I asked LEGO to send me one of the LEGO Originals Wooden Minifigures to review. My intention was to get the Bricking Around logo laser engraved on the torso. It was going to be awesome; there was going to be lasers involved. I was going to get the laser engraving done at The Edge at State Library of Queensland. The library is now understandably closed and I’m left with a chunk of wood that doesn’t have the Bricking Around logo on it.
So what do you do with an oversized wooden minifigure?
I was also going to put this on my desk at work so that people would walk past and say “wow that’s cool”. I can’t do that because I’m now working from home for the foreseeable future. This product is a conversation starter or at least it’s meant to be.
As this was something I requested from LEGO I am obligated to produce some sort of content with this. LEGO makes out in all their promotional material that you are meant to personalise this thing. Without the precision of computers and lasers I really wasn’t sure about doing that. While I didn’t pay for it myself, it’s still a $179.99 product.
My son seems fascinated by this thing so I was tempted to hand the creative control over to him. A bunch of sharpies and the unbridled creativity of a nearly 4 year old. Sounds amazing right? At the end of the day I rejected this idea because it just doesn’t seem right to do anything that might “mess up” this wooden Minifigure.
After a few weeks of this thing sitting in my room looking over me while I work I decided to break out my son’s craft supplies and do something to personalise it. The end result is a wooden minifigure with some foam shapes and googly eyes stuck to it. He’s got a big bushy moustache and a pink flower on his top. I think he’s pretty cute.
I also made really really sure that anything I stuck on could be easily removed without any trace left behind. For me this really is the fatal flaw — It’s a very expensive craft project. If you decide to paint this thing and screw it up you don’t get your $180 back. If this thing cost $30 I would absolutely let my son go nuts with it. But at the $180 price point this thing doesn’t feel like a toy, it feels more like homewares.
I don’t personally think $180 is worth it for just a display piece. With a $180 set you get the build experience and you get a selection of pieces with limitless potential. This thing doesn’t really have any replayability. You drill a hole in it’s torso it’s always going to have a hole in it’s torso. Note that I’m not being crazy by suggesting that – LEGO literally have that as one of their examples. Yes the stuff I added can be removed and redesigned but I don’t really have any desire to do that, and despite rigorous testing I’m still worried the stuff I’ve added with leave marks behind.
Are you a creative person who’d feel comfortable personalising a wooden minifigure? Are happy to pay $180 for a display piece? Let me know your thoughts.
I was very interested in this, as a piece of nerdy yet tasteful home décor, when it was first rumoured.
But, those inexplicable and out of place yellow plastic hands! The underwhelming size! That price tag! I’d much prefer to spend $180 on a Modular or Ideas set than this.
Yes. Stupidly expensive for what it is. Like a lot of recent Lego products.
LOL, I struggle even with the Classic sets, because I can only build if there are instructions ;). There is no way I could make this look like an art installation – I suspect your son would deliver a more presentable finished product. Therefore it’s a no from me, pretty much at any price point. $180 is ridiculous, especially compared to the sets you can purchase for this in the current sales.
I think the price point is very off putting. For that price I’d expect a very high quality product, not one that has excess glue around the joints (I was able to have a closer look at one of the stores). I understand their reasoning for the plastic hands, but for one is meant to be a display piece and not a toy, I see the likelihood of them breaking be very slim.