure included here is Malfoy. While I like how this set looks from the front, I would have liked to have seen how the telescope points out. Is there a retractable roof piece or something that opens? Again, another part not seen in the movie, but it would have been interesting to build or it could be something you build on your own.

As mentioned, you get 8 minifigures in this set and a Hedwig. Hedwig appears in six sets this year in the same manner so if you’re looking to get the owl, no need to get the most expensive set. The minifigures all appear in this form only in this set so if you collect Harry Potter minifigures, sorry…Also of note, these all have dual expressions. I tend to go with the happy or not mad expressions when I do reviews. The remainder of the expressions are either mad or a look of disgust or something similar.

Here’s the final build. Overall, I think it’s a cool structure from the front and I look forward to some day having the space to connect the sets from the previous few years. While I understand the back is open for kids to play with, I think it would be cool to have the full set filled in. Perhaps some day I will work on a minifigure scale Hogwarts castle.

I recommend trying to find a sale on this one before buying. It sits a little about the $0.10 per piece point at retail and I think it could be slightly cheaper (although you are paying for the license as well).

Happy building!

Set Review - #31109-1: Pirate Inn - Creator 3-in-1

This is part two of the set review. You can see part one here. I built the Pirate Inn after the ship just based on how the instructions are set up. The ship is first and you build it following numbered bags. Then the inn is next. You had to take apart the ship first to get all the pieces. It then takes a bit longer to build as you aren’t building by bag, but searching for pieces through the 1,264 available. I could have made it easier by sorting the pieces first, but what’s the fun in that?

I didn’t take pictures of the build process, but instead included a few pictures of the final build. It appears as though the ship was designed first and then the designers figured out what they could build based on the pieces available. Or maybe the inn was designed already and they just had to tweak it for parts availability. Either way, you will have a bunch of pieces leftover when the inn is complete so don’t fret.

Here’s what you get at the end.
-the inn
-a brick built horse and cart
-the same 3 minifigures only one now has an accordian
-a brick built bird on the top of the inn

The build has some interesting features. The front has a small crane that you can crank up and down. I’m not sure what you’d use it for, but it’s a cool looking feature. The crow’s nest is on top so you can look out or maybe someone sleeps there?

I don’t know my styles of architecture, but I like the front façade of the inn. The angle of the roof, the windows, and colors all seem to make it fit right in with the pirates theme. The V roof in the front left of the house is made by connecting plates to ball and hinge joints. I had never seen that method of build before and I like how it was done.

The back of the inn folds out so you can have access to it. There are 3 beds on the upper level and then the lower level has a table and some cups for beverages.

Outside is a large wheel which I assume is a water wheel. It spins either by you rotating the wheel itself or by spinning the Technic pin that is inside the inn. You could hook it to a motor if you really wanted to. This feature would help you build out this set to connect it to a stream running down from a hill/mountain and meeting the bay that the inn overlooks. And in the bay would be a pirate ship… and you’d have to buy another set #31109… and LEGO continues to make money…

Last shot is a closer view of inside the inn. I’m not sure what the build in the center on the ground floor is. Maybe a clock?

Overall, it’s a good build with some good techniques. Since it is limited by parts, a few of the steps don’t make sense like using three 1x1 pieces versus a 1x3. I get why it’s done that way so not a major complaint. Along with the ship, this build would fit well with any pirate scene and is a welcome addition to the slight come back of the LEGO Pirate theme through other themes.

Onto the third build… Skull Island…

Happy building!

LEGO House® Virtual Fan Day 2020

This weekend marks the time when the Skaerbaek Fan Weekend is normally held in Denmark. The event was cancelled due to COVID-19, but the LEGO House® still decided to participate. In previous years they have closed the House to the public and opened it to Skaerbaek Fan Weekend attendees only. This year they held a virtual event with a few presentations from various employees. To mix things up, most of the employees presenting were not designers so it was interesting to hear about different parts of the company. Here’s a quick run through of the event with a few screen shots I took.

