Set Review - #71018 - Series 17 Collectible Minifigures

After the LEGO Batman Movie collectible minifigures, it was good to get back to another series of original designed collectible minifigures.  Series 17 was released on 1 May 2017.  Oddly enough on the first day of the release, you could only purchase 5 at a time.  The next day you could purchase up to 32.  The price has held at $3.99 for a while now (I believe Simpsons Series 1 was the last set at the $2.99 price point).  This series contains 16 minfigures like the previous series versus 20 from Batman and 18 from Disney.  So let's get into the review of the minifigures.

I believe the last male surfer minifigure was from series 2.  This one has a wet suit, some facial hair, and a good blond hair piece for his head.  To me what stands out for this figure is the board.  The shark mouth on the board is an awesome design in my opinion.  It's a lot better than a lot of the plain boards of the past.  For reference, the Series 2 minifigure had a board with a palm tree and sunset on it.

Oddly enough, the Circus Strongman has an equivalent in series 2 as well, a weightlifter.  To be fair this one has a circus theme versus the sole lifting focus as the one in series 2.  The mustache in this one is a nice touch and the weight has a 100 label on it versus the weight lifter's plain weights.

The Gourmet Chef is different from most LEGO minifigure chefs.  The hat does not rest dead center on the head as it is crooked to the side and shows the woman's hair.  Also the whisk is new (I think) and the pie has strawberries printed on top.  This one could go well with the bakery in Assembly Square or the Parisian Restaurant.

From my NLS, the Corn Cob guy is "made by his mustache."  Without it, this one would be rather plain.  While there has been numerous minifigures dressed as animals, this is the second as a fruit/vegetable.  The first was banana guy in series 16.  I'm looking forward to seeing what other types of foods LEGO comes up with next for minifigures of the future.  

The Veterinarian contains a rabbit at the smaller scale of pets.  Originally dogs were much larger and have since shrunk similar to the one with the dog show judge in series 16.  The minifigure comes with blue hands (presumably wearing gloves, a name tag on her pants, and with a stethoscope around her neck.  

The Hot Dog Man is different than the hot dog man from series 13.  This one is a vendor selling a hot dog in a bun and a drink.  The minifigure comes with a tray and he is wearing an apron and the hat seen at some of the old fashioned fast food restaurants out there.  

Butterfly Girl looks like many of the little girls I see walking around these days only she into butterflies versus princesses.  The wings, face and hair decorations, tank top with the butterfly, and flowers all fit in with the over-the-top ways I have seen little kids walking around today.

The Roman Gladiator fits the theme of numerous other collectible minifigures to include the Roman Emperor from series 9 and the Roman Commander from series 10.  This one has a golden trident as a weapon, some brown gloves, and some rockin' abs.  

In my opinion, the Connoisseur should be called "French guy".  Not sure why he isn't, but whatever.  He apparently is a connoisseur of bread that is 2/3s his size.  He also has a bulldog type dog similar in size to the rabbit that the veterinarian has.

The battle dwarf is a newer design.  He's not really a Lord of the Rings type, but he is ready to kick some butt.  He comes with an ax and then a hammer with the drawing of a boar-like animal on it.  His beard is big and bright red as is his mohawk-like red hairdo.  

The Retro Spaceman is right out of the... is it the 70s?  Earlier?  Do kids these days even know what a retro spaceman is or was this minifigure solely build for AFOLs?

Speaking of kids not knowing where the reference comes from, do they know what this Yuppie minifigure is and when cell phones were that size?  The shades are pretty cool and I think the printed cheese slope is awesome.

Series 15 had a spaceman and series 17 has a Rocket Boy dressed up as a rocket.  I like the "kid drawn" classic space flag and the costume rivals some of the best seen at Halloween time.  I think this one is the best in the set, but that's just me.

The Dance Instructor is straight out of the 1980s.  The head band and outfit definitely come from that decade.  The water bottle is a new LEGO printed design with the H2O symbol.  And 1, and 2...

When I think of elves, I more often think of the small people that work for Santa Claus (versus the Will Ferrell movie).  Elf Girl Is clearly not one of those as she is the standard minifigure size and has a large sword and shield.  She is ready to take someone out.

