Set Review - #60203-1: Ski Resort - CITY

#60203-1: Ski Resort was release on 1 September 2019 in the US. It retails for $89.99 and contains 806 pieces and 11 minifigures. This puts it at $0.112/piece. As I write this, it shows as sold out in the US on LEGO Shop @ Home so I may be too late to the game. It still shows available here in Germany. I purchased it in Germany for around $54 which was a much better price, Why are the CITY sets so expensive all of a sudden?

While not an advertised sub-theme, the CITY theme had #60222-1: Snow Groomer back in 2019 as well. We’ll see if they add more in the future or not.

Onto the review…

The box is pretty standard with the full set displayed on the front and some of the play features on the back.

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The set contents are eight parts bags, the instructions and stickers in a sealed package, and then an 8x16 white plate. Bag one has a piece separator.

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The first bag builds a snow mobile, a trailer to carry a stretcher, a snowman, a dog, and 4 minifigures. The snowmobile is pretty simple, but it gets the point across and has some playability. The snowman looks pretty similar to ones in the past with a top had, red scarf, and a broom as arms. The dog is the standard CITY dog figure.

The minifigures are pretty good. There are two snow patrol figures with a male and a female and then two kids with the shorter legs.

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The second bag is a helicopter design. I seem to have accumulated a bunch of these through the years and they all look very similar. In terms of realism, LEGO CITY helicopters lack some realism, but they must be popular as LEGO keeps repeating them. There is one minifigure who is the pilot.

One difference on this chopper is the tail piece. Instead of building out a tail with bricks you get a BURP. I’m not sure if this is a new thing or not. It looks better, but takes away from the build experience as you just attach one piece.

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Next up is bag three with this SUV and snow plow. It’s a pretty tough looking vehicle with space for gear in the back, some skis, poles, and the ability to store some equipment. The plow in front is pretty large too. The bag comes with a female minifigure in a ski patrol uniform. I like this vehicle and am pretty impressed with how it looks despite being a CITY set.

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Bag four gives us a small snack stand with hot chocolate and goodies to eat. You also get some trick gear to include a small rail to ski/board on and then a mini-half pipe. The half pipe is rather small. You could get maybe one trick off of it if you did it right. I get the point though and that it is meant as a play feature. You get two more female adult minifigures to eat at/work at the snack stand.

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Instead of going by bag, I decided to go by the remaining parts of the build. Next up is a winter gear shop. It’s a small store front with snow shoes, snow boards, skis, a hat, a helmet, and poles for sale. The store is only the front part, but I like the design. The front is designed to make it look like it is built as a log cabin with printed tiles to look like the ends of logs. The stickers help with detail to include the store logo and a board out front listing the sales. I like the snow board over the door as a decoration. This one comes with a store worker and then a snow boarder and skier all decked out with helmets and gear.

The inside of the store has some inventory, a check out stand, and the display areas. Not bad considering the size and easily expandable as desired.

The top of the store has a large plate with clips. It comes with a large sticker and is supposed to be a screen you can use to watch your favorite minifigures ski. I chose not to attach the sticker as I thought it was too big and looked kind of silly there. I’ll remove the large gray part before making it a part of a city scene some day.

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The last part of the build is a small chalet type building used as ski patrol HQ. Like the store, it is only the front half, but I like the design of the front and think it would look fun as a full up building if you wanted to expand it. The inside has a medical area, an office area, and a work area on the upper level.

I also like the stickers on the side with the route map for skiers and then the name of the ski area “Mount Clutchmore.” Very clever.

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That wraps it up. This is a fun set in a great sub-theme of CITY, but is way too expensive at its original price. I’m glad I found it at the discount I did and recommend you look for the same. Since the set is retiring, you might be able to find a good discount out there. If you find it at a discount, this is a great start a future MOC for a ski area/resort. Lots of fun details and some good play features.

What are your thoughts on this one?

Happy building!

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Set Review - #60253-1: Ice Cream Truck - CITY

I’m not sure when the first one was, but LEGO CITY has done a few food trucks over the years. The last one I can recall is #60150-1: Pizza Van. That was from 2016. #60253-1: Ice Cream truck was released on 2 January 2020 in the US. It retails for $19.99 and contains 200 pieces. That works out to roughly $0.10/piece. I purchased mine locally for just under $17.

