Tag Archives: Reviews

Not sure which LEGO sets to pick up for yourself? Need ideas for that LEGO fan who already has more LEGO than he or she can possibly build with in a lifetime? Nervous about the quality of the custom accessories that tempted you at your last LEGO convention? Read our reviews of LEGO sets, books, accessories, and more right here on The Brothers Brick.

Exclusive Designer Interview & Review of Set 70008 Gorzan’s Gorilla Striker

Ever since I saw the preliminary photos from last year’s New York Toy Fair, I knew I was going to buy this set and do a review for the blog. I also immediately knew that this set had to be the work of Mark Stafford. I asked Mark if he would be willing to answer a few questions for me to include in the review. Not only did he graciously agree to do so, but he also gave me some exclusive development photos (see below).

So first the review and then I will get to the interview:

One word for this set, FUN. Whether you are a 32 year old man-kinder like myself, or a 6 year old LEGO maniac like my oldest son, chances are you are going to love this set. I am not even going to get into a lot of details in terms of price per part ratios, collectibility of the minifigs etc. Instead I am just going to say, “Buy this set!”

The build itself is rather brilliant, with a lot of clever techniques for achieving a robust mecha of a satisfying girth. There is also a great selection of parts in fresh colours like dark azure, and a whole shwack of brackets, which I seem to always be running out of. But in all honesty, I am going to find it hard to take this thing apart to steal bricks, it is simply too much fun to play with (as evidenced by the video below).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tromas/9927563856/

So long story short boys and girls; I highly recommend this set whether you want something to play with, or you want a good selection of highly useful parts. And don’t even get me started on how awesome the new Gorilla tribe weapons are!

Now on to the interview (& the exclusive design pics!):

TBB: What was your initial inspiration for this set? Apart from the obvious
gorilla influence, I must admit that the first thing that came to mind upon
seeing the images of the set was the Iron Mecha Challenge that you were a
part of in the Mecha Hub flickr group a couple years back, did that have any
impact on the design?

Mark Stafford: Wow, yeah, the Iron Mecha 2 challenge was a bit weird, at that point we were already into early Chima development and myself and Jordan Schwartz had made ourselves stop building ‘FabuForce’ MOCs because it was too similar an idea. But I had promised to source the inspiration picture for Iron Mecha and LEGO Designer Luis Castenda had told me he had a Mecha image from his portfolio I could use. I got it from him at the last minute – and it was Gorilla inspired! I almost called the whole thing off, but figured that would be even more suspicious, so we went ahead with it. I built almost exactly what was in Luis’s picture, no real exploration of Gorilla’s or anything too far from the original image as I knew that this might come up soon at work! Sure enough, though Gorilla’s were not in the first launch I was asked to make a Mecha for the summer releases and I still had a ton of ideas I hadn’t used ready to try out!

TBB: How and when did the Chima cartoon factor into the design process of these
sets (if at all)? Because when I saw those gorilla mechs in the final
battle scene, I thought you may have been behind them, so it came as no
surprise when I found out that you were the designer of this set.

Mark Stafford: We need to send images of the main vehicles through very early in the process, pictures are taken of our sketch models on a gridded background for the animation company to start building 3D interpretations of, and from that point on no matter how many pieces change on the model its overall shape and dimensions should remain roughly the same. Once the TV guys have started work it’s very time consuming for them to change things. There was only one major change with the Gorilla Striker in that the original sketch had a glass cockpit, but this was just too far from the look we had established for the rest of Chima and of course this meant a modification of the TV model needed to be made.

TBB: I recall you telling a story about how you and the others designers of the
Ninjago line would toss around ideas for character names (some rather
hilarious ones resulted if I remember correctly). I am picturing a similar
situation for the development of the banana cannon, any funny story behind
that, or is it simply a creative stroke of Stafford genius?

Mark Stafford: Oh yes, the one eyed snake I wasn’t allowed to call ‘Trowza’… though that was nothing compared to the two hour giggle fest meeting because every single suggestion for the names of Power Miners vehicles sounding like an innuendo!

