Review: 1-wide DOTS bracelets
Posted by Alice,
Flexible bracelets were among the first selection of sets released when the DOTS theme launched last year. For 2021, LEGO has introduced some thinner one-stud wide ones that come in packs of two.
For some reason the retail price of this season's bracelets has gone up £1/$1 to £5.99/$5.99 per pack, but Tesco is currently selling them for two for £8 which makes the price a bit more palatable.
I therefore purchased 41909 Mermaid Vibes Bracelets and 41910 Ice Cream Besties Bracelets while doing my essential shopping.
The bracelets come attached to a cardboard support in a plastic pack which also contains a small bag of around 30 1x1 elements.
The major difference is of course that they are half the width of last year's, but they are still 14 studs long with 5 holes to adjust the size, so if last year's were too small for you, these will be too.
41910 Ice Cream Besties Bracelets contains six square tiles printed with faces and eight 1/2 circle tiles decorated with sprinkles, all of which only appear in this set.
There's also five transparent pink glitter tiles but only three transparent yellow tiles which restricts your pattern choices. There are odd numbers of each because one is of course a spare
41909 Mermaid Vibes Bracelets has transparent blue 1/2 circle tiles adorned with a seashell and 1/4 circle tiles with a pretty mermaid scale pattern which again only appear in this set.
It also contains blue opalescent round tiles and silver drum-lacquered 1/4 circle tiles.
The packaging didn't come with any pattern inspiration this time, other than that on the front of the packet.
You can come up with a pattern for each, or coordinate the two, so they match when you wear them together.
Here's how they look on an adult wrist. There's plenty of room for adjustment: you can wear it tight-fitting or loose like a bangle.
You can wear the two together and as mentioned above have a coordinating pattern on each.
I personally think they look more attractive, and perhaps more adult, on their own as a single bracelet.
Overall
The full retail price of £5.99/$5.99 for 34 pieces makes the price per piece a whopping 17.6p. That is very expensive compared to other DOTS sets, but I suppose you are getting customisable bracelets and unique printed pieces.
Having said that, I guess the price is still in the pocket-money range, and on a par with similar costume jewellery for girls that you see in the likes of Claire's Accessories.
I think the single studded bracelets are better for AFOLs but they're not very good value for parts unless you really need to have those mermaid tiles!
Tiggy wasn't as cooperative as she was in her last photo-shoot: she looks a bit put out and distracted, probably by birds in the garden through the window!
Now you know why there are always cat hairs in my dad's photos :-)
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37 comments on this article
Personally I like seeing them worn together! I won't be getting any of the 1-wide ones though as I have plenty of 2-wide ones to adorn my wrists. Got two on each wrist. The base colors of some of these bracelets are really attractive, though.
Silver
I wish LEGO would make bracelets for bigger wrists.
We need SHORTER ones so we could use them to fit longer ones on bigger arms ;D
I really like Mermaid one!
Tiggy is beautiful.
I love the cat!
I'm only interested if the cat is included with purchase.
£5.99 seems cheap for a cat, does it come with insurance too?
If LEGO officially used Tiggy as the advertising mascot for DOTS, sales would be up considerably
Quite an accurate looking cat MOC. Bravo!
I see I may have to do some essential shopping of my own and recruit my DOTS dog models for more of these bracelets....
Fantastic photo of the cat. I love it.
Thanks for the review! I really enjoy these bracelets, got the mermaid one a few weeks ago. Interesting prints and love the silver tiles. I also agree that a single one feels more 'adult'; I like to wear the single purple one as a 'subtle nod' to my biggest hobby.
These work very well as necklaces for My Little Pony horses. Not sure how relevant that is for this crowd, but if anyone has kids who are into those it's worth exploring. =)
My favourite thing about Brickset DOTS reviews is seeing the bracelets on more-or-less cooperative pets.
LEGO severely needs a DOTS Cat collar set. I would buy that for my cat without thinking ONCE.
I would love to include my dog in the Brickset review menagerie but he is a Samoyed and I imagine the bracelet / collar would immediately disappear into his hair!
^ Not to mention you'd need about 6 bracelets to go round his neck!
Do they work well with goats? Either LEGO goats on bracelet, or bracelet on real goats. Need photos.
