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By Rakesh Gosai (SAFOLs Brick Deputy)

The official description for this set is “ Give your youngster a stellar master-building experience with THE LEGO® MOVIE 2™ 70821 Emmet and Benny’s ‘Build and Fix’ Workshop! This LEGO® 4+ safe learning set is specially designed to be fun and easy for preschoolers and youngsters, and features LEGO Benny’s Spaceship with a minifigure cockpit, foldout boosters and removable space buggy, and Emmet’s Escape Buggy, plus a special Starter Brick base that lets even first-time builders experience the pride of constructing buildings, vehicles and more, all on their own. The included simple guide to build and play will also help your young master builder understand the purpose of the building instructions and expand their imagination and confidence for the perfect start to LEGO brick building. This simple LEGO® astronaut toy includes 2 minifigures, a build-able gas station and a tool trolley with lots of assorted tool elements for endless play possibilities.” I was having none of that as this looks like a really fun set to build! Plus who doesn’t love classic space Lego?

This set has two numbered bags and one big new large wedge shaped element. I think Lego made it this way to encourage younger builders to complete this set quickly in order to start playing with it. Also, this set has no stickers, only printed elements…awesome!

Bag 1 contains the bricks to build Emmet’s Escape Buggy, the Tool Cabinet, Workshop Scenery and of course the Emmet Minifigure. First up is the workshop scenery which contains a lovely printed wall element, a gas tank and a few tools. I had to distract Emmet to take some pictures while he was building…he was not happy at all! Emmet’s mood quickly changed once we started to build his Escape Buggy. If you don’t believe me, have a look at the pictures!

Bag 2 contains the bricks to build the spaceship for Benny, space buggy and the Benny Minifigure. By just looking at the spaceship, it reminds me of Set 924. Those of us who love Classic Space LEGO® will really enjoy this section as it contains the famous colours that we have become accustomed to. I like that the spaceship has a section at the rear where the buggy can slot into.

Overall this is a really quick build, very fun and did I mention Classic Space?!?

I know this set is aimed at the younger builders, but there are interesting parts that we AFOLs (Adult Fans of LEGO®) will enjoy, while reliving the classic space nostalgia!

Reviewer Photos

Reviewed by Johan Kruger (SAFOLs Member, jhbLUG Member)

In celebration of Star Wars day I found the lack of review for Star Wars sets disturbing. So decided to do a review on 75188 the Star Wars Resistance Bomber. This set was released all the way back in 2017. This set was based on the opening scene from Star Wars the last Jedi where the resistance mount a last desperate escape from the first order right after star killer base was destroyed in the last movie. Ever since that scene I knew I wanted to get this set. This I would say is the first Star Wars strategic bomber role aircraft and made me think a lot of the older warplanes, like the Boeing B-17 and Avro Lancaster with manned turrets for protection.

In terms of the set it is made out of 5 numbered bags but also does contain some stickers as well. Bag 1 and 2 builds the bottom half of the set including the start of the bombing bay, bag 3-4 is the top half of the bomber and lastly bag 5 is the turrets and finishing details. 

When fully assembled it is an impressive sight and nice size ship that is very swooshable.

The set also has some nice play features like the bombs that can be dropped and very well hidden spring stud shooters.

In terms of Minifigures the set comes with five Minifigures: Vice Admiral Holdo, Poe Dameron, three resistance bomber operators, Nix Jerd and 2 generic units a pilot and a gunner.  They also all have alternate faces. The pilots have very nice prints and could even be used to make a WW2 bomber pilot with the breathing masks if one wanted to reuse them for MOCS. Even the turrets would not look out of place on a WW2 bomber.

The inclusion of Admiral Holdo and Poe is a bit strange as they did not feature in that scene but still nice Minifigures to add to your collection.

Normally the review would have been done by this point, but LEGO® did something very strange with this set. After a few fan complaints with the bomber pilot figure the set was later released with a new figure.

Finch, however, has his five seconds of fame. He first appears in the scene right after Blue Leader piloting an A-Wing, in which Tallie says “Bombers, keep that tight formation. Fighters protect the bombers. It’s not every day we get a shot at a dreadnought, so let’s make this count!”

 Later into the movie, Finch responds with “Copy that, Blue Leader,” and as the scene pans off, we hear his voice from off-screen saying “You get us there, we’ll give it to ‘em!”

At ten minutes and four seconds, we see him for a fraction of a second screaming “Look out!” before his demise from the attack blast of a TIE fighter.

The minifigure is a very good copy of the original character, even matching the helmet design. Although in terms of new parts, it is only the head and helmet that differs from the original design. If you don’t have this set yet it is worth while looking out for a later released set with the new figure.

Lastly, I decided to make a few changes to the bomber using the extra parts and moving a few parts around.

Placing the cheese slops at the back and also using the extra parts to add greebling to the top of the set makes a big difference already in the appearance.

