Theme: The LEGO Movie 2
No: 70835
Release Year: 2019
Cost: AU $179.99
Pieces: 1187
One of the sets that stood out to me in the range from The LEGO Movie 2 was this interesting ship. Not only that, but it has blue velociraptors! I’ve only recently realised the awesomeness that is LEGO dinosaurs (yes, I know I’m well behind on this), so I needed this set in my collection.
In the box should be eight numbered bags, two bags each with a dino, one instruction booklet, and one sticker sheet with 17 stickers.
Emmet and Rex are the only two minifigures that appear in the set, and they’re a little underwhelming. By now Emmet has been seen so many times (over 40 times in fact), so getting yet another one is really not exciting any more. The one good thing about this one is that he is winking. This head is also seen in one other set – 70830 Sweet Mayhem’s Systar Starship, so it’s a rare one.
The other minifigure included is Rex Dangervest. This is the first one of Rex I’ve encountered and it looks good. He’s got a menacing grimace and a confident grin on his head. The printing is good with his vest, knee pads and silver boots, and I really like his hair mould.
There’s a lot of really great elements in this set, especially if you are fans of the dark blue colour. It’s not just the one colour though. With tiles and 2×2 wedge plates, plenty of arches and roof tiles, bright purple plants and trunks, and more, this set is a great parts boost. In particular, I was excited to see the classic space seats make a return to my collection! There’s of course a lot more, but I’ll explore some more as I go through the build.
The first part of the build is Emmet, a crate, skateboard, raptor and the two plantimals. They’re a good excuse to get some different colours in to the set, and of course something to battle with, however the playability is limited. The large plantimal has some tentacles that swing up and down when the ‘head’ is pressed down. It’s basic but is fun.
The next bag contains Rex, his weapons, another raptor, it’s massive weapon, and the start of the Rexplorer. It’s the least exciting of the stages to build, but the weaponry is interesting, especially the one on the back of the velociraptor. Both the raptor’s and Rex’s built weapons don’t actually shoot any projectiles, however.
The next four bags are dedicated to the Rexplorer. It’s quite a fun build. I didn’t find it repetitive, and I really liked the lime green streak on the side of the ship. It’s got an internal structure of Technic beams for strength, and a bunch of weapons dotted around as well.
There’s room for both Emmet and Rex to sit down, spaces for weapons and accessories to be stored, and room for the dinosaurs. I’d like to say there’s plenty of room for the raptors, but there’s really not. In a rather hilarious fashion, the top raptor has his bum hanging out of the ship! Maybe he’s a special breed of raptor that can breathe in outer space?
It’s a shame there wasn’t more of an effort to close in the ship, but it may have been hard to get the raptor in the ship itself. The front raptor is much better. Bag seven adds the very nicely shaped thrusters, with one of them in green. The final bag, number eight comprises of parts for the cockpit section that slides in the front. It houses the other raptor.
Now that the full craft has been built, it instantly screamed at me to fly it around, and it was pretty good fun! The only thing that made it tricky was manouvering the thrusters. Now I realise that it’s not necessary, but they’re there, and on click swivels, so they needed to be done, but it’s a big pain as they’re not linked. It would have been good to have these linked together on axles – even if it was the fronts and the backs separate.
All in all, it’s a fun build and good fun to fly around the room. It’s great that there’s specific spots for each and every weapon and character. The only two that don’t fit in the Rexplorer (and for good reason) are the Plantimals.
To be honest, I’m not sure if I’d pay AU $180 for this set. It’s fun and has some great parts, but that’s a pretty steep cost. It’s certainly unique though, and I’m not expecting many more space ships to be piloted by velociraptors any time soon, so collectibility is pretty good, especially if you’re looking at getting the whole collection from TLM2.
ELEMENTS & MINIFIGURES: 13/20
SWOOSHABILITY: 18/20
BUILD: 17/20
DESIGN / APPEARANCE: 16/20
VALUE FOR MONEY: 5/10
COLLECTIBILITY: 9/10
OVERALL: 78/100
A special thank you to LEGO for sending me a copy to review. All thoughts on this set are my own and are not influenced in any way, shape or form. The provision of sets for review does not guarantee a favourable review.