Quick admin… there were about 400 people logged in from across the world. I saw people check in from North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It occurred between 1PM and 5PM in my local time zone (Central European Time) so great for me and a good excuse to take a day off from work. Sorry for those of you who had to get up early or stay up late. Participants were in receive only mode. You could type questions into chat and Jan Beyer moderated and picked the questions for the presenters to answer.

DISCLAIMER: These are from the notes I took during the session. I may have made mistakes or heard things wrong. So don’t go quoting me on anything without confirmation from the LEGO Group.

To start off, there was a welcome by the Managing Director of LEGO House, Jesper Vilstrup.

Jesper gave a quick welcome and updated us on the LEGO House® and impacts due to COVID-19. It was closed for about 100 days until it re-opened at reduced capacity. They have re-opened with a bunch of new rules and increased hand washing. Also, they swap out all of the bricks every day and put them in a 72 hour quarantine. I can’t imagine how long that takes.

Next up was Julia Goldin (calling in from London). She is the Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of the LEGO Group. She is pictured on the right in the screen shot below.

She gave an overview of what she does and talked about a few items before Q&A. The intro items were:

-LEGO is expanding offerings to adult fans and plans to continue the expansion
-70 or so projects in the portfolio geared towards adults (IDEAS and others)
-LEGO wants feedback from the fan community
-A quick overview of her personal use of LEGO
-A quick discussion on sustainability of LEGO to include removal of the plastic parts bags in 2021
-A focus on digital child safety
-A discussion on Diversity and Inclusion within the LEGO Company

Fan Q&A

-Will Bionicle return?
—It was phased out as it was not seen as part of the kid building experience, but it could return someday
-Any updates on the BrickLink acquisition?
—BrickLInk is getting new customers during COVID, adult fans are important to LEGO and she sees BrickLink as a way to support adults, using BrickLink to learn more (data mining?), LEGO does not want to change Bricklink
-Talk about the partnerships with Ikea, Levis, and Adidas
—Wanted an opportunity to show LEGO in a different way when two brands combine in new channels, looking for ways to expand brand awareness, don’t expect a lot of new partnerships beyond what has been seen, Ikea partnership was done as LEGO saw a need for buildable storage (not everyone has a giant room to store their massive collections)
-LEGO is open to releasing older themes
-LEGO is looking into releasing smaller sets geared towards adults at lower price points
-A quick discussion on the COVID-19 impacts

Next up was  Poul Schou. Poul is the Senior Vice President for product development in the LEGO Group and has been with the company for over 30 years.

Poul provided a quick history of his employment at LEGO to include traveling the world bringing LEGO to places that had never seen LEGO (to include a great story about bringing bricks to Papua New Guinea). He was involved in bringing LEGO to China in early 2000. He then worked in Denmark on marketing for a short period before switching to product development. He now has a team producing ~200- new products per year and he called them Product Group 1. They make products for younger kids (4+/Juniors), girls lines (Friends, Disney Princesses), Ninjago, City, Minifigures, and then IPs.

