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ResIpsaLoquitur

Review: 40095 Micro Manager -- February Monthly Mini Build

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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 recently reviewed all of 2013's MMB's in this article. I also reviewed last month's model here, where you can see I quickly copied-and-pasted this introductory paragraph because I need to put my daughter to bed. 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.

If you haven't noticed, there's been a TON of promotions of late for The Lego Movie, which premieres across the U.S. this Friday. (Other countries, check your schedules. I think the UK gets it this week too, while other countries need to wait a bit.) Today, the Lego Store jumped on the bandwagon by having their monthly mini build be a themed item. To my knowledge, this is the very first time the Store has done a themed, promotional mini-build. Usually, it's something very generic and seasonal. For example, last month's promotion was a snowplough for January (makes sense, it's cold); next month's is a bird in a tree (obviously for spring). The rest of the year's schedule hasn't been released, but expect some summer items for June through August, something spooky for October, and something festive for December. I could be wrong, but I bet I'm not.

But this month? It's a tie-in to a promotional line! How does it stack against the TLM sets you've been buying? Read on!

Set Title: Micro Manager

Set #: 40095-1

Theme: Monthly Mini Build

Pieces: 50. FIFTY! (Monthly Mini-Builds tend to be between 20 and 40.)

Minifigures: None

Year of Release: 2014

Price at release: Free! FREE! FREEEEEEEEEEEEE!

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First things first. When you get in line outside the store, you get a ticket with the parts list on the back and a picture of the item on the front. It's got a spot to write in the builder's name so you can proudly display it at home. My daughter actually went and wrote her name in, so Where Are My Pants? Guy is protecting her privacy (but not his).

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This is the usual one-sheet of directions you get with the MMBs. I'm not sure if posting both sides violates copyright, but there's actually only three steps on the other side and it's very easy to build on sight at that point.

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This build comes with an incredible number of pieces. We've gone to 18 MMBs at the Store now, and they've never gone much past 40 pieces. This one came with 50 (plus spares). I see a few spots where they could have lowered the piece count, so I'm surprised it's this many. I'll take it!

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Starting the build here. A double layer of 1 x 2 plates with "up" SNOT sides forms the core of the robot. Two more 1 x 2 plates with the "down" SNOT sides will complete the sides. The only oddity is that there's no reason for them to have used red in here, as you can't see it in the finished model. I don't mind the red, but they could have gone with any color and had the end result be the same.

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Continuing the build here, you stack the SNOT sides with 2 x 2 red plates. The result almost looks like a Lego Games die stripped of the rubber layer. It's an interesting build, but it really comes together in the end.

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The bottom layer is a metallic octagonal piece with various odd pieces and supported by four trans-red dish pieces. Again, a neat little build. I was terrified that the clip arms would snap when my daughter put them on, but they've held on fine so far. Don't forget the 2 x 2 round plate on top of the octagon; you won't be able to support the box portion without it.

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Almost done. Here's the Micro Manager with his brain exposed so you can see how it all comes together, minus the face.

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The finished product. Ahhhh! It's alive! Let's get out of here, pants! Seriously, this guy should be a welcome addition to any TLM scene you plan on making. He's got a chainsaw and a hammer; who wouldn't be scared of that?

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I am shocked...SHOCKED...at the spares that came in this set. I was expecting the Battle Droid arm and the 1 x 1 studs. However, the spare SNOT pieces was an unexpected surprise. These are the largest spare pieces I've ever gotten in a set, particularly an MMB. I had to look at the kid next to my daughter to make sure it wasn't a fluke--he had the spares as well. I'll take them. If you brought two kids and have some spare black 4 x 4 plates, you could get started on another Micro Manager.

CONCLUSION

Design: 9/10. I love it. I'm not sure of the arm, since most of the Micro Managers in TLM sets use ratcheted/Technic arms. This guy uses Battle Droid arms. Since he's free, I'm not complaining, but I'm curious if he's film-accurate. We'll find out this weekend.

Parts: 10/10. Absolutely no complaints here. The SNOTs are awesome, and there's plenty to use here even if you don't want a Micro Manager.

Build: 8/10. My daughter mostly built this on her own and did fine, but I could see a kid struggling with the SNOT techniques. I wonder why they didn't use SNOT bricks instead of the plates? That might have cut down on the part count. Oh well, it still works.

Minifigs: N/A. But for $3, you can add someone from the Collectible Minifigure Line for the Micro Manager to chase.

Playability: 10/10. We're going to be having fun with this guy. He's very functional, and I'm guessing that he's fair game to blow up when our Lego citizens have to convert their vehicles into weapons.

Price: 10/10. It was free! Free!

Overall: 47/50. So very close to a 50.

I'll be looking very carefully in the film to see if this guy appears anywhere. The official sets all use different types of Micro Managers; the only consistency is that they're black boxes with red eyes. Even if he doesn't appear in the Movie, he sure looks like he could.

As a reminder, Toys R' Us is having a free build of Emmet's car this Saturday. The car looks very similar to the City Small Car from 2010, so if you have that set and can't get to a TRU, it should be an easy conversion with a few parts swapped. Also, Barnes and Noble is doing some "Build the Lego Movie" event in early March. This film has resulted in a plethora of freebies, so take advantage, people!

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Great review!

Well, I tried taking my son's to the event yesterday but they ran out. :sad:

But a store employee got out a bunch of other MMB for the other kids and got us the following;

A benny poster

The lego movie accessory pack

Three lego minifigures from the BAM station each!

A lego club magazine

So it was pretty good overall. :classic:

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My store just so happened to have an MMMB left!

The set is adorable (it's the stubby feet that really kills ya). An urge to collect all of these black shelled baddies has now surfaced...

Edited by Penkid11

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Just for the record: On the picture, the legs are at the tip of the cube, not at the edge. Either way, a nice micromanager, and thanks for the review!

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I didn't get one of these (being 30 and not trying doesn't help) but I'd really like to build one, anyone got any ideas on a set that has the right pieces?

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I didn't get one of these (being 30 and not trying doesn't help) but I'd really like to build one, anyone got any ideas on a set that has the right pieces?

I'm not sure of any sets that come with this exact configuration of parts. If you have a Lego Store near you, you can try their Pick-A-Brick wall and see if it has the parts you need. Or you can try the Pick-A-Brick option on shop.lego.com and order the exact parts you need (I did this once and actually found it to be pricier than expected, and it took forever to come in the mail). Or you could order the parts on Bricklink. If you're lucky, you'll find one seller who has all the parts; realistically, you may need to go through two or three.

Another option is to keep your eye on the model's Brickset page. As of this writing, they haven't put the parts list in yet. However, once they do, you should be able to click on the individual pieces in the inventory and find other sets containing those pieces.

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I had a few of these for free when i bought some of the LEGO movie sets a month ago from the Copenhagen LEGO store.

I always wait to assembel my sets till i really feal i will enjoy it to the extreme.

I just assembled one of these today and im pleased with this lillte polybag.

One micro manager in itself isnt really that satisfying but being that there are so many diffrent throughout the series i feel is what makes them standout as "badguys" and a great collection.

On my The LEGO movie shelf, i have good guys sets on one half and the bad guys sets on the other. Looks surprisingly good.

Thanks for the great review. :classic:

Edited by LEGO Family

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Thanks for the review! I wasn't really interested in ANY of the micromanagers til I built the two included with The Sea Cow. Now, I've grown quite fond of them. While I missed the build, I'll just rummage through sets and collect what I need for this little bugger.Again, thanks!

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