A Walk Down Modular Building Lane

I’ve reviewed a bunch of the modular buildings since the start of my site in 2014 and I have most of the sets. Sadly, I do not have #10190-1: Market Street or #10185-1: Green Grocer. Maybe some day I will see if I can piece them together with my collection and BrickLink orders. I do have the rest and they are awesome sets!

If you’re a modular building geek like me or just want to learn more about them, Jamie Berard, who many folks know from the LEGO Masters USA TV show, did a 40 minute walk through of the history of the modular building line for LEGO on YouTube. Hopefully you can find that chunk of time to watch it or watch it over a few sittings like I did as it’s an interesting video where you learn about some of the insights that went into each design. You can check it out below.

Why You Should Use BrickLink

Did you miss out on a specific set release by LEGO? Are you looking for a specific minifigure to complete your build? Do you need a bunch of bricks or plates to complete a building or vehicle?

How can you get these items?

There are a lot of marketplaces out there that you can turn to. You can try EBay, various sellers on Amazon.com, Brick Owl, FaceBook Marketplace, Craigslist, but in my opinion, there is only one place to turn.

Full disclosure… I have a store on BrickLink with a bunch of retired sets and minifigures. So while BrickLink isn’t sending me money for this article, I do make money selling on BrickLink.

BrickLink was founded in June 2000 by LEGO fan Dan Jezek. Dan sadly passed away in 2010 after working to build up the marketplace. It was continued by Jay Kim and a team of folks until the LEGO Group purchased BrickLink in 2019. There was some minor turmoil with LEGO buying the secondary marketplace for its product, but it has mostly remained the same marketplace. BrickLink currently boasts over 10,000 sellers from 70 countries with over a million registered members. The total number of items for sale is… I have no idea. Probably in the millions.

So why should you join into the group?

1 - Fans selling to Fans

Many of the sellers on BrickLink are fans of LEGO themselves. They care about the product and aren’t going to send you something they wouldn’t want (usually). That’s not to say there aren’t a few bad apples in the barrel of BrickLink sellers, but overall I have never been disappointed. Read feedback ratings, check on the store terms page, and then see #2.

2 - Ability to verify items, check in on sellers, and select shipping

We’ve become used to placing online orders at Amazon.com, Walmart, Target, or other retailers. We click on the buy button and we expect our order to arrive in a certain period of time as advertised. You can do the same for BrickLink, but you also have the ability to do your research. If you want to buy that old modular building, Series 1 Collectible Minifigure, or 500 1x2 black plates, ask the seller for details. Get a picture of the item. Ask if it is used. What are the details that concern you and get them worked out before clicking on the buy button.

Then verify their feedback. What are other buyers saying about them? Do they ship promptly? Do they pack items well? Do they respond to questions?

And while BrickLink has an instant shipping function, take the extra time to get real shipping quotes. My instant checkout is set up to go from FL to WA (most expensive option). If you live in GA or TN or another closer location to a seller like me in FL, odds are shipping will be less. Ask and save yourself a few dollars while waiting a day or two.

3 - Wanted lists

I don’t build too many MOCs, but when I do, Bricklink is a great place to turn to for parts. I appreciate the Wanted List function. While it may take a bit to insert it all in if you have a lot of different pieces, It can save you in the long run. The system will tell you where you can buy the parts from. Does one seller cover everything you are looking for? While that seller may have a slightly higher price, you save by not having to pay for shipping from multiple buyers. You can also update it when you have acquired some of the pieces you need or maybe you’ve found some in your own collection.

4 - Ratings matter

You often see stories about Amazon.com ratings and how vendors often pay people to write reviews. I’m pretty sure no one on Bricklink has done that. Besides, you don’t get a lot of space to post feedback. If the seller has hundreds or thousands of positive reviews that all seem to say the same thing, you will probably say the same thing too. Yes, there is always that person who leaves a neutral or negative rating, but what do the vast majority of people say?

If the person is new to selling and doesn’t have a lot of feedback, then take the time to ask them questions. Send a message to ask what you are concerned about and to verify how the order will go. If the seller doesn’t respond or doesn’t give you the answers you are looking for, check in with another seller.

5 - You can see all the prices people are charging and work to find the best one

BrickLink will show you a price guide for each set/part/minifigure/item. You can see the last six months of sales and then what is available for sale at the current time. This is pretty useful if you’re trying to find the lowest priced option or to find someone who has 80 1x4 red bricks.

With this information, you can also negotiate if you want to take the time. The seller with the lowest price may have a higher cost to ship. Another seller may have a higher cost, but have a lower shipping cost. Ask the sellers if they can match prices. Will the one lower the shipping cost to make the sale? Will the other lower the item cost to make the sale? If they say no, but you still want the item, you can still purchase it.