Then straight to fan Q&A:
-What’s the Asia strategy?
—China is LEGO’s fastest growing market and a discussion on the Monkey King line
-More on plant based pieces and the desire to expand their production
-What is the future of modular buildings with the new 18+ line?
—No plans now, but would like to have more modular type builds for families to build together
-Will LEGO continue to produce large numbers of new models?
—They are growing, but don’t want to go too fast/far
-What was his best LEGO moment?
—He mentioned the bringing bricks to children who had never seen them before and didn’t know what to do to them stories.
-What are some of the latest models?
—The Child, The Child Brickheadz, and a Ninjago model (I didn’t catch the name)
-Will shelf life decrease with more sets coming out?
—They would actually like to expand the shelf life
-Why re-release the two IDEAS sets (Ship in a Bottle and Saturn V)?
—It’s hard to predict product popularity and there was still demand even after the sets went to end of life
-What is the long term plan for LEGO apps?
—Need to determine how they will support them into the future
-A discussion on IPs
--Need to consider if kids like the IP, determine what LEGO can do with it, and if it fits within the brand
-A question about becoming a designer (been asked a lot so I won’t expand on the answer)
-A question on virtual designing (he wasn’t an expert there)
-How long does it take to design a set?
—Anywhere from 9 to 15 months to design a set
-How many people to design a set?
—It depends on the set, but there are around 400 designers and then 1,800 people who do marketing, packaging, and instruction development
-Why is LEGO successful?
—They’ve been able to make it a system and connect well with partners
-Any challenges with working form home?
—Designers have a hard time getting the pieces they need
-What are his favorite lines?
—Ninjago, Bionicle, and the new Nintendo line
-What are the long term plans for the Art line
—The Star Wars Sith set has done well. Expect more sets.
-Why are some sets phased out faster than others?
—They stick with what works. For example, Ninjago did better than Chima or Nexo Knights
-Could old sticker sheets be re-released?
—”That’s a good idea.”
-What is the design process?
—Talk to kids worldwide, get ideas, draw the ideas, show kids, build models, test with kids, do internal reviews
-How do you decide to do printed pieces versus stickers?
—Try to print more for younger kids and can get more authenticity with more stickers. They have more flexibility with fewer stickers.
-A discussion on LEGO animals
—Molded ones are meant for younger kids (Duplo) and brick built ones are for older kids and to expand creativity
-How many sets does each designer work on?
—Depends on the team and the product line. Ninjago team works on all sets, but they are the lead for one or two each year.
-Do they test sets with adults?
—Starting to test them with adults now. Small scale test. (how do I sign up for this?)

Next up was Stuart Harris who is the lead designer for the LEGO House®. He displayed some of the new fan designs they have on display in the Yellow Zone. I was too busy paying attention to the designs to take any screen shots. Sorry!

Okay… Next presentation was with Kim Yde Larsen, Nanna Mazanti Drejer Friborg and Thomas Folit. They are part of the BIX team or Building Instructions Experience team. Here are their minifig recreations from the slide show.

Their presentation was focused on the building instruction process starting with the history to where they are today. This isn’t an area we hear a lot about so it was interesting to hear their perspective. There is a lot to think about besides making sure you can make the set. Who will be making the set? Are they young/old, familiar with LEGO or not, is the set large or small? They discussed how they go through this all as a set is designed. Then we moved to the Q&A:

-When are they involved in the process?
—During the early stages of development all the way through pre-launch and then post launch if needed
-Please tell customer service if you find issues so they can fix them.
-What happens when errors are found in models?
—The goal is to find errors before the model is released which is why they get involved very early in the process.
-Would it be possible to add a number code for color blind people?
—This is definitely a possibility.
-They are aware of the concerns with the instruction issues with #10277-1 Crocodile Locomotive (dark pieces and a black background).
-Why is glossy papers used for instructions?
—It is readily available.
-What was the hardest set to make instructions for?
—It is not always complexity or a large adult set. Some of the sets designed for little kids can be harder because you have to make sure they can put it together
-The team has made changes post release of a set.
-How many people are on the instructions team?
—60

Here are the presenters for that section:

Kim

Nanna

Thomis

Next up Stephan Sander and Thomas Wesselski talked about Skaerbaek Fan Weekend and why it was cancelled.

Last presentation was Bjarke Schønwandt who is a quality director and works with Consumer-Perceived Quality at LEGO. I wasn’t sure what to expect on this one, but it was actually pretty interesting and I didn’t know LEGO did a lot of this stuff. I took a bunch of screen shots during this presentation so I’ll put a few up here. First, some info on Bjarke…

If I had to sum up what Bjarke does, the goal of him and his team is to make sure LEGO’s customers are happy. The product may meet LEGO’s standards, but if it doesn’t meet consumer standards, then it doesn’t work. Bjarke discussed how they measure consumer perceived quality. For example, they expect complaints to go up when sales increase and they expect more mistakes to happen with bigger sets.

