Review: 30663 Space Hoverbike Polybag

I went polybag hunting at the local Discovery Center after PAX East.  I managed to find a few that I didn't have so I'll be reviewing them for you this week.

Bag.  I paid $7.00 for a $.015 Price per Piece.  MSRP is $4.99, for a $0.11 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Minifig.

Parts.  Plates, Hitch/Harness, Wedge Plate, Bracket, Slope, Bricks w/Axle

 Hole, Translucent Round Brick, Studless Slopes, Plates w/Door Rail,

 Jumpers, Rounded Plates, 3L Axle/Pins, Bushings, Cheese Graters,

 Inkwells, Translucent Round Plates, Printed Round Tiles, Translucent

Rock Crystal, Bricks w/Pinhole, and Translucent Round Tiles.
  

Build.  IO Frigate.

The Questions:

Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  No.  (-5)
Score: -5 (B-).  I thought this might be good when I first saw it listed on Brickset but after looking at all the parts I'm not impressed.  This may be the cheapest way to get those Printed Battery Tiles though.

Review: 30662 Animal Crossing Maple's Pumpkin Garden Polybag

I went polybag hunting at the local Discovery Center after PAX East.  I managed to find a few that I didn't have so I'll be reviewing them for you this week.

Bag.  I paid $7.00 for a $.024 Price per Piece.  MSRP is $4.99, for a $0.17 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Minifig.

Parts.  Plates w/Rounded Corners & Feet, Fence, Bar Grill,

Round Bricks, Cones, Round Brick w/Roots, Plates, Double

Large Jumper, Clip Plate, Macaroni Bricks, Round Plates w/

Flower Edge, Minifig Watering Can, Pumpkin, and Twigs.

Build.  Two 1 Hit pieces of Cover.  The tree is 20' tall in 6P scale.

The Questions:

Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Above.  (-10)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  No.  (-5)
Score: -5 (B-).  As if the Discovery Center pricing wasn't bad enough, this polybag really doesn't have much to offer.  The Round Brick w/Roots is new though and might be useful if you want that level of "realism" in your builds.  If you can find it for less than $3.02, and you need the parts, it might be worth it.

Review: Hot Wheels Brick Rides Review & Postscript

This was just going to be a postscript look at the Brick Rides/Experimotors sub-sets from Hot Wheels and how they relate to Rapid Attack but I found another car from an old release so I turned it into a review as well.

Package. I paid $1.50 at Stop & Shop for this.

Disassembled.  Body, Windscreen, and Engine.

The Windscreen piece could represent

Defense or Spotting. The Engine piece could

represent Artillery, Movement or Spotting.

Assembled.  These models don't have an attachment point on the front.  A

Stud will fit in to the negative spaces but there isn't enough clutch to hold it

in place.  There's also a "blank" spot on the left side of the chassis common

to all of the HW/MB models.  I figure that's the injection point for the mold.

Size Comparison.  This seems to have a similar volume to a Chub.

Build.  So this is what it looks like with the engine piece swapped

out and a few Lego pieces added in.  Soldier archetype: 2Rd

[gun] 1B [armor plate] 1G [supercharger] 1Y [antenna].  All

Systems are White and consist of two pieces.  Flickr page.

The Questions:
Is it below, at, or above $10 per Frame? Below. (+5)
Is it a good size to use in a game? Yes. About the same size as a Chub. (+5)
How many parts does it have to represent systems? Two. (0)
Does it have enough parts you can remove to represent White Dice damage? No. (-5)
Score: +5 (B+).  All the things I've said about the previous models holds true here.  I think this model is a little less useful than the others with only two attachment points on the sides of the car but it makes up for that by having six possible variations that I've seen online.

Now that I've reviewed all of the base models for the Brick Rides, I want to look at all of them together.  Of the 21(?) alternates available ten of them can be found in the "Experimotors" category.  The Custom Small Block has the most variations.  I've managed to find all of the ones from 2022 and 2023, but I'm betting the remaining two from 2021 will be harder to find.  It'd be awesome if they released two more in 2024, that way you could put together a squad of eight with just one car design.  There are four Bricking Speeds, four Bricking Trails, and four Brick and Motor so a combination of those three could get you a full squad of eight if you manage to find them all.  There are three Brickin' Delivery so far.  Hopefully there will be another in 2024 to round out the selection.

