Luke McAwesome

Review: 7639 Camper

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INDEXED

city.jpg

Hello everyone!

Today I am writing a review of the new LEGO City set, 7639 Camper.

So, let's begin, shall we?

7639 Camper

Name: Camper

Theme: City

Year: 2009

Pieces: 165

Minifigures: 2

Animals: 1

Price: 16.99 USD | 29.99 AUD | 19.99 CAD | 13.69 GBP

BrickLink

Peeron

Brickset

LEGO.com

Chapter 1: The Box

So, we'll start off with the box.

Front

camper_box_front.jpg

Pretty cool, and the colours really catch the eye. Lime and white green was a brilliant color choice, IMO.

Back

camper_box_back.jpg

Some cute little pictures showing the features of the toy, such as the minifigures catching some "Z"s, having a fish fry, and going for a bike ride.

Top

camper_box_top.jpg

Our two minifigures, and their accessories. And the usual picture of a minifigure that's "Actual Size".

And LEGO also gave us this on the back:

camper_sub-model_sign.jpg

"Divided into sub-models for easy building an instant play"

And it's in three languages as well! I'm pretty sure LEGO has been doing this sign since about 2005 or 2006, but there are only so many sets that can be divided into sub-models. :wink:

Chapter 2: The Loot

Contents

camper_contents.jpg

Pretty good deal for $16.99 USD. :wink:

DSS(Dreaded Sticker Sheet)

camper_dss.jpg

Most are easy to apply, but I had trouble with the stripes that go on the canopy piece. (Paradisa, Paradisa, Paradisa! :laugh: )

Instructions

camper_instructions.jpg

The instructions, in all it's fifty-five page glory. Not bad.

Random Page

camper_random_instruction_page.jpg

This page shows the seats and the table being added.

*snaps fingers* Okay! So, I bet you'd all like to see what kind of pieces we get, right?

Bag 1

camper_bag_1.jpg

A mixture of lime, light and dark bley, white, and some yellow and blue mixed in there.

Bag 2

camper_bag_2.jpg

Mainly white and lime. I can barely handle much more lime green. :blush:

Most of the pieces are simple, and nothing special, but I found some POI(Pieces Of Interest).

camper_poi.jpg

Do you see that?! An actual correctly printed lipstick female one-sided head! And other than that, there's some trans-orange and trans-red 1x1 plates, some 1x1 bricks with a horizontal clips, a white canopy, the return of the left and right classic doors, a newer fish piece, and a new reddish brown Female hair piece!

I'm really happy, I got my first canopy/roof piece, some sweet new minifigs, and a couple new pieces I could probably use if I had the guts to take 'em off.

Chapter 3: The Minifigure(s)

Front

camper_minifigs.jpg

And their grill and dinner. The female minifigure as two new parts, the torso and the hairpiece. The torso is quite detailed, with the little star pattern and such. The male minifigure has no new parts, but I always love getting some more black Agent Chase hair. How many is that now...? Oh, yes, four. :grin:

Back

camper_minifigs_back.jpg

As you can see, the male minifig has no back printing, and the female minifig does, but it's not much.

Chapter 4: The Build

The build is quite interesting and simple, actually. See for yourself!

Step 6

camper_step_6.jpg

Step six has the wheel connectors mounted with some misc. colored plates here and there.

Step 12

camper_step_12.jpg

Step twelve has the seats and a table mounted as well as some white inverted 1x2 slopes.

Step 18

camper_step_18.jpg

Step eighteen has the doors, lime green tiles, and two 2x3 white slopes.

There's a total of 19 steps in bag 1.

Doors

camper_how_nice_of_lego.jpg

How nice of LEGO! They even put an "L" and an "R" to help out our minifig's who can't tell their left from their right! :laugh:

Here's our little couple, awaiting the completion of their Camper. It's up to you!

I can just hear the little man yelling "Hey!" :grin:

With sides attached, we're almost done!

camper_with_doors_attached.jpg

And I have one complaint...

camper_complaining_about_1x6_tiles.jpg

... Why couldn't LEGO have given us the return of the lime green 1x6 tile, which we last saw in 2004? It would have been nice to have that part again. :look:

Chapter 5: The Completed Set

Now, to the final chapter of our review, the completed set!

Completed:

Hooray!

camper_completed.jpg

Our little couple is very happy to finally have their Camper!

What do you say we look at some more pictures of the set?

Accessories

camper_1.jpg

A surfboard and a bike(Quite rare now-a-days.)! I am really happy to have another surfboard, the last time I got one was in 2004 in an Island Xtreme Stunts beach lookout post thingy-ma-doodle.

