Set Review - #71048 - Series 27 - Collectible Minifigures

How are we already at Series 27? This series of Collectible Minifigures was released on 1 January 2027 and they retail for $4.99 each which is in line with the most of the recent sets. There are 12 minifigures in this series and this is another non-licensed theme so it’s good to get a variety. Here’s a quick rundown of the series.

Wolfpack Beastmaster has been a very popular among fans and resellers. Everyone seems to be looking for this one. We’ll see if the Wolfpack returns in another set in the future or not. I’ve seen the torso in Pick a Brick so maybe we’ll see more of them. The wolf is a great addition too.

Hamster Costume Fan is a a cute one with a small 1x1 round tile printed like a cucumber slice.

Jetpack Racer is an interesting once. Not pictured is a jet pack on the back and Octan printing on one of the legs. It’s a cool looking helmet design too.

Astronomer Kid is another space fan as we’ve seen a few in the past. This one has a telescope and a printed shirt with a rocket on it.

Plush Toy Collector was very popular with my kiddos. The little creatures are very fun.

Pterodactyl Costume Fan is another dinosaur costume minifigure to go along with some of the past dinosaur costumed figures.

Longboarder has a unique board, some cool green hair under a hat, and some fun printing on the torso and pants.

Bogeyman is not a costume character, but an actual monster. The head is fully molded and is not on top of a minifigure head. The book says “Boo” on the cover and inside is a printed tile with a picture of the monster on it.

Cupid has a regular face and us dual printed with a face with heart eyes. He has a red bow and arrow along with a red heart tile.

Pirate Quartermaster is another fun addition to the pirate lineup with a cool bird to go along with it.

Cat Lover comes with a cat, a ball of yarn, and then a cat sweater along with pants that are covered in cat hair. Very clever.

Steampunk Inventor is the first one I’ve seen in the Steampunk theme. I suspect we’ll see this minifigure show up in a number of MOCs in the future.

Rebuilding the Modulars

If you’ve followed the Bricks for Bricks blog for any length of time (it’s been going since 2014), you may have noticed that the location changed often. There’s been six different locations and I think we’re finally done. Whew! At least I hope so. With that means that all of those sets that have been kept in boxes for years can finally be set free. For years, I’ve been telling my kiddos about all of the modular buildings boxed away and that someday we’d rebuild all of them. Well it’s that someday…

I have some new sets that I want to build, but they are on hold while my kiddo and I spend time re-constructing modular buildings. We have 16 complete with two to go (the Police Station and Tudor Corner). Also, I don’t have the Green Grocer or Market Street so we’ll max out at 18.

It’s been a fun experience to re-live building the sets and my kiddo has enjoyed building them with me. As you can see, we set some road plates in front and he’s put his vehicles on them. Additionally, he enjoys rearranging the minifigures and rearranging the buildings. It seems like the buildings are in different places almost every time I walk by.

My kiddo thought the people in the modulars wanted food so he has a lot of his food trucks out and ready to serve the people. I like how he split up #10218-1: Pet Shop to have the Pet Shop building separate from the apartment. He also makes sure the buildings are in line with the size of the road plates so they line up okay.

It was the first time for me to get to use a corner building on a corner. My kiddo is mystified that the early modulars lack all of the details of the newer ones, but #10211-1: Grand Emporium is a cool looking building. We also added #80113-1: Family Reunion to the road just to have some builds on the other side of the street. Once we finish building, hopefully we can liven up the street scene a bit.

My kiddo added in his own modular building design next to #10224-1: Town Hall. He was very concerned with the difference in building heights, but I told him it was fine and he now has plans for more additions to the street. Not pictured, but next to it, he added a park as the wall goes the other direction and the modular buildings would look funny in that corner. He thought a park would help to make the corner work.

I also had never put two corner buildings next to each other, but I like how #10251-1: Brick Bank and #10232-1: Palace Cinema create a larger walkway for minifigures when placed next to each other.

The last two we finished were #10182-1: Cafe Corner and #10297-1: Boutique Hotel. My kiddo didn’t want two hotels together, but I put them there as I wanted to see what they looked like together. He’ll move them soon I’m sure. He couldn’t fathom that there were no interior details, but he’s added “furnishing the Cafe Corner” to our list of things to do.

