dicloniusgames

[dicloniusgames]

Platinum Adventures...How It Will Work

So for a little bit of time, I did trophy reviews of a few PS4 games like Persona 5 and Control. 2 years later and now that I have a PS5, I've been earning platinum trophy after platinum trophy (and sometimes earning a platinum trophy a 2nd time).

Now what is a platinum trophy you ask ?

Well, it's the final trophy you receive in a PlayStation game after earning every other trophy. Some platinums are hard while some are extremely easy.

Since owning a PS5, I've earned over 15 platinum trophies and some games I've platinumed a 2nd time from owning the PS4 copy (I.E. Ghost Of Tsushima, SM: Miles Morales, Spider-Man Remastered and Control).

How will Platinum Adventures work? In a basic manner, it'll be a detailed review of the trophy list and my experience in getting the platinum trophy for a game from detailing the trickiest trophy to the easiest trophy and the hardest trophy from my perspective in a game and my opinionated rating of how hard or easy I thought it was.

That's basically it. I hope you enjoy me on the adventure of earning trophies and reaching my goal of 10,000 trophies. Happy trophy hunting!

[dicloniusgames]

The Pipe Bomb #25: The Claustrophobia Of The Open World

Open-world games have been prevalent throughout the gaming industry since the arrival of GTA 3 that they became commonplace over the last couple decades. 

What if I said open-world games could make you feel virtually claustrophobic? For me, it’s very real. Now I don’t mean actual claustrophobia because that’d make no sense but a form of claustrophobia to where you don’t want to finish the activities in the open world and just get through the story as fast as possible. While not all open-world games suffer from this, there are some I’ve played that either threw on too much at once or over time became too much content to try and tackle to a point where finishing the story was the end goal and not going for 100% completion. 

A few of these come to mind. 

First is a game I’ve recently finished...that being Hogwarts Legacy. At first I didn’t mind that you got to explore not only the entire castle, but Hogsmeade, the Forbidden Forest and other parts known to the Harry Potter universe. Being able to play as your own created student is something I enjoyed as well as having zero tie ins to the films as the game takes place before the films. You’re sorted into one of the four houses (for my playthrough it was Slytherin) and you go on an adventure to uncover a mystery while making friends along the way and learning new spells. 

While I think this game is good, it suffers from the vast amount of open-world content that it contains and there’s a lot to do along with the student relationship side quests like Natty and Sebastian. This is the basis for this essay that there needs to be a perfect balance of side activities vs. how large the map is. At first I was doing some of the side activities, side missions and going for the collectibles until the map became cluttered with it to the point where I stopped going for everything and just focused on the story.��

All of the examples I’ll point out will prove open-world burnout is a real thing and game devs need to find that perfect balance. There’s having an abundance to do and having jack to do in an open world. Games like entries in the Assassin’s Creed series balance this equation out equally as well as the Arkham games. 

The second example to take a look at is the Far Cry series (mainly after 3) but focusing on Far Cry 6. With the exception of Far Cry Primal, which I oddly enjoyed for the setting and gameplay of the game, after Primal, my enjoyment of the Far Cry games waned a lot especially after 5. My enjoyment tanked to absolute zero after playing 6. Far Cry 6 suffers some of the same issues with the open-world equation that Hogwarts Legacy does but turns into a bore fest quickly as you feel you’re doing the same thing, but only in different parts of the map with the goal of taking down Anton Castillo’s empire. The differential issue here is that there’s no variance of activities within each district of the map. Far Cry 6 feels like the Just Cause games as you’re destroying things and infiltrating bases and you come to the same conclusion of skipping a good majority of the side content to get through the story which I was able to. The story was good, but having so much to do on such a large map in Far Cry 6 is demanding. 

The final example (and sadly one I couldn’t bring myself to finish) is Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Remember when I said the Assassin’s Creed games had good balance of open-world activities vs. map size? Valhalla destroys this equation with a nuke. 

With Valhalla, the maps are large and the activities are about as abundant as PS5′s in scalpers’ dens. Previous entries like Syndicate, Origins, and Black Flag had a balance of activities on their maps to where it had a fair balance. Valhalla’s maps just throw the Encyclopedia Britannica at you when it comes to activities to a point where you’re overwhelmed from the very start. It makes Valhalla (if you’re a completionist) almost impossible to do without an extreme time sink. I stopped playing this twice for the same reason of open-world burnout from the AC series. 

You’ll probably stop to conclude that I hate open-world games....I don’t actually. I just don’t like ones that don’t have an equal balance of activities vs. how large the map is. Maybe that’s why I prefer the PS2 GTA games because their maps weren’t seen as large compared to today’s standards of open-world games. 

The other question being, will I go back to 100% some of the open-world games I never finished? Possibly. For me it not only depends on the game but also if there are other releases that take precedent over having down time to play what I want. 

In conclusion, open-world games are good, but should also be played at a steady pace and mixed in with other games to avoid burnout from trying to do everything all at once. 

[dicloniusgames]

LEGO Daily Bugle Build Review

Greetings true believers & fellow builders. Four stories of fun, 25 minifigs and an infinite toybox of creativity later and LEGO created the ultimate modular skyscraper in the Daily Bugle. 

Does this provide the infinite amount of fun brought from the Spider-verse into the LEGO universe or do the villains triumph to stop the fun? Let’s find out. 

Design

While on the outside at first, the Bugle does look a little tame, it’s when you’re building the action scenes and the inside floors of the building along with the other intrinsic elements of the Bugle that make the set light a spark to the proverbial firework. Everything from reception to Jameson’s office looks fully detailed and what you’d see in a newspaper building and uses different colors to show its’ vibrant looks for every floor, minus the exterior walls since those are all gray no matter what floor you’re building. 

When it comes to the minifigs, they all look great for the most part with the exception of one or two who probably should’ve been left out and/or replaced with others from the Spider-Man universe. One of the standout characters that looks great is The Sandman. The way his minifig is designed looks based off of the film and his buildable base looks great once completed too. For the most part, the stickers don’t look bad even if there’s a lot of them to put on with the exception of one and that’s the large billboard sticker that has a misprint of Dr. Connors’ name. This was a weird oversight to see while building the set and probably a legitimate mistake by the designers. One of the nice design choices in this set is the inclusion of newspaper prints that can be placed inside and out of the building in certain building steps as they act like newspapers and while some are repeated, some of them have unique designs. 

Build & Difficulty 

At 3,772 pieces, this can be a challenge for a few different reasons. First being the stickers. The stickers are both different in size and style. For the first time seen (personally seen), there’s translucent stickers that go on portions of the set such as Brandt’s and Jameson’s computers respectively as well as the news stand sticker on the buildable newsstand outside the building. Two of the other harder stickers to put on are the large billboard sticker and the “Vote for Osborn” sticker as that sticker is placed on a rounded light blue rounded piece but personally there wasn’t too much trouble putting any of them on. 

With this build, you can’t bypass the massive repetition of window building. Yes with 4 stories of fun, there’s also 4 stories of window building...literally. While building the windows is pretty simple, it can get kind of tedious depending on your level of patience. 

