Set Review: #76413-1 - Hogwart's: Room of Requirements - Harry Potter

Here’s a review for #76413-1: Hogwarts™: Room of Requirements. This one was released on 1 March 2023 and retails for $49.99 in the US. It contains 587 pieces which puts it at $0.085 per piece. I grabbed this one on sale from LEGO Shop @ Home with GWPs so even better. This is not the first venture into this section of the castle. This set focuses on a scene from the last book/movie “The Deathly Hallows”, but we had #75966-1 back in 2020 which was from “The Order of the Phoenix” book/movie which focuses on a separate scene in the room with a different purpose.

Nothing overly special about the box. It is pretty standard with how the front and back usually look for a Harry Potter themed set.

The set contains four numbered parts bags, and instruction booklet, and a sticker sheet. My sticker sheet was smashed into the box and had a pretty sharp crease in it. I was not happy with that, but thankfully, it didn’t wreck the overall look of the set when I was done putting it together.

Unlike most Harry Potter sets, the first bag actually starts with the top of the structure. You build a small roof section and then a larger one with a spire. The one with the spire has a space underneath the spire where a scroll is set for reading. I’m not sure what the reference is to in the movie exactly so it’s relevance in the set is unknown to me.

You get two minifigures in this bag. One is Harry and the other is “The Grey Lady” (Rowena Ravenclaw’s deceased daughter).

The second bag assembles the ground floor of the build. This is the entrance to the Room of Requirements. There is a door (with stickers that you put on both sides) and then the inside starts to build all of the various things that are stored in the room with two cases with cups in them.

There are some straight and curved tiles placed around the door frame on the inside of the room. These tiles have stickers. I had a challenging time putting the stickers on the 1x6 pieces and an even harder time trying to line up the curved stickers on the curved tiles.

The Draco Malfoy minifigure comes with this bag.

The third bag adds more to the room to make it taller. You also tack on a few more stickers for details. You see a number of Technic axle and pin holes throughout the build which will make more sense after the next bag.

On the outside of the build you put together some doors/wall pieces that slide back and forth so you can cover the door to the room similar to the movie. It’s not flush with the wall like in the movie, but it gets the job done considering the cost of the set and the space available for the build.

The Hermione minifigure comes in this bag.

The last bag wraps up the set with a lot of the various items inside the room of requirements to include boxes, books, a chair, a helmet, a record player, and the lost diadem that they are searching for in the movie/book.

The minifigure in this bag is Blaise Zabini who I don’t remember from any of the other movies, but it could just be me.

Lastly you build the fire dragon that Blaise casts in the Room. You can have the dragon as one long piece or you can split it up. The set comes with some extra Technic pins so you can connect the dragon to the various pin holes around the set. This is a fun play feature and I like how the designers added this one in.

5 minifigures in this set. All are exclusive so even if you thought you had all of the Harry Potter minifigures, there is yet another one. No major complaints here, but nothing super exciting.

Here’s the final build. Like the other sets, this one is modular and connects to the various Harry Potter sets to help you build out a full Hogwart’s Castle however you want to. The set has some good play features with the moveable doors in the front, the fire dragon that can be moved around, and some stuff to scatter around the room. You can also use your own pieces to add to the clutter in the room.

Overall, it’s not a bad set and the price per piece isn’t too bad. It’s gone on sale once so wait for another round of sales before you grab this one.

Happy building!

Set Review - #76420-1: Triwizard Tournament: The Black Lake - Harry Potter

Another Harry Potter set…. This one is #76420-1: Triwizard Tournament: The Black Lake. It was released on 1 March 2023 and it contains 349 pieces. It retails in the US for $44.99 which puts it at $0.129 per piece. I picked this one up on sale during the Back to Hogwarts event LEGO held for $5 off and with two GWP sets. It’s priced pretty high from a price per piece standpoint.

The box is pretty similar to most. The front shows the set apart with the above water section separated from the below water section. All of the minifigures are shown under water. It has the standard logos for Harry Potter sets. And the warning that the boat doesn’t float. The back shows some more play details for the set.

This set contains four numbered parts bags, an 8x16 plate, and the instruction booklet.

