Lego Great Deku Tree

 

I had been waiting for years for a Legend of Zelda Lego set, so suffice to say I was excited when I first learned about this set. However, it was with some mixed emotions. While the Great Deku tree plays a memorable role in a few of the Zelda games, it isn't exactly the most eye appealing or fun structure to build. Maybe Hyrule Castle was too obvious? Regardless of my thoughts on the choice of the inspiration for the set from Hyrule, I had to get it because of my love of Zelda games.

The first thing I noticed about this set is that it is huge. Everything about it, from the box it comes in to the footprint of the finished product. In fact, at 2,500 pieces, I'm pretty sure it is the largest Lego set I've ever built. The build itself was pretty simple and a bit cumbersome with a lot of flowers and decorations. There was nothing overly interesting about the build, although it did incorporate some technic pieces. The best part of the set is that you can decide which version of the Great Deku tree you want to build: the tree from Breath of the Wild, or the tree from Ocarina of Time. I chose the tree from Breath of the Wild (pictured above), as I think it is the more appealing version of the Great Deku and Breath of the Wild is fresh in my mind since I've played it more recently. I liked that it included the pedestal where the Master Sword is found, as well as Hestu. Regardless of which version of the tree you decide to build, it includes child Link's bedroom from the Kokiri Forest in Ocarina of Time, which is a bonus. The other thing that is nice about this set is that Lego was generous with the mini figures. It includes Zelda from Breath of the Wild, as well as Link from Breath of the Wild and adult and child versions of Link from Ocarina of Time. 

Lego continues to do a good job dividing its parts into many individual bags, making building quicker as you spend less time searching for the parts you need. With every set I get I think Lego improves on this approach, and the Great Deku tree is the best example of this yet. Despite having 2,500 total pieces, I spent very little time having to search for parts. It's worth noting, however, that despite having 2,500 total pieces, you don't actually use all of them as some are reserved for the other version of the tree. Regardless, it is a lot of pieces and as I mentioned above, the footprint of the tree itself is quite large. The other interesting thing about this set is that it didn't include any stickers, which I really like. Any piece that had graphics on it came pre-made. I think this is a plus. Who wants a Hylian shield with a crooked graphic?

Overall I enjoyed this set, mostly because it is a Zelda set. The Great Deku tree itself is OK, but I look forward to additional sets featuring scenes from Hyrule and the Legend of Zelda games. Maybe the Temple of Time or a scene from Zora's Domain could be next?

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) (Remastered)

 

I've wanted to watch this movie since it came out, but it wasn't available on any of the streaming platforms that I subscribe to, and oddly wasn't even available to rent. It finally started showing on TV, and my DVR picked it up. It follows Egon Spengler's (Harold Ramis) grandkids as they move into a small Oklahoma town that is (surprise!) haunted by a demon. In the process of fighting the demon, they discover who their grandfather was and his relationship to the Ghostbusters.

This movie is pretty decent on its own, meaning if you've never seen the original Ghostbusters movies it is still worth watching. However, it if full of references to the original movie, and thus is quite a bit of fun to watch for fans of the original movies. These references peak at the end of the movie, when the original Ghostbusters appear to help Egon's grandkids fight the demon, including a hologram version of Harold Ramis, who unfortunately passed away in 2014.

The other star of the show was the famous Ecto-1 car. The recent Lego version of the Ecto-1 I built was based on the car in this movie, which includes some interesting upgrades compared to the car from the original movies. I was delighted when, in a scene chasing a ghost down the streets of the small town, the kids drop a remote controlled ghost trap from the trunk of the car. This trap and the ability to drop it out of the trunk are featured in the Lego version of the car as well, which is super cool.

As if this weren't enough Ghostbusters nostalgia, I also had a chance to play Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered, albeit briefly. Originally debuting in the PS3 era (and was early enough in the PS3 life cycle that it also debuted on the PS2), it was later rereleased in a remastered version for the PS4. While the game features gameplay that is a bit clunky and cumbersome, it has a ton of Ghostbusters nostalgia, which I found amusing. Unfortunately, shortly after I started playing it was removed from the Playstation Plus library, so I didn't get too far into the game.

Lego BD-1

 

The recent Star Wars games featuring Cal Kestis have been a couple of my favorite video games, and Cal's side-kick BD-1 has become one of my favorite Star Wars droids. I was excited when I saw a Lego version of BD-1 was released to build. Priced at $100 and right at 1,000 pieces, it is a medium sized set that was relatively easy to build. Anytime you are building something with legs, there is an element of redundancy. Since BD-1 only has two legs, however, it wasn't too bad with this set. I really like BD-1's droid head, and I feel like Lego did a great job recreating the look and shape of his head, especially with the two camera lens eyes. 