I can’t remember who first suggested the banana cannon for Chima but once it was an idea there was no way it was not going to be on this model whoever got to build it! Plus I knew from Power Miners that bananas work for kids; I included a banana in the Crystal Sweeper set after a kids test where we couldn’t find a prototype dynamite element and I threw in a banana instead, the kids played for an hour with the rock monsters stealing it and the miners having to get it back. Something about a banana in a set triggered a lot of imagination. This Striker has seven! In an ammo belt! Genius? Far from it, but definitely fun to play with!

TBB: The new weapon elements for the Gorilla Tribe minifigs look quite amazing.
Were you directly behind or involved in the design in any way? I ask this
because these elements seem like they were designed with the intention of
them being highly useful in alternate builds as opposed to being strictly
minifig weaponry.

Mark Stafford: The part designer for both the Gorilla fist and the Hammer elements was Gabriel Sas, like all of our new elements they have to fit into the LEGO system. The entire Chima team had brainstormed weapon ideas, coming up with a Gorilla Hammer and power fists. Then later we get to give input into the parts and we made some suggestions for what would be nice to include, but time is tight with these parts and I think there are a couple of things I would change to make them even more usable as building elements if I had the chance now. That’s always the way though, and they are still very nice and they are going to be hugely useful for details and for microscale builders or minifigure character makers!

TBB: How many prototypes did you go through for this set, and was there any feature from
your initial prototype that you had to sacrifice that you wished you could
have included in the final design?

Mark Stafford: There were about five serious redesign loops on this mecha – and that’s not counting the sketch models some other designers did before I started. There’s this one by Maarten Simons which was the first built with the banana cannon idea included and this grey futuristic one is by Soren Dryhoj and I stole ideas from both for my version. One of the things I hated dropping was the Chi-crystal being in the chest instead of on the chest flap, but I just couldn’t find a way to have it that way around without the door knocking it out of place every time it was closed. I also kind of wish the final version had a closed cockpit over the pilot, but I guess it would look like he had a transparent skull!

TBB: As a LEGO set designer, we know that you have to work within design
constraints in terms of balancing pieces, price and playability. What part
of this design did you find the most challenging in that regard?

Mark Stafford: It was the Raven’s lookout post. It grew and shrank constantly throughout the design process as expense came and went from the Gorilla Striker. The final version is not the largest that it got to, but it’s far from the smallest, and I think it gives plenty of play value – and a few extra cool new parts/colour changes too.

TBB: Over the years you have designed a lot of fantastic sets. How does this
one stack up to you personally in terms of your own favourites?

Mark Stafford: This has a few touches I’m pretty proud of, the locking of the body around the arm sockets and the way everything fits in around and through each other in the torso for example, and I’m really happy with the beefiness of this one, I don’t think I can make a heavier two legged mecha either, or at least not without fully locking the legs. I’m also happy to get more Dark Azure out there, I really like this colour!

TBB: This set certainly has the largest amount of dark azure parts out
of all the Chima line, did you include this colour because you feel guilty
about killing teal? (sorry, couldn’t resist throwing a teal question in
there ;)

Mark Stafford: You can explain how I killed teal (*), (it was a colour I really liked, that’s why it hurt so much) but yes, the two new Azure blues are in a similar part of the colour wheel and I like them both a lot, particularly Dark Azure, so I’ll use them whenever I get the chance, if it makes sense for the model. I don’t feel guilty about teal though – after all I saved purple!

*Mark’s first set as a LEGO designer, was the Exo-Force Dark Panther. He had the choice of making it in either purple or teal, and whichever colour he chose, the other would be cut from the colour palette. Obviously he chose purple. Hence, Mark Stafford Killed Teal.

TBB: Thanks again!

Mark Stafford: No problem.

Buy @ Amazon.ca

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Lego Star Wars 75017: Duel on Geonosis [Review]

75017 Duel on Geonosis is one of the sets from the summer wave of Lego Star Wars. The set contains 390 pieces and retails for $39.99, which you can buy from Amazon.

