Review: CaDA C56044W SLS Artemis Rocket

The CaDA brand of building blocks has started making its way to the United States.  I found this set, along with a few others, at Barnes & Noble.  I recently saw some different sets on display at Wegman's.  I know the typeface makes it look like it should be "CaDFI" but it's actually spelled CaDA.

Box.  MSRP is $22.99, for a $0.12 Price per Piece.  I bought

this at Barnes & Noble for 14.99, for a $0.08 Price per Piece.

Instructions & Stickers.

Parts 1.  8x12 Plate, 6x8 Plates, Arches, Panels, 1x2x5 Bricks, 2x6 Bricks,

1x10 Bricks, 1x12 Bricks, 1x6 Plate, 1x2x4 Bricks, 1x1x6 Bricks, 1x6 Bricks,

1x4 Bricks, 1x8 Tile, Curved Slopes, 2x6 Tiles, Slopes, and 1x8 Plates.

Parts 2.  Slopes, Bricks, Round Bricks, Translucent Cone, Round

Bricks w/Pinholes, Lattice Fences, Studless Slopes, Translucent

Round Brick, Truncated Cone, Corrugated Bricks, 1x2 Brick

 w/Pinhole, Bricks w/Stud on Side, 1x1 Brick w/Pinhole,

Travis Bricks, Curved Slopes, and Round Bricks w/Fins. 

Parts 3.  Printed Tile, Round Plates, Round Tiles, Inverted Round

Tile, Round Large Jumper, Corner Tiles, Plates, Tiles, Double

Jumper, Jumpers, Angled Brackets, Plates w/Pinhole, and a Dish.

Parts 4.  Pin Connectors, Friction Pins, Pin Connectors w/Pins, 3L

Pins, Bar, Half Pins, Bars w/Bent Stud, Double Curved Slopes,

Cheese Slopes, Round Plates, Tiles, Round Tiles, Tiles, Plates, Cones,

Translucent Cones, Round Bricks, Pneuma-Ts, and Minifig Harpoons.

Build.  Frame (2Rd/1B/1G/1Y/2W).  [Systems

are Light Bley], 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?  Over.  (-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 some useful pieces, and plenty for terrain, but not enough of the really useful bits we all want.  The score for the price I paid is +20 (A+).

Review: Sembo 730012 Famous Car Formula 1 Racer

I went to the opening of a new Teso Life store in Boston a while back in hopes that they would have a selection of clone brick sets from different manufacturers.  And did they!

Box.  MSRP is $2.99, for a $0.03 Price per Piece.

Instructions & Stickers.

Parts 1. Plates, Mudguard Plates, Axle Plates, Inverted Tiles, Studless Slope,

Corner Tiles w/Stud, Corner Plates, Pentagonal Tile, Tile, Long Cheese

Slopes, Large Cheese Slopes, Extra Long Cheese Slopes w/Cutout, Double

Studless Slope, Brackets, Bar Plate, Clip Plate, Double Wedge Studless

Slope, Plate w/Studs on Side, Tires, Rims, and Translucent Wedge w/Cutout.

Parts 2.  Plates, Tile, Wedge Tiles, Door Rail Plates,

Corner Cheese Slopes, Cheese Slopes, 1x1x1.5 Bricks,

Quarter Circle Tiles, Corner Panels, and Brackets.

Build.  IO Cruiser and HVA.

 

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 bought this mainly for the Olive Green but there are some neat new parts in the set.

Review: Make Market 795528 Floral Brick Art Lily of the Valley

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 review on why this line tanked when every other company is still going.

Box.  MSRP is $9.99 for a $0.06 Price per Piece.  

Back of Box.

Instructions.

Parts 1.  Dishes, Domes, Minifig Whips, Plates, Round Plates, Round

Large Jumpers, Studless Slopes, Pin Connectors w/Pin, Candles, Pin

Connector, Axle Connectors w/Pinhole, 3L Axle Connectors, Dinosaur

Tail/Neck Middle Section w/Bar Hole & Technic Pin, and Bar w/Stop.

Parts 2.  Wedge Studless Slopes, Brackets, Axles, and Bars.

Parts 3.  Wedge Studless Slopes, Half Pins,

Bar Connectors, Cones, and Pin/Axle.

Build.  Frame (2W), Station, 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? 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+).  If you need 1x1-1x1 Brackets and Wedge Studless Slopes then this is the set for you.  It has some other useful pieces, and I like Pale Yellow, but I feel like Wednesday's review was the better set.

My thoughts on the whole matter: One, unfortunately the parts count is listed on the back of the package so you have to do a little digging to see which ones are affordable.  Two, the starting price point was $10.00 where Five Below -- for a counter example -- charges $4.00 to $6.00 usually.  Three, Michael's is not a place you think of when it comes to building block sets.  Yeah, they have a lot of online third party product but there's not a lot available in the actual stores.  Four, nowhere on the package does it state that it's compatible with Lego even though it is.  One item on the plus side of the ledger is some of the sets had parts in colors not available from Lego.  Overall I'm not sure whom the target was but they obviously missed.

Review: Make Market 795531 Floral Brick Art Carnation

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 $0.10 Price per Piece.  

Back of Box.

Instructions.

Parts 1.  Octagonal Bar Plates, Translucent Round Plate w/4 Petals, Round Large

Jumper, Round Plates, Cone, Translucent Minifig Mop Head, Ball Joint Plates, 3L

Axle Connectors, Minifig Skis, Bar w/Stop, Axles, and Wedge Studless Slopes.

