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LEGO On A Budget 2024 #9: 10792 Drill Spinner Vehicle & 42163 Heavy-Duty Bulldozer

It's - more or less - the end of the road for my LEGO reviewin' duty. I don't doubt that i'll continue enjoying LEGO, as i've gotten a nice ass Animal Crossing set for my birthday and that seems like the ideal thing to collect like once a month, but i'll admit that writing has become stale and therefore i'm not very tearful about being able to move back to what my blog is mainly about.

Still! I wanna go out on a high note, with two sets from the opposite spectrum inside the budget zone. You'll see what I mean with that.

LEGO Marvel 4+ - 10792 Drill Spinner Vehicle

Yep. In March, a new Marvel set dropped for the young'uns among us. After doing many of the bigger sets, this definitely uh... was a step back, alright. At least the box looks surprisingly nice and bright, I enjoy it's visual presence.

I do think it at least trumps the other 4+ sets however. I don't think much of the vehicle itself is that crazy, though it's rather chunky which I always find neat. The drill in front is dulled out, which makes perfect sense for the kids though it hardly actually makes it look like... a drill. You also get a net, which I THINK functions fine, though is rather hard to actually stuff in someone's hands. ...Electro, anyone?

Also, good lord, ANOTHER Spidey, this time it's the chibified Miles Morales making an appearance. That's number 4 for the collection and i'm hardly even a Spider-Man fan! LEGO needs to release a Kang the Conqueror set pronto, the real star of Marvel.

LEGO Technic - 42163 Heavy-Duty Bulldozer

So the very largest set in the €10 category, clocking in at a staggering 195 pieces, comes in one of the smallest boxes of them all. Huh. I suppose there's a reason for it, and that's because it's one of those sets where the amount of pieces is heavily exeggerated cuz of one certain aspect of it being overly convoluted. In this case, it's the moving tracks that take up a whopping 48 pieces out of the 195. Lame advertising, guys.

Honestly, this did not leave an impression, like at all. It's DECENT, this has some level of 'neat' to it. Like the way you can twist the knob to lift or lower the blade in front, or how the tracks DO work very well once you put them together.

But man I don't care. You coulda chosen anything with personality. Nah. Bulldozer. Which is very similar to the steamroller from LEGO City. It won't ruin the building experience, yet I wish they would be a bit more daring with the cheaper sets, as with their more expensive stuff. Maybe that's why they ARE the way they are.

Current rankings:

Well neither of these are gonna win, that's for sure, and since these are the final ones to be ranked, there's barely any reason to give them an extensive time in the spotlight. Let's go over them quickly.

I'd argue Drill Spinner Vehicle is the 4+ set with the most oomph, the one that most people could still get a small kick out of if they saw it in the store. However I also think the Fire Rescue Motorcycle was pretty COOL for how generic the theming was, including the uncannily long fire hose that came with it. Choices, choices.

The Heavy-Duty Bulldozer is obviously beating out it's smaller cousin, the Construction Steamroller, but otherwise, it's a disappointment. False advertising and lack of personality being the obvious culprits. It's still worth it if you HAVE to have the more complex architecture at a low low price, but otherwise, I don't reccomend it. Which is strange to say. Was looking forward to this one initially.

Creator - 31145 Red Dragon

Friends - 42608 Tiny Accessories Store

City - 60428 Space Construction Mech

City - 60411 Fire Rescue Helicopter

Marvel - 76275 Motorcycle Chase: Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock

Ninjago - 71805 Jay's Mech Battle Pack

Super Mario - 71428 Yoshi's Egg-cellent Forest

Friends - 42606 Mobile Bakery Food Cart

DREAMZzz - 71471 Mateo's Off-Road Car

Friends - 42607 Autumn's Baby Cow Shed

Technic - 42163 Heavy-Duty Bulldozer

City - 60401 Construction Steamroller

Marvel 4+ - 10792 Drill Spinner Vehicle

City 4+ - 60410 Fire Rescue Motorcycle

City - 60400 Go-Karts and Race Drivers

Friends - 42612 Cat Playground Adventure

Minecraft - 21251 Steve's Desert Expedition

City 4+ - 60399 Race Car

Finally! It's all over. 18 regular sets and 8 polybags later, i'm done judging. Only the ultimate question remains; which ones are genuinely worth your time and which ones are off-limits for those who aren't young or are specifically seeking out that theme?

I'd say the absolute winner is Creator, of course. Creator is always worth it as it gives you 3 things to build. If one isn't too your taste or is too small, boom, new thing to build in the place of it. The Red Dragon and co. look awesome though, so that makes it even MORE worthwhile. Crazy value, this one.

I think most City sets are perfectly fine too. Even the low ranked ones are pretty solid purchases if you just want bitch ass basic LEGO, which in some cases IS preferable. The Space sets are fantastic however, i'd highly suggest looking into it. It expands past City too!

All the pop culture/video gamey sets are ooookay, with the exception of the rather garbanzo Minecraft set. That's not to say LEGO Minecraft in general is bad, however I still think it's a rather pointless theme if you don't enjoy having accurate real-life counterparts to the game's mobs, which is to it's benefit.

The LEGO 'brands' stuff, so Ninjago, DREAMZzz and Friends, are mostly pretty solid. You can tell they have a bit more creative freedom cuz it's something they thought of entirely by themselves. I don't know how much you'll jump for joy at the sight of a theme designed for young girls, but there's some real quality works in there. Like damn, that Tiny Accessoires Store was clever. Could do without the piss stain on Cat Playground Adventure set though.

I've given the ranking list some color, as you can see. Green means I would definitely give it a gander, blue means it's up to your gut feeling and orange means *I* didn't really like it.

