REVIEW: 21120 The Snow Hideout

[WhiteFang]

Hello everyone,

Isn't this a pleasant surprise? Well, it came as an unexpected surprise that I am given the honour to share with you my new review for the LEGO Minecraft Theme. Special thanks to Eurobricks and The LEGO Group (TLG) for making this possible. Minecraft is a game of about breaking and placing textured blocks and people built structures to protect against nocturnal monsters, oh well it's something of that sort. TLG have done two full waves of LEGO Minecraft Theme since 2014. Between LEGO and Minecraft, there is a strong co-relation between both since the primary approach is all about building imaginative stuff. I may not be a professional expert on the world of Minecraft and I may quote or reference things wrongly which lack of insightful knowledge but I will do my best to make sure it will be relevant to you. I would also like to apologies in advance and I hope it will be an useful reference for the Eurobricks Community.

Name: 21120 The Snow Hideout

Theme: LEGO System / Minecraft

Year: 2015

Pieces: 327

Minifigs: 3 minifigures equivalent

Price: USD $39.99, GBP 39.99, EURO 39.99, SGD $74.90

Resources: Brickset, BrickLink

Build to survive with The Snow Hideout!

Build The Snow Hideout! You’ve ventured out on an icy mining expedition, but the sun is heading for the horizon and hostile mobs will soon be roaming this snow-covered landscape. Lay down your wooden pickaxe, store your newly mined coal and build to survive! Use your wooden shovel and the crafting tables to craft snow blocks from the drift, then take your bucket and scoop water from the lake to make ice-block windows. Craft a door and build a netherrack fireplace and chimney. Finally, build a Snow Golem to ward off the exploding Creeper™ that roams after nightfall and you’re ready for action! Rebuild the set for more LEGO® Minecraft™ creations! Includes a Steve minifigure with assorted accessories, plus a Creeper™ and a Snow Golem.

• Includes a Steve minifigure with assorted accessories, plus a Creeper™ with explode function and a Snow Golem with snowball-shooting function

• Features a shelter with opening door, netherrack fireplace, crafting table, bucket, 2 buildable torches and snowy tree, plus transparent ice block elements and 2 brick-built coal ores

• Includes Steve’s pickaxe

• Includes 327 assorted LEGO® pieces

• Set your imagination free!

• Experience The Snow Hideout!

• Look out for the exploding Creeper™!

• Build to survive!

• Activate the Snow Golem’s shooting function!

• The perfect gift for fans of LEGO® building and Minecraft™

• Rebuild for more Minecraft™ creations

• Measures 3” (8cm) high, 11” (28cm) wide and 9” (23cm) deep

• Combine this biome with others in the series to create your own LEGO® Minecraft™ world

An original box image of the 21120 The Snow Hideout

Back view of the original box image of the 21120 The Snow Hideout

The new Snow Hideout in the world of Minecraft

I am really pleased that I am given this rare opportunity to sample a LEGO Minecraft set and among the four new releases, the Snow Hideout was my lucky pick which I am glad it was. First of all, I enjoyed constructing a building and this snow hideout served the right purpose. Snow does not come naturally in the world of Minecraft and it is similar to the concept of biome and in this case snowy biome. Quoting from Minecraft Wiki, biomes are regions in a Minecraft world with varying geographical features, flora, heights, temperatures, humidity ratings, and sky and foliage colors. Biomes separate every generated world into different environments, paralleling the real world; examples of biomes include the forest, jungle, desert and ice plains. Thus, in this case the main player would most likely need to build a sustainable hideout or structure to survive through the night. This set is an iconic scene of what a player need to build to continue the game.

I will try to re-phrase slightly to allow you to understand better of the game play. As your first day begins, you will need to collect wood. Use this to make a crafting table. Your first tool should be an axe, which makes collecting wood a lot faster. Then make a wooden pickaxe to dig a small stairway into the ground to collect enough cobblestone to make a full set of stone tools and a furnace. Then, make a shelter or if available, stay in a village. After that put down your crafting table and furnace and smelt some wood into charcoal, and make some torches with that.You could use coal for torches.