The highwayman was quite possibly the most talked about minifigure in the set.  When LEGO announced that series 17 was coming out, they listed this one as a "mystery minifigure."  It existed as a black outline as it does on the minifigure packets.  In reading some of the other LEGO fan sites I tend to agree that I don't get LEGO's marketing strategy.  It was very strange in my opinion.  What was so special about this minifigure to hide it?  Don't get me wrong, it's cool with the cape, scarf over the bottom of the face, 2 pistols, and tri-corner hat, but beyond that I'm not really sure what LEGO was going for.  

So there is my take on Series 17.  Another great, original series in my opinion.  Scoop them up now before they go away and the prices go up on the secondary market.

Set Review - #10255 - Creator Expert - Assembly Square (Modular Building) - Part 3

Part 1 of the review        Part 2 of the review

It was a challenge, but I managed to finish the build before moving.  Here is the rest of the review...

The fourth set of bags contains 5 parts bags.  It includes the second floor build above the bakery and flower shop which consists of the dentist's office and photographer's office.  Below is the complete version from the front.  

The dentist's office is impressively full of details.  The chair, light, and trays for the dentist to use all look similar to many dental facilities.  I don't know about some of the tools that he has to use, but I guess they weren't going to make special tools just for this set.  

The photographer has a small shop attached to the dental office and he shares a waiting room with the dentist.  The camera itself is very old looking, but is a great design of an old camera by LEGO bricks.  There is a photographer minifig (is this the first mustache in a modular?) and then you can see the photograph 2x2 tile on the wall.  There is also a white background for taking photos.  The box shows the ballerina figure (shown later) posing on it.

The fifth set of bags contains 7 parts bags.  As can be seen below, this completes the floors above the coffee shop.  It includes a music studio/store, the dance studio, and then the top of the building.

The second floor is the music shop.  It contains a counter with cash register and then some instruments you can buy to include a drum set, saxophone, acoustic guitar, and an electric guitar.  The store looks a little bare, but I'm sure you could MOC up some good additional things to fill it up the store like records or other instruments.

The third floor is the dance studio.  It contains a bar, mirror (similar to the barber shop from the detective's office), and piano with a seat to play.  Beyond that, there isn't much detail which is okay in my opinion.  The dance studio also has a clear door that opens up to a small balcony which can be seen in the picture on the bottom left below.

To roof of the 3 story building in Assembly Square deserves some mention.  The design is fairly simple, yet it comes across as very detailed and architectural (If that's the right word to describe it).  The designers used a piece new to me that I found pretty cool.  Brickset says it appears in 6 sets so apparently I'm not up on my new pieces.  

The sixth and final set of bags contains 7 parts bags.  It completes the top floor of the right side building, the fountain, and lamp posts.  To start off, the top floor is an apartment for a LEGO fan.  The instructions show a female minifigure with a baby minfigure.  You can decide whether those are the only 2 occupants or who the true LEGO fan is in that apartment.  The apartment contains an interesting design for a couch that folds out to be a bed as well.  There is a small kitchen and toilet in a room too.  In terms of LEGO, there is a table with a train display (and a Horizon Express?), a box for the cafe corner, an Eiffel Tower, and a few others I'll let you figure out on your own if you get the set.  

The back of the set shows the outdoor patio area with a grill/cooking area, seating, and a plant that has seen better days.  

The roof over the apartment has another simple, but cool design which includes a spire and even a white chicken.  I was disappointed in the roof over the outside patio area as it contains 2 BURPs (Big Ugly Rock Pieces).  I thought that for a Creator Expert modular building and for the 10th anniversary set they would come up with some great design similar to what was done in the Parisian Restaurant.  Oh well.  It still looks okay, just a disappointment that it is such a big piece.  

Last up is the fountain and lights.  The lights are similar to others from other modular sets.  The fountain is a nice touch to the square.  

Overall it is another amazing build.  I wish I had all of my modulars built so I could add this one to the mix and take a picture.  In my opinion, the Creator Expert team did an outstanding job putting this one together.  I like the use of some of the colors and techniques from previous modulars and a few of the fan references like the AFOL apartment.  While this set is expensive, I found it to be worth the price (even if I used a lot of VIP points).  The build was exceptional and challenging, the types of pieces and colors were fantastic, and the design will go great in many CITY scenes.  Happy building!

