The Cobra Posted May 23, 2009 (edited) Are you ready for the chase? Some say "it's better than the catch" Set Data: 8152: Speed chasing Year: 2008 Theme: Racers Subtheme: Tiny turbos Pieces: 142 (including extras) Price: 10 USD / 10 EUR / ?? UKP Building time: less than 20 minutes MISB on review: Yes More info: Brickset - Peeron Box front and rear: Glow in the dark was the big news in 2008 Tiny Turbos; box rear shows alternate models and other TT sets of that year. Box sides: Since boxes are oversized, Lego always shows us a part of the set in 1:1 scale. That should usually be a minifig, but this can't be the case, so here's the runaway car. Also, learn how to write "Glow in the dark" in 5 other languages. As always, no Italian! (it should be: "Si illumina al buio") Box content: 3 separate bags, one for each model; instructions book, stickers. Sticker sheet: adding details. I wonder, does LR mean Lego Radio? Inventory pages: click to enlarge Random instructions page: SNOT technique on the Police car. Runaway car: Lime green and black, with red and glow in the dark cheese slopes and some chrome silver parts (that's a sort of chrome-y grey, not mirror chrome like some castle accessories). Building is easy. Runaway car: "Quad" mudguard on front, good ol' 4 wide mudguard on the rear. Slope Brick Curved 2 x 4 was a new piece in 2008; Slope Brick Round 1 x 2 x 2/3 with Flap and No Studs seems to be gone after last year. Yet, 2009 is a sort of comeback year for old pieces... Police car: Here we are again, two different mudguards. But the most original part of this car is the use of 8 "Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight" for those SNOT sides. Police car: (Trans) blue and red lights on car front, matching 2x1 tiles on the roof. Double red light on the rear (plate+tile). I would call this car a "low rider", if it wasn't for that rear spoiler. 2 Glow in the dark 2x1 tiles will host a sticker. Police car: Rear shot. This is the best model in this set. News copter: The lesser of the 3 models. It's just yellow, with black and grey and lights, no interesting pieces. News copter: Yes, there's GitD here too. It's that cheese slope right there on the front. Speed chasing: Comparison shot. Vehicles are now complete and ready to get stickered! Glow in the dark Cell pic. The best shot I could give at GitD elements. If you never owned any, let me tell you that they work great with solar light or some neon lights. Sticker time Final front shot Sticker time Final rear shot Alternate models: Overview (pic is different from the one on the box rear) and final building steps. Review: A midi TT set, with more than one car and less than 6! Something that started good and turned out not-so-good, imho, with the 2009 storage containers. But, let's keep focused on this set. The police car is the stand-out model amongst the three. Classic black and white, surrounded by lights and with the GitD tile(s) on the front. The lime car is a bit weaker, mostly because of the heavy use of this color combo, started in 2006 and still used in 2009! The news copter is even weaker; I think the could have dared building a 3-wide, but that would have meant a massive use of 2x1 jumpers, and price increase. Still, it was something different from cars and trucks. And look at Street extreme, the Police copter looks a lot like this one. The big news in 2008 TTs was Glow in the Dark; to me it looked simple and effective; I was hoping something alike would have happened this year too (chrome grey pieces would have been great; maybe some new colours) but that wasn't the case. Back to the point: this set looked appealing to me, along with cool colored 8151 Adrift sport, and was something of a plus because you could buy three (or, two and something) for the price of two. That price was even cut off throughout the year in Italy, so I could grab this one for 8 Euros only. A little of a steal! I grew up with 4-wide cars, so it took a while to get used to TTs; I'm not fully addicted, I'm not even sure what 2009 sets I'll buy (if any), but I learned these sets are worth a look. Rating: Color scheme: 4,5/5. I Like both cars, though some might argue that lime and black has been used over and over again in Tiny Turbos. News copter is a bit boring, but it would have been hard to do something different on a 2-wide. Minifigs and accessories: N/A. Obviously, neither. Pieces: 4/5. I think GitD pieces are always welcome, so are trans 2x1 tiles. They are exclusive to this set (edit: they areo als available in the 7611 Promo), but they eventually turn into a 2x2 because of the sticker. GitD cheese slopes are to be found in 3 other TT sets (but you even get two extras here!). 8152 mostly consists of small pieces, that's why piece/price ratio is so high (14:1 if we count extras) Playability: 4/5. Three vehicles and just two hands! I fear kids will soon forget about the news copter. Design: 4/5. 5 for Police car, 4 for Runaway car, 3 for News copter. Overall rating: 4,5/5. This rating is based on the comparison with 2009 sets, those with 2 cars and that folding box. This is cheaper, and comes with a copter. A sort of buy 2 get 3 offer that I really liked and TLC should consider. The final words: Do you think 2008 TTs were the best in their line? So do I. Edited May 31, 2009 by The Cobra Indexed Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
just2good Posted May 23, 2009 Nice and short review. But if the set didn't have GItD pieces, it would've been a been a poor set, mate. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ILikePi Posted May 23, 2009 (edited) Thanks for the review. I wish I could've gotten this set when it was on sale for around $6. There's lots of cheese slopes, and some cool designs, too. By the way, the set costs $12.99 when it was released, not $10. I voted above average, since each car nowadays costs $5. Edited May 23, 2009 by ILikePi Share this post Link to post Share on other sites