The first bag assembles the first section “above the water” for the set. This portion is just the structure for the upper level and then the stand where the characters jump into the water. There is a fairly simple Technic build that can be used to tip up a tile to have the characters “jump.” Additionally, this bag comes with a small row boat that fits one or two minifigures. The Harry Potter minifigure comes in this bag. His head is dual sided with the gills from eating the gillyweed. One side is smiling and the other is mad. His outfit is a red shirt with his house logo on the front and his last name printed on the back. He also comes with some skin colored fins to look like how his feet change into fins after eating the gillyweed. He also has a wand.

The second bag builds the upper level. This section comes with some great sand green colored pieces that look like they came from an Asian themed build. Inside the stand is a table with some mugs, a tea/coffee pot, and a container of sorts on the floor. There is a ladder piece to allow characters to climb up. The top of the structure has a printed clock tile piece. This piece is hooked to a Technic pin and then a ball on the back to spin the clock around. Viktor Krum comes as a minifigure in this bag. He has a face and hair piece and then you can spin his head to show a tongue that fits in with the shark piece to fit over his head.

The third bag starts the under water section of the build. It uses a few BURPs (or are they LURPs?) and then other dark blue and sand green pieces. You attach the chains to be where two of the figures are put under a spell to be rescued by the tournament participants. There are a few plants and then a crab and a fish as well. This bag contains Ron and Hermione along with one of the under water creatures (not sure of the official name). Ron and Hermione both have dual printed heads. One side is the underwater, asleep face and the other is the awake and smiling face.

The fourth bag finishes the build by completing the arch piece under water. It uses great colors to include sand green and teal. I like the use of the brick textured sand green pieces. This bag also comes with a mermaid minifigure. She has a dual printed head and comes with a trident. I forgot to throw her in this picture, but you’ll see her later.

Here are the minifigures. They are original to this set so a must buy if you collect Harry Potter minifigures. Otherwise, it’s just more Harry, Ron, and Hermione minifigures. Victor isn’t one you get often and the mermaid is also an original. Plus the shark part is cool. It’s disappointing they didn’t include Fleur and her sister. I’m sure that was due to cost and wanting to keep the price of the set at a specific level.

Here’s the final set. Overall, it’s a decent small build with some okay techniques besides just stacking bricks. You get some good piece colors and some unique minifigures so that’s a bonus as well. I do think the set is overpriced for what you are getting so look for opportunities to grab this one on sale or with GWPs. If it already went on sale once and it was just released in March, I’m pretty sure you’ll see it on sale again and it’s not even near the end of its shelf life.

Happy building!

Set Review - #71039 - Marvel Studios - Series 2 - Collectible Minifigures

More collectible minifigures! This series is #71039 - Marvel Studios - Series 2. This set of 12 minifigures was released on 1 September 2023 for $4.99 each. Instead of bags, this series comes in cardboard boxes in order to save on the environment. I applaud the initiative, but if you haven’t seen any of the pictures online, the world has torn open the packages to find the minifigures they wanted since the feel technique doesn’t work anymore.. I purchased three packages of six minifigures each online. Surprisingly, with 18 minifigures, I managed to get all 12 in the series so that was a bonus.

I’m not a fan of Marvel so I can’t tell you details on these minifigures or how close or not they are to the actual characters. In this review, I’ll just point out some of the things I noticed about each figure.

Overall, no major complaints on this series. I recommend it for Marvel fans or CMF collectors. Otherwise, save your money for others.

Happy building!

Agatha Harkness - This minifigure comes with a book, cape, and two flicker shooter pieces (not sure of the official term). It comes with a jumper plate and one of the pieces to make it poseable, but she has a slope brick for a dress so you can’t really pose her. They could have done without the poseable piece for this one.

Moon Knight - I’m not sure who this minifigure is, but the little gold moon piece and coin is interesting.

She-Hulk - This minifigure comes with a few printed tiles so that’s a bonus. I like the face color and the hair piece color as well.

Hawkeye - The character doesn’t interest me much, but it comes with a small owl, which is great!

Kate Bishop - The printed tile pizza box is great. The dog has one eye printed on it, which I guess is on par with the actual character from what I read and is not a misprint.

