Set Review: 70814 Emmet's Construct-o-Mech
Sunday, June 15th, 2014 at 10:52pm by Benjamin, BZPower Reporter
When you need to pack a punch in a LEGO city, assembling a mech suit out of the nearby construction equipment seems like the best idea. Today we'll take a look at Emmet's Construct-o-Mech and see just how well he can fight off Skeletrons and Micro Managers. Will he save the day or fall apart in a pile of pieces? Read, and watch, on to find out! Plus, we are giving away some LEGO Movie polybags!
This over-a-foot-tall set comes courtesy of The LEGO Group so we can continue to give you all reviews of our favorite building toy. Thanks, LEGO! They have also given us some LEGO Movie polybag sets with Emmet finding the Piece of Resistance, so be sure to watch the video to see how you can snag one of those for yourself!
Presentation
From the design of the box to the instruction manual, these are the first things you see before building the set.
This box is huge! Larger than most of the sets I buy, anyways. It gives a great image of the mech in action, accented by all the usual stuff: LEGO logo, LEGO Movie logo, set name, number, age recommendation, etc (except for piece count—this box is from Europe (it's 708)). In the corner we see all the figures we will get when we open the box: Emmet (sans Piece of Resistance), two Skeletrons, and Angry Kitty (an alternate form of Unikitty).
The back of the box shows you what you will get: play features galore! Swinging weight balls, chomping action, rolling danger! All that and more is worth getting excited over.
Building
Half the fun is had building the set. How fun is it to build and how easy or challenging is it?
The pieces come in five numbered bags, separated out in the instructions to make building easier and faster. While this may be a heated item in LEGO building circles, I find it useful so time is not wasted searching for the part yet each building technique can still be admired.
It took me about an hour to build this while taking some pictures, which was quite enjoyable while seeing everything come together. With 700 pieces, there is quite a lot to take in.
Set Design
Now that the set is complete, we can critique how it looks from every angle. New or interesting pieces can also be examined here.
Aside from a large amount of yellow and construction/City-like pieces, some pieces do stand out, especially Unikitty's Angry Kitty version. There are some brackets and skid plates, some short chains and even two Musketeer swords! Getting another brick separator is nice too-- even if you have a lot you can give them away.
The finished product stands over a foot tall and will not fall over if the legs are adjusted properly. Various types of click hinges and some hydraulics (more for show) help make sure the arms stay in place while on display or holding bad guys in its grasp.
The Skeletrons are nothing new, but do provide some nice evil robot faces. Emmet has a new smirk of a face (and a smile on the back) but no Piece of Resistance. While that omission makes sense, it is a nice part. And Angry Kitty completes any LEGO Movie collection with a great red and orange fire pattern. Careful! She might gobble you up!
Playability
The other half of the fun is in playing with the set. How well does the set function and is it enjoyable to play with.
The set has many points of playability. The right arm chomps up baddies while the left arm rolls them over into a flat pancake. The feet's treads allow it to roll around, while the movement at the waist allows it to mimic walking. The cockpit opens to place the minifigure in. While the hanging weight balls do not move around much, it completes the look, as do the two water tanks on the mech's back.
Having four minifigs also allows for added playability in your imagination.
Final Thoughts
Once it's all said and done, how does the set stack up? Should I get it?
Pros
What's to like?
- Two new figs!
- Really big.
- Great price-per-piece ratio.
- Lots of playability.
Cons
What's not to like?
- Two identical Skeletrons seen before.
- No knees.
After completing building this set, its value shows through the time it took to build, the amount of pieces you get, and all the play features available to it. If LEGO City isn't really your thing, maybe a big mech is. Either way you are protecting the brick-built city of your choosing and sharing in the delight of The LEGO Movie! There is not, relatively, anything wrong with this set, especially since it looks awesome.
Kevin “I eat evil minifigs for breakfast” Hinkle
« Return to News |