Posted on

Foto Fun Competition

https://forms.gle/MUVkh6dBzNC9WK4G7

The Rules

  1. Fill in the form below and upload your photos.
  2. One Entry per person with a maximum of 5 images are allowed.
  3. Images need to be clear and high resolution. Max 10mb per image and must have your name as the filename.
  4. Please do not put any logos onto the images or we will not be able to use them.
  5. By entering this competition, you give permission for SAFOLs to use the images even if you are not a winner. Credit will still be given to the photographer. 
  6. Images must be your own and not sourced from the internet.
  7. This competition is only open to South African members due to logistics reasons.
  8. Entry details entered are for the sole purposed of this competition and they will not be used for any marketing purposes.
  9. Entries will be judged by SAFOLs Admins, and their decision is final.
  10. Competition closes on 03 December 2023, 23h00.
  11. Have Fun!

All Entries

10312 Icons Jazz Club Review

Posted on

By Rakesh Gosai (SAFOLs Brick Deputy)

Welcome to the 18th set in the Modular Buildings Collection, the Jazz Club. This set not only features the Jazz Club, but also a rooftop greenhouse, pizzeria, and a tailor shop.

The set comes in 22 numbered bags, with instructions in a separate booklet. The build is divided into three main sections: the jazz club, the pizzeria, and the tailor’s shop. Also, something new for me, are the instructions inside a white carton and this includes a 32×32 grey baseplate inside. I enjoyed reading the facts that are between the steps. My favourite piece is the Jazz Concert piece with a minifigure playing a trumpet, this piece is beautiful!

The jazz club is the most complex section of the build. It features a 3-story structure with a stage, bar, and dance floor. The stage is decorated with a backdrop of musical notes, and the bar has a jukebox and a selection of drinks. The dance floor is made up of a series of tiles that can be moved around to create different patterns.

The pizzeria is a 2-story structure with a kitchen, dining area, and rooftop terrace. The kitchen is equipped with a pizza oven, a stove, and a sink. The dining area has a table and chairs, and the rooftop terrace has a bench and a planter. The detail for the wood burning pizza oven is outstanding! My daughter always asks about a toilet in these modular buildings, I am glad this set has it!

The tailor’s shop is a small 1-story structure with a workroom and a display window. The workroom has a sewing machine, a cutting table, and a mannequin. The display window is decorated with a selection of clothes.

The set includes 8 unique minifigures: a jazz musician, a DJ, a bartender, a pizza chef, a tailor, a customer, a couple, and a cat. The minifigures are all well-designed and have a variety of accessories, such as musical instruments, food, and clothing.

The build is challenging but rewarding. The instructions are clear and concise, and the parts are well-labeled. The set includes a number of new building techniques, such as the 45-degree doorway, which make the build even more interesting. The details in each section of this set is amazing and sure to delight expert builders.

The finished product is a stunning display piece. The attention to detail is incredible, from the intricate brickwork on the facade to the realistic instruments in the jazz club. The set is sure to bring joy to builders of all ages.

The backyards of the Modular buildings are usually unimpressive. This set fits nicely between the Boutique Hotel 10297 and the Police Station 10278. The Jazz Club is an awesome addition to any neighbourhood with its amazing colour scheme, good building techniques and plenty of details.

The set is a great value for the price. It has 2899 pieces, which is a lot of bang for your buck.

Overall, the Lego Icons 10312 Jazz Club is an excellent set that is sure to please fans of all ages. It is a challenging but rewarding build, and the finished product is a stunning display piece. I highly recommend it.

43217 Disney™ Up House Review

Posted on

Review by Ben Groot (SAFOLs Member, CapeLUG Member)

My family and I enjoy watching Disney movies together, often with some home-made popcorn. We have watched Disney’s Up several times, with the DVD sitting in our collection. When we saw that Lego was releasing a set for this movie, it was high on our wanted list. Many people will also recall that one of the set’s designers, Ollie Gregory, visited South Africa earlier this year. I was unfortunately not able to get a signed box of this set.

The box contains the instruction manual, a sticker sheet, and four numbered bags. In each of the first three bags a different minifigure is included: Russel, Carl and Dug the dog. The set contains 598 parts, with 6 unique elements, other than the minifigs.

