REVIEW: 40194-40196 Shell Ferrari Sets

[Clone OPatra]

After looking at the cars a week ago, now it's time for the remaining 2014 Shell Ferrari Promos. Namely:

Set Titles: Finish Line & Podium, Shell Station, Shell Tanker

Set #s: 40194-40196

Theme: Shell Ferrari

Year of Release: 2014

Price at Release: Promotional Item

Just browse the pictures? Flickr set

INTRODUCTION

Thanks once again to LEGO for providing these. Doing a Shell and Ferrari promotional series, it makes good sense that LEGO would make some cars. LEGO has a history when it comes to Ferrari of making things like finish lines, pit stops, and trucks, though, so I guess these non-car sets were to be expected. I wouldn't call these set anticipated in any way, though. Besides for the tanker, which looked like a solid mini truck from the pictures, the others really looked unexciting. Let's see if my mind can be changed 'in the brick…'

40194 Finish Line & Podium

It wouldn't be a race without a finish line, so here LEGO comes providing us with one. The premise at least sounds ok.

BAG

This finish line looks pretty bland really, but not horrible. What immediately strikes me is that LEGO jumped on the minifigure train even though all of the actual cars are mini. The referee, or whatever you call it in a race, must be a giant. There's also the winners' podium in the background, even though there are no drivers to put on it. Hmm…

INSTRUCTIONS & DSS

Just like the car sets, these ones all have the instructions folded up neatly with the DSS and boring every-time-the-same card in a little baggie. A wonderful way to avoid many a shed tear due to crumpled instructions and stickers.

Compared to the cars, this sticker sheet falls into the 'not dreaded' category. We do get the honor of stickering a minifigure, though. Takes me right back to the stickered Classic Space figures. Is this a subtle hint that Classic Space is coming back? It must be! Actually, stickering Ferrari figs is just what LEGO always does (even with this suit guy who has no Ferrari-ness to him whatsoever, unless shiny suits are a Ferrari thing).

PARTS

Unlike the cars, which mostly had at least some interesting or cool parts, this set has few. In fact, after this one I stopped taking parts pictures. In this set all I note are the grey 2x4 panels and I guess the black fence and white post pieces could be useful to some. And tiles. Always tiles. (Note that the white pole piece is missing. I don't know if it was actually in the bag and fell into a black hole as soon as i opened it, or was never there, but I can't find it.)

MINIFIGURE

Usually I love minifigures. I swoon all over them. I spend as much time in a review on the minifigures as I do on the entire set. But this guy is just bland. His face is a dime a dozen, his stickered outfit is boring, and the big headphones still look silly. A better face would have lifted this guy up tremendously, but LEGO always goes as bland as possible with Ferrari.

FINISH LINE

Well, here it is. Not much to behold. It does look pleasing, and its few details certainly help with that. The camera, lights, and tiles all have a good effect.

Each side has a clip to hold the little accessories, which helps you keep it all together. Again, the pole should be white, not trans-blue.

Two panels get these simple V-Power stickers, which convey that real-life ads-on-the-side-of-race-track effect. These definitely make it look less bland, though they lessen the usefulness of the panels.

I actually don't know what this thing is a supposed to be. Is it some sort of electronic board one can hold to keep track of everyone's position? Kind of like the little screen thingy at the Podrace in Episode 1?

Even though the finish line looks nice enough, it has a glaring flaw: it's so small that only one car can fit through at a time. Altogether this makes for a finish line at one scale, car at a bigger scale, and a giant minifigure at another scale. It just makes the whole thing kind of silly.

PODIUM

We get this podium, which is great and all, but this too has next to no playability because we're lacking, you know, PEOPLE to go on it. LEGO really should have bagged (haha) this finish line idea and just made a winners' lounge with this podium and a couple drivers on couches. Heck, they've done a similar enough set to that before.

All in all, this set is a real pass. It looks fine, but the finish line is too small, the podium goes with nothing, and the minifigure is really nothing anyone needs.

40195 Shell Station

What does a gas station have to do with racing, you ask? Hmm… just about zero. At least this thing actually looks more like a pit stop anyway. I'm not sure what LEGO's set-naming department was thinking.

BAG

Honestly this set looks even less exciting than the last one from the artwork. It's some odd sort of structure, and I can't even tell what it's supposed to resemble. The artwork also makes no sense; this hut thing seems to be in the middle of a race track of sorts, and bottles are just left on the road. Meanwhile smiley guy with his giant wrench is walking carelessly out onto the course.

