Review:10696 LEGO Medium Creative Brick Box
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$34.99
€29.99
£24.99
$49.99
Reviews
Brikkyy13
Country: Australia Gender: Male
Joined: December 30, 2012 
№ of Reviews: 15 
№ of Featured reviews: 0
Building Experience: Lifelong
Hello! Today I'm reviewing one of the Classic sets that are new for 2015, 10696 LEGO Medium Creative Brick Box. This set was kindly donated to Brickipedia by our friends over at The LEGO Group. So, is this set worth picking up, or is it just another parts pack?
Box and Contents
As you can see, the packing is quite unconventional. Like most sets branded under the "LEGO" name alone (i.e. not any specific theme) the parts are packaged in large re-usable for containers. This one is a 2x4 yellow brick wrapped in cardboard. The cardboard wrapping showcases some of the recommended models and some the parts included in the set. It also has an inventory on the back so you can see what parts you get before you buy it. Interesting to note, the ages are 4-99. What, are 100 year olds "too old" for LEGO?
Taking off the cardboard reveals an image similar to the one on the front. This one is missing some of the "Look here! I could be yours!" visuals, and also adds a copyright notice. No piracy allowed! Taking off the lid off the container, we can see that there are some bags, a baseplate and more bags. So, how many bags are there?
Turns out, there's 5. The parts are organised into color groups, these are:
- Black/Gray
- Green
- Blue
- Yellow/Orange
- Red/Brown/Beige
- White/Pink/Purple
Also included is a green baseplate and an instruction manual. When I saw "ideas included" on the box I was expecting a pamphlet with some pictures, a link to LEGO.com and ads for City, Ninjago and the LEGO Club, not a full blown instruction manual. There are 10 suggested models, 5 of which have their instructions included. The other 5 have their instructions are available online. Note: enough pieces are included to have all 10 models built at the same time. Let's take a look at the pieces.
First up, the black/gray bag. I'm not going to go through every piece, but there are some worth noting:
- A ton of tires.
- A ton of wheels for the tires
- One of the new astromech droid heads in black
Now for the white/pink/purple bag. This is one of my favorite bags. Normally sticking to more action based themes such as Ninjago, Star Wars and BIONICLE I haven't really seen these colors before. Some of the really nice pieces include:
- 3 sets of Mixels eyes
- 2 transparent pink 1x2 bricks
- 2 reddish-purple 1x4 bricks
- A white plate in the shape of a +
This bag has some really nice red and brown colors. I'm pretty sure a lot of these colors are new (in the last few years), so it's great to get some variety. Notable pieces:
- A lot of slope pieces
- Some beige "window" pieces
- A turntable base (note: the insert was in the gray bag)
The green bag may be small, but its parts are great. As you can see, I've grouped the included baseplate with this bag. Nice parts include:
- 2 4x4 plates
- 2 1x2 transparent bricks
- 1 light green 2x2 tile with a stud in the middle (always good to get more of these)
The next bag is the yellow/orange bag. When I saw the bag for the first time, I thought one thing: chicken. 
Interesting parts:
- Brick separator (yay)
- A 4x4 plate with a 2x2 hole in the middle
- The orange pieces (they just look so cool)
The last bag is filled with blue pieces. Most of the parts are basic, so I'm only going to comment on the colors. Instead of traditional blue, this bag is stuffed with an assortment of darker and lighter shades.
While individually the bags have some nice parts, overall I'm not really impressed. In my opinion, the distribution is horrible. Where you'd expect there to be a lot of parts, there's very little, and when you'd expect there to be very little there's a lot. One of the biggest offenders of this is the 2x4 brick. The classic LEGO brick makes a tiny appearance in this set. In a parts pack at this price point I'd expect more classic bricks and less special ones, such as slopes or tires.
Builds
As stated earlier there are 10 suggested models. 5 have their instructions included, the other instructions are available here. The fist suggested model is...
... a crocodile! or maybe it's an alligator... Anyway, whatever it is, it looks great. While the body is simplistic, the detail is second to none. The best part of this model is a tie between the teeth (which are studs) and the back spikes (1x1 slopes).
Up next... I don't really know. At first I thought it was a tiger, but then I built the little red thing (a mouse?) and it lost me. It's clearly some sort of cat, but for me there's a lot of conjecture. This model is kind of meh. There's not really any articulation, except for the tail. I understand that these models are supposed to showcase uses of the bricks included, but what a better way to showcase the use of bricks then to create movement? Overall I don't really like this model.