Parts 2.  Round Plates w/3 Leaves, Ball

Joint Pins, Pneuma-Ts, Minifig Nozzles,

Bar, Clip Bar Holders, and Cone.

Build.  Frames (2W), Station,

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? At. (0) (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: +15 (A).  Better than Monday's review, Octagonal Bar Plates, Ball Joints, and Hot Pink parts are all interesting to me.  But, if this had two more pieces it would have had a better score. 

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: Pantasy 86817 Garfield Popsicle Fridge Magnet

I've bought a few of Pantasy's licensed sets but this is the first one I've reviewed.  My local Newbury Comics carries them as does Miniso.  For some reason they don't list the parts count anywhere so I had to do a manual count.  (I saw one online source listing it at 47 pieces but -- counting the Instructions and Stickers, which is what Lego does -- I get 50 pieces.)

Box.  MSRP is $19.99, for a $0.40 Price per Piece.  I paid $10.99 at Newbury Comics, for a $0.22 Price per Piece.

Instructions & Stickers.

Parts 1.  Loose in Box.  Sticky Magnet.

Parts 2.  Garfield's Face.

Parts 3.  Bricks, Plates, Tiles, Arches, 1x1 Brick w/Axle Hole, Bricks

w/Studs on Side, 1x2 Brick w/Axle Hole, Curved Bricks w/Cutout,

Inverted Arches, Double Sided Plates, Axle, and Inverted Tile.

Build.  A Station 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?  No.  (-5)
Score: -5 (B-).  I like the Medium Azure and the Tan Axle.  But the Price per Piece is really bad.  The score for the price I paid is -5 (B-).

Review: Hello Kitty & Friends US101-0282/FB Kuromi Racecar

5Below has a few different lines of Hello Kitty building block sets.  One of these is standard sets like this one, the second is character sets along the lines of Brick Headz, this line is the newest and has been available for a few months -- that I know of.  I thought the Purple pieces in this set might be interesting so I went with this one as the first/test review.

Box.  MSRP is $5.00, for a $0.04 Price per Piece.

Instructions & Stickers.

Minifig.

Parts 1.  Translucent Windscreen.

This was inside of parts bag 2.

Parts 2.  Vehicle Base w/Recessed Center, Plates, Triple Curved Wedge,

Tires, Wedge Tiles, Slopes, Mirror Sprue, Bricks, Studless Slopes,

Rims, Brick w/Studs on Side, Mudguards, and Bottom Half Hinge Plates.

Parts 3.  Axle Plates, Round Large Jumper, Tiles, Corner Plates, Plates,

Ingot, 1x1 Plate w/Door Rail, Clip Plates, Large Cheese Slopes,

Translucent Studless Slopes, Cheese Slopes, Minifig Steering Wheel Base,

 Bricks, Top Half Hinge Plates, Brackets, and Minifig Steering Wheel.

 

Build.  Frame (2W) 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+).  Okay, so the pieces are Lavender rather than Purple.  I can still roll with that.  I tried to build two Frames but I couldn't quite swing it.  You could probably build an IO Frigate with the leftover parts.  It's a decent set but I feel like it needs more SNOT pieces to be really good.

Review: Tonka TK3521-03 Backhoe Loader

I found these recently in 5 Below.  They aren't on the website.  Yet?  These are made by Hasbro, who used to make Kre-O.  So maybe this is them dipping their toe back into the building block market again.  There are more sets featured on the back of the box some of which seem to be medium sized and one that looks pretty large.

Box.  MSRP is $3.25 for a $0.07 Price per Piece.

Instructions & Stickers.

Minifig.

These are a pain to assemble, btw.

Parts 1.  Curved Slope, Brick, Tile,

Plates, Corner Plate, Panel, Bar Plate,

and 1x1x2/3 Brick w/Stud on Side.  

Parts 2.  Rubber Tracks, Digger Bucket, Plate, Digger Bucket Arms,

Brick, Rims, Axle Plates, Tiles, Brackets, Bricks w/Pinhole, Cone,

Round Clip Tile, 1x2x2/3 Bricks w/Studs on Side, and Grille Tiles.

Build.  Battlecart (2Rh+d8 [digger] 2Rd [stinger]).

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+).  The clutch on the parts in this set is inconsistent.  While it does have some interesting parts -- 1x3 Bricks w/Pinhole, Round Tile Clip, and the Bar Plate -- overall the quality and selection is disappointing.  As these reviews are now done, I'm going to dump all of these sets into a container and stick them in the attic somewhere.

Review: Tonka TK3521-02 Steam Roller

I found these recently in 5 Below.  They aren't on the website.  Yet?  These are made by Hasbro, who used to make Kre-O.  So maybe this is them dipping their toe back into the building block market again.  There are more sets featured on the back of the box some of which seem to be medium sized and one that looks pretty large.

Box.  MSRP is $3.25 for a $0.07 Price per Piece.

Instructions & Stickers.

Minifig.

Still ridiculous.

Parts 1.  Plates, Axle Plates, Corner Plates,

Slope, Round Bricks, and Panel.
 

Parts 2.  Plates, Round Plates w/Pinhole, Round Bricks, Slopes,

Octagonal Plates, Lever Base, Lever, Octagonal Cones, Bricks w/

Stud on Side, 1x1x2/3 Bricks w/Stud on Side, Inverted Slopes, Wheels.

Build.  Battlecart (2B/1Gd8/1Y).

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+).  More flashing, enough to block the Pinhole in one of the Round Plates, and a kind of boring parts selection.  It has the top score but I'm not sure it's actually worth it.