Review: 77073 Battle Bus
Posted by SetToBuild,
The last LEGO Fortnite set released this season is by no means the least, with its Epic quantity of unique minifigures and by far the most playability. The iconic blue Battle Bus is the starting point of all Fortnite Battle Royale games and has recently been introduced to LEGO Fortnite through the fast travel update.
Since the game now contains over 2,000 player outfits (many of which are event-exclusive or only obtainable with real-world currency), it must have been difficult to narrow down nine to offer as minifigures in this set.
Summary
77073 Battle Bus, 954 pieces.
£89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99 | 9.4p/10.5c/10.5c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Get ready to drop with the coolest team yet.
- Many well-designed figures
- Opportunities for play
- True to the game
- None!
On August 29th, Brickset was invited to a roundtable discussion with LEGO Designers John Cuppage and Erik Jensen to chat about the development of the LEGO Fortnite sets. We learned about the challenges the designers faced and how they worked with Epic Games to come to their decisions. Throughout my reviews, I will be referencing this interview to add more context!
Box
The Battle Bus lands in the biggest box for this wave, and the only new tray-style one. The box art goes back to the more vibrant style of 77070 Durrr Burger and 77071 Supply Llama, with what feel like huge logos dominating the graphics.
The rear of the box shows the action features and play opportunities, differentiating this set from the more display-focused sets in this wave. It also hints at the way the build comes apart to access the interior.
Eight large paper bags are inside, plus a plastic bag containing the balloon pieces, a light bluish-grey 6x6 Mario plate and the silver cables.
Sadly, this set’s decorations are entirely stickers. The ‘V’ logo here, which may be familiar to some as ‘V-bucks’ (Fortnite’s in-game currency), stands for Vindertech. When the Battle Royale game mode was first created, it was suggested that this fictional company was running it as a training simulation.
Minifigures
During the roundtable, we heard about LEGO and Epic’s collaboration to create digital minifigure versions of Fortnite’s in-game outfits for LEGO Fortnite. On the first 10–15 of these, LEGO’s graphic design and element design teams worked closely with Epic’s digital designers, “teaching them the dos and don'ts of graphic design for a minifigure.” The Epic team were then left with the daunting task of designing hundreds more, to then be approved by LEGO and included in the game.
The fact that this design work has already been done gives me hope that we might see more of these in plastic, whether requiring new moulds or just printed parts. There are some brilliant designs and popular characters that I’d love to see. The designers told us that Epic Games pushed hard for this set to be the main focus for minifigures in the wave, which may be one of the reasons we haven’t seen any in the other sets. For now, let’s take a look at the nine that made the cut.
Brite Bomber is the first non-playable character we meet in LEGO Fortnite, and she helpfully guides us through the early game. Next to Jonesy, it’s clear that they have two different skin tones. We’ve seen increasing use of warm tan as a skin colour, and most recently I’ve come across it used on Sabine Wren while Huw has encountered it on Wednesday Addams.
With a friendly face and a determined sunglasses-wearing alternate, this relatively simple figure has a fun and vibrant outfit and will be a welcome familiar sight.
The Battalion Brawler (an outfit worn by the well-known Jonesy) is another unsurprising inclusion given the ubiquity of the character.
The LEGO version is missing arm printing that is present in the game version of the figure, but the torso print is a very close match. I wish he had a more distinctive face on one side, as the two expressions are extremely similar.
Cuddle Team Leader is a slightly deranged-looking teddy bear mascot and typically appears early on in a player’s LEGO Fortnite adventures as a non-playable character. I’ve said before that I’m not a big fan of ‘waistline’ printing, especially when it’s stark like this.
Hidden under the comically large head is a nice surprise: a two-sided head in warm tan, and a hair piece to complete the look. I also value the expressiveness of the asymmetrical smile. Unfortunately, we’re seeing a running theme here, where the arm printing from the game is not replicated on the physical figures.
For those who were scared to meet Peely Bone in 77072 Peely Bone, you’ll be relieved that Adventure Peely’s entire peel is intact. The LEGO design team told us that these figures were selected based on Epic’s feedback, finding the most popular and interesting-looking minifigures. LEGO also did their own research with kids, for example learning that Peely was very well-liked among the younger fans.
Peely’s banana top piece is different to the banana element from the collectable minifigure 71013 Banana Guy, which is a costume-like part that fits over a minifigure head and extends much further downwards. The new piece is a head in its own right, and has the added benefit of allowing the character to sit down while wearing it.
In contrast to the jovial-looking Peely, Raven is quite threatening. The dramatic hood, cowl and scarf are all one extravagant dual-moulded piece in black and dark blue, with purple printing for the scarf.
A very simple head piece underneath gives him ominously glowing eyes. Interestingly, Raven is the only figure in the set with side printing on their legs, illustrating kilt-like feathery armour. It’s exceptionally detailed, and well-executed with a near-perfect alignment between the front and the side prints.
There’s a bit of a trend here for dark and brooding characters, the second of which being the Cube Assassin. The LEGO design team told us that they deliberately chose some recognisable antagonists to provide children with opportunities for conflict play.
This figure uses a standard hood element over a transparent dark pink minifigure head printed with a faceted crystalline pattern. The electrical glow from the game is hard to replicate in a real figure without artificial lighting to the inside of the head, but it’s quite attractive when the light catches the iridescent printing.
The third ‘bad guy’, Trespasser Elite, uses the helmet from 71025 Galactic Bounty Hunter with a new print showing the electrified-looking pink glow. This shoulder armour hasn’t been seen in black for a few years. It isn’t quite as spiky as the character’s armour—this spiky armour piece would have been much better, but I suspect the mould has been retired.
The torso and leg printing aligns nicely, looking quite seamless despite some slight opacity variations. The second transparent dark pink minifigure head of the set offers us a second version of the character, Trespasser Cubed, who without a helmet has has a cube of pink energy instead of a head.
The adorable or creepy-looking Meowscles has a strangely small cat head, a unique mould. Here it uses white with two colours of printing and black details layered over that. This unfortunately means that printing errors or scratches can happen, as one ear is flawed on my version of the figure.
Meowscles gets special treatment: he’s the only figure to replicate the in-game arm printing on the physical minifigure. He sports a Lynx tattoo—I do hope we get a Lynx figure one day.
Drift’s mask is reminiscent of a kitsune, and is beautifully dual-moulded (together with a hood) and printed. My figure’s leg printing was offset slightly, but otherwise fine. Sadly the LEGO form represents his Stage 3 appearance rather than Stage 5’s long dramatic-looking jacket with gold edging, but I can understand that being hard to implement on a minifigure.
Another exciting surprise lies under this detailed hood: a mask-wearing face, and a new tan recolour of Storm’s mohawk. This element is a truly vast improvement over the previous gummy mohawk.
Four pickaxes, two grapplers, a bottle of slap juice and two slurp juice jars equip our characters for their upcoming adventures.
Completed Model
The Battle Bus was the first model developed as part of the LEGO and Epic Games collaboration, and started life as a MOC by designer Erik Jensen. Through various early iterations, the Battle Bus was imagined both in-game and in reality with many more play features, such as resource gathering or as a mobile base. Maybe the designers imagined something like 70423 Paranormal Intercept Bus 3000 or 70828 Pop-Up Party Bus? Ultimately the team settled on sticking to the classic Battle Royale mode of transport.
When asked about their favourite parts and details of the bus, the designers told us that they liked using the paint rollers to attach the secondary wing mirrors. The new yellow colour of flex tube looked perfect for the hose at the front. There is also a small engine under the easily removable bonnet.
I like the train door pieces for their hint of nostalgia (they haven’t been in blue since 2014, and never in the latest version of the mould), and they are at perfect minifigure scale. Speaking of which, the designers gave us great insight into the scaling difficulties with the digital vs. physical versions of models. In the game, due to the camera angles and third-person view, all the in-game LEGO builds actually have to be quite a bit larger than the minifigure players.
We don’t see much of the interior of the bus in the game, so some creative licence was needed—especially since 100 players descend from it! Nine green chairs are laid out with spaces between them for the two side doors of the bus, and the frontmost seat has a small console for the driver. I don’t think we ever see the driver, and no specific character is provided to do this job here so it’s up to one of the motley bunch to take on the task.
The interior is nicely spacious and almost all of the figures can comfortably sit in their seats, even with their weird and wonderful moulded parts. Sadly though, Meowscles has to stand due to his tail. Luckily there’s sufficient headroom for this so he’s not left out.
The balloon construction is not particularly unique, as it’s very similar to the first use of this piece in 2020’s 41252 Poppy's Air Balloon Adventure. Its predecessor, was also used in a very similar way, being clipped to a central arrangement of bars around a technic axle. The long cables are tricky to get taut enough to seem as if they’re actually suspending the bus, the illusion of which is helped by the core axle being hidden behind flames.
I enjoyed the greebly details around the base of the balloon, with what could be a communications array and wind turbine generator. The blue flame detail uses a new colour of transparent light blue, which I was surprised didn’t exist yet.
The battle bus’s dark grey braces don’t physically attach to anything or provide support. They are purely for show, and although they hinge down from the roof, they don’t connect to the base of the bus itself. This feels like a missed opportunity, especially given the weakness of the roof’s connection to the body of the bus.
The balloon and roof are firmly connected, but the only connection point for the roof to the bus uses just four studs. During the roundtable, it looked like one of the designers picked up the bus by the balloon and nothing bad happened—I can’t say the same for my experience, but luckily it landed on its tyres!
The only compelling extra part to me was the long silver cable.
Conclusion
From the outside, it appears that Epic Games has pushed things in the right direction for fans, keeping prices moderate and insisting on the figures here. I hope that this continues, and we see some more fun characters in future Fortnite sets if there is another wave.
However: what is holding LEGO back from having this many new and unique minifigures in a set at a medium price point? They’ve shown that they can in themes such as Lunar New Year, City or Dreamzzz, so while it’s refreshing to see a good figure-to-price ratio in an IP-based set, it does emphasise the disparity with others. Animal Crossing, I’m looking at you!
Since (as the team told us at the roundtable) the in-game LEGO items must appear buildable, we’ve got lots of models at the ready to turn into more physical sets. They did tell us that the digital building rules are a bit more relaxed, with single-stud connections or other gravity-defying techniques, but ultimately all the game assets are intended to inspire builders to create something similar in real life. If they were to make them, what would you like to see in the next wave of Fortnite sets?
Don't forget to thank the bus driver on your way down!
Bonus Content
The ability to talk with LEGO Designers Erik Jensen and John Cuppage gave me tremendous insight into the process of developing the LEGO Fortnite sets and was an invaluable resource for writing these articles. Thanks again to TLG for giving us at Brickset this opportunity!
I leave you with one last humorous tidbit from the roundtable discussion: When asked how active the LEGO Designers were as gamers, Erik told us that he was already an avid gamer and was seen as the team’s Fortnite guru. John, however, hadn’t played many video games since he was a child. To remedy this, the creative lead on the team made it one of John’s goals to achieve a certain level in LEGO Fortnite as part of his research.
This made us all wish we could also spend two to three hours of the workday playing video games!
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38 comments on this article
TRESSPASSER ELITE BAYBEEE \(^o^)/
I'm really hoping that someone will use the balloon from this as a basis for Lar's van from STW!
It strikes me as an impressive tribute to the game. If I was 20 years younger I’m sure this would be a must-have for me.
With regard to what's holding LEGO back from making other licensed sets this cheap, I have a strong suspicion that LEGO either isn't paying for this license at all, or is being paid back just as much as they're giving. Fortnite turns an alarming profit through its microtransaction schemes, and LEGO has been lending their brand to the game itself for many months before producing any sets. That's a mutually beneficial agreement like we've never seen before!
Solid looking set with solid minifigures. Too bad Epic thinks that getting kids addicted to their games using microtransactions for useless cosmetics is a good business model.
@umptybagger said:
"With regard to what's holding LEGO back from making other licensed sets this cheap, I have a strong suspicion that LEGO either isn't paying for this license at all, or is being paid back just as much as they're giving. Fortnite turns an alarming profit through its microtransaction schemes, and LEGO has been lending their brand to the game itself for many months before producing any sets. That's a mutually beneficial agreement like we've never seen before!"
I'm sure LEGO's $1 billion investment in Epic Games plays a big part in this.
Can't wait for a yellow school bus based off this build.
Slight correction - stage 2 drift is the one without the mask (ara the one with the alt hairpiece), amd stage 3 is the version with the mask/hood combo.
@b2_O said:
"Slight correction"
Fixed! Thank you!
Hey all. This will be my one (1) comment promoting my school bus Lego Ideas project. I love Brickset and I don't want to spam anyone.
If you want a more "traditional" school bus, vote for my "Classic School Bus" project. I've re-launched it on Lego Ideas, and the first entry got over 3000 votes. It was also featured in Blocks magazine issue 44, which I'm pretty proud of!
One big change is that you can now pick between two bus styles. Ok, promotion over.
This set looks awesome!
The side printing on those legs really makes me sad that they can’t or won’t do it for clone kamas.
@SetToBuild said:
" @b2_O said:
"Slight correction"
Fixed! Thank you!"
:)
The basically perfect Fortnite set. Wonder how people will use the minifig parts in their MOCs.