You can also avoid dealing with hostile mobs by building a bed. Three wool and three planks make a bed. You'll need to kill three sheep or shear the wool from them with shears. Instead of building a home, you simply put down the bed and go to sleep at sunset. Skipping night like this prevents most hostile mobs from spawning above-ground. For night, the primary danger will be monsters. It is a good idea to stay in your lit shelter. If you don't have full iron armor and a sword, do not try to engage any monsters. One way to avoid being attacked by monsters is to put torches, glowstone, or a jack-o-lantern by your house.

The content of the sealed box

The sealed box comes with four mint packs and a 16x16 white plate. The four mint packs are numbered and printed from one to two in dual quantity, an instruction manual to guide the builder to build up the set and it also promote building your own creations. Within the instruction manual, you are able to see a sneak preview of a welcome note from Minecraft creators and the full range of the LEGO Minecraft sets.

After building the set, these are the remaining spare parts for packet 1 and packet 2 even though I am quite sure the 2x2 jumper plate should be somewhere in the set which I have not figured out.

The full characters in this Minecraft set

These are not your usual LEGO minifigures which you could normally find in regular LEGO sets. However, these characters are specially produced for fans of Minecraft and they are able to relate to them closely.

Firstly, we get Steve and is also known as the 'Player'. The Player is the character that users control in Minecraft and is also part of the two default skins typically known as Steve and Alex. Based on the LEGO character design, Steve has dark brown hair, purple eyes, with a light blue shirt and a pair of purple jeans. You can see back view of the blockish looking of Steve headpiece. Steve is a very common character and have appeared in these LEGO sets so far. He is pretty much the hero like Indiana Jones, Prince Dastan equivalent.

Secondly, we get the Creeper. They are a bunch of wandering mobs that are awaiting to ambush and explode onto player or structures unknowingly. They are indeed destructive and if you ever can notice these Creepers from afar, it is always best to steer clear from them. If you ever need to kill them, it is advised to do it from a distance. You can see the distinct side view as the entire body frame except the head is made up of a single piece. So far, the Creeper can be found in three sets including this.

Lastly, we get the exclusive Snow Golem. My first impression of the Snow Golem thinking that it was a hostile character especially after seeing it in action from the box art. After much reading, I came to realise that they are essential defensive creations. Snow Golems are the game's first utility mob. They are friendly to their creator. Snow Golems are created using pumpkins and snow blocks, and will throw snowballs at enemy mobs such as Creeper. In this case, the Snow Golem is placed at the top of the snow hideout.

Hello Steve!

Superb great bricks for your own collection

Well from what I can see so far, Minecraft is primarily made up of blocks and blocks. Thus, it relies plentiful of LEGO system traditional bricks like a 1x2 and 2x2 bricks for example. What really impressed me was the decent assortment of translucent coloured bricks which are extremely amazing with the glittering dark green, water blue and sky blue bricks. The masonic bricks are equally useful for laying texture at the wall. The 2x2 flat tiles are welcoming too. The amount of bricks are not exactly the full listing which I refer in this category, but I managed to just laid these few which excite me the most.

I am very pleased that Minecraft contain zero stickers and in order to make it possible, it made these parts into printed pieces which is meant for Minecraft usage and building purpose such as chest and snow golem.

Minecraft essential tools

The wooden shovel can be used to ease the process of collecting dirt and other blocks and the wooden pickaxe is used to mine ores and many other types of blocks similar to this example. Both tools are the same as featured in the game play which will make Minecraft fans happy about it. I supposed the pail is to gather water. I can't be certain on the exact usage.

The entire building content for Packet 1

The completed built for Packet 1

The completed built for Packet 1 includes the three minifigures mentioned earlier, a snowy block looking tree, icy river stream and snow hideout roof top. The built for these parts are mainly made up of 2x2 bricks as their building foundation. It even manage to incorporate minerals in the icy river stream. Let's hope Steve is able to discover those coal and get it into his snow hideout.

The entire building content for Packet 2

The completed built of Packet 2

The completed built for Packet 2 laid the snow hideout structure in place. You can place the snow hideout roof top to make the entire structure complete. Within the interior, it seem there is a fireplace or a furnace which I am not exactly sure of is actual representation. The other side of it show the actual placement of the chest. The wooden door was a nice touch to make the house feel warm and cozy to some extend. The door can actually open and close freely. The torch can be found placed close to the green tree.

