Review: 41930 Dots Panda 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.  Oddly enough, these are folded in rather than out. 

 Which is different from every other set of instructions I've seen.

Parts 1.  "The Cube".

Parts 2. Clip Ring, Heart Key, Jumper, Double Curved Slopes, Printed

 Stadium Tiles, Printed Round Tiles, Printed Tiles, White Stadium Tiles,

Black Tiles, Magenta Round Tiles, Black Stadium Tiles, Pink Round

 Tiles, Black Round Tiles, White Tiles, Black Quarter Circle Tiles,

Bright Green Quarter Circle Tiles, Greenish Yellow Quarter Circle

Tiles, Lime Quarter Circle Tiles, and White Quarter Circle Tiles.

Build 1.  The same build as the last review but it doesn't work as well.

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'd say it's more like a +15 (A) score but for some reason I like the parts selection on this one better than the Dog Bag Tag.

Review: 41927 Dots Dog 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.  Oddly enough, these are folded in rather than out. 

 Which is different from every other set of instructions I've seen.

Parts 1.  "The Cube".

Parts 2.  Clip Ring, Heart Key, Jumper, Poop Tiles,  Double Curved

Slopes, Printed Tiles, Printed Stadium Tiles, Stadium Tiles, Printed

Round Tiles, Cheese Slopes, Round Tiles, and Quarter Round Tiles, 

Build 1.  Station.  The key piece is held in by friction and isn't really that solid a connection.

Build 2.  I put together a bunch of parts before I bought this set in

 anticipation of making this Frame.  Unfortunately the color of the

 cube is closer to Light Nougat than the Nougat of the other pieces.

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 little bit of effort and the score jumps.  :-)

Review: 41931 Extra Dots Series 4 Polybag

I purchased this at a local Target.  This is part of the fourth Series of the Dots line.

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

Parts.  Printed Round Tiles, Printed Stadium Tiles, White & Medium Azure

Double Curved Slopes, Aqua Round Tiles, Pink Stadium Tiles, Tan &

Orange Double Curved Slopes, Cheese Slopes, Teal Quarter Circle Tiles,

Orange Round Tiles, Light Yellow Round Tiles, Green Tiles, Bright Light

Orange Stadium Tiles, Medium Azure Quarter Circle Tiles, and Red Tiles.

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-).  I think this might be the most interesting of the Extra Dots yet.

Build Journal: Neue Regel

During the planning stage for one of our group's game session many years ago it became apparent that we were going to have enough players for two simultaneous games.  This necessitated a new set of terrain.  I had recently dumped out a couple of large Bionicle sets and had several large, very difficult to use pieces lying around.  Looking at them I came up with an idea for an alien, warped terrain.  I also was looking for an excuse to get my "Evil Stargate Ring & Towers" back on to the gaming table.  All of this, combined with a general malaise added up to a dark, slightly twisted, possibly-Warhammer-40K-ish set of terrain.

"Trees".

More "Trees".  This and the prior picture

can both take one Hit before being reduced

under the Height Requirement for Cover.

Even more "Trees".  This one can take two Hits.

Statue?  It can take one Hit before

being reduced to rubble.

Another "Statue".  This can take two Hits.

"Hedge".  Another one Hit wonder.

Silos.  These were made to add elevated platforms
to the battlefield.  They can take two Hits.

Rock formations.  The one on the left can take

a single Hit and the other can take two.

Little Statues.  These were created because I wanted

to experiment with a couple of Hero Factory helmets.

They both can take 2 Hits before being destroyed.

Another stand of "Trees".  These can take one Hit.

All of these were placed on a grey piece of felt to simulate a dark, dreary world.  I was hoping all of this added up to an evocative setting.  Something that would get passers-by to stop and take a look at our gaming table.  It's seen use a couple of times since then.  Hopefully this gives people ideas for using parts they normally would just leave in the bin to gather dust and how to combine them all into a viable table-setting.

And, yes, I'm a fan of Queensryche.  Why do you ask?  :-)

Terrain & Scenery 19

Let's keep going with the Terrain theme and feast our eyes on pretty pictures.

Outpost Sigma by Pasukaru76.  Going old school sci-fi with this one!

How to Build Small Lego Tractor by František Hajdekr.  And

he does it again.   Another neat build with video instructions.

Razor Crest - Mini Display Version by Boba-1980.  A 3 Plate

scale version of the Razor Crest from the Mandalorian.

Terrain Barf 2-10-21 by Diamond Regime.

The windmill and the sign interest me.

"Evil Eye" CIWS by -SuspendedAnimation-.

A fantastic little Station.

Well, Just How Big Is It?

We talk about scale a fair amount.  4P, 6P, and 7P get bandied about in relation to builds.  But, it doesn't mean much if you have no idea how big things really are in real life.  (If you are drawing from real world sources for inspiration.)  So I put together these pictures to establish some idea of scale when it comes to mecha and a couple of real world military vehicles.

