Month: June 2022

The Plus-Size Tallneck: Vonado’s 7,401-Piece Answer to “What If It Was Bigger”

Toy Review · Purchased April 14, 2022 · $450.00 CAD via Vonado

Giant Horizon Tallneck brick build
Plus-Size Tallneck, C7809. Photo: HeroToyz

The Setup

LEGO’s own official Tallneck (76989, more on that one later this year) is a nice little 1,222-piece set. This is not that. Listed on Vonado as an “Ultimate Collectors Series” Tallneck, it’s actually an unofficial, fan-designed “plus-size” clone build (item code C7809) that runs a full 7,401 pieces — roughly six times the official set’s piece count — with no LEGO branding or affiliation anywhere on it.

The Review

This is, without question, the single biggest build I’ve taken on from Vonado to date, and it shows in every part of the experience: multiple evenings of dedicated building time, a PDF manual that takes real effort to follow at this scale, and a finished model that genuinely dwarfs the official LEGO version sitting near it on the shelf. The posability holds up well across that much bulk — the neck and legs articulate believably, and the machine reads as unmistakably a Tallneck even from across the room.

The trade-offs scale up right along with the piece count. There’s no printed manual, no minifigures, and the clone bricks show some color and clutch-power inconsistency across a build this large — more noticeable here than on smaller Vonado sets simply because there’s so much more surface area for it to show up on. At $450 for something six times the size of LEGO’s own official take, it’s a genuinely different proposition than the official set — less a toy, more a room centerpiece.

What I Liked

  • Genuinely massive, impressive scale that the official set can’t match
  • Posability holds up believably across the whole model
  • Unmistakably reads as the Tallneck even at a glance from across the room

What I Didn’t

  • Multi-evening build with a PDF-only manual that’s hard to follow at this scale
  • Color and clutch-power inconsistency more noticeable across this much clone brick
  • No minifigures included, unlike the official set
  • Takes up a serious amount of shelf or floor space once finished

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

The biggest, most ambitious build in my Vonado collection so far — not a toy so much as a statement piece, and it earns that distinction.

Where to Buy

  • Discontinued/varies by reseller — search “C7809 Plus-Size Tallneck 7401”

HUANUO Triple Monitor Stand: Reclaiming My Desk From Three Separate Bases

Hardware Review · Purchased June 16, 2022 · $187.25 CAD via Amazon.ca

HUANUO triple monitor desk mount
HUANUO triple monitor mount. Photo: HUANUO

The Setup

HUANUO’s triple monitor mount is a desk-clamp arm system holding three 13″–27″ monitors via VESA 75×75/100×100 mounting, using gas-spring arms for tool-free height, tilt, swivel, and rotation adjustment. The pitch is simple: consolidate three separate monitor bases onto a single clamp and get the desk space back.

The Review

The gas-spring arms are the whole selling point and they deliver — one-finger height and angle adjustments with no tools involved, which makes it genuinely easy to reposition monitors on the fly rather than fighting with a stand. The aluminum build feels solid for what it costs, and the full range of tilt, swivel, and rotation covers pretty much any setup you’d want to configure.

Getting there took some patience, though. My lightest monitor needed a solid 10-15 minutes of spring-tension calibration before it stopped drifting downward on its own, and the single center-pole design has a bit of wobble on my desk, which isn’t the sturdiest surface to begin with. Once dialed in, it’s been reliable, and the desk space reclaimed from ditching three separate stands is a genuinely bigger improvement than I expected going in.

What I Liked

  • Tool-free, one-finger height and angle adjustment via gas-spring arms
  • Solid aluminum build quality for the price
  • Full tilt, swivel, and 360° rotation range
  • Frees up a meaningful amount of desk space versus three separate stands

What I Didn’t

  • Lighter monitors needed real spring-tension calibration time to stop drifting
  • Single center-pole design can wobble on less stable desks
  • Desk clamp installation took some trial and error to get level

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

A little setup patience required, but a genuinely good value way to consolidate a three-monitor setup and get real desk space back.

Where to Buy

The UCS Snowspeeder: A Retired Set That Still Holds Up

Toy Review · Purchased May 4, 2022 · $300.00 CAD via Lego Store

LEGO UCS Snowspeeder 75144
Snowspeeder, Ultimate Collector Series 75144. Photo: LEGO

The Setup

Set 75144 is LEGO’s Ultimate Collector Series recreation of the Rebel Snowspeeder from the Battle of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back, at 1,703 pieces. It first released back in 2017 and had been periodically restocked through LEGO Stores before finally retiring, which is presumably how I managed to grab one in 2022.

The Review

This is UCS design at its best: an opening cockpit, a posable harpoon gun and towing cable, and a display stand with an informational plaque, all built with genuine LEGO precision rather than the clone-brick compromises I’ve gotten used to from my Vonado purchases. The build itself is absorbing without being punishing — detailed enough to stay interesting for the full 1,703 pieces, but never confusing.

Having spent a lot of this year building unofficial oversized clone kits, going back to a genuine, officially-licensed UCS set was a genuinely nice change of pace — the fit and finish, the printed manual, the color consistency are all just better, in ways you don’t fully notice until you go without them for a while. At $300 it’s not cheap, but for a retired UCS vehicle it’s an easy recommendation if you can still find one.

What I Liked

  • Genuine UCS build quality, fit, and finish throughout
  • Opening cockpit and posable harpoon gun add real interactive detail
  • Display stand and plaque give it a proper collector’s-piece presentation
  • Absorbing, well-paced build across the full piece count

What I Didn’t

  • Retired, so availability is already inconsistent
  • Premium UCS pricing for the piece count

The Verdict

Rating: 4.5/5

A genuine UCS classic, and a great reminder of what official LEGO fit and finish actually feels like after a year of clone-brick builds.

Where to Buy