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Saturday, December 23, 2023

Mega Bloks Barbie Building Sets Reviewed

Mega Bloks and Mega has been building Barbie-themed sets since 2012. Discover a few of the originals here as well as the replica of the Barbie DreamHouse as seen in the 2023 movie!

Barbie fans who enjoy building sets will enjoy constructing Barbie-themed Mega Bloks sets. They were released long before the 2023 Barbie movie on March 29, 2012. At that time, Mattel announced that it would work with Mega Bloks on the creation of a series of building toys themed around Barbie. Fans would now be able to build their own Barbie worlds.

Mega Bloks said, "We are thrilled to join forces with Mega Bloks to create the first Mega Bloks building sets based on Barbie" and I am sure they were. Who wouldn't want to work with Barbie, one of Mattel's most recognized brands?

Mega Bloks is also a very well-known manufacturer, known for a line of building toys that are thought to be "innovative, well-designed, affordable and high-quality products." As a team, these two companies created some wonderful building sets that are reviewed here on this page.

Click here to see all of the Mega Bloks Barbie building sets on Amazon.

MEGA BLOKS BARBIE VIDEO

Watch this three-minute video to see how you can build, design and decorate with Mega Bloks Barbie sets.

WHAT AGE ARE THESE SETS APPROPRIATE FOR?

Mega Bloks says that the Barbie Sets are appropriate for children aged 4 years old and up. Small parts make them inappropriate for younger children but there is no limit to how old you can be to play with them. Adult fans will have fun building, designing and decorating with Barbie Mega Bloks, too! Some more recent sets have an older recommended age of 10 and are even designed for adult collectors.

BUILD 'N STYLE LUXURY MANSION, SET 80229

Your builder will love this fantastic house, a mansion with eight different rooms that can be organized as she likes. There's no doubt that this set will make a little girl's eyes light up. It includes two of the Mega Blocks Barbie dolls or micro-dolls as they are called, Fab Girl Barbie and Teresa.

BUILD N'STYLE BEACH HOUSE, SET 80226

Yes, Barbie also has her very own beach house. This set includes two micro-dolls, Beach Fun Barbie and Beach Fun Nikki and the that is comprised of two rooms and a patio that can be arranged however the builder likes.

BUILD 'N STYLE POOL PARTY, SET 80228

The Build 'n Style Pool Party is cool or at least Barbie and Ken will be when they take plunge! It comes with two micro-dolls called Pool Party Barbie and Pool Party Ken and a multi-level pool that actually holds water. The pool area is built and decorated by the builder using the umbrellas, trees, flowers and other accessories that are provided.

BUILD 'N STYLE CONVERTIBLE CAR, SET 80223

Where would a beach-themed Barbie set be without a car? The Build 'N Style Convertible Car allows Barbie to get around with the top down! We love it. Although it is nothing like the Barbie convertible from the 1970s, it still seems very like Barbie to me. The pink car features wheels that turn, a working trunk and a doll called Go Barbie.

ORIGINAL MEGA BLOKS BARBIE SETS

A few more of the very early releases:

The Pet Shop
The Fashion Boutique
The Fashion Stand
The Ice Cream Cart
Party Time
Movie Star
Puppy Pals

2023 MEGA BLOKS BARBIE SETS

Mega Barbie the Movie DreamHouse Replica building toy for adults.

The sets discussed above were the original releases but Mega Bloks has released more Barbie sets since 2012. The most exciting set released in 2023 must surely be the Barbie DreamHouse, which is shown above. It is a replica of Barbie's home in the hit movie of the same name and is intended for adult collectors and rated for players aged 10 and up. With 1795 pieces, it comes with micro-dolls representing Margot Robbie's Barbie and Ryan Gosling's Ken.

Find the Mega's Replica Barbie DreamHouse here, on Amazon.

Other recent sets include:

Color Reveal Train 'N Wash Pets

Horse Stables

Horse Jumping

Dream Camper

Malibu Dream Boat

Movie Replica Dream House

WHERE TO FIND THESE SETS?