The box is your standard set up with the full set on the front and some play features on the back. This set is meant for the 5+ age range and it shows in the build. Onto the review…

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This set contains two parts bags (both numbered), two instruction booklets, a sticker sheet, and two 2x16 light gray plates.

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Bag 1 starts building the truck. The back comes with a few cones and some ice cream. The back side of the truck has hinges so it can open up for playability. Not much else here… it’s a pretty simple build.

There are two minifigures. A female figure who is the truck operator and then a male minifigure who is on a skateboard. The skateboarder comes with a purple skateboard, a blue helmet which can be switched for a black hair piece. It also comes with a black hair piece.

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Bag 2 wraps up the build. The other side of the back has a sliding window for the minifigure to serve out of. It also adds the cab and all of the decorations. There are a lot of stickers to include the menu, some signage, and the face on the ice cream bar on top. I failed on the sticker for the ice cream bar as I centered it. If you zoom in, you can see there is a gap between the brown part and the brown drip on the sticker. I should have placed it in line with the brown. Not a big deal, but lesson learned I guess.

Overall, not a bad set. It fits in well with a city scene and adds some different vehicles besides the usual fire and police activity in LEGO CITY. The build is very simple, but to be expected for the 5+ range. My little guy tried to play with it, but the ice bar on top fell off easily and the front cab does not remain on well. Not a big deal for an AFOL thought. I’m glad I found it on sale and recommend waiting for a sale if you’re looking to pick this set up.

Happy building!

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Set Review - #60262-1: Passenger Airplane - CITY

The LEGO CITY theme is back with another passenger airplane. This one is #60262-1: Passenger Airplane. It was released on 24 August 2020 in the US for $99.99. It contains 669 pieces and has 9 minifigures. This works out to $0.149 per piece. I picked it up locally on sale for about $72.

The last CITY passenger plane came out back in 2016. You can see my review of #60104-1: Passenger Terminal here. It had 694 pieces and 6 minifigures, but retailed for the same price. Like this set, it contained an aircraft, a small terminal, some ground crew gear, and the minifigures.

Onto the review…

The front shows the full set with the minifigures in action. It also shows the length of the aircraft (54 cm/21.2 in). The back gives the play features like usual.

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The set contains 9 parts bags. 7 of the bags are numbered and 2 are un-numbered with large pieces inside. It also includes the large wing which has been pretty standard in CITY sets. The instructions and stickers are in a plastic wrapping. There are 4 instructions booklets and a small sticker sheet.

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Bag 1 builds a 4-stud wide red sports car. It comes with the minifigure Poppy Starr. This minifigure is from a LEGO CITY TV show that I didn’t even know existed. I’m not sure if this set or car is seen on the show or not. Anyone?

The build of the car isn’t anything special, but it’s designed to fit in the aircraft as you’ll see later.

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The second bag builds an airport vehicle. This vehicle can tow various equipment to include stairs (built later) and the lift to transport the car to the aircraft. While there’s nothing special about the vehicle, it seems to be in line with the small vehicles you see driving around any airport in the world towing various pieces of equipment or baggage trains. You can easily create your own additional pieces of equipment to tow around and attach to this vehicle.

The trailer isn’t too hard to build, but I question if a 6 year old could do it as the box states. Maybe with some help they could? The design does hold the car built in the last bag and can “lift” it up. There is no mechanism to move the car into the aircraft, but I guess that’s something you can build on your own as most 6 year olds aren’t concerned about that.

Two minifigures in this bag. One is an airport worker with a hard hat and ear protection. The other is a passenger with a Hawaiian shirt on. He has a large piece of luggage which is different from the standard LEGO briefcase I’m used to seeing. This one looks like it could be a roller bag or something… just no wheels.

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Bag 3 builds the small terminal. I’m not sure why it is included in this set. I understand that the set is designed for playability, but to me I’d rather see the terminal as a separate set. The aircraft set could be focused on the plane itself and some ground crew. Then the terminal set could be a bit larger with some more detail. This terminal has a small baggage claim, a vending machine, and a check in desk all crammed onto an 8x16 plate.