Set Review - #10255 - Creator Expert - Assembly Square (Modular Building) - Part 2

See part 1 of the review here

See part 3 of the review here

Assembly Square is slightly different from previous modular building sets.  There is a separate box inside the main box that contains bags numbered four through six.  The main box has bags one through three and the base plates.  The instructions are in a separate package, but there is not cardboard backing to it.  To be fair the book is quite thick so I don't think it will fold up during shipment.  Has anyone had this issue yet?  Also, no stickers.  YAY!

To start off, there are three bags labeled #1.  The first part of the build is uses the 2 base plates.  One base plate is the standard green 32x32 studs and the other is 16x32 studs in green as well. I haven't seen this one used in a while, but I do have some from when I was a kid.  Like the other modulars, this one contains a piece separator.  Here is the final build for the first set of bags..  

The designs for the sidewalks and floors are pretty intricate.  The addition of some angled tiled pieces in light gray and dark gray help to make it more detailed too.  The addition of some 1x2 plates with one stud help with play-ability later on when the various stores are finished and minifigs need to stand.

The carriage is part of the first set of bags.  It's a simple design as can be seen here.  

Next up is the second set of bags which includes 7 bags of bricks.  This includes the bakery and the flower shop along with a baker minifig and a minifig to work in the flower shop.  

First off... the bakery.  The left picture shows the front.  I like the use of the garage door pieces for the front window.  The design to add them in is pretty easy, but not something I would have thought of on my own.  Go Creator Expert team!  You can see the wedding cake in the front with the "wedding couple" on top.  The bakery has some great details to includes some cakes and other pastries on display throughout the store.  It also has an oven to cook the various items, but really no area to bake in.  I get it... not a lot of space and the designers did what they could given the space they had.

The flower shop is next and I included a top view here.  It is very detailed with various sizes of flowers.  As you can see, there is a bird and I think it is the first time there is a bluish-yellow bird.  Also, the design of the flowers that can be handed from one minifig to another is a first that I recall from any sets.  In this picture they are located right behind the minifig in a stand on the wall.

Above are pictures of the front and back.  The flower shop is actually completed in the next set of bags.  You can see the front of the bakery a little better with the pretzel on the front of the store and then I am also a fan of the bottom part of the half circle that will be completed in a later build as part of the floors above the bakery.  The awnings on the flower shop are fun shades of pink/purple too which help the store to standout.

The cafe makes up bag 3 with 4 bags of bricks.  The cafe is chuck full of some great details.  As you can see above, it includes a female barista and then a small dog.  Above and to the left is the front and exterior.  There is a fun 3D logo above the door for the coffee brand.  The steam coming out of the cup is a genius design.  The chairs on the outside are much fancier than the ones from the original Cafe Corner back in the day.  Inside, there's a couch by a table with some chairs and some fun lamps and various foods on the tables.  The barista has a small work station and cash register.  It definitely looks like a cozy place to sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee.

Next are pictures of the front and back of the set after the 3rd set of bags are done.  The left shows the completion of the flower shop to include the 3D flowers and some additional design to the front facade.  You can see on the right that the back of the flower shop has translucent green and clear pieces to let some natural light into the store.  You can see the window placement on the cafe and the green plant growing up the back of the cafe as well.  

So far so good.  No complaints yet.  Onto the rest of the build...

See part 3 of the review here

Set Review - #10255 - Creator Expert - Assembly Square (Modular Building) - Part 1

As an AFOL this is one of my favorite times of year, the arrival of the new modular building set.  Released on 2 January 2017, #10255 is the tenth year anniversary set for the modular building series.  The cost is $279.99 in the US for 4,002 pieces.  That works out to be $0.07 per piece.  This is typical for most of these sets in terms of price per piece, but 4,002 pieces is quite a bit more than usual.  There are 13 sets in all over the past 10 years and I am lucky enough to have 11 of them.  I'm missing The Green Grocer and Market Street.  

