The Simpson's LEGO Minifigures Series 2

The Simpsons LEGO minifigures Series 2 are due to be released to the general public on May 1st, but a friend of ours spotted them for sale at a shop somewhere in South Manchester and grabbed two sets. By the time he had sorted through, the shop had realised their error and taken them back off sale, so we were in the nick of time...

The more alert among you may be able to spot that not everything went to plan.....Our friend Brett is somewhat of an expert at blind bag feeling, so it's worth noting that Edna Krabappel and Millhouse can actually be mistaken for each other. Edna has a special place for me, so I actually don't mind too much...

LEGO Simpson's Apu's Kwik-E-Mart Review set 71016

It's been a while coming, and I've been looking forward to this since it was announced, so here is our review of LEGO set 71016 The Kwik-E-Mart. Complete with 6 minifigures, the police car and a whole array of stock, this is another huge playset from LEGO.

The New LEGO Speed Champions Overview

The new LEGO Speed Champions sets are out now, and we think they're a really great range, which actually offer good value for money and great playability for kids, as well as being perfect for the display shelf. We've reviewed the 3 Hybrid Supercars, and here's a look at the full range of 7 sets....

In the lower price bracket we've 4 basic car sets at £12.99. Each has the vehicle, driver and a small accessory - chequered flag, trophy, barrier, fantastic little 2 part orange cones which really work far better than they have a right to. 

New LEGO releases for early 2015

It's the new year and it has brought with it some fantastic new LEGO - new ranges such as Frozen and the Swamp Police, the relaunched Bionicle LEGO, and plenty of  additions to old favourites such as LEGO minifigures Series 13, Friends, Arctic and one of our favourites - The LEGO Movie.

Bionicle LEGO has been relaunched and there are 13 new figures - 6 protectors, 6 Toa heroes and the Lord Of Skull Spiders. My 6 year old loves these and has had great fun playing with them over the past couple of years. They are tricky for young hands to build, hence the 8-14 age range, but they stay together well and are very poseable, so play value is good.

The price point is excellent for children spending birthday money and Christmas vouchers and they retail between £9.99 and £14.99. You can find out more and get some cool background and build ideas on the LEGO Bionicle website.

 
Minifigures Series 13 is a brilliant collection. Only a couple of slightly less interesting figures and some really strong females, which should please a lot of people.

The Complete LEGO Simpsons Minifigure Collection

Because my partner got Tonsilitis we were really behind with getting the LEGO Simpsons minifigures, but with huge thanks to our LEGO collecting mate Brett - who bought several boxes and sorted through them for many hours - we have a full set of 16.

Stars of the show are the Simpson Family themselves - this time with Grampa Simpson

 As well as the Simpson children we've got Ralph, Nelson and Millhouse

Ralph is holding the fantastic card from one of the Valentine's shows. Ralph's Dad, Chief Wiggum, is also present, with his megaphone and nightstick.

A Surprise LEGO Minifigure In The Post..

I had a really nice letter in the post today. The sticker on the envelope was incredibly familiar...

And when I opened it....

Despite how much we love our LEGO Simpson's House I haven't yet had the chance to buy the new Simpsons LEGO Minifigures, their release was rather eclipsed by my partner becoming ill. Receiving one in the post was a lovely and very welcome surprise.

 

I love his Squishee cup - if you are feeling bags to find Apu, that's what you'd look for...

Simpsons Minifigures are available now and have an RRP of £2.49 each. The LEGO Simpsons takeover episode is due to air in the USA on Sunday May 4th. Sadly Sky 1 are behind in the UK, so we can't expect to see it for a few weeks yet....boo.... Here's a trailer though...

I was sent Apu Nahasapeemapetilon because I am a LEGO Family Blogger. I was under no commitment to write about him or the LEGO Simpsons episode.

LEGO Turtles Karai Bike Escape set 79118

I told you about the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles LEGO sets a few days ago, and today I'm reviewing one. The LEGO Karai Bike Escape is a new set from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles range for 2014. It contains Karai  and Leonardo with weapons and skateboard, Karai's bike, a road sign and a newspaper vending machine.

With a suggested age range of 5 -12 it's a very simple set - my 5 year old put it together in less than 10 minutes and didn't open the instruction book until after he'd completed the bike. There isn't a lot to build, this set has only 88 pieces. 

Karai is currently only available in this set (although is expected to appear in the Big Rig Snow Getaway later in the year). Leonardo appears with a different head and other features in the Turtle Lair Attack and Turtle Sub Undersea Chase.

They're pretty cool minifigures and Karai's bike is really nicely done with double stands, twin exhaust, and a hook for the helmet. There's a rope to pull Leonardo along and the bike itself is around 9cm long.

The newspaper vending machine is designed to 'explode' when the street sign is tipped over, adding to the play value and pretty much as you'd hope from a Turtles set.

In my opinion at £11.99 this set is priced at the top end of standard for a licensed LEGO set of this size, and really offers lower value to anyone who isn't keen on Karai or collecting all the Turtles.

