Review: 43102 Candy Mermaid Beatbox and 43103 Punk Pirate Beatbox
Posted by CapnRex101,
VIDIYO introduces many captivating characters which are intended to personify certain musical genres, ranging from K-pop and dance music to punk and disco. Two such influential genres are represented by 43102 Candy Mermaid Beatbox and 43103 Punk Pirate Beatbox.
These minifigures seem wonderfully outlandish, including fantastic detail and encapsulating their respective musical styles with an enjoyable fantasy twist. Sixteen printed BeatBits are also provided, with containers for both characters.
Minifigures
Among the various unusual VIDIYO characters, Candy Mermaid appears particularly bizarre! Combining a mermaid with ice cream is rather original, although I think the resulting minifigure looks marvellous. I love the bright pink colour scheme and these divergent subjects have been integrated successfully, especially as the distinctive waffle-like texturing continues between the mermaid's tail and her torso.
Several mermaid components have been produced and another distinct example is provided here. This element features a more elegant tail than earlier designs and the unique curvature seems effective too. Furthermore, this exclusive aqua hair piece looks outstanding. The wavy texture works perfectly for the Candy Mermaid's aquatic environment while the pink highlights look splendid.
Beatbox minifigures include various accessories and this decorated guitar is quite appealing. The pink colour matches this character and I like the contrasting white stripes. However, the Punk Pirate wields an even more impressive guitar which leaves to wonder whether another new instrument, perhaps resembling an ice cream, may have been provided for the mermaid.
While the Candy Mermaid represents fun pop music, the Punk Pirate embodies punk and his majestic mohawk undoubtedly reflects that genre! This component appears fairly basic beside the Candy Mermaid's elaborate hairstyle but the teal and vibrant coral colours are superb. The same shades continue on the pirate's torso, beneath a skull and crossbones which ingeniously integrates another mohawk.
Of course, the Punk Pirate incorporates several traditional piratical features, including an eye patch, a peg leg and a hook hand. VIDIYO minifigures lack alternative expressions, unusually, but this single-sided head conveys adequate personality, in my opinion. Moreover, the intricate tattoos across both arms look impressive, displaying an angler fish with a mohawk and another fearsome skull.
However, my favourite aspect of this character is probably his unique accessory. This guitar closely resembles an anchor and looks absolutely fantastic! The shaping is brilliant, and I like how teal and vibrant coral have been integrated, once again. As usual, the minifigure can grip the neck of the guitar or another bar attachment point behind the body.
The Completed Model
Each minifigure is accompanied by their respective Beatbox. These are essentially carrying cases for the minifigures, although they also house BeatBit tiles and double as performance stages in the VIDIYO app. The boxes consist almost exclusively of new pieces, including the trans-clear window around the figures, their support structure inside and the flexible handle.
These handles are made from a similar material to DOTS bracelets and are connected using new 4x4 dish elements. The resulting shape resembles headphones which is clever and accents on each handle reflect the characters. 43102 Candy Mermaid Beatbox features small ice cream pieces while 43103 Punk Pirate Beatbox is adorned with 1x1 pyramids.
Detaching the window and unfolding the panels around the minifigure reveals twelve BeatBits. These 2x2 tiles trigger various actions when scanned in the VIDIYO app, although some could also prove useful as album covers or posters in other creations. Two tiles are exclusive to each Beatbox while the remaining fourteen are randomly distributed between the six Beatboxes and the collectable Bandmates.
The colour of each tile reflects the kind of action triggered. Lime green tiles, for example, will change the scenery or background in the app while black elements activate onscreen effects. The variety of decorated tiles and resultant actions seems impressive, although I was slightly disappointed to learn that the characters resembling invented languages on each part cannot actually be transliterated.
VIDIYO currently involves limited physical construction, instead focusing creativity upon the music videos which can be developed in the app. Nevertheless, each Beatbox does contain elements to create mosaic designs on the reverse, as demonstrated below. These attractive mosaics can then be used as backdrops or stages when using the VIDIYO app.
