Unboxing the Kickstarter funded JMBricklayer Marble Run Building Block set 70003

Hey brick fans!  Are you tired of seeing the same old Lego themed sets like Star Wars, City, Harry Potter and such?   Do you want to challenge yourself and build something a set that is unique, complex and exciting all at once?  If you said Yes, then you want to check out the newest set coming from JMBricklayer!

 JMBricklayer stands for Joy Makes Brilliance, and they are a rapidly growing Lego compatible building block distributor and manufacturer.  They have authorization from the manufacturers of building block sets for their global online distribution, with channels on Amazon US, CA, UK, DE, including their official worldwide online store at JMBricklayer.com. With a variety of popular themes, they have sets that cater to everyone.  

I want to sincerely thank JMBricklayer for entrusting me to build and test their newest set before it even comes to market.   I'm really looking forward to building this amazing set.

The humungous JMBricklayer Steampunk Marble Run Dinosaur Factory set 70003 has, get this, a whopping 5391+ pieces!   

But what is a Lego style Marble Run you ask?   

A  Lego style marble run is a dynamic and engaging construction toy that combines the imaginative possibilities of LEGO building blocks with the mesmerizing motion of a marble run. Designed to be compatible with standard LEGO pieces, this set allows builders to create intricate pathways, ramps, and mechanisms that guide marbles through a series of obstacles and courses.

The JMBricklayer Marble Run set checks off all the boxes!  It's Lego compatible, meaning you can use pieces and bricks from your other Lego and alternative Lego to enhance the set.  The set comes with several orange balls which serve as the marbles.  And there are so many cool courses, elevators and obstacles as we will see later in this review.

Additionally there are many elements that you won't find in other marble run sets, such as giant Dinosaurs, even flying ones, and steampunk gears and cranes and chemical tanks!

Before we unbox and look at the contents of this gigantic set, JMBricklayer is doing something unique to market and promote the Marble Run set.  It is doing a Kickstarter campaign to let as many people know about this new set as possible.  They launched the Kickstarter project on the morning of June 21, 2024 and the Super Early Bird tier sold out within an hour!   

The project is ongoing for one month and there are different tiers depending on when you decide to back the project.   Here's the link to the JMBricklayer Kickstarter page if you want to get all the details.

Here's some pics of the box that the Marble Run set comes in.

The box dimensions are 20.5 inches(H) x 20.5 inches (W) x 5.5 inches (D).  The box has a premium look with the featured set displayed on a black background.

Left side of the box shows a mechanical dinosaur.

Right side of the box features a flying Pteranodon.

Rear of the box looks at some of the extra features in the set.

Opening the flap on the box, we find more boxes with an illustration of the Marble Run set.

There are actually 3 internal boxes, labelled A and B, and another one with no letter.

Opening up box A, it contains some big bags numbered 1 thru 4.

Bags 5 thru 7 are found inside box B.

The unmarked box tells you what's inside.

They include two very thick instruction booklets. Manual A is to be used with the parts bags in box A, and Manual B is used with the corresponding box B.   Manual A has 174 pages.  Manual B continues from pages 175 thru 344, with a few extra pages of tips and troubleshooting.

The "Building Block Hose" as referred to on the unmarked box is the collection of flexible tracks that will be installed throughout the marble run.  There is also a bag of clips that will be used to secure the hose track.

The last item in the box are a battery pack and two identical motors.   Batteries do not come with the set so you have to provide 6 AA style batteries to power the two motors.

Almost forgot to mention the giant 48x48 stud baseplate that is included, on which the Marble Run set will sit.

Here's a peek into instruction manual A.  It highlights the first four stages as depicted above.

Similarily, instruction manual B reviews the remainder of the build, stages 5 through 7.

Just a quick flip through the pages, and not gonna lie, it looks quite daunting.  I've never built a Lego style marble run set in my life, so this will definitely be a first for me.   And with the size of this set of 5291 pieces, it's going to be the biggest set I've ever built as well.

So with that let's do a quick review of the details.

Brand: JMBricklayer

Set and Number: Steampunk Marble Run Dinosaur Factory 70003

Theme: Fantastic Idea

Piece Count: 5391+ pieces

Age Rating: 14+

Numbered Bags: Yes

Stickers: No

Printed Parts: No

Minifigures: No

Lighting Effect: No

Motorised: Yes - 2 motors included

Powered: Yes - 6 AA Battery pack included

Pricing:  As listed on the JMBricklayer Kickstarter page, the regular price of the Marble Run set is $189.99 USD, but with the early bird pricing there are several tiers of discounts ranging from 18% off to as high as 35% off.   The Kickstarter campaign lasts until July 2024 and assuming all funding goals are met, the Marble Run sets will start shipping in August 2024.

That's it for this blog post.  So join me in my next blog post as we start to build and explore this new world of the Marble Run.  I'll review the set in detail, show you all of the features and see if they live up to the expectation of such a large and complex set.  Along the way, I'll also point out the good parts and anything that needs improving as well.

Update:  Part 1 - Building the JMBricklayer 70003 Marble Run review is now up: https://its-not-lego.blogspot.com/2024/06/constructing-5391-piece-jmbricklayer.html

Part 2 can be found here: https://its-not-lego.blogspot.com/2024/06/building-5391-piece-jmbricklayer-70003.html

Don't forget to check out the JMBricklayer website and visit their Facebook and Instagram pages to participate in their promotions and monthly contests where you can win free sets and get exclusive discount codes up to 60% off.   For the non sale sets, you can use my special discount code itsnotlego15% to save an extra 15% off.

Want to see more JMBricklayer set reviews?  Check them out at https://bricktoyreviews.blogspot.com.

Bye for now!