Do you build with your kids? How do you build with them? Just sets? Creative building? Create scenes together?

However you build with your family, happy building!

Set Review - #80113-1: Family Reunion Celebration - The Spring Festival

Is it sad that I have a backlog of sets to build? #80113-1: Family Reunion Cerebration was released 25 December 2023 and retired a year later. If you want to find it, you’ll have to look on the secondary market. It retailed for $129.99 and contained 1,823 pieces. This worked out to $0.071 per piece. LEGO Shop @ Home had it on sale towards the end of the year in 2024 and I grabbed one then. I believe it was 20% off. I initially was a fan of this one as it had a modular building type style to it and it looks like it could easily fit into a LEGO city.

The box is below with the front showing the front of the build and the back showing the back of the build. It has the Spring Festival labeling and is bright red.

The contents of this set include 12 numbered parts bags, two instruction books, a sticker sheet, and 2 pieces that I picture later.

The sticker sheet is larger than I would have hoped with some bigger stickers. Often these sets have a lot of printed pieces, but not so with this set.

Additionally, the set comes with two… um… what is the technical name for this piece? It’s the strands used to hang the lights. I didn’t find them at first until I dumped out the box again. Whoops!

Onto the build… The first bag starts to build the base of the building. LEGO has gotten away from baseplates in recent years. They build more of the bases by assembling plates these days. I’m not opposed to it, but I’m sure there are some who would rather have base plates. This bag comes with a female minifigure with a selfie stick, and it builds a food cart.

The second bag builds a small, tight kitchen area. It has all of the necessary items, but it’s pretty crammed in considering the size of the restaurant. It’s hard to believe that they can serve the whole restaurant with this size of a kitchen. The minifigure is a chef. Not pictured, but there is a logo on the back of his shirt as well which is pretty cool. All of the restaurant staff have this back of torso printing.

Bag three assembles some stairs to the second level of the restaurant and adds some walls. It also comes with a female minifigure.

Bag four finishes up the front wall of the restaurant with doors and an aquarium. On the inside is a welcome stand for you to check into the restaurant. The minifigure included is a female girl.

Bag five tops off the first level and adds in some of the roof angles using angled plates with 1x2 bar tiles. Also, the wall behind the check-in stand is removable so you can get to the minifigure easily. The minifigure included is an older female on the restaurant staff with a tea pot.

Bag six adds in some details on the outside to include some awnings and a few stands selling items. The minifigure is an older female with some flowers.

Bag seven starts the second floor with the base, the start of the walls, and the stands where the table and chairs will go. The minifigure is a younger boy.

Bag eight adds in a bathroom. It’s nice that they thought of this for the restaurant. The minifigure is a male holding a karaoke machine microphone. You assemble the karaoke machine in the one corner and it has an extra microphone and a screen.

Bag nine builds up the wall with golden leaves and golden frogs for decoration. The windows are made using a golden fence on its slide. The minifigure is an older male with a camera.

Bag ten assembles the table and chairs. The chairs spin and so does the table. The table had a lot of food details which is a cool design idea. The outer roof design is included too which matches the first floor. The minifigure is a male waiter and he has a cart to serve food.

Bag 11 adds in the top floor with a table for 2, some flowers, and a heater. There are two minifigures who came for dinner together. The male has a scarf and flowers. The female has a winter hat on and is holding a smart phone.

Bag 12 finishes the set with food on the table, some fire crackers on the roof, lanterns hung up on the roof and on the front of the building, and then the restaurant sign on the corner of the building. The stickers on the sign are pretty big which wasn’t fun to put on. The minifigure is a dragon costume person.

Here’s the full set. It was a great build with a bunch of minifigures and some great parts. I’m a big fan and hope LEGO makes more like these. I’m not as big of a fan of the various decorative pieces they’ve done in recent years. My complaints on this one were too many stickers and numerous parts that don’t attach with studs. You just set them in a bowl or part.

We’ll see where LEGO takes this theme in the future. The 2025 sets have no minifigures. Will this be the trend?

Happy building!

