Wednesday 11 June 2014

Lego Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Kraang Lab Escape


 Reading this blog, you would be forgiven for thinking its solely for putting up pictures of Transformers. That is the brand I seem to spend most of money on, when it comes to toys, but I do venture into toy lines too.

Lego is not often one of them, not because I don't like Lego, but because normally its quite expensive and I only have so much room in my house.
On my lunch break today, I was having a wander around Sainsburys, and whilst trying to decide which was a better option, Sushi or a Cheese and Onion pasty, I nipped over to have a look at the toys. Nothing stood out, lots of Lego and Transformers Age of Extinction stuff amongst other toys, but then on my way back I stumbled across the Clearance isle.

Amongst a sea of discounted Transformers Beast Hunters Legion figures (none of which I bought) was the last piece of Turtles Lego in the place, and it was reduced by 50% to £5 - I couldn't say no.

As a kid I was massively into Turtles after Transformers and He-Man died. It filled the void, and then expanded past whatever any of them had ever been. The new Turtles show is even better, and seriously if you are not watching it - you really should be.

If you like Lego, and Turtles, hit the button to see a few pictures of the build.




First off, I just want to mention the box. Whilst the front has a nice picture of the set, its the back that is really cool. At the bottom, there is a little retro style comic strip! This homages the original toys, which had a comic strip on the back showing how the Turtles were born.

I could check, as I still have a vintage, unpunched, mint on sealed card Raphael, but I am too lazy to get up from this chair.


Opening the box, you get a couple of sealed bags with the parts inside, and an instruction booklet which my girlfriend found hilarious for the pictures of the Kraang.

Standard Lego stuff.


Its been a while since I did a Lego build, but not long enough that I had forgotten how easy it is to lose tiny pieces. So to avoid that, I poured them all onto a plastic tray, which I usually spill my dinner on.

Don't worry, I had wiped it.


The first step, after assembling Mikey of course, is to start putting together the Kraangs little mech/craft thing.

Its nothing too taxing.


At one stage, you do have something that looks like a Kraang snow globe. Which is something I would dearly love, TMNT merchandisers if you are listening.

Kraang snow globe please!


Here's what you get once its fully assembled, it looks like an alien GI JOE Trouble Bubble! But with legs.

There's so many  great features here, which you might not expect from something so tiny.

Firstly, it has firing missiles. These are friction based, no springs attached (ha ha!), and they are on joints so can be angled if you wish.

Secondly, the middle of the thing is a rotation joint, so you can spin the craft around! Then you have the legs which can be moved up or down, just for an extra play option.

A cool glowing canister on the bottom completes the look.

Truly, I am impressed.


The next part of the build, is to make the little holding cell. Its pretty quick and easy, but does include a neat feature.

A sea saw is attached to the back, so you push it down and the figure flies up, knocking the glass chamber off. Its a cool feature for kids who are playing with the set and you get the feeling that whoever designed this set really enjoyed themselves doing it.

The actual look of the containment cell is ace too, and very in keeping with what you see in the show, I love that it even has clips to hold Mikeys nunchuks.


For a low priced set, even before the 50% discount, you get a quite a bit for your buck. Not only do you get two objects to build, with lots of features and extra bits, but you get 3 mini figures.

Of course, you also get a Pizza! Yes...a Pizza!


You get a Kraang mini figure, which I cannot tell you enough, how much I love it. It looks so much like the show model, utterly perfect.

Not only does it look like it crawled out the show, but it also attaches to other figures head...like in the show!

A Foot Clan Ninja is included, and he looks pretty neat. His chest has Ninjary stuff on it, and his head reminds me of the Foot Soldiers from the original film, as well as the new TV show.


The main figure that people are going to want out of this though, is probably going to Michelangelo. Not only is he arguably the most popular Turtle (my favourite will always be Raphael), but his Lego mini fig is featured in the Lego Movie.

Yes, everything is awesome, including the sculpt of this mini fig. Lego have done a wonderful job on the head as it really captures Mikey from the current show. Its more than I expected them to do, but then Lego have been producing some amazing sets recently (if only I had more money).


His shell is an extra piece, which you attach by putting it over his neck, then placing his head on top. Its really nicely detailed, and adds a lot to the mini figure. Just in case you lose it, the back of the mini figure has a picture of a shell on it.

Overall, I really enjoyed building this set. Its very simple, but there are a couple of really nice bits that will have you smiling like a child, unless you are already a child then in which case - just smiling.

If you can find it on discount, its well worth picking up, and if not its worth picking up anyway.

In other Lego related news, I got the giant Lego Vampire Alarm Clock last week, something I have been after since seeing it on holiday in Florida a year and a half ago. I could not fit it in my luggage then, so I am pleased to finally have....Dracuclock!


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