But here it is, a new review. Of a small set, yes, but of a real set, also yes.
Space Moon Buggy
The Package
It's what catches your eye as the set lies on the shelf, and is the selling point.
It is, necessarily, small. How big can you make a box for an impulse-buy set? But it has a clean and simple look to it, with the blue sidebar. Or at least it would, if not for the choking hazard warning placed squarely and quite obtrusively on the front. Ah well, I guess they would have had to put it on the back anyway...
On the back is a picture of the astronaut minifigure in full space gear. The box also claims that the set is "designed for easy building" - more on that below. However, the usual choking hazard warning is, as I said, on the front instead this time. There's essentially no room for anything else.
The Instructions
Are they easy or hard to build from?
The first thing I noticed about the instructions is that they are big. No, wait, this is an impulse-buy set - make that "colossal". Apparently the set IS designed for "easy building", inasmuch as "easy building" follows from "big pictures".
Yet the very last step in the manual involves simultaneously putting six tires on six wheels and attaching all of them to both sides, one of which isn't able to be shown in the same picture. It's still easy to figure out, but it seems that the adding of the wheels was almost an afterthought, making for "easy building" that isn't as incredibly oversimplified as I might have thought or even expected. (Sorry, no picture of the last step.)
The Pieces
The most important part of the set, and what I buy them for.
There are several interesting/useful pieces in such a small set. The astronaut's helmet and visor are somewhat new pieces, only in a few other Space-themed sets this year. The metallic gold new-style half-dome visor is particularly neat.
The light bluish gray rod with a perpendicular "handle" is not the most unusual piece, but is in no other current impulse-buy-sized set. The large number of small wheels and tires (six of each, total) is also somewhat out of the ordinary for any similar set.
Other parts of interest include a dark bluish gray battle droid torso from Star Wars, the space-themed torso on the astronaut minifigure, and the dark bluish gray chainsaw.
The minifigure itself is mostly interesting for the detail on the space-themed torso, which has printed circuitry and armoring patterns. The head, while useful, has been overused lately. The baseball cap is plain blue, but may be of interest due to the fact that it is the new style.
The back is fairly generic, though again, the details in the printing are an interesting point.
The Finished Set
This is what it's for, people. The finished product of your labors.
Perhaps not the most impressive set, but fairly recognizably a miniature moon buggy. The small drill/core sample arm on the back is a nice touch. However, the satellite dish on the side cannot be turned, due to the way in which it is attached.
Practically the only play feature besides the wheels (which, of course, work very well) is the adjustable core-sampling arm on the back. Quite a few disparate (and useful) parts are concentrated in the arm, but they work well enough when assembled as such.
And of course I couldn't resist making the astronaut moon-pole-vault.
Final Thoughts
All in all, is the set worth the purchase? Or should you have kept the money?
The entire set, moon buggy, astronaut, and all, is (sadly) small. However, its price is (very happily) small. Plus, you get some new parts, which are surprisingly many, unusual, and interesting.
Pros:
Useful astronaut parts
A plethora of wheels
Quite affordable
Cons:
Basic vehicle design
Somewhat low piece per dollar count
Weighing all those wheels and the shiny new visor against the MSRP of $4.99 USD, I can only say that if you do want all those wheels and a shiny new visor, or even just a small "Space Moon Buggy", then I completely recommend this set.
I hope you enjoyed reading the review, as always. And if you can, please leave a comment, as always. It's nice to receive feedback.
I anticipate that I'll have another review all lined up to be posted in the (relatively) short timeframe of a month or two, so look forward to that (if you do indeed look forward to that).