He showed a chart with where LEGO sees its complaints. 86% come from missing pieces and 13% are faulty pieces. There rest in in a few smaller categories.

Missing pieces come from having the wrong element in the set, a customer losing the part, or missing minifigures. Bjarke noted that they see more Star Wars Storm Troopers and Ninjago figures going missing than City fire fighters. He made a quick quip that there is probably a reason for this.

Bjarke talked about systematic building mistakes. This is where people screw up the build and then have pieces “missing” later only to find out they followed the instructions wrong. I fully admit I have done this and so have you so just admit it.

Okay, I think we’re onto Q&A here…

-How often does LEGO make checks to parts during production?
—About once every 8 hours. It would be too hard to check every piece coming out of the factory.
-How often do they make changes to elements?
—Changes happen often. Some are for sustainability purposes.
-What can you say about the LEGO Technic Lamborghini issues (#42115-1)?
—I will do my best to summarize the discussion. It was pretty detailed and technical, but it made sense when he was done. There were a few issues.
—-One element was out of spec as the color pigments burned in the mold as it was in the mold too long. They haven’t fixed the issue, but they cheated by using a different machine to get the elements in spec.
—-The other issue is related to material suppliers. They have a specific tolerance that they need the colors to be in. Then the material team has a tolerance. The tolerances can be in different directions (for a green piece, more red, more blue, more yellow, etc.) and so the supplier and the materials team can both go in different directions while still meeting spec. However, LEGO found out this didn’t work on the Lamborghini with color differences between parts next to each other as Bjarke showed us.

Bjarke conveniently brought the Technic Lamborghini with him to the presentation

Bjarke explaining color tolerances

-What about the brown elements breaking?
—LEGO was aware of them too. They are working on fixing issues with suppliers and getting colors into the same quadrant of the color scale.
-A few examples of systematic building mistakes:

#1 - LEGO found a lot of people selecting the wrong piece at step #455 on the Technic Lamborghini (#42115-1). Then when they needed that piece at set #520, they didn’t have the correct piece. No one wants to disassemble at that point.

#2 - #75551-1: Minion has an error that many people make (including Bjarke) at step 21 and then find out they messed it up at step 79.

-What is perceived quality?
—If fans think it isn’t good, then it isn’t good.
-What other errors have you seen?
—The Ford Mustang (#10265-1) has a racing stripe that isn’t as straight as some fans want it to be.
-Why did you change the materials in the transparent bricks?
—To have more sustainable parts
-How do you get your white elements to stay white?
—Keep them out of the sun (he wasn’t sure what else to do).
-Why do some stickers crack after a while and some done?
—They don’t know.
-What are the hardest parts to make?
—The dark earth colors
-Why not just use one supplier so the colors are the same?
—Don’t want to use one supplier and then run supply chain risks if that supplier is disrupted
-How long did the Wall-E (#21303-1) fix take?
—1-2 weeks to rebuild, 1-2 weeks for instructions, production time, and then time to get it into the supply chain. It didn’t make sense to shut off a production run to do this fix and then re-start what was turned off.
-Please report issues to customer service. (I’m seeing a trend)
-Why don’t the instruction colors match the bricks you are using?
—They need to adjust the colors to make sure they can get the 3-D effect on the instructions.
-What are your biggest issues right now?
—#42115-1: Lamborghini Sian and parts sustainability

Whew! That was a lot. Some great information and very interesting. Definitely different from having designers talk which is what I’m used to seeing. I hope LEGO continues events like these and I hope my summary of the event was worthwhile for you to read if you couldn’t make the event.

Bye from Billund!

Set Review - #31109-1: Pirate Ship - Creator 3-in-1

The LEGO® Pirate theme is not back, but they found a way to bring back Pirates in some other themes. We had the LEGO® Ideas #21322-1: Pirates of Barracuda Bay and now this set #31109-1: Pirate Ship which is part of the Creator 3-in-1 theme. The set was released in the US on 24 August 2020. It contains 1,264 pieces and retails for $99.99 which works out to $0.079 per piece. I picked it up locally here for ~$74 as the set has been out in Germany since June 2020 so the stores are running discounts 3 months later already.

