Super Exclusive Brick Review - Chad Valley Bumper Brick Pack

Yes, today's review is an exclusive!
That's right. You will not find a single other review for this product anywhere online. Today's review is of the Chad Valley Bumper Brick Pack. It's available in a 300 piece version, a 600 piece version and a 1000 piece version. I'm reviewing the 300 piece one, which is a whopping £9.99 at Argos.

Lego don't currently have a basic brick pack that size, but it their 600 piece set is £19.99, the same as the Chad Valley 600 piece set, so it's not particularly cheap.
Now, when I said this review was an exclusive, I mean exclusive in the sense that despite being available for months nobody seems…

Thursday, 23 May 2013, 12:00 am, More..

Review - Cobi 1502 Action Town SWAT ATV

Woo! Time for another review and today it's a Cobi set I'm going to be looking at.
Are you excited? I'm excited.

I've reviewed some Cobi minifigures before, but not any full sets, so this'll be fun.

Forty pieces, a minifig and a pair of binoculars for £1.99, which if they're good isn't half bad.
I'm not posting this as a Budget Brick Review though because that isn't really the price this set normally goes for. Roughly double that seems to be the normal price. I just managed to grab a bargain. Well, if it's good that is. If it turns out to be rubbish then not so much. I'm hoping for…

Thursday, 16 May 2013, 01:30 am, More..

Budget Brick Review - Kazi No.6071 Pixie Speed Boat

Time for another Budget Brick Review! Aren't you excited? :D

Today's set is by Kazi. I've reviewed them before of course. They did the clone Spider-Man set.
The box is a bit beat up because it came half way round the world using standard mail. It's pretty impressive that it's not more squashed than it is.

The alternative builds look interesting, specially the mini-helicopter capable of removing its pilots brain when they try to get on and off it. That's very nice and ah, the good old disclaimer!
"SPECIFICATIONS COLOURS AND CONTENTS MAY VARY FROM ILLUSTRATIONS"
I love that disclaimer. They can't guarantee what's in the box and if you…

Monday, 13 May 2013, 12:00 am, More..

Budget Brick Review - Sluban M38-B0238

Time for another review.
This week I'm looking at another Sluban set.

This is another set in the same range as the "Queen's Private Rooms" set I reviewed back in September. Like that one I got this cheap and eBay and don't have a box for this set, just a little bag with everything in.

It's a small set, but there's a decent selection of parts if you don't mind pink and purple, which I don't.

There's a purple Oxford style traffic cone and a pretty nice pink fence part, the same as the one in the previous set, so that's neat. One by itself isn't necessarily that useful, but…

Monday, 6 May 2013, 12:00 am, More..

Review - Kre-O Battleship 38952 Ocean Attack

It's time for another review and today's set is one that's been sitting in my to do pile for a while now.

This is the first Kre-O set I've reviewed. In fact it's the first Kre-O set I bought. I'm not really a Transformers fan and I've never seen the Battleship movie, so I haven't had the greatest motivation to pick any sets up.
That was of course until one of the local stores decided to discount all their Battleship sets. That's some pretty good motivation right there.

I really wish more companies would stick actual product shots on their boxes. The CG stuff is nice and pretty and all, but really,…

Wednesday, 24 April 2013, 02:00 am, More..

Budget Brick Review - Zephyr Knight #105 Roving Vehicle

It's review time again and guess what! It's another tiny budget space set. This time it's Zephyr Knight's turn.

Yep, it's an old school Life on Mars Lego Martian again. That photo's from the eBay listing because I didn't get a box with this one. Hey, it saves on postage so I'm not complaining. Anyway I bought the set from this seller who currently doesn't have anything listed, but hey, they might have something by the time you read this. Who knows?
Anyway, I really like the Life on Mars aliens and I really like getting things in unusual colours, so of course I got this set. Like there was ever a chance I wouldn't?…

Monday, 15 April 2013, 12:00 am, More..

Budget Brick Review - Enlighten #505 Exploring Saucer

Two of the first sets I reviewed for this blog, back almost a year ago now, where Enlighten clones of Lego space sets (link and link) and I thought it was about time I reviewed another one of them, so let me introduce to you set number 505 the Exploring Saucer!

