21102 Minecraft Micro World: the Brickset review

 

  • 21102 Minecraft Micro World: the Brickset review

    Posted by Huw, 01 Jun 2012 12:00. Filed under Set review.

    The first set to come out of LEGO's global Cuusoo initiative, Minecraft Micro World, is now available!

    I was sent a copy of it by the Cuusoo team last week and I've had the opportunity to build, photograph and play with it.

    Read my thorough pictorial review to find out if you need to buy it!

    When you've decided that you do, you can order it from shop.LEGO.com, for immediate shipping:

    - UK (£34.99)
    - USA ($34.99)
    - Canada ($39.99)              

    Let me know what you think of the set, and my review, in the comments...    


    52 comments, latest one posted 11 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 01 Jun 2012 12:18

Great review... except that you forgot to put the brown tile on top of Steve to represent his "hair"... :P

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 01 Jun 2012 12:20

No--he's just had it cut!

Posted by lovaquero in United States, 01 Jun 2012 12:22

I really like this format for the review. I HIGHLY recommend moving to it for all reviews on Brickset.

As for the set, blah! but I'll probably get a couple - one for my collection and one for my sons who are into Minecraft something fierce right now (I don't get the appeal, but they do...)

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 01 Jun 2012 12:23

@Huw: LOL. :) One thing: These set reviews aren't in the "More..." section, but book reviews are. In fact, only book reviews are mentioned there. :P

Posted by TooMuchLEGO in United States, 01 Jun 2012 12:23

I think the set looks great and does the game justice. I'll probably buy it. Now to get some money!

Oh, and how tall are the "micro mobs?" In game they're all two blocks high.

Posted by George G. in United Kingdom, 01 Jun 2012 12:25

Great review, Huw! Just one question, not that I'm going to buy it, but does the finished fit snuggly back into the box?

Posted by legobucket in Canada, 01 Jun 2012 12:29

You know as a parts pack I think the price is reasonable compared to what you'd pay on brinklink or pick a brick. 280 1x1 tiles would fetch around $28 at 10 cents a piece on average, plus all the extras and shipping and it would come out to around the same price. 1x1 plates and tiles are so useful and not abundant in most sets. You get a lot of good parts to build micro style mocs.

Posted by herbie75 in United Kingdom, 01 Jun 2012 12:29

Great review Huw. Personally I will pass on this as not my interest and to much new lego about at the moment but props to Lego for creating it and will be very popular with minecraft fans :)

Posted by Rockman Xtreme in United States, 01 Jun 2012 12:32

I wanna get it, because it looks fun to play with. I'm a kid. What did you expect? :P

Posted by legofanatic2414 in United States, 01 Jun 2012 12:50

From the looks of it, LEGO seems to be treating this as its own theme now. Perhaps, if this does well, in the future we will see more Minecraft sets.

Posted by tedward in Canada, 01 Jun 2012 12:59

You made an odd comment in the review when you wrote, "this is the first of what I hope will be many Cuusoo models available globally". I thought the Cuusoo team had it crystal clear that this was for "one-off" projects. I suppose that LEGO and the owners of Minecraft could do a license deal but do you have reason to suspect it is coming or is this just wishful thinking when you say, "I hope".

Posted by Wiseman_2 in United Kingdom, 01 Jun 2012 13:02

My only comment on the review is that what you referred to as Technic pins (2L) are in fact Technic axles (2L). The pins are the round ones :)

Posted by Orthobotrex in Philippines, 01 Jun 2012 13:12

The review is good. But as for the set, building in Minecraft is still like building like LEGO, so I really don't know why they had to do this one. Just for the fans, I guess.

Posted by legojedi542 in Canada, 01 Jun 2012 13:18

This set looks awsome although from the review ( which was great with crystal clear pics, nice job huw ) Huw has never played minecraft :P

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 01 Jun 2012 13:19

> Just one question, not that I'm going to buy it, but does the finished fit snuggly back into the box?

Good question, and yes it does!

Posted by rocao in United States, 01 Jun 2012 13:20

i'm impressed with how quickly this made it to market, particularly because of the printing process and the new packaging.

Posted by graphite in United States, 01 Jun 2012 13:21

Interesting that this is available to purchase and is shipping already and the Jinx presales aren't scheduled to ship till the 15th.

Posted by Alemas in Germany, 01 Jun 2012 13:22

@Huw: Could you add a picture of the set in the box in the review, please? :)

Posted by brix in United Kingdom, 01 Jun 2012 13:47

I think this is quite cute but it doesn't bother me - and its way overpriced but i like the box. I wouldn't but it unless i was into minecraft which im not.

Posted by Mickitat in Germany, 01 Jun 2012 13:51

Great review, thanks a lot! If this ever shows up on Amazon with some discount, I will buy it, otherwise skip it. There are far too many great sets coming out this year already.