6 - Low fees equal lower prices than some other marketplaces (usually)

I’ve had a few potential buyers complain about the price I’m charging for a set. I will then look the set up on EBay and Amazon to see what it’s going for. More often then not, the price is much higher. Some EBay sellers include shipping so that can cut down on the price difference, but look around if you want the best price. BrickLink charges a 3% fee to the seller on top of PayPal or Stripe fees. EBay charges 10% to 12% or so. Amazon can be a fee in upwards of 20%.

7 - If you can’t find it on BrickLink, it might not exist

The stock on BrickLink is pretty extensive. You can find just about any part, minifigure, or set produced. If you can’t find it there, it might not be anywhere else either.

8 - Studio 2.0

BrickLink has its own digital building program. You can build with endless amounts of digital bricks and create whatever you want. Then you can upload it for the world to see or buy all of the bricks you need to make the MOC into reality. While I prefer building with physical bricks, this is a great option if you want to build something large and don’t have all the parts or you don’t have space to build.

9 - Custom sets to piece together

Once you’ve built a MOC in Studio, you can upload it for the world to see. The digital instructions are not LEGO set quality, but you can re-build what someone else designed and it will let you buy the parts as well.

10 - Become a seller

Do you have a bunch of sets lying around you want to sell off? Maybe you have a whole bunch of bricks you no longer want. Well you can apply to become a seller. When I became a seller, I don’t remember the application process so it is either new or wasn’t a big deal a few years back. I don’t know how that works, but once you are in, you can start to sell. I fully admit that it will not lead to instant riches, but I can’t complain about the extra income and my NLS is happy that my store funds my personal brick addiction.

Anything I missed?

Happy BrickLinking!

Set Review: #910028-1: Pursuit of Flight - Bricklink Designer Program

Round one of the Bricklink Designer program happened back in the summer of 2021. The sets that I ordered finally got delivered in March 2022. I believe Europe got their deliveries first and then North America. This set is #910028-1: Pursuit of Flight. It was designed by JK Brickworks which is made up of Jason Allemann and Kristal. The set contains 541 pieces and retailed for $54.99 in the US. This works out to $0.102 per piece. The program only allowed between 5,000 and 10,000 copies of the set to be produced so you’ll only find this one on BrickLink or other secondary sales locations. Another option is to piece out the set using the instructions available online and building it yourself. I’m not sure how much that would cost, but it could save you some if you have a lot of the parts on hand or if you substitute colors and pieces with parts in your inventory or that you can pick up used.

The box is white with BrickLink’s logo. The front and back both have the logo while the front only lists the standard LEGO lettering with set number, age range (18+), piece count, the warning not to swallow tiny pieces, and the set name with designer. The back just gives another picture of the set with a different view and different planes attached. You’ll note on the bottom of the picture I took of the back is the BrickLink seal. I guess they are concerned about people opening the set and then re-closing it and trying to sell it off as new. Not a problem with this sticker.

The side of the box as you lift open the cover says “Bricklink Designer Program” and “2021 Invitational.”

Here’s how the set was packed. Instead of instructions in the form of a booklet, you get a card. The card gives you the option to scan a QR code which lets you download an app to view 3D instructions. I used the app instructions. They weren’t too bad, but it took some getting used to after building with paper booklets for so many years. I liked the ability to pivot the model on the screen to see other sides. To improve it, I would add in the ability to tell colors apart better; Multiple shades of blue and brown/red in this set were a challenge to pick out. I’m glad the set wasn’t much larger. Also, I would add in the ability to line up Technic pins like in the paper instructions to verify that you have the right size.

The card provided a link to go and download a .pdf version of the instructions. I tried the link, but it didn’t work. However, if you go to Bricklink and the Designer Program page, you can go to the page for each individual model and download the instructions there. You can still use a screen, or you can print them (if you have a lot of ink and paper).

This set contains four parts bags numbered one through three with two bags labeled number three. Bag one contains a teal brick separator to add to your collection.

Bag one builds the main base with the majority of the Technic parts. The brick section is fairly simple to put together with mostly studs on top. The Technic build just required that you watch how pieces were lined up and how long the various axles were. Overall, not too bad though.

The second bag adds a top to the box section that you built with bag one. The top has a microscale village with some buildings, roads, and trees. Using clear antenna pieces and some white plates and tiles, you add in some clouds. The last section you add in is the last of the Technic pieces. The longer axles were slightly hard to install as the pieces they attach to weren’t set in place below or at least one isn’t. I had to fish for that one, get the axle installed, and then I could attach the second one. Not a huge deal, just something to pay attention to if you build this one.

The last part of the build is assembling the aircraft in bag three. This set comes with five different designs, but you could easily add your own as desired. For this one, you get a triplane, a biplane, two single wing aircraft (one with the wing below the fuselage and one with the wing above the fuselage), and then a small version of the Wright Flyer. The triplane and biplane both come with a minifigure head with a flight cap to have it look like there’s a pilot (although it’s too small of a plane to fit the rest of the minifigure). The other three do not have pilots. You can interchange them as desired to “fly” them on the set. While the original Wright Flyer didn’t do a whole lot of maneuvering, it’s a fun concept to add that aircraft in.