Set Review - #41757-1: Botanical Garden - Friends

A Friends set… what??? This is the first one I’ve ever built ever so time for a review. #41757-1: Botanical Gardens was released on 1 June 2023 and as of today it’s retired. I caught it on sale before Christmas 2024 and picked up two to try and assemble a larger Botanical Garden instead of the expensive Ideas set. This one was $79.99 and had 1,072 pieces which worked out to $0.075 per piece. I got it for $65, but saw it for a bit cheaper before it retired. Now you’ll have to catch it on the secondary market and it’ll probably be more expensive. Sorry if you missed it.

The box is very bright and friendly with the Friends logo on the front and the set displayed. The set is listed as 12+ which I was surprised to learn that it was designed for an older age group. The back shows some of the plants represented in the set along with some of the build details.

The set contains seven parts bags, an envelope with the instructions and stickers, and then two tan plates (16x16 and 8X16).

Here are the instructions and stickers. 11 stickers isn’t too bad, but I’d always like fewer. These stickers fit well with the set and help to add to the details so I guess I can’t complain.

Bag one starts with the pond on the outside of the building. The pond has a lot of details with printed koi, two ducks, lily pads, some flowers, and a small stand on the outside that gives the details on the plants there. The hole on the outside will hold a tree later on in the build.

The second bag starts to build the indoor garden itself. Inside are some desert plants and a faucet to help water the plants. The tiles in the center are for a tree later in the build.

The third bag adds to the building and includes some additional exotic plants. It also adds in some windows along with some tiles as a walking path on the outside of the building.

The fourth bag attaches a sun roof covering some additional plants. The build so far is pretty good. It’s got some fun details and decent build techniques, but it’s not overly challenging.

The fifth bag adds the half dome on the top with some butterflies. There is a small area with some butterfly food and a fountain on the top level outside of the building.

Bag six adds a tree in the center of the structure that can grow up into the dome area.

Bag seven, the final bag, adds a cherry tree to the outside. The pink leaves and flowers are a nice pop of color with the white building in the background.

Here’s the final build. I’ve never built a Friends set before, but this one was much better than I expected. I enjoyed the build and for those of you MOC builders out there, it has some decent pieces to use. I’m not a fan of the mini dolls and chose not to include them. We’ll populate it with minifigures at a later date. The set was a bit expensive, but the price per piece wasn’t too bad. I am glad I got it at a discount.

As mentioned at the beginning, I purchased two at a discount. It actually worked out good as my kiddos each got to build one.

This was the final product. My kiddos and I teamed up to build at once so it got a little crowded, but we had fun expanding it and figuring out how to use all the pieces along with adding some extra pieces. It’s not the model you’d expect to see on an AFOL website, but we had a blast trying to merge the two and we have another building to add to a future city..

Does anyone else build with their kiddos like this? Any other sets we should try?

Happy building!

Set Review - #40746-1: Santa's Delivery Truck -

When I first saw set #40746-1: Santa’s Delivery Truck, I assumed it would be a Gift With Purchase set released along with #10339-1: Santa’s Post Office. I was wrong. This set is actually an item for sale on LEGO Shop @ Home (and I would assume at brand stores). It was released on 1 October 2024 and it contains 224 pieces. With a retail price of $19.99, it works out to $0.089 per piece. Not a bargain, but not a stellar deal either. If you read my review on the post office or if you’ve built it yourself already, then it’s clear to see how this set can go right along with it as a delivery vehicle.

The front of the box shows the full set and the back gives some details on the set. There is no theme to this set listed, but it seems to fit into the Seasonable Exclusive range.

The box contains five numbered small parts bags, an instruction booklet, a sticker sheet, and a 2x14 black plate. Of note, you can’t scan the instructions to collect 20 insider points. I’m not sure why not, but it’s disappointing you can’t collect that small extra perk.

There are five stickers in the set. Four are decorations for the back of the truck and one is the license plate which is also the set number.

The first bag assembles the base of the vehicle using the 2x14 black plate. The wheels will eventually be attached to the Technic pins. There is one minifigure in this set which is an older male mail carrier. He has glasses and a mustache. He is sporting the mail carrier torso similar to the Santa’s Post Office set. It would have been great if this set had an additional minifigure to make you feel like you were getting a bit more value, but you only get one. Or maybe an animal like a dog? Another complaint is that the elf doesn’t not sit in the vehicle due to the shorter legs. He has to stand to drive. It makes it look odd when you place the minifigure in the driver’s seat.

