this is a great value for $25, great play set, with great minifigures. I would recommend this set if you can find this for under $40. this is not a collector's set, in my opinion, but does certainly a good selection of 3 exclusive minifigures. this is a great set with good minifigures and an excellent working play feature of transforming Victor to Spider Bytez.

Pros: the great exclusive minifiures, the great pieces, the transformation feature.

Cons: may break when unexpected, other than that, nothing.

Set #79119 Mutation Chamber Unleashed: With LEGO letting the TMNT license go, for whatever reason, it’s time to discuss the remaining sets as I have slowly worked towards completing the entire theme. By the end of the year I expect to have the remaining sets. This midsized set in the 30$ CND price range is a bit hit or miss. The Minifigures and character are interesting, but the build is not as exciting as it could be. It focuses too much on the play feature and not enough on a better design.

I’m honestly not a huge fan of this set compared to some of the others. And we’ll be discussing why throughout the course of this review.

Box/Instructions

Box: The design for the TMNT boxes did not change for the second year of cartoon based sets. It’s still the same brilliant purple colour with the four turtles in the upper left corner. It’s a good design, not too busy and just the right level of attraction for the eye with all the features revealed on the back. On top of that it continues the tradition of the miniature comic strips on the back of the box, showing the fate of Victor as he tries to retrieve his phone to prove the existence of the Turtles. Before being transformed by the mutation chamber. Fun box.

Instructions: This set is broken up into two bags. The instructions showcase the build for each bag quite nicely, there are no instances of difficulty with the building itself, the only steps that might require help for younger builders will be the placement of the stickers for detail. It’s obvious LEGO really likes wasting time with sticker sheets instead of going for the printed details, but as a cost saving measure it is a necessary evil. The manual also features set images, Minifigure checklist and cross-promotional images for the online site in the back. Nothing more to say.

Parts

The parts in this set are pretty standard, though there are some fairly neat parts. The set includes a large 8x16 baseplate in dark grey, two oddly shaped parts used for scaffolding above the mutation chamber model. Two lightning accessory pieces for Minifigures, and some nice assortment of transparent green parts for ooze effects. Overall standard pieces, but useful if you enjoy building MOCs.

Minifigures

Raphael: A unique variant to this set, Raphael is dressed in a tough looking body armour. His torso is mostly dark grey with lighter grey and silver elements as part of his print. Even the back of the torso has printing. His head includes a mouth protective partial armored mask print. It reminds me of the outfit he wore in the TMNT movie, naturally this is from the 2012 series though.

His accessories are his twin Sai of course. Overall an awesome looking variant of Raph, perfect for night time sneaking and battle against stronger opponents.

Victor: This is the only non-mutated version of a Mutant character to be produced. Victor is a plain looking Minifigure, he has no hair piece, no leg printing, but he makes up for it by including an awesome double-sided torso print with a scrungy looking white muscle shirt, on a pot-bellied torso. I can see it having many uses for flesh toned figures with portly proportions. There are grease stains everywhere, front and back. His face printing is rather plain looking, his eyebrows are pretty thick and bushy, and his face’s expression shows him expressing his character trait of being a total jerk quite well.

His accessory is a printed tile with his cell phone on it. The thing which led to his ultimate mutation fate. All in all this is a stand out Minifigure, because it has so much character and is one that has pieces fans would like to use in MOC figure building.

Spider Bytez: This mutant figure is impressive with the sculpt for the central piece of the torso being a unique new piece. It includes printing on the front and back showing the patterns on his back and his eyes on the front. The front mouth is sculpted which is an awesome touch.

He doesn’t have any accessories, but the hands are sculpted to hold typical LEGO accessories. Also, they have printing on the arms, some red bands that match the markings seen on his back. To complete the look of the mutant spider you attach four Chima Spider-Tribe legs to the head via four c-clip pieces. Overall Spider Bytez succeeds as an impressive looking new piece. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t have much use outside of this Theme or this character.

The build

Bag 1: With the first bag in this set you get to build the back portion of the mutation chamber, the mutant character Spider Bytez and Raphael. It isn’t the best model to build, mostly because it basically boils down to building a giant hollow structure with very little in the middle of the walled chamber. Each step goes nicely and nothing jumps out at me as being difficult or too repetitive. The back wall may get annoying, I remember that some of the parts liked to fall apart before it was all secured on the base. Also here is where you place a majority of the stickers, with the ooze detailing for the transparent walls to make it look like a chamber filled with mutagen that the Kraang built. I’d advise applying the stickers before building the walls themselves, as it will make it somewhat easier.

Bag 2: You finish the chamber build in this bag and get Minifigure Victor as well. This step of the build has you building the central play feature gimmick with the spinning mutation chamber shaft, and then you move on to making the large opening front doors and the upper scaffolding/walkway with a ladder leading up to it. That last part was a real nuisance during the build until everything was secured enough to stop the parts from popping off. And even then there’s still a bit of a frustrating element to the build because of how you’re meant to do it. Getting it on top of the chamber was also a tad frustrating as you have to press down fairly hard for the studs to all lock in place.

Once everything is finished though you do get a fairly decent model to play with, as we’re about to discuss.

