Set Review - #21324-1: 123 Sesame Street - LEGO® Ideas

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street? If not, don’t worry because LEGO can. Ideas set #32 is #21324-1: 123 Sesame Street. Released on 1 November 2020 in the US, it contains 1,368 pieces and 6 minifigures. At $119.99 this set works out to $0.088/piece. This took a while to arrive after I ordered it and then it took me even longer to find time to build it. I’m finally finished so here’s the review.

The box shows the full set on the front and then the back side of the set on the back. It has all of the Ideas logos on it, but the bottom also shows the 18+ packaging. So interesting how it falls into two product categories that LEGO has. The back of the box as well as one of the sides have pictures of some of the actual characters too. I posted a picture of the minifigures on the box as well.

This set contains 12 parts bags. The bags are numbered one through six with two each number except for bag four. There is one unnumbered parts bag that contains some of the larger plates.

The instructions and stickers are packaged in a bag as well.

The instruction book is similar to other Ideas sets. It has some info on Sesame Street, info on the LEGO designers, and info on the fan designer.

There are a number of stickers. I’m not a fan of stickers, but there aren’t too many here and they do help add some fun details.

The first two bags assemble the base and start on the main part of 123 Sesame Street. The base is similar to Architecture themes or some of the recent Ideas themes. Instead of a big base plate, a number of plates are attached together. This makes sense for this set as it allows you to create the corner of the street.

You don’t build much of the base of the first building. It is mainly the foundation with a start to a few details on the outside to include Big Bird’s nest area, the front stairs, and the area where Oscar lives. There’s a spider and web that you bury in the foundation area. I’m not sure of the reference to Sesame Street or if it is just included for fun, but it’s there. You also get some fun colored pieces in the bottom that you can substitute out for other uses if you want.

The minifigure is Big Bird. Big bird is taller than the rest as expected, but the torso and head is rubbery versus the ABS plastic. Not really a complaint in my mind. Just an observation.

The second set of bags builds up the first floor of 123 Sesame Street. You get a bedroom which we can assume belongs to Elmo (the minifigure included in these bags). It includes some pictures of Elmo and his Dad and Rosita and Zoe. There’s a lamp and the standard 2x2 printed tile with a picture of a bridge on it that appears in a lot of sets. There’s an old fashioned phone on the wall. The floor includes a large 6x6 tile piece as a rug. There are some additional details which are completed later.

The third set of bags builds up the second floor which is where Ernie and Bert live. On the outside, the window pattern is the same as the first floor. It adds in the doors to the first floor, the lights on the sides of the door, and an architectural design above the door.

Inside the second floor, you build up the tub along with Rubber Duckie. Additionally, there is a book shelf along the wall and a rug on the floor. More details will be built later.

Ernie comes in this set of bags and he is smaller than Elmo. I think the show portrays Elmo as smaller, but I’m not sure. I realize LEGO has limitations when designing and probably not a huge deal, but I would think Ernie would be larger. Although you have to watch proportions as then you’d have to make Big Bird even bigger.

The fourth bag finishes up the second floor. Included are beds for Ernie and Bert, a picture of Ernie and Bert, some toys on shelves to include a dinosaur and ball, and Bert’s paper clip collection. You also add in the chair Bert usually sits in. The roof is not a complete cover, but two triangular plates. I’m not sure why this is, but it can easily be fixed if you have your own parts stash. You add in a chimney, a TV antenna, some birds, and a cage area. Maybe the cage is for Bert’s pigeons?

The Bert minifigure comes in this bag. He is taller than Ernie so that is good and they accurately portray the outfit he is always found in.

The fifth set of bags builds Hooper’s Store. The first floor is the small store area with a few food items to buy, and a counter to sell from. Outside is a box with some veggies and the recipe to Bert’s oatmeal. The second floor has a small sitting area with a chair, an old fashioned TV showing Guy Smiley, a portrait of The Count, a bus picture on the wall, and a gold frog and minfigure statue on the shelf. There is a bat on the roof for The Count. The roof here also has a triangular section like 123 Sesame Street. It has a small air conditioning unit/ventilation unit. Lots of details here… very fun and nostalgic. I like the VCR and 1x2 tiles used as video tapes.

Cookie Monster comes in this build. He has 2 cookies in his hand to go with another one you can attach to the floor.

The sixth set of bags wraps this set up. The final minifigure is added which is Oscar the Grouch. Oscar is really just a head that is added into some pieces with the trash can. It’s not a full minifigure which I’m okay with as usually you only saw his head and hands anyways.

Details are added in the corner to include a seating area for Hooper’s Store and a lamp post. On the side of 123 Sesame Street is a fire escape, a small garden near the sticker of Abby Cadabby (this was added earlier), and a sticker advertising Biff and Sully’s Construction company.

At this point the build goes in a few directions. Additional details are added on the first floor to include some toys for Elmo. Big Bird’s nest is built up and Radar, his bear is added in. Trash is added near Oscar’s can. A UFO is placed on the roof for the aliens that say “yep, yep, yup,” and the mailbox that can walk around is placed on the street.

The famous 123 Sesame Street sign is added with the green lamp post. Thankfully this is not a sticker. I failed to pay attention to the clear minifigure head used inside of the light. Take note that there are two and one has Elmo’s fish Dorothy on it.

I’m probably missing a bunch of details here. There are a lot in the set and the designers definitely tried to capture as many as they could to truly make it Sesame Street.

Overall, I think this is a great set, but then again I grew up watching Sesame Street and I’m sure that’s why. It might not be a big hit for non-Sesame Street fans. Pricewise, it’s not too bad at just under 9 cents per piece. I doubt you will find this one on sale in the future, but you can get it on a future double VIP point day or with a cool gift with purchase deal in the future. I definitely recommend this set for current or past Sesame Street fans. For MOC builders, there are some cool parts to use elsewhere too. If you aren’t into Sesame Street, then I would skip this one as you probably won’t enjoy all of the details.

