When growing up, I always loved building things. Blocks, LEGO, Lincoln logs, K’Nex, Tinkertoys, you name it, and I had it and spent far too much time building numerous contraptions, spaceships, and buildings out of it.

Then I got older, and more electronics starting taking up my free time, and building stuff went onto the back burner. One reason why was the lack of stuff that appealed to me – what the hell did I care about making a Tinkertoy car, or a K’Nex roller coaster, or a LEGO pirate ship? Many of the newer kits also seemed a lot easier to put together, and there just wasn’t much of a challenge for me anymore.

That all changed when I found out about these BRXLZ building kits, which are licensed by a variety of sports teams and colleges. The kits vary in size from over 5,000 pieces (Madison Square Garden) to under 100 (for example, this mini San Francisco Giants player), and depending on the type of item you’re looking for, you should be able to find something that fits your interests – and your desk, or a shelf, or a table, or wherever you have an open spot that needs a new decoration.

I actually got this replica of Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, and while I haven’t fully put it together yet because of holiday travel, I did crack open the box and started digging in to gain some initial first impressions.

The box itself is sleek and easy to open. There aren’t too many safeguards in place (impossible pieces of tape, glue, etc) that would force you to damage the box and get to the pieces. Furthermore, the box has slats that allow you to close it and put the pieces you’re not currently using back inside without the possibility of dropping the box and having them come out the open side.

The pieces are a lot smaller than you might expect, and whether that’s a good thing or not is up to you and the size of your fingers. I personally don’t mind, fat fingers be damned, but if you’re buying a kit for a kid or putting one together for a child, just be cognizant that there may be a choking hazard and you should be careful.

The pieces are grouped into a bunch of different bags, seemingly by color and size, and if you don’t need a certain color or size piece, you don’t need to crack open the bag yet. The instruction book for the kits are also full color and detailed, so the amount of guesswork you need to do when putting one of these kits together is low. Also, some of the kits come with stickers to complete the construction, mainly when it comes to labeling signs and fields and so on and so forth.

There are a variety of different types of kits, from the aforementioned stadiums and generic players to drummers, actual players like Todd Gurley, logos, mascots, helmets, caps, and sneakers, so are no shortage of potential gifts for the sports fan in your life that likes putting stuff together.

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.