Review: 2162: Hydro Reef Wrecker

[Jareth]

Number: 2162

Name: Hydro Reef Wrecker

Theme: Aquazone

Subtheme: Aquaraiders

Year: 1997

Minifigs: 2

Pieces: 279

Price: $40 (US)

Parts

As you can see there's no end to the goodies in here. Octopus, shark, rare plants, octagonal pipes and lots & lots of green. Theres also some yellow and blue in here (more on that later)

People

Ok, these are awesome. Hook hand? check. Two part Helmets? Check. Chrome Daggers? Check.

Lets look under those helmets.

Well look at this unnecessary awesomeness! Two different torso prints! Considering they spend most of their time covered up this is really unecessary....and awesome. The head prints are cool too. To be picky with the identical hair cover, they look like a father son team (I'm going to call them Ron and Mr. Weasley from now on) I guess if I was designing them, I'd prefer for the legs and arms to match more, but that's just being picky.

Build

The vehicle is divided into a submarine and a pickup truck. No really it is. Fine, I'll just show you. The instructions have us start with the sub, but I'll show the pickup truck part first.

Here it is halfway built.

The large black plates are going to be the bed of the truck and the green outline is going to be the cab. It's also important to note that the blue parts are almost completely hidden in the final build. I think TLG did this to make parts easier to see on the instructions, since this was before numbered polybags. Also There are no mini parts lists in the instructions.

One more thing. See that round thing? It's a lego compass. It works. I'm not kidding, take that Jack Sparrow! A working lego compass!

3/4 done. Sheesh, I really should have washed these parts before reassembly. We see some of the weaker points of this build now. The final has three....drills?...in the front. These two can't actually touch anything. Perhaps they are meant to be interchangable drill bits. Also it has extendable wings. I have no idea why. Perhaps Mr. Weasley enchated it to fly. Also the truck bed would be an ideal place to store one of sea animals, but they don't fit. (OK, I could fit the octopus by bending it, but who wants to damage a rare part like that? The instructions tell us to store crystals and spare harpoons here, but there are 2x2x2 containers on the back.

Here's the truck part completed. Now about Ron's sub.

Again, the blue parts are hidden in teh final build, but very visible here. I'm not sure how to feel about those big green pieces. They look cool, but are bulky and difficult to use in other ways.

I know I had a lot of comments about the truck, but the sub part is much better. The nose makes it look fast, and the four props make it look functional. It looks like it can gor forward or backwards and turn on a dime. This also means that, unlike other detachable vehicles, it still has a propulsion system when detached. One minor complaint is that Ron's swim fins are on the ends of the wings. It's an awkward place to put them, but they are such a minor detail, it's not going to effect the score.

Here they are attached together.

Not that Ron's sub is covering Mr. Weasley's truck bed, so there's still room in the compartment for tools and crystals.

MVP (Most valued piece)

Propellor housing! It looks great with a propellor and I can imagine using it two of them end to end in a scifi setting or one as a large torch for castle.

Conclusion

Parts:10/10 I usually hate the plastic wheels, but in green I see potential as using them for bushes or tree tops.

People: 10/10

Build: 9/10 Mr. Weasley's truck need a little work.

Playability: 10/10 Truck rolls and has compartments. Ron's sub is swishable and so solid it's almost thowable. The addition of sea creatures is very welocme.

Price: 7/10 fourteen cents per part....well, at least they're good parts. Honsetly, I don't think I'd buy it at regular price.

Overall 92%

[DraikNova]

Seems like a great old set with some rare parts.

[Orange Leader]

I have this set as well and the faction and model is a great addition to the Aquazone theme. It was never available in Europe from my understanding, so I had to buy this set from an American Bricklink shop. I like how TLG improvised on the drills, looks pretty badass to me and some green is always nice to have.

[Devorath]

My god, this set (and review) is awesome!