43102 Candy Mermaid Beatbox displays a decorative ice cream cone and 43103 Punk Pirate Beatbox exhibits an anchor. Both designs are relatively basic but I appreciate their connection with each character. Furthermore, the 8x8 plates with curved corners underneath are new and currently available in aqua, teal, red, vibrant coral and black, matching the aforementioned 4x4 round elements which secure the handle.
Storage for the BeatBits which cannot be displayed around the minifigure is available behind them. Sixteen slots are provided and the 2x2 tiles feel surprisingly secure when placed inside and covered by the lid. The area between the rows of tiles is presumably provided to keep the accessories, although I think additional BeatBit slots would have been more useful.
Overall
VIDIYO provides an impressive selection of new minifigures which appear reminiscent of the more unusual Collectable Minifigures released within the last decade. 43102 Candy Mermaid Beatbox and 43103 Punk Pirate Beatbox each feature fantastic minifigures, exhibiting lovely detail. The accompanying tiles also look excellent, despite their seemingly limited applications elsewhere.
Unfortunately, the most significant issue with these Beatboxes is undoubtedly their price. Each pack costs £17.99 or $19.99 which seems extremely expensive. I recognise the costs resulting from the development of unique parts for VIDIYO, although I would question whether so many new elements were needed for the containers. The minifigures and printed tiles are appealing though and might be worth considering, following a substantial discount.
These sets were provided for review by The LEGO Group but the review represents an expression of my own opinions.
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64 comments on this article
A lot more interesting than I initially thought...
But $20????
Pass. My wallet requires me to.
Id love for just the tiles so I can build a record store
@CapnRex Your range in different types of reviews is masterful and continues to amaze me.
I would like the Punk Pirate better if he had a recolor of the Mohawk element from 850486.
I hope the new mermaid tail and hair pieces will be recoloured and find their way into BAM selections or a CMF.
I think I'm going to forever have a love-hate relationship with this theme.
On the one hand, I love the characters and to an extent the premise! The cast are very unique, fun, colorful figures that definitely wouldn't look out of place in a music video. I even like the variety of themes and characters there are to choose from.
On the other hand, I don't think these are very good LEGO products. There isn't much in the way of actual building, these beatbox kits are way too expensive, and there isn't much to do outside of the app. I am glad they have the $5 boxes, though I do worry that will just make getting the ones I want a headache. You can't even feel through the bags with a box.
What I kinda wish LEGO would've done is to have these and the blind bags, but also include kits of some sort. Maybe have certain themed areas that can transform into stages for performances, or perhaps even add VIDYO functionality to other kits! That would provide a much better value, an actual building experience outside he app, and maybe something people who aren't interested in the app could use.
Still, at the end of the day what matters is if kids gravitate towards it. I also worry that the app has locked too much of its functionality behind a paywall.
That punk is a corporate sellout who’d never be let into Gilman. That said, I still like these, but my goodness the price isn’t worth it yet
This is just speculation, but I don't think the expense is just because of the parts. Music licensing is very expensive, so I'm guessing that some of the cost is for the UMG license. Comparable products would monetize the license through in-app purchases or band-specific content, as in the case of the Rock Band video games or DropMix card packs. It seems Lego isn't following that model, probably because in-app purchases aren't kid-friendly, and because they're generally not in the digital products business.
In general I'm very supportive of Lego trying new ideas and reaching new fans, but anyway I slice it, this whole line seems like a huge miss. Lego works best when the building and play experiences are at the core of the product, and they're not here. The partnership doesn't add value the way that traditional IPs do. This is clearly intended for children but the price is prohibitive for that market.
I don't know why Lego has prioritized brand partnerships in the last few years. IKEA, Adidas, Levi's, and now UMG don't bring anything to the table, it's empty co-branding. I hope that they instead refocus on new product types and experiences like the Lego Art and Botanical product lines. That's an expansion of the brand I can get behind, because it has the potential to be a true expansion, not just new marketing.