One.  This establishes how big our two base mecha (Chub and Classic) are versus a 6P reference point (microfig) and a 4P reference point (nanofig).

Two.  Lego Set 31042 Creator Super Soarer is roughly the same size

 as an F-14.  I built this version of a M-1 Abrams nine years ago.

Three.  F-14 and M-1 with Microfig and Nanofig.

Four.  F-14 and M-1 with Mecha, length view.

Five.  F-14 and M-1 with Mecha, front view.

Six.  F-14 and M-1 with Mecha, side view.

Hopefully this helps people when building terrain and establishing just how big things are in relation to each other.

[Guest Post] Purity: Sluban M38-B0597A Sports Car Review

Back in March, Francisco Duarte sent me a bunch of reviews to use as guest posts.  I used the majority of them for a guest post week and kept this one in my back pocket for later use.

A review by Francisco Duarte.  In case you don't know, he has his own blog too.

The final element of my post-Christmas sale. This yellow car gave me 58 parts per 1.50€, so around, so 0,02€per part - an amazing deal, in my opinion. I’ve found that this set is not as flexible as the three others, though.  In general, I’m happy with this bunch. I’ve got a load of parts for quite the low price, and I’ve surely put most of them to use.

Box.

Instructions.

Parts 1. Mudguards, cheese slopes, studless slopes and a bracket.

Parts 2. Plates, wheels, wheel plates, clip plate, bar plate, grille tiles.

Build.  This time I went for an IO frigate.

Not sure what systems it does use, though.

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-). I wasn’t has happy with this set as I was with the others. I couldn’t build something I would be happy with. However, many parts ended up being used for other builds I had on my table, so there’s that. In general, it was still a great deal for the amount of parts acquired for the price given.

Build Journal: Hecaton 1.7

Eight years ago I posted a look at my Hecaton frames.  Then three and a half years after that I posted an update.  Now, with even more new parts available, I've gone back to update them yet again.

The main change to the body is the use of Rounded Plates in the legs.  This saves a total of four pieces.  I also changed the arms to Bar Holders w/Clip instead of the Exo-Force Arms as the colors and availability align a bit better with what I'm trying to do.  I also decided to make the Attachments more in line with the way I've been making them for other Frame designs.  If you're unfamiliar with this idea, that means I make them out of different colors and parts than the ones on the base Frame.  I also put together a Soldier archetype to finally get a handle on the Attachments for the squad.

Right side view.  This gives a clearer look at the Direct Fire (gun) and Movement (levitator) attachments.

Left side view.  This gives a clearer look at the Spotting (antenna array) and Defensive (armor plate) attachments.

Recon by Fire.  This is my old White Hecaton updated with the new

parts and colors to fit in with the new direction for the squad.

Brawler.  My old Red Hecaton updated to the new standards.

Now all I have to do is create Single Shot Rockets and

Stations to finally finish this squad after almost a decade.

Flickr page.

Cool Real World Locations 3

The Plain of Jars.  Kinda weird, right?  In the Northeast section of Laos there are hewn stone jars ranging from 1 meter to 3 meters tall, in over 90 sites with up to 400 jars at a site.  Archaeologists have theorized that they were used for prehistoric burial practices.  It's also a UNESCO World Heritage site.

In 6P scale 1m is three Plates tall -- 3.3 if we're being precise -- so that means 3m is ten Plates tall and classifies as Cover.

So this is is an attempt to model one of the tallest Jars.  It has 12 pieces -- which would be two Hits -- and is a little over 11 feet tall by 10 feet in diameter in 6P scale.  It consists of (3x) 4x4 Round Plate w/2x2 Hole, (8x) 2x2 Round Corner Brick, and (1x) 4x4 Inverted Dish.

You can build this in Black, Bright Light Orange, Dark Blue, Dark Pink, Light Bluish Grey, Lime, or Red.  A bunch of these, along with a few different tree designs should make for a visually distinct battlefield.

The Frame in the first picture is based on artwork by Denis Artist.  Flickr page.

Review: 30591 Ninjago Titanium Mini Mech Polybag (Take 2)

When I previously reviewed this set, I was asked on the Facebook group how it compared size-wise to the standard MFZ Frames.  At the time I had already built, broken down, and sorted the set so I had to find another one.  Newsflash!  I found this one on store shelves instead of ordering online.  So here are both builds with other Frames/Parts/Builds for comparison.

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

Instructions.

Chub, Titanium Mini Mech, and Classic.

Microfig, Titanium Mini Mech, and Nanofig.

MF0 Temple and Titanium Mini Mech.

Chub, Titanium Dragon (There's no name for this in the instructions,

 it's just called Alt Build, so I went with this name.) and Classic.

Microfig, Titanium Dragon, and Nanofig.

MF0 Temple and Titanium Dragon.

Here's a picture of the Titanium Dragon all by itself.  I believe it's a call back to the Dragon Hunter polybag from 2018.  Hopefully that clarifies things and helps people make a decision on purchasing the set.