Set #79102 Stealth Shell in Pursuit: Hello folks another review by Odeinoichus here, when we (being the community) first learned that LEGO had acquired the license for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a lot of us were excited. As time wore on and pictures began to surface there was a noticeable divide in the community, of all ages.

I'll be the first to admit that the LEGO Brand TMNT sets aren't to everyone's cup of tea, many of the sets (while not exactly juniorized) do seem to have odd designs. And that is a fault, more than not, of the original designers for the cartoon show. These are not the iconic vehicles of the 1980's Turtles series, they are their own brand, a new more modern version for a modern era of children.

The new TMNT have hit it huge with fans in the target age range and a lot of us older fans are drawn in by the magnetism, so is this set one you'd like to pick up as a fan of the TMNT? Let's stop all this rambling nostalgia filled pointlessness and get on with it shall we.

Box/Instructions

The Boxes for the new TMNT LEGO brand are quite distinct, and while I am aware that images can be added to reviews, sadly I just don't have that opportunity anymore. (I recycle most of my LEGO boxes)

The boxes are distinct however, they are all a rich dark purple color (if memory serves) that show off the set quite effectively in front and again in the back with all the features and Mini-Figures.

The instructions have the same colors and images from the front of the box, with step-by-step instructions to build the models. This is a numbered bag set without cardboard protection for the instructions, so it is possible that you'll wind up with curled, scrunched up or creased instructions. Such a shame too.

As is often the case with more recent LEGO sets the instructions also have pages in the back set aside for a Mini-Figure checklist, showing all of the Mini-Figures available in this first batch of sets.

Parts

There are not a lot of unique parts found in this set, however there are some really nice looking and useful parts. The Foot Clan boat being used by the villains included in this set has a nice black and medium stone gray colour pallette that will be useful for people interested in MOCing some race style speedboats.

The Stealth Shell includes a few interesting parts, the technic connectors for the front wheel in particular are a nice peasoup green color. (Well it does look like peasoup.) And there are a few useful connector pieces, the large wheels are good for other types of vehicles as well.

I'm going to be perfectly honest, I don't know all the names for the parts or good uses for many of them as I don't do much MOCing, however I'd have to say that as a parts pack you might just be tempted here.

Minifigures

In this set you are given two Mini-Figures and one 'Character' as LEGO now calls them. First off is the generic, found in many other sets, Foot Soldier, not a bad looking little Mini-Figure he is all black with a double-sided torso print for the Gi and printing on both the front and back of the head, the front has the most detailing with the Foot Clan red headband and two eyes for the mask. The back shows only the other side of the red headband.

As others have noted, or I assume they've noted it, this printing is a bit wasted honestly, I believe the headband should have been printed all the way around the head, as it looks very unusual for the Foot Clan members to have front and back red headbands, but from the side there are gaps showing the plain black of the mask.

A final odd thing of note, this particular Foot Clan member has apparently stolen Zane's Ninja Shuriken's of Ice, yes he has three shuriken pieces in the gold colour associated with the Ninjago Golden Weapons. Here I think LEGO might have benefited from giving us a plain silver version of the Shuriken, as it would distinguish them from all the Golden versions kids will have gotten collecting the Ninjago line. (Fighting against the Turtle in this set with just throwing stars is also a bit of a bad idea on the Foot Soldier's part, although tackling the turtle in question from a distance might be a better option.)

This turtle is Raphael, he includes three Sai and has the exact same look as the version found in the Baxter Robot Rampage, indeed this is the only Turtle Mini-Figure that does not have a unique look to him. The printing on the front of his torso shows the distinctive look Raph has from the new 2012 series, with the chip in the upper left-hand corner of his shell. He includes back printing for his shell in case you lose his shell piece. Honestly, without the shell piece the Turtle Mini-Figures look a little off to me.