One final note… I saw this on another review… the edges of the buildings have holes for Technic pins. One thought is just so you can attach this to other buildings you create or have as desired. The other is that potentially there will be more coming from Sesame Street in the future. You never know if they will have more of a licensed theme, but I like the idea of being able to attach it to City themed buildings, MOCed buildings, or even modulars.

What did you think of this one? Did they capture the aspects of Sesame Street? Did they get the minifigures right or should they have included others?

Happy building!

Amazon Runs Steam Rollers Over Packages with LEGO® Sets Inside

Back in November 2020, I caught a sale on Amazon.com for set #75946-1: Hungarian Horntail Triwizard Challenge. I placed the order in late November and it showed up in mid-January 2021. Yay shipping delays! When I got the package, I didn’t know it had a LEGO set in it. It was in a padded envelope. Really? And then I opened it up and it looked like this…

And if you can’t tell how it looks like someone stepped on it after putting it in a printing press…

So frustrating! I ordered a new set, not a smashed set. That last time I received a smashed set in a padded envelope, I returned the last it. Of course the one I received in return was also beat up in a padded envelope. Go figure…

I can’t put something like this in my Bricklink store without heavily discounting it. Do I break it apart for pieces? What if I was giving this as a gift? I’m sure the response is “Well, you’re just going to open it up and build it anyways. Who cares about the packaging?”

I CARE!!! Amazon, please stop putting LEGO sets in padded envelopes!

So what can you do about it? I’m pretty sure Amazon isn’t going to listen and it is cheaper for them to ship in envelopes instead of boxes. I think your options are to order more than one of a specific set, hope it comes from the same fulfillment warehouse, and hope it forces them to put a larger box versus bag. Or just stop ordering from Amazon.com. None of those are ideal situations. What if I don’t want more than one of a set? Amazon.com is a great place for sales on LEGO sets and I want to keep finding sets on sale.

I’m sure lots of people have received damaged sets. Does anyone have any good tips on how to get around it? Please post them in the comments or send me an email at store@bricksforbricks.com.

In the meantime, happy building!

Set Review - #75978-1: Diagon Alley - Harry Potter

I’ve had this one for a bit and finally got it finished and a blog post ready to go. #75978-1: Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter line is built! The last big one for the Harry Potter theme was #71043-1 - Hogwarts Castle in 2018 and this is the next big set in 2020. It was released on 1 September 2020 in the US. It contains 5,544 pieces and 17 minifigures. The set retails for $399.99 in the US which works out to $0.072 per piece.

I’m a Potter fan and decided to pick up the set. I got it before Christmas along with two free gifts (#634602: Buildable Teal brick and #40410-1: Charles Dickens Tribute). I also got 10% back on Rakuten versus their normal 2.5% so $40 back is awesome (you can see post about it here… and no I am not getting paid to advertise for them). I also had a $50 gift card so $90 off and two gift with purchase sets work for me.

Onto the review… It’s a giant box. The box is labeled as a 16+ set. The front shows the full set and the back shows some details, lists out the separate buildings, and shows the insides of the set. On the side of the box you can see all of the minifigures as well as some of the scenes you can create.

The box has a large white box in it as well as some parts bags. Those bags are numbered 9 through 20. Opening the white box reveals bags 1 through 8, box 21, the instructions and stickers, the base plates, and an parts bag without a number. I count 41 bags of parts, a box, and the base plates. I might be off a bag or two.

There are four instruction books. Each book is tied to what is built on one of the 16x32 gray baseplates. The books have some good write ups about the set to include details on each building, info on the designers and product team, and info on the minifigures.

Each building comes with a sticker sheet. As you can see, the Weasley’s Joke Shop has quite a few. I am not a fan of stickers, but these really do add some great detail to the set. The only downside is how some stickers are split up between pieces. A sign should have a smooth flow, but instead is broken up between two or three pieces. If you center the stickers, it looks weird, but if put two closer together, the third may look odd. Has anyone built the set without stickers? How does it look?

The first buildings are Ollivanders™ Wand Shop and Scribbulus.

The first bags start the base. This build and the rest have a sidewalk made mostly with tiles and then part of the street made up of various plates and tiles. Bag one starts the front of Ollivanders and then the first floor of Scribbulus. I don’t recall Scribbulus being in the movie at all so I will assume the designers got this shop correct.

The second bag includes Garrick Ollivander. He is holding a wand box with a wand on the inside. I don’t recall seeing this item before. The box allows for a 1x3 tile to be placed on the top and it fits the standard Harry Potter wand size. Throughout the build, there are numerous versions of these boxes to show the stock of the store along with some plates and bricks to look like boxes on the shelf. This part of the build includes a set of stairs. The stairs are on a hinge and can fold in. This allows you to place the buildings back to back versus all connected in a row.

Bag 3 starts work on the second floor and adds in windows on the first and second floors. The tiles in the windows are translucent yellow which adds a nice touch to the building versus just using clear. I also like the use of all of the textured bricks to add some detail/texture to the building façade.

The windows appear to be round with the use of curved plates and tiles. This style of build has been done before and I think it fits in good here.

Hermione Granger comes with this bag.

The fourth bag adds a sitting room with a fireplace above Scribbulus. It looks like it would fit for any wizard who needs it. It adds to the second floor of Ollivander’s too.

The fifth bag finishes this build with the roof and chimneys, another room of wands in Ollivander’s, and some owls. The chimney that is slightly crooked is a nice touch. The hinge pieces don’t exactly fit in asthetically, but the chimney seems to fit the magical world of Harry Potter. The second floor of Ollivander’s has a desk, a ladder, a chair, and another shelf of wands. You get 3 owls with this build. Hedwig and then two others. Hedwig is connected with a clear pole piece and he is flying a copy of the Daily Prophet. The other two are perched on Ollivander’s.

