Secret Santa 2021

Dude4Lego

I got quite the haul. 

BooTheMightyHamster

Thank you very much indeed, Santa!

The chocolates won't last long.  Love the Shang-Chi set - that looks like it's got a bit of everything.  Cars, bikes, minifigs - I'll enjoy building that.  The Santa set looks to be terrific fun, and I'm really excited about the Golden Snitch set.  I love a rarity or something a bit unusual, and I'd never heard of that.  Looks to be a set that was only available briefly, about two years ago, as an in-store build. 

You've been very generous - thanks again.

If it wasn't for BSSS, it would have been a Lego-free Christmas at chez Boo.

You saved the day! 

Brainslugged

Thank you Secret Santa! I love the two Star Wars sets. I'm not quite sure how I ended up already owning the Mary Rey Sue and emo Kylo Brickheadz #41489 but not the set with badass Kylo and a Sith Trooper. But I'm very happy to have them now! And who doesn't love a micro-fighter TIE?

Thanks also for the three polybags for my girls. Other than some Dots bag tags I got as stocking-stuffers for my youngest, these were the only lego sets under the tree this year. :(

My heart always sinks when I see all the squashy presents under the tree, so getting nice boxes of rattly stuff from Brickset Secret Santa is always a highlight of Christmas.

MeganL

Thanks, Secret Santa!  Just what I needed - something to start me off on a new theme....

jmeninno

I will have to follow up tomorrow with a more formal post.  Without going into details, I am mentally fried and can't do justice to what my BSSS did for me.

The only reason I'm posting at all is so that if they are watching the thread, that they know how truly grateful I am for such a creative and thoughtful gift.  I can't wait to post several pics and do the build, hopefully tomorrow.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

SumoLego

Not to distract from the Secret Santa Festivities, but the raffle is up - follow the link below!

https://forum.brickset.com/discussion/37648/bendybadgers-brickset-bonusball-bonanza-sumolego-lowlead-edition-drawing-12-31-2021#latest

eMJeeNL

Thank you BSSS!!! Very pretty packaged and decorated packages. Opening them yielded a xtra poly, a set and a CMF from my wanted list, but also a personalized MOC for my WV! It even included printed instructions and it’s own set number. Superb, thank you again!!

brickedin

Thank you BSSS, these neatly fill gaps in my wanted list. This is the only Lego I received this year and will be very much enjoyed.

thanks once again to all the helpers, proving again what a lovely bunch of people frequent these forums. 

TheOriginalSimonB

Well, once again BSSS has knocked it out of the park.  There was a note saying I could open one on Christmas eve but I didn't have time, so it was all done yesterday but then no time to post.  Everything had a cryptic message, starting with a sticker that wasn't wrapped:



Then we had a sense of mystery...




A pencil box - which will be very useful if/when we ever go back to working in the office.




Yes, shaped and feels like a CMF pack, but who's inside?





Well, not everything has to, but looks like the contents will help for keeping rattly things in:


Then something to be careful with...



That was unexpected!  These will sit on the desk.



Well, if you insist...


Big pug meets little pug.

And finally


Yup, definitely a familiar sound, but what?

Oh.


A set from my dark ages I was not previously aware of!

In summary:



Thanks very much, whoever you are, for an absolutely top-notch selection of stuff.

Enjoyment and practicality in one big package.

shikadi

Thank you to the organizers for another special Christmas! And thank you to my BSSS for the thoughtful hand written card and two vehicles that have been on my wish list for a while!

PJ76uk

Thank you BSS for my gifts, notepads always come in useful when you have young daughters who doodle on any scraps of paper they see! Creator 3-in-1 sets are always fun and will be built later today. Not sure what to make of the action figure. Has Lego stamp on its back and arm/leg connectors appear to be Lego connectors so I will have to search the database for more info on it.

kiki180703

Thank you very much Secret Santa, these are two sets I've been looking for! I'll be building the Ice Skating rink ASAP to put it with my other Christmas GWPs. It's always fun to receive some rattly boxes in the mail every year :)

560Heliport

PJ76uk said:

Thank you BSS for my gifts, notepads always come in useful when you have young daughters who doodle on any scraps of paper they see! Creator 3-in-1 sets are always fun and will be built later today. Not sure what to make of the action figure. Has Lego stamp on its back and arm/leg connectors appear to be Lego connectors so I will have to search the database for more info on it.