Two of the neatest parts of the outside portion of the build is the window build involving the Green Goblin and building the large Daily Bugle sign atop the roof. The building elements for the Bugle sign is pretty cool as while they’re only simple red pieces, the way you build each letter is different and it’s fun to do. Given that there are 25 minifigs, there’s lots of play potential with the different characters like Venom, Carnage, Spider-Man, Doc Ock (Who looks like the PS4 game version of him), The Sandman and many others...they even got the likes of Gwen Stacy and Aunt May in. 

Things like the taxi and the taxi driver as well as Spider-Ham while nice to have, weren’t really necessary for the build but more or less of an extra to have but also could’ve been reserved for another character that fits the universe like Eddie Brock (in human form), Mary Jane Watson, Felicia Hardy, Shocker, Morbius and Electro. 

Final Thoughts

At 3,772 pieces for $349.99, is this a worthwhile set to pick up? Yeah. Before I say why, I ended up getting it for $270 with a $100 VIP reward from LEGO. Even at the old MSRP of $300 it would’ve still been worth it. Is this a perfect set by any means? No, there are some drawbacks to it like the window building and the exclusion of some minifigs over the inclusion of others and even the amount and size of the stickers can be intimidating for a set of this magnitude. 

The vast amount of minifigs is one of the things that makes this set worth the money as there’s a lot of play value and scenes to create within the Bugle and outside and around the building. The other thing is the interior elements of the build when you’re building the separate floors of the Bugle such as the newsroom and Jameson’s office. There’s a lot of play potential with this set given everything included and the amount of characters included and scenes that can be created so even at an incredible price of $350, this is still a good buy and one to get before it becomes harder to find. 

Pros: 

+Great amount of minifigs 

+Great amount of playability & creativity

+Good value for piece count

+Great building techniques & designs

Cons:

-Building the windows can get tedious

-Minor misprint on one of the stickers 

Score: 

Build Design: 4.75/5

Build Difficulty: 4.25/5

Creativity & Fun: 5/5

Final Score: 14/15

Final Grade: A

Recommendation: Buy It

[dicloniusgames]

LEGO Marvel Infinity Gauntlet Build Review

Held within the power of the gauntlet, Thanos controlled the universe via the Infinity Stones and held a mighty grasp over the universe. LEGO has finally done it and created a buildable version of the infinity gauntlet worn by the mighty Thanos in the Marvel universe. 

Does it hold up to do the Thanos snap or fall to pieces through his mighty hands? Let’s find out. 

Design

The look of the gauntlet is just amazing. LEGO did their due diligence and pulled out the stops to make this. LEGO used a good portion and mix of gold bricks to create the gauntlet and it looks marvelous when completed and the different colors of translucent pieces to create the stones and the end result makes the work worth it. 

The base isn’t too much to talk about as if you’ve built one for a helmet or head, you’ve built them all but it does come with a nice print piece showing off what the set is as comes standard with all sets like that. 

One of the coolest design features that sets this apart from the other sets like this (along with the Nano Gauntlet as well), is the posable fingers. This is the one feature that sets these two sets apart from the helmet and head builds. The fingers can be posed in pretty much any way you can think of...even if you want to pose it giving the “California Howdy” (insert The Beverly Hillbillies reference). 

Build & Difficulty

At 590 pieces, this isn’t too difficult of a build. If there is anything difficult with it, it would be building the fingers as they do get a little repetitive even if they’re the same easy process to build (with the exception of the thumb). The other “difficult” portion of the build is early in the build when building the lower gold portions and getting them all to connect together as the white hook pieces did come off a couple times but nothing too extravagant of a mistake. 

As stated, while building the fingers can be repetitive, the end result of being posable literally in any possible position makes it worth having to build 4 fingers and the thumb. With only 3 numbered bags, it packs a whole lot for not having a lot of steps and that works to its’ advantage due to the low piece count. 

Final Thoughts

At $79.99 for 590 pieces, piece for price isn’t as good as some others (I paid $70 due to having $10 in Kohl’s Cash), but the end outcome of what it looks like and the custom finger positions you get can even out the value with the low piece count. I definitely like the ability to pose the gauntlet in almost any position using the fingers and the use of gold-like color bricks for the hand itself still makes it worth it, even if you’re not a huge Marvel fan. If this had stayed at the original MSRP of $69.99, the features of the gauntlet make this worth a glance, even at a steep of a price count and a low piece count. I also liked the use of the translucent colored pieces to create the stones within the gauntlet as it sticks to the details. 

Pros: 

+Awesome design with lots of accurate details 

+Moving the fingers to any position you want makes up for the low piece count & high price

+Fingers have great movement ability & are easy to clip on

Cons: 

-Could be too steep of a price for such a low piece count for some 

Score: 

Build Design: 4.5/5

Build Difficulty: 2.5/5

Creativity & Fun: 4.5/5

Final Score: 11.5/15

Final Grade: C

Recommendation: Wait For Discount/Sale 

[dicloniusgames]

LEGO Speed Champions 007 Aston Martin DB5 Build Review

This message is for your eyes only. Agent 00Brick reporting for duty. It has finally happened. After the retirement of the Creator Expert Aston Martin DB5, LEGO has finally created the Speed Champions version on a smaller scale but is it an affordable scale? Does the iconic car retain the look and features of the previous build or eject the build via the ejector seat? Let’s find out. 

Design

For being on such a small scale, the DB5 looks true to form in what the Creator Expert version brought to the table (Don’t worry, this isn’t a comparison review between the two). 

The printed pieces used in this set such as the front grille, the headlights and the taillights are pretty awesome to see as those could’ve easily been cheapened out and been used as stickers but LEGO made the right choice in making some unique print pieces. Overall, the car looks nice even if some of the smaller stickers included could’ve easily been made into print pieces, but LEGO probably figured it’s easier to make a sticker sheet than try to print some things onto the piece itself to keep it affordable within the pricing of what Speed Champions sets go for. The major design flaw comes from the color difference of the roof compared to the rest of the build as the grey hues look distinctively different from one another and could be a potential eyesore dependent on the person. 

The minifig of James Bond himself looks neat as well with his tuxedo and hair piece. They definitely were aiming for the Daniel Craig look and they did an alright job. One of the flaws here though was including a wrench for his accessory. It’s weird to see in his hand but thankfully the build itself remedies that minor mistake by leaving a spare piece for a quote un quote “pistol.” 

Build & Difficulty

At 298 pieces, this isn’t too difficult of a build to do. The only real difficult part of the build is the amount of stickers required to place onto the set and even the difference in size of them. 

One of the more interesting portions of the build is the interchangeable license plates. While they’re stickers (Would’ve liked those as prints), at least you have the option to change out license plates from the ones you’re required to build in the set. I personally chose to display the ones from Skyfall (BMT 216A) but you can choose which ones you want on your set and you get four pairs to choose from which gives the set some nice variation. The wrench given with this set would’ve been better suited with Dom in the Fast & The Furious Speed Champions set, but it’s a minor nitpick at best. 

