Review: 30280 The Lego Movie: The Piece of Resistance

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

Alright, EBers, we've gotten reviews of every The Lego Movie set released so far EXCEPT the polybags. This is probably because the polys are just making their way onto the market now. The Super Secret Police cycle is making its way to Toys R Us, and there's a Wyldstyle poly out there...somewhere. And then there's this guy, which is (so far) exclusive to the Lego Store. Is it essential to your TLM collection, or can you skip it? Read on! (Warning: movie spoilers ahead!)

Set Title: The Piece of Resistance

Set #: 30280

Theme: The Lego Movie

Pieces: 33 (and spares)

Minifigures: 1

Year of Release: 2014

Price at release: Free with a $50 (US) purchase at The Lego Store (though its retail value should be $4.99 US)

30280 is your standard 2014 small polybag dressed up in TLM style. I've put out a ruler as a size reference, so it looks to be approximately 6' x 6', or bigger than, say, a bottle of Kragle. (N.B.: I wish I had a proper bottle of Krazy Glue so I could compare the "piece of resistance" to what comes in the set. If I can get a bottle in the next few days, I'll update the photos.)

The set includes your standard "tiny" polybag instructions which fold up to approximately the size of a minifigure. Here it is unfolded, but in folded condition, it's half the size of the set image in the top left corner.

The set includes 33 pieces in an odd mix of slopes, clear plates, and some Technic parts. Included above are the spare pieces: one Technic stud, one cheese slope, one trans-yellow plate, and one minifigure back plate. Surprisingly, there's no spare coffee mug. Most sets where I've gotten a coffee mug came with spares--last year's City Advent Calendar was loaded with them. Oh, well--you take what you can get. Anyway, there's otherwise nothing unusual in this set other than the Piece of Resistance and Emmet's unique hair.

If you buy EVERY TLM set, you're going to have a lot of Emmets with only some unique variances in the face. The Emmet from this set is in the middle, placed for comparison with Pyjamas Emmet on the left and CMF Emmet on the right. He's clearly similar to the CMF edition, except he's got the trademark "cowlick" hair and a toothy face. Frankly, this Emmet appears to be identical to the one in the Cloud Cuckoo Palace set, so there's nothing unique about the Emmet in this set.

The back view. Emmet's back printing just shows the continuation of his safety stripes on his vest. His face is again the same as the Cloud Cuckoo version with the "scared" face. If you've seen the movie, then you'll know that the face is moderately appropriate for his encounter with the PoR.

Here's a closeup of the PoR brick itself. If you don't know by now, it's a 1 x 1 brick with the unique feature of being two bricks high and having a stud-sized indent in the back. For film purposes, it's intended to be the

cap to the Kragle. In that regard, it sort-of but doesn't quite look like the cap to a bottle of Krazy Glue. It's close, but a real cap doesn't have the stud on top. Since this is a toy, the stud does add some play value.

It'll be interesting if Lego decides to incorporate it into other building sets in the future. What, I don't know, but a good Master Builder will find a use for anything.

This set is intended to capture Emmet's discovery of the PoR, which he finds in a cave at the bottom of a hole. How well does it capture this? Well, let's look at the rock formation where the PoR is found. It's built on a 4 x 4 light bley base and made from a variety of bley slopes with the yellow 1 x 1 plates to add some glitter. The "rock" is initially built as seen above, with the Technic parts forming a lever which will be explained in a moment.

The completed rock is finished like so. The PoR is hidden on the Technic mechanism behind the tall dark bley slope.

Press the Technic lever and the dark bley slope pops off, and out comes the PoR. If this style looks familiar to you, it's because Lego uses the same basic idea in polybag set 30163, Thor and the Cosmic Cube.

What this set and 30163 also have in common is that these polys don't really capture what happened in the movie, although this set is a little more accurate than the Avengers set. I don't think I'm spoiling much here--in the film, Emmet simply finds the PoR on a glowing rock; there's no revelation where a rock pops open as in this set. I don't think the rock quite looked like this, either--my recollection is that in The Lego Movie, the rock was black and looked like glowing lava. I could be wrong, but it didn't look like this. Also, Emmet didn't have a coffee mug in this scene. If anything, he should come with the phone he was carrying just before he fell in the pit, though maybe a printed tile matching Emmet's phone doesn't exist yet.

