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If you've ever come across my reviews before, you'll know that I'm all about the minifigures. So what am I doing with a set devoid of those wonderful little people? Let me just say that 8206 Luigi & Guido caught my eye because the cars were so darn cute. What's that? The set's title isn't actually 8206 Luigi & Guido? Oh right, it's really called… (and yes, I know "Pitstop" isn't officially one word, but this American for one slurs it together anyway)
Set Name: Tokyo Pit Stop
Set #: 8206
Theme: Cars (specifically Cars 2)
Pieces: 147
Minifigures: 0 (?)
Year of Release: 2011
Price at Release: USD 15 - CAD 20 - EUR 15
Buy it? Inventory? Bricklink
Just browse the pictures? Flickr set
INTRODUCTION
My initial reaction to pictures of the System Cars line was mixed. Some of the characters looked pretty cute (these guys, Mater) while others looked pretty bad (McQueen), but a line without figures is not my usual cup of tea. None of the builds apart from the characters looked worth anything; basically just some random facade stuff to make the sets not seem like they just had Cars. Still, I decided I would pick up the Classic Mater set and Tokyo Pit Stop to get the cutest looking characters.
Lightningtiger's Mater review ironically convinced me not to get Mater, who I thought looked pretty ugly once I saw some non-promotional pictures. But I needed to get to $75 for the free shipping deal when ordering the new Hogwarts set (formerly Battle for Hogwarts), so I thought I might as well pick up these guys. I had been pretty bummed by my last LEGO purchases (PotC), so let's see how these cuties do it for me…
BOX
I really had no idea what to expect box-size-wise with this set. The price range of $15 isn't a typical one for LEGO, but they've come up with a pretty good size for it, given the trend of smaller boxes. A parent might not consider this worth $15 by eyeballing it, but I (who knows better) feel this size sells the price range. The artwork is good, although it seems that archway thing is inside a garage
? I also wish the big Warning! wasn't here…
The back shows that there aren't any play features (!), and names the characters. There's also that spy radar car thing; I'm sure it ties to the new film, but it doesn't have much to do with this set, it seems to me.
The 1:1 pic on this box is a wrench, which doesn't make a ton of sense, but I guess it gives you a feel for how big Guido will be. Also, all the parts are from Europe (and Mexico, since this is an American run of the set).
CONTENTS
Mangle the box trying not to use the punch tab, pour it out, and find yourself looking at… Two numbered bags, one booklet, and a DSS. The numbered bags make perfect sense since there really are two different sets of things to build, and I'm very glad there's only one booklet. If they'd split up the builds into seperate booklets, that would've just been silly.
INSTRUCTIONS
It's one pretty slim booklet. What did you expect? There wasn't any plastic or cardboard, but it was actually flat! How nice.
The steps move pretty slowly, and there isn't anything complicated. The pages have a nice spy-themed background.
DSS
This sticker sheet isn't so bad, but it is pretty annoying. All of these types of parts would've been printed in the '90s, but I guess you could say it ain't the '90s anymore (Toto). We'll see what's annoying about them more later on…
BUILD 1: Cars
You read that right, CloneyO is doing build pics! Honestly, I think one of the most intriguing things about the Cars characters is their builds, seeing where those promised 30+ pieces go. Most of these characters hold more pieces inside than you'd expect, but of course this set doesn't have the ones as streamlined as McQueen and Fin McMissile.
First, I've pulled out what I find to be the most intriguing pieces of Bag 1. You guessed it: mostly they're the printed parts. But those cheese slopes and car-thingy piece in the new color (or rare color; Aanchir?) are also so beautiful. And you get four cheese (one is spare)!
First up to build is Guido. He doesn't hold any surprises, but the sheer joy of putting down those medium blue and aqua-ish bricks make this build fun! What I love about the idea of building Guido is that it just seems like normal LEGO pieces, but it turns out so adorable!
Who's next? Luigi! I was wondering why I still had a medium blue tile and another cheese slop to go somewhere, but soon I found out! Luigi incongruously has some colorful innards, but luckily none show once he's all finished (unlike that horrid Toy Story army jeep).
FINISHED CARS
I just built 'em for you, so I thought I might as well show them off here.
Let's start with Guido, and compare him to his film counterpart. Needless to say, he's not exactly the same, but you can't make curved, molded metal out of LEGO. The color scheme and basic shape are there, and really that picture that I found on Google is a bit creepy, while the LEGO version is totally adorbs.
Here's our friend Guido straight from the front and back. He looks quite chipper, and ready to service McQueen when he comes in needing something. You have to love the plethora of medium blue and aqua highlights.
In side profile Guido looks more angular, but I love the hat solution nonetheless and those new wheel parts are totally lovely.
If Guido was a little off, Luigi is even more so. Really his problem is the mouth part; it juts out too far. Even as a model alone it isn't so aesthetically pleasing, but he's still a cute character overall. The 'hair' on the LEGO version is also a bit too much, but it's one heck of a nice NPU, so it doesn't bug me.