Is the set worth it?

The front of the box shows the pirate ship with the Pirate’s Inn and Skull Island designs smaller and to the side. The back shows a few of the play features and shows the sets at different angles.

The set contains 11 parts bags. The bags are numbered one through nine. There is one of each with two numbered six. There is also a non-numbered bag with some larger parts. There are no stickers. WOOHOO!!! There are two instruction booklets wrapped in plastic. The larger booklet has the instructions for the Pirate Ship and Pirate’s Inn. The second booklet has the Skull Island instructions.

I started with the pirate ship. The ship instructions follow the numbered bags while the other two just have the parts, but not by bags.

Bag one builds some of the accessories to the ship. To start, there is a shark which is brick built. I like it much better than the 2-piece molded shark from the pirates theme. The tail moves along with the side fins and mouth. Plus you can adjust pieces to create movement.

There’s a barrel to store some weapons, a treasure chest with some gems (I miss the old gold coins), and then a brick build bird.

The set contains four minifigures. There’s a pirate captain with two pirates and then a skeleton. It’s a pretty decent spread and they are all in line with the theme.

There are 2 cannons in the set along with some 1x1 round bricks to use as ammo.

The second bag starts to build the hull of the ship. Unlike the Pirates of Barracuda Bay, this is a brick built hull versus a large BURP type piece as the base. I like the brick built version better I think. It doesn’t look as realistic, but it uses existing pieces versus the giant piece. It’s structurally sound too although not as big as the Pirates of Barracuda Bay ship.

Bag three is the stern (back) of the ship. Each half of the build is identical except for one half uses red while the other uses green. I think this was done just to help make the build process easier.

The bow (front) is included in bag four. it attaches on as you can see in the picture. Like the stern, it has a similar build process for each half, but one is green and the other is red.

The fifth bag starts to add details to the ship as a whole. There are covers to the four cannon windows and some structure for the masts.

The sixth bag builds the cabin at the stern of the ship for the captain. It is not as ornate as the Pirates of Barracuda Bay ship, but still has a bunch of detail in it. I like how the designers created angles in the build instead of making it square. The red, black, and gold are a great color scheme.

Bag seven finishes up the stern of the ship and the compartment for the Captain.

The eighth bag puts more on the top to include the steering wheel at the stern and more detail on the front.

To wrap things up, you add the masts and rigging. The masts are all brick built. They look okay, but I think I prefer the cloth ones. I do like the brick built skull and crossbones though. That’s a nice touch. The rigging is all rubberized pieces versus strings. It looks a little thick, but it works.

The front of the ship has a brick built figure. I think I like the minifigure body for the front better, but I get the idea of what they built.

A few more shots of the completed set. The front view shows the brick built skull and cross bones well. The other shot is a little closer on the front. There are four ports for cannons, but it only comes with two. There is no covering so you have easy access to get to that part of the ship.

And for fun, here’s the ship next to the Pirates of Barracuda Bay ship. Definitely much smaller, but pretty similar in terms of rigging and masts. The brick skull and crossbones helps it to stand out, but it is missing the skull and crossbones flags.

Overall, it’s a great set. A fun build with a lot of potential for parts in future builds/MOCs. The price is decent considering the price per piece and I found it at a discount so even better. Definitely get this set if you’re looking to expand your brick pirates.

I’ll show the alternate builds in another post.

Happy building!

Motorizing the Crocodile Locomotive

The latest installment of LEGO® Train sets is #10277-1: Crocodile Locomotive. I reviewed the set last month and you can see my review here. As mentioned in the review, the set is just the locomotive and a display track. It does not include the motor so if you want to motorize the locomotive, you need to do something separate. You can attempt to motorize it on your own using a Power Functions or 9V motor on a separate car. Or you can use the new Powered UP set up that is now available. I decided to give Powered UP a try so here are my thoughts…

The first step is to remove the crew compartment from the cab area. This section comes out very easily without having to disconnect any pieces.