INSTRUCTIONS & DSS

These stickers could actually be useful for customizing and making your own Shell MOCs, so that's something. Otherwise, not much going on here, but at least no bad stickering either (besides for putting the non-square Shell stickers on square tiles).

MINIFIGURE

Here's another super-boring, stock minifigure with a stickered torso. There's something about this guy that makes him a little better than the one in the Finish Line set; maybe it's just the color blocking. He also could go well with the female attendant from the last round of Shell Ferrari promotionals.

STATION

So what is this thing? I still don't know. It implies that a car should drive through it, even though all of the tools and stuff are on the outside. At least it comes with those cool big grey sloped pieces for the inside.

I suppose this thing resembles a gas pump at which one can refuel one's automotive vehicle. The price ticker just seems very afraid or excited, though. It's screaming AAAAAAAAA.

This side doesn't have much too it besides for that little red rounded construction (no idea what that is) and some lights. The lights make me think pitstop because they count up to green and then the light thing lifts up and off you go. Honestly my knowledge of racing comes solely from playing those arcade games where you sit in a big chair and have a steering wheel, so don't quote me on anything.

The other side holds the spritz bottle for when your car gets a iddle widdle dirty, and a fire extinguisher for when you car internally combusts. Also, a wrench. I hear those come in handy when fixing engines.

Of course this model is also to scale with approximately nothing else from this line, so the attendant is left rather confused when a car does come around.

This set just strikes me as odd. If you want the big grey slopey parts or the panels with window cut-outs, maybe consider it, but otherwise it's a pass I'd say.

40196 Shell Tanker

Now this concept finally makes enough sense. We got some mini-cars, so let's get a mini tanker to fuel 'em up. LEGO has a history of making pleasant mini trucks, so my hopes are set high-ish.

BAG

It's a truck. This is a Shell promo, so it's a Shell truck. It's driving on a country road, as if delivering fuel to somewhere. My god for once in this review SOMETHING MAKES SENSE.

INSTRUCTIONS & DSS

We're looking at the kindest sticker sheet of them all here, folks. Easy-peasy. Thank heavens.

PARTS

There are actually some nice things like slopey bits in this struck, but I really just wanted to highlight this very SNOTty piece. You don't see these too often.

TRUCK

Here she is: a well-appointed truck. Pleasing color scheme. Nice details. Good curves. All one could really ask for in a truck.

The wheels still do stick out, but the size of the whole thing draws your eyes away from this issue. It's not detrimental to the look, as it is with a couple of the cars.

The designer has sprinkled in some good detail parts to convey truck-like details. We've got exhaust pipes, grills, and whatever the grey 1x2 with bar is supposed to be. The tank itself also looks quite good.

The back features appropriate details allowing you to let out the fuel, along with some blinky lights. Looking good.

The only thing that's slightly weird is the big gap between the cab and the tank that you can see from some angles. They used a red SNOT piece in there since they'd used one for the back, but didn't tile it up at all. This is the only significant flaw in the model, and you can't even see it from every angle, so it's ok.

It's quite a good little truck. The only thing it lacks is a pull-back motor. Last time, LEGO did the cab of a Scuderia truck (which is only ever used for transporting stuff, not for racing), and they added a pullback motor just for kicks. How fun would a road-raging tanker truck have been? I jest; this is actually a good set.

CONCLUSION

I wasn't wildly in love with all of the car in my review of those sets, but in hindsight they were pretty good for what they were. At least compared to two of these sets. Both sets with minifigures here really do not make sense, or just fall flat because of scaling. You could have the Finish Line in the background of a race scene for some forced perspective, and that's about it. The truck is the only good thing here.

In the last Shell Ferrari series, there were also seven sets, but six of those were vehicles and one was a crew of three minifigures with minifigure-sized equipment. That set was also out of scale with the cars of course, but it tied well enough into the theme by being a pit crew. The 40194 and 40195 here just feel like confused attempts to add in some variety with non-vehicle builds and shoehorning in minifigures. It doesn't work. LEGO could have kept the truck as it is, changed one of the sets to a 'winners' circle' or something, and made the last set another car. The cars are the cool things.

[Carlito83]

Looks like nice little models, specially the truck.

[XAxles]

The pit stop set seems to be based on the facilities at Ferrari's Fiorano Circuit where they test their cars:

and the black stickered tile on the finish line set is called a pit board with details for the driver (last lap time, position, laps to go, and advantage or disadvantage on the next placed rider).

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I agree that there would have been another car in place of, say, the finish line (The pit stop set is a little better, IMO).

But what car?

288 GTO? Older F1 car?

Edited September 26, 2014 by XAxles