And with that, I bow out and shall ready myself for some old fashioned gaming on my trusty... well I wouldn't call my Atari carts entirely 'trusty'. Hope y'all had fun and i'll see you again soon!

(Why do I hear boss music?)

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LEGO On A Budget 2024 #8: 60428 Space Construction Mech & 31145 Red Dragon

Peak has been acquired. Although we still got 2 more blogs after this, I think nothing will top what you're about to see right here. Just watch.

LEGO City - 60428 Space Construction Mech

Okay first of all, how cool is the space theme? Honestly, every time I go to the Kruidvat and see the more expensive Space sets, like the 4+ Spaceship and Asteroid Discovery one or better yet, the Insterstellar Spaceship, I have to pinch myself to ensure I don't throw away another 18 bucks then and there. This one didn't seem as compelling at first, but that's the budget life, baybee.

This is just the Ninjago set but better. I mean. The fact you got a couple extra small builds instead of merely some minifigs definitely adds to the experience to me. You may miss the cool swords, yet you get compensated plenty with how unique many of the pieces are. In terms of the mech itself, I find them to be fairly even, though considering the Space Construction Mech's more formidable amount of pieces, I am giving the edge to this one. It manages to be a bit more stable to stand upright, and it has the cool little gimmick of being able to move the left hand's fingers more or less freely.

Ninjago felt more unique, yet this was ultimately the more fun set to put together. A 'stellar' finale to LEGO City's pretty stacked budget lineup of early 2024. Haaaa.

LEGO Creator - 31145 Red Dragon

Oo hoo hoo. Hoohohohoo. Hohohoho.

Yeah I love Creator 3in1. Such a novel concept, essentially tripling the value of your purchase by giving ya 3 things to build. Of course, the two builds that aren't the focus are gonna be smaller, but all that matters is what design you prefer. You're still getting your money's worth.

Gonna start off with the smallest and my personal least favorite, the fish. And even THEN, this one is still excellent! It feels rather nice and chunky in the hands, like it's definitely a substantial build. Plus, there's plenty of movable parts too, like, everything you expect to move *does*. Certainly left a solid first impression, and this is the bottom.

The bird is certainly a bit less unique as there's plenty of LEGO birds around I feel, and the idea of it flapping it's wings isn't AS compelling to me. The extremely adorable design more than makes up for it though. Look at it. Lil goofy cartoony bird. I really liked having this as a lil decoration for a couple days while I was busy doing birthday things.

But here comes the bingus. The dragon from the cover. He thwarts all with his imposing (not actually imposing) size. Flexible arms and legs that look better than any other one so far. Flexible tail and wings, too. Hell, you can even open and close his mouth as was shown on the box. Extremely impressive and very cute to boot! The only mild concern is that it doesn't stand upright as easily as some earlier sets. Oh well, at least it ain't one of those Friends minifigs.

Current rankings:

The Space Construction Mech would've been number 2 at worst if it wasn't for the absolute delight that is the Red Dragon and co. It's a very cool set, maybe a touch boring for a Space theme, yet still very flexible and solid, with loads of unique pieces. Well worth adding to your extraterrestial collection.

LEGO Creator is quite handily my favorite theme, though. The value for money is rather extreme. For 9 bucks, you get two slightly smaller builds that look goofy and fun, AND a similarly cutesy dragon that can be messed with however you desire. 100% my favorite build by a long shot, it's not even on the same level as all the others. If there's any budget set to buy, it's this one. Same with most other Creator sets, honestly.

Creator - 31145 Red Dragon

Friends - 42608 Tiny Accessories Store

City - 60428 Space Construction Mech

City - 60411 Fire Rescue Helicopter

Marvel - 76275 Motorcycle Chase: Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock

Ninjago - 71805 Jay's Mech Battle Pack

Super Mario - 71428 Yoshi's Egg-cellent Forest

Friends - 42606 Mobile Bakery Food Cart

DREAMZzz - 71471 Mateo's Off-Road Car

Friends - 42607 Autumn's Baby Cow Shed

City - 60401 Construction Steamroller

City 4+ - 60410 Fire Rescue Motorcycle

City - 60400 Go-Karts and Race Drivers

Friends - 42612 Cat Playground Adventure

Minecraft - 21251 Steve's Desert Expedition

City 4+ - 60399 Race Car

Just two more sets left that I could actually review very soon. I'm excited to be done, my retro games have been giving me a stink eye for like 3 months now. The final FINAL post related to LEGO is scheduled for a later time, when i've already resumed the reviews of that OTHER major hyperfixation.

[minuy600]

[minuy600]

"You may fascinate a woman by giver her a piece of cheese"

A commission for @mousegirlheart of their rad cute Sona vwv

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Bad mood

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LEGO On A Budget 2024 #7: 42606 Mobile Bakery Food Cart & 42608 Tiny Accessories Store

It's the first post of the 'finals', as this is the final time you'll be seeing me covering Friends sets. Thankfully, they more or less saved the best for last, even if it took me a long ass time to get to building them as my motivation's kinda been dropping off and other hobbies have been keeping me occupied. Still, there's promising stuff coming up that I don't wanna miss, so let's get this outta the way!

LEGO Friends - 42606 Mobile Bakery Food Cart

An 18 piece bump compared to the Super Mario set. Now with the addition of a freaky anthro croissant... And a storybook and dog for some reason. First time i've seen 3 sacks being used without them being sorted by build, too. Ooo.

I'll give em this though. This is a clever build. Although hot dog trucks are pretty commonplace even over here (at sporting events at least), I don't think i've ever seen a mobile bakery before. You can drive it around and then park it for other minifigures to buy something from it at the back. All the extra parts like the cream for the coffee are unfortunately quite finicky, you can't really attach it to the remainder of the coffee cup properly. At least they look fun.

