11 October 2020

LEGO® DOTS review: 41916 Extra Dots Series 2

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Today Andrew Barnick continues his LEGO® DOTS analysis with a look at what you get in 41916 Extra Dots Series 2. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this. If you're buying this set, consider using our affiliate links: LEGO Shop at Home & Amazon USA. New Elementary earn from qualifying purchases.

Like the first series of ‘extra DOTS’ packs, each Series 2 pack includes 115 parts (109 inventoried parts, plus six extras). Also like those earlier packs, 11 randomised ‘surprise charms’ are included.

Three colours of 1x1 round tile (35380) are featured in this set. That includes 21 in Vibrant Coral/ Coral (6311436), 20 in Bright Blue/ Blue (6284575) and 21 in Transparent with Opalescence/ Satin White (6302964). Both the Vibrant Coral and Transparent with Opalescence tiles are new and currently exclusive to this set, and while the Bright Blue tiles are not new this Extra Dots pack is your best bet for acquiring this colour in bulk, at least for the time being.

The set also contains two comparably more common colours of 1x1 quarter circle tile (25269). 21 appear in Flame Yellowish Orange/ Bright Light Orange (6214457) which has been used for this part in 13 other sets, though only one, 41906 Pineapple Pencil Holder, includes more of them than this set. Also, 21 appear in Medium Azure (6150307) which has also been used in a whopping 34 other sets but never before in this quantity, with 41905 Rainbow Jewellery Stand and 41913 Mega Pack coming closest with 12 each). As somebody who is rarely phased by minor inconsistencies in LEGO colours, I was nevertheless a little disappointed by the inconsistency in the Flame Yellowish Orange tiles, with a few of them appearing significantly darker and less vibrant than average; almost like a mustard tone.

Like Extra Dots Series 1, this pack includes 11 randomised surprise charms drawn from a pool of 16 different decorated white tiles. Unlike that set or, as well as the Mega Pack, the surprise charms in this set (6308516 | 67211) are printed on square 1x1 tiles instead of round ones. While the surprise charms from series 1 focused heavily on emoji iconography, this assortment makes wider use of text, with eight of the designs featuring short phrases or pronouns and the other eight featuring bold, colorful patterns.

My set included 7 of the 16 possible designs:

  • 3x 1x1 Tile with Teal “?” Speech Bubble on Coral Background
  • 1x 1x1 Tile with Coral LOVE Text on Magenta Background
  • 1x 1x1 Tile with Yellow and Pink Starburst on Blue Background
  • 2x 1x1 Tile with Yellow and Pink “HEY!” Text on Blue Background
  • 1x 1x1 Tile with Blue Cursive “you.” Text on Pink Background
  • 2x 1x1 Tile with Blue “MISS” Text on Teal Background
  • 1x 1x1 Tile with Shooting Star on Blue Background

Here’s an image of the full assortment of possible surprise charms available in these packs.


The patterns I missed out on include:

  • 1x1 Tile with Coral “!” Speech Bubble on Teal Background
  • 1x1 Tile with Pink/Blue Drip Pattern
  • 1x1 Tile with Pink/Teal Splatter Pattern
  • 1x1 Tile with Yellow/Pink/Blue Geometric Pattern
  • 1x1 Tile with Blue/Teal/Yellow “YES” Text on Pink Background
  • 1x1 Tile with Yellow Cursive “me.” Text on Magenta Background
  • 1x1 Tile with Pink/Magenta Heart Pattern on Yellow Background
  • 1x1 Tile with Pink/Yellow “DREAM BIG” Text on Teal Background
  • 1x1 Tile with Blue “YOU ROCK!” Text on Pink Star and Coral Background

As with the surprise charms in Series 1 and the Mega Pack, the randomisation and quantity per pack necessarily mean that a single pack will not include all 16 possible designs, but each possible decoration has a roughly 50% chance of appearing in any given pack. This means that getting two to three packs is likely (though not guaranteed) to get you at least one full set. And at $3.99/ £3.99/ 3.89€, buying multiples is much easier than it is with the larger Mega Pack.

1x1 round tiles in Transparent with Opalescence/ Satin White (element 6302964)

I’ll take a moment to highlight the Transparent with Opalescence tiles, considering that this colour is new and rare. Like the other opalescent/satin colors, it features a fine glittery additive that creates a somewhat cloudy effect. 

Here’s a comparison between some of the Transparent with Glitter/ Glitter Trans-Clear tiles from my previous review of 41913 Mega Pack (left) and these new Transparent with Opalescent tiles (right). Note that I switched to a Dark Stone Grey/ Dark Bluish Gray baseplate for these photos since the opacity of the opalescent tiles wasn’t quite as apparent on a white background.

Dotting with Series 2

Like with my other review, I wouldn’t want to leave things at just the parts; despite the lack of instructions in Dots sets, how you can use the parts is just as important as what parts there are! 

Here’s one idea I came up with using just the parts from this set as well as the black bracelet from 41903 Cosmic Wonder. Perhaps I had the recent release of 71374 Nintendo Entertainment System and the rest of the LEGO Super Mario sets on my brain, but the vibrant colours of tiles in this set on the stark black background reminded me of the screen of a video game, and three of the Flame Yellowish Orange quarter circle tiles made for a perfect Pac-Man. To turn that fledgling idea into a full design I mirrored it with an azure ghost  on the other end of the band with a line of opalescent ‘pellets’ between them, and just to spice things up with a little more colour I added two of the coral tiles on top of Pac-Man’s head to turn them into Ms. Pac-Man from the 1982 sequel!

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4 comments:

  1. It's a shame, that the quarter circle tile (25269) has still not been reissued in 'dark tan' although it has been used in plenty of other colors in the 'Dots" series.
    Yet, it was only once available in 'dark tan': in the Luke/Yoda Brickheadz set. It's terribly expensive at Bricklink at not available at Lego's bricks & pieces. I cross fingers, 'Dots' will bring it back as soon as possible...

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  2. If you really want to see some variation, look at those Flame Yellowish Orange dots under a black light. RamblingBrick did some investigations of those. https://www.ramblingbrick.com/2020/03/10/dabbling-with-dots-iii-jewellery-holder-41905/amp/

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    Replies
    1. I found something similar two decades ago, with old brown parts from the Bionicle theme. Since it was so early in the theme, the parts I was looking at were all created for the very first release of Toa sets, specifically the Toa torso and foot, but there were two very distinct reactions under UV. Under regular lighting, I couldn't tell the difference. This was not the case with the purple Krana, of which I collected a full set in both shades. One shade is consistently reactive under UV, and the other shade is not. But the weirdest I've encountered is red 1x2 bricks that look marbled under UV.

      For this review, I don't know if it's the lighting, but I see what appear to be five distinct shades. The two darkest are the last one in the second row, and the fourth one in the fourth row. Next are second in the second and fourth rows, and first in the bottom three rows. Then it's the three in the upper left corner, as well as the one in each of the upper and lower right corners. The one I'm least certain about is the lightest tile, which is the center of the top row.

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  3. I would love to see more parts in the trans-black-opal they used for the 2x2 window panes in the Mickey & Minnie set.

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