James Bond 2018

[J_C]

review on brickset.

car is ugly. 

I do not care how clever the build is inside. it is ugly. and making on of the most beautiful cars in history into the ugly one is not good. 

[Lucarex]

On 7/3/2018 at 11:41 AM, Lucarex said:

Apparently being launched at London's Leicester Square store on July 18th at 10:07am.

Creator Expert 10262 Aston Martin DB5

Price £129.99

Price confirmed on S@H.

I've already posted why I think it's unrealistic to expect Superleggera curves in Lego brick form. Don't get me wrong I'm equally disappointed that's the case, but it's very much tempered by the fact the build and gadget features look great.

Instant buy for me but each to their own I guess.

 

[RNRS001]

19 minutes ago, RedHoodPug said:

I don’t care that it doesn’t look exactly like a DB5. I don’t like James Bond. But that built is dynamite and anyone who says it’s not good enough is, quite frankly, spoilt.

What you're saying is how cooking the meal is so much fun so people shouldn't act spoiled when it tastes poor because you put so much effort into preparing it. Surely a built is only dynamite if the result pays off? I enjoy building, but in the end the LEGO cars I own are on display. I bought the other cars because they're so good looking. This one just doesn't look good.

 

[Lucarex]

2 minutes ago, RNRS001 said:

I bought the other cars because they're so good looking. This one just doesn't look good.

Really? If we're talking pure aesthetics, to my eye, the Beetle and Mini sets are only accurate representations (not sure "good looking" applies in either case)  if you squint, like really really hard. 

Edited July 18, 2018 by Lucarex

[RNRS001]

18 minutes ago, Lucarex said:

Really? If we're talking pure aesthetics, to my eye, the Beetle and Mini sets are only accurate representations if you squint, like really really hard. 

I disagree. The F40 was very good. The VW camper also instantly looks like a VW camper. Same with the Caterham. Then there was the London bus, which also looked like a London bus. The Beetle was the first car of which I wondered if I wasn't making a 2CV instead. For whatever reason, the LEGO cars have been going downhill the last few years.

Edited July 18, 2018 by RNRS001

[Robianco]

The Mini is one of the greatest pieces of contemporary design ever created. Never mind one of the best car designs ever made. Rock stars, royalty, your nan... no other car has had the same kind of appeal as the classic Mini. It's not just a good looking car. It's a great looking car. The Lego set was an excellent representation of that shape.

The inclusion of all of the gadgets and elements look very impressive on this and it's obviously an incredibly well thought out build but the shaping still looks off to me. Some of the details are very Aston Martin. The front grille, the headlights, bumpers with over-riders, side vent, spoked wheels... all of them excellent but one of the things that really makes the DB5 as painfully beautiful as it is is the soft curves. I know Lego is inherently blocky and doesn't lend itself to those kind of curves but there's the challenge. With that in mind It hasn't achieved enough of the overall feel of a DB5 to make me part with £130 regardless of it being a Bond version or not. If Mike Psiaki can't create that car shape as I'd like to see it then maybe it can't be done. At least for me.

[LegoFjotten]

I think the DB5 looks better in the official photos, and the features looks cool. I will definitely get it and will probably enjoy both the build and the result more than the London bus. Maybe the looks of it will grow on me once I have it in hand, we'll see.

That said, I certainly understand those who don't like it; It doesn't capture the overall sleekness of the DB5. Not sure if it is possible to capture those curves with LEGO any better (at that scale, with legal connections that passes QC).

[MAB]

Pass for me. I'm not really sure what it is meant to be. They seem to have done a display style model but with some play features. They could have done a decent display model, concentrating on the aesthetics and not the play features, or they could have done a smaller play version in minifigure scale, but they ended up taking the worst of both. There is no James Bond to drive it and it doesn't look great for display.

And that cheat using the stickers to emphasise the curves on the rear side windows is bad. It is an admission of failure to get the shape anywhere near like what it should be. It didn't work, so cover it up with a sticker.

 

[essel]

Although I find the model quite interesting (despite such flaws as the partly matte roof and especially the lack of a Bond figure), it's appalling (yet expected) that it costs 20 euros extra in the Benelux! Not buying it at 170 euros!

[Whovastron]

4 hours ago, RedHoodPug said:

I don’t care that it doesn’t look exactly like a DB5. I don’t like James Bond. But that built is dynamite and anyone who says it’s not good enough is, quite frankly, spoilt.

