Set Review - #75945-1: Expecto Patronum - Harry Potter

We’re into the second year of Harry Potter sets that started in 2018 and here is another one I built for a review. #75945-1: Expector Patronum was released on 1 July 2019. It’s cost is $19.99 and contains 121 pieces and 4 minifigures. It works out to $0.165/piece. This is a bit high in my opinion, but I purchased the set at 20% off on Amazon.com in the US. This is still a bit high, but better. I suspect at the end of this set’s life, it will be in the 30% to 40% discount range.

Here is the box. The front shows the set while the back shows the “action” features.

The set contains 4 parts bags, an instruction booklet, a package with the patronum, and the capes for the dementors.

Here’s the build… at such a small set, there isn’t much to it. There are 2 “trees” that aren’t very exciting. In fact, they are pretty lame. Other than having some green branches, they don’t look much like trees at all. Having seen the movie, I get what they are trying to portray, but what is the point of this set? Is it just a minifigure pack?

Here are the minifigures. The Dementors are pretty cool looking and might be one of the reasons to pick up the set. Harry has mid-size legs. Not the non-movable kid legs and not the full size legs either. Sirius has his prison uniform. They both have dual sided faces. Harry has a wand.

The other reason to get this set is the Patronum which is a deer (watch the movie or read the book if you want to know more). It’s a translucent blue deer and has sparkles inside. The set includes a 1x2 brick, a 1x2 plate, and then a round saucer type piece in the same consistency. If you are looking for pieces like this, then it might be worth it to get the set. I highly recommend picking this set up at a discount. Look for more than 20% off if possible. You might have to wait until this time next year for bigger discounts, but it might be worth the wait.

What are your thoughts?

LEGO® Exhibition Visit - Kloster Machern, Bernkastel-Kues, Germany - Part 2

Here’s the second part of my visit to the LEGO® Exhibition in Bernkastel-Kues, Germany. If you missed the first part, you can see it here.

Star Wars did not have a big representation at this show, but there was a hangar of ships on display. Next to it was what looked like Lego Digital Designer and the build of the MOC on a computer screen.

Some nostalgia for you… here is a large 12V train set up with some of the old LEGO sets. It might not be some of the massively detailed train displays you see LUGs set up, but it was still cool to see the 12V trains chugging around the track.

I don’t know if this is a MOC of an actual train station or not, but I thought it was very impressive. I like how the designer incorporated the CITY base plates in the front. There’s a lot of action going on with a tow truck getting a car, construction on the tracks, and a painter at work near the pizza truck.

Next to the train station were a few trains. I would have preferred to see them going around a big display, but I’ll take whatever I can get.

The picture next to it is of a large church with some great lighting behind translucent colored bricks. This would have been cool to see with the lights off.

Next up is a large country western scene with a mid-1800s US-like Army and some Natives about to harass them. The scene was very detailed with the desert scene on the outside of a pretty detailed fort. I took the picture as the builder was showing off the inside of one of the buildings. If I spoke German, I would have more to say about this, but I don’t so just enjoy the pictures.

Not to be outdone, nearby was another country western scene. This one included a train, settlers with horses and wagons, the Confederate Army fighting the Union Army, cattle herders, a steam ship, and some Natives harassing some settlers and their wagon train. This scene was another one where it was hard to know where to look first. I can’t image how long it took to set up each and every single minifigure here. Very impressive!

This display was one of my favorite at the show. I apologize for loading all of my pictures that I took of this one, but as a fan of modular buildings I thought this Venice scene was awesome. The use of different colors helps the buildings to really stand out and the pieces used really create some cool details. I think about some of the pieces that I have and how I often don’t know what to do with them and then I look at buildings like these and realize how I could use them to make some very striking details on buildings.

See if you can pick out some of the pieces used to create details. I really like the scorpions and the Star Wars Battle Droid legs for detail. I also like how the one building uses the ball joints. Awesome work!

Here are 2 more buildings. One appears to be maybe an Asian restaurant while the other appears to be a LEGO® Brand Store.

While a lot of the builders were adults and many were from a LUG, there were also a few teens there displaying some items. I didn’t get pictures of them all, but this group stood out to me. They had a number of mechanical devices to include the amusement park below. They also had a rubik’s cube solver, a machine that held a pen to make some cool drawings, and a few other machines. Here’s a picture of their amusement park.

