Review: 31148 Retro Roller Skate
Posted by benbacardi,
Earlier this month, LEGO revealed the upcoming Creator sets for 2024, and they look to be an excellent selection, ranging from a small dragon to a large peacock, and even a hamster wheel!
In the middle of the range with 342 pieces, we have 31148 Retro Roller Skate, a trio of retro-themed models in pastel colours including a roller skate, a skateboard, and a boom box. I've taken a look at all three models below, but first there's something else interesting about these sets…
Summary
31148 Retro Roller Skate, 342 pieces.
£24.99 / $29.99 / €29.99 | 7.3p/8.8c/8.8c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Excellent retro roller skate in a great colour scheme, but the alternate models could have been much better.
- Fun, bright roller skate
- Customisable design
- Plenty of recoloured parts
- Let down by the alternate models, particularly the skateboard
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Paper Bags
Over three years ago, LEGO announced that they would be replacing the plastic bags inside set boxes with paper ones, and back in 2022 we wrote an article titled "Paper bags are here at last!", where Huw took a look at a sample of the bags from 31111 Cyber Drone. Now, it seems, they are finally here in earnest, with all three of the Creator 3-in-1 sets we've been provided to review containing them.
This particularly set contains two numbered bags, both the same size, with a large 1 and 2 printed on them respectively. As Huw noted previously, thanks to the design of the base of the bag, they're able to stand up on their own and are supposed to prevent pieces from getting stuck in the corners when emptying them out.
They're heat sealed along the top, and a series of chevrons indicates the line of perforations where you should rip to open them. Inside this particular bag were two smaller ones, also labelled with a large number 1, much like how smaller pieces are packaged in the plastic bags we're used to. The interior of each bag is thiny coated with some kind of wax, to help strengthen it and prevent the sharp corners of parts piercing the plastic.
They also each have a longer number printed on the lower left of the bag; presumably uniquely identifying each bag and its contents.
With those opened and suitably exclaimed over, onto the actual build!
Roller Skate
The primary model is the Retro Roller Skate. With fewer than 350 pieces, I was surprised to see numbered bags, but bag 1 starts us off with the sole, a solidly built sandwich of plates. The sides of the skate are built up, leaving a hollow in the middle, as you would expect, but it's not for your foot!
The tongue is built next, together with yellow laces. It's built and angled using simple but clever SNOT techniques, and the majority of the studs are hidden when finished.
It slots inside the sole, nestling under the toe. I've removed the side of the skate below to give a better view of how the model is constructed.
The heel of the boot comes together quickly, layering plates and SNOT bricks on the sides to provide a triangular surface of studs to apply a design to the skate. Instructions and parts are provided for two—the pattern shown here, and the rainbow I've applied to the other side, shown below. You could easily come up with your own design, particularly with the myriad of tile prints provided by the Dots range.
There's nothing fancy about the construction of the wheel assembly, but they look excellent with the pink tyres! The model includes the rubber stopper at the front, used as a rather abrupt brake when skating by tilting your feet forward until it touched the ground.
The design is remarkably accurate to the source material, as you can see from this picture of original roller skates from the period LEGO are labelling "retro". (The image has been borrowed from Cumbria's Living Heritage website.)
One of my favourite aspects of the model has to be the design of the laces. Although rather simple where they are laced over the tongue, the bow tied in them at the top of the skate is excellently represented using macaroni pieces, and are just as loose and floppy as the real bows would have been!
Skateboard
Instruction booklets are provided for all three models, the second of which is a skateboard with rather over-sized wheels. It's a little lackluster, and a fairly boring build, although the design on top could be customised with any spare pieces or your own LEGO Dots collection. There really isn't that much else to say about it!
Boom Box
The third model builds a small boom box radio, complete with a handle for carrying and a little antenna that can be angled. Two of the wheel rims are used for the speaker cones.
On the rear, it looks as if it's designed to take a single cassette, which would make it a pretty small boom box if so!
Conclusion
I'm a big fan of the 3-in-1 range. Lately LEGO have been knocking it out of the park with so many of these sets, and this one held great promise. I love the colour scheme, and the roller skate is a brilliant build. It's a decent size, feels solid in the hand, and although it's not a vehicle, pushing it around is quite satisfying. It's just a shame there's only one—a pair would have been fantastic!
The other two builds let the set down somewhat—the boom box is cute, but neither are particularly inspiring and the skateboard is the worst of the three. It would have been good if either of the models could have made use of the new pink tyres, which truly look excellent in that colour!
That said, I think it's worth buying for the roller skate alone, and if you can swing getting two to have a pair, even better.
31148 Retro Roller Skate will be available at LEGO.com on the 1st of January for £24.99 / $29.99 / €29.99.
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42 comments on this article
I like this. It'll go with my pair of 40486 and 10282.
I could never manage to work the front toe brake. Always ended up on my face. Maybe that was how it was supposed to work.
I wonder how those pink tires would look on my copy of 2506?
This roller skate shoe can't fit on my foot...
Sorry if I missed this, but are paper bags easier or harder to open than plastic ones?
Nice review! The construction of the roller skate is more complex than I'd expected. A shame the other two models are more lackluster, but I suppose that makes it easy to decide which version to display.
I can't wait until I get a set with the new paper bags, but last I heard they might not be rolling them out in the U.S. as soon as they are in Europe.
Great main model, and I like the boom box as well!
One of the few cases when I don't remove the set from my wish list _after_ reading the review. I'll definitely get one, preferably with 41803.
I thought those were real shoelaces like the ones from the Adidas set until I zoomed in. Weird.
@beige2 said:
"Sorry if I missed this, but are paper bags easier or harder to open than plastic ones?"
If memory serves, the top strip you tear off comes away pretty easily.
Would it be too hard to print the set number on the bags.
Not a set I'd likely buy, but I like what they did here! The alternate models not so much though, the skateboard is just plain terrible, and while the boombox looks okay, it looks rather small, I'd love to see how many pieces were left here.
Interesting to see though that you got small paper bags inside the bigger bag, as
Tiago Catarino still got some small plastic bags.
@beige2 said:
"Sorry if I missed this, but are paper bags easier or harder to open than plastic ones?"
The top strip is perforated and comes off pretty easily. I don't find the plastic bags hard to open but my children do - these are easier for them, and they just open more neatly anyway.
Some larger parts were still packaged separately in an unlabelled plastic bag, such as the tyres.
Some of the larger paper bags still have small plastic bags inside them, they're clearly in the middle of the transition even for these sets. We'll take a closer look at the bags later…
The paper bags are cool! Don't think I'll get this set, but it still looks like a nice build.
When I was a kid, I used the stopper for propulsion. For actual stopping, I tended to use a wall...
Cute set. I agree that ideally you'd have a pair, but I'm glad for the option to buy just the one and keep the price down. Reminds me of 31015 which I ended up buying three copies of.
@Huw would it be possible to the info to the black box whether its an exclusive or retail set?
If the information is there to record then it may as well be added to the set list. I'm sure it will become useful in the future, especially as we wont be able to see what's in the bags if they are sealed, preventing identification be part deduction.
Those are not the original roller skates - not by large margin! (although they are 1970s retro) They were first patented in Belgium in 1760. These lacked any way to brake, so it didn't become a runaway success as intended. It took until 1863 to get the first modern roller skate. It had brakes, and a rocking motion (to imitate ice skating) too boot. It still is sold today as the Plimpton skate, named after it's designer James Plimpton of Massachusetts.
(No, I didn't just know this all - I looked it up, because I knew the first ones came out in the 1700's.)
@Murdoch17 said:
"They were first patented in Belgium in 1760. These lacked any way to brake, so it didn't become a runaway success as intended."
You could say they were too runaway a success without brakes.
The tongue part on its own looks like something you would strap a dangerous patient to
Something that size cannot be called a boom box.
Those pink tyres look bubblegum delicious. Shame I have size 13 feet.
Not my thing personally, but an amazing set IMHO.
Just wanted to mention - the skateboard isn't great, but it's not that inaccurate to the more kid-level skateboards of that era. They had quite large wheels that protruded out the sides, the biggest difference is that the board itself used to be more like a mini plastic surfboard sort of shape.
They were terrible, terrible things.
@benbacardi you wrote: "The interior of each bag is thiny coated with some kind of wax, to help strengthen it and prevent the sharp corners of parts piercing the plastic."
Typo in there, should be: thinly coated
And you end with 'piercing the plastic', but I think you meant to say 'piercing the paper'?
@Murdoch17 said:
"Those are not the original roller skates - not by large margin! (although they are 1970s retro) They were first patented in Belgium in 1760. These lacked any way to brake, so it didn't become a runaway success as intended. It took until 1863 to get the first modern roller skate. It had brakes, and a rocking motion (to imitate ice skating) too boot. It still is sold today as the Plimpton skate, named after it's designer James Plimpton of Massachusetts.
(No, I didn't just know this all - I looked it up, because I knew the first ones came out in the 1700's.)"
When we were kids, we used full metal strap-on skates from my Grampa's toy shelves. Even the wheels were metal. They didn't work very well and would come to a complete stop at every crack or pebble. They were ok for tootling around in his basement with its smooth concrete. Made a horrible noise.
He also had an 8-panel, full-leather soccer ball that weighed a ton.
We also began skiing with his old equipment that included leather ski boots with straps. Just like Hemingway!!
Ah, the Ole Days! When you were punished for doing stupid on snow, by getting hit in the back of your head with your trailing skis. Then, there was also Gramps to whack your backside with his ski pole! Ah, the Ole Days....
it bugs me that they include only 1 roller skate... Wut happened to the other? lost?
the one time ur willing to by roller skates that dont actually work lol
A good icons set. As a creator set I feel that it misses the mark. Creator is about re-buildability whilst this one feels like the design is too complicated and therefore too specialized.
I don't have any intent to buy this one, but it definitely appeals to my '80s kid soul. I like the choice between the two designs on the side.
This is such a different set than anything we've seen from creator for a long time. As much as Ive loved the recent animal sets, it is also nice to see the theme branch out further and give us such a different build
Brilliant review - thank you! I especially appreciate the photographs of the construction highlighting the clever techniques used to build the tongue and the sides. And the model itself looks fab - those laces are very clever.
Thanks for sharing!
Great looking fun set... so long as it's not part 1 of a giant mini-doll (yikes)
@jsutton said:
"Thanks for sharing!"
If they didn't, Lego would stop sending them sets to review.
@sjr60 said: "Great looking fun set... so long as it's not part 1 of a giant mini-doll (yikes)"
Who else wants to see that MOC?
@StyleCounselor said:
“When we were kids, we used full metal strap-on skates”
I had a pair of those! I can still feel the pinch of the tightened clamps!
As much as I love yellow, its use with the macaroni pieces for the laces reminds me strongly of Kraft Dinner.
Thanks for the fun review!
Creator does those "buildable object" sets justice, and fairly priced, at least compared to some of those overpriced licenses like the recent polaroid.
While I tend to prefer the minifig based 3-in-1, they have been getting somewhat weaker the last year, both in value and builds. (2023 had no amazing retro themed set either like the still sold Pirate Ship, Castle, or now almost retired Viking Ship, a Space Rollercoaster just doesn't do it, compared to something like a Galaxy Explorer that was available at the same time)
But Friends and City at least have been getting stronger again in terms of actual buildings and 6 wide cars.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't having a wax coating on the bags make them un-recyclable? Doesn't that defeat half the purpose of switching to paper?
@Prairiebricker said:
" @StyleCounselor said:
“When we were kids, we used full metal strap-on skates”
I had a pair of those! I can still feel the pinch of the tightened clamps!
As much as I love yellow, its use with the macaroni pieces for the laces reminds me strongly of Kraft Dinner.
Thanks for the fun review!"
Scarred for life. ;) It does look like oozing Velveeta.
@Capybara554321 said:
"Would it be too hard to print the set number on the bags. "
I doubt the bags are produced for specific sets rather than just in generic dimensions for use in any application. I have to think that matching up specifically printed bags with specific production runs would add a layer of complexity compared to just using generic stock.
@Binary_Code said:
" @Capybara554321 said:
"Would it be too hard to print the set number on the bags. "
I doubt the bags are produced for specific sets rather than just in generic dimensions for use in any application. I have to think that matching up specifically printed bags with specific production runs would add a layer of complexity compared to just using generic stock."
The bags have unique numbers printed on them that look to be specific to the combination of parts they contain, so they're already being printed for particular purposes.
Is this the first time tires are not black?
@Brickeric said:
"Is this the first time tires are not black?"
Spongebob set 3830 has tires in white.
@Brickeric said:
"Is this the first time tires are not black?"
No. All tyres were light grey at the birth of the Lego wheel!
@sjr60 said:
" @Brickeric said:
"Is this the first time tires are not black?"
No. All tyres were light grey at the birth of the Lego wheel!"
Besides that, there's also
- 9748 Droid Developer Kit (light gray, 1998),
- 3204 Auntie Jane and Cousin Sophie (white tires, 1998),
- 3130 Swinging Stroller (white tires, 1999),
- 3152 Playroom for the Baby Thomas (white tires, 2000),
- 3121 Summer Day Out (white tires, 2001),
- 8369-2 Dirt Crusher RC (blue tires, 2005),
- 4286025 Big Wheels Pack, Dirt Crusher (lime green tires, 2005),
- 4286013 Big Wheels Pack, Dirt Crusher (red tires, 2005),
- 8675 Outdoor Challenger (lime green tires, 2006),
- 8676 Sunset Cruiser (orange tires, 2006),
- 3830 The Bikini Bottom Express (white tires, 2008) (as @Murdoch17 mentioned)
- green wheelchair tires in 6 sets from 2021/2022
- 45345 SPIKE Essential Set (azure tires, 2021),
- 2000480 SPIKE Prime Personal Learning Kit (azure tires, 2022).