REVIEW: 8206 Tokyo Pit Stop

[Clone OPatra]

If you've ever come across my reviews before, you'll know that I'm all about the minifigures. So what am I doing with a set devoid of those wonderful little people? Let me just say that 8206 Luigi & Guido caught my eye because the cars were so darn cute. What's that? The set's title isn't actually 8206 Luigi & Guido? Oh right, it's really called… (and yes, I know "Pitstop" isn't officially one word, but this American for one slurs it together anyway)

Set Name: Tokyo Pit Stop

Set #: 8206

Theme: Cars (specifically Cars 2)

Pieces: 147

Minifigures: 0 (?)

Year of Release: 2011

Price at Release: USD 15 - CAD 20 - EUR 15

Buy it? Inventory? Bricklink

Just browse the pictures? Flickr set

INTRODUCTION

My initial reaction to pictures of the System Cars line was mixed. Some of the characters looked pretty cute (these guys, Mater) while others looked pretty bad (McQueen), but a line without figures is not my usual cup of tea. None of the builds apart from the characters looked worth anything; basically just some random facade stuff to make the sets not seem like they just had Cars. Still, I decided I would pick up the Classic Mater set and Tokyo Pit Stop to get the cutest looking characters.

Lightningtiger's Mater review ironically convinced me not to get Mater, who I thought looked pretty ugly once I saw some non-promotional pictures. But I needed to get to $75 for the free shipping deal when ordering the new Hogwarts set (formerly Battle for Hogwarts), so I thought I might as well pick up these guys. I had been pretty bummed by my last LEGO purchases (PotC), so let's see how these cuties do it for me…

BOX

I really had no idea what to expect box-size-wise with this set. The price range of $15 isn't a typical one for LEGO, but they've come up with a pretty good size for it, given the trend of smaller boxes. A parent might not consider this worth $15 by eyeballing it, but I (who knows better) feel this size sells the price range. The artwork is good, although it seems that archway thing is inside a garage ? I also wish the big Warning! wasn't here…

The back shows that there aren't any play features (!), and names the characters. There's also that spy radar car thing; I'm sure it ties to the new film, but it doesn't have much to do with this set, it seems to me.

The 1:1 pic on this box is a wrench, which doesn't make a ton of sense, but I guess it gives you a feel for how big Guido will be. Also, all the parts are from Europe (and Mexico, since this is an American run of the set).

CONTENTS

Mangle the box trying not to use the punch tab, pour it out, and find yourself looking at… Two numbered bags, one booklet, and a DSS. The numbered bags make perfect sense since there really are two different sets of things to build, and I'm very glad there's only one booklet. If they'd split up the builds into seperate booklets, that would've just been silly.

INSTRUCTIONS

It's one pretty slim booklet. What did you expect? There wasn't any plastic or cardboard, but it was actually flat! How nice.

The steps move pretty slowly, and there isn't anything complicated. The pages have a nice spy-themed background.

DSS

This sticker sheet isn't so bad, but it is pretty annoying. All of these types of parts would've been printed in the '90s, but I guess you could say it ain't the '90s anymore (Toto). We'll see what's annoying about them more later on…

BUILD 1: Cars

You read that right, CloneyO is doing build pics! Honestly, I think one of the most intriguing things about the Cars characters is their builds, seeing where those promised 30+ pieces go. Most of these characters hold more pieces inside than you'd expect, but of course this set doesn't have the ones as streamlined as McQueen and Fin McMissile.

First, I've pulled out what I find to be the most intriguing pieces of Bag 1. You guessed it: mostly they're the printed parts. But those cheese slopes and car-thingy piece in the new color (or rare color; Aanchir?) are also so beautiful. And you get four cheese (one is spare)!

First up to build is Guido. He doesn't hold any surprises, but the sheer joy of putting down those medium blue and aqua-ish bricks make this build fun! What I love about the idea of building Guido is that it just seems like normal LEGO pieces, but it turns out so adorable!

