REVIEW: 850486 Rock Band

[Holodoc]

While browsing through Berlin a week ago, I stumbled upon the Berlin Lego Store close to the KaDeWe.

Checking the interior – huuuge PaB-wall and four floors! – I found this little set:

Set No.: 850486

Set Name: Rock Band Minifigure Accessory Set

Theme: Collectible Minifigs

Subtheme: Combi-pack

Released: 2012

Pieces: 62

Purchase price: 12,99€, 14,99$

If I recall correctly this is a Store or at least Lego exclusive set.

The set on Brickset and Bricklink

Now is the set worth it?

Let’s have a look at the packaging first: It’s a new kind of packaging – all transparent plastic, called blister pack.

The minifgs, of course THE reason to buy this set – are visible on top of the packaging, the “leftover” bricks are hidden behind a photo. No parts count, not even the setnumber is visible from the front side. Just a small and shy note on the back.

The contents:

The blister pack, a cardboard, instructions and the bricks.

A closer look at the bricks:

Sorry, my flash made some of the black bricks look golden. But they are all black, I can confirm.

50 loose parts + the 3 minifigs, making it a total of 62 bricks.

4 bricks made in one of my favourite colors, namely metallic silver , 2 microphones from the collectible series, besides that nothing to get too excited about…

The build, done in 3 minutes. The guitar is imho the biggest letdown: If TLC had published the set two years ago, no one would have noticed, but now we have cool new guitars. Why the brick-built version here?

Metallic silver parts (did you know I like them?) are used, but only the ones already existing. No new colored parts. The hi hats are made of poor bley dishes, which is extremely disappointing especially when compared to the cymbal. On the other hand a metallic silver cone is used for the lower part of the cymbal stand, whereas the stand itself is bley again. Why?

Besides that I actually like the drums itself and the microphone stand is as simple as brilliant.

The complete set up. Two small light effect boxes (whatever they are called) round the set.

With the included cardboard (great idea to inlcude it, but different to the background of the photo).

The instructions, double sided printing on one sheet of paper, with a brick summary at the end.

Now on to the heart of the set: The minifigs!

What is so special about them?

At first glance you might think: Meh, we had all of the figs already.

But let’s have a closer look. Because all of them are de facto unique!

Here they are!

The two to the left share a black/silver/white color sheme, whereas similar minifigs are more colourful.

No backprintings.

1) The singer

The singer to the right, Rapper (series 3) to the left.

Actually the singer is a mixture from Rapper and Disco Dude (series 2), from which the singer inherited the face.

The cap, the torso and the legs are made in new colors.

There is no change in the pattern, it’s only the colors. This counts for all the figs included, btw.

2) The guitar hero ...

...without hair...

...and next to Rocker Girl (series 7)

Just like the first fig, new colors - known pattern. I still like it.

See how ugly and out of size the brick built guitar is?

3) Finally my favourite, the drummer.

Compared with Punk Rocker (series 4).

Note the shirt printing is pink instead of red. I prefer the dark blue Jeans to the light blue ones.

The lime punk hair is great, nice to see another color than pink. In contrast to the official photo (see first photo above) the hair is plain lime, whereas the photo shows lime with pink tips. Strange.

One disadvantage: The drumsticks are waaay out of size. Here the new 3L bars from the collectibles would have suited much better than the 4L ones.

Ratings:

Parts: 4/10 – Nothing new, strange color mixtures. The weakest part of the set

Minifig: 10/10 – The strongest part of the set and the only reason to buy it. 3 unique minifigs! Wooohooo!

Build: 6/10 - Nothing special here either. Easy and fast build.

Playability: 9/10 – Now this is fun to play with! Add more (collectible) minifigs to build your own rock concert!

Price: 5/10 - 13 € for 62 bricks. But hey, look at the figs again!

Overall rating 7/10. Of course it all depends on if you either want the unique figs or not. Some new patterns would have improved the set, I wrote about the guitar and the weird use of colors.

It is pricey, no doubt. Buy 3 collectible minifigs for 7,50€ and there is still 5,50€ left for 50 everyday bricks…

But now build your own decision and vote.

[PsyKater]

Thanks for this detailed review! I had not noticed all the differences to the CMFs so far.

Just noticed, this is my post #100. *celebrate*

Edited September 27, 2012 by PsyKater

[just2good]

Nice review, 'Holodoc'!

This is a good set, but I still can't fork over $15 for it. I really love the pallet-swapped figures though.

[Wedge09]

Good review Holodoc :thumbup:

After this review, I'll do a little thought for this set :wink:

[Amset-Rah]

I like the figures and the drum kit (Especially the new piece holding the crash/ride cymbal), but the price point for the pieces and the brick-built guitar kill it for me. I suppose I could look on Brick Link for the drum kit and figs, as well as a regular guitar (Brick Forge or eBay) for the glam rock girl.

