Tuesday, December 5, 2017

The Brick Miser: Advent Calendar 2017: Mega Bloks Monster High: Day 4

Day 4: Presents













For today's present, the Advent Calendar has given us... Presents!













Once again, we're getting the holiday stuff earlier than last year, since it took until Day 9 for the Minions calendar to give us the gift box. ...That's actually starting to disappoint me, because that might mean we'll be out of Christmas-related stuff long before Christmas! ...Oh, the inhumanity of first-world problems...













But I shouldn't complain about getting these particular gifts early, because not only are these presents more nicely designed than the Minions' take, but there are TWO of them!













The first is in a rectangular box-shape with pink wrapping and a dark-pink ribbon. And it's easily the nicest of the two.













 Even without the accessories, I like how they imitated a ribbon by using two different shades of pink and stacking them in a way that looks like the dark-pink bricks circle the box up, down, and around. It's a nicer touch than the Minion box simply having a red bow on the top.













And speaking of bows, they actually included a bow accessory on the top attached via a claw to a pole-brick. So not only does it look nice, but you can tilt it left and right if you so please. ...Probably because you're bored...













And, of course, there's a cute Monster High skull logo on the top of the package. ...Because brand recognition.













 The other present, while not terribly designed, looks strange and out of place compared to the other box.













It also uses the other present's method of stacking differently colored bricks in a way to imitate a ribbon, but in a much more standard way with the ribbon simply going around the middle. It's something pretty much anyone with those four different bricks could create. The other one threw me off with how they thought outside the box, but this is just a standard box. ...That they didn't think outside of...













The bow for this one is... Not a bow. It's one of those four-way connectors for those pipe pieces that seem exclusive to Mega Bloks sets(such as the ones in the Call of Duty Nuketown set.) Again, this is something I could come up with if I had a stack of assorted pieces lying around.

...It's just odd that there's a huge gap in creativity between the two. It's like Mega Bloks told two different designers to create some plans for present models and the one who made the best one would get a raise. ...I think it's pretty clear who the winner is in this case.













However, the latter DOES come with a little pole that can stick to the bottom of the box.













This is the only way to get these figures to hold the presents, given their unique(and confusing) hand molds. ...And haven't we burdened Draculaura down with enough stuff by this point?













Though the little minifigure she'll give it to won't need this addition to hold the package. It's always nice to see figures from two different franchises feeling the spirit of the holidays!













Overall, these are very nicely-made presents. One's obviously nicer than the other, but both of them show much more thought and creativity than last year's model. And it was nice of them to include a little accessory to allow the figures to actually HOLD the presents, which, again, the last calendar didn't have. I don't usually like to get my presents early, but in this case, I'll make an exception. Onward to the next window!


No comments:

Post a Comment