Review: 31034 Future Flyer
Posted by Huw,
Recently LEGO sent us some Creator and Classic sets to review. Rather than have the 'usual suspects' review them, I thought it would be cool to send them to others to do. So this review, of 31034 Future Flyer, is the first of two that Shib will be contributing:
Given how vehicles like cars, planes/spaceships and mechs have become pretty much LEGO staples these days, it's pretty unsurprising to see a creator 3-in-1 with all three.
This is however not the first time we've seen this combo in a similarly priced 3-in-1. You may remember 31008 Thunder Wings, that featured the same vehicles in a similar price range. So is it fair to think of 31034 Future Flyer as a straight up rehash or is this something more?
Box and contents
The box is fairly standard for the 3-in-1 sets, featuring a large image of the titular build, the Future Flyer Robot, and smaller offset images of the other builds with the distinct yellow band and 3-in-1 branding. Generally speaking the box art for this kind of set does little to draw me in, however this set is a bit of an exception. The CG background seems to hint at a sci-fi setting like an alien planet with both day and night reflected in the gradient skyline. The pose of the robot, and composition of the image puts me in mind of some of the old Japanese giant mech anime, of which I spent a lot of time in my teenage years watching, which added a little bit more appeal to me personally.
In terms of parts, there is very little included that hasn't been included in a lot of other sets, in fact according to the Brickset inventory only two parts appear in less than 10 other sets.
However, what the set lacks in unique parts it makes up for in useful parts. There are a lot of ball joints, angled plates and curved/sloped pieces, all of which are massively useful for sci-fi or city builds. I can certainly see this as a good parts pack for a lot of different builds, but I think that's often true of the Creator 3-in-1 sets in general.
Car
From the box art, the car was the model that appealed to me least, that's not to say that there looked anything particularly bad about the design but cars in general are so common in LEGO sets that they hold little appeal for me personally. The LEGO description of the car is a "futuristic sports car" which is pretty accurate. While not overly futuristic in it's design, it does look a little more like a concept car than a high end, real life sports car.
Most of the build is fairly standard and straight forward and it was actually simple enough that it made me question the suggested age on the box. I would have argued that this build could have been done by a slightly younger child, but some of the other builds are a little more involved which explains the age range given. There are a couple of unusual details, for example the front bumper being made of two of the larger ball joint pieces gives it an odd asymmetry look. It's hard to know if this was a visual design choice or a design based on available parts. Personally I thought it added a nice textured detail, but doubt anyone would choose that style if they could opt for standard bricks instead.
I think that the best thing about the design of the car is it does fit two minifigures comfortably so I can see kids loving this as a vehicle for their minifigures. While there isn't a steering wheel, small details like that rarely stop children adding a driver to a toy car.
Jet
There is no shortage of planes, jets and spaceships in the LEGO universe so it's quite hard for a design to really stand out. This is definitely a nice solid design that stands up nicely against others of the size. The build has a couple of nice techniques, including the underside of the nose cone being built upside down and attached by one of the smaller ball joints.
It's a great size for children to swoosh around, and the wings can quite satisfyingly be positioned forward or straight, I know that as a child I would have taken this as a battle mode and a travel mode, so some great playability in this model.
The one thing I don't really like about the design is the use of the 1x4 bricks with bow used on the tail fins. I appreciate that there are restrictions on available pieces, but I think that even just using plates would have given a nicer finish. It is a minor issue with what is otherwise a nice model.
Robot
Finally we move to the headline act, the Robot. This was the build I was looking forward to most and it certainly didn't disappoint. While most of the build techniques will feel pretty familiar to anyone who has built a mech-based LEGO set, it certainly does use a wider range of building styles, which might make it a little trickier for younger children.
I was a little surprised by the overall scale, while not massive, the robot stands much taller than I would have expected, and with the wings out is also substantially wide. The real highlight of this build is the articulation, it has a lot of joints so a variety of poses are easily achieved and the model is pretty stable, managing to stay up in even some of the strangest poses I could put it into.
There are a lot of nice little details on the finished robot that I really like, for example the boosters in the feet being visible through the side of the leg thanks to the use of the 1x4 bricks with bow. I did find that while assembling the model as per the instructions, I started planning possible modifications, such as arm cannons, etc. that could really easily be implemented to make for a more unique model – any set that inspires a bit of additional creativity is a massive plus for me.