Ohhh, are you in for a shock! :)

gratefulnat

TheOriginalSimonB said:

That is just so cool!

Addicted2Oxygen

Finally found some time to take photos and post. 

Thank you BSS these are super. My son will love the fire truck set (am slightly concerned about how many of his games have things on fire!), and my daughter will love the Minecraft panda set. She has a world that is dedicated to pandas! And the sweets will keep me going in January. 

Thank you to the BSS organisers for another fantastic year. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

KungFuKenny

PJ76uk said:

Not sure what to make of the action figure. Has Lego stamp on its back and arm/leg connectors appear to be Lego connectors so I will have to search the database for more info on it.

You’ve got yourself an honest-to-goodness Nick Bluetooth there!

As seen on TV (and clearance shelves) from way back in 2002…

evantyler

After returning home from a holiday visit with my family, I was so delighted to open my Brickset Secret Santa gifts. I love them! I always appreciate holiday-themed LEGO sets, and that little train ornament, in particular, has had my eye for awhile. Thank you so much to my Secret Santa and to the organizers! And here's to a happy and healthy 2022! 

stlux

After the family presents had gone from under the tree, the Unikitty my Secret Santa had made only had these lovely packages to guard anymore: 



Finally some Lego! (My family has long given up on getting me Lego.)



The set has immediately been built and been added to my helmet collection. The chocolate cookies will be tried later this week. 😊



Thank you for these gifts and the lovely cards, and Merry Christmas everybody!

smsloggett

Thank you, so generous and thoughtful! Filling some gaps in my Mixels.

Merry Christmas.

CCC

I received a nice seasonal set, some yet to be determined CMFs, a skeleton guitarist and another Uruk-hai to add to Saruman's army. Thanks BSSS!

plasmodium

Opened this a little late due to mad family Christmasses but BSSS very much hit it out of the park. First was a sealed, classified document from the Neo Classic Space Corps (for all my colonising and terraforming needs.

Many sub-gifts:

Note the official Lego parts bags!

My very own mini-monorail! (I guess technically it is a duo-rail but that's not the spirit of it, is it)

The temptation to collect the last few Lego spacemen is getting stronger year by year...I think I only need black and orange now and then the DIY grey and purple ones. Plus then all the City torsos with space themes...

SilentMode

Just dropping by to say thank you to my Secret Santa for these sets.

One of them was delivered in a way oversized Amazon box, around the right size to be concerned about being wound up - but thankfully it wasn't the case.

The camper van was a pleasant reminder of an old-school set I'd bought from Toys 'R Us way back in the day.

FireFox31

eMJeeNL said:

a personalized MOC for my WV! It even included printed instructions and it’s own set number. Superb, thank you again!!

Before I read the text of the post, I immediately went to Brickset trying to find that adorable set.  Looked legitimate.  Good job!

jmeninno

Okay, I finally made some time tonight to do my build and to do this post right...or should I say...justice?  ("Vengeance" doesn't fit here.)

(As an aside, I will upload pics on the next post.  I'm not super tech savvy and wanted to make sure my dialogue came before the pics.)

On Christmas Day at midnight, I opened my present.  I was up doing some "role play" if you catch my drift and I couldn't wait to open my present up.  I discovered a cereal box for a new cereal on the market called Batarang Bites!  I took several minutes admiring the artwork and witty writing.  I didn't take a picture of the top or bottom of the box, but the cereal box was complete with the name of the cereal on the top and with a UPC on the bottom!  I was amazed at the thought and time and energy put into this.

Although, I wasn't sure what I would find inside.  An MOC, perhaps?  Polybags?  My mind was racing.  I remembered someone commenting on the thread leading up to this big day...something about...needing to get lots of black pieces...I peeked inside and found, drum roll please, picture 5 below.