Er...how...how does that make any sense. People don’t like a design so they’re spoilt? What? People seem to forget so much that Lego is still just a company selling products. If people don’t like the product because it’s not up to the usual standard, they aren’t being ungrateful or spoilt, they’re giving valid criticism, it’s their opinion as a consumer that counts to Lego, the consumers are the ones buying these things so their opinion is allowed and matters. Lego is not some godly company that can do no wrong, critical analysis can be given to anything.

Sorry for the rant, but this is something I see so much in the AFOL community and people giving criticism to this DB5 don’t deserve to be attacked for it.

[MAB]

All that grey. You just need to straighten up the headlights and remove the sloped back and you have a Trabant!

[Terrasher]

It's nice that TLG managed to include a bunch of functionality into this set but, ultimately, we're paying for a car that feels like a DB5, yet looks like something else.

For a generic LEGO car, it looks O.K. For an Aston Martin DB5, it's unrecognisable. For Bond's DB5, it's... well, also unrecognisable but the gadgets are there, which is pretty nice.

Easy pass for me, too. Functionality by itself can't redeem an ugly and overpriced set.

[Friscorays]

 

I also think the aesthetics leave something to be desired but the gadget functions are pretty cool; especially the ejector seat and front machine guns.  As a fan of Aston Martin and James Bond, I'll be buying.

[Lucarex]

Love how the licensing deal didn't include the famous theme, so TLG had to make do with a really awful soundalike on the designer video.

[Fuppylodders]

I think the issue is, too many people are expecting different things from it. They've put out a James bond car. Comes hand in hand to have gadgets and functions or it's not a 'true'  bond car, but just another classic. To get these functions, there just HAS to be compromises somewhere. Not only that, but the DB5 has sooo many compound curves, its literally mission impossible to achieve something that would be perfect to the display collector consumer. Because you also have to take into account it HAS to have structural strength, not one of these perfect looking displayable mocs that comes to pieces the moment you even glance at it or drop a pin next to it. 

I also understand about the guy who said anyone who disagrees is spoilt. I think he meant that in a sense that we've had sooo many really decently designed and excellent looking sets that the moment a set looks slightly less than its source, everyone jumps on it calling it poor. 

Sooo many people loved the mini and use it as a comparison of how it looks close to its source material. 

Yet I as a fan of the real life version always felt it was nowhere near as good as peoe made out. Again, it has so many compound curves. The bonnet. The roof just looks flat. The rear end is flat, the front windscreen entire area is flat. So much is missing that would define it as a mini, but I see the constraints they were under with it because, bricks. So I get it, and think they did a good enough job. 

But I love the F40. Yet I bet an absolute massive fan of F40's would nit pick it to pieces. 

 

Mab, I think your critique that it looks essentially like a Trabant is misplaced, and actually more closely belongs being applied to the mini. Extend the mini's big behind end and it'll look exactly like a lego Trabant. More so than your suggestions of the DB5 would. 

 

The lego DB5 has captured the overall look rather well considering its lego. If you want a DB5 to display that looks like a replica DB5, buy a model. There will ALWAYS be faults with a lego version of ANYTHING. 

sure, I think the rear end is a bit below par and also hate the sticker being used instead, but again, it's about compromise. Fitting the functions that bond car gadget fans would expect to see. Let alone the compound curvature of that rear-end, and trying to create everything fitting perfectly against the rear pillars. It's just never going to please everyone. 

To a real life camper van fan/beetle fan/mini fan/F40 fan, the lego counter parts might be quite far from being as good as a generic fan might think, and I think the exact same is applied to the DB5 too. Even more so because now, functioning gadgets had to be implimented due to it being a bond car, thus a level of acceptable compromises. And what true bond car doesn't have gadgets? Especially when considering its the cult classic DB5. 

[Terrasher]

There's a review on New Elementary that shows off the functions with some pretty cool animations. 

[rodiziorobs]

I'm not a big car buff but something seems...off.

I just got the promotional email from TLG and they have a side-by-side shot, and yeah, they look similar, but I totally agree with @MAB that it's also reminiscent of that Trabant.

