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Creator is a weird beast of a series: mini-figure scale sets of different sizes, non-min-figure scale vehicles, and basically anything that qualifies as 'miscellaneous.' This year, one of the more colourful sets appearing in the line is Rainforest Animals. Let's take a look! Set#: 31031 Name: Rainforest Animals Theme: Creator Year: 2015 Pieces: 215 Minifigs: None MSP: U.S.$14.99 Peeron Brickset Bricklink The box The box is nothing surprising, the main model, with the two alternates on the side. At a glance, the shades of green used are really attractive. It jumps out off of the shelf, especially compared to a lot of the other Creator sets, which tend to have a lot more sky blue shown. The back of the box shows the 'action' features, such as they are. They will be shown in depth as the review goes on. The booklets The books have images based on the box set. They are cleanly designed with the requisite ads and piece list in the back. The Pieces The set is relatively small, and outside the googly eye printed pieces, nothing was particularly surprising. I love the colours though. The greens are lush. Build One: the piraña The base of the fish is solid, no hollow space in this build. The set(s) uses pieces in an unusual way in places. The bridge of the nose at the front uses two of the pivoting pieces that are normally used for doors and such are stacked and used only to get a nice texture to the front of the fish. Those sorts of irregular piece usage separates professional Lego builds from amateur ones. And a few steps later, it's finished! It's not a complicated build, but it is very, very economical and polished. The fins are solid and don't flop around. The base is stable, it won't fall over. I like the curves on it. It cuts a nice silhouette. And one from behind, for completionists. Build Two: Chameleon The second build is the chameleon. The base of it is solid as the piraña is. It's quite a chunky thing. I think the colours are a little more random than in the piraña, but nature is like that, and the three shades of green play well off of each other. The legs are put on, and I think they work better than they should. The feet are just stacked corner pieces. It works though, and they are very stable. The ability of the head to tilt is smartly restricted. It keeps it from going to unnatural positions. An unused hinge keeps it from flopping down too much. This is my favourite model of the three. It's got a funky quality to it. Build Three: Parrot/frog/fly The fly is a very simple build, and cute too. Next is the frog. Again, not too many steps. The hinged back feet are a clever design. The final frog is pretty nice, and has one action feature: A gaping maw. The shape of the big green slope is very close to an actual frog's shape. Could that be its original purpose? The third build is the parrot. At first I was a little baffled by it. Where is everything going to go? Unlike the other two, this thing is hollow... But there is a purpose for this! Turns out the next step solves a little mystery. The horizontal set is turned up, and feet are put on. The next steps build a very well designed head, that snaps on top. This kind of reminds me of the parrot from those Three Caballeros cartoons. Anyway, he's built, and he's a beaut. Of the three, this definitely uses the colours the best. The wings look surprisingly organic, and can splay out like a real bird's might. And go back. This is the weird thing. The head tilts back so you can feed it, as seen on the box. The set comes with four little beige pellets. So why was the inside hollow? Well, the tail pops up and... The bird poops? I guess that's what they're going for. It's interesting, anyway. So that's the third build. It uses a majority of the pieces, and is the one with the most natural colour scheme. The Final Verdict Design: 10/10 I have to review this on what it is: a set under $15 with multiple builds. It's not mind blowing, but nowhere in the set does anything rub the wrong way. The proportions seem right, except possibly the fly. Build: 7/10 It's not boring, but it's not anything I've never done. The parrots feet are interesting, and I like seeing the snot techniques in the build. Playability: 8/10 The fish isn't playable at all. But the piraña, parrot and frog are posable. And kids love things with pooping action. Price: 10/10 I thought this was $30 at first, but upon checking, no, it's $15. I thought $30 would be reasonable, but at $15, it's a good deal. And I love all the colourful, curved slope pieces in the set. Overall: 9/10 This is a solid set, not a must have, but a set that shows what a creative, smart toy Lego can be, away from licenses and flick fire missiles. I would recommend this as a present for any young person. So, it's good. My personal favourite build was the chameleon, and my daughter liked it too, using it as a dragon to fight with Mario, until she smashed it into oblivion. It unlocked her imagination, and that's what this stuff is all about, right?
