Bob De Quatre

Introduction Hi fellow EB members! I'm back with a review of one of the 2016 LEGO Architecture sets: #21031 Burj Khalifa. I must say that I have a love/hate relation with this building, since I'm very interested in architecture and how those skyscraper are build, but I also suffer from vertigo... So reviewing the (second) LEGO rendition of the tallest building in the world made me anxious before opening the box. Will this set take me to the top of LEGO Architecture or will it makes me want to jump into the void? Thanks to EB LUG Ambassador CopMike and the LEGO CEE Team and Designers for giving me the opportunity to review this set! Set information Name: 21031 Burj Khalifa (Dubai, United Arab Emirates) Theme: LEGO Model Making / Architecture Year: 2016 Pieces: 333 Price: USD NA, GBP NA, EURO NA Resources: Brickset, BrickLink Packaging The box is as classy as all LEGO Architecture's boxes. The front shows the build on a black background, with some blueprints under. In the top left corner is a big LEGO Architecture logo, and just under it the name of the set in both English and Arabic. Just under is a picture of the instructions booklet and an indication saying that the booklet is written in English and Arabic. Let's talk about it right now: Arabic isn't one of the usual languages we see on LEGO boxes, but this set is most probably made to be sold everywhere in the world, and particularily in the Arabic-speaking countries. The rear of the box has a nice picture of both the real Burj Khalifa and its LEGO rendition, and a comment about the tower in a few language. It also indicates the size of the final build: 95 mm wide and 390 mm tall. Content of the box The box contains the instructions booklet, 5 unnumbered bags and a brick separator. Sadly I lost the picture of those beautiful bags... Instructions booklet The 107 pages instructions booklet is very classy and well printed. There are a few pages with informations about the tower and its construction, with lots of pictures. The main problem with the booklet is that due to it using a portrait orientation and being thick, you can't have it stay open without holding it! That's why you can see my hand in the next pictures, and why I almost did all the building with only one hand. That issue ruined most of the building fun. The instructions are pretty clear and (too) easy to follow, with no fancy techniques, which is either a good or a bad thing, I'll let you decide. Build The base of the build is rather simple. It's the only time you'll see a fancy color with the two dark red 1x1 round plate with open stud. With the first levels of the tower in place, you can see the desert flower pattern of the building... And from now on will start building up and up again! First stop in the construction, we've reached the 124th floor and the At the Top observatory. You can see that the building to this point is very repetitive, and I even placed the 1x4 hinge plates at the wrong places, as building with only one hand isn't really easy. We'll then add some plating on the 3 faces, each different. As you can see the lower part of the outer plating is made of three to one layers of plates and 1x2/3 or 2x2/3 slopes. And the upper plating is only made of 1x2/3 or 2x2/3 slopes, each attached to a single stud, which may cause them to rotate slightly, which is quite annoying. Note that there is no (small) Tom Cruise attached to the surface of the tower, which is quite disappointing. And finally the last stories. The top of the tower is built with a totally diferent technique than the rest, using simple bricks with studs on sides and tiles. There are not much spare parts for a set of this size, but they are still welcome. Interesting parts The part selection isn't great, I could even say it is poor. We got lots of light bluish gray bricks, some with studs on sides, tiles and 2/3 slopes, and a few brackets and curved slopes. But we also get three 1x1 round plate with open stud, and three 4x1 curved inverted slope in light bluish gray, which are exclusive to this set. If you like gray parts, then this set is for you. Comparison with set #21008 Burj Khalifa The Burj Khalifa has already been featured in the LEGO Architecture theme. Back in 2011, LEGO gave us the tallest skyscraper in the world in the set #21008. If the height of the tower hasn't changed since then, its LEGO representation has evolved a lot. Built on the exact same base, the two tower seem to have the same scale. But the similarities between those stops here. The old Burj Khalifa was entirely built with round elements, while the new tries to be more accurate to the angles and proportions of the real tower. The new Burj Khalifa is definitely an improvement over the old one. Conclusion Design: 8/10 - Definitely an improvement compared to the previous rendition. The booklet design issue is quite problematic for a standard two handed human. Parts: 6/10 - No variety in shapes and colors, and too few rare parts. Build: 7/10 - The build experience is quite boring, with no difficulties. Price: --/10 - The retail prices aren't published as I write this review. I'll update that score when they are. Overall: 21/30 (64%) - A nice build and a great rendition of the original tower, but not very interesting to build. The part selection do its job, but isn't really interesting. And please LEGO, test the usability of your instructions booklet.

