One of the LEGO City subthemes that interested me the most over the past few years is the jungle exploration theme. For whatever reason, I've always loved LEGO greenery - so having a bunch of City sets based in the jungle seemed like a surefire way to acquire some new foliage...and get some pretty cool sets in the process. Of course, things didn't turn out quite that way - most of the jungle sets don't actually include all that much foliage, but they do have some...and many of the jungle sets still look interesting to me which means if I can find them on sale there's a decent chance I'll pick them up. That's exactly what I was able to do with LEGO 60159: Jungle Halftrack Mission. I get this for about 25% off after Christmas - and at that price, I pretty much had to buy it! Now, I need to review it...
The set comes with 378 pieces including two minifigures, the new spider (in red), and a black panther. You also get two vehicles and a bit of a jungle temple / ruins. Not bad for a suggested retail price of about $40. The price to part ratio is a bit higher than the generally accepted $0.10 per part, but with the large panther mold and two nice minifigures, I think that can be overlooked without any issue.
Opening up the box, you get four numbered bags, three instruction booklets, and a sticker sheet containing ten stickers. The first bag has you build the undeniable star of the set: the black panther (ok, you don't actually build anything, it's all one piece) but it's awesome. You also get to build the smaller of the two vehicles and a small campfire build.
It would appear that the panther really wants that chicken leg...and I'm not sure that the frying pan will do much to stop the creature from getting what it wants!
The second and third bags are both used for the main vehicle in the set, the halftrack jungle truck. I love the treads on the back end of the vehicle - and there's are two "cheater wheels" hidden underneath the model to ensure the treads move whether you are driving the car on soft carpet or slick tile/hardwood. That's a nice touch in the design - and it definitely adds to the playability factor in a positive way.
The halftrack looks good from pretty much every angle and I like the inclusion of the two clips on the side for minifigure accessories (such as the machete and the walkie-talkie). The back of the truck contains a fairly long chain piece as well, perfect for ripping apart old temples!
The fourth and final bag builds the bit of the jungle temple, complete with a spider trap for those foolish enough to try and grab the red ruby.
All told, this is a fine little set at $30 (the sale price that I was able to get it at). It's too expensive, in my mind, for the regular retail price of $40 even though you do get two vehicles. Actually, I think that's the problem. The first vehicle is fine enough in its own right, but when you compare it to the second vehicle that comes in the set, the first seems pretty pointless. After all, what kid would want to play with the little mini-Jeep like car when they could use the halftrack?! No kid, that's who.
I think LEGO wanted to make a set in the $40 range...and probably that's why the black panther is in this set (to serve as a sales driver). LEGO's plan obviously worked because I wouldn't have bought this if the panther weren't included...but even with the panther, I waited until I could get the set on sale.
The Bottom Line (out of 10):
Fun: 9
Play Value: 10
Kid Value: 10
Adult Value: 4
Overall: 8
For kids, this set is a pure winner. Two minifigs (one male, one female which is nice), the black panther, two vehicles, some random accessories, and a bit of temple makes for a great self-contained playset. For a child, this set is definitely worth the $40 original price tag. However, for adult collectors I don't think the value is quite there. The smaller of the two vehicles doesn't offer up anything new or unique and could have been easily omitted for adult collectors. The halftrack has a nice design and while small, the jungle temple bit is nice enough as well (though what are the two blue pins on the side of the model for anyhow)? At the current $30 sale price, I feel justified recommending this set to anyone. If you can only find it at $40, I'd probably holdout a bit and hope for another sale at a future date unless you are buying this for a kid who will use all the various vehicles in some sort of jungle play scene.
The set comes with 378 pieces including two minifigures, the new spider (in red), and a black panther. You also get two vehicles and a bit of a jungle temple / ruins. Not bad for a suggested retail price of about $40. The price to part ratio is a bit higher than the generally accepted $0.10 per part, but with the large panther mold and two nice minifigures, I think that can be overlooked without any issue.
Opening up the box, you get four numbered bags, three instruction booklets, and a sticker sheet containing ten stickers. The first bag has you build the undeniable star of the set: the black panther (ok, you don't actually build anything, it's all one piece) but it's awesome. You also get to build the smaller of the two vehicles and a small campfire build.
It would appear that the panther really wants that chicken leg...and I'm not sure that the frying pan will do much to stop the creature from getting what it wants!
The second and third bags are both used for the main vehicle in the set, the halftrack jungle truck. I love the treads on the back end of the vehicle - and there's are two "cheater wheels" hidden underneath the model to ensure the treads move whether you are driving the car on soft carpet or slick tile/hardwood. That's a nice touch in the design - and it definitely adds to the playability factor in a positive way.
The halftrack looks good from pretty much every angle and I like the inclusion of the two clips on the side for minifigure accessories (such as the machete and the walkie-talkie). The back of the truck contains a fairly long chain piece as well, perfect for ripping apart old temples!
The fourth and final bag builds the bit of the jungle temple, complete with a spider trap for those foolish enough to try and grab the red ruby.
I think LEGO wanted to make a set in the $40 range...and probably that's why the black panther is in this set (to serve as a sales driver). LEGO's plan obviously worked because I wouldn't have bought this if the panther weren't included...but even with the panther, I waited until I could get the set on sale.
The Bottom Line (out of 10):
Fun: 9
Play Value: 10
Kid Value: 10
Adult Value: 4
Overall: 8
For kids, this set is a pure winner. Two minifigs (one male, one female which is nice), the black panther, two vehicles, some random accessories, and a bit of temple makes for a great self-contained playset. For a child, this set is definitely worth the $40 original price tag. However, for adult collectors I don't think the value is quite there. The smaller of the two vehicles doesn't offer up anything new or unique and could have been easily omitted for adult collectors. The halftrack has a nice design and while small, the jungle temple bit is nice enough as well (though what are the two blue pins on the side of the model for anyhow)? At the current $30 sale price, I feel justified recommending this set to anyone. If you can only find it at $40, I'd probably holdout a bit and hope for another sale at a future date unless you are buying this for a kid who will use all the various vehicles in some sort of jungle play scene.
Do the blue pins allow the temple to be attached to other jungle set scenery pieces? I seem to recall that some of the Pirates sets had connections, so that several sets could be combined into something larger.
ReplyDeleteOne of my sons has really taken a liking to the City sets recently. Some of the recent ones have really neat animal figures, like the jaguar in this one. Some of the new Mountain-themed sets have things like bears, mountain lions, and beehives.
No, the blue pins are simply worthless as far as I can tell. The pins are the small, single stud extruding type so there isn't much you can really do with them in terms of connecting them to other structures/sets.
ReplyDeleteAs for the mountain themed stuff, I agree - those look pretty cool. They haven't shown up in my neck of the woods yet though, so for now I'm going through some of my older inventory and building them while I wait for the new stuff to arrive! Thanks for stopping by.