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REVIEW | 10274 Ghostbusters Ecto-1

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Set Name: Ecto-1
Set Number: 10274
Pieces: 2352
Price: $200 US
Theme: 18+ (internally categorized under Creator Expert)
Release Date: 11/15/2020

Who ya gonna call? In this case, it might be your nearest LEGO store to see when they will have this fantastic new set in stock; the Ghostbuster's Ecto-1! Indeed, Lego has taken another shot at giving us a large scale vehicle inspired by a famous film franchise, this time taking on the classic Ecto-1, a heavily modified 1959 Cadillac. This is not the first time LEGO has produced an Ecto-1 set; we previously saw the likes of 21108: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 and 75828: Ecto-1 & 2 which were minifigure scaled in nature. This Set falls more in line with the Creator Expert line of vehicles, such as the recently released Fiat, Aston Martin, Mustang, etc. Interestingly, it seems that Lego has upped the ante from releasing one of these vehicles per year to two, being that we saw both the Ford Mustang as well as the Harley Davidson released in 2019, and now we have the Ecto-1 releasing in the same year as the Fiat 500.

[Though, as of the time of this writing, I received the set on October 16th, and still no word of this vehicle has been published; no image leaks, no official reveal, I wasn't even told the name of the set until I had it in hand or when the review can actually be released... I've never seen this big of a delay happen with a review set. I tell you this, because I anticipate that this set was originally supposed to release much earlier, likely more in line with the release of the Ghostbusters Aftermath movie, given that this is inspired by the appearance of the Ecto-1 in that film. Due to COVID, that film was pushed back, so I wonder how that may have potentially effected the release date ]

I want to give a huge thank you to LEGO for sending us this set to review; thanks to the aforementioned circumstances of receiving this set, it's the first time in along time where I got a set where I had spent no time at all looking over the details. I got to experience it all as a first impression, and it was truly a fun set to build and discover the hidden features; read on, because this will be a packed review!

Box and Contents

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As you would expect from a large LEGO set in 2020, the Ecto-1 is featured on the new, adult-branded box, with a primarily black backdrop and a red border. I believe that internally this is still a "Creator Expert" set in spirit, rather than being more UCS-focused like the 89 Batmobile, but we will have a look at some comparisons later.

Box Rear

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Normally, I don't have much to say about the back of the box; it shows the set functions. But, in this case, it's actually underselling the set's functions quite a bit- there's really no mention here of the sets opening doors, engine detail, spinning ghost scanners/radars, the fact that the little ghost trap drone actually deploys, or even the steering! Naturally, this surprised me when building the set, since I had seen no mention prior about these functions.

Instructions/Sticker Sheet

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Lately, LEGO has been packaging instructions and sticker sheets together in a plastic bag with a piece of cardboard to help reduce damaged sheets. We know that LEGO is executing a new packaging strategy moving forth, with things like paper bags instead of plastic, and even a mockup of a cardboard CMF package design rumored, so it's no surprise to see yet another such change here; the instructions and stickers are now contained within this cardboard packet, certainly an interesting and effective strategy.

Sticker Sheet

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Here's the dreaded sticker sheet; you have a few essential stickers here like the Ecto-1 plates and Cadillac logos, but I'm glad that the rust was left as stickers. This means it's more up to you if you'd like for the vehicle to be a clean white, vs the more worn down look the vehicle will have in Afterlife. The rust stickers are all clear-backed. (Note that for the purposes of the review, I did apply all of the stickers, though personally I will likely remove them for a cleaner look, and will buy a spare sticker sheet, should I change my mind in the future. )

Instructions

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Back when the '89 boatmobile came out, I was surprised to see an actual image of the vehicle on the instructions, a  first for LEGO. Now, we go the totally opposite direction, with an interesting render-style image of the vehicle, complete with cutouts showing internals like the the dashboard and engine. That, and no stickers or prints to be seen anywhere, certainly a unique look for this set. (not to mention, a very vintage feel as well.)