This will be a multi-part review as it will take me a while to build this.  For now, I have taken pictures of the box (for some real excitement).  So let the building begin!!!!!!!!

In case you missed it, here is the LEGO designer video.

See part 2 of the review here.

See part 3 of the review here

Set Review - #60150 - Pizza Van

It's been a while since I've reviewed a LEGO CITY set.  If you've read some of my past posts, I have mentioned before that I am a CITY and TRAIN fan at heart.  It's been a while since I've had the space and time to build a large setup with trains going around a city, but that's where my LEGO passion lies.  Someday I plan to have a large space where I can build a big display.  In the meantime, I will pick up sets here and there to expand my scene-to-be.  

The CITY theme is geared towards kids.  The boxes say for ages 5 to 12 so clearly I am not the appropriate audience, but #60150 - Pizza Van is a set outside of the ordinary.  Typically CITY goes through sub-themes to include Police, Fire Fighters, Airport, and a few others that change out every now and then.  #60150 was released on 27 November 2016 at a retail price of $19.99 from LEGO (in the USA).  It contains 249 pieces so that makes it $0.08 per piece.  I picked the set up at 20% off for $15.99 at Amazon.com so $0.064 per piece (WOOHOO!).

Here is the box.  Nothing special or out of the ordinary here.

Here are the contents.  It contains 2 bags of parts, 2 instruction booklets, and a sticker sheet (that were shoved into the box).

Bag 1 contains the minifigures.  It has a male figure who is the chef and a female figure who could be a customer or the delivery driver or a customer who stores the pizza on their scooter.  The female figure has hair and then a helmet for riding the scooter.

Bag one comes with a table and umbrella for figs to stand and eat in the shade, the scooter with a pizza box, and the pizza.  There is one full pizza and then 2 pieces of pizza.  I'm not sure if this is the first set with the pizza pieces, but I think it's a great addition to LEGO's stash of bricks.  I remember growing up as a kid and having almost no options for food.  LEGO has come a long way with the various food options.  Pizza was one of the first that I can recall and now we have individual slices besides the entire pie.  

Onto the build.  Nothing extraordinary here.  It's a simple build of a vehicle without a ton of intricate parts.  The instructions are obviously not meant for AFOLs, but for kids as it goes one piece at a time.  I had it assembled quickly.

Bag 2 finishes up the set.  

Should you get the set?  If you're a CITY and TRAIN nerd like me, then it is definitely a different piece to add to your display.  With some of the recent park themed sets, it could be good to have a food truck at your park.  In my opinion it's not a bad set to give to kids either.  A lot of play options with the set alone between the scooter, truck, and food serving options.  As always with some of the simple CITY sets, they left a lot of options for making changes to include swapping pieces to adjust the color scheme or maybe changing up the front of the truck which to me isn't that impressive.

What do you think?

Happy building!

Set Review - The LEGO Batman Movie Collectible Minifigures - #71017

Don't worry, there are no spoiler alerts in this review.  I'm writing this on 18-19 January 2017 and the movie is not out yet.  I haven't seen any sneak previews or been given any special looks either.  So don't worry if you're reading this before the movie is out.  These minifigures were released on 1 January 2017 and unlike previous sets, there are 20 total.  The LEGO company has upped the number you can buy from Shop @ Home to 40.  The price is still $3.99 each and I don't see this being lowered anytime soon.  

I placed 3 orders of 40 each so 120 total (yikes!).  This also included a polybag (#30524 The Mini Bat Wing) in each order.  In the first 2 orders I got 13 of the 20 and then got the remaining 7 in order #3.  Thankfully, I have a store for the items that I got duplicates of.  You can get them at my BrickLink store here.  Here are the minifigs:

Vacation Batman

Lobster-Lovin' Batman

Arkham Asylum Joker

Fairy Batman

I have only seen the previews, but these minifigures are hilarious.  The inner tube with a duck?  Who comes up with that?  Batman in a tutu?  Now that is funny.  

King Tut

Red Hood

Glam Metal Batman

March Harriet

Glam Metal Batman... another humorous version of Batman.  The other figures in this row are interesting, but not having seen the movie, I'm not sure how they fit in.  Red Hood has the standard minifigure head underneath his "hood."  March Harriet has the same helmet piece as bunny suit man, but in brown.  Has there been that weapon before in another set yet?