It has to be said that while I really like the robot, it's not without its faults. The biggest issue I found was the wing detachment. An image on the box implies that the wings can easily be removed by pulling them out of the back of the robot, on trying to do this the connection was so tight it lead to me having several parts to rebuild. Personally I think the robot looks better with the wings so it's a small concern for me, but I'd imagine any child playing with the robot would find this massively frustrating and could lead to temper tantrums.
Another slight issue are the hands; while I like the style of build they do look a bit comically large on the robot in comparison to the rest of it, and to be honest it's not something with an easy fix.
The colours used work really nicely, and this feels almost like it could have been a set initially planned for the Galaxy Squad theme, in fact I felt this was so much the case that I had to get my Jack Fireblade minifigure out for a photo op with his new robot companion.
Overall Opinion
While this set wouldn't make it onto a must buy list for me, it is great fun. All of the builds were nice, especially the robot and the parts selection alone is worth the price.
The initial comparison to 31008 Thunder Wings is definitely fair, and does do something to blemish this set a little, if the sets were released a little farther apart then it would be less of a big deal, but as it is I do feel LEGO need to up their originality a little for the theme that pushes creativity. Putting the comparison aside this set is a solid set and I think could have such a wide appeal that it's definitely worth picking up, if nothing else the robot makes a great customisable action figure and has plenty of cross theme adaptability – a solid 8 out of 10 from me!
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13 comments on this article
Great review. I was going to get this, and I still will. Nice to have a bit of variety in reviews. :)
This is a great set IMO. Also it is only $19.99 @ Target which makes it even better!
Hmm, a temper tantrum, huh?
Thx for the review Shib! Great that you put some minifigures in the pics, helps to convey the scale. This will go on the ' my son wants this' list!
As a mech, that's very impressive. It looks rather strange without knees, but that's typical of a LEGO robot. There's a lot of sweet parts in here, too, and $20 at Target for that is a great price. The jet looks very swooshable and fun, but here's my real beef with the set: the sports car. Power Mech did it much better, but with all of those gaps revealing non-moving hinges bouncing off of really nicely done detail sections, it kind of looks like a mess. I might seriously consider this, actually.
Great review, too! It shows off the set very well with minimal fuss.
Nice review as usual! I have to say, my favorite part of the robot is the head. So sleek and modern.
P.S. Love the Galaxy Squad comparison! One of my favorite themes!
It might just be me, but this set just screams macross/veritech fighter. Given the amount of them that pop up on Ideas it's not surprising. The sports car actually reminds me of someone's concept car, but for the moment I can't remember who's.
Totally had the same though, @Privatematrix - I expected a Rick Hunter minifig to come with this. It has a definite Veritech feel to it, especially with the location of the thrusters on the wings. For $20, I think I'll be picking this one up too!
Great, detailed review, Shib! Thanks for putting a minifig in the photos too - I think that helps a lot, as it shows the scale. Perhaps more reviews can find creative ways to include minifigs even if the set doesn't come with them, as it can really help figure out the size.
I believe there is an alternate moc using the pieces strictly from this set to build a transforming veritech fighter. I can't remember where I saw it. It might have been a YouTube. But I'm sure it'll be easy to google for. Happy hunting! :)
Thanks for all the kind words guys and a massive thanks to Huw for giving me a shot, cleaning up my dodgy photos, giving me pointers and generally running a great site.
The set is really great and the robot was definitely my favourite of the builds. If I'd been given this set as a child I'd have been really pleased.
I have my Future Flyer robot straddled across my son's 31018 Highway Cruiser. . . They look pretty cool together!
When I saw this set coming up for this year, I also immediately thought we just had this in 31008. And I think Thunder Wings is a slightly odd set. While I appreciate that it might be a bit more interesting to have a variety of types in a 3-1 set (jet, mech, car) compared to only building 3 models of the same type (car, jeep, truck or so), with 31008 none of the builds really work for me. The jet is nice enough, but overall when putting the different models together I always felt that some solutions are a bit strange, which I believe is due to the need of including parts that just don't quite 'fit' this particular type, but are needed in one of the others.
That's why I decided I probably don't really need the future flyer even though 3-1 models are my favorite Lego models overall.
I'd say this set is significantly better in terms of design than Thunder Wings. I actually like all three builds of this, but the jet and mech are the best. I definitely want to pick this up. I don't think I'd pay full price for this, so I may need to pick it up at Target sometime if that price holds true.