Review: 30733 Sonic Badnik Skorp Polybag

I found this set earlier this week at one of my local Targets.  I was really surprised because they had it on Clearance and this is the first time I've seen this set.

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.  Rounded Plates, Rings w/Stud Holder, Double Sided Studless Slopes, Brackets, Plate 2x2x2/3 w/Studs on Side, Inverted Tile, Dishes, Double

Wedge Studless Slope, Curved Slope w/Wing End, Tiles w/Studs on Ends,

Plates, Half Circle Jumpers, Jumpers, Half Circle Tiles, Apollo Studs, Padlock,

Pyramid Tiles, Translucent Dishes, Round Tiles, Printed Round Tiles, Bars

w/Angled Stud, Bar Clips, Bricks w/Studs on Side, Bar Bar Holders, Unicorn

Horns, Truncated Cones, Cones, Bricks w/Stud on Side, and a Travis Brick.

Build.  Light Swarmer frame (2Rh+d8 [arm drills] 1Y [tail scanner] 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+).  Frame-in-a-Bag.  There are plenty of useful parts in here so I think this is worth tracking down.

Review: Brickcraft 72001BFS Bricktanicals Tulip Polybag

I went back to Ocean State Job Lots to get more of the Bluebonnet polybag.  To my delight I discovered more of the Bricktanical polybags.  Let's take a look and see what they're like.

Bag.  MSRP was $5.99, for a $0.08 Price per Piece.  I paid $1.99, for a $0.03 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Parts 1.  Loose in bag.  Axle.

Parts 2.  Curved Triple Wedges, 1x2 Plates w/Angular Extension w/

Molded Flexible Rubber Tip, Curved Slopes w/2 studs and Wing

End, Plates, Curved Slopes w/2 Studs, Axle, Round Plates, Notched

Axles, Corner Plates, Bar Plates, Studless Slopes, Brackets, Wedge

Studless Slopes, Cheese Slopes, Round Plates w/5 Petals, Axle

Connectors, Axle Connector w/Clips, and Barrel Hinges.

Build.  Frame (2Rh+d8), 1 Hit Piece of Cover 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+).  This set is full of useful parts but if it had one more Corner Plate and two more 1x4 Plates I could have made a second Frame.  So, keep that in mind.

Review: Brickcraft 72066BFS Bricktanicals Dahlia Polybag

I went back to Ocean State Job Lots to get more of the Bluebonnet polybag.  To my delight I discovered more Bricktanical polybags.  Let's take a look and see what they're like.

Bag.  MSRP was $5.99, for a $0.06 Price per Piece.  I paid $1.99, for a $0.02 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Parts 1.  Loose in bag.  Axle.

Parts 2.  Octagonal Bar Plates, Hexagonal Windscreens, Tiles, Tooth

Plates, Round Plate w/5 Petals, Round Plates w/4 Petals, Clip Tiles, Clip

Plates, Plates, Notched Axles, Axle, Bar, Axle Connector w/Clips, Barrel

Hinges, Axle Connectors, Round Large Jumpers, and a Travis Brick.

Build.  Frame (2Rh/2W) and 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 like it.  Octagonal Bar Plates, Clip Plates, Clip Tiles, and Hot Pink pieces are all a plus for me.

Review: 30734 Mini F1 Academy Car Polybag

This was a "Gift with Purchase" with certain F1 Lego sets at the Lego Store for a limited time.  Let's hope it gets released in different distribution channels at some point.

Bag.  MSRP is $4.99 for a $0.09 Price per Piece.

Instructions & Stickers.

Parts.  Plates, Wedge Plates, Tile w/Studs in Center, Rims, Axle Plates,

Brick w/Pinhole & Plate, Slope, Studless Slope, Double Studless Slopes,

Tires, Tiles, Ingot, Jumpers, Half Round Tiles w/Stud, Wedge Studless

Slopes, Brackets, Tile Clip, Printed Tiles, Transparent Plates, Dome

Tops, Quarter Circle Tiles, Half Pins, and Minifig Crescent Blades.

Build.  IO Frigate. 
 

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 like the colors, I like the parts, I just wish it was more available.

Review: 30716 Cute Easter Bunny Polybag

This is available at Walmart.  It was also a "Gift with Purchase" at Barnes & Noble and Lego for a limited time.

Bag.  MSRP is $4.97 for a $0.08 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

 

Parts.  Round Plates, Quarter Circle Studless Slopes, Plates, Bracket, Dome

Bottoms, Domes, Tiles, Cone, Rounded Plate, Bricks w/Studs on Side, Scroll

Bricks, Curved Slopes, Headlight Bricks, Slopes w/Cutout, Curved Slope w/

Cutout, Brackets, Tooth Plate, Cheese Slopes, Printed Round Tiles, Double

Curved Slopes, Heart Tiles, Inverted Studless Slopes, and Half Circle Tiles.

Build.  IO Frigate and 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?  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: +5 (B+).  I like the set.  I just feel like it needs at least another Curved Slope w/Cutout and 1x3 Plate to be really good.

Terrain Workshop: Helicopter Plants

Yet another build put together while sorting.  The name comes from the idea that a 1x2 Round Plate w/Rounded Leaf, to me, looks kinda like one of those Helicopter Seed Pods from Maple trees.  The entire build also looks like a set of helicopter blades at rest.

The core of this build is the Round Brick w/3 Diagonal Bars.

Attached to that are three 1x2 Round Plates w/Rounded Leaf, a

Notched Axle, and a 3L Axle Connector.  That's six pieces, which

means it's 1 Hit.  It's 11 feet tall and 22.5 feet across in 6P Scale.  

While this might not be very tall in relation to some of the usual suspects it does cross the Cover Threshold, it takes up a fair amount of space, and they can be placed in an overlapping fashion to make dense sections of Cover that inhibit movement.  Also, having a ton of these on the table would look pretty cool.

I'll probably add these to my Asian Antenna Farm table-setting as they'll help fill in some of the empty spaces and they match the vibe.  I hope this gives people ideas or techniques to use in their terrain builds.  Flickr page.

Terrain Workshop: Marsh Plants

This build owes a lot to my Giant Cattails creation.  I'm not sure where the initial idea came from but it does add another type of vaguely terrestrial, marshland type flora that we can put on the table for a game.

Starting at the bottom we have a 3x3 Plate with two 1x3 Rounded Plates w/Open Studs on top of it.  This is the base.  It doesn't count towards the number of pieces in the build and also helps us space them out evenly.  The plant itself starts with two Apollo Studs, a 6L Bar w/Stop, another Apollo Stud (inverted and placed on one side of the Stop), an Eggshell/Crown, and a 1x1 Horizontal Swirl Round Plate which are on the other side of the Stop.  Each stalk is six pieces which is 1 Hit.  A single stack is at least 17 feet tall -- depending on how deep you push them into the Apollo Studs and the base -- and 5 feet wide in 6P scale.  You can arrange them from one to four pieces on a base which will give you varying levels of "density" for this terrain.

I changed the color of the top two pieces to Pink and I also swapped out the 1x1

 Horizontal Swirl Round Plate for a 1x1 Vertical Swirl Round Plate.  This could be

used to denote a variant of the original or one that's in a different growth stage.

The Horizontal/Vertical Swirl Round Plates come in a combined total of nine colors.

The Eggshell is thirteen colors.  Apollo Studs come in 25 colors.  The Bar w/Stop is

available in fifteen colors, so you can have a wide variety of looks with this design.

As you can see in the size comparison, it's a reasonably tall build.  I hope this gives people ideas or techniques to use in their terrain builds. Flickr page.