Gifts with Purchase - Too Many or Not Enough?

I don’t want to say it too loudly, but I think the fourth quarter 2020/Christmas holiday shopping period has finally worn off. LEGO Shop @ Home is once again building up inventory and things aren’t listed as backordered or out of stock as much. A lot of sets are available again with a few exceptions (like the 2021 modular building). It’s good to have things in stock again and to not go to the site and see everything gone.

Looking back, we had some interesting times. A factory closure, plus a pandemic with people at home, plus online re-sellers, plus the normal buyers all added up to some insane buying. In that time if you read the forums and comments in LEGO AFOL media, you saw a lot of negativism from fans related to the Gift with Purchase sets. It was rightfully so for some items, but not for all in my opinion.

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#40448-1: Vintage Car helped drive some of the negativism. It arrived at the start of 2021 and lasted just a few days. It was supposed to be out for about 10 days, but didn’t make it that long. Fans were disappointed the fan created item didn’t last. Now you can get it on Bricklink for around $20 and Amazon.com around $30.

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Photo from LEGO.com

#30628-1: The Monster Book of Monsters was initially a Barnes & Noble exclusive set in the US. Resellers gobbled them up in the hopes of turning a profit. Then it went live on LEGO Shop @ Home and it went away after a day or two. Then it came back… after starting on 1 Jan 2021, it now says it will be available through 14 March 2021. So maybe the initial feelings of distraught in the community were too early…

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Then there was #40416-1: Ice Skating Rink which was available in December 2020. In the US, you had to purchase $150 or more of products which became a challenge as everything was sold out. I placed an order in December that ended up not making it to its final destination. LEGO Customer Service was awesome and they are re-sending the order… and it includes this gift with purchase set. So it leads me to believe LEGO has more of these available. Perhaps we will see this set pop up again.

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Photo from LEGO.com

The last one I’ll mention is available at the time of this post. #40450-1: Amelia Earhart Tribute is the name and number. It started on 6 March and is scheduled to end on 14 March. You have to purchase over $100 of items in the US to qualify. I saw some speculation that LEGO would run out of stock fast, but it doesn’t appear to have happened. We’ll see what happens as the promotion ends, but it looks like the concerns about gift with purchases and their quantities available may have been resolved since the Vintage Car set was released at the beginning of the year.

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What are your thoughts? Is the Christmas LEGO frenzy over? Are we back to normal times where you don’t have to worry about panic buying sets since they may go out of stock never to return again?

Happy building!

Set Review - #80106-1: Story of Nian - Chinese Traditional Festivals

The Chinese Traditional Festivals theme started in 2019 with sets that were just released in the Asia-Pacific region. Now we’ve had set number six here and seven will be reviewed shortly that have been released to the world. This line started in 2019 and #80106-1: Story of Nian was released on 11 January 2021 in the US. The set retails for $79.99 with 1,067 pieces. This works out to $0.075 per piece. I found it for $69.95 and can’t complain about $10 off.

I had never heard of “the story of Nian” before this set came out and used the internet to learn about it. I won’t go into the Chinese tradition here, but I recommend searching it on your own to see what it is about. It makes the build make more sense as you go.

The box front has the full set displayed on the front along with the “Chinese Festival Special Edition” logo and a golden ox highlighting the year of the ox (2021). The back of the box shows some of the play features and details of the set.

The set contains eight numbered parts bags, two 8x16 white plates, a bag with translucent orange “fire” pieces, and instructions and stickers packaged up for protection. The instructions include a two page “cartoon” of the story of Nian, but other than that it is a standard instruction booklet. To be honest, I had to look up the story before I understood the cartoon. It made more sense after I read it.

Only two small stickers in this set. I can’t complain. The rest of the details are printed on pieces which is great!

The first bag builds up the “snowy” base. It also starts the foundation of the façade of the building and some of the snow build up. You also get the start of the doorway. This bag has one male minifigure who has a small bag to carry with him.

Bag two completes a good chunk of the façade. I like the large amount of textured bricks with the brick texture (both light and dark gray). The red windows are cool as well. The doorway has some simple details and thankfully the red tiled scrolls are printed. This bag includes a girl minifigure.

The third bag builds a lot of the roof area. The overhang has some snow with icicles dripping off. I like the detail of the icicles and how the snow build up on the roof is “connected” to the icicles. You also get a boy minifigure who is excited to throw a snow ball.

This bag adds the doors which are not just solid pieces. They are made up of plates and tiles connected by clips to a bar. Then the two stickers are applied to the doors. The door handles are two gold ring pieces which get placed over a stud. The red with the gold handle and then gold trim around the door looks really good.

The fourth bag builds the overhang over the doorway. It has roof (dark gray) and then snow covered roof. I like how the designers used bricks to show snow build up in certain areas with melt towards the bottom. There are also two red lanterns that get added in the doorway. This bag contains an older female minifigure with a shovel to remove snow.

The fifth build adds some more of the “snowy base.” It also includes a ladder and bucket for the older male minifigure to use his sponge to clean up.

Bag six adds some final details to the main part of the build. This includes some fireworks that attach behind the façade, fire crackers exploding, and a snow man. The minifigure is a person dressed up as an ox. He/she is holding a large string/rope of fire crackers.

Side note… look up a video of firecrackers on a string/rope going off. It’s pretty cool to see how it works.

Last piece is some plant life to include various small trees/saplings with snowy branches and some flowers popping out. There are three dispersed across the set with one towards the front and two towards the right side.

Bags seven and eight build the Nian itself. I’m not sure what the creature is supposed to look like, but I think this LEGO built creature is awesome! There are some great details, pieces, colors, and movable pieces in the creature. It all fits together very well and besides the studs sticking out, it could be looked at as not a brick built model. I’m a big fan!

That wraps up this set… Should you get it? If you’re a fan of the Chinese Traditional Festivals line, definitely pick it up. The details are great, you get 6 minifigures, and the Nian is an awesome build. The downsides… I wish there was more to the building then just the front, but this is in line with some of the previous sets. For MOC builders, you get some great pieces to include some good colors and some of the printed pieces.

I am glad I got it on a discount locally. I’m not sure how the pricing is in the US right now, but LEGO Shop @ Home hasn’t had a lot of stock on hand. It sold out soon after being posted on sale. You might have to wait to get this one, but don’t wait too long as these sets are usually out for just a year.

What are your thoughts?

Happy building!

Set Review - #75980-1: Attack on the Burrow - Harry Potter

Finally got the last of the 2020 Harry Potter sets. I ordered it back in December 2020, it was out of stock, it showed up, it shipped, USPS “lost it,” I’m working with LEGO on a replacement, and I reordered to have to wait for it to come off back order to actually get it. So let’s hope it’s worth it…

Released back on 3 July 2020, #75980-1 contains 1047 pieces and retails at $99.99. This works out to $0.096 per piece. Not too bad, but I have yet to see this set on sale (even in Germany). Onto the review…

The box shows both sides of the set on the front with some designed features. The back shows all of the different play features like most sets do.

The set contains seven numbered parts bags, an un-numbered bag with larger plates, and the instructions are sealed up with the stickers.

Here are the instructions and stickers. Nothing special about the instructions. No special write ups or pictures. There are two sticker sheets which are both fairly small. One is the normal sheet and the other is clear stickers. There aren’t a ton of stickers so I can’t complain too much. As a technique, I’ve started using the piece separator to apply stickers versus my fingers. It’s actually worked very well. Maybe you all already do that, but if you haven’t, give it a try.

The first bag contains a piece separator and starts the base of the building. It is connected with hinges so you can get to the inside later on which works out nice for play features. You get a pig with this set… I didn’t even know they had pigs, but I won’t complain. You also get Arthur and Molly Weasley.

For the rest of the build, I decided not to include the minifigs by bag and I’ll bring them all up at the end.

The second bag of parts builds out the living space. You get a table loaded up with a breakfast of eggs and waffles. There’s a small little sink area as well. The living space has a couch, a chair, and various decorations to include lamps, candles, and plants. Outside, you can see some of the clear stickers which actually look pretty decent. I managed to put them on without getting any air bubbles in them so that was good.

The third bag finishes up the inside of the first floor and starts on the roof. Inside, you can see the fireplace where they enter the floo network. The fireplace is connected to a Technic axle that you can spin between flames and the floo network green. I show it in translucent green here and then in the translucent orange below.

Here’s the orange, “normal” fire place. On the other side of the fire place, you see a clock which shows where everyone in the family is located. There’s also a picture on the wall and a book shelf.

Bag four finishes up the roof on the ground floor and adds a room on the second floor. I assume it is Ginny’s room with the hair brush and mirror. The bed has multiple colors and then a sticker that matches the colors. It was tricky to line up the sticker with the parts, but I think I got it close to being right. The downside to this set up is the sticker is smaller than the tile it goes on so there is a gap between the sticker and the sloped bricks which from far away isn’t a big deal, but close up looks bad.

