Few sets have been as anticipated by the AFOL community as 4000010 The Lego House, released to celebrate the opening of Lego’s multi-gajillion Danedollaroos Bond Villain Hideout Corporate Penis Substitute new HQ in 2017. Could it possibly live up to the hype?
Could it fuck.
Gee, it feels like it’s been a while since I’ve posted a Lego review.
(Checks posts).
Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttt………
Okay, let’s get back on this damn wagon, especially as the reviewing may have stopped but the purchasing hasn’t, meaning I’ve now bought way more sets than I’ve reviews since I set out to cover the 250 I had (at the point I started. How many do I have now? SHUT UP, YOU’RE NOT MY REAL MUM!)
An easy one to begin: Star Wars, and a little fighter plane from that benighted franchise.
There’s something risky about designing a Lego set around a subject in which curves are the predominant architectural feature. For all its adaptability, and the cornucopia of new pieces that have arrived in recent years, Lego is still, essentially, a blocky product. Many pieces might be curved, but even they still give a predominantly rigid effect: sinuousness and curvaceousness are not in the brief.
So what happens when Lego decides to make sets involving animals? And what happens when the company decides to use the same part to make three?
Surely, madness abounds.
We’re one-fifth of the way through my original goal of reviewing the 250 Lego sets I have purchased. (We shall not talk of the fact that I’ve somehow managed to end up with another 30+ since I’ve started, no we shan’t….).
It’s time for a quick review of the reviews: an index to what we’ve seen and how they’ve rated.
But before that, as any adult knows, a hobby isn’t a hobby unless you can quantify it and uses stats to pretend it’s a sport.
Let’s break down some numbers, shall we?
Sometimes it calls to you. Sometimes it’s too beautiful, too brilliant, too exciting to ignore. Sometimes it completes a cherished theme, or is too perfect a fit for an incomplete diorama to leave on the shelf.
Aaaaaand sometimes you just happen to be in the post office and buy it because it’s on the shelf right there where you’re lining up to send a package.
Guess which one 30381 Imperial Tie-fighter Mini Polybag was?
Continue reading “LEGO REVIEWS: 30381 IMPERIAL TIE-FIGHTER MINI POLYBAG (AND NOTEBOOK)”
Back to the Hidden Side today, with the second-largest set released so far, and the largest one in my collection, 70424 Ghost Train Express.
As much as I’m a fan of all things spaceship, I am singularly not a fan of trains: not in the real world, and not in the realm of toys. They’re boring.
So how did I end up with two of this set?
Continue reading “LEGO 250 REVIEWS: 70424 GHOST TRAIN EXPRESS”
Time to revisit a time of adventure, of exploration, of ripping into the tombs of other cultures and making away with their shiny golden things before they notice… it’s another set from the Pharaoh’s Quest theme! Let’s have ourselves a look at 7326 Rise of the Sphinx.
Every now and again, Lego-preferred publisher DK Books puts out a tome specifically designed to part a fool and my money. Often, that book includes a special minifigure, or tiny build that you wouldn’t, for a moment, think of purchasing separately, but now that it’s attached to the front of a $50 book you’ll flick through once or twice and leave on the shelf to gather dust and give the cat asthma, weeellllll, all of a sudden, there it is, on your shelf, and the cat’s sneezing its box off…..
Anyway, this is one of those ‘tiny build’ examples.
Thing is: DK put out pretty good books. And the tiny build in question is one that, you know, has some resonance. Which is all well and fine and stuff, but is it any good?
Continue reading “LEGO 250 REVIEW: 11910 MICROSCALE SPACE CRUISER AND ‘GREAT LEGO SETS’ BOOK”
Is 21307 Caterham Seven 620R a great set, or is it simply one of the greatest sets Lego have ever released? Today’s Lego 250 review asks a question that can only be answered by deciding which exclamation you want to throw in front of “YES!”
Continue reading “LEGO 250 REVIEW: 21307 CATERHAM SEVEN 620R”
It’s not often I can say this, but this time, our Lego 250 reviews looks at a set that is, well, garbage.
Pinch and a punch and a Lego 250 review for the first of the month. It’s time for the one-joke character from the first Lego Movie to show he wasn’t worth an entire movie of that one joke for himself, as the Lego Batman Movie brings its own brand of tedious charmlessness into the set building experience. But is 70904 Clayface Splat Attack any good?
Continue reading “LEGO 250 REVIEW: 70904 CLAYFACE SPLAT ATTACK”
Thundercats! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Peppa Pig! Nothing that comes from anthropomorphic cartoon animals can possibly go wrong, because shutup furries and hentai doesn’t exist, right?