UPDATE: BrickfilmNut has informed me that it is, in fact, a tiger and the red thing is a steak.
Now for the ghost. Apologies for the blur, it blended in with the white of the desk and the camera couldn't focus properly. While the ghost is a very simple character, I love the use of bright blue to create a shadow effect. It adds a lot of character to an otherwise dull model. Interesting to note: the trans-pink 1x2 brick is used on this model behind the eyes. It seems kind of pointless to break up the color scheme with such a drastic color change, but I guess the designers had an extra brick lying around and they said "hey, why not." 
The next model is of a yellow car. This model is really a really nice interpretation of a car. Its simple, blocky design really screams "LEGO" to me.
The next model is a quad bike. I like this one because of all the curves over the wheels and the articulation with the handles. This model is very solid and I see it being a favorite for many builders.
Next up: flowers. In the instructions, these are built individually but I'll go over them as a pair. The flowers are a great way of using the pink/purple elements included. While they may not have much play value, they look great. The use of hinges on the purple one (left) contributes to a sense of realism that couldn't be achieved any other way.
The next model is a windmill. I'm not sure if I like this one or not, while the blades do spin the model seems incomplete to me. The wide open field in front of it seems like wasted space. This model doesn't really use the baseplate to its full potential. Maybe some simple brick built livestock placed strategically to look like they're grazing would have solved this simple problem.
Now for one of my favorites: the train. While the carriage it pulls isn't really much, the engine itself is amazing. I love the use of the arch brick attached to the droid head to create steam, it adds to the realism. While it is one of my favorites, I have 2 gripes. The first one is with the carriage. It seems too short when compared to the engine. Simply adding another layer of bricks below the windows would solve this problem. My other gripe is in the engine. I see the scale that is trying to be achieved, but I think the main part of the train looks too short. Apart from this, it's an excellent model.
The last suggested model, and my personal favorite, a toaster. The toaster is probably the most realistic model included in the set, with the curves, dials and the toast. Yes, included is 2 slices of bread and 2 slices of toast. And if that wasn't enough, this model has a function!
 |  |  |
It actually toasts! This re-creation of the common household item in little plastic bricks is amazing! The function is very simple: the toast is placed on a platform and the platform is lifted up.
I don't know why, but it's very entertaining to put the toast in and pop it up. Overall, the model is great.
While the suggested models are good, the best part of the set is what it is intended for: creating your own models. Before I took apart all the suggested models, I looked down at the parts that were left and remembered something.
If you've read The LEGO Book, you'll probably recall an interesting fact. With only 8 standard 2x4 bricks the possible combinations are virtually endless. I decided to put this to the test by creating a few miniature models using only 8 2x4 bricks. Here are the results:
 |  |  |
| X-Wing | Person | Guitar |
I think I did pretty well with the 8 bricks I had, what do you think? After I made those and disassembled the suggested models, I got to work building my own models.
|  |  |  |  |
| Chicken | Waterfall | Helicopter | "Robot" | Foot |
Building these simple models proved to be very difficult because of the part distribution issues.
Final thoughts
Overall, I'm not 100% impressed. While the suggested models are good, they're not what a builder would buy the set for. This set is fundamentally a parts pack, but as stated earlier it doesn't really do that well. The distribution of parts is off to the point where one begins to wonder if this set is really just a compilation of rejected creator models. The parts included seem to be there just so you can build the suggestions, but nothing of your own. In my eyes, the volume of specialized parts and the lack of regular bricks proves this.
That being said, this set does have one factor going for it: Nostalgia. Digging through the bucket really reminded me of the days back in pre-school where everyone would crowd around LEGO-filled containers trying to build something. While digging, I came across a 2x2 slope brick and I instinctively shouted out "I FOUND A GOOGLE HEAD," which was a term someone came up for that piece back in the day. It felt so weird but right. Nostalgia is a funny thing.
In conclusion, while there are some factors going for the set and some going against the set it is still pretty solid and a nice addition to anybody's collection. Overall I would give this set a 4.
| Overall |   4 / 5 |
| Suggested models | 3 / 5 |
| Parts |  2½ / 5 |
| Nostalgia | 5 / 5 |
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