Starting with the minifigs, they are portrayed very accurately. Both Carl and Russel have the double-sided minifig head: Russel’s head has a smile on one side and a big smile on the other, whilst Carl has his well-known scowl on one side and a smile on the other. He also sports his walking cane.

Russel’s backpack was a very fun build: it attaches to his neck in a clever way, and contains his cup, binoculars, a pan, a fork and even his trumpet! The weight of the backpack does, however, mean that he cannot stand on his own, and must be fixed onto a plate or brick for him not to topple backwards.

Starting with bag 1, Russel is built, and then work starts on the house itself. Lots of details from the movie are included in some very clever ways: a ribbed round brick (part no 4650644) is used as a lampshade, and a black minifig hat (part no 6349965) is used as part of the ancient record player. There are unfortunately quite a few stickers to be applied, for example the picture above the lamp, as well as the wall clock. The biggest unhappiness as far as stickers are concerned, was that both sides of the front door have a sticker. If one considers that many children will want to build this set, the use of stickers, especially on the front door, may make it difficult to get the look exactly right.

Bag 2 continues the house, and here a few SNOT-techniques are used to build up the windows and frames, and to get their angles just right. Inside the house, the details continue, with a tv set (stickered again), as well as the iconic “My adventure book”. I quite liked the modified minifig head, which is used as a transparent money jar labelled “Paradise Falls”, with even some coins in it (part no 6422742 and unique to this set). This was a great touch, but the part will of course not easily be used in MOC’s. It did, however, add to the nostalgia from the movie, as the money jar is referred to several times in the movie.

The upper level of the house and a portion of the roof are built from bag 3. The upper level contains Carl’s bedroom with a cleverly designed bed, and an attic. The TV unfortunately looks as if it has merely been stuck in the middle of the floor, without considering where it would fit best. The roof slope is obtained with the use of some hinge bricks. Unfortunately, there are no stairs linking the top and bottom floors, but given the size of the build, this is not surprising.

The last bag completes the roof, and then it is on to the balloons. Even though the building of the balloons is repetitive, they are cleverly spaced, so that the colours are evenly distributed. They are cleverly linked to the chimney, using an axle, and one can see how they are in the process of being released through the chimney. Lastly, there is loose 6×6 plate with bow that contains the fence and a few stray balloons, as well as a well-designed gas bottle inflating a balloon.

The build is not difficult at all, but, once finished, I was quite surprised at how small it was: the base of the house is only 18×6 studs. For its small size, though, it has an impressive amount of detail.

This is a lovely display piece, and with its abundant colour will immediately catch the eye. It is very playable as well, which will probably attract the kids. It fits in nicely with some of the other Disney sets, such as the Winnie the Pooh set (set no 21326) and can easily be displayed next to them.

The set retails for R999 at LCS and R969 at Kiddiwinks respectively at time of writing, but prices are set to increase on 1 September. At time of writing, LCS seems to be sold out, but Kiddiwinks shows a number in stock.

I would highly recommend buying this set – it will be nice a collaboration for parents and children to build and enjoy.

Posted on

40649 Iconic Up-Scaled Minifigure Review

Review by Brett Thomas (SAFOLs Members, CapeLUG Members)

When I first saw the release pictures of this set a few months ago I know it was a must add to my collection. I am a mad minifigure collector and this fits perfectly in my collection and new size for display. It retails for R 879.00 currently exclusive to LCS stores.

The box is a flip top type like some of the Art sets and that allows for easy opening and little damage should you want to keep the box. The box contains the instruction manual, and bags numbered 1 to 5. There are no stickers, a huge plus in my view. The set contains 654 parts, with the blue dome for the cap being unique to this set. The 4 head yellow outside bow (4 x 6) pieces are only found in this set and the Pirate figure that is exclusive to the LEGO® House in Billund.

The bags are very minifig part specific. Bag 1 is for the torso and hips. Bag 2 builds both legs. Bag 3 the arms and hands. Bag 4 the head and bag 5 the peak cap.

The first 2 notable things about the figure from the pictures on the box and manual is firstly it uses the standard red and blue minifigure with the first minifig head basic smile and eye print. Secondly the cap looks a bit strange and odd shaped (more about this later). I really like the colour choice as this is the one, I associate with the “birth” of this version of the minifig in 1978.