Overall, I like the set and think it’s something out of the ordinary that we haven’t seen before in the Ideas line or elsewhere. The price is a bit steep considering what you’re getting, but it is a “low production” run set so that’s what you get. I’m curious to know if anyone built this on their own with their own parts or parts sourced from Bricklink or elsewhere. I’m looking forward to more of the Bricklink Designer Program sets.

Happy building!

Set Review - #10289-1: Bird of Paradise - Botanical Collection - 18+

LEGO’s journey into plants started with #10280-1: Flower Bouquet. This set is another addition to the LEGO plant line. It’s #10289-1: Bird of Paradise. It was released in the US on 19 June 2021 and contains 1,173 pieces. It retails for $99.99 and works out to $0.085 per piece. LEGO had the set on sale for $69.99 around the Christmas 2021 time frame and I picked it up then. I thought $100 was a bit much for this set and I assume it was put on sale as it was not selling as good at the Flower Bouquet has sold.

The box has a picture of the set assembled on the front and then another picture on the back. The back also shows some details, lists dimensions, and shows what the set looks like if you place it in a staged room in your photography area.

The set contains 10 parts bags numbered one through five. The instructions come wrapped for protection.

The instructions provide some details about the actual plant and include a picture of the set designer Chris McVeigh

The first bag starts to build the pot for the plant. It’s always interesting to see how different designers come up with ways to create rounded builds using a system built on right angles. This one is unique from what I have seen in the past and it uses mostly common pieces. The only one odd is a 2x2 double plate with textured sides. I’m not sure why they used this piece versus two plates, but it’s cool that you get multiples of these pieces with this set.

The second bag adds the outsides of the pot for the plant and then it adds a top section with Technic pieces. The outside pieces of the pot are all the same… well you build three one way and then three another way, but they are mostly the same. The Technic section comes into play when you attach the plant pieces next.

The third bag adds the larger leaves for the plant and some of the smaller leaves on the bottom. I followed the instructions for where each one goes, but you can place them where you want. You can also adjust the height of the leaves as well. Again, I just followed the instructions for the height of each leaf.

The fourth bag adds the flowers to the build. There are three, but you could probably make your own if you could come up with all the additional pieces. I’m not sure how common the purple sabre is in LEGO, but maybe you could some up with alternative pieces to use to make it.

The last set of bags, number five, adds a whole bunch of 1x1 brown plates. It’s actually two different colors of brown. You dump them in as the “dirt” and then the build is done.

Overall, the build is pretty quick and not too exciting. As mentioned, there are a few newer pieces, but the set is mostly a build to display piece. My NLS liked it and found a place where she wanted a real plant, but there wasn’t enough light to actually grow one. I guess I’m not the primary audience for this type of set.

I think the set is priced a bit high. This is especially considering many of the parts are the 1x1 plates that you add in as dirt. I’m glad I caught it on sale. If you’re looking to pick this one up, definitely wait for a sale to pop up. Maybe it’ll happen again for Christmas time 2022.

Happy building!

Set Review - #10297-1: Boutique Hotel - Creator Expert/18+ - Modular Building

The LEGO Group successfully sucked me into the modular building fandom a long time ago and I’m always in line to get the latest version every year. This one is the 15th anniversary of modular buildings called #10297-1: Boutique Hotel. It was released in the US on 2 January 2022. It retails for $199.99 and contains 3,066 pieces. This works out to $0.065 per piece which isn’t too bad. To be fair, a lot of the pieces are smaller so maybe it’s not a huge win, but I can’t complain.

The box has the 18+ branding on the front and is black. The full set is shown with all of the minifigures. There’s a logo for the Boutique Hotel and then the mention of the 15th anniversary. The back shows a few details, the dimensions of the set, and how the set assembles together. It also shows it next to #10278-1: Police Station and #10270-1: Book Shop.

The set contains 20 parts bags… or at least that’s what I can count in the picture I took. They are all numbered. It also contains a 32x32 baseplate colored gray. The instruction book is wrapped.

The instructions have a few pages on the design and the designer as well as a picture of the designers who have contributed to the theme over the years. Also throughout the book are little tidbits about various pieces used, references to other modular buildings, and other fun facts.

The first bag starts with adding the basic layout to the base plate. This is usually lots of tiles and there are no exceptions here. The first bag comes with a female hotel worker.

The second bag builds up the first floor with tiling on the inside in a fun pattern. It also starts the stairs and then adds a dumpster outside with a white croissant in reference to #10243-1: Parisian Cafe. This bag contains a male minifigure who works at the hotel and you build a small luggage cart.

