Review: 70808 Super Cycle Chase
Posted by DrDaveWatford,
As you’ve no doubt already realised from the reviews published to date on Brickset and elsewhere, the sets making up the LEGO Movie theme are turning out to be incredibly diverse. Diverse, and in some cases, frankly bizarre - probably not since the Time Cruisers theme of the mid 1990’s have we seen such a collection of ‘eccentric’ set designs.
In the midst of all the mayhem, welcome to a review of perhaps the most conservative of all the LEGO Movie offerings, 70808 Super Cycle Chase. At 514-pieces and £44.99 / US$49.99, this is one of the larger sets in the theme, although you wouldn’t necessarily know it thanks to the pleasingly compact box for a set of this size.
So, is this strictly a set for LEGO Movie afficionados, or does it offer LEGO fans in general enough to tempt them into a purchase? Read on to find out…
The Packaging
The theme branding has been covered in previous LEGO Movie reviews by Huw and others over the past few days so I won’t rehash it here; suffice to say that this set of course sports the same branding elements as its LEGO Movie brethren. The front of the box offers a typical chase scene, with a bit of motion blur about the only sign of overt Photoshopping of the models themselves, while the back highlights a few of the set’s play features in time-honoured fashion (click pictures to enlarge).
The box opens via a couple of thumb tabs (or alternatively via a sharp knife down one of the end flaps if you’re a box-loving obsessive), to reveal a couple of instruction booklets, a dreaded sticker sheet (DSS) and four bags of elements; two of the bags are numbered with a ‘1’, the other two bags are numbered ‘2’ and ‘3’.
Instructions and Stickers
The set is supplied with two compact but chunky instruction booklets; their covers are identical bar the number in the bottom left hand corner. Booklet 1 is the more concise of the two and guides the reader through the construction of the eponymous Super Cycle.
Booklet 2 contains the building guide for the SWAT 4 x 4 plus an inventory of parts, a couple of pages of advertising for some of the LEGO Movie sets, a “Coming 2014” teaser for the LEGO Movie videogame on the back cover and, somewhat unexpectedly, a page advertising around 30 of the DC Superheroes LEGO minifigures.
Depressingly, the DSS contains a total of 20 different stickers, most of which are supposed to be applied to the Super Cycle. Much as I loathe stickers, when ‘official’ models come with a DSS the build doesn’t feel complete without them so I feel obliged to grit my teeth and stick them on.
Elements
It’s not always easy to spot all the new and/or rare elements present in a set prior to the appearance of the definitive Bricklink inventory, but there were a few elements which caught my eye. These include a couple of light bley 2 x 1 curved slopes which I think are new for 2014 in that colour, Emmet’s red “Piece of Resistance” (a modified 1 x 1 x 2 brick) which has previously been highlighted here and elsewhere, what looks like a brand new gun with top-mounted clip in dark bley, some very cool dark bley goggles, a number of black Technic Link Treads and an orange modified 2 x 2 plate with one centre stud, which has to my knowledge never previously appeared in this colour before.
Minifigures
The set comes with five minifigures – the ubiquitous Emmet, the slightly less ubiquitous Wyldstyle, and three great Robo SWAT minifigures.
As the hero of The LEGO Movie, you’d expect Emmet to appear in many of the sets, and that’s indeed the case. The version in this set appears identical to that in Set 70800 Getaway Glider which was reviewed here a few days ago by CapnRex101, right down to his primary and alternate facial expressions, “Piece of Resistance” and peculiar mini polytail protruding from the back of his head. The front of his torso looks like it could have come from a standard LEGO City construction minifig, to be honest, although unlike a generic LEGO City minifigure his legs are printed with an ID badge and silver horizontal stripes.
Wyldstyle appears identical to the version which comes in Set 70803 Cloud Cuckoo Palace. She looks to be wearing a biker’s jacket which is decorated front and back, and her legs and hair are decorated to match. As noted by Huw in his review, her hoodie is a new element, and it attaches between her head and torso the same way that a life jacket would.
