Jonas Kramm is here to tell you about some cute new additions to the LEGO® BrickHeadz line for 2020, and whether their inventories might be of interest to builders.
Today we will take a look at three new BrickHeadz, now available: the Wedding Bride and Groom, and just in time for Chinese New Year: the Lucky Cat.
LEGO® BrickHeadz 40436 Lucky Cat
This BrickHeadz set comes with 134 pieces and sells for US$9.99 / 9,99 € / £9.99. The Maneki-neko is a common Japanese figurine, which is now better known as the Lucky Cat.
After the 40354 Dragon Dance Guy last year, this is the next BrickHeadz dedicated to the Chinese New Year, even though the Lucky Cat originally has no direct connection with it and is more of a general talisman. For their rendition LEGO chose to display the cat in its usual sitting pose, in white and red.
The figurine's Japanese name translates as Beckoning Cat, because often the left or right paw can wave; sometimes even both. For the cheerful brick-built version they decided to make the left paw beckon, simply by moving the lever on the back up and down.
Not a complex mechanism at all, but a fun detail for the otherwise very stiff BrickHeadz range. The paw, built with a 2X2 Inverted Tile, looks a bit bulky though.
In its right paw the cat holds a decorated Flat Tile 1X2 in Warm Gold/ Pearl Gold (6296861). This print is the only new element in this this set and, thanks to Brickset user Vic0v0, I know that the Japanese characters say “10,000,000 taels of Japanese (or Chinese) gold”.
An other interesting bit included is 1/4 Circle Tile 1X1 in Light Purple/ Bright Pink (6240463|25269), which has only come in one set before.
My favourite building technique in this set is the connection of the ears, using Brick 1X1 W. Handle (28917). Simple and clever.
The expanded base is the same that comes with all seasonal BrickHeadz and so is rather unspectacular.
LEGO® BrickHeadz 40383 Wedding Bride
To celebrate a wedding there are now two new BrickHeadz available. First is the Bride which sells for $12.99 / 12,99 € / £11.99 and comes with 306 pieces.
The rather high piece count gets explained by the number of variations and modifications this set allows to make to the Bride. While building you can freely choose between three skin tones, from Brick Yellow/ Tan through Medium Nougat/ Medium Dark Flesh to Reddish Brown.
For the hair you can decide for one of these three colours: Black, Reddish Brown or Bright Yellow/ Yellow. The white bridal veil stays the same, but can be personalised with Flower 1X1 (24866) in different colours.
Same with the dress; the primary colour is only available in white and gets modified with different studs.
Also, you can choose the colour of the bow on the back of the dress, and let the bride wear glasses.
The concept of the set reminds me a lot of 41597 Go Brick Me (read our review by Chris McVeigh), which had even more modification possibilities.
When it comes to new pieces the only one here is a decorated Brick 1X4 (6289576) for the front of the dress. It has a nice Drum Lacquered/ Metallic Silver pattern and, in case you get more than one copy of the set, can be expanded vertically.
It is great to see the return of the Jumper Plate 1X2 in Medium Nougat/ Medium Dark Flesh (6292154). This piece was only available before with two other BrickHeadz sets. Furthermore the set contains three of Brick 1X2, Outside Half Bow in White (6248827).
Technique-wise, the Bride is a true BrickHeadz set: very simple. It would have been nice to add instructions for one more hair variation, maybe even short hair.
LEGO® BrickHeadz 40384 Wedding Groom
The second BrickHeadz set in the wedding setting is the Groom. He comes with 255 pieces, 51 less than the bride, and costs the same ($12.99 / 12,99 € / £11.99).
As with the Bride, there are options to modify. You can choose between the same options of skin tone and hair colour as the bride.
In addition to adding glasses, the Groom can also grow some facial hair but the only provided option is a moustache. The set also comes with a brick-built top hat, or an option to build hair instead.
When it comes to the suit, the Groom can choose between Earth Blue/ Dark Blue and all-classy Black. The final detail to customise is the Flower 1X1 on the suit pocket, coming in the same colours as in the Bride set.
The Drum Lacquered/ Metallic Silver shirt printed on a Medium Stone Grey/ Light Bluish Gray Brick 1X2X2 (6289717) stays the same.
Aside from the new printed piece you again get a copy of the Jumper Plate 1X2 in Medium Nougat (6292154) with this set.
