LEGO® Minecraft: The Cave!

The following is a true toy story. I saw The Cave set on the LEGO® isle in the store for weeks, months, and years! OK, not years. They had probably 10 of these at any time. And then... I wanted it.

And of course, every store and online were SOLD OUT in the fall of 2015. This was likely due to the set being relatively inexpensive at $19.99, so more of these were being snatched up as gifts. As you know, when you can't find something you really, really, really want... you get a fanatical obsession with it.

So when it was finally back in stock (and may I add, $16.99 on a certain giant online seller. They can pay me for the link, you know who I'm talkin' bout), I asked my super cool 1x5 to order it for me.

"Gotta get me some coal for them torches!"

This being a small set, it didn't take long to put together, maybe about 45 minutes. It's 249 pieces and as I said, is currently US $19. Now let me say two things about this Minecraft set:

1: I LOVE the design, what is included, and the value of this set. It really looks great with the lava flow, water, ladder leading up to an upper level, and of course the brick-built spider!

2: I HATE how fragile this set is. All of the ore pieces are stacked up 3-4 high with those jumper pieces (the single, flat studded ones). This is OK to use for some builds, but what it does here is create chaos it you attempt to even move this set. I'm not even joking when I say I picked this set up to move it one day and half of it fell apart.

"Rrrrrrrrrggggh"

The Verdict: This is a great little set. It's inexpensive and easy to find, and would be great on its own or combined with the other Minecraft sets. 

It's my absolute favorite to look at and display... just don't try to play with it... or move it... or breathe too close to it.

LEGO® Minecraft - The Desert Outpost

Alex and the wolf guard the outpost while Steve goes fishing. Typical Steve.

The Desert Outpost was not a set that I was initially interested in. It just didn't seem to have many structures to build (or rebuild) and I wasn't crazy about the desert elements in the game either. But, one day that changed and as I looked at the cool box art (below) I started thinking that this might be a fun set to have. I even built a similar house and tower in Minecraft!

The bedroom area swings open to reveal
a bed... and nothing else.

The set was actually an enjoyable build (except for the "cobblestone" wall, which has... I don't know, 900 million 1x1 jumper pieces). There is the tower section that has the TNT launcher, the walls going around the compound, and then an odd sleeping area at the back.

I say that it's odd because:
1: It's a very small, small space. The bed fits exactly wall to wall.
2: Instead of glass windows (there's sand everywhere!), they opted for the fence style windows, and then strangely, the cobblestone wall in the window space.
3: Finally, Instead of a door there is a gate. Who builds a house with a gate entrance?

The TNT falls.. and boom! You
hopefully only blow up the sand
and not your fort.

Actually, I kind of understand the reasoning for the gate. It needs to be easy for the person playing with the set to access this area, and another door would just be in the way. But that doesn't mean I have to like it!

On the tower, there is one of the main action features, a TNT launcher, which is powered by a Redstone torch. You launch the TNT by pushing a rod of the back where the TNT falls to the sand below blowing up the skeletons.

The back/side view of the set. There are hinged pieces that will expand
the set out to have a larger play area.

Overall, this is a nice set, although a little high at US $59.99. You get 519 pieces, and the bulk of

Sweet and loving one minute, horrifically
scary when they stare down a sheep.

these are just common 4x and 6x bricks in gray, brown and tan colors. Not too bad if you want those pieces, but if you're looking to get specialty pieces this is not the set for that.

You get three minifigs and one brick-built wolf/dog (which as of 2015 is the only set that includes that mob). This is the first set to include the female character Alex also! She also appears in the Nether Fortress set, with more armor.

Verdict: Fun to build, cool to play with, a little pricey. I think $49 would be fair for this set, considering that the Crafting Box is $49, and has 518 pieces. Oh, one last thing: the official instructions give the iron armor to one of the skeletons, but I gave mine to Steve.  More photos below.