Cab

camper_3.jpg

It's quite spacious inside, I'm really disappointed that LEGO doesn't make the inside of their cars more realistic, maybe something along the line of decorated tiles with gauges and such.

camper_4.jpg

See what I mean? It's way to simple inside. :sadnew:

Inside

camper_5.jpg

Our minifigures are enjoying a nice meal. I understand that it was hard for LEGO to fit a lot in a little car, but they could have added a tad more than just a table and two chairs, IMO. And other than that we have a frying pan on one side, and a second red cup on the other. And we also get a teeny little television sticker on a light bley 2x2 tile.

A close-up of the Television sticker:

camper_7.jpg

Pretty detailed for a sticker, if only LEGO actually made that torso. The closest I could find was this, but it doesn't look as appealing in blue as it does in lime green.

Sleep Space

camper_6.jpg

*she-snore* :laugh:

It's spacious, just like the cab. It's pretty cool to include something like this, and it adds to the build quite nicely.

camper_8.jpg

It would have been nice if LEGO even included one of the old 2x2 white slopes with the pillow printed on it from ye olde Knight Bus.

Overall shots

Front

camper_front.jpg

A total of seven studs wide. Not bad!

camper_2.jpg

Some crazy other view, a view of both the left and front at once. :wacko:

Left

camper_left_side.jpg

On the left we can, uh, basically see everything you can on the right. The two trans-smoke window pieces and the accessories on top.

Right

camper_right.jpg

See? :wink:

Back

camper_back.jpg

On the back we see a dark bley grill being used as a ladder, a license plate sticker on a white 1x3 brick, and a litght that holds the two doors together.

_________________________________________________________________________

Summary

Playability: 9/10 - It's very easy to have hours and hours of fun with this, cool features, and the minifigs can go surfing, or biking!

Price: 8/10 - It could have been a few bucks cheaper, but it's worth it.

Design: 10/10 - Perfect! The flip open back is genius, and so is the little space for sleeping.

Minifigures: 8/10 - The only minifigure with any new parts is the girl. But the new hairpiece is what makes the minifigure level so high.

Parts: 7/10 - Nothing really too new here, but the colours are pretty good. Lime and white go great together! :thumbup:

Vroomability: 7/10 - It "vrooms" like any other medium sized car, no difference.

Swooshability: 2/10 - To put it frankly, this vehicle should stay on the ground. :laugh: The only "wings" this thing has is the flip open sides.

Overall: 9/10 - A nice, solid, vehicle with lots of playability. A high "Playability" level, a medium "Price" level, an outstanding "Design" level, a normal "Vroomability" level, and a horrid "Swooshability" level.

A highly recommended set, with some interesting parts, and some useful parts, with some lime mixed in there.

The Paradisa-esque sticker is a blast from the past, and quite interesting to see on something like this. Anyone notice how this year, the designers at LEGO have been including little "easter eggs" in their sets? The Blacktron graffiti in Space Police, the Paradisa sticker in this set, the new torso design on PAB and the new Agents set, and there's probably others, too.

What are we gonna see next, Fabuland? (I only wish. :wacko:)

Overall, I would say that if you can pick up the set, than you should.

Thanks for reading!

-Striker

Edited by Strikerâ„¢

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It's a very nice set that I can't wait to get my grubby little paws on. :tongue: Nice review Striker, hopefully, it won't be your last as it was an enjoyable review to read with plenty of info and pictures. The only thing I have against this set is that the males hair is yet again black. Why couldn't they have made it in brown? Now it doesn't match his eyebrows. :sadnew::tongue:

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A great review of an underrated set.

All you ever hear about this set is 'blah blah blah interior blah blah blah'

What did you want them to include, a sofa? Go make a sofa yourself! :tongue:

This is one of my favorite summer '09 city sets, I don't care what people say.

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A great review of an underrated set.

All you ever hear about this set is 'blah blah blah interior blah blah blah'

What did you want them to include, a sofa? Go make a sofa yourself! :tongue:

This is one of my favorite summer '09 city sets, I don't care what people say.

If you're referring to me, I apologize. :grin:

It's a very nice set that I can't wait to get my grubby little paws on. Nice review Striker, hopefully, it won't be your last as it was an enjoyable review to read with plenty of info and pictures. The only thing I have against this set is that the males hair is yet again black. Why couldn't they have made it in brown? Now it doesn't match his eyebrows.

Thanks, both of you. :classic:

Edited by Strikerâ„¢

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55 pages of instructions for 165 pieces? That's roughly 3 parts per page. Are kids these days dumber than we were as kids? I'll answer my own question with 'yes' since they need to put L and R on the doors. What if you want to make suicide doors?

The exterior is decent enough, but for being 6 wide it sure lacks in the interior. I'll stick with 6351. For roughly the same price and amount of pieces, it manages to be a more detailed interior and a more complete set with the trailer and boat.