EDIT: Turns out this may be a reference to the Ghostbusters: Ectomobile Owner's Workshop Manual, part of the Haynes Manual series. 

Detail

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As you'd expect from any adult oriented set now, the instruction booklet starts off with some details about the vehicle, and of course many references to the upcoming Afterlife film.

Build Instruction

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The instructions are set on a black backdrop; it makes sense considering how much of the set is white plastic. The instructions also feature callouts to certain parts of the build, again like many sets including the Haunted House set I reviewed not too long ago. 

Bags

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Beyond that, you get bags numbered 1-12; I didn't actually count the amount of bags, but I believe there was roughly two bags for each number. One thing is for sure, these bags are packed in the box to the brim.

No Ghost Logo

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Here we have some 4x4 bricks with the No-Ghost logo print, 3 are included in the set

New Windshield

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Here's a new windshield piece. It's big and very much an integral part is giving this set a proper finished look. But, this is a review, and I have to call out issues where I see them; the new LEGO clear plastic sucks. Big time. It's interesting, after my Haunted House review I sent LEGO an email saying that I was disappointed in the new clear plastic, because it always gets scratched up in the packaging, and they told me this was the first they have heard of it. Am I alone in disliking this change? It's a little foggier, which isn't the biggest deal in the world, but every clear piece in this set was absolutely brutalized, including this windscreen here. This is a serious negative, especially on a massive piece like this, and I urge you to send Lego an email to let them know if you face similar issues, because clearly people have been more silent on this fact. 

Other Printed Pieces

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Besides the usual little control panels on 1x2 tiles and whatnot that we've see numerous times, here's a few of the other printed pieces in the set. Fun story about the disc that's used as a rim for the tires, I swallowed one of those when I was a kid because I often used my teeth to remove pieces. Yeah, 4 hours in a hospital later and it was removed. Not my best call, but these pieces are my arch nemesis even to today.

Corner Piece in White

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Bag 1

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Normally I'm not a big fan of these shots since they are a nightmare to take, but I figured it would be worth it for this review since we have some time; hopefully this will give you a good view of what's included in each bag. I'm not aware of every single piece and what color they come in (and it's tough to research when the set isn't released yet), so I'm sure there are some interesting bits that I've missed; off you go then, have a scavenger hunt and see what other interesting parts are hidden throughout the set!

The Beginning

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It should come as no surprise that the build begins with a technic frame, though what does come as a surprise is that we already begin some functionality of the set. Specifically, the ramp for the mobile ghost trap, as well as the gearing that will allow the back wheel to spin the radar/scanner gear on top of the vehicle. (Fun fact; only one of the wheels actually activates the function. The gear for the other wheel is completely useless.)

Bag 2

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One piece I wanted to call out here is the gold piston piece, this has so far only been in one other Technic set in 2020. It's a pretty neat piece, I'm interested to see how I may be able to incorporate this into a more humanoid Bionicle build. 

Front Steering

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Next we build up the front of the vehicle, which includes the steering mechanism. This mechanism will have two different drivers; first, the larger gear closer to the front will be activated using the actual steering wheel of the vehicle, while the gear in the center of the vehicle will be controlled on top of the roof. More on this later, as the performance of this varies. 

Proton Canon Seat

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Since, as of the time of this writing, not much has been revealed about Afterlife, there's not a lot I can say about what exactly this is. Looks like a seat with a proton pack attached to it, note the special print here. The functionality of this is really interesting; you push the white construct, and the seat pushed out and flips around. In order to retract it, you push on a small piece near the seat. Again, more on this later, but there's a ton of SNOT building here and very little technic used at all. 

 

Bag 3

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Bag 3 begins the build for the rear bumper of the vehicle. As you'd expect, there's a lot of colors going on behind the scenes. Those with a keen eye may have noticed a pattern that is starting, the structure of the vehicle often uses the colors red and green to denote the driver and passenger sides of the vehicle, a helpful trick since this vehicle doesn't have an entirely symmetrical build. 

