Review: Make Market 795513 Floral Brick Art Areca Palm

A few months ago Michael's started carrying Make Market Floral Brick Art sets.  They're basically copies of sets by Block Tech, Make -It Blocks, and other botanical set creators.  I was originally going to try and review as many of the 27-odd sets that I managed to track down.  But, as these sets have all gone on clearance at 60% off I'm going to do something different.  I'm going to review three sets -- each at different Price per Piece levels -- and put together a post mortem in the final post on why this line tanked when every other company is still going.

Box.  MSRP is $9.99 for a $0.17 Price per Piece.  

Back of box.

Instructions.

Parts 1.  9L Wings, 8x3 Palm Leaf, Studless Slopes, Axle Plates, 1x4 Offset 

Plates, 3x5 Leaves, Plate, Jumper, Notched Axles, 3L Axle Connectors,

Axle Connectors, Axle Connectors w/Pinhole, Axles, Axle/Pins, Bent Axle Connectors w/Pinhole, Bar Claws, Stadium Tiles, and Half Pins.

Build.  Frame and two 1 Hit pieces of Cover.

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+). The Price per Piece is awful but, this is the only source of those 9L Wings in Green that I know of.  So I'm gonna grab as many of this set as I can.

Review: Zuru Max 83227-A Fuggler Mr. Buttons

I found out about this line because someone mentioned it on the MFZ Discord.  Then maybe a day or two later I found this one in the Clearance aisle at Walmart.  (According to the packaging they're exclusive.)  All the figures are more than a little weird, so let's see if there's anything decent in the set.

Box.  MSRP was $9.99 for a $0.09 Price per Piece.

I paid $5.00 for a $0.05 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Parts 1.  Plates, 45 Deg Elbow Round Bricks, Technic Plate, Tiles, Wedge

Studless Slopes, Double Sided Plates, Domes, T Plate, Brackets, Studless

Slopes, Corner Plate, Ball Joint Plates, Bricks, Curved Bricks w/Cutout,

Printed Textured Brick, Bricks w/Studs on Sides, and Bricks w/Stud on Side.

Parts 2.  Round Plates, Plates, Textured Printed Round Tiles, Rounded

Double Sided Plates, Tiles, Wedge Studless Slopes, Cheese

Slopes, Studless Slopes, Brackets, Round Plates w/Petals, Printed

Round Tile, Axles, Ball Joint Axles, and Double Sided Plates.

Build.  Two Frames (2W), and a 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?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +20 (A+).  Those Printed Textured pieces look ugly.  It's nice to see a T Plate outside of Mega Construx sets.  Overall it's not bad for such a weird little set.

Review: Brix 64273-02 Bento Blox 2

Since the review of the first set turned out pretty well, I decided to review the second.  Let's give it a look.

Box.  MSRP is $6.00 for a $0.06 Price per Piece.

Instructions & Stickers.

Parts 1.  Round Plates, Tiles, Macaroni Tiles, Dishes, Translucent

Gear, Cone, Brick, Bricks w/Studs on Opposite Sides, Round Tile,

Round Large Jumper, Round Plates w/3 Leaves, Double Sided Plates,

Studless Slopes, Plates, Cheese Slopes, Bar, and Large Ball Joints.

Build.  A Frame, two Stations,

and a 1 Hit piece of Cover.

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? Yes. (+5)

Score: +20 (A+).  I was a little worried about this set when I opened it up.  While I managed a decent amount of builds -- I could have made more Cover if I had swapped some things around -- I feel like the color palette is a little limited.

Doomsday Hazard 2

In the original post I theorized that tying the expansion of Hazardous Terrain to the counting down of the Doomsday Clock could be an interesting game variant.  For reference, the rules for Exotic Terrain and Environmental Systems are on page 135 of the Rapid Attack rulebook.

In this game I chose the "Roadway Rumble" table-setting

because it was built around baseplates and had a fairly limited 

footprint.  I  chose to start the Hazardous Terrain (HT) on one 

baseplate instead of the three in the original post.  As there are

12 baseplates we rolled a d12 to determine where the HT started.

