Review: 43110 Folk Fairy BeatBox
Posted by Huw,
Musicians representing a wide variety of musical genres feature in the Vidiyo sets and next month the folk music violinist in 43110 Folk Fairy BeatBox will be joining their ranks.
She's very colourful and has a wonderful pair of wings!
Unsurprisingly, the design of the BeatBox itself has not changed since the first ones were released earlier in the year. My article a look inside a Vidiyo beatbox shows how they go together.
This one comprises a teal minifig stand with spring yellowish green side plates, and a vibrant coral BeatBox storage box at the back.
The lid of the box is decorated with an attractive folksy design
The violinist's instrument first appeared in series 21 minifigure 71029 Violin Kid earlier this year.
BeatBoxes each come with 16 BeatBits which provide special effects for your music videos. 14 are randomly selected from a pool, and two are unique, which in the case of this one are those below.
The minifigure is of course the star of the set. She's attired in a typical fairy dress which has been crisply printed onto her teal torso and lime green legs.
Vibrant coral is not used for hair pieces often, in fact I think it's only been used once before, in 71023 Kitty Pop, and that one has ears, so this one will no doubt be of interest to monofig assemblers.
The wings are a new element. It's made from a hard plastic and is printed on one side. A transparent pink version crops up in 43115 The Boombox.
I'm not going to pass judgement on the set as a whole, or the features it unlocks in the app because it's not been updated to recognise it yet. I won't comment on its value for money, either, because as we found out earlier in the year, the retail price of BeatBoxes is a joke and almost every retailer discounted them by 30% or more soon after release.
Suffice to say though that, like most Vidiyo minifigures, the one in this set is excellent and if you have an opportunity to acquire it at a decent price you will not be disappointed.
It's interesting to note that on the secondary market at BrickLink the minfigure accounts for almost all the value of BeatBoxes. The figures typically cost around £7-8 which is well above the average price for one. The BeatBits will set you back 30p or so each and the remainder of the specialist pieces, particularly the relatively useless transparent cover, minifig stand and back storage box, can be found for less than 10p each.
Thanks to LEGO for providing the set for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
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36 comments on this article
I still... don't get it. Does anyone know if this theme is doing well and if kids are engaging with it? Any parents have kids who are enjoying it?
(That said, the MagicBanana™ tile needs to be acquired...)
The minifigure is great but not worth the inflated price. If LEGO had released it as a CMF in a sachet, not a cardboard box, I would definitely have got it.
The BeatBox and BeatBits don’t interest me at all.
Love the figure and the beatbits, but gonna wait for them to be below £5, which tbh I think they will. Love the violin piece, hope that makes it to Bricks & Pieces for a reasonable price.
@bananaworld said:
"
I still... don't get it. Does anyone know if this theme is doing well and if kids are engaging with it? Any parents have kids who are enjoying it?
(That said, the MagicBanana™ tile needs to be acquired...)"
Funnily enough, I've not hear a single thing from any parents or kids about Vidiyo. Almost as if...they don't care about Lego...
"I won't comment on its value for money, either, because as we found out earlier in the year, the retail price of BeatBoxes is a joke and almost every retailer discounted them by 30% or more soon after release."
Well said.
(I bought all the first series at that discounted price. I don't mind paying a bit more to support a new product range with cool minifigs, but I'm not paying massively inflated prices for an app that isn't that great and won't be supported more than a year or so.)
A few days ago the Llama beatbox was available on Amazon for 8.65 Euro. I bought one because at that price I think you get a fair value for money. If the others become available at a similar price too I will get them as well, or at least some of them like this one with the awesome violin piece.
@Huw said
" relatively useless transparent cover "
I’m sure someone will find a way to use it in a spaceship, if they haven’t already.
I really like the minifig and I'd buy it in a heartbeat without the monstrous box.
The figures sure are great but I am not investing $20 to get some I want, thanks for the review.
Cool figure, but not a cool price tag.
So far a pattern seems to be that the beatbox sets from wave 1 got similarly themed stages in wave 2. (yes the figures are different but the overall themes are similar)
Examples :
43102 : Candy Mermaid BeatBox -> 43111 : Candy Castle Stage
43103 : Punk Pirate BeatBox -> 43114 : Punk Pirate Ship
43104: Alien DJ BeatBox -> 43115: The Boombox
43106 : Unicorn DJ BeatBox -> 43113 : K-Pawp Concert
43107 : HipHop Robot BeatBox -> 43112 : Robo HipHop Car
I think this is one of the nicest Beatbox figures, but it's a pity about the excess plastic of the box that I don't want. I wonder how many retailers will stock the two new Beatbox products if the first ones didn't sell well.
It just feels like they made interesting products but when it came to the figures, at least, they got it all wrong. Putting the lower cost figures in boxes so you couldn't choose which you got and then making the Beatbox figures too expensive by bundling them with stuff that no one wants.
Wouldn't surprise me if there's a wave 3, to a see a Metal Dragon or Folk Fairy themed stage.
@Zander said:
"The minifigure is great but not worth the inflated price. If LEGO had released it as a CMF in a sachet, not a cardboard box, I would definitely have got it.
The BeatBox and BeatBits don’t interest me at all."
He says everything. I can’t believe they discontinued Hidden Side for Vidiyo.
@Mr__Thrawn said:
" @Huw said
" relatively useless transparent cover "
I’m sure someone will find a way to use it in a spaceship, if they haven’t already."
