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Brick Breakdown: LEGO Forest Animals

by Thita (admin) on July 13, 2014

(Written by William)

In this Brick Breakdown series I review official LEGO sets, from the perspective of looking at interesting building techniques we can all learn from. Today we will be looking at the #31019 LEGO Creator Forest Animals. You can also check out the previously discussed LEGO techniques found in official LEGO sets at the end of this article. 🙂

#31019 LEGO Creator Forest Animals Review

Out of all the various lines LEGO currently produces, LEGO Creator is the one that captures the original ideas found in the earliest LEGO sets by using mostly basic LEGO elements, and by providing instructions for several alternate models to use the same parts in various ways. Although the #31019 Creator Forest Animals set provides several alternate builds, for this article we’ll stick with the main Monkey, Banana, and Toucan build when discussing techniques. This configuration uses the most pieces, and also features some interesting construction techniques. So put your hiking boots on, we’re heading for the forest.

➡ LEGO BASIC CONSTRACTION

If you have had the chance to build with a wide variety of LEGO sets, you know that within the LEGO system there are different building forms. The most popular of these is referred to as LEGO System, which is all about bricks and studs. Another popular building system is LEGO Technic with lots of pins, gears, and special bricks with holes on the sides to create detailed and realistic vehicles and machines. The method we are looking at today is called LEGO Constraction. Constraction is a combination of “Constructible” and “Action Figure”. This system of building borrows both from LEGO System and LEGO Technic, but also contains ball-joints, flexible elements, and shell-coverings. LEGO Bionicle was the first to delve into this form of building, and since then the building method infiltrated into other LEGO themes as well.

If you are interested in going full throttle into LEGO Constraction building, then picking up a LEGO Hero Factory set is a great way to start. However, if you feel more comfortable with LEGO System, and just want to dip a toe in to LEGO Constraction techniques, the LEGO Creator Forest Animals will work great for you. You will get a chance to work with ball-joints and other joint connectors in the neck, shoulder and hips area, but the rest of the set is strictly LEGO System. So all in all this set gives you a glimpse into the most basic method of creating an action figure, while staying within the system that you are probably more familiar with.

➡ LEGO VERTICAL CLIP SUSPENSION

This is a technique that surprised me when I first saw it. To enable the monkey’s head to connect with the pin coming off the body, it needed to have a piece mounted vertically. To do this, LEGO designers looked at using a modified 2×2 brick, for which they needed to create a vertical hole in the head. Since the brick was 2 studs wide, that’s how wide the hole had to be. As for front to back, the brick was only 3 plates thick, but there are 2 studs to every 5 plates of thickness, so they needed to add something to create the extra thickness. In this case a tile on top and plates on the bottom.

However LEGO designers still needed to connect the contraption to the head. So instead of regular plates, for one of the plates they used a modified plate with a bar off one side. When turned vertically the bar acts as a handle off the top. All that was left to do was to put a plate with two clips on one side of the hole, and the whole build could be clipped in and mounted vertically. It is hard to explain how brilliant this assembly is, but when you put the set together pay special attention this section as it uses a rather unique way to have vertical alignment.

➡ APPLYING WHAT YOU LEARN

LEGO Constraction has definitely come a long way since LEGO Bionicle was first introduced, and it is nice to see it included more and more in regular LEGO System building. Whenever you need to include joints in your own LEGO creations, Contstraction is the way to go. Also, LEGO recently introduced small ball-joints with the LEGO Legends of Chima sets and LEGO Mixels that LEGO System builders may feel less intimidated by. The vertical mounting done in this set does not in any way represent the only method in which you can mount something vertically. Rather it represents a unique usage of clips to accomplish this need in fairly tight constraints. Often the size of the piece you want to mount will determine which method to utilize in any given situation.

