I guess I count as an AFOL (adult fan of Lego), but then I played with it a lot as a kid. In recent years I have acquired a few kits that I have enjoyed building. I will put it on my Christmas and birthday lists as people always ask what to buy me. I did not ask specifically for this one, but it was a nice surprise last Christmas. I only just got around to building it as we were in Germany then and it came back by a different route as we were travelling around.
So this is not actually Lego. It is branded as Modbrix, but you can find the same set at Blue Brixx. It is obvious the battle on Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back, but you will not find any Star Wars branding on the plain box. It sells for 30€, which is about the half price of a similar size Lego Star Wars set I built a while back.
Inside you will find a load of bags. With Lego you generally use all the bits from each bag as you work through the build, but these are sorted by type with several types in each bag. The bags are a fragile sort of plastic that easily splits once you open them, so you need to be careful not to lose parts. I tend to build on a baking tray and used a plastic box for the parts. I spent a lot of time searching for the right parts and cursing the designers. There are people you want to shake warmly by the throat.
You start with the base plate that has several pieces that you mostly cover in white. At last they included some testure. At the back is the outline of a Rebel craft that is buried.
The other main things to build are the AT-AT walkers. You do not get an instruction book, just a QR code to access it online. They take you through building each leg individually, but they are identical, so it is easier to find all the parts at once and build them in parallel. I could tell those Rebels where to attack as the 'ankle' joins on these things are a weak point. The feet kept falling off. I am very tempted to get some glue to make them more stable. I found LeGlue that is specifically designed for this and may well buy some.
I built this over several evenings. With over 800 pieces it will take a while. I will say that it is not the same quality as Lego. Everything fitted and all the pieces were there, but the feet falling off was very frustrating and without glue this would need to be put somewhere it cannot be touched or it will break. It still looks pretty good.
There were a few spare pieces and I am sure I did not miss any out. I might consider another of these bargain sets if it was something I really wanted, but I am quite loyal to Lego.
Yes, I am slightly late for May the 4th.
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I can really relate to your experience because as a kid I was a huge Lego fan, and I remember how frustrating it was when something wouldn’t fit haha and even worse when it fell apart so easily. But I cherish every single one of those moments, building something from my imagination piece by piece. On the other hand, I totally understand your loyalty to this brand, which undoubtedly creates beautiful moments and that satisfaction of everything fitting together perfectly the clear instructions, the vibrant colors... it’s hard to beat. But anyway, for a €30 gift, Modbrix doesn’t sound bad if you’re willing to invest more time and patience. Good purchase 😍
Lego was generally pretty good. I had a big box of it as a kid and would make up my own models. The 'clones' are cheap, but may not be the same quality. It's even possible to 3d print parts, but the precision may not be as good. This one was a gift and I'm not complaining.
Yeah, the clutch power on knockoff LEGO typically leaves a lot to be desired. And I generally dislike glue because half the fun of most LEGO sets is building something new with the bricks.
I probably won't reuse these bricks so it's not a big deal to glue and that stuff I've seen is supposed to wash off in hot water anyway. I just want this thing to stay together now.
Wow, that's a lot of pieces. Legos are so expensive these days. I was in the you aisle at Target the other day and every set was close to $100!
Some of them are serious money. There's a Death Star that costs £900! With the big ones you have to find somewhere to display them.
AFOL? Okay, I'm starting to use this term now! 😂 But hey, traitor! 😂😂 I know Lego is getting expensive, but no... I'm not switching to another brand! 😂
ROFL! If $HIVE was worth something then I could buy the sets on my Lego wishlist, but some are crazy money.
I didn't know about Le-glue, copied to my useful links database
It's new to me too.
That looks awesome! I hate when the non-Lego brand doesn't quite fit the way it's supposed to.
!BBH
!PIZZA
!ALIVE
It's not terrible, but they could have designed those weak points to be more secure.
Yeah, a little more reinforcement is nice so you don't have to glue it.
!BBH
!PIZZA
!ALIVE
It's so beautiful, I practically grew up with Star Wars, I had the toys, the ships, the characters in my childhood and even the lightsaber
I grew up with it too, but didn't have so many of the toys back then. I'm making up for it now.
Update: @steevc, I paid out 9.001 HIVE and 0.000 HBD to reward 7 comments in this discussion thread.
Searching for pieces must be frustrating :)
It's an inefficient way to build, but bagging like that is easier for the factory.
$PIZZA slices delivered:
@bulliontools(17/20) tipped @steevc (x2)
Please vote for pizza.witness!