Review: 43277 Cruella De Vil's Car
Posted by CapnRex101,
Cruella De Vil drives a spectacular classic car in One Hundred and One Dalmatians, inspired by various luxury cars developed in the 1920s and 1930s. 43277 Cruella De Vil's Car recreates this iconic vehicle in LEGO form and looks fantastic, worthy of its opulent source material.
However, I am concerned about the price of £44.99, $49.99 or €49.99, which seems extremely expensive, even for a car with functional steering. There is only one minifigure included, after all, plus the Dalmatian puppy, though the characters and Cruella's car do look good.
Summary
43277 Cruella De Vil's Car, 378 pieces.
£44.99 / $49.99 / €49.99 | 11.9p/13.2c/13.2c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
43277 Cruella De Vil's Car is an excellent set, but one hopelessly overpriced
- Beautiful and accurate shaping
- Neat steering mechanism
- Two great figures
- Very expensive
- Could have included more puppies
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigure
Cruella De Vil earlier appeared in 71038 Disney 100 Collectable Minifigures and this figure is very similar to her Collectable Minifigure, fortunately. The superb black and white hair element returns, complete with sculpted earrings, while the pale yellow coat also remains unchanged in the main and makes good use of dual-moulded legs.
The other minifigure included a fabric component over her shoulders, which would have been great here, but was not essential. Furthermore, the printed fox tails on the reverse of Cruella's coat are gone, which does not surprise me. Nonetheless, this is a wonderful minifigure and the double-sided head is incredibly expressive, especially to show Cruella's fury.
Again reminiscent of her Collectable Minifigure, a Dalmatian puppy accompanies De Vil. Patch appeared last time and I believe this is Penny, given her blue collar. I am pleased to see a new puppy provided and Penny looks adorable, of course. There are now 99 Dalmatian puppies still to cover!
Reference
Source - disney.fandom.com
The Completed Model
While the shape of Cruella De Vil's car is consistent throughout the original animated film, its colour differs between scenes. It appears red in the daytime, but closer to a dark burgundy in later scenes. Magenta would probably be a more accurate shade for the latter, pictured above, but red is the colour often used on merchandise for the car and it works in LEGO form.
Cruella's car is enormous for a minifigure-scale model, measuring almost 26cm in length and dwarfing even Speed Champions cars like 77239 Porsche 911 GT3 RS, shown below. This is arguably too big to display the car in a typical LEGO City environment and Cruella looks small beside her vehicle, but the scale definitely helps with the sense of value.
Among the car's most distinctive features onscreen are its headlights and bumper, resembling angry eyes and teeth. The vertical details on the bumper should be sharper, but the headlights look perfect and are adjustable, so you can give this model even more personality. Perhaps the trans-clear pieces should have been trans-yellow instead, but either suffices.
Hot air balloon panels look fantastic as sweeping mudguards over the front wheels, re-using a technique from 70911 The Penguin Arctic Roller. These probably determined the vehicle's size and certainly justify it, in my opinion. In addition, its considerable size has enabled the designer to incorporate a simple steering mechanism, controlled by rotating the spare tyre on the back.
The car's turning circle leaves something to be desired, but this is still a nice feature. I love the ornate horn as well, using a golden whip element to capture its looping shape. The model also includes opening doors and the grilles on the bonnet look splendid, but the grey Technic bricks just visible behind the mudguards are irritating.
The roof is removable to place Cruella De Vil and the captive Penny inside. There is plenty of space available, though actually just one seat with two studs to attach puppies or accessories behind the driver. While room for a second minifigure would have been ideal, Cruella drives by herself in the original animated film.
A sticker is applied on the rounded console beside the steering wheel; one of three in this set. Notably, the steering wheel is positioned on the right to match the animation, as One Hundred and One Dalmatians takes place in the UK.
As mentioned, twisting the spare tyre controls the steering and the function is brilliantly hidden, even though the tyre is a little smaller than the actual wheels. I like the rear window just above and the trans-red tail lights look excellent too, accurately angled and extending from the wheel arches.
Overall
43277 Cruella De Vil's Car joins an ever-growing list of impressive sets marred by a bafflingly high price. Despite the car's size and ample functionality, £44.99, $49.99 or €49.99 is way too expensive, particularly for a set with only one minifigure, plus a Dalmatian puppy. Maybe a few more puppies could have been added, but honestly, the price should simply be lower.
Having said that, I am always pleased to see more minifigure-based sets inspired by Disney's animated catalogue and the model is well-executed. Once significantly discounted, Cruella De Vil's car will become a worthy purchase for Disney fans.
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39 comments on this article
If this set comes down in price over time, I predict it will have enormous reach outside of its "intended audience" - a great model, but its appeal has been severely limited by the accounting department.
