Bricks, Lego, and everything in between
A lot of fun stuff has been happening in the building brick scene recently, which is always a nice thing to see! A few new companies have come out to show their products and with licensed stuff no less. But do they hold up to classic Lego? Let's see!
MEGA Squid Game Action Figure Building Toy The Staircase
As I've said before, I think copywrite law should be shortened in order to allow for products like this to exist. Creativity gets stifled if people aren't allowed to use a product because it's "too similar" to other products. When Lego royally screwed up and allowed their patent to run out, it was a beautiful new era of brick making that allowed for some many new kinds of sets that Lego wouldn't touch. This set is a beautiful example of this, Lego would have no interest in a the gory mess that is Squid Game, but MEGA is and I'm here for it!
When this show came out a lot of parents were unaware of how extreme it was and I think this ignorance is spilling over into this set. A lot of negative reviews on Amazon seem to be from parents who wanted to hand their kids a simple set without having to help and this set is obviously made for teens/adults in mind. So ignore the ding dong parents that are out of touch and can't be bothered to check what their children are watching before ordering a complicated brick set.
I really like this set, it's interesting and complicated in a positive way. The bricks are unique, which is always a fun extra.
Something that really amplified the experience was getting one of these guys:
It moves the figures without having to automatically turn them and I think this was a really fun extra for not a lot more money.
Brickcraft Baby Bender
The packaging on this looked like it was going to be a nightmare to open, so I braced myself a bit. Turns out it was actually super easy, which was a nice surprise. The display case it comes with is genuinely one of my favorite parts. It feels well thought out and the fact that they stack makes it really appealing if you want to collect more. The stickers are a bit of a mixed experience. I usually hate stickers, especially when they stretch across multiple pieces, and this set does have a few of those moments. But the application method is honestly genius. You place the whole sticker sheet down and peel away the top layer so all the smaller stickers go on at once without fingerprints or misalignment. It is one of those small details that really impressed me.
LEGO Technic 2022 Ford GT Car Model Set 42154
This one surprised me, mostly because I went in expecting a stripped down "budget" Technic car and came out with something that stacks up against sets nearly double the price. The V6 in the back is see through, which sounds like a gimmick until you realize it means you don't have to tear the model apart just to show off the pistons moving. That's a smart call and I wish more of the bigger Technic cars did it. The butterfly doors are the real party trick though, watching them swing open on a car this size feels like it shouldn't work with plastic bricks and somehow does.
That said, it's not without its annoyances. The bracket that runs the door mechanism has a habit of catching on the chassis, so opening the doors smoothly takes more finesse than it should for a set aimed at adults who've built Technic before. And the front end just leaves the axles hanging out in the open, no cover, no cosmetic fix, just bare plastic staring back at you. For the price though, I'll take a couple of rough edges. It's proof that Lego doesn't need a $250 price tag to make something worth building twice.
Mattel Brick Shop Hot Wheels '71 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV Building Toy Kit
Mattel's swinging for the fences with this one and mostly landing it. Instead of building the Miura out of the same generic bricks you'd find in a hundred other sets, they went and molded a bunch of pieces just for this car, and it shows. The body reads as a solid shape instead of a pile of studs, which is the opposite of the visible brick look Lego usually goes for, and depending on your taste that's either the best or worst thing about it. I lean toward liking it, especially with the pop up headlights and the little metal exhaust tips.
Where it gets shakier is the actual building material. It clicks together fine out of the box, but if you've spent years with real Lego your hands notice the difference in how the pieces grip, and the color match between batches isn't always dead on. At $130 it's cheaper than a comparable Lego Icons build, but you're also getting a company still working out its own manufacturing kinks. The bonus 1:64 die cast is a nice touch though, and it's the kind of extra that makes the price sting less once it's sitting on the shelf next to the big one.
Mattel Brick Shop Hot Wheels '24 Aston Martin Vantage GT3
This is a fun little race car and the functional steering wheel is a genuinely nice touch for a set at this scale, you don't usually get that below the premium tier. The splitter and spoiler swap out for a cleaner look if you're not into the decals, which is a good option to have instead of committing to one look forever.
I will say it feels like the middle child of the lineup. It doesn't have the presence of the Miura or the nostalgia pull of a classic muscle car, and I've already seen this one marked down from its original price by more than half at some retailers, which tells me it isn't flying off shelves the way Mattel probably hoped. That's not a knock on the build itself, the engine detailing and opening doors are solid, it's more that GT3 race liveries are a niche interest even inside a niche hobby. If you love modern touring cars this is worth grabbing at a discount. If you don't, there's no rush.
Mattel Brick Shop Hot Wheels '94 Toyota Supra MKIV
I need to vent for a second before I even get into the set itself. Getting my hands on this thing was a whole ordeal. Preorders closed before I even had a chance to jump on one, and after that it was just checking Walmart over and over hoping a truck came in with stock that hadn't already been snapped up. Some days there'd be one or two showing up online and gone within the hour. If you want this one, do not wait around thinking you'll grab it whenever, because apparently everyone else had the same idea and demand blew right past what they stocked.
All that said, once I actually got it in hand, it mostly justified the hunt. The whole thing is molded in black with these carbon fiber look pieces worked into the body, which nails that tuner car aesthetic way better than a sticker trying to fake the same texture would. They even tucked a little nitrous bottle into the trunk as a tuning detail, which is such a small thing but it's the kind of nod that tells me whoever designed this actually gets why people love this car in the first place, it's not just a Fast and Furious cash in with a badge slapped on. The functional steering and the engine detailing hold up next to the rest of the Elite Series too.
My gripe outside of the hunt to find one is pretty minor, the wheel covers feel like an afterthought compared to how much attention went into the body panels, and for a car this associated with wild wheel setups I wanted a little more there. But between the look, the nitrous bottle detail, and finally getting one to build after weeks of refreshing a Walmart app, I'm calling this one a win.
LEGO Minecraft Mini Biomes
This is exactly the kind of small nostalgic release I didn't know I wanted until it existed. Lego did four Micro World sets back in 2014 and then just sort of forgot about the idea for over a decade, so seeing it come back as five swappable biomes with a reversible day and night backdrop feels like someone dug through the archives and actually listened to what people missed. Minecraft's whole aesthetic is built on simple blocky shapes, so shrinking it down to micro scale works better here than it does in almost any other Lego Minecraft product.
My only real complaint is that five microfigures across five biomes means each one only gets a single mob to keep it company, so the scenes feel a little sparse compared to the regular scale Minecraft sets. It's also priced close to the retiring Crafting Table set while offering less in raw size, even though the modules are compatible with each other if you want to build them into a bigger display. Still, for anyone who remembers the original Micro World line, this is a welcome and honestly overdue comeback.
Overall, I'm very impressed with variety offered in the brick space. There are a ton of beautiful pieces that are great for many different prices. What brick sets are you picking up? Let me know in the comments down below!
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