The completed model

This model is a solid looking build. It is a massive mutation chamber that centers around the play feature of turning one Minifigure into a mutant figure ready for battling the turtles. Unfortunately, it’s a really terrible design. The back is very small, it isn’t closed in so the design makes it look very open and not secure. All of the ooze can escape, causing massive problems for the Kraang if they want to keep it in there to test their mutation properties. Honestly the model wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t so open, the back is fully exposed except for the small spinning doorway that’s part of the play feature and the entire upper section of the front of the chamber. This is open so you can pull the two doors apart, but considering there are handles on the bottom there’s really no reason to have an open access area.

Aspects of the model are impressive though. The front doors are huge, and feature the stickered details of bubbling ooze on the bottom. They also use the transparent green pieces to great effect. The upper walkway section of the build where the mutating devices are located, I’m assuming that’s what they are since they’re shooting out lightning bolts, is equally impressive. It’s a great use of parts to make a mad science looking mutation triggering devices.

If this wasn’t just a glorified playset and the design was better implemented to feature an actual closed in chamber I could solidly get behind it. As it stands I’m a bit disappointed with the end product. Even though some elements are well used.

Overall opinion

Ultimately I’d say the biggest selling point of this set for me was Spider Bytez. The model itself isn’t worth the price. It’s too open, relies too heavily on the play feature of spinning the back piece around to simulate Victor turning into Spider Bytez and lacks some much needed elements. I would still recommend this to fans of the show, it’s a good solid set for play, and even fairly decent on display. However I’m just not sold on the design.

Though I’m old enough to remember the Turtles from the first time around, I had no particular interest in the recent reboot – it was on a TV channel I couldn’t receive and besides which I’m now of an age where overuse of the word ‘dude’ makes me want to smack people. However, seeing the box nestling amongst a jumble of marked-down toys at half price, and with a £10 note burning a hole in my wallet, I couldn’t resist giving it a go.

Box/Instructions

As the set leapt out at me (thankfully not literally) from beneath a pile of lesser toys piled on a table in Tesco’s, the box art arguably did its job. The back shows off steps to activate the main play feature – the transformation of a minifigure into some kind of black ball having a bad hair day – as well as some action shots and a cartoon strip. The instructions are fine and clear and easily take you through a two-bag build in 46 main steps.

Parts

For someone used to sets with a more muted and / or traditional colour palette, the range of pieces on offer in here is literally eye-watering. Bright colours abound in a variety of sizes and shapes, not least the two large, curved trans-green pieces which make up the doors of the mutation chamber. Battling against this mass of green are various shades of blues and pinks in both solid and trans. There are three printed tiles – two 1x4s with a hazard tape pattern (presumably to warn anyone entering the mutation chamber to take care on the top step), as well as a 1x2 ‘mobile phone’. There are some useful grey wedge plates and black girder pieces for those who could use such things elsewhere.

Minifigures

There are two minifigures in this set. I have to confess that what sealed the deal on my purchase was that it featured my childhood favourite, Raphael – the coolest of the chelonian quartet. His torso printing armour is very elaborate and continues onto his legs, while his shell is a separate piece that clips between his body and head and hangs over his back. The other chap is someone I’m reliably informed is called Victor (thanks Google!), who appears to have laundry issues and, by his angry / straining face pattern, is clearly having either digestive issues or a very bad day. Possibly both. Raphael gets two pointy forks of death as accessories (along with a spare), while Victor gets the mobile phone tile. There’s also ‘Spider Bytez’, a small black creature (who I can only assume was named after a villain in a late-80s arcade game) comprising of a specialist body piece, two arms and some clip and bracket pieces for hair extensions / tentacles. All figures are currently unique to this set.

The build

The build is fairly straightforward, as would be expected for an age 6-12 set. Utilising a stud connection for the main door hinges is . . . interesting and quite a lot of the set is very fragile during the build until some bracing across the top is added during bag two. There are a few stickers, though none across multiple parts. I have to say that the computer screen graphics placed on electric blue trans tiles are especially effective; the others, on the doors and walls, arguably less so – and whatever you do, get them aligned right first time! They have a transparent background so if you attempt to peel one off to re-position, it will show.

The completed model

The final model is more impressive than I expected, certainly more so than the box art suggests, and the riot of colours that go into the build give off an appropriately cartoon-like quality which matches with my childhood recollections of the original series. The transformation bit works well enough, though it’s a bit of a challenge getting Victor to fall in such a way that he disappears into the back of the revolving chamber rather than getting stuck in the hatch and then horribly bisected by the machine as it turns. Possibly an unintended play function…

However, it feels a lot less solid than it could be, with large air gaps. The long light-bley plates that extend the base of the model either side of main structure fell off regularly during the build and continue to do so on the finished model if picked up in the wrong place (whether it’s weak clutch on the slopes that ‘hold’ it in place or just clumsiness on my part I’m not sure). The lightening bolts mounted on the roof are set on turntables, but kind of sit there awkwardly and the knob to operate the transformation booth prevents them from rotating all the way round. A final, slightly pointless, criticism is that the view from the back (arguably not a usual viewing angle) is an untidy mishmash of parts and colours.

Overall opinion

While an entertaining set, it still somehow manages to feel less than the sum of its day-glo parts. It is slightly overpriced at RRP and is quite limited as far as play functions go. In fact there’s really only one story to act out (handily laid out in cartoon form on the back of the box), and even that gets old quickly. This will entertain the younger half of the demographic recommended on the box, but with older children, I can see boredom setting in quickly and this more-than-pocket-money sized set quickly abandoned or broken apart. There’s certainly little here to excite an AFOL – it’s substandard as a display set (not it’s raison d'être anyway) and generally uninteresting from a build or pieces angle. One for the completest only.