Who's next? Luigi! I was wondering why I still had a medium blue tile and another cheese slop to go somewhere, but soon I found out! Luigi incongruously has some colorful innards, but luckily none show once he's all finished (unlike that horrid Toy Story army jeep).

FINISHED CARS

I just built 'em for you, so I thought I might as well show them off here.

Let's start with Guido, and compare him to his film counterpart. Needless to say, he's not exactly the same, but you can't make curved, molded metal out of LEGO. The color scheme and basic shape are there, and really that picture that I found on Google is a bit creepy, while the LEGO version is totally adorbs.

Here's our friend Guido straight from the front and back. He looks quite chipper, and ready to service McQueen when he comes in needing something. You have to love the plethora of medium blue and aqua highlights.

In side profile Guido looks more angular, but I love the hat solution nonetheless and those new wheel parts are totally lovely.

If Guido was a little off, Luigi is even more so. Really his problem is the mouth part; it juts out too far. Even as a model alone it isn't so aesthetically pleasing, but he's still a cute character overall. The 'hair' on the LEGO version is also a bit too much, but it's one heck of a nice NPU, so it doesn't bug me.

Luigi is just full of NPUs; the hair, the technic bit as a microphone, the pans as headphones. The SNOT part on the front is really the only problem on this cute model; otherwise, he's a lovely little guy.

The side profile shows just how much Luigi looks like a cartoon car; I can imagine a car looking like this in an animation without a face and with people driving inside. He also provides us with four more of those delicious wheels.

I had no idea what to expect on the back, but it too is printed with some grill-type things and what would perhaps be a window were this car not alive. It does well to round out the model.

Here are the two pit crew buddies together. The cuteness factor is becoming overwhelming.

Closing out this section, a shot with two of CloneyO's recent favorite minifigures for a size comparison. Luigi seems to be the perfect size for a minifig to fit inside if he wasn't full of bricks.

BUILD 2: Pit Stop Stuff

I know, it wasn't an eloquent title, but what was I supposed to say? It's really just some stuff thrown in so LEGO could pretend it was selling a full set, not just some car models.

I wasn't going to do an interesting parts pic, but then suddenly 'hey!' some parts were interesting. I was surprised to see a new version of this with a squarer end (it's apparently new this year), and I hadn't come across a doublesided SNOTy brick like the one below either.

Now onto that stuff I call… stuff. First up is the fuel tank thing with the sign telling McQueen to stop for some fuel. Putting that sticker on the green round piece was really annoying; I couldn't get it aligned so well. As you can see, my STOP FUEL sign stickering was not so expert either.

Next is this thing; a border to their pit perhaps? I don't know. I was and am a bit mad that the flags had to be stickered, as I have several old printed ones. Plus, there were only stickers for one side. I always welcome more tiles though.

Then comes the big arch. I guess that's the sort of thing they give racing teams in Japan? There is a very, very, VERY glaring problem here: the Japanese is sideways. WTF, right? I'm sure those stickers will comes to great use for purist MECH makers, but their use in the set is quite atrocious. Besides that, the arch is nice (and besides the fact that the flag is another sticker).

Aannnddd… nothing to see from the back.

So here's the family of the stuff. The arch actually has some thought put into it, and is a nice design apart from the stickers. Those weird mini racer parts, Speed Racer car arch, and cheese graters in red come together well, not to mention the clips just used as a design (something not done in the old days). The finish line (?) and fuel stand are useless, though.

COMPLETE SET

Here it is all together. What works about this set is that the brightly colored cars don't fit in at all with the surroundings, which is just perfect stylistically. The background bits could just as easily show up in a minifig-scale Ferrari set, but then we've got these glaring cars with it. It's a beautiful contrast.

But there are no play features mommy, what are we supposed to do? Muck around with the cars I say. When it's a normal minifig set, that doesn't always work out so well since it gets old just smashing the figures together, but with cars, the fun is basically endless. Most children (boys at least) love zooming cars around, and now they can have the added fun of building them as well! But that's why the added bits are useless; I can easily see those being thrown in a box while the little kid has hours of fun with G & L.

