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LEGO Education Panama Canal

by Thita (admin) on November 23, 2016

Recently a very interesting set was added to the Brickset database: the #2000451 LEGO Education Panama Canal. LEGO Education sets are geared towards teachers and educational specialists to deliver playful learning experiences in preschool, elementary and middle school classrooms. While LEGO Education packages do include actual LEGO bricks to teach math, science, robotics, etc., it is rare to see an actual cohesive LEGO set in the line. In fact, the #2000451 LEGO Education Panama Canal is special in more than one way, so let’s take a look. 🙂

According to the announcement on Brickset, the #2000451 LEGO Education Panama Canal is released to commemorate the widening of the Panama Canal. The set shows how a series of locks allow ships to go through the canal while compensating for the height difference between sea level and the level of Gatun Lake. You can see the set in action in the video below:

As you can see, this 1,184-piece set is quite massive. It is somewhat crudely built compared to standard LEGO consumer sets, but the focus here is the educational aspect instead of good looks. Having an unfinished looking build allows students to see the moving parts, and highlights the mechanics of the canal. In contrast, the little ships are very well designed micro-builds. (Image below: map of the Panama Canal with gates leading to and leaving Gatun Lake – source Wikipedia)

The #2000451 LEGO Education Panama Canal will only be available in Panama, so it will likely be very hard to find outside of the country. In addition, production is limited to 40,000 sets. The original price is around $250, which means that on the secondary market it could very well be in the $500-$1,000 range. Also, the set is really meant to be an educational prop for teachers, so even in Panama its availability will likely be limited.

On the positive side, because the set uses simple elements and a fairly straightforward design, LEGO fans should be able to replicate it without much difficulty. So if you don’t care for the box and original instructions, you might want to take up the challenge to build your own LEGO Panama Canal. The price should also be much less if you build the set yourself.

And if you are interested – especially if you are a teacher – you can also take a look at the LEGO Education website to learn more about what they offer. For adults, LEGO has another educational program called LEGO Serious Play (click on link to visit their website) with sets that can be found under the LEGO Serious Play section of the Online LEGO Shop.

What do you think? How do you like the LEGO Education Panama Canal? Would you be interested in buying it? Or are you inspired to build your own? Do you think LEGO should release similar educational sets in their regular product lines? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

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BrickWarriors modern military minifig gear

by Thita (admin) on November 22, 2016

in LEGO Customizers

You have probably heard me saying before that BrickWarriors is one of my most favorite LEGO customizers. Pretty much all of my LEGO knights and fantasy warriors are equipped with BrickWarriors accessories. So far BrickWarriors mainly focused on ancient history and mythology, medieval history and fantasy, and sci-fi items, but very recently they also launched a whole collection of World War I and World War II accessories. 🙂

BrickWarriors getting into modern military gear is actually a quite interesting development. While with ancient and medieval items BrickWarriors only got BrickForge as a major competitor, almost all other customizers focus on WWI, WWII and modern military accessories. Still, BrickWarriors has a very dedicated fan-base that will likely stay with their favorite customizer for items from the modern era.

BrickWarriors accessories also have a very unique and distinct look, which differentiates them from the products of others. While older customizers tend to follow LEGO’s previous style with more to-scale and realistic minifig accessories, BrickWarriors items fit better with LEGO’s new, slightly oversized and chunky style for armors, helmets, and weapons.

Also, while other modern-era customizers usually only release their products in black, BrickWarriors was always great at providing their products in a good variety of colors that perfectly matches LEGO’s color-scheme. So I would say that, BrickWarriors is definitely going to be a healthy competitor for other customizers focusing on modern military items, but because BrickWarriors products look distinctly different, they will have their own niche within the marketplace.

As far as the new World War I and World War II accessories, there is a whole assortment of body-wear and weaponry for the US, German, British and French infantry. Items include suspenders, supply packs, rucksacks, radio packs, and gas masks. Weapons include various riffles, machine guns and small handguns that are historically fairly accurate. Other useful accessories are a bipod, wire cutter, mine detector, land mine, time bomb, granade, and barbed wire pieces that can be connected to create a whole chain. All of the items come in a number of colors to create variety.

BrickWarriors released printed torsos and legs as well for each of the troops (US, German, British and French). While BrickWarriors carried a few limited edition printed minifigures in the past, this is the first time they have added printed minifig torsos and legs as a regular item to their inventory. I would say though that while the pricing on their minifigure accessories is fair, the printed minifig body parts are quite expensive at $6 a piece. It is probably better to just get regular minifigures and equip them with BrickWarriors accessories. The LEGO Indiana Jones sets in particular had some very nice modern military minifigures that you can still pick up on BrickLink or from other LEGO resellers.

All in all, I think this is a good direction for BrickWarriors, as modern military items are very popular with LEGO fans. The competition is stiffer than with ancient history, castle and fantasy accessories, so modern military may never become their most sought-after line, but because BrickWarriors is known for their excellent quality, pleasing design, a nice variety of LEGO compatible colors, good prices, friendly website, and fast shipping, LEGO fans will find them a very appealing option. On the other hand, BrickWarriors weapons are not as realistic as the products of some other customizers (BrickArms, TinyTactical, Minifig.Cat, etc.), so those who are into accurate mini replicas of military gear will likely not be as interested. For us, LEGO fans, having so many choices is a good thing. If you like to check them out, visit BrickWarriors.com.

What do you think? How do you like BrickWarriors modern military accessories? Who is your favorite customizer for military gear? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

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