Posted by Nightshroud99 in Canada, 01 Jun 2012 14:00

I think I will get this, I imagine it will be worth alot in a few years.

Posted by paul_merton in United Kingdom, 01 Jun 2012 14:06

I've never played Minecraft, and quite frankly have no idea what the game involves.

Yet for some reason, I really want this set!

Posted by Konstantin in United States, 01 Jun 2012 14:45

Cool!It seems that this has a lot of useful parts!

Posted by jonboy2000 in United Kingdom, 01 Jun 2012 15:21

Great review of a very uninspiring set. At $35 I would buy a few for parts, for £35 no chance. I'll just wait until it goes on sale when all those 10,000 people don't buy it : )

Posted by caperberry in United Kingdom, 01 Jun 2012 15:56

Well that puts paid to my complaint at AFOLCON about the lack of 1x1s in sets :O)

Posted by CapnRex101 in United Kingdom, 01 Jun 2012 16:10

I'll probably get this to keep MISB. As you say Huw, it will almost certainly greatly inflate in price once it is discontinued.

Posted by Veritas313 in United Kingdom, 01 Jun 2012 16:13

Why is the Uk price and USA price aligned? Who is getting a deal or getting a poor one? I've noticed that the uk prices are not getting reduced as much as USA ones at the moment - yet exchange rates have improved recently for the pound considering the pound v the dollar. I'll be the first to admit I'm no expert - so happy I'm to be corrected, or hear others views.

Posted by copperwonder96 in United States, 01 Jun 2012 16:33

Regarding this set's value and a word about investing in Lego (and a plug for brickset). It may or may not be a secret but you can guess the value of a lego product on the aftermarket using brickset's "Most Wanted" section http://brickset.com/list/?MostWanted
I have sold a lot of the top 10 wanted sets on ebay over the years and it is better than the stock market 10 fold (also see Amazon resell prices on those top 10 and yes those prices work!)) I always use brickset to gauge how well an item should resell. If you just like Minecraft get this set. If you just collect blindly, maybe buy this set. If you want a ROI don't buy this set. The Most Wanted List is AWESOME! Note: The discounted mark downs of sets (like on Amazon) usually dilute resales. Items with a most wanted value of less than say 750 will not sell. Rare popular sets with most wanted numbers above 1500 are killer on resale (see creator carousel)!

Posted by Konstantin in United States, 01 Jun 2012 16:48

Well that will make all the minecraft people happy.

Posted by caperberry in United Kingdom, 01 Jun 2012 17:42

BTW I have to disagree on the orange separator, it's such a vast improvement on the green! Being able to get right into nooks and crannies to pluck out a plate, plus the tile separator is great.

Posted by voypro in United States, 01 Jun 2012 20:34

I am not a minecraft fan, in fact I have never heard of minecraft.
To my ignorant eye this looks like something my 4 year old constructs on a regular basis.

This has NO crossover appeal. At least if you do not collect a particular theme, say Atlantis, if you see one on discount for 80% off your going to buy it. I would not buy this at any price (except to resell.)

Posted by UtarEmpire in United States, 01 Jun 2012 20:54

I guess it kind of has a strange sort of arthouse appeal to it, or something that you could put in your office somewhere as a weird conversation piece.

And now it remains to be seen if it will sell or not.

Posted by cjg in United States, 01 Jun 2012 22:44

@Jacob: When was the last time you played Minecraft? A lot of the updates they have recently come out with make it a very fun game to play...
I do agree that mixing the game with LEGO wasn't so great of an idea, but I think the set turned out well and I also think quite a few of them will be sold.

Posted by cjg in United States, 01 Jun 2012 22:44

@voypro I think you do need to be a Minecraft fan to like this set...Or at least have played it a bit.

Posted by itsaturkey in United States, 01 Jun 2012 22:50

I liked the original model much better. I could actually play with it. But this mini-world has zero appeal to me. I guess I'm a mini-fig fan at heart. Really the only thing I like about it is the diamonds and gold in the caves, that's pretty cool! Shame, because I got really excited about being able to but a Minecraft world. Now I guess I am stuck making it with my own pieces (But hey, building is the fun of Lego, so what am I complaining about? :P)

Posted by tngilmore in United States, 01 Jun 2012 23:57

PLEASE HELP!
I'm trying to place my order for this at shop.lego.com,
the Place Order button doesn't do anything, it just redirects and puts me back to the same order screen with no error message. Has anyone seen this happen before?
EDIT:
Weird, I logged into my secondary account (the one without any VIP points of course) and was able to order it.

Posted by Michumuruco in United States, 02 Jun 2012 02:18

What a boring set. I will not waste my money here

Posted by damien in Netherlands, 02 Jun 2012 03:31

What's fun about building this set???

