Purity: Mega Bloks FVK68 Pokemon Brionne Review

It seems like 5Below has switched to carrying Mega Bloks and other clone brick sets over Lego.  It kinda sucks as they were a good source of polybags but it's also good because we get Mega Bloks sets at an affordable price.

Box.  MSRP was $9.99 for a $0.13 Price per Piece.  I

purchased this at 5Below for $5.00 which is a $0.06 PpP.

Instructions.

Parts 1.  Angled Plates, Half Spheres, Plates, Wedge Plates, Slopes, Round Bricks, Brick, Tiles w/Bar Up, Jumpers, Large Jumper, and 1x3 Slope w/Bar Hole.

Parts 2.  Leaf Canopy, Leaves, Domes, Half Round Plate,

Round Tile, Half Round Double Sided Plate, Half Round

Double Sided Ball Joint Plate, Half Round Ball Joint Plate,

Half Round Plate, Ball Joint Plates, and Ball Joint Sockets.

Parts 3.  Half Domes, Wedge Studless Slopes, 1x1 Domes, Round Double

Sided Studless Plate, Round Tiles, Double Sided Studs, Round Plates,

Connectors (These are like Round Bricks but open at each end with axle holders

inside) Round Plate w/Bar, Bar w/Stop, Bar/Bar Holder, Elbow Bar, and Plates.

Parts 4.  Flippers, Printed Dome, Round Plate w/Bar

Underneath, Double Sided Round Plate, Rubber Flanged

Piece, Tree Trunk Bricks, Round Tooth Plates, and Cone.

Build.  Frame, Pokeball, 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? 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+).  It's a nice set but I feel like you need two copies to build anything worthwhile.  Score on the 5Below price is +20 (A+).

Review 3: 71361 Super Mario Character Pack

I can't seem to stay away from these things.  I blame Atavism for asking about the Shell Piece on the Discord channel.  :-)

Bag.  MSRP was $3.99 for a $0.?? Price per Piece.  (The bag lists 23 pieces but I count 20.)

Instructions.

Parts.  Shell Piece, 4x4x0.6 w/Reduced Knob Plate, Antenna, Round Bricks, Printed Large Cheese Slope, Large Cheese Slope, Feet Piece, ??, Stickered Tile, Brackets, and 1x1 Round Bricks.

Build.  Frame.

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-).  Same as before, there are some neat pieces and prints but the Price per Piece is horrible.

Non-Human 34

Another lazy day prior to Thanksgiving.

Support Drone WB16 by DevidVII.  This has some great techniques, and disabled downloads.

Mechanic and Utility Bot by Brick Player.  More neat techniques.

Heavy Lift Ornithopter by General Farok.  Based on
the Dune IP but looks like it's the right size for MFZ

Octopus Bot by MorlornEmpire.  This is seriously neat.

Tankigrade by DonutsFTW.  Kinda large,

but who cares when it looks that cool.

Random Mechs 27

Feeling kind of worn out lately, so here's some cool mecha to look at.

Hunters by Pixel Ogre.  I don't usually go for builds mounted

on bases but, the printed pieces add a lot of character to this.

Grasshopper_03 by Mladen Pejic.  This looks

really slick and yet simple at the same time.

ODS.9 Guardian by Steebles 1908.  Really

nice use of stickers and cloth to spice this up.

Mobile Ball mecha rb-80 by Peter Ray.  Not sure if

it's super fiddly or super greebly but, it looks cool.

New Arm by Pixel Ogre.  Nice use of a weird part for the core.

Lego Ideas 8

Let's change pace a little and look at possible cool and useful submissions on Ideas.

Japanese Spider Crab.  Looks like it will have a bunch of joint pieces which are always useful.

Centaur Warrior.  This thing is gigantic, you should be able to make a few Frames and some Cover out of it.

Gas Truck & Crane.  Technic and System parts, a great combo.

Space Race Roller Coaster.  This looks like a fantastic set for terrain.  It probably has some great greebles hidden away too.

I've backed all of these sets.

Review: 3576 Holiday tree Polybag

This is the new seasonal polybag release available from Target.  Maybe.  All of the stores near me seem to have a limited supply showing online and any stores I've actually visited don't seem to have them on the shelves where they're supposed to be.  So either they're sitting in the stockroom or resellers have scooped all of them up.  Hopefully it's the former.

Bag.  MSRP is $4.99 for a $0.07 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Parts.  Plates, Cross Plates, Cheese Slopes, Round Plates,

Propeller, Plant Leaves, Mod. Tile w/Pin, Rounded Plates, Large

Jumpers, Minifig Wands, Jumper, Inverted Slopes, and Cones.

Build.  Two 1 Hit pieces 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+).  While it does have some useful parts, this may be more of an accent piece set.

Review: 71363 Mario Desert Pokey

A couple of the new Mario sets went on sale at Target and this was the most affordable of them.  I also wanted some of the parts in it for a squad.

Box.  MSRP is $19.99 for this which gives us a $0.11 Price

per Piece.  I bought it on sale at $15.99 for a $0.09 PpP.

Instructions.

Parts 1.  8x8 Mod. Plate w/Rounded Corners

and 4 Feet.  This was loose in the box.

Parts 2. Round Plate, Mod. Plate w/Rounded Corners and 4 Feet, Plate, Axles, Panels, Studless Slopes, Technic Bricks, Printed Brick, Round Bricks w/Spikes, Round Bricks, Stickered Tiles, Round Plate w/Feet, Dome, and Bricks.

