Set Review - #10331-1: Kingfisher - Icons

We’ve had a number of Botanicals sets and this one seems to be a test into a line of nature themed sets. #10331-1: Kingfisher was released on 1 February 2024 in the US for $49.99. It contains 834 pieces which works out to $0.06 per piece. The set has a base and then shows a Kingfisher leaping back out of the water with a fish in its mouth. In the background are a few cat tails. It’ll be interesting to see if this set spurs further nature sets or not. Another point to note is that this set is at a much lower price point than many of the multi-hundred dollar sets designed for adults. I was able to get it on sale for $40 so it’s great to see options at lower price points that still have a good build experience and are geared towards adults.

The box shows the front of the set on the front and then the other side of the set on the back. The back also has a picture of it on display and then a computer drawing of it with dimensions.

The set contains six numbered parts bags and an instruction booklet.

Bag one starts to build the base using some Technic pieces mixed with bricks to get the round shape on the base. It’s slightly repetitive, but not too bad as you just have to repeat each half and then 4 of the sides of the circle (if you can say a circle has sides).

The second bag adds in some clear and translucent plates to get the water and then the shape of the water moving as the bird zooms out. You also add in the Technic parts that hold up the bird and the bottoms of the plants.

Bag three adds the legs of the bird and the bottom of its torso. You can see the Technic part holding it up, but it doesn’t take away from the rest of the build which is good. The mix of colors is great too with the lighter blue, dark blue, and then the… um… what color is it? Brownish-orange?

Bag four builds one of the wings. There is no possible movement in this set as the wing is fixed in place. The wing has a main section and then each of the outer feathers are attached separately. The connection to the main part of the body is pretty seamless and there aren’t any major gaps on the bottom.

Bag five adds the other wing. It’s a mirror image of the previous built side. I split the build up with my kiddos so it wasn’t too repetitive for me, but it could be if you build it yourself and don’t want to repeat similar steps. This one is locked in place as well so no movement, but you get the pose of the bird leaping out of the water.

Finally is bag six with the head and then plants in the back. The beak is a rubberized piece that might be from Jurassic Park sets… maybe? The fish inside the beak doesn’t exactly look like a fish, but by knowing what the build it, you get the idea. The head is also fixed in place so you have to live with it’s position or try to adjust it with different pieces. The plants in the back are a nice addition and it would be cool to add a whole scene on your own if you wanted to. As mentioned, I’ll be curious to see if we get more nature themed sets similar to this one in the future. I enjoyed this one and had fun building it with my kiddos. We have it on display in our house for now and it’s a cool little set to have out there. At the $40 price point I picked it up for, it wasn’t bad, but it’s also not a licensed product so I’m sure there’s plenty of profit baked in for LEGO.

What are your thoughts on this one? Do you want to see more like it? Or should LEGO just stick to Botanicals and leave the animals to the Creator 3-in-1 line?

Happy building!

Set Review - #60439-1: Space Science Lab - LEGO CITY - Space

I was a big M-Tron, Blacktron 2, Space Police, and Classic Space fan back in the day. It was fun to see a re-boot of the Space theme in the CITY line last year. I’ve been waiting for sales before jumping in. This one is #60439-1: Space Science Lab. It is a set that can be connected to others in the theme to make a larger space base. It was released on 1 April 2024 in the US for $34.99. It contains 560 pieces which works out to $0.062 per piece. I got it on sale at Target for just under $25 after sales tax so I can’t complain.

The box has the set on the front with the CITY and SPACE logos. The back shows that you can open it up, some play features and the potential connection between set #60434-1.

Sorry, I picked a bad place to take this picture. If you can see it with the rug in the background, there are four numbered parts bags and then a bag with the top dome window pieces. There is also an envelope with the instructions.

I’m not sure why, but there are four instruction booklets for this small set. Maybe it’s so kids/families can build together? Each booklet does not require the more than one parts bag to build it and they are all assembled at the end.

There is a small sticker sheet in this set. I’m not a fan of stickers, but I’m sure if the parts were printed, it would have made this set more expensive so we’ll live with them..

The build starts with a minifigure who is in a wheel chair. I question the realism of it in today’s world, but for a fictitious space world, this is great inclusivity. The minifigure has a small transport mechanism to roll up onto to get around.

Bag one also includes the first section of the lab’s wall. As shown, the outside includes one of the trans-purple “power packs” and then a printed 2x2 tile with the new space logo. This section also has a door that you can pull up to let a minifigure go in/out. There is no air lock so maybe it’s an emergency exit. The inside of this section is very plain. The walls have a 2x2 tile on either side with a sticker showing various made up screens. The top adds the translucent dome piece that is similar to the clear one found in #41757-1: Botanical Garden.

The second bag assembles another wall section. This one has an airlock piece and connects to the other space sets here. There is a door that goes over it if you’re keeping it separate. On the inside you assemble an alien plant form that grows inside the dome with some weird structures and some frog pieces.

The third bag adds another minifigure. This one is a female space minifigure. She comes with an air pack of sorts. The wall section build here has some living space with a bed, cabinet, cup for drinking beverages, a hoop for maybe hanging your… uh… brick towel, and then the wall by the bed has a 2x2 tile with a sticker showing a soccer match.

Bag four includes a fun little space alien. It’s like a space baby only slightly taller I think. It also has a helmet so maybe this science lab is on a planet that is not its home.

This portion of the structure looks like the science lab part with some research looking equipment. The wall also includes another air lock that could be used for connections to other structures and it has another power pack included.

Here is the final build. When all closed up, it is a structure that could fit on a planet, but you can open it up and spread it out to play inside each one of the areas. There aren’t a ton of details here which is disappointing, but it opens up possibilities if you plan to add in some of your own parts to beef up the lab.

Overall, the build isn’t too challenging, but there are some fun pieces and I enjoy the new orange color. I’m pleased with the discount I got and there are some good pieces for MOC builders… especially the dome pieces. If you were a fan of the old space sets, I think these versions are worth checking out. Look for another good sale and give it a shot. Worse case you get some fun pieces for MOCing and a little alien minifigure.

Happy building!

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!