Bag three builds up more of the first floor with steps in the hotel and the check-in desk. The check-in desk has a fun telephone, some flowers, and then actual keys for the rooms. The back of the wall for the check in desk has some art work for the art gallery behind the hotel.

Bag four adds a couch in the lobby of the hotel and then builds up the art gallery. You put in a desk and then a few pieces of art to include a brick version of the Creator Expert logo. You also construct the stairs to the cafe above the art gallery. Bag 4 comes with a female minifigure who works at the art gallery.

I really appreciate the use of angles and how this set isn’t just the standard building with 90 degree angles.

Bags five and six wrap up the first floor. The biggest section of the build is the front façade of the hotel with doors, windows, some texture to the outside, some plants, and the curved arches. Inside, you finish up the stairwell to include a handrail. On the outside, you add a lamp post.

Bags seven and eight start on the second floor which is all hotel rooms. Bag seven builds the base with plates and then starts on walls. I like the peach color which you don’t see too often. Bag eight adds in windows, furniture, and stairs to the next floor. One of the rooms comes with a typewriter which is very similar to #21327-1: Typewriter.

The ninth bag wraps up the second floor. It also comes with a male minifigure with a suit case. The arches over the windows look good along with some of the columns. The one room has a balcony with some decorative fencing made of brick handcuffs.

Bag ten adds a small cafe above the art gallery called “El Cubo.” It has a few tables and then a bar with some glasses and bottles. This section also has a larger palm tree made up of some fun pieces and then an entrance similar to the Market Street modular building.

Bag eleven starts the third floor with the floor plates, some wall sections, and the start of a bathroom.

Bags 12 and 13 finish up the third floor. There’s a large bed, a chair, an old fashioned TV, and a wardrobe in the main bedroom. The bathroom has a sink, toilet, and tub. The windows all have some greenery and a few have flowers.

Bag 14 is the final bag and builds the roof along with the rounded point at the top. The large skylight is done with simple wind screens, but it looks good.

It also includes a small coffee cart and a coffee seller minifigure.

There was an error in my set with this bag. For the roof, I was supposed to get a light gray 1x2x2 plate corner. Instead, I was given a 1x2 light gray plate with slide. I replaced the part with a part from my collection, but it has been a while since I’ve seen an error in a set. Has anyone else had this issue?

Here are the minifigures. I’m glad that LEGO decided to get away from the traditional two dots and a smile to the faces with expressions. I think it’s a good mix here. A few have dual expressions.

Here is the final set from all the sides. I’m a big fan of this one. I like the building at different angles instead of the 90 degree angles. The colors are fun as well and there are a lot of great pieces. Well done design team!

The price continues to creep up on these sets with them being $200 now, but thankfully, the part count goes up. A lot of the parts are smaller though. I recommend waiting for opportunities to get double VIP points or a fun gift with purchase before diving in. You should be able to get this one for a few more years (hopefully) so there shouldn’t be a rush to get this one.

Happy building!

Set Review - #80108-1: Lunar New Year Traditions - Chinese Festival Special Edition

Here is the second of two Chinese Festival Special Edition sets for 2022. This one is the lower priced set with it retailing for $79.99 in the US. It was released at the same time as #80109-1: Lunar New Year Ice Festival which was 10 January 2022. This set contains 1,066 pieces so the price per piece is $0.075 per piece.

This set has branding for “Build Together” and it says 6X on the front of the box. The set is designed so that you can build it with others. There are multiple instruction booklets which apply specific numbered bags. I tested it out and did this build with my kids. My 4 year old and I as a team and then my 8 year old going solo. My NLS originally was supposed to join us, but found excuses not to.

The front of the box also has the Chinese Festival Special Edition logo, a picture of the set and then all of the 12 minifigures included in the set. The back of the box shows that you can display the set rounded or stacked on top of each other. It also gives a few details of some of the individual builds.

This set includes seven numbered parts bags. The instructions are wrapped in a bag with the stickers.

There are six instruction booklets so you can split up the build as desired. One slight challenge is that the instruction booklets don’t match up with the bag numbers. So instruction booklet one uses bags one and two. Then after that instruction booklet two uses bag three. The bags and booklets continue the disconnect throughout. Not a big deal, but make sure you pay attention to it when building.

Here are the stickers. There are a bunch. I learned that my 7 year old is really good at putting stickers on LEGO sets. I might have to keep that in mind for future builds.

Bag one builds the first vignette. It has two minifigures cleaning a store that sells pants. There are some fun details in this one to include a small bird, the sticker shows where the window is still being cleaned, and the minifigure pants hanging on the wall.

The second bag builds the piece that holds each of the vignettes together if you want to put them in a circle. Each side has a 2x4 tile with a picture depicting the scene. The top round dish piece is all printed and looks pretty good.

The third bag has a vendor selling various items. There are some chicken drum sticks, some sausages, some green… um… not sure what they are, and then the little minifigures. There are a few boxes on the side with some extra inventory. The use of the textured tiles for the roof area is a nice touch here. I also like the different colored tiny minifigures.