The second bag continues to build up the base. Nothing overly complicated here and I’m not sure why these parts couldn’t couldn’t have been in the previous bag.

Bag three adds the back of the vehicle where there is storage. The back gate moves up and down and the one side of the truck wall is on a hinge that you can swing out for access. You add stickers for some detail which are fine although they probably could have skipped the internal ones.

Bag four finishes the vehicle with the roof, a roof rack, hood ornament, and wheels. Additionally, one side of the vehicle has a lantern attached along with a shovel for digging out of the snow. The other side has a mail bag attached where you can insert a 1x2 printed tile.

Bag five is the final bag which builds a small Christmas tree and a number of brick built presents that you can transport in the back of the truck.

Overall, it’s a simple little build that goes great with the Winter Village set. I would have preferred it as a GWP instead of a $20 set. Back in the day, a set like this would have been $5 to $7 so it shows you how much inflation has eroded the purchasing power of our money if something this small is now $20. I bought this set with a few others to get a GWP. If you’re going to pick this one up, I’d look for an opportunity to get a cool GWP or double Insider points. I have not found it for sale outside of directly from LEGO so keep that in mind when shopping. I can’t say whether it will go on sale or not, but $4 to $5 off would be great.

Happy building!

Update - 2024 Campaign Results

As we previously reported, we raised $580 in 2024 and were able to give 43 sets to giveyourbricks.com.

Well, we got the results from giveyourbricks.com and they gathered 481 sets to give out to kids this year. They also sent along some pictures of kids getting sets as shown by the title and below.

We’re glad to have been able to help this great cause. Happy building!

Set Review - #80112-1: Auspicious Dragon - Chinese Traditional Festival

The Chinese Traditional Festival themed sets have been going for a few years now. These sets are only available for a year (usually). I’m not sure how popular they are or how well they sell but I enjoy building them. I’m late on this 2024 set, but #80112-1: Auspicious Dragon was released on 25 December 2023 in the US for $89.99. It contained 1,171 pieces which worked out to $0.077 per piece.

At the time of this post, it looks like it’s sold out so you’ll have to find it on the secondary market (sorry).

The front of the box shows the set along with the Spring Festival Logo. The back shows some additional details along with the dimensions of the set.

The box contains 10 parts bags and an instruction booklet. Despite a lot of pieces with different prints on them, there are no stickers. YAY!

Bags one and two assemble the base where the dragon sits. It is designed so that there are studs facing the outside so you can attach various components. Additionally, you add in some Technic pieces where the legs of the dragon will end up attaching.

Bags three and four continue with the base and add in more details along with the start of some of the clouds and sky. Bag four also includes the back right foot.

Bag five wraps up the base along with the sky, clouds, and cloud wisps. You also add in the other back leg and then one of the front legs. There are a bunch of gold pieces in this set if you are looking for those for MOC building.

Bags six and seven start to assemble the body of the dragon. You start with the neck and work your way back. I like the use of Nexo Knight shields with printed scales as the scales on the body. There was some good piece usage and intricate designs which made for a fun build experience for me.

Bags eight and nine continue with the body extending to the tail. The scales are done in a similar fashion as the neck and there are some more ball and joint connections to hold it together.

Bag ten wraps up the build with the head, remaining foot, and a sign attached to the base. It was a great build and I’m a fan of how the end product looks. I have no idea what the Chinese writing says, but it is a cool display piece. I saw this one on sale once, but it didn’t last long. I grabbed it during a GWP period at LEGO.com so I ended up paying full price. Usually these sets go on sale at the end of the year, but due to this ones popularity, it didn’t last long. I’m glad I got one before they were gone. Now I just have to figure out where to display it.

Happy building!

Fx Bricks - #8832 - 9V Compatible Metal Track

I’ve talked trains before and 9V rails. I have a whole bunch of curved track of the 9V variety, but not a lot of straight track. A number of years ago, I bought some from a now defunct vendor, but they weren’t so good and I never I got my full order before they shut down. Fx Bricks based in Canada took up the task and released their version and I finally tried some out.