Here is my summary of the highlights of the set, which are elaborated in the review video below.

Pros:

Includes unique minifigs such as a new Yoda, Count Dooku, and Poggle the Lesser
Hard to find parts include dark brown cheese slopes and brown 2×2 round bricks with grille
Decent play features

Cons:

Limited display value

This is a well rounded set that has good parts, minifigs, play features, and an acceptable price per part ratio. It probably won’t look good sitting on a shelf and is more meant to be played with or parted into your collection. Luckily Amazon has a small discount on the set at the moment.

The Lord of the Rings 79007: The Battle at the Black Gate [Review]

The summer wave of Lord of the Rings sets are skewed towards the high end of the price-range, with 79007 The Battle at the Black Gate in the middle at $60 USD. It does have a nice price-to-parts ratio, with 656 pieces. Beyond the fact that it’s a Lord of the Rings set, which I admittedly love, I wasn’t too thrilled about this set. After all, LEGO’s Battle at the Black Gate consists of, well, a black gate. And not much of a battle.

The gate has been scaled down nicely enough, though compared to the monstrously large gate seen on the screen in The Return of the King, LEGO’s seems laughably small. Still, that’s forgivable, since I doubt many people would be interested in purchasing a true-to-scale version of what amounts to a big wall (or be able to afford it). The gate is paired with a small tower, and two stone outcroppings which take the place of the mountain shoulders the gate is nestled between.

Inside the box are 4 numbered bags, a bag containing the eagle, and a loose dark bluish grey 6×24 plate. The 2 instruction manuals were pretty crumpled, as usual. For a very brief period LEGO a year or two ago packaged instruction manuals in a bag with a stiff piece of cardboard, and it helped immensely. I don’t know why they decided not to roll that out permanently, as it can be very frustrating trying to follow instructions when the pages keep curling up. For the first time in a long while in a set of this size, though, I discovered that there is no sticker sheet. Since I’m not a fan of stickers, I was happy to see that. In fact, the only decorated pieces in this set are the minifigures and animals, which is also a bit of a rarity these days. All 3 of the named minifigs wear capes, and all 3 capes were packaged together. This decision is of no consequence to me, but it is the first time I recall seeing it. As with most recent, large sets, there’s also a brick separator included, which is a nice trend.

The 4 bags break down into two each for the tower and the gate. The tower has a small postern door in the base which raises vertically with a lever, like an old-fashioned garage door. Both the tower and the gate have a lot of texturing on their surfaces which is accomplished by using mostly small pieces. It reminded me a lot of the building style of many of the adult-fan oriented sets like the modular city buildings, except that here everything is black. The abundance of various 1×1 elements explains the high part count. It’s always nice to get more Studs-Not-On-Top pieces, and this set has plenty. In fact, the tower uses 1×1 Technic bricks in many places where a regular 1×1 brick would have sufficed. The tower is topped with a small single-piece catapult, the medieval equivalent of a flick-fire missile.

The gate is built on a large, almost completely tiled base. It’s two large gate pieces which swing outward; more of a moving castle wall than anything else. They are secured in the back with large latch on a knob. Beyond being covered in the castle-y version of greebles, there’s not a lot to this. The tower, gate, and rock pieces each clip to each other via Technic pins, so you can change the layout, but only slightly. The rock pieces have to go on the ends, so basically the tower can just be on the left or the right.

The Battle at the Black Gate includes 5 minifigs, 1 horse, and 1 eagle. There are two orcs, which are slightly different from one another. The creepy-as-can-be Mouth of Sauron is a natural choice for this set. His helmet is rubbery and packaged in a small bag. No doubt the head with no eyes and a freakishly large mouth will do service in many fans’ horror dioramas.