His head is just a great new piece, with the mask molded on in red and the serious looking face. I honestly think his leg printing is a bit off, the upper part of the shell on the torso does not connect seamlessly with the print found on the upper legs, it seems to look rushed. The knee pads are nice though, a shame they didn't print elbow pads on his arms

The Character found in this set is called Fishface, the level of detail found on this mold is just breathtaking. He's made up of five pieces, two arms, two legs all of which attach c-clip style and then the single piece torso which features a long fishy tail and a menacing looking fish head. There's a fin on his back, and although I haven't seen the episode yet, the rest of the molded on details are a breathing apparatus so he can walk on land and a combination molding/print detail for the metallic harness used to give him his robotic legs.

The printed teeth and eyes and white underside of the torso just look smooth and impressive. This Character is a big selling point for this set, it's just a shame that LEGO did not include an extra arm for him in-case one should break at the C-Clip. (Gollum from Riddles of the Ring included an extra arm, I'm not sure why Fishface doesn't) he also doesn't include any accessories, but he can borrow the Foot Soldier's extra shuriken.

The build

As noted there are two numbered bags in this set, one features Fishface and the Foot Boat while the other includes the Stealth Shell, Raphael and the Foot Soldier. (If memory serves, the Foot Soldier might have been in bag one too)

The Foot Boat is small, simple to build and uses at a glance, at least 30+ pieces.

The Stealth Shell is a bit more complex to build, features Technic pieces for the wheel assemply and is mostly an open style vehicle, meaning that there are no closed in areas. All in all I'd have to say it took me probably 25 minutes to build both vehicles. Also there are no stickers in use, the sticker sheet is only used for the Ooze Canisters.

The completed model

The Foot Boat is the better vehicle out of this set, I'm saying this right off the bat. It's small, compact and can be played with easily. It features two flick-fire Ooze loaded missiles and two Ooze canisters, which can be tipped out the back via a nice working tipping mechanism which relies on Technic pins so it moves freely.

The Stealth Shell is an utter mess of a vehicle, not that it's terribly bad, but it does suffer issues due to the design. It's a three-wheeled vehicle used by the turtles with an opening cockpit section that spans the length of the steering area. On either side of it are two panels that are adjustable built out of plates mostly with a c-clip connector to attach to the Horse Attaching part found on most Castle and similar style Horse-Drawn carts.

This makes the vehicle suffer in the hand-holds department, the back of the vehicle has no place to grip it easily enough and trying to play with it by using the cockpit area as a grip causes the two side-panels to push down and knock everything out of alignment. It's a real shame too as the three big wheels roll quite smoothly, there just isn't any real spot to grab it and play with it when you want to.

It also features flick-fire missiles, two on top and for some reason the head-lights can be flick-fired as well, I guess when Raph runs out of ammo he can still launch lights at the enemy. There are two printed smooth studs with fuel gauges on them inside the cockpit and a yellow version of the connector piece found in the Friends Theme vehicles for Mini-Figures to sit in. This is used to keep Raph inside the vehicle, since there really isn't a place for him to sit; instead he has to lie horizontally inside the driver's compartment.

Summary

In summary the Stealth Shell in Pursuit is a mixed bag, on the one hand this set is really nice for the villains as it allows you to grab another Foot Mini-Figure for army building, the villain's vehicle is fun to play with and the features never get boring and Fishface is an excellently sculpted and molded 'Character' that (as one of the main villains) is going to be highly sought after by children.

It is also a good set for getting Raphael cheaply. That being said, I honestly think that if you're only interested in getting all four turtles you'd be better off picking up the Baxter Robot Rampage or even Turtle Lair Attack for Raphael, the Stealth Shell, while an interesting design for a vehicle suffers noticeable flaws due to the quirky design and isn't much fun to play with. Which is the main reason for the low score of the Playability with this set.

I'd suggest looking elsewhere for Raph as noted above and try and pick up Fishface, maybe even the Foot Boat and Foot Soldier from someone online selling the set off in parts lots or something. Half of the set is really fun to play with and in my opinion worth looking at, the Stealth Shell itself is just a really rushed design, the parts would be better served elsewhere if you really can't do without this set.