One last item is the various flags/signs on the buildings to advertise for the stores. I like how they are done and think they look cool, but the stickers are a pain. One on each side of the piece. It really put my sticker applying skills to the test.

The sixth set of bags start Quality Quidditch™ Supplies and The Daily Prophet™. The sidewalk and road are similar to the previous building. The Quidditch shop has some fun details inside to include brooms, minifigures displaying uniforms, and various uniforms stacked on shelves.

The Daily Prophet seems like an after thought. Or there weren’t a lot of details available. It’s just an empty space with 2x2 tiles of the newspaper laying around.

The seventh bags add the front façade to the first floor of the Quidditch shop. The brick red with the greenish color fits in well. I love the printed red on the clear bricks to create the windows with the added clear cheese slopes. It almost has an Asian/Chinese Festival look to it. The Quidditch equipment above the door looks cool too.

I forgot to throw him in the picture, but Ron Weasley’s minifigure comes in this bag.

The eighth bags build the second floor of the shop to include more gear, clothes, and then a minifigure displaying a uniform. The pink color brightens things up after the dark grey and tan-ish color from Ollivander’s

The ninth set of bags finishes the set up. As mentioned, the Daily Prophet leaves a bit to be desired. A large spider web, stacks of papers, a rat eating cheese. and more newspapers. A desk or a magical printer maybe?

The Daily Prophet photographer shows up in this bag with a camera.

This one is another great building for the set. The Quidditch shop is the main selling point for me with the design of the first floor exterior. The interior details are cool too. No minifigure to work in the shop though.

The tenth bags build Flourish & Blotts and Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor. Flourish & Blotts is used in the second book/movie “The Chamber of Secrets.” They actually go inside the store so I’m sure the designers had a bit more to go on than just some quick movie stills.

This part of the build includes Mrs. Weasley. It also starts to build Flourish & Blotts. A similar window type piece is used for this one as the Quidditch shop only it is green colored.

The eleventh set of bags builds the first floor section of Flourish & Blotts with some book shelves, a book display, and the stairwell. The stairs are on a hinge and they fold up if you want to put the buildings back to back.

This section also starts on the Ice Cream Parlor with the black and white checkered flooring, a shelf with some ice cream dishes, and the fun sticker with flavors on the wall.

Ginny Weasley’s minifigure comes with this bag to include a copy of Gilderoy Lockhart’s book “Magical Me.”

My pictures of build 12 are awful. Sorry about the bad lighting.

Here you build the counter in the ice cream parlor, some books on display outside of Flourish & Blotts, the first floor ceilings, the façade of Flourish & Blotts, and the awning of Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor. There are some interesting build techniques. The awning is rather simple, with 1x3 plates stacked with clip pieces mixed in. They clip onto the building and then some lipstick type pieces are used to hold the awning up. The Flourish & Blotts façade with the signs is all brick built and stickers. I like how the angles were achieved and I’m glad they didn’t use a big piece to get it all done. The use of different sized slopes to achieve the roof of the first floor present a cool effect as well.

Florean Fortescue comes in this set of bags.

Bag 13 adds Harry Potter.

You also build the second floor of Flourish & Blotts. There is a window section that matches the signage below and then inside you get a book shelf, a lamp with a book on display, and another book display on the floor. Externally there is a simple, yet cool dragon head like gargoyle on either side of the windows. You also build the main sign and attach more stickers.

Bag 14 finishes up this section. You get Gilderoy Lockhart with another copy of his book, the desk for him to sit behind to sign books, a seating area outside of the ice cream parlor, the seating area display on the roof area of the ice cream parlor, and a lamp on the front. Inside the second floor of the ice cream parlor is a small sitting room with an arm chair, coffee table with tea set, lamp, and rug. The roof is completed for both buildings. The roof on the ice cream parlor matches the one on the first floor. Flourish & Blotts has a simple set of slopes.

As mentioned, there is a seating area outside of the ice cream parlor. The table is attached by studs, but the chairs are not. No big deal really unless you need to pick the set up. The desk is another story as it really doesn’t fit inside. I guess you could put it outside or build up a scene with additional bricks in the back? It kind of seems out of place.

I like this building with the different green colors of Flourish & Blotts and the roof and awning pieces of Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor. So far, I’m enjoying the build. Even if there are a ton of stickers…

The last of the four buildings is Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes & Knockturn Alley. This one helps to mix up the movies/books a bit as Flourish & Blotts was spotlighted in the second book/movie and Weasley’s is from book #6. Knockturn Alley shows up a few times. Either way, I’m okay with the mixing of books/movies. You can set it up as desired and include/exclude buildings as you want.

Bag 15 starts off the Weasley’s store with some bright orange bricks to contrast some of the other buildings in the set. Knockturn alley is started too with an archway.

This bag contains Draco Mallfoy’s minifigure.

Bag 16 helps build out the first floor with a lot of details and items for purchase on shelves and display. This also means a lot of stickers too so get ready. You build a stairwell to the next level as well.

Lucius Malfoy comes in this bag. Unlike other Harry Potter sets, the minifigures don’t come with accessories here. Most of the other ones include wands for characters. Here they do not, but Lucius comes with his cane that he walks around with.

Bag 17 finished up the first floor. I like how they achieved the rounded section of the building while building up the windows to be at different angles. You also start work on the second floor. In the picture, I show the side of the building to highlight some of the larger stickers. The stickers for this build are numbered up to 41 and that doesn’t count where there are multiples of some stickers. Thankfully, the largest one is shown and the rest are smaller.

The George Weasley minifigure comes in this bag.

