Affiliate disclosure: I sometimes use vendor & product links that can pay me a small monetary commission if you click them and/or make a purchase. Learn more about this. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Monday, February 29, 2016

LEGO Nexo Knights - Knight's Cycle polybag review! 30371


At stores near me, LEGO Nexo Knights sets seem to have caught on quite well with buyers.  Many products from the series have sold out of shelf stock multiple times.  I don't think this polybag has made it to the US mass market yet, so I just built it up from spare parts to share a good look with you all.

LEGO Speed Champions Audi R8 LMS Ultra review! 75873


Another winner from the Speed Champions line.  I like almost everything about this build :)

LEGO Elves The Secret Market Place review! 41176


Here's my first look at the new season of LEGO Elves, featuring the lime & bright green Earth Dragon.

LEGO Series 2 Collectible Minifigs from 2010 reviewed!


Here's a look at each of the figures from the second CMF round of 2010, featuring memorable characters like the Mime, Witch, and Mariachi.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

My incomplete LEGO Star Wars Droid collection so far - Feb. 2016


As requested by viewers, here's a look at the LEGO Star Wars droids I've collected up to this point, some of which have been seen in Bricklink haul videos over the past few months.  Battle Droids (the type of 'bot I'm least interested in), BB-8, and many other things you may have seen me show in previous videos have been omitted at this stage for various reasons.  There are a ton of lil' dudes that I still need to collect, but I have a thorough list tracking my progress.  This is just what I had ready to show at this time.

LEGO 2016 Iconic Easter w/ Chicken Suit Guy unboxed!


My local Toys R Us had a carload of these things out for sale, so I picked one up to see exactly what it was all about.  It's a box and a figure (and no stand for the figure).  It costs twice as much as the figure did (with stand) when it was out just a few years ago.

Now for a brief rant that's only tangentially related to this product.  On YouTube I'm already seeing a lot of comments about the original series 9 Chicken Suit Guy going for $20-30 USD on Bricklink, eBay, etc.  In my view it's positively outrageous that a minifigure that was produced in huge quantities (many tens, if not hundreds of thousands) and made widely available around the world for many months, just a few years ago, can experience such tremendous aftermarket price inflation.  Things that are rare, sure. Limited releases, sure. Highly desirable sets more than a decade old, makes sense.  Anything that quickly sold out without even fulfilling initial demand, absolutely. A high-volume, lower-quality (China factory), modest-demand, $3 USD commodity item like this?  Positively outrageous.  A 3-year-old CMF shouldn't cost more than $6-10 USD, tops. The over-inflation isn't the fault of The LEGO Group, either.  Secondary market sellers have been able to manipulate things too far with the help of the current hype & craze around the LEGO brand.  I look forward to a proper, massive correction in the LEGO secondary market.  It's much needed.  Thankfully, every precedent indicates that such correction is certain to occur in due time.  I'm guessing it'll take another 2-3 years, though, as we need to get through this series of LEGO cinematic movies and the bolstering effects of their high-dollar marketing campaigns.  Perhaps TLG itself will help the situation with more direct re-issues of overvalued items, like this!

Friday, February 26, 2016

Better custom LEGO Minecraft Iron Golem MOC


I first made my Iron Golem MOC back in October 2014 before the first official LEGO Minecraft sets were released.  I was happy enough with it then, but now that the official mob is out, I'm able to use better parts!

This is a modification of my original and still has some of the original body parts in it, unmoved, but I've made some small structural alterations and also completely rethought the legs.  Much better now!

Thursday, February 25, 2016

LEGO Mighty Micros The Flash vs Captain Cold review! 76063


Yes.  This is another example of exactly what Mighty Micros is all about, and how they should be done.  The video is very short, and very positive.

LEGO Speed Champions Ford F-150 Raptor & Model A Hot Rod review


Ahhhh what a long name of a set!  Comes with a lot of stuff, too, and with an extraordinarily low price/part ratio.  The value is exceptional and I very much like many of the component builds.  Many.  Not all.

LEGO Series 1 Collectible Minifigs from 2010 reviewed!


Throwback Thursday action, anyone?  Here's a look at each of the 16 figures that made up the first "CMF" series back at the turn of the decade.  Some of these are still pretty desirable for normal use and not just collection & display to this day.

