Review: 41839 Message Board
Posted by Huw,
41839 Message Board is one of two sets just released under the banner 'build together' that are designed to be built by a group of people concurrently.
This one provides over 1,700 pieces with which to construct a sign of your choosing up to 30 characters long, perhaps a family motto, birthday greeting, or inspirational quote, that can be displayed in your home.
Summary
41839 Message Board, 1,743 pieces.
£89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99 | 5.2p/5.7c/5.7c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
An interesting and novel idea, well executed.
- Almost unlimted possibilities
- Great parts pack
- Reasonably priced
- Bland colours
- Limited appeal
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
The parts are packed in unnumbered paper bags, which makes sense given the model is not built in any particular sequence, so you therefore need to open every bag and have sufficient room to lay them out before construction can begin.
As you can see, there is a lot of 'stuff' in the set.
It comes with four sheets showing how to make individual letters, numbers and punctuation marks, and an instruction book which shows how to build a backing frame for messages such as "Happy 10th birthday", "Everything is Awesome" and "Home Sweet Home".
It also comes with stickers that can be applied to 3x3 round tiles should you wish to decorate your sign.
I think it unlikely that many people will want to build any of the 'official' messages, so the main use you'll get out of the book is seeing how the frames are built, so that you know how to design one for the words you have in mind.
Once a suitable phrase has been decided upon, you build the letters. The instructions for them are provided on several sheets which can be distributed around your building group to facilitate concurrent construction.
They consist of a 6x8 plate onto which two layers of dark tan and white plates and tiles are added to form the letters. A wide variety of curved, angled and straight pieces, combined with interesting techniques, are used to form quite an elegant font. Even tricky letters like Q look good. The instruction sheets can be downloaded from LEGO.com (1 | 2 | 3 | 4) should you wish to check out the whole alphabet.
As Henry Ford once said, you can have any colour letter you want as long as it's dark tan. Or something like that...
Once you've made the letters, you need to decide how you want to arrange them -- horizontally, vertically, or both -- so that you can make a backing frame to match.
5x7 Technic frames and beams of various lengths are used for this purpose, and you'll learn the optimum way to connect them by giving the instruction book a quick perusal to see how those for the 'official' messages have been assembled.
Plenty of beams are provided to enable bracing at the back to keep it in one piece.
When the frame is ready, the letters are attached to the Technic frames with stud pins in their corners.
If you intend to display it free-standing you can make feet for it so it can stand upright. Enough parts are provided to make four of them.
Here's one we made earlier...
I stated earlier that the longest message you can make is 30 characters, and that's because there are 30 Technic frames and 30 6x8 plates (plus four for the feet) in the set.
Even if you build a maximum length one, you'll have hundreds of other pieces left over because the set has to cater for many different letter combinations, of course. You would not be able to make 30 of the same letter, but I think it unlikely that you'd run out of parts while making any normal phrase.
Here's what was left after building the 24-character one above:
A set for making a sign that means something to the builder is an interesting and novel idea, and on the whole I think that it's been successfully executed here.
My wife and daughter Alice enjoyed building it together, and had no problem working out how to make the frame. I think it would make a great family activity for a rainy day: kids will enjoy making the letters while mum or dad work on the frame, although it's not likely to take long, unless you're frequently changing it, in which case it'll take a while to disassemble any unwanted letters.
I only really have two complaints about it. The first is that the letter colour is very bland, although I suppose dark tan does make it look 'classy' and more likely to match your home decor than, say, red or blue.
Second, the need to provide parts for many possibilities has inflated the piece count and price, making this a very expensive proposition for something as simple as a sign, which in other media could be made for a few pounds/dollars.
However, if you look at it as a parts pack, £90 / $100 is a reasonable price for 1,743 pieces. Even if you make a lengthy message, there will still be plenty left over for use in your MOCs.
It won't appeal to everyone, but I think it'll find an audience, which includes the discerning AFOL with a penchant for the esoteric.
120 likes
52 comments on this article
Poor Germans won't be able to write a single word with the 30-characters limitation :-(
This would make more sense as something sold from Bricks and Pieces, i.e. order just the letters you want in the colors of your choice on the web page. Then throw in some brick-built emojis as well
@Oeuf0platieN said:
"Poor Germans won't be able to write a single word with the 30-characters limitation :-("
Made my day :D
Any instructions for diacritics or non-English glyphs?
@mediAFOL said:
"Any instructions for diacritics or non-English glyphs?"
Yes, on the back of sheet 1, https://www.lego.com/cdn/product-assets/product.bi.core.pdf/6532672.pdf
@Oeuf0platieN said:
"Poor Germans won't be able to write a single word with the 30-characters limitation :-("
Just buy 2 :P
Yes, I like it; I just don't $130 Canadian like it. Thanks for the review, Huw.
Dull AND expensive. Dark tan? Seriously? Absolutely a very niche product for people who have everything!