If you look at the picture of the box below, there are numerous types of curves, new geography of switching tracks, and different lengths of straights. I decided to purchase the S32 straight track with the 32 representing 32 studs in length or two times the length of the standard LEGO straight track. A set of S32 track included eight pieces of track and cost $63 (US, not Canadian). I ordered four packages and the shipping came to $19 from Canada. The package shipped from somewhere near Ottawa and it only took a few days to arrive.

The order was well packed and the packaging for the track was pretty spiffy. The front shows the track and provides all of the details for what is in the box. The back shows all the different track sizes and provides some additional detail on the system Fx Bricks makes.

Opening the box reveals the tracks inside. From a first glance, they almost look like they are from LEGO. Each piece of track is separated with a cardboard end piece to prevent them from scratching each other during shipping. They are held in place well.

The studs on the track are stamped with Fx instead of Lego, but beyond that they look similar. I had no issues connecting the Fx Bricks track to any of the LEGO 9V track. The connections worked smoothly and when I hooked it up to a 9V regulator, I had no issues running 9V motors on the track.

It’s great to finally have a smooth working solution that is compatible with the old stuff and enables you to add onto your layouts with new stuff. I’m a fan! Props to Michael Gale for his work in making this happen.

Happy building!

Set Review - #21344-1: Orient Express - LEGO Ideas

I’m a big LEGO train fan, but sadly, LEGO has not released a lot of train sets geared towards adults as of late. On 1 December 2023, LEGO released Ideas set #21344-1: Orient Express which is set number 52 on the Ideas line. It contains 2,540 pieces and retails for $299.99. This works out to $0.118 per piece which is high and this set was met with a lot of negative responses due to the high cost. Also, the fan design and the LEGO Designer design have some big differences with the engine so there were many complaints there as well. Finally, the engine does not come motorized or with instructions on how to motorize the set. Numerous fans have posted instructions on how to motorize the set so don’t worry there.

I held off on purchasing until LEGO added a 20% discount during a double Insiders Point sale with a GWP. It’s still a bit expensive, but the discount, extra Insider Points, and GWP helped.

Onto the review…

The box shows the full set on the front with the Ideas and 18+ logos. I like how the greebling on the bottom of the box, the Orient Express logo on the box, and the stripes on the train all match with the LEGO gold color. The back gives another view of the train along with some views of the inside of the train cars.

The set contains 23 numbered parts bags, two bags without numbers, a cardboard envelope with instructions inside, and two small sticker sheets.

Here are the stickers. The one sheet has the silver/glossy stickers while the other has more colors. For the price of the set, it would have been great to have more prints, but it is what it is.

The first two bags assemble a base platform for you to display the train on. As a train fan, I have track and plan to put it there so these pieces aren’t necessary. I will take it apart and use the pieces elsewhere. I think they could have done without these pieces and saved us a few dollars on the cost of the set.

The second bag contained the first minifigure. She comes with a gold pen and an envelope along with an interesting hat piece with hair that I have not seen before.

Bags three and four begin to build the restaurant car. The cars are built with two large plates and then some additional smaller plates on the end. This differs from many train options where the cars are build on a standard LEGO train baseplate. This train is 8 studs wide though so the standard 6 stud wide base plate wouldn’t work with the design without modification.

Bag three comes with an older male minifigure who has a cane/walking stick.

Bags five and six add the ends of the car, doors, and then the table and drink serving area. While I’m not a fan of stickers, the stickers that add the wall designs are fun and do add to the look of the set. The designers were able to cram some good details into this car with the drinks, lamps, and various plates and cups.

Bag six adds a female minifigure who is a server on the train.

Bag seven adds the windows using a SNOT technique. The gold window frames are great and there is a new piece to help make the SNOT work. Bag eight adds the roof and the printed tiles on the sides with the stop names. It has been pointed out that there are some misspelled words that a non-native language speaker wouldn’t catch. Bad on LEGO for not getting it right, but I wouldn’t have known if it wasn’t pointed out to me.

