Some of you spotted this Ninjago District block in my last update about the project. It has been built for several months but I have not had time to edit a video for it until now. This is the Virtual Gaming Arcade, which is a very popular attraction in Blockville. Let’s take a look at the outside of each section before going inside for more details.
Ideas: Beatles Yellow Submarine (21306)
I got the Beatles Yellow Submarine (21306) set for my birthday, and after enjoying a meetup at the pub with friends, I came home and decided to build it with Alistair “helping”. There were five numbered bags, not too many bits in each so it was easy to build when ever-so-slightly squiffy after the pub!
Most of Alistair’s “helping” seemed to consist of placing the Brick Separator in random wrong places. “Unauthorised Brick Separator In The Bagging Area!”
Eventually I managed to get the brick separator out of his hands for long enough to finish the job properly. I loved the minifigs, and the really original use of red frankfurters as the conning tower railings!
So all in all an enjoyable build. The only thing I will say is – what the hell is this? Also included in the set…
Ideas: Exo-Suit (21109)
Having confessed in the recent post about Bionicle that I’m not a great fan of Mechs in general, I do sometimes make an exception. Mostly because this one is utility based rather than shoot-em-up, and it’s a really cool design by space-head Peter Reid for LEGO Ideas, the Exo-Suit (21109).
It is now out of production, but I managed to find a complete but used boxed copy from eBay for a reasonable price. It looks great, and hopefully it will go very well with my future NCS MOCs.
To be honest, if you ever see one of these for sale, even if it isn’t complete, then go for it – there are some great parts for greebling in it!
Ideas: Women of NASA (21312)
I might have mentioned that I am a big space and NASA fan, and being an engineer too, I was very excited to learn that the LEGO Ideas Women of NASA (set 2132) was coming out. Female role models, figuratively and literally, and some cool little vignettes as well? Yes please!
I was delighted that my set arrived this morning, so I set to work putting it together.
It was a great build with each stage coming together nicely. The Space Shuttle seems to be about right for Micropolis scale – I can see another replica being built for my Space & Rocket Museum module – still in my head at the moment, but I will blog about it when it firms up.
Ideas: Dr Who (21304)
I’ve always been a massive fan of Dr Who, ever since I was a child, about the same time I first got into LEGO. So to have an Ideas set which replicates the TARDIS interior and exterior was a no-brainer for my wishlist. The set did not disappoint. It came with two Doctors, Amy Pond, a couple of Daleks and a Weeping Angel – one of the scariest monsters to come out of recent episodes.
The TARDIS can be used closed, on its own as a play piece, or if you take the roof off and open up the doors, it integrates perfectly with the interior so you can see that it truly is bigger on the inside!
There were a few unusual build techniques with this one, especially to get the hexagonal array of displays around the middle of the drive shaft. Correctly lining up the outer barriers was a bit fiddly too, but worth it in the end. What a smart set – it looks great in my LEGO display case with some of my other prized sets.
Ideas: The Big Bang Theory (21302)
I love The Big Bang Theory on the telly, so when I learned that there was a LEGO Ideas version of Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment, it was high on my wish list. A few weeks ago, I managed to find a set on eBay for a reasonable price. Here’s what the final thing looks like:
It was fun to build with a few SNOT techniques involved, especially for the book cases. I loved all the little details of things you regularly see on the film set, and of course custom Minifigs for all the main protagonists – even Cinnamon, Raj’s pointless little dog, gets a look in!