I immediately knew what set it was that I would be building:  The 2014 SDCC Batmobile!  The minifigs and wheels and colors of the pieces gave it away.  This was further confirmed by the nice card that was inside the box, as it was described to be a set from my wanted list that I may not be able to come across otherwise.  The weblink written in the card took me a moment to figure out, as apparently bit.ly is case sensitive...and I have..."chosen poorly".  (Ok, I deviated from Batman to Indiana Jones.  Sue me.  Wait...Sumo, stay away!)

I bricklinked the 2019 SDCC Batman set (#77903) and it took a lot of time (complete with multiple pauses in the building upon discovering I ordered the incorrect number of pieces, or missed a piece altogether.  With that said, I can only imagine how much time this took to put this together for me.

Thank you to my BSS/BSSS.  I really appreciate it.  Also, if you need that spare piece in picture #6, let me know and I can try to get it to you :)

jmeninno

norm103

Great gifts from my SS thanks you they will be enjoyed. 

Switchfoot55

Honestly, I think I'm just about in a state of shock. Not one, not two, but three different individuals took it upon themselves to make sure I was included in the BSSS this year. With all that has been, is, and will be going on in life right now, this was the last thing I expected. I feel so blessed to be on the receiving end of such immense generosity. 

Some might look at an online LEGO community and think that it's just a bunch of people who talk about LEGO. And, although that is certainly at the heart of it, I have found many many many times over that the connections and bonds created amongst the members of this forum go far beyond just "talking LEGO." 

To the three that sent gifts, thank you! That seems to fall so short of expressing exactly how I feel. I am moved, humbled, and forever grateful! 



This morning (delayed due to a sudden snow storm that hit), I received a package that opened to reveal this: 


Seeing as we're past the big day, I dove right in! 

On the left are all the gifts sent by the individual above. A Snowflake Ornament MOC with a Chrome Stormtrooper (this alone was already more than enough!!!), then several polys from my wanted list, including parts for promo set #40395 Chinese Dragon! 

On the right is #40416 GWP also from my wanted list sent by Santa #2. 

Also on the right is the custom water tower, reindeer, some additional parts for my WV, four custom stained glass windows from Eclipse Grafx, and a few custom tiles from the Eclipse as well. Not pictured is the new ornament set from this year, a Rex minifig, and three sheep also sent.


Again, saying thanks will never seem like quite enough. The three of you, and others who have expressed generosity in the same or other ways, will always hold a special place in my heart. 

Your stories of kindness have been shared with my kids as a life lesson. Every time we look at these sets, we'll remember your wonderful gifts!!!


Thank you also to the amazing organizers of this annual event. I know it takes a lot of work. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!!!

LASE

I finally found the time today to take pictures of the gifts I received from my Secret Santa.
It was a pleasure to build the two polybags.
I had to put Arielle playing the piano above the piano...



The bird overlooking it was a delight to build.

the third gift was the highlight!
It must have come from the privat collection of my Secret Santa: it was a lovely taxi to be placed in my Winter Village.
(it had not survived completely intact, but it was easily rebuild)
It even included the bricks to change it to a regular taxi instead of the holiday variant:




Thank you again Secret Santa for these gifts!
And thanks everyone else for this wonderful community!

CCC

norm103 said:

Cool mug, I've not seen that one before.

khmellymel

I finally managed to open my gifts several days late - Christmas has been an absolute hectic whirlwind of chaos at ours due to visiting in-laws, kiddo nieces and nephews and my exhausted, over stimulated 3 month old!  

The Vidiyo set in particular looks amazing, the minifigs will certainly get a place of pride!  One niece in particular is super jelly of this haul, and made me promise to wait till her next visit so we can build it together. 

Thanks ever so much Secret Santa! 

And thank you once again to the amazing organisers! 

KungFuKenny

khmellymel said:

Christmas has been an absolute hectic whirlwind of chaos at ours due to visiting in-laws, kiddo nieces and nephews and my exhausted, over stimulated 3 month old!  