@R0Sch said:
"Solid looking set with solid minifigures. Too bad Epic thinks that getting kids addicted to their games using microtransactions for useless cosmetics is a good business model."
I mean, it's objectively an excellent business model. Whether or not a company takes responsbility for the psychological impact on both children and adults is another question, but it's clearly making Epic and LEGO plenty of money!
@crankybricks said:
" @R0Sch said:
"Solid looking set with solid minifigures. Too bad Epic thinks that getting kids addicted to their games using microtransactions for useless cosmetics is a good business model."
I mean, it's objectively an excellent business model. Whether or not a company takes responsbility for the psychological impact on both children and adults is another question, but it's clearly making Epic and LEGO plenty of money!"
Everyone knows that looking cool makes you better at the video game :)
I think both Mohawks are great. Quite fond of the 'old' gummy mohawk.
I don't care about fortnight, just give me Kitsune Mask and Evil Hooded Eyes
Looks amazing.
I appreciate Fortnight but I'm not super into it--but this is great, looks like a total win and a great set even as just a standalone set having no IP associated with it.
@WolfpackBricksOfficial said:
"I don't care about fortnight, just give me Kitsune Mask and Evil Hooded Eyes"
Personally I call Evil Hooded Eyes the 'Emo Jawa'. Now trying to think up alternate names for all of them!
Day 1 purchase, this is such a great value with amazing detail, and I love Fortnite, especially conceptually. The newest seasons could be a bit better though.
@SetToBuild said:
" @crankybricks said:
" @R0Sch said:
"Solid looking set with solid minifigures. Too bad Epic thinks that getting kids addicted to their games using microtransactions for useless cosmetics is a good business model."
I mean, it's objectively an excellent business model. Whether or not a company takes responsbility for the psychological impact on both children and adults is another question, but it's clearly making Epic and LEGO plenty of money!"
Everyone knows that looking cool makes you better at the video game :)"
What’s most funny is spending your money on outfits for a first person shooter where you rarely get to see yourself. :o)
Great review, as always. It’s not for me but I like so much about it and appreciate what appears to be a reasonable cost.
@yellowcastle said:
" @SetToBuild said:
" @crankybricks said:
" @R0Sch said:
"Solid looking set with solid minifigures. Too bad Epic thinks that getting kids addicted to their games using microtransactions for useless cosmetics is a good business model."
I mean, it's objectively an excellent business model. Whether or not a company takes responsbility for the psychological impact on both children and adults is another question, but it's clearly making Epic and LEGO plenty of money!"
Everyone knows that looking cool makes you better at the video game :)"
What’s most funny is spending your money on outfits for a first person shooter where you rarely get to see yourself. :o)
Great review, as always. It’s not for me but I like so much about it and appreciate what appears to be a reasonable cost.
"
It's third person...
Seems a bit ill-equipped for a battle don't you think? One shot at that balloon and the whole thing goes down!
I love bad guys minifigs, excellent designs. I may get them from Bricklink at some point.
Fortnite isn't owned by Disney, so no Disney tax.
It's been Marvel and Star Wars really suffering from increased prices.
I don't have any real interest in the set as a whole, but I love some of those minifigures, namely Brite Bomber, Raven, Cube Assassin, and Trespasser Elite. I also like Cuddle Team Leader without the mask I just may see what those end up going for on Bricklink. . If I were into minifig photography, I would also be tempted to get Adventure Peely and take a picture of him and 71013-15 pointing at each other like the Spider-Man meme.
I have been hyped for this set!
The only thing that disappoints me is that this the only set (assuming at least) of this first wave of Fortnite sets that has Minifigs. I'm not a SET HAS NO MINIFIGS THEREFORE BAD but Fortnite is all about it's skins so you'd think they'd try and bank heavily on that.
EITHER WAY, I'm buying this set day one.
ON TOP OF THAT, I'm buying a second copy of this set. Why? Because I wanna make the Fortnite Battle Shortbus lol
@Brickerika said:
"I have been hyped for this set!
The only thing that disappoints me is that this the only set (assuming at least) of this first wave of Fortnite sets that has Minifigs. I'm not a SET HAS NO MINIFIGS THEREFORE BAD but Fortnite is all about it's skins so you'd think they'd try and bank heavily on that.
EITHER WAY, I'm buying this set day one.
ON TOP OF THAT, I'm buying a second copy of this set. Why? Because I wanna make the Fortnite Battle Shortbus lol"
I think a big reason for that is, while the map does keep some elements, it’s for the most part always changing. There isn’t always a Durr Burger, loot Llamas aren’t always running around, and the main constants are the bus as well as the skins.
