Review: 41451 Unikitty Cloud Car
Posted by TheBrickPal,
The Unikitty! theme was launched in August and seems to have received a pretty positive reception on the whole, with a selection of creative characters and vibrant models based on an equally cheerful TV series.
One of the smallest of these is 41451 Unikitty Cloud Car. This was the first set to be seen earlier this year, and guaranteed some great fun to be had with the line featuring everyone's favorite supporting character from The LEGO Movie.
The initial look promised great value for only $9.99 US, or £12.99 UK. But upon further inspection, is it as promising as the packaging suggests? Time to dig in...
Characters
Being the titular character, Unikitty (voiced by Tara Strong instead of Alison Brie) is the star of the show and its product range. Thus, she appears in most of the sets, which is to be expected I suppose. In this alternate reality, she is the ruling Princess of the Unikingdom and loves to go on adventures with little brother Puppycorn, resident scientist Dr. Fox, bodyguard Hawkodile, and servant / caretaker Richard.
This Unikitty figurine appears quite similar to the guises she has taken before. However, she features a new expression which looks appropriately ecstatic! Furthermore, we can see teal and yellow replacing spring yellow-ish green and bright yellow, which looks marvelous and pastel-like. This makes perfect sense given her candy-colored home.
However, her neck still remains a spring tone and the 1x1 'nipple' plate makes the head more secure on the body than ever before! All in all, it's a superb new Uni-variant to add to your collection.
Square Bear has been seen quite often in the episodes of season one. He is normally depicted in a brown and tan color scheme, so this bright figure is surprisingly inaccurate.
Thankfully, his general shape has been captured, and I appreciate some creative license when representing Unikitty's world 'in the brick' - particularly as these pink shades are somewhat rare to find in LEGO's portfolio.
The figure is complete with a lavender Technic ball tail, which could prove useful. Mr. Bear himself appears quite happy, too!
Voiced by Grey Griffin and the owner of a popular flower shop, Fee Bee is by far the most commonly seen of the 'background' characters who inhabit Unikingdom in the series. I am considerably impressed by the designer's physical take on her!
Fee Bee, being a play on the name Phoebe, is modeled after a bee. Clever pun, huh? The black and yellow pattern of the insect is layered on the body and looks marvelous. Crystal heart accessories, first produced for the Friends theme, act as her wings - a nice touch.
Her animated design been replicated well, consisting of such features like a red antennae, and a new petal element for her 'mane'. I cannot wait to see what MOCists will do with this piece.
She also features a grinning expression which I like very much, using the same 2x2 circular tile for her face as Master Frown and Mixels' Nixels. The only thing I would change is the feet, which could have been omitted entirely to closer match the show.
The Completed Model
The bulk of the set is Unikitty's cloud car itself, which I think looks absolutely fantastic, especially at such a small scale.
As the name suggests, her car (more of an aircraft) takes inspiration from a cloud and rainbow; this is evident with the smooth finishing that gives it an aerodynamic nature. You just feel like swooshing it around when it's in your hand!
In the cartoon, the car has the added feature of transforming into a large mech to combat enemies like a certain negativity-spreading Doom Lord. However, that is not the case here given the limited size and space for such a function. We can only hope that it gets produced as a set in a future wave, featuring both Unikitty and Master Frown doing battle, and complete with Frown's own car mech!
Fortunately, the Princess of Positivity is not totally without an offensive weapon, as stud shooters are equipped to both sides of her vehicle. They actually blend in quite well and at least serve a purpose in place of greater firepower - in contrast to 41452 Prince Puppycorn Trike, where they just felt superfluous.
The back looks even better than the spinning, happy sun at the front, consisting of large dishes that are easily identifiable as engines. A red flag is propped up in between them, which adds even more color.