That's pretty much all I gotta say for this one. I made this set 3 weeks ago, could you tell

LEGO Friends - 42608 Tiny Accessories Store

Now this one, I feel a lot more comfortable going more in depth on. First of all, why's the sticker holder gray instead of white? Asking the real questions here. Also note the implementation of multiple handbags, a smartphone and a freakin' massive piece of lipstick that kinda resembles a laser sword. Kids these days...?

But damn, if this isn't saving the best for last! Unlike most previous Friends sets, the gimmick of this one is genuinely really well executed. Building it is basically one giant spoiler, you have to put down these moving pieces across 2 sections of the build. Then when it's finished, you can put down the little stand or attach it relatively stably in the collapsable store! Now I really feel like this is something that would've felt substantial if I was a kid.

Yeah I will go 'against the curve' and say this is my favorite so far. It's bulky, the new characters (especially the girl with long hair) have decent designs, and the clever way of being able to change the playfield on a whim is unmatched. Doc Ock came close in terms of quantity, but this has more meat on it's bones AND a good way to store the loose pieces.

Current rankings:

The Mobile Bakery Food Cart... I wish I had more to say than 'creepy croissant mascot', but that's essentially it's main appeal, ain't it. It's a fun little set regardless. Cute idea.

As mentioned, the Tiny Accessories Store is going top. For the price, it's hard to imagine something more clever and robust as this. I enjoy opening and closing this one way too much. Can't believe the final LEGO fuckin' Friends set is the one that manages to properly woo me.

Friends - 42608 Tiny Accessories Store

City - 60411 Fire Rescue Helicopter

Marvel - 76275 Motorcycle Chase: Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock

Ninjago - 71805 Jay's Mech Battle Pack

Super Mario - 71428 Yoshi's Egg-cellent Forest

Friends - 42606 Mobile Bakery Food Cart

DREAMZzz - 71471 Mateo's Off-Road Car

Friends - 42607 Autumn's Baby Cow Shed

City - 60401 Construction Steamroller

City 4+ - 60410 Fire Rescue Motorcycle

City - 60400 Go-Karts and Race Drivers

Friends - 42612 Cat Playground Adventure

Minecraft - 21251 Steve's Desert Expedition

City 4+ - 60399 Race Car

And this is when I realised i've owned Space Construction Mech for almost a month and still haven't been able to open it... Soon!

[minuy600]

LEGO On A Budget 2024 Intermission #2: Mo' Polybags

Kruidvat refreshed their polybag offerings just as I was about to buy the last full sets I needed from then. Of course. Suppose that means I have a lot more ground to cover than I first thought. I'll keep it brief, not sure how much there is to say about polybags.

LEGO Minecraft - 30672 Steve and Baby Panda

Okay so why is this a far better representation of LEGO Minecraft? It took me like 5 minutes to put together since all you really do is complete the panda and build a lil tree, but yet here I am, way more charmed. Most notably with Steve. I still think he looks a bit washed out and his facial features stick out more than expected as a result; sure beats his weird freaked out expression from the desert set though. Nothing of note otherwise, it's just a quick tree build and finishing up the accurate looking baby panda. Not too shabby.

LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog - 30676: Kiki's Coconut Attack

The only Sonic rep we're gonna see in my escapades as the new Brickheadz dubble pack is out of the question. The star of the show is gonna have to be Kiki from now on, it seems.

I'm mixed on this one. It's nice to have another mech to put together, those tend to be rather nice and flexible and this is no exception. The Flicky and the rather unique coconut are pretty fun, too. The main downside is that it's wildly off-balance and falls over even when you put it on a flat surface, unless you give it exactly the right stances. That's no fun and kneecaps how creative you can be with it. ...At least you can change his eyes around to make him look extremely angry, depressed or just plain funny. Overall, it's decent.

LEGO Disney - 30661 Asha's Welcome Booth

Anyone surprised that a set based around the movie Wish is easily the worst set i've made so far? No? Good.

Uuuuuugh. So obviously, this is aimed at a very specific demographic, young girls. That's fine. You can tell it's the case too, with how Asha is in fact a Friends model figure instead of the 'ushe.

I felt very indifferent building this and ESPECIALLY disliked the photographing. There's hardly anything you can do. You can make Asha hold flowers, but here's the stinger, you can not make her hold the book without making her fall over! Why give you the option then? That's really lame. Another problem is that that star character who's included is completely unable to be put anywhere BUT the tippy top of the build, the most boring place they can be. Lastly, I discovered this with another build so I think it's a general Friends model problem, what is up with the hair of these characters? You gotta put it on at an awkward angle most of the time and it falls off with the lightest bit of fumbling.

Maybe i'm exeggerating a bit, but I genuinely doubt this is any fun for anyone except for young kids with very little LEGO experience- and who somehow LOVE Wish. So it's slim pickings. There's 3 other Wish sets and 2 of those are based around Asha as well, surely one of those is more worthwhile.

LEGO Marvel - 30679 Venom Street Bike

Hmmm. Well it certainly beats the other 3 polybags I covered today. But... why though? We already have Spider-Man on a bike in the Doc Ock set- and Doc Ock himself has been Venomized too. This is basically what happens when ya fuse the two things together in a slightly smaller format.

That CAN be turned into a positive however, it means you only need to pay 3 (or actually 4 without Kruidvat's 'magic') bones and you'd get largely the same vibe. Besides, this bike looks a hell of a lot cooler than Spidey's, with some nice rather unique pieces such as the Tri-Teeth and black flames. Plus, you could also view it as a supplement to the bigger set and have more creative fun with Spidey having to beat the shit out of multiple Venoms now. It's kinda pointless, but it's fun enough to be worthwhile.

