[REVIEW] 20200 MBA Kit #1

[LegoCityMann]

On Friday I visited the Beachwood, OH Lego Store and they had the first of the Lego MBA Kits available. I Picked up one and would like to review it here for you.

Set Name: Level 1: Space Designer

Set Number: 20200

Theme: Master Builders Academy

Year Released: 2011

Number of Pieces: 178

Minifigs: 1

Price: $29.99 USD

The Box:

The Front of the box Displays the first MBA model being piloted by the exclusive MBA L1 minifig.

and the back of the box tells a little more about the MBA program and the first kit.

2 sides of the box contains some lovely images of the exclusive MBA Minifig, while the other 2 sides are Black or Green with the Lego Logo.

The Contents

The Contents of the box include 4 bags, one of which holds the Brick Seperator tool. Here's a look at the pieces.

The Instructions

The instructions are presented in a lovely way in a nicely bound book format. (I wish they did the instructions for the modular series like this).

A Random Page

In addition to being instructions they also include an introduction and how to use the Lego MBA website, Lego Master Builders profiles,

Tips on creating your own models & designing a concept,

A LEGO fan's creation (Daniel Rubin's EB'CaFL), an elements list, and official LEGO graph paper.

One interesting part of the instructions is that some steps you see a stamp near the design picture that corresponds with a tip ot technique expanded upon at the bottom of the page. Many of these are quite repetative through out the builds.

Master Builder Tip stamp

Corresponding Tip

Academy Technique: Sidewasy Building

Corresponding Tip

The Minifig

Here we see our Level 1 Minifig. The manual says the 4th kit will introduce a Level 2 Minifig.

and his exclusive accessory, a brick built rocketpack.

Here's a better view of the Minifig and his accessories:

Oh, I should also note that while the packaging, manual, etc. depict the minifigure head as bearing the classic smiley that's been around since '78 (but is increasingly rare these days), the one actually included is the "neo-classic smiley" equivalent. It's still a charming, appealing face, and I personally am fine with the substitution (?) since I have quite a few of the old classic smiley faces anyway, but for some others it might be a bit of a disappointment.

Some of the new/interesting pieces:

Purple:

Silver:

Green:

and tons of delicious Lime Green:

Build #1

Overall a simple build, most of the "special techniques discussed are sideways building and locking. Here's a photo of a random point of the build.

Finished Model #1

The finished Helicraft

Build #2

Random point of the build

Building in Sections

Half Way done

Repeating your building

The Finished Rocket Model #2

More pictures, the other builds, online portion review and final review to come, stay tuned.

~LCM

Edited June 10, 2011 by LegoCityMann

[Big Cam]

I got an email about this and thought about getting it, since there will be 5 more I think, or maybe 5 total. It looks like a good idea for younger builders but compared to the skill of the builders on this website, this is nothing fancy.

Thanks for the review.

[tomie satoshi]

finally decent box enterier

[Rufus]

Not a bad review for your second attempt! I'd just suggest doing your best to avoid blur (a tripod really helps ). If you're planning to do more, you might want to think about joining the Reviewers Academy where we'll show you how to make some professional-looking reviews.

It's an interesting set, with some nice colours. Lime green is in the moment! However, I have a sneaky suspicion that this craft is too Sci-Fi for Special Themes, so I'll move it (if I can ).

[drdavewatford]

Thanks for the review, LegoCityMann - I agree with Rufus that the pics could have been sharper, but very useful anyway.

A friend in the U.S. is sending me one of these sets and I'm looking forward to it even more now !

Cheers,

D.

[akunthita]

Nice review! And I totally agree with you; the modular buildings and maybe some of the large sets like the Taj Mahal, the Tower Bridge, etc. that is obviously geared towards adults and collectors should have a nice booklet like this!

[LegoCityMann]

Not a bad review for your second attempt! I'd just suggest doing your best to avoid blur (a tripod really helps ). If you're planning to do more, you might want to think about joining the Reviewers Academy where we'll show you how to make some professional-looking reviews.

It's an interesting set, with some nice colours. Lime green is in the moment! However, I have a sneaky suspicion that this craft is too Sci-Fi for Special Themes, so I'll move it (if I can ).

Thanks, I posted in the RA thread. As far as Special Themes, I thought that since the 6 kits would be all different and the main theme is advanced building it would be appropriate to be there.

[Aeturnus]

Nice review, the set looks a bit simple to be "advanced building" though.

I realise it is level 1 so it will be interesting to see what the other sets are like.

[Superkalle]

Looking forward to the continued review. I'm especially interested in the techniques they teach and the pedagogical aspects.

[Lordofdragonss]

I am mad that this set is not available in Poland, I would love to enjoy this series!

Btw, on the MBA site you can see all Kits: http://mba.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx?=COFranchiseUSMBA Just click on the box.

IMO the Space fighter is the best looking creation- the ship is heli-plane is weird with those huge wings, and rocket looks very basic( but very Classic Space I would say!)

[Glitch System]

Wow, this acually cooler than I originally thought it'd be! I really like the minifig

[Aanchir]

I am mad that this set is not available in Poland, I would love to enjoy this series!

Btw, on the MBA site you can see all Kits: http://mba.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx?=COFranchiseUSMBA Just click on the box.

IMO the Space fighter is the best looking creation- the ship is heli-plane is weird with those huge wings, and rocket looks very basic( but very Classic Space I would say!)