Bumper attached

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We mount the taillights and rear bumper, as well as the famous Ecto-1 license plate. One interesting observation is the use of mixel-sized balljoints behind the rear wheel arches, these will be used to attached the vehicle body at an angle late in the build. 

Bag 4

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Bag 4 is focused on a few things; adding the steering wheel (you'll see a detailed view on that function shortly), the rear passenger door (which does not open), and the construction of the mobile ghost trap ramp function. This function is rather interesting; you build a sliding rail which can be pulled using the dark grey 1x1 stud near the rear of the vehicle. Doing so will drop the ramp down below, which makes sense, but it also pulls the sideways-seat along with it. This doesn't really serve any purpose, from what I can tell, perhaps something we will learn of in the film?

Bag 5

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Bag 5 focuses on the doors, again we can see the red and green motif. 

Doors added

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First, here is a better view of the steering column; I want to point out the massive difference in the size of the gears that are at play, because this means in order to fully turn the tires, you must turn the steering wheel over multiple times, like in a rear car. We add the doors on; two interesting things to note with these, first is the yellow rails inside of the doors. These will later be the mounting points for the inner door panel and windows. Furthermore, the door hinges are much more complicated than the seem at first; while you see the two hinges on the outside of the door, there's actually a 3-point hinge system INSIDE the door as well, which gives them an impressive amount of friction- those doors won't close unless you want them to.

Bag 6

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Here we have bag 6, one part I want to point out is the 2x2 brick with studs on four sides. That's definitely a newer piece, and one I need to own many of. 

Rear fins

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This bag is focused on the rear fins of the Cadillac, which have a pretty nice build to achieve the offset taillights embedded within. We also begin to build some interior details in the trunk area. When building the set, take a moment and appreciate those details; you'll find they are very hard to access as we build further.

Other side

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Again, we build more details on the other side. A final note here is the mixel-ballcups which will be used for the rear door. Due to the staggered build, this results in a nice angled opening feature for the rear hatch. 

Bag 7

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Bag 7 was one of the more interesting portions of the build, as this section focuses on the engine bay detailing and the front grill of the vehicle. There's a few notable pieces here such as the 1x2 half cylinders in light gray, and a slew of silver roller skates, which have been most excellent for detailing in sets lately. 

Front bumper

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Here's a small cutaway of how the front bumper is constructed

Grill and Engine

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This portion of the build was by far one of the most interesting. First, you'll be slowly driven mad as you stack countless little skate pieces on top of one another, but the end result is a really well-done grill, which is cleverly attached in such a way so that it can retain it's v-shape. Second, you build up the rather interesting fender construction, which you can see utilized mainly SNOT techniques to not only build the wheel arch itself, but also body work to prevent any gap from the engine bay to the wheel itself. We end of course with the engine, which is very nicely detailed.

 

Bag 8

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Bag 8 primarily focuses on finishing the front bodywork of the car, including the hood here. I do have some issues with the construction of this hood; it tends to not sit flat on the engine (sticks up by just a millimeter or so), and when the hood is open, the blue elements to the side are definitely visible. 

Bag 9

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*sigh,* another slew of horrible scratched up clear windows. 

Windows Added

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This bag focuses on adding the windows to the car, the backs of the front seats, as well as the rear hatch. As mentioned previously, the windows for the doors are actually installed inside of the doors, using the yellow rails we saw previously. Overall the shaping is pretty good, though there is a minor gap between the front windows and the B pillars. One thing you may start to notice here is a lot of studs on top of the vehicle, as well as the continuation of the technic function near the front seats for steering; if you are thinking this will affect accessibility into the vehicle, you are right, more on that later. 

Bag 10

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Next, we build the roof. Normally, this would be one of the lesser points of the interest in the build, but the actual roof panels aren't the end of our Ecto-1 journey, given the amount of equipment that must be added. 