Poor Welsh won't be able to write a single word with the 30-characters limitation :-(
@Wolfolo said:
" @Oeuf0platieN said:
"Poor Germans won't be able to write a single word with the 30-characters limitation :-("
Just buy 2 :P"
Thats what they want, and hope people will do.
I actually quite like that colour combination. I think it’s a classier and more modern home decor look than brighter or garish colours, in this instance.
@Mica86 said:
" @kingalbino said:
"Poor Welsh won't be able to write a single word with the 30-characters limitation :-(
"
I wonder if someone will buy ten and make that famously long welsh town name with it...
Welcome to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch"
Or TaumatawhakatangihangakoauauoTamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokai
whenuakitanatahu in New Zealand, which is the longest place name in the world.
Despite a good PPP, this seems massively over-engineered for its intended purpose, and as a direct result of that massively overpriced. Who's gonna pay €100 for a messageboard, and even more so one that will take you quite some time to spell out any message if yiou have to rebuild some characters.
Now compare it with the 41952 DOTS Messsage Board, which did the same thing with about half the pieces and for just €40. And looked a lot more colorful in the process. Sometimes simple (and cheap) is just better.
I personally love this! I recently moved into my own bedroom, so this would make an amazing decoration! Definitely want to pick this up!
That being said, the dark tan does seem a little bland to me. But I'm not sure what other colors they could've gone with that wouldn't either be so bright that they scream in your face or so muted that it would look just completely lifeless.
@Oeuf0platieN said:
"Poor Germans won't be able to write a single word with the 30-characters limitation :-("
;-)
And what about the Cedille? And don’t forget „les accents“!
@AverageChimaEnjoyer said:
"That being said, the dark tan does seem a little bland to me. But I'm not sure what other colors they could've gone with that wouldn't either be so bright that they scream in your face or so muted that it would look just completely lifeless. "
I think it would be better, yet sufficiently general with black letters.
@Rabrickzel said:
"Definitely one of the sets ever made."
Well, yeah. It's a set. And it was made. So... hard to argue with that assessment
@Huw made an anagram of GUILT in the lead pic, I wonder what he's taking responsibility for?
@UProbeck said:
" @Oeuf0platieN said:
"Poor Germans won't be able to write a single word with the 30-characters limitation :-("
;-)
And what about the Cedille? And don’t forget „les accents“!
"
I think they're using a quarter round for the cedille. Not super accurate, but probably enough to function.
What I'm not sure about is part number 3396 (2x2 with 2 quarter round cutouts). Is that meant to indicate a tilde?
It is very Live Laugh LEGO isn't it. The set would probably have been more accepted by the masses if it came with Dots.
@oukexergon said:
" @Huw made an anagram of GUILT in the lead pic, I wonder what he's taking responsibility for?"
Great. Even in the LEGO community, we aren't safe from conspiracy theorists.
I feel like they had to do to massively boost the appeal of this set is use gold pieces instead of tan. At least you could appeal to the wedding market.
Live, Laugh, Lobotomy gets a set!
This isn't for me (or I think my family) but appreciate Lego continuing to take some risks in broadening its portfolio and reach. And much thanks to @huw for the review and the fabulous closing assessment that it could find its audience in "the discerning AFOL with a penchant for the esoteric."
I love that every day is a school day on Brickset (and I love its global reach), I hadn't heard of TaumatawhakatangihangakoauauoTamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokai
whenuakitanatahu. Thanks for sharing @MaxBricks14 - according to Wikipedia (and a check in MS Word) it has 85 characters so that's 3 message boards... and just under $300! Yikes!
I can see this being highly popular and frequently rebuilt by little cherubs constructing signs to shock Grandma! Maybe 'Farty Towels' or 'Flowery Twats'
@AverageChimaEnjoyer said:
" @oukexergon said:
" @Huw made an anagram of GUILT in the lead pic, I wonder what he's taking responsibility for?"
Great. Even in the LEGO community, we aren't safe from conspiracy theorists."
No conspiracies? I think you are forgetting about Dreadflipper and Nova's murderous intentions amongst other things.
The future is durs.
@sjr60 said:
"I can see this being highly popular and frequently rebuilt by little cherubs constructing signs to shock Grandma! Maybe 'Farty Towels' or 'Flowery Twats'"
Don't mention the war!
The font design actually IS quite nice, considering the limitations of the media used to create it.
Lego is turning into Etsy.
Just release some cool space stuff now and then and pull up your pants.
I don't actually intend to get this, but one of the first things I did, upon seeing what the character limit for a single set was, was to see if you could make "Abandon all hope, all ye who enter here" with a single set. Shows how my mind works. But you can still make "Here be dragons" with a single set. In fact, you could do it twice!
As a concept, it's great, but in this case it needs more. It feels like something they thought of after running out of ideas for sets. I think it needs more colour, more illustration and illumination.
@oukexergon said:
" @Huw made an anagram of GUILT in the lead pic, I wonder what he's taking responsibility for?"
