TopToy 16001 Retro Television Unboxing and Build Pictures (Part One)

Yo, what's up everyone! I'm back with another not Lego set review, this one is another new brick brand that I discovered on Aliexpress.  The brand is called Top Toy and the set I'll be unboxing and building today is the 645 piece Retro Television set number 16001.  It is part of their vintage appliances series.

If product unboxing and build pics are not your thing you can skip to my next post (Part Two) where I show you the pictures of the completed set and give a rating for the set.

I got this from the Top Toy Aliexpress store for just under $20 CDN with a promotional discount coupon and free shipping to boot.  Aa a bonus, they even sent me the boxed item, which has very cool graphics on it.   On the side of the box, it says Living Room and there are two minifigures in pajamas, one is a guy and the other a girl.   Just want to mention that this Top Toy uses Lego compatible bricks. The only difference is the minifigure construction, which I will discuss later in this post.

On the back, they have more graphics of the TV set showing the back and interior.  Let's see if the bricks are high quality as they say!

BTW, I did some research on the Top Toy brand, and they are part of the Miniso group of companies that specialize in Japanese themed items, even though the company originates in China.  They have a handful of other building block sets but mostly specialize in small blind box items.  

I did see a cool game arcade diorama set on their Aliexpress store, which I might get later.   With discount, that set is also under $20 CDN with 557 pieces and free shipping too.

Oh, and I saw some Sembo Japanese themed shop sets rebranded as Top Toy on their Aliexpress store as well.

Hmm, looks like they increased the price since I bought it.  Hope you can use the Aliexpress discounts to get a better price.

Unboxing the Top Toy Retro TV

Anyways, let's unbox this set and check it out.  Upon cracking open the box, we find the nine bags of building block pieces, three labelled 1, three bags labelled 2, and three bags labelled 3.

A baseplate and two bags, one containing the TV "glass" screen, and the other a bag of minifigure fingers, lol.

Three cards for the interior of the living room walls/

And a bonus postcard that reads "Top Toy Everyone Is Player One" with a picture of some cartoon animals behind a sign that says "Let's TT Carnival".

The user manual is a booklet that has 79 pages with 187 steps divided into three sections with the aforementioned parts bags each pertaining to either section 1, 2 or 3.  The front of the user manual is identical to the box front.

The back of the user manual shows you the other models in the retro appliance series.  They are the gramophone 16002, the refrigerator 16003 and the washing machine 16004.  I believe each of these sets come with a little vignette inside with accompanying mini figures.

Here's a sample page from the instruction manual, all the steps are clearly marked.

Building the Retro TV

Here are the contents of the three parts bags for Section 1.  And yes, I'm building the set on my bed, lol.  I came upstairs right after dinner to build the retro TV and completed it right before bedtime.   Appropriate since the minifigs are in their PJs.

Here's the legs at the bottom of the TV.

Next we are building the side and back of the TV.  The brick quality and clutch is decent.  There are some very subtle colour variations in some of the red bricks but only noticeable if you look hard.  The set is rated for ages 6 and up, but attaching the side of the TV to the bottom requires a steady and patient hand because it uses the SNOT construction technique throughout the build.

Here's the back panel with the simulated video input jacks.  For extra realism, Top Toy could have simulated an electric plug and cable.

Attaching the back panel to the side and bottom of the TV.  With that we have finished Section 1.

Ok, let's unpack the parts for section 2.

Step 2 build the other side of the TV and the top.

We also build the TV screen and controls.  The knobs have a metallic sheen to them.

All done constructing the retro TV!   Let's move on to section 3 before we finish the TV.

Here are all the parts for section 3 of the build.

So inside of the TV, there's supposed to be a furnished living room that is occupied by two minifigures.

To get around any minifigure design infringements, Top Toy uses a double pin system which is inserted into the torso to hold the arms in place.  The rest of the minifigure including the head, hairpiece and legs look to be Lego compatible.

The guy's green striped PJs and the girls orange PJs with the hearts are printed nicely.  There's even some striping detailing along the hems and sleeves.

Not happy with the default minifigure hands?  No problem, Top Toy gives you a bonus set of hands/fingers which you can use.  There are two sets of 10 styles.  Be careful when using that middle finger hand!

Hey, I'm going to end this post right here and keep you in suspense.  The next post (Part Two) will show you the finished Retro TV.  Bye for now!

Cada Steamed Bun Shop and Summer Breeze Coffee Shop Picture Show (Special Promo by Afobrick.com)

Hey, what's up people, welcome back to Bricks and Figs!  I recently built both of the @exesandbox designed Japanese themed buildings for which I posted separate detailed reviews of the Steamed Bun shop and the Summer Breeze coffee shop.

You can find pictures of the individual buildings on various websites, but I've yet to come across many pictures of both the bun shop and coffee shop together, so that's what this post will do.  

For a limited time only, afobrick.com is doing a special promo, buy both the CADA C66007 coffee shop and the C66006 steamed bun shop together and get 8% off their already low prices.

The side you mostly won't see.

Drone view

Side of the bun shop

Beauty shot

Coffee shop with doors closed

The buildings really shine at night!

Hope you have enjoyed the pictures of both the Cada buildings together.  Don't forget to take advantage of the special pricing only found at AFOBRICK.com!

See ya!

Cada C66007 Summer Breeze Coffee Shop Review (Not Lego)

Hey brick fans, welcome back to Bricks and Figs!   Ready for another review?  Let's go!

Today, we will be reviewing another beautiful designed building by Exe Sandbox (instagram: @exesandbox) in partnership with Doublee_Cada blocks.  Not too long ago, I reviewed the Cada Steamed Bun Shop which was Exe Sandbox's first collaboration with Cada, and I can say that that was an awesome set.

Thanks to afobrick.com, I get to review the 1108 piece Summer Breeze Coffee Shop.  You can find this set on their on-line store right now.  Shipping is free and superfast, as I can attest to getting my set in under 2 weeks.

Here's what the building block set consists of, besides the instruction manual.  There's a small sticker sheet, an LED light string with USB adapter, and several bags of parts. Bags with the number 1 on them correspond to building instructions starting with A in the manual, and bags with the number 2 on them are to be used in steps with  the letter B.

Just like in the Steamed Bun shop, there is an introduction on the first page of the manual by ExeSandbox.  The instructions are clear and easy to follow on this set.

Here's some of the pics I took during the build.  Lots of nice detailing!  Bricks are top notch and have their own logo on them.  They don't use Gobricks but the quality is just the same.

"CaDA Bricks is a brand of building bricks created by the Double Eagle Group, located in mainland China (Shantou city). Our toy bricks are produced from high quality raw materials and certified according to leading International Safety Standards. CaDA was established in 2016 and has since developed many successful building bricks sets."

Source: https://decadastore.com/pages/about-us

About the summer breeze coffee shop, it's a smaller building that has a footprint of 17 studs wide by 19 studs deep.  There is a small sidewalk in front of the shop that's occupied by a construction pylon and what appears to be a manhole cover.  The raised platform is home to several plants and a signboard listing the coffee prices in japanese yen.

Here's a better look at the shop interior.  There's a counter that runs the width of the shop with seating for three on the stools.  A small shelf next to the counter has more plants.  The coffee machine sits on the counter with a small sink behind it.  The coffee menu on the wall is the same one on the signboard.  A large potted plant occupies another part of the counter.  Finally the back wall has a shelf and a ventilation unit.  For such a small building, this little coffee shop is packed with details.  

It's a tight squeeze behind the counter, but the barista can at least exit the shop via the side entrance with it's unique covering.  Notice the technic brick here, I think it can be used with a technic pin to attach it to the side of Cada steamed bun shop.

Here's another look at the interior.  There's a flip up window over the sink that could be used as a drive through window if one wanted to be really creative.

As with the steamed bun shop, the coffee shop is equipped with the same LED lighting.  I fed the lighting wire through a small hole in the back wall and  it snakes around the top perimeter of the shop.  You have to provide your own power supply because the building kit doesn't come with.  You can use the light's USB adapter to plug it into any device or battery pack that has a USB slot.

With the panel and sliding door installed, you really can't appreciate the interior details, which is why you'll notice that I purposely left them off in my pictures.  The lower part of the building is complete, time to move on to the shop roof.

I love the design that ExeSandbox used to create the retractable overhang in the roof.

It's controlled by this knob you turn on the rear of the building.

Another cool feature is the opening skylight with a pivoting support arm to keep it open.

Front features of the roof includes some kind of mechanical box with chrome piping. There are three small spotlights and signage for the shop.  Too bad these couldn't be lit up!

Here's the coffee shop with the roof on!  Looks amazing!  BTW, I chose to swap the positions of the sign board and the light pole.  I think it's a cleaner look this way.  And I left off the construction pylon in most of my pics, because I feel it detracts from the beauty of the shop.

Displayed with doors removed.

With canopy extended.

You can only feel the summer breeze with the windows and doors open.

Especially when you open the skylight in the roof.

Please know that the two mini figures in the pictures, do not come with the set. I added them from my collection so you can get an idea whether this set is compatible scale-wise to other Lego style modular buildings.  I think the scale of the summer breeze coffee shop is perfect.

I really enjoyed this build and the way it looks. The architecture and design really stands out.  So many details and features for such a small set, like the opening skylight, the cantilevered extension, and the sliding doors.  Even the stickers were great!  Five stars for the Cada Summer Breeze Coffee Shop!

Please check out their the afobrick.com store for this and other great Lego compatible building sets.  Don't forget to use coupon code ITSNOTLEGO at checkout to get a further discount off your purchases.

The two Cada sets look great together!   Bye and thanks for visiting Bricks and Figs!