Prize Machine Potential: Mini MOCs for the Minifigure Vending Machine

Just a few days ago, I received the latest addition to the LEGO Ideas family, 21358 Minifigure Vending Machine. I was very excited to see the set, as probably many of you will be, and I’m happy to report that… it didn’t disappoint.

My first impression of the box was that the set is going to be a cool display piece, and of course, it brought a lot of nostalgic memories. It took me down to memory lane and I felt like a kid again!

The Build

The initial steps of the building experience are nothing special, but throughout going through numbered bags with the pieces, you get to enjoy the large number of minifigures included (more about those later).

Then you get to the mechanism thing. Every two pages, I was like “wait, what?” I’m not much of a Technic guy, and the whole time I was adding those axels, pins, and a few gears, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.

Then I got to the place where you need to squeeze down a rubber axle connector with a small panel piece. It took me a few seconds to understand what to do, but finally I was able to squeeze it and crossed my fingers that it would work as it should later.

And oh, how it works! You get to use a “coin,” put it in the machine, press it, turn the lever, and watch the magic happen! It feels nice and smooth, and in the middle of the turn, a prize ball comes rolling out of the machine. Then you also get your coin back, which means… free stuff! It’s a win-win at any turn. I liked the whole mechanism so much that I refilled the machine three times, putting in coins (you get two printed 2x2 round tiles included in the set) and taking out the prizes.

The Prizes

You get a whole bunch of them, a total of 16. There are eight pairs of two similar minifigures each (in some pairs, only the accessories are different):

2 x Designer minifigures—one is the fan designer who built the original IDEAS set, and the second one is the LEGO designer who developed the final product. These were a nice touch, as the first figure to reveal when building the set is the fan designer and the last one is a LEGO Ideas designer. Neat!

2 x Paradisa characters—a cool guy with a mustache and a gal with a camera.

2 x Fabuland characters—we got an elephant and a bear suit, both sporting blue torsos with the Fabuland logo on them.

2 x Pirates—well, at least one of them is a pirate… the other one might be an admiral or just a ship captain.

2 x Teal Spacemen—now these are the best! The Classic Space minifigure is… a classic, but now we have it in one of the most awesome colors.

2 x Pearl Gold Space man—again, a great color. I’m guessing a gold suit will be perfect for space, reflecting the photons and creating some sort of deflection field around them.

2 x Griffin Knights—a new Castle faction that looks fearsome, sporting heavy armor and menacing helmets.

2 x Kraken soldiers—another new faction. These are probably the coolest of the bunch for me (with the teal spacemen). They look a lot like Vikings or the Greyjoy soldiers from Game of Thrones.

Definitely, there is something for everybody in the selection of minifigures, but I’m guessing the Castle and Space figures will get most attention and will be on a lot of AFOL wish lists this year.

The Fun Part—MOCs and Stuff!

One part from the set got me really excited when I started building… the balls.

It almost looks like a Poké Ball on first glance (a preview of what is to come with LEGO Pokemon!? Only time will tell). This got me thinking… what can I do with that ball?

So here’s what I came up with for the teal spaceman, after some experimenting to connect some pieces to the outside of the ball. This is how the space pod was born.

The Space Pod

I had the idea to use the little build to decorate the vending machine. The top lid is perfect for this, and you can use the 2x2 round tile with s hole on the top or replace this with a 2x2 round jumper so it can be used for a stand. Then you can build and display small things depending on what you get from the machine as a prize… or how you feel that day.

Here is a background photo of how the pod was built. You can just squeeze minifig claws, an ice skate or medal in the horizontal holes on each of the half ball pieces. This makes things easier to connect. (It certainly isn’t a stable connection, but a fun one, nonetheless.)

Once I finished the first MOC, I wanted to make more mini builds. So here’s how that went…

The Pickup Truck Mod

For the Fabuland bear, which is probably the one and only Bernard Bear, I made a small version of his pickup truck, the one from set 329 Bernard Bear and Pickup Truck.

And yes, I used a Praetorian Guard torso for the front of the car—it’s from set 75225, but you can use any red torso, even the one that comes in the vending machine on the fan designer minifig. A torso without hands in any color can be a perfect substitute for car headlights at this scale.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the pickup truck if you want to build it:

Jet Ski

For some reason, I always thought that one of my first sets when I was little was a Paradisa one, probably being 6376 BreezeWay Cafe. As it turns out, it was just a Town set, but I always loved the vibe that Paradisa has. So for the mustache guy, I built a jet ski. It’s small, but he can ride the waves now! :)

I’m sure you can figure out the pieces from the photo, but here is a quick breakdown just in case:

The Kraken

And because the Krakens are such awesome minifigures, I built a Kraken mascot for them!. It uses the blue half-sphere element, and all the tentacles are attached on the inside.

Here’s how it connects:

Final Thoughts

To wrap things up, this set looks and feels like an awesome piece of nostalgia (I definitely bent time for a few hours playing with it) that can be both played with and displayed. On some level, it looks a bit like a blender, and I hope someone makes it into one someday! :D

But for a MOC builder like myself who builds small, the mechanism is still a mystery to me… but it works like a charm every time like magic. So I’ll keep putting coins in and taking out prize balls, I just need someone to keep filling it up!

P.S. The machine can be used for any kind of prizes, more minifigures or small builds. You can even hide an engagement ring and rig the first ball that comes out, then give a coin to your partner and ask them to try their luck! :)

P.P.S. The Paradisa guy with the hat is sporting a very bold bathing suit. Cheeky!

21358 Minifigure Vending Machine is available now for around US $180 | UK £150 | CA $220 | EU €170 | AU $250.

DISCLAIMER: This set was provided to BrickNerd by LEGO. Any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author.

What do you think of the vending machine with all those minifigures and sense of nostalgia?

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