Review: 30204 Friends Wish Fountain Polybag

Let's change it up for a moment.

Bag.  I paid $3.99 for it at Five Below, which gives us a $0.09 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Minidoll.  As usual, there's nothing to work with here.

Parts.  I'm going to skip the usual fare and mention the heart-shaped gem, along with the four different varieties of 1x1 round Tile.  There's also the minfig camera and the Minifig Roller Skates for interesting pieces.

Build.  A quick Station.

The Questions:

Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Below.  (+5 )  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  No.  (-5)
Score: +10 (A-).  Not a bad score for a Friends polybag.  A handful of pieces more and it would have made the max score.

Sales Alert

It's Clearance season at Target again and there are some really good deals to be had on some interesting sets.

70146 Flying Phoenix Fire Temple, was $119.00 now $80.94.
70145 Maula's Ice Mammoth Stomper, was $89.99 now $62.94.
70223 Icebite's Claw Driller, was $49.99 now $34.99.
70229 Lion Tribe Pack, was $9.99 now $6.99.

And there's a lot of MegaBloks being clearanced too.

97429 Halo Police Air Support Hornet, was $29.99 now $14.98.
97339 Halo UNSC All Terrain Mongoose, was $10.29 now $7.20.
97451 Halo UNSC Wombat Recon Drone, was $9.99 now $6.98.
97516 Halo Containment Armory, was $9.99 now $6.98
97452 Halo Police Cruiser Standoff, was $20.59 now $10.28.
97449 Halo UNSC Flame Warthog, was $25.59 now $17.98.
DCL10 Call of Duty CLAW Assault, was $20.59 now $10.28

Of course Your Mileage May Vary and your local Target stores -- if you have one -- may have different sets on sale at different prices.

Purity: A6949 Transformers Dinobot Charge Review

Here's another Kre-O Transformers set from my stash.

Box.  MSRP is $9.99 which gives us a $0.15 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Kreons.  The helmet decoration for the one on the left could make an interesting greeble, as could the magnet piece on the right.

Parts.  Purple and Orange always make for exciting color choices.  The Studded Mace head in the lower left is pretty neat too.  And we finally see a Kre-O Bar Clip!  It's also interesting seeing the Kre-O take on Technic bits.

Build.  Skinny Bot.  Yeah, he's thin but what do you expect from a set
that's a jumped up polybag?  2Rh/2Rd/1B/2W possible starting stats.

The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +5 (B+).  I wasn't sure I was going to able to pull a build out of this one.

Purity: A6950 Transformers Scorn Street Chase Review

It's been a while since I've done a Kre-O set and I've got a bunch in storage, so let's get on with it.

Box.  MSRP is $11.99 which yields a $0.11 Price per Piece.

Instructions & Stickers.

Kreons.  We mostly have the usual here, except for
the two magnet pieces for the blue and grey Kreons.

Parts.  The parts that really stand out -- besides the dinosaur body and head -- are the gold ones in the lower right corner that look like flat versions of Brickarms U-Clips.  The are also the pieces you can't get in Lego; the 1x1 Double Bar Plate, 1x1 Double Clip Plate (horizontal), 2x2 Plate w/Bar (open ends), 1x1x2 Corrugated Round Brick, 1x1 Modified Round Brick (Gun Muzzle), and 2x2 Inverted Modified Tile w/Female Ball-Joint Receptacle .  Everything else is fairly similar to regular Lego pieces.

Build.  Der Skorpion?  I drew on techniques I used in my old SpAAT
frame to make this one.  I'm thinking 2Rh/2Rd/2W to start for stats.

The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +5 (B+).  Not a bad little set.  I've found it for $9.99 at TRU which brings the score to A+.

PleyWorld.com

PleyWorld.com is a site that rents Lego sets for people to play with.  They have a new Lego Ideas-like contest where you can submit your set ideas to get voted on and potentially built once they reach a certain threshold.  Normally I'm against the idea of renting Lego but the new contest might afford the community a chance at getting a Frame squad built and accessible for someone to use temporarily.  There have been complaints about not having access to Lego to build interesting looking Frames and this may be a way around that.  I looked at the current list of sets being voted on and there are a bunch of mecha on there.

Did I mention there's a commission if your set gets rented after it's achieved the necessary amount of votes?  If you do post a set on PleyWorld let me know so I can inform the community.

Purity: CND24 Spongebob Squarepants Pickle Tank Attack Review

And now for something completely different.  It's been a while since I've been heretical -- over five and a half months -- so let's change the pace a little.

Box.  MSRP is $9.99, for a Price per Piece of $0.11.

Instructions.

"Minifigs".  You might be able to use those pink feet as greebles.

Parts.  Plenty of Green here.  The sandbags might be useful as part of cover.  The 1x2 Bricks w/Technic Pin along the left side are interesting in that they are only  two plates high.  The red 2x2x2&1/3 Round Brick w/Cutout is interesting too, as is the red 2x2 Double-Sided Plate on the right hand side.  The gun actually shoots, but the ball on the projectile doesn't fit into the Mixel Joints.  I also like the Slope Bricks -- regular and inverted --  in the lower right of the picture.  Oh, I also like the 2x2 Round "engine intake" Tiles.

Build.  An IO Frigate.  Stats: 2Ra+d8/1Y/1Gd8/2W.

The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?
Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10)
(The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +5 (B+).  Not a bad little set.  Probably better if you get it on sale though.

Battle Report: Double Header (Game 2)

This is the second game from this past weekend.  Narbey and Grafvonbarnez had arrived after Tom and I had already completed most of a game.  Let's get down to brass tacks.

Me (3 frames & 12 systems) = (7 Points per asset) * (5 assets) = 35 points.
Tom (4 frames & 16 systems) = (3 Points per asset) * (6 assets) = 18 points.
Grafvonbarnez (4 frames & 16 systems) = (3 Points per asset) * (6 assets) = 18 points.
Narbey (4 frames & 16 systems) = (3 Points per asset) * (6 assets) = 18 points.



The battlefield at the start of game.  Narbey's forces are in the lower left of the picture, with one Frame in the upper right.  Tom is in the upper left.  Grafvonbarnez is split between the upper and lower right.  I am in the center.


Events of Turn 1 (DDC@11):
I capture one of Grafvonbarnez's Stations right out of the gate.  Narbey pushes towards Tom's  position while getting into a scrum with Grafvonbarnez's frames in the upper right quadrant of the battlefield.



Me: 42 points.
Tom: 18 points.
Narbey: 18 points.
Grafvonbarnez: 15 points.

Events of Turn 2 (DDC@8):
Grafvonbarnez captures one of my Stations in retaliation.  One of Tom's Cutter Frames is destroyed by Narbey as he continues forward to Tom's Stations.  Narbey and Grafvonbarnez continue harassing each other in the upper right quadrant of the battlefield.



Me: 35 points.
Narbey: 18 points.
Grafvonbarnez: 18 points.
Tom: 15 points.

Events of Turn 3 (DDC@4):
I retake the Station that Grafvonbarnez captured from me.  Tom captures the Station I had taken from Grafvonbarnez and  I lose my Assault Bullfrog in the process.  Grafvonbarnez's frames finally break free from Narbey's harassment.



Me: 28 points.
Narbey: 18 points.
Tom: 18 points.
Grafvonbarnez: 15 points.

Events of Turn 4 (DDC@1):
Tom loses a Station to Narbey.  One of my Multi-Purpose Bullfrogs is destroyed and one of my Stations is captured by Grafvonbarnez.  Tom and Grafvonbarnez get into a scrum around my other former Station and Narbey tries to move in on my remaining Station with his Scout frame.


Narbey: 21 points.
Grafvonbarnez: 18 points.
Tom: 15 points.
Me: 14 points.

Thoughts & Observations:

• This game didn't go too bad for me until the final turn, besides my awful dice luck continuing from the last game.
• Everyone had Artillery frames on the board in some form or another.  They were basically untouched because they were too far away for non-Artillery frames to effect.
• Some of them even became involved in "Artillery duels".
• Tom did the "Station Dance" to perfection to avoid damage.
• This was Narbey's first game and he ended up winning.
• I think he's hooked.  :-)