At the end of the day, these are all hard to really consider big wastes of money for their price, and it was nice to have a bit more ground to cover in what I find to be interesting bonus sets. Yet, i'm slightly disappointed by these as only Kiki is really unique enough to stand on it's own, i'd have expected the brand names to help them forward just a bit more than what we got. I know there's more polybags I hopefully will get to see later down the line and I think those look a lot more appealing. Oh well!

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LEGO On A Budget 2024 #6: 60400 Go-Karts and Race Drivers & 71428 Yoshi's Egg-cellent Forest

You'd be surprised to know- It seems as if we will end this series on exactly 10 blog posts. We've got 6 normal sets left to cover after this, then 4 more that I can only nab online. I didn't think it would go by this fast! Of course, i'll make new posts covering whatever comes out after March as well, though those will most likely be sporadic for a while, with LEGO's tactic of releasing most of their stuff in January and July and whatnot.

LEGO City - 60400 Go-Karts and Race Drivers

God, this one. You wouldn't think 2 dinky karts would have 99 pieces total, but I suppose it does. It didn't particularly feel that way though. As you possibly could've guessed, both of these builds are close to identical. Why they felt the need to make two seperate manuals for both karts, I have no clue. They are VERY thin.

Thankfully though, I actually do like the designs. I think the colors are more unique than a lot of what City has put out, especially the neon colored one. My personal bias also takes some joy in the small racing car builds in general, I think i've mentioned here before that I was a big Lego Racers kid in the 2000s. Been a bit since i've seen these small wheels that throw me back big time. Still, i'm not sure if this should've been a full set, this could've rather easily been two seperate polybags in my opinion.

LEGO Super Mario - 71428 Yoshi's Egg-cellent Forest

And here we go. Wahoo. Yippee, mamma mia, let's a go. It's LEGO Sup Mama. The franchise I have the most embarrassing feelings for, after all, it's Super Mario Advance 2 that introduced me to non-PC gaming after all. I was never TOO interested in grabbing these sets untill now, but this set may have convinced me to change my mind.

Now there's some odd choices made with the way this one's been packaged. This is the *smallest* box i've yet seen so far, or at least it's among the smallest. And that whiie it's the first box with over 100 pieces contained inside AND has a pretty thick instruction book with 3 sacks included. Weird, makes it seem less significant while it's decently substantial. At least when compared to the frickin' Goomba's Shoe set.

For what it IS though, hoo, this is a nice set. Building these Yoshis was verrry satisfying, they look great and have a good amount of heft. I am not sure if I like the fact I had to effectively do the same thing twice though (sound familiar?). The tree canopy and the egg top it all off to make it remarkably faithful to the funny hoohoo man's franchise, and pleasant to the eye and hands.

...If it wouldn't fall apart so damn easily. I had so much trouble lifting this one into my cabinet cuz the green piece that attaches the platforms together would keep getting loose, and more frustatingly, the Yoshi duo also wouldn't be too stable on their little stand pieces. That does put a bit of a damper on things, though I wouldn't call it a dealbreaker, moreso something you need to be mindful off when holding it in it's entirety.

Current rankings:

Go-Karts and Race Drivers is ultimately decent. It's not something I am dying to do again, I better hope there ain't another car set coming up, though it's got some merit in subtle ways, particularly those aforementioned unique colors. For that, it tops the 'lower tier', aka anything below the Fire Rescue Motorcycle.

Yoshi's Egg-cellent Forest (haaaaaaaaa) is certainly the most visually pleasing set, and hey, it's from a franchise I really hold close. I don't think it deserves top marks because of it's fragility and has you build the same thing twice. Gets pretty close though. This is gonna be the new number 4, beating out Mateo's Off-Road Car.

City - 60411 Fire Rescue Helicopter

Marvel - 76275 Motorcycle Chase: Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock

Ninjago - 71805 Jay's Mech Battle Pack

Super Mario - 71428 Yoshi's Egg-cellent Forest

DREAMZzz - 71471 Mateo's Off-Road Car

Friends - 42607 Autumn's Baby Cow Shed

City - 60401 Construction Steamroller

City 4+ - 60410 Fire Rescue Motorcycle

City - 60400 Go-Karts and Race Drivers

Friends - 42612 Cat Playground Adventure

Minecraft - 21251 Steve's Desert Expedition

City 4+ - 60399 Race Car

Time to climb back into Kruidvat's walls and get grabby with this new sale they're having. See ya next time!

[minuy600]

commission for linustrain!

If you'd like to support me, check out my links below! twitter | commission | discord | kofi

[minuy600]

Monthly art for gifty!

If you'd like to support me, check out my links below! twitter | commission | discord | kofi

[minuy600]

LEGO On A Budget 2024 #5: 42612 Cat Playground Adventure & 71471 Mateo's Off-Road Car... and a surprise witness

I don't need to tell you this again, but I will. I love low budget stores.

LOVE them.

If you thought Kruidvat was amazing with offering weird things, try going to the cheapest large supermarket brand of the country. And finding this for 70 cents. I didn't know what to expect but it's marvellous.

So the main telltale differences that we're not exactly talking about LEGO here is mostly down to the quality. However, it's not too much worse in what is the most important of all; the pieces. The 44 of 'em feel fairly sturdy overall and are of a pretty nice color, even if I know that snapping them in half is easier this way. Nah, it really starts falling apart when you look at the fine print.

