Brick Update

Here is the second set in the new LEGO Marvel line that I was able to get my hands on, #6865 Captain America’s Avenging Cycle. It’s a small set, priced like a battle pack at $12.99 with 72 pieces. The main features are the minifigs and motorcycle.

Let’s take a look:

The box, with the Super Heroes theme:

Contents of the box: 2 bags, instruction booklet, sticker sheet, and frame to the motorcycle:

Some “gold” LEGO pieces in this set. To me, they always feel a bit cheap, especially those long thing pieces. Bendy plastic feels cheap.

I am NOT a fan of stickers on LEGO. I don’t apply these:

The real (and only) highlight of the set for me: the Captain America minifig. He came out really nice, I like how LEGO went with a darker blue for the pieces. The shield is really nice – that makes the figure extra special. Overall – pretty impressive.

The back of the minifig. LEGO even went through the trouble of doing one line of printing on the back of his head:

I am unfamiliar with these characters (because I haven’t seen the movie), and when I looked them up, I can see why. They are described as: “Alien General” and “Alien Foot Soldier.” Gee – great character names there, I can already tell they won’t win in the movie with names like that . The printing on them is kind of cool, as is the gold color to their head. It is impressive how good LEGO has gotten with this. But… these don’t seem like very interesting characters, making them forgettable in such a small set.

Back printing, including back of head printing:

Captain America’s cycle:

The cycle has that large red frame on it – honestly – this looks like a Playmobil cycle to me. I am not a fan of these huge molded LEGO pieces. But… it’s a motorcycle, so it’s useful:

The entire set. Maybe I need to see the movie to find most of this compelling, but it seems entirely forgettable for me, except for the Captain America minifig:

The remainder of the set, an alien vehicle and cannon:

Overall: if this is the only way to get Captain America, then the set is worth the price for that alone. But beyond that, unless these aliens are SUPER compelling in the movie, my gut is this is going to be one of the less popular sets. When you look at Wolverine’s Chopper Showdown which I reviewed recently, you see how much more compelling it is to have three cool (and known) characters in a single set.

LEGO Marvel Avengers sets arrived at Toys R Us. A look at the endcap display, which still has the Ninjago banner above it. Also funny that they paired it with Atlantis sets:

Some of the pricing – always with the TRU markup:

Hulk’s Helicarrier Breakout:

Quinjet Aerial Battle:

The other endcap, City sets:

A center display packed with Star Wars sets:

They are still trying to unload series 5 collectible minifigs:

And they still have Harry Potter, Alien Conquest and Prince of Persia sets:

Some DC Super Heroes sets:

TIE Fighter anyone?

A lone Pharoah’s Quest set:

Very few Ninjago sets in stock, likely wiped out from several weeks of Buy-One-Get-One 50% Off sales. A couple red box sets too:

City:

City:

I’m going to start taking photos of the DUPLO stuff too:

More DUPLO:

I was shocked at how badly placed the Friends line is. Not in the “girls” section of the store, and at the tail end of the LEGO section, next to DUPLO. I bet if these shelves were more prominently placed, they would be half empty:

I was excited to pick up the first wave of Marvel Super Heroes sets from LEGO. Here is my review of set #6866, Wolverine’s Chopper Showdown.

A small set, with $200 pieces, priced at $20 with 3 minifigs. Of the smaller Marvel sets, this one has the best selection of minifigs – three very cool characters.

Here is what you get in the box:

Lots of dark red, gray and black:

A lot of dark red, one of my favorite colors for LEGO bricks, including a whole bunch of cheese slopes. Here is just a selection:

For a set that is supposed to be put together by 6 year olds, I was surprised this page didn’t show an inventory of the pieces needed to make the motorcycle:

Whereas another page was devoted entirely to placing one basic brick:

Here is the finished helicopter:

Somehow, it looks better in person than in photos.

