Easter 40121 Review

Today I want to mix things up a bit with a review on here instead of just sales. In part, its because I think this set is a really great deal. Some awesome and currently rare parts, 153 parts total, and 2 figs for $10 make it very worthwhile.

Set is available on LEGO S@H and Amazon:
LEGO Shop @ Home - 40121 Painting Easter Eggs
Amazon - 40121 Painting Easter Eggs

First the box, these holiday sets are theme-less but honestly it would fit well into Creator.
 

The back shows the vignette's scenario in detail with the kid dropping the egg because he's busy thinking of chickens... The one picture is a bit odd to me, it shows the egg falling AND one already broken on the floor.
 

A chicken for scale, cute.
 

Three bags, two loose plates, and the instructions were well preserved and not excessively bent. No numbers on the bags for the small build.
 

The instructions have a plain baby blue backgrounds that provides great contrast compared to some of the overly busy backgrounds these days.


Some of the great parts in this set. 7 dark red masonry bricks are the big standout. These currently sell for upwards of $0.75 so half the price of this set can be represented just in these bricks. The round plate with jumper is a fairly recent and very useful piece. The orange 1x1 round tile may not seem too special but it has only appeared in 6 sets previously. Of course the chicken, classic space themed torso, and painting supplies are all great pieces as well.


The first stage of the build is the chicken in the wild with its egg. Simple but a nice way to get the chicken into the set.


Here is the base with tiled floor and beginnings of the back wall, the alternating tiles and plates provides a nice flexible base for positioning the figures.
 

Note the cookies in the oven, I also like the simplicity of the "fume hood" represented by a 1x2 cheese slope.
 

The completed back wall, of course it must have a coffee maker. Simple but very evocative of a kitchen scene.
 



The completed vignette! The brown flowers make good egg holds but I kinda wish they'd used the normal 1x1 round with hole as those are more versatile than the flower shape.




The leftovers, the brush is the main standout.


Thanks for reading! Here are quick links for S@H and Amazon. Amazon tends to have a higher price but depending if you have prime it might be about the same with shipping.

LEGO Shop @ Home - 40121 Painting Easter Eggs
Amazon - 40121 Painting Easter Eggs

Shopko Buy 1 get 1 40% Off

Shopko, a midwestern department store chain, has a buy one get one 40% for all LEGO sets. It is available online and in store. They don't have the full LEGO line but do have several 2015 sets including some City, Star Wars, Marvel, Elves, and Friends sets that haven't yet seen much if any discounting yet.

http://www.shopko.com/catalog/brand.jsp?brand=Lego&brandId=7#

Target Clearance Update

I checked in on the LEGO clearance at my local target, and noticed that quite a few of the Ultra Agents sets were gone. The Toxikita set and the small ATV set still had decent stock. I noticed another set that was there in large quantities:

	Target (In Store)	Amazon
76013 - DC Superheroes Batman: The Joker Steam Roller - 486 Pieces	34.98	$44.88

Target Clearance on Ultra Agents, Benny's SSS, More

On a quick visit to Target today I found several sets newly clearanced, mostly at 30% but some higher. All Ultra Agents except the largest set were marked down, as well as a couple The LEGO Movie sets including Benny's Spaceship x3. Personally I find the classic space styling of that set to be very cool. There were also a couple leftover TNMT sets marked down and the Battle for Ninjago City which has the best structure of the Ninjago line IMHO. I didn't do the normal red / green coloring here because there is no guarntee of finding these clearances locally, but its worth a look if you have a Target nearby. In only one case did Amazon actually beat the target clearance, Ultra Agents Hurricane Heist. In a couple other cases its pretty close however.

	Target (In Store)	Amazon
70816 - LEGO Movie Benny's Spaceship x3 - 940 Pieces	69.98	96.70
70815 - LEGO Movie Super Secret Police Dropship - 854 Pieces	55.98	69.90
70162 - Ultra Agents Infearno Interception - 313 Pieces	20.98	23.99
70163 - Ultra Agents Toxikita's Toxic Meltdown - 429 Pieces	27.98	30.30
70164 - Ultra Agents Hurricane Heist - 589 Pieces	59.48	44.48
70161 - Ultra Agents Tremor Track Infiltration - 241 Pieces	11.99	18.99
70728 - Battle for Ninjago City - 1223 Pieces	83.98	97.97

Click prices to go direct to item webpages

2015 City, Friends and Creator Amazon Deals

I've done a survey of 2015 City, Friends, and Creator (minifig buildings) prices on Amazon and these are the best deals as of 02-19-2015. I generally only highlight sets with more than 10% off, and sets over $10. As always click the prices for a direct link to the set on each store.