The sets themselves hold virtually no interest to me (unsurprisingly, given I'm very far from being the target audience), but I do love that anchor guitar and will have to get one from somewhere...
I feel like most people get LEGO so that their kids aren’t on their mobile devices too much. This sort of product may not sell well with parents who aim for that sort of thing. I kind of wonder how many more attempts LEGO will do to integrate technology with their products because I don’t believe any have worked in the past...
@AcademyofDrX said:
"I don't know why Lego has prioritized brand partnerships in the last few years. IKEA, Adidas, Levi's, and now UMG don't bring anything to the table, it's empty co-branding. I hope that they instead refocus on new product types and experiences like the Lego Art and Botanical product lines. That's an expansion of the brand I can get behind, because it has the potential to be a true expansion, not just new marketing."
Bit silly to say that they "prioritized" any of those, especially given that they required very little on Lego's part. Also, Art and the Botanicals are all *more recent* than the partnerships so I just don't see how they need to "refocus" on what they are currently doing.
Also, I'd say it's factually incorrect to say that the others don't bring anything to the table. Places like Teepublic or Etsy show that people are really interested in Lego-related merch, and collabs with popular brands that don't require much effort from Lego are not a bad direction at all
Think they've shot themselves in the foot with having so many unique parts, just to make a carry case for a single mini figure.
They could have easily made a customisable stage set, done all the figures as none blind boxes, and then done add-on packs for new tiles etc to make this a very cheap, but highly customisable range.
I can see this being a theme aimed at Grandparents who have no idea at what to get their Lego mad grandchildren for their birthdays & seeing something small & colourful on the shelves & picking it up for them!! Its way overpriced, even by Disney standards, just to pick up as an impulse buy like CMF's!! Cool concept tho, but will bomb unfortuantly!!
Some rather interesting new parts and prints that I am looking forward to adding to my collection. But not now.
I predict that it probably won't be too long until these are heavily discounted and available at a much more affordable price. Good on Lego for trying new things with tech, but as with the Hidden Side, which I did much prefer (even if the app didn't appeal to me, the sets were very impressive), I can't see this lasting too long.
@DavidBrick said:
"$5 for the minifigure
$15 for the container
I'll wait until these are being cleared out for $5 at Walmart."
I hope you are right about these selling for a lower price at some point. Unfortunately clearance sales were more of an option before the pandemic, nowadays they aren't as common. Still I do hope to find them on discount somewhere at some point, otherwise will have to resort to the secondary market.
I'm pretty sure the figures In the band mates series are meant to go with specific figures from the beat boxes, EG, the shark and the pirate, the mermaid and the ice cream guy etc
@dylanmitchell said:
"Id love for just the tiles so I can build a record store
"
My thoughts exactly.
@Toasted_Bagel_Boi said:
"I'm pretty sure the figures In the band mates series are meant to go with specific figures from the beat boxes, EG, the shark and the pirate, the mermaid and the ice cream guy etc"
Indeed they are. The minifigures are grouped into different musical genres as follows:
Candy Pop - Candy Mermaid, Cotton Candy Cheerleader, Ice Cream Saxophonist
Pirate Punk - Punk Pirate, Shark Singer
ETDM - Alien DJ, Alien Keytarist
K-Pawp - Unicorn DJ, Bunny Dancer
Monster Metal - Werewolf Drummer, Banshee Singer
Samurap - Samurapper, Red Panda Dancer
Tropicon - Party Llama, DJ Cheetah
Robo HipHop - HipHop Robot
Fantasy Folk - Genie Dancer
Discowboy - Discowboy Singer
I am trying to be careful with my judgement, I have said before what it has felt like being a big Bionicle fan who grew up with the theme only to have to constantly fend it off from older AFOL's criticism. I don't want to say anything that might come off as unflattering to the kids who might fall in love with VIDIYO now and be future AFOL's themselves in another couple of decades.