The torso build uses a combination of slopes and a very clever middle to recreate the minifig torso shape perfectly. This clever shape is achieved by using the 1 x 2 technic brick with 2 holes raised by 2 bricks high on top of a 1 x 4 technic brick with 3 holes. The sides are attached via pins creating the slope of the torso. The torso uses 2 different size red wall elements which reduces part count and weight. Two technic cross axles are left protruding from the torso to attach the arms.

The hips are snot constructed using angle plates to attach the build and 2 more cross axles to attach the legs. The hips are mostly built “upside down and attached to a flipped torso using 1 x 2 plates with vertical tubes to join the two pieces. The legs are built next and are simply constructed mainly using bricks and tiles. The genius in my view is the clever use of two 2 x 8 plates with holes placed in the leg hollows to join them to the hips. The 1 x 2 x 1 bricks with 4 knobs as used in the Brickheadz are used to connect the bow pieces that create the curve on top of each leg.

Next are the arms and hands. The arms are great examples of LEGO® maths at work as the use of corner plates and tiles perfectly recreate the arm bend angle with no flimsiness at all. There is a technic pin used to attach the hands. Each hand consists of 10 parts and in my view does create the shape of the minifig hand reasonably well. A round brick with cross is used to attach the hand to the arm.

Bag build the head and from a design view, probably the most difficult to match the minifig head shape of all the parts. The centre is a combination of technic frames, angle plates and bricks to build up the core of the head. An interesting use of the black mudguard 2 x 4 piece to attach the big head bow pieces. A combination of slopes and bows are used to mimic the curve at the bottom of the head. The eyes and smile are printed on 1 of the yellow bow pieces. The top of the head has 2 2 x 4 plates with 2 knobs (a big jumper plate in my terms) to connect the cap.

Last is the cap, this is probably the most controversial part of this build as the shape of the peak and alignment to the top is not perfect, but in my view the finished model looks way better than the pictures and perfectly acceptable. The build of the base of the peak is another snot build, which is built like a wall and then tipped over. The arches and bows added to the top of this “wall” create the brim of the peak. The dome simply clips onto the built base.

There is a small mini build that fits inside the dome, which is a series of gears and levers, with some printed dial parts. There is a minifigure in the same attire with can be placed in the mini build to “drive” the brain of the built figure. This for me is a really cool addition to this build.

Overall, this was a build I really enjoyed with some clever techniques to create joins and shapes. The figure stands 27 cm high and is very sturdy and poseable. The legs, arms, hands, and head move in the same way as a minifigure. This is an excellent recreation at a bigger scale and a worthy addition to any minifigure collection.

This set will offer a reasonable opportunity for customisation. In doing some research this construction of the legs, arms and torso of the buildable Harry and Hermione use the same build and are the same size. Check out @pixelogre on Instagram for a recreation of the toy soldier minifigure using this set as the base, a truly excellent customisation.

Posted on

Celebration Competition

Build a scene of celebration. A party, wedding, festival…Max size: 32×32 baseplate.

  • Must be your own creation. No LEGO® released sets.
  • Only ONE entry per person.
  • Categories:  
    • Brick build
    • Digital build
    • Kids 11 to 17 
    • Kids   5 to 10
  • A minimum amount of 6 entries per category required. If the minimum is not met, then the category will fall away from the competition.
  • Open to Facebook Group Members and Instagram @sa.fols followers. 
  • Please mail your entry to info@safols.co.za (max 5 images), Caption your entry and note which category it is for.
  • Closing date 31 April 2023 – 23h00.
  • This competition is only open to South African members due to logistics reasons.
  • Entries will be judged by SAFOLs Admins, and their decision is final.
  • Have Fun!!!

Brick Build Category Entries

5 -10 Years Category Entries

11 – 17 Years Category Entries

Posted on

10305 Lion Knights’ Castle Review

Reviewed by Angelina Yonekura (SAFOLs Member, CapeLUG Member)

For Christmas in 1984, as a kid, I received the King’s Castle, my first ever LEGO set. With four horses and 14 minifigures the possibilities were endless but typically the red guys vs. the blue guys. 2013 was the last time a castle or kingdom theme set has been released by LEGO. The 10305 Lion Knights Castle commemorates LEGO’s 90th anniversary.  4514 pieces designed by Mike Psiaki, Milan Madge, and Ashwin Visser.

