This post is a review of the nanoblock French Bulldog build. French Bulldog is part of the nanoblock Mini Collection series. Wondering what else is part of the Mini Collection? Click here for a list.
Number: NBC_050
Number of Pieces: 110
Difficulty Rating: 2
The build begins by creating the dog’s body. It goes up in simple layers. I used my nanoblock pad to build the body.
The body flows into the main section head. There are great head details like rounded bricks to create the nose.
The next step is to add the 4 legs and the 2 ears. At this point, I attached the dog to the base.
The last section is the little food bowl. Loose bricks represent kibble in the bowl. I don’t like loose bricks in the build, so I placed the bricks in the bowl.
Things I liked:
I feel that the shape of the dog’s head makes the build highly recognizable.
Things I didn’t like:
The food is supposed to be loose in the bowl. I don’t like loose bricks in final builds.
This post is a review of the nanoblock Jurassic Park – Velociraptor build. Jurassic Park – Velociraptor is part of the nanoblock Universal Studio Japan collection. Wondering what else is part of the Universal Studios Japan collection? Click here for a list.
Number of Pieces: 100
Difficulty Rating: 2
The build begins by building the body of the Velociraptor. I laid the bricks out on my nanoblock pad. The body goes up fairly straightforward layers creating a curve to the body.
The next step is to build is the build. The head is built separately and attached to the body.
The build is now flipped over, and details are added to the bottom of the build. First, some details are added to the bottom, and the arms are added.
The legs and tail are added. The legs aren’t symmetrical, which was a bit surprising and unexpected.
The velociraptor is then attached to the base. It was a bit tricky to get the dinosaur to stand on the base. I ended up popping off the bottom of the legs and placing the feet on the base. Then I added the grass around the dinosaur.
Things I liked:
I like the sign that comes with the kit. It was just 1 large brick, so the sticker lay smoothly
Things I didn’t like:
I feel that the grass isn’t really needed for the finished build
This post is a review of the nanoblock Rabbit build. Rabbit is part of the nanoblock Mini Collection series. Wondering what else is part of the Mini Collection? Click here for a list.
Number: NBC_030
Number of Pieces: 90
Difficulty Rating: 2
This kit was re-released as part of the Zodiac Set. It is the kit with the lowest number in the Zodiac, so the cycle started with the rabbit.
I bought this kit used, knowing I would at least get the instructions. I also ended up getting all the bricks to complete the kit. Sadly, however, the white has become yellow with age. The discolored bricks may be visible in my photographs.
The rabbit began with a layer of white bricks that I laid out on my nanoblock pad. The body of the rabbit goes up in fairly straightforward layers.
The front legs are then attached to the front of the build. Since I wanted to put the rabbit on the base I needed to put the feet together so that the paws were properly spaced for the base. After attaching the front legs, I put the body of the rabbit on the base.
The next section to build is the head. The head is straightforward, with very clear directions. The head is then attached to the body.
The final step is to add the ears of the rabbit.
There are materials to build 2 carrots. I reversed the carrots so that they could stand on the base because I didn’t want loose carrots on the base of the build.
Things I liked:
I like the shape and how recognizable the build is
Things I didn’t like:
I don’t like that there are supposed to be loose carrots in the build. I was able to find a workaround for this build
In 2022, nanoblock completed a set of Chinese Zodiac animals, which was the year of the tiger. The collection began with the year of the Rabbit. Each year, they release an animal that matches the Chinese Zodiac animal for the current year. I was super excited they put this collection together because several builds weren’t common.
I’ve written a review for each of the separate NBC builds instead of a review for the set as a whole. There is a link below for each review.
Number: NB-055
Number of Pieces: 2020
Difficulty Rating: 3/5
Based on the back of the box, the following sets are included in the set:
I’m super happy they released this collection. I had tried to collect the zodiac but had a hard time finding some of the pieces. It was nice that a complete set was released.
This post is a review of the nanoblock Electric Guitar Red build. Electric Guitar Red is part of the nanoblock Mini Collection series. Wondering what else is part of the Mini Collection? Click here for a list.
Number: NBC_037
Number of Pieces: 130
Difficulty Rating: 2
This build is simply a tower of bricks that are 2-3 bricks deep. This allows there to be some depth and detail but to still have the trim body of an electric guitar.
The build begins with the base of the guitar. The build then goes up in layers to create the body of the guitar. I needed to be careful to make sure I completed each layer correctly. It was a bit tricky to tell exactly which brick to use.
After building the body, the neck is added. The neck is two 16 brick towers, one clear and one golden yellow.
The last step is to build the head of the guitar. It was fairly straightforward and simple to build. I don’t really like how the finished neck looks on the finished guitar.
Things I liked:
I really like that the build came with a pair of bricks to create a base for the guitar
Things I didn’t like:
I don’t really like how the head of the guitar looks
This post is a review of the nanoblock Mega Man build. Mega Man is part of the nanoblock Character collection. Wondering what else is part of the Character collection? Click here for a list.
Number: NBCC_132
Number of Pieces: 170
Difficulty Rating: 2/5
Mega Man is the main hero of the Mega Man video games. The original game came out in 1987. For more information about him, check out his Wikipedia article here.
Mega Man is broken into 2 parts. There is Mega Man and an Energy Tank.
Mega Man
The actual Mega Man build is broken up into 4 sections. There is the head, the body, the base, and the shots.
The head goes up in generally straightforward layers. The front builds up a pixilated face, and the rest of the way around builds his helmet. Building the head is a bit tricky because of the face. The face is built with several stacks of single bricks, so it is easy to pop a column out of place and tricky to keep things lined up.