Roof Added

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Case in point, you can see a variety of technic elements at play here. The blue section to the front of the roof continues the steering function. Closer to the back, you can see the end result of the gears that are driven by the rear wheel; a gear will spin, which then pushed a 1x4 technic beam forward and backward. This is one half of the function; the other half is buried in the 2x2 dark gray round plate with axle hold, as that will allow for 360 degree movement for another piece. 

Bag 11

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Bag 11 builds up the "roof rack" components. We will see these elements in detail a little more later. (also take note of the gray flex tube that was mounted here, there are a few flex elements included in the bag with the tires and windshield, that did not end up in any of the other photos.)

Bag 12

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The last bag accomplishes quite a bit; We build our wheels, a ghost trap drone, more accessories for outside of the car including the lights and ladder, and even a snack!

Mobile Ghost Trap

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Here we have a little accessory based on the upcoming film, a mobile ghost trap of sorts. It's a simple build, it would have been cool if it had some way of actually opening.

Stay-Puft Marshmallows

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We even build a little package of Stay-Puft marshmallows (which, based on the instructions, are "officially" placed on the passenger seat.)

Finished Build

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And here it is!

Front

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Starting with the front, I think LEGO did a fantastic job on this. Yes, a few things are a little oversized, such as the blue lights, the license plate, and overall the vehicle may be a tad bit narrow. But, short of giving this bad boy a chromed out grill, the detail here was really well captured. 

Rear

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The rear of the Ecto-1 is not an easy shape to emulate, especially in Lego. With that said, again I think they did a fantastic job here at capturing all of the essential details of the build. One area that I feel is a miss is the trans blue parts, the spotlights and the lightbar to an extent are definitely a bit large in scale. 

Profile

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One thing I haven't really touched on too much yet is the differences that make this the "Afterlife" version of the Ecto-1. Starting from this side view, we see the first major change: the ladder has changed sides. This is to accommodate the proton pack seat, which again we will have a look at shortly. Please note again that the rear door on this side does not open. 

Other Profile

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From this side, we notice another very interesting quirk; the rear door here hinges the opposite way, meaning that the two rear doors, in practice, would open in opposite directions, certainly a unique design. This of course is to allow for the door to swing out of the way of the proton pack seat.

Features

Steering

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As mentioned, there are two different ways to turn the front wheels. First, is the actual steering wheel itself. As I said, due to the size of gears used, you have to turn the steering wheel over 2-3 times to actually get the full turn of the wheel. It's a neat touch of realism, though to be honest I find that this function can fail pretty easily where the gears will skip.

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The second method of steering is by way of the clear 2x2 cylinder light on top. This gear is attached differently, and is much easier to use than the steering wheel (and more fool-proof). 

Proton Seat 

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To activate the proton seat function, you push in a hidden button on the side of the car, as seen on the left above. I love that this feature is hidden instead of using an obvious button. Moving to the right hand side, something to keep in mind is you are not only pushing the seat out, but you have to knock open that rear door; you'll need a good amount of force to properly get it out of the way. 

Proton Seat Ejected

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Here's what it looks like once the door is swung open and the pops out & spins around. Definitely a cool feature; though, it does make me wish we got to see this on a minifigure sized set, as the feature feels odd to have without any characters to interact with it, anyway. 

Opening Hood

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Interior Dash

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The passenger door does open, here we can see some detail of the interior dash. 

Ghost Detector

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This function is impossible to show in photos, but we will see it in action in a video shortly. Among the slew of the details on the roof, we have two elements that move as you roll the vehicle; The Ghost Detector (the little turret with red cylinders), as well as the construct with the clear dome. The clear dome section spins 360 degrees as the vehicle rolls, while the Ghost Detector rotates to the right and left. 

Other Side

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Here's more view of the details. One issue to mention, a lot of the cylindrical builds (the blue spotlights, siren, red light, and the antennae thing at the top) are rather fragile as rounded tiles are used in the build, meaning the cylinder pieces are holding on with only two studs. 