Can't find the pictures for the life of me but somebody's definitely already done a Space Police one!
Somebody also did a really lovely MOC using them as large windows in a modern building and cor, proper good this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/andershorvath/51153756124/
@TeriXeri said:
"Wouldn't surprise me if there's a wave 3, to a see a Metal Dragon or Folk Fairy themed stage."
I misread this comment and now I desperately want to see a Metal Dragon AND Folk Fairy themed stage. The contrast would be genuinely beautiful.
@Ayliffe said:
" @Mr__Thrawn said:
" @Huw said
" relatively useless transparent cover "
I’m sure someone will find a way to use it in a spaceship, if they haven’t already."
Can't find the pictures for the life of me but somebody's definitely already done a Space Police one!
Somebody also did a really lovely MOC using them as large windows in a modern building and cor, proper good this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/andershorvath/51153756124/
"
@femmefromtheblock showed one of the first builds with the transparent cover.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CMQQwwqJDtM/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
There is no way the hair color is vibrant coral if the other CMF figure is also vibrant coral. The other one looks very magenta ish, and this one looks orangish. Doth my eyes deceive me?
The figure looks great. But I will never own it at that price (and aftermarket prices aren't helping). So VIDIYO is a theme I'll never pick up unfortunately. There were some neat figures/pieces. But I'll put money on actual good value sets.
Still waiting to see any of these go on the alleged discounts here in the US. This fairy is one of my favorite minifigs of the last few years, but I just can’t justify spending $20.
I really love these minifigures but the price is a turn off. It’s hard to justify despite nice printing, new molds, etc
@TeriXeri said:
"I desperately want to see a Metal Dragon AND Folk Fairy themed stage. The contrast would be genuinely beautiful."
Folk metal is an actual genre. Lego Turisas incoming!
@Jack_Sassy said:
Funnily enough, I've not hear a single thing from any parents or kids about Vidiyo. Almost as if...they don't care about Lego...]]
Wait... kids don’t care about Lego or Vidiyo? Because I haven’t heard of any kids like vidiyo but many kids like Lego?
The Minifigure looks great, but the neck plate for the wings should be colored, not transparent, cause it just looks like her head's completely off and is just hovering over her body.
^ I can't say that bothered me.
I have yet to see any of these discounted in the US
For those doubting this series, it's become really difficult to find in my part of Canada... Barely any BeatBoxes left on the shelves, and I didn't see any of the Bandmates left either, whereas there were still tons of Ninjago, Star Wars and Harry Potter sets left... So there's definitely a demand, or a more difficult than usual distribution pattern...
Really looking forward to the Fairy Folks, they add a lot to the theme, just like the Dragons. Can't wait for them to arrive here, it'll be a day one purchase for me, even at those prices.
@karmajay said:
"I have yet to see any of these discounted in the US"
Amazon over here have them at 30 to 40 percent discount all of the time. The one I bought (the one with the Llama) was 60 percent off.
In my area in the US there are NO discounts on any Vidiyo, not even at Walmart or Amazon. So not sure a flop here. I like this fairy but may pass and watch out for some sort of sale on the Boombox set with the pink fairy wings. I really like this new wave, though not the prices.
@Phoenixio said: "For those doubting this series, it's become really difficult to find in my part of Canada..."
Here in Australia, there's plenty of them. The boxes are piled up high, gathering dust. Nobody wants them.
Same with the Super Mario sets. The stores can't get rid of them.
The minifigs were the best part of the Vidiyo sets, and I definitely have been collected the figures. The figs are interesting and funny and designed beautifully. I can't help but like them.
Most of the stores I've seen them in have an abundance of them sitting on the shelves except for Walmart but their Lego shelves are usually half empty anyway at the ones near me. No discounted prices to be found anywhere either. Sooner or later the stores will need to discount them to clear the shelf space. I managed to get the 4 BandMates I wanted from series 1 but no way I'd pay more than $10 for any of the BeatBoxes. I didn't really care for any of the first BeatBoxes but I do like the two new ones but not for $20 each.
That mini figure looks fantastic. I frequent this site and I’m not even sure what Vidyo is supposed to be or do. I don’t think it’s doing well based on that hard evidence
A red-headed, violin-playing fairy? Someone at LEGO must be a fan of Lindsey Stirling.
At best…BEST…these are $10.00 US retail items. I’m talking gut check walk up to a product at the store and the price you’d expect to see when you look at the tag. And note I said best. It is no-way, no-how a $20.00 thing.
The price is, frankly, insulting to consumers.
@AVCampos said:
"A red-headed, violin-playing fairy? Someone at LEGO must be a fan of Lindsey Stirling."
I clicked on this review specifically to say that, if no-one else had yet. I don't think I'll buy this, but I'm going to make my own version of her as I love her music and style.
Is a fairy playing a violin called a feyolinist?
@AVCampos said:
"A red-headed, violin-playing fairy? Someone at LEGO must be a fan of Lindsey Stirling."
My thoughts exactly! I was going to post that there is a Linsey Stirling vibe here-guess I wasn't the only one.
Now I am wondering, does anyone see any similarities between the minifigs from Vidiyo and any other real life musicians?
A fairy should have dwarf legs, don't you think? And another nerd alert: the wings are decorated with an F-clef, used for bass and cello, not for violin. Although I admit the G-clef would look too baroque.