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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.

By Barry Kay (SAFOLs co-founder, CapeLUG Exco, Batman … Ssshhhh!)

When I first saw this set was accepted by LEGO® Ideas I was overjoyed. Childhood memories of watching the cartoon show on TV came flooding back. When I received the delivery of the set, I just left the box standing sealed for a while so I could just admire it – the largest LEGO® mech released to date.

Needless to say, a LEGO® set is for building and so I began.

The box consists of sixteen packets and six instruction books. One book for each lion and the sixth for the mech assembly. There is a small sticker sheet with five 2×2 plate stickers numbered from one to five. These are used on each of the lions.

The first two builds are the yellow and blue lions. I like the way LEGO® incorporates Technic elements and building styles into system sets these days. It helps for a stronger sturdier model that does not fall apart so easily. At first it seems like you are just putting together a lump of bricks, but as you continue the build, the lion starts to take shape.

The base body of the yellow and red lions, which make up the legs and feet, are the same build but what is great is that each lion has different features that take away any monotony of building the same thing a number of times.

The third build is the black lion, which is also Voltron’s head and torso. This is also a very solid build – the only downfall being Voltron’s face that can fall out very easily. The different elements used for the features are great especially the gold socket wrench as the symbol on Voltron’s chest.

The last two lions, green and red, are smaller and quicker to build than the others. These lions make up the arms.

Seeing all the lion’s features develop is a rather fun use of the SNOT technique which gives the lions an all-round solid body and great look.

The last book gives a little information about the Voltron cartoon show as well as the designers of the set. It starts with the building of Voltron’s sword and shield which is a really quick but fun little build.

Then for the assembly. It amazed me how easily the lion’s legs swivel around into position and each one clips so effortlessly into place to form into Voltron.

I really enjoyed the whole build and would highly recommend it to any mech fan.

As for playability, the lions are solid enough for gentle play, bearing in mind to be careful of Voltron’s face on the black lion as mentioned above. Once fitted together as Voltron, it should remain as a display piece due to it only having minimal manoeuvrability in the arms, and pieces tend to fall off if you pull and push the arms to move around.

The set retails at around R3200 and is an all-round great build.

By Marick Hornsveld (SAFOLs Member, Founding member of CapeLUG – The Western Cape LEGO User Group. Loves Technic, Creator vehicles, and dragons.)

The set is divided into six numbered bags, each containing a small number of parts. The box is modest, but the front cover image is quite a bit larger than the actual model.

The build starts with the inside base around which the body is to be built. I really like how regular bricks and pieces are combined with studless and studded Technic beams in this set. All LEGO pieces, no matter what theme they are from, are part of the LEGO universe, and I therefore think that combining Technic with regular bricks and pieces makes sense, despite some fans’ resistance.

The set contains a number of interesting pieces (and some great Technic parts) that have lots of potential for use in MOCs, especially if you are planning to build in white or orange.

SNOT techniques are used to great effect in this model to create an organic bird-like shape that looks interesting and is aesthetically pleasing from all sides. The way that the feathers are created is also fantastic – it looks very real.

The build itself is uncomplicated, and aside from the clever use of SNOT techniques and feathering, the build offers no interesting or surprising techniques. I spent just over two hours putting the set together, and all in all it was an enjoyable build.

Different techniques are used around the body, so the build doesn’t feel repetitive.

The final model is quite sturdy, although I won’t recommend it as a toy for kids. This is mainly a display model. It does make a good companion to last year’s BB-8 droid, especially because their colours match. They are also similar in size, which does mean that the scales of the two models are vastly different if compared to the movie characters.

Pressing on the tail of the Porg makes the mouth open and wings flap, although the wings don’t return to their original position entirely. Moving the mouth does give the Porg a cute facial expression.

At the current retail price, given the piece count, and despite some of the nice pieces the set includes, it is a bit on the pricey side and would therefore appeal mainly to Star Wars fans looking for a nice display model to add to their collection, rather than a purchase for parts.

The Star Wars franchise has received criticism for ‘creating’ the Porg, with fans saying that it is purely a mechanism to sell merchandise. Whether or not that is true, the island where The Last Jedi was filmed has a very large colony of Puffin birds. Rather than trying to digitally remove the birds from the film, the producers digitally altered the Puffins, turning them into Porgs, and even giving them a small storyline.

To summarise: 75230 Porg is a quick, easy build, with some interesting parts, but isn’t a bargain. It makes a nice display model.