Purity: Mega Bloks DTF91 Kubro Spock

Let's finish out Mega Bloks week with something a little different.

Box.  MSRP is $14.99 which is a Price per Piece of $0.11.

Instructions.

Parts 1.  In the lower left corner is
an Inverted 1x2 Cheese Slope.

Parts 2.  The Black 1x2x2 Slopes w/Step are pretty interesting.

Parts 3.  The 2x4 Ziggurat Brick,
1x3 Inverted Double Slope, Angled Slopes w/Studs, Angled
Slopes w/Studs & Pin, and 1x2
Slopes w/Hole are all interesting.

Parts 4.  Double Sided
Plates and Apollo Studs!

Parts 5.  The Grey Half Moon pieces
are supposed to be Spock's Eyelids.

Build.  I managed an IO frigate after some time spent looking at the parts.

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+).  This set has some really interesting pieces, but I feel that you'd need at least two of them to make something really good from it.

Purity: A3370 Star Trek Kelvin Review

There was one more Star Trek small scale ship that I missed out on in the first set of reviews.  Here it is.

Package.  MSRP is $4.99.  Which gives us a Price per Piece of $0.15.  Not good.

Instructions and stickers.

Parts 1.  Hey, another light brick I will never use!
I've always liked the Trans-Blue Kre-O pieces.

Parts 2.  Another giant base I will

have to find a use for in the future.

The Questions:
Can you build a frame, or frames, right away?  Yes.  The set, as built to the instructions, falls inside the Cruiser length limit for IO.  (+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, but not very many.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  No.  (-5)
Score: B- (-5).  Like all of the small scale Star Trek ship sets, this one gets hamstrung by the cost.

Purity: A3138 Star Trek Space Dive Review

As far as I can remember, I grabbed this for 80% off during the recent Toys'R'Us Color Clearance sale.

Box.  Yes, I know, Blurry.  MSRP is $7.99, which gives us a Price per Piece of $0.22.  Ooouuuch.

Instructions.

Kreons.  The one on the right is a standard Kreon.  The one
on the left has a solid torso because it has a battery inside and
it lights up when a circuit is completed with the neck stud.


Parts.  Those four white angle bracket parts  in the middle of the photo are why I bought this set.  There are two 2x4 Inverted Slope pieces, two 1x1 Trans-Red Smooth Round Bricks, and two 1x6 Male Hinge Plates that could possibly be useful.  Beyond that you have two 6x6 Female Hinge Plates, a bunch of other plates, and the ubiquitous Kre-O brick.


The Questions:
Can you build a frame, or frames, right away?  Yes.  One of the Kreons is good for 4P scale.  (+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?  Not really.  (-5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  No.  (-5)
Score: C (-15).  Honestly, this could have gotten a B- but I don't think it deserves it.   Even saying one Kreon is good for 4P scale is pretty weak.  I only grabbed this because it was dirt cheap and I knew I could use four of the parts in it.

Single Set Challenge: A3371 Star Trek Jellyfish Set

 I've been meaning to post these for a while.  Most of them were in my review of this set and they've all appeared in my Flickr stream.

"Death Drone".  I cheated a bit here with the flight stand.  MFZ Stats: 2Rh+d8 (blades & claws) / 1Y (sensor dome) / 1Gd8/2W
Brickshelf gallery.

"Stalking Horse".  A simple base quadruped frame with plenty of room for attachments.  Brickshelf gallery.

"Micro-Frigate".  of course this is only five studs long so it may be a bit tiny for the normal IO scale.  It might work better as "terrain" or a HVA.







Station.  All three of these builds can be assembled at the same time.


This is a fun set.  I should have picked up more when they were on sale at 50% off.

Purity: A3371 Star Trek Jellyfish Review

We finish up Star Trek week with the Jellyfish set.

This one has a slightly higher piece count, but the same MSRP of $4.99.  Which means we're looking at a price per piece of $0.12.

Instructions.  No stickers this time.

Ooohh, lots of Trans-Blue pieces, one Trans-Clear bracket, two of those claws I like so much, a "motor" brick and a handful of other parts.

Those large spike pieces along the bottom look really interesting.