Final Thoughts

At $19.99 for 298 pieces, this is a pretty decent value for the build you get. The car looks as accurate as possible compared not only to the Creator Expert version, but the film version as well. While some of the stickers could’ve been printed on, LEGO’s goal was to keep this as close to the Speed Champions look and price as possible while giving people the iconic car in an affordable way and this is definitely affordable if you weren’t able to find the Creator Expert version or if you have it, it’s a great addition (now retired). The actual James Bond minifig looks neat even if he comes with a wrench, but as noted, the set gives you a certain spare piece that can act as a pistol of sorts. The stickers are both a positive & negative as some of them could’ve been printed but some were also necessary to keep the build at $19.99. This could’ve easily been a $29.99 set if LEGO really wanted to in order to incorporate more print pieces but they found ways to keep it affordable. 

Pros: 

+Great addition/substitution to the Creator Expert DB5

+Good value for the piece count

+Great details on the car & the James Bond minifig 

+Great choice to give a different selection of license plates

+Spare pieces fix the accessory issue 

Cons: 

-Some stickers could’ve been prints & could be an issue 

-Minor discoloration issue between the roof & the rest of the car

Score: 

Build Design: 4.75/5

Build Difficulty: 2.5/5

Creativity & Fun: 5/5

Final Score: 12.25/15

Final Grade: B-

Recommendation: Buy It 

[dicloniusgames]

LEGO Architecture Great Pyramid Of Giza Build Review

Have you ever wanted to travel the world but couldn’t afford it? Most people wish they could travel but don’t simply have the means. LEGO provides an interesting way to travel the world and see the wonders without breaking the bank (sort of).

Does the Great Pyramids of Giza stand the test of time or does it fall within the sands of time? Let’s find out. 

Design

For the most part, the design of the pyramid is pretty great. What steals the show here design wise is the surrounding elements of the city. LEGO managed to somehow design a mini version of the city of Giza but still keep the focus on the pyramid. 

While the focus is on the pyramid itself, the surrounding city elements like the Nile River that’s represented by the translucent blue bricks bring out the secondary elements of the set. Besides the main pyramid, there’s two other smaller pyramids on the left that are built as well. The design of the pyramid itself is interesting as it uses tan bricks and other sorts of pieces to create the working systems within the pyramid and the shape creates a crack within the pyramid. One of the smallest but more interesting features in the set is the option of having switchable nameplates. Being able to display the set in English or Egyptian Hieroglyphics is something never seen before but LEGO should do for the future (I.E. if they create Red Square, etc.). One final interesting design feature is the availability of a technic hole in the back to be able to build another pyramid to attach a 2nd pyramid to the build and even says this in the instructions. 

Build & Difficulty 

At 1,476 pieces, it’s mildly difficult especially to start with when building the base as you’re building the base in sections as it isn’t a traditional architecture set by any means. Once the base is built, most of the build is repetition until you get to the main pyramid itself. 

Building the interior of the pyramid at times can get a little complicated. It gets complicated as it’s an intricate pattern with a bit of detail as you get closer to finishing it. The interesting thing about it is...you’re only building half a pyramid but the pyramid itself creates an interesting crack of space that represents the inner workings of the pyramid and how people got around. Building the cover of the pyramid while extremely repetitive introduces a new piece element personally never seen before and that’s the stair-like piece that acts as a holding point and structure for building the outside of the pyramid. 

While also repetitive, building the intricate details of the cityscape is fun. Constructing the buildings is simple for the most part but what gets extremely repetitive and kind of tedious is placing the trees. The only good thing about it is the top-down view the instruction book gives on placing the trees which makes that section a bit easier. The end result of the city portion makes the repetition of certain parts worth the end result as the set itself looks both extremely detailed and accurate to form. 

Final Thoughts 

At 1,476 pieces for $129.99 (Note: I only paid $115 after tax with $25 in Kohl’s Cash), this isn’t horrible value by any means but not excellent value if you pay regular price. It’s sort of above average value in my opinion. What gives it that above average value is some of the intricate building processes involving the base of the set and the pyramid itself but what takes away from it is the amount of repetitiveness when building the city (especially when placing the palm trees). The repetitiveness of the shell of the pyramid is interesting because of how the structured portion is done with the stair pieces and the set itself is divided into 8 bags with the first four building the base and the city and the other four building the main pyramid and the cover of it. To me, that felt quite shocking at a bag count that few for a near 1,500 piece set. 

Pros: 

+Interesting building mechanics bring the pyramids to life

+The details add to the value

+Okay value for what you’re getting

Cons: 

-Only half a pyramid can be puzzling

-Some of the repetitive elements make the build a bit dull 

-LEGO subtly hints at buying another pyramid to have a full pyramid

Score: 

Build Design: 4/5

Build Difficulty: 3.5/5

Creativity & Fun: 4/5

Final Score: 11.5/15

Final Grade: C

Recommendation: Wait For Discount/Sale 

[dicloniusgames]

LEGO Star Wars Darth Vader Helmet Build Review

“Luke, I am your father.” -Darth Vader

The power of the dark side was alluring to an older Anakin Skywalker and so alluring that he became Darth Vader. 

LEGO released the Darth Vader helmet bust alongside those similar to Boba Fett, the Tie Fighter Pilot and Luke Skywalker’s Red Five helmet. Can this iconic bust of a legendary figure in the Star Wars universe rise to the occasion or fall short of the mark? Let’s find out. 

Design

From the outset, it looks pretty accurate to what Darth Vader looks like and that’s a plus. LEGO captured the look and feel of what Vader represents to the dark side and as an iconic character in the Star Wars universe and pop culture altogether. The design of how it’s put together is on point, but some of the finer details that makes Darth Vader who he is that LEGO made choice wise wasn’t exactly good choices to make which will be discussed later on. 

The interior of Darth Vader is made up of a different variant of bricks used to build the interior face while the exterior is pretty much a similar build across the board, which while not a bad thing, it leaves a lot of exposed studs, probably as many if not a little less than the Boba Fett build. The finer details on the outside towards Vader’s face look really great and design-wise, LEGO knocked it out of the park, but it’s the next section is where it fails a bit. 

Build & Difficulty

At 834 pieces, similar to the Red Five helmet and other helmet & head builds, this isn’t too difficult of a build and could be considered easier than others considering portions of the head repeat themselves and that goes for the side flaps of Vader’s mask. The hardest part may be getting the stickers on and that’s mainly due to them being small stickers. 

The base is your standard base build similar to every helmet & head build. What separates Darth Vader is the attention to detail, but that also hinders it because of the use of stickers, which from a personal standpoint, wasn’t needed at all. This entire build could’ve been all printed pieces and for $79.99 (formerly $69.99), having all printed pieces would’ve given it that extra amount of detail to bring Darth Vader to life. The 4 stickers included in this ruin this set big time and that’s a major flaw here because some of the other unique parts to create Vader look really good when they’re built. The inner workings of the build are pretty cool as you use a variety of pieces to build the inside of Vader’s mask before building the actual mask itself. Once you get to building the mask itself, it does get somewhat repetitive with the exception of building the finer details of it. 