But... I am struggling to see who these sets are for. Yes the figures and tiles are really really neat, but $20 for what amounts to a plastic box and a figure? (Heck pointing back to my childhood favorites I got a plastic box and a multi piece buildable figure for $8 in Bionicle as a kid, how the heck did it inflate to a $20 combination for just a minifigure?) Yikes. I also agree with many of the comments above that most parents buying Lego want their kids to spend less time on a phone or computer, not more time on it. Considering how soon Hidden Side came to an end (with what I thought were excellent sets but a poor AR function), I am curious to see if VIDIYO which so far seems to have even less physical set value can manage to carve out a niche for it. That AR app better be killer to justify this.
I would love to be proven wrong, I would love to see this theme take off and run for a decade because it has somehow hit a note (bad pun I know) with kids now that will make them forever Lego fans in the future. Maybe I'm to old though now because I just can't see the appeal. I would pay $5 or maybe even $10 for this set for the parts alone, but $20 is highway robbery and kills even that casual appeal to me.
And I thought Star Wars was overpriced!
Will buy one if I find them with a discount, 19,99 seems a bit much, but I like them!
@xboxtravis7992 said:
"I am trying to be careful with my judgement, I have said before what it has felt like being a big Bionicle fan who grew up with the theme only to have to constantly fend it off from older AFOL's criticism. I don't want to say anything that might come off as unflattering to the kids who might fall in love with VIDIYO now and be future AFOL's themselves in another couple of decades.
But... I am struggling to see who these sets are for. Yes the figures and tiles are really really neat, but $20 for what amounts to a plastic box and a figure? (Heck pointing back to my childhood favorites I got a plastic box and a multi piece buildable figure for $8 in Bionicle as a kid, how the heck did it inflate to a $20 combination for just a minifigure?) Yikes. I also agree with many of the comments above that most parents buying Lego want their kids to spend less time on a phone or computer, not more time on it. Considering how soon Hidden Side came to an end (with what I thought were excellent sets but a poor AR function), I am curious to see if VIDIYO which so far seems to have even less physical set value can manage to carve out a niche for it. That AR app better be killer to justify this.
I would love to be proven wrong, I would love to see this theme take off and run for a decade because it has somehow hit a note (bad pun I know) with kids now that will make them forever Lego fans in the future. Maybe I'm to old though now because I just can't see the appeal. I would pay $5 or maybe even $10 for this set for the parts alone, but $20 is highway robbery and kills even that casual appeal to me. "
The idea behind the theme is great! The execution is where it's lacking.
If they could just get the price down and maybe get rid of the blind bags aspect, I think people would be a lot friendlier to VIDYO. I doubt people want to see themes fail (more good sets is always nice). No one wants to see LEGO repeat the same mistakes, and this seems to be making the same mistakes that Hidden Side did.
The mermaid hairpiece is pretty awesome! Is it available elsewhere in other colours?
@Sandinista said:
"That punk is a corporate sellout who’d never be let into Gilman."
I want to know how he's playing his guitar! Does he have a special pick attachment? He's left-handed, too?
Also, I think they should've spent some of this licensing money on making figures of real artists. I know they'll never make a figure of any artists I'm interested in, but imagine the sorts of CMFs or sets they could make based on UMG's catalog.
@KDNX said:
" @Sandinista said:
"That punk is a corporate sellout who’d never be let into Gilman."
I want to know how he's playing his guitar! Does he have a special pick attachment? He's left-handed, too?
Also, I think they should've spent some of this licensing money on making figures of real artists. I know they'll never make a figure of any artists I'm interested in, but imagine the sorts of CMFs or sets they could make based on UMG's catalog."
As neat as that would be, I think LEGO would be playing with fire. You never know what these artists will get up to in the near future. That and they've got enough money/promotion. I would rather LEGO have their attention on making unique characters of their own for folks to play with if that makes sense.
@KDNX said:
" @Sandinista said:
"That punk is a corporate sellout who’d never be let into Gilman."
I want to know how he's playing his guitar! Does he have a special pick attachment? He's left-handed, too?