The fifth bag starts the next level. This eventually becomes Arthur and Molly Weasley’s room. For now, there is a chair with some magical knitting going on at it. There’s also a family picture on the wall.

The sixth bag puts a bed in Molly and Arthur’s room with a quilt on it. It also adds in a room above. Maybe Ron’s room? There’s a bed and a picture on the wall, but that’s it. From the room, there’s a small stair way that leads up to a small upper porch area. That area has a broom so you can either sweep it off or fly away from there.

The last bag finishes the roof and adds a chimney. You also get two owls to include Hedwig. The roof is made with 45 degree slopes, but they vary in color so it adds to the design other than just using one color. I’ll cover the last part of this build with the minifigures.

The set comes with eight minifigures. Seven of them are unique to this set and then #8, Harry Potter, also comes in #75967-1: Forbidden Forest Umbridge’s Encounter. As mentioned in the bag seven section, it includes more besides the roof. It also includes a section of flames as can be seen in the sixth movie. The two minifigures included in bag seven are Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenrir Greyback. They both come with wands.

The remaining six as shown in the picture are Nymphadora Tonks, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, Molly Weasley, and Arthur Weasley. They all come with wands as well.

I think this is a pretty good mix for the set and you get a decent amount. For minifigure collectors, you get seven unique Harry Potter minifigures so not bad.

Here’s the final set. I like how they created the offset angle of the upper level. My Non-LEGO Spouse originally saw it and thought I didn’t connect everything. I had to explain that it was built that way. A nice touch.

Overall a good set that closely follows the Harry Potter version from the movie at an age 9+ range with just over 1,000 pieces. There are some good building techniques, but nothing overly challenging. For MOC builders you get some good pieces to pick from for your own builds. Price wise it is not bad, but it could be cheaper. I didn’t find it on sale, but I did get it with a freebie so that helped. If you wait a bit longer, you might be able to pick it up on sale. Just don’t wait too long and have it retire.

And that closes out the 2020 Harry Potter line for me. What are your thoughts on this set?

Happy building!

The Re-Birth of 9V Trains is Within Reach

All the way back in October of 2019, I mentioned that Fx Bricks was working on bringing back 9V compatible rails and motors for LEGO train fans. Well the wait is almost over. Watch this:

On 1 March 2021, Fx Bricks will be releasing some straight and some curved 9V compatible track. YES! I look forward to ending using batteries and just letting the trains run when I want them to run. I hope their proposed motor works out too. If you need more details or want some other opinions, check out the following:

-A review from Eurobricks user zephyr1934

-A review from Brick Model Railroader

Pricing is listed as follows:

#8832 - S32 Straight Track, 8 pcs : $69.95 USD, €57.95, $87.95 CAD

#8872 - R72 Curve Track, 8 pcs: $69.95 USD, €57.95, $87.95 CAD

Fx Bricks mentions that this is cheaper than you can get it at BrickLink right now. I agree with that. I also acknowledge that they need to recoup all of their costs and want to make some profit too. It does seem a bit high to me, but with no competition, they can set their pricing at this point. Either way, I suspect they will sell out quick as there is a lot of demand among LEGO train fans for this system.

One other note is that they have partnered with JB Spielwaren in Germany to sell the track to the EU. So shipping will be a lot cheaper in Europe versus having to order from Canada.

Congrats to the Fx Bricks team. I hope the product is awesome and the launch is successful. At some point, I will look to pick up some track to expand my very limited 9V set up.

What are your thoughts?

Happy building!

Set Review - #71029 - Series 21 - Collectible Minifigures

Yeah, yeah… I complained about them and now I finished the collection thanks to SteineHelden.de. These 12 minifigures were released on 1 January 2021 and are still available at the time of this post. I had a not so fun time trying to get all of these, but I finally managed. Supposedly the new box of 36 has three full sets. Only where do you get a full box?

I paid the full $4.99 from LEGO Shop @ Home, I bought a few from LEGO.de for ~$4.84 and then SteineHelden’s price worked out to about $4.50. Not my ideal price, but I can’t complain as compared to prices in the US.

If you’ve read any of my Collectible Minifigure reviews, I’m a big fan of the non-licensed versions. I think the designers come up with some creative minifigures that can be used in individual scenes, in cities, or whatever MOC you are working on. Series 21 is no different. Despite having only 12 in this go around, I think the mix of minifigures is good between costumed minifigures, fantasy and historical minifigures, and modern day city people.