This fun picture of the two friends brings me to my final main point: this set has no main characters and I'm loving it (to quote MccyD's). Too many of the recent Licensed themes (PoP, PotC, HP) have to include the main character in every single set, but when that character is a built model it just isn't possible, or at least LEGO didn't want to. I didn't care for Mater or McQueen anyway, and I was able to get the two characters that I really wanted in a single bundle. Way to go with that LEGO!

CONCLUSION

I was worried I would feel this set was a mixed bag, but it turned out that I didn't. Woot! I (and anybody else in their right mind) bought this set for Guido and Luigi, and they really deliver. If it weren't for the stickers, the rest of the set would be absolutely fine, but as it is the archway is still a pleasing model with a few interesting parts. If you're not either a Cars fan or just a fan of awesomely cute characters, this set is probably not for you, but if you fit either of those criteria I cannot see how you will be disappointed. You could grumble that LEGO could've just sold the set without the extras, but going by the math of the Classic Mater and McQueen sets it would've come out to about the same price anyway . All in all, this set really picked me up from the slump that PotC threw me into, and I'm grateful for that.

RATINGS

Parts: 9.5/10 - Many are small, although they're in desirable colors.

Build: 8.5/10 - The stickers! Ugh, the stickers! The finished product with them is fine, but putting them on is annoying!

Design: 10/10 - I don't think the cars could've gotten much better, and the archway is lovely too.

Minifigures: N/A

Price: 10/10 - In the U.S. market, $15 is the perfect price for this set. It's ridiculous that this set is only $3 more than a battlepack or other recent small licensed set, but that's in this set's favor.

Playability: 10/10 - You wanted features? Get outta here. It's cars; I could play for hours!

Overall: 9.6/10 - That's a nice, high, solid grade where I come from, and that's exactly what this set deserves. You could say that .4 was deducted just because of the stickers, and it wouldn't be so false to say so. It doesn't make me want to run out and buy more Cars sets, but I'm pleased with the one that I wanted.

And now, Luigi fights off Will Turner as Guido hurries away with the Ginnyfigure!

Look out for more reviews from me quite soon!

[Churchill]

Great review, thanks. Funny to see Will Turner in there...

I think that Guido is actually the most amenable to Lego of all the Cars characters.

If this set was just Guido and Luigi, I might get it. Oh, what am I saying, I'll probably get it anyway.

Thanks, Clone O'Patra.

[prateek]

Fantastic. I love the new Cars line. Not so much the actual sets, but the cars are amazing

[XimenaPaulina]

Wonderful review CloneyO, thanks for sharing! This is one of my most favorite sets of the Cars line, simply because, as said in the review, Guido and Luigi are two of the cutest characters in this Cars theme, and it's a good thing they come in a relatively small set that makes them easier and cheaper to purchase. A definite must-buy for me.

[ZO6]

Really nice review, Cloney!

I'm not particularly interested in any of the Cars sets (the first movie also happens to be my least favorite Pixar film), but something in the cheeriness of the two vehicles almost made me reconsider my views. The printed parts for the vehicles look really great, and that blue is lovely. If the japanese stickers were prints than this set would have become a must have for me, but alas...

[Nightshroud99]

Nice review, I like this set. Unlike the classic mater and lightning mcqueen I have, these Cars actually look great!

[Fuzzylegobricks]

Nice review cloneapatra! The pieces are very cool in this set and the stickers

are actual ok compared to the amount of stickers they use now. The set and review are very cool

to me, so keep the reviews going!

[Blackknight112]

Thanks for the great review. This set really is nice looking. I must say the cars sets dont appeal to me, but maybe I'll pick this up.

[r1chard]

Thanks for a very nice review!

I like the comparison with the movie characters, of how faithful (or not) Lego captured them.

My first impression with this set is, it's one and half cars. Counting Guido as half.

The price C$20 is the same if I get 8200 McQueen and 8201 Mater sets.

So I have been thinking what are the strengths of this set for such tag price?

The answer is as you said, they're cute. The cutest maybe in all Cars 2 sets.

This one also goes well with set 8423 if there's a buy one get one (half price) sale.

