Review: 71494 Zoey's Time Owl
Posted by benbacardi,
A smaller set in the current wave of the DREAMZzz theme is 71494 Zoey's Time Owl, providing a compact model of an owl that can either be built into the typical flying creature, or a more unusual "boat" version.
The DREAMZzz sets are usually bright and fun, full of bold colours and excellent details, and I'm sure this is no exception.
Summary
71494 Zoey's Time Owl, 359 pieces.
£24.99 / $29.99 / €29.99 | 7.0p/8.4c/8.4c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
An excellent model of an owl, in a lovely vibrant colour scheme.
- Great main build
- Fantastic colours
- Just one minifigure
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
As one of the smaller sets, only one real minifigure is included. Zoey's signature pink hair looks fantastic, used in a couple of sets previously but up until now only for Zoey's dark-side alter ego, Doey. She's wearing an open sleeveless jacket over a navy jumpsuit, both with pink highlights and detailing that match her vibrant hair. The printing on the jacket and legs are highly detailed.
She's accompanied by her cat, whom she lives with, and their antagonist for the set is one of the Cyberlings—small Nightmare Creatures adorned with digital symbols, and wearing helmets almost as large as themselves. This particular one also has large translucent pink wings attached to its back (although the attachment is rather clunky on such a small figure).
Zoey's expression is double sided, both smiling, one with an open mouth and the other a lopsided smirk. She's wearing pink lipstick and eyeliner on both sides.
It wouldn't be a fight without some form of weapons, and Izzy isn't often seen without her purple bow and arrow and a quiver full of arrows on her back. The Cyberling has a contraption made of a flexible pink hose with claws on the end, perfect for snatching up Zoey's poor cat.
The Time Owl
The Time Owl is one of the Dream Creatures ridden by Zoe when fighting the Nightmare Creatures in the dream world. As with all DREAMZzz sets, multiple options are provided for the build—two, in this case—but both start with the same base construction. The Time Owl stands on two clawed feet, attached by ball joints to a wide body with more ball joints connecting stubs of wings and the head. The eyes are printed, large on 3x3 round tiles, and look excellent beneath the teal and gold crest of the bird's head. Attached by a single ball joint, it can rotate 360 degrees, just like many real owls.
The owl is primarily a variety of shades of blue, ranging from a light teal to navy, with accent highlights in gold. However, this is clearly not the finished creature…
Flying Owl
The first choice to build is the "regular" owl. Two large wings are constructed with a variety of plates and tiles, bringing in a hint of pink to the build and decorated in a manner similar to Dots sets. These are attached to the wing stubs of the main build using a pair of clips.
Additionally, a small tail is constructed, and the owl's signature clock on its body is attached to its chest. This consists of a large clear dome printed with a clock pattern surrounded by gold curves on a pink base. The printed piece is unique to this set, and I could it see it being very useful in Architecture sets or other builds where a clock is required.
The number of ball joints (at the hips, wings, head, tail, and wing feathers) provide a wide range of articulation for the owl, and it can be posed in a number of dynamic positions.
From the front, the creature is stunning—fabulous colours, delightful patterns on the wings, and a very well-designed head. From the rear, however, things are much less attractive, with the bottom of many plates visible with only the tail facing the "right" way. A single stud is provided on top of the owl's head behind it's crest—I assume this is where Zoe is meant to ride, but there is no real clear position for her.
Owl Boat
The other model, should you wish not to build the flying creature, is apparently a boat. The head is tilted backwards and the owl rests on its chest, feet splayed out to the sides. Similar wings are constructed, though the pattern on them is different, and attached pointing upwards from either side of the torso. The clock rests this time on a larger tail, used as the rear of the "boat".
There's much more room on the owl's back for Zoe—in fact, a small seat is built for her to stand on while riding.
The top of the owl's torso where the head protrudes on the flying creature is covered with a gold tile. One of the major ways in which DREAMZzz sets differ from Creator 3-in-1 is their use of pieces in any of the alternative builds that aren't used in the others, such as this one, and there is no one "primary" model choice. This does make storing the set more complicated.