Next up are two minifigures putting up decorations and an orange/tangerine tree. While I think it’s a fun scene, I think LEGO is missing an opportunity to educate the world. What do the various signs say? What are the different traditions? The instructions could have a short little statement on each scene and translations of the various signs and stickers. At least that’s my opinion.

The fifth build has two adult minifigures and a girl watching television right before midnight. The scene is pretty fun with a clock on the wall telling the time and the scene on the TV screen. This bag comes with two smartphone tiles because we are incapable of watching TV without being on our phones at the same time. Also, there are some cups for tea perhaps and some cookies or orange slices. Not sure which they are.

One wall has a fish tank with a brick fish inside. The other wall has a sticker photo taken at 2021’s #80107-1: Spring Lantern Festival. This is a fun reference to a previous set.

The sixth build is of two grandparents giving their grandchild some gifts. From my knowledge, the red 1x2 tile is supposed to be an envelope with money in it. The scene has some fun decorations to include a picture of a tiger on the wall, a flower in a vase, a bookshelf on the wall, and then all the gifts. The best gift is obviously the LEGO bag on the floor. Or maybe it’s not a gift and the grandparents bought it for themselves.

The last build is of a minifigure surrounded by a pot of gold. I’m sure there is some symbolism and once again it would have been great if LEGO shared some of the story in the instructions. The little gold hot dog bun type pieces are fun. You also get a bunch of gold bars and coins which could be useful for MOC builders.

Here is what the set looks like all connected together using the assembly built with bag two. You can spin it around to see each side as desired. The pieces connect pretty easily and can be removed easily, but they don’t just fall out when you try to move the set.

Here are pictures of the set with different views. I tried to line them up with the pictures on the 2x4 tiles so hopefully I came close.

Here’s what it looks like when stacked. There are no instructions to guide you and I didn’t line them up correctly the first few tries so don’t feel bad if it doesn’t look pretty like the example on the set box right away. I prefer this version better as you can see all the vignettes at once.

As mentioned, I built this set with my kids. It actually worked out pretty good to do it this way and we had fun assembling it together and seeing how the different vignettes connect together. My 8 year old did great on her own and my 4 year old did fine working with me so I can endorse the “build together” strategy.

Overall, it’s a fun set with some cool vignettes that I have no idea what they mean. The build can get slightly repetitive with some minor differences between each vignette, but it wasn’t overly boring. This also opens up a chance for you to create your own vignettes using this design or to add your own. For the price it wasn’t too bad, but it does feel rather small for $80. You do get a lot of minifigures though so no complaints there.

What are your thoughts on this one? Has LEGO exhausted the Chinese Festival sets? Should the line continue?

Happy building!

Set Review - #21327-1: Typewriter - Ideas

#21327-1: Typewriter is the 35th Ideas set to come out to date. This one was released on 17 June 2021. I’ve actually had this one for a few months, but my NLS wanted to build it with me. It took us longer to put it together since she doesn’t dedicate as much of her time to building as I do.

If you’ve been looking for this on Shop @ Home, it’s been sold out since Christmas time 2021 (as of the time of this post). The retail price is $199.99 in the US and with 2,079 pieces it works out to $0.096 per piece.

The box is pretty stylish. The front shows the full set with the 18+ branding. The back shows some of the features of the set along with dimensions. If you do a quick look, it looks pretty realistic. A relative came to visit, saw the finished set, and asked my NLS where we got the typewriter from. My NLS responded “from LEGO.”

The box contains 19 parts bags. 18 of the bags are numbered while one has some larger parts. The instructions come wrapped along with the booklet of paper with a letter to attach to the typewriter available in multiple languages.

The instruction booklet includes some information about the fan designer and LEGO designers.

The set comes with only two stickers. They are chrome so I guess it would be hard to print them on bricks like this. Two isn’t bad so I can’t complain too much.

The letter you can add to your typewriter comes in a booklet where you can tear out the letter you want. It comes in more languages than I was expecting.

The first set of bags builds some Technic hardware. A word of warning for this set, if you don’t like Technic builds, you won’t like this set. It has a lot of Technic pieces to build the mechanical functionality. My NLS was not familiar with Technic builds and found it very challenging. Often she passed those sections off to me. If you are used to System builds, then Technic builds can get challenging, but I didn’t think it was too bad. You just have to pay attention to where various pins go.

For the second set of bags, you attach all of those Technic builds from bag 1 together using long Technic axles that are similar to the long axles from #10280-1: Flower Bouquet. This part isn’t too challenging, but you really need to focus on the build and where you are putting each part.

The third bag adds the keys to make the keyboard. Thankfully, these are all printed and they look great since I didn’t have to put stickers on each one. Also, here’s your chance to set up the keyboard the way you want to. I used the standard QWERTY keyboard from the instructions, but you can use what you want and change it fairly easily.