These may have been the best part of the show. The creativity here is astonishing. They took existing sets and built them using what I can only assume was with parts they had on hand or could get to easily. They had #21303-1: WALL-E build out of various pieces and then the two sets pictured below. The first was #71043-1: Hogwart’s Castle. I first looked at it and was like, that’s a cool looking castle. Then I was like, wait! That’s a real set only with different pieces. How cool is that? That’s some impressive work, but it was probably substantially cheaper than buying the actual set. Next up was #21315-1: Pop-Up Book. They took the design, used the pieces on hand, and added in I <3 U as the item that popped up.

My inability to speak German hit me here as I couldn’t ask questions, but bravo to the person or people who built these. They did an awesome job and did something I have never seen done before. They definitely get my best in show award.

Congrats if you made it this far and thanks for checking it out. I hope to get to more shows in Germany before I depart.

In the meantime, happy building!

LEGO® Exhibition - Kloster Machern, Bernkastel-Kues, Germany - Part 1

I found out about a LEGO® Exhibition in Germany from 1-3 November 2019 and decided to go check it out. It was located in Bernkastel-Kues which is along the Mosel River. We picked a good day to go as the drive there let us see some great fall colors in the trees and it wasn’t pouring rain like it has done a lot this fall in Europe. The exhibition was located in Kloster Machern which used to be a monastery. Now it is a museum and with some eateries and an event room. This place was just outside of Bernkastel-Kues and it was tucked into the valley along the river. There were some great views and if the exhibition was disappointing at least we got to see a cool part of Germany.

Here’s a picture from the parking lot of the monastery.

A few closer shots of the outside of the building.

Here is the sign… Google Translate tells me that “ausstellung” translates to “exhibition.” The cost was 10 Euros to get my family in and the show ran across a 3-day weekend. Our ticket would let us back in all weekend, but we just went for one day.

Upon entering, there were a number of tables of vendors selling sets, loose bricks, and other brick related paraphernalia. The first build we ran into was this tall building and its miniature replica. The building is an office building in Neunkirchen, Germany. It was an impressive MOC, but I didn’t get to enjoy it much as there were no barriers and my little guy really wanted to play with all of the cars on the roads surrounding the building.

Lauter Steine EV. was there in full force. This is the same LUG that displays at the Gartenschau in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

There was a big Christmas themed display with a lot of the Winter Village sets and the Winter Village train looping around the scene. It was a good use of the sets along with some other minifigures and parts. There were some creative scenes and and a few hidden minifigures like Storm Troopers. A bigger sized Uni-Kitty stood guard over the display.

There were a lot of castles on display. Here are just a few.

A Fabuland display and then a bunch of different items to include some space sets, a rocket launch, some vehicles, and some imaginative MOCs.

This is a MOC of Castle Pfalzgrafenstein. It was a castle built in the 14th century to collect duties on the Rhine River in Germany (according to the sign posted nearby). I thought this was pretty cool because I took a short trip on the Rhine River with my family this past summer and we saw the actual castle. A picture I took is shown so you can see the real thing. I think the builder did a good job at replicating the actual building.

Here is an amazing MOC of the Reichstag building in Berlin. For those in the US or anywhere else not familiar, this building is like the US Capitol. It’s where the German Parliament meets. I think the MOC is incredible. They really captured the details well. The sign nearby said the model took 4 years to make and contains around 450,000 bricks.

A large castle scene…

Here is a replica of an old building near Bernkastel-Kues in Morbach (a few minutes to the southeast of Bernkastel-Kues). I’m not sure if the building still exists today or not, but It’s cool how they show a picture of what it looked like.

Props to you if you look down this far. I’ll post part 2 shortly.

Set Review - #75958-1: Beauxbatons' Carriage: Arrival at Hogwarts™ - The Wizarding World - Harry Potter

The first new wave of Harry Potter sets arrived last year (2018) and now in 2019 we have a second wave. They have been out for a bit, but my preference is to wait until they go on sale. This set, #75958-1: Beauxbatons' Carriage: Arrival at Hogwarts™, was released in the US on 2 August 2019. It contains 430 pieces and retails for $49.99 in the US. It works out to $0.116/piece which is a bit on the steep side in my opinion.

This set depicts characters from the fourth book “Harry Potter and the Goblet of FIre.” Beauxbatons is a French wizarding school and the school arrives for the Tri-Wizard’s tournament in the carriage this set depicts (yes, I had to Google all that).

The box shows the full set on the front, the minifigures on the bottom left of the front and the characters from the movie on the top right. The back shows some of the different play features of the set.

The set contains three parts bags, an instruction booklet, and a small sticker sheet. Bag 1 contains a piece separator.

The first bag begins to build the carriage. I like how the designers achieved the angles on the front and back. I also like the light blue color and I think it goes well with the brown and gold brick colors. Beauxbatons was never shown in the movies, but this would make for a good MOC. A French style chateau with brown, light blue, gold, and the tan-ish color would look cool.

The second bag almost finishes the carriage. The second picture shows how one side of the carriage lifts up. I assume this was done for playability as you can get to the minifigures more easily versus removing the roof. While I’m not a fan of stickers, I do think they add to the set with the gold design on the light blue pieces.

This set comes with 4 minifigures and no it does not come with the base plates from the collectible minifigure series. I added them just to help the minifigures lay flat for the picture.

From left to right there is:

Rubeus Hagrid - This is a taller minifigure. To achieve the height, the torso is bigger, but the legs are the kid version legs. His arms are connected to the torso by a Technic like attachment.

Madame Maxime - She is the tall head of the school. I don’t recall how much taller she is over Hagrid in the movie, but I think they got it right with this minifigure.

Gabrielle Delacour and Fleur Delacour - These are two sisters attending Beauxbatons. Fleur (older and the taller minifigure) was a part of the Tri-Wizards tournament and her sister Gabrielle (smaller minifigurte) plays a big part in one of the challenges in the book/movie.

Overall, I think it is a good mix of minifigures for the set. Only 2 of the girls are really named and the rest are extras as far as I know, so I’m not sure what good it would have done to add more of the girls in. Especially since you can only make the carriage so big.

The third bag finishes up the build. The carriage has a top which needs to be removed before you can flip up the side. Additionally, it adds the wheels. The front axle rotates so it adds some playability. Additionally, there is a chest with tea cups to go with a table inside with a tea pot.

I’m sure the Harry Potter world has an official name, but I’ll call them winged horses. They are attached to the carriage via a somewhat bulky looking hitch. I’m not sure how I would redesign this part, but to me this part doesn’t match the elegance they tried to achieve on the carriage.

My final thoughts on this set… if you’re not a Harry Potter fan, then don’t bother unless there are specific parts you want from this set. If you are a Harry Potter fan, then it’s a good addition to the collection. You get some good minifigures and the designers did a decent job depicting the scene given the scale they used. I definitely recommend getting the set at a discount. Check amazon.com, Walmart, and Target for the deals they are offering. I think the full retail price is a bit steep.

Keep building!

Set Review - #60234-1: People Pack - Fun Fair - CITY

This is the fourth year LEGO has released a People Pack for the CITY theme. We started with #60134-1: Fun at the Park, then #60153-1: Fun at the Beach, and then #60202-1: Outdoor Adventures. Next up is this set, #60234-1: Fun Fair. It has 183 pieces and 14 minifigures. It retails in the US for $39.99 which works out to be $0.219/piece or $2.85/minifigure. The release date was 2 Aug 19, but I waited for it to hit 20% off on Amazon.com. If you wait further, the discount should increase. #60202-1: Outdoor Adventures is around 30% off at the time of this post and the previous sets have done the same on Amazon.com close to retirement.

Onto the review…

It has the standard box layout with the front showing the full set and the back showing some play features.

The set contains 2 parts bags and an instruction manual. It feels light to me. A quick comparison:

Fun Fair - 183 pieces - 14 minifigures
Outdoor Adventure - 164 pieces - 15 minifigures
Fun at the Beach - 169 pieces - 15 minifigures
Fun in the Park - 157 pieces - 15 minifigures

You’re getting more pieces, but one fewer minifigure. A lot of the pieces are small so I’m not sure if you’re really gaining more with the additional pieces. I wonder if it was a conscious decision to do this or just how the set got designed?

Here is what the first bag builds:

-A ring toss game where minifigures can attempt to throw rings onto a duck The table with the ducks spins. I like the little duck part and I think they could go well in a pond type scene.
-A game where you have to hit a target with a shooter to get it to fall down. There are 3 plates connected with Technic pins that have a 2x2 round tile with a target print on them. The minifigure can then use a shooter similar to those found on Star Wars sets to try and knock them down. The shooter will actually knock them down, you just have to keep track of the 1x1 round plate.
-A clown on stilts.
-A face painting station with a small table filled with 1x1 tiles for the different colors. of paint.

