Beware of geeks bearing gifts

I got Pat a bunch of LEGO sets for her birthday. Decided to start her off with relatively small stuff. You know how usually you think of LEGO as coming in ginormous boxes that cost a ton? Well okay, actually that's still true. However, I made the amazing discovery that LEGO is actually pretty fairly priced when you look at the medium sets. I was able to get Pat two decently sized boxes, when I thought that I would only be able to afford one.

The first set I bought was 4939: Cool Cars. It has a lot of parts, 206 in all. Since this is Creator, the parts are very generic; you can use all of the parts in entirely different designs, not just the 3 given on the box. The parts are pretty small, there are a lot of 1x1 and 1x2 tiles. There are very few actual bricks; it's mostly planks, with slopes, smoothers, some grilles, hinges and a windshield for effect.

The finished models are all pretty cool, if you don't mind the fact that they're proud to have studs visible all over the body. I really appreciate the instructions for three builds; I wouldn't say the desgins are amazing, but they're still a lot more creative then I would be able to come up with myself. The only drawback is really that it can't fit minifigs; this won't matter if this is your only set, but if you have a lot of minifigs you might feel that the given designs are out of place. All in all, it's a lot of product for just under 1k Php, so it's a pretty good starter for a grown-up.

The other set I got for Pat was 7040: Dwarven Mine Defender. This is from the Castle line, which means minifigs ahoy! Included are two Orc and one Dwarf minifig; they look pretty neat, with printed torsos and textured helmets. Also included is one orcish sword and a bulky orc banner. The minifigs are great fun, but you do pay for them; the siege machine is kinda small and straightforward to build.

There's only 86 parts, and that counts the minifig components. On the other hand, the parts are a lot bigger, so there's more mass per brick (when compared to Creator sets). Some of the parts are also kinda specialized; there's a one-piece catapult and scoop, and the spinning circular siege blades are pretty much always going to be circular blades. Overall, this set is fun, but at the same price as 4939, it's not so great on value. In hindsight, I would have saved up for a bigger Castle set.