LEGO Ideas Minifigure Vending Machine (21358) Review

David here from Totallybricktastic, with another review. This time I built the LEGO Ideas Minifigure Vending Machine (21358) set – Here’s how I got on and what I think of it!

The Box and Contents:

The box is the usual 18+ dark design that I like, even though I know it still divides opinion, personally I think it looks premium. There’s great images front and back with a super image of the sixteen Minifigures along the top. Inside you’ll find the instruction manuals and many numbered bags.

The Build:

Quite obviously this is a bottom-up build. The base starts coming together rather quickly, achieving the full shape of the base profile in stage one. Here we also have the first of the sixteen Minifigure prizes, that being the fan designers himself, Rob. He comes complete with a Miniature vending machine. He is then housed in the first yellow ball. We have eight blue half-spheres, eight, yellow, and sixteen frosted clear half-spheres.

We then continue adding more to the base, finishing it off with smooth, curved pieces to complete the clean look of the bottom of the base. We now also have three Minifigure prizes in their prize balls. We start building the main body of the base, walls and internal structures, including the ramps for the balls to slide down to the win zone.

A nice touch with the win zone is instead of having just 3 smooth tiles at the mouth, we have a central curved tile. This creates just enough of a dip to keep the balls right at the entrance of the zone for easy grabbing instead of rolling back inside the machine making them hard to get hold of. Clever!

We then keep building up the internal parts of the base that all have a job to do for dispensing our prizes.

Here’s the big one! Stage five, the coin and crank mechanism. This is a mind boggling build. I’ve built many technic mechanism and I simply can’t work out how it works! And!…there’s only ONE cog! I can’t imagine the hours this took to achieve what it does. Once built this is carefully placed into position. It also links to a previously built central shaft.

We now just keep building up the internal walls and the platforms that the prize balls will be using to allow them to move around ready for dispensing.
Stage seven sees us having to test the mechanism for the first time! Using a brick built printed coin, we find out if we’ve done everything correctly!
We then build tiled panels for covering the outer base to hide all the internal structure and giving our vending machine its clean outer look. We also add a handy coin keep so that we don’t lose them (we have 2) as they exit the crank mechanism upon fully turning. There’s also a little more added that help the balls move around inside.

We then add the eight new, big curved window pieces, they are wrapped in two bags, four in each for protection. They are pristine when you get them out. We also build a rod that has rubber technic pieces to help move the prize balls around as we turn the crank. We now have sixteen balls and we place them inside after building the lid that fits nice and snug at the very top, it’s not attached to any studs.

…and the build is complete – wow, what a set!

The Mechanism:

The mechanism is one of the best I’ve ever built, it’s insanely clever. I defy anyone who isn’t an engineer to work out exactly how it works. It will only work when you use a coin. That crank simply won’t turn without one! There’s also not an elastic band in sight. For me this means it will work every single time. No exceptions. Mechanisms that also have elastic bands do start to fail or feel different over time. This will not happen here. It’s got to be the cleverest Lego technic mechanism I’ve seen to date. The sound of the mechanism and the balls doing there thing has just as much nostalgia value as the look of the set itself. Bravo to the design team!

The Minifigures:

The sixteen Minifigures are fantastic. They’re exclusive to this set and I hope they stay that way. This will hold up the value of this set without doubt.
The Minifigures themselves were subject to a public vote so I know there’s a Minifigure here for everyone, covering every taste and theme. From classic space, to Fabuland, to Pirates and Paradisa, everything is covered. We even have a Lego Ideas staff member!

(Minifigure photos courtesy of @boombrickz)

Playability:

The playability is obvious here. It only does one thing but that one thing is THE THING. This set is your childhood, full on nostalgia. How many times did we ask our parents for a coin when we saw one of these machines?!
You just can’t stop playing with it. Dispensing ball after ball, refilling, then doing it all over again. Because you can! And!….we get our coins back!

Final Thoughts and Price:

This set really hits the mark for build and playability and obviously I give top marks for the Minifigures. You usually only get this many with large, themed sets like Marvel and the like.
Overall though I can only give this set 9 out of 10 as I just can’t see past the price of £149.99. It’s too expensive and unjustifiably so for a set without an IP partner to pay. Even with the new large elements. Do I still recommend it? Absolutely I do, because everyone needs to experience building this mechanism and experiencing the joy of it working. Time after time!