Final Thoughts

At $79.99 for 834 pieces, is this worth the money? In a simple answer, no. Even at its’ original price of $69.99, it’d be on the borderline between a discount and a pass and I hate to say that because I enjoyed building such an iconic character as Darth Vader. The things that ruin it are the price and the unneeded use of stickers for some of Vader’s iconic details in his mask. The build itself isn’t bad, it’s just more on the repetitive side and while there’s good repetition, this is bad repetition in my opinion. 

Pros: 

+Great attention to detail brings Vader to life

Cons: 

-Bad price value for piece count

-Stickers ruin the details in the build

-Bad form of repetition makes it too easy of a build 

Score: 

Build Design: 3.5/5

Build Difficulty: 2.5/5

Creativity & Fun: 3/5

Final Score: 9/15

Final Grade: D-

Recommendation: Pass 

[dicloniusgames]

LEGO Star Wars Luke Skywalker (Red Five) Helmet Build Review

“Use the force Luke.” -Obi Wan Kenobi 

While you can’t use the force to build LEGO (insert sad face), this build resembles the iconic helmet Luke Skywalker wore during the famous trench run battle after Obi Wan Kenobi’s death. Thinking it could become a set wasn’t something possible until now. Does the iconic helmet hold up in LEGO form to what is seen in the movie or fall short? Let’s find out. 

Design

For the most part, this is a 1:1 on point design of Luke’s helmet. The base is your typical base for any helmet or head build with the standard printed logo. Mixed with stickers and print pieces, there’s some neat designs like the entire red and white strip that goes from top to bottom of the helmet and the two Rebel Alliance print pieces on top of the helmet and the design of the chin strap and the attached microphone. Pretty much all of it is accurate to detail even with the inclusion of stickers that finish off the look. One of the neat parts design wise is the use of the orange pieces to create the visor. 

Build & Difficulty

At 675 pieces, this wasn’t too difficult of a build for the most part. Where it became difficult was in two spots. The first and probably the most frustrating were the two yellow pieces that have to be bent in a certain position to be placed correctly to surround the entire red and white striped section which thankfully those pieces are printed which is a huge plus. Placing the yellow pieces themselves personally was the hardest thing to do because it took a lot of effort to get them to cooperate with the rest of the build. The other difficult thing about this build were some of the stickers, specifically the smaller stickers. Personally, the smaller the sticker, the harder it’ll be to put on. As someone who isn’t as good with stickers compared to others, it was a tad bit difficult to put them on accurately and a few of them were conjoining stickers that could’ve been printed like the yellow & white stickers at the very top of the helmet. Personally did this need stickers at all? Not as many as it has but that’s just a personal opinion. 

Final Thoughts

At $69.99 for 675 pieces, is this a worthwhile buy? Yes and no. The reason I say both yes and no is multi-fold. This is a dead on accurate representation of Luke’s helmet from A New Hope and I like the attention to detail, especially the use of the Rebel Alliance logo print pieces on top and the creation of the visor. The print pieces provide the nice details of the helmet that bring it to life as well but one of the reasons I say it isn’t worth it is the stickers and the increased price (originally $59.99) of $69.99. IF this had stayed at its’ original price, I’d give it a recommendation but given their egregious price increases, some sets like this are and aren’t worth it depending on what you want and your interests. This is something you want to buy on sale or at a discount. 

Pros: 

+Great attention to detail provides pinpoint accuracy

+Awesome print pieces & other design choices 

Cons: 

-Unfair price increase 

-Unneeded use of some stickers 

Score: 

Build Design: 4/5

Build Difficulty: 4/5

Creativity & Fun: 3.5/5

Final Score: 11.5/15

Final Grade: C

Recommendation: Wait For Sale/Buy On Discount 

[dicloniusgames]

LEGO Mickey & Minnie Brick Sketches Build Review

NOTE: Before I start this review, this particular review will be of both sets at once and will be judged as one pair as if you’re getting both at the same time like I did. 

While not as popular as the larger art sets, the brick sketches are still an eye catcher. From Batman & Joker to Star Wars and now both Mickey & Minnie and recently released Miles Morales and Iron Man, the LEGO Brick Sketches are a more inexpensive form of the LEGO Art sets albeit at a much smaller piece count. 

Do these small art pieces pack a bigger punch than meets the eye or fall short of the mark? Let’s find out. 

Design

Right off the bat, these two sets look the same with major differences due to which character you’re building. If you’re building Mickey, you’ve got his famous bow tie while Minnie has her famous hair bow. Another obvious difference is the background used as Mickey has red and Minnie has yellow. One final minor difference design-wise is Minnie’s eye lashes and they look alright on her. One of the neat design features is being able to display it either like a photo frame or attach it to the wall, which will be discussed later on. 

Build & Difficulty

From a build perspective, neither of these are too difficult but they’re also pretty fun to put together. One of the major features of the build is the ability to display it like a photo frame or hang it on the wall as it were a standard art set. The build styles for both Mickey & Minnie are pretty much similar with the exception of the small details on both characters previously described like the hair tie and the bow tie. 

It makes it easier knowing they’re pretty much similar to each other thus making them simple builds for the most part. 

Final Thoughts 

At $16.99 for 118 pieces (Mickey) and 140 pieces (Minnie) respectively, are both of these as a pair worth it? Yeah, they are. They’re even more worth it if you’re a Disney fanatic as they could pair well with the Mickey & Minnie art or even the Disney Castle. While I note the simplicity of both of these builds, the simplicity of them make them fun as well as the option to display them on the wall or in picture frame form as they come with pieces to build the frame stand. If you’re looking to give your LEGO room a bit of art but not looking to break the bank, give these a look at least. 

Pros: 

+Simple to build & iconic look

+Extremely affordable price vs. piece count comparison

+Great to build with another person

+Gives options to display either on the wall or as a photo frame

Cons: 

-Could be considered “too simple” by some

Score: 

Build Design: 5/5

Build Difficulty: 2/5

Creativity & Fun: 5/5

Final Score: 12/15

Final Grade: B-

Recommendation: Buy

[dicloniusgames]

LEGO Star Wars BD-1 Build Review

If BD-1 was the droid you were looking for, you’re in the right place. LEGO has done what was probably considered the improbable and made a droid based off one of the more popular Star Wars games in Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order. 

Known as Cal Kestis’ faithful droid and companion throughout the game, BD-1 is an exploration droid that accompanies Cal on his adventure in Fallen Order and assists him whenever needed. In LEGO form, is he the droid you’re looking for or one to pass on and keep on looking? Let’s find out. 

Design

Given how LEGO unexpectedly went down this route, getting a 1:1 design of the droid would be tough given it’s only seen in the video game and not in the film franchise. The creators took their time to meticulously draw up a mix of both system and technic building to pin down the accuracy of what BD-1 looks like in game and get as much of an accurate representation as possible and be able to give him the movable features he has. 

From a design standpoint, they did a pretty good job in recreating him in LEGO form using a good mixture of pieces. They also found a way to make him not only posable but as flexible as possible but in doing so, LEGO gave up a major component of any build: stability. While he is posable, arching his head up too high can expose the insides of his head and posing the legs a certain way can expose the inner workings of the legs, so with this, you kinda take what you can get while having to sacrifice other important things such as stability and some of BD-1′s look but for the most part, he’s on point accuracy wise to what he looks like in-game. 

