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.

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.

The latest deals: https://www.jmbricklayer.com/special-deals-for-us/?wpam_id=33

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

Bye for now!

Today's Review: JMBricklayer 20104 Botanical Collection Succulent Flower Set

Welcome back to It's Not Lego, my blog where I review the latest Lego compatible building block sets.  Today I'm reviewing the 20104 9 pack Succulent set, the latest in a series of botanical building block sets from JMBricklayer.  

Thanks to JMBricklayer for providing the building set for this review!

This appealing succulent set can be found on their the JMBricklayer website or from their Amazon shop if you like it.  Sets come with free worldwide shipping.  Check out their website for more details.  Also don't forget to check out JMBricklayer's latest promotion and contests!

Use my discount code "itsnotlego15%" to save on applicable purchases from the website.

At a glance

Brand: JMBricklayer

Set: 20104 Succulent Set (9 different plants)

Theme: Botanical Collection

Piece count:  750 pieces

Numbered bags? No

Stickers or printed parts? No

Missing or deformed pieces: No

Extra parts: Yes

Minifigures: No

Lighting kit: No

Brick Quality and Clutch: Excellent

Measurements (approx): N/A

Age Rating: 14+

Unboxing

Here is the colourful box for the JMBricklayer's succulent collection.

Inside the box, it is jam packed with a total of 10 bags of parts and a package of separate instruction sheets to build 9 different succulent plants.  There are a total of 750 pieces in this set.

There is one bag of parts and a two sided instruction page for each of the 9 plants. The turquoise coloured plant also uses the extra bag of small flowers.

Here are all nine of the succulent plants completed.  Each succulent plant comes with a unique shaped planter.   They were easy to assemble and look great by themselves, in smaller groups or displayed all together.   All the flower parts clutch together very well and the quality of the pieces used is excellent. I really like all the colours and flower types.  

For the research for this blog post, I learned the names of some of the succulents, such as Haworthia, Echeveria, Graptopetalum, and Sedum to name a few.  I think flower #1 looks like a sedum, flower #5 looks like echeveria, and graptopetalum might be flower #7, and haworthia - flower #3.  If you know more about succulents, please let me know what the other flowers are called and whether I got them right or not.

There's a small handful of parts leftover afterwards.

I like them all but if I had to choose, I think the leafy green plant (pictured top left) looks the most realistic. The pink flower succulent (pictured top center) is also another favourite of mine.  

In conclusion, it was very satisfying to build these little representations of succulent plants.  They make a very nice display for your home decor.  They are small enough to not take up too much space on your desk or table but still add a pop of colour and vibrancy to your indoor space.  Best of all you don't have to maintain any of these lifelike plants.  

Here's my entire JMBricklayer botanical collection.  If you missed my other reviews, you can find them below.

JMBricklayer 20109 Flower Bouquet

JMBricklayer 20106 White Orchid

My rating for this 9 pack JMBricklayer succulent set is 5 out of 5.  Please let me know what you think and whether you agree with my rating.  

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

Thanks for visiting and see you next time, bye!

JMBricklayer 30109 Medieval Farmhouse Building BlockSet Review

Hi brick fans!

I have a couple of favourite building block themes that I'm into at the moment.  The first theme that piques my interest is Japanese themed modular buildings.  I'm a big fan of the varied architectural styles and I've collected every Japanese themed building that Cada blocks put out.

My second most favourite theme would have to be medieval buildings.  I love the rustic style of buildings that have lots of wooden beams, thatched roofs, brick walls  and stone facades.    My medieval building collection already consists of a guardhouse and watchtowers, a windmill, a medieval pier inn and an apothecary shop. My goal is to create an entire medieval building block village complete with townsfolk, soldiers and livestock.

So with today's featured set, I'm that much closer to establishing my medieval village.  It's the Medieval Town Farmhouse building block set 30109 which is my newest addition thanks to JMBricklayer. 

JMBricklayer stands for Joy Makes Brilliance, and they are an up and coming 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.

I'll be doing my normal set unboxing and build.  I'll look at the brick quality and the compatibility to my other medieval sets with my recommendation and rating at the end of the blog post.

Some Details about this set

• Brand: JMBricklayer
• Set and Number: Medieval Town Farmhouse 30109
• Theme: Medieval
• Piece Count: 2024 pieces
• Age Rating: 14+
• Numbered Bags: Yes
• Stickers: No
• Printed Parts: No
• Minifigures: No
• Lighting Effect: No
• Extra pieces: Yes
• Pricing:  Currently on sale for only $62.99 (regular price is $89.99)

Unboxing

All JMBricklayer sets I've received so far come in their own sturdy black boxes, unlike the bagged packages you would get from Temu or Aliexpress.

Here's the glossy 74 page instruction manual that comes with the set.   Inside the manual, there is a reference to the designer of the set named LetzPlay from Malaysia.   I have previously built another  colourfully designed set by LetzPlay called the Mork 031051 Toon City Flower shop which I reviewed here.