The minifigures include (top to bottom and left to right):
-A boy minifigure with a propeller cap (awesome!) and Benny the Spaceman shirt.
-A female minifigure with a pink shirt and white pants, but nothing too out of the ordinary.
-A male minifigure with a dark blue and red striped plaid shirt and green-ish colored pants (not sure of the official color name).
-A mullet touting man with goatee and rock-n-roll tank top. Spot on for some of the county fairs I have been to around the US.
-A minifigure on stilts with a giant purple top hat and holding a balloon animal to give away.
-A face painter with some paint spots on her overalls. The set showed up with 2 brushes.
-A girl who looks excited to have a tiger design painted on her face.
-Another girl. We let her hold the purple teddy bear that I guess she won as a prize.

Overall the first bag has a good variety of minifigures which can be used in a fair scene or elsewhere in your CITY.

Bag 2 has 6 minifigures and 5 have food. One is playing a game of strength where you hit the spot with a hammer to drive up the part. In this case, a Technic piece drives up a 1x2 brick with rail attached up a larger rail to hit the bell. The only other build is the bike for selling ice cream. It’s a cool build, but a bit big. The minifigure needs a step ladder to get into the ice cream case. Not sure how to scale it back down to make it more to scale though.

The remainder of the minifigures includes (left to right, top to bottom):
-A female minifigure who is the ice cream vendor. Her hair is attached to her hat and I don’t recall ever seeing that shirt before.
-A male minifigure in a jacket holding a giant hot dog.
-A female minifigure in a jacket with a shirt underneath
-An older male minifigure in a workout suit with gray receding hair who bought some ice cream
-An older female in a purple workout suit with a coffee cup. I like that she has glasses and white hair.
-A younger male with a popsicle. This one is blue versus the standard green one I have seen in other sets.

Here are all of the parts of the set. I like the theme and I think they go well with some of the existing Creator Expert sets (Carousel, Roller Coaster, etc.) and some of the Creator 3-in-1 sets as well. I like some of the non-standard minifigures and the builds are pretty creative with the moving parts. If you’re going to pick this set up, I definitely recommend getting it on sale. I think $39.99 retail in the US is too high. It’s around 20% off now and will probably move to closer to 30% next year when it is getting ready to retire.

What are your thoughts?

Happy building!

Resurrecting the 9V Track - The Challenge Has Been Accepted

The team from Assembled (see my article about the site here; in German it’s Zusammengebaut) interviewed JK Brickworks recently while attending Skaerbaek 2019 in Denmark. JK Brickworks is made up of Jason Allemann and his partner Kristal. Their website is here. You may know Jason Allemann from his LEGO Ideas sets like #21315-1 - Pop-Up Book or #21305-1 - Maze.

Whew, lots of links in a short number of lines…. now that we’re on the same page, in the interview, Jason mentions that he has a friend working on additions to the train theme to include 9V compatible track. WHAT!?!?!?!

More background… Jason and his friend Michael Gale co-founded a company called Fx Bricks. Fx Bricks has an initial product called the PFx Brick. In a nutshell, it’s a programmable, LEGO compatible controller that lets you install and control LED lights, small speakers, and control motors in your trains, cars, buildings, and other MOCs. There are some great demonstrations of how the PFx brick was integrated into existing sets and MOCs to include trains, cars, a Friends rock concert, and the Lego Ideas Saturn V rocket.

Some PFx bricks display on their website

What does the PFx brick have to do with 9V trains? Well on the Fx Bricks website, it talks about upcoming additions to LEGO trains to include 9V compatible tracks of various shapes and lengths, a power system, a PFx brick like controller, motors, and interconnects. Per the interview, it looks like Mike Gale has the lead on this project. There is a short brief posted on the Fx Brick site here. If you are a train fan, definitely take a look at it. He also has some sample track pictures. Check out the one below. Can you tell which one is the 9V track and which one is the LEGO one? I had to zoom in to see the LEGO logo on the one in the background. Very impressive!

Here’s a close up shot showing the Fx track attached to LEGO track. It looks pretty compatible in terms of the connection. It also looks like it will fit into a train display without seeming like a different system. The difference just appears to be logo on the stud and it looks more shiny.

We have yet to see how LEGO bricks attach to the track if you want to add ballast and I’m sure at some point we’ll see a video showing that a 9V train can work on it.