Build & Difficulty

At 1,062 pieces, you’d presume he isn’t too difficult and for the most part you’d be right. In this case, this is kind of a different beast. It incorporates the right mix of system & technic building in a droid build that’s personally never been seen or experienced before. 

With 6 bags to work with, you start by building the body of the droid which when completed has the technic connection for both legs and his head. Bags 2 and 3 form both legs which feature some nice wire-like pieces that represent the exposed wiring and covering of the skeletal legs which incorporate a lot of good mix of pieces and when finished, they hook into both sides thus giving BD-1 legs to stand on. Bags 4-6 build the head and specifications plaque stand with a micro BD-1 which is a nice addition to the build but with the specs being a sticker, it isn’t as bad being that it’s a cheaper set than say the Republic Gunship or the AT-AT having a specs sticker. 

The head is an extremely intricate and fun portion of the build even more than the legs as parts connect to the frame of BD-1′s head. One of the nicer features is a loader where buildable canisters are placed later on, but getting them out after they’re placed in is next to impossible and the loader itself isn’t connected to anything so tilting his head too far can inadvertently open the canister loader as it isn’t connected or pinned down to anything. Once the head’s completed, the head connects to the technic connector sticking out of BD-1′s body and when inserted, he’ll look like he’s looking up at the ceiling at first but that’s where the fun begins. His head is posable by moving it multidirectional (up and down and left and right). His legs also are posable but not as much as the head is which is where the unstableness of BD-1 comes into play.  

While it isn’t too difficult overall, parts of it can get difficult and following the instructions for every step become more important the deeper into the build you get. 

Final Thoughts

At $99.99 for 1,062, you’re not getting neither a good or bad value piece count-wise, but the posable features of BD-1 do add some value to him and I thought he was a fun build and a good test of both my technic ability but also a good introduction to building the droids as the only other available droid is the updated R2-D2 as the other ones released are retired and expensive on the secondhand market. The posable features of BD-1 are fun to experiment with as long as you understand that you’re sacrificing structure and stability for him being posable to an extent. 

Pros: 

+Great accuracy & attention to detail

+Good mixture of posable positions to put BD-1 in with both legs & the head

+Good mixture of technic & system building

+Okay value for total piece count 

Cons: 

-Major sacrifice of stability for the posable features

Score: 

Build Design: 4/5 

Build Difficulty: 4/5

Creativity & Fun: 5/5

Final Score: 13/15

Final Grade: B

Recommendation: Buy It 

[dicloniusgames]

LEGO Disney Castle Build Review

50 years of magic bundled into over 4,000 pieces comes alive within a timeless creation of not only Walt Disney but LEGO as well. 

The Disney Castle is a monstrosity of a build that brings not only a challenge for any builder but for the Disney fan, it brings out the inner child. Can the castle tell the tale as old as time and avoid the malicious spindle or will it fall to the devilish Maleficient? Let’s find out. 

Design

Taken from the original design of Cinderella’s Castle at Disneyworld in Orlando, the castle packs magic that would make Genie jealous. From the outside, you see the castle and instantly think of the actual castle itself and LEGO designed this pretty well to scale and accuracy in what they wanted to accomplish. 

Straight from the outside, you’ll notice the clock that’s almost struck midnight which is directly from Cinderella. The castle is divided into two (or if you want to be safely technical...three) sections. First there’s the base and first floor which encompasses the majority of the outside of the castle and on the inside, the main hall with a buildable carpet referencing Aladdin along with two buildable knights guarding both ends of the back of the floor along with two frogs in the front of the castle giving a nod to The Princess & The Frog. Topping off the first section of the castle is a brown brick floor build that houses a bow, arrow quiver and a target that’s a callback to Brave. Starting the inside of the second floor gives a whole lot more references to other films such as Tangled, Sleeping Beauty, Fantasia and Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs. One design flaw to note are the outside stickers but those will be discussed in a little bit. 

The minifigs are also something to take note of. There are five which are Daisy & Donald Duck, Mickey & Minnie Mouse and Tinkerbell. For the most part, they all look pretty great with a minor exception to Tinkerbell. Seeing how blue Tink’s wings are were shocking as I didn’t think they were as blue as they were until I looked up images of Tink to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. Minnie is neatly designed with her dress, torso, and her bow you stick on her head. The other standout minifig is Tink due to how her dress is not only put on but also that she’s exclusive to the set along with her wand. 

Build & Difficulty 

At 4,080 pieces, this can be a major challenge for any level of LEGO builder. It certainly was on my end. 

The base itself is a pretty simple build that holds the entire castle while the castle itself gets difficult the deeper you get in. The first floor is simple enough as you build the main hall floor but the majority of the outside of the castle. While the build is repetitive at times, it’s a simple repetition when it comes to building the tops of the castle using a diverse kind of blue colored pieces and gold pieces that hold the flag pieces on the tops of each portion of the castle. The difficult portion of the first part of the castle comes from the outside as you’re building the walls. Instead of making the castle walls via using standard gray and possibly gray masonry bricks, LEGO decided to give us a good sized sticker sheet where over half of them are made up of “stone” stickers that are supposed to represent the masonry design of the castle. These stand out and not in a good way. While I get what LEGO was trying to accomplish with this, using masonry bricks would’ve been a much better choice than stone stickers that stick out like a sore thumb and even more if they aren’t placed correctly. The first floor isn’t a difficult build but suffers from a potential bad proportion of weight as the build goes on. 

Going to the second floor and the top is where things get kinda fun as you’re building the various movie references and the fireworks display which gives you two sets of fireworks to use and mix and match. One of the cool things on the second floor is a secret compartment that holds a “glass slipper” and a book with two great print pieces. Other little trinkets hidden within the castle include the poison apple & mirror from Snow White, the sorcerer hat from Fantasia, and the brush, scissors and hair piece from Tangled. All of these give the castle a bit of a vibrant vibe while the kitchen from The Little Mermaid at least to me doesn’t make a whole lot of sense while the rose & candle from Beauty & The Beast make perfect sense. The final part of the castle while the most repetitive is the easiest and that’s the top. The top portion uses some similar build techniques that other portions of the outside and top off the castle pretty well. 

Build wise, would this have been better with the ability to open it giving it more opportunities for references and things? I personally don’t think so as it looks just fine with the exposed back even if it looks a little weird if you have it in a display space with a mirror. 

Final Thoughts

Overall this is a great build for the most part. It gives the builder the ability to unlock their inner childhood and experience Disney through LEGO while reminiscing through the various references of the films. Most of the build concepts are fun to work with including the outside which gives the castle its iconic look. The inside portion will bring back a lot of memories to Disney faithful from their favorite movies with the many references. One of and probably the biggest detriment to this set is the weight proportion. Basically, what this means is that there are eight studs that have to hold the entire weight of the top portion which was one thing I was afraid of when getting and building this and it doesn’t help either that the top portion of the first floor is covered with the infamous brittle brown pieces which are known to breaking. Now should this be a detriment for you? I think that’s on the individual builder to consider. At $349.99 for 4,080 pieces and 5 minifigures, is this a worthwhile build? I personally think it’s a must have not only for Disney enthusiasts but builders who want a challenge. 