Some of these sets can still be found on Amazon. Click here to see all of the Mega Bloks Barbie sets available there today. Amazon has some of the original sets as well as all of the latest sets.

The earliest sets discussed here on this page were sold under the name Mega Bloks, and have been discontinued. If you are looking for a specific one of them you may have to turn to eBay. Click here to see what Mega Barbie sets are available on eBay today.

The more recent sets are sold under the shortened name, Mega.

See you at the toy store!

Brenda

Treasures By Brenda

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Writing Down the Bones

Anatomy of my Future Playshop

There is something powerfully transformative about the act of creation. I have always known that the opportunity to create is my greatest motivator.

Each day, as I stand within the skeleton of the twelve-by-twelve DIY studio I am building, I feel a sense of awe at what can be built with one’s own hands, mind, and will.

If you are a DIY or HGTV junkie like I am, perhaps you have heard talk of homes that have good bones. In the world of construction, bones matter.

I find it astonishing that these thin sticks I nail together in the right configuration of joints and ribs are so incredibly strong. There is elegance in the simplicity… an understated beauty.

When the time came, yesterday, to cover the bones, for the exoskeleton is an important part of the structural integrity, I took a few moments to appreciate that which I would not be able to see moving forward.

Having thoughtfully selected each individual bone, and cared for it during the process of building an inner sanctum for nurturing creativity, this was a moment to savor and celebrate.

This morning, as I write this post, I think of Natalie Goldberg’s classic book, Writing Down the Bones. Freeing the writer within is about bones just as building a life is about good bones. Writing down the bones is about expressing essence. In writing about the essentials of our lives, we experience the creation of the world over and over again.

I encourage you to write down your bones. Free the builder within by becoming an essential part of our Squidoo community. I can’t wait to see what you create with your own hands.

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Tuesday, May 20, 2014

A Penny for Your Thoughts

Will Work for Pennies

My DIY reality this week is all about pennies. Not the kind I used to purchase penny candy when I was a child, or the bright copper ones I put in my penny loafers forty years ago. My pennies these days are 12d’s, 8d’s, 6d’s, and everything in between.

As I pounded in several hundred nails over the past few days, I had lots of time to think about such things as the medieval system for classifying nails. This is my brain hot-dipped, galvanized, common, shanked, ringed, sinkered, and bright box nailed.

So why are they called 12-penny nails… those three and a half inch nails that are giving me blisters and hammer elbow? It goes back to how many pennies were needed to buy 100 nails back in the 1500s. It turns out that the letter “d” after the number is an abbreviation for the most commonly used Roman coin (the denarius). The number refers to the length of nail.

If I’m doing the math correctly, which is never a given, twelve pennies bought 100 nails back in the day. I paid 445 pennies for 96 ring-shanked nails this past weekend. Kind of made me long for the days of yore. Can you picture it? Me in a toga, eating figs, tapping in twelve denarii worth of nails?

In the process of building a studio addition onto my mountain cabin, I am learning invaluable lessons that go beyond the importance of purchasing and using the right nails. It seems each stage of the building process needs a different kind of fastener. Early in the process I was tempted to use screws to make parts of the job easier and faster to complete. It turns out that would have been a big mistake. Screws don’t have the sheer strength provided by 12d nails.

Isn’t that true of building a life also? Finding the strength that matches each phase of the process of becoming? Just as I used the right kind of anchor hardware in the foundation stage of this do-it-myself project, I seek to live a life anchored in ways that ensure the stability to weather any storm.

Isn’t it amazing that something we often take for granted, nails and pennies, are essential to building something lasting? I invite you to join me in creating something worth every single blister. As Squidoo's Home Renovator Contributor, I'm looking for a few kindred hammer swingers. Please stop by today. I'll give you a penny (worth at least $4.45 with inflation) for your thoughts.

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