Let's talk about the manual. OOF. So the steps are far more complicated and much more confusing to look at, not great for something advertised to 5 year olds. Even I had some trouble figuring out what they meant with some parts of it. Although the PIECES are perfectly fine, the minifigure ain't doing so hot. He's got these floppy legs that make him difficult to make stand upright, and something about that face feels superbly bootleggy. Lastly, what I find moreso funny rather than annoying is the fact it seems to be an import from Russia- you got Russian warnings and translations right alongside the English text. ...Says something about the ethics of the cheapest supermarket around.

Overall though, you can't really complain about this stuff, can you? It's funi. For 70 cents, I had plenty of fun with discovering all the little differences and similarities. I'm sure the kids wouldn't notice. Here's hoping I can find more silly fuckin' knockoffs later down the line.

LEGO Friends - 42612 Cat Playground Adventure

Back to reality.

Oof. Or should I say, a reality check? I think this set is alright, but nothing more. It's clear we ARE starting to have more elaborate designs here, so by the end of it, I was starting to get at least a little into it and was content with how sizable it felt. But the building process, man, that was boring as heck. You wouldn't think it would be, with the more out there pieces like a slide for the cats and a litter box full of piss- okay well there you go, mystery solved. At least it also comes with fish.

Lotsa repeated pieces here too, we've seen the ladybug, the green plants and the brush multiple times over now, c'mooon.

Can't help but love that one of the cats is called frickin' Poundcake. And that Liam looks exactly like me. The plot thickens.

LEGO DREAMZzz - 71471 Mateo's Off-Road Car

At long last, something super unique! DREAMZzz was only introduced last year and is entirely of LEGO's own doing. They even made an animated series that somehow pulled through and is getting a second season this year! I'm as shocked as you are, I am unsure how many people are actually watching these. Buying the sets themselves though, yeah, I can tell why!

So the whole gimmick of DREAMZzz is that, well, stuff is set in a dreamy enviorment. And not only that, once you get through to about the halfway mark of the build, you can decide the outcome and let it branch out into two types of structures. In this case, the titular off-road buggy annnnd a 'quadcopter'.

Like that. Apparently also including an hourglass and some blomby alien dude that looks like a Kirby enemy paying a visit. Heck, there's technically two additional characters, the green blob at the back is supposed to be this transforming slime, aptly named Z-Blob. Only appears in this set, so he is certainly welcomed. Mateo is also wearing a gun. Yes. Again.

I'm not entirely sure how to feel about this guy right here. Despite there being a lot of charming unique mechanics to this one like the 'choose your own adventure' way of building and pretty much all the green pieces being completely unique, it doesn't seem to take the concept far enough. Choosing the quadcopter means you will have a lot of spare parts laying about. You have to rebuild the same stuff if you want to get the other build after all, too. I'm thankful they didn't advertise that part of it too much- it seems LEGO themselves wanted it to be a one and done. ...So then why give people the option to begin with? Another minor moan comes in the form of the concept. There's already multiple cars and helicopters around, even in this price range. Would've been cool to see them try something entirely new as they would with their more expensive sets.

Still, it's not bad at all. Of the quote unquote 'generic vehicles', this one only has the Fire Rescue Helicopter to call it's surperior. And that won't change for another couple weeks at minimum. It was more refreshing than I may make it seem. Of these two builds, I think the buggy wins out, so i'll be judging the entirety based on that.

Current rankings:

Cat Playground Adventure isn't horrible or anything, yet I found the small things you could do (and the admittedly cool amputee character) with Autumn's Baby Cow Shed a lot more charming than a barely-functioning slide and... cat wizz that you can pop in and out of existence. This one is gonna be duking it out with Steve's Desert Expedition, i'm sorry.

Mateo's Off-Road Car fares a bit better. I don't think it reaches to the stars as to what a dream enviorment could really do, the lacklustre choice of it being yet another vehicle doesn't do it many favors. Still, it's got enough to at least give you a little taste of what the theme is about, most notably with the significantly more out-there pieces included. If you're not looking into every low budget LEGO set like I am, I could wholeheartedly recommend this over the City cars. Ninjago wins here because of the additional flexibility.

City - 60411 Fire Rescue Helicopter

Marvel - 76275 Motorcycle Chase: Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock

Ninjago - 71805 Jay's Mech Battle Pack

DREAMZzz - 71471 Mateo's Off-Road Car

Friends - 42607 Autumn's Baby Cow Shed

City - 60401 Construction Steamroller

City 4+ - 60410 Fire Rescue Motorcycle

Friends - 42612 Cat Playground Adventure

Minecraft - 21251 Steve's Desert Expedition

City 4+ - 60399 Race Car

Next time, a set that's even LESS unique than most other vehicles, and a taste of the theme I wouldn't mind collecting at all after this is all wrapped up. See ya then!

[minuy600]

Pictures like this were everywhere back in my day but now theyre all gone

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[[Response to this]]

Upon seeing all the goodies inside the gift box, Marcin became a little overwhelmed at just how great everything was!

"Thank you so much! Wow, this is everything I could've ever wanted...all of these will definitely keep me going for a while! The wine looks REALLY good I'm so excited to try it!"

He takes out the scarf from the box, and wraps it around his neck. He was shocked but overjoyed at how silky and soft the fabric was. Perfect for the winter!

"Gosh, and this scarf...it's gorgeous! Your artistic vision is amazing, and the material really IS some of the best I've ever felt! I'll definitely be wearing this like, all the time!"

"For your first time doing this, this is phenomenal, thank you so much! I feel guilty that I don't have anything to give in return! If you ever need a favour...man I owe you one! Thank you so much, again!"

[ @idolmelodies ]

[minuy600]

LEGO On A Budget 2024 #4: 42607 Autumn's Baby Cow Shed & 60411 Fire Rescue Helicopter

Kruidvat returns with a pretty crazy deal. Buy 2, get 1 half off. And this is with them already pricing €10 sets at 1 buck less. €13,50 for this batch and the next that I got today, the store is oddly popping off. Thaaaaat's the LEGO On A Budget way.

