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By Raymond Mc Pherson (SAFOLs Brick Deputy)

I had the privilege of building Welcome to Apocalypseburg, the largest set currently released for the LEGO® Movie Part 2. Here are my thoughts and review of this great piece (or shall we say pieces).

As this set sat in my lounge the temptation to build it since it arrived was huge. Unfortunately as an AFOL Adult things take our time such as working is always priority (We need a way to fund our hobby somehow.) So with a limited timeframe I started to put this together part by part until the masterpiece took shape.

The first thing and most obvious in the beginning was the Box. A huge colourful box which is great as it depicts the built set in all its splendour and shows off some of the play features that the set has to offer. The box contains numerous bags and some that accompany the smaller bags. There are 30 bags overall.

The instructions manual is a rather large book, which is to be expected for a set this size. The book details the development process, interviews and an interesting section (the first that I have seen or are aware of) that explains how to pick the set up.  

You start by building the first section of the base, which is actually half of the entire base clipped together. Later on you will build a mirror of the base you are building at this point. This follows by building Larry the Barista’s Coffee shop, which is nicely detailed and forms a central part of the story’s location. The second building is Scribble Cop’s (previously known as Bad Cop/Good Cop) jail cell and interrogation room.

We then move to building a gym and shower with a bath of sorts. Both of the builds in this are impressive as you can see externally that these were supposed be vehicles at some point, but have been utilized in different ways. I like the inclusion of the punching bag in the Gym as it resembles a DUPLO® block and it is obviously being punched out of the frustration that the denizens of the ex-Bricksburg feel.

The next phase of the build consists of building Chainsaw Dave’s Camper van, which is adjacent to the shower Tub combo. Chainsaw Dave is a post-apocalyptic version of Surfer Dave who can be seen in the first movie.

Batman with his Tyre Outfit/Armour is right at home here within his Merch Shop, which includes some hidden Easter Eggs as well. This section marks the beginning of the Statue of Liberty build, which is formed out of Technic pieces to construct the statue leaning on its side. The Technic system being integrated with Classic system bricks here is great. The Technic allows you to construct in an angle that will not be possible with system bricks.

 The Technic frame and inclusion of System Bricks meld well together and exposed elements are well hidden so that you cannot see the inner workings of the model so it displays well.

A tattoo parlour and clothing shop showing Post-Apocalyptic attire for sale is next to build. The Harley Quinn Minifigure (Suicide Squad version) is right at home here. The base and arm of the statue is being extended piece by piece as we move along.

My favourite part of this set comes up next. This is the building of the Statue of Liberty Head and Crown. The techniques that are used to construct the face and crown of Lady Liberty are amazing and awe inspiring.  The fact that this could be put together with normal parts and still contain an inner observation deck in the head of the statue is fantastic. The Torch that is fitted to the arm of the statue forms the final part of that section.

The Minifigures included in this set are:

Scribble Cop

Larry the Barista

Fuse (The Welder)

`Where are my Pants` Guy

Roxu

Chainsaw Dave

Mo-Hawk

Harley Quinn (Suicide Squad version)

Emmet

Green Lantern

Batman

Lucy

If you are building this set then make sure you count and pick out all the pieces required as per the top left of the page, instead of just following instructions and building as you see the parts inserted. You might miss something minor and then run into a problem where there is a connection needed and that is the part you missed, and you might face major deconstruction to get back to it.

Ultimately, this is a 360-degree playset and where the margins of the base will not fit in greatly with your existing City layout or integration thereof. There are as always ways and means to make it work, it is LEGO® after all. Being a play set it does provide fantastic play scenes and options to bring the LEGO® Movie Part 2 to life.

Pictures

Reviewed by Chris McGee (SAFOLs Member, jhbLUG Member)

The turn of the New Year brings with it a new outlook for some, a fresh start for others and of course, new LEGO® sets for the lucky ones. Early 2019 will also see the theatrical release of “The LEGO® Movie 2: The Second Part”, and with it being based on the famous building block system and following a successful first film, we are getting a whopping nineteen sets released for January (I am still unsure of distribution availability of all of these and it excludes Duplo® sets and the polybags) with the first wave. We also have confirmation of a collectible minifigure series, and I am sure a second wave will be lined up. So this also means that 2019 could come with a number of unplanned expenditures as well.

Although my first choice for a set would have likely been set “70841: Benny’s Space Squad” (hopefully a future review), being an 80’s child an all, the Ultrakatty set hooked me following the official release pictures. The battle-hardened, super-sized version of Unikitty is a great example of the post-apocalyptic theme the sequel is going for.