If you’re a fan of Collectible Minifigures, definitely pick these up. Try and find sales if you can as these things are not cheap in my opinion.

A quick write up on each figure is below. What are your thoughts?

Happy building!

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Two costumed minifigures in this set. Ladybird Girl as Brickset refers to it comes with the ladybug wings, 2 1x1 round tile printed ladybugs, and a hat with antenna. This one is pretty cute.

Pug Costume Guy is a fun dog that comes with two toy bones to hold onto. I like the ears on the dog helmet.

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The Paddle Surfer is decked out with a lot of gear. You get a surf board, a paddle, a life jacket, and a dolphin. The minifigure head is either sun glasses or without on the other side. This one is good for any beach scene and the dolphin is a great add for any city beach or even a pirate scene.

The Shipwreck Survivor has his bottle to put a note in and a small hermit crab to go with the minifigure.

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Two kids in this series. Violin Kid comes with a kid sized violin and then he uses a wand as his bow. This one is pretty creative and I like the idea of minifigures with instruments.

Airplane Girl come with a full up airplane costume along with a helmet and goggles. She also comes with a hair piece if you want to use her without the costume. Has anyone seen the Amelia Earhart gift with purchase release coming out? I wonder if these two are tied in?

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The Beekeeper is a fun concept. I could see someone making some bee hives to go with a farm scene.

Space Police Guy is a nod to the space fans from back in the day. I still have some of the original space police sets and it’s cool to have another more modern figure to go with them.

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Ancient Warrior seems to be from the Aztec type days. Or maybe Mayan? I’m not sure, but it’s cool looking.

Alien comes with a crystal and a crow bar. Your chance to be creative here to come up with what that alien could be doing.

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The Cabaret Singer comes with a microphone stand, a microphone, a giant head piece, and a cape. This picture is big only because of the next minifigure and I couldn’t fit them in together…

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The Centaur Warrior is cool looking, but my only complaint with the set. She comes with a quiver of arrows for her back, but if you put the quiver on, you can’t put her hair on without her head sticking up. I tried to angle the head slightly, but the hair still doesn’t fit. The simple answer is to take the quiver off. Then why have the bow and arrow? Maybe she can just hold the apple…

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Set Review - #71028 - Harry Potter Series 2 - Collectible Minifigures

I ranted last week about Collectible Minifigures and this week I can stop complaining. I placed an order with SteineHelden.de (sorry USA, they only sell in Germany) and finally was able to complete this series released in the US back on 1 September 2020 and since retired at LEGO Shop @ Home.

This series has 16 total minifigures which differs from the first series where they had 22 total. Pricing is still $4.99 each in the US. The extended German lockdown has made it impossible to go to stores for the “feel” check so you have to buy a bunch online and hope for the best. I got a few on sale here for around $3.45 each which was great, but the rest ranged from $4.70 to the US retail price of $4.99. Apparently the days of sales on these things where they are around $3.50 or less are gone.

I won’t spend a ton of time going over these minifigures as they are already retired and I’m late to the game. I will say that I appreciated how the minifigures could be mixed in with some of the 2020 Harry Potter sets. For example #75969-1: Hogwarts Astronomy Tower includes a scene from the sixth book/movie where they are at the Slug Club Christmas party. The Ginny minifigure can be added to that scene. Also the astronomy tower has part of the green house where Professor Sprout teaches. So good job LEGO on that one.

Onto the minifigures…

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Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are in the outfits from book/movie #6 (“The Half Blood Prince.” They go to The Three Broomsticks for butter beer with Harry. They each come with wands and a mug of the beverage.

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Harry’s parents, James Potter and Lily Potter always appear in flashbacks or as ghosts in the books/movies as they are no long alive. In minifigure form, James comes with a picture that Harry has and Lily has a baby Harry which is wrapped up tightly.

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As mentioned, Ginny Weasley is in her Slug Club Christmas party outfit. Harry has the potions book from “The Half Blood Prince.”

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Fred and George Weasley have their tricks to sell other students from the sixth book/movie (I think) and the Marauder’s map which they gave Harry. Fred is on the left and George is on the right in the picture. Or at least that’s what Brickset.com says.