Anyway, that's the set.

So, is the set worth it? Pyjamas Emmet on the left is pretty bored by this set; PoR Emmet in the middle is confused, and CMF Emmet on the right thinks it's awesome! In other words, you'll have one of these three attitudes from the set. I think I personally fall in the middle. On the one hand, this particular scene is appropriate for a polybag. In the film, there's nothing visually exciting in the cave that would translate well into a playset. Emmet doesn't meet anyone in the pit. He simply falls down and finds the PoR. There's not a lot that would work in a full set, so a poly is probably the best choice to represent this limited scene.

On the other hand, there's nothing unique to this set that can't be bought elsewhere. If you can purchase this Emmet at retail cost or if you get him incident to a $50 purchase that you were already making at the Lego Store, then he's your cheapest means of getting this Emmet. But should you go out of your way to get him? If you're already getting Cloud Cuckoo Palace, then no. Heck, even if you get Melting Room or Getaway Glider, you'll already get an Emmet who wouldn't have this exact head, but would be close. The PoR also comes in almost any set with an Emmet. Unless you're a polybag or TLM completist, or if you really, really need some bley slopes, there's not a lot of appeal here. I may put this Emmet on my desk, but that's about it for him.

Really, this polybag seems to be an odd marketing tool. The draw of polys is that they're a cheap impulse buy intended to get the customer hooked to a Lego theme at a low price. They also give Lego the opportunity to get one more use out of a unique mold, so I guess this allowed them to produce a few more PoRs and Emmet hairpieces. Being the main character of the film, I can see why Emmet would be an easy candidate for a poly. However, this poly is being offered to a very limited segment: people who go through Lego's exclusive store and are spending $50. I suppose that it might be intended to hook Lego shoppers who are on the fence about getting into TLM toys, but chances are that if you shop at the Lego Store, you'll be seeing TLM and will be buying the sets.

This set might have worked well as a promo at Toys R' Us, which gave away Emmet's car (without an Emmet) last Saturday. That makes sense--come in for Emmet's car, and for $5 more, you can buy an actual Emmet. And hey, while you're here, here's all the movie sets. The Lego Store's exclusive then could have been the Secret Police cycle which TRU is releasing at some point (as of tonight, mine still doesn't have it). Oh, well--it's your loss, Lego.

Overall, this isn't a bad set, but there's nothing amazing enough about it that would make me tell you to go spend $50 at Lego just to get it. These types of polys do sometimes seem to end up for sale at the Lego Store, or they eventually make their way to Wal-Mart. If you're wanting this set but you're patient, it may turn up elsewhere. I can keep an eye on my store if anyone is desperate for one.

CONCLUSION

Design: 5/10. It's a pile of rocks that doesn't quite look like the film scene should. The Technic mechanism is cute, but again, the PoR doesn't manifest that way in the movie.

Parts: 6/10. If you need light bley slopes, this is for you. I wasn't really wowed by anything in here.

Build: 8/10. The build is short and easy, though the top slopes don't really secure in any way due to the mechanism.

Minifigs: 7/10. It's Emmet. It's not a particularly unique Emmet. If they'd included a standard hardhat or a phone, I might rate this a little higher.

Playability: 5/10. Push the lever, out pops the PoR. Granted, polybags have limited playability due to their size, but don't expect much other than "out comes the brick."

Price: 7/10. It was technically free, but it's likely a $4.99 value. I believe that's standard for a licensed theme poly, but I was hoping for more pieces or something special.

Total: 38/60. Not a great set. Not really a lousy set, either; it's just sort of "there" and you're not missing much unless you really need to have every TLM set. If you find it for sale after February when the exclusive offer has ended, go ahead and buy it if you want a cheap, quick Emmet source.

[Godtshep]

Good review! I got this yesterday. I think I would agree with your opinion, however at least I finally have an Emmet figure