The LEGO Movie sets now available!

Builders around the world are getting their hands on the new movie tie-in sets that go with the upcoming "The LEGO Movie" release. The sets are obviously heavily inspired by the upcoming feature film and I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about them. If you have not seen the trailer yet, I highly recommend taking a peek.
It looks like an action packed film and I hope to go see it when it hits theaters later this year. Of course, what good is a movie without toys to go with it? Thankfully, it looks like LEGO went all out with the tie-in sets, all of which appear to be (obviously) based on scenes and vehicles from the movie.
So, let's get to the sets. There's a pretty wide range for the line at multiple price points, which gives fans plenty of options. There are 13 sets in all.

70800 - Getaway Glider - Your impulse purchase of the line, this is one of the cheapest sets. The glider itself is a little mish-mash of parts (like much of the line) but offers some very cool new parts. The mustache part is new and the gray chicken part will be a great addition to any farm MOCs that are out there...if people actually do that. You also get a horse and two baddies, which should offer plenty of play possibilities. At 104 pieces for $12.99, it is a little overpriced., but it still looks like a cool little build for an intro set for the line.

70801 - Melting Room - But wait, there's another small set! Once again, you get Emmet, along with the Heroine of the film, Wyldstyle, and some sort of robot cop. At 122 pieces for $12.99, this is a slightly better value for the money. That said, the set is a pretty basic jumble of bricks and I think 70800 offers a little bit more playability for this price point. It is great to see what (I assume) are the two main characters of the movie in a small set.

70802 - Bad Cop's Pursuit - Futuristic flying police car? Check. Couple of Alligators sporting police lights? Check. Portion of a collapsed bridge? Che...wait, what? I absolutely love the car in this set. It's very sleek and reminiscent of something out of The Fifth Element, one of my favorite sci-fi action movies. The bridge itself seems a little tacked on, but I guess it helps explain the presence of the gators in the set. At $29.99 for a 314 piece set, we finally get past that golden ratio of about $0.10 a piece. Still, I probably would have been much more excited about this set if it was $20 and just dropped the bridge.

70803 - Cloud Cuckoo Palace - What..the...heck? This thing looks like a nightmare of pastels and what (I hope) is an ironic twist on sets that are typically targeted at girls. I don't hate it, but I don't love it. There are many factors that actually make this set interesting though. There are a ton of rare parts in here, both in element type and in the colors they are present in. I'm also a big fan of the suit print on Executron's torso. I can always use a few extra businessmen type prints for populating my city layouts. That said, as much as I love rare parts and unusual colors, I don't see this one being a big priority for me to pick up. I might grab a few copies for a parts draft, if it sees a decent discount down the line.

70804 - Ice Cream Machine - Here we have the first of several "2-in-1" sets in the line. There are a series of City-like vehicles (and one castle) that have alternative battle machine modes. It's an awesome idea and I think this part of the theme will end up including some of the more memorable sets. Up first is an ice cream truck that can be turned in to a plane. Note those flick-fire missiles have Popsicles for tips and the ice cream cone on top turns into a cannon. This set is an early favorite of mine and I hope to pick it up soon. At 344 pieces for $30, this is also a pretty good deal on the parts/price ratio.

70805 - Trash Chomper - Never has a garbage (or is it recycling?) truck struck more terror into the hearts of bad guys. This is yet another wacky, yet awesome, 2-in-1 design that gives us a standard trash truck like many others in the City line...but a crazy alternative mode that will send evil fleeing for the dumpsters. One of my favorite features of this set is the Technic mechanism that makes the jaws on the front actually chomp! A very nice little touch on this set. On the value side, 389 pieces for $30 is another big positive.

70806 - Castle Cavalry - The castle mode on this is pretty basic and is almost similar to The Gatehouse Raid set. Of course, things get crazy when it turns into a steam punk like flying contraption. This is probably the least effective version of the 2-in-1 sets in terms of turning a real world object into a battle machine, largely because you are making the vehicle out of what's normally a scenery piece. However, I expect this one to sell very well for reasons beyond just the build itself.  At 424 pieces for $30, this set is an amazing parts pack for castle fans. You get two great army builder figures that slot in nicely with the current Castle line, along with an array of great parts that can help expand existing sets or open the door to making additional creations. I will be watching closely for sales on this one.