Also, I think they should've spent some of this licensing money on making figures of real artists. I know they'll never make a figure of any artists I'm interested in, but imagine the sorts of CMFs or sets they could make based on UMG's catalog."
I agree!! The Banshee singer is as close to Siouxsie Sioux we’ll get
Apart from the minifigs, I'm really interested in whether that transparent box piece can be used as an element. Does it have any means of attaching, for example, to the 8x8 plate on the back of the box? Or is it some unique closure with the storage compartment?
The Punk Pirate immediately made me think of the band Alestorm, a pirate-themed heavy metal band.
Check your emails as Lego VIP doing a FREE promo seems its invite only for ...
Celebrate the launch of LEGO® VIDIYO™ with a FREE welcome pack when you register for the VIDIYO backstage pass.
With all-new LEGO VIDIYO™, kids can direct, produce and star in their very own music video creations using songs from popular artists -- and share them in a safe, child-friendly social feed, too
Bursting with exciting VIDIYO goodies for kids, these welcome packs include:
2 backstage pass lanyards
2 sticker sheets sets
2 shoelace charm packs (with 4 charms each)
Welcome letter
FREE access code for VIP virtual pass*
URL is https://www.legovidiyobsp.com/en-gb/ and then a referral code that's embedded from the email.
Will there be a review of how it works with the app and how it all integrates?
If TLG genuinely think these are worth €20 each, I would like to order a kilo of whatever they are smoking.
Today I learned that "transliterated" is a real word.
the container part is intriguing.
But 20 euros? No. Especially since a new Nintendo Direct popped up and my wallet is more for Switch games rather than Lego sets.
I need the guitars for my LEGO representation of my band.
I don't think it's expensive because of the special pieces or the minifigures. I think it's expensive because it also has to cover the cost of the music licenses as someone mentioned in the comments.
I used the VIDIYO app today and some songs are locked until you scan in a minifigure. It made sense to me that for a free app they can't simply let a "free to play" user all of a sudden have access to all of the songs without someone paying for the music licenses.
I don't know how expensive new parts are compared to music licenses, but it's definitely something to factor into the VIDIYO theme.
I think you've got the "Cow in a Tornado" tile (presumably referencing Twister) upside down!
Looking forward to the review of how the app works.
Thanks for this great review. I remain very excited about picking these up.
I'm looking forward to using the 4x6 hinged plates in future builds. Maybe an AT-AT?
@dylanmitchell said:
"Id love for just the tiles so I can build a record store
"
That is exactly what I was gonna say.
@CapnRex101
You could add picture with just new parts
@legoguy said:
"Some rather interesting new parts and prints that I am looking forward to adding to my collection. But not now.
I predict that it probably won't be too long until these are heavily discounted and available at a much more affordable price. Good on Lego for trying new things with tech, but as with the Hidden Side, which I did much prefer (even if the app didn't appeal to me, the sets were very impressive), I can't see this lasting too long. "
Agree, it's a shame that there are blind boxes for this theme.
It turns out that you need buy nothing to unlock the characters and most of the beatbits in the app!
You simply need to display the official image of an opened box e.g. https://images.brickset.com/sets/AdditionalImages/43103-1/43103_alt3.jpg on your PC screen then point your phone at the screen when prompted. In fact, Chris's photo in the article works just as well, too.
The bandmates' photos would require a bit of manipulation in Photoshop before they'd work, but nothing too difficult.
$20 is a lot, but I love some of these characters. Hopefully they go on sale, but I’ll probably pick them up eventually either way.
I'm thinking about how I can use the strap pieces...
@Morgan19 said:
"Today I learned that "transliterated" is a real word."
Do share? Seriously though I prefer runic nontralateable signs
Love 'em! Fun idea... great execution!
The Galaga tile is upside down.
@DavidBrick said:
"$5 for the minifigure
$15 for the container
I'll wait until these are being cleared out for $5 at Walmart."
Absolutely.
I can totally see these at 75% clearance sale in no time, as is usual with stuff that no one has asked for plus that is ridiculously overpriced to boot.
The Unikitty theme or Super Hero Girls or Angry Birds immediately spring to mind. Or the Mario theme if one is looking for something more recent. Those sets are almost at 60% discount at many stores already. I bet the Vidiyo theme will end up just like that.
@garethsmith72: free VIP welcome pack? Where have I heard that one before? And why am I getting a distinct Porsche 911 vibe all of a sudden? ;-)
The Beatboxes each come with two exclusive tiles, and the Bandmates each come with one exclusive tile. The remaining 14 tiles in the Beatboxes are random pulls. The remaining two tiles in the Bandmates are random pulls from a stated 92 available tiles, but I don't remember seeing if the Beatboxes and Bandmates draw from the same random selection. They've also said there will be 130 Beatbits in the first year, but these only add up to 116, so there are 14 tiles that are not accounted for at this time. There may be a Beatbits pack like the Extra Dots.
The extra storage space is probably intended for the two associated Bandmates, since they won't fit in the main compartment, and it fits with the great music industry tradition of treating the band like equipment.
@Schmopiesdad:
They've already released that mohawk in nine different colors, but it has an incredibly unstable connection. They already had to fill in the center of the stud to keep it from falling off with a harsh look. This looks like it's designed to solve that problem by fitting down around the sides of the head a little bit. Unfortunately, it'll be less useful for other things, like coral reefs.
@Toasted_Bagel_Boi:
That was an easy conclusion just from the quantities (6 stars, 12 band members), but only one of the bands is easy to nail down:
Mermaid + Ice Cream & Cheerleader (all sugar themed in a Candy Pop band)
@CapnRex101:
Ah. That solves a lot of problems. Between the six Beatbox music styles, I was able to accurately match up the six associated Bandmates. The problem was, there were six Bandmates and one Beatbox that didn't match up nicely with anything. But this is the first time I've seen four of those music styles listed.
@PixelTheDragon:
Or bundle the minifigs into 3-member bands from the start, and just do blind bags for the tiles (or semi-blind bags like Dots gets).
@KDNX:
Well, he plays left-handed, at least. That's a throwback to the fact that the hook-handed Pirates pirates needed to be able to hold a cutlass or flintlock in their right hand, so they only set things up to allow hooks to be plugged into the left arm. And he probably uses the hook as a pick.
@Morgan19:
It's not as commonly known, or used, as "translated". You can translate between any two languages, but transliteration only really means something if those two languages use completely different character sets, like Roman vs Cyrillic vs Egyptian. I've actually met one person who does transliterations for a living, at the UofM library.
@milflinn:
When you translate, you take a word from one language and change it to the equivalent word in another language. When you transliterate, you take a word from one language and spell it using the character set from another language. One of the more commonly known systems for transliteration is called "romaji". Japanese can be written with kanji for whole words, kana for syllables, or romaji for individual sounds. Romaji is basically just the Roman alphabet that most European languages use. The earliest form of this was transliterating into Portuguese, and one of the more common modern systems is transliterating into English.
No doubt these will eventually see the same deep discounts that Dimensions did. I look forward to forgetting this even exists until such a time
I want these so badly but I can't justify spending $20 on them. Especially compared to the five dollar blind bags from the same line that's such a terrible deal.
@Huw said:
"It turns out that you need buy nothing to unlock the characters and most of the beatbits in the app!
You simply need to display the official image of an opened box e.g. https://images.brickset.com/sets/AdditionalImages/43103-1/43103_alt3.jpg on your PC screen then point your phone at the screen when prompted. In fact, Chris's photo in the article works just as well, too.
The bandmates' photos would require a bit of manipulation in Photoshop before they'd work, but nothing too difficult."
Right, so not all that different from printing your own Super Mario barcodes and cutting them into arbitrary shapes that Mario will happily recognize, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K69r-DTAlRg
I would like to add that the cost of these could have been cut in half had LEGO used existing mold casings in the likes of 5004929 or 71714
Produce these PODS with trans-clear elements and it would have been sufficient and cost-effective.