Not sure how worthwhile this is to mention, but due to the positioning of the holes in these bracelets vs. the older 2x ones, they can actually accommodate a slightly larger wrist. It’s only a few millimeters, but there you have it.
Black, silver, or white - I'll buy one in those colors. Someday an idea for a MOC will come to me to use them. I just know it. Lol
The price increase seems to be a business strategy for these kinds of products... Remember when a Collectible Minifig was only $2? Start releasing cheap and then raise the price once everyone has some. It's sneaky and underhanded, especially when dealing with blind-packed products, but unfortunately I guess it works.
@MegaLucario said:
"The price increase seems to be a business strategy for these kinds of products... Remember when a Collectible Minifig was only $2? Start releasing cheap and then raise the price once everyone has some. It's sneaky and underhanded, especially when dealing with blind-packed products, but unfortunately I guess it works."
It's exactly like heroin in that way.
Who needs personal accountability when it's so easy just to blame someone else for our own lack of responsibility.
@MegaLucario said:
"The price increase seems to be a business strategy for these kinds of products... Remember when a Collectible Minifig was only $2? Start releasing cheap and then raise the price once everyone has some. It's sneaky and underhanded, especially when dealing with blind-packed products, but unfortunately I guess it works."
Wow, I didn't even notice the price increase in other regions. These 1-wide 2-packs are the same price as the 2-wide ones here.
@kolaxanthe said:
"Do they work well with goats? Either LEGO goats on bracelet, or bracelet on real goats. Need photos."
@Huw isn't the author of this article ;)
I can't help but imagine a cat trying to get the bracelet off and swallowing the pieces.
We got these as soon as they came out for a MOC I'm working on. I honestly suspected the original bracelets might have been underpriced give. The quality -- they need to flex AND still have clutch power (tm). I'd like to see more parts like this because it opens up whole new possibilities in building design
@CapnRex101 I would like to see the woofer.
Lol, I remember Tiggy from the previous review. My old reviews on here were cringeworthy and unnecessary at best but my writing skills have since improved and if I ever do a new review I’m gonna have to find some way to incorporate my cat into the images.
I’m clearly not the target demographic for DOTS so I have little comment but the bracelets remind me of Clikits so I guess that’s a win.
@CCC said:
"When are we going to get a review from Tiggy's point of view?"
it will be short and straight to point:
Tiggy:
- MIAOOOOOOWWW! MEOW. MRRRRR. MEW! MIAOUUUURRR...
@GHED said:
" @CCC said:
"When are we going to get a review from Tiggy's point of view?"
it will be short and straight to point:
Tiggy:
- MIAOOOOOOWWW! MEOW. MRRRRR. MEW! MIAOUUUURRR..."
That’s a controversial opinion Tiggy...
Let's be real here. Putting Lego bracelets on cats is just cruel. In fact any form of collars on cats is cruel too.
@Senyoln:
I raised that very possibility the first time Tiggy was voluntold to model one of these bracelets. And it looks like we've moved on to the “pretending you can’t see what I’m wearing” phase.
@ARandomLegoFan:
I don’t know what life is like in Tiggy’s neck of the woods, but in most of the US a collar is a basic requirement of owning a dog or cat. Both typically need to be licensed in your local municipality, which means they have to be able to wear the little bit of metal that proves they’re licensed.
In the case of my first cat, the collar also involved a jingly bell to warn unsuspecting wildlife that she was in the area. She still managed to bag a slew of mice and moles, two baby bunnies, a few robins, a cardinal (my mom never forgave that one), a headless snake, and a hummingbird, all with some form of bell suspended on a collar around her neck.
Now, Pepper was not down with collars, and it took some trial and error to get the collar fit to where she couldn’t pull it over her own head. It was leather with a metal buckle, so fairly sturdy. These DOTS bracelets wouldn’t last ten seconds on her neck, if she were still around. She’d be 30 years old, but I could still see her breaking these 1-wide bracelets if that’s what it took.
Don't worry, she only had it on for 5 minutes for the photo-shoot!
@Huw:
You know, that’s like 35 minutes to a cat.
Seriously, the best thing about this is the cat.
I liked this arcticle just for Tiggy. I think most of readers did that too.