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I've been wanting to get the funny lettered tiles for quite some time now, and this year, with little interest in other theme sets, I decided the time had come to explore this 'Office & School Supplies' section of the LEGO S@H website. I must admit the set did look a bit too colourful and childish at first glance, but the price was good, and it had a nice pieces selection. So, let's see how the set grades fro parts, appearance and 'playability'. Theme: Gear/Office & School Supplies Set name: Business Card Holder Set Number: 850425 Price: 14.99 $, 11.39 £, 12.99 Euro Pieces: 151 (+ 1 gear) Minifigures: 2 Year of release: 2012 Links: Bricklink and Brickset The Box Front Matching the set name, the box has a pretty clean, business-like design. The almost plain yellow background is split in the upper portion by a wave-y white line which separates the LEGO logo and set name from the rest of the info. I suppose this is a standard box for all countries (contrary to usual sets which have regional differences between NA and European versions); in fact, the set information include age range, pieces count and the words 'Building toy' (in three languages), just like the North American standard. On the other hand, the set number is conspicuously absent from the front of the box, probably due to the fact that this is a 'Gear' set and is sold in a different category from the normal themed ones. The size of the box is approximately that of a medium-small standard set. Back The back is quite bare as well, with only the set name (in 5 new languages this time; of course, Italian is not there!) and a shot of the minifigs and business card together with the parts callout. LEGO designers really wanted to keep things simple in this design. Sides Not much to say about the sides. The upper one (the only I photographed), sports a 1:1 mug shot of the smirking male minifigure, the LEGO logo and the usual info about production. Apparently parts in this set come from Denmark, Hungary, Mexico and China. Surprise! You may have notice the standard 'Put your finger here to open the box' spot on the back of the box. Well, that's a totally useless addition, as this box comes with not-glued side flaps and can be open normally, without any need to indent the back side. I can only suppose the box designers simply used a common template and did not bother to check the actual product they where working on... Contents Inside Inside the box, we find three thick polybags, one for the instructions and business card, one of the lettered tiles and one for the other pieces. All the polybags are made of recyclable plastic, but the bigger one includes some more ink for the usual LEGO safety warning in a plethora of languages. The parts' selection isn't spectacular, for the normal bricks, but includes ever useful parts in a number of colours. Of course, the raison d'etre of this set are the printed tiles, and there's plenty of those! New pieces The new pieces include all the special characters and number tiles (all of which in Black): Tile 1 x 1 with Silver '-' Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver '.' Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver '@' Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver '_' Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 0 Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 1 Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 2 Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 3 Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 4 Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 5 Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 6 Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 7 Pattern, Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 8 Pattern, and Tile 1 x 1 with Silver Number 9 Pattern. I'd also like to notice that , for some reason, the set includes (or, at least, this particular one does) 3 Q tiles, whereas the parts list only shows 2. It's also interesting that you cannot write a whole web address with these tiles, as there are only 2 W there... Maybe next version will include a special 'www.' tile as well. Instructions Upon opening the instructions and card polybag, I felt a rush of nostalgia for the old times, as the instructions 'booklet' is no booklet at all: it's an old style folded sheet. Now, I'm well aware we get plenty of these in polybags of all themes, but I haven't see something like this in bigger sets for a very long time. The back of the business card has blank spaces where to write your name, address, e-mail/web address, phone number and (I suppose) birthday. The instructions have a nice and relaxing light-blue background, almost no pieces call-outs (see next picture) and are easy to read and follow. Again, as on the back of the box, the last part of the instructions sheet is dedicated to the parts list. Minifigures Nothing spectacular in the minifigs compartment. These business couple sport some plain overalls, very common in the City theme nowadays and cured bill red caps, probably to give them a window-cleaner or bill sticker look to either make you feel as big boss or movie star. The faces, too, are very common, with the smirking male and soft-eyed, cherry-lips female. Always an useful addition to ones collection, but definitely no news at all. The back printing of the torso is no surprise even with such simple designs, nowadays. And, of course, the heads do not sport back printing, since the caps could not cover them. Building We start off by building a sort of small swimming pool-like, tiled box with a rainbow-ish back wall. We go up until al the 2x1 and 1x1 coloured bricks have been used, and top both sides with the 1x12 white plates. Do not worry, though: you won't have to look at the mix-matched wall for long! In fact, the business card will cover up most of the build and you will be able to rest your eyes on those smiling minifig faces (or your own personal info) for as long as you'll wish. Speaking of the two workers, they will have their personal stands to be impaled, well, stand on, while... ...they'll guard your bill-board yellow 6x10 plate. Here, I used up all the Es for the first word, so had to resort to a flipped 3 to complete the second word. Bonus images Let me introduce myself It's quite funny to browse through the tiles to pick up your letters and compose bill-board announcements and such. Just be aware of the limited number of letters at your disposal. Again, I had to resort to a little trick (photoshop, in this case), to complete the second word, having used all the (2) Rs in the glorious Eurobricks name. I would advise people to buy a second copy of this set if you think you'll need many of the same letter for your compositions. Final comments Overall, this is a nice little set, with pretty unique parts and a fine number of more common, ever used bricks and two generic worker minifigs. Design & Colour scheme – 8/10 (Very well proportioned and efficient. The only con is the somewhat too childish colour scheme, considering the business-oriented look of the set, as shown on the box.) Minifig – 8/10 (A happy working couple to set up our business card holder and guard the bill-board. Minus points for the very common parts, though.) Parts – 9/10 (All useful parts here, with the big plus of the printed tiles. The new special characters are an interesting addition, and the letters will be useful in any collection.) Playability – 6/10 (From an AFOL's point of view, this set is pretty poor in sheer playability. I mean, there isn't even a secret compartment of flick-fire missile! On the other hand, I suppose kids can have lots of fun with the little workers setting up and tearing down the bill-board.) Build – 6/10 (Very very simple and plain.) Price – 10/10 (Considering almost half of the parts are printed, this is a very good set price-wise.) Overall: 7.8/10 Very good As always, questions, comments, and pic requests welcome! If you like my reviews, and would like to learn how it's done, please consider joining the Reviewers Academy:
