I now know the existence of "The official ironman rally song". But lyrics don't make much sense to me.

Set data:

8120: Rally Sprinter

Year: 2009

Theme: Racers

Subtheme: Tiny turbos

Pieces: 47 (plus extras)

Price: 4,99 USD / 4,99 to 5,99 EUR / 3,89 UKP

Building time: less than 5 minutes

MISB on review: Yes

Official description: Dark and icy roads are no problem for this rally car! With its big front-mounted headlights and tall spoiler, it can conquer any track. Includes reusable container for storage and travel. Race on #8124 Ice Rally or combine with #8121 Track Marshal to make an icy-cool racing truck! Measures 3.5" (9cm) long! Build to race or build to display! Collect all four: #8119 Thunder Racer, #8120 Rally Sprinter, #8121 Track Marshal, #8122 Desert Viper!

More info: Brickset - Peeron

Box front: Look, a set name on an Italian box! Still, it' s the littlest writing, the biggest one being target age. Oh, and the top of the box is red. Now that's... useless.

Box back: The big news in 2009 Tiny Turbos are Fold out boxes. Every stand-alone TT can be added to a fold-out theme.

Box content: Loose pieces! Instructions and stickers.

Sorted pieces: For such a small model, three main colors is the higher limit. Plus, you have a few bits in white and trans pieces.

Sticker sheet: As always, here they are.

Instructions: Like in previous years, 2 small TT models can be combined to form a larger one. Half of the instructions for the combo model to be found in each of the two sets. Click for larger images.

Building: With such few pieces, building is obviously easy, even with limited piece call-outs.

Building: The model looks flat, before adding "slope brick curved" roof and windshields.

Building: And in less than 5 minutes your model is complete and ready for stickers!

Rally Sprinter: Stickers are there, and leftovers too.

Rally Sprinter: Bird's eye view.

Rally Sprinter: Front and rear views.

Rally Sprinter: Comparison shot with Adrift sport. It's hard to believe they are both the same scale.

Review:

The big news in 2008 Tiny Turbos was Glow in the dark. The big news in 2009 is: the top of the box is red instead of black.

Pieces are loose, so if you wanted to try bag building, sorry; you're late. The main difference between the Rally Sprinter and most other TT is the color choice, this is something different from what we saw over the last few years. Everything else is exatcly what you'd expect. Some stickers, the chance to combine two models, instructions for combo model split in two.

The only other news (apart from the red top) is that this year we have those fold-out boxes (with 2 TTs for the price of 3, because of the d*mn box) and each of the 5 bucks cars fits in one of the fold-outs theme.

Ok, here's another news: same old price, and that's always good news.

A little Q&A:

Our guest this week is White Fang, from Singapore. He has two questions:

1) "I never really own these Racer sets, but I don't understand why it appeal to some collectors". Well, I liked car models when I was a kid, and even if I overlooked Tiny Turbos at first, I later discovered they are cheap, nice and funny. I mean, there are few Lego sets one can buy for 5 Euros! Plus, sometimes they are hardly available in Italy (7090 Crossbow attack, to name one), and these 2009 TTs were on sale for 30% off in a local shopping mall last June. You gotta love 'em!

2) Do you think these Racers vehicles, can be modified into System set cars? I thought about it, but never actually tried succeeded in doing that. Someone obviously did, look for instance here

Rating:

Color scheme: 4/5. Light blue and light grey are a good choice, and something a bit different from the usual.

Minifigs and accessories: N/A.

Pieces: 3/5. 'Slope Brick Curved 2 x 4' is the rarest piece in here, and just beacuse is a 2008 premiere. That says a lot.

Playability: 4/5. Just like ant other TT. Build, unbuild (if you can, beacuse of all those stickers), rebuild, and play.

Design: 4/5. The cockpit looks a bit low, compared to the rest of the car. Everything else looks good.

Overall rating: 4/5. Above average, it seems like every year there's some good TT around.

The final words: TLC, please forget fold-outs and focus on cars (with a lower case 'c')!

Edited August 26, 200915 yr by WhiteFang
Indexed

Nice review, the racers aren't my fortay but great review. I can't believe how sticker intensive they are.

Great review. The car definitely looks better with stickers, but I won't be putting them on. It comes with some nice pieces, some good colors, and it's cheap. Overall a pretty decent set.

Nice review! I might buy this set if it is at a good price.