Or to put it another way: Oh, god. Chima.
Here’s a Lego 250 review.
Lego racist? Colonialist? Euro-centric? Have I given you that impression so far? SIDDOWN.
Welcome to Lego 250’s first peek at the tomb-looting shenanigans of Pharoah’s Quest. The Elgin Marbles ain’t got nothin’ on these babies……
Continue reading “LEGO 250 REVIEW: 7325 CURSED COBRA STATUE”
In today’s Lego 250 review, we delve into the murky world of corporate sponsorship, and question the appropriateness of accepting money from the oil industry, even though Lego is made from plastic, which… you know… is made from oil… and the oil company is… you know… made up….
For today’s Lego 250 review we’re going to do something slightly different.
Just before Christmas, I headed into my local Woolworths for some seasonal cinnamon-flavoured things that aren’t normally cinnamon flavoured shopping, to discover a large stand of Karen-Overordered-Again polybags lurking in the corner at a massive discount.
Having picked four of them up, and built them together, it makes sense to review them together, too. Four cheap polybags from four different themes, all crammed together by a shopping coincidence. That, kids, is the story of Jesus.
Continue reading “THE LEGO 250 REVIEW COPS THE CHRISTMAS SPECIALS”
Some art draws itself. Some stories write themselves. Some designs….. look, I’m just saying: if you have over 75 years of design history and narrative across multiple media to draw upon, some design ideas should be pretty easy to get your head around.
Anyway, today’s Lego 250 review takes on Batman.
Today’s Lego 250 review takes us to the heart of the Lego empire. We’re visiting the City theme, the Alpha and Omega of all things associated with the brand, and reviewing one of the countless small sets that have been released over the decades: 4427 Fire ATV.
Today’s Lego 250 review proves that big isn’t always better, especially if the set in question pulls all of your nostalgia feelz out of your body and uses them as skipping ropes.
Continue reading “LEGO 250 REVIEW: 70841 BENNY’S SPACE SQUAD”
Time for the Lego 250 reviews to hit up a new theme. This time we’re heading into territory very close to my heart: the world of ghouls, ghosts, vampires, and werewolves. It’s the creepy wonderment of the Monster Fighters theme, and the introductory set 9461 The Swamp Creature.
It’s back to the world of secrets, mystery, silence, and subterfuge as the Lego 250 reviews goes back to the ssssssssssshhhhhhhNinjas of Ninjago, with a review of that most traditional of Ninja combats, a really…. big… snake…. versus… I want to say willy-willy? It’s the deliriously wonderful bugfuckery of 70674 Fire Fang.
If the golden age of Science Fiction is twelve (Thank you forever, Peter Graham), then the golden age of Lego 250 reviews is somewhere between eight and thirteen. Let’s revisit that age for a review that will unashamedly burble over an ancient set like a Granddad under dementia care. Welcome to 6929 Starfleet Voyager. It’s my childhood. You all just live in it.
If we’re going to get back on the blogging circus now that we’re not hiding under our bed waiting for the roof to cave in, let’s get stuck into another Lego 250 review. Because, honestly, right now this whole get-through-250-in-a-year thing is looking like a Dunning-Kruger wet dream. So let’s go a little left-field, and rummage around the chuck-out bins at Aldi for a book/build combo. It’s a popcorn cart with pages attached!
Continue reading “THE LEGO 250 REVIEW GOES TO ALDI: 30364 POPCORN POLYBAG (AND A BOOK!)”
Let’s back up with another quick-fire Lego 250 review! At least this time I won’t rant on about racism in children’s toys. Because I’ve got a whole new thing to rant about!
Continue reading “LEGO 250 REVIEW: 70821 EMMET AND BENNY’S BUILD-AND-FIX-IT WORKSHOP”
Not this guy, but another Lego 250 review! This time, we hit the briny depths with an initial glimpse of one of the coolest themes outside of space: Atlantis.
Fly me to the mooooon, with another Lego 250 reviewwwwwwww. Yes, it’s been a while, and I’m going to have to mark double time if I want to get through these reviews by the end of the year. So let’s jump straight to one of the biggies: the eighth largest set in my collection, and second largest one I’ve reviewed so far (and let’s hope it goes better than the Rex’s Rexplorer review….), 60229 Rocket Assembly and Transport.
Continue reading “LEGO 250 REVIEW: 60229 ROCKET ASSEMBLY AND TRANSPORT”
Lee Battersby 