Mime

Catman

Calculator

Eraser

Originally I thought Catman was a take on the Wolverine as the claws are similar to Wolverine's claws.  The others are some interesting characters.  Calculator has "07734" on his helmet shield which is "hELLO" on a calculator.  Nice.  Eraser has an interesting head which is very different from the standard minifigure head.

Dick Grayson

Pink Power Batgirl

Clan of the Cave Batman

Barbara Gordon

From the trailers, it looks like Dick is an orphan that Batman adopted.  I'm not sure what else he does or why he needs shark repellent.  

Commissioner Gordon

Nurse Harley Quinn

Orca

Zodiac Master

And the last 4...  Nurse Harley Quinn and Commissioner Gordon only showed up single in the 120 that I ordered.  I wonder if they will be the hardest to find of if it was just my experience.  Orca looks a lot like Shark Suit Guy from series 15 only it's an orca.  Also the minifigure head is just the mouth of the orca versus a face of the figure wearing the suit.  

I'm not going to lie, without seeing the movie it is hard for me to get excited on some of these minfigures.  The Batman versions are the better ones in my opinion.  What do you think of these figures?  Let me know in the comments below.

Happy building!

Set Review - Spider-Man: Web Warriors Ultimate Bridge Battle - #76057 - Marvel Super Heroes

The first set review of 2017 is not a 2017 set.  Sorry.  It instead is a Marvel Super Heroes set featuring Spider-Man.  Specifically it is #76057, Spider-Man: Web Warriors Ultimate Bridge Battle.  Released on 1 August 2016 in the US, it has 1092 pieces and at a retail price of $99.99 that works out to be $0.092 per piece.  Not too bad considering it comes with 7 minifigures.  I scored the set for $58.99 on Amazon.com during the weeks leading up to Christmas and will gladly take the ~40% off deal that I got (that's $0.054 per piece).  Besides the great deal I got, I also was intrigued by the bridge as I don't recall any other sets that come with a larger sized bridge.  Onto the review...

Similar box design to other Super Heroes sets.  The back shows the play features and all of the different moving parts.  

Set contents are 8 parts bags, 2 large 8x16 tiles, and a package with the instruction book, stickers, and a comic book.  As a note, I will not be putting the stickers on this set after I build it.  The plan is to build it, do the review, sell the minifigs, and keep the parts (in my opinion, there are some good ones).

Bag one contains Spider-Man, the Green Goblin, the Green Goblin's Glider, and one of the bridge piers with some webs containing Spider-Man's camera.   It also contains a piece separator which are becoming very standard with the larger sets.

The next build is the second pier.  It is the lair of Kraven the Hunter and includes his minifigure.  It also includes Aunt May and a small 4-wheeler type police vehicle.  I'm not sure what the purpose is as it doesn't include a police minifigure.  

The 2 bags that make up the third part of the build start the span of the bridge.  It also includes Spider-Girl.  Not much detail in the build yet, but you can see the start of where the bridge breaks apart.

Bag 4 adds more detail to the bridge and adds the 2 piers.

Bag 5 adds the Scorpion, starts adding to the tower, and adds a taxi.  The taxi has a number of stickers that I didn't apply, but the outside doesn't look too bad.  The inside leaves a bit to be desired as it only fits one minifigure... which isn't included.  

Bag 6 includes Scarlet Spider and finishes the majority of the tower.

Bag 7 wraps up the build with the final part of the bridge (signs fall apart and flames), the rest of the tower (the wall pieces can fall out), and the suspension cables.

I'm not going to lie, I purchased the set because it was 40% off and as a City fan, I was interested in the bridge.  So my take on the bridge... the piers leave a bit to be desired.  I realized they were developed for play and not for design, but I think they could easily be modified to make them more realistic looking. The bridge span, despite the play features, is built pretty good.  The edges of the bridge have some detail and then the bridge surface itself is done well.  The only thing I would have done differently would be to expand the width of the bridge.  Right now, you can fit only two, 4-stud wide vehicles on the bridge at a time.  I would increase it or perhaps add a second span similar to the Brooklyn Bridge in NY.  The tower has some good detail as well and could be changed to get rid of some of the play features.  I would be interested in trying to modify the bridge so a train could fit on it.  

