REVIEW: 853195 Brick Calendar

[TrumpetKing]

Hello again!!

The review you are about to read will be a short and small review, but of a small to medium sized set. If you didn't notice based by the title, I am reviewing 853195 Brick Calendar.

Set Information:

Set Name: Brick Calendar

Number: 853195

Theme: No specific Theme

Year: 2011

Minifigures: 2

Pieces: 120

Price: $15.99 USD/ €9.99

Links: Brickset My Flickr

Introduction

I only recently purchased this set about two months ago. I had a bit of money and wanted to increase my minifig selection. So I purchased the VIP Minifigures to complete my Series 3 collection, and I purchased this set, to increase my Series 1 collection. (Despite already having the cheerleader. ) Plus, I just thought that it would look nice on my desk, being dwarfed by the whiteboard calendar I have. Anyways, this set has a very interesting history behind it. It was originally released as an exclusive in LEGOLAND California before being released in select LEGO-only retailer stores. But did this set meet my expectations? Does it work well as a calendar? Read on to find out.

The Box

Here is the front of the box. I really like this box art. I find it to catch attention extremely easily and it just has an overall good look to it. The colors don't clash and I really like those little colorful dots at the top of the box. Overall, really great job, LEGO.

The back of the box shows those teenage rebel minifigures demolishing the set! I never would have thought LEGO would have promoted this type of behavior! Jokes aside, it looks OK. It's not as lovely as the front, but the front is supposed to be more eye-catching than the back.

Finally, we have the actual size photo. It is of the Cheerleader, and it is up to scale. I think the picture should have been a straight-on photo without the pom-poms though, because it really helps judge in judging the scale easily.

The Instructions

When you open the box, The instructions are folded neatly like this, similar to that of a CMF checklist. One think I forgot to mention is that all of the parts come together in a big bag of a stretchier plastic than the usual crinkly kind. The mini instructions then unfolds into:

Holy crap! These instructions are huge! Actually they are about the size of a regular 8.5x11 inch sheet of paper, maybe a bit smaller. The instructions are a little bit straight on, and have a very simplistic 1:1 build.

Here is the final step, and then a piece assortment. I don't think anyone actually put their minifigures on the top of the calendar. I sure didn't. But I'm going to leave it up to builders if they absolutely have to, even down to the correct stud, or if they just want to keep the figures somewhere else.

Interesting Parts

We have printed bricks, (the 2x10's are double sided) Pom poms, and a skateboard. I included the hairs because they are useful for minifgures, but really the black Skater hair is interesting.

The Minifigures

The figures in this set are one of the main reasons I bought it. I think it was a smart move to include two originally discontinued figures. Especially for the price of selling this set for $15. The two of these figures sell for a little less than $30 on eBay together. A very good deal on my part, sense I missed out on this series.

The two figures included are the Series 1 Cheerleader and Skater. Very, very well done figures IMHO. I love the Skater's hair, and those adorable pom poms!

However, the skateboard isn't printed, unlike the Series 4 and 6 counterparts. Clicking on this link will give you a view of the cheerleader without her pom poms. You will see it is a very nice torso. Seen here is how the pom pom enters over the hands.

Neither of them have back printing, but I thought that it would make a good reference picture, and a good look at the Skater's hair from behind. Also, the Cheerleader's hair fits tightly, unlike most Licensed figures with this hair.

Teenage Minifigures: Jerks or misunderstood?

I came home in time to catch my teenage minifigures totally demolishing the set.They had their friends take pictures of them playing on their destruction. As a punishment, I have taken the liberty of making them rebuild the set.

Here we have the minifigures stomping on some plates to keep the calendar nice and sturdy.This part of the build is quite repetitive and irritating, because you have to spend time searching for the number brick, that is, unless you organize them.

After hours of number-brick searching, stomping on plates, and trying to figure out how to get to the top to finish the build, the minifigures have successfully built:

The Completed Set

Here is the completed September 2012 calendar. It looks nice. It is very simplistic, but well-done.

Here is the backside. As seen, the 2x10 brick is reversible, as are all of the others.

Extra Parts

None. That's right, not even the "31" 2x2 brick. You have to turn it so it isn't visible.

The Results:

Design: 8/10- It looks nice, but really that's it. I feel like it could use a bit more of a "wow" factor.

Price: 6/10- It is 12.5 cents per piece, which is pretty lame, but I was willing to pay due to the figures, which are very expensive everywhere else.

Minifigures: 10/10- A great marketing idea, and they picked the right figures too, being virtually unobtainable. Spot on, LEGO!

Playability: 2/10- You can't really do anything with it. At all. Unless you have your minifigs take it apart. It's just a pain to build again anyways, because you will need a calendar to remeber which day goes where while building.

Parts: 7/10- This set is basically a bunch of bricks. However, it does come with a few nice accessories, and the printed bricks are always a plus.

The Verdict: 33/50- This would probably be barely a 3 according to my grading system. A good set, but not perfect.

Summary: Overall, I feel that this is a strong set. It comes with figures that are extremely popular and rare, and it has printed bricks, but it is a border-line useless set unless you see fun in building it over and over again every month, especially since you need a regular calendar to build it.

I'll see you next time, and here to wish a good-bye to the people reading this, I bring you my newly designed sig-fig! Yay!

Edited December 30, 2012 by Rufus
Indexed

[Jimidimi]

I've bought this set, it's nice to built and is really looking good on my desk.

And of course looking forward to the end of the month to rebuild it;-)

[AussieJimbo]

Thanks for the review from last year.

This set was on my must buy list when I visited my first ever Lego store in London last June. It's useful and it's fun.

A nice improvement, if they ever upgrade this set, would be to print the numbers in red one of the other sides of the 2x2 number bricks, so you could use these to mark special occasions, holidays, etc. Print a third side with grey numbers and, with the purchase of a duplicate set you, could show the trailing dates from the previous month and the next few days from the upcoming month, which would be quite helpful.

Very happy with my Brick Calendar.

:classic: