New for 2023, the Sillbird 4-in-1 WallRobot Stem Building Toy

 

Hey there brick fans!  Today, we're going to check out this awesome Lego compatible 4-in-1 Stem Building Toy called Wallrobot.  It's from the brand called Sillbird Toys.

                              

A huge thanks to Sillbird for providing this cool set for today's review!

As you can see from the box, the Stem toy is called WallRobot and can be built four different ways.  

The other three versions are pictured on the back of the box. One version is a  smaller robot, one is just the robot treads, and the last is an off-road race car.

For the purpose of this review, I'll only be constructing the first version, but rest assured that the manual has the instructions for all four builds. 

In all cases, one can drive or control this toy by downloading an app to your phone, or using the provided battery operated 2.4GHZ remote controller.

Here are some more details about this set:

* Set Name: WallRobot 4-in-1

* Piece Count: 560 pieces

* Lego compatible: Yes

* Manual included: Yes

* Stickers: Yes

* Minifigures: No

* Age Rating: 6+

* Year Released: 2023

* Retail Price: $49.99 USD

Unboxing the Set Contents

The remote controller, two powerful motors, the charging box and charging cable, and two light tubes.

Decent sized sticker sheet which I did not use.

A total of 6 bags of parts, mostly technic pieces in gray and yellow.

Here's a sample page from the instruction manual.

There are no numbered bags, so you pretty much have to dump out all the pieces and sort them yourself.

Building the Robot

Here are a few pictures that I took during the construction of the Wallrobot.

For step 15, I found that it was easier to put the pegs into the battery pack first before attaching the yellow technic bricks.

Step 44 was the most difficult step because you have several connection points being attached at the same time.  Take your time on this step and you will be rewarded for your efforts.

These are all the parts leftover.  Perhaps they are used in the other versions.

The 2.4Ghz remote controller requires two AA batteries, which are not included. To remove the battery compartment door, you will need a small phillips head screwdriver.

The small power switch on the robot itself is hard to get at, I used the small screwdriver to flick the switch from off to on. It's at the back between the two light tubes.  The lighting goes all the way up to the robot's eyes and changes colour too.

The assembled robot is a good size and I've placed some minifigures with it so you can see the scale.  Other features include a swivelling head and arms that you can move up and down.  You can also adjust the hands to grip onto things.

Final Remarks

I was pleasantly surprised by how well the robot performs.  The two motors are very powerful and it zips along the floor when I used the remote controller.  I will try to post a video of it soon.

All of the bricks used are Lego compatible, meaning you can add more parts to the robot if you wish or interchange them.  Brick quality is decent however I must say that the clutch is rather tight.  This turned out to be a good thing because after building the robot, it felt very solid.  I didn't have any loose parts falling off of it during handling or playing.

Now I must point out that the set is rated 6+, but I don't think that this is accurate.  Even as an adult, I found some of the steps challenging, so I can't imagine a kid trying to build this own their own.  I definitely feel like and adult should be helping build this set or at least make the set rated at 14+.

I didn't use the app because just using the remote to control the robot was lots of fun.

I do like that you can take it apart and rebuild the different versions, but I think this particular Wallrobot version is the best looking one, so I will probably keep the set in this form.

I can definitely recommend this set as it will give kids a lot of play time, especially now that the holidays are arriving soon. The Sillbird Wallrobot set is decently priced for what you are getting and would make a great gift.

Update: Sillbird just reached out to me and offered an extra 5% off for anyone who uses the discount code RO3UKVCQ.   Follow the link below:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CBKHLBMG?maas=maas_adg_CCD27EB6035A9A00CBA658579B24D0C4_afap_abs&ref_=aa_maas&tag=maas

Unboxing the JMBricklayer Sunflower Building Block Set 70004

 

Hi brick fans!   We've got a brand new Lego compatible building block set to unbox!  It's the Van Gogh Sunflowers set from the JMBricklayer, set number 70004 with 1166 pcs.

A huge thanks to JMBricklayer for providing us with the set to review.   If you want to skip the unboxing, you can go directly to my other blog post where I give you my thoughts about the set.  I decided to split out the unboxing pics because my blog posts are getting way too long.

As with all JMBricklayer sets, the box and shipping are free.   The front and back of the box are the same.
The set is age rated 14+ and is co-branded between JMBricklayer and Wekki.