70807 - MetalBeard's Duel - I love a good LEGO mech, especially some of the crazier ones that have come out recently like Ninjago's Samurai Mech. That set initially seemed like a random jumble of parts that worked well together, but I don't think it even holds a candle to this one. There are so many little details on the pirate mech, I don't even know where to start. From the peg leg to the cannon and shark arms...even the ice cream smoke coming out of the back, the designer did an amazing job here crafting something that evokes images of a crew of pirates rising from the sea in their battle suits, ready to plunder. The fact that he comes with a baddie to fight of almost equal size just means there's plenty of play potential with this set. At $35 for 412 pieces, not to mention several of them being worth a couple dollars on their own, this is an excellent set for parts as well.

70808 - Super Cycle Chase - Wyldstyle's cycle features pretty heavily in the trailers for the film, which probably means that accounts for most of its screen time in the actual movie. It's an interesting dragster style vehicle and looks like a fun build. I have to add that I'm really digging the police vehicles from this line. While not as cool as the flying bad cop car, the all terrain pursuit vehicle in this set is still pretty impressive. It looks very solid and actually appears to have room in the cab for two minifigures. That's kind of an oddity for most four-wheeled vehicle LEGO puts out. I do find it funny that the set comes with a spike strip, similar to what police deploy in real-world vehicle chases. That's an interesting, albeit a little scary, inclusion. RRP on this is $50 for 514 pieces, making it a good deal on the price per part front.

70809 - Lord Business' Evil Lair - I'm always a little mixed about scenery type sets, especially when it comes to larger models. On the one hand, I understand the impracticality of making a complete building at a certain price point. On the other, I always feel like it's a little incomplete. That being said, there are certainly enough play features packed into this set to pique my interest. Touches like the tube of Krazy Glue are pretty cool, although I'm more interested in the story behind the "Where are my pants?" sign. Lord Business himself has some cool legs, but I'm much more entertained by the use of a pair of red cups to give his helmet some horns. This set is the top end price point for the line, but still makes a good bargain at 738 pieces for about $70.

70811 - The Flying Flusher - While not as cool as Popsicles, flick-fire missiles bearing plungers on the end of them are also hilarious. The fourth vehicle in the $30 2-in-1 line is a plumbing truck turned airplane that features the plunging armament, along with water cannons and a hatchet propeller. This is probably my least favorite of the four, but it's once again a great deal at about $30 for 351 pieces. The higher set number at a lower price point may indicate this is an exclusive, which does seem a little odd for a non-licensed theme.

70812 - Creative Ambush - I don't have the words to really describe what's going on here. This does not appear to be a 2-in-1 set, although it does mimic the style of the other vehicles with the Saloon-plane and food cart VTOL. I think creative fits the name of this set very well, but it's also starting to feel a little forced. The lack of the 2-in-1 feature for what are obviously vehicles that started as something else makes this one fall a little short for me.

70813 - Rescue Reinforcements - The flying shack is cool and we see another brick-built baddie like the one in most other sets...but will you just look at that fire truck mech! While it doesn't have all of the little hidden details seen on MetalBeard's battle suit, this mech is still very impressive. The set is an excellent deal at 859 pieces for only about $70...but I wish I could get that fire engine mech just on its own.

Overall, I have to say I'm fairly impressed with the sets of this theme. The 2-in-1 line is easily my favorite and most of the sets I pick up will probably come from that price range. That's mainly because I love both the vehicle and the alt modes on each of them, but also because the price per piece ratio on each of them is just excellent. Most of the sets from this theme look to be a good deal, with a wide range of useful parts well below the usual $0.10 per part people shoot for. A big hand for LEGO's designers on these awesome sets for what I hope will be an excellent movie out on February 7th.