The facility uses roller coaster track as the roof. I like the concept, but it seems like a cop out to not putting any effort into making a curved roof. Easy for a 6 year old to install I guess. There’s also a small control tower with a radar dish attached. Like many CITY sets, the minifigure has to jump or climb to the top, but it gets the job done I guess.

Four minifigures in this bag. A female with a black bag sporting a guitar shirt, a male wearing a carrier to carry a baby and holding a bottle, the baby, and then an airport worker with a coffee mug. I love the baby carrier concept. Bonus points to the designer who came up with that piece!

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Bag 4 starts to build the fuselage. Not a lot of details yet and like past CITY passenger planes, it uses a lot of BURPs to achieve the shape. One area I appreciate is the cockpit. Besides the printed slopes for controls, they added in a steering column which moves. It is just a bucket handle on a droid arm, but still a nice detail.

This bag has two minifigures to include a female pilot with some cool shades and a male flight attendant.

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Bag 5 adds the standard wing piece along with some seating and details on the wings to include the winglets on the tips of the wings and the farings to hold the engines on. I’ve seen a few complaints about not enough seating, but I think the inside is large enough to make changes to as required. Add in your own additional seats if you don’t like how it looks. It is just LEGO after all.

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The sixth bag adds in the windows in the cabin, a small bathroom on board, and starts to build the cargo compartment. The horizontal elevator on the tail is also added.

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Bag seven finishes the build with BURP pieces to complete the top of the cabin, a BURP tail with a printed logo, a cargo door that rotates up and has a small latch to hold it down, and the engines. The engines are not a single piece, but instead are multiple cylinders attached together with around piece with a sticker on it for the fan blades. I’m indifferent on the design. Not sure if it is better or worse than previous jet engines. Besides the aircraft, you get the steps to get on and off the aircraft. No hand rails though so watch out.

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Nine minifigures in total which isn’t’ bad. It’s a good selection with some good accessories. I would have liked a co-pilot for the second seat in the cockpit, but we’ll take what we get.

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Here’s the full set. If you ask me, it’s in line with all previous CITY passenger plane sets. Lots of playability, some fun details, and good minifigures. While the piece count went down slightly, the price remained the same. If you can find it on sale like I did, even better. This is probably not a great set for adults unless you want pieces or you have a CITY airport (or like me, plans to build one). A good set for kiddos. My little guy absconded the vehicles and both of my kiddos enjoyed flying the plane around.

What are your thoughts on this one? If you’re an adult and hate the CITY plane designs, I recommend you check out the YouTube channel Big Planes. The builder here makes some incredible MOCs of actual aircraft and doesn’t use BURPs.

Happy building!

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Do We Really Need this Ad Campaign?

LEGO® kicked off the “Rebuild the World” campaign in 2019 and has continued it into 2020. They recently put out a new commercial. If you’re reading this post, odds are you don’t need the commercial to be enticed to buy LEGO® products. Does the rest of the public need it?

My personal opinion… Don’t make the commercial and knock some price off a few sets with the money you saved from not making the commercial. That’s just me though. What do you think? Is this an effective ad campaign? Does this really get people to buy more LEGO® products.

Here’s the most recent ad from November 2020 if you haven’t seen it…

Set Review - #75968-1: 4 Privet Drive - Harry Potter

Another of the 2020 Harry Potter series… #75968-1: 4 Privet Drive. Also released on 24 August 2020 in the US, this one cost $69.99 in the US. With 797 pieces, it works out to $0.088/piece. This set captures a scene from the second book/movie titled “The Chamber of Secrets.” It’s where Ron rescues Harry from the room he was locked into so he can go to Hogwarts. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, look it up on line.

The set has the standard box with the front showing the full set while the back shows the other side of the set along with some play features.

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This set contains 5 parts bags, a sticker sheet, an 8x16 plate, and the instructions. Bag one includes a piece separator.

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Bag one starts off on the bottom floor with some furniture, the door (with stickers to show the letters coming in, but they can’t fit due to the boards nailed on), stairs up to the next level, and then the street sign with an owl. Proportions wise, I think they fit a decent amount of details in considering the size of the set and it seems to match the movie scene well. The minifigure for Mr. Dursley is in bag one.

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The second bag finishes up the first floor with some details like the fireplace, carpeting, a plant on an end table, and the railing leading to the second level. Additionally it finishes the small room under the stairs where Harry was locked away in the first book. This section has a small door on the one side and then uses hinge pieces to open up to the small space.