I’m a big fan of the Robo SWATs. All three of them have the same torsos, legs and body armour, with both front and back printing on the torsos and body armour. The Robo SWATs differ by virtue of their head-prints, headgear and weaponry - all of which you can see arrayed below. The guns are similar (but not identical) to those utilised in the recent Dino theme by virtue of the clip on their upper aspect. Here the clip is used to hold a scope or laser sight rather than a lime green syringe as seen in the Dino sets. I can see those excellent new goggles being in serious demand for MOCs.
The Build
The elements in the two bags numbered with a ‘1’ are used for building the Super Cycle, a spike strip, one of the Robo SWAT minifigs, Emmet and Wyldstyle. The business end of the spike strip is made up of a row of Technic link treads; this structure is completed after just 7 building steps (although to keep you on your toes, step 7 comes before step 6 in the instruction booklet….!).
Construction of the Super Cycle, which is perhaps more appropriately referred to in the LEGO publicity materials as a “two-seater, flaming-fast dragster”, is rather more involved. In truth, it’s a rather fiddly build, too often punctuated by the need to apply yet more stickers. There are certainly some interesting building techniques in evidence, not least the use of a large Technic cog for the back wheel of the vehicle, around which a ring of Technic link treads is wrapped. The completed vehicle is a bit of an unsatisfactory mish-mash for my liking, though. This is hardly the fault of the set designer, however, since on the basis of the movie stills I’ve seen, the LEGO version in this set actually looks to be a good likeness of the source material. So largely movie-accurate then, just not really my cup of tea….
Booklet 2 is concerned with the construction of the SWAT 4 x 4 vehicle, the parts for which are contained in the two bags numbered ‘2’ and ‘3’. While I wasn’t especially enamoured with the Super Cycle, I have no such reservations about the SWAT 4 x 4 which I think is excellent and one of my favourite LEGO vehicles for a long time. This squat, chunky monster looks like an escapee from a Superheroes set, except that it’s streets ahead of any of the recent Superheroes offerings.
As well as looking great, it’s as tough as old boots. In terms of play features, the roof lifts off, the side skirts lift up to reveal flick-fire missiles on both sides, and the back opens up to uncover a secret compartment containing some sticks of dynamite.
You can see all the various components of the set – the vehicles, structures and minifigures - laid out below.
My Verdict
This was my first hands-on experience of a LEGO Movie set. For me, the star of the show is undoubtedly the superb SWAT 4 x 4 vehicle, although I’m also a big fan of the Robo SWAT minifigs and their various accessories. Although the Super Cycle is too fussy for my liking, it’s nevertheless a good representation of the subject matter, and I furthermore suspect that the LEGO target audience will take to it a lot more readily than I did. At £44.99/US$49.99 for 5 minifigs and over 500-pieces, the set is reasonable value for money by today’s standards. Overall, therefore, the set gets a definite thumbs up from me, even if applying all those stickers was a pain….
Many thanks to the LEGO Community Engagement & Events Team for supplying the set for me to review.
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27 comments on this article
Why isn't there a score at the end like usual.
Nice set and first comment yay :)
Looks like an Awesome set ;):D
^^^ I'm not a fan of giving sets a numerical rating - you can read the review, look at the pictures and decide for yourself.
The SWAT car looks like it's 12 or 14 studs wide, the great vehicles must be quaking in their boots! What a beast!
I seem to be thinking backwards compared to everyone else with these Movie sets, but I have to ask, is the super cycle a good rendition of the version from the film or did it happen the other way round perhaps? Maybe the set design came first and supplied the basis for the vehicle in the movie, or were the two done together or even made into one and the same process?
Just a musing from my left-field mind on the fascinatingly unusual relationship between movie and merchandise for this particular flick! ;)
That SWAT car is just... insane.