Hire me.
Still confused by the marketing of a mini-fig with music tile at either $20 with case or $5 in a blind bag? More importantly is the music any good and will kids be bopping away? It would be good to see some reviews and video links of how it is all meant to work before spending $20.
I usually have faith in LEGO’s market research but something is not right here... the bright eye-catching colors, whacky characters, completely gimmicky and an extortionate price tag to boot, it’s everything you would expect when you try to answer the question “what’s the next big thing for kids?” It’s too on the nose and I don’t like it. Hopefully kids eat it up, I would hate for LEGO to stop innovating. I complain about things like this and the Mario line, but at the end of the day they’re still new and unique products that represent everything that LEGO should. That’s not going to stop me from throwing shade though. It’s almost as if like this entire line was dreamed up by writers of The Simpsons so they had a toy to make fun of for an episode.
@ReyMando:
The Beatbox pod has dedicated storage for 16 Beatbit tiles, a fold-out stage that holds 12 more tiles and one minifig, with additional storage for two more minifigs. The smaller pod you suggested wouldn’t even fit 28 2x2 tiles if you left everything at home. The larger arcade cabinet is an arcade cabinet that looks like an arcade cabinet and would require a completely brick-built equivalent of the Beatbox pod that fits inside of it, which would likely drive the price of those sets up to $25-30. Your employment application has been sent to the circular file.
With how overpriced the new Vidiyo Beatboxes are it actually got me curious in the overall value of these kinds of “gimmick” sets LEGO likes to do. Such sets usually have poor Price-to-Part ratios, but that’s forgivable as the main draw is a minifigure and not the build and the overall mass and footprint of the sets are about the same as other sets in the price range (you’re getting less parts, same amount of plastic.)
However, most of these gimmick sets are roughly the same price and have the same size jumbo-parts, so comparing the PPP between them is much more viable. So I found the average part count, number of minifigs, and price for these sets to figure out which is the most and least valuable. (Normally I’d consider Dimensions in a category more like Mindstroms or LEGO Mario but most people call it a gimmick so I’m including it anyway.)
So from best PPP to worst:
Legacy Spinjitzu Spinners came with 1 minifigure and 107 parts for $10. PPP 9.4
Nexo Knights Battle Suits came with 1 minifigure and 79 parts for $10. PPP 12.6
Ultimate Nexo Knights came with 1 minifigure and 74 parts for $10. PPP 13.5
Spinjitzu Slam Spinners came with 1 minifigure and 74 parts for $10. PPP 13.6
Speedorz (2014+) came with 1 minifigure and 89 parts for $13. PPP 14.7
Speedorz (2013) came with 1 minifigure and 98 parts for $15. PPP 15.3
Spinjitzu Masters Spinners came with 1 minifigure and 65 parts for $10. PPP 15.5
Dragon Masters Flyers came with 1 minifigure and 92 parts for $15. PPP 16.3
Ninjago Epic Battle Sets came with 2 minifigures and 60 parts for $10. PPP 16.8
Arcade Pods came with 2 minifigures and 48 parts for $10. PPP 20.8
Spinjitzu Burst Spinners came with 1 minifigure and 48 parts for $10. PPP 20.8
Airjitzu Flyers came with 1 minifigure and 45 parts for $10. PPP 22.3
Play Cubes came with 1 minifigure and 44 parts for $10. PPP 22.6
Dimensions Team Packs came with 2 minifigures and 98 parts for $25. PPP 25.6
Vidiyo Beatboxes came with 1 minifigure and 78 parts for $20. PPP 25.7
Pods came with 1 minifigure and 31 parts for $9. PPP 28.9
Dimensions Fun Packs came with 1 minifigure and 51 parts for $15. PPP 29.3
Dimensions Level Packs came with 1 minifigure and 97 parts for $30. PPP 31
The Classic Ninjago Spinners came with 1 minifigure and 21 parts for $10. PPP 47.2
So while Vidiyo isn’t the absolute worst deal a gimmick set has provided, they’re still pretty low on the list. Why do they feel so expensive then? Probably because the price tag of $20 is pretty unprecedented for these kinds of sets. Normally they go for $10, which makes them excellent “impulse buys” kids’ll grab with their pocket money. There have only been a handful of exceptions:
First up are the Speedorz that were sold for between $13 and $15. Since these were near the top of gimmick PPP and their large custom elements both had detailed printing and a “gear” function it was forgivable.
