A short (honest) review of the A-Team Dimensions fun pack

[Yatkuu]

Yesterday I bought the A-Team LEGO Dimensions pack... 

Just like any well-informed AFOL, I knew this was coming but still... I can't help it, as I look at this box... my first tought is... The A-team... in LEGO? I just can't wrap my head around this. There are so many things that just scream "whaaaaat?!" Or rather... "How did we get there?"

Let's start with the subject material... The A-Team.. Or "L'Agence tous risques" as I knew it. A TV show from the 80s that nobody has watched in years despite the reboot attempt... Regardless, I am sure anyone who is >35 still remembers this. 
This is genius. The IP probably cost nothing.. Instant hit.
Try to picture this... You are the NBC (or whoever happens to own these rights nowadays) lawyer in charge of representing this IP and you get a call from a LEGO or TT Games rep.. "So, we would like to make a minifig of Barracus to put in a LEGO video game".
After discarding this as a prank...  I guess the deal eventually got signed.

Now.. what is the A-Team? I did not research this and I'll just respond from memory. A bunch of funny freelance mercenaries helping out people in need against cliche looking bad people. These are good guys who are hunted by some Military dudes who want to put them behind bars.. I never bothered to ask myself why exactly. There is the boss who smokes big cigars and likes good plans... The fancy looking guy who gets all the girls... The looney pilot ... The girl (often forgotten)... And of course Barracuda, the big black angry looking dude. 
To put this mildly, this just does not strike me as the typical LEGO good guy crew. 
Then, as if their resume was not borderline enough, there is the weaponry and contemporary military equipment matter. In my memories, the A-team was 2 things - over the top gun fights and do-it-yourself handywork à la Mc Gyver. Even as a 10 year old I was telling myself these guys were shooting a lot of guns (and what a terrible aim they were). I remember these silly episodes finales where they would ambush the bad guys in some sort of non-sense M-16 or AK-47 crossfire showdown resulting in explosions galore.

The debate around what makes a LEGO set appropriate is getting really old and I sure don't want to re-open that can of worms... I forged my opinion on that a long time ago. I will just ask this.. are we not crossing yet another line here?
Anwyay.. Who am I to be asking these pesky questions...

Now, let's take a closer look at the set.
The MF is perfect..  Remember my description of Barracus here above? A black angry looking dude. And this is just what you get... with 2016 LEGO MF standards. Gold chains detailing, back printing, custom mohawk hair piece. 
Just. Bloody. Brilliant.

As if it was not enough, we also get... The Van.
Holy Molly... what 80's kid has not dreamt of having a car like this? This van sits in the pantheon of mythical cars right next to the BTTF Delorean, the Ghostbuster hearse, the Zebra 3 Starky and Hutch Gran Torino or KITT.. (and so many others).
I will say this, the van is probably the best looking vehicle in the entire Dimensions game...and it comes with custom printed parts!

I honestly think the MF and the van alone justify the purchase of this set. I will put these on my desk at work and every time I'll look at these I will get a smile on my face and I cannot wait for the questions I'll get from coworkers.
Sure, it would be even better with a lower price tag but... whatever, it's only 15€ and there are a lot of sillier ways to spend this sort of cash.

I wish I could stop this post right here on a positive note... but there is also the question of the game.
Yeah, Dimensions is not just an IP milking cow.. It is also a video game, and a surprinsingly good one too. I got most of the year 1 sets, some from Bricklink where I just purchased the tags for cheap. It all worked great.
I naively thought these new packs would work in the same way. Unfortunately, it is not as simple as that.

When I got back from the store, I got the Dimensions portal out of its box, placed Barracus on the thing, switched on my PS3 and booted the Dimensions game.
Then, I waited one hour for a 5GB patch to download and install.
As if this was not frustrating enough, when the game eventually started I finally got to the portal of the A-Team world... and I could not get in. The character would just jump through the portal and nothing would happen. That's when I gave up.

Today I gave it another try, upon starting the game I was prompted to accept another 5GB update... seriously. I had to restart the patch download 4 times. The 1st time it got stuck at 30%, the 2nd time around 70%... But eventually it went all the way... Yay!
Then, after installing the patch, the game started and I got to the exact same point. I can get to the A-Team portal, but if I enter it Barracus just goes through without entering the dimension...
At this point I just want to scream at TT games! What are you guys trying to do?  This is Wave 6 and there are more coming! What sort of monster have you created... a Windows OS?!
To the best of my knowledge, the "only" thing I still need to do is to download the DLC specific to the A-team world... But somehow it does not show as available. I did a bit of online search and I know I am not the only one encountering these difficulties so I am sure it will eventually be fixed... But what a sorry mess this is!

I am an adult and pretty familiar with the necessity to update softwares..I get these often enough at work and I try to rationalize all this.... But... try to explain that to your core audience, a kid who got a Lego set and just wants to play his new game? Better, try to explain to a kid that he won't be able to play his game because you just don't happen to have a broadband internet connection with the ability to swallow 10GB updates!? (And it is still not working!)
I am not a gamer, I do not know if this is common in other games but I just don't get it. 
If this is the new LEGO Dimensions business model... I just don't see this working out despite the great IP and good models.

That being said, I still recommend this set for the work they did on the MF and model. If you grew up in the 80s and watched this show you will love this.

 

[julesvincent]

I totally agree with the first half of your review.

sure, the 5gb patch was annoying, and then having to download another 300MB for the A-Team world also. But it worked fine for me and I cruised with BA in the Van through LA. 

Nonetheless an awesome set!

[Noctina Noir]

I'm not going to lie, the update instructions were NOT clear for me (and it took me and my more gaming savvy brother a bit to figure out HOW we were supposed to update).

While my knowledge of the A-Team is limited I thought it was a nice tough that B.A. WONT go into a flying vehicle. He'll actually shake his head no and refuse to go into the plane. Nice touch.

[TheLunabrick]

I love the hubworld that came with it. Also the minifigure and the little van build is great.

[gamejutzu]

I don't have that much interest in the A-Team, but the mini-build is great. The minifigure is very MOC-able too.

Edited January 8, 2017 by gamejutzu