A couple other small models are included to fill out the rest of the piece count, which feel a bit tacked on but still worthy of inclusion. The saddest of these is definitely Square Bear's shelter. Unfortunately. Mr. Bear has to live with a piece of wood slapped on a crate, which he apparently calls home, and a measly two cookies... poor guy. Can Unikitty do anything about his predicament? You decide!
Fee Bee is known to occasionally visit the scenic Flowery Park, which debuted in the episode "Fire and Nice". It's an adorable little area, which includes some useful pieces like curved tiles and foliage.
My only qualm is that the water part of the fountain is disconnected from the rest of the base, which feels like slightly lazy construction and may be annoying if you ever want to move the entire set somewhere else.
Overall
This a remarkable little set, featuring a great selection of characters new and old, as well as a great main vehicle model. It is hard for the smaller sections to live up to the car, but they are still fun to assemble and have on display to help build the Unikitty! world on your shelves.
I think kids will love this set most of all, as it contains some fun play features and dozens of roleplay possibilities. Plus, it's one of the cheapest ways to get the Unikitty character on the market right now. The US price of $9.99 seems just right, but those in other countries might want to wait for a bit of a discount. It's by no means a must-buy, but 41451 Unikitty Cloud Car has got it where it counts and is clearly the better low-price-point set of the line.
I hope you have found this review informative. Let us know by liking this article and share your thoughts on the set in the comments below.
Thanks to Huw for the photos. This set was provided by The LEGO Group, but the review is an expression of my own opinions.
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13 comments on this article
The box of this set is very misleading. Its scteams small set while is packed with stories and fun pieces.
This is definitely a cute set, but not one I plan on getting—I already have the Unikingdom Creative Brick Box, which all three of this set's characters plus a wide assortment of others.
Feebee's wings were definitely NPU—such a unique use of a part that you'd usually only see used for one thing.
There's some confusing color terminology being used here. Unikitty's paw colors changed from Aqua [TLG]/Light Aqua [BL] to Dark Azur [TLG]/Dark Azure [BL] and from Cool Yellow [TLG]/Bright Light Yellow [BL] to Bright Yellow [TLG]/Yellow [BL]. Also, her horn color changed from Light Royal Blue [TLG]/Bright Light Blue [BL] to Dark Azur [TLG]/Dark Azure [BL].
Among LEGO fans, the word "teal" is generally associated with Bright Bluish Green [TLG]/Dark Turquoise [BL], and with that color back on the current color palette as of this year I think a lot of people could be misled by hearing the Azur shades referred to by that name.
Otherwise, good review! Not too interested in this set myself since my brother already picked up the Unikingdom Brick Box that has all the same characters, and I feel like Unikitty is just as fun with or without a vehicle. Same goes for Puppycorn's vehicle, honestly. In both those sets the vehicles and builds help turn a regular figure pack into a complete play experience, but there's not much about that play experience I feel like I'm particularly missing out on by focusing instead on the larger sets. Then again, I suppose it's normal for $10 and smaller sets in most themes to offer basically a "bite size" version of stuff you can also find at higher price points.
^ Sorry about that, Aanch, and thanks - I'm not a LEGO color master like you are! ;-)
Worth a buy just for the parts and i'd build something better with them though..
Used mine as a Lego Dimension replacement since I just use toy tags. Didn’t realize the box was his house. Now I’m sad...
A nice cute set.
When is the Voice Actors article for animated films coming out?
I was literally expecting this to be about fifty or sixty dollars.
Good parts pack. I like the yellow expressive face tiles in this range.
I bought this set purely for a white SNOT brick that was only available in 2 sets at the time. And wasn't on Bricks & Pieces. It's in 4 sets now and available through B&P.
https://brickset.com/parts/6224811/brick-1x1-w-2-knobs-corner
@Star Wars Fan: It's for people who like colorful, zany, cartoony sorts of things. Which, wouldn't you know it, happens to include a lot of kids.
I'll echo that it was a good review, though! I haven't watched much of the cartoon yet so the information about who each character is was super helpful.
A excellent parts pack!