Goliath - This one looks cool Not sure who he is. You can put the hair piece on if you don’t want the helmet.

Echo - I have no idea what this minifigure is holding. The printing on the pants and torso are interesting.

Beast - Again, no idea who this character is, but the blue hair piece and face look cool.

Mr. Knight - I like the fish tank printed on the 1x2 clear brick. The minifigure doesn’t do much for me.

The Werewolf - I’m not a fan of this minifigure, but I also don’t know the character so maybe that’s why.

Storm - The white hair piece is a cool piece.

Wolverine - I’ve seen Wolverine minifigures in the past. I’m not sure how this one compares, but it looks okay Like some of the previous ones, you get a hair piece and the mask.

BrickCon 2023 - Attending Virtually Was Awesome

I attended BrickCon virtually from 7 through 10 September 2023 and had a blast as a third time attendee. This year I applied for, interviewed, and was selected to be a part of the virtual staff. In the past, I have done posts about all the activities I participated in. This year, my focus was more on making sure everything went smoothly in virtual land so I don’t have too much to post about specific presentations. I do have a bunch to share though.

Con Printed Program

This year’s theme was “Journeys” as the convention moved from it’s prior location in of many years in WA to the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, WA. I had never been to the previous location, but we got a virtual tour of the new location and it looked like a great facility. The wifi there was better too which helped for Zoom connections.

Virtually we started with to tour of the facility, we got to see MOCs being set up, and we got an insider look at the Swag bags and convention model.

As mentioned, I didn’t participate in a ton of presentations, but I did get to participate in a number of the games. We had a 150 piece free build to a theme (pick any 150 pieces in your collection and build to the theme in 1 hour). We also had attendees go out and get set #31135-1: Vintage Motorcycle. We did a number of games with this set to include a speed build of an alternate set found on rebrickable.com, a sock build of one of the models, a sock unbuild of the main model, an alternate build with your own background using any parts in 45 minutes, and finally the free build with your own collection of parts to a theme within 1.5 hours. They were a lot of fun to host and watch and I think the participants enjoyed themselves. We had a lot of talented and creative builders.

One new thing we did this year was hold a Virtual AFOL Spotlight. This was an opportunity to either share pictures or take your web camera and show some builds you were working on or sets you had on display. A bunch of us had a great time chatting and showing off bricks. Hopefully we can continue this event into the future.

Screen shot of Robein Sather’s opening slide from his keynote presentation

This year, the keynote speaker was Robin Sather. He is a LEGO Certified Professional from Canada and a super talented builder. He brought a bunch of large scale Duplo builds to the convention (and there are some videos out there of him crashing it after the show ended). His presentation went though the history of AFOLs, his building history, and his involvement in LEGO Masters New Zealand. Below is a picture of one of his Duplo builds from his presentation. Overall, his talk was great and well received by the virtual attendees.

Picture of a build by Robin Sather from his BrickCon 2023 presentation.

One of the highlights I always enjoy is the swag and merch from BrickCon. Here’s a quick rundown of everything I ordered.

Here’s the convention t-shirt. I thought the logo was great. I like the sea monster in there.

There was another string back pack this year to carry all of the swag. The biggest item was a notebook with a pen and some sticky notes inside. It says it’s for travel plans to conventions and to put down ideas for future MOCs.

This year included two stickers. One from the Brothers Brick and the other being the BrickCon logo.

Also included was a lanyard from Bricks and Minifigs and then a retractable brick separator clip which was awesome.

We got a few items from vendors to include a pack from Brick Warriors with some custom minifigure hair pieces, some printed bricks from the Brick Chick, and some custom capes/aprons from Cape Madness.

Similar to last year, we got a buildable BrickCon logo. Then we got some parts for trading. At the convention attendees can swap parts. As a virtual attendee, you just keep them all unless you have friends to trade with.

Lastly, there was a small build of a minifigure scale moving dolly, a bunch of printed parts from various sets, a custom printed tile with the BrickCon ‘23 logo, another BrickCon custom printed part for a box to carry with the dolly, and then my printed bricks that I ordered.

I also purchased the BrickCon convention model, but I’ll do a separate review on that one another time.