Next are the various Dimensions Packs that ranged from $15-30. All of these sets came with electrical components like Mindstorms or RC kits, and those always bump up the price. The Level Packs even came with full fledged DLC. While not as forgiven as Speedorz, their price was still justifiable.
And then there are the Dragon Masters for $15. These fellows were about in the midrange of PPP, but compared to most Ninjago gimmicks they had around twice the parts for just 1.5x the price.
When it comes to Vidiyo on the other hand: like Dragon Masters it comes with around twice the parts of a typical gimmick set, but they have about the same mass of giant elements and are twice the price of a typical gimmick.
Perhaps this is most notable with CMFs. You could usually get 2-3 CMFs for the price of one of the other gimmicks, and something like a Legacy Spinner had way more play value than just two minifigs. But with Vidiyo there is no play mechanic in the build/giant parts, the play lies with the minifigure and the scannable tiles. For $20 you could either get 1 minifig and 14 beatbits, or 4 minifigs and 12 beatbits. The CMF is a way better bang for your buck here than the actual prod
While I love these minifigures, I think this idea could've been more profitable if LEGO had actually geared it more towards music fans and made minifig versions of popular artists and included their album or single covers as printed tiles. Imagine having mini figure versions of Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, David Bowie, The Beatles, ABBA, Billie Eilish, Bon Jovi, Run DMC, or Olivia Rodrigo (even though she has just one song to speak off so far) - to name just a few. I'd suggest giving the mermaid fig legs so she could basically be a brick based Lady Gaga, but then again, we all know mermaids lose their voices one they get legs...
@ToysFromTheAttic said:
"Olivia Rodrigo (even though she has just one song to speak off so far)"
Thank you for mentioning Olivia.
Sincerely,
a millennial who has listened to drivers license over 3000 times as of this writing
Its clear that a fair whack of the price of this line is going towards the license for the music and to the cost to develop, update and maintain the app (and to pay people to moderate the uploaded content to make sure its safe). I wouldn't mind some of the parts but it would have to be a decent price (especially if I am not able to pick the specific characters from the blind box series I want)
@Schmopiesdad said:
" @CapnRex Your range in different types of reviews is masterful and continues to amaze me.
I would like the Punk Pirate better if he had a recolor of the Mohawk element from 850486."
Hear, hear. Our fearless hosts and admins need all the shout-outs they can get. Thank you for providing such a great site!
@LegoSonicBoy said:
" @ToysFromTheAttic said:
"Olivia Rodrigo (even though she has just one song to speak off so far)"
Thank you for mentioning Olivia.
Sincerely,
a millennial who has listened to drivers license over 3000 times as of this writing"
Perhaps Vidiyo will help you discover some more songs to listen to. :-)
Hey, Huw? Is the mermaid tail a whole new piece? I have the other one and it looks nothing like that, has it been used before this?
@CaptainVictoria said:
"Hey, Huw? Is the mermaid tail a whole new piece? I have the other one and it looks nothing like that, has it been used before this?"
The mermaid tail is brand new, differing from either of the previous elements.
@ToysFromTheAttic:
I can't stand pop music, particularly in the Top 40 format where the playlist just endlessly repeats after less than two hours. Classic Rock stations, on the other hand, have hit a point where even the artists that fit their format can't get any new songs on the air. The only place I can consistently hear new stuff that I actually like is Little Steven's Underground Garage. Given the recent announcement, the thought of using Vidiyo to find new music makes me cringe.