The Build:

The main build, being Ultrakatty, is fairly straightforward, but with some nice ideas for building body structures along with the horns and armour. The legs are on ball joints on the shoulders and hips, with hinge pieces at the knees and ankles (those are printed fire on the pieces above the paws). This gives the giant cat some good poses alongside the four ball joints on the tail and one used for the neck. There is even a hinge based join on what is probably the lower abdomen just above the hip which gives a nice articulation point along the back to raise the tail higher.

The legs, body and head are littered with spiky detail, probably bordering on too much though depending on your personal taste. The three larger spikes on either side of the head are on ball joints with the head, and each are clipped, give a good range of movement to what can only be described as the ‘mane’. My favorite part though has to be the shoulder padding armour, which is attached via a clip and small skateboard wheels and hangs over the top of the front legs. The wheel being clipped gives minimal friction and moves up and down seamlessly with the shoulder on the ball joint and I have yet get it caught. A few stickers give the detail on the armour plating on the sides of the body and shoulders.

Ultrakatty also gets three different facial expressions (all printed on a 1×5 brick which is two bricks in height), which get a lovely variety of expressions to please everyone and help with playability. My preference is to still keep the friendly face going as the norm. The build also allows for a relatively easy replacement of the face when wanted, and is still quite sturdy when built.

Within the set is also a brick-built Duplo® figure which we saw at the end of the first LEGO® movie, placed in to be the antagonist of the scene. It has a quaint build, with good bright colours which contrast nicely to the generally earthy colours used on Ultrakatty. The mouth can’t fully close, but can open nice and wide. The build has the ability to turn the eye from a ball joint behind the head.

The Minifigures:

The set come with two minifigures, being Emmet and Lucy. The latter being geared up for battle as the set name suggests, along with set of goggles, scarf, quiver, a cross bow and beautifully printed shield made from a stop sign. Emmet is a very similar figure to those from the original movie sets, although his printing is scuffed and faded given the apocalypse and all. He gets two facial expressions also set to the scene. The expression showing the terror and panic is a firm favourite of mine.

Warrior Lucy also gets some similar styled clothes compared to the first film, although the printing for her torso is new as well, and arm printing (both arms), and a new leg print representing leather and padding. I am not sold on the tan printing to outline her hips though. The great updated mould for her hair now comes with goggles set above her colored highlights. She also comes with two scene setting expressions.

Playability:

The set works well together and does enough to set a scene and the Minifigures included are the main stars of the franchise, although an additional antagonistic Duplo® villain would’ve been great. Ultrakatty is just ideal for what it needs to be and can be moved around easily with very few parts becoming detached. Although I noted that the spikes became an annoyance when setting up poses (results will vary based on your patience here). Another good feature is that this set can be combined with set 70829 (Emmet and Lucy’s Escape Buggy) to create something new and take the play further.

The verdict:

Overall, I liked building the set, and I enjoy the set for what it is. I feel that the spikes may just be overdone as it is annoying to get poses right without knocking them out of place, but think that it is also perfect for setting the scene and will depend on one’s own preferences. The prints are great in the set and getting a larger version of Unikitty as “Ultrakatty” makes it special amongst the other sets coming. I will be looking forward to the other sets if this is the standard.

Reviewed by Thys Brits (SAFOLs Member, jhbLUG Member)

So, the 1st of January arrived, after much anticipation from the AFOL community, bringing the release of the Corner Garage, set 10264 as the annual modular Creator Expert set, for 2019.

The announcement of the set on 3 December came with the usual amount of feedback from the LEGO® community, a lot of it negative, similar to that for the previous modular, the Downtown Diner, set 10260. I was also not really convinced about the set, but recently have discovered that LEGO® often surprises me from what you see on the box, compared to what is inside. In short, I think the Corner Garage is a great set, very much different from most of the previous modular sets, and I’ll explain why I think so.

Firstly the basics, as is tradition with a product review such as this. The box is the standard size as the previous modular buildings. Some people have suggested that LEGO® are cutting down on box sizes, taking the environment into consideration, which can be seen in many of the new sets also released on 1 January. This is not the case with this set though. Opening the box reveals six sets of numbered bags for the 2568 pieces, with the sand baseplate and two loose grey plates. These are used along with bag set 4 for the first floor of the building, which is odd, since bag set 5 also contains these same plates to be used as the second floor of the building.

Bag sets:

• 1 and 2 are used for the ground floor
• 3 for the courtyard cover and the tow truck
• 4 for the first floor
• 5 for the second floor
• 6 for the roof.

The build took me about five to six hours altogether. Detailed images can be seen at the the bottom of this review from the Official LEGO® press release. However I put together a little display of the set with a few other sets, particularly the two modulars now retired, the Brick Bank and Detective’s Office.