Sorry, not a detailed post for this year. I highly recommend you attend next year. It was only $25 to register for the virtual session so it’s pretty affordable. Hopefully the price remains the same next year. You can follow updates for 2024 and sign up for the mailing list here. I hope to see you in virtual attendance in 2024!
Happy building!

Set Review - 2023 Harry Potter Brickheadz Sets - #40616-1, #40617-1, and #40618-1

Three Harry Potter themed Brickheadz sets were released for 2023 on 1 June. Instead of three separate reviews, I decided to combine them all into one. I don’t collect all of the Brickheadz sets, but I do get the ones that interest me. As a Harry Potter fan, I grabbed these during the LEGO “Back to Hogwarts” sale event. Overall, they are in line with the Brickheadz theme. If you aren’t a fan of them or of Harry Potter, don’t bother with these. If you are a fan, look for an opportunity to grab them. Maybe during a double VIP point event or if you can find them on sale somewhere.

The first one is #40616-1: Harry Potter and Cho Chang. These are Brickheadz numbers 207 and 208. The set contains 267 pieces and retails for $19.99 which works out to $0.074 per piece. The box front shows the two characters. The back (not pictured) shows the same and how you can place the characters on a plate as a base. The set comes with four parts bags numbered one and two. There are two instruction booklets included. One for each character.

Not too much to talk about for the build. They are the standard Brickheadz build. Both characters come with printed tiles for the eyes and front of the shirt. Harry has a printed tile for the scar on his forehead. Harry’s face is a fun build as you install some pieces that are not clipped in by stud connections. They just rest in place and then other pieces hold them there. A fun little technique. If you don’t like the characters, LEGO always puts a few interesting colored pieces in the center and then I’m a fan of the dark red and blue colors as you get a few of those as well.

Next up is #40617-1 - Draco Malfoy and Cedric Diggory. Draco is #209 and Cedric #210. This set also retails for $19.99 and contains 262 pieces. This works out to $0.076 per piece. Similar to the previous set, the box has the characters on the front and the numbers and names of each on the bottom of the front. Inside are four parts bags numbered one and two with two bags for each number. There is an instruction booklet for each character.

The builds for these are not super interesting. Their hair is slightly different, but beyond that and brick colors, these builds are pretty similar. I guess the goal was to get students from each house so students from two houses in the last set and then the last two houses here. One difference is Draco is holding a gold trophy cup so you do get that additional part. As I mentioned at the beginning, if you’re a Brickheadz collector or a Harry Potter fan, then go get this set. If not, I’d avoid this one as it’s not super exciting to build and doesn’t have a ton of unique pieces.

Last set is #40618-1 - Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks. Kingsley is #211 and Nymphadora is #212. This set also retails for $19.99 and contains 250 pieces. It has the lowest piece count of the three sets which puts it at $0.079 per piece. Still not bad, but the worst ratio of the three. As with the other two sets, similar box art and contents inside the box.

Of the three sets, I enjoyed building this one the most. Kingsley has his head cover which is a cool looking printed, sloped piece that goes all around his head. It’s obviously not completely round, but I like how they created that effect. Nymphadora uses a fun lighter colored purple for the hair which was a nice change to see a different color. Beyond these two bits, they still mostly follow the Brickheadz standard so you’re not getting much else super exciting. Like the other two sets, great for Brickheadz and Potter fans, not so much for everyone else. Thankfully, there is a ton of other sets out there you can pick up based on what you like so it’s not a big deal.

Happy building!

Set Review - #76402-1: Hogwart's: Dumbledore's Office - Harry Potter

As we approach the time period closer to Christmas, a lot of retailers are putting more items on sale to include LEGO sets. #76402-1: Hogwart’s: Dumbledore’s Office was released back on 1 June 2022 in the US for $79.99. It contains 654 pieces which works out to $0.122 per piece. I this this is too steep. I picked it up on sale for $64 at Walmart, which works out to a more reasonable $0.097 per piece. Keep waiting and maybe you’ll see it go on sale for even more as it should be retiring at the end of this year.