60069 - City Swamp Police Station - 707 Pieces

$10 is nice discount for as new a set as this. I know some people get tired of all the police stations, but I think the swamp setting makes this one a bit more interesting than most.

	Shop@Home	Amazon
Price	89.99	79.99
PPP	0.127	0.113

Click prices to go direct to item webpages

60068 - City Police Crook's Hideout - 473 Pieces

Again $10 is a good discount for such a new set. I like the crook's structures in general, I wish they'd be sold separately from the Police vehicles in official sets.

	Shop@Home	Amazon
Price	69.99	59.34
PPP	0.148	0.125

31036 - Creator Toy and Grocery Shop - 466 Pieces

$5 is not a huge discount, but as usual Creator sets have a good price per part to begin with.

	Shop@Home	Amazon
Price	39.99	35.10
PPP	0.085	0.075

41037 - Friends Stephanie's Beach House - 369 Pieces

Unfortunately none of the 2015 Friends sets have particularly strong discounts at this time. I get the impression that Friends sells very well and doesn't get quite as many price cuts as some other lines. Regardless I decided to highlight a couple older sets that I think are good deals. This beach house has some great details and at 25% off has a very good PPP of 7.9 cents a piece.

	Shop@Home	Amazon
Price	39.99	29.00
PPP	0.108	0.079

41015 - Friends Dolphin Cruiser - 612 Pieces

This Friends set is a particularly nice design in my opinion. I wish we'd see a large yacht in the city line. Though the PPP is nothing special, with the large hull pieces taken into account I rate this a good deal.

	Shop@Home	Amazon
Price	69.99	59.54
PPP	0.114	0.097

Exo Suit Retirement

21109 Ideas Exo Suit - 321 Pieces

Ok this set is not on sale, at all. But it has been announced that it will be discontinued at the end of the month. Full price is still a deal for what will soon be an expensive set on the aftermarket. Price is basically the same at S@H and Amazon. PPP is not great but the unique retro figures, lots of uncommon parts, and a very unusual build make it a must have. My only complaint is that the style of the booklet, while nice looking, is very hard to hold open without creasing it. I wish more sets came in a nice reusable box like these.

	Shop@Home	Amazon
Price	34.99	34.95
PPP	0.109	0.109

Click prices to go direct to item webpages

Welcome - Shop@Home Clearance Roundup

Welcome to Brick Deals - a round up of current LEGO sales. I'll focus on web based sales but plan to note local brick and mortar sales from time to time as well. For each set I'll compare prices and Price Per Part across multiple stores. To start things off here is a breakdown of the official LEGO Shop at Home sales and deals:

60013 City Coast Guard Helicopter - 230 Pieces

Amazon has a slight edge on this one, both are a decent discount. PPP is high due to the large heli pieces.

	Shop@Home	Amazon
Price	31.98	30.99
PPP	0.139	0.135

Click prices to go direct to item webpages

70811 The LEGO MOVIE The Flying Flusher - 351 Pieces

S@H has a great discount on this set. 5.1 cents a piece is really nice. Don't expect this price to last too long.

	Shop@Home	Amazon
Price	17.98	26.75
PPP	0.051	0.076

70805 The LEGO MOVIE Trash Chomper - 389 Pieces

S@H has a slight edge on this one, both are a decent deal and good PPP.

	Shop@Home	Amazon
Price	23.98	25.20
PPP	0.062	0.065

70505 - Ninjago Temple of Light - 595 Pieces

S@H has a slight edge on this one, though neither is that deep of a clearance.

	Shop@Home	Amazon
Price	58.98	56.50
PPP	0.094	0.095

70725 - Ninjago Nindroid MechDragon - 691 Pieces

Amazon's current price on this is a great deal, a very nice PPP of 5.8 cents

	Shop@Home	Amazon
Price	58.48	39.98
PPP	0.084	0.058

9450 - Ninjago Epic Dragon Battle - 915 Pieces

One of the largest Ninjago set out with quite a few interesting pieces. S@H's discount is not competitive with amazon at this time unless you want to pay a bit more and get the current free gift, a construction polybag.

	Shop@Home	Amazon
Price	95.58	92.95
PPP	0.104	0.102