Well, this set is a separate purchase from the subscription, and can be obtained from LEGO stores, so I imagine that more of these might end up showing up on Bricklink or eBay than the five later kits. You may be able to get it after all, but without the rest of the series to follow it up with it's not quite as impressive a package.

Overall, I'm very impressed with this set and plan to get it as soon as possible. It has some great parts, what look to be great instructions, and the web tie-ins which I hope will be as good as I'm anticipating. And all this in a format that hopefully will help me to be more creative and less rigid in the way I think about MOCing. Other things included, like a brick separator and brick tray, are also attractive contents.

AFOLs who are more interested in the pieces than any of the other contents or tie-ins may skip straight to the subscription for the next five kits. Instead of 178 pieces for $30 US ($.16 per piece, nothing all that impressive and probably skewed by the non-brick contents like the brick tray), the subscription gives you 947 pieces for $70 US (a mere $.07 cents per piece, much more compelling)!

Overall, I haven't gotten this set yet mainly because I'm at college for one more week of this summer session and thus wouldn't be able to get to a LEGO store or have it shipped here soon enough to matter. But as soon as I get home I'm going to talk with my dad about getting both this and the full subscription (he's the one who does all the online LEGO shopping in the family).

[Brickdoctor]

Thanks for this review. Personally I find it hard to find any high points with this set. There are some nice parts, but they're all in colors I'd never use. And the minifig doesn't look so good either. But that's probably just me who builds primarily in grey.

[AyaToyBox]

Veru nice

Maybe I should by one for my Nephew

but the price is rather considering the pieces

Edited June 5, 2011 by AyaToyBox

[vexorian]

Veru nice

Maybe I should by one for my Nephew

but the price is rather considering the pieces

Well, I would say it depends about how much content there really is in the booklet, if the higher level designs are really useful, it is an editorial and designer work. I guess also the cool tray has an effect but probably not a lot of it.

I am mad that this set is not available in Poland, I would love to enjoy this series!

Btw, on the MBA site you can see all Kits: http://mba.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx?=COFranchiseUSMBA Just click on the box.

IMO the Space fighter is the best looking creation- the ship is heli-plane is weird with those huge wings, and rocket looks very basic( but very Classic Space I would say!)

Wow, did anyone else notice that the page is not in flash? Some well-made stuff.

It seems (I can't test) that it is possible to buy this kit from any S@T-compatible country, at least that is what things like "add to cart" imply to me.

Edit: Oh gosh, the robot designer kit, I really wish I could get it somehow.

Edited June 6, 2011 by vexorian

[Follows Closely]

Keep in mind that kids, not AFOL are the target audience. I will be getting this for my kids. The price/piece is not the only thing to look at.

[CorneliusMurdock]

Space ship design is one area I need to work on as evidenced by any contest entry I've done on FBTB. Not sure if this would really be all that much help but I still want it.

One question though, How sturdy is the tray? From the pictures it looks sorta cheap but I hope I'm wrong.

[mmMatt]

There's nothing fancy about the tray. It's just cheap plastic.

[Ceroknight]

Thank you for the review!

This isn't available in Canada is it?

[Frankie Roberto]

Thanks for the review.

This set, and the MBA concept, was introduced at the AFOLCON in Manchester last month. The concept originated from Lego's CRM team (CRM = Customer Relationship Management) and is essentially designed to do two things: 1) help kids to become "better builders", more confident in building on their own rather than following instructions and 2) to increase customer engagement by having a more direct relationship with them.

It seems like a really interesting product/concept, and I bet kids (and their parents) will get a lot from it. The instructions are meant to be a lot more detailed, explaining some of the building techniques rather than just giving instructions on how to build a single thing. Kids who sign up for the next 5 sets also get each one individually mailed to them (one every 2 months) - which I bet they'll be hugely excited by. I think parents also have to "sign off" their progress, and as they complete the series they'll receive a "graduation" (with a certificate I think).

There's also an online aspect too (kids get access to online resources and can share their creations with others at the same age).

We were told at the conference that it launches in the USA only this year, and if successful, will launch in Europe next year.

[TheLegoBrick]

When will this be released?

[SilentMode]

I also heard about this at AFOLcon, and on closer inspection it looks like a good opportunity to obtain some useful parts, and maybe get down some techniques.

The star of these products will easily be the minifigures, as basic as they look.

Wow, did anyone else notice that the page is not in flash? Some well-made stuff.

I had a peek at the code; it uses JPEG "sprites" (all the frames of an animation in a single image file), which is a cool technique.

[Blackknight112]

Thanks for the review. And I must say it has some nice pieces in it. Especially the purple.

[LegoCityMann]

Been a very busy work weekend. Sorry for the delay. Part #2 has been added as well as more pictures in the instructions section.

Edited June 6, 2011 by LegoCityMann

[Aanchir]

Alright, I definitely love the manuals for these sets. I wonder if they'll all be as in-depth or whether just this one is because it's the "starter kit". I expect they'll all be like this, since they have to be about the same length anyway (since each kit has three models).

I wonder if these instruction manuals will make it online. Brickmaster set instructions ended up online, and of course some of the Architecture sets' building instructions are about as fancy in material and design as these ones. But at the same time, this is advertised as such a special offer that I wouldn't be surprised if the manuals were only accessible through the MBA website, and only to MBA subscribers. Since I plan to subscribe I won't be disappointed either way, but I'm sure some people who don't necessarily want the full subscription would still be happy to see the contents of the instruction manual-- especially people in countries where a full subscription isn't ever likely to be offered.