Review: 60360 Spinning Stunt Challenge
Posted by benbacardi,
Of the four stunts released in this year's City Stuntz range, 60360 Spinning Stunt Challenge is the smallest by part count, but includes two minfigures and two of the flywheel-powered motorcycles. The unique designs and bold colours certainly make for an impactful box on the shelf, but does the set live up to its promise?
Summary
60360 Spinning Stunt Challenge, 117 pieces.
£29.99 / $39.99 / €34.99 | 25.6p/34.2c/29.9c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A fun, challenging but not too difficult addition to the Stuntz line.
- Two figures and bikes
- Adjustable stunt course
- Unique detailed minifigure designs
- Mismatched colour scheme
- On the expensive side
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures and Motorcycles
Two minifigures are included in the set, each with their own motorcycle. Although both are common hair pieces and face prints, the two torsos are unique and printed on both sides. The male rider, with a slightly smirking expression on his stubbled face, is wearing a blue suit with a winged decal on the front. He appears to be wearing armour on only his right arm, protected by a shoulder pad.
The female rider is wearing a red and gold zip-up suit styled to look like a dinosaur or lizard, with printed spines down her back and spikes on her shoulders. I appreciate the level of detail; it is a torso I could see being used for a costume figure in a future CMF series.
Both heads are only single-expression, and they come with helmets in addition to their hair pieces. The male rider's helmet continues the armour theme, with a large knight-style visor that I can only imagine severely limits his visibility when on the motorcycle! The female helmet has teeth printed on a transparent red visor, and more detailed printing on the top of the helmet with the creature's eyes, head markings, and more spines.
Each rider's bike matches their respective colour schemes; the knight's cycle is blue with green wheel rims…
…and the dragon's is red, with orange rims. It's a shame they're not gold to more closely match her attire, but the look is firey and an impressive contrast against the cooler blue of her opponent.
Together, they make a formidable pair, competing for the trophy in the Spinning Stunt Challenge!
The Spinning Stunt Challenge
Every stunt bike challenge needs a ramp, and this set comes with two: one in orange, and one in purple. It's a shame they didn't recolour the ramp's lead-in piece to match the purple; it looks slightly odd with one fully orange and the other a mix.
The main attraction of the stunt is a pair of hoops suspended in the air, through which the riders must jump. A couple of technic supports keep them aloft, with a slightly elaborate mechanism at the top that I will demonstrate later. On the base, there are three tiles on either side in alternating green and black.
Against these tiles is where the ramps are attached. Using a pentagonal tile as an arrow, each ramp can be adjusted to one of three (or five if you point to the join between two tiles) positions, which alter the distance from the ramp to the hoop, making the jump either easier or more challenging.
Once attached, the stunt build is complete, and it's clear what the riders objectives are. I'm not convinced about the orange and purple colour scheme—while I think it looks great, given the riders are blue and red I would have liked more cohesion between the two.
So where does the "spinning" part of the challenge come in? Well, the tile across the top of the supports can be lifted, which allows the two hoops to rotate freely about the central point! They can be positioned as you wish, and there is enough friction against their rotation thanks to the bushes on the axles to prevent them from moving once you've chosen their location.
The Stunt
So, how does it perform? Well, as always, the answer is highly dependent on your own skill with the flywheel bikes—I have yet to perfect it, so most often my results are not particularly satisfactory. The set also does not include the small tyres beneath each ramp as with some other sets in the range, so the whole apparatus has a tendency to shift backwards as the bikes hit the ramp, throwing them off course. We solved this with a small bit of blu tak beneath to hold them in place.
When you do manage to get the bike through, it is very satisfying indeed! Even more so if two of you manage to get both through from each side in tandem, I imagine—we have yet to achieve that goal in this house!
Conclusion
So far, I have been quite impressed with the sets in the Stuntz range. The designers show some impressive creativity in the unique minifigure designs, and the stunt challenges themselves are fun—they're not so easily achieved that they become boring too quickly, nor too difficult that you give up immediately. The ability for the hoops' positions to be adjusted just adds to the playability of the set.
The price is relatively high for the low number of parts, and I obviously wouldn't argue with it being cheaper, but I don't think it is bad value for money as it is. I appreciate that two riders and bikes are included; it makes for a more playable experience with my children. (No fighting over whose turn it was, this time—instead, arguing over who has which bike!) Just on the lower bounds of the target age range, 60360 Spinning Stunt Challenge has been a hit with both of them.
60360 Spinning Stunt Challenge is available at LEGO.com for £29.99 / 34.99€.
89 likes
35 comments on this article
Great review, and the video adds a lot to it. Thanks!
Perfect addition to the part of the day! ;)
@Huw said:
"Great review, and the video adds a lot to it. Thanks!"
Agreed! the video was awesome!
Being male, I wish I knew someone with these sets just to give them a spin to test them for that simple joy of getting the jumps to work, since I would never spend my limited funds on these, and my girls have zero interest.
Are the eyes on the Dragon Girl’s helmet crooked? (Other than that, cool minifig)
I agree that the minifig color schemes should be reflected in the set itself.
Your stunt bike rider has quite the wobble as he passes through the rings!
The orange/purple colors compliment each other nicely - but then the additional lime green and mix of greys/black really end up making a color soup of the entire set. Plus the blue/red/gold of the riders just end up being - well, yuk. I agree with your assessment, too much clashing here.
Playability looks to be tons of fun, which is more important than a few color mismatches. Nice video/review!
@WemWem said:
"Are the eyes on the Dragon Girl’s helmet crooked? (Other than that, cool minifig)"
Ever so slightly, yes!
The dragon suit's helmet *almost* looks like it could have been inspired by the old Xalax racers. If so, that's a neat detail. If not, it's still a creative set of prints.
Great video! Looks like another goody. I think the loud, clashing colours look fine for a stunt team and the price is pretty good for 2 bikes (in the UK at least)... even better in a few months assuming it gets the 30% - 50% discount on Amazon that Stuntz normally does.
Hoping 60361 is on the way (with another video to show it's doable!)
Adding the video to demonstrate is greatly appreciated!
From the name of the set, I thought you had to jump through the rings while they were moving, which would have been frustratingly difficult from the sounds of it.
I saw the monster girl as a nod to the Nexo Knights Lava monsters. I'll say this again and again because I think it's true. Stuntz has fantastic figures. I love the modern falcon torso as well, and I'm glad to see Olly's hair showing up in other themes. Great review, especially with the video!
@ricecake said:
"From the name of the set, I thought you had to jump through the rings while they were moving, which would have been frustratingly difficult from the sounds of it."
I quite fancy the rings being motorised and speed adjustable for difficulty, ranging from moderate to insane!
These sets are great fun even if you're not the target audience...
I bought 60341-1 (half-price, and for parts mostly), but tested it out with my partner and our late teens daughter - we all had a laugh with the challenge.
Is the hoop a new part?
Great review. More videos please.
I can’t be the only one who thinks Brickset should really have a large YouTube channel by now.
@CCC said:
"It would be fun if you could spin the rings freely, so have to jump through them while they are spinning. "
You can actually spin them freely, if you loosen the axel bushes ever so slightly. It is fun, but definitely challenging!
@iamkevinwill said:
"Is the hoop a new part?"
Yep! https://brickset.com/parts/design-3250
@neyoung8 said:
"Great review. More videos please.
I can’t be the only one who thinks Brickset should really have a large YouTube channel by now."
We leave that to the experts and stick to what we do best: maintaining a database and authoring comprehensive and unrivalled reviews.
I feel like the knight is a reference to Clay from Nexo Knights.
Nice parts for castle armies
@watcher21 said:
"Nice parts for castle armies"
Should've been it's own "Knight Bike" set for €8
@Illya said:
"I feel like the knight is a reference to Clay from Nexo Knights."
Yeah definately, especially 70315 : Clay's Rumble Blade had Clay Bots riding bikes with the same helmets + the Falcon logo of course.
@watcher21 said:
"Nice parts for castle armies"
Do you keep them up your sleevies?
Are we sure that the rings aren’t ‘meant’ to spin freely? This seems like it would be where the challenge comes in and reflects the name of the set.
@TeriXeri said:
" @watcher21 said:
"Nice parts for castle armies"
Should've been it's own "Knight Bike" set for €8"
The predecessor 8779 was a little more expensive than €8;)
@Ridgeheart said:
" @watcher21 said:
" @TeriXeri said:
" @watcher21 said:
"Nice parts for castle armies"
Should've been it's own "Knight Bike" set for €8"
The predecessor 8779 was a little more expensive than €8;)"
And let's be honest, 71286 just wasn't a great army-builder."