 

Parts 3.  Plate, Boat Sliders, Round Large Jumper, Round Tile w/Hole, New Headlight Bricks, Flowers, Technic Axle Connector, Tooth Plates, and Jumpers.

Parts 4.  1x1x1.6 Brick w/Studs on Side, Mod. Plate w/Rounded Corners

and 4 Feet, Plates, 1x3x2 Rounded Bricks, Bricks, Tiles, Slope, New

Headlight Brick, Roof Slopes, Studless Slope, Rounded Plate, Curved

Slope 2x1x1.3 w/Recessed Stud, Bricks, Frame, and Panel.

 

Parts 5.  Turntable Base, Bricks, Round Plates,

Rounded Tiles, Corner Plates, Tile, and Grille Tile.

Parts 6.  Pyramids, Mod. Bricks 1x2x1.6 w/Studs on Sides,

Tile w/Sticker, Plates, Inverted Tiles, Tiles, Large Jumpers,

Printed Tile, Flowers, Bricks, and Mod. Plates w/Arm Up.

Build.  Two Frames 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+).  It has a good selection of parts, but not a lot of the ones we generally look for and the price is a little prohibitive.

Review: 853990 Easter Bunny House

Another seasonal set for 2020.  This one dates back to the heart of the pandemic lockdown.

Box.  MSRP is $7.99 for this which gives us a $0.14 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Minifig.  

Parts.  Barraki Eyes, Plates, Tiles, Bricks, Twig, Moped Body,

Plant Stems, Log Bricks, Hinge Brick Bodies, Hinge Brick Tops,

Panel, Rounded Plates, Door, Double Slope, Minifig Handlebars,

Bar Plate, Corner Plates, Jumper, Leaves, Minifig Carrot, Clip

Plate, Round Flower Plates, Double Cheese Slope, Printed Round

Tile, Pulley Wheels, Tires, Round Plate, and Minifig Chicken.

 

Build.  A 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?  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 that great a deal, unless you really want those Barraki Eyes.

Review: 40424 Winter Snowball Fight

This is one of the seasonal sets for 2020.  Interest in this set, in the general Lego community, seemed high due to the high number of 1x2 Rounded Plates included.

Box.  MSRP is $12.99 for this which gives us a $0.09 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Parts 1.  Plates, Tiles, Minifig Skis, Round Brick, Arch Bricks, 2x3

Plate w/Hole, Axle Plate w/Pinholes, 1x4 Offset Plate, 2x2x1 Crates,

Minifig Tree, Brick, Slopes, Brick w/Pin, Technic Bricks, Log

Bricks, Round Brick w/Pinholes, Brackets, and Wedge Bricks.

Parts 2.  Boat Sliders, Round Large Jumper, Tile, Hinge Brick Top

(which I've never seen in Blue before), slopes, Hinge Brick Base, Flags,

Jumpers, Plates, Clip Plate, Printed Round Tiles, Cheese Slopes, Studless

 Slopes, Rounded Plates, Rounded Tiles, Axle w/Stud, Bars w/Stopper,

Minifig Snowshoes, Branches, Minifig Cups, and Round Brick.

 

Parts 3.  Round Plate, Round Tile, Minifig Top Hat, Curved

Slope 2x1x1.3 w/Recessed Stud, Rounded Plate, Plate, Jumper,

Half Pins, Tooth Plate, Technic Connector?, Barbs, Apollo

Studs, Minifig Ski Poles, New Headlight Brick, and Jem.

Minifigs. 

 

Build.  Two Frames, two 1 Hit pieces 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+).  It has some useful parts but, not really enough of them.  I'd say it needs to be combined with something else to really shine.

Review: 10402 Fun Future

This was part of the "Building Bigger Thinking" sub-line of Classic sets.  I think it was another attempt at the old school Lego set of "random" parts that can make multiple builds.

Box.  MSRP was $9.99 for this which gives us a $0.05 Price per Piece.

Instructions. 

Parts 1.  Round Large Jumpers, Boat Sliders, Wedge Plates, Curved Slope

w/2 Studs, Tiles, Tiles w/Studs, Bar Plates, Ball Joint Plates,  Plates, Corner

Plates, Clip Plates, Cheese Graters, Minifig Apple, Curved Slope 2x1x1.3

w/Recessed Stud, Brackets, Slope w/Cutout w/o Stud, Slope w/Cutout, Steering Wheel, Curved Slopes, Inverted Curved Slopes, Quarter Circle Tiles, Technic Ball Joints, New Headlight Bricks, Bar Claws, Travis Bricks, and a Minifig Wrench.

Parts 2.  Plates, Bricks 1x2x1.6 w/Studs on Side, Bricks, Inverted 

Slopes w/Cutout, Plate 2x2 w/Studs o Side, Axle Plates, 2x3 Plates

w/Hole, Wedge Plates, Minifig Chair, Curved Slopes 1x3x1.6

w/Recessed Stud, Wedge Slope w/Cutout, Printed Tile, 1x4 Offset

Plates, Tires, Slopes, Inverted Slopes, Brackets, and Studless Slopes.

Parts 3.  Large Double Jumpers, Jumpers, Plates, Grille Tiles,

Round Plates, Padlocks, Nipples, Round Tiles, Printed Round

Tiles, Rims, Skeleton Arms, Lightsaber Hilts, Butts, Dishes,

Minifig Visors, Levers & Bases, and Bar Holders w/Bar.

Minifig.  This one has an old school face and male, female, and gender neutral options.

Build.  Two Frames, two Stations, and two 1

Hit pieces of Cover.  You could probably get

more out of this but I ran out of creative energy.

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+).  A decent set with a blend of useful parts and colors.