REVIEW: 8864 Desert of Destruction

[Jjsthekid]

Here is another review by yours truly (Jeez, I am reviewing sets like Thunder. ). I'm going to review The World Racers set : Desert of Destruction. This is one of the biggest sets I have reviewed so far, so there will be alot of pictures. Onto the review :

Name : 8864 Desert of Destruction

Theme : World Racers

Minifigs : 8

Pieces : 961

Let's start with the front box (Sorry guys, my camera wouldn't let me fit the whole box) :

Back of the box (Explains what is inside of the Pitstop Truck) :

Side view of the Box (It's a tug-o-war Match between Team X-Treme and Backyard Blasters) :

Now, let's move onto the figures. Here is Team X-Treme Daredevil's Crew. We have, REX-Treme, MAX-treme (I didn't make up these names, they are on the descriptions of the sets), and 3 pitstop members. Oh and you gotta love those Lime Green Caps :

Here is their back heads. Only 1 Pitstop member has a back face. Why he is the only pitstop Member with a back face is beyond me, but perhaps he is a subsitute if one of the racers gets hurt. That's my guess, but then again, he does operate the crane in the truck :

Here is Team Backyard Blaster's Crew. They are very outnumbered however. They are, Bart Blaster and Bubba Blaster (I posted these names in the World Racers topic and what they look like, so look there for more info) :

Their Back heads :

Here is the ref. Unlike the one from Gator Swamp, he doesn't seem to happy. Perhaps He is mad that he is out in a burning hot desert with loud Motors. Oh and he doesn't have a back head expression :

Here is the Trophy stand. It is somewhat similar to the one in Snake Canyon. You don't build this untill the last bag, but still, It's something neat that In my opinion, should have been build first. The Trophy has a picture of a Desert on it :

Now, I'm going to go out of order a bit here, but here are the Instruction Booklets (1 is for the Trucks, 2 is for the pitstop Truck and 3 is for the rest of the Pitstop Truck and Trophy stand) :

Random Instruction Page (Also, there is a gold Mine of stickers in this set.. ) :

Now, let's move onto the trucks. Here is Team X-Treme Daredevil's Truck :

Side View. Also, you are probably wondering why those smaller wheels don't match with the bigger ones. They are from the pitstop truck, but I'll get to that later :

Another Side View :

Back View. Believe it or not, but you can change the engines with the Pitstop Truck Crane! That engine is from the pitstop as well. I'll get to that later though :

Now, let's move onto Team Backyard Blaster's Truck. I'm surprised they reused the Zurg Blaster from Construct-A-Zurg so early, since it only came out a few months ago. Oh well, that adds the fun to it :

Side View :

Another Side View :

Back View (There is a control pannel in front of Bart Blaster and yes, it was a Sticker) :

Oh and speaking of Zurg's Blaster.. (It had to be done. ) :

Now, let's move onto the Pitstop Truck! I had to take pictures of the truck seperatly due to how Big My Camera takes the pictures. Here is the front of the truck :

Side View :

Another Side View (I love How they have Team X-Treme's logo on the roof) :

Back View (I like that little lamp thing and The Truck has this little brown pole that connects with that hole in the back) :

Here is the inside of the Driver seat :

Now to move onto the next section of the Truck : The Pitstop. Here is the front of it, which has a Worker controlling a classic old missle launcher :

Here is a side view (I did say there was alot of stickers, but I must say, I did like some of them) :

Another Side View :

Here is the inside of the Pitstop. Here are the items from left to right : A Nitro Fuel Tank, A Back-Up Engine, and A Table with tools. And the tires there actually go onto X-Treme's truck and the others go there :

Here is a close-up of the crane (Oh and that bag isn't mine) :

Team X-Treme comes to the pitstop and gets ready to get their Truck fixed. The Crane Operator picks up the back-up engine and they take the old one out and put the new one in (I love this feature!) :

There new engine has been put in (The one that was in before is actually the back-up engine, but I just wanted to mix it around) :

The Crane operator then puts in some new wheels :

To finish off this nice Truck, here is a back view :

They are now in a heated match..Who Will win? :

-------------

Minifigures- 5/5 : Excellent Figures! Would have been nice though if there was 1 more figure, like a pitstop member for Team Backyard Blasters though. But I do love those Green caps and the Pitstop members themselves. Also, Bubba blaster is now my favorite character.

The Parts- 4/5 : Not much really interesting here, although that Nitro engine was pretty nice. Again, there were alot of stickers, but I admit, I actually somewhat liked them. I didn't really recall any new pieces. But It was also nice they brought back the Zurg Blaster.

The Trucks- 5/5 : The Trucks are awesome! I love how you can change the engine for Team X-Treme's and Team Backyard Blaster's ball launcher. It would have been nice if they had a Pitstop for Backyard Blasters as well, but that would make it longer and raise the price more.

Overall- 9/10 : It's the biggest and probably the greatest set out of the World Racers theme so far. But again, it would have been nice if Backyard Blaster's had a pitstop as well. Maybe next year if they are still around, we will see their Pitstop but I'm not getting my hopes up. Lots of play features and I'm sure little kids will love to bash the trucks around and shoot missles. It can get a little boring, but still can be fun if you add some stuff on it (Like How I added another Ball Launcher onto Blaster's Truck from earlier). I would recommend this set and it is not bad.

Well, that is all. Hope you enjoyed!

