Lego Pop up Book

It’s a few days after Halloween and I just got back from my local LEGO store.  I was there early for the release of the new LEGO IDEAS Pop-up Book.  and let me say, this set is a lot cooler than I thought it would be.

Before I start talking about the 850 piece set, let me begin talking about the LEGO IDEAS.  This is a website where you can submit a MOC, or design a set, and once it reaches 10,000 votes it is considered by the powers at LEGO and has the potential to become a real set.

That’s what happened in this case.

Opening the box, there was six bags and a pretty thick instruction book. The first 2 and part of bag 3 have all the pieces to build the “book” part. The rest of bag 3 has all the pieces for the Little Red Riding hood Scene, and bags 5 and 6 have the pieces needed for the Jack and the Bean Stalk scene.

Building the Book

The “book” part of this set is only really 3 colors – dark green (also called Earth Green), black and Dark Brown.  There are a lot of pieces with studs not on top “SNOT”, so it is very important to make sure they are placed in the proper orientation.  Most of the SNOT pieces are on the outside of the book, so you can attach the name plates, and some decorative pieces.  However there are several SNOT pieces inside the book, both as areas to attach parts of the scenes, as well as for some decoration.

The “pages” of the book are tan bricks, built perpendicular to the covers of the book, and yes, they are attached via SNOT pieces.

Inside the book there are a few different places to attach the scenes.  The main one is using technic pins for the primary scene.  This allows the scene to fold when the book is opened and closed.  Also, as part of this moving mechanism, is a window, which allows for a little bit more depth at the folding point.  It’s hard to describe, so maybe this photo will help.

Another attachment place for parts of the scene is near the top where there is a 4 stud long SNOT piece on each side.  This is where the bed and kitchen scene for the Little Red Riding hood went.

Finally, there is a bar connected to the inside spine of the book.  This allows for some taller elements to be put in, and in the case of the Jack and the Bean Stalk Scene, a unique folding build that extends when the book opens.

Little Red Riding Hood Scene

The first scene to be built in the Lego Once upon a Brick Book is the Little Red Riding Hood scene.  The creators decided to re-create one of the most important scenes for this build – the moment when Little Red Riding hood comes to the house and knocks on the door.  The Wolf, dressed up as Grandma, opens the door, and you can use your imagination to play out what happens next.

There are 3 minifigs in this scene, The Big Bad Wolf, Grandma, and of course Little Red Riding Hood.  Plus you get a folding house with details like opening doors and windows, a fireplace, and some flower elements.

There is also a brick built bed, and a small table scene with a pink cup and teapot.

Jack and the Beanstalk Scene

My favorite scene is the green Jack & the Beanstalk one.  It comes with a regular minifig (the giant), and also a nanofig (Jack).  The main folding scene is a brick built cloud scene with a turning windmill and some orange rooftops.

But my favorite part of the whole set is the expandable beanstalk, that grows as you open the book.  Using the pin connector on the inside spine of the book, the creators have carefully assembled a 4-brick wide beanstalk that doubles in height!

A rope element, is attached to some of the SNOT bricks inside the book, and using a parallelogram effect with Technic bricks, a castle in the sky rises at the top of a brick built beanstalk when the book is opened.  When closed, it carefully and neatly folds into a 4-brick wide build inside the book.  Ingenious!

Final thoughts about the Once upon a Brick Lego 21315

Sometimes, when I build a creator set, it gets repetitive, and boring.  The instructions require 6 detailed columns that are exactly the same.  Not with this book.  The only thing that was even slightly repetitive was building the front and back cover, but that was quick and easy.

I really like the 2 scenes that it came with.  I also like how it is super easy to MOC other scenes.  I could see lots of other versions of this book coming out with different fairy tales, or even branded series like Harry Potter or Star Wars.

One thing I wish this book had was a printed tile that could go on the spine with what scene was inside when you opened it, just like the title of a book has on a bookshelf.

Do you have this set?  If you want one, it can be purchased on Amazon.com and delivered right toy our door.  Use this link to purchase Lego set 21315, Once upon a brick and help support our site!