Verdict
This is one of the smaller DREAMZzz sets released this year, and the lack of a Nightmare Creature minifigure is disappointing. As we've come to expect, however, the minifigure included is of excellent quality and wonderfully detailed. The owl itself, too, is fantastic—particularly in its standard form—and I can see it being both a play model and happily standing on a shelf on display.
The alternative "boat" model is somewhat odd, but as always I appreciate the choice these sets offer the builder—I'd be interested to know which way most people choose to build, and whether they change them at all once a choice has been made! To do so is a very different process from rebuilding a Creator 3-in-1 model, which generally need disassembling completely before rebuilding, whereas these have the central "core" that remains built between each.
DREAMZzz continues to put out a wide range of fun and unusual builds.
71494 Zoey's Time Owl is available at LEGO.com for £24.99 / $29.99 / €29.99.
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21 comments on this article
That Greek-style helmet is such a tease.
It’s odd there’s no obvious seat for Zoey.
Time owl? I wonder if they were inspired by Navigator Robo Tac in Mirai Sentai Timeranger (adapted as Circuit in Power Rangers Time Force).
I don't see that printed radar dish being used in Architecture sets, because I don't think any real-world clock towers have pink circles on the clock face. I could, however, see it popping up in a lot of MOCs.
@TheOtherMike said:
"I don't see that printed radar dish being used in Architecture sets, because I don't think any real-world clock towers have pink circles on the clock face. I could, however, see it popping up in a lot of MOCs."
Look closer. The pink is the 2x2 round behind the printed 4x4 dish.
Hmmm... Just a regular Dreamzzz set. Not bad, but nothing more to say.
I like it, the owl variant being my favourite. Cute little set.
It looks quite nice, but the alternative model isn't making me feel anything and it seems a little expensive for what it is. I quite like Zoey models but this is one of the less interesting ones.
It’s like Elves never went away - which is a very good thing!
Very fun looking set. The boat mode, with its large disc-shaped clock face in the rear, reminds me a bit of the titular Time Machine from the 1960 movie adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel.
I know it’s come in other sets this year, but I’m happy to see the good ole’ Technic bushing in blue.
It wouldn't fit in my collection but this is superbly shaped and very cute. Love this set.
@560heliport said:
" @TheOtherMike said:
"I don't see that printed radar dish being used in Architecture sets, because I don't think any real-world clock towers have pink circles on the clock face. I could, however, see it popping up in a lot of MOCs."
Look closer. The pink is the 2x2 round behind the printed 4x4 dish."
So it is. I still don't know how useful it would be in Architecture, though. I still think that if they were doing a real-world clock tower, they'd probably do a new print that looked like whatever the real thing looked like, rather than a preexisting piece that might not match very well.
@Mister_Jonny said:
"It’s odd there’s no obvious seat for Zoey."
The really interesting thing about the set is that, in owl-mode, the pieces you can use to build the seat (for boat-mode) are still there, unused. They're just left-overs.
I flipped to the boat-mode instructions, built the seat anyway, and just attached it to the owl regardless. It still works.
And the owl really is a gorgeous model.
They are two minifigures though...
Its a solid set but once again those macaroni pieces clash with the overall presence.
The rebuild howeevr is really lame.
@ricecake said:
"Time owl? I wonder if they were inspired by Navigator Robo Tac in Mirai Sentai Timeranger (adapted as Circuit in Power Rangers Time Force)."
Personally my brain went directly to the keeper of the Time Stones, from a single episode of "SatAM" Sonic the Hedgehog
Am I the only one that noticed one of the owls claws was not correctly assembled?
@lordofdragonss said:
"They are two minifigures though..."
That depends on whose definition you're using. If you're going by the definition Lego uses officially, for legal, holding-on-to-the-patent reasons? There's one. If you're going by Bricklink's (and thus ours, since we scrape minifig data from their servers)? There are two.
I like the new Zoey minifigure. Is her head piece new? It wasn't included in Brickset's digital database of parts.
Owls can only turn 270 degress.
Caution: owls do not float for very long.