Review: 10776 Mickey & Friends Fire Truck & Station
Posted by CapnRex101,
The appealing Mickey and Friends subtheme includes an outstanding selection of characters and unusual elements. Pluto seems particularly interesting because Mickey's famous dog looks splendid, featuring brilliant moulded detail and appropriate decoration.
Unfortunately, the cherished character appears exclusively with 10776 Mickey & Friends Fire Truck & Station, which costs £44.99 or $39.99 so seems expensive. However, the addition of Goofy, whose minifigure has only appeared once before in 71044 Disney Train and Station, provides supplemental appeal to Disney collectors.
Minifigures
Mickey Mouse commonly dons unusual outfits to perform different roles, exemplified in 71044 Disney Train and Station where the character became a train engineer. This example features an excellent firefighting uniform, integrating a dual-moulded helmet that includes superb texture. Otherwise, the head matches previous Mickey Mouse minifigures perfectly.
The same head component appears on Minnie Mouse, with the hole on top accommodating a pink bow and printed eyelashes. Her firefighting fatigues are identical to Mickey's too, featuring metallic gold adornments. Despite their relative simplicity, I think these parts could prove useful when creating old-fashioned firefighters, perhaps joining those in 10197 Fire Brigade.
Several accessories are provided with these minifigures, including a colourful fire extinguisher and a water spray. Of course, some trans-orange flames also accompany the model, ready for Mickey and Minnie to extinguish together.
Unsurprisingly, the packaging indicates that Goofy is responsible for accidentally starting the blaze! This splendid minifigure retains the unique head element from 71044 Disney Train and Station, which features accurate teeth beneath Goofy's distinctive green hat. Excellent texture continue around the muzzle and ears, while the enormous eyes are nicely printed.
Goofy's original torso has been replaced, now featuring an apron for barbecuing. This design looks reasonable, despite poor colour saturation on the apron. However, a more conventional version of Goofy would undoubtedly have been preferable, perhaps featuring his black vest to contrast beside the minifigure in 71044 Disney Train and Station. Even so, I welcome another opportunity to acquire this clumsy canine.
More than twenty years have passed since 4166 Mickey's Car Garage was released, offering LEGO's last rendition of Pluto! This component is significantly larger than I was expecting but appears appropriately-sized beside Mickey. Furthermore, the moulding and decoration reflects this character onscreen, especially around the rubbery ears and tail which look perfect. Pluto's tongue seems odd though, without surrounding printing.
The Completed Model
Goofy's barbecue is definitely basic, befitting a 4+ set. Nevertheless, this model captures the most important features of a barbecue, including the grille and a flame. This colourful parasol looks reasonable too. Two sausages are available for the barbecue and Pluto's bowl contains his bone, which seems appropriate.
The red, yellow and black fire engine bears some resemblance to 4164 Mickey's Fire Engine, released during 2000, which is fun. This vehicle includes some appealing curved shapes and the decorative lights above the windscreen look nice. However, the windscreen itself appears rather awkward, contrasting starkly against the surrounding smooth bodywork.
Moreover, the exposed wheels detract from the model in my opinion, although this arrangement remains common among 4+ sets. Matching those from 76189 Captain America and Hydra Face-Off, these tyres cannot be removed from their hubs, although their size and texture is consistent with existing elements. The printed radiator grille and headlights tile is also new.
There is a seat for one minifigure inside the cab and further space is available for accessories beneath the ladder. This ladder is secured using hinges, so its position is adjustable, revealing the storage area underneath. The striking yellow colour looks great here, although the blue clip appears decidedly out of place, even with the blue steering wheel inside the cab.
4+ buildings have established a consistent aesthetic and this model certainly conforms to that convention. The enormous 4x16x10 archway component dominates the structure, without any clever integration. The likes of 43180 Belle's Castle Winter Celebration exemplify how this part can be employed successfully, forming the core of an impressive building.
The neighbouring curved walls are connected using clips and these feature printed windows, complementing those on the central archway. The decoration looks superb and I like the blue pieces which form roofs. However, there is limited space on the roof, hence the fireman's pole function seems superfluous. That could easily have been improved by creating more room for minifigures on the upper level.
Flame yellowish orange and dark red accents surround the archway, alongside more specific details. These include a ringing bell and a fire hose. While the brickwork texture is reasonable, important devices like the fire bell should actually be assembled, in my opinion. The new piece that captures Mickey Mouse's iconic silhouette looks good above the entrance, although some additional connection points on the front might have been beneficial.
The interior is essentially non-existent, matching several 4+ sets which integrate this archway element. The limited furnishings appear exceptionally simple, including a chair, a table and an unusual computer which presumably monitors emergency calls. There is certainly potential for enhancement here, especially in disguising the bland red wall.
Overall
The minifigures are clearly the distinguishing feature of 10776 Mickey & Friends Fire Truck & Station, as anticipated. Pluto and Goofy are each executed neatly and the unique versions of Mickey and Minnie seem similarly enjoyable, capturing their silliness. These characters alone might be sufficient to attract some potential purchasers.