Representing the forces of good are Aragorn in regal garb and Gandalf the White. Both of these versions are exclusive to this set, and I’d guess that fact will contribute heavily to the sales of this set. The Mouth of Sauron’s mount is a black horse. There is armor printed on the horse’s head, which between that and the beady red eyes will reduce its usefulness. Finally, there’s the giant eagle. The eagle comes in both this set and the $200 Tower of Orthanc, so many people simply wanting an eagle will do best to opt for this set at less than 1/3 the price. The eagle is 3 pieces: two wings and a body. Each of the individual elements are completely rigid and non-posable, though the wings connect to the body via LEGO’s standard clip system allowing them to be positioned. The single-piece body doesn’t do much for me, but I can’t wait to try out the giant wings in various MOCs.

In the end, this is a rather boring set. Despite the high piece count, the final model feels small for the price. The problem here is not one of LEGO’s making; they did an admirable job considering the source material. But when your source is a giant gate, there’s only so much you can do. The build-quality is great; it’s just a boring subject. And it’s hard to have a finale-worthy battle with only 5 minifigs, but I doubt LEGO could have feasibly pushed the price point any higher to accommodate more figs, and making the gate any smaller would have been disastrous. I doubt many people will be interested in buying this set because of the gate itself, so the minifigs are the real selling point here, and they are indeed very nice. If you’re interested in getting your hands on any of the rare or exclusive minifigs in this set, then it’s a must-have. Beyond that, I’d give this set a pass, unless you’re running low on your stock of small black pieces.

Lego Minecraft The Nether 21106 [Review]

Lego Minecraft The Nether is among the two new Lego Minecraft sets released in September. The set contains 466 pieces and retails for $34.99, which you can buy from Amazon.

Here is my summary of the highlights of the set, which are elaborated in the review video below.

Pros:

Lots of dark red 1×1 tiles and bricks, the gray and black tiles can also be useful.
The 1×1 bright light orange tiles are unique to the set

Cons:

There is limited modularity of the set compared to the other two Minecraft sets
The top surface does not have any notable features

This set is not as great as The Village. It has fewer features and modular components. I feel like this is the weakest of the 3 Minecraft sets. It’s a different story if you like dark red of the setting of The Nether. As with Minecraft sets stock can be unpredictable, so now is as good as any time to get it. It does not appear that Lego stores has them for sale.

Lego Minecraft The Village 21105 [Review]

Lego Minecraft The Village is among the two new Lego Minecraft sets released in September. The set contains 469 pieces and retails for $34.99, which you can buy from Amazon.

Here is my summary of the highlights of the set, which are elaborated in the review video below.

Pros:

Includes extra copies of the printed pieces on all 3 micro mob characters
Features 2 removable wall panels
The 1×1 dark green and dark tan tiles are unique to the set

Cons:

Nothing! Unless Lego Minecraft isn’t your cup of tea.

I recommend this set to both builders and Minecraft fans. It is an improvement over the first Lego Minecraft set with the addition of the removable walls. The currently exclusive dark green and dark tan tiles is a huge bonus for builders, and the extra printed parts for the micro mob characters means you’ll easily be able to make 2 of each with a few parts from your own collection. Don’t hesitate to pick up this set as stock can be unpredictable. It does not appear that Lego stores has them for sale either.

Amazing Vehicles LEGO Build-It Book [Review]

No Starch Press recently sent me a copy of one of their latest LEGO books, Amazing Vehicles, to review. It retails for $20 USD, though you can currently nab it over at Amazon for $15. Written by Nathanaël Kuipers and Mattia Zamboni, it’s a giant instruction manual in book form for building ten different vehicles. This is Volume 1, and the second volume is slated for release next month.

I’ve never been much interested in any of the unofficial build-it-yourself books, regardless of subject matter, because I always thought that if I’m going to build something that isn’t a set, I want to build my own model that I can claim. Additionally, I’m not much of a vehicle builder.

Nevertheless, since I wanted to give the book a proper review, I sat down to build one of the models. I chose to build number 9, the Street Rod. The book uses the same master set of parts for all of the vehicles, which are laid out on one of the first pages. If you’re just building a single model, though, like I was, you won’t need all of the pieces, and I found it annoying that each model didn’t have a page showing what parts are needed for it.

