Holiday gift guide: $25-$50
Posted by Huw,
It's the second week of our holiday gift guide and in it we'll be publishing your recommendations for sets in the $25-$50 price range.
To kick things off The_Fiery_Rooster selects an outstanding Creator set, then MudkipDoom dives into the City theme:
Honestly, a surprising stand out set for me this year has been 31107 Space Rover Explorer, mostly because I feel like amidst the various comic, movie, and story-driven sets, the creator line can be easily forgotten, and that’s usually the case for me.
Having given the set a chance, I’m so glad I got it, because the rover itself is packed full of details, and has everything any spaceman could need. The crane, the small robot, and even the minifig design all make this set feel like a blast from the past, all that’s left to fix is the colour scheme!
It’s just so nice to finally have some kind of classic space set, especially one that emphasises exploration over conflict. Between the various Mechs, fortresses, and weaponized vehicles, this was a breath of fresh air. At $40 dollars, I would recommend this to anyone who misses the good old days of LEGO space, or someone who is feeling burnt out from the usual action theme affair and wants something different. I also feel that this makes an especially good toy for younger kids interested in space and sci-fi, I know I would have loved it back then!
Submarines have been a staple of lego for decades now, and 60264 Ocean Exploration Submarine is my favourite of these. Firstly the new anglerfish piece included with this is utterly fantastic, it’s dual moulded in lime green and glow in the dark plastic, which makes it look fantastically authentic in low light with an eerie, bioluminescent, green glow.
In addition, this set includes four fantastic minifigures that interact superbly with the surrounding builds Furthermore, the submarine is fantastic. With articulated arms with claws that are surprisingly effective at grabbing lego pieces, articulated thrusters, reasonable interior space that can comfortably hold both unsuited minifigures and a detachable remote controlled submarine it offers fantastic play value for a lego set of its size.
However, the simplified builds this year in the city line mean this is a set best suited for younger children, ones who can also appreciate the fantastic play value of this set more so than the complexity of the build. In addition, the US price is more than I’d pay for this set, but for a younger acquaintance or relative interested in submarines or marine biology, I cannot recommend this set enough.
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I bought three sets of 31107, just so I can have all three models on display. It's a great set.
My picks for $25 - $50...
"75551": Brick-built Minions and their Lair is a fun build with full large, very large figures with a complete playset/lair interior chock full of details and accessories. Even if you're not a Minion fan, this is alot of fun to build and the interior details for both Stuart and Kevin are stellar. You can make Bob if you take apart some of the other large figures. The only drawback is you'd have to get another kit to make all three at once - Stuart, Kevin and Bob.
"31105": Townhouse Toy Store is a very cute corner Toy shop with a coin-op Rocket Ship outside and nice interior with tiny toy builds and a small cute apartment atop with balcony. You can make two other shops, a nice florist shop and bake shop/cafe (which has a small dedicated Lego building hobby area). All three models look great. You don't lose too much with the B and C models. They'd all be good additions to your city set ups.
"76167" : Iron Man Armory is a great small super-hero set that's an excellent add-on to the Hall of Armor larger set that came out OR as a stand alone set if you don't have the aforementioned Hall.
I think it's great on its own. You get 2 Iron-Man suits, Stark, 2 AIM agents, a 4 bay armor vault with a 3-D printer off to the side with a cute little/nano Iron-Man, crate and more accessories and a very cool small hot-rod car build. All good stuff. Add on or stand alone, I highly recommend to the Iron-Man/superhero fan.
31107 is an absolute stand-out and I can't believe it hasn't gotten more buzz from the community! I feel it was overshadowed by the 31109 pirate ship that came out at the same time, and that's unfortunate as I would love a resurgence of more "neo Space" sets like it in the future.
31107 seems like an excellent set, but if the US SRP is USD 39.99, why should I pay EUR 59.99 (USD 71.21) in Estonia? 60264 on the other hand is priced properly at USD 39.99 vs EUR 34.99... Is the steep Creator mark-up some new strategy LEGO has implemeneted?
@Leibowitz92 said:
"31107 is an absolute stand-out and I can't believe it hasn't gotten more buzz from the community!"
Agreed, and it made my top three picks of sets available at Walmart this quarter (alongside the SC Dodge start line and Brick-built Minions)
31107 is really nice rover and I'll probably enjoy putting together the other two builds, even if I end up demolishing them. It seems a bit overpriced for the size of the builds, but the price per piece is reasonable (8.8p). I'll probably wait until it goes down to around 6p.
The underwater exploration subtheme was a bit disappointing compared to the space subtheme from last year. It had a lot of cool stuff but I was able to get most of it separately from the sets. The new animals like the ray, the angler and the great white are very cool. The minifigs are fine but a little bland. My favourite is the ship 60266, followed by the base 60265, then the sub 60264.
I have two of 31107 Space Rover Explorer. I've only built the rover so far. Still want to build the ship. But for what I've done so far it's a great set. Love the alien and robot.
31107 is pretty cool, it's like "Moon" / "Martian" movies.
Wow, I never saw 31107 before. Had it been in blue and trans yellow I of course would have bought 3 copies to have all the builds. Even if it was just blue instead of the white I probably would buy a copy. As it is, I’m afraid it will just clash with the rest of my collection as it is neither Classic Space nor Star Wars.
I know that kids don’t understand the importance of blue and trans-yellow, my kids simply think that Benny is a funny astronaut. But there is no reason why they wouldn’t enjoy a blue space rover as much as a white one.
Hi Huw,
thanks for your recommendation, 31107 Space Rover Explorer looks really nice! I think I'll get it :)
PS: Could you please also tag the previous shopping guides with "HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE"? I was looking for them as well, for those sets are still available and maybe there is something i might have missed so far...
Best, Ron
The alternative builds for 31107 are worth a look, especially the base station. Also easy enough to build an alternative larger spaceship with a cargo area for launching satellites, but then 60277 may be an alternative if space rather than planet surface is your interest for roughly the same price.
@ambr said:
"The alternative builds for 31107 are worth a look, especially the base station. Also easy enough to build an alternative larger spaceship with a cargo area for launching satellites, but then 60277 may be an alternative if space rather than planet surface is your interest for roughly the same price. "
Thank you. I rather like sets similar to the good old Space sets, no matter if it's surface or space. e.g. 7066 : Earth Defense HQ is a fantastic "old school" set. :)
@holdre007 said:
"31107 seems like an excellent set, but if the US SRP is USD 39.99, why should I pay EUR 59.99 (USD 71.21) in Estonia? 60264 on the other hand is priced properly at USD 39.99 vs EUR 34.99... Is the steep Creator mark-up some new strategy LEGO has implemeneted?"
creator pricing this year is completely off the normal ... look at the caravan 31108 that is completely over-priced. Then we get the pirate ship 31109 that feels quite cheap compared to the others ...
I do really like the 60264 submarine set, but the loose studs on the divers' backpack lights is really puzzling. The whole point of LEGO is the precision of course, but these studs fall out every time the boy moves the figures and, as they're transparent, they're not always easy to find...!
"amidst the various comic, movie, and story-driven sets, the creator line can be easily forgotten"
I'm quite the opposite. Creator's one of the few things keeping me into Lego as I prefer original IPs and sets over Licensed stuff. Really happy Space (and Pirates as well this year!) have made a small presence in the Creator line. Maybe we can get something Castle-related next?
Hope to get the Rover sometime. It looks fantastic!