LEGO® DOTS 41957 Adhesive Patches Mega Pack review + MOC with part 80319

Glue and LEGO® bricks? 41957 Adhesive Patches Mega Pack brings this unholy combination to customers. Of course, we at New Elementary don't limit ourselves to adhering these patches to notebooks and folders. What have they to offer to MOC builders?

The set is packed in a sorting tray, with plenty of air inside. Useful, but I wonder if it is worth of all the extra plastic.

Links to LEGO.com are affiliate links, we may get a commission. Products in this article were provided by LEGO®; the author's opinions are their own. 

LEGO® DOTS 41957 Adhesive Patches Mega Pack
US$34.99/ £24.99/ 29.99€/ AU$49.99
486 parts
1 August 2022
USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop | UK LEGO Shop. 

Parts in 41957 Adhesive Patches Mega Pack

LEGO® adhesive patches, part 80319

The most interesting parts of this set feature in its name - the adhesive patches: 8 x 8 plates that are half the usual height, with a patch of double-sided tape underneath. This is a MEGA pack, so 5 are included.

Base Plate 8X8, Adhesive (80319)

• Bright Pink (6396074)
• Dark Blue (6396076)
• Bright Light Yellow (6396070)
• Orange (6396071)
• Dark Turquoise (6370224)

A version in Black (6395750) is available in set 41954 Adhesive Patch, and all 6 colours are currently available to buy from LEGO® Pick a Brick.

Search for part 80319 on LEGO® Pick a Brick: USA UK Australia. Other countries, follow any link and change region in the page footer.

The half-plates are as thick as baseplates and bracket SNOT appendages, but unlike those, the corners are not rounded. They feel quite sharp, given the thinness of the part. The underside looks similar to vacuum-formed baseplates, but these parts feel the same as regular ABS, so they're strong and solid. 

There is a very thin layer of glue underneath the cover patch, covering the small holes under the studs. I see no reason why this piece could not be released without the glue in future, as it doesn't seem to have any aspects specially designed for the glue.

But is it legal?

Even with the adhesive patch, I believe they'll work fine as 8 x 8 half-plates on MOCs. The extra thickness is minimal, but probably enough to make this usage "illegal" by LEGO standards, where the stress placed upon elements is an important consideration.

Glue and LEGO have always been a controversial combination, as illustrated in The LEGO Movie. These adhesive patches raise new questions: Is it purist to stick bricks to other objects with their own glue? Is it purist to stick other pieces to the glue surface to make a MOC? If I connect multiple pieces together, does it count as a STAMP? Should these adhesive connections be allowed in building contests? I'll go through the other pieces in this set first and then return to these deep questions. 

Other pieces in LEGO set 41957

As usual with LEGO DOTS sets, most of the pieces are small tiles. The printed ones are randomised in each pack; mine came with these. A key is included to make the removal of tiles easier, though I have yet to utilise it. The numbers below include the extra parts - one per each small tile.

• 1x Tile Remover Key with Diamond and Screwdriver Ends in Dark Turquoise (6375932 | 78169) -  in 3 other sets

Round tiles in Satin Trans-Bright Green (LEGO colour ID and name: 367 Transparent Green With Opalescence) are unique to this set. They remind me of frogspawn, or bubbling chemicals.

• 21x Tile, Round 1 x 1 in Satin Trans-Bright Green (6399257 | 35380)
  

The rest of the tiles are common: high quantities of 1x1 tiles, 1x1 round tiles and 1x1 quarter round tiles, with some "tooth" half-circle 1x1 tiles thrown in the mix:

Tile 1 x 1 with Groove (3070b)

• 15x in Coral
• 25x in White
• 21x in Bright Light Orange
• 13x in Dark Blue
• 23x in Dark Azure
• 13x in Bright Light Yellow
• 23x in Bright Green

Tile, Round 1x1 (98138)

• 21x in Magenta
• 21x in Bright Light Yellow
• 21x in Dark Azure
• 21x in Bright Light Orange
• 21x in Lavender
• 21x in Coral
• 31x in White

Tile, Round 1 x 1 Quarter (25269)

• 33x in White
• 23x in Coral
• 23x in Lavender
• 13x in Bright Light Orange
• 11x in Dark Blue
• 31x in Dark Azure
• 11x in Bright Light Orange
• 13x in Magenta
• 17x in Bright Green

• 9x Tile, Round 1 x 1 Half Circle Extended in White (6250591 | 35399)

The dilemma of a 180° SNOT plate

New Elementary recently hosted a Make a Wishbrick contest, and the most popular wishbrick by far was a plate with studs on both sides. Some argue that LEGO should follow the clone brands' example and finally release one. It would solve many problems (or challenges) with set design and MOCs, and generally make life easier.

