22 March 2020

LEGO® DOTS review: 41908 Extra Dots - Series 1

Posted by Elspeth De Montes
A range of new sets from LEGO® DOTS hit the market earlier this month, and one set that looked interesting to me was 41908 Extra Dots - Series 1. These little packs are advertised as containing 109 colourful tiles, with "10 surprise charms included" so we thought we would open some up to see what we got.


Each pack is priced at  £3.99 / US$3.99 / 3.99€ which works out at 3.7 pence/cents per tile, although it works out slightly less than this due to the inclusion of spare pieces.


Each bag of 109 elements contains:
  • 20 (plus 1 spare) 1/4 Circle Tile 1X1 in Bright Bluish Green/ Dark Turquoise (6240467|25269)
  • 20 (plus 1 spare) 1/4 Circle Tile 1X1 in Bright Reddish Violet/ Magenta (6199889|25269)
  • 20 (plus 1 spare) 1/4 Circle Tile 1X1 in Spring Yellowish Green/ Yellowish Green (6240468|25269)
  • 19 (plus 1 spare) 1/4 Circle Tile 1X1 in Light Purple/ Bright Pink (6240463|25269)
  • 20 (plus 1 spare) 1x1 Round Tile in Transparent Light Blue With Glitter/ Glitter Trans-Light Blue (6299918|35380)
  • 10 (plus 1 spare) 1x1 Round Tile No 135 in White with Random Print (6299968)

New Printed Elements in 41908 Extra Dots - Series 1

The 10 advertised surprise charms turn out to number 11 once you include the spare provided – a nice surprise! They are drawn from 16 available designs which are a mix of icons, patterns and emoji, created by Senior Graphic Designer Diego López Sancho. 

Differently printed pieces are usually assigned different names and Element IDs by TLG but in the case of these charm tiles, all 16 share one assignation: 1x1 Round Tile No 135 (Element ID 6299968). This quirk presumably reflects the random nature of their selection. Therefore, on LEGO Bricks & Pieces, while were still available to order, you could not select a particular print: they were suppled randomly. There may be some confusion here for buyers given that 16 are pictured – perhaps some people would expect to receive all 16 when ordering just one? BrickOwl seem to share this confusion in their listing, labelling it a "pack" in the same way they would list family multipacks of accessories.

Meanwhile, BrickLink and Rebrickable have have listed each part individually. If you're looking to find them on those sites, here's a handy table.

Names and IDs of LEGO® DOTS printed charm tiles
Short description BrickLink name =

White Tile, Round 1 x 1 with:
BrickLink part ID Rebrickable name =

Tile Round 1 x 1 with:
Rebrickable part ID
Music Coral Musical Note Circular Outline Pattern 98138pb134 White Music Note on Coral Background print 98138pr0137
Lightning Bright Light Yellow Lightning Bolt on Medium Lavender Background Pattern 98138pb123 Yellow Lightning on Lavender Background print 98138pr0143
Jewel Dark Turquoise Diamond Outline on Medium Azure Background Pattern 98138pb125 Diamond on Medium Azure Background print 98138pr0140
Rainbow Poop Stars and Rainbow Feces Emoji on Black Background Pattern 98138pb135 Rainbow Poop/Turd, Stars print 98138pr0141
Leopard Print Medium Lavender Splotches Pattern 98138pb124 Lavender Leopard print 98138pr0149
Strawberry Coral Strawberry Pattern 98138pb133 Strawberry print 98138pr0139
Skull Skull Face with Heart Eyes in Medium Azure Circle Pattern 98138pb132 Skull, Lavender Hearts for Eyes on Medium Azure Background print 98138pr0142

Rainbow Heart Heart with Pastel Rainbow Stripes Pattern 98138pb139 Rainbow Heart print 98138pr0144
Bone Black Bone Circular Outline Pattern 98138pb131 White Bone on Black Background print 98138pr0145
Watermelon Coral Watermelon with Dark Turquoise Rind and Black Seeds Pattern 98138pb126 Watermelon Inside print 98138pr0146
Happy Emoji, Bright Light Yellow Face, Black Eyes, and Open Mouth with Coral Tongue Pattern 98138pb127 Smiley, Happy Face print 98138pr0136
Laughing Emoji, Bright Light Yellow Face, Laughing, Tears, and Open Mouth with Tongue Pattern 98138pb130 Smiley Laughing print 98138pr0148
Kissing Emoji, Bright Light Yellow Face, Black Eyebrows, Coral Heart Eyes, and '3' Puckered Lips Pattern 98138pb128 Smiley, Kiss Face, Heart for Eyes print 98138pr0134
Winking Emoji, Bright Light Yellow Face, Wink, and Tongue Sticking Out Pattern 98138pb129 Smiley Wink, Tongue print 98138pr0147
Weeping Emoji, Bright Light Yellow Face, Crying Medium Azure Tear Streams, Open Mouth with Coral Tongue Pattern 98138pb138 Smiley Crying Face print 98138pr0135
Worrying Emoji, Bright Light Yellow Face, Worried with Raised Right Eyebrow Pattern 98138pb137 Smiley Face, Frown/Sad print 98138pr0138

Newly Recoloured Element in 41908 Extra Dots - Series 1

Also included in the bag are 1x1 Round Tile in Transparent Light Blue With Glitter (6299918|35380), the first time for this particular colour. There are 20 plus a spare supplied in each bag. 