Bag 18 continues work on the second floor and completes the two story rounded window section. They use some clever techniques to fill up the corner and then put the figure in tipping his hat. Putting the brick built figure in was a bit challenging. I had to give it a few tries to get it right and it wasn’t exactly clear to me on the instructions.

Lots of stickers go on the outside of the building. As mentioned before, it was a challenge for me to space them out properly. This was especially hard on the orange curved pieces. I didn’t want the words to look disconnected, but I didn’t want there to look like there were large gaps in the lettering either. It would be nice if the stickers more closely matched the size of the brick you were putting it on. That way you wouldn’t have to guess as much.

Fred Weasley comes with this bag. If you can tell him apart from George that is…

Bag 19 finishes up the second floor and gets you stairs to the third level. The stairwell has a very colorful railing to brighten things up. You also add some balloons which need to be removed if you want to put the sets back to back.

On the outside, you build up Knockturn Alley with a “window to nothing” above the alleyway. I guess you could take it upon yourself to build up a building behind it. No complaints from me though. I like how the designers were able to achieve a crooked, angled window look without huge gaps.

Bag 20 wraps it up. The head is added to the figure in the front and there are some Technic elements used to make the character “tip” his hat. In the movie, a rabbit appears every other time he tips his hat. Obviously LEGO didn’t create that effect, but it’s cool to have some motion with the building. The hat doesn’t tip up too high for me, but I’m sure I could adjust it more if I wanted it to.

This building is a bit taller and the third floor has some inventory as well. The color contrast with the black and light purple/lavender color looks pretty cool.

You get another small build with this bag. It is a table where you can buy love potions as highlighted in book/movie #6. It’s a fun addition to the building, but like the desk for Flourish & Blotts, you can’t fit it in the building. So either extend the building or just set it behind the building with some of your own bricks.

This building was fun to put together with lots of different building techniques, colors, and elements. So many stickers though…

Then there’s box 21. It says “Silencio! Keep it between us.” I guess this is supposed to be a secret box so pretend you’re not reading this section. Although the instructions are included in book for so it’s not really secret. The box includes another Harry Potter minifigure. He has two faces with the other not pictured having dirt and dust from when he went through the flue network incorrectly during the second book/movie. It also includes Hagrid with his pink umbrella. You build a small stand for them to stand on and then behind them you attach a plate with a printed sign. It has the LEGO and Harry Potter logos along with a quote from the movie (and book?) from Hagrid to Harry. I think this is a nice addition to the set. Especially if you want to use this set as a display piece.

Besides the Harry and Hagrid minfigures in box 21, you get another 13 characters from the book/movie. I think it’s a good collection of minifigures to include some of the more popular and some of the ones we don’t normally see. They don’t come with too many accessories, but I think that’s okay. In the movie, you don’t see them with wands or other items unless they are buying things.

Here’s a picture of the final build all lined up. They are similar to the modular building series in that you can connect them, rearrange them, and for these you can put them front to back. No corner buildings or anything, but I guess that leaves it up to you to build them. I’m okay with the backs being open so you can see the details inside. I understand these are not modulars.

$400 is pretty steep for this set so definitely look for opportunities to get gifts with purchase or double VIP point bonuses. I got cash back and had a gift card so that helped.

Should you buy this set? I say this set is for Potter fans. A great addition to the world and a fun build if you know some of the details. This set is also for MOC builders. There are a ton of great pieces and great colors in this set. For about 7 cents a piece you can get some great parts. I’d love to see what some of the pro builders out there could do with this set.

If you aren’t a Potter fan or don’t want the pieces, I’d consider other sets first. Just my opinion.

I’m a Potter fan and I think the set was great. On a YouTuber I follow, it was mentioned that it would be great for the 2021 Potter sets to add onto Diagon Alley. What if they did a Gringots set you could add to this street? It would be pretty awesome!

What did you think of this one? Better or worse than Hogwart’s Castle?

Happy building!

The LEGO® Gift with Purchase Rush - January 2021

The LEGO® Company has been having trouble keeping up with stock on the Shop @ Home site for a few months now. The situation was exacerbated in the lead up to Christmas as numerous items went out of stock. At the current time, you can click through the themes on the US Shop @ Home page and see the “out of stock” messages for entire product lines. As of the writing of this post, you cannot purchase any of the Ideas sets. There is one Speed Champion product available. The Creator Expert/18+ section only has a few products available. The list continues as you have to go search elsewhere if you really want a set or you have to wait.

I thought the situation might improve as sets remained out of stock through December and LEGO would use the time to catch up. The only problem… not only did they need to catch up, they also needed to produce the soon to be released 2021 sets. So what do you do as a company with a supply and demand problem like this?

It all came up again over the past few days on Shop @ Home as fans, resellers, parents, collectors, and anyone else looking to spend funds on LEGO sets dove into the inventory that appeared online on 1 January 2021. Midnight hit and the orders started pouring in. There were two gift with purchase sets available. The first was #30628-1: Monster Book of Monsters. This set was available for purchases of $85 or more on Harry Potter sets.

©2020 LEGO Group

The second set was #40448-1: Vintage Car. This set was based off of a fan design as part of the Ideas line and was much anticipated. It was available for all purchases over $85.

©2021 LEGO Group.

So what happened?

Midnight on the east coast of the US is 6 AM here in Germany so I got up a bit early to see if it was worth it to place an order. I’d like to know how many people were trying to order at that time because the site couldn’t handle it. I tried to add items to my cart and I kept getting error messages. None of the Harry Potter sets would add to my cart. I gave up. I checked LEGO.de (German site) and it worked okay. I try not to shop there as the exchange rate is getting worse and it is becoming more expensive for me to buy sets in Euros by the day.

I logged in later in the day… around 2 PM in Germany. #30628-1 was completely sold out on both the US and German sites. It was #44048-1 only. Some of the new 2021 sets were at backorder or sold out too like the new modular building.

