Written in late 2019 during back-log review of Lego interest

While I was scooping up deals on Star Wars critters, a local estate-sale company started listing dozens of Lego sets on an online auction site. I missed most of the first round, even though many lots went for $1 or $2. I wasn’t particularly interested in them, but figured if I could get them for a buck, they’d be worth it for the parts. For the second round, I was more successful, and I got a LOT of parts. Let’s dig in.

The one set I did get from the first round was the 70818-Lego Movie’s Double-Decker Couch. My kids put it together while I was on my trip and sent me this picture of Ghost Vitruvius with an actual half-eaten sucker. It is also a great set containing many minifigs. Even though I already had Emmet and Unikitty from Lego Dimensions, Ghost Vitruvius, Lord Business, and Benny were great additions. L has taken a particular fondness for having Benny operate some of my heavy Technic machinery…. but I’m getting ahead of myself…

Written in late 2019 during back-log review of Lego interest

During a business trip to Atlanta, I bought, destroyed, re-built (with the help of a good friend from Epic), and then packed 75187 – BB-8. That’s right – I’ll travel halfway across the country for a good deal! Of course, at the same time a Slickdeal popped up for the 75230 – Porg set, so that was waiting at home for the girls to help build.

The seller of this BB-8 didn’t feel too inclined to disassemble him before delivery, so I sort of half-closed my eyes while I took him apart because I much prefer the enjoyment of assembling these sets rather than just seeing them sit on the shelf (which is probably why, instead of them sitting on my shelf, they’re now going to a family member to enjoy as they see fit).

Since I built BB-8 all by myself, it was only fitting that the Porg was built by my daughter upon my return from Atlanta. After that, I discovered there had been a little Lego store polybag of a mini-Porg that I just had to add to the family. Interestingly, I built him entirely from pictures, only to discover at the very end that instructions were available online if you looked very carefully. Oh well, it was fun to create on my own! So while they were on my shelf, I did have a little Star Wars family (both the BB-8 and Porg sets came with minifig-sized versions as well).

Below is the story of how I shared my discovery, murder, and reanimation of the newest member of the Flessner lego family.

Previously I had explored a couple of MOCs (My Own Creations) of my kids’ sets that others had posted on Rebrickable, but this was the first complex MOC of one of my own Technic sets. User Tomik took a jet plane set and created something totally different: a Red Shark that had fluid tail wagging and mouth-opening actions. Even though it was a quarter number of pieces as the modular Pet Shop, I remember in particular my dad being particularly impressed – expressing disbelief that an airplane set could turn into this!

I had also heard this could be motorized, and I did eventually get the basic power functions motor kit to wire this up. I’ll admit I needed some help getting it connected up, as my experience with “new era” Technic is not quite up-to-snuff. But once I had the motor connected, this became the kindling to what would eventually become my obsession – complex mechanical technic builds! This seemed like a marvel at the time, but I hadn’t seen nothin’ yet!

Written in late 2019 during back-log review of Lego interest

My first “real” Lego set after the dark age was the modular Pet Shop. Although this was before I started doing lots of documentary pictures of builds, this was a fantastic experience for the whole family. Essentially two separate buildings with 3 floors each, this allowed each of my daughters to share a section of the building. Even our 5yo can proudly point to a section and say she built it.

Of course, since I bought it used, it did unfortunately come minus a few missing pieces. Fortunately there’s Bricklink – an amazing place to find loose parts and old sets, but little did I know the rabbit hole I was about to get sucked down into…!

Written in late 2019 during back-log review of Lego interest

The very first set out of my “dark age” wasn’t even a real Lego set! I had researched and collected a “wanted list” of complex sets, mostly comprised of modular buildings and a few Star Wars sets (sure, who wouldn’t want to build the Death Star?). I had done research and known Lepin was a bad, bad brand since they essentially steal Lego designs and re-sell them as their own. Off-brand bricks are fine; copying designs and assembly instructions page by page is definitely not. Still, when I saw a Craigslist ad for a 3000-piece star destroyer for $50, I perked up. Though it was only $270 when it was released in 2002, used sets routinely go for $700 minimum online. I knew I was taking a risk (and hurting my self pride), but I got the thing for $40.

Essentially the experiment was to see how bad these Lepin bricks were and also just build something huge and get rid of it as quickly as I could. Surprisingly, most of the bricks were pretty decent for being off-brand. The instructions were nicely spiral-bound, though the 1:1 images were laughably NOT full-size (more like 80-90% sized), so essentially useless. Plates and magnets all bonded together just the way they were supposed to. The only really bad bricks were the half-pins which were used all along the length of the ship to hold the greebling (new term I learned during my deep dive into Jangbricks reviews!) in place. Most had little to no clutch power, so the details kept falling off.

This thing was surprisingly huge! But as I had some “real” lego sets to start building, I wanted it out of the house ASAP. Actually ended up making $20 on it, and the buyer wanted it “destroyed into oblivion”. H & I also enjoyed taking it apart piece by piece into a deceptively small box for its size. This thing was surprisingly huge! But as I had some “real” lego sets to start building, I wanted it out of the house ASAP. Actually ended up making $20 on it, and the buyer wanted it “destroyed into oblivion”. H & I also enjoyed taking it apart piece by piece into a deceptively small yet heavy box.