This year’s LEGO® Black Friday giveaway was the Buildable Holiday Present set (40292). There was actually two opportunities to get it this year. The first was a week before Black Friday even rolled around. VIP card holders had early access to it along with a double VIP points event. Then, of course, it was given away again on Black Friday. I actually got a hold of it on both occasions. My wife did her Christmas shopping during the double VIP points weekend. I don’t know what I am getting for Christmas, but I do know that this freebie is coming along with it (as is the Harry Potter Diagon Alley microbuild set). I spent those VIP points (along with the ones I racked up in October) on the Black Friday sale, and got another of these freebies (along with the Ninjago Minifigure pack previously offered during Bricktober, click here to read about that). This is a nice, seasonal freebie that comes with plenty of reusable pieces.
SET SUMMARY
NAME: Buildable Holiday Present
SET #: 40292
THEME: Seasonal giveaway
COST: Free, but advertised with a value of $26.99 CAD
BRICK COUNT: 301
MINIFIGURES: 2
RELEASE DATE: November 17, 2018
SUMMARY REVIEW: 84%
VALUE: 100% (You can’t beat free bricks.)
BUILD: 80% (Exterior looks great, interior is pretty good too.)
MINIFIGURES: 77% (Generic characters, ok brick:fig ratio.)
ENTERTAINMENT: 80% (It’s free, so the build time is great, but I won’t keep it built.)
REVIEW
VALUE: 100%
This set was free with purchase, so I have no complaints about the cost. You had to spend $99 or more to get it, but the purchases would have been made anyway in my case. LEGO® is advertising this set as having a value of $26.99 in Canada. At that price, with 301 parts, you are looking at a cost of $0.09 per brick. That is a really good value, and would earn a score of 4.5/5 (90%). However, it was free, so I will just bump that up to 100%.
BUILD: 80%
As the name of the set suggests, you are building a gift box. However, the gift box lid can be removed to reveal a cozy fireplace room with a Christmas tree inside. Furthermore, the two halves of the gift box swing open for easier access to the scene. There are no phenomenal or novel build techniques being employed here, but the overall look is still nice and festive. I like the overall design of the box too, and the brick-built ribbon on top looks great. I don’t really like the design of the windows inside the box though. They stick out into the scene, and the “curtains” on top make them hard to identify as windows in my opinion. I give this set 8/10 (80%) as a build score.
MINIFIGURES: 77%
There are two pretty average Minifigures included in this set. One of them is a child figurine, which loses points right off the bat in my books. I harp on this every time I get one of these, but I really don’t like the ape-like look those stumpy legs and regular length arms generate. Otherwise, you get three hairpieces along with these characters for a little more customization, and both have front and back printed torsos. The legs are plain, and only one Minifig has a double-sided face. Where accessories are concerned, there is a mug and a printed tile clock. I give these guys a design score of 22/30 (73%).
With a brick count of 301, you are looking at a brick-to-Minifigure ratio of about 150:1. That is okay, and earns a score of 4/5 (80%). Averaging this with the design score gives an overall Minifigure rating of 77%.
ENTERTAINMENT: 80%
The Buildable Holiday Present took me 37 minutes to build. If this set had been purchased at the advertised value of $26.99, then I would have paid $0.73 per minute of build time. That is not the best value, but not the worst either. I would rate it at 3.5/5 (70%). However, I didn’t actually pay anything for this set, so free build time earns it 100% for the purposes of this review.
How do I feel about this set overall? It’ll be a nice display piece this Christmas, but then the parts will be recycled into MOC projects, and I will probably forget that I own it. The parts that come with it are great colors, and can easily be re-purposed. My mind is already spinning with the possibilities. I use a lot of dark red in my builds. I have also been trying to collect the sandy green, and the golden pieces making up the ribbon will be great accents in a future project. Since I will not be keeping this one as is, I rate it at 3/5 for likability (60%). Averaging this with the build time score lands the Buildable Holiday Present an overall entertainment rating of 80%.
OVERALL SCORE: 84%
All in all, this is a nice freebie. It is purely a display piece, and as such doesn’t have much play value. However, the parts that come with it have great build value when it comes to custom projects. If I had actually paid for this set, I would have given it a lower score (78%). It lands in the 80s largely because it was free. This is by no means a bad set though, just not my favorite. What are your thoughts on the Buildable Holiday Present? Feel free to drop me a line in the comments below.
Until next time,
-Tom
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