Review: 71508 Fox Guardian Mech
Posted by benbacardi,
Continuing our look at this year's five DREAMZzz sets, we're moving onto 71508 Fox Guardian Mech. Sitting in the middle of the range, the set's almost-900 pieces promise two fox-themed builds in a vibrant green-and-gold colour scheme that reminds me of the Wizard of Oz's great city.
A fox has not appeared in the DREAMZzz line up before, despite many previous animal builds. Both variations are excellent, and the minifigure selection has one particular standout design too!
Summary
71508 Fox Guardian Mech, 883 pieces.
£69.99 / $79.99 / €79.99 | 7.9p / 9.1c / 9.1c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A visually-striking set with a superb Guardian build and a truly excellent villian!
- Excellent green and gold colour scheme
- Fantastic fox head and character
- Outstanding Nightmare Emperor minifigure
- Unrefined back of the Guardian mech
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
71508 Fox Guardian Mech includes Mateo and Izzie from the Dream Catchers. Mateo is the most common character to be represented in physical form, and comes in three sets this year with a new design. His blue jacket is crossed with a gold strap prominently displaying the Dream Chasers' hourglass emblem, and the gold and green design continues onto his grey trousers.
Izzie's outfit is spectacular. The pink and blue design looks fantastic contrasted with her gold legs, featuring a long feathered tunic, tied at the waist with a wide sash and a large gold buckle showing the hourglass emblem. Izzie's hair has always been one of my favourite LEGO hairstyles, and the colours have heavily influenced the clothing design.
The fine details of both torsos continue on the back. Both characters feature dual-printed heads, and although neither are new they are excellent designs, and I especially like the pink and blue decoration on Izzie's.
Each of our heroes are wielding one of the new large collectable swords; Mateo's in green and Izzie's in pearl white, both with gold hilts. Izzie's also features a gem at the centre of the hilt. Mateo's also holding a claw-like device in his other hand, while Izzie has only her sword.
This year's Big Bad is the Nightmare Emperor, a suitably imposing figure in minifigure form! This is one of the most impressive minfigure designs I've come across, with a highly detailed torso, legs, and face, a new cape, and an enormous headdress. He is accompanied by two grimspawn with menacing faces.
Dual moulded in black and pink, the headdress features six huge printed eyes—five on tentacles above the head and the sixth in the centre of the forehead. A large white beard covering the Emperor's mouth is the only part of him that's not new this year.
The cape is made of a strong flexible plastic, features bat-like shoulders and tattered ends where it flows out behind the Emperor. This would have been nowhere near as effective using a fabric cape, and the piece is excellent.
The skeleton-like print on his torso features yet another green eye, usually hidden behind his beard, and some vibrant pink innards with green claws are visible behind the bones. His face, though only single-sided, shows a skull-like expression with sunken cheeks, a displeased mouth, and eyes that are leaking pink.
Much like the Dream Chasers have new swords this year, so does the Nightmare Emperor! Made from the same mould as the others, his showcases the typical Nightmare colours, featuring a black hilt, a transparent pink blade, and yet another all-seeing eye printed on an attached yellow tile.
This set also introduces our third colour of the Treasure Creatures, this time in a transparent bright green. As before, a similar blue crystal mini-build is constructed to house it.
There is just enough room inside for the creature once the two halves are closed, although it's trickier than it looks to get it to remain standing up as you push it shut.
Flying Fox Guardian
The builder has a choice of two poses for the Fox Guardian; you begin by building the version on all fours, and are given the choice part way through the instructions rearrange its body slightly and pivot to the standing mech, or flip to later in the booklet and continue with this flying version.
The fox stands proudly on all four legs. Beneath it's green-and-white head, a large crystal sits at its chest, using half of a Treasure Creature's egg. A small flat saddle for Mateo or Izzie is attached to the fox's back, flanked two large wings attached via a pair of click hinges between the leg joints. Finally, a large green tail is connected by another click hinge at the fox's rear.
