PhLUG Reviews: 70811 Flying Flusher
The Flying Flusher is one of four 2-in-1 The Lego Movie sets. The other 2-in-1 sets are the 70804 Ice Cream Machine, 70805 Trash Chomper, and 70806 Castle Cavalry. They are all priced similarly at $29.99 USD (around Php 1,250, converted) and retails between Php 1,800 - 2,400 locally. All the four sets come with one Micro Manager and three unique minifigs. On a purely price-per-piece basis, the Castle Cavalry (424 pcs / 7¢/pc.), comes out tops, with the Trash Chomper (389 pcs / 7.77¢/pc.) coming in second, and the Flusher (350pcs / 8.51¢/pc) and the Ice Cream Machine (344 pcs. / 8.72¢/pc) completing the lineup.
We'd like to thank the Lego CEE team for providing us with these sets to review. This is the last of the current lineup of The Lego Movie sets PHLUG will review, and the past two weeks have been an adventure of discovering, and re-discovering, how truly awesome everything about Lego is!
THE BOX AND CONTENTS
The box follows the now oft-seen template of the Lego Movie sets: a film strip with the built set being featured, and the included minifigs on the bottom right-hand corner of the box. The box contains three unnumbered bags, one sticker sheet, and three instruction booklets.
THE BUILD
Because the bags were unnumbered, the initial build felt like a build from the past. The first of the two numbered instruction manuals builds the Micro Manager:
All Micro Managers in the TLM sets are unique. This one has legs that can be retracted into its body, and flick-fire missiles on either side.
The second instruction booklet gives instructions on building the Flying Flusher. The chassis is built first, along with the cab at the back.
The wings and front cab and then built.
It's a pretty straightforward build - only the tail component has to be built separate from the main structure.
The roof holds the flickfire plunger missiles (the plunger piece is unique to this set, and it has three!), and a seat for another minifig. The toilet seat acts as a targeting reticle for the minifig! The side panels also open, and the wand piece acts as a handhold for another minifig. Ingenious!
The Flusher is pretty solidly built, and can withstand hours of swooshing. Be careful though with the trans-blue water spray pieces, as these can fall off whilst flying.
As previously mentioned, this is one of four The Lego Movie sets with "official" Lego-issued alternate builds. Although having seen the movie three times the past week, I can surmise that most AFOLs would have done away with their instructions and tried to "special" their way into making their own alt-builds.
The alt-build instructions for this set comes in a separate instruction booklet, and has the picture for the alt-build on its cover. It allows you to build the Flying Flusher as a plumber's truck and a porta-potty.
The porta-potty is built first. It uses the ring that is often used as a life-preserver in other City sets, as the toilet seat, and a blue bucket (Brickset.com calls it a pannier) as the toilet bowl. Very, very creative!
The walls of the porta-potty are the wing panels of the flusher.
The truck itself would look perfectly in place with other City-line vehicles released in the past decade or so. There are a lot of details that would be very, very welcome to City fans.
The roof panel can be removed and reveals the utilities that a plumber uses, including the two plungers, and what looks like a winch or a pump for getting those clogged pipes clean!
MINIFIGURES
The set comes with three minifigures: Doc McScrubs, Alfie the Apprentice, and Joe the Plumber.
The face, torso and hair are all unique to this minifigure. His head has an alt-face, showing a face full of fear or anxiety. His torso features a stethoscope and an ID card, and has back printing also. His hair is a new piece that came out only two years ago. This is the first time that this hairpiece came out in dark brown. This torso lends itself well to medical-themed MOCs. I think his name is an homage to the TV show Scrubs, and this fig can be a sigfig for the lead character in that show, John Dorian.
The plumbers are Joe (with the cap) and Alfie the Apprentice. Their torsos are identical, and the only thing that sets them apart are their faces, and the cap. I suppose the boss wears the cap. Their torsos are designed as jumpers, and have Joe's logo printed on the front. There isn't much detail available here, but these are two figs that would look good in any City-scape.
IMPRESSIONS
This set has a lot of play features, as both the Flying Flusher and the plumber's van. This would be a good set to pick up, as it serves to be a good addition to a City-themed collection or playset, and is a great flying vehicle.
The plumber's van can be seen in the Lego Movie at the start, as Emmet steps out of his apartment and greets Mrs. Scratchy Post. The Flying Flusher is also shown, albeit briefly, during the climactic battle scene in the end.
I recommend picking this set up if you're a fan of the Lego Movie, or if you, or your child, have a City-themed collection. Now, if you are both, a fan of the movie and have a City-themed collection, pick up two sets.
This is also a good set to get for parts. There's a good assortment of plates, and bricks, and wings that you can MOC with. The full inventory can be found on any reputable brick inventory website.
4.5/5 stars. It only suffers from a more expensive price per piece ratio.