The fourth set of bags adds some of the sand green bricks around the keyboard to build up the outer covering.

Next up you build more of the back of the typewriter and more of the Technic functionality. I made a mistake somewhere in here. I’m not sure if it shows on this picture or not. Thankfully it was an easy fix, but I didn’t realize it until I hit a key and the typewriter didn’t function as it should.

The sixth bag adds in more of the back along with the main hammer that moves when you press a key. Some of the fan media postings I have seen on this set mentions that the same hammer moves no matter what key you press and how they didn’t like that. I say, that would be hard to do with LEGO and the scale of the set so I can’t complain. I’m good with the one hammer moving. If you don’t like it, figure out how to re-mechanize it given the space constraints on your own.

The seventh bag adds more of the sand green case and then starts to build the section that will end up holding the paper. This part got a bit complicated with all the gears you need to add.

Onto bag eight… You cover up all that hard work you did connecting Technic pieces together. The more I look at it, the more I like the choice of color. The brick work on the top looks good with with the curved pieces in front of the spot where the type hammer piece is located. Also a few studs are showing so you still know it’s LEGO, but not a ton where it doesn’t look like a typewriter.

You also add in the switch that allows you to switch from black to red ink. The functionality doesn’t actually work, but the detail is there.

The ninth bag starts to assemble the section that holds the paper. The shiny chrome sticker really pops here and looks good on the sand green.

Bag 10 finishes the paper holder up and you attach it to the typewriter. The tires are an awesome touch and then the barrel half on the end is cool. There are a bunch of silver pieces and tiles for those of you who build MOCs who weren’t excited about all the sand green pieces.

In case you haven’t seen any other reviews, this section will move when you “type.” Once you hit the end, you can then push it back so you can type another row. It’s impressive that they were able to figure out how to make the typewriter function using Technic and System pieces.

#11 wraps everything up. You add in a handle for the paper holder. The instructions warn you that it is not strong enough to actually function like the real thing. You need to push it at the base of the handle and not at the top edge where it will just snap off. You also add in the ink ribbon and the rolls where the ink goes. Finally, you add in some additional hammers which help to make the typewriter look realistic, but don’t actually function.

Wow! This set is impressive. I enjoyed the build. The mix of Technic pieces to add functionality along with System pieces for detail make this set a winner. There are a lot of great pieces if you intend to tear this down for a MOC and not a ton of stickers. The set is on the expensive end at $200, but I thought it was worth it. Definitely look for sales at some of the retailers or use VIP points through LEGO stores or Shop @ Home if you want a discount. I highly recommend this one and hope we get more in the Ideas line or other lines similar to this one.

Happy building!

Set Review: #80109-1: Lunar New Year Ice Festival - Chinese Festival Special Edition

LEGO started the Chinese Festival Special Edition sets for everyone back in 2019 (it actually started sooner, but that was only for Asia). The theme continued in 2022 with two more sets. #80109-1: Lunar New Year Ice Festival was released on 10 January 2022 in the US. It is one of two sets. The theme has had a smaller set around $80 each and then a larger set around $120 each. This one retails in the US for $119.99 and contains 1,519 pieces. That works out to $0.079 per piece which isn’t too bad.

This one is a big scene with a lot of minifigures. You get a full 13 in this set. It’s a great play set, but unlike #80107-1, it has many fewer pieces. It also doesn’t use Technic pins to hook into others which is disappointing to me, but isn’t a hard challenge to fix if you want to link this up to another set.

The box is pretty standard. The front shows the full scene with all of the usual logos. The back shows some of the details.

The contents are 13 numbered parts bags, 2 16x16 white plates, and the instructions which are wrapped along with the plastic piece used as the photo board.

The first bag starts the base. To the left of the base is an odd set up which didn’t become apparent until later in the build so I won’t spoil it. One fun bit is you add a smart phone to the base which ends up being a phone that someone dropped into the water and the ice froze over. A humorous little detail which is fun to see.

This bag comes with two minifigures. There is a kid with a winter hat, glasses and gloves/mittens. He can ride in the little cart which the adult minifigure can push around while on skates.

The second bag finishes up the base. Not too much overly interesting here other than laying down plates and connecting them with plates, tiles, and bricks.

The third bag starts to put the layer of “ice” on top for skating. Most of the large window screen pieces used for the ice are a newer color that seem to be a white with a slight sparkle to it. I’m sure there is a technical term for the color, but it’s cool. There is also one of the light blue translucent pieces for where the ice fishing hole goes.

You add edges to the ice rink throughout the build. While this is okay, it continually makes the rink smaller. I’d rather have a larger skating area given the number of minifigures. I guess you can modify the set later to get rid of some of the edging that takes away that space.

Bag four finishes up the “ice.” You can see that you place a few LEGO fish pieces underneath the ice to “swim” around. Maybe one will find the phone.

