REVIEW: 70813 Rescue Reinforcements

[Clone OPatra]

Another mech battle, and one of two big sets in the LEGO Movie January wave. That's right, I'm finally up to…

Set Title: Rescue Reinforcements

Set #: 70813

Theme: The LEGO Movie

Pieces: 859

Minifigures: 5

Year of Release: 2014

Price at Release: USD 70

Just browse the pictures? Flickr set

INTRODUCTION

I already did my little discussion of how I'm not a huge mech fan in my MetalBeard's Duel review. To repeat it again here would be extraneous. Besides for certain ones of the minifigures, which looked super-cool, this set wasn't particularly ringing my excitement bells. It seemed far outstripped by the Lair in the same price range (a set which I really love now, having built it). So how does this set stack up in the LEGO? Let us delve one last time into LEGO Movie review land and find out!

BOX

The box is large though not excessively so, as to be expected. It's the same size as the Lair's box. It makes you think that it's another 2-in-1 set, but it's not. Only the four USD 30 sets have two sets of instructions. In Creative Ambush and this one, building the alt models will be left up to you if you care to do so.

There aren't a ton of play features in this set, and the box doesn't even show them all (since I think twisting the know to make the water gun go round would count as a play feature). The box shows how this set comes with a secret code (that I've blurred out of all my pictures) that will get you something in the video game, just like the code in the High Speed Chase City set got you something in Grand Theft LEGO. I doubt you will be quite as excited as Emmet when you use this code, though.

To me, the minifigures alone certainly make this set enticing. Blacktron and Fabuland Fan torsos? How ridiculously wonderful! Hank Haystack looks cool too.

CONTENTS

This one's got seven numbered bags (all of which may or may not be present in this picture…), two loose fire hose strings, a DSS and three instruction booklets. Plenty of non-grey here, hooray! Sorry I'm not sorry that's always how I judge sets when I spill them out (although Arkham Asylum is wonderful, ok… grey can be fine).

The DSS here is not so bad - I imagine the barn stickers could actually be pretty useful, even though splitting up "tresspassin'" in the middle might be hard to incorporate somewhere. The fire stickers are fairly standard affairs, though the warning sign stickers are nice. Why did I include the fire hoses in this shot? No idea…

Three instruction booklets, the second of which is a smaller size. It's particularly nice with a big set with numbered bags that there are different instruction manuals for the three different builds (1 is the Fire Mech, 2 is the Micromanager, 3 is the flying barn). You could easily get three family members building at once for some lovely family bonding time, although the different builds may take different amounts of time. As a singular builder, I was surprised that the fire mech was the first thing to build. The Micromanager was first in all the other sets, and I always expect the biggest build to come last. It makes no difference whatsoever, but it breaks a pattern in build order that I thought I had noticed.

Lots of sub-assemblies in the fire mech for lots of articulation!

MINIFIGURES

As expected, the Blacktron and Fabuland fans are terrific! Better yet, they have adolescent faces with too much excitement, braces, and freckles (or acne?)! Hank is a nice farmer figure too, and this is one of just two sets to have the new tactical vest. Plus another Robo SWAT for your Robo SWAT force. The only slightly less exciting figure is the firefighter. It's a great set of prints, but nothing special since it comes in a whole bunch of fire sets.

Everybody has backprinting, and the kids have funny scared faces. Somebody commented on the Flying Flusher review that the plumbers could of used some butt printing for a plumber's crack, and well… Hank has got some butt printing! I actually did not notice that until I looked at this picture again. That's hilarious! (I guess we've learned minifigures' behinds are quite high up.)

ANIMALS

This set includes two lovely animals that are also quite rare. This is the third set to include the white printed chicken (the others being the Kingdoms Mill Village Raid and a new Friends stables set), and just the second to have the dirty-print pig! Even the clean pig only comes in four sets so far, so pigs are a rare commodity. I guess minifigures don't eat a lot of bacon, although I suppose even if they did it would come printed on a tile and they wouldn't needed pigs.

EXTRA BITS

Lots of nice extras here taken at an unhelpful angle that makes them hard to see! Plenty of extra cheese in different colors, plus an extra carrot-top and an entire extra fire hose, in case you wanted one.

SET - FIRE MECH

It feels strange to start with the mech, but I usually go in build-order for whatever reason, so here it is! I honestly did not expect to like this thing, but in actuality I do! The colors are on point and work together, the details are nice without being overdone or messy, and just overall it feels like it should be a Transformer and pulls off that look well.

The mech is pretty squat and chunky, since the cockpit keeps the proportions of the cab of a LEGO fire truck for the most part. I like that the designer went for symmetry on the model - it makes the design look really put together. The designer easily could've gone an 'everything stuck any place' route, but the symmetry keeps it focused and pleasant. I also absolutely love the yellow cheese 'toes.' Maybe these were done practically for balance, but they're quite funny and cute!

