Early fan impressions of this set were not particularly glowing, with 2015's City Square & 2013's Town Square rating significantly higher.  The set finally came out in August in the US and I gave it both long- and short-form video treatments to offer viewers some additional tools to decide for themselves whether this City flagship set is worth a purchase.Videos:LEGO City: Capital City super-set review! 60200 (27 mins)QUICK look: LEGO Capital City 60200! (6 mins)Original linkOriginal author: theJANG

These CMF series just keep getting larger, this one featuring 22 different characters from J.K. Rowling's infinitely successful Wizarding World book & movie franchise.  I've again offered up two ways to see each figure up close in my studio, with the traditional casual narrated style as well as the far more succinct "quick" look for folks less interested in the theme or with less free time on hand.Videos:LEGO Harry Potter & Fantastic Beasts minifigures review! Set of 22 (17 mins)QUICK look: LEGO Harry Potter & Fantastic Beasts minifig series! (5 mins)Original linkOriginal author: theJANG

I enjoyed the original American(ized) Voltron TV series in its original run in the 80s, cherished my one piece of related merch (a coloring/activity book), and longed for the toys.  A couple decades later, I finally got one of the toys.  After still another decade, the GoLion series got its first really worthy follow-on, the Netflix-exclusive reboot, and I found myself shopping for another collectible to display just before LEGO picked this set to produce through the Ideas system.  I couldn't have asked for better timing!Videos:LEGO Ideas Voltron full review! 21311 (17 mins)QUICK look: LEGO Ideas Voltron 21311! (3.5 mins)Original linkOriginal author: theJANG

For some reason, my brain only registered that there were two new Minecraft sets coming this season, but there were three.  Plus a BrickHeadz 2-in-1.  Okay, I was pretty far off.Videos:LEGO Minecraft The Skull Arena review! New figures! 21145LEGO Minecraft The Bedrock Adventures review! 21147LEGO Minecraft The Skeleton Attack review! 21146LEGO BrickHeadz Minecraft Steve & Creeper review! 41612Original linkOriginal author: theJANG

Earlier today (for me) LEGO revealed the 6,020-piece nanofig-compatible Hogwarts Castle display model to great applause.  I took this as an opportunity to try, for the first time, a pre-release, photo-based narrated walkthrough style of video on the new "Quick" channel:Video - Quick look: New LEGO Hogwarts Castle photo walkthrough!I'm happy with how it turned out for an initial effort, and hope to refine & better personalize the idea in the future while also dramatically improving my efficiency so I can put these out somewhat frequently without noticeably impeding content on the main channel.Oh, and the Hogwarts Castle itself.  Yeah.  It's pretty proper.  Check out the vid.Original linkOriginal author: theJANG

I don't know why, but when I started building this set I felt like I had really been missing LEGO Minecraft stuff.  The set itself isn't at all ground-breaking, but I think it successfully captures a piece of the gaming world with useful physical play considerations.Video: LEGO Minecraft The Skeleton Attack review! 21146Original linkOriginal author: theJANG

Voltron is yet another subject matter I was enamored with for a period of my childhood!  I watched as many episodes of the show as I could back then, but for merch I only got a coloring book, but I stared at the big combination 'bot toys at stores with wanting eyes.  As a young adult I sought out a used form of one of the better vintage toy sets and I have that on display to this day.  With the recent (and dramatically better) reboot of the animated universe on Netflix, I've found myself wanting a second display model to bolster my collection.  Well, thank you, LEGO, for making the shopping process rather easy.Videos: (17 mins) LEGO Ideas Voltron full review! 21311(3.5 mins) QUICK look: LEGO Ideas Voltron 21311!Original linkOriginal author: theJANG

Over the past few years I've really relaxed into a natural groove with my brick-based construction set review videos, speaking at a comfortable pace in what for me is a normal tone.  This has led to my videos getting longer on average, and a pretty continuous stream of viewers have explicitly expressed appreciation for this trend.  However, more than ever, we live in an on-demand, TL;DR world and a lot of people have no time or patience for long-form content.Thus is born a new channel.  I've put a lot of thought, research, and planning into this, and I am very committed to the undertaking, or at least the attempt.  I've uploaded a handful of new short-form videos to kick things off, and you can expect to see me backfill the channel with dramatically shortened forms of some of my older content in addition to covering many new products in parallel.This content...

At long last I got my hands on one of these at a reasonable price from overseas, weeks after its initial release, yet still some time before it graces retail shelves in the Western Hemisphere.  It does not stand up to the huge presence of the main Ninjago City before it, but I believe it packs an even greater density of detail, making it a very worthy standalone product.Videos:(25+ mins) LEGO Ninjago City Docks review! 70657(4 mins) QUICK look: LEGO Ninjago City Docks 70657Original linkOriginal author: theJANG

This deceptively complex vehicle was revealed & released rather suddenly (after some fairly empty teasers) this week and I was quick to buy it and get lost in the clever packaging of its spy gadgets.  Though nowhere near as bad as the Technic Porsche 911 GT3, this is definitely a model that requires building it hands-on to appreciate what it's made of.  As a static display model, it does not deliver good value.Videos:(16+ minutes) LEGO Creator James Bond Aston Martin DB5 review! 10262(Original linkOriginal author: theJANG