The set itself... for a kid it isn't too bad... 7 minifigures and a bunch of play features.  The build isn't too challenging although I didn't apply the stickers.  It's retail price isn't too bad, but if you can catch it on sale again, then go for it.  For the adult fan, my opinion is to only go for it if they are big into Spider-Man or you get a great price.  I'm happy to have reviewed it and then to take it apart and use the pieces for other builds as there are some great pieces.  I really like the 1x2 bricks with the layered brick tile.  There are a number of other great parts too.

What are your thoughts?  

Happy Building!

Set Review - Caterham Seven 620R - #21307 - LEGO Ideas

I am not a car buff by any means, but or some reason some of the recent LEGO car sets have called to me.  You can see my reviews of #10248 Ferrari F40 and #42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS for some of the other car sets.  

Onto this set.  To be honest, I've never heard of Caterham until the LEGO set came out and I had to look it up.  There are some cool videos on You Tube about them if you are like me and want to check them out.  This set is Ideas set number 14 and was released on 1 October 2016.  It retails for $79.99 and has 771 pieces or $0.104/piece which is right around average.

Here is the box.  The box is similar to other LEGO Ideas sets in terms of how it opens and it shows a bunch of views of the model.

The set contents are 6 bags which are numbers 1 through 3 with 2 bags for each number.  There is also an instruction booklet with the instructions and info on the builders.  Wait, what was that?  Did you catch that?  No stickers!!!  Woo-hoo!!!  How awesome is that?  There are a number of pieces with printed on logos and designs, but no stickers to fight with.  YES!!!

The first 2 bags are the main part of the body and then the start of the rear suspension.  Not a ton of detail yet.

The next 2 bags have both of the axles in the car and a good portion of the body.  You can see the disc rotors for the wheels that are printed on and some pieces that have printed logos.

The final 2 bags finish up the model. You can see the pieces that can be used to put the vehicle up to display it or to show it off a bit.  The details on the hood include some pieces that have printed on colors.  The black with the yellow has a sharp contrast that helps to make it stand out.  Some have complained about the color choices, but I think the black and yellow are a good choice.

Here are 2 looks of the vehicle... one of the front and one of the back.  I didn't take pictures of the removable parts, but the hood comes off and you can take the trunk off to put the vehicle jacks into the trunk.  There are some good uses of different building techniques to make the curves so it's not just a model where you stack bricks one on top of the other.  The only complaint with the build I have is of the driver and passenger side mirrors and the rear view mirror.  Either I put it on wrong or it just doesn't stay well.  

Overall what do I think?  It's a good model, fairly quick build, but quite detailed.  There are some newer piece types and the lack of stickers is awesome.  Price is slightly high, but on average with the price per piece.   I think it will be a good addition to my other cars in the collection and I'd love to get a ride in one some day.  If you have the chance to get the model, go for it.  If you can get it during double VIP points or some other promotion, then even better!

See my reviews of other LEGO Ideas sets:

-The Big Bang Theory - #21302
-Wall-E - #21303
-The Beatles Yellow Submarine - #21306

For Sale:
Back to the Future - Delorean Time Machine - #21103
$90 (w/ free shipping

For Sale:
Research Institute - #21110 - Brick Classifieds
$45 (w/ free shipping)

Set Review - The Beatles Yellow Submarine - #21306 - LEGO Ideas

"In the town where I was born lived a man who sailed to sea..."  Okay so I was not around when this song was released by the Beatles in the 1960s.  I also never saw the movie... although I have seen "Help" and "A Hard Day's Night."  I was intrigued to see this set released as the 15th Ideas set and as a fan of the Beatles, I decided to pick up a set.  So if you're interested in the set, but not so sure if you should get one or not, here's a review that will hopefully help.

The set was released in the US on 1 November 2016.  The price is $59.99 in the US for 550 pieces ($0.109 per piece... just about average).  Here is the box:

It is very colorful like the cartoon that was Yellow Submarine.  The front is the standard display of the set and it has the Ideas logo with the #15.  The back shows the functions of the set.  The box itself is re-closable (is that a word?) like the other Ideas sets.

