Review: The Lego Movie 30282 Super Secret Police Enforcer

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

Another The Lego Movie polybag has been released into the wild! I previously reviewed the first set, The Piece of Resistance, in another thread. This time it's the Super Secret Police Enforcer, a little hoverbike which is exclusive to Toys R Us. Licensed polys often appear and disappear from TRU very quickly, so hopefully this review will give you an idea of whether you should try to find it before it's gone.

Set Title: Super Secret Police Enforcer

Set #: 30281

Theme: The Lego Movie

Pieces: 40 (and spares)

Minifigures: 1

Year of Release: 2014

Price at release: $4.99 US

Here's the set in its usual, mid-sized polybag with the Minifigure next to it for comparative purposes. The bag has the same flashy packaging as the main retail sets. It is funny to see the traditional Lego logo next to the movie logo--what, as if we didn't know who made this product? Anyway, the overall package is decent.

The back of the packaging lets you get a kid into Legoland for free. Actually, that's not too bad given that those parks are pretty expensive. It also works for the Legoland Discovery Centers which are appearing in more places, so if you live thousands of miles from California or Florida, you might not have to travel as far. Anyway, the back of the package gives you information in other languages. I guess "Enforcer" is the name of the minifigure as opposed to his scooter. For some reason, I thought the "enforcer" was the bike!

Here's the parts. It's a motley selection, but if you're in the market for spare white angles or black curved slopes, this might be for you.

The spare pieces. No surprises here. Everyone needs an extra visor, right?

Here's the completed minifigure and his weapon. If you feel the need to army build for TLM, then this set may be your easy option to get this particular Robo-SWAt officer. The next cheapest option is to get the Melting Room ($12 US), which comes with a similar cop who has a different head and headpiece. Another option is the Super Cycle Chase ($40 US), which comes with the same minifig, but he's got a vest attachment.

That gun accessory is new. It's a nice looking sci-fi rifle and could be useful in a variety of customized settings, so I hope Lego makes more of them. There's an odd clip on the top of the rifle and I'm not clear if it's intended for anything or if it's supposed to be a sight that just happens to be shaped like a clip. However, there is something neat you can do with it, which I'll discuss a little later.

Here he is from the back. He actually has back printing. You can see that his voice transmitter from the front is wired to a walkie-talkie on his back. That's nice attention to detail.

Here's the usual sheet of instructions. Nothing special to see here.

The craft isn't very complicated. Here it is mostly built, except for the wings. Those are cleverly attached with hinged plates that do make a nice, sci-fi angled effect.

The wings go on like so. I found this part a little confusing; my gut was to put them the other way since the angled white plates go on the inside. Remember: the blue and red lights go out.

All finished. It's a cute little bike-thing that seems appropriate for a polybag.

Remember how I said the rifle has a clip? You can conveniently attach it to the top of the SWAT-bot's seat. This frees up both of his hands to work the controls. He can almost reach behind his head to grab the hilt (except that his helmet gets in the way of his arm). It's a nice touch, whether the designer intended it or not.

I did take a look at the bottom of the craft and decided that it's kind of...blah. Normally, I don't care about the bottom of a build, since it's just tubes and holes, but something really bothers me about how plain this is. I do recommend adding a clear piece to the bottom so that you can have a "hover" effect. I added one here to give you an idea of what to use.

Lastly, here it is in "hover" mode. Adding a clear brick really lets this set "take off." I think that's my one disappointment, that they didn't include one.

How is it overall? Compared to the Piece of Resistance set, I think this makes a nice little polybag. There really tend to be two kinds of licensed polys out there: true "promotional" sets, and "army builders." The Emmet set is the former: it was just the same Emmet you could get in most other TLM sets with a pile of rock, and it wasn't particularly film-accurate. (That set would have been a nice pairing with TRU's giveaway of Emmet's car, because they handed out a car without Emmet himself.) That set really had no use unless you really wanted an extra Emmet or are a poly completionist. This ranks it with other sets that have a unique figure which you can get elsewhere, like Thor and the Cosmic Cube, or Frodo and his small stove, or the Lone Ranger's Pump Car. I guess they're meant to be a gateway drug to larger sets, but they have no value added if you're already buying everything.

On the other hand, you have "army builders" who can be bought in other sets, but they enhance what you already have. You want more of these guys because the source material has a lot of them. Examples are the Lord of the Rings Orc or the Hobbit's Lake Town Guard. (Too bad Star Wars never gives us polys with Stormtroopers or Clones.) If you're getting Super Cycle Chase or the Police Dropship, you probably want one of these to have just one more SWAT robot.

I will say that I just watched the movie again yesterday and didn't see this craft anywhere. Maybe I missed it, but odds are this set is a unique toy you won't find in the film. And that's OK, since the film is all about creativity. It certainly looks like something that could be in the film, and it's one more cop for your assault on Cloud Cuckoo Land.

CONCLUSION

Design: 9/10. I like it! It's a nice "Blade Runner" kind of bike even if it wasn't in the film. Like I said, the addition of a clear piece to elevate it would have been nice.

Parts: 7/10. Hmmmm. The parts are ok, but nothing I was personally screaming for. They come together nicely, though.

Build: 8/10. The build is short and easy, but not complicated (other than the wings being a little confusing).

Minifigs: 9/10. Army builders are always good.

Playability: 8/10. It's a nice "swooshable" craft. It has no real play features. I guess you can rotate the wings, but I don't think they're intended to rotate (but use your imagination).

Price: 8/10. I'd like to have paid a dollar less, but I think that's decreasingly likely with prices slowly creeping up. (I just paid $5.50 for a poly at Target.)

Total: 49/60. Hmmmm. I'd have thought that would have come out higher. I like it and I think it makes a nice little addition to the TLM sets. Compared to the Piece of Resistance, it's a much nicer polybag. I suspect I'll like it a lot better than the Micro Manager Battle poly which nobody's been able to locate yet. My verdict is to buy it.

Coming up next: has anyone seen the Wyldstyle/Piece of Resistance set yet?

[HawkLord]

I picked up six of these during TRUs buy-one-get-one-half-off sale a couple weeks back. Definitely a cool army builder.

Great review - agree the set should have come with a couple clear pieces to add the hover effect.

[Samiens]

I would love to get several of these but being uk based the amount I had to pay to yet one was quite enough!

They do feature in the film- I clocked it on a clip in the video game but have forgotten if its in the super cycle chase or the bricksburg battle...

[Rumble Strike]

He also appears in the MetalBeard's Duel set. I got that mainly for MetalBeard but was surprised just how cool the Robo-SWAT figure is. Looks very smart in silver with good printing, and that lovely rifle. The helmet works very well with the robotic face.

[TheLegoDr]

I liked this figure initially. I held it in my hands at TRU and put it back. I decided against army building these guys. Not sure why. I do like the rifle. I think the castle side of me comes out more and more instead of the sci-fi side.

Thanks for the review!