I think the tail piece from the 2023 Dark Red Bricking Speed, also

the jets, and skull plate from the Brick and Motors are the most 

useful parts in terms of looks and color.  Although engine piece

from  the 2022 Bricking Speed, the tire from the Bricking Trail

and the engine from this review all come in Bright Light Yellow

so you could have matching System pieces with a little bit of work.

All in all using these depends on which cars you have access to, the extra pieces you have access to, and how much work you're willing to put in to get them table ready.

Review: Hot Wheels Brick Rides 7

I was alerted to the existence of this model by Shades Corvid on one of the Discord serves we hang out on.  This is new for 2024.  As you can see by the package this isn't part of the "Brick Rides" or "Experimotors" sub-groups.  According to the Hot Wheels wiki all the models in the "HW Metro" sub-group haven't been released and/or discovered, so I don't know if an alt-color version of this exists.

Package. I paid $1.19 at Target for this.

Disassembled.  Wind Screen, Box, and

Base.  The Box could represent Defense

or Movement.  The Windscreen could

represent Defense or Spotting. Or, you could

use these pieces to represent White Dice.

Assembled.

Size Comparison.  These seem to

have a similar volume to a Chub.

The Questions:
Is it below, at, or above $10 per Frame? Below. (+5)
Is it a good size to use in a game? Yes. About the same size as a Chub. (+5)
How many parts does it have to represent systems? Two. (0)
Does it have enough parts you can remove to represent White Dice damage? No. (-5)
Score: +5 (B+).  The parts in this set are kind of big and bulky.  The base could make for a good Movement system for another Frame though.

Review: Hot Wheels Brick Rides 6?

While shopping at Wegman's I came across one of the 2024 Hot Wheels/Mega Bloks crossover vehicles, the Dark Blue one.  I found the other one at Target almost two months later after seeing hints of its existence on the Hot Wheels wiki.

Package. I paid $1.29 at Wegman's for one of these.

Disassembled. Body, Engines, and Skull Tile. The

Engines could represent Direct Fire, Artillery, Movement

or Spotting. The Skull Tile could represent Defense.

Assembled.

Size Comparison.  These seem to have a similar volume to a Chub.

The Questions:
Is it below, at, or above $10 per Frame? Below. (+5)
Is it a good size to use in a game? Yes. About the same size as a Chub. (+5)
How many parts does it have to represent systems? Two. (0)
Does it have enough parts you can remove to represent White Dice damage? No. (-5)
Score: +5 (B+).  All the things I've said about the previous models holds true here.  I really like the attachments it comes with.

Review: Make-It Blocks Pull Back Car 3

Crossing the finish line, let's look at the last of the new line of Make-It Blocks sets for this week's reviews.

Box.  MSRP is $1.25, for a $0.02 Price per Piece.

Instructions & Stickers.

Parts.  Pull Back Motor, Plates, Studless Slopes, Extra Large Cheese

Slopes, Corner Plates, Corner Tiles, Axle Plate, Notched Corner Tiles,

Jumpers, Large Cheese Slope, Cheese Grater, Quarter Circle Tiles, Cheese

Slopes, Round Plates, Wedge Studless Slopes, Brackets, and Stadium Tiles.

Build.  IO Frigate.

The Questions:

Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Below.  (+5)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +20 (A+).  I like it.  Too bad one of those Extra Large Cheese Slopes has printing on it.

Review: Make-It Blocks Pull Back Car 2

Maintaining speed, let's keep looking at another new line of Make-It Blocks sets for this week's reviews.

Box.  MSRP is $1.25, for a $0.02 Price per Piece.

Instructions & Sticker.

Parts.  Pull Back Motor, Plates, Wedge w/Cutout, Rims, Tiles, Axle Plate,

Wedge Plates, corner Plates, Studless Slope, Hinge Plates, Large Cheese

Slopes, Tires, Tiles w/Studs on End, Translucent Round Tiles, Clip Tiles, 

Cheese Slopes, Round Plates, Translucent Quarter Circle Tiles, Wedge

Studless Slopes, Brackets, Panels, Bars, and Minifig Ice Skates.

Build.  IO Frigate (1B/1Y).  Systems are in Orange.

I may just have to build more of these.

 

The Questions:

Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio?  Below.  (+5)  (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)
If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away?  Yes.  (+5)
Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts?  Yes.  (+5)
Score: +20 (A+).  I like the selection of parts in this set.