The four legs have a small degree of articulation. Large click joints at the hips allow rotation, a ball joint at the ankle permits the foot to be positioned respective to the leg, and the toes can flex on their clips to sit flush against the floor. Each leg is covered in various green and gold detailing, including a handful of printed parts to add more interest, and the black hip joints are mostly concealed.
The design of the rear legs is a little odd, with a strange unyielding angle at the knee putting the fox into a permanent semi-crouch position no matter how you position the hips and ankles.
Both wings and the tail are tipped with trans-green pieces that pass suitably for either feathers or fur; three on each wing arching backwards, and one on the tail curving over towards the fox's head. The excellent green and gold colour scheme continues onto the wings, and large detailed stickers showcase the Dream Chaser's hourglass logo on one wing and a fox emblem on the other, on gold 3x3 round tiles.
My favourite part of the build is the fox's head. Attached by a single small ball joint, it has a great degree of movement, and clever use of only a handful of sloped and angled pieces makes an excellent profile. Completed with two stickers for the eyes, and a printed tile for the nose, it's a very realistic recreation of a fox head (albeit in green!), and I love the expression and character it gives the model.
Fox Guardian Mech
If, instead, you wish to build the Fox Guardian that is featured on the front of the box, the instruction manual bids you remove the rear half of the fox's body, which is connected with two Technic axles, and reconnect it beneath the crystal chest through the holes in the white plate.
The rear legs are then decorated in a slightly different manner to before, particularly the feet, which are built up more behind their attachment point in order to support the new angle they must stand at. The arms are removed, new sections introduced on the shoulders to pad them out, and the detailing built up again.
The resulting pose is an impressive creature that stands tall and solid, front claws bunched into fists, ready for combat!
The build is slightly let down by the fox's back, which leaves the Technic axle holes exposed from where the body was previously connected. Nothing was added to try and disguise this at all. The tail also looks a little more feeble in this incarnation. I wonder if there is something that could have been done with the unused parts from the wings to make this side more impressive.
The rear feet have been built out far more solidly than before, in order to house the ankle joint more securely and prevent the Guardian falling backwards or tilting forwards. This works well, with the fox being one of the more secure two-legged mechs I've built.
To pad out the shoulders, a 2-stud-wide section is inserted. This actually gives them two different points around which they can rotate.
The arms can be spun to position them in line with the head. The only other articulation for them is at the wrists.
The fox can also, sort of, sit down! Resting on his tail, it looks a little silly, however. You can also see below the detailing on the large shoulders at the top of each arm.
Finally, the Guardian wouldn't be complete without his weaponry. A large trans-green piece, unused in the flying fox variation, makes up the blade of an enormous sword with a green and gold hilt that can be clipped into one of the paws. The claws can be wrapped around to close the paw; they're open here to show the clips inside.
For the other hand, a large green-and-gold shield is built with some of the remaining pieces, and adorned with the hourglass logo. The wing tips have been repurposed as large claw-like protrusions from one side of the shield.
The shield connects onto the back of the paw, and the large green claws curve over the fox's real claws.
The final Guardian is very impressive, and I have little to fault with it beyond it's unsightly back. Its weapons suit its size very well, and I love the green and gold colour scheme that runs throughout. A Guardian fit to guard, indeed!
Verdict
The DREAMZzz sets offer some great value for money, and 71508 Fox Guardian Mech is no exception. It's an excellent showcase of what the theme does best: striking colour palettes, strong character design, and a build that feels genuinely magical.
Both configurations have a lot to like, but the standing Guardian is the most impressive, resulting in a powerful, heroic presence that looks superb on display and offers excellent play value. The lack of any effort on the mech’s back is a disappointing oversight, but it does little to detract from an otherwise impressive model.
It's hard to fault DREAMZzz minifigures, and although Mateo and Izzie are identical to other sets released this year, the detail in their prints is unparalleled. As for the villains, the outstanding Nightmare Emperor is one of my favourite minifigure designs, and a suitably impressive-looking foe for the fox.
