ResIpsaLoquitur

For Christmas, I want Lego Sets, obviously! So does my daughter, and my wife...well, not so much, but I found something for her too. So for me, my dream present would be Benny's Spaceship Spaceship SPACESHIP! from The Lego Movie. My daughter is a Friends nut, so she'd like Olivia's House before it goes from the market. My wife isn't really big on Lego, but she loves Lord of the Rings, so The Tower of Orthanc would probably be right up her alley. (I hope that when you say "the MOC needs to be new," that my entry counts. It's not like I took an existing set and added a new decoration to it--I just made really tiny models of existing sets!)

I'm in. Although now I need to figure out what the heck I'd want for Christmas...this is harder than you'd think.

The Brick Fan is indicating that the Store MMBs may be going away for the foreseeable future. This makes me sad (though I haven't been to one since June since my daughter's schedule no longer permits it). I am grateful to Lego for the years of freebies (though I know it's ultimately a sales pitch to get us into the Stores). I'm sad for the kids who will no longer be able to get them. If true, I wonder what's driving the decision. Cost? We got some pretty good builds this year....

I can also see the Simpsons wave having been an issue. I can't say for certain--I really don't know if they sold out, did ok, or what. I do know that it represented a specific niche market of Simpsons fans who are also Lego fans. For me, the Simpsons wave was the first one that I almost entirely skipped (I only bought a Milhouse because he was in the Movie).

Plus, there could be any number of reasons why the Minifigs are at that price. Could be the store got overstock and wants to move them. Maybe they were burned on the Simpsons figs and feel like they need to move all of them. Could be the manager is trying to drum up business. Or, yes, it could be a mistake. Legally--and this varies by area--a mistake in price is generally held against the seller unless the price is manifestly unreasonable. If a car dealer accidentally listed a car at $10, you should reasonably know that's a mistake. If he's selling it at $100 or $1000 less than its intended price, you're probably not expected to know that and it would be held against the seller. Is $1.98 or $1.48 an objectively unreasonable price? I don't think so based on past sales I've seen at Target. Could be, but I can't say with any certainty and it's up to Target to correct it if there's an error.

Mmmm, YMMV, but I've never seen a CMF wave utterly vanish EXCEPT for the Movie line. Old waves frequenly resurface--I remember endlessly seeing Wave 5 for up to a year after it was released. A whole case of Wave 9 turned up at one of my Targets yesterday. Now, if you want to guarantee a complete set, sure, go get it now--but I wouldn't totally count it out before Christmas. (Kinda related, though--the Advent Calendars are starting to move, as I am starting to see fewer of them on shelves. They vanished by Thanksgiving last year. Hey, come on--the City one comes with CMF Santa.)

Never seen the unicorn suit in real life? Look up something called "Bronycon." Unicorn Girl should be very popular with that crowd.

Mentioned this on the Finds forum: one of my Targets (Bowie, MD) has them for $1.48 on clearance. They also have Series 9 and Simpsons at the same price. Sheesh, if I knew this was coming, I wouldn't have paid $4 for them when I found some a month ago.

I'm in the Maryland/DC area and one of my Targets has Series 12 for $1.48. Also, Series 9 and Simpsons. Is your store charging 1.98 per figure, or CASE? That'd make a huge difference.

One of my Targets has the Series 12 Minifigures for $1.48. They had a whole case of Series 9 and the Simpsons at that price too, so I'm guessing they mistakenly marked down 12w as well.

Ummmmmm...one of my Targets had series 12 minifigures for $1.48. They had a case of series 9 and Simpsons at that price too, so I'm guessing someone mistakenly marked down 12 as well. Wish I hadn't paid $4 for the ones I got...

Hmmm. Unicorn-suit girl is a bit of a departure since we typically get people dressed as real animals...but I'll take it. Still holding out for a cow-suit guy or girl, though.

Once again, no Monthly Mini Build listed on here. However, I was in a store today and saw the MMB on display: it's a little snowy/Christmas cottage. It was reminiscent of the log cabin which was the MMB in February 2013, but a little smaller and much more holiday-festive. I wonder what that bodes for the MMBs, if that's two months with no listing on the calendar. One month, I would attribute to an oversight, but twice is weird. Also, I never saw the "design the fall MMB" contest which they've had for the last few years.

My daughter got one. The R2 legs mount into a 2 x 1 brick with a technic hole in the middle. Lego used to have a 4 x 4 round brick with pin holes all around--is that part now out of service? It would have worked a little better. I mean, it's otherwise fine for a freebie. I do wish that the bat-logo porton had been trans-yellow or clear with the Bat-logo printed on, but what can you do...