At the end of the first Round the Doomsday Clock (DC) ticked down twice

so the HT expanded two baseplates.  To make it easier for use, we decided

that the HT would expand in straight lines.  There were three possible

baseplates for the HT to expand into so we rolled a d6 to determine 

which ones -- 1,2 equals one, 3,4 equals two, and 5,6 equals three.

At the end of the second Round the DC ticked down twice again so the

HT expanded two more baseplates.  There were four possible baseplates

for the HT to expand into so we rolled a d8 to determine which ones.

At the end of the third Round the DC ticked down three times so the HT expanded three baseplates for this round.  There were 5 possible

baseplates for the HT to expand into.  To make it easier we rolled a

d12 to find which ones it didn't expand into.  Honestly a d6 would

have been easier and I'm not sure why we didn't think of that.

At the end of the fourth Round the DC ticked down

twice again so the HT expanded two more baseplates.

At the end of the fifth Round the DC ticked down once to

end the game so the HT expanded into the last baseplate.

Which we covered for sake of completeness.

So, to sum up, Choose a set of baseplates, set starting Hazardous Area, determine starting

point, start playing the game, and determine how the Hazardous Terrain expands.

Review: 30736 Technic White Seaplane Polybag

I found this set last week at one of my local Targets.  Once again, I was really surprised because they had it on Clearance and this is the first time I've seen this set.  I'm always interested in Technic polybags, so let's give it a look.

Bag.  MSRP is $4.99 for a $0.06 Price per Piece.

I paid $3.49 for a $0.04 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Parts.  Angled Liftarms, Propellers, Axles, Friction Pins, Quarter

Ellipse Liftarms, Gears, Liftarms, Axle/Pins, Liftarms w/Axle Holes,

3L Axle/Pins, Axle Connectors, Axle Connectors w/Pinhole, Bushings,

Corner Axles w/Pinhole, Panel Fairings, and 3L Friction Pins.

Build.  IO Cruiser and RA Tank.
   

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?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +20 (A+).  I feel like I should have been able to get more from this set.  Still, plenty of useful parts.

Review: 30731 Animal Crossing Tom Nook and Flying Present Polybag

I found this at the same time I found last Wednesday's review.  I was going to pass on it but as it was marked down I decided to give it a try.

Bag.  MSRP is $4.99 for a $0.15 Price per Piece.   I paid $3.49 for a $0.11 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Minifig.

Parts.  Plate w/Rounded Corners & Feet, Plates, Antenna,

Printed Tile, Printed Round Tiles, Tiles, Round Plates w/

Petals, Apollo Studs, Double Curved Slopes, Corner

Panels, Dome, Dome Bottom, Brick, Translucent

Panels, Flower Stems, and Small Corner Panel.

  

Build.  Two 1 Hit pieces of Cover.

The Questions:

Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Cover.  (0)
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?  No.  (-5)
Score: -10 (C+).  Even on Clearance, it's not worth it.

Review: 30728 The Razor Crest Polybag

As it's May the Fourth, let's do a Star Wars review.  This is one of the "Free with Purchase" items from Lego for the event.  Hopefully it'll be more readily available once the movie drops.

Bag.  MSRP is $4.99 for a $0.08 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Parts.  Round Bricks w/Pinholes, Truncated Cones, Driving Ring Extensions,

Plates, Round Plates, Rounded Plate w/Pinhole, Brackets, Brick, Inverted

Slope, Corner Tiles, Axle Plates, Round Brick, Corner Tiles w/Cutout, Bar

Plate, Door Rail Plate, Jumpers, Inverted Slopes w/Cutout, Quarter Domes,

Ingots, Studless Slopes, Cheese Graters, Clip Tiles, Tile w/Studs on Ends,

Bar Studs, Axle, Half Pins, Friction Pins, Curved Slopes, and Offset Plate.

Build.  IO Frigate (2Ras+d8/2W).
 

The Questions:

Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  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?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +20 (A+).  Ship-in-a-Bag.  It fits IO scale and has some interesting building techniques.