Rear Function

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Next we move on to the rear function of the set; you'll notice the dark gray stud to the left of the rear hatch.

Ghost Trap Deployed

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Pulling on that will drop a ramp underneath the vehicle, which causes the mobile ghost trap to drive out the back. I have it pictured here right underneath the Ecto-1, but in reality it actually sends the drone quite a distance away. 

Opening Hatch

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The rear hatch opens, as you can see here. This is the main way in which you reload the ghost trap into the vehicle, though it also allows you limited visibility into the rest of the vehicle. 

Accessibility

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Here's a point that may be a slight division for some people. In recent times, Lego buildings and vehicles have had easy-to-remove sections to allow for easy access into the vehicle, this is true indeed for many of the large Creator Expert sized vehicles in recent years. However, due to the nature of the Ecto-1, the roof is not easily removable. Not only are there technic functions that are built from the frame of the vehicle all the way to the roof, but the roof is more firmly fixed in place, and elements like the ladder and exterior tubes are all connected both to the roof, as well as the body of the vehicle. 

In short, removing the roof is a major pain to do. Above you can see my attempt, all doors have to be opened, the technic elements on top must be pulled out, numerous tubes need to be undone, and most likely you'll accidentally dismount many windows in the process. Plus, reattaching the roof is quite a chore within itself. This is an understandable roadblock that Lego had, though unfortunately, it makes it rather difficult to see the details inside of the vehicle, especially those in the back. 

Videos of Functions

 

 

 

 

Comparisons

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Let's get on then to some size comparisons. First, here it is compared to my personal favorite Lego set, the 89 Batmobile. This comparison isn't exactly fair, as the Batmobile is a UCS set and contains a fair number of parts over the Ecto-1, so it's longer, wider, and heftier; but, if you are collecting movie vehicles, it's likely these may be near eachother on your shelf, so here's a look at how they stack up.

Compared to other Creator Expert vehicles

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Here's a look compared to some other Creator Expert vehicles. Needless to say, this is definitely the largest in the lineup.

Conclusion

Lego has set a high standard when it comes to their larger vehicle sets. The Creator Expert sets have continued to push unique building techniques, details, and accurate sculpting. Furthermore, movie-inspired vehicle sets like the 89 Batmobile and the 007 Aston martin DB5 have found creative ways to incorporate gimmicks from the films, without sacrificing the final product. Does the Ecto-1 live up to those standards? In my opinion, it absolutely does. This set has an impressive sculpt, a slew of creatively executed features, a really fun build, and a great variety of pieces. 

Many may be disappointed that the Ecto-1 is based on it's appearance in Afterlife; though, if you skip the application of rust stickers, swap the ladder to the other side, and perhaps rework the doors/interior slightly, I think this could easily pass as the more classic Ecto-1 design. With that said, I think the Afterlife variation here comes with a lot of cool features that we otherwise wouldn't have seen; though that comes at the cost of accessibility, as getting in to the interior of this vehicle is much more challenging than we have seen from vehicles in the past. 

To summarize, here's my personal list of pros and cons:

Pros:
- Engaging build with , thanks to the asymmetry of the build there isn't too many repetitive constructs.
- Spot on details and sculpting
- Creatively executed features
- Good parts selection
- Value of the set is reasonable given the number of parts included

Cons:
- Lots of scratched clear plastic, including the massive windshield
- Difficult to access interior
- The majority of the set being white is concerning for two reasons, a) the QC isn't great and you can see some variations in color/transparency at times and b) white sets are prone to yellowing over time. That second point is unavoidable given that they can't just change the color of the Ecto-1, but a concern to realize nonetheless. 
-Some parts of the set seem a bit out of scale- for example the blue spotlights all around the vehicle are definitely too large. Inaccuracies are to be expected with the limitations of Lego, but I think the parts exist to avoid some of the issues here. 