Only a few details differ on each side, since the 'hand' parts necessarily have to be different builds anyway. Here are looks from both sides.

The back oddly has a rollcage door on the cab which is then covered by the ladder, so it can't open. I guess it's there just because LEGO usually uses that piece on fire trucks? It's a nice part and detail anyway. The back of the feet are kind of strange, but I like getting all of those parts in those particular colors, so I can't complain. One odd design feature is that there are hoses connected from the legs to the cab, a feature which will come into play in a moment.

The cab is roomy, and has what you expect… a steering wheel. It would be even cooler with room for two firefighters (Pacific Rim style?), but you could MOD it that way. One seat in the middle is in keeping with LEGO's typical City designs.

The one let down of the mech is the pose-ability. The legs don't have much range of movement, and even though the cab is on swivel parts, since there are those tubes connected it to the legs that I mentioned, it can barely turn! Of course you could just take those off, but it's a pretty big design flaw in my opinion. The arms can pose pretty well, though, so that's a plus. Overall this guy kind of reminds me of a sumo wrestler - squat and bulky. I like it, even though the legs and cab movement are impeded.

SET - MICROMANGER

This is the second tall chicken leg Micromanager, and it's very similar to the one in MetalBeard's Duel. The legs are identical besides for one parts detail difference. This one looks better than the MetalBeard one, though, since the sides get properly covered and don't look messy. This one also has a third arm with a gun. Even though it's the over-used AQ gun, at least it hasn't come in black much yet (only in the CMF line and some 2014 Chima sets), so I'll accept it. And it actually works in this situation.

With two grabby arms and a gun, this Micromanager looks like it's ready to run around and do some proper damage.

This might be the only Micromanager with a plain, single-unadorned-plate back! Not a problem, though.

The function on this one is that the sides flip up to reveal some flick-fires. Extra flick ammo is included inside, which honestly seems like more of a detail than something useful, since I don't know how many people will be pulling out the flick-refill after discharging the first one. Even kids.

Unlike the flying small Micromanager with flip-up wings, where the flipped-up mode looked cool, this one looks rather silly. I prefer it with the sides down (I'm not going to be flick-firing anything any time soon anyhow).

SET - FLYING BARN

I'm pretty partial to this flying barn as well. Unlike Creative Reinforcements, where I thought the plane looked too messy, this barn-copter has a well-balanced color scheme and general look that I can get behind. Perhaps it's because it still quite resembles a barn, just with some helicopter attachments, whereas the bi-plane was a bi-plane and not much of a saloon (which makes good sense, I just didn't like it).

One aspect/detail I totally love here is the pilot controls. It's nothing so interesting, I guess, but the simpe combination looks wonderful as helicopter controls. They also make use of the new clip with rod-input piece, so that's nice since it's a great piece. The chicken lookout is also hilarious. The telescope piece is fairly rare in light bley, so that's nice to get.

I'm not sure why there would be a pig on the tail, but who cares!? You get a pig! I also can't explain the reason to have a carrot strung up. EDIT: I've been informed in comments below that the pig is on a treadmill to power the tail rotors, and the carrot is what makes it keep walking! Hilarious! END EDIT Of course, two tail rotors is once again a head-scratcher when one considers real-world copters, but since this is a crazy contraption already I don't care much. It was worse in the Wolverine Chopper Showdown where the heli was somewhat 'realistic.'

The wind-mill top rotor is quite nice too. I've never put down so many vertical clip pieces all at once (16 in one step).

There are a couple of play features included (besides flick-fires and spinning rotors). First is this barrel attached on chains carrying apples. You can manually tip it over to drop some apple bombs (which sounds too much like "apple-bottom jeans" to me, and then reminds me of a certain song that involves those and boots with fur. Now it's stuck in my head ). The play feature works well though!

On the other side are doors which open up to reveal a sliding thing with a hole in it for carrots.

Pull it out far enough, and the carrots wil drop as carrot bombs!

This is plenty of fun too.

COMPLETE SET and CONCLUSION

I like when this happens - I go into a set thinking I won't like it, and then it turns out to be great! This set has a lot going for it - good-looking models, some unique minifigures with terrific prints, some good parts, and plenty of fun to be had.

That said, would I personally buy this? As a person with a tight budget, I can't say I would. The Evil Lair set is unquestionably more enticing since it comes with some key characters for the film and is the only way to get them, and I'm a bigger fan of location-sets than mech sets. There are also so many smaller sets in this line that would come first in buy-order, like the Super Cycle Chase (which already is not a cheap set), some of the USD 30 sets, the Cloud Cuckoo Palace, and the Getaway Glider. Honestly I'll say that if I hadn't received this set to review, I don't think it ever would've ended up in my collection.