Inside the manual, we find that there will be three stages of construction to build the medieval farmhouse.

There are 11 bags of parts for the first stage.

With another 11 parts bags for stage two.

Stage three has the most bags of parts at 16 bags.

Finally, there is an un-numbered bag that contains several baseplates and brick plates.  A bonus red brick separator is also included.

Constructing the Medieval Farmhouse

In stage 1, we start by constructing the base, composed of brown, dark gray, green, sand green and dark tan brick plates.

Here is the raised stone foundation which the farmhouse will sit on.  There is some good storage space here which isn't used.  The designer should have put some crates and barrels down here with access via a trap door.  I would have also liked to see some smooth tile pieces installed to make it easier to remove the first floor from the foundation, but that's not the case here.

Having built the foundation, we now build the interior of the first floor.  There is a stone fireplace, a some barrels containing some tools and a table with 2 chairs and a frying pan.  There's also a ladder to the second floor.   This completes stage one of the build.

In stage two of the build, we put up the walls for the first floor.  There is an dark alcove behind the fireplace which doesn't have any furnishings.

Similarly, there is an arched addition which is also under utilized.  This would be an ideal place to put a suit of armour and a weapons cache, like axes and daggers.

There are stone steps that lead up to the arched doorway of the farmhouse.   I will probably add a wooden railing so that people don't fall off the high patio.   Safety first!

I like this part of the building where it looks like it used to be part of some old castle or fortress that has now been incorporated into the farmhouse.  There is a small wooden gate that can be opened to a small area which we will discover later is a pigpen.

The last part of stage two is the addition of a large tree with pink and purple leaves.

There are opening windows on every side of the farmhouse to let the light in. The exterior has brown wooden beams installed over white and sand green brick walls.  Stage two is now complete. Time to build the second floor of the farmhouse.

Here's a look at the build progress during stage three.  We have added some roofing, and windows.

The second floor serves as a bedroom, but the furnishings, again are very sparse.  There is basically only a bed and a small table with a candle on top of it.

A little surprise for the farmhouse set is the stash of gold coins that are hidden in the bedroom table.  You get more gold coins than can actually fit in the table.  I would use one of those treasure chest parts to store the rest of the gold coins and hide them in the foundation under the first floor.   Oh btw, the farmhouse set doesn't come with any minifigures, so you will need to add your own figures to the set if you want.

Second storey structure finished.

Adding the final chimney assembly.

Building the roof panels.

The two roof panels are attached to three clips on either side of the top beam.

Now we can place the second floor onto the first floor.

Are you ready for the reveal??

Here's the finished Medieval Town Farmhouse!

I think this side is the best view, with the blossoming tree, steps leading up to the front entrance and the stone chimney.  There were a lot of spare pieces to decorate the landscaping around the foundation.

This is another one of my favourite views of the medieval townhouse.

Logs for the wood burning fireplace, can be found at the side of the farmhouse.

Here's the pig pen with the opening gate which we looked at earlier.  The pink hog is included with the set.

There's a door from the bedroom that leads out into a small outdoor area on the second floor.  In the past it probably served as a place to shoot arrows from, now, you can enjoy your morning coffee.

Time to sweep away all of the leaves!

Final Thoughts

The JMBricklayer Medieval Town Farmhouse is one of my new favourite sets.  It looks great all around, and it fits in nicely with some of my other medieval themed sets.   Brick quality and clutch was great and I had no issues.  The steps in the manual were easy to follow and the brick pieces were easily distinguishable from each other.

I felt that the set cold have included at least a couple of minifigures to give the display more life.  Well, at least they included the pig.

Where I felt that the farmhouse was lacking was the use of the interior space.  I feel that the inside was quite empty and could have used more furnishings on both the first and second floor.  Plus I would have liked to have seen an access door to the space under the first floor with more crates and barrels underneath.

Despite the lack of furnishings, I still really loved the design of the farmhouse. So my rating for this set is 4.7 out of 5 with points deducted for lack of minifigs and lack of extra furnishings.

Here's a final pic with the JMBricklayer Medieval Farmhouse next to the JMBricklayer Observation Guard Tower and the Funwhole Apothecary shop.

More about the JMBricklayer brand

You will find that all JMBricklayer sets are tax free and always shipped in sturdy premium boxes fulfilled quickly by Amazon, directly from their US, CA, UK & DE warehouses. They offer free replacements for missing or broken parts. Their Trustpilot page (https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.jmbricklayer.com) has a solid 4.5+ rating.

Here are some other JMBricklayer Medieval themed sets.  For the non sale sets, you can use my special discount code itsnotlego15% to save an extra 15% off.

Don't forget to check out the JMBricklayer 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.

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

Thanks for looking!   Bye!