Brick by Brick

Again, thank you Lego for providing us the sets and PhLUG for allowing me to do this review. Now on to the review.

I have been meaning to get this set since preliminary photos came out. The Super Cycle reminds me of Kaneda's bike from Akira and that is what drew me to this set.

Quick Details:

$49.99, at the Lego Online Store

Php4,700.00, local distributor price ($104.44 converted)

514 parts, 5 minifigures

Php4.37/pc for US SRP, Php9.14/pc at PH SRP

Box

The box is huge, probably to make space for the big wheels of the SWAT Truck. Minifigures placed in front for scale. The box is glossy with The Lego Movie template that you can see in other TLM sets.

At the back are the play features of the set. The unrolling road block/barricade, flickfire missiles and back container of the SWAT Truck.

Inside the Box

We have two instruction booklets and a sticker sheet. The sticker sheet came out as pictured, a little bit rolled up but there is no damage to the stickers. Book 1 is for the Super Cycle and road block, while Book 2 is for the SWAT Truck.

There are four bags inside the box. Parts in bag "1" make the Super Cycle and the road block. Parts in bags "2" and "3" make the SWAT Truck.

Minifigures

Emmet - The Emmet in this set is the same as the Emmet in 70800: Getaway Glider, 70801: The Melting Room, 70809: Lord Business' Evil Lair. It comes with the Piece of Resistance which is attached to Emmet via a neck bracket.

Wyldstyle - This version of Wyldstyle also comes out in 70803: Cloud Cuckoo Palace. However, there was a mistake in packaging since there was no hoodie in this set. Fortunately, Lego has a very good service for parts replacement over here. Shipping to the Philippines of the replacement part takes around 4-6 weeks.

Emmet, Emmet, Emmet - (L-R) Super Cycle Chase Emmet, Cloud Cuckoo Palace Emmet and CMS Emmet. I like the CMS Emmet the most.

Robo Swat (full gear) - We have three robo swat minifigs with three different headgears.

Robo Swat (plain) - There is nice printing on the torso, legs and back. These can be used for normal city police, just replace the head and hands.

Accessories

Gun/Rifle - This is a new gun mold with a clip on top that came out only this 2014 in the TLM sets. The clip is used to further customize the gun to either include a scope (as pictured) or a laser sight.

Helmet - Its a generic black helmet with a Super Secret Police logo. 

Nightvision Goggles - This is the first time I encountered this part. In this picture, it is attached to an aviator helmet. It is a very nice piece that can be used for police or military themed MOCs or customs.

FLAK Jackets - it has the Super Secret Police logo in front and the words at the back. Nothing secretive here. Lego will probably use this vest/jacket in upcoming City Police sets.

THE BUILD: SUPER CYCLE AND BARRICADE

These are the only orange parts in the set. I expected it to be more since the box-art has a big orange bike. These parts though were utilized well in order to bring out the orange-ness of the bike. More on this later.

Parts in Bag "1" to make the Super Cycle and the barricade. Noteworthy pieces are the flames, treads, and some dishes.

The barricade, composed of linked treads.

Pressing the white Technic beam releases the barricade, sometimes. Most of the time it does not work. Now, on to the bike.

Here is how the front wheel is built with the use of dishes.

Rear treads. I wish they used a big rubber tire instead. It rolls nicely though and is movie-accurate.

Rear spoilers/wings. Notice the use of clip tiles, nozzles and the banner. I do not usually see that in official sets.

Remaining parts of Bag "1". Lego has been generous with the extra parts in the new sets.

No Entry. 

The other side. The bow bricks give the bike some curves and prevents it from being too sharp. I will not explain why the stickers are like that, go see the movie.

Front view. A very symmetric build.

With Wyldstyle and Emmet. Its difficult to position Emmet while he has the Piece of Resistance. If you want to have Emmet drive, remove the Piece of Resistance so that Wyldstyle can sit at the back.

SWAT TRUCK

The contents of Bag "2". These will be used to build the chassis and part of the frame of the SWAT Truck.

Inverted slope, modified 4x4 plate with clips, 1x3 lightsber blade/wand and a, unique to this set, fence which will be used as part of the bumper/bullbar.

Here is the said fence and the inverted slopes for the truck's bumper.

The bumper is attached to the chassis via a 1x4 brick with studs on one side. 

Here are the leftover parts from bag "2". The lightsaber hilt is a nice extra piece to have.

Here is what the truck looks like after bag "2".

Herre are the contents of bag "3".

The back of the truck opens up as storage.

Panels are used to create the effect of air vents.

Hinges and slopes are used to add curves to the truck. This build technique is usually seen in Star Wars ships and is used very well in this set.

This is how the dishes are attached to the rims, with the use of a cone attached to the axle.

The sidesteps flip up to reveal flickfire missiles.

Extra parts after bag "3"

Top view of the truck

The roof is attached well enough that it will not fall off but it can be removed easily to place the Robo SWAT inside. There is only enough space for one robot to sit comfortably. Take note of the clip that can hold one weapon.

Here is what the truck looks like from the side. Not my favorite angle.

The truck's curvy behind.

Here is Emmet and Wyldstyle's view while they are being chased.

Another angle.

Here is a shot showing the details of the bumper and front air scoops.

The details at the back. The slopes were utilized very well to create the curves of the truck.

Side by side comparo. Surprisingly, the truck is not that wide compared to the Super Cycle. Height wise, they are almost the same, with the truck higher by about 2 plates to a brick.

Impressions

There is nothing special about the Emmet and Wyldstyle in this set. The robots are very nice though with good print details and accessories.

I really liked building the vehicles and taking pictures of them after. The vehicles had more than few nice parts usage wherein certain parts were used in a different way to create details. The vehicles are not only photogenic but look nice when you hold them as well.

The vehicles are solidly built such that they will not easily fall apart if kids (or adults) will recreate the chase scene in the movie. You have to drag along the Super Cycle though since it does not go far when you push it due to the use of treads instead of rubber wheels.

I wanted to get this set for the Super Cycle at first but the star of this set, for me now, is definitely the truck. The problem with the Super Cycle is the seating. It is hard to position Wyldstyle in driving position since the handle bar is positioned quite high. And as mentioned earlier, it is also difficult to position Emmet at the back. The truck also has seating problems but you do not need to have the three robots inside since you only need one to drive.

Buy or Pass

It is a definite BUY even at its current price. The build and the resulting vehicles make this set worth getting. 

For details on PhLUG, visit the PhLUG website.

Other PhLUG reviews of The Lego Movie sets:

70800 Getaway Glider

70801 Melting Room

70802 Bad Cop Pursuit

70803 Cloud Cuckoo Palace

70805 Trash Chomper

70806 Caslte Cavalry

70807 Metalbeard’s Duel

70809 Lord Business' Evil Lair

Here is my review of the The Lego Movie Set 70803: Cloud Cuckoo Palace, sent directly by Lego from Billund to PhLUG (Philippine Lego Users Group). Thank you to the Lego CEE team for providing the sets and to PhLUG for letting me do this review.

Price

shop.lego.com: $19.99 (Php900.00)

Philippine distributor price: Php 1,799.00

Pieces: 197 pcs./4 minifigures (including Unikitty)

Price per piece.: Php 4.56/pc. (Php 9.13/pc. at local srp)

The Box

Look at all those colors! The Bricklink inventory has the set at 19 colors with only 6 pieces in LBG and 4 pieces in DBG. The main appeal of this set for me is the color assortment of the parts and this is clearly highlighted in the front of the box. We have Emmet running away from Executron while Wyldstyle is just standing there behind a snail. We also have Unikitty there at the second level of the palace. I guess we will just have to wait for the release of the movie to know the significance of this image and what the Cloud Cuckoo Palace is all about.

At the back we have the play features of the set, which is the catapult-like thing that shoots a flower projectile and the spinning dishes. These features will be discussed below.

Contents

Inside the box are instructions (single booklet) and 4 unnumbered pouches. The set does not have a sticker sheet.

Here is a small sampling of parts to take note of. We have a transclear bar (good for holding up any MOC that needs to have a floating effect), white astromech head, round tiles, white round plate with hole on stud, lime green dish, red technic ball joint, a transpink plant, lime green 1x2 cheese, yellow orange coupling plate and castle wall panel in yellowish green. Full list of parts can be seen at the set’s Bricklink inventory entry here.

Minifigures

Emmet - I think this is the same Emmet as all of the other sets that include him. (Edit: they are not the same) Two sided print, one grinning and the other scared. A neck bracket is used to hold the Piece of Resistance. I have no idea what the red round plate at the back of his leg is for. The second picture shows the Emmet that comes with this set beside the CMS Emmet. I like the CMS one better. 

Wyldstyle - Wyldstyle’s hood has a rubber like consistency and works like a minifig neck bracket. The right arm is printed with azure and magenta squiggles. Although the head has double printing, the two designs are almost the same. This Wyldstyle also comes out in 70808 Super Cycle Chase.

Executron - Its a robot in a nice suit with no printing at the back. From its name and the fact that its in a suit, I guess the role of this character in the movie is to foreclose the Cuckoo Palace in favor of Lord Business. Its a good base torso to customize minifigs. Just replace the head and hands with flesh ones and you have one well-suited minifig.

Snail - The snail consists of 16 pieces. I tried dropping it from a height of about 1 foot and it did not break apart. Its a solid brick-built animal.

Unikitty - Consists of 14 pieces. This is the only set that has Unikitty. The Lord Business’ Lair set (70809) has Bizniz Kitty, I’m not sure if they are one and the same, this will probably be revealed in the movie. There are other similar unicorn cats in the next wave of sets based on preliminary pictures from the 2014 London Toy Fair. Btw, I did not try drop testing Unikitty.

The Build

Above is a picture of the snail halfway from being built. The eyes are connected to the body by a 1x2 inverted snot. The yellow lightsaber blade/wand is where the two dishes are connected for the shell of the snail.

The sun is made with a 2x2 and a 4x4 round plate, some modified plates with tooth and a 4x4 dish. The end result is very nice.

This picture shows the 3-gear setup that makes the two dishes in front spin in unison. The use of technic ball joints on the round brick should also be noted in the picture. It gives a nice finish to the poles.

A shot of the dishes, spinning one will likewise spin the other. Take note of the star piece that comes from Friends sets and again the round technic joints being used as finishing pieces.

Above is the catapult-like thing that shoots flower projectiles. The projectile does not go that far and most of the time you will end up hitting your own hand. The new Star Wars blasters that shoot 1x1 round plates are more dangerous, if you ask me.

The finished set is about 7x20 studs in length and about 16 bricks in height. There is not much going on at the back. I was not able to time how long it took me to build the set since I stopped every now and then to take some pictures. It was a straight-forward build with some note-worthy techniques as mentioned earlier.

Either I missed placing some pieces or there really are just a lot of extra pieces in this set. I have not encountered the neck bracket as an extra piece before, so its a very welcome extra since it is very useful in some MOCs.

Impressions

The set has a good assortment of minifigs. You get exclusive minifigs in Executron (with a very nice suit) and Unikitty. I think some people will be getting this set just for Unikitty alone. This set is a cheaper way of getting this Wyldstyle since the other set that has this minifig is 70808: Super Cycle Chase, which is around $50 at shop.lego.com. Emmet, well, you can always go for an Emmet army.

It has a very good assortment of parts. Colors, colors, colors and printed parts. This is a very nice parts pack but will only be worth it if you get one near US SRP.

As to the Cuckoo Palace itself, I think it could have been better if it was in a bigger scale with more craziness. Think rainbows and crazy, colorful minifigs partying. It could be better if it was an actual palace rather than what it is now. They should have made this set as the big set instead of the Evil Business’ Lair, although my opinion might change after watching The Lego Movie in the next few days.

Would I buy this set? I would get one at its current SRP and get multiples once, and if, it goes on sale. Unikitty and the colorful parts make this set worth it. 

More pictures

Other PhLUG Reviews:

Bad Cop Pursuit

Melting Room

Getaway Glider