The skins are especially important in the game’s culture (for lack of a better term). They’re how players represent themselves or show how long they’ve been around. Everyone has at least a few favorites! Cuddle Team Leader is a personal favorite of mine because of how unhinged the mask looks.
Typical... You wait for ages for your hot air balloon to turn up, then 2 arrive!
Have no allegiance to FN. Nevertheless, I like this set, the figs, and even the price.
SW Lego fans (especially me) look at the figs and silently weep. :(
Def be picking up this set. I absolutely love playing Fortnite with my brother. Haven't played too much of the LEGO mode, but I do love it as a fan of all the TT games.
The figures are amazing, my favorite would be either Drift or Raven but I love them all. Kind of wish they put the Drift figure in the Durr Burger Set since that would make a lot of sense. Here's hoping for a Klombo set next year.
Wow, I have been waiting for a Lego Battle Bus for ages! The bus itself is awesome, but the minifigures are even better, with almost all best Lego treatment: Arm/leg prints, double-sided heads and new moulds (especially Peely's body) and prints! But there are two minooooooooooooooor problems: 1. The minifigures really inflate the price. A set which consists of a bus that would've been sold for 40-50$ or less and 9 almost elite in terms of Lego minifigs minifigures costs twice more at the scale of a decent 18+ (yes 77072 , I'm looking at you)! And 2. They could've moved Drift to Durrr Burger (or make Beef Boss), make a regular Peely instead of Adventure Peely (and add Peely Bone to his set), but Adventure Peely is also good, and seems more of an obvious choice, since he's one of the faces of Lego Fortnite, so the price would come down a bit and the other sets wouldn't be left with nothing. But nothenless it's a fantastic set that I'd really want to buy and this wave gave me hope that there'll be more of the sets in the future.
@LotRBrickfan196 said:
"Def be picking up this set. I absolutely love playing Fortnite with my brother. Haven't played too much of the LEGO mode, but I do love it as a fan of all the TT games.
The figures are amazing, my favorite would be either Drift or Raven but I love them all. Kind of wish they put the Drift figure in the Durr Burger Set since that would make a lot of sense. Here's hoping for a Klombo set next year."
Brick-built Klombo in the new update looks amazing. That is my most wanted potential set.
I'm a Fortnite fan because I was in middle school when it first got super popular and hearing about it over and over again got really annoying, but this is genuinely a really, really good set that I'll have to think about getting... for my brother :D
I do like how accurate it is and all the minifigures seem to be quite accurate except for Meowscles' rather small head. I do wonder if I can order one of those at some point to make a Bongo Cat MOC, but that's for another time.
@b2_O said:
" @yellowcastle said:
" @SetToBuild said:
" @crankybricks said:
" @R0Sch said:
"Solid looking set with solid minifigures. Too bad Epic thinks that getting kids addicted to their games using microtransactions for useless cosmetics is a good business model."
I mean, it's objectively an excellent business model. Whether or not a company takes responsbility for the psychological impact on both children and adults is another question, but it's clearly making Epic and LEGO plenty of money!"
Everyone knows that looking cool makes you better at the video game :)"
What’s most funny is spending your money on outfits for a first person shooter where you rarely get to see yourself. :o)
Great review, as always. It’s not for me but I like so much about it and appreciate what appears to be a reasonable cost.
"
It's third person..."
Yup, I was discussing FPS like Call of Duty and Battlefront. I’ve never played FN so wasn’t sure about this one. :o)
@yellowcastle said:
" @b2_O said:
" @yellowcastle said:
" @SetToBuild said:
" @crankybricks said:
" @R0Sch said:
"Solid looking set with solid minifigures. Too bad Epic thinks that getting kids addicted to their games using microtransactions for useless cosmetics is a good business model."
I mean, it's objectively an excellent business model. Whether or not a company takes responsbility for the psychological impact on both children and adults is another question, but it's clearly making Epic and LEGO plenty of money!"
Everyone knows that looking cool makes you better at the video game :)"
What’s most funny is spending your money on outfits for a first person shooter where you rarely get to see yourself. :o)
Great review, as always. It’s not for me but I like so much about it and appreciate what appears to be a reasonable cost.
"
It's third person..."
Yup, I was discussing FPS like Call of Duty and Battlefront. I’ve never played FN so wasn’t sure about this one. :o)
"
Understandable.
Great review, congrats!
I'm patiently waiting for the World of Tanks collaboration/sets. :D