What do you think? How do you like LEGO Creator sets? Do you prefer them over licensed or more specialized sets? Have you attempted to build animals and other creatures from regular LEGO elements? Did you find it challenging? Feel free to share your own experiences, tips or ask questions in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the other reviews in this series:

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More LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

by Thita (admin) on July 12, 2014

in Other LEGO Sets & Themes

Just a quick reminded that the new LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sets based on the movie are now available at the Online LEGO Shop. There are three new sets based on the film, with the turtles looking very different than the cartoon based versions released previously. Below are the details on all three new sets. 🙂

➡ #79115 LEGO TMNT Turtle Van Takedown – Get past the roadblock and rescue Michelangelo in the Turtle Van! Vern and Raphael are speeding through the city streets in the souped-up Turtle Van to rescue Michelangelo, but the Foot Soldier has lowered the barricade gate to block the road. Check the on-board computer to outwit it and accelerate to top speed to crash through the barricade. Open up the side doors to unleash the hidden flick missiles and fire the roof missiles to hit the gas tank and blow up the gate. When you find Michelangelo, release the mechanical arms holding him down on the stretcher and crank up the van’s Turtle Power to zoom away. Includes 4 minifigures with weapons: Vern, Foot Soldier, Raphael and Michelangelo. 368 pieces. Price: $39.99 – BUY HERE

#79115 LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

➡ #79116 LEGO TMNT Big Rig Snow Getaway – Rescue April and escape in the Big Rig! The Turtles have come to the rescue of April and are escaping in the bad guys’ Big Rig truck. Karai and the Foot Soldiers are in hot pursuit in a super-slick black SUV so there’s no time to waste. Speed away with April hanging onto the side of the driver’s cabin. Grab your weapons then take the Turtle Power to the roof for a battle with one of the Foot Soldiers. Swerve to avoid the flick missiles fired from the SUV and tip ooze barrels into the bad guys’ path. When you’ve evaded the Foot Soldiers, open up the sides and roof of the truck to check out the amazing mobile lab! Includes 6 minifigures with weapons and an accessory: April O’Neil, Raphael, Leonardo, Karai and 2 Foot Soldiers. 743 pieces. Price: $69.99 – BUY HERE

#79116 LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

➡ #79117 LEGO TMNT Turtle Lair Invasion – Defend the Turtle Lair against Shredder’s attack! The Turtle Lair is under attack by Shredder and his Foot Soldiers. Splinter, Donatello and Leonardo must split up to defend their home. Use the bank of screens in the surveillance room to keep an eye on Shredder’s maneuvers. Grab the weapons and defend the manhole cover entrance to the Lair. Climb the ladder and use the cool trap function to drop barrels on the bad guys. Don’t let the evil invaders explode the wall to the fan room, and if the Foot Soldiers discover the hidden door, elevate the slide behind it to drop them in the prison! Shut the cage door to trap intruders and make those villains pay for trespassing on Turtle property! Includes 6 minifigures with weapons: Splinter, Donatello, Leonardo, Shredder and 2 Foot Soldiers. 888 pieces. Price: $99.99 – BUY HERE

#79117 LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

I think the sets look interesting, especially the olive-green pieces, as that is still a fairly new color. The turtles look mighty ugly compared to the cartoon-based versions released previously, but they look ugly in the film too. I do like the new version of the Foot Soldiers however. If you do want to collect all the turtles in the new series, you only need to get two of the sets; the #79115 LEGO TMNT Turtle Van Takedown with Raphael and Michelangelo, and the #79117 LEGO TMNT Turtle Lair Invasion with Donatello and Leonardo. All of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sets are available at both Amazon and the Online LEGO Shop.

Also, don’t forget that right now you can get a free LEGO TMNT Flashback Shredder minifigure with your order of $75 or more. This offer is only available at the Online LEGO Shop, and only until the 20th of this month, or while supplies last.

So what do you think? How do you like the new LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sets? Do you prefer the sets based on the film or on the cartoon? Are you planning to get any of the new sets? 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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Brick Breakdown: LEGO Forest Animals

More LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

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