Then I think it is past time to crack open that bottle in the background!

khmellymel

^ LOL too right! We keep meaning to but then something comes up and we have to hurry to the next place (apparently it takes forever to get ready with a baby) .  Strangely enough we have no plans for new year so I think that it's on the agenda! 

SumoLego

Just a reminder that today is the last day to get your entry into to the Bendybadger BonusBall drawing for a Luke Skywalker's Lightsaber!

https://forum.brickset.com/discussion/37648/bendybadgers-brickset-bonusball-bonanza-sumolego-lowlead-edition-drawing-12-31-2021#latest

snowhitie

Wonderful to see all went well and people have come through once again. Great to see all the presents and read about all the joy. Was strange not being in the driver's seat but it was lucky since things got a bit worse before they got better so I wouldn't have been able to do it justice. Thank you to @KungFuKenny, @stlux and @kiki180703 for the organising and all your work & thank to you all for being such great sports!

I've finally managed to start building again on the Blacksmith shop that I had to abandon a while ago. Me and my son and I are planning to make a medieval village since we didn't get to do a winter one :)

This is the start! some of the old castles sets are already build in the cupboards so we'll get them out & combine with #31120 that I got for Xmas.

Great to see @[email protected] stepping up once again with a bonus ball. Won't enter officially since I've not been that active but I will say, for me Die Hard is a movie set at Xmas that they play on TV at Xmas but it's not really a Xmas movie :) that's my 2 cents.

Wishing you all a very happy New Year and hope to see you around the forums in 2022!

Switchfoot55

So good to hear from you, @snowhitie! And glad to hear you've been feeling up for a bit more building lately. You always have my best wishes!

snowhitie

Switchfoot55 said:

So good to hear from you, @snowhitie! And glad to hear you've been feeling up for a bit more building lately. You always have my best wishes!

Thanks, hope you'll have a better year ahead as well!

And I might have to change my mind about the DH xmas movie thing, you all have some persuasive arguments, especially @BooTheMightyHamster.

MaffyD

Well, it's now 2022. Happy New Year all! This last week had just flown by. I must apologise to my Secret Santa: you must've been looking for this post all week thinking I didn't like my gift or something. Nothing could be further from the truth. I adore my gifts. But I think my sparkly dinosaurs can help here...

The first gift I think they sniffed out:



After having their fill, they then turned their attention to more literary affairs:



Retro and futuristic cityscapes examined, they then looked for Lego in brick form! First, something festive:



They were pleased with their presents:



Then they went looking for a friend:



They had to free Captain Marvel from his plastic prison:



And now onto the final gift. The shape looked familiar, and indeed at first sight it was:



But my dinosaur helpers were insistent there was more to see. They were right:





The Classic Space logo was a rather large clue to what was within:



My Santa had no idea, but Mechalez77 is one of my most favourite recent designers on Rebrickable. I needed no encouragement to build the model:



The Galaxy Explorer Micro-Fighter attracted significant attention:



That Blacktron dude needs a careful eye on him...

So. My Secret Santa had not only stalked my wishlist, not only bought a huge variety of items, not only blew the budget (I assume). But latched onto my love of the early Classic Space era and created for me the sweetest homage and the perfect update to the set I longed for all those years ago.

This is a terrific, amazing, gobsmacking and heartfelt gift. Thank you so much. My Christmas has been made perfect.

MaffyD

All images have been squashed for ease of loading. Apologies to anyone who thinks I put in too many!

KungFuKenny

I have an official Secret Santa announcement: as of today there are only nine months until the signups begin for  BSSS 2022…mark your calendars! 😀

Brainslugged

KungFuKenny said:

I have an official Secret Santa announcement: as of today there are only nine months until the signups begin for  BSSS 2022…mark your calendars! 😀

Woohoo!!!! Happy New Year everyone! I was a bit bummed out today because I had to clear my toys off the dining room table to make way for New Year's dinner. Mrs Brainslugged said that when we move into our new house (only 14 months and counting so far) and I have my own lego room, that "you can invite your friends over to play with your lego and not have to tidy it all away afterwards". It took me a moment to realise she was taking the piss.