The contents are 5 numbered bags and an instruction booklet.  The instruction booklet includes a page about the fan designer and the LEGO designer.

Bag 1 starts off with the bottom of the submarine.  Nothing too special about that part of the build.  As you can see it also comes with a brick separator.  Finally, there's a stand for the minifigures. The stand has 3x4 plates similar to the ones that come with collectible minifigure sets, but these are light gray.  This bag contains the John Lennon minifigure.

Bag 2 includes Paul McCartney and some additional parts to the submarine.  There  are some new designs on 1x1 tile circles that haven't appeared before.  Other than that, nothing new yet.

Bag 3 adds George Harrison and more to the submarine to include the front.

Bag 4 adds in Ringo Starr.  It also adds the rudder and twin screws (propellers).  The top of the craft starts too and adds some new pieces to include 1x1 tile quarter circles.  I have never seen them before, but I could have missed them previously.  Definitely a cool piece that I could see used elsewhere like trying to build signs or letters.

Here is the final build.  I like the use of the hot dog pieces to make the railing on the top of the sub.  The periscopes are fun too.  The build includes a stand for the submarine as well for display purposes.  Finally it adds (and I had to look this up) Jeremy Hillary Boob Ph.D. 

Here is a closer look at the minifigs.  All of the minifigures have 2 faces.  Most of them look similar... mouth open or closed, but the eyes are mostly the same.  I'm not sure if the hair matches them perfectly, but close enough.  I had to look up what they are holding.  Here's what I found: John - telescope, Paul - 1x2 ‘love’ tile, Ringo - round 2x2 ‘half a hole’ tile, George - submarine motor and Jeremy - Apple

Overall... I'm not sure it was worth the purchase.  I enjoy listening to the Beatles and their music, but I don't know if this set was worth it or if I'm a big enough fan to want to show this off.  The good news is that the pieces are pretty good so you can always build something else or add to a MOC.  If you're on the fence on whether to purchase this set, wait to see if you can get a discount on Amazon.com or at Walmart.  Or maybe wait for a double VIP point month.

Set Review - Snowglobe - #40223

Christmas is a little less than a month away and LEGO sales and deals have hit the markets.  One of the ways the LEGO Company increases sales is by offering exclusive Christmas themed sets.  See my review of last year's sets here.  This year one of those sets is the Snowglobe (#40223).  It was available to VIP members in the US about a week prior to the Brick Friday sales for orders over $99 and then it was open to all for orders over $99 on the Brick Friday weekend.  It contains 215 pieces and like most years the price on the secondary markets goes up pretty quickly.  I ordered a few things in the week prior to Brick Friday and received a set so here is my review.

The container is similar to previous years.  The front has a limited edition stamp in the upper right corner.  The back just shows that it has a drawer you can open.  Magically, the round 1x1 tile pieces are floating in the air.

Set contents are 3 bags of bricks and an instruction booklet.

Onto the build... it starts off with the drawer portion of the set.  The 1x2 bricks with the brick-like tile design on the side in the brick red color are new (to me).  I think it's a great color and I hope to see it more often in more sets.  Has it appeared elsewhere?

The next picture adds the Santa figure.  I haven't compared him to the Santa figures of the past, but I think it's pretty good. The hat design seems new, but the beard is the same as previous Santas.

Here's the final set with the globe portion complete.  The Christmas tree inside fits nicely.  It doesn't have a lot of detail, but looks decent considering the space available.  The greenery on the top doesn't do much for me, but they had to do something on the top.  The picture on the right shows the drawer open.  I don't know what you'd want to put in there, but it's a nice part of the design.

Normally now is the time that I either recommend or tell you to avoid buying a set.  I can't do that this time because the set isn't available anymore.  If you want to buy it, you have to check out the secondary market.  I haven't looked to see what the prices are, but my guess is around $30.  While I'm no expert, my recommendation would be to wait for Christmas to be over and to look to buy this set in the summer when there probably isn't a lot of interest.  Usually the prices go back up and they start to move faster before Christmas so pick one up before next Christmas if you're interested in one.

Happy Building!