The minifigure for Dudley is in this bag.

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The third bag starts the second floor where Harry’s room is located. It adds the walls, a bed and some details to include a copy of the Daily Prophet newspaper, a picture of Harry’s parents, and some clippings from Hogwarts. It also adds the window that Mr. Dursley bars up. This window is placed in using friction and there are no studs in contact with the frame so it can easily be pulled out.

On the first floor by the fireplace, a Technic gear is added. This is connected to a small mechanism that allows you to slip 1x2 tile letters down a slot. They can then come out the fireplace similar to the movie how Harry wanted his letter welcoming him to school. The gear allows you to open or close the slot as desired.

The front of the home has some plant life for decoration. I like how they did the roof with the slope bricks offset by one tile each. It’s a pretty simple way to add in some details without making it an over technical roof build.

The Mrs. Dursley minifigure comes in this bag.

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The fourth bag finishes the roof. It uses the same technique as the small porch area on the first level. I’m a fan of how it looks. If you don’t like it or the set, at least you get a bunch of the black slope pieces to use in MOCs as desired.

This bag contains Dobby and the cake/pudding Dobby levitates over the Dursley’s guest. It also contains Hedwig which is the same figure from #75969-1: Hogwart’s Astronomy Tower and #75979-1: Hedwig.

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The fifth build completes the set with the Harry minifigure and the Weasley’s flying car. It’s a different build from the original one we saw in #75953-1: Hogwart’s Whomping Willow. The two minifigures don’t fit in super well, but the truck has space for Harry’s trunk.

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Lastly, there’s the final view in the side room of the house. Not much has changed there other than the light on the outside.

Final look at all the minifigures… There are 6 in total plus a Hedwig. Not a bad mix if you are a Harry Potter minifigure collector.

Overall, it’s a good build with some good play features and it captures the movie scenes well. There are some decent pieces you can use in MOCs if you don’t want to keep the set together. The small size of the set with the ~$70 price tag make it seem a bit overpriced. I picked it up on sale here for ~$52 and I recently saw it on sale on Amazon.com for around $56 so better. Unless you’re a big Harry Potter fan or collect the minifigures, I would steer clear of this one. Or maybe if you can find a better sale. This one seems to me like a $39 set.

What are your thoughts on this one?

Happy building!

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Set Review - #75967-1: Forbidden Forest Umbridge’s Encounter - Harry Potter

Continuing my review of the 2020 Harry Potter sets, this one is #75967-1: Forbidden Forest Umbridge’s Encounter. It depicts a scene from the fifth book/movie titled “Order of the Phoenix.” The set contains 253 pieces and retails for $29.99 in the US. This works out to $0.119 per piece. The US release date was 24 August 2020. The set was released on 3 May in Germany and I found it on sale for around $22.

Nothing special about the packaging. Full set on the front with play features on the back.

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The contents are 2 parts bags, 2 instruction booklets, and a small sticker sheet.

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One highlight for me in this set was seeing the sand green sausage. I thought it was new, but apparently this is the third set it has been in. I’ve only seen this in red so nice to see another color.

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Bag 1 builds a small tree structure that opens up to include some of Grawp’s items. It also includes a Harry Potter minifigure and 2 Centaurs. For minifigure collectors, these are probably a big draw in this set.

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Bag 2 includes Hermione and Professor Dolores Umbridge. The build is Grawp who is a relative of Hagrid (I forget the exact tie). In seeing the box, I thought Grawp would be a lot of BURP pieces, but it uses a lot of SNOT techniques and not as many molded pieces. The hands are molded and the face, but everything else is regular pieces.

Overall, not too much special to this set besides the Centaur figures. Probably a must buy for Harry Potter collectors. I recommend finding options to get it on sale as it’s a bit much at over 10 cents per piece.

Happy building!

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Visiting an Open LEGO® Display in 2020 - Gartenschau - Kaiserslautern, Germany

The Gartenschau in Kaiserslautern was closed in early 2020 as COVID-19 first hit Germany. Thankfully, it re-opened and I finally was able to get there to see the updated LEGO® display. So we donned our masks and went in…

Before moving on, here are the links to the previous visits I’ve had to the Gartenschau:
2018, 2019 (part 1), 2019 (part 2)

Here’s the welcome sign. It says die große LEGO® ausstellung (the large LEGO® display) and it is hosted by Lauter Steine E.V. If you live locally, I believe it closes on 31 October and then re-opens in April.