^ Totally. Honestly, I wish LEGO had applied the same principles to their latest Tumbler model - it would have been epic.
this RoboSWAT vehicle reminds to me Russian police and army jeep "Tigr"/"Tiger". Just the same brutality, squareness and sheer level of menace.
But I rather like this jet-dragsterey SuperCycle.
This set I bought a few days ago mainly for the three swat robots and wildstyle, I built and thought It was a excellent model to other than the sticker sheet.
Looks a pretty cool set and loving the swat figures and vehicle here. One I plan to buy.
The swat vests look like minifig cat vests. Has anyone else noticed that?
@bob123: I've heard it mentioned before but when I see them I'm reminded more of the tactical vests from LEGO Agents and Power Miners:
http://brickset.com/parts/?part=4549549
http://brickset.com/parts/?part=4578230
Good review. I don't own this set but I guess I'm in a very different camp than you — I think the Super Cycle is amazing in its level of creative shaping and detail, while the 4x4 is far plainer than I'd normally expect from a vehicle of such a massive size. It's not a BAD model, but certainly not the highlight of the set for me.
I appreciate that you applied the stickers for this review. They do add a lot of life and detail to this set.
Wow...and to think I was going to miss this one. You and Clone O'Patra at Eurobricks must have some especial hatred against my wallet...
As soon as I saw those cops I decided to buy it.
Swap out those SWAT-bot heads for minifigure heads and you got yourself a SWAT team :)
That RoboSWAT 4x4 is totally awesome! Too bad the vests on the the figs have the back printing, still nice though.
"if you're a box-loving obsessive"
That's me, though my first few boxes, I didn't know better, and I used the punch-tabs. I try to cut it with a knife these days, except if it's a relative bringing it from abroad and they had to collapse the box, or if I myself need to collapse the box without a sharp knife lying around.
^ I love LEGO boxes. I've kept all of my CUUSOO, and I plan on doing the same with my TLM sets. The glossiness is awesome!
I really liked the angles they achieved on the bike, but I do agree that the many stickers are quite the pain. And the police rig, of course, is awesome. Thanks for the review!
^ If you think that's a rip-off I suggest you avoid the likes of Star Wars, or indeed pretty much any licensed theme....
^^ and ^^^ - I did have to read the figures you put a couple of times to check, @Missing Brick. I buy mostly Star Wars sets, saw over 500 pieces for less than £50 and instantly thought "bargain!" :P
^^^^ A few things, 1: more specialized pieces, 2: Inflation, and 3: smaller sets usually are highesr ppp anyway, even when compared with a 2000 piece set to a 750 piece one. And I just compare it by theme, not by all sets.
^^^^ And none of you guys are Australian, which means that I'll end up paying twice as much for this set again, which makes us Aussies AFOLs feel just great about the hobby :(.
The compact box packaging with the new LEGO Movie sets is a definite plus!! I hope LEGO continues this trend with all of their sets. At this point, storage space is the only thing keeping me from purchasing more LEGO sets........
I have to say that I was initally impressed with the movie sets, but as these reviews are rolling out I'm starting to be less impressed. Not sure why but I feel a little underwhelmed now. Most likely I might get a couple of the vehicles like the garbage truck thing but that may be it.
Besides with the recently leaked OT Star Wars upcoming sets plus whatever this years wave of LOTR will be I'll need all the money I can get..
^ "At this point, storage space is the only thing keeping me from purchasing more LEGO sets........"
Substitute "storage" with "wallet". :)
I agree with other comments, that this set has a good ppp overall; however, compared to other sets from the TLM theme, it seems pretty steep.
That being said, the more I read about this set, the more I find myself liking it. I'll have to queue it up after the PR modular and about six more models from this theme, plus a few other assorted sets. In other words, this set makes my list, but not near as high as others.
Nice.. The SWAT 4x4 looks futuristic cool.