BD-1 is Cal's buddy, always riding on his shoulder and ready to help by splicing some wires to open a door or to create a shortcut. The Lego set is a great recreation of the helpful droid, and is a great display of video game nerdom in my basement, right next to the Tallneck from Horizon.

Lego Ghostbusters Ecto-1

 

If there is one thing I remember as a kid, it is that I was a huge Ghostbusters fan. I had the action figures and headquarters, a wearable proton pack, halloween costumes, etc. You name it and I had it if it was Ghostbusters. The funny thing is that I don't really remember watching the first movie. I've seen it several times, but don't remember watching it as a kid. Was I even allowed to watch it? I think it's rated PG but it was 1980s PG, which typically includes smoking and cursing and sexual references. I've had my eye on the Lego Ecto-1 set since it was released, and so I was excited to receive the set as a gift from Sarah and the girls. It is 100% pure nostalgia. 

This version of the Ecto-1 is based on the car featured in the 2021 movie Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Admittedly I have never seen the film (though I have it on my DVR waiting to watch). This set was a lot of fun to build. With 2,300 pieces and 1.5 feet long, it is a big set. I've enjoyed building the larger car Lego sets, and this one was no exception. I find the details with the steering and various moving parts interesting. They also tend to be some of the less tedious sets. The size of the car makes it perfect for display at the top of my entertainment center, on the other side of my center channel speaker. It really ups the nerd factor in the basement.

Lego Alpine Lodge

 

I always wanted a Lego city when I was a kid. I never got one beyond piecing together a few small, custom made houses here and there. Several years ago we bought a Lego train to go around our Christmas tree. We noticed that Lego sold a winter-themed train station, and it made sense to add it to our train. What good does a train do if there is no station for people to board? At some point we discovered that Lego released Christmas-themed sets every year. One thing led to another, and after a few years we had a pretty bustling little winter village in addition to our train. Some dreams do come true.

This year's set was a ski lodge, which is a perfect addition to our winter village as we don't have any kind of hotel for people visiting to stay. Most of the winter sets are in the 1,000 to 1,500 piece range, so at 1,517 pieces, the lodge is one of the larger sets. With that being said, it was one of the easier and quicker builds. I was able to finish it in just a couple of afternoons. One thing I've noticed Lego doing with their sets recently is dividing the pieces into more bags, which means less time spent searching and separating. Additionally, some of these sets have very complicated and cumbersome parts, typically involving the flooring and infrastructure of the building. This set wasn't like that at all. The most cumbersome part was placing the exterior bricks that make the log cabin look, but even that wasn't too bad. 

Another change that Lego has done over the past couple of years, at least with their winter sets, is that they only build the front half of the building. Previous sets would have the back half as well, with a way to swivel open the structure to access the inside. On the one hand, the new design allows for easier access and play to the inside of the building. On the other hand, it makes the building look half complete. I've got mixed emotions on the change, but probably prefer the older swivel design.

The front of the lodge looks great, however, and fits right in with the aesthetics of the village. My favorite parts of the set include the fireplace, which is quite ornate (pictured below), as well as the snow mobile and outhouse, which is just funny. 

Lego Horizon Tallneck

 

The Horizon games have been some of my favorite Playstation games since getting a PS5 and Playstation Plus. Whenever I saw this Lego Tallneck, I knew I had to get it.

The Tallnecks in Horizon are large, slowly meandering machines that act as communication towers and resemble giraffes. The Lego set has 7 bags, the first 3 of which make up the base on which the Tallneck stands. After you build the base, you get to the fun part which is building the Tallneck. Overall this was a fun build, much less tedious than the AT-AT. I will say that while building the base was annoying (just from the aspect that you want to start building the Tallneck), I am glad the set comes with the base as the Tallneck is a bit unsteady on its feet. The AT-AT is as well and doesn't come with a base.

The finished product really does look spectacular. I have it displayed in my entertainment center in the Basement Theater.  It is a unique looking Lego set for sure, and does a great job of recreating the look of the iconic Horizon machine. It even comes with an Aloy Lego character which is cool as well. 

