Mini Configures

Lego, Kre-o and other minifigures

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I "get" a ninja mixed in with "Samurai" but what are the other two figures even? 5/5 stars!

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I am super digging this minifigure's expression. He clearly just backed his truck into the mayor's limo or something.

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Famous structures Make-It Blocks

Empire State Building:  Okay, this is pretty solid. My only complaint is the stick shift lever used to make the top is actually poorly designed and the stick won’t stand up very well. Oh well, nobody’s perfect (except LEGO). 

Sydney Opera House:  Well, it was a good try, but this one suffers from being a little too ambitious to capture really well in a micro, $1 set. A noble effort with slightly sub-par execution.

Leaning Tower of Pisa: This one is pretty beautiful. A couple of the bricks came with some extra plastic sticking off of them. Also the hold of the central rod on the base isn’t super sound, but altogether a really good set.

White House:  Well, you may notice that this is more of the front porch of the White House than the entire White House if you want to get really technical. I really don’t know what they were thinking, but it is a nice reproduction of the porch.

London Bridge:  A little ambitious, but not bad on a micro scale. I almost feel it could use one more level of tan before the turrets, but that’s a matter of opinion. 

Golden Gate Bridge:  .... .... ..... ...... ...... ....... You kind of get the impression of a good start with the taps in the middle. Then the teeth to represent the cables come in and everything falls apart into the glorious mess this is. You wonder if this might have come together better if it had tried to do the whole bridge too, but alas, a disaster is a disaster. 

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Make-It Block Minifigures

Make-It Blocks, as I noted in my previous post, are available at Dollar Tree stores right now (if you know of any other place, let me know).

Some of the figures were previously sold under the Top Blox brand, but have gotten slight makeovers for MIB. There are currently 16 figures out in 8 two-packs. You may also be able to find the remnants of the Top-blox figures expanding the number of unique figures available to 24.

Girl*, Actress, Farmer, Policemen*, Doctor; Soldier, Policeman*, Military*, Doctor; Knight, Ninja, Pirate, Construction Worker*, Policeman; Fireman*, Construction Worker, Space*, Police Inspector, Astronaut; Covert Ops, Ninja, Special Forces, Fireman, Sailor.  

(*Top Blox figures have asterisks.)

The MIB minifigures are taller than LEGO minifigures, but the hair/hat swaps and the hands are the same size.

The legs and arms are on ball joints giving them a wider range of motion than LEGO minifigures. The disadvantage to this is that it becomes harder to set them squarely standing on a baseplate.

The Top-Blox vs. MIB minifigures are varied.

Some, like Girl vs. Actress, are as subtle as showing a little more face behind the hair.

Others, like ninja vs ninja are as bold as a palate swap.

And many are personality changes such as mean fireman vs clearly lobotomized fireman. 

There are a couple of, well, odd design decisions among the group.

For instance the ogre as a pirate is a pretty bold statement.

The astronaut with a knight’s torso and no mouth (and mine came with a backwards leg) is also pretty weird.

Overall, I’m very pleased with the collection and hope that maybe some more diverse figures could come out too.

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Make-It Blocks

If you have a Dollar Tree nearby and you love alternative building brick brands then you’re in for a real treat.

Make-It Blocks brand building bricks have blocks, minifigures, vehicles, little furniture sets, robots, and famous buildings.

I’ll be looking at the individual sets over the next several posts, but just as an overall the quality of the bricks is mostly very good and largely the designs, sets, and figures are clever and well done. They are, as promised prominently, compatible with major brands including LEGO brand bricks. 

A lot of the sets and minifigures were previously released as other brands (My Blox, Top Blox, Architek, etc.) and I don’t know how they’re all related, but I would recommend getting whatever of these catches your eye. Only the minifigures, famous buildings, and vehicles with partial minifigures seem to be available everywhere, but if you have enough stores in your area you may find everything.

The biggest downside is that going for a dollar, there aren’t any substantive sets available, but any of the sets out is worth the dollar they go for. I haven’t found them elsewhere for sale but eBay (where they are going for a premium of course.)

Next time I’ll look at the minifigures available right now.

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ADVENT DAY 24

Turtles got a festive training dummy, Monster High got a skull festooned Christmas tree, and Minions finally produced Stuart.

Monster High wins the day with the skull tree, Minions gets next with a minifigure and Turtles follows behind.

Well,  judged against each other day by day produces Minions as the winner of the Advent Calendar-off, with Monster High second, and Turtles third.

The Minions calendar was packed with a lot of cute, decorative pieces.

Monster High had a good balance of interactive pieces and decorative pieces.

Turtles had some weird and some fun stuff. Even though it lost the calendar-off it’s still a nice collection overall.