71508 Fox Guardian Mech is available at LEGO.com for £69.99 / $79.99 / €79.99.
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19 comments on this article
I like this set alot and I am about to buy it. Both - or should I say all three - builds look really good. There are some nice parts in there and the minifigs are done so well, as usual in Dreamzzz.
Just a heads up: The Nightmare Emperor's cape isn't new, its the same one the Nightmare King had.
Well, they finally did it. I've liked sets from this theme in the past, but TLG have made a Dreamzzz set I'm actually considering buying.
@SMC said:
"Just a heads up: The Nightmare Emperor's cape isn't new, its the same one the Nightmare King had."
It is a new part number, but does indeed look identical!
I need that 'beholder' headpiece!
@benbacardi said:
" @SMC said:
"Just a heads up: The Nightmare Emperor's cape isn't new, its the same one the Nightmare King had."
It is a new part number, but does indeed look identical!"
Great review BTW, the Nightmare Emperor is indeed very impressive. I will probably end up getting this set, especially if this is the end of the line for the theme.
Can't help wondering if this was originally a rejected idea from the Ninjago dept. and ended up being picked up by the Dreamzzz dept. at LEGO. Foxes are quite prominent in Japanese folklore so I'm genuinely surprised there hasn't been any fox-related playsets in Ninjago or elsewhere since 41194
I would say "posability" is also a big negative for this one...
It looks like the mech cant really be posed in a "moving" stance seeing how limited his ankle-movement is...
This wave of Dreamzzz sets seem to be D2C in Australia (not in catalogues). Is that the same elsewhere too?
I predict that the Nightmare Emperor will be nominated as favorite minifigure at the end of this year. It is menacing and has a great design.
@Kynareth said:
"This wave of Dreamzzz sets seem to be D2C in Australia (not in catalogues). Is that the same elsewhere too?"
Nope, retail in Serbia.
When I saw the Nightmare Emperor's sword with the eye on it, I was immediately reminded of the Sword of Omens from ThunderCats.
The Fox Guardian Mech looks really nice. I like how its sword and claw weapon correspond with Mateo's weapons.
@benbacardi , The cape is listed as the same part on BrickLink. I only have the Nightmare King’s one, not the latest one for the Nightmare Emperor so am not able to do a side-by-side comparison. I suspect though that it’s just a part renumbering and that it’s otherwise the same.
@Sammael said:
" @Kynareth said:
"This wave of Dreamzzz sets seem to be D2C in Australia (not in catalogues). Is that the same elsewhere too?"
Nope, retail in Serbia. "
Retail in the UK, too. I’m guessing it’s retail across Europe and the US/Canada.
I am definitely getting this at some point because it feels like all of the best partner Digimon evolutions from the first 3 seasons, combined. But the noodle sections of the limbs sure are not perfect.
The legs attachment method seems to be the same as in the set 71497, therefore it should be possible to swap them between each other and then the heads are both mounted on mixel-joints and the arms on ratcheted joints. It's a cool bit of customisability between the two, even though the Fox Guardian doesn't use the double bar and clip system itself!
Look - the transparent green pieces look good, even though they're just not neon enough. The thing is; Mateo's gear is mainly Z-Blob. Those claws, that sword, it's crystallized snot. It might be effective, but it's not particularly hygienic and I'm just not here for it.
Dear Mateo - you may think this is cool, but it'ssnot.
@Crux said:
"Dear Mateo - you may think this is cool, but it'ssnot."
Last summer Mateo seemed well on his way to becoming snot himself, so I'm glad to see he's made a full recovery
Love it. Dreamzzz is woefully underrated.
@Ryangaff said:
" @Crux said:
"Dear Mateo - you may think this is cool, but it'ssnot."
Last summer Mateo seemed well on his way to becoming snot himself, so I'm glad to see he's made a full recovery"
Yeah he's gone back to normal minifig construction