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The start of the display had a few cases with some MOCs. Some of the minifigures had masks added to them.

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Next up, a large MOC of a 2x4 red brick. Then there was another case with a few MOCs and some sets.

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In that case (shown above) were a few MOCs designed by Daniel Krentz. He was the designer of the #375 LEGO Classic Yellow Castle (shown below). Daniel passed away in 2016. There were a few MOCs from Daniel in the case purchased during a Fairy Bricks fundraiser.

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The first picture looks like a Native American totem pole only out of bricks and in various build styles.

Next is a case with some train MOCs and some Formula 1 race car MOCs. The bottom has the VW Bus set with some VW MOC. Further down is a space shuttle.

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There was no sign next to this one, but it looks like a recreation of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. It’s a very impressive build!

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I apologize for the reflection and lighting. The displays have plexiglass in front of them (smart move) and the lighting is not meant for cameras.

This MOC has been there previously and is a western US scene from the 1800s or so. I like the use of the wallpaper background incorporated with the brick background.

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I wasn’t as big of a Castle fan as a kid so I’m not sure if these next pictures are sets or MOCs, but they are in the Castle theme.

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I didn’t see a sign next to this one, but perhaps this is a MOC of an actual castle in Germany? The German flag is on top of the main structure so maybe.

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This MOC was there last year and it’s a build of the electricity plant of the city of Kaiserslautern in 1894. I like the hot air balloon to mix things up a bit from the industrial look. I’m also a fan of the tall smoke stack they build. I’m curious if it is brick only or if there is a supporting structure inside.

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Here’s an impressive build of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany. If you look closely, you an see some fun details like Santa Claus.

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Here is another Berlin landmark. The Reichstag where the German Parliament meets. I saw this build at a show last year. The new addition this time is the park nearby with the LEGO logo in brick flower form.

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Here is a MOC of the Fruchthalle in Kaiserslautern. It’s a music venue for performances. The MOC is built from ~80,000 bricks. It took about a year to build and was built in 2016. I’ll let you read the description in German in the picture below.

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I’m not sure if this MOC is new or just hasn’t been displayed in the past few years, but I found it to be the most impressive one there this year. The Frankfurt train station. First picture is the sign on the display letting you know what it is.

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Here’s the full display… or at least most of it. I like how they added in the mirrors so you could see the trains. I didn’t get any close ups of the trains, but they had a mix of sets (the Disney train) and a few MOC trains.

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A few more pictures of the station. I think the main building is impressive. The curve they were able to recreate in brick is really impressive.

Added into the scene were many of the modular buildings. I didn’t see the Cafe Corner or Green Grocer, but they have the City Hall and a few of the less recent buildings.

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Nearby were a few buildings that are re-creations of actual buildings in the Frankfurt area.

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I don’t know if this is of an actual train station or not. If you zoom in on the sign, Reiichelsheim (Odenwald) is an actual place. Not sure if they just wanted the sign on the station or not.

The large recreation of the brick fence behind the train station is cool!

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I saw these MOCs of Venetian buildings last fall. You can see a few more pictures of them here.

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A Ninjago scene.

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The city scene has remained a constant over the past few years, but every year they make some changes and throw in some new things. Like last year, they have a fair, a rural area with farms, a European style city center walking area, and a more downtown/urban area. This year included more lights to include LEDs in the modular buildings, a subway type train route (the trains weren’t running while we were there), and a new train station to name a few.

I’m trying out a new (to me) web feature. You should be able to click an arrow or swipe on your phone/tablet to advance through the city scene pictures. Let me know in the comments if it doesn’t work.

I believe this scene was there in previous years. It’s a European style town/city next to hill/mountain. I’m going to guess Bavaria… maybe? The detailing on this one is very impressive and I like the colors too.

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An imperial ship from the Pirate’s theme and then some recreations from JK Brickworks.

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Some brick built birds which appear to be pretty close to scale. They are designed by Felix Jaensch. You can see his work here on Flickr.