It's that time again! The first Tuesday of the month means that the Lego Brick-and-Mortar Stores have put out their Monthly Mini Builds for the kids. The Stores do these once a month (at least) to get you into the store and spending money. However, you do walk out with some free bricks and a possibly functional model. I haven't done one of these in awhile. I was busy over the summer, and my daughter has classes on Tuesday evenings, so we don't go to the MMBs anymore. (Consequently, I've been tracking them down on eBay.) I got lucky when I stopped in the Lego Store this week and saw a box with a few left at the cash register. I asked the manager if I could buy one, and they said I could have it for free. So, Kudos to the Annapolis Lego Store for making this review possible. I reviewed all of 2013's MMB's in this article. I've also reviewed a number of the MMBs from 2014 as follows: January (Snowplow) February (Micro Manager) March (Tree) April (Helicopter) May (Dragon). June (Jetski) I plagiarize my opening paragraphs from my past articles, because my computer is runnng slowly and this is just easier. If you're sad because you don't have a Lego Store near you, that's ok, because Lego publishes the instructions for each month's builds on their website. If it's not up yet, it should be soon. This month, we're reviewing a Frankenstein's monster build. This build is unique for 2014 since this year has really had three kinds of builds: micro vehicles (the snowplow, beach van, airplane, and next month's rocket); system-sized vehicles or creations (the jetski, helicopter, and Micro Manager); and abstract cute animal-things (the tree and the monkey). This model is a lot more like the little abstractions that we'd get prior to 2014. So, is it worth it? Let's find out. Set Title: Jetski Set #: 40104-1 Theme: Monthly Mini Build Pieces: 36 (and 3 spares) Minifigures: None Year of Release: 2014 Price at release: Free. MMBs often come in small, nondescript polybags. How your store gives it to you may vary. We typically get them in a Pick-a-Brick cup, and I'm guessing that the store wants to avoid spilled parts. You also get a card which has the parts list on the back. You also get a one-sheet of instructions which don't need much explanation. Like I said, the instructions are often available online. Compared to the other MMBs this year, this one isn't particularly complicated. There isn't much in the way of unique parts. (Before I got this set, I was able to build a comparable set from pieces in my collection. I normally can't do that because Lego often puts very distinct parts in these builds.) The only thing that might throw the casual builder is the unique colors, like the lime green pieces. You get a spare 1x1 plate, round plate, and tile in the bag. The build isn't particularly complicated--it's a bunch of bricks stacked into an approximation of a person with its arms out. The only frustrating thing is that they ran the brown plates over the "hands." I get that this holds it together, but it looks like he's wearing weird gloves. What is clever is the neck setup, using two jumper plates so that you can put the 2x2 head on the 3x2 body. The finished product. Grrrrrr! Well, he's a bit of an abstract character, similar to past MMBs (he looks nice next to last year's Witch). He does capture the distinctive look of the Frankenstein's Monster even if he's not all that detailed. The build is easy enough, so it's something you can probably do with your kids even if you don't have a Store near you. CONCLUSION Design: 6/10. I'm marking it down a bit here since I'm not a fan of the abstract builds. Plus, it's not as unique or detailed as many of the other MMBs from this year. Parts: 5/10. There's no unique or interesting pieces here. The advantage is that you can probably build this from what you own, although you may not have the right colors. Build: 9/10. Here, I'm giving it some bonus points, because the build is pretty simple. This is for the kids, so if a child can build it without difficulty, it's a winner. Minifigs: N/A. Playability: 1/10. He has no movement. I guess you could have it wobble around your table. Raaahhh! Price: 10/10. It was free! Overall: 31/50. Not a great score, but I don't tend to get my hopes too high on the MMBs in terms of set quality. Still, I've been impressed by what they've made this year, so I'm surprised in the turn in quality. Like I said, I don't go to MMBs at present due to scheduling. I have tracked down the Beach Van and Airplane on eBay, so I may review those at some point. However, I don't have plans to go to next month's rocket or whatever's coming in December. If somebody else wants to review that, feel free.

Beautiful. I like your solution for the slanted buttons on the bottom.

Has anybody tried this service yet? I saw them at a table at BrickFest Maryland a few weeks ago and didn't pay much attention, but now I'm curious. It looks like with membership, you get a monthly box of "swag" and you're encouraged to build from there. It also seems that they're not actually sending you any Lego, but rather some unofficial brick-related gear. Here's a review the Brick Fan did which seems to explain it. I admit I'm curious for my daughter. Has anyone else tried it and found it worthwhile?

I could have sworn there was at least one non-hooded horse in the Old West, possibly when Bad Cop entered the saloon. Am I Remembering wrong? I also swear that the gators had police hats on, which is another impossibility without glue.

No, you could be right. I hadn't thought of that. I remember that the Master Builders couldn't destroy the Police ships because they'd been Kragled. They weren't specific on how the horses had those lights, but that's the only explanation that makes sense.

Yeah, listen, the Lego Movie uses a LOT of visual trickery, like Emmet's face changing from shaved to clean or Unikitty's body constantly changing shape. And there were some things that just don't exist in Lego, like horses with studs in the middle of their heads to hold a police light. I can live without the couch function on the realization that making a single new Lego mold is VERY expensive.

...did anyone else initially worry that The Lego Movie was set in a post-holocaust world where the humans were dead, the Lego came to life, and Business was collecting artifacts from a lost civilization? Glad I turned out to be wrong!

Except that Emmet was thinking the entire time. It's a movie. We shouldn't have to worry about it too much. If we HAVE to worry about it, then think of it this way: there are two parallel universes. In one, everything is made of Lego and has minifigures that move and walk around. The other is the "real" world which, in an amazing coincidence, has a kid playing in his basement and playacting events incredibly similar to the other universe. The portal at the end of the Infinity Portal is a temporal nexus that links the two worlds. When Emmet fell through the portal, his consciousness was temporarily transported into his minifigure counterpart. He was able to exercise JUST enough willpower to get the figure to move. When Finn dropped Emmet through the cardboard tube, Emmet's consciousness coincidentally left the minifigure and went back to his real body. (Presumably, Finn still had an Emmet figure in his basement which didn't simply vanish after he dropped it in the tube.) ...that, or you can accept that it's a movie and not think about it too hard.

I wonder why Emmet comes with a conventional helmet instead of the helmet-with-hair from the CMF wave. Unless you wanted to recreate Emmet getting hit on the head with his helmet in the cave-falling sequence. And does Unikitty come with an extra head? If so, I have enough spare Unikitty pieces sitting around that I could just build a second one.

Well, I love that we have a cheap option for Benny now. I'd buy the SpaceshipX3 if I had $100 to spare, but I don't. When's the last time Lego put out a small set with 4-5 figures in it? I don't think we've seen much of that since the classic Town days, or maybe even some City sets from a few years ago.