Review: 79118 Karai Bike Escape

[Fritzy]

Need for Mutagen: Hot Pursuit.

At night is when the Foot Clan is on the prowl, usually following after some sinister plot. Tonight, though, the turtles are without a mission to thwart, joining the city in a rare period of rest. Meanwhile, Karai decides to use this window for some scouting, unhampered by tailing ninjas or meddlesome turtles. Can Karai accomplish on her own what Shredder's goons fail to in a group? She seems to think so.

At the other end of the city, Leonardo prepares to make use of his secret card: a hidden camera situated at the top of a skyscraper overlooking the docks. With the element of surprise on his side, he heads to the surface in stealth, careful not to tip off his brothers. Traveling on higher ground, he makes his way to a residential district where, just beyond the homes, he hears a familiar noise coming from a nearby alley. A quick look from a bumpy rooftop and... It's Karai — and she has a Mutagen canister with her! Before he can even plan an attack, Leonardo loses his footing and stumbles into the dark alley with a loud crash. "You!"

Karai boards her motorbike in haste and dashes out into the street. She's getting away!

Name: Karai Bike Escape

Set No.: 79118

Theme: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Year: 2014

Pieces: 88

Minifigs: 2

Price: $12.99 US / $15.99 CDN / €14.99 EUR

Listings: S&H US / S&H CA / Brickset

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Packaging

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Front

Appropriately, Karai takes center stage on the front of the box, seen riding her bike with a Mutagen canister in hand. Leonardo is shown in close pursuit, airborne and giving chase on a skateboard. No particular feature is accentuated (leave that for the back of the box to take care of), but there is good integration with the individual elements — including the construction sign, which could otherwise have been left off to the side.

Back

Running along the footer of the back is a fun little comic strip, which showcases the premise of the set from a less static perspective. Here, Leonardo is shown sneaking up behind Karai and attaching rope to the street corner, causing the bike to be completely dismantled and allowing him to make off with the canister. The main image shows Karai off her bike and doing battle in the streets with Leonardo, both equipped with weapons of their choosing. It's a fitting scene, considering the dynamic these two characters share on the show (but for realism sake, Leonardo really should have two blades). The smaller image off to the left shows the main play feature with the newspaper stand, albeit it shows both Leonardo and a human hand triggering the device — in reality, it's not so sensitive that ramming it with Leonardo would set it off.

Instructions

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Note: Stand not included.

Front

Parts Index

Identifying pieces in a pile shouldn't require much thought from what the instructions indicate. A majority of the included parts are distinct enough to tell them apart from others, including the elements that make up the bike. This partly is what makes this set a fairly quick build (i.e., around 15 minutes, maybe less depending on your experience with building).

Promo

Sample Page

A preview of how the newspaper stand trick works.

Minifigures

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Leonardo (Front)

Leonardo looks like he's just recovered from an accident, with a rugged look brought on by scratches. Although the pursuit has already left him bruised, he's determined and ready to face whatever battles lay ahead.

Leonardo (Back)

His torso printing has been seen before in Wave 1 sets such as the Turtle Lair Attack (79103), but his facial printing is different here, as are his legs (though by only a few extra markings). He comes with one silver sword to do battle with.

Karai (Front)

This is Karai's first appearance in the LEGO TMNT line, and I must say they did a great job in representing her. What really contributes to the accuracy is the exclusive hairpiece designed for her minifigure.

Karai (Front with Helmet)

When she's boarding her bike, you can switch it out for a black helmet seen in other recent City sets. You even get a spare helmet screen in case you lose the first. In the way of printing, she has two faces: angry and passive. When using the latter with the hairpiece, a sliver of the angry face peeks out at the back, which doesn't happen in the reverse scenario.

Karai (Back)

Her torso consists of her metallic body armour, with a purple cloth held together by two silver pins. Unfortunately, her bike suit — seen in 'Karai's Vendetta' from Season 1 — is absent here. Like Leonardo, Karai gets her own sword but in black.

Also meant for Karai is a Mutagen canister, built from a small grey cap and a round light-green brick. At a Mutagen restaurant, this would be of the 'Small' variety while 'Medium' would be those seen in the Kraang Lab Escape (79100) set.

