Review: 71490 Izzie and Bunchurro the Gaming Bunny
Posted by benbacardi,
LEGO's whacky TV show DREAMZzz will continue this year with its third season, and a number of related sets were released at the beginning of January. Amongst them is 71490 Izzie and Bunchurro the Gaming Bunny, following one of the show's heroes, Izzie, as she continues to fight the nightmare creatures of the Dream World with help from her own dream creations.
With just over 250 pieces, it's in the middle of the range of sets currently released, and includes just a single minifigure. As with the rest of the DREAMZzz sets, the usual "which will you build?" element is present, this time providing two choices of accessory for the titular Bunchurro.
Summary
71490 Izzie and Bunchurro the Gaming Bunny, 252 pieces.
£17.99 / $19.99 / €19.99 | 7.1p/7.9c/7.9c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Great minifigures as usual, but the main bunny build feels somewhat flat and the secondary jetpack build lacklustre.
- Excellent minifigures
- A whole variety of new parts
- Great colours throughout the set
- Weirdly flat bunny character
- Grey ball joints stand out
- Rather unsightly jetpack build
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
The only minifigure in the set is Izzie, one of the show's Dream Chasers. My favourite part of this character is her hair—it's not a new piece, but the vibrant mix of colours is excellent. She's wearing a pair of roller skates, and as usual, her torso and legs are highly detailed—both are new and currently exclusive to this set. They depict a coral hoodie with shoulder armour strapped across it, as well as armoured knee pads and boots.
Izzie's expression is one of happiness on both sides—wide open-mouthed smiles, one with open eyes and the other with closed.
The Cyberling is also new, printed with a circuit board pattern across both the body and the head, and a large number zero on the chest. The head also has a number of zeros printed on the back, and a large power on/off symbol. This is covered, however, by a new rather large dual-moulded helmet in pearly-black and white with an enormous crest—it swamps the little Cyberling creature!
They are also accompanied by a brick-built carrot creature, whose amusing face is unfortunately a sticker, rather than printed—one of four in the set.
Both characters are equipped with a weapon—Izzie with a large sword, and the Cyberling with a contraption designed to snaffle carrots! The long flexible pink cable is also a brand new piece, and has a bar connection on either end, so can be inserted into hollow studs and other such places.
(New Elementary have an excellent round-up of the new parts in this year's DREAMZzz sets that is well worth a read.)
Bunchurro
The main build of the set is Bunchurro the Gaming Bunny, an in-dream portrayal of one of Izzie's soft toys from the real world, but levelled-up with a gaming theme. The game detailing on the character is provided by three stickers—a screen on the bunny's chest with a heart and some smaller pixelated icons (including a carrot!), and the backs of the bunny's paws made to look like two halves of a controller, with directional and action buttons on 3x3 round tiles.
The bunny itself is rather odd proportions. Each limb is a single macaroni piece (skinny ones for the arms, wide ones for the legs), meaning that there's an inflexible bend to each one. Ball joints connect these to the torso and oversized gloves and boots, and this isn't the first time we've lamented the lack of colour options for the ball sockets.
The character is weirdly flat, and looks better from the front than the back or the sides. The face is printed on a half dome piece, but the rear of that and the body are mostly anti-studs. A little tail protrudes from the back.
Skateboard
One of the unique aspects of the DREAMZzz sets is their "choose your own adventure" approach to the builds. Part way through the instructions, they split, and you pick how to complete the model. For this set, Bunchurro remains the same, but you can build either a skateboard or a jet pack to accessorise with.
They're both quite small models, and as it's a small set, only two choices are provided rather than the usual three. The skateboard comes together quickly, with neon yellow tyre-less wheels and a two-tone blue deck. The standout feature is the new trans-blue exhaust smoke piece, attached either side, that helps convey the dynamic movement of the skateboard.
A group of four studs on top allow for Bunchurro to attach one foot and ride. The character is fairly well balanced, in a number of different poses, and actually looks quite good!
Jetpack
As mentioned above, the skateboard can be disassembled and rebuilt into a jetpack with a pair of exhausts that can swivel about their joint, and wings for manoeuvring. Designed to be attached to the bunny's back, it doesn't look like much when separate from the bunny.
When attached to the bunny's back, there's a pair of studs on top of which Izzie can stand, but it all looks rather ugly.
