Review: Build Better Bricks Deadpool bust
Posted by Huw,
This month, high quality building instructions provider Build Better Bricks has 20% off everything in store when you use the coupon BRICKSET at checkout.
If you ever wonder what the instructions are like and how to obtain the parts needed to build one of its models then this review of the Deadpool bust, written by Jacob, aka Pistol, is for you:
You know the old saying “Every journey begins when the first brick clicks” or something equally poetic. Hello, my name is Pistol and welcome to my first review. There is no set number, no similar Lego sets to compare too, and no guarantee you’ll like the review. I do promise to be completely transparent in everything, as this might help you determine if it’s worth it to you.
The Journey
Here it is, the whole shebang, not only will this include a review of the instructions, but the adventure from start to finish. I don’t remember where I first saw them, but I remember seeing the Cyclops Bust first and really liking it. From there I would check out BuildBetterBricks.com to see what new builds they had to offer, but I was always window shopping.
All that changed when B3 had a Black Friday sale on their entire selection of Marvel Busts and I finally decided to give them a try. I believe with the Black Friday deal they entire set of 12 bust instructions came to under 3 dollars each, including the exclusive Mantis bust. From there I got the instructions in the mail and downloaded them to my computer, which was very easy to do. I then decided that the first one I would make would be Deadpool, as the build seemed relatively simple and good looking.
Then came another big step for me, the one I was the most nervous for, ordering the pieces off Bricklink. I have had an account on Bricklink for about 8 months and mostly used the site to look up piece numbers for custom minifigures I was making, but again never ordered a single thing.I didn’t want to take the time to find each of the pieces individually, because honestly I thought it would take forever to do. Thankfully B3 has a file containing every item needed for the busts and it’s a simple drag and drop into Bricklink and then a list of stores comes up with everything you’re looking for. It was incredibly easy.
The total number of pieces was 283, and Bricklink had figured out that I could get everything between 2 stores. However I hit the brakes hard when both stores were in Central Europe. I am a Lego purist and was very worried that I would buy what I needed, but get 3rd party pieces. I put my trust in Bricklink and their everything will be actual Lego unless noted rule and took the plunge. I paid a little under 30 euros, or 35 dollars, for everything including shipping costs. I paid for everything on the 8th of December and they arrived on the 28th. Thankfully everything was official Lego pieces, however I ended up with 3 extra pieces, 2 dirty pieces (A rinse under the water and they were fine), and 1 wrong piece, thankfully I did have a spare piece to replace it.
The Build
The instructions are emailed to you in a PDF format, and the Deadpool ones are 58 pages in length. If I’m being honest I watched their Deadpool Bust Youtube video and didn’t really care for it, kinda too much of a fun thing turns annoying. But thankfully instructions have a few Deadpoolisms but they are very fun and add to the charm of the build.
The build itself is not quite what I thought it would be, the closest comparison I can think of would be the BrickHead series. There are a couple different builds here, and the first one is the base. Which is a simple build taking only 2 pages and was exactly what I thought it would be. I like the use of dark grey as it makes the red of the bust stand out more.
After that there are a lot of little builds that connect together to make the torso. From there the back of the bust comes to life with two swords in their sheaths and then the front, which admittedly looks a little plain, but the red and black compliment each other well. The neck is next and it contains a nice little shoulder strap to carry the front over to the back.
The biggest part of the build by far is the head, and this is where it gets the BrickHead comparison, you basically build up the noggin and then slather it up with detail. The jaw is the last part you put together and it rounds out the head nicely. Roughly 33 pages are dedicated to building this cranium, which is over half the book. While it might not seem like it at first, the more you work on it, the more it begins to take shape.
Overall
Whew, what a journey it was indeed. Costing a little under $40, if I count the instructions cost separately for each set, this is an expensive set for the brick count. There aren’t any “exclusive” pieces used and it comes out to about 14 cents a brick if you want to get down to the cost. On the other hand, you might want to look through their brick list and see if you already have some of the pieces (Like I did with the wrong piece) and save yourself a couple of bucks.
Honestly I really ended up loving this build. One of the little touches was his expression, which is told only with his eyes. I am totally happy with this purchase, I had a lot of hesitations that some of you might too, but the end result was well worth it. I do plan to build more of these busts, I’m between Groot or Cyclops. If you are a fan of any of the characters I would recommend picking up the instructions from Build Better Bricks, they have also have Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Christmas busts.
Thanks Pistol for the review!
Instructions for this model, and dozens of others, are available at Build Better Bricks. Currently there's 20% off everything in store when you use the coupon BRICKSET at checkout.
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14 comments on this article
Good review, clearly illustrating your thoughts at every stage. I haven't taken the plunge into buying from Bricklink myself yet, might well do after this!
I recently built the ucs milano, baby groot and the iron giant with instructions from these guys and can not recommended them highly enough. The service is instant, the upload to bricklink for the parts is broken down into small steps of you've never used it before. The sets are stunning, ingenious techniques used and amazing display models every time. A brilliant review as well, hadn't thought about the bust series but may check it out now.
That was a usefully great review!
I've no particular interest in a bust of anyone\thing but they do have a wide selection of other neat models.
@CaptainSpong - BrickLink is incredibly useful & easy-to-use, and populated by helpful sellers. Do be warned about it though: it's addictive...!
Great review. You covered everything very well. I am also a window shopper of lego. I have saved so much money by window shopping or waiting for it to go on sale. I recently picked the Elsa, Anna, and Olaf Brickheadz for $9 total in a after Christmas clearance rack.
Do they send you the bricklink parts list so that all you have to do is order the parts?
^ it's a cvs file I think. You upload it from the bricklink wanted section and it populates your wanted list with the pieces. They email you step by step instructions to do this.
Looking at this bust in particular, I think I may have all of the pieces already in my collection. I wish you could access the parts list for the model before purchasing the instructions.
Hey, Deadpool has pistols!
And now pistol has Deadpool!
I don't know... call me old fashioned, but I just can't bring myself to pay for MoC instructions. I would have happily shared instructions to my MoC's and would have been thrilled just to know someone cared enough about them to build them themselves. Oh well. Get off my lawn, I guess :)
About Bricklink: I can only recommend it very highly. I have been using it for a while now, especially when sourcing parts for the project Venator Star Destroyer by Anio.
Bricklink is easy to use, and even when something goes wrong (missing parts, wrong parts), my experience has been that sellers always try to make things right. Not one problem up to now that didn't get resolved.
@DecR504 Search for 'Deadpool Bust' on rebrickable.com, scroll down to the 'inventory' tag and you will see a parts list.
Rebrickable has all the B3 sets.
If you have recorded your sets on the site then the site will also tell you which parts you already have and the ones you need. There is simple functionality allowing you to create a shopping list and then buy those pieces from Bricklink.
Rebrickable is also directly connected to Brickset so if your sets are recorded here then you can automatically transfer it to Rebrickable. No double entry!!
Oh, wow! Thank you so much, guys! :D
Thanks for comments guys. I was really nervous about doing this but thought it might help others make a decision. I took a million more pictures, WAY more than necessary, so if you have any questions or want to see it from a different angle let me know.
Thanks!
Pistol