I built a small frame,

A small starship,

and a potential station all at the same time.

The Questions:
Can you build a frame, or frames, right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  At retail price, 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?  Seeing as I built three items simultaneously, yes..  (+5)
Score: +5 (B+).  It's a fun set.  As with the other Star Trek sets, it suffers from horrible pricing.  The part and color selection is better with this one.  I'll have to get more of this set before it disappears.

Purity: A3369 Klingon D7 Review

Continuing Star Trek Week, we have the Kre-O small scale Klingon D7 Battlecruiser.  Like the previous set, this one also has a MSRP of $4.99.  Which gives us a price per piece of $0.13.

Instructions and stickers.

The round Trans-Red piece is interesting as is the rounded 1x2 Plate.  As with the first set there's a Light Brick I probably won't use.  The 1x2 Modified Bricks w/Studs on 1 Side are pretty neat too.

Once again, that base will never get used.  The stand might.  The 1x4 Tiles w/ Studs on each end look neat.  The 2x2 piece in the bottom middle is a Rounded Inverted Slope.That Dark Grey is even darker than the old Lego color.

A small 4P frame with a giant shield Attachment for 2B.


The Questions:
Can you build a frame, or frames, right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  At retail price, 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-).  It's an okay set.  As with the Enterprise set, it suffers from horrible pricing.

Purity: A3368 Star Trek Enterprise Review

Should this be Star Trek Week?  Yes, I think it should.  Let's start with a review of the Kre-O Star Trek Enterprise small scale model.

Front of package.  Those batteries that are included must already be in the light brick, because I did not see a separate package for them.  MSRP for this set is $4.99.  Which puts the price-per-piece at $0.13.

Here's the back of package.  As you can see there are other sets available at this size.

Parts in package.  If you're careful and don't destroy the package when opening it, you can use it to store the pieces for later.

Instructions and stickers.

Parts 1.  I see a Light Brick, which is probably going to sit around gathering dust because I never have any idea of what to do with them.  I also see something that looks like one of the new Lego brackets.  Those have been out for what, a year?  There's also some of the textured Cheese Slopes that everyone likes.

Parts 2.  That Enterprise logo base is never going to see any use.  And that Trans-Blue stand is going to be a pain too.  Those funky 1x2/1x2 brackets are really fun though.

Here's a quick frame I built.  I'm calling it the "zoomer".

The Questions:
Can you build a frame, or frames, right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  At retail price, 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-).  It's not a bad set.  It just suffers from the same problem all Kre-O licensed sets do, horrible pricing.

Purity: Kreo Star Trek Blind Bag Review

The Star Trek Kreon blind bags have been out for a while.  Here are the codes so you can cherry-pick the ones you want.  Honestly, I don't think they have sold very well so you should be able to find them without searching too hard.

Bag and instructions.  As you can see from the picture, I did not pay full price for this item.  The base price is $2.99.  I picked up mine for $0.99 each.

Reverse.  There are only six Kreons in this run.  The ones I wanted are the Gorn, the Klingon, and Captain Nero.  I'll leave it up to you to figure out the reasons why.

Klingon Kreon.  I broke this one down to show you what the leg and arm attachments look like.  I'm disappointed the helmet and head are one piece.  This one has six pieces so that gives us a Price per Piece of $0.50 (normal), $0.17 (sale).

Lieutenant Sprog.  I don't really remember seeing an alien like this in the first reboot film.  This one has five pieces so that gives us a Price per Piece of $0.60 (normal), $0.20 (sale).

Close up on the Phaser & Batleth.  Yeah, minifig scale Star Trek weapons.  These have been available from various third party manufacturers for several years.  I believe these are the first authorized parts in minifig scale.



The Questions:
Can you build a frame, or frames, right away?  No.  (-5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10)
If you can't build a frame right away, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  You should be able to use the Phaser or Batleth as frame weapons.  Still, that's stretching it.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  No. (-5)
Score: -15 (C).  I can't really recommend these, unless you've got the collecting bug -- like I have.  If you get them at the same price I did they may be a way to get Phasers and Batleths without having to resort to Brickarms, Brickforge, etc.