Of course, LEGO have designed them – many decades ago – such as this prototype 2 x 4 plate with studs on both sides and through holes, which somehow made it out of Billund into the hands of a collector. We can only guess why pieces like this still haven't been released; in times past they were certainly considered too complex for children to build with. It might be a kind of stubbornness such as protection of the LEGO System or trademarks (note that the LEGO wordmark is printed on the brick surface rather than their traditional position on the studs), or maybe such pieces can cause unexpected structural difficulties?

Would a 180° SNOT plate make things too easy? Would it make them feel too uncannily non-LEGO? Do limits enhance creativity? Probably. Perhaps our editor-in-chief Tim had similar thoughts back in 1977 when he recalls being thrilled by the introduction of the 1 x 3 Brick. Well, we now know that a 1 x 3 Brick didn't kill LEGO System, and it didn't kill our creativity. The same could be said for the "Erling" headlight brick (4070), however, the existence of that element has reportedly remained controversial among LEGO employees over the decades.

Back to the subject. These adhesive patches hand us an obvious way to make a 180° SNOT plate, simply by sticking two together. The not one but two layers of glue should make sure it stays together, and it would be 1 plate high, at least close enough for fan builders. My original intention for this article was to make one and then build a fantastic MOC using it as a seed part. However, I didn't.

The reason being: 8 x 8 is a large size for such a piece. Sure, it would be thin, but for a big MOC, there are usually far more elegant solutions available. My only idea was a 75810 The Upside Down style vignette with two mirrored sides. Of course, the middle part would have been a combination of two colours; something like Orange and Dark Turquoise, and a mirrored vignette would have been more interesting and elegant with another solution than this double plate. 

What then exactly are our available solutions for upside-down SNOT, one plate thick?

Eero's More Elegant Solutions for 1-Plate Thick 180° SNOT

Tighten your seat belt and join me as this article takes an unexpected turn into Old Elementary territory. Of course there are many more options for creating 180° SNOT connections than I list here, but these are my offerings. Let us know yours in the comments!

First, we have several common pieces that manage this but also have thicker sections, which make perfect sandwiching impossible. The modified plate with 180° SNOT ring connection (shown above top left, part 4081b/41632) is a classic and has a lesser-known old sibling with an even thinner ring (4081a). 

The lightsaber variant (centre left, 92690) is also very common, but the end stud and small prongs make the piece too thick for our sandwich. A useful piece anyway.

The family of small "Mixel joints", actually first appearing in LEGO Legends of Chima in 2013, have their balls and sockets in the middle of the piece, in contrast to most similar hinge plates. This means that the plates will be on the same level, despite pointing in opposite directions. The socket is 2 plates thick, preventing the sandwich, but in general this trick is useful, as it allows a SNOT connection for special angles. We have seen this one used in some recent advanced sets, so it is legal too.

This second batch includes pieces with studs on both sides that can be sandwiched between 2 plates. The fishing rod (96858), ice saw blade (28652) and towball hook (66904) have been around for decades. The two Flat Silver parts are from a 2019 Batman weapon pack (50081) that I and other builders utilised on a Parts Festival three years ago.

While all of these parts include more features than just a 1 x 1 round 180° SNOT plate, they can still fit between two plates, at least in practical use. But they are less than sturdy, and not always that simple to use - and they all are more than 1 module wide.

To find the solution I use the most in my MOCs we have to go even further back, to pieces that are no longer made: the old finger hinges. They were gradually replaced by the click hinge variant after the turn of the millennium, probably due to the thin fingers sometimes breaking. 

Like the small ball joints, the hinge is in the centre of the piece, but unlike them it's 1 plate thick, making these the best 180° 1-plate thick SNOT option available - as long as you have 1 x 5 modules available to fit them! The larger "car roof" versions work nicely when larger areas of sandwich are needed. Despite being discontinued, these pieces are not that rare and available from your preferred secondary brick resellers. I've included the years of production in my list below so you have some idea of their likely rarity.

