[REVIEW] 41254 - Volcano Rock City Concert

[MKJoshA]

Trolls: World Tour. The movie that every Lego fan couldn't wait to see! Right?... Well you may not be a fan of the movie. Or, like me, you may know nothing at all about it! But whether you are a Trolls aficionado or not, this review will help you decide whether this set is a worthy investment.

Set Information
Name:  41254 - Volcano Rock City Concert
Theme: Trolls: World Tour
Year: 2020
Pieces: 387
Minifigures: 3
Price: £34.99 / $39.99 / 39.99€
Resources: Brickset and Bricklink

The original Trolls movie came out in 2016. My daughter was not even 1 at the time and I had no other incentive to see it, so I gave it a pass. 2020 rolled around and while my daughter is 4 going on 14 right now, she doesn't yet get to call the shots on which movies we view. So I gave Trolls: World Tour a pass as well. Therefore this review will be spoiler free!

The box art matches much of the other Trolls: World Tour promotional artwork. The rainbow color spectrum hints at the colorful pieces awaiting us inside the box.

Inside we have 3 numbered bags, the foam pieces in an unnumbered bag, 2 loose roller-coaster tracks, 1 loose 8x16 plate, a sticker sheet, and instructions.

The back of the instructions shows this line of sets is clearly marketed to the same demographic as the Friends sets.

The beginning of the instructions shows us what to expect with each bag and how to build Poppy, the protagonist of the movie.

Page 6 shows us how to build Branch (teal) and Barb (lavender).

All the minifigures are in Bag 1 and they provide most of the interesting parts from that bag. We also get the 4x4 curved cut-out plate in dark blue which only appears in this color in 2 other sets. The black skeleton leg is originally from the Minecraft Wither Skeleton. And the Trolls accessory bag comes in pearl gray exclusively in this set.

Here's a close-up of the accessory bag parts as well as a few other nice re-colors in Bag 1.

The minifigures are fascinating as I'll explain further down.

Here's the back printing. Many minifigures get no back printing at all, so the attention to detail here is nice.

Each fig in this set uses a tradition torso and mini-legs. The heads are made up of two parts: the face and the hair assembly.

The back of the heads have an interesting notch. If you look closely instead the hair assemblies you can see the guiding groove of plastic that forces the hair to face the "right" way when placed on the head. This prevents you from placing the hair backwards as a legal connection.

But you can still mix up the hair assemblies among the minifigures.

Poppy comes with a new skirt piece the fits between the legs and torso. With it removed she is "naked" underneath. I guess Lego's standards are different for Troll figures than other themes.

Poppy's outfit is exclusive to this set. Here is a comparison picture to how she looks in most of the other sets. Branch's outfit is also exclusive to this set, but I don't own any other version of him for comparison.

By the time you're done with Bag 1 you have the main floor of the stage built as well as the separate drum set. You can see the extra pieces from the first bag. I ended up with an extra red modified plate. I double checked to make sure I hadn't missed a step as this is not a usual extra part. It seemed that I had followed every step correctly. So I guess I just got lucky with this piece. Hopefully there isn't someone out there with a set that has this part missing!

There are a few new re-colors and interesting pieces in Bag 2. What stood out to me first were the lavender roller coaster curved track pieces. There are no other coaster pieces in lavender which limits their use for roller coaster rides. But there are plenty of ways to use the curved track pieces and I'm sure AFOLs will find ways to fit them into their builds. You also get the new lighting bolt pieces in trans-red and trans-purple, both exclusive colors. The only non-minifigure printed piece is found in Bag 2. A 1x1 round tile used as speakers.

We also get to assemble the foam pieces found in this set. These have no connection points that work within the Lego system. They are the width of 1 plate and need to have a wider piece in front and behind to secure them to any build. They provide for shapes not achievable by bricks, but I wonder why Lego chose to use a new medium instead of the printed plastic already in use for Ninjago dragon wings and the like.

When we are finished with Bag 2 we have the makings of a rock concert stage! There are a few extra pieces, mostly 1x1 quarter tiles.

Bag 3 has some great re-colors and rare parts. There are a few Bright Light Blue, or Cinderella Blue re-colors that really stand out. Lego has been slowly increasing the number of parts in this color over the past couple years.

Part of the building process for Bag 3 are the statue looking troll/ogres. This is what the back of them look like. Not having seen the movie I'm not sure if they are supposed to have useful functions on their backsides or if this is just Lego's way of utilizing space. They look a lot more plain without the stickers, which I declined to add. But I get the impression it's supposed to represent some kind of backstage dressing room.

Finishing Bag 3 completes the building experience! We get a few extra pieces though not as many as I expected. Maybe this makes up for getting an extra red modified tile. The instructions show Poppy hanging by the chain in the background of the stage. Surely something to do with the movie, though out of context it looks odd.

You can place either Barb's chair or the drum set on top of the stage. Though the instructions indicate the chair is what was meant to be placed there. The completed diorama is a riot of colors, though more muted than the other Trolls sets which represents the rock music venue. I really like the small detail of having the Cinderella Blue statues raising their hands to different heights from each other. It's something I didn't notice during the building process.

Here's what the backstage area looks like. The hinges allow you to swing these around for more storytelling fun.

And here is the sticker sheet. You can see the troll/ogre faces on the top left.

Final Thoughts:

So is this set for you?

Playability: 8/10 - The set has a built in function of having the stage circles turn by use of the splat gears. It also has a number of areas for the Trolls to interact with. You have the stage, the backstage, and all the instruments. I think kids will have fun playing with this immediately after building it.

Building Experience: 7/10 - There are few amazing building techniques in this set, but the building process never feels boring.

Design: 6/10 - I can't compare this to the movie scene it was designed on. But they seemed to have covered the concept pretty well. My only complaint is that things seem cramped. The "backstage" feels squeezed in, but that probably can't be helped unless the set were bigger.

Aesthetic: 5/10 - This set has a different feel to it that the other Trolls sets. The brighter colors are "hidden" beneath the dark blues. If you like the Trolls' color schemes you'll probably like this set, but you have to look deeper to see it. I personally like all the colors, but not in this combo.

Minifigures: 5/10 - Either you want Trolls figures or you don't. There is very little middle ground and is probably a turn off to many Lego collectors.

Price: 7/10 - This set gets close the the $.10/piece ratio so many AFOLs look for in sets. It has a number of larger pieces and is a licensed theme which accounts for the slightly higher price/piece ratio. It's a decent value for the money spent.

Verdict: 6/10 - As a Trolls set this one fits the theme's aesthetic the least. I'm sure fans of the movie would enjoy playing with this, but probably not as much as some of the other sets. As a parts pack it provides some cool re-colors and some exclusive ones, but not in great quantities. If you're not a Trolls fan I can't recommend this set unless you can find it on discount.