Unfortunately, I think the accompanying models are disappointing, even in relation to previous 4+ examples. The fire station is reliant almost exclusively upon printed detail and the interior is bland, although the fire engine looks reasonable. Moreover, the price of £44.99 or $39.99 feels particularly expensive, hence I would recommend waiting for a discount before considering this purchase to acquire Goofy and Pluto.
This set was provided for review by The LEGO Group but the review represents an expression of my own opinions.
59 likes
22 comments on this article
Great review, but have to agree about the plainess and the high price. Definitely will wait for a discount
Its shame that they put Mi ie here.
Prototype had Fireman Donald which mase more sense as this iconic trio has few firefighting shorts.
I also dont like Pluto. The shape is absolutly brilliant but that short squished snout makes whole figure looks awkward.
Also WHY the car cant go inside the garage? Epic fail.
Let's be honest, we are all looking forward to the farm set with the sheep.
Mickey's the engineer in 71044... *railroad nerd*
The color scheme of the uniforms on Mickey and Minnie gives me a Chinese New Year feel.
@Lordmoral said:
"Let's be honest, we are all looking forward to the farm set with the sheep."
I've never seen AFOL's anticipating a 4+ series like these Mickey sets.
These junior sets are so unashamedly geared towards AFOLs/collectors, it’s stopped being funny. What 4 year old is going to appreciate exclusive minifigures when the model itself has little to no play value?
It’s just another means of flogging characters without the reduced profit of random packs.
@Nesquik said:
"These junior sets are so unashamedly geared towards AFOLs/collectors, it’s stopped being funny. What 4 year old is going to appreciate exclusive minifigures when the model itself has little to no play value?
It’s just another means of flogging characters without the reduced profit of random packs."
4 year olds will enjoy figures of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto.
They would also enjoy the fire engine.
Its not the best set, but you can’t claim the figures are only for AFOLs
"£44.99 or $39.99"
Wait, what? Has the pound crashed again?
One of the things I question about this set (based on photos only) is that curb that the fire truck has to go over to leave the garage. There's a 4 stud wide ramp in the back and the front, but this is not a 4 stud wide vehicle. Seems like they could have made that smoother...while they redesigned the rest of the building to make it not so terrible.
Two mice that stand upright and wear clothes have a dog that walks on all fours and doesn’t wear clothes. Then there is another dog that walks upright and wears clothes. Got it.
@AndyB1 said:
""£44.99 or $39.99"
Wait, what? Has the pound crashed again?"
It must be something with expensive visa or something, the figures being US residents.
@AndyB1 said:
""£44.99 or $39.99"
Wait, what? Has the pound crashed again?"
Not since the announcement of referendum result has the £ crashed, but the costs of importing stuff to the UK have risen significantly since January. Even the Daily Mail is predicting price rises across the board in the second half of this year.
My 4-year olds wanted this set but we settled on the smaller value 4+ sets instead so they could get one each. They're nicely balanced between being easy for small fingers while also presenting a challenge in a couple of places. From Duplo to 4+ is a big step for some.
The fact that the vehicle doesn't fit into the garage is a bit silly but 4-year olds won't care about that.
Fabuland has returned... sort of.
Wow, that’s at least £10 per figure. No one will give these puppies away for £3 or £4 I’m guessing.
Is it me or...does it feel "wrong" having Goofy and Pluto in the same sets...
By the way, I wonder why the print quality is so inconsistent.
Goofy's eyes are perfect white, even though they are printed on black, which should be the hardest colour to print white upon. Yet the apron on his torso, or Pluto's eyes, both of which are printed on lighter colours, appear significantly more washed-out. Just like in many other instances of white being printed on black in other sets.
Why can't they get it right all of the time? TLG say they are quality leader and "only the best is good enough", but even in high price sets like this they don't get it right, while many of the competition (even cheap knock-off brands) seem to achieve this feat without problems.
Agreed. Goofy is one of the biggest draws of this set, we know this and lego knows this. And yet, this is what lego have deemed to be an acceptable production standard.
I'm glad that most of my set decisions are informed by the build, and that minifigures have little influence on my choices as they are more affected by the poor printing. But they either need to sort out their printing opacity problems or stop pretending that "only the best is good enough", because this has been a problem for long enough that what is considered acceptible is not the best.
@AustinPowers said:
"By the way, I wonder why the print quality is so inconsistent.
Goofy's eyes are perfect white, even though they are printed on black, which should be the hardest colour to print white upon. "
I don't have that piece so I can't be a 100% sure, but his eyes (and teeth) might be white plastic that's just moulded into the head, they did that with Bugs, Daffy, Road Runner and Sylvester in the Looney Tunes CMFs
For a minute there, I thought this was a LEGO DUPLO set!
@brick_r said:
"Is it me or...does it feel "wrong" having Goofy and Pluto in the same sets..."
It's not the first time. They did it in 40378 too, which just felt like them being overt with it.
4+ might as well means 4x the price in this case.
This set is €55 in some countries, really ?????