And LEG GODT on the upper right (need to borrow that guilty G).
I dig it. Plus, it looks like the dark tan parts are not that uncommon, so not exceptionally hard to find them elsewhere and swap them out. Most of the letter designs are quite good, which can't be said for all Lego lettering styles out there. :D
@AustinPowers said:
" @sjr60 said:
"I can see this being highly popular and frequently rebuilt by little cherubs constructing signs to shock Grandma! Maybe 'Farty Towels' or 'Flowery Twats'"
Don't mention the war! "
I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it..
Anyone else get a "Wheel of Fortune" vibe from this?
"So long ... and thanks for all the fish."
No further use after that.
I think this set potentially has a lot of utility and appeal. The problem is the price. If it were priced at half what it is I could see these selling quite well, to all sorts of casuals and family types. Being able to spell things out in Lego is a fun idea - it's not unusual to see children and sometimes adults using bricks to build letters and signs. A lot of kids would love to build their name in Lego and hang it on the door of their room for instance. But a fun idea isn't going to be enough to convince most people to shell out the sort of money this set is asking. I'd imagine the decision to use a single colour for the letters came down to the need to have enough of each part to build all of the different letters, and adding in different colour combinations for parts would have driven up the piece count even more. As it is, I look forward to picking this up when it's 60% off.
Font - Good
Color - Fine I guess
Price - Fine I guess
Use - Sorry but literally none
So, will I buy it? No sir
Although I have to say the Brick Fanatics review kind of scarred me and I don't think I can trust anything about this set anymore.
But if I buy four, can I play a giant Lego game of Scrabble?
I’d much rather have tiled letter, like the Dots system - but a wider variety of bricks, tiles and colour variations.
@TheOtherMike said:
"I don't actually intend to get this, but one of the first things I did, upon seeing what the character limit for a single set was, was to see if you could make "Abandon all hope, all ye who enter here" with a single set. Shows how my mind works. But you can still make "Here be dragons" with a single set. In fact, you could do it twice!"
"This place is not a place of honor" should also be possible.
@BrickTeller said:
"But if I buy four, can I play a giant Lego game of Scrabble? "
That is a very good license idea!
@haani said:
"Font - Good
Color - Fine I guess
Price - Fine I guess
Use - Sorry but literally none
So, will I buy it? No sir
Although I have to say the Brick Fanatics review kind of scarred me and I don't think I can trust anything about this set anymore."
I think you need to rewrite that sentence: " I don't think I can trust anything that Brick Fanatics writes anymore."
@Andrusi said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"I don't actually intend to get this, but one of the first things I did, upon seeing what the character limit for a single set was, was to see if you could make "Abandon all hope, all ye who enter here" with a single set. Shows how my mind works. But you can still make "Here be dragons" with a single set. In fact, you could do it twice!"
"This place is not a place of honor" should also be possible."
"I understood that reference."
Absolutely maddening color choice. I couldn't pick a more unappealing aesthetic choice if I tried.
I am a little embarrassed to say that this is a Day 1 purchase for me for my LEGO room. Some preliminary choices are:
They mostly come out at night, mostly.
One ring to rule them all.
This was no boating accident.
Wave it at anything that slithers.
Do or do not, there is no try.
if you build it, they will come.
Fool of a took.
Ya koo tocha ka poonoo nee sok nyee.
These ones will take a couple sets but it may be worth it to me…
I think there's just a couple o' guys up there and this a**hole is one of them!
Negative, Ghost Rider. The Pattern is full.
Don't know where we're going, but there's no use being late.
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.
We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men.
I got some oregano. I hear that works pretty good
@AverageChimaEnjoyer said:
" @oukexergon said:
" @Huw made an anagram of GUILT in the lead pic, I wonder what he's taking responsibility for?"
Great. Even in the LEGO community, we aren't safe from conspiracy theorists."
It also says: "by God", and "get Lego". I guess I should buy it then. But I'll wait for a hefty discount.
@yellowcastle said:
"I am a little embarrassed to say that this is a Day 1 purchase for me for my LEGO room. Some preliminary choices are:
They mostly come out at night, mostly.
One ring to rule them all.
This was no boating accident.
Wave it at anything that slithers.
Do or do not, there is no try.
if you build it, they will come.
Fool of a took.
Ya koo tocha ka poonoo nee sok nyee.
These ones will take a couple sets but it may be worth it to me…
I think there's just a couple o' guys up there and this a**hole is one of them!
Negative, Ghost Rider. The Pattern is full.
Don't know where we're going, but there's no use being late.
It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage.
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.
We sat and drank with the sun on our shoulders and felt like free men.
I got some oregano. I hear that works pretty good"
You could build "I am inevitable" and "I am Iron Man" out of one set. Guess what movie I just re-watched!
The colour's great. Caramac letters. Yum, yum!
Now I just gotta figure out how to write in Matoran with it...