Pros: 

+Great design brings Cinderella’s Castle to life

+Awesome references from iconic films 

+Good price per piece count

+Good building techniques make the castle stand out

+Good assortment & selection of minifigs 

Cons: 

-Weight proportion could become an issue over time

-The stone stickers stand out for the wrong reasons

Score:

Build Design: 4.8/5

Build Difficulty: 4.5/5

Creativity & Fun: 5/5

Final Score: 14.3/15

Final Grade: A

Recommendation: Buy It 

[dicloniusgames]

LEGO Architecture London Build Review

Architecture has been a popular line of LEGO for some time now and the skylines have been a major staple of the architecture since its inception. 

Another major city featured in the skyline collection is London and it has plenty to look at not only in the build but in the city as well. Does the skyline capture the wonders of London or fail to grasp the eye of not only locals but skyline collectors? Let’s find out. 

Design

Known as one of the major European cities and major destination sites for travelers, London features some of its major locales such as Big Ben, the London Eye, The National Gallery, Nelson’s Column and Tower Bridge. 

Fitting five major hot spots on just over 11 inches of space seemed like a hard task to do but LEGO does its best to capture all of London’s glory using different kinds of build elements (which I’ll touch on later) to make everything work. Similar to other skylines like Chicago, Paris, Vegas, Shanghai and Dubai (among the others released), they only have so much space to fit major parts of the city on it. While London gets only five locales, they’re some of the best available while others in England got individual sets like Trafalgar Square as that is just something that couldn’t fit on the idea plate the architecture creators wanted. While it is true to form in accuracy, it could’ve used a little more color to its broaden its luster because it only uses a handful of colors. 

Build & Difficulty 

At 468 pieces, London is one of the more smaller skylines compared to say San Francisco, Singapore or Dubai so it has to pack a major punch with such a small piece count. It sort of does so with some okay water build elements on the bottom of the base representing the water that Tower Bridge towers over. 

One of the nice features of the bridge build is the under bridge being able to be placed up or down (well as low as it will go) or fully up. It stays true to its look with the light blue bridge structure pieces though they should have been able to bend down a bit more similar to the real bridge. 

One of the other cool features is how Big Ben is built. Big Ben is built in a repetitive way but also features a nice clock face print piece. 

The final good feature of this build is the London Eye. It’s built using 4 white tube pieces that bend to create a circular shape and connect via a couple grey technic connectors. The seats on the Eye are built in an interesting way and must be spaced out accurately before bending the tube pieces to create the London Eye, but has a bit of a design flaw and isn’t secured as good as it should be. 

Final Thoughts 

At $39.99 for 468 pieces, is this a worthwhile build & purchase? Yes and no. I say yes because 1. I like the architecture skylines and how they allow you to travel through the magic of LEGO and 2. I got it through a price malfunction and was able to get it cheaper than the MSRP shown. If you live in London, you can obviously see these iconic locales but for someone who doesn’t, it’s a set that is cheap enough with an okay price per piece count, but ultimately should’ve added one more London staple like Parliament or something. While this isn’t a difficult build, it is one for someone who doesn’t know where to start when building the skylines (the ones still readily available). 

Pros: 

+Accurate to detail 

+Above average price per piece count

+Some build elements make the design stand out 

Cons: 

-Could’ve used a sixth locale

-Majority of colors feel too bland & basic

Score: 

Build Design: 3/5

Build Difficulty: 3.5/5

Creativity & Fun: 2.5/5

Final Score: 9/15

Final Grade: D-

Recommendation: Pass 

[dicloniusgames]

LEGO Star Wars Dagobah Jedi Training Build Review

“Do or do not. There is no try.” This is perhaps one of the most influential quotes of the entire Star Wars universe and even life itself. 

The Empire Strikes Back has some memorable moments like Han being encased in carbonite, but none take the frontrunner other than Yoda taking Luke Skywalker to Dagobah to learn to become the Jedi he was destined to be and take on his father Darth Vader. 

Now in LEGO form, the scene from the film has made its’ way into a LEGO set in the form of one of the three sets in the diorama collection. Does it use the force to become the best it can be or does it falter in its’ attempt? Let’s find out. 

Design

Given that it’s a diorama, it has to fit an entire scene within a limited space dioramas use and for what it tries to do, it does a great job at depicting the scene well. 

The various kinds of green pieces are designed in a way to represent the swamp area in Dagobah and while annoying to build, the end result is amazing, especially when you build the wing of the aircraft that gets stuck. A large portion of the diorama is taken up by the buildable trees in the back and the hut. The whole hut looks great as different building elements are used to create it and it can even fit Yoda or R2D2 inside. The tree elements in the back are okay as they’re nothing special to be honest as they’re built with the infamous brittle brown bricks that can break easily, but it does add to the scene a little bit along with the plants placed around the hut. 

With 3 mini figures included, this is a perfect amount for this set and detail wise, they look great. Instead of a basic mini fig head for Yoda, it’s a rubber head which is an excellent little detail. Luke looks great as they captured his look from the scene beautifully and gave him two facial expressions that work for the scene either way either in his focused state or concerned state. The standout minfig though goes to R2D2 just for the sheer amount of detail LEGO put into him. While LEGO has put out lots of R2D2 minifigs, the fact that they actually got the mud details printed on him is awesome. 

Build & Difficulty

For a 1,000 piece build, this isn’t too difficult with the exception of parts of the hut and all of bag 3 (there’s 6 bags in total) which has you placing all 200+ green bricks in to represent the swamp portion of the build and the pattern can get extremely confusing. Once you get past bag 3, the rest of the build is actually relaxing and fun to do. 

The base of the diorama is a pretty simple process that includes two printed tiles of both the LEGO Star Wars logo and the quote from Yoda which is neat that those two pieces are printed as it makes the set pop out a lot more and show that it’s an actual diorama. The various green pieces that represent the swamp also pop out especially when the wing is attached and it makes it look like it’s actually drowning in the swamp even though it’s attached. The detail put into Dagobah make this set cooler than it really should be and the minifigs put it over the top. 

Final Thoughts 

At $79.99 for 1,000 pieces, this is actually a decent price per piece count and in my personal opinion, the only diorama of the three worth getting as I’ve said on multiple occasions. The look of how the tree structure envelops around the hut is pretty cool and the hut build itself incorporates some nice building techniques that when finished make the hut look cool though attaching the arching pieces was a little difficult as it kept making some pieces fall out of place sometimes but nothing too troubling compared to say the Stranger Things build when the entire roof collapsed. With the exception of a few elements, this wasn’t too difficult of a build to complete and was a fun one to do. For the kind of space a diorama like this had to be, they fit everything they wanted to have in it while making it look like the epic scene it was in the film. 

Pros

+Excellent attention to detail makes this scene pop out and stand out 

+Good price per piece value 

+Great minifig details 

+The swamp & hut add a lot of detail once completed along with the printed pieces on the front

Cons

-Bag 3 can be a bit confusing

Score: 

Build Design: 4.75/5

Build Difficulty: 3.75/5

Creativity & Fun: 4.25/5

Final Score: 12.75/15

Final Grade: B

Recommendation: Buy It 

*With price increases coming in August, this is one of the sets on the list of ones going up, so try and grab it at $79.99 before August 1st. 