My biggest concern is that LEGO will get the impression from sales that there’s little interest in sets of this type and refrain from producing further Villains branded sets. It would be a shame; this set looks fantastic and more vehicles or scenes of this kind would sell very well, if priced more appropriately. I can for instance visualize Captain Hook’s Jolly Roger or Maleficent’s fortress making splendid sets.
Could use a photo from a low viewpoint so we can size up the minifigure's height against the car.
One of my top sets of the year. Beautiful shaping and an enjoyable build, love the puppy. More minifig scale Disney sets please.
"Could have included more puppies"... 100 more to be precise. ;)
I love the way it looks. Those mudguards work so well
This set looks really cool. Working steering is a rare feature for "minifig-scale" System sets, and while the end result is somewhat oversized I definitely think it looks good and fits the larger-than-life presence of this car (especially from the puppies' perspective)!
@R0Sch said:
""Could have included more puppies"... 100 more to be precise. ;)"
The parents aren't puppies, so only 98. 97 if you're going by the book, IIRC.
As has been mentioned, the 101 includes the two adult dogs, Pongo and Perdita, so there's just 97 more puppies to go, and two full size dogs!
I love the 1930’s aesthetics, will be getting it on a huge discount though :D And replacing Cruella with a normal Town minifig
@cr0004 said:
"If this set comes down in price over time, I predict it will have enormous reach outside of its "intended audience" - a great model, but its appeal has been severely limited by the accounting department."
this one falls on the marketing department. Gotta defend my fellow accountants here ;)
I suppose the set's not too dissimilar to 70434. Maybe they could have a race. Maybe Cruella can explain what happened to Spencer. Maybe Cruella is what happened to Spencer.
It's still a bit weird to me how TLG worries so much about stressing its parts, but at the same time, they're more than happy to permanently warp and twist their whip-pieces.
@R0Sch said:
""Could have included more puppies"... 100 more to be precise. ;)"
Or one big coat, I guess.
FINALLY a car to race against the Penguin's High Roller!
That’s a very yellow looking Porsche lol
Swear they look orange on the box
Curious how the size compares to the new Batman Forever batmobile
My big fear is that if a set like this doesn't sell, the conclusion will be "Customers aren't interested in the theme" rather than "Customers don't think the set is worth the price". And thus Lego is hesitant to release future sets in that theme.
For example, my 'If you could have any Lego theme...' pick has always been the Legend of Zelda. And we finally got it... in the form a single $300 set. I had neither the space nor the disposable income for the Deku Tree set, so I didn't get it. I fear that, if that set doesn't sell well, Lego would blame the theme, not the price. Whereas, if the first Zelda set had been, say, a $20 'Link vs. Darknut' (basically a minifig and a buildable mech), it would've sold like hotcakes. The Legend of Zelda could be an evergreen theme, like Harry Potter or Ninjago. A variety of sets, spanning from $5 polybag buildable monsters to a $500 castles, drawing from the entire franchise.
Something like Disney Villains could be the same. There's a wealth of ideas, but if a set like this car doesn't sell because of the insanely high price, not because of the subject matter, I fear we won't get more sets in the theme.
It looks good but that it doesn't scale well with the 8-stud wide Speed Champions means it won't work in a city layout. That's too bad.
It's the same size as a semi truck
8-stud Speed Champions are already on the 'too-big' side and this is way too big
Easy pass for that reason
"While the shape of Cruella De Vil's car is consistent throughout the original animated film..." That's because it was rotoscoped over an actual model they made. "The car's turning circle leaves something to be desired, but this is still a nice feature." Well, to be fair, if Cruella's car were a real vehicle, it's not like it would corner on a dime.Anyway, if this were cheaper, I'd be tempted. At the very least, I might rewatch the movie, haven't seen it in decades.
@CameronNaish2 said:
"Curious how the size compares to the new Batman Forever batmobile"
Don't you mean the shadowbox version?
"However, I am concerned about the price of £44.99, $49.99 or €49.99, which seems extremely expensive, even for a car with functional steering."
a modern LEGO set, obscenely overpriced? i'm shocked, i tell you, shocked!
Nice design but the price is just atrocious, it's because of pricing like this and quality issues that haven't been adressed for a long time that my entusiasm for the brand continues declining. They still have great products but they are not the only player out there and others are increasing their quality while offering competitive prices.
I love vehicles in this style, the curves added a sense of class and sophistication. Reminds me alot of the penguin car.
Some spare wheels tend to be dissimilar to the four used with the car, as they're meant to be temporary, used in an emergency. I remember the ones my Dad had to use until he could get a replacement and they were different to the others and only lasted a little while before needing to be replaced with a proper one. Often times they were just for show.
It does look great at this scale, but I wish it had somehow been Speed Champions scale. As is, it doesn't really fit with anything else I have and especially at this price is a definite pass.
the color does seem off, but
1. most scenes of it are at night,
2. color timing varies from reel to reel, master to master. Famously, Cinderella's dress used to look much more detailed while newer "remasters" have scrubbed almost all of the fine linework from it. This could be another case of that.
