Pick-A-Brick Vol. 1

 

It has long been a debate over which LEGO® Store Pick-A-Brick cup gets you more bang for your buck. I decided to take things to a relatively scientific level and really find out which is a better deal. In the United States, a small pick a brick cup runs at $7.99 and a large pick a brick cup goes for $14.99. Just by glancing, it may be hard to see an actual difference. To conduct my experiment, I will use the most useful substance, water. Studies have been done with 1x1 flat, round bricks, but water is much more reliable. Since the cups are made of plastic, water will not damage the interior. To start, I filled the small cup with water. Then, I dumped the water into a measuring cup and recorded the volume. I repeated the process for the large cup. I rounded the volume to the nearest readable ounce mark. After that, I divided by the price of each cup. Therefore, my formula becomes: opd = V/I

opd = the number of ounces per USD.
V = the volume of the cup in ounces.
I = the initial price.

To find the price per ounce, I divided 1 by the ounces per dollar.  $ = 1/opd

My findings are shown below:

Cup	Price	Volume (ounces)	Ounces Per Dollar	Dollars Per Ounce
Small	$7.99	17	2.1276595	$0.47
Large	$14.99	34	2.2681787	$0.4408823

And the winner is…

The large cup! You save about three cents per ounce.

But Wait! We did not include the size of the lids. Most LEGO stores allow a Pick-A-Brick cup to be bought if at least one side of the lid is touching the cup. Therefore, we can basically just set the lid on the cup and our volumes will change. The lids are the same for each cup, an important attribute, and the each have a volume of 5 1/3 ounces. When this is factored in, our results change:

Cup	Price	Volume (ounces)	Ounces Per Dollar	Dollars Per Ounce
Small	$7.99	22 1/3	2.7951605	$0.3577612
Large	$14.99	39 1/3	2.6239715	$0.3811017

The odds are now in the small cups favor! There is another way to maximize your savings. Most stores offer a 25 cent discount with a reused small cup and a 50 cent discount with a reused large cup. It is, however, a better deal to get new cups every time you visit. They make great storage containers and look great in your collection. So, the verdict is... The Small Cup! Unless you need 1x16 beams, the small cup is the way to go. So take this advice, always buy the small cup and you will end up saving mucho dinero!

LEGO Octan Semi Tractor Trailer

I have finally completed my rendition of 3180 Tanker Truck. The Tractor was completely remodel to include a desk behind the cab. The design was also improved to reflect the look of semi's outside the United States. I am very fond of the design of a flat 'nose', so I knew I had to incorporate it into my current design. The vehicle is of course an Octan fuel carrier, LEGO's imaginary fuel brand. The trailer has gone through a few minor changes. I added a hitch at the back to allow multiple trailers to be towed at one time. I also removed the mess of parts that served as the hose carrier and storage space. This made the trailer look more realistic, an attribute I am always looking for in LEGO models. I would like to made the trailer about 25% longer, but I need two more of the round compartments to accomplish this goal. Right now, the tractor is almost as long as the trailer.

I realize there are a few color discrepancies, but my collection is not perfect. Over all, I am very pleased with the look and function of the new rig. The model is quite simple to make as long as you have 3180 Tanker Truck and a few more parts from your collection of loose bricks. I am happy with this model and it will not be changing any time soon.

Reasons NOT to live in LEGO® City

CITY has always been one of The LEGO Group’s top selling themes and it is also my personal favorite. When given a glance, it seems like the perfect ‘boy toy’. What’s not to love about building your own city? However, when the demographics of LEGO® CITY are examined more closely, it seems like this place would be an absolute horrific place to live if you were a minifigure. Please take into fact that I have nothing against LEGO® CITY, it’s just that there is a stark contrast when it is compared to a city of our modern day and age. All of my information is taken from Brickset.com and only pertains to CITY sets released in 2012. When all of this is examined, the following are the results from my demographic census:

According to Brickset, there were 42 CITY sets released for 2012. Of these 42, 35 contain unique sets. In these 35 sets, there are 46 vehicles, 8 pieces of aircraft, 2 boats, and one uncategorized mine crane. This means there are 57 things with motors. Of the 46 vehicles, there are only 8 cars and 38 trucks. This means the ratio of cars to trucks is 1:4.75.

In the 35 sets, there are 84 people. Of these 85 people, it appears that only 11 are females and 74 are males. That means the female to male ratio is 1:6.73.

Of the 35 sets, 19 have to do with some kind of emergency: 11 police sets, 6 fire sets, and 2 hospital sets. Within the police sets, there are 8 robbers and 18 policemen, (no police women). We can only guess what these robbers are in jail for, (arson anyone?). There are also 12 firefighters. Of all of the minifigures, only 12 appear to be regular citizens, as opposed to working in some kind of profession. There are also only 5 crude buildings throughout the entire 35 sets.

Based on all of this information, we can draw some valid conclusions:

There are almost 7 males for ever female. 83% of the vehicles are trucks or vehicles for work. There are almost as many criminals as there are women. There are 5 crude buildings in the entire city.

Reasons not to live in LEGO® CITY

·         A large male population

·         A lot of pollution from so many trucks

·         Nowhere to live

·         Almost a dozen pyrotechnics constantly breaking out of jail

·         Only 7 trees, half of which are always on fire

LEGO® CITY needs some major reform before I would even consider living there. Safety, housing, discrimination, and health are my major concerns about LEGO® CITY. Until these things are fixed, and a government is established, I would not encourage anyone to move to this city. So where else could I live in LEGO® Universe? Chima? Nope, constant tribal fighting. Ninjago? Never, an endless battle. STAR WARS? No thanks, too much war for my tastes. Kingdoms? Too much feudal warfare. Galaxy Squad? No way, huge bugs! The only safe place seems to be Friends. It looks like it has everything CITY doesn’t: Trees, cars, housing, and no criminals. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I would much rather live in Heartlake City that LEGO® CITY. I’d be surrounded by women, but hey, we all have to make sacrifices. J