Defo not whinging to say: give this one a miss.
TL;DR:
- Original Price: $3.99
- Pieces: 33
- Minifigure(s): Bluey
- Sticker Sheet: No
- Pros: Cheap
- Cons: Lots of missed opportunities
Assembly:
Leftover Pieces
- Interesting Steps:
- Just like other 4+ sets, the instructions in this polybag devote half their space to simply showing which pieces are used for each step. This definitely makes it easier for younger builders to get started with the LEGO instruction style.
- Interesting Techniques:
- The use of a 2x4 jumper plate to place the fence piece in just the right spot is simple but effective, and could be a good introduction to unusual techniques for new builders.
- Pain Points:
- To start with the blue elephant in the room...the Bluey minifigures just aren't good. First of all, the one I got had really poor print quality, as well as scratches. This feels like a first attempt at a new mold/print combo, without the refinement that other minifigures have—compare this with the Chattermax (a Furby-equivalent toy as represented by the purple minifigure head with owl-face printing), which has so much more detail and characterization than the main character of the series.
- Printing issues aside, the design of the print is also at issue. There's simply nothing going on behind those soulless eyes, let alone the creativity and curiosity of the show's namesake (qualities that you'd think would make this line a perfect fit for LEGO). Other versions—both licensed and otherwise—have done much better in capturing the character of Bluey. For example:
- This non-LEGO minifigure (of Bluey's dad Bandit) shows that essential character details can be gotten right even at minifigure scale. Note how the eyes and irises aren't perfect ovals, but are egg shapes that tilt in a bit at the top. Note also that the mouth is printed on. The official Bluey minifigure looks much more like the barista's description of Emmet in The Lego Movie (2:54 in this video) in comparison.
- This larger-scale toy shows how close her eyes should be; even the little Bluey beside the logo printed on the polybag shows this; the official minifigure, however, has the eyes so wide that they don't even touch the stripe running down the front of her face.
- And LEGO themselves have a new set coming out, with brick-built versions of the Heeler family, showing that they can manage to get the character details and expressions right.
- The stools beside the tea table both have 2x2 round jumper plates as cushions, but minifigures have four antistuds on the back of their legs, meaning that Bluey has to sit on this chair with one cheek off, so to speak.
- Play Features:
- The set is quite literally a tea party.
• Overall: Unlike most of the 4+ sets I've built, this one is cheaper because of that age classification: those other sets, like the Crimson Firehawk, have massive specialty pieces to take up most of the build's space, resulting in an inflated price-per-piece; this set only has a few pieces, and common ones, which keeps the price justifiably low (though still at about $0.12 per piece, which is still high—higher than the Dark Falcon's $0.11, but not as high as Bluey's Family House's $0.18, nor the Crimson Firehawk's astonishing $0.37).
The minifigure is the most disappointing part of this set, and since it's the biggest part of the set, that has a big impact on the overall score. There really isn't much to this set, and there aren't really even any creative part uses like I've seen in other polybag sets; it's just a sad first-draft-looking minifigure with a bit of scenery.
It might be worth picking up as the cheapest set with a Bluey minifigure (and at the current retail price, almost cheaper than buying her separate from Bricklink), but even that isn't enough to recommend it.
Score (out of 5 🧱):
- Price: 🧱🧱🧱🧱
- Process: 🧱🧱
- Presentation:
- Play: 🧱
- Pieces: 🧱🧱
- Total: 🧱🧱
Lego Instructions: here
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