Yeah, I think I like the monster set a bit better (It'd be a great addition to my Monster Fighters cemetery), but with some creative engineering, one could convert the Zombies set into a stage for the rock stars (Think Guitar Hero and how they had those wacky sets, one of which was indeed a graveyard)

[lightningtiger]

Excellent review 'Holodoc', yeah....the guitar is a let down....though some of the silver parts would be AWESOME to have in my parts box.

Colour combinations are a bit funny, the vocalist reminds me a little of Pitbull.

The speakers look like the cones are about to fly out of their boxes.....must be loud ?

I see this set having massive MOC potential....use the guitars from the collectables, a couple more minifigs....don't forget the roadie's...."Check ONE, TWO !"....because that's the most they can count ! (only joking)

Thanks for the review and Brick On ROCK ON 'Holodoc' !

"For those about to brick.....we salute you !"

[AncientDayz]

Great review, I just wish the set was better. I picked it up a while ago, and it has been in a box ever since I opened it the day I picked it up. It's just not all that great (pieces or price). I regret wasting the money on this one.

[kumabot]

Great review! I was wondering if the drummer's mohawk was pure lime or a sloppy lime/magenta mixture. Thanks for clearing that up!

Not really seeing the value in picking the set up since I have all of the original collectible minifigs. I like the designs for the drum kit and speakers, but I can just add those pieces to my next bricklink order. The lime mohawk is a must-have piece, so hopefully that shows up on bricklink or ebay for a reasonable cost (magenta color mohawk sells for < $1).

By the way, Brickforge makes drumsticks:

http://www.brickforge.com/store/home.php?cat=410

Thanks again for taking the time to write the review!

[AncientDayz]

Great review! I was wondering if the drummer's mohawk was pure lime or a sloppy lime/magenta mixture.

It's pure lime. I was actually hoping for a mixture. Oh well.

[Aanchir]

The lime punk hair is great, nice to see another color than pink. In contrast to the official photo (see first photo above) the hair is plain lime, whereas the photo shows lime with pink tips. Strange.

The official photo in question shows many signs of being obviously preliminary. The mohawk appears to be the pink version but painted, while in the pic at the very top of your post, the female rocker doesn't even have the correct hair piece. Preliminary versions of a set do sometimes sneak into official images, but rarely is it so obvious as in this set-- perhaps because in most cases, the preliminary bricks aren't on minifigures, and aren't in a set where the minifigures are the main focus.

Overall, this looks pretty nice. Not totally brilliant in terms of the brick-built components, especially in the case of the guitar which pales in comparison to the collectible minifigures version, but it's still nice to see three unique minifigures in a creative brick-built vignette.

[Holodoc]

..., the female rocker doesn't even have the correct hair piece.

Wow - I didn't realizie it.

Thanks for pointing it out.

[Calanon]

I like the idea of it - but something about it really annoys me. Perhaps it's because I like rock music a lot, but the fact that they called this set "rock band" and yet the singer... looks nothing like a rock singer. Would've been nice (and probably made me really want to buy it, as well as if it had the guitar piece) if the singer looked like a rock singer.

[prateek]

Oh, that's pretty cool. I would like another figure for that price and some of those minifig guitar pieces though.

[gundamz]

My mini-review:

Minifigures look good, though I am not a fan of rock music.

The accessories are only ok. Personally, I don't like the guitar. I think having the guitar from Series 7, but in a different colour would be better. The drum kit is nice though.

The cost is not good. There are many other choices of sets at around $14.99. For a little bit less, you can get the Batman v, Catwoman, Captain America, Ninjago, Star Wars Warrior set (the kind that gives you four minifigures and weapons), or a whole host of City sets. For a little bit more, you can get Wolverine's Chopper Showdown, Loki's Cosmic Cube, one of a whole host of Star Wars sets, or one of a whole host of City sets.

The compatibility with other sets is also not good. I can see this in a City theme where the rock band is giving an open-air concert, but that's about it. It doesn't quite work with Star Wars, Superheroes, or Ninjago (three major themes), though I guess one could be creative about it (maybe have Batman and Superman be the singers instead? idk).

Overall rating: Average. It's not bad, but it's not particularly good either.

[Ferrik]

Great review. It looks like a great rock band but the guitar is a let-down.

[Holodoc]

The compatibility with other sets is also not good. I can see this in a City theme where the rock band is giving an open-air concert, but that's about it. It doesn't quite work with Star Wars, Superheroes, or Ninjago (three major themes), though I guess one could be creative about it (maybe have Batman and Superman be the singers instead? idk).

I cannot agree. It is compatible with City. What else do you need? No City set will ever be compatible with Star Wars (flying cement mixers?) or Ninjago (snake firemen?).

Sidenote: I see the font in my first quote is very tiny.

It used to be the normal size...

Is that only me or can someone else confirm the weird font?

[Rick]

Sidenote: I see the font in my first quote is very tiny.

It used to be the normal size...

Is that only me or can someone else confirm the weird font?

See my post here.