LEGO Friends - 42607 Autumn's Baby Cow Shed

This certainly was a bullet I had to bite. I mean, there was the solid polybag from last time out, so that certainly made it feel less goofy to waltz to the cash register for myself, but I wouldn't be judgemental if the cashier would've given me funny faces behind my back.

It's not bad. Wouldn't call it crazy by any means but at 79 pieces, you could certainly do a lot worse. The shed has these gates you could fiddle around with and gives a decent sense of roleplay, you could put a minifigure or the calf behind it for example. I kinda enjoy messing with the blue cow brush as well, as an autistic person, wacky textures can have a satisfying effect.

Also not unimportant are the minifigures- their names are Autumn and Leo. Those... also needed some adjustment. They're WAY more defined to appeal to girls, looking much more like a small doll over a yellow cartoony man. I wouldn't call that a BAD thing, in fact, their build quality and flexibility surprised me positively once more. Pretty based that Autumn herself is an amputee, too. Nah, all I am really pear-shaped about is that they don't really fit my personal type of LEGO vibes. And that's entirely subjective.

LEGO City - 60411 Fire Rescue Helicopter

We're now reaching the territory of 80+ pieces and it SHOWS. The instruction manual got quite a bump in thickness when compared to even the previous set, I believe this is the thickest one we've got as of yet. Now, it is just a single build, so if there's something I have to complain about, it's that you probably not gonna have your minifigs go to town on it.

Still! What's included is pretty epic. Just to name a few things that I found notable: -This has got some unique coloring, I haven't really seen this fluorescent yellow color before. -This is ANOTHER set where you can shoot projectiles. May be getting a little stale now, but the power on it is still fun for kids I bet. -I remember this from the early City era, you have these little cupboards you could put spare parts in. Ideal for the leftover projectiles and the hair style you did not choose for the minifig. -The modern fire rescue design style really shines through here. You already saw it with the Motorcycle, but this one takes the cake by having a rear wing with a neat streamlined design, as well as a completely exclusive seperate piece that has '04' written on it. I've seen some people criticise the modern fire rescue designs, but I dunno, I find it quite pretty on my end. -I kept the best for last. The rotors work! I mean, duh, of course they would, but this is easily the most robust thing I could fidget with so far. For something I could hold in my hands and have some simple engagement with, it's PERFECT.

Sometimes, a set does not have to be something super unique to be fun to build and gawk at. This is proof of that ideology. It's why City is always going to be one of my favorite themes, it's peak LEGO.

Current rankings:

Autumn's Baby Cow Shed is a positively-intonationed alright! Not bad for the imagination and certainly appealing for the females around the block. Doubt it will really compare favorably to the other 3 Friends sets for this price, and it's 7 bucks more expensive than the Flower Garden polybag which has a similar amount of pieces (including some of the same that are included here), so it won't be quite at the top. It's tough to choose where to put it though! I don't know if I like it better than Jay's Mech Battle Pack, that one had a nice beefy mech and 4 minifigs going for it, yet here we have more detailed minifigs and a few additional tiny builds. I think Ninjago JUST ABOUT wins due to the posing potential. Still, it's a wortwhile pickup if you're into this sorta stuff.

The Fire Rescue Helicopter goes straight to the top. I mean, duh. The Marvel set certainly has the biggest amount of posing you could do with it, but this one was a joy to make and looks real pretty, being significantly bigger and all that. Plus I have a dumb City bias. Easy pick for me.

City - 60411 Fire Rescue Helicopter

Marvel - 76275 Motorcycle Chase: Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock

Ninjago - 71805 Jay's Mech Battle Pack

Friends - 42607 Autumn's Baby Cow Shed

City - 60401 Construction Steamroller

City 4+ - 60410 Fire Rescue Motorcycle

Minecraft - 21251 Steve's Desert Expedition

City 4+ - 60399 Race Car

Next week, another Friends set, another vehicle AND a helicopter that you probably didn't see coming. See ya then!

[minuy600]

LEGO On A Budget 2024 Intermission: A Couple Of The New Polybags

Remember when I bought this silly little thing?

Yeah, the amazing Kruidvat-branded bootleg handheld that looks like it was directly ordered from a provider to Temu or AliExpress. Well, that didn't paint the discounter store in the best light, did it? Let's change that with a more positive twist- their LEGO deals are pretty peak.

This is the only place in the Netherlands where i've seen polybags from the year 2024 so far. And as the title of 'discounter store' would imply, they were priced more gently than they would have been elsewhere. 3 bucks a pop! Now, these aren't alllll the polybags, there's a few more that I would appreciate to get so I can truly become the Budget Master (trademark), but this is a solid enough start.

As amazing as it is, My First Duck is out of the equation as a Duplo set. Here's the rest of them!

LEGO City - 30664 Police Off-Road Buggy Car

City, as consistent as clockwork. This is the only time you'll actually see the Police subtheme in my series, and it makes it count. Sorta.

It's 35 pieces, meaning it's easily the least substantial of the bunch, though it's really not all that bad. Hell, it compares favorably to some of the sets that it reminds me of. For one, the police motorcycle from 2005 came with only 28 pieces and was twice as expensive (it surprisingly being in a box probably had to do with it). And hey, it does drive rather nicely and comes with a somewhat uncommon minifigure torso as well as a completely unique 'wanted' poster.

For €3, you could do much worse. I would've liked it as a kid especially, I was never great with the big builds. Curiously, this was the one polybag to come with a vertical instruction manual as well. I'm autistic enough to notice that, hehe.

