Review Review: 21103 Back To The Future Time Machine

[Sam892]

Hi

any ideas what will happen with the missspelled/missprinted tile?

Will TLG change that or keep it? If they change it, the missprinted part could become a rare colectible item.

Dino

I think they will replace it in future copies, and I'm guessing if you Email them they will send you a replacement part. They did something similar with the POTC sets, the box showed chrome gold but it was pearl hold inside. If you emailed LEGO they just sent you the proper parts in the post.

It doesn't really bother me. The text is so small that unless your looking really close in the cockpit, you can't see it. Plus none of my friends noticed it was misspelt when I showed them the Delorean. However if a replacement part becomes available I will most likely email LEGO for it.

[Laura Beinbrech]

As a long time fan of the Back to the Future series (I remember when they were out in the theaters, you whippersnappers!) I voted for this project when I first discovered it on Cuusoo, and the final version has far exceeded even my expectations for the final project.

The printed parts are excellent, and this set has just displaced the Dolphin Cruiser as the top of my "must have" list from the August releases. I haven't been this stoked about a LEGO product release date since the first sneak previews of the Pirate sets were released on the in-box catalogs included with 1989 sets. :D

[Blondie-Wan]

I think they will replace it in future copies, and I'm guessing if you Email them they will send you a replacement part. They did something similar with the POTC sets, the box showed chrome gold but it was pearl hold inside. If you emailed LEGO they just sent you the proper parts in the post.

It doesn't really bother me. The text is so small that unless your looking really close in the cockpit, you can't see it. Plus none of my friends noticed it was misspelt when I showed them the Delorean. However if a replacement part becomes available I will most likely email LEGO for it.

Before today, I would have thought the misspelling would remain as it is; it's just a transposition of two letters in a truly tiny space, after all, and pretty easily overlooked. However, BrickFanatics has alerted us to an official TLG response:

It has come to our attention that one of the pieces in the new Back to the Future Time Machine set was printed with a spelling error on it. Text on the Flux Capacitor element reads "SHEILD EYES FROM LIGHT" instead of "SHIELD EYES FROM LIGHT". We're sorry for any disappointment caused by the oversight.

The set will launch as planned on August 1st, and we're currently investigating the best way to resolve the error. For updates, check this Knowledge Base article or contact LEGO Customer Service. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

It could just be that they'll issue a sticker to go over the brick (which would undoubtedly be the least expensive way to address this), but as I'm frankly surprised they're looking into doing anything about it at all, that sounds like a good thing (at least having the choice to use either a printed brick with a misspelling or an error-free stickered brick is surely better than having only the misspelled printed brick option). But given that they have indeed posted an official response (and the unusual amount of attention the misspelling has garnered), I half-wonder whether they'll actually go ahead and reprint the brick (of course, this page doesn't out-and-out promise a response, and I could see them looking into it and then deciding it's just not worth the trouble to do anything about it at all, but I don't think they'd put the page up unless they'd already decided to issue some sort of fix, one way or another). I guess we'll see.

At any rate, I think the page's very existence at all is another sign of the care they're putting into this set (and which they put into their products in general, actually), and that the griping some have had about TLG's "laziness" is really rather baseless. Say what you will about the finished design of the model (I certainly intend to see if I can mod the set to my own greater satisfaction), but it's abundantly clear LEGO's people have put a lot of effort, care and love into this set, and I for one appreciate that they have.

[badbob001]

In the initial version of the Friends Riding Camp, it included two versions of window arches with printed instructions to essentially throw away one version of the arches. So i suppose they can simply throw in the fixed flux capacitor brick along with the existing broken one, but it probably requires a specific circumstance for this scenario to make sense financially and logistically.

Perhaps they pre-sorted all the bags needed for each set box into separate bins but discovered the faulty brick right before the final boxing. So rather than re-bag and re-sort everything, it was easier to throw in an extra bag with the fixed part and print out new instructions.

[Blondie-Wan]

In the initial version of the Friends Riding Camp, it included two versions of window arches with printed instructions to essentially throw away one version of the arches. So i suppose they can simply throw in the fixed flux capacitor brick along with the existing broken one, but it probably requires a specific circumstance for this scenario to make sense financially and logistically.

Perhaps they pre-sorted all the bags needed for each set box into separate bins but discovered the faulty brick right before the final boxing. So rather than re-bag and re-sort everything, it was easier to throw in an extra bag with the fixed part and print out new instructions.

Well, huh. That's interesting. I understand they did something similar with 10210 Imperial Flagship. As I understand it, the intial runs had a wrong version of the dress print on a slope brick used for the governor's daughter minifigure included in the bags, and at the last minute TLG included a corrected version of the brick put in the box along with the bags.

[Alternator]

Sweet!! $53NZD??? Thats a bargain for us kiwis - especially since the Australian price is $69AUD. Definitely getting 3 for that price!

Where did you get that price for New Zealand from? Ahh, I see this was a price temporarily posted on the Lego site, hopefully it comes back at that price, but if it is in fact 69 AUD (which seems high, and I see their page is temporarily gone too) then it will probably be somewhere between 80 - 100nzd

Personally it'll be a tough sell to me at any more than 60NZD.

Edited July 28, 2013 by Alternator

[Leanne]

I picked this up at the weekend from the Stratford Lego store. I was surprised to see it on sale and a staff member told me there had been some confusion over the release date and that once the four boxes they had on the shelf were sold they were not allowed to put any more out until 1st August. Lucky for me I was in London that day!

I love the set. It looks so much better in the flesh than the box photos. Now I just need to decide which version to display.