It's always nice to get a new element in a glittery colour but to get 21 of these in each packet makes this an attractive purchase. They could be great to include as bright sparkling water in your MOCs.

Randomness



I opened five bags of 41908 Extra Dots and took an image of each bag's contents. All of my packs contained the same number of elements and spares, but obviously the array of printed charm tiles was different .

EXTRA DOTS PACK1
EXTRA DOTS PACKS 2-5
Interestingly each bag contained at least one charm print that appeared three times. The final bag had three Laughing and three Jewels.  What are the chances of that? Sadly, despite opening five packets, I failed to get all 16 different charm prints. Luckily I had some spare from my previous Dots adventures with my children, when reviewing DOTS Bracelets.

I was going to do some mathematical equations to calculate how many packs you would need to get all 16 charm prints...but actually I was a bit out of my depth. Some online research showed that most people who bought three packs managed to get all 16, so I was either unlucky... or at the far end of the distribution curve.

To see the distribution our friend Richard at The Rambling Brick received, check out the end of his 41908 review here.

Conclusion

These are fun little parts packs of colourful, decorative elements with cute designs that cover a variety of topics, hopefully meeting the interests of the many. I was particularly happy with the voluminous supply of the new 1x1 Round Tile in Transparent Light Blue With Glitter.  The whole Dots concept is definitely growing on me more and more, as my children and I play with the various sets I bought.  



The price is ideal for a pocket money or 'treat' purchase and part of the excitement is discovering which charms you have received when you open the packet.  Clearly you can have a peek through the transparent window on the back of the packet if you have been struggling to locate a particular charm, so it is not all random luck if you have the time and inclination to peep inside.

Best of all, with so many extra Dots I have been able to keep the family Dotting without any arguments over who gets to wear the Rainbow Poop on their bracelet.



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12 comments:

  1. I collect printed 1x1 tiles, and store them on a 16x16 plate, in order of BrickLink number. My OCD is triggered by the fact, that the 98138pb136 Tile, Round 1 x 1 with FIAT Logo Pattern is placed in between the 16 tiles from this pack... ;-)

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    1. Aaaargh! How dare they be adding new elements at the same time!!!

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    2. The solution is simple: I get 2 copies of each print, and make 2 collections. 1 on number, 1 on set.

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  2. And of course there wouldn't be a single tile that had matching numbers on both Bricklink and Rebrickable…

    So your packets all contained _exactly_ the same mix of tiles, barring the print on the random tiles? One of the odd things I remember noting about Richard's review was that he opened two bags and got different quantities of two tiles. In both cases, his second bag had one extra. Even weirder is why they chose to short one of the four quarter-round tiles over the other three colors of the same part. Seems like it would have made more sense to short the round glitter tile instead.

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    Replies
    1. There is no one definitive numbering system for prints, so they'll always be different.
      And I was first when I added them to Rebrickable, so BrickLink is wrong ;-P

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    2. Yes Purple Dave, all of my bags were opened and photographed with no changes or swaps I promise. I was hoping for some differences and I had actually seen Richard's images on Insta although I avoided reading his review until I had finished writing mine (for obvious reasons).

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    3. @tobymac:
      The "definitive" system is that you number them consecutively as they're added to the catalog. The first issue is that it's entirely up to personal whim and random chance as to how that order is determined on each site. The other, which we may be seeing evidence of here, is that sometimes numbers get skipped, or an entry gets deleted from the catalog, so numbering systems just get out of synch with each other. It's just that, considering how many other "impossible" things are actually highly likely (like the chances of two people in a random group sharing the same birthday), I thought there might be at least one of these that shared the same number.

      @Elspeth:
      Shoot. It sounds like Richard either miscounted on the second bag, or got a fluke, since the Bricklink inventory agrees with all of your bags and Richard's first. Now it's going to bug me that they somehow chose to short one of the quarter-round tiles. If you ever get a chance to ask someone in the know, let us know?

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    4. I will do, it was irritating me a little as I kept double checking my count!

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    5. I totally sympathize. Those quarter-round tiles in particular are just...the worst. They nest so easily when they land bottom-to-bottom, the irregular shape makes it easy to rotate them in ways that create pockets that absorb extra parts, and they just feel like they're a little bit too small to be intended for adult fingers. My fingers, at least.

      I thought they were a great idea at first, but my practical experience has been that I barely use them. The clutch is a bit weak compared to other 1x1 parts, due to the stud notch, so the only thing I can say for sure I've done with them is to make half-circles for the inside of cat ears.

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  3. I am not a huge fan of the emojis for some reason but I do like the glittery blue tiles. My TFOL and I have gotten a few packs and we trade a little. We both like the non emojis better. So far we have found the diamond to be the most rare.

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  4. In the summary table: there's no 'e' in 'lightning'.

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    Replies
    1. Indeed. I can confirm that there is no 'e' in lightning in the summary table...

      Delete