The motor is the Technic Large Motor (#88013) and it is currently retailing for $39.99 in the US. It’s a little pricey in my opinion, but the good part is you can use the motor in other models or sets.

The motor fits in very easily without having to snap it in anywhere. The only thing you have to do is remove the small Technic pin and gear. You place the motor in and then slide the pin in place. It was a pretty easy process.

The next piece to install is the Powered UP Hub (#88009). This part retails for $49.99 in the US. While it is a bit pricey in my opinion, you do save by not having to buy a controller or an IR sensor. The downside is you need to have a device which can handle the Powered UP app. I thankfully have a device which supports the app so that was good. The hub fits in easily and connects to the motor without any challenges. The only small concern I ran into was making sure all of the cable from the motor would fit in with the top of the cab installed. Not a major problem, but you just need to make sure the cables are arranged appropriately.

While assembly was easy, operations were not as easy for me. I installed some batteries and the app and expected to try it out, but it didn’t work right away. The instructions said to make sure the batteries were all the same. I did that, but it still didn’t work. I guess my batteries were too old as I bought some new ones and it worked after I installed them.

The app is easy to use with a control for the speed, a brake, and then some sounds (train whistle, conductor’s whistle, and then a bell). It also has sounds effects for starting, stopping, and braking. The downside is you can’t operate the train unless you have the app on. So don’t have any plans to send a text or check something out online.

Others noted issues with train operation. I didn’t install the rubber bands and I had no issues on the oval track I built. Granted I didn’t have it pulling any cars so that might make up the difference.

Overall, it’s a slightly expensive proposition. Given the expansion of sets using Powered UP, I’m hoping I can use the hub and motor elsewhere. One other concern is that LEGO® decides to stop supporting the app and it can’t be used anymore. We’ll have to see how the system evolves as it grows.

Or more importantly… we can hope LEGO® puts out more train sets for us to put the motor and hub in…

Happy building!

Set Review - #75979-1: Hedwig - Harry Potter

The next round of Harry Potter sets are out in the US. They were fully available starting on 1 September 2020. In Germany they have been out since May 2020. The price in the US is $39.99 which includes 630 pieces. The set works out to be $0.063 per piece. Thankfully, the set is already being sold at a discount here. I paid $34.01 here after a discount and the exchange rate. The dollar has been dropping against the Euro so buying sets in Europe at places like Smyths hasn’t been as beneficial for me.

Here’s the box. It’s the European version as you can see from the front where it doesn’t give the number of pieces or that the set is a “building toy.” The back of the box shows that the head can move, the wings flap, and give the dimensions of the set. It’s a 14 inch wingspan, 8 inches long, and 7 inches tall.

The set contains four numbered parts bags, an instruction booklet, and then a small sticker sheet. Thankfully there are only three stickers and they aren’t super small.

The first bag builds the base of the set and starts the stand. The base has translucent red and yellow 1x2 bricks around the bottom. It also has a sticker with the name “Hedwig” on it. You can see the start of the Technic pieces with the crank to move the wings later on.

Included in this bag is a Harry Potter minifigure and then a Hedwig minifigure to go with it. Harry has a wand and is the younger version with the short legs. He has blue hands which I assume mean he is wearing gloves. Hedwig has a small stand which is a gold telescope piece.

The second bag starts to build Hedwig’s body and you can see some of the Technic elements included.

The third bag starts to expand on Hedwig and builds a letter for Hedwig to carry. The letter has three stickers. Two create the envelope and once is the red seal for the envelope.

The fourth bag finishes up the set. The first picture shows the left wing and left part of the tail finished up. The next picture is the final figure from the back. You can see the wings spread out and the tail feathers split out.

Here are a few other views of the final model. Hedwig’s eyes are printed to come up with the color which I think works good. The head rotates although it doesn’t move with the crank. I had no issues with the Technic mechanism to make the wings move. They don’t move smoothly, but it’s not bad considering it is mechanical versus an actual owl.