The two instruction manuals contain a history of the castle kingdom theme, visually describing the evolution and history of these sets to the current lion knights’ castle. There are 35 bags in 26 building sections, and an unnumbered 36th bag holds larger plates and thankfully no stickers. The time it took me to build was approximately 15 ½ hours although I had modified the walls to include more plants. I did not grasp the size of this set even looking at the bags until it was built and then the wow factor kicks in.

For any child or adult who loves the medieval times of knights on horses, fighting epic battles, this is the set that would impress them. This is a very large and well-rounded and equipped set. The various new pieces and techniques including angles and snot techniques truly benefit any LEGO fan.

Minifigures include Lion Knights, Forest men, a few Black Falcon knights, a wizard and peasantry. Queen Lionne with her fully decked assemble and horse is ready for battle and probably one of my favorites. She is escorted by an all-female Queen’s guard thus changing what used to be an all-male tradition.  A change between the older Lion Knights and Black Falcon’s is the leg design adding trip and chainmail improving the level of minifigure detail. One Black Falcon minifigure is reminiscent of the Monty Python and Holy Grail squire with the coconuts and had they added a coconut to his already heavy pack it would have been a great easter egg. I do wish they had used the older helmets with chin guard (3896) from the 1980 to early 1990’s for the Black Falcons. Maybe a bit of nostalgia but those were featured in in black and dark grey in earlier versions of Black Falcons.

Unique angles and section of the castle walls. It separates in two parts and needs to be as large as it is. Only issue is connection between both very large and heavy sections are just 2 modified 1×1 open clip. The issue I have found is if the alignment is not just right it won’t connect, and they easily disconnect with the slightest movement. Small modification of adding two clips would assist if it became an issue.

The waterwheel turns a gristmill with all the gears moving realistically and a sack of grain. There is even a medieval privy with a roll of toilet paper. Indoor stable at the gate, and a dungeon where the skeleton roams. There are stalls in the open section of the castle featuring food and lots of flowers and creeping ivy over an archway. The balcony by the waterwheel has an amazing sliding feature that slides in and out of a castle wall when you open it and incorporates hinges to bend when you close the castle section making a square balcony. There are so many hidden details like the birds’ nets, forest men hideout, and various side rooms and features it makes the build entertaining and fun.

The kitchen is complete with an oven and a section with various foods and containers and a flowing water feature looking like flowing water. The kid’s playroom has a yellow castle most likely a designer nod to the 1978 Classic Castle (375/6075) in yellow.

Pros: The kitchen is by far the best room in the castle. An orange/red light brick would have made an exceptional addition in the fireplace. Weapons are not lacking in this set from the armory located in the portcullis room, above the storeroom, and on the walls in the hidden Forest men room. There is enough to equip the peasantry if needed to save the castle. The angles in the castle, some connected by ball joints, and various wedge usage, create a lot of excitement with challenging and new techniques.  This set comes with a wonderful assortment of 22 minifigures (including a skeleton), a cow, lamb, bird, various frogs and two horses. Arched windows and the thatched roof are some of the most impressive techniques I have seen in regard to roof builds. Unlike the tiles on the blacksmith these give texture and variation of colors making it visibly appealing.
 
Misses: The wizard Magisto is simply welcome but completely plain with no printing unlike most of the detailed printing on the 21 other minifigures. Even in an earlier set he had a belt with a moneybag which had been a consistent feature in prior editions.  Bell tower is a big miss featuring a pear gold bell but hidden behind a small window unlike most bell towers with large arched openings. The kitchen, while my favourite room in the castle, lacks light and you do miss some of the detail as it can get very dark.
There are a lot of discussions about the ramp. It feels incomplete, and the long slopes with limited studded surfaces inhibit placing any horses or minifigures on most of it. The designers take great care to round the walls and add great window features, but this feels as if they have forgotten about this section.