Instead, I gathered all of the parts for it the slow way, by manually going through each instruction step and finding the necessary pieces in my collection. While a lot of the parts are pretty common, unless you buy a lot of creator sets, chances are you won’t have all of the necessary pieces in the right colors. The book is quick to encourage builders to find substitutes, though. I found all but one red curved slope 2x4x2/3, which I substituted with a 1×4 tile and some cheese slopes (it goes on the rear bumper).

Instruction-ified The book is high quality, printed on heavy paper, and the instructions are crisp and clear.

The black pieces (notoriously hard to make out) were even easy to see. I did find the difference between white and tan to be frustratingly hard to see, and honestly I’m not even sure why the models need any tan: the entire book only calls for 3 pieces in tan, and they are mostly used in hidden places.

So I began building the car, and it started off pretty much the way you would expect a Creator-type car to start: some long plates for the base that you build up from. Immediately, though, I was surprised to find that the plates are actually facing upside down, and the entire car chassis is built studs-down. The direction reverses part-way up, and the hood and trunk are studs up.

The engine area was filled with a nifty bit of Studs Not On Top (SNOT) work, and some clever half-stud offsetting. The final model is a snappy looking little roadster, similar in size to the 150-200 piece official Creator vehicles. It’s definitely a lot larger than minifig scale, being 8 studs wide, although I don’t think minifigs would look terribly out of place in it (although, sadly, there’s no legroom for them). I was very impressed with the overall build quality, and I hope the rest of the vehicles in the book hold up to this standard. Seasoned LEGO builders who are used to working with SNOT techniques won’t find anything new here, but for someone who is just getting into using more advanced building techniques, there’s a lot to learn here. This book would have been a goldmine if I’d had it when I was a teenage builder.

MiniMi – A new LEGO minifig app

I was invited to try out the new minifig app, MiniMi, while it was still in beta. It is a fun, novelty app and I actually spent quite a bit of time trying different comibinations of figures, making myself, my family members and what-not. My kids absolutely loved it. Overall, it is well made and pretty intuitive to use. It’s an entertaining app, in and of itself. Also it is free to download, which is nice. There are also expansion packs, such as Space and Castle (yay!), which cost 99 cents each.

However, I think this app has the potential to really shine as a customizing tool. How so? Because it has the only minifig face generator of which I am aware (feel free to correct me in the comments if I am wrong). Switching hair, hats, torsos and colors in the app is pretty straightforward but the face generator is something unique. You can choose from a selection of eyes, eyebrows, mouths, facial hair, glasses and so forth to create unique faces that don’t actually exist on official minifigs. Because the app has built in share functions, you can export your fig image…isolate the face…resize and print it on decal or sticker paper.

Currently the number of elements in the app is limited but the expansion “packs” remedy this somewhat and the team is planning more. If they expand the library of facial elements, I think this app could be something really special. I would also like to see a feature added to where the user could resize and/or change the colors of the various facial features but this may come with time.

Download it here.

21103 Back to the Future DeLorean [Video Review]

To complement our previous DeLorean review by Andrew, I’m bringing you a video review of 21103 Back to the Future DeLorean. The set was released in August 2013 and retails at $34.99, with 401 pieces and 2 minifigs.

Here is my summary of the highlights of the set, which are elaborated in the review video below.

Pros:

2 new and popular minifigs
Nicer than usual packaging and bound instruction book
Includes extra parts for different versions of the DeLorean

Cons:

No new/rare parts used in the DeLorean besides the printed tiles
DeLorean hood design is not optimal
Car seats only 1 minifig

Overall, I would recommend this set more to fans of the movie and collectors than to builders. Even though the set has an above average price to parts ratio, buying this set for parts won’t add much to the diversity of your collection due to the lack of rare and new parts from this set. If you’re into collecting, then this set is a must-buy due to its novelty and popularity.

LEGO Star Wars 10236 Ewok Village [Review]

The highly anticipated new LEGO Star Wars set, 10236 Ewok Village, was just released in mid-August. It costs $249.99 for 1,990 parts and is the first Star Wars mega set that’s not a spacecraft. It is currently available in Lego stores and Lego Shop at Home for VIP members (free to sign up).