[freakwave]

Thansk for the great review!

As far as Pitstop should be spelled two words, the way Guido pronounces it in the first movie it is like half a word. :-)

I also got the set on Monday and some point to add, notably the differences in the US versus European packing:

The Box:

- It does not carry the ugly "WARNING" message. Just a crisp picture of the scene with only the set numer and the age range.

- The message is on the side of the box, much smaller nevertheless. And it warns you from "Small balls inside" WHERE?!?! Looking all over, but could not find them, so small... whatever: No further comment on small balls...

- It also carries parts from Mexico.

- It has the perfect size and it contains all the bags/stickers/instructions perfectly and wrinkly free, not much space to move around when shaking.

Parts:

- Really nice ones, the new Slope Curved used as rear and front fender will be of great use.

- Aqua respectively Light Aqua, not so much of a fan, it is too close to White in my opinion

- Dear Lego, where are your printed flags gone?

- AND I am especially sad that the "95" tile is not printed!

- Antenna: Mine came still with the rounded top

Characters:

Really extra cute! They are instant favourites, they are on my desk at work, looking great. The remaining items stuff will be recycled...

In my opinion the roof of Luigi looks like he's wearing a cap, we need to see the movie before we can decide what they intended to show with this part.

[lightningtiger]

Thanks 'Cloney' for this review, a must get set to join Lightning and Mater.......but I was planning a to do a review....ah, well I just build it when I buy it then.

Oh, those printed parts are AWESOME !

Brick On Race On !

[WhiteFang]

Excellent review!

I agreed with you as I, myself have mixed feelings with regards to the LEGO Cars set. I am a minifigure fanatic and getting sets that don't have any minifigures doesn't really work out for me. At the same time, I don't want to look back to see myself regretting it. I strongly believe the Tokyo Pit Stop serve as an excellent starter for you to get yourself familiar with the new Cars platform especially with the delicious printed specialised bricks. However, I am much excited to get Guido though.

[drdavewatford]

Many thanks for the fantastic review - much appreciated.

I love this set. It captures the vibrancy of the original Cars movie beautifully, and Luigi and Guido look great !

When this theme was originally announced I had no intention of buying the sets - I didn't think I'd be interested. Not so sure I can resist now, however....!

D.

[pedro]

I've not really been paying much attention to what's been going on with the Cars theme but these little characters look fantastic! The printed elements are a definite win. The pricing of this set seems very reasonable for a licensed theme (though I'm only guessing at what the pounds value is). I'll definately pick one of these up.

Thanks for the review... I'm off to check out the other sets now...

[Plastic Nurak]

LOL, they're so cute . I think my cousin's children will love them.

[Zzz]

I'm sure those stickers will comes to great use for purist MECH makers, but their use in the set is quite atrocious.

I wouldn't name my mechs Tokyo Pit or Pit Stop, though!

Sorry, I couldn't resist... Great review - I really like this set. I have no idea about the movie, but still it's nice

Coming back to the stickers - it's very strange to see japanese letters in a 90 degree upside down writing. They never do that over there, seriously. They would write it like this:

東

京

ピ

ッ

ツ

ス

ト

ッ

プ

But enough of this smarty-pants acting. Just my 2 cent.

[Legoless]

Great review.

I haven't seen Cars (Disney really isn't my bag) so I only know which character is meant to represent which 'real' vehicle from reading these reviews. But without rolling down the page I knew that the yellow car was meant to be a Fiat 500 (along with the Morris Minor, Austin Mini, VW Beetle and the Citroen 2CV the 500 is one of the world's great Noddy cars). I think the set designer has done well to capture the likeness. I'm assuming from the pipework around the front that he is meant to be a commentator with a headset?

[Clone OPatra]

I'm assuming from the pipework around the front that he is meant to be a commentator with a headset?

It is a headset, but he is one of Lightning McQueen's Pit Crew members. He probably has the headset so that he can communicate with McQueen while McQueen is racing.

[Rumble Strike]

Great review Cloney, lots of detail showing the new colours and printed pieces!