[dicloniusgames]

LEGO’s Price Increases & My Response To It

It’s no secret the global economy has felt the pressure of not only the pandemic but also the rising costs of the essentials such as gas & food. While LEGO has eaten the costs of raw materials to keep the consumers happy, they too are being forced to up their prices on sets due to the costs of raw materials and operations. 

In a press release reported by Brickset, LEGO stated that while they’ve managed to absorb these rising costs, they’re making the decision to raise prices on already existing sets (and even some new releases coming later in the year) while some may not see any increase in price. This increase will be based on a percentage basis. (I’ll link the full article below at the end as well if you want the full statement). 

So what does this mean not only for collectors, builders, but even me? Well these price increases won’t take effect until August & September, region dependent so should that mean you go rush out and buy the sets you want before they increase in price? 

That is a choice and not a bad one, but remember, only selected sets are seeing an increase which I’ll list an article below of what some of those are. 

Now how do I take news like this that a hobby I’ve gotten back into six months ago is now feeling the effects of the inflation of pricing? And what will be my plan going forward? While I’m not a huge fan, I’ll take away a couple points from LEGO’s official statement to observe. 

First and foremost, the global economy is seeing a major uptick in a lot of essential and even non-essential items so having to increase prices on sets to keep up with the ever rising prices of the raw materials LEGO uses to make these sets for us fans is costly for the consumer, especially when LEGO stated they at their heart put consumers first. I get trying to keep the consumers in mind when having to make a choice like this but this just doesn’t affect resellers & investors, it also affects the average consumer who can maybe afford one or two sets per year. So if LEGO wants to put the consumer first, then why are we going to be the most affected by these price changes? Heck, some people around various parts of the world pay even more for LEGO due to currency conversions so something priced at $200 in the U.S. isn’t going to be equal in another part of the world like Australia, New Zealand or Canada who pay more. 

Secondly, why are the most demanding and/or expensive and even newly released sets seeing these price changes? Sets like the Optimus Prime or the Dagobah Jedi Training that just released within the past month or two are seeing increases while some released years ago and still in rotation might not see any change? The most affected section of LEGO seeing this change set-wise is the Technic theme as those are some of the most expensive sets on the market, especially given the Lamborghini Sian & Ferrari Daytona SP3 are the two most expensive Technic sets out there and they’re seeing some of the biggest percentage increases. Possibly, this change could be only majorly targeting the AFOL (Adult Fan Of LEGO) Community but only time will tell. 

Finally, what’s my plan going forward and how to combat these price changes? Firstly, my hope is to get the sets I really want before the price changes occur then take a break to see how much change happens and what sets see the full effect of it as well as the full list of sets increasing in price. Thankfully with 2X points week occurring at the end of the month, it gives me an opportunity to hop on and stack a major amount of VIP points to rake in towards the bigger rewards like $50 and $100 off purchases respectively. Mostly after, I’ll take a bit of a hiatus until around the holiday season when I do Christmas shopping for others but buying for myself will occur again after the holidays, which is also dependent on space. 

Anyway, what do you think of these price changes and are you outraged by LEGO saying they put customers first but expect them to eat the brunt of the price changes or are you more understanding of why LEGO has to do this? Sound off...

Stone Wars article: (https://www.stonewars.de/news/lego-preiserhoehung-september-2022/)

Brickset article: (https://brickset.com/article/77383/lego-announces-price-increases-from-august) 

[dicloniusgames]

LEGO Batman Art Build Review

The Dark Knight, the Clown Prince Of Crime & the crazed-love Harley Quinn have taken the LEGO world into their world. Partnering with DC & Jim Lee, LEGO has released the Batman art set. 

Both similar and different to the Art Project, Batman comes with 3 available options out of the box with two extra options shown in the instruction book that require either two or three extra sets...or if you want every creation possible, 3 individual sets, 3 for the large Batman and 2 for Batman & Catwoman, making a total of seven extra sets you’ll need to build every possible creation listed in the instructions. Does The Dark Knight & his most hated villains hold to the art standard LEGO has put out or look like a first grader’s paint project? Let’s find out. 

Design

The great thing is that each design is unique to one another depending on what you choose to build but be forewarned about something I’ll touch on later piece wise. Each individual design of the three original options you can choose from all look great in their own way. 

For example, Batman obviously is the early model of Batman (I think from the 60s) while Joker & Harley look a bit more like the modern versions. The large Batman while requiring multiple sets looks as one of the best available large builds. Out of the box, Harley looks the most unique as she uses a different amount of the 16 colors available while it’s easy to tell that both Batman & Joker use specific colors to build. 

Build & Difficulty

At 4,167 pieces, the Batman art project is both similar and different to the Art Project. The similarities while few are important as with every art set available in building the 16x16 tile structures and hooking them in along with building the frame as well as the buildable color key and that’s it for the similarities. The differences lie around the amount of potential builds possible. While the Art Project has 36 (outside of the large Spaceman), Batman only has 5, but one major difference is that Batman comes with a soundtrack builders can listen to while working on a build of their choice and all 3 builds come in one instruction book. 

One of the major things with the Batman set is depending on what build you choose (at least the standard builds available on the box), you’ll end up with a lot of the colors you don’t use, at least from my personal experience I did. Say if for example you choose to build The Joker, you’ll use a lot of green, purple, white, black and grey or Batman will use a lot of blue. One of the other major differences is that this set uses 1x1 studs while the Art Project used circular pieces. While there aren’t as many options available, the options available are more eye catching once completed and put on the wall and include a Jim Lee DC Collection print piece which looks exquisite when placed at the bottom of the set and makes the project pop a lot more. 

Final Thoughts

At $119.99, this is a good deal for the amount of pieces you get and while you get less options, they look more eye catching than the Art Project even though that set has more and is meant to really build the spaceman. I hate to compare this to the Art Project since they’re two different art sets, but given it’s the only other art set I have, I have to compare and contrast the two. One of the major disadvantages is the unbalanced use of some colors compared to others depending on which of the three available in-box options you choose to build as by the end, you’ll end up with less colors left than others that are hardly used. 

Pros

+Good piece for price value

+Available options look more detailed

+Extra build options look just as good as the available in-box options 

+Looks great when displayed on the walls 

Cons: 

-Disproportionate use of certain colors over others dependent on build choice 

Score: 

Build Design: 5/5

Build Difficulty: 3.75/5

Creativity & Fun: 4.5/5

Final Score: 13.25/15

Final Grade: B+ 

Recommendation: Buy It 

[dicloniusgames]

LEGO Hogwarts Icons Collector’s Edition Build Review

20 years of magic, iconic moments and one feathered owl come alive with LEGO’s Hogwarts Icons Collector’s Edition set. The Harry Potter franchise has transcended time and pop culture since the first film in 2001 when one scarred wizard took hold of a wand and everything else from there is history. Does this live up to the 20 year legacy Harry Potter has imprinted on pop culture or fall from grace? Let’s find out. 