The US site showed #44048-1 available as a gift with purchase through 3 January.

On 4 January, #44048-1 was not an option anymore. However, #30628-1 showed up again as available. I’m not sure how long that will last. It still shows available on 6 January so we’ll see what happens.

The big question from all of this… how will LEGO® break out of this downward spiral. It seems as though their supply chain cannot keep up with demand. My guess is it would take too long to stand up another factory. Should they decrease the new sets they release and focus on producing the existing ones in large quantity to keep up with demand? Should they place more limits on the numbers of sets you can buy per account? Do you think the shift will happen naturally as fans find other things to occupy their time or the pandemic eventually ends? Should they cut back on the number of retailers selling products? I’m curious to hear your thoughts. Feel free to post them in the comments or email me at store@bricksforbricks.com.

Happy building!

Return of the Bricklink AFOL Designer Program

In 2018, LEGO and Bricklink teamed up for the AFOL Designer Program. They crowd funded 13 sets that were designed by fans and released them for purchase in 2019. I ended up buying two of them. One was #BL19003: Skyline Express and the other was #BL19012: Bikes!. I was a big fan of both of them and probably would have purchased all 13 of them if I had unlimited funds.

LEGO announced their purchase of Bricklink at the end of 2019 and there was much consternation in the fan community as to what would happen. A number of fans, including me, hoped the AFOL Designer Program would return. We heard nothing for a while, but we finally got something a few weeks ago.

Bricklink announced on 17 December 2020 that they were going to re-open the program, but it would be slightly different in 2021. Instead of soliciting new projects and crowd sourcing them, they are going to use designs from the Ideas platform and produce some of them. While not exactly what we wanted, I can’t complain about this effort. The rules are the project must not have an IP tied to it and it must have achieved the 10,000 votes. My search revealed 44 sets in this category. If my link doesn’t work, go to the Ideas site and when you search, select Product Phase - Not Approved and IP - Original Ideas. There are a lot of great designs and then some that it looks like LEGO has produced in a different form already.

If LEGO/Bricklink reads this post, here are the three designs I would like to see made in the 2021 AFOL Designer Program.

1. The Train Station: Studgate

I’m a big train fan and a modular building fan and this set would look fantastic mixed with the two themes. Designed by Bricky_Brick, the same designer as #21322-1 - Pirates of Barracuda Bay, I think this set would add some elegance to some of the more boring train stations that exist in the current LEGO set realm. Plus you get a small passenger train so win, win all around here.

2. Food Stand Diners

How awesome would this set look in a City scene or a park scene or mixed in with your Fairground sets? Designed by builder FrostBricks, this set would be a great add and could be produced at a lower price point considering some of the other larger sets listed.

3. Chemical Plant

If you like Trains, City, or the Octan theme, this one would be great to see. Designed by fan Ymari, this set has a lot of playability (although not meant for kiddos), lots of great details, and connections to train with the tank car and roads with the Octan themed tank truck.

We’ll see if any of these even make it, but those are my votes. What are yours?

For those of you disappointed that we don’t have an AFOL Designer Program where you can submit your project, don’t worry. It appears LEGO and Bricklink are planning on launching this effort in 2022.

Happy Building!

Set Review - #75551-1 Brick-Built Minions and Their Lair - Minions: The Rise of Gru

We had the original “Despicable Me” movie, then the sequels, then spin offs, and now that we have brick built Minions, we’re all set, right? Released on 27 April 2020 in the US, this set contains 876 pieces and 3 minifigures. It retails for $49.99 in the US which works out to $0.057 per piece. I found it for 20% off on Amazon.com so $10 off which helped although five cents a piece is pretty good.

This set contains minifigures for the three main Minions who are Kevin, Stuart, and Bob. Then you can build larger versions of all three. Unfortunately you can’t build all three at once. You can build Stuart and then Kevin or Bob. You need another version of the set or some of your own bricks to have all three at once. Is it worth it? Onto the review…

Here is the front and then the back of the box. The front shows the larger Stuart and Kevin with all three minifigures. It also shows how the larger Minions open up in the back to show their lairs. The back shows the internals of all three, it shows you how the eyes spin, and then shows that you can switch Kevin to be Bob.

The set contains five parts bags. Two are labeled with a 1 and three are labeled with a 2. One of the first bags contains a piece separator. There is a sticker sheet with a bunch of stickers and then two instruction booklets. The first booklet builds Stuart and the second builds Kevin and Bob.

The first two bags build Stuart. He is distinguishable by his sole eye. The outer body is a similar build for all three minions except for some minor differences (height, eye color, hair, and the mouth piece. The eye and mouth are all printed pieces so if you just wanted the Minions without all of the internals, you could get away with out using any of the stickers.

One thing that doesn’t quite work with this build is the torso and head of the Minion is not even with the top part of the head. There is a slight break where the curves are not quite even. Considering it’s built with LEGO bricks, we can’t complain, but it does make me wonder if there’s another way to make the head seem a bit more smooth.

Stuart has a cool pad to hang out in with a sound system, dart board, boomerang, and a fold down bed. Above his bed and connected to his eye is a 2x2 round brick to spin his eye around

The second set of bag builds Kevin (listed first in the instructions). Kevin is built similar to Stuart only he is a few studs taller. Additionally, he has two eyes versus the one. There are gears in place so both eyes can spin. He has a small smile compared to Stuart’s open mouth. Additionally, he has a small sprig of hair versus Stuart’s hair.

Inside Kevin has his command center with various screens and dials. He also has his fire extinguisher and some tools along with a banana to snack on. Lots of stickers, but not too bad to assemble. The minifigure is pretty similar only smaller.

The second set of instructions starts from scratch again. It doesn’t give any guidance as to whether you should disassemble all of the parts of Kevin or certain parts. I kept the bottom intact and then parts of the top, but the internals are all swapped out so you are forced to make take apart most of the pieces.

The assembly of Bob is similar to that of Kevin only he is shorter. Inside he has some weapons and a few posters. Also one of his eyes is green versus two brown like Kevin.

Overall it’s a good build. The three Minions are built mostly the same, but they have enough differences to make it interesting. You get some decent pieces as well. The larger Minions have some good play features and while you can have all three assembled at once, you can easily switch them out. The minifigures are pretty good too and you get some hats to put on them as well. With a 20% discount, I couldn’t complain with the price. Definitely a must buy for any brick and Minion fans.

What are your thoughts on this one? We saw a larger character with #75979-1: Hedwig. We also have the larger sized Minions. Will there be more? Should they have put all three larger Minions into the set? Will it force people to buy two sets so they can get all three?

Happy building!

LEGO® Shop @ Home Shows Sold Out. Where Else Can I Look?

For the US buyers scrambling to get new sets, going onto LEGO Shop @ Home has been depressing. Sets are sold out to the max and any inventory that pops up of anything remotely good gets sold out immediately (or so it seems). Although I did see you can now sign up for email updates to be alerted when a product is back in stock. I have not ventured to my local LEGO Store so I don’t know if they have the same inventory issues or not.

I don’t know about Amazon’s inventory, but their deals seem to have dried up fairly quickly. It’s a bit over a week before Christmas and most of their sales on sets are over.

I haven’t done a good scrub of the Walmart or Target websites. Since I live in Germany, I can’t stop by a local store to see what the shelves look like.

It got me to thinking… where else can you look to find your bricks while sticking to name brand type stores. You can obviously go to EBay, Bricklink, and some of the small business toy and LEGO brick stores, but not everyone has a physical presence nearby and we’ve maxed out our shipping capacity in the US so good luck ordering something and hoping it’ll be in your hands by Christmas..

And no… I’m not getting paid by any of these businesses to talk about them…

Barnes and Noble:
Everyone thought Amazon.com would kill it, but it’s still around. The last time I was in a store, there was a small LEGO section. Looking online, they have a fairly sizeable selection with a lot in stock that is not in stock on LEGO Shop @ Home. You can get #21322-1: Pirates of Barracuda Bay, #21323-1: Grand Piano, and many of the other harder to find sets.

If you have a store nearby, you can order to pick up in store at no additional charge. Otherwise, they charge for shipping unless you pay to be a part of their membership program. While I don’t shop there, I have seen elsewhere that you can use the paid membership program to get some decent deals. Does anyone have any experience getting sets there?

Kohl’s:
Don’t they sell clothes? Apparently they sell LEGO sets too. In looking online, they have a smaller selection of sets available (a little over 100 as of today). Most of the sets are geared towards kids and they don’t have many of the 18+ type sets. A quick scan only showed #31197-1: Andy Warhol’s Marylin Monroe. Like Barnes and Noble, they have free in store pickup. There also ways to get deals too, but I won’t go into them there. It might be worth keeping them on your list as you go out to find your favorite plastic bricks.

Michael’s:
Okay so I didn’t know they sold LEGO sets. They don’t have a large selection, but they sell them and you can get in-store pick up. Definitely pay attention to pricing if you plan to shop there. A quick scan of the website shows many of their sets are priced above LEGO’s retail price. So definitely look for the opportunity to get a sale or some other deal if you plan to shop there.

Christian Bookstore:
Didn’t see this one coming. Not a huge selection and I can’t say I’ve ever shopped there before, but they have sets in stock. I found #10277-1: Crocodile Locomotive and #42115-1: Lamborghini Sian FKP 37. I’m not sure if they have good deals or ways to save. Anyone?

Best Buy:
I admit I haven’t been to Best Buy in a while, but I didn’t know they sold LEGO sets. I have never seen them in the store. Maybe this is a newer thing? I looked online and they have a decent selection. Some sets are sold out, but there are a lot still in stock from across the lines. This includes smaller sets and spans to larger sets. There are a few sale items as well. Looks like they have free shipping on some of the bigger sets and you can pick up in stores as well.

Costco:
I’m not a Costco member so I don’t know if it’s new or not, but Costco sells LEGO sets. Online they have a few sets listed, but nothing . I’m not sure if they have more in the store or not. If you are a member, it might be worth it to check it out.

Disney Store:
LEGO has licenses for a number of Disney lines such as Star Wars, Disney Princesses, and a few others. You can buy the Disney themed sets from the Disney store at the actual stores or get them shipped. Right now they have free shipping on orders over $75. I don’t know if that is all the time or just now.

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There are a few places you can look. Are there anymore I missed? Have you bought sets at any of these places? What had your experience been?

Happy building!

How do I Find Cheaper Loose Parts?

Are you looking for parts to build your own creations? Or maybe you’re a parent like me and have kiddos who like to build and want some additional parts.

I have a parts collection back in the US in storage, but we have a big plastic bin of random parts here to free build with (as you can see below).

So where can you find cheaper parts?

Bricks and Minifigs is an after market store in the US and Canada. It is franchise owned and more seem to pop up every year. It’s been a few years since I have been to one, but I used to live by the Albuquerque, NM store. The store had 2 large tables of loose bricks. They buy used pieces and then re-sell them at a higher price. You can pick the size container/bag you want and then sort through the parts to find what you want. I was usually able to find some great parts in great condition. Usually I could get it down to somewhere between 3 and 5 cents per piece. Definitely check them out if you live nearby.

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The LEGO Classic line is a great place to look. While you don’t get the exact parts you want, you can find them at a lower price and brand new. I recently got the set pictured here for 28% off. It worked out to around $0.03 per piece which is a great deal. You might not get minifigures, but they usually have a great color scheme and some cool parts. It’s definitely worth it to look for sales on the Classic line. Especially before Christmas time.

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Now we tread into the unknown… there are numerous ways you can buy used bulk LEGO parts and sets from garage sales and Craigslist, to EBay and Amazon. There’s a lot out there and it can be hard to know what you’re going to get. You may be getting a bin from an expert who has picked out the “good” parts and left you with items you may not want. Or you may end up with a gold mine of old disassembled sets that you can re-assemble. Prices may vary, but usually you can get a decent deal here. Just the quality may not be where you want it. So let the buyer beware…

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Is it worth it to go straight to the source? You can get the quality of part and the type of part that you’ll want, but you’ll pay. Online orders can get pricy so it might not be worth it unless you are trying to get that one hard to find piece. In store may offer you some savings. Purchasing a cup full of parts can be good if you know how to pick and stack smartly. I am not an expert there by any means, but I recommend you look online for videos from people with tips on how to stack and fill your cups at the LEGO store. My last trip to the LEGO store was a while ago, but it was around $18 for the large cup. Is that still right? In the past I’ve been able to get parts for around $0.04 per piece or so, but usually the pieces are smaller so it’s hard to make a judgement there.

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The secondary market… It’s actually pretty large. You can get specific parts on numerous sites from EBay to Amazon to BrickOwl, but I will focus on Bricklink.com for now since I am most familiar with it. Bricklink is now owned by The LEGO Group so it’s the secondary market owned by the primary market. The downside is that most sellers are AFOLs or people knowledgeable with bricks so finding great deals on parts is probably tough. The plus side is if you can’t find it on Bricklink, it probably doesn’t exist. You can also work with (some) buyers to get discounts if you are buying large lots or if you become a regular customer. You can get a lot of opinions about Bricklink so I’ll stop there. Bottom line is, lots of available parts, but not always the lowest price.

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There are probably a few other niche areas like if you are in a LUG and can participate in the LUGBULK program. What else am I missing? What has worked the best for you?

Please post in the comments or send me at note at store@bricksforbricks.com and I will add to the post.

Happy building!

How I Got an Orange Classic Space Minifigure

I attended BrickCon 2020 virtually back in early October 2020 and finally got to building the convention model (I was building something else). You can see my other posts here and here. If you look at the post about SWAG you can see all of the stuff I got (for a fee). The set came in this small box with a printed sticker on it. The sticker has the Convention logo and some views of the set.

One of the big highlights is the minifigure in the set. It’s an orange classic space minifigure. If you’re reading this after 2020, this was the year the orange spaceman joined the crew which could be found in the LEGO Minifigure: A Visual History. Instead of buying the book to get the minifigure, I got this set. The difference is the minifigure cranium. The one from the book is the classic yellow with two dots for eyes and the single line smile. The one in the BrickCon set is a female with some eyebrows and lipstick. Anyways, this adds to the other recent additions to include the ones found in #70841-1: Benny’s Space Squad (2019) and then the LEGO Ideas #21109-1: Exo Suit from 2014.

Since it’s not an official set, it comes with some instructions and a standard plastic bag filled to the brim with parts. No piece separator here and the instructions don’t have anything about the designer. By the way, the designer was Chris Malloy. He’s the managing editor of The Brother’s Brick and designed a great set. His page is here.

Here’s the completed set. There are four 8x8 stud plates. Each one is connected to the others with Technic pins. It is designed so that you can add additional plates to the set as well. From left to right, you start with the the ladder from the space ship that the spacewoman climbed down. Then the next one is part of a castle wall with a deceased guard next to his spear and flag. There are a few pumpkin like plants with some leaves growing out of them. The final plate has part of a façade that has fallen over. There are some plants growing on them and the paint is wearing off (from white to gray).

Unlike official LEGO sets, there are some connections that wouldn’t fly. They are a bit flimsy and you have to be pretty delicate when assembling everything.

Also, the parts selection is pretty impressive. Besides the orange spacewoman, there are some less common parts. The pumpkins, the plants, the yellow and black branches, a silver curved tile, and a few others. Even if you don’t like the model, there are plenty of parts for other sets.

Did you attend Virtual BrickCon 2020 and did you get the set? Did you like it?

Happy building!

Set Review - #42115-1 - Lamborghini Sian FKP 37 - Technic

There are a few themes LEGO has sucked me into. One is modular buildings. The other is the Technic "super cars.” The first one was #42056-1: Porsche 911 GT3 RS back in 2016. The second was #42083-1: Bugatti Chiron released in 2018. The third car was released on 2 June 2020 in the US. It’s #42115-1: Lamborghini Sian FKP 37. It contains 3,696 pieces and retails for $379.99 in the US. This works out to $0.103/piece. Considering a lot of those pieces are tiny Technic pins, this car is expensive! Thankfully, I found it locally for ~$286 which I think is a much more reasonable price for the set. So if you live in the US, now is the time to complain as the Europeans get some discounts that you never see.

Like the previous cars, the box is unlike your standard set. The top half of the box looks like the hood of the car with the Lamborghini logo. The bottom part is a picture of the completed set with the name logo in the upper left. Unlike the Bugatti which was labeled as 16+, this one is labeled as 18+.

The sides of the box continue on the car shape with the front and back of the vehicle on the box.

Taking the top of the box off reveals six boxes in the shape of the engine covering in the back of the car. The boxes are numbered 1 through 6. After removing the boxes, there are two instruction books on the bottom. When you put the books next to each other, you can see the completed model.

