LEGO BrickHeadz 41612 Steve and Creeper from Minecraft [Review]
Having a Minecraft set in LEGO is the best form of flattery in some weird and wonderful way. Minecraft was meant to be the LEGO of the digital world, and here we are now reviewing a franchise character that LEGO inspired in the first place – making a jump back from the virtual world to a physical one. I am for one a fan of Minecraft, from its indie startup roots to its recent acquisition by Microsoft and the vast cult-like following it has all over the world, though I’ve never taken to the characters in the universe as much as the overall gameplay. The LEGO Minecraft BrickHeadz 41612 Steve and Creeper come numbered 58 and 59 respectively in the continuation of the series. The two-pack costs $19.99 for 160 pieces.
The packaging and parts
If you want to consider this as a parts investment, look away. This set, together with 41613 Mr Incredible and Frozone, has a pretty low part count of 160, one of the lowest, if not the lowest part count for an average figure in the BrickHeadz series. Steve comes in an assortment of colors while the Creeper is packed with green elements.
Steve is decorated with a printed mouthpiece and mosaic pattern tiles for his torso and the standard round eyes.
Besides the green decorative elements, the creeper has a couple of interesting prints. First, the eyes are square and not rounded, and the character includes mysterious 1×2 bricks printed with TNT.
The build
Building Steve is perhaps one of the most underwhelming build experiences, since the character is almost the perfect model of what a BrickHeadz template should be.
Granted, this is the Minecraft experience — it’s something that shouldn’t surprise anyone as it’s all about going back to basic building blocks.
Even with some affection for the character, I found it hard to appreciate the final look of Steve. I doubt there’s much room for improvement even if one would attempt it.
The Creeper does, however, break a little of the mundane build with unique construction techniques for its feet.
The design is meant to always have one foot tilted up, and trying to straighten it would only make it stick out oddly. BrickHeadz characters are meant as display pieces, and this is just another reminder of the design being implemented as such.
A nice surprise is found during the buildup of the Creeper as the placement of the TNT is revealed. I was a little confused as the two printed TNT elements were facing opposite ends, where one element would practically be never seen unless you were to take apart the figure.
The completed build has a hidden, transparent element behind the face-piece. This again has me confused because, as described earlier, BrickHeadz characters are meant to be display pieces, but this seems to come with a play feature. I do admit it’s a nice touch that took the boredom out of the build.
Summary
This set didn’t deliver for me personally, but it may still appeal to hardcore Minecraft fans. It’s tough to take a franchise like this and make it any more interesting than it already is. The effort to include a nice hidden feature within the Creeper is appreciated, but it still failed to hit the mark of the look of a creeper.
The least I would expect is to use more 1×1 tiles with various shades of green to closely replicate the look of a pixelated texturemap of a Creeper on the gaming screen, but I can’t guess why that could not have happened considering the set already has quite a low part count.
If Minecraft does not appeal to you, you may want to give this set a miss. I do suspect however, there will be core fans who would still love to have these on their desktops as decorative displays during a Minecraft gameplay session.
The LEGO Minecraft BrickHeadz 41612 Steve and Creeper two-pack includes 160 pieces and is available now. You can support reviews like this one by purchasing your copy of the set from the LEGO Shop (USD 19.99 | CDN 24.99 | GBP 17.99), eBay, or BrickLink.
Be sure to check out our other recent BrickHeadz reviews:
LEGO Disney BrickHeadz 41624 and 41625 Mickey and Minnie Mouse LEGO Harry Potter BrickHeadz: 41616 Hermione Granger / 41621 Ron Weasley and Albus Dumbledore LEGO Harry Potter BrickHeadz: 41615 Harry Potter & Hedwig LEGO Star Wars BrickHeadz: 41619 Darth Vader and 41620 Stormtrooper LEGO BrickHeadz 41622 Peter Venkman and Slimer from Ghostbusters
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