Bag nine finishes the restaurant car. Its a great look with a lot of detail on the inside and outside. The wheels are not the standard LEGO train pieces so it’s cool to see a different design. The designers used ball joints to connect the cars. Maybe these are stronger than the magnets, but I find them really annoying to try and connect. I seem to knock the train off the track when I try to connect it and then when I put the train back on the track, I disconnect the ball joint. Maybe I’m just not coordinated?

Bag 10 starts the sleeping car. The base is built in a similar fashion as the previous car. I like the tile work on the floor of the one section of the car.

Bags 11 and 12 build up the sleeper car by adding in the end of the car in bag 11 using the same method as the restaurant car and then the roof in the same method as well. Bag 12 adds a small bathroom area with a sink and towel.

Bag 11 builds a small cart for carrying luggage.

I missed a picture as I was so into the build so this picture captures bags 13 and 14. Bag 13 adds in all of the details to this car to include a small bathroom with a lot of fixtures packed in, but not a lot of space for a minifigure. There is also a luxury bedroom with a couch and desk area. The other side of the car has bunk beds with a small table. There is a much less luxurious washroom in this end of the car. Also, it’s not clear how a minifigure would get from one end of the car to the other without going outside. Bag 14 adds the windows using the same method as the restaurant car.

Bag 15 adds the roof, the tiles with the stops along the way, and adds in a female minifigure in a dress.

Bag 16 adds the wheels and then the conductor minifigure.

Both bags are very similar to the previous car.

Bags 17 and 18 assemble the tender for holding the coal. The design is new as it is three sets of wheels and the center wheel set can move to adjust for curved rails. The center of the tender is empty in the end so not sure why this couldn’t have been a motor or battery box.

Bags 19 and 20 start to assemble the engine. Bag 19 includes the train engineer with a shovel to add in more coal. Bag 20 adds the funnel and a sticker for the engine number. It also adds a number of SNOT pieces so allow for future parts.

Bag 21 creates the curved shape of the engine and the re-colored Minion heads as boiler domes. I really like the dark blue color with the gold stripes used here.

Bag 22 adds in the cab section and the wheels along with the gearing. The gearing isn’t too hard to assemble as long as you really pay attention to the instructions and make sure they are offset by 90 degrees.

Bag 23 wraps up the build. I didn’t take a great picture here, but it adds the front of the engine, the buffers, and the front wheels (I’m sure these have a technical term that I’m missing).

A videographer minifigure is included with this final build.

Here’s the final train as assembled on the provided base track along with all of the minifigures. It’s a sharp looking train and the colors look great with the dark blue, gold, and light gray. There are a decent amount of minifigures and there is opportunity to add in more. The train would look great departing out of Studgate Station. The eight studs wide build helps to pack in some extra details and overall, I’m glad to see a train set geared towards adults that fits on L-gage track (yeah, I’m taking about the big, recently retired Hogwarts Express that didn’t fit and was a huge disappointment to the fan community). I think it’s a good selection of minifigures as well.

Enough nice things said… this one is too expensive! I’m glad to see LEGO listened and gave us more than one car, but $100 a car and then $100 for the engine and tender is too high. I think the sale price is pushing it a bit as well. I’m glad I had a GWP and Double Insider points to soften the blow. For the $300 retail price, the detailed engine from the fan designer should have been used and maybe even figure out how to motorize it.

LEGO, let’s see more train sets like this, but at a lower price point. Get rid of the base. We can use LEGO track. Keep them coming please!

Happy building!

The results are in... another successful campaign!!!

We did it. It was another successful campaign. This one was a bit different. I knew I was moving this year so we ran a campaign from the end of last year, took a break for five months during the move, and then came back strong to wrap up the campaign.

In case you forgot, we used 15% of our profits from the Bricks for Bricks Bricklink store and eBay store to give to giveyourbricks.com and the Chalk Guy LEGO Drive.

Our grand total for the year was…

$580

Thank you all so much for your patronage so we can support great causes. The Chalk Guy LEGO drive requested smaller sets so we shipped 43 sets to them to give to kids in hospitals. We were told they’d send us a picture so when we get it, we’ll add it to the post.

Stay tuned for our next campaign.

Happy building!