This bag comes with a minifigure ready to play hockey. He has a hockey stick and it comes with a few round 1x1 tiles for pucks. This face has two sides which both look beat up from playing. He needs a helmet with face shield.

The fifth bag adds more edging around the ice.

You also get an older female minifigure who sits on a chair with skates.

The sixth bag finishes up a lot of the edging. You get the base of the sales hut in the upper left corner of the picture, a number of tiles and round 1x1 plates as stone paths, and then just some white plates as snowy areas to walk over.

This bag comes with a female minifigure holding a chain saw. There’s a translucent blue penguin which you can assume was carved out of ice using the chain saw. There are a few translucent blue cheese slopes on the ground nearby which you can assume are pieces of ice that she sawed off.

The seventh bag builds the walls to the small store that sells/rents gear for the ice. It’s a simple build, but has some fun colors and details as well as a small sign out front. It comes with a male minifigure as the shop worker. Inside is a skate sharpening machine, some skates, some hockey sticks, a cash register, and some trophies.

The eighth bag adds the roof to the hut and some red lanterns out front of the hut. I like how they added some snow still on the roof while keeping the shape of the roof.

The ninth bag adds in a spot where minifigures can pose behind a picture with cutouts for their faces. To do this, you build two brick built posts for a frame and then you slide in a plastic card with the cut outs.

This bag comes with three minifigures. There’s a boy, a man with a camera, and then a woman with a cart selling… um… I’m not sure what it is…

Here’s a closer look of the plastic piece for the minifigures to pose behind.

The tenth bag adds a few more details. There’s a vending machine near the building that is added in. Then there is an ice fishing hole with a minifigure fishing in it. Finally, there’s some fencing and plants added in for decoration.

The eleventh bag begins the build of the ice sculpture in the back of the set. It comes with a bunch of clear and translucent blue pieces to form a ramp for skating down maybe and then an arch. There are also two flags added in.

The costumed tiger minifigure comes with this bag.

The twelfth bag finishes the ice sculpture. I’m sure it’s designed after something, but I don’t know what it is. On either side of the ice sculpture is a pole with some decorations. There are two lanterns and then a sign on the top with some… not sure if it is calligraphy or just a design.

This bag comes with a girl minifigure.

Bag 13 wraps up the build. You add in a few more details to the build. This includes the snow covered tree on the left side, another sign with lights hanging down, and you finally make use of the drawer underneath the rental hut. You fill the drawer with some extra skates, snow shoes, hockey gear, and ski poles, A pair of skis are added on the outside of the hut near the vending machine. This is a handy feature to keep all of the extra gear with the set. In the very front of the set, you add a sign. It’s a picture of two minifigures running or skating maybe. One has a red flag. There’s also a thermometer showing it is cold and then a map of the area (maybe). I’m super thankful this was printed on and there are no stickers at all in this set. Win!

The 13 minifigures you get with this set really make it. Without them, the set would be boring and dull. You really need them to pose them and have them do different things around the scene in order to make it worthwhile.

Here’s the final build. For those of you that like to build, this isn’t the greatest set although there are some great pieces for MOC builders to use. However, this is a great play set with lots of minifigures to do different things with. With a bit of work and some modification, you could connect this to the other Chinese Festival Themed sets. You could also add this to a Winter Village themed build.

The price for the larger set remained the same, but it has less pieces. However, it did come with a lot more minifigures. Definitely check around to see if you can pick it up at a discount.

I recommend this set if you collect this theme or like to learn about the Asian culture. Stay away if you are a builder and don’t want a play set with lots of minifigures.

Happy building!

Set Review: Series 22 Collectible Minifigures - #71032

I’m actually getting to review some Collectible Minifigures before they retire. That’s a first. Series 22 or #71032 was released in the US on 1 January 2022. I‘ve seen March and April retirement dates, but it probably just depends on stock levels. LEGO Shop @ Home will only let you purchase 16. Walmart.com (as of this post) will only let you get 2. I found Target.com would only let me buy boxes of 6 (shown below) and didn’t have a cap. The minifigures are $4.99 per bag and if you buy a box of 6 it is very slightly more As with previous sets, this one comes with 12 now versus the higher numbers of the past.

Maybe it’s just me, but this time I felt like they were more evenly dispersed. I’m used to getting a lot of a character I don’t want and then there’s that one hard to find figure that I can’t get. I’m sure it’s just me.

Overall, I found this to be a good set. I like the mix of minifigures and have always been a fan of the creative series versus the licensed series. If you collect these, I recommend this series although $5 a bag still seems ridiculous to me.

Here’s a picture of the box that comes with six minifigures in it. For a company looking to decrease its impact on the environment, adding packaging to a product doesn’t seem to fit the bill there. I guess the boxes can be recycled so maybe it’s not as bad?

