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I like Super Hero sets. I think there's a lot of people who do. Well, ok not so much the sets. A lot of people like the minifigures. DC and Marvel Super Heroes sets by LEGO tend to be heavy on lame playsets or jets or bank trucks. There's also a lot of motorcycles. If it's a Batman set, there's almost never anything new. In76053 we get not one, but 2 Motorcycles. I kind of shake my head and try to figure out if it's worth doing a review. Well, let's just see, shall we? REVIEW: SET DETAILS Set #: 76053 Name: Batman: Gotham City Cycle Chase Theme: DC Super Heroes Parts: 224 Price: $19.99 Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At 19.99 the price per piece works out to almost $.09 each. This is on the low side of pricing for a licensed set. There are 3 minifigures. The minifigures are New 52 Harley Quinn, New 52 Batman, and Deadshot. I am not 100% sure, but I think this version of Batman has been seen before. Harley and Deadshot are both new. BOX CONTENTS Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 2 numbered baggies, a sticker sheet, a comic book, and an instruction book. (I got 2 sticker sheets. I don't know if this is standard or just my good luck.) THE BUILD AND EXECUTION BAG 1: I've not reviewed and Super Hero sets before. I have built them though. I'm not going to let my preconceptions color my writing. I will approach this set with eyes unclouded. So,with that said, I have a weird question. Why on Earth did the designers put a pink brick inside of this build? It disappears completely in very short order, but there it is. It's a color that no one associates with Batman or Harley Quinn. Obviously with the red and blue color scheme, this bike belongs to Harley, I like the alternating Red and blue. It reminds you of her motley. Apparently, Super Hero motorcycles need massively oversized tires. I like the exhaust pipes that you build in here too. Nice use of those pearl gold pieces. It's good to see that Harley's custom bike has headlights. Something I noticed here, The front wheel and the rear wheel are different colors. The tires are different sizes, so the wheels themselves are different sizes. Is this why they are different, or is it a design choice because Harley utilizes multiple colors? I choose to believe that it's due to Harley's color choices. Ok, so the motorcycle is a little boring. It really needs something to make it say Harley Quinn How about a giant Mallet? Harley Quinn is frequently seen with a comically oversized mallet. This mallet can be mounted on the motorcycle either the way I picture it below, so that it can hang out to the side to swat people as she drives by, or on the pin right behind that so that it can swing forward to bonk people that she drives up to. Actually, that's terrible. She just sideswipes people with her mallet. Plus, she can take it off her bike and carry it with her. BAG 2: We just made Harley's bike, so it must be time to build Batman's Batcycle. First though, we have to build up Deadshot's stuff. Hey, look, a jetpack! Does Batman have a jetpack? Now, we make Deadshot's Rocket Launcher. Uhm, at least the stud shooter is almost disguised. According to the LEGO Movie, Batman only builds stuff in black and really really dark grey. Apparently with a nice pink base. I've made Batcycles before. this one is a little weird. Apparently Batman doesn't like to sit? I guess he wants to feel like he is flying just like Superman. I like the hint of a monster engine hiding under the black. No idea what that's supposed to be. Portable spot light? Rocket booster? Bat crock pot? Batman's got massive tires. You know what they say about big tires, right? Yup, you need big wheels. Both of Batman's wheels are black. I'm really curious how Batman in a prone position can see over that gigantic tire. Rear wheel matches front wheel. You hear that Harley Quinn? Batman's got tail lights. Some of the tail lights are also stud shooters mounted on a swivel. There are also clips on the stud shooter piece that allow you to put Batman's accessories away as he drives. REACTION I liked this set. I didn't love it. The 2 motorcycles make more sense than a drag racer or a submarine or a mech suit. Both of these vehicles come off nicely and don't look totally goofy. The minifigures are spectacular, and they had better be. No one buys these sets for the sets. Harley Quinn is a perfectly deranged looking clown in a bodice. She's got printed legs. I wish that her hair and legs had been molded in 2 colors. She also has a 2 sided head. Deadshot has printed arms. He's got a ton of parts to make up his accessories. Batman is Batman. Nothing new,kind of bored of getting Batmen. FINAL THOUGHTS: Collectors are probably as tired of getting the same Batman constantly as I am. The motorcycles are nothing spectacular. They're highly unlikely to draw attention to this set. With SUper Heroes sets, you're drawn to the minifigures. Here, we have 2 unique minifigures. Harley and Deadshot are important characters to the Suicide Squad. Later this year LEGO is releasing a set with Killer Croc and Boomerang and another one with Katana. That's a pretty significant way to having the movie characters. If that movie gets a significant amount of attention and spawns a sequel, these sets will be must haves. The biggest problem that I have with the future value of this set is that it is Minifigure driven. If knockoffs flood the market with these unique figures, it will be an anchor that drags this set down. If LEGO reissues Harley or Deadshot in this version, it's pretty much dead. Best case scenario is if this set goes the route of Ant-Man. We'd see people scrambling to catch up. Don't bank on unexpected 6 month retirements though. Go get it on Amazon! EXTRA PARTS:

I am not a little girl. I know that may come as a surprise to some. I have never built a LEGO Friends, Elves or Princess set, but I have helped my daughter build a couple. With that in mind, I asked my little girl to help me with this set. I thought it might be valuable to get the insight of the target market for the Water Dragon Adventure set. She was excited to help me, and her younger sister tried to "help" as well. So, in this review, we're going to take a look at the stuff that interested a 6 year old girl about this set designed for 7 year old girls. Is LEGO doing a good job reaching their target audience? REVIEW: SET DETAILS Set #: 41172 Name: The Water Dragon Adventure Theme: Elves Parts: 212 Price: $19.99 Before we get to the build, let’s talk value. At 19.99 the price per piece works out to a bit over $.09 each. There is 1 minifigure. (Probably because the main part of the build is a dragon) The minifigure is some elf that I don't know the name of. It's times like this where I try to decide if the ppp is a good metric. 2 (or 3) wings and a dragon head probably throw off the part count as far as the number crunchers at LEGO are concerned. BOX CONTENTS Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 2 numbered baggies, wings, a head in a bag, stickers and an instruction book. I do not know if 3 wings are standard or if I just lucked out. BUILD AND EXECUTION Bag 1: I asked my daughter to do the building so that I could see what kind of trouble she ran into. The main body is a blocky shape with several angles jutting off of it to give the impression of roundness. The towball is where your tail will mount to. The first sticker is applied on the dragon's rear. Each tail segment has a smaller sticker. My 6 year old had some difficulty getting the ball and socket joints to snap together. Is this just my daughter or is it too much friction for your standard little girl? I was curious about the bow/flipper combo on the top of this dragon's head. My older daughter didn't really care, but the 3 year old was very upset when the bow was not on the head. To me, the legs seem stiff and in need of one more joint, but the 6 year old liked the shape and was happy when she saw what looked like legs to her. 2 more legs. 2 more feet, I stepped in to finish those as it was getting close to bed time. With the wings, this dragon doesn't look bad. it's a little simplistic and cutesy, but both of my girls were very happy with it. This one spits water? BAG 2: Time to make the part padding other stuff from this set. First you make 3 round things. I don't know what they represent, but you make them and then move on to building a crystal island. I will say this for the part selection here. There are a lot of translucent pieces. My daughters both love the translucent pieces. They try to steal them from every set I get. This set had a lot and that made them happy. I really have no idea why there is a catapult here. My kids think it is used to feed the dragon. are the elf and dragon enemies? is there someone else flinging plants at them for some reason? who knows. There's an obligatory brush and a crystal heart. Is that a cookie in the clam shell? I don't understand this island thing. I really don't understand why there's a set of golden binoculars hidden here. The elf has a map, is this the treasure she was seeking? REACTION: For me, the dragon was cute. The price wasn't bad. I'm not upset at the cost of this set, and the time we spent building it wasn't terribly long. I guess that just goes to show that it's a simplistic build. The island perplexes me. I can see similar set dressing in Star Wars and Super Hero sets. They are there to add value to a smaller simpler build. I wish they had put the parts and time into making the dragon more complex. My daughter completely loved it. From the dragon, to the minidoll, to the island made out of "shiny" pieces, it spoke her language. In her case, at least, LEGO hit the right notes and she wanted to sleep with it. (She didn't.) The minidoll has some nice print on the torso and the face. The back is completely plain. I can understand why long term LEGO fans don't want to have these mixed in with their minifigure collections. They are just awkward standing beside a regular minifig. I don't think that there's anything inherently wrong with these figures. If LEGO decides to make a few Super Hero or Star Wars characters in this style, I just might get them and place them on a separate shelf. FINAL THOUGHTS: It seems like the Elves line isn't the most popular expansion of the LEGO brand. The dragons in this series seem to be an attempt to bring vitality to the brand. To my eye, they are more striking than whatever else they've been doing in the Elves line (except maybe that Pegasus sleigh.) If anything is going to turn this theme around, it's stuff like this. I think that at some point, collectors of dragons will circle back around to these sets. They're never going to be yuuuuge money makers, but I feel like there is some money to be made. Don't rush into these, but I'd pick them up on clearance. Grab it on Amazon! EXTRA PIECES: Was I supposed to get a third wing? I have no idea. It seems like way too big a piece to be a standard extra.