Lego AT-AT

 

The All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT) is one of the Empire's most iconic symbols of military strength. The AT-AT walker was made famous on the ice planet at the Battle of Hoth in the Empire Strikes Back. Lego makes two versions of the AT-AT: an absolutely mammoth version that has 6,700 pieces and costs $850, and a smaller but still large version that has 1,200 pieces and costs $170. I built the smaller version. I've seen the larger version at the Lego store, and while it is impressively large, I don't think it is worth the nearly $700 jump in cost. The smaller version is still quite large and they look similar.

To be honest, this was not one of my favorite Lego builds. Building the body was fine, but building the legs was redundant and there was a lot of grey bricks, so not much variety. The cheaper walker looks impressive sitting in my bookshelf, but I will say it is a bit flimsy on its legs. It wouldn't take much to knock it over, and I wonder if this is an advantage the larger and more expensive model has over the one I built. My favorite part is that there is a pulley system coming out of the belly of the walker, where I've staged Luke Skywalker in his famous orange rebellion suit grabbing onto the wire to be pulled into the walker, with lightsaber in hand.

Lego Bonsai Tree & A Frame Cabin

 

Sarah and the girls got me a Lego Bonsai tree for father's day. I typically build cars and buildings with Legos, so this was a completely different Lego experience. I enjoyed the change in pace. After building the very cool but somewhat tedious Lego F1 car, I was ready for something different. This set had approximately 800 pieces, but 200 of them were loose pieces that sat at the bottom of the plant. Most of the pieces were for the pot and stand and were quick and easy to put together. The tree was a bit tedious but not hard to assemble. I could've finished this in one sitting, but decided to space it out over two days. The tree looks nice, and is sitting in my office in front of the window for easy viewing. It came in two versions, the one seen above, and another version where the flowers have bloomed pink. I decided to go with the pink bloomed build to give it some color.

Around the same time, the family got the cabin A-frame house seen below. It is a massive set, with 2,000 pieces. We have an entire winter village of Lego buildings and we plan to make this cabin apart of that village at Christmas time. Since the Lego section on this blog is new, I haven't featured any of those buildings on the site, but I plan to do so moving forward as we add to the village. We've even talked about ways to add snow to the roof of the house. The house is currently about 2/3rds finished, and admittedly I haven't built any of it. Elle (with some help from Sarah) has done the entire build thus far. I initially wasn't as excited about the A-frame as the rest of the family, but I will say it has some really cool accessories in the house, including a record player and a typewriter. It should fit right in with our winter village, surrounded by Christmas trees.

Lego: McLaren F1 Car & A Flying DeLorean

 

Several years ago we started developing a Christmas village made of Lego sets. We started with a train that circled the tree. It even has an engine allowing for movement! We then added several buildings, including a train and fire station, some stores, etc. At this point we have enough buildings to have an actual village. It's been a cool tradition and a neat way to get back into Lego building as an adult. Along the way I've periodically picked up sets for myself. The most recent one was the McLaren F1 car.

Most of the Christmas village sets we've built have been in the 1200-1800 piece range. This car was right in that neighborhood at 1434 pieces. While average in terms of number of pieces, it is not average in terms of physical size. This car is absolutely massive. It measures over 2 feet long (25.5 inches)! It is plenty big to place on a shelf for display and is easily the largest Lego set I've built in terms of actual size.

This car was also unique to me in that it is a Technic set. Instead of using traditional Lego bricks, the pieces on this car are held together by rods and pins that connect pieces with holes in them. This is the first Technic set I've built since I was a kid, when I had a dirt bike. Generally speaking, I'd prefer to build using the traditional bricks. Connecting the pieces with the Technic connectors can be a bit cumbersome. However, using this method allows for some options in terms of movement that you can't get with regular Lego bricks. This car, for instance, has front wheels that move when the steering wheel moves, pistons that move when the rear wheels move, and an active suspension hidden within the body of the car for the front and rear wheels. None of this would be available with traditional bricks. The Technic connectors also allow for curves and shapes, something else that wouldn't be available with traditional bricks, where you're mostly limited to 90 degree angles. The Technic connectors absolutely make sense for this set, despite being a bit of a pain.

The other set I built back in the summer of '22 was the DeLorean time machine from Back To The Future. This car uses traditional Lego bricks, and thus isn't quite as complex as the McLaren F1 car. With that being said, it has a complex suspension set that allows it to switch between the land-based and flying versions of the car from the various movies. It looks great, and comes with a Lego Doc Brown and Marty, and of course the car has a flux capacitor! If only the F1 car came with a Lego Lando.