The LEGO® BrickHeadz theme continues its domination of all known and imagined universes by bringing us collectable characters from some of today's most popular franchises. Sven Franic sees how this latest batch get along, including its introduction of a new template for smaller BrickHeadz characters. Editorial note: Although views expressed by Harry Potter's creator do not align with that of New Elementary, we continue to cover HP sets. Read about our stance here.
Let’s sift through the inventories really quick.
Harry Potter BrickHeadz
Harry Potter recently made a smashing comeback onto the shelves of LEGO stores, and BrickHeadz were some of the first tangible characters available from the franchise. 41615 Harry Potter & Hedwig is also the first of the new format of BrickHeadz sets where one full sized character is paired with a smaller companion based on a 3x3 footprint rather than the original 4x4.
Some of the most exciting new elements of 2018 for me are the 1x1 bracket (Design ID 36841) and 1x1 inverted bracket (36840). It just so happens that Mr. Potter and his owl are the first to find their way to me with a sample. The set comes with the inverted version of the 1x1 bracket (Element ID 6234695 | Design ID 36840) in Black, shown on the left below.
The set is also home to some new recolours of existing elements. 1x3 Jumper (6195371|34103) in White, Brick, Modified 1 x 1 x 1 2/3 with Studs on 1 Side (6228987|32952) in Black and the 4l Bar (6238014|30374) in Dark Brown.
41616 Hermione Granger shares the wand with potter, 4l Bar (6238014|30374) in Dark Brown and her printed skirt piece (Element ID 6237035) looks like it has good potential to be used for other applications.
Frozen BrickHeadz
- Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on 2 Adjacent Sides (6224811|26604) in White,
- Plate, Modified 1 x 2 Rounded with 2 Open Studs (6210272|35480) in White,
- the “coffee filter” Bar 1L with 1 x 1 Round Plate (6233909|32828) in Reddish Brown,
- the “pizza tile” Tile, Round 1 x 1 Quarter (6228968|25269) in Dark Orange and (6228968) Bright Reddish Violet [TLG] / Magenta [BL],
- and also shares the Brick, Modified 1 x 1 x 1 2/3 with Studs on 1 Side (6228987|32952) in Black.
Star Wars BrickHeadz
41619 Darth Vader (Amazon USA|UK) is bit low on new recolours, but his decorations have potential for reuse.
41620 Stormtrooper (Amazon USA|UK) shares the 1x3 Jumper (6195371|34103) in White with Harry Potter & Hedwig and Plate, Modified 1 x 2 Rounded with 2 Open Studs (6210272|35480) in White with Anna & Olaf.
The addition of the new 3x3 standard makes the BrickHeadz more scale-dynamic. Uneven stud counts usually require more complex constructions which means more variety of parts.
Here is a comparison between a regular Nonnie (the "blank template" for BrickHeadz) and a 3x3 version.
I am not sure about the ears since all the 3x3 characters so far are non-human creatures.
Come back next time for an exclusive in-depth interview with BrickHeadz designer Marcos Bessa.
Products mentioned in this post were kindly supplied by the LEGO Group. All content represents the opinions of New Elementary authors and not the LEGO Group. All text and images are © New Elementary unless otherwise attributed.
Good review!
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm still only a casual collector of BrickHeadz (largely due to them tending to be associated with licensed themes I don't collect), I love the format and it has already become a great source of useful new building elements. I've also found them incredibly fun to design on LDD—I've got quite a selection ready to be made physical, from additional figures for themes like The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie to characters from cartoons and video games. I've found the 3x3 format slightly harder to work with than the 4x4 ones, due to many Lego parts favoring even-numbered lengths, but it's nevertheless a great option for smaller characters.
As for the parts of these figures, I'm a sucker for colors like Cool Yellow. The printed parts in these also seem surprisingly useful—the brick from Anna's skirt looks like it'd make great wallpaper, while Darth Vader's "mouth" seems like it'd pair well with parts like the 3x3 45° angle plate to add visual interest to a platform or sci-fi structure.
What about the Stormtrooper decorations? Are they printed?
ReplyDeleteHmm, either Sven didn’t photograph or I failed to add haha. All BrickHeadz decals are printed. Marcos Bessa explains why in our interview with him coming later this week!
Delete1. Dude, that's excessively cruel to tease a nugget of info like "special element batches" and then say not to ask about them. If that's not part of the interview, you will not be forgiven.
ReplyDelete2. White long-jumper!!!!!!! Sorry, I really wanted one of these back in May/early June. Still need one, so I'll definitely be snagging a few of those on Bricklink at some point.
3. I bought the Brickheadz Gamora back in early June just to get four 1x1 quarter-round tiles in magenta (it was the only pink-ish color they made, which I needed for the inside of cat ears), so that's definitely not new for Anna.
4. Those 1x1 quarter-round tiles work shockingly well for capturing Elsa's braid.
I do hope the BrickHeadz line continues into the future and delivers more sets that are as awesome as the Ghostbusters BrickHeadz (that and the Mickey Mouse are the only 2 I own so far)
ReplyDelete