This set connects to other sets in the line in a modular fashion so if you’ve been collecting them all, you can add this one to the bunch. You get six minifigures in this set and three of the printed collectible tiles. I started the build with 14 of the 16 tiles and picked up one more. I’m still short one tile, but I’m not bothered by this.

The box is pretty standard with the full set on the front, Harry Potter logo, a minifigure line up, and pictures of the movie characters. The back shows some play details and the back of the set along with a note about the printed tiles. Maybe it’s just me, but the box feels kind of small for a $80 set. Onto the review…

The set contains five numbered parts bags. The instructions are bagged along with the stickers. There is also an 8x16 tan plate.

The first bag starts to build where the actual desk of Dumbledore goes. It builds a small platform and includes some clear pieces as two flask type items. This bag comes with a Harry Potter minifigure wearing the cloak of invisibility and holding a wand and lamp. It also comes with Dumbledore.

The second bag wraps up most of the office area. It builds up two book shelves, some props on the desk, and has a place for the sorting hat and a small Fawkes to sit on a perch. This bag comes with a Mr. Filch minifigure and his cat.

The third bag adds another level with the pensieve (bowl you can drop tears into to view memories). This doesn’t quite match the movie as the pensieve is actually in the office and not a level above. On top of this level is another level with the sword of Gryffindor. Again, the sword, when it’s in the office, is in the office and not on a separate floor. From the front, it’s a decent design with the elements you’d expect in a Hogwart’s type build. This bag comes with a Professor Snape minifigure.

The fourth bag builds the bottom layer of the set which is the library. This bag builds the floor and a book shelf. As part of the book shelf, you attach some books to leaf pieces on the outer wall. The leaf is attached to a tile that can slide in and out to make the book pop off the shelf. This is done twice.

The Madame Pince minifigure comes in this set. I had to look up who she is in the books/movies. Apparently she’s the librarian. Shows how much I know…

The fifth and final bag wraps up the build with completing the bottom floor. It adds a few desks in the library and sections of the library that are on plates connected by hinges to the rest of the build. You can fold them in or out depending on how you want to play with the set. A Hermione minifigure comes with this bag.

As mentioned at the beginning, the set comes with six minifigures. They are all pretty common except for Madame Pince so nothing to get too excited over. Harry does come with the cloak of invisibility, but you would already have it if you collected Series 1 of the Harry Potter minifigures (although that Harry is wearing pajamas in the CMF series).

Here’s the final build. I don’t have the other sets built to show the connection, but alone, I wasn’t too impressed by this set. The minifigures were just okay. You do get a few fun pieces like a small Fawkes and the sorting hat. If you’re looking to pick this one up to add to your castle, definitely don’t pay full retail price. Look for a sale or some good deal to cut down on the price.

Happy building!

Set Review - #10320-1: Eldorado Fortress - LEGO Icons - 18+

Pirates!!!!!!!!!! Actually this one should say Imperials!!!!!!!!!!! First time we’ve had new Imperial Soldier minifigures in a while. This set is a re-make of #6726-1 from 1989. It is #10320-1: Eldorado Fortress. It contains 2,509 pieces and retails for $214.99 in the US. This works out to $0.086 per piece which isn’t too bad. The release date in the US was 4 July 2023 and it’s still available at the time of this post.

The box is in the old school style of boxes similar to #21322-1: Pirates of Barracuda Bay and #10305-1: Lion Knight’s Castle. The front has the yellow stripe in the upper left with the set name. and then a full picture of the set. The back has various scenes of the build with a map background.

Here are a few pictures on the sides of the box. One shows all of the minifigures and the monkey. Another shows the set and how it is modular so you can connect the pieces in different ways to change around the fortress.

The set contains 10 sets of numbered parts bags with most numbers having more than one bag. There is an unnumbered bag with some larger plates. You also get the instructions in a paperboard envelope and an envelope with the sails. I had one sail with a slight fold in it, but I was able to undo the fold without any issues. They showed up in good condition otherwise.

There are four instruction booklets in this set. The first booklet contains some information about the set to include history of the Pirates line and the old set and how some of the previous sets inspired this set.