Here is my summary of the highlights of the set, which are elaborated in the review video below. For those interested in the parts content, you can check out the parts review video here.

Pros:

Lots of foliage and earth tones such as dark brown parts. This is a great set for landscape builders
Plenty of play features add play value on top of looks
The 3 main trees are also modular and can be easily switched around.
16 minifigs — exclusives include Princess Leia, Luke, Han Solo, Wicket, Ewok warrior, and Teebo.

Cons:

A bit on the pricey side. $200 would be an ideal price.
Tube railings are difficult to bend into shape.
Instructions hard to read when distinguishing brown from dark brown

If you can afford this set, then there’s no other major reason not to get it. This is a very unique set that’s as good for play as it is for display. The abundant earth tones and the foliage make it suitable for landscape builders, and not many sets have this high ratio of landscape parts. It is unlikely that the price will drop soon, and you’ll be lucky to see it at 10% off in 2013, so I recommend buying it now and start enjoying this wonderful build.

Get your Nerd on!

Our friend, Tommy Williamson has started a new blog, The Brick Nerd, as many of you are aware. He has recently began posting videos where he does set reviews, talks about recent LEGO-related news and highlights various creations. In his second episode, he covers San Diego Comic Con, reviews the Cuusoo Delorean and more!

LEGO CUUSOO Back to the Future DeLorean [Review]

The LEGO Back to the Future DeLorean set, the 4th set to be released as the result of a LEGO CUUSOO project, is being officially unveiled this evening in San Diego at Comic-Con. LEGO sent us an advance copy, and I’m pleased to bring you a full photo review.

First, the details: 21103 LEGO Back to the Future DeLorean goes on sale tomorrow morning (July 17, 2013 in the US) for $34.99. The set includes two minifigs — Marty McFly and Emmett “Doc” Brown — and 401 LEGO pieces.

UPDATE: The set is apparently only available at San Diego Comic-Con today (July 17), and it will be on sale globally on August 1st.

First impressions & the finished model

Normally I’d talk about things like the build and parts selection before rendering judgment about the completed set, but let’s just get this out of the way, since there’s already been a lot of discussion about what the set looks like. The official set is, of course, based on a LEGO CUUSOO design by Japanese LEGO fans Masashi Togami, who built the DeLorean, and Sakuretsu, who created the custom minifigs.

The official set was designed by Steen Sig Andersen, a 30-year veteran of LEGO set design. (As a side note, I think it’s important to remember that official LEGO sets are designed by people much like hobbyist builders, who care just as much about the final design as we do and who are no less affected by criticism, but who have to work under far more constraints. Nevertheless, my job here is to review the end result of the process, not speculate on how my critique is going to affect Mr. Andersen’s feelings.)

Like many of you who commented here and elsewhere, my first impression when I saw the box art was not entirely positive. Frankly, I’m not sure why the final, official set looks the way that it does. My first impression when I saw the set was, let’s be honest, confusion. The hood has been re-sculpted using stepped tiles rather than the single large slope in Masashi’s original (a frequent and logical solution, as Larry Lars demonstrated in the version that Ralph highlighted last week). The roof is four studs wide rather than six studs, with the windshield frame angling inward to give the whole cab a pinched look.

There’s been speculation that this design change from Masashi’s original model might have been because of part availability in LEGO’s current production cycle. But Light Bluish Gray Slope 10 6 x 8 is indeed currently in production, in at least two 2013 LEGO sets. Short of the one functional reason (read on…), I’m still not sure why stepped tiles were necessary to achieve the final design in the set.

But in person, in less-dramatic light than the angle in the box art, it’s not nearly as bad. That’s hardly a ringing endorsement, and I don’t think the box designer (or photographer) did this set any favors by giving the steps on the hood such deep shadows. Similarly, the set designer could certainly have angled the windshield frame pieces much wider. I’ve done so in a number of the photos, and I think this subtle change alone makes the set look much better.