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Griphook is a goblin who works at Gringotts Bank. This figure is from the last movie where he helps the gang break into a vault. He comes with a key (actually a set of 2) and then the sword of Gryffindor (which is cool looking). Next is Moaning Myrtle. She comes with a copy of Tom Riddle’s diary from the second book/movie. I like how they added the poseable stand so you can make it look like she is floating as she is a ghost.

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I’m not sure which book/movie he first appears in, but Kingsley Shacklebolt is a member of the Order of the Phoenix and comes here in his full robes with a wand and broom. As mentioned already, Professor Pomona Sprout is decked out to teach students how to re-pot mandrakes from book/movie #2 (“Chamber of Secrets”). I like how they created the mandrake plant by printing on a 1x1 round brick.

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Neville Longbottom comes with a Monster Book of Monsters and a wand as depicted in “The Prisoner of Azkaban” (book/movie 3). Luna Lovegood is decked out in her quidditch lion hat to show her support for Gryffindor. She also comes with a blond hair piece if you want to switch them out. This is from book/movie #5.

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Next is Bellatrix Lestrange in her Azkaban uniform. She has a wand, hand cuffs, and her prisoner number on a 1x2 tile. This is from “Order of the Phoenix” (book/movie 5).

Albus Dumbledore is last in my review with a wand and Fawkes his phoenix. Fawkes first appears in the second book/movie (“The Chamber of Secrets”).

Now that I finally collected them all, it’s a good mix of characters from various parts of the book/movie series. I like the mix and the ability to use them in other sets.

Now LEGO needs to figure out how to sell them to allow you to get all of them without going through great pains or spending a lot of money.

Where are the Collectible Minifigure Reviews?

If you’ve spent any time on my site, you’ll notice there is a link for set reviews where I delve into a bunch of sets that interest me. One of those areas are the Collectible Minifigures which you can find my earliest review of series 15 from early 2016. I’ve reviewed every series since then until recently.

©2020 LEGO Group.

The second set of Harry Potter minifigures was released back on 1 September 2020. There are 16 minifigures in total and they retail for $4.99 each in the US or 3,99€ in Europe (today’s exchange rate puts it at $4.82 for a comparison).

I was able to get a bunch on sale at Smyth’s here locally back before Christmas time, but Germany has locked down and stores are closed. This puts the bag feeling technique out of limits. I ordered a few from Shop @ Home for the full retail price, but have ended up with doubles and triples.

Unfortunately, the Christmas time rush made them go out of stock in the US and I don’t think they are coming back. As a collector, I didn’t want to be forced to pay for specific minifigures on BrickLink or eBay.

I found some new and unopened in Germany for around $4.30 after the exchange rate so hopefully that will allow me to complete the set. They are on their way to me in the next few days so more to follow.

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Series 21 (#71029) was released on 1 January 2021. With only 12 minifigures in the series, I figured it would be easier to get all 12.

The LEGO Ideas Vintage Car (#40448-1) was a gift with purchase on 1 January and I decided to try and get minifigures and to get the car. Shop @ Home in the US had a restriction on 1 January of only buying three minifigures (it has since been lifted). Shop @ Home in Germany allowed you to buy 20. So I went with both.

My German order shipped quickly and arrived fast. With 20 minifigures, I figured I would be close to getting all 12 if not getting them all. Boy was I wrong! Every bag I opened seemed to be a repeat. I ended up with only six of the 12 after opening all 20. I sent a note to Customer Service saying they need to mix them up or sell the boxes. They sent me a note saying that it was part of the fun to not know what you are going to get (or part of the profit plan?).

My order of three minifigures arrived from the US a few weeks later. There was one repeat from what I ordered from Germany and then two of a separate one. So 23 minifigures later and I only have 7 of the 12.

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In conclusion…

-It is getting harder for me to complete a set as I can’t go to a store to test bags

-I don’t have any complete sets of the last two series yet

-Buying in bulk without discounts is getting more expensive than it is actually worth

-I think LEGO needs to sell the proposed box of 36 with 3 complete sets or not at all

What are your thoughts? Does LEGO need to change up how they sell the Collectible Minifigures?

The LEGO® Group in the News - CNBC - 26 Jan 2021

Posting this video as I haven’t seen it posted elsewhere by the fan media. This clip is focused on the business side of LEGO as to be expected since it was put together by CNBC which is NBC’s business affiliate in the US.

Nothing too Earth shattering or new that I wasn’t aware of, but I thought it was cool how they incorporated some of the fan media into the video.

Enjoy!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy building!

Amazon Runs Steam Rollers Over Packages with LEGO® Sets Inside

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the meantime, happy building!