The first bag builds a row boat for the pirates and includes to pirate minifigures. One minifigure is a female and the other is a male. You also build a small ship. This ship is modeled after the ship from #6277-1: Imperial Trading Post that was released in 1992. The ship comes with a female officer figure. The tricorne hat has long hair attached to help show it’s a female.

Bags two and three start the base of the first section of the fortress. Unlike the original version which had a large baseplate to build on, this set connects numerous plates as a base and then you build on top. This does mean you connect a lot of dark grey pieces to get the side of the fortress and its textures, but you also get the sea color and land colors separated versus the single colored base plate. The second bag builds a ramp which was just part of the printed baseplate on the original set. I like how this was done to achieve the angle and to capture the look of cobblestones.

I failed to get a picture after the fourth bag, but bag five wraps up this section of the build. You add a palm tree, an entryway with doors, a stand for a cannon on the upper level, an office for the governor, and you get a large Imperials flag. There’s also another section that is lower with another cannon that can be rotated. Behind the walls is a small stove and clips to hang numerous extra weapons.

The set has a bunch of hidden sections to include a small container with a printed 1x2 tile letter piece and a barrel with coins in it. The coins are 1x1 round printed tiles versus the old gold coins LEGO used to produce (which were much cooler in my opinion).

The sixth bag adds another section. This one is also three stories. The lower level is a cave section with wine barrels above an empty treasure chest. The tapped barrel leaked some with the small 1x1 tile that is partially rounded to be the “drop” on the floor. The next level contains a small space where another barrel is stored (empty), and sack of loot, and a broom. There’s a ladder here that goes up to another cannon. There is also a parrot included in this section.

The front of this section contains two palm trees and a small sandy beach.

This bag came with a soldier. It’s a female soldier with a rifle and back pack of gear.

The seventh bag builds a dock section. The dock has four supports that can then be connected to the rock section which can connect to other parts of the fortress. The top of the dock has a small table with seats. The table has a few bowls, cups, a glass bottle, and a lamp. Built into the dock is also a trap door. There is a Technic built mechanism that lets you slide a piece over and the trap door opens up with gravity. Two minifigures come in this section. One is another female officer. She doesn’t have a weapon, but there are plenty of others to give her in the set. The other is a male soldier. He is similar to the last one only he has a mustache. Lastly, you get a small monkey in this set. I liked the original ones from back in the day with the minifigure hands, but this one works too.

The eighth bag builds another section. This one is most notable for the crane on top. The crane section spins around 360 degrees and can raise and lower the cargo. This section of the build comes with a chest with pistols. The instructions say to put two pistols in, but my set came with three pistols so I included them all. There’s a ladder up to the top level with the crane, but I’m not sure how a minifigure can get to this crane given it’s size.

The mid level of this section has a walkway and storage area with another empty barrel, a bag of loot, and some extra cannon shells (1x1 round bricks). Below this level is a tunnel section with water flowing through.

The ninth bag starts the last section of the fortress. You build the rock section over water with some hidden compartments. There is a trap door over a section with some gold bars (1x2 tiles) and a sack of loot. There is also a pathway with a pirate skeleton. Not sure how he got stuck in there or when. Also there is another trap door which ends up being a trap door in the prison cell to escape.

The last bag adds the top section to the ninth bag. This includes a prison cell with some straw on the floor. There are also a few windows with a cool roofing technique using some rounded parts. There is a ladder on the jail cell to allow soldiers to climb up above the cell.

Here are the minifigures minus the skeleton (which I forgot to take out of the build for the picture). You get three soldiers (two male, one female), two female officers, a male governor minifigure, and two pirates (one male, one female). Along with the skeleton, monkey, and parrot, there are a decent number of characters in this set. For comparison, #21322-1: Pirates of Barracuda Bay had eight pirate minifigures and two skeletons. This set has eight minifigures and one skeleton.

Here’s the final set arranged how I decided to arrange it. I like the modular option for this set where you can connect it how you want or split it apart as desired. It also allows you to add on other sections as you want since there are numerous openings to expand. I had a few Pirates and Imperials sets back in the day and it was fun to see these return. The price point is fairly reasonable. I would have preferred $200, but I understand LEGO is adjusting for inflation I recommend this one to adults looking to relive their childhood or to kids interested in playing with LEGO Pirates as there are a lot of great play features. Look for opportunities to pick this one up with double VIP points or interesting GWPs.