Edited June 3, 2010 by Peppermint_M

[prateek]

This is a much better review than your others picture wise

I like this set a lot, especially the truck cab and the lime green buggy. They look so cool!

[user]

Those cars are great! But that truck looks like a technik set with a brick built front. There is no doubt in my mind that I wont get this I personally think it looks terrible other than the small cars oh well.

[Bfahome]

I'm surprised they reused the Zurg Blaster from Construct-A-Zurg so early, since it only came out a few months ago.

It's actually a dirty icky unusable BIONICLE part from way back in 2008.

Also I think you built the roll cage thing on the green racer backwards.

Also that truck looks uuuug-ly. :X

[Jjsthekid]

It's actually a dirty icky unusable BIONICLE part from way back in 2008.

Also I think you built the roll cage thing on the green racer backwards.

Also that truck looks uuuug-ly. :X

Ah thanks. I didn't play with BIONICLE that much, so I wouldn't know.

Actually, that is the correct way to build the rollcage, but thanks anyways.

[TheWarden]

A curious, but interesting set.

You are getting better with your reviews. I could still use better (one is very blurry; did you miss that?) and BIGGER pictures! The last few reviews I've seen have big pics you need to click to enlarge and/or bigger ones off-site.

You might also see what other reviewers do: some do a "interesting / rare piece photo," some do "every X steps" photos to show the build, some show "close-ups" of certain detailed areas etc.

You might also appeal to the Reviewer's Academy course if you would like to get better at reviewing.

Peace.

[Bfahome]

Actually, that is the correct way to build the rollcage, but thanks anyways.

Then there's definitely an error in the instructions, since the box art and other pictures show it the other way.

[prateek]

Then there's definitely an error in the instructions, since the box art and other pictures show it the other way.

For sure. The box pic looks way better than the instructions.

[squidman85]

Nice review.This set reminds me Agents mobile command centre.I like the trophy stand,big truck and other "cars",but i don't like the pitstop.I has a good playbility,but awful design.And many technic pieces.

[just2good]

Ooooooooh! Thanks for the awesome review! You've made me want this set!

I really love the minifigures of this set. Especially the one with red sunglasses.

[Alldarker]

Ah thanks. I didn't play with BIONICLE that much, so I wouldn't know.

Actually, that is the correct way to build the rollcage, but thanks anyways.

Well... If you say that is the correct way to build the rollcage, I find it highly strange then that the official online building instructions from the Lego cache really DO show the roll cage placed the other way around then...

Nice review, for the rest. But the whole set looks as ugly as sin. Terrible designs, much, MUCH worse than the Agents line.

[lightningtiger]

AWESOME set eh ?

Another great review, this set is featured in an ad on Lego.com - very COOL design - you gotta love that truck - especially the missile launcher next to the tyre bay - every mobile workshop needs one !

I'm a conformist! everyone !

[Algernon]

Well, I'll deviate from the norm here and say that I like this set. It's out of my price range, but I really like the small cars and all of the features. The front of the truck looks quite a bit better than the back, but it still looks fun.

Still though, this probably isn't the strongest set out of the World Racers line.

Good review!

[Jjsthekid]

Then there's definitely an error in the instructions, since the box art and other pictures show it the other way.

My bad then. Thanks for pointing that out. But It doesn't really worry me since it still works fine anyways.

Thanks for all the comments guys.

[Peppermint_M]

Indexed!

Once again, thanks for the review

[LuxorV]

Very interesting set with some nice figs and parts!

Thanks for sharing yet another review, Jjsthekid. Your photographing skills have increased fast

[beans]

It looks like Rex left the Power Mining business to join the Pitstop team .

[Jippon]

Thanks for the review! I like this set, the minifigs are cool (new caps ftw) and the green is also nice... but all those stickers make me sad

Maybe I'll pick this one up, but I'm not shure yet.

[EspEth12]

good job jj. I'll have to buy this. But WTF with all the stickers ughhhh! And another thing I dont like is that bulky bionicle launcher; Is that zamor sphere tan? So whats your next review?

[Jjsthekid]

Indexed!

Once again, thanks for the review

Thanks for indexing it.

good job jj. I'll have to buy this. But WTF with all the stickers ughhhh! And another thing I dont like is that bulky bionicle launcher; Is that zamor sphere tan? So whats your next review?

Thanks and yeah, those Zamor Spheres are tan. I'm not sure what I will review next yet, but You'll see.

[TheCrimsonTrooper]

Good review, and like those before me have said, the picture quality is a lot better this time.

[Batbrick]

Thanks for the review Jjsthekid! Parts of this set are very well made, and other parts for me look completely out-of-place, specifically the technic launcher on the back of the truck. Still, the figs are great, and the parts selection and diversity of colours is really appealing. I definitely won't be getting the set, but this theme has quite surprised me with its quality.

Batbrick Away!

[Cardinal Brick]

Thanks for the review, I'm still not greatly intrested in World Racers (partly as I've got enough themes on my plate at the moment) but this doesn't seems like a bad set though I agree with you I'd be nice to have a second pit stop.

[Alex Dwsn]

Amazing!.

Its very nice specially the lime green buggy. I liked very much. I like truck cab and other. They are very attractive and pretty. Really, it is a wonderful.

[VBBN]

Looks like a good set,

Though It still fails in comparison to the Mobile Command Centre that was of the Agents line.

Great review!

-VBBN