First off, the ground floor, which houses the actual garage. There is a lot of tiling to be done in this section, as about half the baseplate is covered with tiles for the filling station drive-through / courtyard. The interior of the garage is very simplistic, housing a manual lift module, which can be operated with a sliding mechanism from the back of the building, which is rather well thought out and one of many nifty design features in the set.

The other interesting design feature is that of the garage door, which doesn’t use the standard sliding-into-the-roof of previous sets with garage doors, but rather a roll-up mechanism. This leaves a lot more open space when opening up the set to play with it. The garage also has a toolbox on wheels, a wheel-alignment station and a cashier’s desk with cash register. Clever placement of 2×1 bricks with a technic pin extension on the exterior wall houses the display of spare wheel rims. All these features make me feel that the set actually got the wrong name, as this is, in fact, a tyre shop, not a garage.

The courtyard section is also very cleverly put together. To my mind, this was what LEGO® was trying to achieve with the set – showing us how to build at angles. Most LEGO® sets are built square, but this set has several examples of how to build across the normal straight lines. The petrol pump section is one, whilst the front of the building is the other.

After the ground floor is the tow-truck. Another part of the build that I feel sets elements of the Corner Garage apart for me from other LEGO® sets. Compared to cars in City sets, it is a truly Creator Expert build, very rounded off and also featuring some features from older sets, such as the front fender, which is similar to that of the fire engine from the old Fire House modular set’s fire truck. The towing mechanism is also detailed and not just a simple up-and-down swivel. In short, it adds to the set’s appeal, instead of detracting from it.

The first floor of the building houses a vet’s office. This is where most people found the set odd, since very few places in real life would one find a vet’s office on a first floor of a building, as well as finding much above a garage. However, I don’t mind it at all, seeing as LEGO® is supposed to be built using imagination and children’s make-believe.

The floor is divided into two sections. Firstly, the vet’s treatment room, featuring a fish tank, a desk with a built desk lamp, what looks like an incubation station, hosting a frog in the incubator, along with some bottles and a printed dog biscuit 1×1 round tile, a treatment table with a bunny and a research station with a built microscope. Second is the reception area, featuring a small balcony, two couches, a coffee table, pot plant and stand with a parrot on it. This is one section that I feel could have had more in it. The couches are put together very simply, however, this may also be a way for LEGO® to show how very simple techniques still work for complicated displays. The two sections are also another example of angled building, with the wall between then running diagonally across the floor. The windows of both the first and second floor also feature some SNOT (Studs Not On Top) techniques.

The second floor is a very simplistic lodging of what appears to be a young man, as it features a small micro-build truck on the one wall, a rock-and-roll poster and nothing much else, apart from the couch, TV and bunk-style bed. The kitchen build is quite detailed and the room also has a corner-toilet. The TV set also shows some clever techniques. Again, I suppose this floor could have been something completely different and much more detailed, as many people have hinted at. However, I still enjoyed putting it all together.

The last bag set contains the roof section. This features a door to the roof and a pool recliner with an umbrella for someone to tan on the roof, a flower bed and the rounding off of the building’s top. There are a lot of small pieces to put together in this, with 24 quarter-round tiles used for decoration on the front, along with 24 of the new 1×1 Roof Tile, of which there are 80 in the set. The set also features a number of other new(er) parts, such as 6250018: Plate 1X2 W/ Vert. Tube and 6217876: Tile 2X2, W/ Deg. 45 Cut. MOC’ers will love adding these parts to their collections.

In summary, if this were my first modular building, I would be enthralled. I think the reason people have had so many negative comments around the set is because there are now so many other sets, and MOC’s, out there. One other thing to remember is that many of the modular have very little interior detail, as mostly these are used as display pieces. I enjoyed building the set and will recommend it to anyone. The only real downside of the set is the price, with less than 100 parts more than the Downtown Diner, it costs R600 more than the previous release. A lot of people will hope this set will be released to stores other than the LEGO® Certified Store so it can become available on sales.

Reviewed by Chris McGee (SAFOLs Member, jhbLUG Member)

Simple but fantastic…

A couple of years back I joined the LEGO® Ideas website to discover a wealth of great designs and builds. The main reason for this was due to the Ideas set 21305 which got me into the LEGO® lifestyle again and from the instruction manual realized that this was fan made and that more MOCs were on the site waiting to be discovered.

My first encounter was aimed at following JKBricksworks (fan designer Jason Allemann who designed the maze) and there I found and adored the pop-up book design. The design itself was basically a tan cover with brick built writing across the front and spine of the book. The book even contained a latch with which to keep it shut. The entry was a joint effort with fellow fan designer Grant Davis. Needless to say, I was hooked on the Ideas concept.

