Odd timing, given that New Jersey is in a War of the Worlds-style panic at the moment.
December 14: Toy Helicopter
I presume this to be a toy helicopter with remote control.
Rating
Fun ★★★★☆
A toy helicopter is super fun (in principle). After so many Lego people and static objects, it’s fun to build anything at all, and I’m sure that the Ice Skater will love it, since she seems to be an enthusiast.
Ease of Build ★★★☆☆
This has only 7 parts, so it’s not exactly like we’re going to have to call in all the king’s horses and all the king’s men to put it together (horses are terrible at putting things together anyway) but there are some odd bits, like there’s a right angle piece that puts the windshield’s plane of pips orthogonal to the rest of the model. That’s not what I would have expected on a model so near the LSBP (Lego Scale Breakdown Point—where the resolution of the individual pieces is so coarse that objects made from them are no longer identifiable).
Comprehensibility ★★☆☆☆
I want to like it so much, and I technically do know what it is (I knew what it was going to be yesterday, since I’ve cracked the case on the ugly sweaters), but it suffers from the same problem as the Toy Fire Truck: it’s too small to be much more than an implication of a helicopter. I guess if I squint hard enough, I can imagine it being a Sikorsky S-58, like if Picasso gave the Guitar, 1914 treatment to a Sikorsky S-58. And if I can imagine that, I guess I can pretend it’s part of a play set for the short-lived TV series Riptide. But its proportions are so weird (is that the propeller from a beanie hat?) and it’s so crude, it’s hard to get too excited. Certainly not as excited as I’d be for a gritty reboot of Riptide.
Extra Parts ★★★★☆
The Toy Helicopter comes with a spare rotor, a spare rotor hub, and a spare tail fin, and another day with three extra parts is refreshing.
Overall ★★★★☆
It’s a radio-controlled helicopter, and that’s pretty fun, even if it’s barely discernible at this scale. Now it’s just a matter of keeping the Lego people from flying it over Naval Weapons Station Earle and freaking everyone out.