However, if I had a bigger LEGO budget, I would pick this one up now that I've built it (and not just brickling the Fabuland and Blacktron fan figures). I never would've known I'd want it just looking at the pictures, but having it in front of me, there's a lot ot like. It's a fun big mech and a nice barn with great figures, and when all is said and done it does feel like it's worth the money.

Well, that wraps up my LEGO Movie reviews! I hope they've been enlightening when they needed to be, and I hope you've enjoyed them! I've certainly enjoyed bringing them to you. Coming up, look out for a wave overview with pictures of all the sets and group pictures like all of the Robo SWAT, all of the Micromanagers, etc. Coming… sometime!

CloneyO out, for now.

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

Wow, so there are four wheels. This wasn't clear from the box art. I bet one could convert the Fire Mech into a workable fire engine with the parts included, even if no 2-in-1 instructions are included. Same with the farm contraption--it sure looks like it could become some kind of small barn.

[Legofin2012]

I believe that the pig might be on a treadmill, hence the carrot, to spin the rear rotors?

[DaveBey]

The cheesy grins on Blacktron Fan and Fabu-Fan: they look so starstruck. Hilarious!

I think the pig is supposed to be on a treadmill, walking towards the carrot, to turn the tail rotors. At least that's what it looks like to me. (Edit: I see Legofin2012 and I think alike!)

I love the toungue-firmly-in-cheek sense of humor about all The LEGO Movie sets.

Cheers from Claremore, OK USA!

Dave

Edited January 2, 2014 by DaveBey

[Clone OPatra]

That's absolutely hilarious about the pig! Now I appreciate it even more. Thanks for the explanation, both of you! I've added it to the review.

[Spider-Man]

Great work Cloney! I'm sure doing all these reviews in such a short period of time was no easy task, but I want you to know you did a fantastic job and it is greatly appreciated

[Mutant Orc]

I've said this before, but oh well, I'll say it again!

Thanks for all the great reviews! There really helpful for deciding on what to buy etc.

[eurotrash]

Another great review! I love the pig/conveyor belt and the lookout chicken. There's some fun touches in this set - I'm tempted.

[jonwil]

Great review, confirms my decision to put this set on my 2014 wishlist. The figs alone make it nice but its got a lot of nice useful parts in it too.

[Fikko3107]

...Er, what's the song stuck in your head? I haven't the slightest clue what song you're referring to or what are "apple-bottom jeans".

[jodawill]

I absolutely adore that Fabuland torso! I wish I could get a t-shirt like that in real life.

[Cecilie]

Fabuland fan and Blacktron fan!

[Clone OPatra]

...Er, what's the song stuck in your head? I haven't the slightest clue what song you're referring to or what are "apple-bottom jeans".

That would be "Low" by Flo Rida. As to apple-bottom jeans… I'll leave the info about that to Google!

[danth]

It'd be nice if Lego put the alternate build instructions online. I'm sure all the pieces are there for a nice fire truck and barn house.

[Pigbrick]

Can't help but notice there's an "A" on Hank's butt patch... Does it maybe stand for "A Gluteus Maximus?" ...Nah... that seems far-fetched... must be something else.

[vexorian]

I want the Blacktron t-shirt. The minifig torso with the t-shirt printed on it wouldn't be bad either.

[Brickadiergerard]

I hadn't been at all interested in this set before I read this great review by CO'P. Having read it, I can see that it has a lot to recommend it. For me as for many others the highlights are the two civilian minifigs. The firemech is well-thought out, as is Hank's windmill flyer, but I can't see how they hang together in the same set. Maybe it'll all become clear when we see the film. At the moment I don't see myself or my kids deciding to spend the big money on this set rather than, say, Wildstyle's bike chase or Lord B's lair.

[sj1984]

great review thanks, i like the look of the barn helicopter and there are some good minifigs too - i might wait until theres a discount though. thanks for the review.

[vean]

Thank you for this great review of this set! This prompted me to build it on LDD and to make some renders.

Very funny set!

[ikba]

Nice review, pretty good set. I definitely like the new blacktron shirt (All hail the Blacktron overlords! ). I can imagine there's going to be quite a few people trying to remake the mech into the firetruck, I can't wait to see some of the results!

[Roebuck]

..and just the second to have the dirty-print pig!

I am pretty sure it is a spotted pig and not a dirty pig

Anyway, it is a great addition to the set!

Animals, the more the merrier

[spzero]

loving fabuland fan woo I need that fig and the pig and the chicken

[JeagerEX]

Fabu-Fan looks like a combination between S8 Red Cheerleader (hair) and a S11 Pretzel Girl (head) except the torso.

[VintageLegoEra]

The set is Awesome! Got mine and will built soon

[klinton]

The set is Awesome! Got mine and will built soon

It really is fantastic, isn't it? The barn/copter is probably my favorite of the rebellion vehicles. It's just SO wacky.

The minifigs in this set are fantastic. I love the silver sheen of the dental braces on the two teens. Classic stuff!