Design

The look is very hulky and what that means is that it’s kinda heavy for a LEGO set. This is mostly because Hedwig rests on a large technic-heavy stand and while Hedwig is at the top of it, there are a couple of books as well as Hermione’s potion crate which sit all on Tom Riddle’s buildable diary and the golden snitch that hooks in via a technic rod that can be rotated either left or right but only to a certain degree. 

Hedwig actually looks fully detailed and is intricately designed in every aspect from the talons to the head as well as the feathers. The feathers can be spread in either direction and when the face is fully built, it hooks onto the rest of the head via three latch-like pieces. Once fully built, Hedwig looks majestic sitting on top of the technic base and she’s designed to hold the acceptance letter to Hogwarts (which you can write your own name on if chosen to) even though her talons aren’t actually holding it. 

Build & Difficulty 

At 3,010 pieces, this is a hefty build as at least a third of it is technic-based and that’s mostly building the base stand. Tom’s diary is an intricate part of the build as while only the edges and spine of the book are just there, how the pages are built is creative as the pages are both slid in and put on part by part. While the slid in pages aren’t held down by anything, it’s a unique way of making it look like the pieces are actual pages of the diary. The blue and red textbooks are pretty much a similar build to one another with the sole exception that they lie on top of each other in different directions. Hermione’s crate is kinda fun as her initials piece are printed on which I found extremely neat. 

The Hedwig build takes another third as it goes through bags 11-18 and goes in stages from the talons up. Getting the talons on was a bit difficult especially on the right side as it didn’t hook in evenly but once you get them in, the rest of Hedwig gets exciting as you build the body, the back feathers, the head and then the main feathers. The feathers all hook into ball joints around Hedwig and while repetitive to build, they’re easy repetition. 

One of the overlooked things in the build that’s actually cool looking and gives diversity is choosing the scarf build. There isn’t enough pieces to build all four at once as you can only build a max of two. I personally chose Slytherin as the main that hooks onto the base and built Gryffindor next to it but the good thing is if you want to change which house or houses you want represented, you can, even if it takes a little work to build and rebuild the scarves. The chocolate frog is an interesting design as it sits on chair-like pieces for legs you’d find in The Big Bang Theory set along with ball pieces that represent the eyes. 

The three final parts of the build all involve separate accessories, characters and character stand. First is Harry’s glasses which yes you can wear if you so choose for a bit of fun. The glasses are built using separate black pieces held in and connected via small parts that all hook into each other and can be displayed either folded, open or with the arms crossed together. Next is Harry’s wand which is intricately built using a mixture of different kinds of pieces and hooks into the base diary using a black ball joint which I found exquisite instead of it just being an accessory that’s just there. The final part of the build are the three gold mini figures and the stand which represent the 20th anniversary along with the Dumbledore chocolate frog card. 

Final Thoughts 

At 3,010 pieces for $249.99, this is a good value for what you get. A lot of the difficulty of the build will come from the technic heavy base stand and Hedwig. One of the major things that comes from this build separate from others (maybe except for the Hogwarts Castle) is that this is pretty heavy once it’s fully constructed especially given how Hedwig rests on top holding the acceptance letter. One of the other key takeaways from this is not only the buildable accessories but the choice of scarf/scarves to represent your build (I personally chose Slytherin & Gryffindor) but any two of the four houses can be built as it’s impossible to build all four without ordering extra pieces. The final takeaway is the potions you can build that come with just enough studs to place in the containers and the stickers of every potion represent the potions quite nicely as they’re callbacks to the films (I.E. Polyjuice in Chamber Of Secrets and Gillyweed from The Goblet Of Fire). While this is more a display piece, there is some “playability” if you want to ever change the scarves out or change what potion you want displayed in front. 

Pros: 

+Exquisite build with a lot of intricate details & references

+Good value of price per piece

+Hedwig looks astonishing when fully built & perched atop

+20th anniversary mini figs look nicely detailed

+Great use of technic elements helps the stand come together

Cons: 

-Can be pretty bulky when fully built

-Book builds get repetitive as it’s the same thing but different colors

Score: 

Build Design: 5/5

Build Difficulty: 4.75/5

Creativity & Fun: 3.75/5

Final Score: 13.5/15 (A-) 

Recommendation: Buy It 

[dicloniusgames]

LEGO Art Project Build Review

When LEGO rolled out the art theme, it all started with a single art project that gave people multiple possibilities including the large spaceman build and this set has spawned LEGO to make other art sets off other IPs like Mickey Mouse, Batman and Elvis Presley. Does the original art project look and build like Van Gough or end up like finger painting from a second grader? Let’s find out. 

Design

With multiple design choices at your disposal, the art set doesn’t fail to impress once your design or designs of choice are completed, things like a trophy, a basketball and even a unicorn can be built out of the 36 possible combinations not including building the spaceman. Any and all of the designs are worth building and the thing with this specific set is that there’s custom designs not included with the set that can be found on the LEGO website and through other means so design limitations are far from what the multiple instruction booklets give you, even if you have to go outside the box. Within the box itself, there are 10 instruction books; 1 to build and connect the 9 quadrants and frame and 9 for the separate designs. What’s neat about this is that it shows you what design is on every page on every book, including the individual steps for the spaceman and that’s a neat thing to see since LEGO could’ve just had one book solely for the spaceman and the other booklets for everything else but they didn’t and that’s a good thing. Whatever kinds of combinations builders come up with make this set stand out from the other art sets since it isn’t limited to an intellectual property like Mickey Mouse or Batman. 

Build & Difficulty

At 4,138 pieces, this is unique as most of the pieces are color coded and come with a buildable color guide from 1-16 outside of the buildable quadrants, technic pieces that hold in the quadrant squares and the pieces that make up the white frame. With 36 different possibilities, the build has a lot of potential for multiple builds if you want to change up what the designs look like or if you just want to make the spaceman. The color guide is easy to follow for all of the builds as it’s shown in rows and columns of 16x16 with the colors needed for every spot on every square. Outside of the spaceman, the various builds include a slice of pizza, a trophy, a basketball, a rainbow and even a unicorn. 

Final Thoughts

At $119.99, you’re getting an awesome deal not only for the piece count, even if most of them are circular pieces, but includes the many builds one can create using the instruction books included. The books even include every individual step to build the spaceman, which I think looks great once completed as that what I built with my art set. The only two real drawbacks are that you’ll end up with a lot of spare pieces when you’re fully done and it can be a little time consuming if you want to change which art designs you want displayed as you have to take out every single piece to make something else. 

Pros: 

+Lots of potential for multiple small builds or one major build involving the spaceman

+Great price for piece value at $119.99 

+Potential for custom builds found either on LEGO’s website or other sites

+Makes for awesome art display pieces in rooms 

Cons: 

-Left with a lot of spare pieces

-Minor time consumption to take pieces out and build something else

Score: 

Build Design: 4.75/5

Build Difficulty: 3.5/5

Creativity & Fun: 5/5

Final Score: 13.25/15

Final Grade: B+ 

Recommendation: Buy It