MaffyD

Ooh! Also also - forgot to mention that after I took those photos I realised I had not applied the stickers to my MLL-928. They are now definitely on!

Addicted2Oxygen

@Brainslugged that is a very awesome scene. Surely the family could eat on trays for a few weeks or months. 

red237

I wish we had the ability to simply comment on these posts (like FB does or something). So many cool MOCs and thoughtful gifts for people. BSS is a big favorite part of my holiday! Thank you again to the organizers and my SS, and everyone really - this is so fun.

FireFox31

At long last, I carved out time to give my Brickset Secret Santa gift its well deserved attention.  I opened it a week ago and was blown away, so needed to prepare for the right time to bring it to light.  Now on to the story:

Shortly after the hectic Christmas time died down, little Lego me finally dove in to the overstuffed box of joy from the Brickset Secret Santa.  He wasn't prepared for what was inside...

Out of the box came a shocking quantity of Classic Space goodness!  So much blue, grey, and trans yellow!  So many air tanks!  And many bags of blue and grey parts...

Armed with a "Build and Fix" tool kit, Lego me and the Classic Spacers (and Emmet) began identifying the parts we had to work with.  Lo and behold, hiding among the parts was, I kid you not, a Classic Space colored USB drive!  We hoped it could guide us to the Secret Santa's intent.

The USB drive contained a nice note from the Secret Santa encouraging me to build a MOC of their own design: The Galaxy Jumper with Star Lab Expansion!  It would use not only the parts in the bags, but parts from the two included sets.  What a clever idea!  Along with PDF instructions were Stud.io digital files for me to review.

With this clear plan and promise of a glorious space ship, the team of minifigures set to work right away.  Tiny black tools whirred, bricks clicked, and after two hours, the behemoth was complete.  Behold:

It's as if my Brickset Secret Santa went back in time and talked to eight year old me to learn exactly how I loved to build space ships.  True to form, the Galaxy Jumper is long and sloped in the front with mini-vehicle storage and a science lab in the back.  And yeah, giant rocket engines!  Of course the lab detaches for ground based vehicle deployment and studies allowing the main ship to fly freely.

What else was left but for Lego me to borrow Benny's helmet, jump in the cockpit, and blast off.

Huge thanks to my Brickset Secret Santa for the creativity, time, and expense required to create such a gift.  They encouraged me to modify the Galaxy Jumper and use parts to build what I wanted (resulting in a scrappy little rover driven by Lenny).  I own many Lego sets but rarely make time to build them.  For only the second time since I was a kid, I got to creatively build using the parts around me, inspired by but not limited to instructions.  This process let me temporarily forget about all the work always waiting for me and just let me explore my own imagination.  Thank you for enabling me to feel like a kid at Christmas once again.

GrannyLEGO

Just finished dismantling my Winter Village which included my Secret Santa's prezzie, deconstructed just this morning as the last thing. It will probably be the first creation for next year's Winter Village as what better than the adventure of xmas tree hunting? Thanks again to my BSS

KungFuKenny

Hi all, just wanted to give an update. Some here have messaged me after noticing that I haven’t been on the forum much lately. I’ve had some health problems that I thought maybe were going to improve in time for me to help run Secret Santa again this year. Unfortunately that is not the case and I’ve taken a bit of a downturn. I just wanted to throw this out there for any others who may be interested in helping organize. I’m happy to pass along any help or info I can but thought I should let folks know before it gets too late in the season.

jmeninno

Really sorry to hear that, KFK.  I will say a prayer for you.  Hoping things turn around for you.

BooTheMightyHamster

Sorry to hear that, @KungFuKenny - hope things pick up for you soon.

Can't remember which territory you cover, but if the UK organising team need an extra pair of hands, I'm more than happy to help.

Russell844

Take care of yourself @KungFuKenny! You're in my thoughts.

Mr_Cross

So sorry to hear you're not well. Best wishes for a swift recovery @KungFuKenny