The side of the box shows a portrait of Van Gogh who was known as the famous sunflower painter .

The other side of the box highlights the special features of the set.

The 81 page instruction booklet is laid out very well and easy to follow.

The box and booklet mention an infrared induction lamp but I think they really mean it's a motion sensing LED light string.

The Sunflower set can be displayed two ways, on a desk or on a wall.  Wall hooks are thoughtfully included with the set.  

Here are some of the larger pieces that make up the picture frame.  There are seven large bags included in the box and some of those bags yield even smaller parts bags.

The LED light string comes attached to a battery box that houses 3 AAA batteries, not included.

Here's a look at some of the brick pieces that come in unique colours like metallic gold and light flesh tones.

Follow along as I build the JMBricklayer Sunflower set 70004 in my other blog post where I will share my thoughts about the set.   Check out what JMBricklayer says about this new set here.

Don't forget to use my code "itsnotlego15%" to save on your purchases at JMBricklayer (non sale items).

Here's the link to the Sunflower set if you are a fan of this piece of unique 3D art.   See you in my next blog post!

Retrospective: Collecting not Lego in 2014

I bought my very first not Lego back in December of 2013.  

I was on ebay and I saw that you could get a set of assorted superhero minifigures for about a buck apiece.  I didn't know that they were considered as bootleg at the time, I just thought it was some alternate brand producing minifigures.

Decool was the first brand of alt Lego minifigures that I bought.  The quality of the minifigures varied but mostly they were so-so.  Around the same time, I discovered another brand called Sheng Yuan or SY for short.  These two brands pretty much dominated the alt Lego minifigure market up until 2016, I would say.  Maybe they made other themes, but my focus was always buying superhero minifigures from Decool and SY.  Typically you would buy them in sets of 6 or 8 minifigures, as it was more economical than buying a single minifigure at the time.

Back in 2014, you could buy whatever building block sets you wanted on ebay.  They were mostly inferior building block sets coming from China and they were dirt cheap.   I remember that my first building block sets that I bought were little fire truck sets from Kazi.   They came boxed and when you removed the pieces from the box, they smelled like gasoline.   Kazi sets were also branded Loomen.

Around this time, I also bought building block sets from brands like Enlighten, Sluban, Wange and Bozhi. It's interesting to note that Enlighten, Sluban and Wange had their own designed sets and were not knockoffs of Lego.  Their sets included minifigures and they were already proprietary in design.  Sluban minifigures were slimmer and were kind of a hybrid of the standard minifigure and the lego friends minifigures.  Wange minifigures were squarish in shape , even their heads, and were probably the original predecessors to minecraft style minifigures.  Just awful.

Speaking of Wange, I would buy their small two storey buildings and vehicle sets.  The buildings were poorly designed and ugly, but cheap.  Some of them appeared to be Lego knockoffs, especially the Wange Villa series, which you can still find on Aliexpress even today.

Enlighten produced several police and military themed vehicle sets.  I think some of them were copied from Lego designs.

To this day, I think Sluban was the only brand that did not copy Lego.  All of their building block sets were unique.  I especially enjoyed their aircraft series.  The problem with Sluban sets was that the plastic used felt different than Lego and their colours were not standard.  

When it came to a true bootleg brand, Bozhi was the clear winner.  They knocked off a lot of the Lego superhero sets at the time and believe it or not, the quality of the sets was indistinguishable from Lego.

The above picture is not my own, but I did have all three of the sets shown.  I also had the Bozhi bat boat and the wolverine/deadpool chopper sets to name a few.  In early 2015, sets from the Bozhi brand disappeared but a new brand took it's place as a leader in knockoff sets.  That brand was Bela.   Did Bozhi become Bela?

Other chinese brick brands that made their appearance in 2014 included Companion, Lele and Jiestar.  I'm sure there were others, but these were some of the ones that I bought.  I think Lele sucked, Companion and Jiestar sets not memorable.

Looking back, the main themes I collected in 2014 were Super Heroes, Fire, Police and assorted City vehicles.   My most memorable sets for 2014 was the set of Fantastic Four minifigures from Decool, the Iron man lab from Sheng Yuan, and of course the Bozhi superhero knockoff sets.

For anyone who wanders in, this post is a work in progress.  I'll share more pictures and elaborate some more about my favourite sets for 2014.

Stay tuned!