LEGO Speed Champions Ford Mustang GT review! 75871


Yea buddy, another Speed Champions review down, still plenty more to come.  This is another of the good ones in my view!

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

LEGO Star Wars Microfighters Wookiee Gunship review! 75129


Finally the last of my Microfighters review for this season!

LEGO Speed Champions Chevrolet Camaro Drag Race review! 75874


This set features a brand new 6th gen 2016 Camaro lined up against a heavily modded 1969 SS that has, unexpectedly, two different power adder options.  Where's the traditional Christmas tree, though?

LEGO Mighty Micros Hulk vs Ultron review! 76066


This is one of the Mighty Micros I was most interested in early on.  It does have some cool features, but some aspects do fall short of expectations.

Monday, February 22, 2016

LEGO Minecraft The Wither reviewed! 21126


This is the last of the reasonably-sized Minecraft sets for the first release season of 2016.  The next one up will be the big Fortress!

Sunday, February 21, 2016

LEGO Speed Champions Porsche 919 & 917K Pit Lane review!


How would you like to apply about eighty stickers to a LEGO set, many of them 1x1 or 1x2 in size and demanding most careful alignment?  Sounds like a nightmare to me.  It wasn't though, at least not for me, as I firmly feel the ends justify the means.

LEGO Friends Livi's Pop Star House review! 41135


Ah yes, another nicely-built, nicely-furnished house.  Controversial minidolls aside, has there been a miss in the Friends line yet?  I guess some of the small vehicles have had really odd proportions, but everything else has been pretty strong in my view.

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Custom LEGO hospital MOC progress #7


Thank you all for over one million views of my hospital progress videos to date.  I'm still sorry it is going to slowly, but looking back, I'm happy that each update has had something substantive to show.  I'm confident that I'm going to be very happy with this whole thing once it's complete.

LEGO Speed Champions Chevrolet Corvette Z06 review! 75870


Wow. Just wow.  I had reservations about some of the 2015 Speed Champions designs, but the first one I chose to build from 2016 is a real triumph in 6-wide scale. Hats off to the LEGO designer on a job well done.

LEGO Bionicle Kopaka & Melum Unity Set review! 71311


Here's the last of my 2016 wave 1 LEGO Bionicle set reviews!  This 2-in-1 has a big part count, but doesn't create a particularly big Toa, nor a particularly impressive Creature on the side. Each is cool, but not fantastic.
The best thing about this set?  Melum hugs:  "Luv u bro!"

Thursday, February 18, 2016

LEGO Minecraft Jungle Tree House review! 21125


This is such a proper piece of the Minecraft universe, carefully excised, brought into reality and converted to LEGO.   Brings me joy and satisfaction to look at.

LEGO Mighty Micros Batman vs Catwoman review! 76061


My first Mighty Micros review covered something from the Marvel line, so I thought it only fitting & fair that I'd shift over to the DC Super Heroes side for my second.

LEGO Minecraft 2016 The End Portal review! 21124


I feel like the Minecraft line has stepped up a notch this season with more realistic settings that simply feel more believable to me, like I'm there in the game.

LEGO Gotham City Cycle Chase review! 76053


Fact: After seeing the first box art image of this set, I expected my review to go like a Mighty Micros overview -- fun cutesy little set, but nothing too special.

Oh, but that new Harley Quinn figure...

LEGO Classic Batman TV series Batcave set build & review! 76052


Must buy!  Best set ever!  Made by LEGO and therefore the pinnacle of perfection!

This is none of those things, in my opinion :)  Some of the components are really cool, but especially for the price, the entire set has too many misses, too many areas that appear or feel half-finished.  Even play value is diminished by some of the design choices.

Have a look at the review, if you would, and let me know whether you agree.

Video: 

LEGO Minecraft 2016 The Iron Golem set review! 21123


Hmm, the actual Iron Golem figure that gives this set its name is a bit iffy to me, but the set on the whole is more interesting than I expected.