If you want a TMNT LEGO playset then you're possibly better off saving your money a while longer and spending £8 extra on the Mutation Chamber Unleashed 79119 or even the Stealth Shell In Pursuit 79102.
If you just want a bike playset then you'd be far better off with the LEGO City High Speed Police Chase - 2 bikes, a police car and 2 minifigures for only £1 more.
If you are a big Turtles fan and like bikes - this is the set for you.

I was sent this set to review as part of my role as a LEGO Family Blogger.

We're Lego Family Bloggers!!

I'm absolutely delighted to finally be able to share the news with you that we've been picked to blog for our favourite brand - Lego!

We found out on a Friday, the day before our Lego Simpson's House arrived, so that weekend while we were building we were even more happy in the knowledge that for the next 12 months we'll be sent Lego to review. It really is our dream job, and not something I could have imagined 12 months ago. It's so exciting, there has already been much discussion about what they might send us, and everyone has their own favourites, so I can't wait to open that first box and get stuck in.

I have my shiny new badge over there in my side bar >>> and later today I''ll publish our first review as official Lego Family Bloggers with some exciting news about a new pocket money priced Lego product that's out this weekend. If this was a social media status there would be soooooo many grinning faces!

I've got more Lego posts in the pipeline already, including a review of one of the latest DVD's and some amazing custom Lego modular builds which were brought around to our house last week for us to take a look at.

Job is a goodun! 

Lego 71006 The Simpsons House Review Part 2 ~ Upstairs

The first part of the Simpsons House review can be found here... After a good 10 hours building, writing it all up at once would have left me no time to play! Or sleep....

Bags no.5 - 3 bags containing the upstairs of the house excluding the removable section, the upstairs furniture and Maggie.

Maggie's room you soon realise is actually the end of Marge and Homer's bedroom when the house is closed, and Lisa's room seems tiny until you add the removable section. It's very cleverly designed to make great use of available space.

The cot is great,  there's no room to lie down, but who cares? The beds really make fantastic use of already available bricks to create a bed the figures can easily lie down on - although poor Marge has to hang her feet off the bottom of the bed! This build is a doll's house, there's no getting around it.

There are loads of extra free play parts throughout this build,  which will really encourage imaginative play. Lisa's room has a magnifying glass on the bookcase, and there's a wash basket in the adult's room.

The bathroom is the hidden room that you can't see until you take off the roof or open the door. It's fantastic with excellent use of space, even including a toilet roll!

The air conditioning unit is one of my favourite pieces of the whole build, with great use of ready available bricks and the last of the fantastic PROPERTY OF NED FLANDERS stickers....

End of Instruction Book 2

Bags no.6 - 2 bags which make up the roof sections. All of the roof sections are not attached to the body of the house and lift off very easily for play. They're sturdy and don't fall apart easily when manhandled either!

Bags no.7 - 3 bags which make up a removable section of the upper floor of house with furniture and the final minifigure in the set - Lisa.

Lisa has a fabric skirt, the same as Marge. While I much prefer these to the blocky sloped bricks that are often used to depict a skirt, if you're going to let children play with it then I hope they're not as fascinated as my nearly 4 year old who halves the lifespan simply by looking at it.

This is a section that was kept really secret, but it was clear it was going to be Bart's bedroom. It's also the landing and end of Lisa's bedroom.

I love the fact that all of the doors open onto the landing, and the stairs really work. As a child proper stairs and doors were something I really yearned for when I was playing with dolls houses or making Lego houses. It's proper.

Bart's furniture is now familiar, with the beautifully shaped beds, complete with pillows, turned down sheets and bedside cabinets.

Bart has a great little desk with an 'open drawer' which is ingeniously made again using the snot (studs not on top) bricks. Clearly the Lego design team realised they had been underused before.

The little details in this build are spot on. There are fantastic photo's on the stairs and there's a dent in the car, and the excellent PROPERTY OF NED FLANDERS stickers, and there are also a Radioactive Man comic for Bart and an A+ school work for Lisa. There are enough mugs for everyone to have a brew.

The use of colour throughout the entire build is brilliant. They've been able to really go to town and use the rarer colours. They've borrowed from the Lego Friends and other ranges - the vacuum cleaner is mainly made from a part we call a Droid.

The entire build took 2 of us around 10 hours. We're used to working on  Lego builds together, but were ahem....*assisted* by our 4 and 5 year olds. I'm not sure how good a guide that is for you really!

The best things about this build are the sheer playability, size and number of amazing extras - a camera and tripod, sun loungers and cocktails/smoothies, a wheelbarrow and plants, BBQ and sausages, the list goes on and on. It really offers excellent play value for a child younger than the 12+ this set is recommended for as a build. They may not be able to build it alone, but they can certainly enjoy it.

Nothing is perfect, so here's what's wrong....