This may be off topic, so I apologise, but can I ask what your issues with POTC were?

[Clone OPatra]

This may be off topic, so I apologise, but can I ask what your issues with POTC were?

I'll answer briefly and try not to turn it into a whole discussion. My one PotC review may shed some light on my opinions of the theme, but it really boils down to some unsatisfying main-character minifigures (Jack and Elizabeth) and sets that don't look like much. As parts packs, PotC sets are great, but as models they are too full of little fiddly detail bits that turn them into models that seem too small for the price point.

Getting back to the set, and something that relates to what Legoless said, I just noticed that under all the copyright lingo it says: 'Disney/Pixar elements: ©Disney/Pixar, not including underlying vehicles owned by third parties: Fiat™' I'm not sure what this means exactly in terms of licensing, but it is at least nice that TLG is allowed to make vehicles that are somewhat property of companies other than their direct license, unlike in Toy Story where they were probably not allowed to make Mr. Potatohead and other toys originating from other companies.

[Dunjohn]

That's a very nice review, but like some people, I still have yet to feel a flicker of interest in the Cars line. It's doubly odd for me because I'm not minifigure-focused so their absence makes no difference, and I am a Disney fan. There's just something about the sets that's missing and I don't know what, because they seem well designed. The whole theme is just going to be a pass for me.

Maybe it's because the theme is so intrinsically incompatible with other Lego themes. You can freely mix PotC minifigures with Pharaoh's Quest or City or Castle, but the Cars sets are their own little bubble.

[WhiteFang]

You can freely mix PotC minifigures with Pharaoh's Quest or City or Castle, but the Cars sets are their own little bubble.

Same analogy applies to Disney Toy Story LEGO sets as well. But Disney Cars is one step higher than Toy Story.

[Aanchir]

Yeah, Guido has the new color 323 Aqua (BL's Light Aqua). In the earliest pictures I thought it would be the rarer but older color 212 Light Royal Blue, but it turns out that isn't the case.

Great review! I agree that the Japanese text being sideways is a pain, especially since one would assume that this would match the actual environment in the relevant scenes of the movie, and I'm positive Pixar wouldn't mess up on something like that.

Personally, with most of the decorations in this set, I prefer them as stickers since they're fairly specialized in design. The exceptions are the flags, which could very easily be printed without being license-specific or theme-specific, but which I don't mind that much, and the "Powered by Allinol" fuel tank, which as you mention is hard to apply. Plus, my stickered 2x2 round bricks don't have a good track record of staying together (they're one of just a few parts where I think stickers should be out-of-the-question unless TLG improves on this somehow, but at least there isn't a sticker across several pieces like with Plankton in the Build-A-Bob set).

Overall, this set looks great! I'm a big fan of the Cars theme though I'm not too keen on collecting it myself. Great work on this review!

[Rumble Strike]

TRU has the big main wall full of Cars 2 stuff now and I simply couldn't resist picking up this set, figuring that if I want to get Flo's V8 Cafe at some point I don't really want to repeat characters.

I really love Guido and Luigi, they are bright, colourful and really cute. They are also very solid, something I wasn't too sure about beforehand. The printed bricks are lovely, and they both just really work as Lego representations of their characters.

The pit stop stuff is a bit throwaway, with these "2 character" sets the emphasis is clearly on the cars themselves. Still, it looks suitably "Cars-esque" so can't grumble too much.

Can't wait to add more Cars to my collection

[Jeff Huntington]

Getting back to the set, and something that relates to what Legoless said, I just noticed that under all the copyright lingo it says: 'Disney/Pixar elements: ©Disney/Pixar, not including underlying vehicles owned by third parties: Fiat™' I'm not sure what this means exactly in terms of licensing, but it is at least nice that TLG is allowed to make vehicles that are somewhat property of companies other than their direct license, unlike in Toy Story where they were probably not allowed to make Mr. Potatohead and other toys originating from other companies.

Guido is a Fiat model of some sort, that's why the 3rd party trademark notice. If you watch the Cars movie, in the credits there are permissions from most of the major car companies for the designs of the individual vehicles.