Review: 60462 Helicopter, Fire Engine & Submarine Remix
Posted by benbacardi,
60462 Helicopter, Fire Truck & Submarine Remix looks to be an unusual LEGO City set, providing three very different vehicles that can each be broken into sections and reconnected with each other in a variety of combinations! How many of the resulting vehicles make sense is up to you, however…
With almost 900 pieces, is the set large enough to make each model satisfying in their own right, or does the "mix and match" quirk come at the cost of more detailed vehicles?
Summary
60462 Helicopter, Fire Truck & Submarine Remix, 874 pieces.
£54.99 / $59.99 / €59.99 | 6.3p/6.9c/6.9c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Some great vehicles, with the potential for a variety of fun mixed up models, but they are perhaps better on their own.
- Excellent fire truck and submarine
- Clever "split" design for each model
- Decent minifigures
- Not many combinations make any sense
- Helicopter is a little bland
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
First, the minifigures. The three vehicles included each have one associated figure—a firefighter, diver, and police pilot.
The firefighter is female, wearing a traditional firefighter's uniform, with an unzipper jacket over a white t-shirt decorated with the LEGO City Fire emblem—a torso that was introduced last year, and is excellent for a more relaxed look. Beneath the neon-yellow dual-moulded helmet, she's wearing safety goggles with a confident smile.
The diver, or submarine pilot, is wearing a bright orange diving jacket and belt, a print that's brand new. He's equipped with flippers for when he leaves the submarine, and the classic diving helmet and snorkel piece (of little use at the depths of a submarine, I would imagine). The face print includes stubble and another confident smile and cocked eyebrow.
The police pilot's detailed vest print was also introduced last year, and includes numerous pockets on the belt, a radio, and the LEGO City Police emblem on both the front and rear. He's wearing a white flight helmet with visor, and looks older than the other two, thanks to subtle lines printed on his cheeks and chin.
None of the three figures include an alternate expression, but they are all provided with hair pieces to replace their helmets, and an accessory each. The firefighter sports a brown bob, and wields an axe. The diver's comes with short cut black hair and a camera for capturing his underwater adventures. The pilot has spiky light brown hair, and is equipped with a pair of classic handcuffs, as seems to be a requirement for all LEGO City police officers!
The Fire Truck
Each of the three models comes with their own instruction booklet, and could therefore easily be built simultaneously with multiple builders. The first is the fire truck which, once built, looks quite effective. It's a fairly dense build—the only room inside is in the driver's cabin—but the reason for this becomes obvious when you see how the models are designed to mix and match.
The truck is built in three sections, and this is relatively obvious in the completed vehicle. The front is the cabin, the top of which is adorned with the printed fire emblem and a pair of blue lights, and there is room for a the single minifigure provided. The front of the truck is a fairly aggressive-looking grille, and I think the overall look is great.
The centre section of the truck houses a hose reel connected to a water gun on the roof. Plenty of trans-blue 1x1 round tiles are provided as water "ammo"! The host looks excellent in neon-yellow, providing a great contrast with the primarily red truck. The back section is mostly a large round water tank, with a clip at the very rear for the firefighter to store her axe.
As the model is designed to come apart, it can do so very easily into three distinct sections. The front and rear both have a pair of wheels, and the centre section does not. They are held together by the combination of a single technic pin and a pair of clips, which actually provides a much sturdier connection than I was expecting.
If you so wish, you can omit the middle section to create a rather cute and very dumpy water truck!
I was pleasantly surprised by how cohesive the final design of the fire truck was, and how well it holds together, considering it is designed specifically to break apart (and not in the usual way LEGO breaks apart!). The vehicle is a good size, and would make a decent set in its own right.
The Submarine
The second model moves away from the emergency services with an exploration submarine. A bright yellow vehicle—common for submarines, if the Beatles have taught me anything—it has a bulbous glass dome at the front where the pilot sits, hinged at the top to provide access, and around which are clustered a whole host of various sized lights.
The centre section has an articulated arm on either side, each terminating in a claw for manipulating items found on the sea bed. A loop is on top of the vehicle, providing a way for the submarine to be lifted in and out of the water.
The rear section has a large fin and stabiliser protruding from the back, flanked by a pair of large propellors for manoeuvring the vehicle beneath the water. A trident emblem is printed on either side.
As expected, the submarine can split into its three distinct parts, which join together in an identical manner to the fire truck—this is what allows the vehicle sections to be mixed and matched into hybrid designs, some of which I will explore below. I'm a bit concerned that the air tanks can be split apart so easily though!
Just like the fire truck, the submarine is a decent size and a fun little model in its own right. The three sections are less obvious here than they are in the fire truck.
Also similarly to the fire truck, the middle section can be left out to produce a very short version of the model!
The Police Helicopter
Finally, we have the police helicopter. This is the least interesting of the builds, in my opinion, with a muted blue and black colour scheme. The front and rear sections of the vehicle are much longer than those of the fire truck and the submarine—the front encompasses the long nose of the helicopter, and the single small wheel beneath, while the rear includes the tail, with a stabiliser, rear rotor, and a pair of wheels.
The centre section houses the mechanism for the main rotor blades, which can spin freely. The tail rotor uses the same part as the propellors for the submarine.
The helicopter's nose can be removed—it is primarily one large element—revealing space inside for the pilot to sit.
As before, it splits into three parts in an identical manner to other two vehicles.
A tiny rotor-less vehicle can be made by removing the centre section—though I doubt this will fly very well!
Combinations
The unique selling point of the set is the ability to split the vehicles up and combine them in new and exciting ways! Each section is almost identical in height, meaning they should flow together relatively well when connected in any order, but the resulting designs can be very confusing…
A couple are demonstrated on the back of the box, and I've made some others up below. Some make a lot more sense than others!
This first one uses parts from all three vehicles.
A water cannon on a submarine is unlikely to be of much use…
Aerodynamics aside, a flying fire truck seems like a good idea!
Who doesn't want a police helicopter with articulated robot arms for grabbing the criminals?
Combining the submarine's front or rear, which lack wheels, with either of the other vehicles' wheeled equivalents, doesn't really work.
With nine separate elements, the number of possibilities seems high—but it's more limited than it first seems, given that three must be used at the front and three at the rear. Nevertheless, there are still a wide variety of ways to combine them.
Conclusion
This has to be one of the strangest LEGO City sets released this year. The three models by themselves are pretty good—in fact, I think the fire truck and submarine are excellent, and would make fine sets in their own right, but the helicopter is the weakest of the bunch. The three minifigures suit the vehicles well, and their designs are great.
"Mixing and matching" them as is the intention behind the set, however, leads to mixed results. There are not many combinations that make much sense, however I appreciate the idea behind it—how the models are designed in such a way that each section is roughly the same size across all three vehicles and fits together relatively cohesively is impressive. Children will certainly enjoy creating some whacky hybrid machines, and it does open the door for further creativity in building your own sections to mix and match between the supplied vehicles.
LEGO City is full of fire trucks and helicopters, and has had a handful of submarines recently—but none quite like these.
60462 Helicopter, Fire Truck & Submarine Remix is available at LEGO.com for $59.99 / £54.99 / €59.99.
117 likes
55 comments on this article
It feels very Lego Movie coded, in the sense that movie had a lot of very silly models in it. Even if you don’t remix them, this is still three solid vehicles for £54.99 - so I feel like this is a reasonably good purchase any way you slice it.
Reminds me of a combination of Mixels and The Lego Movie.
Enormous fun, but I still don't think Lego have ever actually made a satisfactory fire engine.
This is exactly the type of set my childhood friends would have loved and childhood me would have hated.
The trident logo on the diver's back might be an Atlantis reference!
I can't help but feel the police minifig is a younger version of Chase McCain.
Great review - thanks! I think it’s a great set. I take the point about limited configurations, but a flying truck, a submarine that can fly, a helicopter with grappling arms, and the mini sub and truck - all of those seem like great play configurations.
And for less than 7 cents per part with three full models and three minifigures, it seems like a great value too - especially for a City set, since sets in that theme routinely are priced way above the 10 cents per part per part threshold many folks consider to be the acceptable benchmark.
@Freddy_Hodson said:
"Reminds me of a combination of Mixels and The Lego Movie.
Enormous fun, but I still don't think Lego have ever actually made a satisfactory fire engine."
I’ve enjoyed this one.
60061-1
@Freddy_Hodson said:
"Reminds me of a combination of Mixels and The Lego Movie.
Enormous fun, but I still don't think Lego have ever actually made a satisfactory fire engine."
A bold claim, considering over 200 sets are tagged as fire trucks on Brickset! I’m very fond of 60107-1, myself.
I would've happily bought the fire truck had it been its own set.
The whole mix & match thing doesn't make sense. Maybe if it was a super-simplistic 4+ set for the very youngest LEGO builders, but I don't see how this has any appeal for older kids. But at least the price is decent given what you get, so I'd say it's a pretty decent set even if you never use the mix & match aspect of it.
Reminds me of the old Matchbox Connectables vehicles that split into various parts to mix and match.
I’m not sure ‘Not many combinations make any sense’ when that’s basically the concept of the set - it’s meant to be a nonsensical and a bit whacky.
@WolfpackBricksStudios said:
"The trident logo on the diver's back might be an Atlantis reference!"
Not really, it's more like a new addition the standard City emergency services symbols. Firefighters and police already had their own, coast patrol not yet.
It reminds me of a TMNT episode, in which aliens combined different vehicles to make a perfect assault machine.
Very nice idea and pretty well executed.
The obvious way to make it more fun is to introduce more options for combining.
If this gets a companion set soon I'm getting both.
Spaceship, ambulance, monster truck, locomotive, food truck, garbage truck, airplane.
There are some many common Lego vehicles that lend themselves to this concept.
@Mister_Jonny said:
" @Freddy_Hodson said:
"Reminds me of a combination of Mixels and The Lego Movie.
Enormous fun, but I still don't think Lego have ever actually made a satisfactory fire engine."
A bold claim, considering over 200 sets are tagged as fire trucks on Brickset! I’m very fond of 60107-1, myself.
"
60107 for those who are too lazy to go look it up!
My personal fave has got to be 70436 but I think that may be toeing the line at "firetruck" really...
I do feel like kids, who let’s face it this is aimed at, aren’t going to care much about how many of the combos make sense or not. I can see how an adult might be bothered by, say, the air tanks on the sub splitting up, but children are probably just going to have fun mixing and matching regardless of logic
@WolfpackBricksStudios said:
"The trident logo on the diver's back might be an Atlantis reference!"
Looks closer to the 2007 Aqua Raiders to me but you could say that Atlantis was already an evolution of Aqua Raiders itself
I love this set's concept, it's pure LEGO silliness, and it appears quite well executed. I hope it does well so that they'll release more in that system.
The hook hole on top of the submarine seems significant. Is there some sort of winching mechanism on another underwater exploration set this is intended to pair with?
@twentythree said:
" @Freddy_Hodson said:
"Reminds me of a combination of Mixels and The Lego Movie.
Enormous fun, but I still don't think Lego have ever actually made a satisfactory fire engine."
I’ve enjoyed this one.
60061-1"
Absolutely, that is a great fire truck. I got it out of nostalgia for 6440, another great fire truck.
@chrisaw said:"Reminds me of the old Matchbox Connectables vehicles that split into various parts to mix and match."
I was reminded of the Micromaster Combiners from Transformers; https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Micromaster_Combiner And if you think that this set leads to some weird combinations, those let you attach two front halve or two back halves together!
One idea I had while reading this: if this included extra pin and clip connections kids would have the option to build additional sections around them with their own parts.
My head hurts.
IDIC from Vulcan logic of Star Trek, but here as a set.
@chrisaw said:
"Reminds me of the old Matchbox Connectables vehicles that split into various parts to mix and match... "
Wow, that's a memory that had been locked away for a long time. Remember having these as a kid, but as fun as they were, they were a bit substandard as actual vehicles (I remember the connections being a bit wobbly).
Certainly a wacky idea for a set. I wonder if we will see any more in the line.
@Gataka said:
" @WolfpackBricksStudios said:
"The trident logo on the diver's back might be an Atlantis reference!"
Looks closer to the 2007 Aqua Raiders to me but you could say that Atlantis was already an evolution of Aqua Raiders itself"
It definitely fits the color scheme way better
Just like Matchbox Connectables back in the day, the combinations "not making sense" is the whole point. I loved my stretch-limo-heli-plane-tank-drag-truck!
Very fun and whimsical concept, though not to my personal tastes. One of the big advantages of 6-wide vehicles compared to the 4-wide ones I grew up with, at least from my perspective, is that they allow more capacity for interior detail — whereas here the only real interior spaces are in the cab/cockpit areas, So while these look great and definitely measure up to other City vehicles as far as complexity and aesthetics are concerned, it's not really the best example of this sort of modularity in my book.
on it's own, yeah the mixing/matching elements are kind of strange, but if there are more sets released in the future that have those elements, then the combinations might start getting better and have more choices
While the combinations don't seem to make particular sense to us adults, I can see the intended age range eating this up and loving the weird combos!
Looks like the kind of fun set my kid would love!
...also, the helicopter might be the blandest of the 3 builds, but I feel like the parts would go a long way towards making an Airwolf MOC...
@Haywire said:
"Looks like the kind of fun set my kid would love!
...also, the helicopter might be the blandest of the 3 builds, but I feel like the parts would go a long way towards making an Airwolf MOC..."
Seeing the front section of the Helicopter that was my exact thought!
This set seems kinda silly on the face of it, but the vehicle combinations actually REALLY made me smile with delight. Kids would have a lot of fun making ridiculous combinations, and considering who the target audience is, I think it definitely succeeds at being a FUN set.
Also I think the helicopter is pretty strong. And the color scheme is not so obviously "Police" that it couldn't work for civilian applications. You just need to switch out the tail fin.
@Haywire said:
"Looks like the kind of fun set my kid would love!
...also, the helicopter might be the blandest of the 3 builds, but I feel like the parts would go a long way towards making an Airwolf MOC..."
Plus also, the pilot looks a little like Jan Michael Vincent.
@Freddy_Hodson said:
"Reminds me of a combination of Mixels and The Lego Movie.
Enormous fun, but I still don't think Lego have ever actually made a satisfactory fire engine."
The GOAT: 735
I think you are missing the point about the mix'n'match function, that they "don't make sense", that's the whole point!
Create an underwater fire truck, or a flying submarine. It's LEGO, it's all about imagination, and I believe these are great sets to build on kids imaginations, rather than sticking to the confinement that you have built a helicopter and therefore that's all it is and should be. These help kids become more creative and I hope we see more of these kind of sets.
I like it. From a child's gift perspective, it's pretty good value for 3 pretty neat vehicles even before the fun mix and match (I even like the 'black helicopter'). I used to make modular builds of robots and space ships as a kid and this is exactly the sort of thing I would play with (I was also into Micronauts and most LEGO space themes do that in some way anyway). I'd be building extra modules of my own to add in no time. Plus once you've done with the builds it's a really good starter parts pack.
If I would change anything it would be to have the modules not one way facing, so you could flip the middle ones for more silliness (looks like the red pins are fixed into the block as a single part?), but honestly I don't think it would change much. Other than that, the Helicopter could do with more middle function, maybe windows and a door at least, or a mechanism to turn the blades would be fun.
Also, nice to see doors on the fire engine! Bonus points for that.
@Haywire said:
"Looks like the kind of fun set my kid would love!
...also, the helicopter might be the blandest of the 3 builds, but I feel like the parts would go a long way towards making an Airwolf MOC..."
Aha! Glad to see someone else thinks this. I was going to say: I like the helicopter, perhaps the closest we will get to a LEGO Airwolf! (now humming the intro tune)
@Goujon said:
" @Mister_Jonny said:
" @Freddy_Hodson said:
"Reminds me of a combination of Mixels and The Lego Movie.
Enormous fun, but I still don't think Lego have ever actually made a satisfactory fire engine."
A bold claim, considering over 200 sets are tagged as fire trucks on Brickset! I’m very fond of 60107-1, myself.
"
60107 for those who are too lazy to go look it up!
My personal fave has got to be 70436 but I think that may be toeing the line at "firetruck" really..."
I bought 70436 on sale and modded it into a classic/de-whimsified fire truck - Hidden Side was a great theme for very detailed Town builds, once some of the fantasy and app-related elements were removed
I did the math. There are 9 two part combinations(front and back), 27 three part combinations, 54 four part combinations and 54 four part combination for a total of 144 possible combinations which is lower than I expected.
"What a stupid set!"
That's what childhood me would have reacted like.
I think a good rule of thumb for LEGO playsets is: If it elicits a "This doesn't make sense" reaction, try approaching it from a different user perspective before passing final judgement.
Or something along those lines. It definitely needs fleshing out.
@Goujon said:
" @Mister_Jonny said:
" @Freddy_Hodson said:
"Reminds me of a combination of Mixels and The Lego Movie.
Enormous fun, but I still don't think Lego have ever actually made a satisfactory fire engine."
A bold claim, considering over 200 sets are tagged as fire trucks on Brickset! I’m very fond of 60107-1, myself.
"
60107 for those who are too lazy to go look it up!
My personal fave has got to be 70436 but I think that may be toeing the line at "firetruck" really..."
7239 even came with a "inflatable" boat. While we're at it, 7213 is also pretty awesome.
It’s the City version of 75393
@AustinPowers said:
""What a stupid set!"
That's what childhood me would have reacted like. "
Agreed.
The models on their own are good. (for kids and adults).
I hate the combo thing, it's weird and I wouldve disliked it as much as a kid as I do now.
It's like the burger truck, ambulance, donut truck modular system. Now that system in principle is okay (removing the food stalls so they can be standalone things is good). But combining them is not only silly, it literally doesnt work. Some modules are too long, others are too short for the vehicle bases.
I wish these were three separate sets with more details, especially for less common ideas such as underwater stuff or a (mostly) civilian helicopter.
For kids and adults this submarine with some animals and underwater landscape or shipwreck build wouldve been more fun.
The 'police' helicopter wouldve made a good $15-$20 (USD) set maybe even a news helicopter.
That submarine really reminds of the one from 6442
Does the red and green one from 60397 count as a fire truck?
Why did you put "Not many combinations make any sense" as a con? The combinations not making sense is the whole point of this set! :D
@SearchlightRG said:
"It’s the City version of 75393 "
Only that with 75393 you get two nice looking play versions of classic Star Wars vehicles in their standard configuration, whereas here the compromises necessary for the mashup feature make the three vehicles look awkward to begin with. The best looking may be the sub, the fire engine is meh at best, and the less said about the helicopter the better.
The only combo I really like is that flying fire engine. Reminds me of something I saw on Dr. Snuggles as a kid.
I think the helicopter would've benefitted from a hoist in the middle section to flesh it out a bit, but really do like the Airwolf-vibe about (as mentioned earlier), as well as the (not specifically AW-esque) diagonal black/blue split.
The other two vehicles are cool too, think my 7-yo would really dig this! The little tanker is something me as a 7-yo would've build on one of those 10-long 70/80ies car bases.
I would have loved this as a kid!
@AustinPowers said:
" @SearchlightRG said:
"It’s the City version of 75393 "
Only that with 75393 you get two nice looking play versions of classic Star Wars vehicles in their standard configuration, whereas here the compromises necessary for the mashup feature make the three vehicles look awkward to begin with. The best looking may be the sub, the fire engine is meh at best, and the less said about the helicopter the better.
The only combo I really like is that flying fire engine. Reminds me of something I saw on Dr. Snuggles as a kid. "
Nah, the X-wing and TIE fighter in 75393 are just as compromised for the wing swapping feature as these three vehicles are compromised for their module swapping feature.
Gives me some Con-nect-ables flashbacks, looks fun and has a comparably decent price. However, for a full effect you'd need to get more modules - wich, I expect, won't be offered - to buy or try to build from your collection.
Okay, am I the only one who thinks it would be fun to either buy multiples of the set or duplicate the center modules with pieces from one's own collection and make stretch versions of the vehicles? That might be hard to do with the helicopter, though.
That heli is begging for an Airwolf build..
@chrisaw said:
"Reminds me of the old Matchbox Connectables vehicles that split into various parts to mix and match."
OMG Lego just unlocked a memory. I still have the tactile memory of snapping and playing with those. Amazing.
I suspect that this concept has limited appeal to anyone other than males aged 5 through 10.
The brick-built tail of the helicopter looks a lot fancier than the helicopter from 60009!