Personal wishes: Honestly in a castle this huge you would think there would be a throne room but instead there is a room with a harpsichord or kids’ playroom. Personally, I modified it to have a creeping vine with SNOT bricks, but various other options would help break up the wall of the same color. Brick on brick of light blue grey intermixed with masonry bricks while welcoming for variation there are much more techniques and options out there. Would love if additional sets include more horses with various barding. Overall, this was a very welcomed for old castle fans like me.

Value for money: At R6500 it is on the higher end cost wise and cost per brick is not great for the variety of pieces, but this is balanced with the experience and nostalgia for the adult castle theme fans.

Name: Lion Knights’ Castle

Set#: 10305

Theme: LEGO Icons

Cost: Official LEGO store R6,499.00

Brick Count: 4514 pcs, 21 minifigures, 1 skeleton, 1 cow, 1 baby sheep, 2 horses

Unique pieces: Inverted 2×2 curved slopes in Reddish Brown (1750), 2×3 plate modified rock/claw fingers in nougat (27261), 10 different shield designs some classic with a few multiples of the Lion Knights shields. Cloth flags (100731, 1000728). There are some color changes, but my personal favorite is the cow (64452pb01c01),

Size: Closed 38cm high, 44cm wide

Minifigures: Release Date: August 8, 2022

Posted on

40499 Santa’s Sleigh

By Rakesh Gosai (SAFOLs Brick Deputy)

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Flying in from the North Pole is the LEGO 40499 Santa’s Sleigh! I had the opportunity to get this set building Santa and his holiday ride, the perfect addition to this any Winter Village set, or any Modular City build. With only 343 pieces, the designer has designed an amazing set!

Just like Christmas morning, there’s a lot to open with this set. The box itself brings so much joy AND is a joy to look at. The scene of Santa Claus riding through the snow with the four reindeer at the front is a classic Christmas look. You can see gold detailing on the sleigh and the vast selection presents stacked up behind on the sleigh.

 Inside the box were the instructions, a sticker sheet, four bags of pieces, and four individually packaged reindeer. The individual packaging was a delight because the reindeer are safe inside the packaging and no damages could occur during shipping. The sticker sheet has 9 beautifully designed stickers which complement the build. In case you did not know, the number plate “54N74” translates to “SANTA”.

The build is quick and should take you less than an hour, and surprisingly, this Santa Claus minifigure is exclusive to the set, and has a few differences than the Santa Claus that we got from 10293 Santa’s Visit, giving you an additional reason to buy this set.

This set has a few nice details that I enjoyed, the GPS…a much-needed item in 2022, the alphanumeric number plate, an ornate SC logo on the front, and the rear compartment for the snacks, the pretzel for Santa and the carrot for the reindeer.

 I love the details of this set and the four reindeer looks so amazing; I would like to get another set to get the number of reindeer to 8.

This set is a perfect gift!

80039 Monkie Kid™ The Heavenly Realm Review

Posted on

Reviewed by Richard Yang (SAFOLs Member, zaLUG Member)

When I found myself as an AFOL again in 2019, the only oriental LEGO® theme available was Ninjago, So I was pretty excited on the launched of the Monkie Kid™ theme in 2020. The first few waves of products were alright – cyberpunk style, cool mechs, highly detailed designed minifigs, and that was it. What changed my view on the theme was the launch of set 80039 The Heavenly Realm in June 2022, which gave me the same feel as the Ninjago set 70751 Temple of Airjitsu – EPIC!

The Monkie Kid™ theme was adapted from the classic Chinese fantasy novel “Journey to the West (西遊記)” which is well-known to many Chinese households. The various storylines of the novel were depicted in many movies, TV series or storybooks which I thoroughly enjoyed as a child, journeying through the various adventures with the main characters.

First Impression

As the Monkie Kid™ theme are online exclusive in South Africa, I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the box (48cm x 58cm) as unboxed my delivery.

Contained in the box was instruction booklet pack separately wrapped in plastic, 17 numbered bags, and 4 of the 16×16 brick bases, in white.

The instruction pack contained 2 instruction booklets, 2 sticker sheets as well as a shiny plastic sheet of clouds.

The build

The set contained 2,433 parts, with 8 minifigs and a dog. Overall build experience was enjoyable as expected of any LEGO® set (except the application of stickers!). There are some great SNOT techniques throughout the build, I am particularly impressed on the technique used to build a section upside down on the wall of the Peach Garden!