The sides seem flat but that's a concession I'm willing to make, but where the sides join the front looks too square and blunt--especially in the sides of where the machine guns pop out. The 2x1 plates make a square corner where the real car has zero.

The pouty look the real car has from the slight overhang above the grille is absent from the Lego set. I'm not sure how that could have been accomplished anyway, but it needed to be there, even if a tad exaggerated, rather than completely excised. The lack of that upper lip also reveals that there is no shaping to the sides of the headlights--on the Lego model they are simply there, whereas on the real model the hood gives way for them. It changes the profile dramatically, again recalling the Trabant more than it should.

Probably the biggest problem with the blunt nose (and simplest to fix IMO) is that the hood slopes down quite low on the real model, but TLG's keeps the elevation the same from front to back. This adds a ton to the squarish look, and how impossible would it be to drop the front edge and hood interior of the car down a plate or so?

I won't be buying this (it's well out if my league, price wise), but after comparing it directly with the real thing, I can see where people have legitimate issues with its design. It's a great model, but not a great likeness.

Edited July 18, 2018 by rodiziorobs

[jfbat]

13 minutes ago, rodiziorobs said:

I'm not a big car buff but something seems...off.

Apart from the shape, the 20 euro price difference with our neighbours (Netherlands vs Germany) is way off. In no way explainable. And thus: not an instant buy for me. I'll be in Germany in a few weeks, and I can wait for that. If it's sold out by then? I don't care, really. This set just doesn't give me that "must have" vibes like the other vehicles in this series (which I all have).

 

[SollX]

46 minutes ago, jfbat said:

Apart from the shape, the 20 euro price difference with our neighbours (Netherlands vs Germany) is way off. In no way explainable. And thus: not an instant buy for me. I'll be in Germany in a few weeks, and I can wait for that. If it's sold out by then? I don't care, really. This set just doesn't give me that "must have" vibes like the other vehicles in this series (which I all have).

 

modulars also have the 20 euro's difference.

that said... i could buy another modular for the same money. even though i really love lego, james bond, and aston martin. i would rather buy a modular.

it is impressive how they got to include the gadgets, and i would love to see the set in real life. i am just nog paying that price for it

Edited July 18, 2018 by SollX

[RedHoodPug]

3 hours ago, Whovastron said:

Er...how...how does that make any sense. People don’t like a design so they’re spoilt? What? People seem to forget so much that Lego is still just a company selling products. If people don’t like the product because it’s not up to the usual standard, they aren’t being ungrateful or spoilt, they’re giving valid criticism, it’s their opinion as a consumer that counts to Lego, the consumers are the ones buying these things so their opinion is allowed and matters. Lego is not some godly company that can do no wrong, critical analysis can be given to anything.

Sorry for the rant, but this is something I see so much in the AFOL community and people giving criticism to this DB5 don’t deserve to be attacked for it.

Makes perfect sense, to be honest. Not really an attack, more stating that no matter how much Lego up their game, some people will never be satisfied with the build because their own expectations are through the roof. Ergo spoilt. The fact that they made it is a great thing. If you can’t possibly consider the possibility that this is an impressive build, then you come across as ungrateful and/or spoilt. There was a time when we got what we were given, said thank you and moved on. Now everyone is a critic, nothing is good enough anymore. Lego don’t have to match the exceedingly high level of expectation, but they certainly try. 

[Puresh]

I think I might have to apologize for being critical at first. The leaked image did not do justice to the final model. As a huge James Bond fan the picture made me loose any hope the set would still surprise me but it totally did! The other angles look really good and the play features blow the set out of the water. I've already ordered my copy and I'm happy that the reactions to the set are mostly positive now 

[Whovastron]

34 minutes ago, RedHoodPug said:

Makes perfect sense, to be honest. Not really an attack, more stating that no matter how much Lego up their game, some people will never be satisfied with the build because their own expectations are through the roof. Ergo spoilt. The fact that they made it is a great thing. If you can’t possibly consider the possibility that this is an impressive build, then you come across as ungrateful and/or spoilt. There was a time when we got what we were given, said thank you and moved on. Now everyone is a critic, nothing is good enough anymore. Lego don’t have to match the exceedingly high level of expectation, but they certainly try. 