A quick history… Fx Bricks is not the first to try. A few years back a company started off called ME Models. The company produced an all metal rail and connector pieces. You could then use your own 2x8 plates in-between the connectors. It wasn’t bad and the metal connection worked. I bought some of the first track and pledged in their Kickstarter campaign. Sadly I never received the goods I was promised from their Kickstarter campaign. I reached out, but never heard back on a status. They went dark for a while. Now they show up on Bricklink as a store and it says they used to offer plastic rails, but have been closed since 2018. Some pictures of the ME Models rails are below.

ME Models standard length track. I was unable to detach the bricks to show the metal rail by itself.

LEGO 9V on the left (the older dark gray) and ME Models on the right.

I’m pretty excited about this effort. Fx Bricks has delivered on its first campaign and is working on more PFx bricks. I’m hoping they can deliver on a track system. The brief talks about having a system in stock so hopefully they are considering supply chain management systems.

Recently I set up a track for my kids to play with and the batteries just don’t have the life span to handle a lot use. Being able to expand my small stash of 9V track would be useful for kids playing. I could see it being a big win for those displaying trains at multi-day long brick or train shows as well.

Good luck Fx Bricks!

Be Ready to Sign up for the LEGO® Inside Tour: 2020

If you are a huge fan of the brick, pay attention to this…. how would you like to have the opportunity to tour parts of the LEGO campus in Billund no one else gets to see? Do you want to meet designers? Do you want to spend 2.5 days at the home of LEGO seeing how the magic happens? Do you want to shop at the employee store? If you have answered yes to those questions, then the Inside Tour is for you!

Here are the details (get the full scoop at the LEGO® House site here):

-Sign ups start October 28, 10 am CET (5AM on the east coast of the US… Europe’s fall time change happens before it does in the US) and end November 1, 10 am CET (2019).

-Available tour dates are:
13-15 May 2020
10-12 June 2020
26-28 August 2020
9-11 September 2020

-Check out the site linked above for logistics details about meals and lodging. Keep in mind that your transportation to Billund is not covered.

-Cost for the tour is DKK 14,500 which at the exchange rate today is $2,155 and change (or ~2.6 #71592-1: Millennium Falcons).

-Based on signing up last year (and not getting picked), there is a short form that lets you put some basic info in and then select the dates you can attend. It didn’t provide you a spot to plead your case. The only other thing that was different was it asked if you were a member of a LUG or not.

-The tour is in English so if you’re using Google Translate to read this post, then it might not be the best option for you. The sign up form does ask where you are from and what your nationality is so maybe they try and balance where they select people from.

If you’re not sure about it or if it is worth attending, there are a number of great posts out there about folks who have done the tour. Do some searching online and you’ll hear from adults, teens, and adults who brought kids.

I will be applying again in the slight chance that I get picked. If I recall from last year there were only a limited number of slots per tour and a few thousand applied so we’ll see what happens.

Good luck and let me know if you get selected!

Set Review - #40305-1: LEGO® Brand Store

Set #40305-1: LEGO® Brand Store was originally released as a Brand Store exclusive set. I mentioned it in my store reviews here and here. Well its status has changed and as of 4 September 2019, it is available on LEGO Shop @ Home in the US. I had to search for it by number as I couldn’t find it on any of the drop down categories. Has anyone else found it there?

The set itself has 362 pieces and 2 minifigures. In the US it is $24.99 ($0.069/piece) and in Germany where I picked it up it’s 24.99€ (0.069€/piece). So a better deal in the states depending on how much sales tax you pay. For those of you keeping track, it’s been available in Germany since 2 June 18 according to Brickset.com.

Onto the set…

Unlike most set boxes, this one is very generic with a yellow background. It just has the LEGO logo, but no other details beyond the shadow of a city. The front shows the set and the back goes into some details on the set.

The contents are 4 numbered parts bags, a fifth parts bag with no number, the instruction booklet, and a small sticker sheet. My sticker sheet had an error on it. One of the boxes had a duplicate box sticker attached below it. Nothing a pair of scissors could not solve, but I have never seen an error on a sticker sheet in a set.

Onto the build… bags 1 and 2 are required for the first section of instructions. This builds the first floor of the shop. Externally, the front entrance door is offset from the store front by a stud. It has a flag outside, minimal decoration above the door, and sadly a sticker for the LEGO logo versus a printed tile (I was hoping it would be printed). On the inside you have some sets for sale on the wall, a bin with nothing in it, a small MOC on display in the front window, a cash register, and what I assume is the pick a brick wall. Nothing overly amazing about this build other than I like how they were able to build this to minifigure scale and capture some of the details.

Bags 3 and 4 finish the set off. The front has some simple decoration, but still some nice details. There is some coloring and texture, 2 flags, awnings over the windows, and then the edge of the roof has a simple, yet nice design. Inside you have more sets on the wall, some MOCs in the window (a fire truck and I’m not sure what the other one is). There is what appears to be a build-a-minifigure station and then a shield in a bin which I’m not sure what it represents in a Brand Store. As you can see from the last picture, the top of the store has a yellow 2x4 brick design. This is a fun detail and I’m not sure if it actually exists on any actual Brand Stores out there.

The set comes with two minifigures. One is a child with a red baseball cap on. I assume it is a male, but in theory it could be a female with short hair covered by the cap. The other is an adult male. He’s got a Hawaiian style shirt on and looks pretty chill with a goatee and wavy hair. You can figure out whether the adult is a worker, parent, or an AFOL.

The set does not come with a Brand Store worker which I see as a downside. I do have one from a previous free set with purchase, but it would have been great to get one with this set. I know the design exists, but it probably has to do with wanting the set cost to remain at its current level. I’m not sure how much adding in another minifigure would skew the price.

Here are pictures of the full set. Its design reminds me of the Creator 3-in-1 type buildings with a front and no back half. In my mind, these buildings are good for builders like me who are not good a coming up with MOCs on their own. I can take what was started and build the back half. Maybe include some stairs so you can actually get to the upstairs in the store?

Overall it’s a fun set. The pricing isn’t bad and they have captured a Brand Store well given the scale. As mentioned, a store worker minifigure would have been preferred in the set. As an AFOL, it is not a challenging build, but the box states ages 8+ which lines up with the difficulty.

What are your thoughts on this one?

Happy building!

Set Review - #21316-1: The Flintstones - LEGO® Ideas

The 24th LEGO® Ideas set was released on 2 March 2019. It is “The Flintstones” and was made by fan designer Andrew Clark. The set has 748 pieces and retails in the US for $59.99. This works out to $0.08/piece which isn’t too bad. Amazon.com has had it on sale for 20% off at the time of this post for a few weeks now. I waited for this one to go on sale as it interested me, but not enough to buy it right away at full price. So let’s see if it was worth the wait.

Like most sets, the front shows the whole set built with the back showing some of the features to include the removal of the roof, the bowling set, the car and the rack of ribs, and some of the inside furniture.

The contents are 6 bags with an instruction book. There is a piece separator in bag one. Excitedly, there are no stickers! WOOHOO!!!!!

Here is the instruction book. It is not wrapped in a separate package like some of the more expensive sets. It does have a few pages about the set to include the fan designer and LEGO designers (as shown). There are also some pages on The Flintstones show itself.

Bag 1 builds the car, rack of ribs, and minifigures for Fred and Wilma. The car has the look of the Flintstones car, but I have 2 complaints. First is the roof is a bit flimsy. There isn’t much structure to it and it fell apart on me while I was building it. To be fair, I don’t have a better solution. The second is the wheels. They are held together by two round plates which is fine on one side where the studs face in, but on the side where the studs face out, they rub against the frame of the car. Not badly, but could a tile piece have been used there? On the plus side, I like the use of the 2x2 round tile that is printed to look like a cut log as the axle.

The second bag starts to build the house (sorry for the background change, I had to switch building areas). Nothing overly exciting here. The back of the house is attached with hinge pieces for access and play I assume.

The third bag finishes most of the wall structure. Outer detail is added later. Also, the windows are in place and space for the door.

The fourth bag adds some detail on the outer walls. From my picture you can see it better on the instruction sheet. The opposite side of the house has it as well as a chimney. I like the palm tree used in the set. It is reminiscent of the one used in Pirate themed sets back in the day.

Bag 5 adds some inner details to include curtains on the windows, a TV (with a printed tile brick for the screen), a couch, coffee table, lamp, a small cupboard, a door, and a container with the bowling set. Besides the TV tile, there is also a picture on the wall and the curtains are printed. YAY no stickers! I like the house details. Not over the top, but enough to look like the inside of the house from the cartoon.

This bag also completes the minifigures with Barney and Betty.

The sixth bag completes the set with a roof that is easily removable, some plants along the outside of the house, and a mailbox with a printed piece for the Flintstone name. I like how they made the roof angle versus making it flat.