• Hinge Vehicle Roof Holder 1 x 4 (4315) - 1982 to 2006
• Hinge Vehicle Roof 4 x 4 (4213) - 1982 to 2003
  

• Hinge Plate 1 x 2 with Single Finger (hngplts) - 1981 to 1982
• Hinge Plate 1 x 2 with Double Finger (hngpltd) - 1981 to 1982

• Hinge Plate 1 x 2 with 3 Fingers - Solid Studs (4275a) - 1981 to 1986
• Hinge Plate 1 x 2 with 2 Fingers - Solid Studs (4276a) - 1981 to 1986

• Hinge Plate 1 x 2 with 3 Fingers - Hollow Studs (4275b) - 1986 to 2006
• Hinge Plate 1 x 2 with 2 Fingers - Hollow Studs (4276b) - 1986 to 2006

• Hinge Plate 1 x 6 with 2 and 3 Fingers On Ends (4504) - 1984 to 2003
  

This family also has other pieces, including plates for offset.  

I estimate I would use finger hinges in every fifth MOC I make, as the usually provide good enough support for my character builds.

Eero Okkonen's MOC: Eithel Meristem

Although I had abandoned my original idea for a MOC using two adhesive half-plates stuck together, I felt I still had to explore the potential of the adhesives. I pondered what fresh idea the adhesive plates could bring to a build. 

The promotional images show them on notebooks, smartphones and folders, but I really don't want to display my models on such items as I don't have a smartphone nor folders (do people still use folders?) and, despite being an architect, I don't draw in a notebook. I display my models on a shelf: a beautiful modular pinewood shelf from Finland called Lundia. ON being the key word here. 

How about under? As objects prone to gravity, MOCs tend to stand on something, but with an adhesive patch with strong enough glue, they could also hang. 

My first idea was a stalactite. My second idea was a lamp. These weren't things I've always wanted to build - I'm a character builder, mostly. What sort of figure would like to be connected on the underside of the shelf, instead of the top of it? 

I didn't want to be too morbid. Spider-man doesn't excite me much; Tarzan hanging from a vine would be slightly better. But how about a swing, a fond memory from the Old Elementary school yard? I went with the idea of a Miniland-scale figure that the patch would surely carry. However it turned out quite a bit bigger; Miniland scale didn't enable the detail level I desired; and I wanted to use a pair of silly bat boots from my box of WIP Oblivion.

I didn't aim to make a "DOTS MOC" but rather to work on a more conceptual level: using the potential of adhesive patches for a builder. 

Eithel Meristem was born in a one-day building session, save her boots (from 2020) and some next-day stability adjustments. I've built only a couple of sitting figures in the past, and it felt fresh; I could build a Dark Red skirt without the challenge of leaving room for leg movement. I used Light Nougat parts from the Botanicals range as the shirt, for vanity value, and continued the boots' bat motif to the collar (rad). I even stuck the unique Satin Trans-Bright Green round tiles to the headphones - a little call-back to the reviewed set! 

I chose an Orange patch, as it was closest to my pinewood Lundia, and mostly hid it under some black tiles.

The patch has, so far, worked perfectly. The glue feels very strong, the studs have the usual amount of clutch, and it carries my bigger-than-Miniland figure very well. Time will tell of course, but I'm not worried. The only problem is how on earth am I going to display at events; do I have to take the whole shelf with me? Or do I have to build the rest of the swing?

Conclusion

LEGO DOTS is an interesting line. It began with the wristbands, practically a flexible plate, that offered brand new possibilities for builders, as Cole Blaq explored for us. The adhesive patches have similar yet not-so-obvious qualities, and I hope other builders will discover new ideas with them beyond sticking them on notebooks, or each other. I'm definitely happy with my idea and the product innovation seems to support it (pun intended). The quality is good, too.

41957 Adhesive Patches Mega Pack has five patches, which I believe will be enough to keep me entertained for a while. There are also approximately 500 tiles, counting the extras, making it a great parts pack. The price of US$34.99/ £24.99/ 29.99€ (DE)/ 34.95€ (FI)/ AU$49.99 feels decent, at least if you have a good idea for these new, glue-integrated pieces. If you're buying the set from LEGO.com please consider supporting us by using our affiliate links: USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop | UK LEGO Shop. Same with the individual patches on PaB: USA UK AU.

Editors: Tim Johnson & Chris Baginski 

READ MORE: New parts used in our building workshop at Skaerbaek

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