Lego released the City Volcano Starter Set as part of a new sub-theme of Lego City. The set is and sub-theme is themed around Volcanic Exploration. The set retails at £8.99 and has a piece count of 83. As a starter set it comes with four minifigures. The box contains one un-numbered bag and one instruction booklet.
Minifigures
The set contains four
minifigures, two males and two females. Here's a quick look at them in
all their glory, accessories included. We have our female researcher
with camera, male driver of the ATV then a female miner and a male
minifigure with a metal detector both fully suited with oxygen tanks and helmets.
Moving on let's look at our female researcher / photographer minifigure in more detail. She has a cheeky smile showing her teeth and is wearing lipstick. She has metallic silver printed half framed glasses and brown hair which forms at the back into a pony tail. Her torso is printed with a white lab coat, open at the front showing her blouse. On her lab coat she has an identity badge and two pens in one of her pockets. She also has back print on her torso. She has plain light smokey blue legs.
Our second minifigure doesn't have any accessories as seen above however he drives our ATV which will be covered further in this review. This dude looks pretty roughed up, he's got facial stubble and a graze on his face. But this doesn't bother him in the slightest hence his half grin! Then again this guy is prepared for action whilst exploring volcanoes. Whilst his torso looks similar to the next two minifigures it has a different print. The torso base colour is Khaki Green, printed with a shirt and a utility belt. Clipped onto the belt I believe is a radio, or is it some sort of scanning device? Who knows :) with your imagination it can be anything you want it to be! On the back of his torso his utility belt is continued around his body and has four pockets. Above that is a printed compass which I would believe is the logo for the company he is working for. He shares the same plain light smokey blue legs as the female minifigure above. Last but not least, he is nicely equipped with a tan coloured baseball cap which has a hole in the top.
The last two minifigures I will cover together as they don't really differ other than their heads. The female has a little smile and lipstick but don't let her looks fool you, she looks like she can handle herself. The male doesn't look happy, then again he is next to a scorching volcano hence why he is sweating! They both wear the same outfit which is Khaki Green in colour. We have both front and back print on our torso consisting of a grey utility belt and safety harness. The front has a zip which is about a third open revealing a brown top underneath. The silver detail on the torso such as the zip, buckle clip and rings are a shiny silver metallic print. On the back we have what looks like an ice pick on the utility belt. The harness is continued either side of the compass logo which has an image in the center of a volcano.
The helmet for the two minifigures goes on in three parts as you may or may not have seen in previous sets such as fire service related ones. The oxygen tube piece goes on first which integrates nicely with the minifigures oxygen tank. Then the visor is attached to that just like any other helmet and finally the white safety hat goes on top to form the complete helmet. Pretty genius if you ask me!
The Build
Whew! Well that's our minifigures covered. Now on to the build itself. Which isn't much in a starter set, but it sure adds to the set. First up we'll review the 'Volcano'. I have to say I'm not impressed, but I suppose in such a small set this was the best they could have hoped for. I don't know why but when I first saw the grey funnel piece I thought it was going to be a cement mixer! The volcano build sits on a 4x6 brown plate, has a handful of pieces and a 'volcano erruption' function. The blue crystal which I believe is what the team are searching for, and two transparent orange round 1x1 bricks are inserted into the volcano. You can then push the black lever down quickly on the side to launch them out the top! The build is finished off nicely with a green three leafed wild plant piece.
That brings us to our final build. The ATV itself and glowing hot transparent orange boulder! Lets first look at the boulder. I believe these two pieces used to form the volcano are new pieces made this year. I haven't seen them in any other set. Instead of splitting horizontally they split vertically down the middle which makes them even more awesome! Inside we have a stud on each half, one of the halves has a blue crystal attached!. This is what our team are searching for!
Last but not least we can now look at the ATV. With lime green being the main vibrance of the ATV we have our volcano compass logo on the front. We have a bar under the radiator grill and transparent white 1x1 roof slopes for lights on the front. On the back we have two transparent red studs for rear lights. There is a yellow 1x1 plate with clip on the back to hold the radio. Above that is a black aerial and to the side of that is grey chain. The rest of the ATV is your standard four wheels, other pieces to make up the rest of the frame and bike and then of course the handles. The chain can be attached to the volcanic boulder to allow the driver to drag it to a safe spot to be cracked open!
The Verdict
Well that brings us to the end of another fantastic set. I do like this set, it is different. I do want to get the other sets in the long run, but now my funds need to recover. Not to worry, I've got more than enough sets to review for you wonderful folks! I can't really fault this set, other than the volcano itself is well... small. I would definitey recommend this set at £8.99 as with all the starter sets it's great for bulking out your figures for a particular theme. Or sub-theme in this case. I also find the ATV quad bikes pretty cool! I will probably use these figures myself in a space alien theme than a city as I think they will go perfectly with their outfits!