Build

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Commencing with the bike as the first build, you're given the body as a single piece to work with, along with a small sticker sheet for basic applications on the sides with the '44' logo. This joins with the mechanical frame, which houses the front and back wheels, as well as faucet-shaped pieces to keep the vehicle leveled. Added to the front of the vehicle are two transparent light fixtures and a (display-only) missile launcher.

Feast your eyes on the getaway vehicle for this operation.

Towards the back you'll find a gun-shaped exhaust positioned at an angle, and a holder piece for the helmet that's held together by small bricks on top and underneath. It is by no means complicated to put it together, but as a finished piece, the bike looks stylish and can certainly hold its own. Karai fits well in the driver's seat standing up and you don't have to worry about it being too loose; the bike itself is similarly stable in a neutral stance.

Karai from the back — the view you'll see most.

Leonardo's mode of transportation takes the form of a skateboard, and for that you only have to insert the two dumbbell-shaped pieces at the bottom to get it moving. There is a sticker for the top, with its most identifying feature being a small red apple in the back corner — an odd choice, as I don't seem to recall this being the case on the show (but I could be wrong).

At the risk of inviting further chastisement from Karai, you'd best keep one foot on the decal.

Once you have Leonardo on-board, you can attach the stud ends of the rope to the bottom of (a) one of Leonardo's hands and (B) a 1x2 rectangular brick that reaches just over the back of the bike.

Karai must be stopped — and I'm the one to do it.

The setting build takes the form of a street corner, complete with a two-street sign post (signs have stickers), a simplistic yet recognizable fire hydrant, newsstand, and an NYC-engraved manhole cover (sticker, not printed). These elements sit closely together on a relatively small 4x8 plate.

The 'before' shot.

There is a fun gimmick at play here with the build of the newsstand, which is built on top of a small axle that attaches to the sign post with a connector piece. By pulling the sign to the left in a quick motion, the hidden rod will quickly shoot up, knocking the top part of the newsstand off and freeing the printed newspaper piece trapped inside the transparent casing.

Today's wreckage, tomorrow's news story.

The pole is light as it is, so it will take but a little weight for the trick to unfold. The way the signs are attached up at the top with a yellow ring holding them in place, it makes for a very loose device, and you may frequently have to adjust the ring to tighten the fit.

One final extra is the construction sign (extra in that it's not directly integrated into the street corner), designed as a ramp for the skateboard. Being that it consists of very few pieces, it shouldn't take more than a minute to create, albeit you do have a striped sticker pattern to place on the white tile.

They may need to borrow this for the street corner once this over.

It's measly, yes, and the set could have benefited more from an actual stunt ramp (perhaps a small wooden cart, since a ramp at the back of a truck would have been an unlikely inclusion), but it the overall street atmosphere.

Conclusion

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Despite having less than 100 pieces, the Karai Bike Escape set is a relatively satisfying buy for all that you get. Considering that the bike body and frame are single pieces and the whole vehicle is deceptively easy to build, I imagine this partly accounts for the lower piece count. At this time, Karai is exclusive to this set, and it most definitely pays to get her and her well-adapted hairpiece if you're in any way following this line. The street corner does have its share of minor quirks, but for the most part, the trick entertains and the elements integrate nicely for a small scene in conjunction with the main focus of an ongoing chase. Overall, a balanced selection, with pros that overshadow the non-ideal price-for-content evaluation.

I'm not leaving without that Mutagen!

Design: 7

Bike steals the show; some minor annoyances with the scene build; construction sign as a ramp fits the scene but could have been a more thoughtful inclusion; attention to accuracy seen in multiple areas; cohesive on the whole

Playability: 7

Dragging Leonardo along can be entertaining with some imagination; the newsstand gimmick doesn't take much to pull off and can be fun on its own; definitely a mission to pair with other TMNT sets to create a turf war of sorts

Value: 7

Stylish bike model carries its weight in this set; exclusive Karai hairpiece; Karai herself is currently an exclusive minifigure and worth owning; few surprises, you get what you see; low piece count may give reason to pause (particularly with the Canadian price in mind)

Overall: 70%

So long as Leonardo's face doesn't make the front page...

Edited October 13, 2014 by Fritzy