LEGO Friends - 30659 Flower Garden

Consider this a little preview of what will soon become a common theme on my blog. LEGO Friends is not something I really considered worth my time back in the day. I know, shock horror. But they always stood out negatively since they had the most brutal advertising, with a kid saying 'LEGO Friends' with the weirdest intonation possible. It's like when you would splice in a couple words from another sentence. Brutal.

So color me surprised when I say that I really enjoyed building this one. Clocking in at 64 pieces and therefore beating out the 4+ sets already, though about a quarter of them are already used on the petals of the sunflower. Doesn't matter too much.

The tulip is probably my favorite part, it required few pieces but the end result is very accurate looking. The sunflower is a lil hard to fidget into it's right spot, but is very flexible and that is always a lil fun. Overall, a nice addition to a bigger Friends playfield.

LEGO Creator - 30666 Gift Animals

Okay, so we can all generally agree that Lego Creator 3in1 is the best unthemed catagory for kids, right? They're affordable, rebuildable for a fair amount of time and generally look pretty nice as well. Plenty of sets that are pretty much just off-brand City or Friends escapades. Like this one, Gift Animals. With a whopping 75 pieces, it pretty much rivals what you could do with most sets I have covered as of late, for €7 less. LEGO On A Budget was MADE for sets like these.

The dog is the largest draw, of course. It uses up 71 pieces and is surprisingly very flexible. You can turn it's head so it can look like it's pleading at you with it's googly eyes. Same with the paws, tail and ears, they're all movable parts. I really dig that! It's a good build.

...Yet I should've built it last.

Can someone PLEASE explain to me what this is supposed to represent? I can only think of something among the lines of a bear cub or a weird different dog breed. I need answers! For that reason alone, it goes at the bottom of the Gift Animals tier list.

This is where the slightly disappointing reality set in, the other two builds only use like, two thirds of the available pieces. I mean it sorta makes sense, after all you can't really make 3 things with the same exact, rather obscure pieces. Still a small blemish, imagine if this little polybag would have more pieces used than the most elaborate €10 set. That'd be hilarious and sad.

The squirrel (right???) fares a little better. It's still not using a lot of the pieces, and it's the least flexible animal. On the flipside though, it's way more unique than whatever that previous alien was compared to the dog, and has a decent heft to it thanks to this mammal being a bit of a chonker. I like it a fair amount, gonna make it sniff at the Friends flowers in my little cabinet for this stuff.

And that concludes my escapades with the polybags for now. I'm surprised, really! These are well adapted for the price they are sold at, I would even argue that despite it's shortcomings, the Gift Animals set is a no brainer for the young'ins that don't have a lot of pocket money. Just don't forget that My First Duck will always be the peak of LEGO.

[minuy600]

LEGO On A Budget 2024 #3: 60401 Construction Steamroller & 71805 Jay's Mech Battle Pack

Turns out, going to college on a free day can lead to a lucky break. Shopping at 9:30am is a pretty magical feeling considering my sleeping issues that kinda prevent me from even waking up before like, 10am, without setting an alarm. In fact, I doubly scored this week, but this second haul is a lil secret for later. Stay tuned!

LEGO City - 60401 Construction Steamroller

City's back and it's back in style. Now that we're outta the 4+ territory, this is when we really get some nostalgia goin'. I remember having the very FIRST City construction set that released in 2005- and I actually found the manual yesterday in one of my old LEGO bins! Certainly made this build more appropiate.

Firstly, this box sets the record straight and absolutely dwarfs the other €10 boxes for the time being. I'm pretty sure it's dimensions are like, twice as thick as the regular sizes i've tackled so far. It's still a light box though, there's only 78 pieces in here, very slightly more than the boxes from last time.

Let's talk about the pieces themselves. I did nooooot know there were some usually Technic pieces involved in all this. For a 5+ set, that's rather awesome and means that the complexity can be just a bit higher. With this build, it's of course kinda limited to allowing the big wheels on the front to fit.

And yyyyeah, that's kinda it. This is the definition of okay. It's a bit more of an elaborate build which is appreciated, but it's not exactly wowing me. All it does is remind me of the golden oldies from 2 decades ago. This compares neither positively or negatively.

Will say though. It's nice that the construction worker is super easy to fit in the steamroller via the retractable roof. Might wanna call it 'above average' because of that alone. Speaking of above average...

LEGO Ninjago - 71805 Jay's Mech Battle Pack

Okay, so, I never actually uh, GREW UP with Ninjago, here. I always dismissed it as something that wasn't for me and kinda looked down on those that did. I also ate out of my nose.

Time to set the record straight. Although those small, differently shaped boxes still aren't something i'm gonna get right away (though the chances of me getting them after the series is finished are a lot higher now), I certainly was eager to check out what i've missed out all these years.

And, I mean, I like it. I think this is one of the cases where you don't really get the full idea of it's quality if you don't buy a more expensive set, or multiple other cheaper ones. Still, the mech's got some meat on it's bones. It's decently substantial and required a more elaborate 78 pieces to put together. Very bendable too. I'd say it's less flexible than Doc Ock was, but in return, it's also a lot larger and also comes with those nice projectile shooters.

I have nothing to say about these minifigs in terms of how accurate they are to the Ninjago 'lore', though I like that they all wield weapons, have head armor and can swap their facial expression for maximum smugness on Master Lloyd. Is that accurate to the show? I'll believe that untill someone proves me wrong.

So overall, this is a very competent set for posing and I think I could have had quite a lot of fun with my imagination way back when. And that's good enough.

Current rankings:

In my opinion, the Construction Steamroller was a nice throwback and has an interesting set of pieces included, but the finished result isn't doing that much for me. It's solid, yet unspectacular. Honestly, i'm not even sure if it would've beaten the Fire Rescue Motorcycle if it wasn't more or less obsoleted by Spidey's bike from the Marvel set.