It seems to work fine! Strange thing, it changed the order of the submodels. Now I just need a part inventory it will be perfect

That falls under being stupid...

Let's define a template for each entry's categories! What information do we need on aliens, fauna or flora?

Thanks guys, glad you like it Well to be honest... it's named after a character from the TV serie The 100...

Woohoo! Thanks CopMike Very happy to have won the Scooby Doo team... but I'm up for an exchange of prizes if someone wants them

Look at the first seconds of this video, some things may be familiar

That's something I wanted to do, and also an atlas of flora and fauna on each planet!

It is possible with the parts available, but you may want to reinforce the base with a few black plates #21028 New York City MOD ! by BobDeQuatre, on Flickr

We'll try to get prices as soon as possible.

I don't even understand why you need to know so badly how many years a theme that isn't even out will last...

Take a trip to the most beautiful cities with the new LEGO Architecture serie! Put your backpack on and join Whitefang, Clone OPatra and myself as we'll guide you through Berlin, Venice and New York City in our reviews of the 2016 LEGO Architecture series!

tags: spaceship -- Bob of Quatrian log entry A0023-B -- It's been while since we received the last report of our exploration mission on Arium Major, and the one we sent there never returned. It was decided that our most experienced element would have to conduct an investigation mission there. We needed our best man, the one with the most skills in combat, exploration and negociation. Someone cold blooded and ready for every situation. But Pombe wasn't available, so they sent me... You've ever heard of Pombe? That guy is amazing! A few weeks ago he got into a space whale to gather some important elements and got out undamaged! And he even brought us back pretzels! As I was investigating the area near our outpost, I accidentally found a strange spacecraft, msot probably from Kawashita Group. It seemed heavily armored and armed ,and I'm pretty sure it's the cause of the loss of our exploration mission... Not very happy with that picture as the background isn't blurry enough... More pics of the Blood Raven in the spoiler tags

Seems like I forgot to generate the map Thanks for letting me know! And don't hesitate to tell me when I mess things up... I've been pretty busy during the last weeks, with work and reviews and preparing my first convention, so I messed up all kind of things...

Some minor errors, but a nice recreation I'm liking those cityscape sets more than I could anticipate! They are really nice