When I heard that the set had been selected to become a set, I was thrilled, and couldn’t wait to see the final product. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed when the set pictures were released, as LEGO® had gone an extra step, and given a wonderful colour mix to the book. They had also put in parts for an extra story, bringing the part count to a healthy 859 pieces, and taking the theme towards a couple of well known fairy tales. The price point then is very good, with nothing in the set needing to be licensed or any unique molds, and retails at R1,199.99.

I was sold instantly by the look and theme which reminds me of medieval times, and really hoped the build would meet the expectations.

The Build

The book part of the build has a lot of very similar pieces and colours, making the numbered packets very handy (packets 1 through part of 3 build the book cover and the tan ‘pages’). This build was not as repetitive as expected given the look of the book, and gave me enough turns to keep me intrigued. I would suggest that one avoids building the book at night as the contrast of the black and dark green pieces used therein can make you life a bit difficult in bad light.

The book is nicely designed to effectively open and shut without becoming misaligned after repetitive use. In fact, it almost feels simple in its construction, making me question why nobody has really done/attempted this before (from a LEGO® stand point). The exterior of the book is beautifully finished with a brown trim and great printed parts. The main front tile is just amazing with its ‘Once Upon A Brick’ title, and slightly gold printed detail. The inclusion of the fan creators names as additional tiles is also a lovely touch by LEGO®.

That then puts the pop-up mechanism up front, and this again is simple yet fantastic in how it opens up each time with such smooth, fluid movement. The pop-up displays are also nicely suited to the main colour backing being dark green.

The inclusion of two stories was a lovely touch. Little Red Riding Hood was the first within packets 3 and 4, and Jack and the Beanstalk coming in packets 5 and 6. Both have been carefully planned to fit the specifications that would allow for a seamless book opening and closing experience. The specs referring to the width (closed) as well as height and length for the movement and storage. The cottage is a more traditional scene, and also comes with some interior props to have fun with. The beanstalk though has an unusual mechanism, which again works excellently given its nature.

The colours across both the builds work well with the main book cover and given how these actually stand out, it is easy to understand why the dark green was chosen vs the original tan. Some special side builds are provided within each scene. The cottage gets a built bed and coffee table with a matching pink mug and teapot. The beanstalk scene gets a number of microscale builds (houses, trees, clouds and a castle in the clouds) all of which bring the giant to a more believable size.

The Minifigures

Yep, we also get some great, and unique minifigures for this one and key characters for each of the story builds. Red Riding Hood, her grandmother and the wolf (wonderfully disguised in broken reading glasses and granny’s pyjamas)are provided to the cottage scene. Red comes with a lovely printed dress piece (same mould as the used for Minnie Mouse in the Disney collectible minifigure series), as well as a cloth coat piece, and a dual-molded hood in red, with a strip of hair across her brow. There are also some cookie printed 1×1 round tiles and a basket included for accessories to the scene.

While with the beanstalk scene, we get a great nanofigure representing Jack and then a standard minifigure as the giant, each with some great unique printing (keep your eyes peeled for the golden goose). Although no accessories are provided for these characters (almost wish there was a golden egg and/or something to represent magic beans in here), the figures provide a great ensemble to the micro-scale scene.

The Verdict

These are the type of sets which I really enjoy, as it effectively spawns creativity while building. Around halfway through building the cottage I was thinking of what I would like to do as a pop-up display, and my mind was filled with various ideas. Honestly, this ranks in my top 3 sets of the year that I have had the pleasure of building, and any items I have mentioned which have negative connotations, I see as ‘nitpicking’. This is a great set, and a must have for anyone, and if I may be so bold, an ideal set to get multiples of.

Reviewed by Rakesh Gosai (SAFOLs Exco, NMBLUG Member)

LEGO has recently re-introduced accessories packs. Receiving this before it got released was a delight. LEGO previously released the first five accessory packs and three Xtra-themed play-mats, but today we’re looking at the 40341 Sea Accessories. It will be available in January 2019.The packs include only accessories with no minifigures.

These are the 32 elements included in the pack:

1. Treasure Chest (Top & Bottom)
2. Barrel
3. Shark & Lower Jaw
4. White 1×1 Round Plate x 2
5. Red 1×1 Round Plate x 2
6. Pirate Map
7. Dark Brown Sabre Hilts x 2
8. Parrot
9. Spear x 2
10. Binoculars
11. 24 Facets Jewel x 3
12. Stars x 2
13. Fish
14. Surfboard
15. Oar
16. Clamshell
17. 4L bars x 2
18. Orange Cone
19. Flippers x 3
20. Plate 2×2 with Round Bottom

By far my two favourite elements are the Parrot and the Shark, one can never have too many of these in your collection. I’m glad that LEGO has been issuing themed-based accessory packs. It gives immediate access to some Xtra elements to add to your collection! The LEGO Xtra 40341 would go together nicely with the LEGO Xtra Sea Playmat 853841.