![Stargate Chevron (BlueBrixx)](https://www.gateworld.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/bluebrixx-hands-on-chevron_wide-640x360.jpg)
I’m sure most people have some experience building LEGO sets. Naturally I do too — but it’s been at least 15 years since I had the pleasure. So I consider myself a newbie when it comes to building bricks.
More experienced brick builders say that nothing beats LEGO quality. That’s the very reason I had such mixed feelings last year, when it was announced that Europe-based company (and LEGO competitor) BlueBrixx secured the Stargate license from MGM. Like most Stargate fans I had been hoping for official Stargate LEGOs. (Check out this “Dial the Gate” episode on fan-made Stargate LEGO sets if you haven’t seen it!)
So on the one hand I was concerned about the quality of the sets we are getting. On the other hand, these days any Stargate series merch is appreciated. Ultimately I would not dismiss something completely without sampling it first, so I decided to approach BlueBrixx with cautious optimism.
BlueBrixx delivered as promised: in March 2024 an initial list of 10 sets of items appeared on their Web site.
To be honest, when it comes to collecting Stargate ships I’m very happy with my Eaglemoss and Master Replicas die-cast models. So this time I turned my focus to other items. BlueBrixx has released “Brick Buddies” statues and other iconic sets such as the Milky Way Chevron, and (coming soon) glowing Z.P.M.s and the S.G.C. Gate Room — including minifigures of SG-1 characters.
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:
- BlueBrixx beats LEGO on the price front.
- LEGO beats BlueBrixx quality-wise …
- … but the building process is the same fun experience!
THE BUILD
I paid a sum of 76,75 EUR for the four items in my cart (shipping included). My order shipped quickly and reached me in less than two weeks. Upon arrival, I carefully opened the big cardboard box to find my Stargate goodies in perfect condition. I was super excited with a wide smile on my face wondering where to start. You know, when it comes to building bricks there are many factors that make up the overall difficulty.
I built these in the following order: Ronon Dex, Apophis, Jack O’Neill, and the Milky Way Chevron. Jack turned out to be the easiest, followed by the chevron, Ronon … and the most difficult was actually Apophis.
Surprise, surprise … what makes an item more difficult to build is not only the amount of pieces (the time factor) but also the colors of the bricks themselves. Ronon Dex and Apophis were much harder to build due to their range of shades.
In each box I found a guide and several packs of bricks. As the packs are numbered, at first I thought I’m supposed to open one at a time and build each and then somehow magically piece them together — resulting in a cool looking Brick Buddy. Following the guide, though, I soon realized that the packs have randomly mixed bricks. (Luckily I had the foresight to keep the smaller bricks separated.)
Naturally there were times I had to retrace several of my steps, making corrections due to the similarly colored bricks. But I guess that’s part of the fun!
Ronon took me a couple of hours to build. When working on Apophis I really got the hang of it. Although it was the toughest to build, I managed to finish in considerably less time. BlueBrixx has many different kinds of pieces, relative to what I was used to building with LEGOs. My finished Apophis has a loose piece inside (maybe it’s a Goa’uld clinker).
Building Brick Buddy Jack gave me no issues, nor did the Milky Way Chevron — so I could finally focus on appreciating the design and quality of the products as I put them together.
THE FINISHED PRODUCT
If there is one thing to nitpick, what bothers me here is the strange imprinting BlueBrixx does on some of the pieces. Check out this reference image of Jack’s vest:
These three bricks have a tiny mark on them, which isn’t so bad when they end up assembled in a symmetrical way. But one of these divots in the plastic ends up offset to the side on Jack’s vest, and I can’t get past how unbalanced it looks.
That issue aside, the BlueBrixx Stargate sets look amazing. I would like some Stargate Universe items, please! Also an additional shelf!
It may sound strange, but even as an adult I had the same amount of fun during this BlueBrixx Stargate experience as I did back when I was a kid putting together LEGOs. I would gladly recommend spending such magical recreational time to all my fellow Stargate fans!