Greetings all!
I've been putting off posting forever and figured it was about time to make a contribution to this wonderful community. After seeing that most of the summer LEGO sets were put up on S@H yesterday, I decided to pop into my local TRU to see if they had anything new since last weekend. To try and make a long story short - I ended up buying Squidman's Pitstop, and so here is what I hope you will find to be a useful review
Name: Squidman's Pitstop
Set #: 5980
Number of Pieces: 389
Price: $64.99 CAD ($49.99 USD)
Front of box
Back of box showing some of the features
Top of box showing the included minifigs
Contents of box include 4 numbered bags of parts, each with another smaller bag contained inside.
Also in the box are 2 instruction books, the sticker sheet (in this case most likely a DSS for many), and a red rubber hose.
Close up of the stickers
Contents of bag #1 (This includes all the parts to build the minifigures and the police ship)
The figures
Early stage of the police ship
For the most part I found the quality of the pieces in the set to be quite good (colour and grip), however I still noticed that some of the white pieces were slightly yellow. It may not be easily seen in this picture, however the brick on the left with the blue pin sticking out of it is a bit yellowed compared to the brick next to it.
More shots of the police ship being built
The completed ship (including all the stickers)
The police ship is actually pretty nice looking when you see it in person. So everyone knows - there are no controls in the cockpit + there is a large gap at the front of the ship meaning the whole vehicle is not airtight (these things do not bother me but may be negatives for others).
The contents of the second bag (this includes the pieces to build the 3 "baddie" vehicles)
The completed vehicles
Squidman's - I quite like the ship, looks neat and has great swooshability
Snake's - Another fun little ship, I think if the engine pieces were chrome it would look better though
Twin's - The weakest of the vehicles IMO. In fact I think it looks fairly ugly as I'm not a fan of the spikes
Contents of bag #3 (this builds the lower part of the pitstop and takes us to the end of the first instruction booklet)
Inside the toolbox is a stick of dynamite
End of bag 3
The red piece is on a hinge and is used to launch the yellow barrels (similar to the method used in the Echo Base set to send the Rebel troops flying)
At the back left corner is a safe containing 3 gold bars. This is later hidden by the "Universe-L Spare Parts" sign
The contents of the 4th and final bag of parts
The pieces are now used up. All that remains is to position the accessories and minifigs
The gray lever is rotated to make the tool wall change to the weapon rack. (4 weapons are included and can be seen here)
The sign from the front...
...and at the back are hidden 4 flick fire missiles. The sign can rotate and whatnot so that it can be positioned nicely however you want.
Behind this sign is where the safe containing the gold is hidden
The bullet holes and graffiti on the window
I was a bit disappointed to learn a few days ago from looking at pics from Brickworld that these pieces are not actually slices of pizza but instead spare wings that could be used on either Squidman or Snake's ship.
The left over parts. I gave the cop the handcuffs of course and then the pistol to Squidman
Everything together
Interior before and after wall rotation
And then a few pics for fun...
If anyone has any questions or picture requests be sure to let me know!
Final thoughts and ratings
I want to start by saying that I think Squidman's Pitstop is a nifty little set. It may not be physically very big, but all the contents including the accessories, vehicles, and minifigures make it seem like to have a fair amount to mess around with. I was initially a bit disappointed with the price of the set (I only found out for the first time at checkout exactly how much it cost) though I quickly made myself feel a bit better by comparing it to Soldier's Fort - same price however Squidy's hideout contained more pieces. Though Soldier's Fort is structurally larger, it doesn't feel really any bigger as a set once you factor in all the vehicles and whatnot with the Pitstop set (hope that made sense, but if it did not...don't worry about it). I guess what I am trying to get at is that in relation to other sets Squidman's Pitstop gives you just as much, if not more to play around with.
Price: 6/10 - The $65 CAD ($50 USD) does not surprise me, however I would have been much happier paying $50 CAD ($40 USD)
Pieces: 8/10 - There is a huge variety of pieces in this set! Though some may not like what is included, personally I find the variety quite refreshing.
Minifigs: 8/10 - 4 minifigs are included. I think that each one is fantastic - they are creative and nicely detailed. The reason I docked some points is because for those collecting all the Space Police sets, they will soon have a small army of Snake.
Playability: 9/10 - Launch the barrels, flip the tools wall to make it the weapons rack, stash gold in the hidden safe, flick fire missiles, lots of little ships, lots of accessories.
Overall: I'd say about an 8/10. It's the set as a whole that feels pretty great. This seems as though it will be much more of a love/hate set. I don't love it, but I'm very glad I own it.
I feel as though I've forgotten to say a lot, but I'll end my review here. I hope this review has been helpful, and be sure to leave lots of comments : )
I look forward to posting lots from now on and hope to become valued member on the wonderful Eurobricks community.
Cheers!!!