3. Does Lego have any colors even close to the red-violet of this screenshot?
Agree more puppies would make this better, or her two henchmen, or Pongo and Perdita.
I'll be getting this, more for the chance of a Deco-style vintage car than the film (although I do have fond memories of the film from childhood)
It's expensive, but not overly so in my opinion, especially compared to the ridiculous prices that the similiar sized 'display' Batmobiles have very rapidly reached.
If I like it when built, I might see how well it recolours into black, or even fully dark red (to give it an Alfa Romeo 8C feel...)
Looks pretty cool.....exect that roof. Is this supposed to be a van? Way too much roof pillar and not enough side window. This just looks very weird. Other than that cool set, horrible price.
@daniellesa said:
"Some spare wheels tend to be dissimilar to the four used with the car, as they're meant to be temporary, used in an emergency. I remember the ones my Dad had to use until he could get a replacement and they were different to the others and only lasted a little while before needing to be replaced with a proper one. Often times they were just for show."
Spare tires often are (much) narrower than the normal tires, in Dutch we call those a "thuiskomertje", which would translate to something like "it gets you home". Smaller diameter (especially this much) would make a car pretty much undrivable. And back in those days all tires already were pretty narrow to begin with....on later cars it could have been purely cosmetic though.
Why does the grille in the reference material have vertical slats but the model comes with horizontal ones? Even more strange is that part for the grille actually has vertical slats on the rear. Ah well... love the model, love the set. Dislike the price and the size.
It is nicely shaped but it needs to either have no minifigure at this scale, or they should have done it smaller at minifigure scale. The length is about 6 humans long and so is totally the wrong scale.
Even with a discount this set would be too expensive. It needs at least a 50% sale to be appropriately priced, which is a shame cause it's a really cool set
I'm gonna Download the instructions and build this for the Riddler or Penguin just change the colour scheme slightly
I have the cruella fig anyway but I'm more of Superheroes and star wars fan
So I'll use this idea in the DC universe
This seems like it will scale well with the BTAS Batmobile. Which Bat-villain most closely resembles Cruella de Vil?
@iwybs said:
"This seems like it will scale well with the BTAS Batmobile. Which Bat-villain most closely resembles Cruella de Vil?"
https://brickset.com/minifigs/bat004
It's HUGE.
That's what she said.
@Rimefang said:
"It's HUGE.
That's what she said.
"
"Reader, it was not."
Should have been minifig scale, and able to fit in a CITY. Alas, it is not, so I found a Rebrickable MOC that works just fine in 6-wide scale and built that instead.
Looks cool. Saving for other Lego things. So no.
Plus can't stand Cruella.
MOAR puppies!
@JayCal said:
"Why does the grille in the reference material have vertical slats but the model comes with horizontal ones? Even more strange is that part for the grille actually has vertical slats on the rear. Ah well... love the model, love the set. Dislike the price and the size."
Either @CapnRex101 built it wrong, or a designer (either for the instructions or the set itself) wasn't paying attention.
I think these reviews - which are generally excellent and much appreciated! - should employ a somewhat more standardized metric for “overpriced.” A price of about 13c per part has long been typical for IP-licensed sets (along with about 10c for non-IP sets). It’s tiresome to see such sets repeatedly lambasted for bring outrageously overpriced while other IP sets with the same ppp ratio are deemed a good or acceptable value. Surely there can be some kind of evaluation method (perhaps involving number of minifigures, size or detail level of model, etc) more consistent than “it just feels overpriced.” That kind of arbitrary judgment is already well-covered by the comment threads :-)
@tmtomh said:
"I think these reviews - which are generally excellent and much appreciated! - should employ a somewhat more standardized metric for “overpriced.” A price of about 13c per part has long been typical for IP-licensed sets (along with about 10c for non-IP sets). It’s tiresome to see such sets repeatedly lambasted for bring outrageously overpriced while other IP sets with the same ppp ratio are deemed a good or acceptable value. Surely there can be some kind of evaluation method (perhaps involving number of minifigures, size or detail level of model, etc) more consistent than “it just feels overpriced.” That kind of arbitrary judgment is already well-covered by the comment threads :-)"
This set once again shows why PPP on it's own is a terrible metric. It's what they do with those pieces. Here, it's just one car, one minifig, one tiny animal. That's it. Sure, the car is decently sizable, but nothing extraordinary. And apart from the steering no special play features either. That's just not very much for 50 bucks....
Just for fun and giggles, let's look at 76424, the Ford Anglia from Harry Potter. Also a licensed set (double even!), with little under half the pieces (but with a few printed ones!), but with two minifigs and two animals to make up for that. Is it about half the price then? Nope. It's not even a third....
Just because of the size I could see this be a €30 set, maybe €35 tops if we blame "Disney tax". But 50 is just ludicrous.