LEGO 30665 Baby Gorilla Encounter Review - City Theme, 2024

A cute little build without much adventure. This is a quick/in-depth review of the X-piece LEGO SetNumber SetName set from the SERIES line, retailing for $4.99.

TL;DR:

• Original Price:  $4.99 via BrickEconomy
• Pieces: 34
• Minifigure(s): Jungle Explorer Medic, Baby Gorilla
• Sticker Sheet: No
  
• Pros: cute
• Cons: little

Assembly: 

 Leftover Pieces

• Interesting Techniques:

• The inclusion of a clip on one side of the little build and a bar on the right side indicate that this is intended to be attachable to other builds (such as 60437 Jungle Explorer Helicopter). That definitely elevates this from being a petite standalone to merely a facet of a larger scene.

• I also like how simply—yet effectively—a tree trunk is conveyed, just using some inverted arch pieces. This approach could be useful in one of my 8x8 cube dioramas.

• Interesting Pieces:

• The baby gorilla is cute, and only available in this set and the far more expensive 60437 Jungle Explorer Helicopter (which also includes two adult gorillas, suggesting that the two sets were intended to be gotten together). It's also interesting that the little mold comes with three antistuds underneath, as shown in the picture.

• Overall:  A cute little vignette, but not much more. 

Some polybag sets have creative part uses, or unique minifigures. This doesn't really have either. Though BrickEconomy says that the medic minifigure is only available in this set, that doesn't seem to be the case: his head—which only has front printing—is in 23 sets, and his torso is in three of the 2024 City Jungle sets (indeed, I'm unable to tell the difference between his iterations in each of those three, so it might just be an error, calling him exclusive to this polybag). The baby gorilla, as mentioned before, is only available in this and a far more expensive set, so it's a good option if you wanted to get your paws on one (that said, it looks like there's plenty of resellers on BrickLink who have a few for under $2 each). Contrast that with the current post-retirement price of about $10 for this $5 set and it's clear that you could probably do better simply building it yourself.

It's also worth noting that even at the original $5 price it still felt a little underwhelming. $5 is a good price point for something small, that could be added to a larger purchase without too much pain (for example, as an add-on to the Jungle Explorer Helicopter); that also is a price at which having a few fewer pieces than one might like would be less troublesome; "It's only five dollars," one might say. I know I wouldn't have objected to getting it as a stocking stuffer, or a little "just because" gift. But as a standalone, it could stand to be a bit...more. 

Score (out of 5 🧱):

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

• Total: 🧱🧱🧱🧱

Official Instructions: on the official LEGO page.