Not in any particular order…

The Robot Repair Tech comes with a small robot and some tools. The arm of the tech has a tool hand versus the standard minifigure hand. This is something you don’t often see. I wonder if we’ll see this more?

Chili Costume Fan comes with the costume and some red hair. She also had a little container of milk to help with the burning sensation in your mouth after eating a chili. The costumed miniifigures seem to be very popular so I’m sure we’ll continue to see more of these in the future.

The Snow Guardian looks like it could the the star of a cool new fantasy theme in the LEGO world. It happened with the Monkey King and series 20. You never know. This minifigure comes with a husky dog to add to your LEGO dog collection.

Troubadour… I had to search what this one was… comes with a lyre and some coins. Could be a fun addition to a castle MOC.

Horse and Groom is the next one. This one comes with a pony sized horse as compared to the larger versions seen in Castle sets in the past. The minifigure has a carrot and a hat with hair attached. I like the green plaid shirt.

Figure Skating Champion comes with a trophy and skates. It also has one of the posable pieces included so you can have the skater going into a jump or spin. Not exactly my favorite one of the bunch, but the timing works with the Winter Olympics going on during the release of this series.

The Night Protector is interesting. Another figure from a fantasy world. I guess either you can create the world or maybe they’ll come out with this world in the future. The translucent purple sword is fun. My picture is pretty bad, but the shield is also translucent purple and it has a design on it.

The Forest Elf is pretty fun with the acorn hat, cape, walking stick, and the smiling mushroom. As a bonus, the bag comes with a second smiling mushroom top so you can expand your creepy forest.

The Raccoon Costume Fan has the costume, a trash can, a trash bag, and then some hair for when the minifigure decides to take the headpiece off. I like how the grey hair matches the color of the raccoon.

The Bird-Watcher comes equipped with binoculars and a small bag. The bird included is a toucan which is a fun new addition to the LEGO world.

The Space Creature has become pretty popular among Classic Space fans. Now with the purple shirt, you can find purple pants and a purple helmet to make a purple figure. Apparently the purple oxygen tank hasn’t been made yet.

Last up is the Wheelchair Racer. This one includes the racing wheel chair, a helmet, and a medal.

Combining the 2021 Harry Potter sets

In case you haven’t read the set reviews I did for the 2021 Harry Potter LEGO sets, they are built to connect together with Technic pins and studs.

By the way, you can see all of the previous reviews of the sets that link together at the following places:

#40452-1: HOGWARTS™ GRYFFINDOR DORMS

#76386-1: HOGWARTS™: POLYJUICE POTION MISTAKE

#76387-1: HOGWARTS™ FLUFFY ENCOUNTER

#76389-1: HOGWARTS CHAMBER OF SECRETS

#76395-1: HOGWARTS: FIRST FLYING LESSON

Okay, now that you’ve dug into the rest of my opinions, here is my picture of the front of the combination of those sets. Please note that there are no instructions on how to do this. I connected the sets how I wanted to, but you could do it however you wanted.

Overall, I think the front side looks good. It could be a fun item to display on a longer shelf or a good start to building your own full up, minifigure scale Hogwarts. I’m not sure the #76395-1: HOGWARTS: FIRST FLYING LESSON fits well there. I’d have to go back to the movies and see where they place it. I also think it would have been cool to add corners to the building so it’s not just one flat side of a building. To be fair, it wouldn’t be too hard to put corners into the buildings and connect them.

A big criticism on this side is that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is on the outside of the building. I the movie it is clearly somewhere underneath the castle in a cave. As it is constructed, it is just below a floor that has a roof section. If you were to update these sets, I would look to adjust the placement of the entrance to the Chamber so it is more internal to the castle.

Here is what the inside looks like. You can place them how you like, but I tired to make them match up as realistic as possible. So I was able to put #76387-1: HOGWARTS™ FLUFFY ENCOUNTER so that the entrance to the location where the sorcerer’s stone is hidden can be placed appropriately. Also, I was able to properly line up the entrance to the #76389-1: HOGWARTS CHAMBER OF SECRETS using the #76386-1: HOGWARTS™: POLYJUICE POTION MISTAKE to have the entrance be the bathroom.

There are a few that I wasn’t exactly sure where to place, but I tried my best. In the end it probably doesn’t really matter where they are, but you can try and line them up appropriately.

Overall, I can’t complain about the inside, but it does open up the opportunity to make your own adjustments with your own pieces. I haven’t tried this yet, but can see a few ways to add to the set up so it is more three dimensional and/or accurate.

So should you get all the sets to connect them together? It probably depends on how big of a Harry Potter fan you are (and how much funding you have). If you are looking to make a bigger MOC, it’s a good start to the Potter world and you’ll get a bunch of accessories like minifigures and other items. However, you’ll have to do some work on the internal sections and some of the roof parts aren’t exactly common. For those who just want a play set, this definitely fits the bill.

Any other thoughts on this one?

Happy building!