Happy building!

Attend the Longest Running LEGO Fan Convention From Your Home

The AFOL portion for BrickCon 2023 is coming up fast. It will be 7 through 10 September 2023. If you’re like me, you’d love to go in person, but the airline ticket, hotel costs, and transportation costs of going in person would really eat into your budget. The good news is you can still attend virtually. You can buy your ticket here and still participate in presentations, get a live tour of the MOCs on display, play the games with other attendees, be eligible for prizes, and buy the convention merchandise (convention model, swag bag, t-shirts, etc.). Registration is $25 for all the access. There’s still time to sign up.

Hope to see you there! Happy building!

My Top Pick Will Become a Set!!! 2023 Bricklink Designer Program - Round 2

The selections for the second round of the 2023 Bricklink Designer Program were released yesterday (23 August). My top pick will get made! I’m super excited! You can see my top 5 selections here. In case you missed it, you can see all of the Round 2 information on Bricklink here. Congrats to all the builders who were selected!

Let’s dig into the results…

Logging Railway by Bricklink user ties25. This set contains 2,706 pieces. This train is crossing a bridge which is all brick built. The track is not the standard LEGO track, but instead is tiles on their side. The bridge is a fun design, but not functional for LEGO track. You’ll have to do some modifications if you want to include the track in a LEGO train set up, but the train will run on normal LEGO gage rails.. I personally could do without the bridge, but I like the train. I assume it will be priced between $250 and $300.

The Ocean House by Bricklink user Hanwas. This set contains 2,157 pieces. It reminds me a lot of #21310-1: Old Fishing Store. It has some fun details and colors, but I’m personally not really excited about it. I would expect pricing between $190 and $230 based on the listed piece count.

Mushroom House by Bricklink user JonasKramm. This set contains 943 pieces. I like the fantasy type theme with all the plants and berries. The rideable snail is a nice touch too. With any luck, this set will be priced under $100.

Ominous Isle by Bricklink user jazlecraz. This is not his first set. Jared Le Cres designed set #BL19003: Skyline Express from the 2018-2019 Designer Program. This set contains 2,773 pieces and will help anyone looking to grow their pirate empire. .It is modular so you can change it up as desired and there are a bunch of moveable features as well. I suspect this set will be popular when it’s released. Let’s hope the price stays under $300.

Brick Cross Train Station by Bricklink user Brickester. This set contains 3,034 pieces. This one was the one I really wanted to get picked.. I think it would look great in a city with #910002-1: Studgate Train Station. Two very different designs, but more than just the platforms that you get in the standard CITY Lego set. There is a bunch of detail in this set and I like the architectural design. I can’t wait for this one.

Crowd funding for these sets is in June 2024 and shipping won’t happen until November 2024 so you’ll have to wait some on these.

Happy building!

Another Set From the Pirates Theme to Build

It’s been out since 4 July 2023 and I broke down and put my order in for it. Yesterday, #10320-1: Eldorado Fortress arrived at my home. I didn’t have the original set from back in the day, but I did have some of the smaller Pirates sets and I enjoyed playing with those as a kid. I’m looking forward to building this one and maybe even pulling out my #21322-1: Pirates of Barracuda Bay set, rebuilding it, and making a Pirates scene. I won’t do my full review yet, but I’ll give my first impressions. I like that the box has a similar look to the sets from the 1980s and 1990s with the yellow stripe saying the set name in the corner. I’ve seen a few folks say they are disappointed to not have the raised base plate like the original set. I’m okay with not having it. I’d rather have the pieces.

There are a bunch of great looking minifigures too. I’m glad to see the return of the Imperial Soldiers and to get some new ones to include females. I haven’t opened the box up yet, but from the box pictures, it looks like there are two female officers and the tricornered hat has hair attached which is cool.

The other one listed is shown on BrickSet.com as the Imperial Soldier, Governor. I never had one of these as a kid so this is a fun addition.

I’m looking forward to the build and the completed product. Now I just have to find the time to put it all together.

Have you built this one already? What was your take on it?

Happy building!