Like set 501, the Space Tracer (see second link if you haven't clicked it already) this is a slightly confused copy of an Explorien set, in this case set 6815 Hovertron. They have modified the design slightly which I suppose I should give them some credit for. It's kind of like someone tried to make a Hovertron, but they didn't have three of the parts they…

Monday, 8 April 2013, 12:00 am, More..

Budget Brick Review - Block Tech Military Plane and Military Boat

I said on Monday that I'd have a Block Tech (shudder) review for you today and I've kept my word. Today I'll be reviewing TWO Block Tech military sets!

Sort of.
You see, I found something a little odd about these two sets when I had a look at the back of the box.

Do you see what it is?
Well here, let me show you.

Yep, instead of the usual Grafix/Block Tech stuff on the back it has Funtastic junk. That's a little weird considering they're two entirely unrelated companies, isn't it? Funtastic (reviewed here and here) are a brand of Poundland. They import and rebrand various different…

Thursday, 4 April 2013, 04:00 am, More..

Review - Mega Bloks Moshi Monsters Moshling Zoo sets 80636 / 80638

Time for another review! Just a quick one today.
I think that might be the pattern for things for a while here, quick reviews on Monday's and longer reviews on Thursdays. We'll see how that works.

Anyway, for today's review we have...

Mega Bloks Moshi Monsters!
You know, these reveals would be much more effective if I didn't title all of these reviews properly.
Mega's Moshi Monsters line is generally pretty good in my opinion, but how do these particular sets hold up? Well, time to find out. First up is set 80636 featuring Mizz Snoots (the big one), Pooky (the little one) and a…

Monday, 1 April 2013, 12:00 am, More..

Review - Lego 70003 Legends of Chima Eris Eagle Interceptor

I promised a Lego review today and that's what you're getting.
There pretty much isn't a single Legends of Chima set that I don't want, so when I spotted 70003 Eris Eagle Interceptor with a 33% discount and some money I got on my birthday burning a hole in my pocket there was no chance I was going to leave it on the shelf.

So, first impressions from the box...
The vehicles look interesting with some neat new parts, the figures look cool and is that Laputa in the background?

For the money I paid, this looks like a pretty good set. Hell, for the original price it looks pretty reasonable to…

Thursday, 28 March 2013, 03:00 am, More..

Blind Pack Revew - Character Building Ben 10 Series 1

I think we're well overdue a new review, don't you?

Just a quick review today, because it's due in four hours and I haven't actually finished writing any of them yet.
Ignore I said that.
Anyway, today's review, as you can probably tell from the name and the picture above, is of some more Character Building blind packs, this time Ben 10. Now, I've only ever watched half a dozen episodes of the show so I will be relying entirely on the internet for information, so don't blame me if it's all wrong.
So, bag one:

It's a blue guy!

Angry blue guy?

He looks…

Monday, 25 March 2013, 12:00 am, More..

Review - Mega Bloks Hello Kitty Sets 10855, 10856 and 10859

Time for another review and this week it's the turn of the Sanrio-Mega Bloks Ambassador. I mean Hello Kitty. This time it's the turn of Hello Kitty. Completely different characters. I've no idea why I got so confused there.

First up is set 10855, the imaginatively titled 'Music'.
One really neat thing about this set is that Hello Kitty has a blue bow.

That seems like a silly thing to like about the set, but there are a hell of a lot of figures with red or pink bows and it's nice to get a bit of variety.
Anyway...
This set is one of four small impulse packs reeased as…

Monday, 11 February 2013, 02:00 am, More..

Review - Lego Friends Collectable Animal Packs

I'm not a huge fan of the Lego Friends line. I bought two sets not long after the line launched because they had some parts I wanted, including a new Lego rabbit, but I have no interest in the line as a whole because the figures just don't fit in anywhere. A new figure type for just one theme with half a dozen distinct characters in it that get repeated from set to set? No thanks.
(Mega Bloks' Hello Kitty line doesn't count, because dammit, it's Hello Kitty!)
Finally though, the Friends line has introduced something that can guarantee I'll be reaching for my bank card.

More animals!
Three series of three have been…

Monday, 14 January 2013, 12:00 am, More..

Character Building Week Part 4 - Topps Minis

Hey everybody, it's day four of Character Building Week and today we're looking at...