The body begins with a square of dark blue. The body goes up in several layers. Unlike many nanoblock builds, Mega Man isn’t square because he is turning backward, so the body layers aren’t square. The body is finished by adding the arms. One arm is curved under his body, and the other is going backward, held out to shoot.
The shots are extremely straightforward. They are a chain of clear bricks with the shots on top of the chain.
The last section is the base. The feet are laid out on the base. The legs are then added in layers to the feet.
The next step is to put the 4 sections together. There is a great side-view diagram to get the base, body, and head lined up properly. The last step is to attach the shots to the outstretched arm.
Energy Tank
The energy tank is a simple collection of layers to build the tank. The only challenge is that you can’t build it on the nanoblock pad because the base layer isn’t square.
Things I liked:
I like that he isn’t square and sifted on his hips
Things I didn’t like:
I don’t love the face because the eyes are so big, but it does look like the original pixel video game image
This post is a review of the nanoblock Alpaca build. Alpaca is part of the nanoblock Mini Collection series. Wondering what else is part of the Mini Collection? Click here for a list.
Number: NBC_079
Number of Pieces: 110
Difficulty Rating: 2
This build is broken up into 3 sections. There is a head, neck, and body. I built each section on my nanoblock pad.
The head is very straightforward. There are several colors in the head. The colors create the nose, eyes, and ears.
The neck is a very straightforward 4 layers of bricks.
The body section is very straightforward. Although the body section is hollow, the instructions provide directions to create a very solid core of bricks.
I added the legs and placed the body on the base before connecting the head and neck. This is because I wasn’t sure how difficult it would be to get the legs lined up with the base.
Once I had attached the body to the base, I added the neck and head and completed the build.
Things I liked:
I really like how recognizable the build is. I feel that the legs help to make the Alpaca look fluffy.
Things I didn’t like:
I don’t really like the dark yellow used to create the ears of the Alpaca
This post is a review of the nanoblock Blinky and Inky build. Blinky and Inky is part of the nanoblock Character collection. Wondering what else is part of the Character collection? Click here for a list.
Number: NBCC_106
Number of Pieces: 180
Difficulty Rating: 2/5
Blinky and Inky are 2 of the ghosts from the Pac-Man video game. They travel around the map trying to kill Pac-Man.
There are 2 other ghosts in the video game, Pinky and Clyde. However, there isn’t a kit for Pinky and Clyde. I have looked at the parts required for each ghost, and currently, the bricks required to build Pinky and Clyde are not produced, so it doesn’t seem possible to make the ghosts at this point in time.
Blinky and Inky are identical builds, except 1 build is in light blue for Inky, and 1 build is in red for Blinky.
The build is made of several smaller sections that are stacked on top of each other to create the main body of the ghost.
First, there is the base layer that creates an outline of the base of the ghost.
Next is a section of a few layers that creates the back of the ghost.
Next is a section that creates the eyes.
The final section is a hat that closes up the eye section and the back section.
Once the main body of the ghost is complete, the build is flipped over, and the little legs are added to the bottom of the build.
Things I liked:
I really like how the eyes are offset and how the angles are created sadly, this means special blocks are needed, so special blocks are needed to build the other 2 ghosts
Things I didn’t like:
That only 2 of the ghosts are represented, and the other 2 can’t be created with leftover parts
This post is a review of the nanoblock Chimpanzee build. Chimpanzee is part of the nanoblock Mini Collection series. Wondering what else is part of the Mini Collection? Click here for a list.
Number: NBC_069
Number of Pieces: 130
Difficulty Rating: 4
This section is broken into 3 parts. There is the head, main body, and the Chimpanzee’s rear end.
The head is a bit difficult to build. This is because, overall, the head is very flexible while you are building it. Whenever I added new bricks to a new section, some of the previously added bricks would fall off.
The Chimpanzee’s hips and rear end are another major section of the build. This section was very straightforward.
The third major section is the body. I would highly recommend building on a nanoblock pad. This is because there are bricks that are added to a level but not pinned in place until a couple layers later. Besides things not getting pinned in place by each layer, the build is fairly straightforward.
These 3 sections are connected to build the main body of the Chimpanzee.
The last step is to add the legs. The back legs are identical and are very simple. The front legs are trickier and require reading directions full of arrows, which makes reading more difficult. There is a display stand for the Chimpanzee. I had a surprisingly difficult time getting my build to sit on the stand.
Things I liked:
I like how recognizable the build is as Chimpanzee
Things I didn’t like:
Lining him up on the base was surprisingly difficult. I was able to attach it, but it took much longer than I expected
This post is a review of the nanoblock Pesuke build. Pesuke is part of the nanoblock Character collection. Wondering what else is part of the Character collection? Click here for a list.
Number: NBCC_026
Difficulty Rating: 1/5
Pesuke is from “Pesuke and Usagi.” I’m not sure if he is a chick or a ghost, but I think both the anime style and nanoblock build are cute.
Since this kit is so old, I had a hard time finding the kit. I was able to find a kit that had been completed with the instructions. The kit arrived prebuilt in a Tupperware container. I don’t have the packaging for the kit. I’ve written my description of the build based on the directions.
Pesuke has tiny feet. For this reason, the build is built on a 2×10 base. The feet are placed on the front section with a clear brick on the back. However, according to the directions, Pesuke is placed on one end of the base instead of being centered, which is unusual.
After placing the feet on the base, the rest of the build is built in simple layers. At the beginning of the build, the layers are white. Once you reach the head, colored bricks are used to create cheeks, nose, and eyes.
After building the face, the head is closed up, creating a rounded dome shape.
Things I liked:
I really appreciate that nanoblock keeps his feet small so he looks like the character
Things I didn’t like:
I wish the instructions recommended centering the build on the base brick instead of having it off to one side