Yes everyone is a critic, because they’re allowed to be, it’s not a crime to critique something. I don’t like this set, but my expectations weren’t through the roof. My expections were through the roof for the UCS Falcon and the Harry Potter Sets, and they more than met those expectations. Here I just think it doesn’t look enough like the car, compared to how well the other expert sets have. This build is as impressive as any other regular build, but just misses the mark in capturing the vehicle. It’s a valid criticism, and saying people are just spoilt because they don’t just eat it up and say thank you is twisted, like I said before; this is a product from a billion dollar company, of course people can criticise it, If there is no criticism, how do companies like lego improve their products and with that sales?

[RNRS001]

2 hours ago, Fuppylodders said:

But I love the F40. Yet I bet an absolute massive fan of F40's would nit pick it to pieces. 

No, he wouldn't. :)

I am a massive fan of the Ferrari F40. It's been my ultimate dream car from the moment I saw it when I was 5 years old. I'm in my thirties now and I've had the posters, the toy cars, then later the scale models, I've drawn the car many times and then saw a LEGO rendition which was close to spot on. Sure, it's not 100% perfect, but it doesn't have to be because you can't mistake it for any other car. It doesn't look like a knock-off, it looks like an F40.

You're saying this model captures the overall look of a DB5, but this is the problem really, because it doesn't. This DB5 could be anything, really. It's got the looks of a Trabant, bits and pieces of a Jensen Interceptor, glimpses of Lada here and there and if you squint real hard you might just see a DB5 in it. I get how they can't recreate all the curves, but this model doesn't recreate any curve. It lacks the character the original DB5 has.

I mean no offense, but I've a feeling you're trying to speak for a group of people which clearly have a different opinion than the one you're going for. You're saying car fanatics would probably think the other models look poor as well, but the reason the other models are so well received is exactly because they capture the feel of a design quite well. I am a car fanatic, pretty much the only sets I still buy are the cars and trucks. I follow the blogs. There's not a blog or website out there which has positive reactions to this car. The car fanatics think it suck, and those are the same people who thought the F40 and Mini looked fantastic. Even my mom thought the VW camper was a fantastic buy, and she thinks buying LEGO is a waste of money when you're grown up. :)

Again, I get it, it's LEGO, but the same criteria count for a Caterham, an F40, a Mini, a VW Camper and a London Bus. They got it right with all those models, and with this one they clearly didn't. In the end, the final model just doesnt't look good. LEGO's been making so many cars lately yet the last time they got it right was the Caterham. The Porsche, the Chiron, the Beetle and now this. I've no idea what's gotten into them but its made me stop buying the new sets.

 

[Tariq j]

I’m actually impressed they managed to fit so many of the gadgets in the set in the first place. I didn’t expect them to include all the gadgets let alone have them all work. But I think (and you see this a lot in Star Wars sets) it’s about the balance of play features and accuracy. At a £130 price point to have a completely accurate DB5 with all the working gadgets is incredibly hard if not impossible. 

[RedHoodPug]

51 minutes ago, Whovastron said:

Yes everyone is a critic, because they’re allowed to be, it’s not a crime to critique something. I don’t like this set, but my expectations weren’t through the roof. My expections were through the roof for the UCS Falcon and the Harry Potter Sets, and they more than met those expectations. Here I just think it doesn’t look enough like the car, compared to how well the other expert sets have. This build is as impressive as any other regular build, but just misses the mark in capturing the vehicle. It’s a valid criticism, and saying people are just spoilt because they don’t just eat it up and say thank you is twisted, like I said before; this is a product from a billion dollar company, of course people can criticise it, If there is no criticism, how do companies like lego improve their products and with that sales?

There’s a difference in criticisms. Saying it misses the mark is one thing - going in most people were anticipating whether Lego could pull off the curves - such as yourself. Others completely tearing it apart are hampered by their own expectations. There are Creator Expert car collectors here who won’t buy because they don’t like how it looks. Surely part of collecting is the completion. If this proves to be a set that gains value in time then anyone who has a change of heart is going to have a bitter pill later on. I collect DC, and I get annoyed when a character comes along with subpar printing. I still get it, because ultimately Lego have made it and I don’t want to go down the customs road. You can criticise something and appreciate it at the same time. The ones here purely slating the set are only helping to an extent: Lego might only have one Bond set in mind, they might have more. They might think, “huh, the bunch of ingrates! We won’t bother with the rest of the line”. It’s scarcely twisted to consider an extreme reaction just that.