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ADVENT DAY 23

Turtles get ooze, Monster High gets milk and cookies, Minions get a robot.

So I rewatched Despicable Me, and now I know the water cooler and fart gun were from it, but I didn’t see this robot, so I assume it’s from one of the other movies.

The Monster High cookies are great.They’re purple and neon yellow macaroons. The table leg is a snake, making me wish Cleo DeNile was in the set too, but I think they made good choices.

Monster High, Minions, Turtles.  Tomorrow is the last day!

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ADVENT DAY 22

Turtles get a lab table, Monster High gets Santa hats and a purse, Minions gets a unicorn.

It’s a good day. The chemistry table is pretty cool, and though there are only two santa hats a third wouldn’t have fit on Clawdeen’s ears anyway.

The unicorn, presumably the toy from the Despicable Me movies is really fun. Interestingly, the tail appears to be made with the same piece that is used for fire shooting off Iron Man’s hands.

Minions, Turtles, Monster High. It’s wrapping up here soon, but all three calendars are going well so far.

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Advent Day 21

Turtles is Donatello’s weapon rack, Monster High is a gingerberad man and a nutcracker, Minions gets a Christmas Tree.

I think the sort of ghoulie gingerbread man and nutcracker (who isn’t ghoulie except in real life) could have gone on separate days and been fine, but it’s fun to get both.

The Minions tree is cute, but a little drab. Especially compared to the Monster High tree probably coming on Christmas Eve.

Monster High, Turtles, Minions

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ADVENT DAY 20

Turtles get Donatello’s mask and pizza, Monster High gets cocoa, and Minions gets a reindeer.

The Minions reindeer is one of the big reasons I got the Minions calendar.

I like that Monster High finally has something for all three girls together. If they had one day with three skis I’d have been happier. This is definitely the way to go.

Donatello seems to have anchovies and Donatello cookies(!?) on his pizza.

Minions, Monster High, Turtles

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ADVENT DAY 19

Turtles gets Casey Jones, Monster High gets a fire, and Minions gets a ray gun.

I have a feeling the Minions gun/ray/thingie appears in its story somewhere and probably has a specific name/function, but I don’t know it.

The grating on the fire pit is a pretty interesting piece to a Lego collector, so good job Mega Bloks for having unique, interesting pieces.

And finally, I had a Casey Jones action figure back in elementary school because I was trying to collect all the Ninja Turtles figures back then, but I don’t remember him ever appearing in the cartoon (yeah, I know, read the original comics, right?). He’s not a particularly interesting character to me, but a minifigure if a minifigure. And his mask is cooler than before, I think.

Turtles, Monster High, Minions

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Turtles get a skateboard, Monter High gets a chair, Minions get a water cooler and a tumbler of water.

I haven’t rated the two previous chairs very highly, but with the spider web backing Frankie’s chair is the most interesting of the three. I think the skateboard means Casey Jones is finally coming.

Monster High, Minions, Turtles. 

At the 3/4 mark Monster High has pulled ahead of Turtles, and tied Minions for this week, though Minions is winning overall still.

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Turtles s get a Role Playing Game, Monster High gets skis, and Minions get a candy cane.

The detail on the “Mazes and Mutants” game is pretty cool. I think this is one of the best items  the Turtles calendar has to offer. And the candy cane beats skis, obviously.

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Turtles get a teddy bear and a boom box, Monster High gets presents, Minions gets a snowman.

I think they could have stretched the bear and stereo into two days, so kudos for having them together.

Turtles, Minions, Monster High. Brace yourself for the last skis tomorrow.

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ADVENT DAY 15

Turtles got a Michelangelo’s weapon rack, Monster High got Frankie Stein’s accessories, and Minions got a toy plane.

I like the tie in the accessories. Sort of a below average day, though.

Minions, Monster High, Turtles

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Turltes got pizza and an orange mask, Monster High got Frankie Stein and Minions got cookies and milk.

Michelangelo’s pizza appeard to have mushrooms and Christmas cookies........ ewwww.

So, Monster High, Minions, Turtles

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ADVENT 13

Turtles gets Shredder, Monster High gets an infamous accessories rack, and Minions gets a ladybug with a little house.

It’s Turtles’ bad luck to get a usually sure-win minifigure on a day where the other two calendars really shine. Today is very excellent and Minions having an animal should be a sure-win too, but Monster high wins with a really stand out piece. Normally an accessories/weapon rack is the worst day for an advent calendar and one to go with Monster High’s dreaded skis should be the worst. But having the Monster High charm of skeleton hands and skulls as decorations really makes it stand out.

Tomorrow Monster High gets a new minifigure (judging by the door shapes). Will Turtles and Minions have something just as awesome? Let’s hope so!