I ran across a set of the basic Lego pieces (minus the minifigures) for the Dimensions game. I had been on the fence about getting a set as I had helped my oldest son put his base together. I was impressed with the colors and unique parts that came with it. The base also intrigued me as it had that hole in it...perfect for an upper level of a home to use for a staircase going to a lower floor.

As stated the colors are fairly unique to some of the pieces in this set. The blues are a nice hue to use for both regular Lego sets and Friends Lego sets for buildings and what not. The computer pieces/screens are a nice selection of different images and, again, would help flesh out existing sets (like the Batcave or a City police building). The clear purple-tinted shields are a bit trickier to introduce into a build but they can be used for minifigures. I've added a few to some of the Nexo Knights we have and they look very cool.

The medium gray base plate is handy if you want to use it for the 2nd floor of a home to incorporate a staircase or perhaps in a firehouse and make a pole to slide down. And the other light gray parts like the vents and smooth pieces have been used for adding more detail to buildings and a few aircraft.

The clear blue-tinted pieces are nice but the larger pieces that surround the hole in the base plate are a bit more particular to find a use for. Still, they stand out and would look great in a Nexo Knights setting or perhaps added to a Chima set. Plus the small clear blue studs are always useful for added decoration to vehicles.

I paid $6.95 shipped for my bag of parts on eBay and feel that it was well worth the cost. We have used many of the pieces in multiple builds and can see more uses for what is left over. Make a point to hunt a set of these down and let your imagination run wild!

Set #71200 Starter Pack parts: My goal has always been to include a review on the site for every set which I possess. Technically I already discussed this set, but as it is listed separately I felt like tackling a review of this item without discussing the game itself.

Packaging

The box for the Starter Pack is pretty much identical in design and visuals to this smaller box. You get to see the physical LEGO toys with digital models showing off the adventure that is LEGO Dimensions with small portals to every dimension you can visit. The back shows off all of Wave’s 1-5 Minifigures and includes an example of Level Packs, Team Packs and Fun Packs. Everywhere is warnings that this is part of the LEGO Dimensions Starter Pack and not meant for individual sale.

I’m certain some folks on the Secondary Market ignored these warnings. One side shows each type of pack you could get with Series 1 and indicates the colour code each one used to represent it. With yellow for the words Level Pack, orange for Team Pack and green for Fun Pack.

The manual inside was discussed in my Starter Pack review. It’s a simple booklet showcasing the Gateway build and a page saying to put on the game to find the instructions for the Batmobile.

Parts

There are a considerable number of pieces in here for the Gateway. We went over them in the full Starter Pack review. Of note, to this date I do not believe the new Robot arms used for the buildable character in this set have been re-used in any other set. I don’t recall seeing them anywhere else, which is a tad unfortunate as they are fairly versatile parts for droid characters and nicely sculpted.

Minifigures

The Starter Pack review covered this section extensively. Nothing really to add here, the prints and detailing on all three characters are the same as they’ve always been and their accessories are not unique, aside from Wildstyle’s buildable scanner.

X-PO: Built out of a few random parts, X-PO is a buildable Droid type character which is not included in any of the character lists or even any of the in-game character guides. X-PO is completely ignored, much as Lord Vortech does with just about anything else in the game.

This buildable character hovers around, but you don’t get any parts to have him hovering while attached to the model. He features a clip in the back, but the only spot that has a post he could attach to is too low, making it impossible to simulate hovering. You’ll need some clear parts from your collection to attach him hovering over the model.

The model

Rather than discuss things over again I am going to take this opportunity to talk about the Gateway. I glossed over the finer points of the model in the original review, what is interesting to me about this model is that not only does it come in two separate parts, the lower half slides onto two Technic Axles for easy storage.

But it also features something relatively unique that most models rarely have. It incorporates a 2-1 build, the small robot character, X-PO begins life as some random parts stuck to the Gateway model. At some point in the game you are meant to disassemble these elements and reconfigure them back into the helpful little robot Portal Control Device.

This means, that should you want to, and you have multiple systems you enjoy playing LEGO Dimensions on complete with multiple starter packs. Then you could conceivable have two completely separate versions of the Gateway built. One with X-PO serving as a bunch of set dressing in broken parts and the Shield powers missing, and the other completely assembled with X-PO hovering around. (Hovering elements not included.)

Overall opinion

The buildable models in this set are actually very creative and it’s a shame that this particular style of build hasn’t been seen in any official LEGO Dimensions inspired sets. It seems equally a shame that the only way to experience the interesting and symmetrical Gateway build is to own LEGO Dimensions. I will not be rating this set, not in the traditional sense. It shares the ratings with the Starter Pack as a whole.

I personally would like to take this opportunity to say a few more things. I feel that LEGO Dimensions could work as a standalone non-digital based Theme. It could include a few characters and models inspired by the game, showcase the game in a physical venue and make an excellent catch-all Theme that could continue the tradition of blending worlds together. It’d be interesting to see the game’s story continue in a Theme where you chase down Lord Vortech after the events of the Video Game (perhaps with a televised special to go with it) and get to build more models and include more franchises than ever before.

If failing that, it’d be nice if LEGO were to include Lord Vortech as a character in a set at least. Make him a new villain for Ninjago or something, anything to at least own a physical representation of the main villain of the game.

LEGO Dimensions spanned two years, incorporated a hodge podge of game ideas and was a Toys To Life master piece. It is truly a pity that it came too late into the life cycle of the trend. Had it started earlier, and had the glitches and problems notorious in LEGO TT Games weren’t as prevalent we may have seen many more offerings from this truly unique and ambitious Theme. As it stands, it was merely another in a long line of LEGO based Video Games which, sad to say, after the novelty wore off became rather bland and forgettable in the larger public eye.

Should they ever attempt such an ambitious project again, in future, I would recommend trying harder to get licensers to play nicely together. It would have been supremely satisfying to see Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and all the rest interact with Iron Man and his entire legion of super friends… er, I mean… not to mention being able to include Disney and Star Wars into the mix. Would have been a truly epic adventure.

Also, I know this might seem controversial, but having one Mini-Doll in the bunch would have been rather impressive. As The LEGO Movie 2 shows, you can mix Minifigures and Mini-Dolls properly in a Theme. Why not go the distance and let the Friends interact with Batman and all the rest to thwart Lord Vortech? Maybe even include a buildable Bionicle character.

Alas, it will probably never come to pass.