Without having a picture of Hedwig from the movie to compare it to, this Hedwig seems to be in line with the design from the movie with bits of black mixed in with the white.

I’m a fan of this set. It seems to be in line with some of the larger model Star Wars sets like R2-D2 or BB-8. In addition the movement adds to the set besides just building Hedwig in a single pose.

The set isn’t priced too high and I was glad to get it on sale. Not bad considering it is a licensed set.

Overall, I’m glad I picked this one up. I hope LEGO continues on this trend of different scaled models and I look forward to digging into the Harry Potter theme this year.

Happy building!

Set Review - #21322-1: Pirates of Barracuda Bay - Build #15 - Ideas

I reviewed the first part of the build up through bag 14 here. It included everything to build the pirate ship turned living quarters set up which was very impressive. There is one more bag that comes with the set (#15) and it helps you convert the set into a ship.

The instructions start with removing a lot of pieces. You take off the plant life and some of the boarded up parts of the ship. Then you fix up some of the windows. Next it is the sails which look great when unfurled! Then you can add some containers for supplies and done. It didn’t take too long to make the conversion.

I put the minifigures on the ship and added the cannons for fun even though they’d probably be below decks. For the pictures I included the row boat and the shark.

Looking down from the top, it’s a pretty large ship.

Here’s a side shot. The ship is made up of the three sections, but it is pretty sturdy to pick up and move. Between the Technic pins and ball and joint clips, you also add a few plates/tiles so help secure it. Having some of the strings are a nice touch to make it look like you have some rigging for the masts. I was glad the string has studs on either side and we didn’t have to tie knots or anything.

One last picture from a forward angle. The downside is the sails only have the color on one side. It looks great from the angle pictured, but from the other side it doesn’t look as good. Not a huge issue, but a bit of a nit pick.

Now I just need to decide how I want to keep the set. Should I have it as a ship or as the living quarters on the island? What are you going to do?

For now I’ll leave it as a ship for a reason you’ll see soon…

Happy building! ARRRR!!!

Set Review - #21322-1: Pirates of Barracuda Bay - Ideas

It’s the 30th LEGO® Ideas set and a throwback to the classic Pirates theme from the 1980s and 1990s… The Pirates of Barracuda Bay was released in the US on 1 April 2020. It contains 2,545 pieces, contains 10 minifigures and retails for $199.99. At that rate, it is $0.079/piece.

I recall playing with Pirate themed sets as a kid and this set played right into that nostalgia with similar minifigures, the skull and cross bone flags, and even the parrot. The front of the box is even designed to look similar to the original Pirates sets. The fan designer for this set is Pablo Sanchez of Spain and he had that same idea for this set where it would be a chance to highlight the past theme that he played with as a kid.

Before I move on with the review, you can see the LEGO® Designer video here.

Onto the review… as mentioned the front of the box has the Ideas branding, but also looks like the historical Pirates sets from back in the day. Awesome! The back shows some of the details of the set, gives dimensions, and shows that you can assemble the set into a ship.

The sides of the box… the US version gives the French and Spanish names and includes a grouping of the minifigures.

I counted 25 numbered bags labeled one through 15. There are three unnumbered bags and then two large axles not in bags. There is a 459 page instruction book. It includes info on the story behind the set, details on the fan designer, details on the LEGO® designers, details on the minifigure crew, and then the instructions.

The sails are included in a separate package, but mine was shoved in the bag. This didn’t seem to be a problem as you roll up some of the sails for the initial build anyways. Also, and I haven’t tried it yet, I read on another blog that you can use an iron to flatten out the sails when you want to attach them to the ship part of the build. I’d recommend placing a towel or another cloth over the top first before ironing just to be safe. I wouldn’t go super hot either. Has anyone tried this yet?

I’m not going to go into great detail about each bag, but I tried to put pictures of most of the steps in so you could see how it comes together.