Not an amazing design, but it gets the job done:

Magneto’s helmet, likely made in China or Mexico:

Magneto, sans cape. Looks good overall, the helmet came out really nice:

Back printing for Magneto:

Magneto has a double-sided face:

Wolverine’s motorcycle. A nice design:

Wolverine came out nice – the hair is comical, but accurate. The costume came out well, and the claws are very cleverly done:

Back printing, with his face mask pulled back like a hoodie:

Double sided face:

Deadpool looks awesome. Great job with the printing:

The swords look great:

Mega gun:

Overall a nice set for $20, with great minifigs and lots of playability:

I have to admit, I have been a LEGO snob. I have never paid any attention to DUPLO. Where I would hunt down LEGO at any yard sale, store, etc – I never spent more than a split second looking at a DUPLO set.

Until now.

As I mentioned in my last post, my 1.5 year old son is now old enough to begin with LEGO, and of course, we are starting him off with DUPLO. I recently bought him his second set, the DUPLO Fire Chief set 6169:

I bought it exclusively for the jeep – something my son is obsessed with. Not a bad set for about $10. You get much fewer pieces than a comparably priced LEGO set, but the pieces are clearly much larger:

The little guy is good enough, and he comes with an ax. Anytime I see anything that can be construed as a weapon in a set for a young kid, I always take notice. Wouldn’t a fire extinguisher be more appropriate for this set, not an ax? What is this fire fighter going to chop down? The set only comes with a flame and a jeep?

Regardless, a good set – being well enjoyed by my son.

I have a son who is about 1.5 years old, and a couple months back, bought him is first LEGO set. It has been fun watching him play with it, learning how to use the pieces more nimbly. It’s funny, I have hundreds of LEGO sets, but this tiny little set gets dramatically more usage than anything I have. It makes me appreciate the true nature of LEGO – it’s a TOY meant to be played with!

The set is, of course, a DUPLO set. Just a starter pack consisting of 30 pieces, mostly basic shapes, and one figure:

This small group of pieces constituted his entire collection, and it’s plenty for him. Oddly, that isn’t the case for my collection!

There is something to be said for not keeping LEGO mint in box.
🙂

My local Stop & Shop food store has a toy aisle, and a small shelf of LEGO. Always the same stock for months and months. Well, I suppose they finally realized that the toys weren’t moving quickly enough to justify the space, because about two weeks back, they put everything on sale for 50% off. Here is the LEGO selection:

They had some Star Wars sets, but even at 50% off, nothing I was very interested in. I would buy them just to buy them, and then watch them collect dust on my shelves at home. I LOVE battle packs, but have no use for the Mandalorian Battle Pack. Still shocked that LEGO put four of the same minifig in a battle pack:

The other sets were good deals at 50% off, but nothing that excited me:

Received a nice package in the mail this week – another 12 Star Wars Battle Packs to add to my ever growing collection:

These are some of the Battle Packs I have purchased recently:

Yes, I am paying very good prices for these, and have army building in mind. That, if I can only find the time!

Another dozen or so clones showed up in the mail, ready to join my LEGO Clone Army:

Here is a photo of a mix of clones I own. I actually think a majority of the clones I own are still MISB in battle packs I have yet to open:

I received some nice packages in the mail today, adding more minifigs to my LEGO Star Wars clone army, imperial army, and rebel army.

First up, more battle packs:

And next a few minifigs including Wolfpack clones. I want to get even more of these this year:

Town Hall has arrived in the Rockefeller Center store in NYC. Let’s take a look…

It’s still pretty amazing to me that LEGO is paying to have a large store right in front of this landmark:

Town Hall, and a pretty amazing view of Rock Center. Interesting to see the scale difference between these four sets:

The Rockefeller Center store:

Star Wars sets, plus Cars:

I just love seeing those three big sets next to each other on the shelves. That Death Star box has been on the shelves for years!

Technic:

They used to have a small counter here, but got rid of it.

City:

Odd that they put Town Hall at child-level. You would think a brand new $200 set would be positioned at adult-eye level. Also odd that the Super Heroes sets are shoved in the corner there. Nice to see Medieval Market Village still graces the shelves:

More City, including Bank Transfer:

Still some red box Ninjago sets in stock:

Tower Bridge is another set they put down at kid-level:

Lots of purple… Friends:

Loads of Harry Potter still in stock too. When Diagon Alley finally sells out, I think that will be a hot set on the aftermarket. Very unique to the overall lineup: