Jurassic World Aftermath Collection: Tense, Stylish, and a Little Too Short

DLC Review · Purchased February 16, 2024 · $17.91 CAD via PSN

Key art for Jurassic World Aftermath Collection — Jurassic World Aftermath Collection. Photo: PlayStation Store

The Setup

A stealth-adventure VR experience set in a dinosaur-infested Jurassic Park facility, distinguished by a cel-shaded, comic-book art style rather than attempting photorealism, bundling both included episodes into one collection.

The Review

The art direction is genuinely the standout feature here: sneaking around a facility while avoiding raptors hits differently when the whole world looks like it stepped out of a graphic novel, and it holds up better over the course of the game than a more realistic art style might have on comparable hardware. Tension-building is well handled throughout, with a strong sense of danger even though the actual dinosaur encounters are more about evasion than direct confrontation. Where reviews (and my own experience) landed more critical was pacing across the back half of both included episodes, where the core stealth loop starts to feel a bit repetitive before the credits roll.

What I Liked

Distinctive, well-executed cel-shaded art style
Genuinely tense stealth gameplay in the front half
Both episodes bundled together for a reasonable price

What I Didn’t

Gameplay loop wears thin by the later stages
Overall runtime is on the shorter side even with both episodes included

The Verdict

Rating: 3/5

Reasonable at this price for a good tension-building VR experience, just do not expect a long campaign or a lot of mechanical variety across the runtime.

Where to Buy

Vonado’s Death Star Falcon Escape: A Small Set That Explains the Whole Vonado Pitch

Vonado Review · Purchased February 11, 2024 · $92.99 CAD via Vonado

Star Wars Death Star themed building block set — A comparable Death Star-themed compatible-brick build. Photo via USABLOCKS.

Before I get into any of the individual Vonado builds in this series, this is the right place to explain what Vonado actually is, because it colours every review in this category.

The Background

Vonado is not LEGO. It is a brand that manufactures Lego-compatible building brick sets, often based on designs originally created by hobbyist builders in the “MOC” (My Own Creation) community, then produced and sold at a significant discount to what an officially licensed LEGO Group product would cost at a comparable scale. This particular set, a compact Star Wars build built around the classic “escaping the Death Star aboard the Falcon” scene made famous by LEGO’s own sets over the years, was the smallest and cheapest of a much larger February 2024 haul that I will be covering across the next several posts.

I want to be direct about this upfront: if you go into a Vonado purchase expecting an official, licensed LEGO product, you will feel misled. If you go in understanding exactly what you are buying, a well-made compatible alternative built by a company that clearly loves the same source material, it is a genuinely reasonable way to get more Star Wars building into your collection for less money.

Living With It

At this price point, you are in small-to-midsize set territory: a compact ship model plus a slice of Death Star trench or hangar detailing, not a massive standalone display piece. Brick quality on Vonado’s smaller sets has generally matched what reviewers report across the compatible-brick space: clutch power (how snugly the pieces hold together) that is very close to genuine ABS LEGO plastic, with the occasional looser tolerance on smaller or more detailed pieces compared to official parts.

Build time here was an evening, not a weekend project, which made it a nice low-commitment entry point before diving into the much bigger sets that arrived in the same order. If you are curious about the compatible-brick space and do not want to gamble a few hundred dollars finding out whether you like it, a set at this scale and price is exactly the right place to start.

What I Liked

Genuinely close to official LEGO brick quality and clutch power at this scale
Clear instructions, no need to hunt for a digital manual
Manageable evening-length build, a good low-stakes entry point into the brand
Meaningfully cheaper than an equivalent official Star Wars set of similar size

What I Didn’t

Occasional looser tolerances on smaller detail pieces compared to genuine LEGO
Not a display centrepiece on its own, more of a nice addition to a larger collection
Requires accepting upfront that this is a compatible clone, not a licensed product

The Value Verdict

Rating: 4/5

As an entry point into Vonado’s whole catalogue, this delivered exactly what it needed to: proof that the brand’s smaller sets are worth trusting before committing real money to their much bigger builds. Reasonable value, honest about what it is, and a fun single-evening build.

Where to Buy

Vonado Star Wars MOC collection

The Razor Crest: The Best Value in My Entire Vonado Haul

Vonado Review · Purchased February 11, 2024 · $197.99 CAD via Vonado

Razor Crest Mandalorian building block set — A Razor Crest compatible-brick build. Photo via USABLOCKS.

If someone asked me to justify the entire Vonado experiment with a single set, this is the one I would point to.

The Background

The Razor Crest, Din Djarin’s gunship from The Mandalorian, is one of the most consistently requested Star Wars vehicles in brick form, and LEGO’s own official versions have a well-earned reputation among fans. Vonado’s version, listed at roughly 1,383 pieces on their retail listing, is a clear compatible alternative aimed at the same audience, priced well under what an equivalent-scale officially licensed LEGO Star Wars ship typically runs.

I bought this as part of the same large February order as the previous entries in this series, and out of that entire haul, it is the one I would recommend to someone else without hesitation.

Living With It

The scale here is the right size to actually feel substantial once built (roughly desk-shelf sized, not a small trinket) while still being an achievable weekend build rather than the multi-day undertaking some of the larger sets in this series turned into. Hull detailing on the ship’s distinctive asymmetric silhouette came through clearly, and the set includes an opening cargo bay and cockpit area, giving it real play value beyond just sitting as a static display piece.

Piece quality across this build was consistently strong, with landing gear and articulated panels that held together securely rather than feeling loose or fragile, a common complaint leveled at cheaper compatible-brick sets in general but one I did not run into here. What makes this the standout value of the whole haul is simple math: at roughly $200 CAD for a large, detailed, 1,300-plus piece ship, you are paying meaningfully less than an equivalent official LEGO Star Wars vehicle at similar scale and piece count typically costs.

What I Liked

Best price-to-scale ratio of any set in my entire 2024 Vonado haul
Strong piece quality and secure clutch power throughout
Genuine play value with an opening cargo bay and cockpit, not just static display
Achievable weekend build rather than a multi-day project

What I Didn’t

Still not a licensed product, some purists will always prefer paying more for the official version
Minifigure-scale accessories tend to be the weakest point in compatible-brick sets generally

The Value Verdict

Rating: 5/5

This is the set in my entire 2024 collectibles haul that I would buy again without a second thought. It hits the sweet spot of scale, detail, price, and build satisfaction better than anything else in this series, official or otherwise.

Where to Buy

The Coruscant Diorama: Buying Furniture With Extra Steps

Vonado Review · Purchased February 11, 2024 · $637.99 CAD via Vonado

Coruscant Jedi Temple diorama building block set — A Coruscant-themed diorama compatible-brick build. Photo via USABLOCKS.

At a certain price point, a building set stops being a toy and starts being a piece of home decor you happened to assemble yourself.

The Background

Large-format Star Wars dioramas, scenes depicting the Battle of Coruscant, the Jedi Temple, or the Senate district in sprawling, multi-thousand-piece detail, are a well-established genre within the MOC (fan design) community, with different builders and compatible-brick manufacturers producing their own interpretations at various scales. What I purchased from Vonado sits in that tradition: a Coruscant-themed display diorama, the fourth and priciest item in the large February order that runs through much of this series.

Sets like this are explicitly designed around presentation rather than play. There is no cockpit to sit a minifigure in, no opening cargo bay, nothing to actually do with it once assembled beyond looking at it, and the price reflects scale and part count rather than mechanical complexity.

Living With It

The build itself took the better part of a weekend, mostly due to sheer part count rather than any particular technical difficulty, section by section, layer by layer, in the way large diorama builds typically go. Once finished, the impact is real: this is a genuine centrepiece, the kind of thing that makes people stop and look when they walk past a shelf, in a way that smaller vehicle builds simply cannot match regardless of how well detailed they are.

The honest tradeoff is exactly what you would expect from a display piece at this price: it requires real, permanent shelf real estate, more than any single vehicle in this series, and once built, it is genuinely difficult to relocate or repack without risking damage to the more delicate architectural elements. This is a “pick its final spot before you start building” kind of set, not something you casually rearrange.

What I Liked

Genuinely impressive as a display centrepiece, more visual impact than any single vehicle build
Consistent with the strong scale-for-price value seen across the rest of this Vonado order
Detailed architectural elements that read clearly as Coruscant even at a glance

What I Didn’t

Zero play value, purely a display object
Requires committing real, permanent shelf space before you even start building
Delicate once assembled, not something you want to relocate often

The Value Verdict

Rating: 4/5

Judge this one entirely on whether you have the shelf space and the desire for a genuine centrepiece, because that is the whole pitch. If you wanted something to actually handle and rebuild, this was the wrong category to shop in from the start. If you wanted a showpiece, it delivers.

Where to Buy

Vonado Star Wars MOC collection

Vonado’s Horizon “Thunder Claw”: Building the Machine LEGO Never Made

Vonado Review · Purchased February 11, 2024 · $427.99 CAD via Vonado

Thunderjaw Horizon building block set — A Thunderjaw compatible-brick build. Photo via FantasMall.

Some of the best entries in a compatible-brick catalogue exist specifically because the official license holder never got around to making them.

The Background

LEGO has released exactly one officially licensed Horizon product: the Forbidden West Tallneck set (76989), a mid-size build that came out to solid reviews but left an obvious gap for fans of the game’s other, more aggressive machines. There has never been an official LEGO Thunderjaw or any similarly named “Thunder Claw” set. What I bought is a fan (MOC) design manufactured and sold as a compatible kit through Vonado, filling a hole in the official catalogue that LEGO itself has simply never addressed.

This arrived as part of the same large February order as the Star Wars sets earlier in this series, and at $427.99 it represented a real step up in both price and ambition from those smaller builds.

Living With It

Machine-creature builds like this live or die on articulation, and this is where the set earns its price tag. The legs, head, and tail all have genuine poseable joints rather than being fixed in one aggressive dinosaur-esque stance, which meant I could actually pose it in a way that matched reference art from the game rather than settling for whatever the instructions defaulted to. Getting that kind of mechanical complexity right, with joints that hold their pose under the model’s own weight instead of drooping, is a genuinely harder engineering problem than a static ship or building, and it shows in both the piece count and the build time, which ran closer to a full weekend than a single evening.

The tradeoff for all of that is durability handling: with this many articulated joints, this is not a set you want younger hands or a curious pet handling roughly, since the connection points that allow posing are inherently a little less rigid than a fully fixed structure would be.

What I Liked

Fills a real gap, there is no official LEGO equivalent at this scale or price
Genuinely impressive articulation and poseability for a brick-built creature
Shell and plating detail translates the source game’s design language well
A satisfying weekend-length build rather than a quick evening project

What I Didn’t

Poseable joints mean less structural rigidity than a fixed-position build
Not something to display somewhere it might get bumped or handled roughly
A meaningful price jump from the smaller sets earlier in the same order

The Value Verdict

Rating: 4/5

For a Horizon fan, this is close to essential specifically because nobody else has made it. LEGO’s own catalogue leaves this exact machine on the table, and Vonado’s version fills that gap with a genuinely well-engineered build. Just budget real assembly time and a stable shelf for it once it is done.

Where to Buy

PowerWash Simulator: SpongeBob SquarePants Pack, The Most Charming of the Bunch

DLC Review · Purchased February 3, 2024 · $12.31 CAD via PSN

Key art for PowerWash Simulator: SpongeBob SquarePants Special Pack — PowerWash Simulator: SpongeBob SquarePants Special Pack. Photo: Steam

The Setup

Bought one day after the Back to the Future pack, this crossover sends you scrubbing down Bikini Bottom locations, the Krusty Krab included, using the same core PowerWash Simulator gameplay loop.

The Review

Of the five PowerWash crossover packs in my 2024 haul, this is the one I would call the most charming purely on aesthetic fit: SpongeBob’s exaggerated, colourful art style translates into the game’s cleaning mechanics in a way that feels almost purpose-built for it, grime and grease disappearing off cartoonishly oversized objects with the same satisfying visual payoff the base game is built around. The attention to specific, recognizable Bikini Bottom locations shows the same level of care the Back to the Future pack demonstrated a day earlier.

What I Liked

Aesthetic and gameplay loop fit together unusually well
Recognizable, well-realized Bikini Bottom locations
Consistent quality with the rest of the crossover line

What I Didn’t

Same short-content-for-the-price tradeoff as every other pack in this line
Appeal is entirely tied to fondness for the source material

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

Cheap, short, and well made, consistent with everything else in this DLC line, and a personal favourite among the five packs I bought this year specifically for how well the visual style fits the gameplay.

Where to Buy

Steam store page

PowerWash Simulator: Back to the Future Special Pack, The One That Started My Crossover Addiction

DLC Review · Purchased February 2, 2024 · $12.31 CAD via PSN

Key art for PowerWash Simulator: Back to the Future Special Pack — PowerWash Simulator: Back to the Future Special Pack. Photo: Steam

The Setup

The first of five separate PowerWash Simulator crossover packs I bought across 2024, this one lets you scrub down the DeLorean and other Back to the Future locations using the base game’s signature power-washing gameplay loop.

The Review

PowerWash Simulator’s crossover packs have become a genuine phenomenon within the game’s community specifically because they are so consistently well produced: a handful of new levels built tightly around the licensed property, recognizable music cues and voice work where licensing allows, and level design that clearly understands what made each specific piece of media memorable in the first place. The Back to the Future pack nails the small details, cleaning grime off the DeLorean’s iconic panel lines feels specifically satisfying in a way a generic vehicle would not.

What I Liked

Faithful, detail-oriented level design
Short but genuinely well-crafted content
Strong recognizable music and audio cues

What I Didn’t

Very short additional playtime for the price if you are not already invested in the base game
A pack you either want specifically for the license or can easily skip

The Verdict

Rating: 4/5

If you already own the base game and like the property, these packs are short but polished, which turned out to be the norm across every single one I bought this year.

Where to Buy

Steam store page