Jay's Mech Battle Pack is a pretty rad set and comes pretty close to toppling the Marvel set, i'd say, yeah. I think it's up to your own preference whether you prefer pop culture over LEGO's own IP, and whether you want more smaller builds or one big boi build instead. I'm giving the nod to Marvel as I find it utilises the limited amount of pieces a little better in my opinion, but it was a close call between the two.

1. Marvel - 76275 Motorcycle Chase: Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock 2. Ninjago - 71805 Jay's Mech Battle Pack 3. City - 60401 Construction Steamroller 4. City 4+ - 60410 Fire Rescue Motorcycle 5. Minecraft - 21251 Steve's Desert Expedition 6. City 4+ - 60399 Race Car

Next week, a surprise intermission with the aforementioned secret, as well as me looking really fuckin' goofy at the toy store. See ya soon!

[minuy600]

LEGO On A Budget 2024 #2: 21251 Steve's Desert Expedition & 76275 Motorcycle Chase: Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock

Now that's a mouthful.

So LEGO Minecraft and LEGO Marvel are two catagories i've never actually purchased sets of before. I do have a polybag of Minecraft given to me some time back, so I have a tiny amount of experience in that regard- though does that really count? Those things take like 10 minutes to make. Let's see if my relatively neutral attitude towards them is deserved or not.

LEGO Minecraft - 21251 Steve's Desert Expedition

First of all, this is kinda funny. Despite having 75 pieces are therefore absolutely having more meat on it's bones, the booklet is a lot smaller and thinner than that of the Fire Rescue Motorcycle from last time. There's an obvious reason for it, that being that this is the first set that i'm covering that uses the normal instructions rather than the simplified 4+ one. Still, it certainly made it feel as if I was gonna be done much quicker.

First, let's cover what I DO find pretty nice. I like the mobs! They look very close to their actual in-game versions and I can appreciate that, it's a cheap way to show these mobs off in real loife. The Phantom in particular I really did enjoy putting together, and let it's wings flap. They also do not topple over as easily compared to human minifigs, which is a small bonus even if you can't do much with the baby camel per say.

Unfortunately, this set otherwise does not give off the best impression. Although I appreciate the tent being very sturdy once it's actually put together, getting there is surprisingly a bit more annoying than I would've imagined. The beams kept snapping off of the structure and it got me a bit miffed. Putting something in there after all is said and done is also a no-go, honestly, Doesn't even really make for nice shots unless you get really up close and personal with Steve.

And then there's Steve himself. What??? What the hell did they do to his face? I don't know if you can tell straight away from the photo, but he's got this blue mask thing going on behind his eyes, and those have been widened to make him look jovial. All well and good, but then you have the mouth area. He looks WRONG, it's like they gave him buck teeth and a wide open mouth rather than a beard! I feel incredibly unsettled looking at it. They released a polybag this year with a normal looking Steve too, it's so weird.

Here's some additional nitpicks.I literally didn't know the green object was meant to represent a cactus untill I played some Minecraft for myself and saw them in a desert. Could be dumb on my part but it could also be that the design of it isn't very good. Then there's the axe that Steve holds and is purple, which I find a kinda cheap way to indicate it's enchanted. Then again, that's what all tools in LEGO Minecraft look like, so that is moreso a general complaint.

Unfortunately, despite this set inspiring me to get back at my Minecraft antics, I wouldn't recommend this one. Nor would I really reccommend the catagory itself - the game is already about building and doesn't cost you an arm and a leg. I will put it above the Race Car though, Steve's Desert Expedition is much more unique. There's a lot of vehicles left to go.

LEGO Marvel - 76275 Motorcycle Chase: Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock

Be forewarned, my Marvel experience is limited to some of the Avenger universe films and Spider-Man 1 & 2. I know the characters involved in here and nothing else. But damn, if those characters aren't badass.

I was a bit concerned going in that it would be boring to build several small things rather than one big thing. With 77 pieces included, you could definitely argue that you don't get left much space to actually create a structure of sorts with all these loose pieces.

Don't be fooled! It works out in the end. Constructing Doc Ock was the first part where I felt a bit wowed by the quality. See, this isn't just the regular old cephalopod with a PHD, nono, he's posessed by Venom! You can turn his head around and make him look either partially taken over or completely, which genuinely looks a bit more fierce than you'd expect out of LEGO.

After that, you're inclined to work on the lamp post + trash can combination according to the (very slightly thicker) booklet. This is the part I enjoyed the least though didn't hate, I think it's cool that some pieces are completely anti-LEGO and not blocky at all, but it's far too easy to fling 'em around and lose them around the house. Interesting for roleplays and posing, if nothing more. I

The best part, hands down, is the motorcycle. It's essentially a slightly smaller rehash of the Fire Rescue Motorcycle, but with the coolness tuned up to 11. Since now, it includes just a small touch of Technic tech and allows you to shoot projectiles from the little cannons on the sides of the bike! That's genuinely awesome and works really well from what I have tried. Again though, a little hard to find the pieces afterwards.

You can really make some dynamic stuff happen with Doc Ock's arms. He can even grab onto the street lantern! It does make him hard to keep upright once he's holding materials. Won't take this set away from top spot though, this was a really nice introduction to the world of bricked up superheroes.

Current rankings:

1. Marvel - 76275 Motorcycle Chase: Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock 2. City 4+ - 60410 Fire Rescue Motorcycle 3. Minecraft - 21251 Steve's Desert Expedition 4. City 4+ - 60399 Race Car

Next up, we got our first big boi City set and another catagory i've never looked into despite it being huge for a pretty long time now. See you next week!