Review: 30331 Minecraft Nether Duel Polybag

I bought this at one of my local Walmarts.  It was in a midway display section with other Lego sets and other toys.

Bag.  I paid $4.97 for a $0.13 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Minifigs.  Those Long Skeleton Legs are new.  The sword could be useful too.

Parts.  Plates, Bricks, Slope, Corner Brick, Large

Jumpers, Minifig Telescope, and Round Plates.

Build.  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-).  The Long Skeleton Legs, and Dark Red, Teal, and Olive Green pieces are nice but beyond that there's nothing to recommend this set.

New Blog Alert

There's a new blog on the scene.  It's simply called "Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack" but it's aimed at the French speaking part of the MFZ community.

Please welcome them to the community.  :-)

In case you didn't know, Francisco Duarte has his own blog too.  He's posting instructions for Frames based on Battletech mechs.

Review: 30578 German Shepard Polybag

 I bought this at one of my local Walmarts.  It was in a midway display section with other Lego sets and other toys.

Bag.  I paid $4.99 for a $0.07 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Parts.  Inverted Slopes, Round Plate, Plates, Clip Plates, Brick, Curved Slopes,

Tiles, Round Tiles, Brackets, Studless Curved Slopes, Hinge Plates, Bar Plates,

Minifig Fez, Inverted Studless Slopes, Jumpers, Printed Round Tiles, Double

Curve Slopes, Wedge Slopes, Cheese Slope, and Rounded Plates.

Build.  Frame 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? 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 enough set, I'm just not thrilled with the color selection.

Review: 41928 Dots Narwhal Bag Tag

I bought this at my local Lego store.  I'd been checking my local Targets and Walmarts for a few weeks for these.

Box.  I paid $6.99 for a $0.08 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Parts 1. I'm not sure what Lego is calling this piece.  Back in the day I put together a MFZ squad called the "Cube Crew".  They were all based around the die used in the old Lego Games line.  I'm hoping the core piece from these sets can be just as useful.

Parts 2.  Clip Ring, Heart Key, Stadium Tiles, Poop Tile,

Printed Stadium Tiles, Printed Round Tiles, Jumper,

Double Curved Slope, Tiles, Opalescent Round Tiles,

Printed Round Transparent Tiles, and Quarter Circle Tiles.

Build. Nada.  Maybe I could have built a Station

but my head hurt too much to even try. 

The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  No.  (-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: +10 (A-).  The base brick should make a good core to build from, and the other parts will be good for accent pieces.

Review: 30557 Dots Photo Holder Cube Polybag

I purchased this at a local Walmart.  It can be found in the Lego aisle in with the other polybags.

Bag.  I paid $4.99 for a $0.05 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Parts 1.  Plates, Tile, Tile w/Studs, 1x2x1.6 Brick w/Studs on Side,

Photo Holder Brick, Bricks, Corner Bricks, Round Large Jumper,

Heart Shaped Jewel, Printed Round Tiles, and Quarter Circle Tiles.

Parts 2.  New Headlight Bricks, 1x1 Double Curved Slope,

Plates, Quarter Circle Tiles, Jumper, and Round Tiles.

Build.  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+).  Some really nice color options here along with useful parts.

Sales Alert

Target is running a "Buy One Get One 40% Off" sale on select LEGO City, Super Mario, Ninjago and Dots building sets this week.  This will bring a few of the Super Mario sets into the affordable range if you get them as part of the sale.

They also have a "20% off all MEGA Construx Pokémon toys" sale this week as well.

Review: 41921 Extra Dots 3 Polybag

I purchased this at a local Walmart.  This is part of the third Series of the Dots line.

Bag.  I paid $3.99 for a $0.04 Price per Piece.

Parts.  First row is Printed Tiles.  Second through seventh is Quarter

Circle Tiles (Dark Azure, Light Aqua, and Purple).  Eighth and ninth

are Trans-Pink Round Tiles.  Tenth is a Dark Blue over-molded

Gemstone Tile.  Eleventh is a Pink over-molded Star Round Tile.

Build.  None, as these are all accent parts.

The Questions:
Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  No. (-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: +10 (A-).  Some really neat over-molded pieces in this series.

Review: 30537 Merchant Avatar Jay Polybag

I got this  at my local Lego Discovery Center.  It was released last year.  I guess it's nice to finally track down a copy?

Bag.  I paid $6.00 for a $0.13 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Minifig.

Parts 1.  Horse Hitch, Plates, Panels, Translucent

 Plates, Axle Plate, Bar Holder w/Handle, Lightsaber

 Hilts, Wheels, Minifig Fish, Clip Plates, Inverted

 Studless Slope, Corner Panels, Clip Tile, Bars,

Minifig Video Game Controller, Minifig Paint

Roller, Translucent Minifig Head, and Dish.

Parts 2. Weapons Pack (Sword Blades, Hook Blades, and Daggers).

Build.  A really awful 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? 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-).  Another polybag with a handful of cool pieces and not much else.

Review: 30359 Lloyd's Quad Bike Polybag

This was a "Free with Purchase" set for a $40 Ninjago purchase at the Lego store.  I'm not sure how long this promotion is running.