LEGO Mighty Micros Spider-Man vs. Green Goblin review! 76064


LEGO's new Marvel & DC Super Heroes Mighty Micros series has started showing up in stores, and any long-time followers of my channel should find it completely unsurprising that I love the concept, what with all the "chibi style" stuff I've tried, including my miniature racing-car series I did for Hero Factory.  These are not designed for the adult collector market!  Gasp!  There's nothing wrong with adults liking them, of course, but clearly these are targeted towards younger kids who just want to have crashing vehicles together with inexpensive Super Heroes drivers.  Righteous.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

LEGO Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters review & builds! 75827


I've done it!  I've reviewed the new LEGO set with the largest piece count since 2008's Taj Mahal!  For sake of reference, this has twice as many parts as the modular Fire Brigade set and 50% more than the Super Star Destroyer.

Videos:
Over the weekend I separately edited & published two different lengths of fast-motion builds to see if viewers had a clear preference between a quick "wow" factor and a somewhat easier to follow build.  Surprisingly, every metric was evenly split between the two, including viewership, comment engagement, and like/dislike ratios.  More people skipped forward on the 10-minute version, but I definitely didn't get an answer as to which was preferred!  Interesting. I suppose I'll have to try the same experiment with some other sizes of builds.

At any rate, enjoy the review and please leave a comment here or on the video with your thoughts about the set itself.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

New JANG City non-progress & self-punishment!


Ah yes, the city layout.  That second-class citizen of my LEGO life.  Woe is it.  Well, I did make some changes affecting a noticeable portion of it this week, so as promised, since there's an update, I've made an update video.
Stuff yet to be developed that has been in the plan since 2013:
  • Tall office buildings
  • Custom freight harbor with ships, containers, crane, trucks, etc.
  • Pet store
  • Residential neighborhood with houses and possibly an apartment complex
  • Planetary Defense Force base
  • Passenger train station with elevated rail transfer
  • Second elevated rail stop
  • Industrial area
  • More cars, trucks (passenger and commercial), other normal vehicles you'll find in any city
  • More people (kids, men, women)
  • More...

LEGO Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters Speedy Build videos


I finally got the huge Ghostbusters set built yesterday, and I've rendered up two different versions of the process.  One is really quick to give more of the "wow" value of seeing 4,600+ parts assembled at light speed.  The other is more laid back to grab a snack or beverage, lean back in your seat, and have more of an experience of seeing the thing come together, one sub-assembly at a time.  Which do you prefer?

Videos:

Friday, February 12, 2016

LEGO Star Wars 2016 Homing Spider Droid review! 75142


Back in 2013 when I was still fairly new to reviewing brick-based sets, I had the misfortune of trying out the previous Homing Spider Droid set, #75016.  The result was what remains one of my more negative videos ever.  Thankfully this new version has corrected the major error of the last generation!

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Custom LEGO hospital MOC progress #6


The uniquely-shaped second floor of the hospital is now complete, save for the front fascia which actually has to contribute to the 3rd floor structure :)  Onward & upward!

Saturday, February 6, 2016

LEGO Bionicle 2016 Akida Creature of Water review! 71302


Here's the new counterpart to Gali, a Bionicle "creature" that uncharacteristically includes a very good display stand as well as quite a large Shadow Trap.

LEGO Mixels Series 7 MAX combinations


Already wrapping up my coverage of Mixels for this release season, here are the official Max combi models that turn the 9 series 7 tribe members into 3 wacky models.

LEGO Nexo Knights Robin's Mini Fortrex Polybag review! 30372


LEGO had a good sense of silliness to make this severely miniaturized version of the largest launch season set from Nexo Knights.  With a kid in the driver's seat, it looks like it may even be a realistically-scaled (for minifigs) future-medieval Power Wheels machine.

LEGO Bionicle 2016 Gali Uniter of Water review! 71307


Another one down, just one more Toa to go!

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Mega Bloks Call of Duty Anti-Aircraft Vehicle review!


I picked up this medium-small CoD set about 2 months ago and I finally got through enough of the higher-priority sets to slip a review of this one into the queue.

The vehicle is not self-propelled and is intended to represent a Soviet ZPU-4, a real-life piece which appears in quite a few different Call of Duty games.

Monday, February 1, 2016

Custom LEGO hospital MOC progress #5


With just shy of 100 videos published to the JANGBRiCKS channel in January alone, I was able to get through the overwhelming majority of new releases, and I'm down to less than two dozen new sets in the queue.  With that, I'm now able to divert energies back towards the terribly neglected city!

I want the city to noticeably grow twice as much this year as it did last.  For reference, check out what it looked like last February.  Time for high gear!