Luigi is just full of NPUs; the hair, the technic bit as a microphone, the pans as headphones. The SNOT part on the front is really the only problem on this cute model; otherwise, he's a lovely little guy.
The side profile shows just how much Luigi looks like a cartoon car; I can imagine a car looking like this in an animation without a face and with people driving inside. He also provides us with four more of those delicious wheels.
I had no idea what to expect on the back, but it too is printed with some grill-type things and what would perhaps be a window were this car not alive. It does well to round out the model.
Here are the two pit crew buddies together. The cuteness factor is becoming overwhelming.
Closing out this section, a shot with two of CloneyO's recent favorite minifigures for a size comparison. Luigi seems to be the perfect size for a minifig to fit inside if he wasn't full of bricks.
BUILD 2: Pit Stop Stuff
I know, it wasn't an eloquent title, but what was I supposed to say? It's really just some stuff thrown in so LEGO could pretend it was selling a full set, not just some car models.
I wasn't going to do an interesting parts pic, but then suddenly 'hey!' some parts were interesting. I was surprised to see a new version of this with a squarer end (it's apparently new this year), and I hadn't come across a doublesided SNOTy brick like the one below either.
Now onto that stuff I call… stuff. First up is the fuel tank thing with the sign telling McQueen to stop for some fuel. Putting that sticker on the green round piece was really annoying; I couldn't get it aligned so well. As you can see, my STOP FUEL sign stickering was not so expert either.
Next is this thing; a border to their pit perhaps? I don't know. I was and am a bit mad that the flags had to be stickered, as I have several old printed ones. Plus, there were only stickers for one side. I always welcome more tiles though.
Then comes the big arch. I guess that's the sort of thing they give racing teams in Japan? There is a very, very, VERY glaring problem here: the Japanese is sideways. WTF, right? I'm sure those stickers will comes to great use for purist MECH makers, but their use in the set is quite atrocious. Besides that, the arch is nice (and besides the fact that the flag is another sticker).
Aannnddd… nothing to see from the back.
So here's the family of the stuff. The arch actually has some thought put into it, and is a nice design apart from the stickers. Those weird mini racer parts, Speed Racer car arch, and cheese graters in red come together well, not to mention the clips just used as a design (something not done in the old days). The finish line (?) and fuel stand are useless, though.
COMPLETE SET
Here it is all together. What works about this set is that the brightly colored cars don't fit in at all with the surroundings, which is just perfect stylistically. The background bits could just as easily show up in a minifig-scale Ferrari set, but then we've got these glaring cars with it. It's a beautiful contrast.
But there are no play features mommy, what are we supposed to do? Muck around with the cars I say. When it's a normal minifig set, that doesn't always work out so well since it gets old just smashing the figures together, but with cars, the fun is basically endless. Most children (boys at least) love zooming cars around, and now they can have the added fun of building them as well! But that's why the added bits are useless; I can easily see those being thrown in a box while the little kid has hours of fun with G & L.
This fun picture of the two friends brings me to my final main point: this set has no main characters and I'm loving it (to quote MccyD's). Too many of the recent Licensed themes (PoP, PotC, HP) have to include the main character in every single set, but when that character is a built model it just isn't possible, or at least LEGO didn't want to. I didn't care for Mater or McQueen anyway, and I was able to get the two characters that I really wanted in a single bundle. Way to go with that LEGO!
CONCLUSION
I was worried I would feel this set was a mixed bag, but it turned out that I didn't. Woot! I (and anybody else in their right mind) bought this set for Guido and Luigi, and they really deliver. If it weren't for the stickers, the rest of the set would be absolutely fine, but as it is the archway is still a pleasing model with a few interesting parts. If you're not either a Cars fan or just a fan of awesomely cute characters, this set is probably not for you, but if you fit either of those criteria I cannot see how you will be disappointed. You could grumble that LEGO could've just sold the set without the extras, but going by the math of the Classic Mater and McQueen sets it would've come out to about the same price anyway
. All in all, this set really picked me up from the slump that PotC threw me into, and I'm grateful for that.RATINGS
Parts: 9.5/10 - Many are small, although they're in desirable colors.
Build: 8.5/10 - The stickers! Ugh, the stickers! The finished product with them is fine, but putting them on is annoying!
Design: 10/10 - I don't think the cars could've gotten much better, and the archway is lovely too.
Minifigures: N/A
Price: 10/10 - In the U.S. market, $15 is the perfect price for this set. It's ridiculous that this set is only $3 more than a battlepack or other recent small licensed set, but that's in this set's favor.
Playability: 10/10 - You wanted features? Get outta here. It's cars; I could play for hours!
Overall: 9.6/10 - That's a nice, high, solid grade where I come from, and that's exactly what this set deserves. You could say that .4 was deducted just because of the stickers, and it wouldn't be so false to say so. It doesn't make me want to run out and buy more Cars sets, but I'm pleased with the one that I wanted.
And now, Luigi fights off Will Turner as Guido hurries away with the Ginnyfigure!
Look out for more reviews from me quite soon!
The set and review are very cool
. I think my cousin's children will love them.
