REVIEW: 7770 Deep sea treasure hunter

[The Cobra]

You've got to love small sets. Beacuse they're obviously cheap, thus an easy way to own at least a set per every theme. Especially those themes that come and go within one year. And you can hardly tell why.

Set data:

7770: Deep sea treasure hunter

Year: 2007

Theme: Aqua Raiders

Subtheme: N/A

Pieces: 75 (no extras)

Price: 5 USD / 5 EUR / 4 UKP

Building time: less than 10 minutes

MISB on review: Yes

More info: Brickset - Peeron

Box front: A good look at what you get.

Box back: Alternate view; now, it ain't gonna be easy to hit a snake with a speargun!

Box side: Snaaaaaaaaaaaaakes!

Box content: Two bags and one instructions booklet. No stickers!

Pieces inventory: The printed tail must be the rarest piece in here.

Random instructions page: Building engines.

Ready to build: Pieces are out of the bags.

Interesting pieces: A printed helmet, a printed tail, a printed tile, and the return of the Rock raiders "Cross with dome".

The one and only minifig: "Classic" Aqua Raiders torso.

Plant pieces: Plant only exist in solid green and transparent green. Not a big surprise, I guess.

Plant complete: To add a little scenario. This is smaller and simpler compared to what you can find in 7771.

Building the DSTH: We already have some Technic pieces.

Building the DSTH: Here is the base of your vehicle.

Building the DSTH: Building the side engines.

Building the DSTH: Engines added. Propellors can obviously spin, while the "arms" of the engines are fixed.

Building the DSTH: Here are some wings and a rudder.

Building the DSTH: Wings added. The "Cross with dome" wouldn't allow engine arms to rotate.

Building the DSTH: Look at this: it looks quite unstable. That's the major flaw of this set.

Building the DSTH: Enter spearguns and flippers...

Building the DSTH: ...that lie on the Hunter. Our minifig will have free hands and free feet while piloting.

Building the DSTH: Adding tail and robot arms.

The DSTH: Front view.

The DSTH: Rear view.

The DSTH: Minifig can seat confortambly, space has been provided for his airtank too.

Treasure chest: Looking for gold and diamonds, you'll find some snakes too.

Treasure chest: It looks full! That's good, so you don't have to spread pieces around and risk losing'em.

Complete set: Finished and ready to (dis)play.

Comparison shot: DSTH vs. the 7771 Angler ambush vehicle.

Comparison shot: DSTH vs. the Angler. Compared to this foe, the Hunter looks like a little big set.

Review:

So here's another theme based on "humans vs. some other kind of creatures". But with such a small set, there could only be small creatures to fight. Yep, snakes. At least we have a quite full treasure chest.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I don't like this set. I really wanted to buy it (and couldn't beacuse TLC thought that Italy didn't deserve to have Aqua Raiders in shops; thank you internet!) and I'm happy I did. There might not be anything special (pieces, figs, accessories), but it really looks good to me. A 1,5 pieces ratio is quite uncommon, and a plus.

If you can still put your hands on one of these, I'd suggest you do.

Ratings:

Color scheme: 5/5. Yellow and black look great (trans blue is a nice touch).

Minifigs and accessories: 5/5. With the exception of 7090, you'll hardly get so much in a 5 bucks set.

Pieces: 4/5. Good pieces/price ratio, nothing rare or unique.

Playability: 5/5. I think kids can have quite some fun.

Design: 5/5. It really looks great, good detailing for a small set.

Overall rating: 4,5/5. One of the best amongst small sets of this decade.

[Wout]

Thank you for the nice review with many pictures.

Although I was not very enthousiastic about the New Aqua raiders, this set is quite nice.