For reviews, I normally pull out all of the bags so you can how many parts bags there are in the set. I didn’t do that here as the parts bags are all contained in the numbered boxes. I didn’t count as I opened them either. Sorry…

The instructions are similar to previous Technic super car models with a lot of details and extras on the actual vehicle and the model. I found the extra details interesting. You are also given some QR codes that you can scan to take you to YouTube videos about the design process. The videos were interesting with some interviews of LEGO and Lamborghini personnel. I tried to watch while building, but couldn’t focus enough on the build so I watched them separately. I think I would have rather had one longer video versus a bunch of shorter clips, but not a major issue to me.

I bought my set in Germany so the instructions came in English and German. Not the North America version in English, French, and Spanish.

Box 1 - Gearbox and Rear Suspension

Each box is split up in the instruction book with a write up on that section and a corresponding video. Box one builds your transmission and where the back wheels go. The transmission is a challenging thing to build. I really had to pay attention to part types, angles, sizes, and how things were linked up. I made a few small mistakes, but thankfully caught them before I went too far.

The transmission is open on the bottom of the car so you can see the movement as you cycle through gears. This is different from the previous cars. While not realistic, it is a nice touch to see what is going on I guess. Also it’s on the bottom so it’s not like you see it all the time unless you flip it over.

I didn’t time myself on the build, but I think this part took a while for me. Might have been just because I was taking my time with it to make sure I got it right.

Box 2 - Engine and Front Suspension

With box two you can attach all the wheels now and the engine is installed. You can also shift the car into drive, neutral or reverse now. The wheels have a pretty solid suspension. One of the things from the videos is the car actually has some bounce to it. It is not much, but is way more versus the Bugatti.

The engine has 12 cylinders that you can’t see working, but you get to install them all anyways. It’s not a big deal that you can’t see them in my opinion. I think it’s more about the build experience. The engine covering includes some printed tiles which add to the detail. I like the ones with the Lamborghini name on them. Super thankful there are no stickers on this one.

Here’s a closer shot of the front of the car at the end of box 2. I didn’t take a before step picture so you can’t see the details underneath. It’s a challenging part to assemble, but it comes together well. There were a few instances where I really had to stare at the instructions and compare it what I built to make sure it was all right. Some trial and error too. No mistakes so far…

Box 3 - Interior Details and Seats

This box adds some details as mentioned, but also adds some movements. You install the initial parts of the scissor doors to come later and the mechanism to raise and lower the spoiler.

The steering wheel is installed and like the previous vehicles, the wheel is functional. The other picture shown is the passenger side where you can see the Technic part used to raise and lower the spoiler. You can also see how some System pieces are added to the Technic pieces for detail purposes.

A quick look at the back. Not a lot of detail is added. Mostly structure to install other parts later.

Box 4 - Rear Spoiler

Now the car is starting to look more like a car. We’ve got a roof over where the passengers sit, a covering over the engine in the back, coverings over the rear wheels, and the spoiler. If you’ve seen anything about this car, you know that LEGO has had some issues with parts and colors. This is the part of the build where those issues became readily apparent. The spoiler itself has multiple shades of green on it. While the design of the spoiler is cool and fairly accurate compared to the real car, the color is disappointing. With a $380 price tag, you would expect a much higher quality.

Here’s a closer view of the back of the car. You can see the System tiles used to create the Italian flag which is a fun detail. I’m also a big fan of the brake lights. They used more System pieces mixed in with Technic pieces. If you look closely at the spoiler, you can see the color differences. The rear also has a cool “Lamborghini” tile in the lime green with black lettering.

Box 5 - Scissor Doors

The fifth box finishes up the majority of the car. This includes the front hood, the lights, the front bumper, and the doors. I found a few parts a bit challenging to put together as the instructions just show the assembly next to the spot it is supposed to go.

Here’s another view of the front of the car. It seems like the front dash is quite large compared to the rest of the vehicle. I’m not sure if it is proportioned correctly, but perhaps there is a reason.

The scissor doors have a piece you can push in behind the “cab” of the car. The doors pop up like a real Lamborghini. No complaints here. It’s a fun detail.

A few close ups from this part of the build. I’m not sure how I’d re-design the light bars, but I’m not a fan of how they were built. They do look similar to those of the actual car and I understand that the geometry is tough to re-create. I’ll have to think on this one…

I like the brakes with the printed brake calipers. I’m also glad they are not stickers. It’s a small detail that you really can’t see with the vehicle completed, but I’m a fan.

Box 6 - Rims and Tires

The lime green color issues with this model are disappointing, but the gold rims are awesome. They really make the vehicle stand out. It’s the same wheels as the Bugatti and there’s a small 1x1 round tile with the Lamborghini tile on it.

This second part of the build for this box is a brief case. The previous two cars had cases as well. This one has the fewest details of the three so far and in my opinion it seemed like a last minute add. The brief case doesn’t have much to it. It’s rather plain and bland. I would have rather done without the bag.

The last part of the build is a display plate. It’s a 4x6 plate with some studs. Impressively it is all printed on unlike a lot of the UCS type sets where there is a large sticker. It’s a nice addition to the model and for people who want to display it. They have it mounted on some Technic pieces so it can be angled up. A nice touch in my opinion.

Here are a few pictures of the final product with the wheels on . Overall, it’s an impressive model. I enjoyed the build process and getting away from System builds. I enjoyed all of the details and the mechanical connections. I didn’t enjoy the price originally posted. I was super thankful to see the price come down in Germany and to get it at a substantially lower rate, but I have yet to see it go down in the US. I’m hoping LEGO can adjust pricing in the future… either more car/build experience or lower price. We’ll have to see what LEGO does in the future. In the meantime, what do you think? Is it worth it?

Happy building!

I have the Porsche in storage, but here is a picture of the Lamborghini and Bugatti together. The Lamborghini is slightly longer. Any thoughts on cool ways to display them? Here’s a Beyond the Brick clip where someone shows off his LEGO room and he has two of the cars hanging on the wall.