43106 Unicorn DJ BeatBox LEGO Review - VIDIYO, 2021

It's all about the minifig.

TL;DR:

• Original Price:  $19.99
• Pieces: 84
• Minifigure(s): Unicorn DJ
• Sticker Sheet: No
  
• Pros: Cute and colorful
• Cons: Petite and pricey

Assembly: 

 Leftover Pieces

• Interesting Pieces:
• The VIDIYO box parts—specifically the box (clear) and its lid (dark purple), as well as the winged base (dark turquoise and light aqua)—feel rife with promise: perhaps they could be used to make a self-contained travel set, or a miniature diorama that opens up like a little popup book. The constrained size and limited connection points (for example, the box only has the clips that the handle attaches to and the fingers that grip the lid's sides) make this a challenge that few have taken up. One example I could find was this Mech designed by user NoParadise_Bricks, which leverages the limitations quite nicely.

• Play Features: 
  
• Ever since I was a kid, I liked the idea of toys that became their own storage (for example: Polly Pocket, Mighty Max, and Star Wars Micro Machine transforming playsets, as well as LEGO Bionicle and X-Pod sets), so naturally I gravitated to these VIDIYO BeatBoxes. The dark purple lid has storage slots underneath the decoratively-tiled top to store several BeatBit tiles (though being slotted in edgewise makes it hard to find them without leaving spaces between) and other pieces, and the box itself is designed to contain the folded-up base.

• My Modifications:  
• I have yet been able to sit down and toy with these sets, beyond building them, to really explore all of their possibilities and limitations...but it's definitely on my list of MOCs to work on. Perhaps at the very least the base and flaps could be tiled with a mosaicked (as I did with the mini-build version of my chocolate shop) with alternate views stored in the lid. It would also be fun to try incorporating this into a larger structure—a spaceship escape pod, for example, or a capsule hotel room.

• Overall:  This is a small set for the price—even today $20 for an 80-part set is steep, and adjusted for inflation that price would be almost $25—which is likely because of the large specialty pieces and unique minifig. It's worth noting that the other VIDIYO BeatBox sets were all priced the same, and many of them have risen in price, especially the Metal Dragon; this seems to be due to the popularity of the minifigs. And like with all VIDIYO sets, because the app that was so crucial to their play value no longer functions, the colorful characters and energetic stages are the main draws; lacking any sort of environment beyond the mosaicked lid, the only feature of this set is the unicorn minifiure, who is a toned down and recolored version of the one in the K-Pawp Concert set (which is probably why this set currently has the lowest value of all the BeatBox sets). There isn't much in the way of play value or building difficulty, but it is a relatively cheap way to get a few more BeatBit tiles, which are useful as album covers or framed pictures in MOCs.

 

Score (out of 5 🧱):

• Price: 🧱
• Process: 🧱🧱
• Presentation: 🧱🧱🧱
• Play: 🧱
• Pieces: 🧱🧱🧱

• Total: 🧱🧱

Official Instructions: here