It was if you wanted an army of Kitt-ens.
In itself a fun set, but how on earth is this (at least here in Europe) almost twice as expensive as the also recently reviewed 60359 Dunk Stunt Ramp Challenge? Even with two (rather plain) bikes and some large pieces I just don't see the value here.
It was a fun read, and I join other about the video.
I said in the review of 60359 that I could see its minifig (along with their bike) as a minor villain in a motorcycle-themed anime, and I could see these two as rivals in the same show. Actually, I could see a lot of Stuntz characters in that anime; and now I want to see Stuntz:The Anime! Especially if they give 60333 a starring role.
I don't care how fun a set is, 30 cents per piece is just too much.
Love the Stuntz theme, but the value isn’t there, especially for a non-licensed theme.
This is a $25 set, maybe $30 if I’m being very generous, but $40?! They’ve got to be kidding. There’s just not enough value there to buy it unless it is at a steep discount.
@Torrent_Studios said:
"I don't care how fun a set is, 30 cents per piece is just too much. "
Sets like this are why the ppp metric isn't as objective or helpful as people would like to think it is. There's two heavily specialized flywheel bikes and two ramps, two hoops, those pillars... just a lot of big, specialized parts. None of that is accounted for in the ppp metric.
That said... yes, it is very expensive. But that goes for smaller, compact sets too with half of the part count consisting of lots of 1x1s. Ramps... flywheel bikes... studs...
In the words of Gimli: "That still only counts as one!"
@Binnekamp said:
"Sets like this are why the ppp metric isn't as objective or helpful as people would like to think it is. There's two heavily specialized flywheel bikes and two ramps, two hoops, those pillars... just a lot of big, specialized parts. None of that is accounted for in the ppp metric."
I've seen someone suggest "price per net unit weight" as a better metric, but harder to determine since the weight is not listed on the packaging.
No matter what you do, there is no metric that will work in all situations. I mean, those bikes are made from multiple parts so will need some assembly. That will inevitably make them more expensive than any simple plastic part no matter how big.
Price per unit weight would be an interesting addition, but just as imperfect. Let's be real: the plastic itself costs next to nothing. Twice the weight doesn't necessarily justify twice the price.
In the end it's no more than a rough, imperfect metric to compare sets with, no absolute science. Sets with a great ppp often have a reason for that, just look at the world map. And same for a bad ppp, there should be something to justify that. It only gets problematic when that's not really the case. Looking at this set, those two bikes an a few bigger pieces seem not nearly enough for that.
And of course it's all about whet they use the pieces for. I mean, look at 75334. In itself the ppp doesn't seem outrageous. Until you see what all of the pieces were used for and wonder where they all went....
@Binnekamp said:
" @Torrent_Studios said:
"I don't care how fun a set is, 30 cents per piece is just too much. "
Sets like this are why the ppp metric isn't as objective or helpful as people would like to think it is. There's two heavily specialized flywheel bikes and two ramps, two hoops, those pillars... just a lot of big, specialized parts. None of that is accounted for in the ppp metric.
That said... yes, it is very expensive. But that goes for smaller, compact sets too with half of the part count consisting of lots of 1x1s. Ramps... flywheel bikes... studs...
In the words of Gimli: "That still only counts as one!""
I realise that Price Per Piece is not a useful metric in a situation like this. But $60 AUD for what you're getting here is an awful deal. Those bikes, I'll give them $20 AUD in total. $40 for the rest? Definitely not.
@Binnekamp said:
" @Torrent_Studios said:
"I don't care how fun a set is, 30 cents per piece is just too much. "
Sets like this are why the ppp metric isn't as objective or helpful as people would like to think it is. There's two heavily specialized flywheel bikes and two ramps, two hoops, those pillars... just a lot of big, specialized parts. None of that is accounted for in the ppp metric.
That said... yes, it is very expensive. But that goes for smaller, compact sets too with half of the part count consisting of lots of 1x1s. Ramps... flywheel bikes... studs...
In the words of Gimli: "That still only counts as one!""
Still 60299 : Stunt Competition was available for only €20, it had 1 less ramp and hoop, now this is €35 even in Europe it's mega overpriced for what's in the set.
60359 : Dunk Stunt Ramp Challenge is still a much much better deal in Euro at least.