In terms of functionality, the initial form of the build is concealed behind the clouds, and as you push the Gateway section, the clouds move aside, together with the two other scenes, to reveal the palace behind the clouds.

The set is a great display piece as a traditional oriental structure. The model measures over 37 cm high, 42 cm wide and 34 cm deep. The model can be split into 4 sections, where it tells you 3 stories as part of the 4 chapters of Heavenly Realm saga, out of the 100 chapters. But more of that in the next section.

The Story

This set is adapted from Chapter 4-7 of the novel, The Heavenly Realm Saga. The first 3 chapters before this was about the story of the birth of the Monkey King in Flower Fruit Mountain (Yes – set 80024!), followed by the protagonist causing trouble across the different realms.

Chapter 4 starts with the Monkey King being summoned by the Jade Emperor to theHeavenly Palace (靈霄殿), for all the damages he caused in the different realms. The Jade Emperor assigned him the role of the Stable Warden (弼馬溫), to keep him at bay. However, the role was mundane and boring, and he soon realizes that it was one of the lowest and insignificant rank in the realm. He deserted the position and returned to the Flower Fruit Mountain. The only presence of this chapter in the set was the Warden Monkey King minifigure with the horse image on the torso.

The Jade emperor was infuriated by the disrespect towards his order and sent soldiers to retrieve him for judgement. This was not successful as the Monkey King and his army of monkeys defeated the soldiers, thereafter, he self-proclaimed the title of 齊天大聖, which stands for Great Sage of Heaven’s Might. This title can be seen on the banner of the Warrior Monkey King minifigure in this set.

Chapter 5 The Jade emperor summoned the Monkey king once again and promoted him as the Guardian of the Peach Garden (the Peach Garden is located to the left of the final build, with a plaque of 蟠桃園 on the wall, which means Peach Garden), he also officially bestowed the title of Great Sage of Heaven’s Might upon the Monkey King to keep him happy and out of trouble.

The Monkey took the liberty of consuming the fruits in the Garden as he wishes. One day when the Fairy came to harvest the peaches for a celebration, there were almost no fruits left. She interrogated the Monkey, and in that discussion, the Monkey realized that he wasn’t invited to the celebration, he then “crashed” the party, ate all the food, and drank the wines, before the arrival of the guests, and caused a big mess. The peaches on are printed on heart shaped 1×1 tiles, which was a great addition to the set.

Whilst being extremely drunk, the Monkey King stumbled across the Palace of Taishang Laojung (This scene is to the right of the final build, with a banner of兜率宮 – which means Tusita Palace). Laojung was in the process of making pills of longevity in the furnace through Alchemy. The Monkey king opened the furnace and ate all the pills and fell asleep in the palace.  The next morning he awakened to the realisation of the big trouble he committed, he fled the palace and returned to the Flower Fruit Mountain.

The Jade Emperor, once again infuriated, sent Erlang (with his Celestial dog), Nezha and other generals together with an army of Ten thousand soldiers to seize the Monkey King for judgement.

Chapter 6/7

After being judged and sentenced to be executed, no apparatus or method could harm the Monkey King a slight bit due to his gifted abilities. Taishang Laojung then proposed to burn him to death in the furnace.

This is depicted on the dual moulded facial expression, where one was suffering (in the furnace), and the other was chewing, likely from eating the peach / food / pills.

The furnace was opened after 49 days, and the Monkey King was still alive! And he started fighting everyone and wreaking havoc in the heavenly realm. This was shown in the box art of the set where he was fighting Erlang, you can also recreate the scene with the transparent stands provided and position the fight in front of the palace.

As the Monkey King is well gifted in fighting capabilities, no one was of match to him. The Jade Emperor eventually asked requested assistance from Sakyamuni Buddha who then captured the Monkey and locked him up under a mountain.

Overall

Minifigures                                      10/10

Display value                                   9/10

Building techniques                        8/10

Value for money                              9/10

Overall product experience         9/10

This set is one of my favourite sets released in 2022. I would recommend it to anyone who loves oriental themed LEGO® sets. The build experience was great, and I specifically loved the mechanism where the clouds spreads aside.