Here are the minifigures. Betty and Wilma have two faces while Fred and Barney just have one expression. The response I saw from the fan media was not being impressed by these. They wanted molded heads versus the standard minifigure shape. I agree that the standard head doesn’t look as realistic, but I still think they captured the look of the Flintstones characters. I am also glad that the legs are printed versus having to add a cloth piece as the pants/dresses.

There has also been some debate about who to include. Where are Pebbles and Bam-Bam? What about Dino? My opinion is this set was not designed to capture the whole show or to be the start of a Flintstones line of sets. It is a one off that highlights the show and LEGO captured the main characters. I am good with just the four.

Overalll, it’s a good set. There are some decent pieces and it captures the theme well. The build is not overly challenging and there are no stickers (YES!). I’m glad I picked the set up at 20% off versus full price. It didn’t really seem like a $60 set to me. There is nothing that really jumps out at you other than the nostalgia for the theme. I’d put this set down as middle of the road.

What are your thoughts?

Store Review - LEGO® Brand Store - Saarbrücken, Germany

I wasn’t planning on it, but I had the opportunity to stop in a Brand Store in Saarbrücken, Germany during the Triple Force Friday sales event 2019 (4 to 6 October). The store front was full of some of the most recent new sets. With the focus on Star Wars, I’ll start there. The first picture I took included the new LEGO Boost Droid Commander (#75253-1), Kylo Ren’s Shuttle (#75256-1), another Millennium Falcon (#75257-1), and Yoda (#75255-1). They had all of the other new sets available as well. I didn’t look around at the sale sets to see what was available (sorry).

Additionally, they had the UCS Imperial Star Destroyer (#75252-1) assembled in the front window. Wow is it a big set! I was not the only one in the window taking pictures of the set. Still not sure if it is worth my money or not, but it’s definitely a cool display piece.

Additionally in the front window was the new Winter Village Gingerbread House (#10267-1). It was cool to see it up close and personal. I think I’ll be picking the set up at some point, but I’m not sure when.

Also on display was the new Disney Train and Station (#71044-1). Inside the store they had the Disney Castle built (#71040-1).

The LEGO Ideas Tree House (#21318-1) was on display in the front in the summer version. Inside the store they had it built in the fall version with the other set of leaves. It was neat to see how it looks with both versions if leaves.

LEGO Ideas Central Perk (#21319-1) from the TV show Friends was on display in two places. There was one in the front window and one inside the store. The one inside the store was a little easier to see and get pictures of so you get the picture here.

The Technic Land Rover (#42110-1) was available for sale and they had a built set that they were letting people touch and pick up. Props to LEGO for allowing that!

The Pick-a-Brick wall or “Suche & Baue” wall was in the back. According to Google Translate, this works out to be “Search and Build.” The wall was one of the better ones I’ve seen. There were a lot of pieces that I wanted to get, but I decided against it. There were numerous “gold” colored pieces, some different flower pieces I have never seen before, some colors that are not always out there, and a few cool pieces that would look great on MOCs for buildings. Bravo to LEGO for stocking this wall well!

I thought this display was cool. Two Statues of Liberty in different formats. The Brick Headz version (#40367-1) and the Architecture version (#21042-1). It’s cool to see the different sizes and versions next to each other. Behind it is the Architecture Trafalgar Square (#21045-1).

Most stores have some none standard builds that are usually larger in size. This one was no exception with a large Chewbacca holding a crossbow and then a Pirate Captain with a hook arm and a parrot sitting on his arm.

Overall, I was impressed with this store. They had everything in stock from what I could tell and a large amount of sets on display for viewing. There were numerous build stations for kids to play with in the store to see things before you buy. The workers were all very helpful with one dressed up as Princess Leia for Triple Force Friday. I talked to one who spoke German, French, and English and the one who rang up my purchase spoke English as well.

I purchased the LEGO® Brand Store (#40305-1) which is only available in Brand Stores. It was 24.99€ as compared to $24.99 in the US. The price I paid was roughly $27.37 with the exchange rate so the total varies since the VAT (value added tax) is factored in and the sales tax in the US varies by location. The last place I lived in the states had an 8.5% sales tax rate so it would have been $27.11… although we didn’t have a Brand Store. I’ll do a review of the set at a later date.

So if you’re in western Germany or eastern France and you’re looking for a LEGO® Brand Store, I highly recommend this one.

Happy building!