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The Dom…

Here’s the Cologne Cathedral again. It’s been there every year that I have visited and I still find it to be an incredible MOC.

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Here’s the room dedicated to the space themes (should be able to click through the pictures). There are Ice Planet, M-Tron, Futuron, a large MOC of a ship, and some MOCs in the various space theme styles. This room is awesome! It makes me want to build some MOCs to add to them. I was a huge M-Tron fan and still have my sets.

Here are some architecture themed sets and MOCs. The Statue of Liberty (#21042-1), a MOC of Christ the Redeemer (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), a version of the Taj Mahal, and a few churches.

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Various MOCs on display.

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Star Wars™ sets have to make an appearance. Here are a few of the UCS sets on display.

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A tall brick skyscraper. The top is lit up with LEDs.

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Here is the logo for SteinHelden.de. This is a store located on site and they have an online store (only ships within Germany). It loosely translates to “brick heroes” and the business is set up to employ the disabled. A number of the workers are in wheel chairs or have other disabilities. It’s a cool concept!

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Here is a microscale representation of the city of Kaiserslautern. Specifically it is the Rathaus (City Hall) and the Pfaltztheater.

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A larger scale version of the Burj Khalifa.

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A large scene of ancient Egypt.

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The western US circa 1800s.

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Last display case with some modified sets to include some Ideas sets, the James Bond Car, and some Harry Potter sets. There are also some fighter jet and biplane MOCs on the bottom row.

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Another awesome display this year. So glad I was able to visit despite all of the COVID-19 closures. Thanks to the team who puts this amazing exhibit on! Hope you enjoyed my picture tour.

Happy building!

Set Review - #75966-1 - Hogwarts Room of Requirements - Harry Potter

Continuing with the 2020 Harry Potter series, here is #75966-1: Hogwarts Room of Requirements. It was released in the US on 24 August 2020 (3 May 2020 in Germany). It contains 193 pieces and retails for $19.99 in the US. This works out to $0.104 per piece. I picked it up here in Germany on sale for just under $17.

Onto the review…

Here’s the box with the set on the front. It is the standard front with the Harry Potter logo, pictures of the actors, and the minifigures on the bottom. The back shows some of the play features as well as the other side of the set.

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The contents are two numbered parts bags, the instruction booklet, and a sticker sheet. It’s not a ton of stickers, but I am not a fan of the small stickers you have to place on a larger panel or brick.

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The first bag builds part of the room. It includes the outer sliding door that opens when the students need it to. There is a door behind it so they can get in. I like the larger translucent blue bricks for the windows and am trying to think of some cool ways to use them elsewhere.

This bag has the Luna Lovegood minifigure.

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At 193 pieces, the build goes quickly. Bag 2 includes the remainder of the set to include Technic elements to knock down the proclamations. For minifigures you get Harry, Hermione, and the training Dementor. You also get some patronus charms to include a rabbit and… a gopher? Finally you get some “flick pieces” to shoot your charm from the minifigs and have them land somewhere on the floor for you to find later.

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Overall, it’s not a bad set. You get a few decent pieces, there are minimal stickers, the minifigures are okay, and you get some translucent pieces. It’s not a bad set to pick up if you are a Harry Potter fan and you can get it at a discount. The set has holes for Technic pins so you can connect it to others released over the past few years to create a larger scene. Beyond that, not much else to say. It’s a smaller set with not a lot too it, but it’s designed for that price point so you can’t expect much more.

What are your thoughts on this one?

Happy building!

Creations for Charity - 2020 Campaign is Now

I apologize for being late tot he game, but the 2020 Creations for Charity drive started on 15 October and runs through 30 November 2020. This is your chance to pick up some cool custom MOCs and minifigures with all of the money going to buy LEGO sets for disadvantaged kids. The charity is all volunteer run so you’re not giving a portion to pay someone’s salary or anything. If you want more details or want to participate, you can go to CreationsforCharity.org.

They also have a short video explaining the program posted below. Thanks for giving and happy building!

