LEGO® DOTS review: 41908 Extra Dots - Series 1

A range of new sets from LEGO® DOTS hit the market earlier this month, and one set that looked interesting to me was 41908 Extra Dots - Series 1. These little packs are advertised as containing 109 colourful tiles, with "10 surprise charms included" so we thought we would open some up to see what we got.

Each pack is priced at  £3.99 / US$3.99 / 3.99€ which works out at 3.7 pence/cents per tile, although it works out slightly less than this due to the inclusion of spare pieces.


Each bag of 109 elements contains:

• 20 (plus 1 spare) 1/4 Circle Tile 1X1 in Bright Bluish Green/ Dark Turquoise (6240467|25269)
• 20 (plus 1 spare) 1/4 Circle Tile 1X1 in Bright Reddish Violet/ Magenta (6199889|25269)
• 20 (plus 1 spare) 1/4 Circle Tile 1X1 in Spring Yellowish Green/ Yellowish Green (6240468|25269)
• 19 (plus 1 spare) 1/4 Circle Tile 1X1 in Light Purple/ Bright Pink (6240463|25269)
• 20 (plus 1 spare) 1x1 Round Tile in Transparent Light Blue With Glitter/ Glitter Trans-Light Blue (6299918|35380)
• 10 (plus 1 spare) 1x1 Round Tile No 135 in White with Random Print (6299968)

New Printed Elements in 41908 Extra Dots - Series 1

The 10 advertised surprise charms turn out to number 11 once you include the spare provided – a nice surprise! They are drawn from 16 available designs which are a mix of icons, patterns and emoji, created by Senior Graphic Designer Diego López Sancho. 

Differently printed pieces are usually assigned different names and Element IDs by TLG but in the case of these charm tiles, all 16 share one assignation: 1x1 Round Tile No 135 (Element ID 6299968). This quirk presumably reflects the random nature of their selection. Therefore, on LEGO Bricks & Pieces, while were still available to order, you could not select a particular print: they were suppled randomly. There may be some confusion here for buyers given that 16 are pictured – perhaps some people would expect to receive all 16 when ordering just one? BrickOwl seem to share this confusion in their listing, labelling it a "pack" in the same way they would list family multipacks of accessories.

Meanwhile, BrickLink and Rebrickable have have listed each part individually. If you're looking to find them on those sites, here's a handy table.

Names and IDs of LEGO® DOTS printed charm tiles

Short description	BrickLink name = White Tile, Round 1 x 1 with:	BrickLink part ID	Rebrickable name = Tile Round 1 x 1 with:	Rebrickable part ID
Music	Coral Musical Note Circular Outline Pattern	98138pb134	White Music Note on Coral Background print	98138pr0137
Lightning	Bright Light Yellow Lightning Bolt on Medium Lavender Background Pattern	98138pb123	Yellow Lightning on Lavender Background print	98138pr0143
Jewel	Dark Turquoise Diamond Outline on Medium Azure Background Pattern	98138pb125	Diamond on Medium Azure Background print	98138pr0140
Rainbow Poop	Stars and Rainbow Feces Emoji on Black Background Pattern	98138pb135	Rainbow Poop/Turd, Stars print	98138pr0141
Leopard Print	Medium Lavender Splotches Pattern	98138pb124	Lavender Leopard print	98138pr0149
Strawberry	Coral Strawberry Pattern	98138pb133	Strawberry print	98138pr0139
Skull	Skull Face with Heart Eyes in Medium Azure Circle Pattern	98138pb132	Skull, Lavender Hearts for Eyes on Medium Azure Background print	98138pr0142
Rainbow Heart	Heart with Pastel Rainbow Stripes Pattern	98138pb139	Rainbow Heart print	98138pr0144
Bone	Black Bone Circular Outline Pattern	98138pb131	White Bone on Black Background print	98138pr0145
Watermelon	Coral Watermelon with Dark Turquoise Rind and Black Seeds Pattern	98138pb126	Watermelon Inside print	98138pr0146
Happy	Emoji, Bright Light Yellow Face, Black Eyes, and Open Mouth with Coral Tongue Pattern	98138pb127	Smiley, Happy Face print	98138pr0136
Laughing	Emoji, Bright Light Yellow Face, Laughing, Tears, and Open Mouth with Tongue Pattern	98138pb130	Smiley Laughing print	98138pr0148
Kissing	Emoji, Bright Light Yellow Face, Black Eyebrows, Coral Heart Eyes, and '3' Puckered Lips Pattern	98138pb128	Smiley, Kiss Face, Heart for Eyes print	98138pr0134
Winking	Emoji, Bright Light Yellow Face, Wink, and Tongue Sticking Out Pattern	98138pb129	Smiley Wink, Tongue print	98138pr0147
Weeping	Emoji, Bright Light Yellow Face, Crying Medium Azure Tear Streams, Open Mouth with Coral Tongue Pattern	98138pb138	Smiley Crying Face print	98138pr0135
Worrying	Emoji, Bright Light Yellow Face, Worried with Raised Right Eyebrow Pattern	98138pb137	Smiley Face, Frown/Sad print	98138pr0138

Newly Recoloured Element in 41908 Extra Dots - Series 1

Also included in the bag are 1x1 Round Tile in Transparent Light Blue With Glitter (6299918|35380), the first time for this particular colour. There are 20 plus a spare supplied in each bag. 

It's always nice to get a new element in a glittery colour but to get 21 of these in each packet makes this an attractive purchase. They could be great to include as bright sparkling water in your MOCs.

Randomness

I opened five bags of 41908 Extra Dots and took an image of each bag's contents. All of my packs contained the same number of elements and spares, but obviously the array of printed charm tiles was different .

EXTRA DOTS PACK1

EXTRA DOTS PACKS 2-5

Interestingly each bag contained at least one charm print that appeared three times. The final bag had three Laughing and three Jewels.  What are the chances of that? Sadly, despite opening five packets, I failed to get all 16 different charm prints. Luckily I had some spare from my previous Dots adventures with my children, when reviewing DOTS Bracelets.

I was going to do some mathematical equations to calculate how many packs you would need to get all 16 charm prints...but actually I was a bit out of my depth. Some online research showed that most people who bought three packs managed to get all 16, so I was either unlucky... or at the far end of the distribution curve.

To see the distribution our friend Richard at The Rambling Brick received, check out the end of his 41908 review here.

Conclusion

These are fun little parts packs of colourful, decorative elements with cute designs that cover a variety of topics, hopefully meeting the interests of the many. I was particularly happy with the voluminous supply of the new 1x1 Round Tile in Transparent Light Blue With Glitter.  The whole Dots concept is definitely growing on me more and more, as my children and I play with the various sets I bought.  

The price is ideal for a pocket money or 'treat' purchase and part of the excitement is discovering which charms you have received when you open the packet.  Clearly you can have a peek through the transparent window on the back of the packet if you have been struggling to locate a particular charm, so it is not all random luck if you have the time and inclination to peep inside.

Best of all, with so many extra Dots I have been able to keep the family Dotting without any arguments over who gets to wear the Rainbow Poop on their bracelet.

READ MORE: Another parts pack, LEGO® Xtra 40375 Sports Accessories, fuels Inthert's imagination

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