Bag one builds part of the island and includes a small boat and Port (one of the Broadside Brothers). I like the new palm tree design which includes minifigure heads as coconuts. There are also a few brick formations which appear to be ancient native sculptures from whatever island the crew has landed on.

Bag two adds some decking and starts to assemble the first part of the ship (middle section). The ship comes with some large BURP type pieces (Google it if you don’t know BURP). While some may prefer to build out a ship, I’m okay with the larger pieces as it makes the ship structurally more sound in my opinion.

Next up is the interior of the center part of the ship. It includes a few beds, an eating area with some extra cups and bottles, and some candles for light. This bag comes with the first female member of the crew named Robin Loot. Back in the day they were full up male crews so I like the addition of female pirates.

Bag four finishes up the interior and mostly covers the top. It also adds some of the plants that have grown since the crew has been stuck there. The cannon port holes are now windows. It works for the island build, but it would have been cool to have enough cannons for the ship when you re-build it later.

Of note, there is a printed flag piece that says “Jose’s Inn” in reference to the fan builder’s father who introduced him to the Pirate theme back in the day.

The fifth bag finishes up the center section of the ship. It adds the masts and rigging for the crew to climb up. I am a big fan of the large sized pirate flag. This section of the ship attaches to the island section and the set starts to come together. This bag also includes Jack “Dark Shark” Doubloons who is a small minifig (short legs) member of the crew.

No complaints so far and it has been a great set to put together. I sadly didn’t have a lot of time to sit and crank it out so this was built over a few days. I learned that this is not a set to pick up and put down multiple times. Easy to put back together though.

The sixth bag builds the other part of the island with another palm tree, some decking, another crab, and a pig eating some 1x1 round plates. It also includes a shark which seems to match the design of the original sharks from back in the day.

The seventh bag finishes up the island portion. It adds some food storage with a baguette, some bananas, and a pineapple. It also includes some tools and extra oars. This bag includes a skeleton wearing the original imperial army hat who is hidden under one of the decks. The minifigure here is Tattooga according to the instructions.

On the building technique front, There is a wall built with a window and the builder angled the window so it is not square with the bricks. It is slightly angled and the spaces are filled in well with bricks. You can see the window in the second picture below.

Bags eight and nine build the bow of the ship (front). It starts with a BURP piece and that is built up with some additional pieces to make it more ornate. The yellow railings with the black really make it stand out. An anchor is attached here and you can move it up or down which is a fun detail.

The tenth bag finishes the bow with another mast, a parrot, the minifigure "Quartermaster Riggins, and a partial minifigure as the front figurehead. You get a smaller pirate flag on the top of the mast.

You also finally use up the last of the long Technic axles. This was a good thing as I was done digging through the box to try and find them.

Bags 11 and 12 build the stern of the ship. Bag 11 includes the pirate Starboard.

Bags 13 and 14 wrap up the stern build. This includes Captain Redbeard’s office which is rather ornate and includes a bust statue, a treasure chest, a fancy desk chair and desk, and a map. There is a fold down bed which doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of the office, but we’ll take it. There is another large pirate flag on the back of the ship which is great. Bag 14 comes with the pirate Lady Anchor. It adds a top to Capt Redbeard’s office and a door. The steering column is on top, but the wheel itself is dangled off the ship on the back. There’s also another cannon on this section of the ship.

And then you put the stern on the second island section and connect the two sections and it looks awesome! I will do a separate post for bag 15 and the ship, but up to #14, this was an incredible build. I enjoyed the techniques, piece usage, the creativity in some of the things hidden in the set, and the story behind the set. The set has a lot of pieces and the price per piece isn’t bad, but $200 is a bunch to spend on a set. I used VIP points I’d been saving up so it was easier to swallow the cost, but something to consider going forward (especially if you have your eyes on some of the other bigger sets recently released).

This set has a lot of potential for expansion, re-build, and adding to larger pirate scenes. Well done LEGO and thank you!

You can see my post on build 15 and the island hideout turned ship here. .