Earlier this year, we discussed the new LEGO-xtra sets (see: LEGO-xtra Playmats & Accessory Packs). As the name implies, these are small packs and accessories to boost your current collection. They mostly complement the LEGO City theme, although they also go well with LEGO Creator, LEGO Classic, and other LEGO themes. 🙂
You can read a full review of the sets at the above-mentioned link, but in summary, the collection includes three double-sided playmats (the #853840 LEGO-xtra Road Playmat, the #853841 LEGO-xtra Sea Playmat, and the #853842 LEGO-xtra Park Playmat), and five small polybags (the #40309 LEGO-xtra Food Accessories, the #40310 LEGO-xtra Botanical Accessories, the #40311 LEGO-xtra Traffic Lights pack, and the #40312 LEGO-xtra Streetlamps pack). The playmats come with two double-sided panels and some standard LEGO pieces for $7.99, and the polybags come with 25-50 pieces for $3.99. You can find them all at the LEGO-xtra section of the Online LEGO Shop.
It looks like LEGO is planning to continue the LEGO-xtra line next year with more sets. They already added one new polybag to the LEGO-xtra section of the Online LEGO Shop, which will be available on January 1st. LEGO sent us a sample of this new bag, so I can show it to our readers. The #40341 LEGO-xtra Sea Accessories pack comes with 24 pieces, including ¬a shark, a parrot (new style with blended colors), a light-blue fish, a seashell, two harpoons (each made of three pieces), a printed map, a lime-green surf board, a single peddle (I assume for peddle boarding?), a couple of stars (for starfish?), binoculars, a treasure chest with three gems, a dark-brown barrel, and an orange buoy.
While some of the pieces like the lime-green flippers and surf board may not be so useful in large quantities, there are some great pieces here as well. I’m, particularly happy about the dark-brown short bars and dark-brown lightsaber hilts (used for the harpoons). I believe this is the first time we get dark-brown lightsaber hilts. The dark-brown barrel, reddish-brown chest, the printed map, the gems, the seashell, and the stars are also useful items. Sharks are always great to have, so are parrots and fish. So, all in all this is a nice little accessory pack and a great addition to the previous ones. If you are looking for small accessories for cheap prices, or large quantities of particular accessories, the LEGO-xtra packs are definitely worth checking out. So far, my favorites are the #40309 LEGO-xtra Food Accessories and the #40310 LEGO-xtra Botanical Accessories, but the other ones are great as well. It just depends on what pieces you need. You can find them all at the LEGO-xtra section of the Online LEGO Shop.
When LEGO was still running a mail-order business pre-Internet era, they used to offer a large selection of service-packs, so LEGO fans could get the extra pieces they needed for their projects. Service-packs have been replaced by the Pick-A-Brick wall at official LEGO stores and the Pick-A-Brick and Bricks-And-Pieces online shops where LEGO fans can buy pieces in bulk, but it is still nice to get small packs with useful accessories for reasonable prices. So, next time you stop by at a LEGO store, or shop online, take a look at the LEGO-xtra selection. You may find a pack that you like.
What do you think? How do you like the LEGO-xtra playmats and accessory packs? Do you have any of them already? Or, are you planning to get them? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉
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It is so necessary for the city sets , because you add on more detail and play value of a set. What I mean is the restaurants or places that require food is limited but, with let’s say the food accessory you can add more of a food supply than what you already get. As well as expanding a garden or Forest with the botanical accessory. In fact , I might create a grocery store for my city or maybe a farmer’s market might be a little easier. So, many possibilities.
Hm… this just reminded me of the review of one of the new Chinese New Year sets, and it has tons of printed food items! Although there is little chance, I hope one day it will be available outside of Asia.
I wish they would bring back the old service packs. These are good, but the service packs had all the same or similar parts (windows, slopes, car parts, etc.), so you could really bulk up for larger MOCs.
The Pick-A-Brick wall and Pick-A-Brick website pretty much replaced the service packs. In the past, they were vital, but now less LEGO fans would be interested in them. If anything, LEGO may expand the Xtra line. That’s probably the best we are going to get.
I liked the ones with the food and botanical accessories. This one is more random. Some pieces are useful, others not so much. I may pick up one, but I don’t think it’s worth getting more.
I wish Lego would bring back the hair / hat and the medieval accessory packs. Like they had a few years ago.
Hair/ hat and accessory packs do sound useful, but I guess they’d be considered competition to the popular Build-A-Minifugre sections. And the Medieval theme doesn’t seem to be as popular now as it was in the Castle heydays in the 80’s and 90’s. Both the current semi-related themes Nexo Knights and Elves seem to be on their last year run now, as well.
They should make packs with flesh heads and different facial expressions, as those are still rare unless you are into Star Wars and Super Heroes. I like the idea of hair and hat packs too for different themes.
Possibly. I might be more into “ethnic” and female heads, though…
And the only Xtra set I’ve bought myself so far is 40312 Streetlamps, partly because there was a single bag left when I visited the Stockholm Lego store, so I kinda perceived it as rare as the time. (A psychological effect rather than the real situation, possibly…)
By flesh heads I meant ethnic, so from peachy light skin to brown. And yes, female heads too! The streetlamps set is cool. AFAIK the black street lamps are rarer than the white ones.
Although they are very similar, there are actually two streetlamp post moulds; the older one with six grooves around the base, and the newer one with four grooves.
The older one came in a bunch of different colors, but black was rare: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=2039#T=C
The newer one only comes black and white in about equal number of sets: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=11062#T=C