Introduction Hi fellow EB members! I was given the chance to review the upcoming #21028 New York set from the LEGO Architecture series that will hit our favorites stores in January 2016. With this set (and #21026 Venice and #21027 Berlin), LEGO designers decided to create not only a building, but a few of them, representing a specific city. Let's see what these new "cityscape" looks like while visiting the Big Apple: New York! Thanks to EB LUG Ambassador CopMike and the LEGO CEE Team and Designers for giving me the opportunity to review this set! Set information Name: 21028 New York City (New York, USA) Theme: LEGO Model Making / Architecture Year: 2016 Pieces: 598 Price: USD NA, GBP NA, EURO NA Resources: Brickset, BrickLink Packaging The box comes in the usual LEGO Architecture 's black livery. The front shows the full set, proudly standing on blueprints against the black background. On the upper left corner is a rather big LEGO Architecture logo and just under is the name of set and its location in the world. We also are informed that the booklet contains "details in English on design and history". The back of the box has a front shot of the set with pictures of each of the real buildings and a short comment on New York City in a few languages. Size of the set is also indicated: 255mm wide and 260mm tall. One side of the box shows a very nice perspective of the set, making you feel like you're on the Hudson river, looking at the city... I really like that picture. And again a notice on the design notes and history comments being in English, but this time written in a few languages. Content of the box The box contains the instructions booklet, 6 unnumbered bags and a brick separator. The six bags will all be opened rather quickly. Instructions booklet The 115 pages instructions booklet is very classy and well printed. When you have it in hands, you know where your money went. There is a double page about New York City with a very beautiful picture of the Manhattan Bridge. Each building of the set also gets a double page with informations on the building and a nice picture of it (or a part of it). The instructions are extremely clear and easy to follow. And I mean it. There are a lot of steps where you'll build one piece at a time... That can be explained by the fact that the LEGO Architecture theme is aimed at people that don't usually build with LEGO. Build "And this is where we'll build the city of New York" - John York, December 1st 1615 Yes, I know my United States history... So, as Mr York said, this is where we'll build the New York City set. The base has an uneven width that bothers me. I think it would have been much better to have a five studs wide base, maybe with light bluish grey tiles on the front representing sidewalks or city streets. You can notice that the One World Trade Center will attach to two plates with handles. Oh and there is a white 2x2 plate there... Don't ask why... First layer of concrete, water and grass applied! The Hudson river waters are very transparent, like trans-clear. The first monument we'll build if we don't start reading the instructions at a random page, is the Statue of Liberty. A fine example of american's french's mastery of metal working. The LEGO rendition at this scale is pretty good. We may have lengthy discussion about using the trophy part, but what other choices the designer had? And we got the trophy part in an exclusive sand green color. Here is the Empire State Building during its construction in 1930. And here it is, finished, in 1931... Its shape and color is really recognizable. The Empire State Building is one of the two buildings in this set that have already been featured in the LEGO Architecture serie back in 2009 (#21002). Even if it is smaller than its ancestor, I find this Empire State Building more accurate and much more interesting than the older one. Next comes the Wonder Woman's Invisible Building, where she parks her Invisible Jet... Ok, let's change the background for a moment and contemplate the Chrysler Building. A kinda simple and straightforward build that does the job pretty well considering the scale. I can imagine the face of the designer when he was said that he had to build a 15 studs height Chrysler Building. But still the choices for the top of the building are pretty clever and I' m sure people will recognize it easily. The Flatiron Building is an early skyscraper famous for its triangular shape. It's the second time that LEGO Architecture feature the Flatiron Building, the first being back in... 2015, the #21023 Flatiron Building set was released a few month ago. The build is amazingly simple, but also accurate given the small scale. The last building we'll see during our tour of New York City is the One World Trade Center. This building is the tallest and the most technically interesting of the set. The building begins with a SNOT assembly that will secure the build on the base while providing flat sides and even some architectural details! It will also help strengthening the upper parts of the build. The final build looks great, but I must admit I'm not fond of it. To me, it is not accurate enough, but still I know that given the scale, there was no other options, and the designer did a great job. Do you think it could have been done differently, or with a better shape closer to the original? Our visit of New York City is close to the end, so let's see all the places we've been together. We only got a few spare parts, but we won't complain as there is a second trophy statuette in the box! Interesting parts The jewel of this set is doubtfully the trophy minifigure in sand green, which is exclusive to this set. Sand blue parts are always great, as are silver metallic. We got lots of tan and a handful of 2x1 plates in trans-clear, and another handful of 2x1 grille tile in tan, and another handful of "Slope 45 2 x 1 with 2/3 Cutout" in sand blue. That makes a lot of hands... Conclusion Design: 9/10 - It's hard to build at this scale but the designer made a nice job. Parts: 8/10 - There are some great parts in there. The lack of variety is compensated by quantity of some parts. Build: 7/10 - Clever and sturdy builds with some nice techniques Price: --/10 - The retail prices aren't published as I write this review. I'll update that score when they are. Overall: 24/30 (80%) - A nice LEGO Architecture set, introducing a new concept based on cities and not just one building. The buildings are great and well chosen. I like that series and hope to see more of them in the future.

It folds and unfilds in a few seconds, and is only a few milimeters thick when folded.

So here is my (new) photo setup. I use a cheap lightbox available on amazon in various size. I have a 80cm one, that is big enough for me to actually build inside As you can see I still use cardboard sheets.

Oh, thanks. I'll try to get my hand on one of these

Where's that fighting face from?

Week 25 is over. Note that Week 26 will be a two weeks Week, starting today and ending December 6th. Octan's fleet stays on I06. Kawashita's moves from E10 to E11. M.A.N.T.I.S.'s fleet stays on H03. First Aliens' fleet moves from C10 to B09. Second Alien's moves from H04 to G03. Third Alien's fleet moves from G08 to F09. (Map will be updated once the scores are posted)

I'm sure the judges started to suffer from dementia issues for having to grade your builds Pombe... Oh wait...

For you?

Builds posted during the challenge are open for picking. Mainly so that newer players can enter.

MOC Expert markus1984 bring us a very nice diorama about one of our favorites classic space faction: Ice Planet !