[gryffindorcommonroom]

So, from the 1st of August it's on regular sale? As in available from eBay at normal prices?

[Nachapon Lego]

Thanks for this very good review. This set is a must buy to me. Before I get one, tried to build both LDD and real bricks.

IMG_1688 by Nachapon S., on Flickr

Edited July 24, 2013 by bbqqq

[MikroMan]

While I have (as everyone) some mixed feelings about the hood, the set is still gorgeous. I'll be picking up one as soon as my credit card fill up a bit again How long are CUSOO models usually available? I might pick one up for my GF, but I'd hate to miss.

[Blondie-Wan]

While I have (as everyone) some mixed feelings about the hood, the set is still gorgeous. I'll be picking up one as soon as my credit card fill up a bit again How long are CUSOO models usually available? I might pick one up for my GF, but I'd hate to miss.

I'm not sure; the whole CUUSOO thing is still new, and both the Hayabusa and the Minecraft sets are still available (with the latter in particular having been a huge success that have kept TLG doing additional production runs). The only one that isn't still available is the very first, the Shinkai 6500 submersible, and that was a limited edition of 10,000 copies to begin with (as well as being released only in Japan). Everything released after that is still available; we haven't yet seen a non-limited-edition CUUSOO set get discontinued yet, so there's not much to go on (aside from the fact LEGO sets in general can be available for widely and wildly varying periods of time anyway).

[BlueberryWaffles]

Grrrrr I really want this...going to my LEGO store on the 27th (my bday!) and hoping they have it.

[marvinblue]

Excellent review, you went above and beyond building the original!

I couldn't agree more! If anything, the CUUSOO model was the spark that TLG needed to produce this iconic set. This is going to be my first CUUSOO build! Can't wait!!

[mo123567]

I love Back to the Future and I was one of the ones who was really disappointed when I saw the Lego redesign of this set. Now after seeing them together, I can see some improvements were made by the official Lego model. To be honest though, I am not crazy about either version now. I think both versions did a good job with the scale and the difficulty of fitting minifigures which are far out of proportion with real humans. For me though, I would have preferred a set scaled like the Volkswagen sets.

[Sam892]

I love Back to the Future and I was one of the ones who was really disappointed when I saw the Lego redesign of this set. Now after seeing them together, I can see some improvements were made by the official Lego model. To be honest though, I am not crazy about either version now. I think both versions did a good job with the scale and the difficulty of fitting minifigures which are far out of proportion with real humans. For me though, I would have preferred a set scaled like the Volkswagen sets.

Well on CUUSOO the same team behind this set have both a large Delorean model similar to the VW, and the Train from part 3. Hopefully if this set sells well then like Minecraft LEGO will produce them.

[TheLegoDr]

I hadn't thought of that. I love minifigures and of course am a fan of smaller designed creations, but a VW scaled Delorean would have been awesome.

Either way, the review is top notch and I can't wait to buy this set. It's already sold out near me, so I assume it is a huge success so far.

[Canada_7]

I'm tempted to get one for myself (as usual) and also get one for my dad since he's the one that introduced me to this trilogy. Bought the DVD 3-pack when it first came out to show it to me. Though I think he's not gonna end up building it and let it sit there. But for once I might actually buy something at regular price.

[Aredhel]

Wow, that is an awsome review. The DeLorean really looks cooler as it seems on the first view! I always loved the movies and after seen the REAL DeLorean car I always wanted Lego to create such set! Love it :wub:

-Aredhel

[ikba]

Great review!

Unfortunately, I disagree about the set. I think the printed parts, box, instructions, and mini figures are great, but I think that the stepped hood, combined with the small roof and sharply angled roof-supports ruin the front end of the DeLorean. However, if someone mocs the set so as to fix that problem, then I'll probably buy it.

On a different note, a VW scaled DeLorean seems like a really good idea (particularly if it comes with power-functions and can accelerate to 88 miles per hour ).

[swe3t23]

question when is it available at the actually store Aug 1 ?? because i called my local lego store and told me that is was sold out. Is he lying?

[Sam892]

question when is it available at the actually store Aug 1 ?? because i called my local lego store and told me that is was sold out. Is he lying?

Depends where abouts in the world you live. If its the USA then it's August 1st. However some Countries in Europe have got them a early, however by now I would have thought that most of them are sold out.

[swe3t23]

Depends where abouts in the world you live. If its the USA then it's August 1st. However some Countries in Europe have got them a early, however by now I would have thought that most of them are sold out.

USA CALIFORNIA

[HawkLord]

Local Lego store went through two batches of these so far - both loads of stock came in on Mondays and the first batch sold out in hours, while the one this past Monday sold out by Tuesday morning. And here I was hoping to get at least two, maybe three. Might just get them off the site.

[swe3t23]

Local Lego store went through two batches of these so far - both loads of stock came in on Mondays and the first batch sold out in hours, while the one this past Monday sold out by Tuesday morning. And here I was hoping to get at least two, maybe three. Might just get them off the site.

really i thought the release date was AUG 1 in all stores. that doesn't seem fair.

Local Lego store went through two batches of these so far - both loads of stock came in on Mondays and the first batch sold out in hours, while the one this past Monday sold out by Tuesday morning. And here I was hoping to get at least two, maybe three. Might just get them off the site.

i wonder if they will have a stock on them on Aug 1

[naf]

So, looks like if I head over to the Lego store after work I'm probably not going to be getting one Aug 1st? Does anyone know if this is the only run of these, or will the stores replenish their stock? I've never bought a Cuusoo set before so I don't know how limited of an item they are.