Both bride and groom come with a Metalized Gold/ Chrome Gold Ring (6209691) each. Even better, you can expect up to two spare rings each, makes six rings in total for both sets.
The back of the Groom is a bit disappointing. I like the tail of the suit, but the hair on the back has literally no structure and is completely plain.
Conclusion
If you collect the BrickHeadz, you will get these anyway. They are solid work and look good! For everyone else, these sets don’t bring too much value. A lot of standard bricks in useful colours are provided and three exclusive prints that could find interesting uses in your creations, especially the Japanese letters which could be great for a Asian MOC.
I really like that they are selling Groom and Bride separately, which makes it much easier for each kind of couple to get the ones they want.
READ MORE: Take a close look at all the new pieces in the next LEGO® Ideas set; the International Space Station
Help New Elementary keep publishing articles like this. Become a Patron!
Thanks to our 'Vibrant Coral' patrons: Iain Adams, Ryan Welles, Chris Cook, London AFOLs, Gerald Lasser, Big B Bricks, Dave Schefcik, David and Breda Fennell, Huw Millington, Neil Crosby, Antonio Serra, Beyond the Brick, Sue Ann Barber & Trevor Clark, and Kevin Gascoigne. You're all awesome!
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon USA: Amazon.com Canada: Amazon.ca UK: Amazon.co.uk Deutschland: Amazon.de
Thanks to our 'Vibrant Coral' patrons: Iain Adams, Ryan Welles, Chris Cook, London AFOLs, Gerald Lasser, Big B Bricks, Dave Schefcik, David and Breda Fennell, Huw Millington, Neil Crosby, Antonio Serra, Beyond the Brick, Sue Ann Barber & Trevor Clark, and Kevin Gascoigne. You're all awesome!
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Amazon USA: Amazon.com Canada: Amazon.ca UK: Amazon.co.uk Deutschland: Amazon.de
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!
ReplyDeleteA minor nitpick though—the color of the printing on the bride's printed piece obviously isn't "drum lacquered" since that refers to a process, not just a color (specifically a process that would coat the whole part in metallic color rather than a detailed printed pattern). If you wanted to name a specific Lego color for the printing the more accurate one would be 336 Silver Ink, which both refers to the ink color used for prints as well as coated parts.
Lego's ink colors are less well-known than plastic colors due to rarely being used to identify parts in databases, but they can be quite interesting, especially because there are ink colors that they use that don't correspond to plastic colors at all! A few examples include Fluorescent Red, Fluorescent Green, Metallic Red, and Metallic Blue ink colors.
I believe color options for the skin tone should include "Tan" instead of "Dark Tan", there may be small mistake or I may be wrong if the pictures have misguided me.
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah you are right. Of course it has to be Brick Yellow/ Tan. Thanks for pointing out!
DeleteUgh... Have you ever needed a very specific part that just didn't exist, and within a year or two of having to figure out a way around it they finally release it? About two years ago, I needed that quarter-round tile in a shade of pink to make cat ears. Any shade of pink would have worked. I ended up having to buy a Brickheadz Gamorra to get four in magenta, which is pretty much at the range of acceptible colors. Now it looks like I have two more shades to pick between if I feel like swapping them, since dark-pink came out in ten sets over the last year.
ReplyDeleteI gave the groom Thanos' head, myself.
ReplyDeleteThe lever on the back of the lucky cat to wave its paw is a delightful surprise! Definitely adds to the feeling of authenticity. I also think that even though the expanded base is "unspectacular" in your eyes, the festive red and gold colors and ornate pattern add to a lot to this particular set's display value!
ReplyDeleteThe inclusion of separate skin and hair color options for the bride and groom is fantastic, but another nice feature compared to previous wedding sets is that they are sold separately, making it much easier to use them as wedding favors for a same-sex wedding.
Previously, I know that LEGO would send a second bride or groom minifigure to buyers of the various wedding favor sets upon request, but that still added an extra step for both the buyer and the LEGO customer service team. By comparison, these sets offer much more inclusive possibilities right off the shelf.
According to design lead Marcos Bessa, he considers the collective decision to include these sorts of options "one of those 'little things' [he's] most proud of achieving in the company." To me, this definitely speaks to how diversity within the LEGO Group's workforce can benefit not just the company, but also its customers!