Review: 79109 Colby City Showdown
Posted by Huw,
Continuing on with our exclusive reviews of The Lone Ranger sets ahead of their April release, today I take a look at 79109 Colby City Showdown, which sits in the middle of the range in terms of size and price.
It features a bank and sheriff's office/jail, five minifigs, and a whole host of interesting features and parts.
Box and contents
Another brightly coloured and attractive image graces the front of the box.
The back, as usual, shows what moves and what comes off, and ideas for playing with the set.
Inside are four numbered bags, two instruction manuals, an 8 x 16 plate and a sticker sheet.
The minifigs
The are five minifigs in the set: The Lone Ranger, Tonto, Dan Reid, Frank and Ray. The Lone Ranger and Tonto are the same as those in 79107 Comanche Camp and 79106 Cavalry Builder set, so I won't say much about them again.
Dan Reid, or Captain Daniel Reid, is a captain in the Texas Rangers, and it seems is the Lone Ranger's brother (so I've just found out on Wikipedia).
This is Ray, who is not mentioned in the Wikipedia article so I have no idea who he is, but he's probably an outlaw. His hat is a grey version of that worn by the in series five of the collectable minifigs. His clothes look like they've seen better days...
Finally we have Frank, who's definitely an outlaw because he's seen with the 'swag' on the front of the box :-)
The sack!
The set contains a swag bag which, I've just been informed in the comments, was carried by Santa in collectable minifigs series 8.
There are no presents in this one, though: Frank uses it to carry booty robbed from the bank.
The build
The model consists of two buildings and a couple of accessories. The sheriff's office and jail are constructed first.
The office area.
The completed model, with two stickers applied. There are others, for detail on the roof slopes but given it would be difficult to get them on straight I didn't bother.
Round the back, showing a hidden roof-mounted cannon...
...that hinges down. Note how it's mounted back-to-front on its base. The front of the jail can be ejected using a rod on the back.
Here's the front of the bank under construction.
Not much to it yet...
The completed 'building'. It's not really much of a building, more just a facade. But it's quite well designed and from the front it looks good.
It looks a bit unfinished on the right-hand side, though.
Round the back, with the safe installed.
Here's the 'swag' that's in the safe:
Rather conveniently for Frank and his outlaw gang, there's a lever on the side of the safe that ejects the front wall of the building.
This must be Frank's getaway vehicle :-) Note the medium nougat crate. There's another one on the roof of the sheriff's office.
The completed model
Here's the completed model, everything in the box except for the minifig weapons, which are the usual assortment of rifles, pistols and tomahawks.
Overall opinion
Another pretty good model then, in the Lone Ranger theme. It may not be quite as compelling as the others because, although three of the minifigs are unique to this set (I believe), they are not particularly interesting. But it's an attractive set that offers many play possibilities.
Old-hands like me who have the original Western themed sets from 1996 with its sheriff's office and bank might be disappointed that this is 'more of the same', but I guess they were released some 17 years ago now, before half of you reading this were born, so that's probably not of consequence.
This concludes the Lone Ranger reviews that I'll be writing, I hope you've enjoyed them. DrDave has 79108 Stagecoach Escape and will hopefully be reviewing that over the weekend.
Many thanks to Kim at LEGO for sending them to us for review!
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44 comments on this article
Can't wait to get this set. Thanks for the review!
Nice review! Btw, that 'swag bag' came with CMF S8 Santa. But this is probably its first appearance in a normal set.
OK, I thought it looked familiar. My s8's are tidied away somewhere, but I should have checked ;-)
Is that a transparent-clear bottle in the crate? I think that's the first of its kind, apart from the one with the ship-in-a-bottle printing. Would go nicely as an empty bottle after the rum bottle or wine bottle has been drank. ;)
It is indeed.
Hi, will the Lone Ranger train be reviewed?
Thanks!
Hat comes from the Small Clown. Sad Clown will be in the 10 series :)
^^ No -- LEGO didn't send us that one.
The light grey bowler hat was also worn by the main Monster Fighters hero, the one with the sword.
@Huw, is it just me or is the box completely sealed and has to be opened only by punch tabs. That is what is looks like in picture 2 of the back of the box. This seems odd for such a large set.
Great review, thanks and this set is a must buy (if my wallet isn't empty) :-)
While this looks to be like a great set, I can't look at it without thinking it was the set which caused the product conflict which stopped the Cuusoo Western Modular. So while I want to buy every other Lone Ranger set (especially the train); I have no desire for Colby City because I cannot stop mourning the loss of the modular.
@Brickcreator, yes but that's common for sets sold in Europe, although I understand that's not the case in the USA.
I know this is way ahead of time, but can you please review the Galactic Titan (when it comes out)? http://www.brickset.com/detail/?set=70709-1
Cool! A few days, and Lego Lone Ranger will be released in Germany! :)
are Franks the lone ranger's hats new?
After reviewing the Lone ranger sets, what happens with them? I mean, you mentioned earlier they were sent by LEGO. You can keep them? How lucky you are! Or is missed something?
Such a good looking set. Lone Ranger is looking to be one of the best LEGO themes in recent years for me. There's not one set I can say that's "meh"
Nary a flesh tone print on the torsos either. That's the best feature of this set for me.
Steve
WHen I first saw the pictures for this set I was hoping for more Dark Green variety... Sadly looks like just some small bricks and plates. Still neat looking and fun possibilities.
I am liking all these sets and will be getting all of them. The figures are some of the best I have seen.
It's nice to see dark green 1x4 plates included in the set, all we need now is 1 x1 plates to make an appearance.
^ They are 1x2's :-(
Thanks for yet another great review Huw! :-)
Bank seems pretty bland to me, but I like the Sheriffs office, besides the fact that there's no floor… And, YES! I don't have to buy Santa for the sack.
My city needs a futuristic bank.
Weathertops got dark green 2x3 plates, but meccanowitch is right. Where are the 1x1s? Also exited about the new color log bricks.
"Rather conveniently for Frank and his outlaw gang, there's a lever on the side of the safe that ejects the front wall of the building."
This is a dangerous world we live in.
Anyways, the only thing bad I have to say about this set is that it seems like a semi-last-minute replacement for the Modular Western Town... O_o
Very disapointed about this set...the bank is just a fake of building! Oo
tks for your review who make me save 99€.
^ I know...I keep looking at those uninspired facades and thinking, "LEGO killed a beautiful modular Western building for this??"
A very interesting set, however I'm unsure yet whether I'm going to pick this one up.
Part of me is spoiled by all these nice reviews. Part of me wants you to spread em out a bit.
I'm torn!
Heh, just noticed that the Bank's vault is in the 'lobby' rather than behind the teller counter/bars
Dam I thought it was too good to be true Huw, still you can't have enough dark green plates of this size.
Originally wasn't really interested in Lone Rangel when 1st heard about them,but all the sets look great. I'm looking forward to stage coach. I'm particularly interested in this one think it's a nice set for display purposes,as you say not much playability but these do look good. I do hope these hit US shores in 1st week of April,I will sure have a fun time bringing them home :)
Looks very good! Thanks for the review!
utterly disappointed. i saw the early pictures and was skeptical about the size of the buildings, but now that you've done the review i KNOW i'm not buying this unless it's some boxing day 50% off sale, and even then i'd think twice...
Just a more modern, yet smaller, Gold City Junction. A flat 'no' to this.
Huw,
A trick that I use to apply the decals is by using a mini metal ruler. It is 6” long and small enough to be used in 1 hand while the other applies the decals. This will give you the desired effect that we all want in our sets.
have you got the stage coach if so when will you do the review ?
Love this, but I'm a sucker for these little lego buildings, what I consider to be "Medieval Market Village Scale"...just about right for a minifig...
Also, the logo for the Lego Movie has been released...maybe someone who is better at internetting could find it and post a link? I found it over at geektyrant.com...So excited for the Lego Movie!
That's a beautiful set, but it depends on the price whether I will afford the money for a set you'd rather look at than play with...
They could have made them real buildings instead of just facades.
Although it IS a good set, like Dragon_Master_48 said, it DOES seem to just be a last-minute replacement for what would have been an amazing line of beautiful western buildings, replaced by a tiny sheriffs office and the front wall of a bank.
Oh no' there's a flick fire missile lamp shade in the bank :-) good set but don't think I'll be buying it
Ray's hat is also the same as Doctor Rodney Rathbone's in Monster Fighters.