What do you think of this set?

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I'm not a die-hard Ghostbusters fan, so the slight differences between the OG and the Afterlife versions of the car don't bother me that much (I'll just leave rust stickers off).

Thank you for the comparison pics! I'm always looking for those in reviews since it helps a lot to get an idea of the size of the set. It doesn't seem to be in scale with any previous vehicles, but I'll give it a pass since it'll make for a nice standalone piece.

I might wait until the Colosseum is revealed before getting this set. Lots of exciting reveals and rumors coming in the next couple of months - but for 260CAD, this set is on the less expensive side, so I might make some room to accomodate it. :tongue:

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Fantastic review @VBBN! Definitely an outstanding set!!

By the way, how well does it score on the VBBN review scale?

Edited by JintaiZ

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This is a day one purchase for me. I’m also going to build it as the proper first movie Ecto-1.

the windshield transparency and condition is quite alarming but TLG response is ridiculous and that is  concerning.

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That Haines style manual cover is rad

A new realistic windscreen is one of my most wished for parts, this one is a bit 'formal' and upright for many cars but I'll take it.

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Needs some suspension work and shocks and uh brakes, brake pads, linings, steering box, transmission, rear-end. Only $4,800, maybe new rings, also mufflers, a little wiring.

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7 minutes ago, koalayummies said:

Needs some suspension work and shocks and uh brakes, brake pads, linings, steering box, transmission, rear-end. Only $4,800, maybe new rings, also mufflers, a little wiring.

So awesome. :D

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Can't say I'm too into this because I already have (and love) the original IDEAS Ecto-Mobile, but I love the rear door & the "chrome" grille. Thanks for the review VBBN!

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When I heard that Mike did this model I wasn't surprised! I love the design and all the fun features they managed to incorporate.   

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@VBBN You are not the only one who is pissed off about badly scratched transparent parts. I've sent LEGO customer service several complaints including pictures with scratched windshields or other new transparent panels with no reply. It gets more frequent due to the new material being softer than the PC (poly carbonate) material used before and because parts are loosely packed together with sharp ABS parts. My Fiat 500 and the 2020 printed Speed Champions windshields were scratched, my Haunted House windows, even smaller Super Heroes cockpit parts. I don't understand why LEGO doesn't pack them in a separate bag especially the huge front windows for display sets.
This new material for transparent parts also makes them look foggy and cheap looking, but LEGO said they changed it to achieve their sustainability goals for 2030 and that sadly we won't get the old material back. It's probably much more a cost saving reason since the old PC material required higher injection temperature and pressure, a slightly different sized mould (than for the same opaque element made of ABS) and these would also wear out quicker because PC has a higher friction coefficient. That's why it's illegal to stick e.g. a light-saber bar into a transparent cone piece. A child won't have enough force to get them separated.

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3 hours ago, jimmynick said:

Can't say I'm too into this because I already have (and love) the original IDEAS Ecto-Mobile

@VBBN very very nice review!!! It helped me a lot. 

Spoiler

I am not "just" a die-hard Ghostbusters (The original movie fan) it is much worse: It was back in the days when 5 completely insane German folks - 3 "almost" no income students and 2 low income friends - worked hard to assemble some money for a return flight to New York. Plus traveling there on little money. The idea was: Finding as many of the original sites as possible for the Ghostbusters movie in New York and the Blues Brothers movie in Chicago. Well. That was a 14-day trip, I can tell. There was no internet back then - we had AAA maps and needed to talk to people - found the University, the fire station (and got invited in there), Dana's house (and could go in and look around), etc. etc. etc. drove up to Chicago, found the J. Edgar Hover building, got "arrested" there (stuffed into a copying room with two folks who were - well - copying stuff) because we were taking photographs of people paying their taxes, told them what we were doing (with a pack of paper of the "manuscript" for both movies I tried to write-up by listening, with endless repeats), and the two were also so in it. They explained how important all that is what we were doing to the officer showing up as well as to the woman running that place. What happened was that they had a couple to rearrange the whole floor to make it look like in the movie and take photographs. That was America back then ... and I was falling totally in love. Don't ask me what else were doing on that trip ...     

