Review: 70813 Rescue Reinforcements
Posted by Huw,
This is our penultimate review of The LEGO Movie sets. 70813 Rescue Reinforcements is the joint most expensive TLM set in the first wave, costing $70/£60. It contains 859-pieces, five minifigs and comprises three separate models.
It is any good? Read on to find out what I thought of it.
Five minifigs in a £60 set is pretty good I guess, but none of them are significant characters in the movie. They are, from left-to-right, Robo SWAT, Hank Haystack, Blaze Firefighter, Blacktron Fan and Fabu-Fan. There are a couple of nice torsos among them but none are particularly special.
All have printed backs. The Robo Swat has a particularly cool flack jacket.
The 'star' of the set is undoubtedly the mecha which is very inventive and, as you can no doubt work out for yourself, is made to look as if it's been made from parts of a fire engine. It has everything you'd expect to see on a fire engine: 4 wheels, mudguards, cab, hoses, ladder, control panels, flashing lights and so on. It's unfortunate, then, that instructions were not provided to actually make a fire engine from it. Of course you can give it a go yourself but there's no suitable plates for the vehicle chassis so you'd need to dig some out from elsewhere to do so.
The 1x4 tile under the cab has a code on it that can be redeemed for a 'surprise item' in the videogame. (I've blurred out the actual code)
Unlike many official LEGO mechas it looks pretty good from the back. In the movie, it appears at the very end, for about 2 seconds.
The second model in the box is a Micro Manager. A 6x6 cube, it's the largest MM to appear in a TLM set. It's a walking one rather than a flying one which I don't think are so common in the movie. I particularly like its 'toes'.
The sides are hinged to reveal the obligatory flick-missiles.
Finally, we have this, er, 'windmill helicopter' which, according to shop.LEGO.com "includes spinning propellers (with pig chasing a carrot), side basket to drop 2 apples, side door and sliding tray to drop 3 carrots, chained anchor, chicken binoculars look-out and 2 flick missiles".
It's certainly very inventive, that's for sure.
I can imagine this conversation round the LEGO designer's table:
Designer 1:"So, we've put together 12 sets from the models we've made, what's left on the table?"
Designer 2: "A fire-engine-mech, a micro manager and that weird flying thingy".
Designer 1: "Okay, shove them in a box and we'll make it 13".
Although all three models are okay and are certainly inventive, they are nothing special and it does feel as if they've just been thrown together as if they were left-overs. I don't think the three are seen in the same scene in the movie (but I could be mistaken). The minifigs represent insignificant 'extras' in the movie.
In the UK I believe this set is not being sold in regular shops and isn't even shown in the print version of the latest LEGO shop catalogue so it's not being marketed very strongly. To be honest I wouldn't go out of your way to buy it unless you're aiming to be LEGO movie set- or minifig-complete.
Here's another review, by PHLUG member Carlo, which is a bit more positive than mine.
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17 comments on this article
I was wondering when this review was going to come out!
By the way, I believe I saw one of these at my local Wal-Mart (although I may be mistaken). So, if I'm correct, it's being somewhat widely sold.
Interesting that you say it's very unimpressive - of all the wacky vehicle/mech/things, I actually quite like the windmill-copter. It's somehow steampunk-ish, but not quite. It also captures a lot of farm/wild west type elements and seems to have lots of quirky details. Plus I love the 'extra' minifigs, with the classic-themed shirts.
That said, I see what you mean about it being a somewhat random set. That and the lack of a proper alternative build for the fire-engine is disappointing. (Because fire engine builds are so rare these days (<-sarcasm)).
Saw this in Southampton toys r us last weekend after we had seen the movie.
7 yr old son thought it looked great but too expensive, we decided to buy the trash chomper and ice cream van for us all to build and share.
I definitely agree with you on the randomness of this set. This and the creative ambush set (I'd like to see your opinion on the latter) look very thrown together and while the seperate sections are pretty good alone, they don't go together very well. Having said that I'm in love with the micro managers at the moment so I might have to pick him up alone on the second hand market.
AFOL Jangbricks has reverse engineered an inventive fire engine from the mecha: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujJbzWvWXG4&feature=youtu.be. It's hollow bodied and had to be created quite inventively, but it can just about be done from the parts here. (Isabella and Lego Liker pointed me to it back on the ice cream truck review.)
(And I tried making the link a pretty html thing behind the word "here" but I guess that's disabled, or it's been so long since I tried that I forgot how to do it properly!)
This is my favorite set in the whole line! I love the fire mech and I love all the small little details on the windmill. (And the Micro Manager is so cool looking!) Minifigs are great (even if Blaze is pretty boring).
^^ Thanks for that link, interesting to see it can be done after all.
Huw, what do you mean the minifigs are not special? The girl with the Fabuland shirt and the guy with the Blacktron shirt are the only minifigures ever with braces! :D
The Fabuland t-shirt torso is almost enough for me to consider this set. I'll be looking for it on discount.
I think it's an awesome set - any set with a RoboSWAT is a good one. :)
@ Nicknak
Save your money for the next wave.
Although if I had the money I'd buy it I have other priorities so it'll be a pass, but I really, really want that Blacktron Fan torso. Meh, I'll see if I can get it off of eBay or Bricklink at a decent price.
>Fabuland fan torso
>Not particularly special
Nope
I'm probably going to end up getting her separately though because in truth this set is a bit too far on the weirdness scale for my liking.
I'm not very excited by the fire-engine mecha but the flying windmill (with pig power and chicken-guidance) is totally charming! The more I look at it the more I want that....
Aw man. The alternate-build fire engine (in that YouTube video) looks BRILLIANT. Why couldn't Lego have done that? They gave us the actual vehicle build for the plumber's van and the ice-cream truck. But not for the awesome fire engine?
While I don't own this set, I will give my opinion of the film here.
I saw it on Friday, and I was automatically blown away by it. The beginning parts seemed a bit rushed for me, but later on the action really built up and I laughed nonstop. The ending really clicks everything together. They handled it in the best way possible. I even found myself shedding a year in the theater. So emotional.
Anyways, The LEGO Movie is a thrill ride that celebrates the spirit of creativity and LEGO builders worldwide, and I cannot wait to watch it again.
Nice review, thank you! It was great to read a take on a set after I had already built it, for once. I agree with many points, but I have to disagree about at least two of the figs. The 'throw-back' torsos are super! I think it is hilarious that LEGO has included a nod to old lines that have almost gained a 'cult' status, such as the Fabuland and the Blacktron.
That being said, I found it very strange the code tile isn't printed, but rather melted into the plastic. The end result is an ugly, unprofessional looking part.
My two cents (pence?)