Edited by Section8

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This is really a nice review. Your images are very crisp and clear, and bring out the wonderful lime green color used in the set. I bought this set about a month ago and had planned to do some sort of beach scene review. This is a 5 star set in my opinion, and while it's not exactly Classic Town - it's still an excellent set. :thumbup:

Thanks for sharing!

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55 pages of instructions for 165 pieces? That's roughly 3 parts per page. Are kids these days dumber than we were kids? I'll answer my own question with 'yes' since they need to put L and R on the doors. What if you want to make suicide doors?

It's more like TLG thinks that kids are dumber. :tongue: This kind of set would probably have been on a single, unfolding sheet 20 years ago and had all the steps compressed onto that.

The L and R have always been there on the doors though.

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I think it's more the lack of time that people (including kids) seem to have. Easier (less pieces to add per step) = faster. Same reason why they have numbered bags for relatively small sets (7686 has two bags just for the truck and another one for the trailer) and why they emphasize 'easy build, instant play' (or something like that) on the boxes.

Edited by Rick77

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In my experience, it's better to actually have less steps if you want to build fast, so you don't spend much time flipping through pages.

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The L and R have always been there on the doors though.

Really? I guess I never noticed. Or more accurately, I never needed to notice :wink:

Another thing I saw, it says it's divided into sub-models for easier, faster play, yet you need to open both bags to even get the minifigures on the bike or board. That line doesn't really apply to single vehicle sets.

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Great review, I'll probably end up picking this set up even though I don't really collect City. The minifigs are too good to pass up and the camper could come in handy with camping MOC's and whatnot. :tongue:

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I just got this set yesterday, and I'm totally in love with it! :wub:

The main attraction of this set for me was of course the female minifig, but I don't have any regrets for buying the whole camper.

Now the pair only needs a camping area to drive their camper to. Luckily I also have a suitable Indiana Jones set for them... :wink:

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Nice review i really like the pics. I love this set.

The female minifig is fantastic if only she had a new head.

The like the colour as well .

Edited by alex12

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Great review, I'll probably end up picking this set up even though I don't really collect City. The minifigs are too good to pass up and the camper could come in handy with camping MOC's and whatnot.

Thanks, and it's totally worth it.

I just got this set yesterday, and I'm totally in love with it! :wub:

The main attraction of this set for me was of course the female minifig, but I don't have any regrets for buying the whole camper.

Now the pair only needs a camping area to drive their camper to. Luckily I also have a suitable Indiana Jones set for them... :wink:

Let me guess, um, Temple of Doom? :grin:

Nice review i really like the pics. I love this set.

The female minifig is fantastic if only she had a new head.

The like the colour as well .

Thanks! And yeah, I think white and lime are a great combo, too. :classic:

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Great review.

My girlfriend loved the box art on this set so much she wanted to build it. :classic:

She enjoyed building it and how it looks.

So it much be really good.

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Thanks!

Indeed this is a great review, I appreciate how you analyse a lot of small details (e.g. not only saying "this is the box", "this is the door",...) and give your point of view!

Anyway, I'll buy this set because because there aren't many meta-pieces so it's "real Lego". The overall design looks nice despite the poor interior, the colours are not so common (I like orange but please Lego, stop using it for every vehicle!) and the scale respects the Lego city standards.

Edited by Cavannus

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Indeed this is a great review, I appreciate how you analyse a lot of small details (e.g. not only saying "this is the box", "this is the door",...) and give your point of view!

I have Clone O'Patra, Erdbeereis, and VBBN to thank for that. :grin:

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Thanks for a great review. I will MOC mine so it opens in a different way.

Thanks! And take pics if you can. :classic:

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When I first saw this set I thought (and I think posted) something like "not for me but I think it will appeal to young girls", but the more I see it and thanks to excellent reviews the set is really growing on me, and I don't even mind the lime green any more. With so many Lego sets not being very good value for money, this might make it into my collection if I can find it on small sale.

Thanks for taking the time to do the review and sharing it with us.

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When I first saw this set I thought (and I think posted) something like "not for me but I think it will appeal to young girls", but the more I see it and thanks to excellent reviews the set is really growing on me, and I don't even mind the lime green any more. With so many Lego sets not being very good value for money, this might make it into my collection if I can find it on small sale.

It'll be worth it. :classic:

Thanks for taking the time to do the review and sharing it with us.

You're quite welcome!

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This is one of the sets which I am looking forward to, mainly because I have not seen a Camper with doors for a very long time. The minifigs are great, plus those lovely accessories such as the classic red bicycle and surfboard. This vehicle will serve a good addition into any City collection. However, I don't really fond of the opening of these sets. It appears to be a little wierd, and I prefer the ones in Classic Town. Not everything could be perfect, at least there are doors included. :thumbup:

Thanks for sharing this review, and look forward to more reviews in the academy. :wink:

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