It just does not make "click". I am entirely with @jimmynick. The original IDEAS set, along with the 4 fantastic minifigs just blew me away. It is a perfect match with the fire station. To me this model is a bit made "without love and passion". But that is just me.

Again, thanks for this very nice review.

All the best
Thorsten 

Edited by Toastie
Ha! Did not edit anything.

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1 hour ago, Toastie said:

@VBBN very very nice review!!! It helped me a lot. 

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I am not "just" a die-hard Ghostbusters (The original movie fan) it is much worse: It was back in the days when 5 completely insane German folks - 3 "almost" no income students and 2 low income friends - worked hard to assemble some money for a return flight to New York. Plus traveling there on little money. The idea was: Finding as many of the original sites as possible for the Ghostbusters movie in New York and the Blues Brothers movie in Chicago. Well. That was a 14-day trip, I can tell. There was no internet back then - we had AAA maps and needed to talk to people - found the University, the fire station (and got invited in there), Dana's house (and could go in and look around), etc. etc. etc. drove up to Chicago, found the J. Edgar Hover building, got "arrested" there (stuffed into a copying room with two folks who were - well - copying stuff) because we were taking photographs of people paying their taxes, told them what we were doing (with a pack of paper of the "manuscript" for both movies I tried to write-up by listening, with endless repeats), and the two were also so in it. They explained how important all that is what we were doing to the officer showing up as well as to the woman running that place. What happened was that they had a couple to rearrange the whole floor to make it look like in the movie and take photographs. That was America back then ... and I was falling totally in love. Don't ask me what else were doing on that trip ...     

It just does not make "click". I am entirely with @jimmynick. The original IDEAS set, along with the 4 fantastic minifigs just blew me away. It is a perfect match with the fire station. To me this model is a bit made "without love and passion". But that is just me.

Again, thanks for this very nice review.

All the best
Thorsten 

I could imagine that owners of the original Ideas set would not spend $200 on a set similar to something that they already own; and I understand if fans are disappointed that no minifigs are included. That said, I still feel like it will be a hugely popular set and will definitely appeal to Ghostbusters fans who missed out 21108, like me...

And for the minifigures... I don't really collect them, so it doesn't matter that much to me...

Edited by JintaiZ

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1 hour ago, JintaiZ said:

I could imagine that owners of the original Ideas set would not spend $200 on a set similar to something that they already own

I feel like a good % of them would? If Lego bring out models like this for Speed Champs sets that I own and like heck yeah I'm going to get one

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42 minutes ago, Merlict said:

I feel like a good % of them would? If Lego bring out models like this for Speed Champs sets that I own and like heck yeah I'm going to get one

And it improves upon 21108 in many aspects, so it's for all Ghostbusters die hard fans. That said, a lot of people won't spend so much money on LEGO sets...

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Who you gonna call?  VBBN.  Excellent review.  This is one large set, esp. compared to the Fiat and VW Bus; nice comparison shots I might add.  Appreciate the videos to see the action.

While I love Ghost Busters and own the Fiat and both VWs, I will probably pass on this set.  This is one that I prefer in minifig scale.  It is still a nice set and probably a fun build.

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2 hours ago, JintaiZ said:

I could imagine that owners of the original Ideas set would not spend $200 on a set similar to something that they already own; and I understand if fans are disappointed that no minifigs are included. That said, I still feel like it will be a hugely popular set and will definitely appeal to Ghostbusters fans who missed out 21108, like me...

And for the minifigures... I don't really collect them, so it doesn't matter that much to me...

I have 2 of the original set and I’m going to be standing in line the day this one is released.