Posted by SilentMode in United Kingdom, 02 Jun 2012 05:22

If they're available in the LEGO store tomorrow (for AFOL shopping day!) I will probably pick up two of them - solely for parts. I've never been a fan of Minecraft and have no interest in it, but I've definitely seen this set as the CUUSOO AFOL Parts Pack.

Having said that, there's a point to be made of bigger and more detailed worlds being built with more than one set, but how many people will spend upwards of £100 doing so? Not me, even though I had plans to build a microscale city.

Anyway I won't be putting this set in the vault, however I may preserve the brick-built figures, box and booklets.

Posted by CamberbrickGreen in United Kingdom, 02 Jun 2012 07:03

Best review in ages! Totally interested now but was going to ignore it. Will try and re-create to save Lego budget.

Posted by ppdude in United States, 02 Jun 2012 08:24

I have to agree with many others. I don't get it.

Posted by gifinim in United Kingdom, 02 Jun 2012 08:44

Using Googles quick price conversion $34.99 should be about £22.77. Thanks for rip-off Lego, I'll pass on this one.

Posted by Legolover9531 in United States, 02 Jun 2012 10:00

I haven't played Minecraft on Xbox or PC yet (hoping to get more Microsoft points soon to but it), but I really am not interested in this set. It's nice, but I'm on a budget and would rather spend $40 on Spiderman's Doc Ock Ambush.

Posted by the_real_indy in United States, 02 Jun 2012 22:38

@HUW,

The simplest way to straighten out an array of 1x1 tiles is: first install a row, then use a long straight-edged brick or plate as a tool to push against the edges of that whole row until they all turn a little bit to line up right, then do the next row, etc, etc..... Workmen do this when they are laying real tiles in a bathroom.

This technique also will be vital if you are building the Lego Architecture set of "The Farnsworth House"!!

Posted by TimCourtney in United States, 03 Jun 2012 17:27

@Huw and @the_real_indy, I built a Minecraft world combining 6 of the new sets to demonstrate what you can do with them and the modular vignette format. To straighten all of the tiles, I took the flat edge of the orange brick separator and ran it back and forth along the seam between the tiles. That seemed to do a pretty good job of straightening them out -- it's very hard to get them perfect.

You can see the model on our Facebook page here: http://on.fb.me/LEGOMinecraftGeneratingWorld

Thanks, Huw, for the thorough and balanced review. We really enjoyed working on this one and are looking forward to seeing what people do with it once they get it in their hands. :-)

Disclosure: I work for TLG on LEGO CUUSOO. Yes, we read Brickset. Since people will probably ask, I don't plan to answer questions directly here, but you can always give us feedback on our blog and on the CUUSOO feedback tab.

Posted by Lego K in United Kingdom, 03 Jun 2012 20:58

I'd buy this set, if Lego would stop simply switching the currency symbol when it comes to US - UK prices.
Stop scamming the UK with this practice! properly convert our prices, £25 should be its price.

Posted by Storm_Brick in Puerto Rico, 03 Jun 2012 22:18

Please tell me you forgot Stevie's hair piece, and not that The Lego group decided to take it off...
But great review! I hope LEGO keeps Minecraft and they make The Nether, and The E.N.D.

I already made 13 creepers! But the heads are a bit to big, so i will have to add decals again...
(There customs)

Posted by toon10001 in United Kingdom, 04 Jun 2012 03:13

good thing its modular, the creeper can blow a section off!

Posted by sarlacc98 in United Kingdom, 04 Jun 2012 12:12

Wishing Lego makes awhile theme of this I really want a Lego ender dragon. And the nether and other stuff. I just think that would sell better then a micro world. But what do I know I'm only 12.

Posted by jamzee44 in United Kingdom, 05 Jun 2012 15:29

Please TLC, ** spare us from this ** - it pains me to say but this is complete rubbish - rise magnificantly above the quick trend bursts, I'd so so so much rather see sets come from you - although this might seem majority and indeed respect to all, I feel this is marginal interest from marginal quarters - please don't water down your brand, quality of sets or imagination, we just don't need any of this...

Posted by sarlacc98 in United Kingdom, 05 Jun 2012 21:28

@jacob wilson yeah i meant a theme of this i didnt mean to put that while (stupid ipod) and once you have played the game you will realize how awesome a lego theme would be.

Posted by hgh7 in Netherlands, 07 Jun 2012 06:43

I liked the original model much better. I could actually play with it. But this mini-world has zero appeal to me. I guess I'm a mini-fig fan at heart. Really the only thing I like about it is the diamonds and gold in the caves, that's pretty cool! Shame, because I got really excited about being able to but a Minecraft world. Now I guess I am stuck making it with my own pieces (But hey, building is the fun of Lego, so what am I complaining about http://www.human-growth-hormone-hgh.net/ ? :P)

Commenting has ended on this article.