The rest of the DeLorean includes all the key details and play features you’d expect — from opening gull-wing doors and the big black exhaust vents to wheels that turn down for flight.

Another problem with the final roof design is that it limits headroom inside due to the gull-wing doors coming in closer to the center of the car. As a result, you can only fit one minifig inside, in the driver’s seat. There’s enough floor room (six studs) there for two, but the 4-wide roof prevents both Marty and Doc from riding in the DeLorean together. Since the DeLorean is a time machine, Doc is not particularly happy about being left behind.

If you can get past the hood and cab — granted, the very first things you see in any three-quarters “hero shot” on box art — this really isn’t a bad DeLorean. But it could be better, much better, as other LEGO fans (including Masashi) have demonstrated. And that’s more than a little disappointing.

Packaging, instructions, and the build process

Like LEGO Architecture sets and previous LEGO CUUSOO sets, the DeLorean comes in a solid box suitable for storage.

Similarly, the instruction booklet (printed in English and French) is perfect-bound rather than stapled, and includes background info on the movie, profiles of the CUUSOO project initiators, the LEGO set designer, and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. Throughout the instructions, there are little notes about the model or the source material.

As someone who grew up in Japan and is bilingual, one thing that bothered me was that the writer referred to Masashi Togami as “Togami” several times (meanwhile, “Sakuretsu” is a screen name). Given that the writer wrote “Steen” for Steen Sig Andersen, I believe the writer’s intent was to use Masashi’s given name as I’m doing, and that the writer assumed incorrectly that “Masashi Togami” followed name order used in Japan (surname, given name). A minor linguistic quibble, but a reminder that a quick read by someone familiar with the other culture or language is always a good idea in cross-cultural communications…

The set comes in five unnumbered poly bags, and with 401 parts, I just dumped them all in the box. (Poly bags are boring, and I’m not sure why other reviewers feel the need to photograph them. I won’t bore you with those photos myself.)

In several respects, the model comes together like one designed by a fan, and not an official set. For a set that did indeed originate as a fan design, that’s a good thing. Though SNOT is no longer unusual in LEGO sets, there are enough single-stud connections, half-stud offsets, and hinge-based connections that it felt like I was building something designed by Daniel Siskind, Tyler Clites, or Christopher White — all of whose custom designs I’ve had the pleasure of building for myself (there’s value for even experienced builders in trying out someone else’s designs from time to time).

The DeLorean on the box art comes together after 93 pages and 63 steps. But there are still 12 more pages of instructions, and I still had about 50 pieces rattling around in the box. The remainder of the instructions and parts enable you to convert the DeLorean into the versions of the car seen in Back to the Future II and Back to the Future III.

The conversion to the BTTF2 DeLorean just adds a Mr. Fusion and swaps out the 1985 license plate for a 2015 license plate, plus four clear bricks to “float” the car off the ground.

To convert the base DeLorean into the version seen in BTTF3, you swap out red wheels for the gray wheels in the tires on the original. Why LEGO didn’t just include 4 more tires I don’t know.

You also build a greebly panel to put on the hood, which (finally) explains the stepped tiles rather than a single smooth slope for the hood.

I still think the same effect could have been achieved (somehow — I’m not the designer with 30 years of professional experience) with the 6×8 slope in Masashi’s original design, but at least this answers the “Why?!” that so many of you out there have expressed.

The minifigs

The highlight of this set is the pair of completely unique minifigs. Marty McFly wears his puffy vest (mistaken for a life jacket in the first movie), and Doc Brown wears a nuclear hazmat suit.

Both the minifig torsos and their heads are printed on two sides — “happy” and “scared”/”angry”.

The minifig parts appear to be of the quality you’d expect in a standard set, not the cheaper-feeling minifig elements you get with some Collectible Minifigures (which you can distinguish by the mold imprint on the inside of the left arm).

To answer a question I’ve seen elsewhere, no, there aren’t additional minifigs in the set to reflect the characters’ outfits in the second and third movies.