The completed built of the snow hideout

By putting the completed built of both packets, you get the nice snow hideout. There is a trap in-place which could cripple an unsuspecting creeper to fall into an ambush. You can also open and close up the snow hideout to expand the size of the front of the building to increase its playability together with lifting up the rooftop as well.

Lifting the roof top of the snow hideout

Storing his minecraft chest safely

The door is in place

The icy river stream

My very first LEGO Minecraft Set

To conclude, I like the way how this set is being designed by bringing and integrating the concept of Minecraft and LEGO together. I could see a strong co-relations between both with building blocks as a common catalyst. Although I have never played the game before but after I built the set finish, I am quite tempted to get myself into this new gaming experience. As for the LEGO design for this snow hideout, I think it is an average looking set but with a full set up of the hideout which allow the player to survive better in the suffering cold. It is appealing in its own manner and I am pleased that I am able to build and review this set.

Summary review

Playability: 6/10 (Average playing with the activation of trap and snow golem addition.)

Design: 6/10 (Block looking design but stay very true to the Minecraft concept.)

Price: 5/10 (Price is on the high side especially after considering parts per price ratio.)

Overall: 5.7/10 (Get this set if you are a huge fan of LEGO Minecraft and the game itself.)

I gave it a "3" based on my Review Score Card. What about you?

I hope every one of you enjoyed reading this simple review of mine. Comments and Criticisms are welcomed.

Pictures can be found in My Flickr.

[WhiteFang]

Dear Eurobricks Community,

I would like to share with all of you on my latest new review on the Minecraft Theme. Feel free to leave your thought and I hope you will enjoy reading it. Thanks.

WhiteFang

[Kaanere]

The set looks good!

Maybe I will pick it up.

And if you like LEGO, you will aslo like MC!

[Automaton]

The set looks fun baiscally only for the nice parts it has like the translucent 2x2 bricks. I also like the creeper, it looks fun. But its not really worth the set to me compared to its price.

You'd have to be a serious MC fan to like this. And contrary to Vassal, I am a huge LEGO fan, but MC would have been fun on my Commodore 64c but now adays there is sooooo much more fun and better then that ugly game. So no If you like LEGO, you really don't have to like MC.

[Naijel]

I'm confused by two things.

Firstly, your words sounded quite positive throughout the review until the end when suddenly the scores are 6, 6 and 5. These are pretty low scores.

Secondly, the average overall was 5.7 but then you say you gave it a 3. What does this mean? And if you give it a 3, why so low? That's not even 1/3rd marks. I would reserve that kind of score for a set that was really terrible, yet your text does not paint that picture.

[WhiteFang]

Thanks for your input especially if you love Minecraft. You will definitely enjoy this.

Firstly, your words sounded quite positive throughout the review until the end when suddenly the scores are 6, 6 and 5. These are pretty low scores.

Secondly, the average overall was 5.7 but then you say you gave it a 3. What does this mean? And if you give it a 3, why so low? That's not even 1/3rd marks. I would reserve that kind of score for a set that was really terrible, yet your text does not paint that picture.

Naijel thank you for your thoughts. To clarify, this is a positive review and the scoring for the 6, 6 and 5 are average scoring. Those are not considered low scoring. Anything less than 5 is define low.

I had scored sets that are below 5 before and there a few which fit in that category. Giving it an average scoring is where there is a balance of views in this review. Like the poll and average scoring in my review, I used this rough representation below.

9 to 10 - Outstanding

8 to 7 - Above Average

5 to 6 - Average

3 to 4 - Below Average

1 to 2 - Poor

To be fair to this set, there is two ways to look at it and you do so from a Minecraft fan perspective or an AFOL perspective. Either perspective will allow you to gain access to a fair insight. Thus, with the different variations and considerations that I took, I strongly felt an average scoring could sum up my liking towards this set. I wasn't so pleased with the high SRP pricing due to price per parts ratio and for a mere 327 parts with an US price tag of USD$35 excluding tax. I felt it is very pricy for a regular AFOL to get it at a whim, unless you are a dedicated Minecraft fan.

I hope the above clarifies. Thank you.