Set Review: 30259 Azari's Magic Fire
Sunday, April 26th, 2015 at 6:55pm by Andrew, BZPower News Manager
Today we turn our eyes towards the new LEGO Elves theme with a review of 30259 Azari's Magic Fire, one of the smallest sets in the theme. The polybag was originally available in March from LEGO Stores and Shop@Home for free with the purchase of any Elves set. So is this vignette of a set worth tracking down, or are you better off focusing on other sets to add to your collection? Read on and watch our video to find out!
Presentation
From the design of the box to the instruction manual, these are the first things you see before building the set.
The set comes in a polybag thoroughly decked out in Elves artwork. Along the right side are the main characters in animated form, who look quite magical. The top has the LEGO and Elves logos, and on the left are the normal age range, set number, piece count, and other pertinent information. Front and center, of course, is the set. Azari appears to be roasting an apple over some lava while a mug of something hot sits nearby (does she drink lava?).
The back is mostly full of legal text, but we do get a one-to-one scale image of Azari and a coupon for a free kid's ticket to LEGOLAND with the purchase of an adult ticket!
Building
Half the fun is had building the set. How fun is it to build and how easy or challenging is it?
With only 27 pieces, there's not a lot to building this set. It goes together in the blink of any eye without any real exciting techniques.
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.
Here we see the pieces that make up this set. None of the pieces are exclusive, not even the minidoll. Still though, I like the 1x4 tiles in bright red-violet and the lavendar leaf, as well as the warm gold clip and the red apple. Nothing else really jumps out at me as desirable.
And here we have the final set, all twenty-two pieces of it. The lava flow is simple, but the yellow plates and trans-orange pieces definitely get the point across. The tree (growing out of the lava?) is simple and has a fantastical element with the lavender color and the gem growing from it. I assume the pink tiles are supposed to be a bench or bridge across the lava. The last element is the stick being used to roast the apple. None of them are overly complex, but it definitely makes for a nice little vignette.
Azari is the elf that comes with the set. I really like the design of these figures and the attention to detail is fantastic. The hair has some nice colors, with the dark red and yellow highlights, plus the ears that match the skin-tone of the rest of the body. The body itself is no less impressive: the dress has an awesome fiery hem along the bottom and great printing on the waist and chest. Azari also has some awesome tattoos on her left shoulder, forehead, and right cheek with a fire motif. The only thing I'm not sure of are the legs and feet. While I missed it in the video review, there's shiny gold printing on the feet that indicates she's wearing sandals. The problem I have with this is that the lego color doesn't match the arms and head - maybe standing so close to lava tans her legs more than the rest of her? It's a minor quibble, and you can just as easily imagine that she's wearing boots or leggings.
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?
I suppose there's certainly roleplay potential in this set, but with only twenty-seven pieces, it's not much. I don't really think that's the point of the set though, which is more to serve as a starting point for the Elves line - a hook to get people sucked in.
Final Thoughts
Once it's all said and done, how does the set stack up? Should I get it?
Pros
What's to like?
- Inexpensive way to get Azari
- A couple nice pieces
Cons
What's not to like?
- Boring, fast build
- No exclusive parts or minifigs
- Minimal play value
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As a free polybag set, I'm perfectly pleased with Azari's Magic Fire. Would I go out of my way to track it down and buy it though? Probably not. There's plenty of other Elves sets - many of which aren't too expensive - that provide much better value.
I hope you enjoyed our look at this set. As always, we welcome your feedback and questions in the Talkback topic. Until our next review, keep checking back on BZPower for all the latest LEGO and Bionicle news!
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