They don't all fit in the car!! Well, they do, but I'm pretty sure it's not advised....and okay, they all usually go out as a family in Marge's Station Wagon, so we'll let you off....

They don't all fit on the sofa! That's just wrong. They definitely need to be able to seat 4 on the sofa... (without having to sit on the arms). I think that someone intended the sofa very slightly longer and the telephone table to go right into the alcove under the stairs, but you couldn't get your fingers in to reach it...

Hang on! Those stairs are on the wrong side! The very first time someone saw this photo they commented, and they're right. The house layout is not exactly true....at all....

Overall I think this is an excellent build. I guessed the price and age range before it was released, and I don't have any complaints. The footprint is plenty big enough and with the removable section, removable roof and split building it makes a huge area. 

All the loose parts and furniture are amazing and play value has clearly been heavily considered in the design. Almost everything is very strong and designed for accessibility, and because of the layout 2 children can play at once very comfortably.

At £179.99 this is not a cheap set, it's a really expensive big present (whether you buy it for someone else or yourself - like we did), but I believe in comparison with other Lego sets, competing bricks, dolls houses and small world sets it offers excellent value. As a build it's not particularly challenging, but it's incredibly rewarding. As a small world's play house it's absolutely brilliant. As a Simpsons product, or for that matter any other TV related product, I've never seen any better. I can't wait until the minifigure release so that we can add to the collection...

We got Early Access to The Simpsons House through the Lego VIP scheme, which anyone can join from the Lego Shop online. We bought and paid for it ourselves. All photo's were taken as we built, so some parts are not finished as you see them. The set goes on general release in February, is exclusive to The Lego Shop and The Lego Shop Online and costs £179.99 with free postage. Don't pay more!

Lego 71006 The Simpsons House Review ~ Part 1 ~ Downstairs

Lego set 71006 The Simpsons House is a fantastic set which is the first release in the Simpsons range. It is recommended for builders aged 12+ and has 2523 pieces, which makes it the biggest build we've ever done.

The box contains 22 numbered bags, a bag of base plates and 3 instruction booklets. 

Bags no.1 - 2 bags containing Homers car, Homer with briefcase, Bart with skateboard and all of the outside objects with the exception of the mailbox.

Bart and Homer are unique as aside from the head pieces, they also have 2 colour moulded arms, and in the case of Bart also legs. I have to say I was instantly a little disappointed as they look so tired and sad. The faces are actually very much like the Tracey Ullman show original faces, with overhanging upper lips.

The car is really nicely put together with a good solid feel and the way they've done the roof is really interesting. It's not a full roof - but as soon as you put Marge into the car you realise why! Opening boot and doors and space for 4 figures to sit inside. 

Bags no.2 - 3 bags which together build the garage with shelving, units, workbench and tools.

The garage has a construction using large pieces that's actually very true to the 'do-it-yourself' garages which are made from pre-formed blocks slotted together. It has a semi-faked 'up and over' garage door which works really well. There's a handle for easy opening and the roof is completely unattached and removable - as is every roof in the entire build.This is absolutely brilliant for playability.

The workbench has a really simple but effective vice and toolbox (doesn't open, boo) and there are a huge array of tools which are housed in a great little unit that has a cuboard, a deep box which is very cleverly made using windows and an ingenious shelving unit. The workbench and other unit sit on two shallow studs, so are very easily removed for play - as is EVERYTHING in the entire build. It really is designed for excellent access and playability.

Bags no. 3 - 3 bags containing the front aspect of the ground floor of the house, the mailbox and Ned Flanders.

It's a relatively standard house build, layer by layer. The bay windows are lovely, slightly different to the Vampyre House, but still using hinges to create the shape.

There are some gorgeous furniture pieces included in this build, the piano is lovely and the kitchen units fantastically coloured.

Included is a bag of kitchen equipment which I can only assume is Lego Friends, and contains 3 of everything - as well as tools and mixing bowl. Again, it extends the playability. My boys aren't interested in playing 'cooking', but they loved putting everything into the cupboards.

End of Book 1

Bags no.4 - 3 bags containing the ground floor rear aspect of the house and several items of furniture including the TV, kitchen stove, sofa, dining table and telephone table and Marge.

The dining chairs are a great 5 pieces construction that's simple but very effective and look particularly dashing in orange. The table is a bit clunky, but the chairs actually go underneath!

The TV is brilliant. It's an incredibly complicated design using loads of the 'snot bricks' (StudsNotOnTop) and it looks great.

The front and back of the house are hinged (disguised as a chimney breast) with a clip to hold them together when closed.

 And that's downstairs covered..... the review continues here - bedrooms and bathroom....

We got Early Access to The Simpsons House through the Lego VIP scheme, which anyone can join from the Lego Shop online. We bought and paid for it ourselves. All photo's were taken as we built, so some parts are not finished as you see them. The set goes on general release in February, is exclusive to The Lego Shop and The Lego Shop Online and costs £179.99 with free postage. Don't pay more!