Bag.  MSRP is $4.99 for a $0.12 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Minifig.

Parts.  Plates, Axle Plates, Clip Plates, Bar Plate, Flag, Jumpers,

Clip Tile, Tires, Bull Bar, Rims, Brick, Bar Tile, Large 

Cheese Slope, Wedge Studless Slopes, Bar, Bar Holder

w/Clip, Minifig Sword Hilt, and Minifig Handlebars.

Build.  Battle Cart!  2Rh+d8 (blades + bull bar) 1Y (flag).

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-).  Not worth it, especially if you have to spend $40 just to get it.

Build Journal/Terrain Workshop: Trees

There was a fairly long discussion of terrain and Cover the other week on the Discord channel.  One of the issues raised was how to make trees that looked good but weren't a million Hits due to having many parts.

There are multiple ways to do this.  Alien Trees.  Spike Tree.  More Alien Trees.  But the request was for good old Terran trees, so let's try to build some.

This idea came to me while I was driving home from work the other day and I think it works nicely.

It all starts with a trunk composed of 1x1x6 Solid Pillar Support.   An Inkwell

sits on top of this and an Axle Connector Hub w/4 Bars & Pinhole connects to

that providing a base for four Small Palm Leaves.  You could sub in a Round

 Plate w/Pinhole & 4 Arms Up for the Axle Connector Hub but I think the Hub

allows more pose-ability for the leaves.  I also believe that the Axle Connector Hub w/4 Bars will work but have different issues in the long run.

So the main "problem" that I see with this is that it doesn't get cleanly destroyed when

damaged.  The top gets taken apart with the first Hit leaving -- pardon the pun -- the

trunk behind.  I think the simple solution would be to add some 1x1 Round Plates under the Inkwell and maybe add a 1x1 Brick at the base.  A pretty way to add five pieces

would be to add a Travis Brick to the base with four Round Plates w/3 Leaves on it.

You could also add parts to the top.  Starting with a Half Pin, add three 1x1 Round

Plates topped by a 1x1 Cone.  That adds five pieces bringing the total to 2 Hits.

Any way you choose to make that change, if at all, is up to you.

Here's a size comparison, with my usual two models, to give you an idea of how big these are.

I hope this helps people with future tree designs for MFZ: Rapid Attack.

[Guest Post] Purity: Sluban M38-B0593B Helicopter Review

A review by Francisco Duarte.  Another part of the post-Christmas sale, this helicopter seems to be part of the same collection as the firetruck. The box cost me just 1.04€, so 31 parts at 0.03€per part!

Box.

Instructions.

Parts 1. Skid tiles, rotor blades, clip plate, headlight

bricks, crooked cones, and a hose.

Parts 2. Transparent cockpit, 2x2 plate, 2x3 plates,

2x4 plate, 1x8 plate, 1x2 tile, 1x1 brick.

It was a little difficult to pull it off, but I made myself a close-combat frame. It sports a rotating sword, an energy shield and a quad frame (RhBG).

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? A few, but not too many, honestly. (+0)
Score: +15 (A). Yet another great buy!

[Guest Post] Purity: Sluban M38-B0593A Fire Truck Review

A review by Francisco Duarte.  This set came from the post-Christmas sale I found some time ago. The box cost me just 1.04€, which is a bargain. It got me 43 parts at 0.02€per part - pretty good! It was meant to make a firetruck. I proceeded to do something slightly different, evidently.

Box.

Instructions.

Parts 1. Wheel parts, grille tiles, hinge plates, technic bricks with axle hole.

Parts 2. A 2x4 transparent brick, 2x4 mudguards,

tiles with studs and studless tiles of different

sizes, 1x1 studless slopes, headlights and a cone.

Built a laser half-track.  Equips a piece of laser artillery,

defensive machinegun and two side armor skirts (RaRdBB).

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+). Doubtful I would have got such a great price if not for the sale, but, still, Sluban sets have consistently great and cheap. The only thing going against them is that they are hard to find and the plastic is a bit too hard, and can break more easily than Lego.

[Guest Post] Purity: Sluban M38-B0597D Builder F1 Racer Review

It has been over a year since I've hosted a guest post and Francisco Duarte has graciously sent me several reviews to post on my blog.  So I'm going to sit back for the week and let Mr. Duarte share his thoughts.

A review by Francisco Duarte. This is the first box of a bunch of Sluban sets I acquired during a post-Christmas sale in the town where I live (in Portugal). Sluban sets are relatively easy to find and always sport a good price per part. Because this was a sale, the price was exceptionally good. The total price was slightly above 5€. Being one of the most expensive sets, this one cost me 1.5€, so, a total of 0.03€ per each of 48 parts!

It was meant to make a race car. Evidently, I did something different.

Box.

Instructions.

Parts 1. Plates, mostly 4x2, and wheel parts.

Parts 2. More wheel parts, lights, 1x1 slopes and an engine cowl.

Parts 3. More slopes and wings.

Build.  Made a small frame, with a mortar,

a shield and a quad-leg system (RaBG).

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 is a great set, pretty much what Sluban has us used to.