Lastly if you wanted to improve the appearance even more a few additional part would be needed from your own stash.  This involved mostly placing LEGO® tiles on the side and top of the wing. If I had more slopes I would have placed them all along the top wings and even more greebling on top.

By Rakesh Gosai (SAFOLs Brick Deputy)

Power into battle against Sweet Mayhem and Star with THE LEGO® MOVIE 2™ 70834 MetalBeard’s Heavy Metal Motor Trike! It features a built-in MetalBeard minifigure head, rotating turret with adjustable shooting cannons, adjustable shark shooter with snapping jaws, crow’s nest and flag and a huge front wheel. This fun-packed construction toy includes an Apocalypse-borg Benny minifigure and a Sweet Mayhem mini-doll figure with cool weapons and accessories, plus a brick-built Star figure to recreate action-packed adventures from THE LEGO® MOVIE 2.

Measures over 6” (17cm) high, 12” (31cm) long and 7” (19cm) wide

Let’s get into the details of this set, it comes with 4 numbered bags, 1 that is not numbered, which contains the four back wheels, front wheel and rim. This trike is classic steampunk style and would fit in well on the scene of Mad Max.

Bag 1 contains the mini-doll Sweet Mayhem, with anime style hair and helmet. Star toy which doubles as Sweet Mayhem’s glider. Nothing complicated in this build so far.

Bag 2 has no minifigures in it, just more LEGO® bricks. I found this stage very interesting as the trike resembles a miniature version of Metal Beard’s Sea Cow Ship and as you progress, you will build on the trike’s engine components from page 26 onwards. At the end of bag 2, the set resembles an engine complete with 4 exhausts!

Bag 3 contains the Apocalypse-Borg Benny minifigure and Metalbeard. As you progress through the bricks, I got a sense that I was building the internals of Metalbeard and wondered how this would fit in with the trike. Once you get to the end of page 47, Metalbeard is seamlessly integrated into the trike… I guess that’s the power of the brick!

Bag 4 contains the remainder of the bricks plus I needed to include the contents from the unmarked bag. It’s at this point where I could see the “ship” start changing into a trike. Metalbeard’s arms are a shark-canon and a double barrel canon.

I really enjoyed this build, the overall stance of the trike has a chopper bike feel but was disappointed with the lack of suspension on the front wheel. The double barrel canon works really well but the shark-canon does not work well at all. The colour scheme works well and the play-ability of this set will keep you entertained! Great use of parts and techniques, and is visually a fun set.

Reviewer Photos

By Barry Kay (SAFOLs Brick Boss, CapeLUG EXCO, Batman … Ssshhhh!)

When I first saw the LEGO® Ideas Steamboat Willie set, I felt that it was a very good depiction of the boat from the original Disney classic short film.

While reading some posts on Facebook regarding the set, I came across one comment saying “I don’t like it because it is Black and White. It should have been made in colour.” To that I replied “If it was in colour it wouldn’t be Steamboat Willie, but just Mickey Mouse on a boat.”

Although the set is not the small, quick and easy to build souvenir that the original fan designer, Máté Szabó, had intended, LEGO® designers John Ho and Crystal Bam Fontan have turned it into a functional work of art.

The Build

The build begins with the internal structure and workings of the boat, with a combination of System and Technic bricks. The internal structure is very well constructed to keep all the parts firmly intact. The setup of the wheel and gears form the basis of the mechanism that rotates the paddles and moves the funnels up and down as it is pushed along. It is quite remarkable to watch the pieces fit into place and the mechanism move as you build. It is also interesting that a black and white build is so colourful on the inside.

Once the interior structure and mechanism are built, we complete the hull of the ship and move onto the black and white deck and cabin. After building and mounting the funnels, they are able to move up and down, but not side to side. The remainder of the vessel comes together quickly and easily.

Some really nice details have been added to finish off the build.

1. Monochrome Friends Bird on a Utensil Telescope to portray a Parrot on its’ perch.
2. Printed 2×2 brick with Potato Bin printed on the sides, which can be placed on the deck or attached to the crane.
3. The crane with a gear mechanism and handle to raise and lower the hook that is attached to a string rope.

The Minifigures

In this set we get monochrome Mickey and Minnie. Mickey has a tall sailor hat and Minnie a small round feminine sailor hat. Both connect to the head with a small pin (like the Friends head pieces).

Minnie comes with a white acoustic guitar and 2×2 printed tile music sheet for the tune “Turkey in the straw”.

One may ask, what is special about these minfigures when we are also getting them in the new Disney Collectable Minifigures Series 2?

Well, apart from the guitar and printed music sheet tile, these minifigures both have silver printed feet. Mickey has silver printed pants and Minnie a silver printed skirt. Both hats also have some sliver printing.

The Series 2 CMFs will only have plain white printing where these have the silver.

Conclusion

I feel the price is a bit high compared to some other Ideas sets, but it is a fun build and interesting to get the moving parts working. If you are a Disney fan then you will love it, as that is what it is; True Iconic Disney.