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I don't have a strong feeling about Ghostbusters but I appreciate this model of Ecto-1

I am surprised it is this big and comparable size to the '89 Batmobile.

What really reduces the appeal to me is the use of stickers. I know it is moderate, but there are certain elements like the car emblem and the plate that I think should have been printed instead.

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11 hours ago, koalayummies said:

Needs some suspension work and shocks and uh brakes, brake pads, linings, steering box, transmission, rear-end. Only $4,800, maybe new rings, also mufflers, a little wiring.

I want a cigarette-smoking Ray working under the hood of this thing! Can you imagine how $4,800 would compare to today?

Edit: it's about $13,000...for a 25 year old car in the movie canon. Venkman was right with his facial expressions.

Definitely buying this set. I was about to drop the same amount on the 1989 Batwing, but this (the original Ghostbusters) is one of my top five movies off all time. I love the Ideas set as well, but this just looks too good to pass up. The Batwing will be next up in the queue. I missed out on the Firehouse...hard to swallow that price tag. I won't make that mistake again.

Edited by Htrag

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10 hours ago, JintaiZ said:

And for the minifigures... I don't really collect them, so it doesn't matter that much to me...

Oh, I don't "collect" minifigures at all. There are about 700 around here - but they came in for over 40 years now.

No! Here is the thing: Pete Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon, and Winston Zeddemore are the core of the matter. This is what it is about. What these folks say (think) and do - the way they do that. That's the whole movie. Not the car (nice asset!), not the buildings (wonderful), and surely not the action (cool back then). For me. Only for me.

And then - just the car - doesn't work - again for me. The fire station came with them and Dana and Luis ... in addition to the coolest building, I can think of.

I also believe this will sell nicely, but I'll miss out.

Best
Thorsten

17 hours ago, koalayummies said:

Needs some suspension work and shocks and uh brakes, brake pads, linings, steering box, transmission, rear-end. Only $4,800, maybe new rings, also mufflers, a little wiring.

Oh yes - lets get started - missed your post!!!

    V: I'm studying the effect of negative reinforcement on ESP ability.

    S: I'll tell you the effect! It pisses me off!

    V: Then my theory was correct.

(I mean, I am a university teacher - doing exams in presence - can you  i m a g i n e, what kind of pictures are zapping through my head, when some poor student is nervous - only judged by the pencil held in unrest? OK, I never do electric shocks, rather offer candy bars or the like to let everything cool off a bit - but can you  i m a g i n e  how much effort it is not to burst into laughter? To keep it all clean? Man. And when some student draws a figure 8 like thing when asked to discuss the ideal Carnot cycle - I am tempted, very, very (very) tempted to say:

      

        Incredible!  Five for five. You're not cheating on me here, are you?

I never did though. Not yet ...

)

Best
Thorsten

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This is an amazing set. I like it a lot. It's a petty that I'm seriously running out of space for models like this. So tempted to buy it anyway :laugh:

Thanks for the great review!

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Great review! I think this set will sell like hotcakes - it's such an instantly recognizable vehicle, well replicated into Lego, and it makes a great desk/shelf decoration. It's so much easier to display than something like the Firehouse set or other large buildings.

On the working steering wheel - that's done sometimes in Technic sets. It's typically expected that you'd drive the vehicle around using the knob on the roof and that the steering wheel matching what you do is a cool function. I don't know that I've ever seen an instruction manual show that you can steer the car from the steering wheel. Yep, it works, but it's far from ideal (hard to reach, sometimes slips gears, takes several rotations, etc) since they don't really expect you to USE the steering wheel. 

Speaking of, that's a new steering wheel part, isn't it? 

Minor changes I'd make to be more accurate, based on the trailer - the blue roof lights should be moved outward a stud. And the bright blue hoses running down the side next to the ladder look almost black in the trailer. I think they're just filthy, but those should have been black or at least dark blue IMHO. Perhaps in the movie they get cleaned up and are brighter blue? But in the trailer, they're dark. 

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