The view is better from the front, and the wings and exhausts can be positioned within their limited range.
Conclusion
I am a fan of the creativity LEGO has shown with their DREAMZzz range, and the lack of restrictions that's available with an in-house range of sets. 71490 Izzie and Bunchurro the Gaming Bunny continues that trend in some way—a whacky character, great colours, excellent minifigures—but is let down in others.
At the cheaper end of the scale, I appreciate that there are limits on the number of parts that can be used to bulk out the set, and the available "rebuild" options they can provide, but the Bunchurro character feels unfinished with its very flat chest and head design. The skateboard is pretty good, but the jetpack seems like an afterthought of what could be cobbled together using the same parts than usual.
With Season 3 yet to air, it remains to be seen how Bunchurro the Gaming Bunny is portrayed on screen, but I do hope that the weird and (sometimes) wonderful characters the show produces continue and we don't see LEGO drop this line in favour of something else just yet.
71490 Izzie and Bunchurro the Gaming Bunny is available from LEGO.com for $19.99 / £17.99 / €19.99.
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16 comments on this article
Nice review!
I love the design of Bunchurro. Compared the the more plush-looking Bunchu, Bunchurro's beveled torso with digital heart readout reminds me of electronic toys like Tamagotchi—still the same sort of kawaii aesthetic that Izzie's creations share, but this time with a digital theme.
I do wish the carrot character had an alternate face—the dazed expression here suits it being drained by the Cyberling, but a happier expression would be nice for other sorts of play scenarios.
I now have cataracts from looking at those neon-yellow wheels. Totally worth it.
A carrot on the HUD? Bunchurro is Epona confirmed!
That helmet looks incredible. I have no idea what I'd do with it, but if it hits PAB, I'm in.
Only interesting part is the minifigures.
@dimc said:
"That helmet looks incredible. I have no idea what I'd do with it, but if it hits PAB, I'm in. "
Maybe create an army of Cyber-Spartans?
Pretty decent model. I was positively surprised by how stable it stands and how reasonably it can be posed.
@ohrmazd said:
" @dimc said:
"That helmet looks incredible. I have no idea what I'd do with it, but if it hits PAB, I'm in. "
Maybe create an army of Cyber-Spartans?
"
Was thinking of making some sort of Blacktron 2 fighting droids but I don't see any good droid heads on PAB at the moment. But also, no helmets, so it's OK.
The flat tile for the controllers on the arms should not be attached using a single point. They fall off so easily! Using a four stud circle instead fixed it. But makes me wonder if lego actually tests sets out with kids before releasing. It should have been an obvious fix.
Otherwise kiddo loves it and goes well with bunchu bunny.
I love Bunchurro's sneakers!
Bunchurro looks like Bunchu's underdeveloped cousin. Like, seriously, this guy's sticks and matches.
But the other aspects of the set are super cool, especially the cyberling figure. Well, who am I lying to, it's the helmet that's fantastic. The carrot and Izzie are good too.
@dimc said:
" @ohrmazd said:
" @dimc said:
"That helmet looks incredible. I have no idea what I'd do with it, but if it hits PAB, I'm in. "
Maybe create an army of Cyber-Spartans?
"
Was thinking of making some sort of Blacktron 2 fighting droids but I don't see any good droid heads on PAB at the moment. But also, no helmets, so it's OK. "
Didn't really see the helmet on first glance because of the white background. Kinda need that guy badly. Too funny!
Bad guy steals the show again in Dreamzzz sets.
I have this set and quite like it, but the sticker on the carrot peels off every time I leave it alone for more than a day or two. Is this common with Lego stickers on curved surfaces? Or should I complain to Lego?
The figures are once again a big standout. If only Izzie was in this year's polybag, I would have picked it up instantly. The set itself looks fine, although I definitely prefer the original Bunchu.
I like the direction DREAMZzz's villains are heading. The heroes are defined by their interests (Matteo likes art, Izzy likes anime and stuffed toys, Logan likes sports, Mr. Oz likes space exploration, etc). The newer villains are also defined by their interests. According to the community here on Brickset, the Never Witch is an Edgar Allen Poe fan, and the new antagonist faction is into gaming. This gives the dream world a delightful symmetry.
Do we know there's to be a 3rd season? 2 seemed to wrap up very tightly, and I don't recall seeing any official announcements.