Welcome to first monthly entry of the Top 10 Selling sets as listed by LEGO S@H. As you may remember, this blog started as a weekly posting, but we figured it would be better to compile the data throughout the month and publish it all in one time. This reduces the probability of having less than 10 sets every other week. How does this Blog work? While the LEGO Shop at Home best sellers list is updated daily, we will be updating it every month (Hopefully by the end of the 1st week of the next month). The list includes only sets. Minifigures, keychains, Pick a Brick and other products are excluded. I am keeping an Excel spreadsheet with each set that appears on the list, its daily placing and a tally to determine the positions at the end of the month. For now, this is a US based best sellers list. Pretty simple! Top 10 Best Selling Sets (LEGO S@H) #1: 40201 Valentines Cupid Dog - Buy Now! This small "seasonal" set managed to crush the competition pretty easily during February, and it is really not hard to figure out why. The set itself was not expensive, and with Valentine's Day being one of the most important holidays of Q1 it is pretty understandable this managed to be in the top for most of the month. #2: 75102 Poe's X-Wing - Buy Now! Poe's X-Wing has been creating waves in the forums for a while now, with a portion of members thinking it will have an early retirement due to the release of the blue X-Wing, and another group thinking that the shortage is due to flippers gobbling up the inventory. There is no way to know which one is right with 100% certainty, but I would really be surprised if LEGO decides to retire this set this early into its life. If they do, however, it has the potential to offer amazing returns. #3: 10251 Brick Bank - Buy Now! The newest modular in the street has shown up consistently in the Top 10. Obviously, the fact that it is a new release has helped, as AFOLs eager to expand their modular town rushed to acquire it. Personally, I think this set is an outstanding addition to the line, and expect it to continue to show up in the list for at least a few more weeks. #4: 75827 Firehouse Headquarters - Buy Now! Ah, the Ghostbuster's HQ. Much like the Brick Bank, being a new release has definitely propped up this set over the past few weeks, but even then it is pretty amazing to me that it has hovered in the Top 5 for as long as it has given its particularly high price tag. The model itself looks GREAT in person, and the minifigures are sure to be hits with GB fans and collectors. A sure winner in my book whenever it happens to retire (which I acknowledge is several years away). #5: The Big Bang Theory - Buy Now! The Big Bang Theory. Some people have a lot of confidence in the set, while an (at least) just as big group think it will not do as good. The fact that LEGO had to discount this set relatively early into its life makes me think that it really is not as popular as they originally expected, and also the reason it has been in the Top 10 list for the last several days of February. #6: Heavy Haul Train - Buy Now! + Another beneficiary of the LEGO S@H round of discounts. Trains tend to do pretty well in the secondary market, but it seems that the last couple City themed trains have taken a little while to produce significant returns. #7: Sea Plane - Buy Now! This is one of those smaller sets that appear on this list from time to time that I honestly have no idea about. Unless people are ordering this in order to reach the free shipping threshold, I honestly have no clue about why these would be so popular. #8: New York City - Buy Now! The flagship set of the new Skylines sub-theme of the Architecture line. This is by far the most appealing of the ones that have been released so far, and the only one that I would honestly spend the amount of money LEGO is asking for them. The rest are Ok in my opinion, but they just seem to expensive for what you get. #9: Birthday Table Decoration - Buy Now! This is a pretty nice and small release. Unlike the Sea Plane, I can understand why sets like this one and most of the seasonally themed sets tend to do well in sales. They are relatively cheap and make for unique everyday kind of gifts. #10: Architecture Studio - Buy Now! Finally we get to Architecture Studio. You all probably remember the craziness that this set generated when this set was originally released. Quick flipping this set was very common and decently profitable, so inventories ran dry relatively fast and as far as I can remember we spent at least several weeks without seeing one in the wild or online. Eventually though, the set's popularity made LEGO bring it back for what seems as a more "traditional" production run, and it has since become less appealing to short term investors. Still, you can bet it will be very popular once it disappears completely from the shelves. Thanks for reading!