For many years, LEGO has released police sets (first as Town sets and more recently as City sets). Today's set was one of my original Town sets that I owned as a kid - LEGO 6533: Police 4x4. The set comes with 62 pieces and one police minifigures. Unlike most modern police sets, this set does not contain a criminal for the police officer to chase (an unfortunate omission by LEGO).
In terms of pieces, the set contains a few interesting elements. You do get a printed Police 2x1 tile and a printed 2x2 caution sign tile. You also get a nice hinged piece which is used for the roof of the police vehicle. As a kid, I also liked the black "roll bar" that was included in the set.
The vehicle itself is based on the old style vehicle base piece. The bottom of the 4x4 contains brick-built "shocks" which provide the vehicle with a bit of an off-road appearance. Unfortunately, the tires are your basic thick tires with a small diameter so LEGO didn't go "all in" in terms of making this a true off-road vehicle.
For comparison, here is a more modern LEGO off-road police vehicle that I previously reviewed. As you can see, that vehicle appears to fully embody the off-road aspect (unlike this set which only goes halfway). I chose that particular vehicle as a point of comparison because the piece count between the two sets is almost the same (the Police 4x4 set having only 11 more pieces). That said, the Police 4x4 vehicle is much more impressive (in terms of the structure of the vehicle) than the ATV in the other set.
Since the set only contains 62 pieces, it doesn't take long to complete the build. In fact, the instructions consist of a single piece of paper that is double-printed. Only twelve steps are required in total - and even that is probably generous as this set is designed for the younger crowd! I am pleased to report that I still own the original instructions - and they are in great shape considering the age of the set!
Upon finishing the set, you end up with the 4x4 vehicle which happens to hold an emergency sign and a pair of blue traffic cones with yellow lights on them. As a kid, I was never impressed with the traffic cones (they are much too small in size) but I did enjoy the printed sign.
Unfortunately, I never quite understood why a vehicle that was presumably meant to traverse rough terrain needed to hold traffic related signs in the first place. Wouldn't accessories like a shovel or pickax make more sense if the vehicle is going off road?
The Bottom Line (out of 10):
Fun: 6
Play Value: 7
Kid Value: 7
Adult Value: 2
Overall: 4
This set has lots of interesting bits, but unfortunately it's a case of where the whole is most definitely not better than sum of its parts. Individually, the minifigure, vehicle, and traffic signs are all quite nice. Together? They simply don't form a cohesive group. The set would have also benefited from having a crook included - or if this is really supposed to be a traffic cop, then make it a proper police car rather than an SUV-esque vehicle. Unlike many of my previously reviewed sets, I can't recommend this set for adult collectors...but I do think most kids would enjoy it (which is the original goal of LEGO anyhow)!
In terms of pieces, the set contains a few interesting elements. You do get a printed Police 2x1 tile and a printed 2x2 caution sign tile. You also get a nice hinged piece which is used for the roof of the police vehicle. As a kid, I also liked the black "roll bar" that was included in the set.
The vehicle itself is based on the old style vehicle base piece. The bottom of the 4x4 contains brick-built "shocks" which provide the vehicle with a bit of an off-road appearance. Unfortunately, the tires are your basic thick tires with a small diameter so LEGO didn't go "all in" in terms of making this a true off-road vehicle.
For comparison, here is a more modern LEGO off-road police vehicle that I previously reviewed. As you can see, that vehicle appears to fully embody the off-road aspect (unlike this set which only goes halfway). I chose that particular vehicle as a point of comparison because the piece count between the two sets is almost the same (the Police 4x4 set having only 11 more pieces). That said, the Police 4x4 vehicle is much more impressive (in terms of the structure of the vehicle) than the ATV in the other set.
Since the set only contains 62 pieces, it doesn't take long to complete the build. In fact, the instructions consist of a single piece of paper that is double-printed. Only twelve steps are required in total - and even that is probably generous as this set is designed for the younger crowd! I am pleased to report that I still own the original instructions - and they are in great shape considering the age of the set!
Upon finishing the set, you end up with the 4x4 vehicle which happens to hold an emergency sign and a pair of blue traffic cones with yellow lights on them. As a kid, I was never impressed with the traffic cones (they are much too small in size) but I did enjoy the printed sign.
Unfortunately, I never quite understood why a vehicle that was presumably meant to traverse rough terrain needed to hold traffic related signs in the first place. Wouldn't accessories like a shovel or pickax make more sense if the vehicle is going off road?
The Bottom Line (out of 10):
Fun: 6
Play Value: 7
Kid Value: 7
Adult Value: 2
Overall: 4
This set has lots of interesting bits, but unfortunately it's a case of where the whole is most definitely not better than sum of its parts. Individually, the minifigure, vehicle, and traffic signs are all quite nice. Together? They simply don't form a cohesive group. The set would have also benefited from having a crook included - or if this is really supposed to be a traffic cop, then make it a proper police car rather than an SUV-esque vehicle. Unlike many of my previously reviewed sets, I can't recommend this set for adult collectors...but I do think most kids would enjoy it (which is the original goal of LEGO anyhow)!
I used to love the shocks they slipped into those axels. Something about them took playing with those to a whole different level.
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