BrickCon 2020 - My Experience

I posted about some of the swag I received and a bit on BrickCon 2020 here. This post will focus on the content. I attended a Brickworld Virtual back in May 2020 and that was a number of online rooms that yoiu could go into and out of at will. There were a few presentations throughout the day as well. BrickCon was a lot more than that. They had multiple sessions scheduled every hour, a Discord server running full time, Zoom rooms to hang out in, and lots of prizes throughout. All of the MOCs on display were on a private Flickr group page for viewing. While I would have preferred the opportunity to go in person, meet people, ask questions of MOC builders, and not be stuck behind my computer, the experience was definitely worth it in a COVID-19 context. Here’s a run through of some of the events I attended.

Tiago Catarino is a former LEGO Designer turned YouTuber from Portugal. You can visit his YouTube channel here. Now he posts small builds that you can do yourself with minimal pieces. He also has a few videos on what it was like to work at LEGO and why he quit (spoiler alert… it was not because he hated LEGO). Tiago had two sessions. The first was a Q&A for registered AFOLs only where he gave a short presentation and then people could ask him questions. The second was a build with Tiago session open to the public. I attended the registered AFOL session. Tiago shared some great info about working at LEGO, being a YouTuber, and some of his other experiences. Here’s a screen shot of him below.

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The next one I attended was a public session where Stuart Harris presented to the public. If you don’t know him, he’s the lead designer for the LEGO House®. Stuart gave a presentation about how the LEGO House® was developed and built. Then he gave a description of each of the zones and what you can do there. Below are a few pictures from the presentation that I grabbed. The first is one of Stuart’s creations/Stuart working at the LEGO House®. The second is a brick built model of the Minifig Cafe.

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Another one I attended was with registered AFOLs only and was a presentation by Gaute Munch (Lego Product Technology Director) and Flemming Jepsen (from the Powered Up team) on Powered UP. I am not an expert in this area by any means so a lot of the conversation was a bit over my cranium, but it was interesting to here. My experience has been motorizing the Crocodile Locomotive, but there is a lot that LEGO has in the works. Just after BrickCon, LEGO released a new version of the app which allows customization. They are working on a rechargeable battery box, new software, and a bunch more. Gaute and Flemming took some tough questions from the audience and handled them very well. I’m glad I participated in this one. The screen shot below is one of the slides with Gaute presenting.

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Another event was a keynote where Andrew Becraft (The Brothers Brick Founder and Editor-in-Chief) interviewed Skip Kodak (Executive Vice President, Americas Market Group - LEGO). This was an interesting conversation covering a range of topics from sustainability to COVID-19 impacts for the company, to the adult focused products and lines. I’m glad I attended this one and thought it was great that LEGO offered up someone from upper management to participate.

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Throughout the event, a number of AFOLs got on to share their MOCs. One of them was with Ben Smith who lives in the UK. He builds in the space theme and has some pretty impressive MOCs. You can see what he builds on his Flickr page. The screen shot below shows a classic space set, but he had a modern take on it and some other larger space crafts to show off. The benefits of having a virtual event is to get folks to participate in other countries to include people like Ben (and me!).

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LEGO Designer Chris McVeigh gave a presentation and Q&A. If you aren’t familiar with Chris and his work, he designed the Brick Sketches™ and the latest Winter Village set the #10275-1: Elf Clubhouse. Chris shared his AFOL experience, how he was hired by LEGO, and then some details on designing the Winter Village set.

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I sadly did not get to see this full presentation, but Graham Hancock gave a presentation on LEGO’s foray into catering to adult fans. If you’re not familiar with Graham, he run Brick Fanatics and is the deputy editor for Blocks Magazine. The part of the presentation I saw had details on the history of sets focused for adults. Some I remember and some I hadn’t heard of. And of course some that I wish I had.

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I also attended a presentation and Q&A with Henrik Andersen. Henrik is a LEGO Designer who might be best known for his recent work on #75252-1: Imperial Star Destroyer. He’s been with the company for a while and showed some of the other sets he worked on an parts he developed. He went through the details of how they develop parts and showed what works and what doesn’t work. Most notably (for me anyway) I learned he was the developer of the cheese slope.

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One last presentation I attended was with George Patelis. George lives in Greece and goes by PatGeo313 on his YouTube channel and Flickr gallery. He made a short video on some of his latest MOCs on YouTube here. Definitely check his work out as he has some impressive stuff.

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That was a quick glimpse into my BrickCon 2020 experience. I had a lot of fun even if it wasn’t in person. I hope I can attend again next year and maybe some day get there in person.

Until then, happy building!