Topps Minis! Eight packs of them in fact.
For those of you who don't know who they are, Topps are makers of licensed trading cards and stickers, mostly for sporting events and leagues, so this is sort of a triple branded thing between Character, Topps and the FA (Football Association).
Now, I'm not particularly into football. In fact the last game of football I saw was about coming up to a decade ago because someone I was sharing a flat with wanted to see it. I found it pretty boring to be honest.

These are the same style…

Thursday, 10 January 2013, 12:40 am, More..

Character Building Week Part 3 - Deadly 60 Blind Packs

It's day three of Character Building Week. So far we've had a HM Armed Forces set and five Doctor Who sets and today we have Deadly 60 blind packs.

For those that don't know Deadly 60 is a BBC Children's show presented by Steve Backshall goes around tracking down the most dangerous animals on Earth, which though not really my idea of a fun time does make for a successful enough TV show to get it's own toy lines, three series and spin off shows.

Usually these packs are about £2 each. I'd been holding off getting any until I saw some at a lower price though and I finally did last week. They've…

Wednesday, 9 January 2013, 01:45 am, More..

Character Building Week Part 2 - Doctor Who Army Packs and Temporal Blast Combat Sets

It's day two of Character Building Week. Yesterday it was HM Armed Forces and today it's Doctor Who. Specifically, this lot:

The RRP for these sets are £9.99 for the Army packs and £6.99 for the Temporal Blast Combat Sets. I managed to pick up all of these on clearance from a couple of different shops at just short of £2 a set. Bargain!
First up for review is the Dalek Drone Army Builder Multi Pack. Catchy name, huh?

Now, if you read the comic that takes up the other half of this site then you'll already know that I'm a fan of Character's Dalek figures.

Character did something a…

Tuesday, 8 January 2013, 01:00 am, More..

Character Building Week Part 1 - HM Armed Froces Assault Rib

Hey everybody, it's time for another review and this week is Character Building week!
I'm doing something a bit different, and possibly insane, this week. I've got quite a bit of stuff to review kicking about, so I'm doing a review every day this week, Monday to Friday.
Over this week I'll be looking at various bits and bobs from the Deadly 60, Topps Minis and Doctor Who ranges, but today's Character Building set is the HM Armed Forces Assault Rib Mini Set!

It's a neat looking little set with a few interesting pieces in it, though the front image is a little odd considering that this set actually comes with a baseboard.

Monday, 7 January 2013, 12:00 am, More..

Budget Brick Review - M.Y Farm Tractor

Time for another review and this time it's budget rebranders M.Y's turn.

M.Y seem to rebrand quite a few different makes ranging from some very damn nice ones to some absolute tat. Going by the box art this looked like one of the better things they've sold, so for £1.99 I thought this one would be worth a try.

Another one of M.Y's sets includes the same tractor bought in and rebranded by Poundland, which tells you something about how bad they can get.
This set though looks much, much nicer. Hopefully it is.

The one slightly worrying thing is that terrifying statement:

“Colours and Specifications…

Tuesday, 1 January 2013, 12:00 am, More..

Review - Lego Legends of Chima 70001 Crawleys Claw Ripper

Here's something I haven't done before, a Lego review.

Usually when I pick up Lego or Mega Bloks sets they've already been out for ages and are in clearance sales already, so reviewing them seems sort of pointless, but not with this one, because this one I've actually picked up while it's still new, so that's neat.
The Chima line (how exactly do you pronounce that anyway?) is one I've been looking forward to for a while, because really, this is me and there are humanoid animals in these sets and there is no way I'm not going to be getting some of those, is there?

This set cost me a whopping…

Monday, 31 December 2012, 12:00 am, More..

(Not Really) Budget Brick Review - Cobi Small Army Figures

I've been wanting to review a Cobi set or two for a while now, but Cobi sets are actually kind of expensive in the UK, so for now you're going to have to settle with some blindpack figures and they cost me £1.75 each, so you're going to gave settle with just the two of them.

According to the packets series 3 of the Small Army range seems to consist of very happy men with guns. They clearly do love shooting at things.

There are 22 different figures in this wave and looking at the (admittedly poor) pictures on the back there's quite a nice selection of figures.

So, what did…

Monday, 10 December 2012, 12:00 am, More..