Parts selection

Although this probably isn’t a set I’d recommend for a draft, there are definitely some rather special parts in this set that you absolutely won’t be getting anywhere else. In a revelation that I think will truly shock many of you, every one of the unique decorated parts in this set is properly printed rather than a decal. Here’s a shot of the back of the box that shows all of them.

The Flux Capacitor, white California 1985 license plate, orange California 2015 license plate, and time readout on the dashboard are all printed! Combined with the minifigs, if that’s not motivation to buy this set and rebuild it to your own liking, I don’t know what is.

Though less-exciting, and I’m not 100% sure, I think the purple skateboard is also new. That was actually another opportunity for printing, and it would’ve been cool to see LEGO’s official take on the hoverboard. Still, new parts in less-common colors like purple are always welcome.

Value

Based on early photos and the part count, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see this set sold at $40-50 MSRP. A licensed product, 401 pieces, two minifigs, and collectible-quality packaging all add up to at least $40. The final MSRP turns out to be $34.99. The LEGO Minecraft set sold for $34.99, so I suppose the same price for the next CUUSOO set isn’t such a surprise after all.

I generally don’t address collectibility or the secondary market in my reviews, but that seems unavoidable here. LEGO couldn’t keep the Minecraft set in stock for more than a few hours during its first year, and the $35 set is still going for $50 and up on the secondary market even though you can buy it for $35 from LEGO again. At times when LEGO didn’t have any in stock, it wasn’t unusual to see the $35 set sold for $100 or more (likely driven by the possibility that it was “out of print”).

Strictly on price-per-part and probable collectibility, this set is a bargain.

Recommendation

This is ultimately, inevitably, and somewhat unfortunately, a mixed review. If you’re both a LEGO fan and a hardcore Back to the Future fan, buy this set. If you want to use the unique printed parts and the base design to make a better DeLorean, by all means do so (the key slope piece starts at about 35 cents on BrickLink, if you don’t already have one).

At $34.99, the set is also a good value, both for the number of parts and the likely scarcity of the printed pieces. I hate to fuel speculation or the secondary market in general, but I can’t imagine that this set will be any less collectible than other licensed LEGO sets, and as a one-off, potentially even more so. Buy one to build (or rebuild), and buy a second to sell to a collector in three years at a 400% profit, thus enabling you to buy more LEGO to build with. Just don’t be a jackass and hoard 30 of them in your basement.

I’ve written the word “buy” quite a lot in the previous two paragraphs. But that doesn’t change the fact that this set could have been much, much better. Changes to the hood and roof design are both baffling, and severely detract from the “shelf appeal” of the set, without really adding anything in terms of sturdiness or playability (normal compromises I’d expect).

Overall, yes, I can recommend this set with a clear conscience. But you deserve to know exactly what you’re getting. And what you’re getting isn’t perfect.

Chrome Block City review

Chrome Block City is a Bricklink store that specializes in selling a large selection of custom chromed Lego elements. This is our first time reviewing their products, which the owner has sent to me for sale in the Creations for Charity fundraiser later this year. Below is a video of the review along with a summary of pros and cons.

Pros:

Large selection of parts and colors.
Very limited quantities on most items, making them exclusive to the few owners.
Same clutch strength when used with regular Lego elements.
High quality of chrome paint on most items.

Cons:

Chrome parts are expensive due to their quality and cost of production.
Some parts with bar shapes have minor exposed areas that are not chromed. Contact the seller before buying if this is a concern to you.
Underlying printed patterns on the original elements may be visible. This can be cool if the pattern is appropriate but may be distracting if the pattern is out of context.

Overall, Chrome Block City’s large selection of chromed elements means there’s a good chance you’ll find something that appeals to you in an interesting shade of chrome. Many of their items are one-of-a-kind, which means you can take pride in being the owner of an exclusive chrome Lego piece. Despite the high quality of most elements, a few will have imperfections as mentioned above and in the video, but they are not significant enough to be recognized without a close inspection.