I saw this set on one of the online shopping websites and I was thrilled by its price so I had to have it PLUS I wanted to have Wyldstyle, so it was worth it, not to mention that this is the only set where Wylstyle has her hood up, so I find it unique .

Perhaps the set compared to the movie is quite small and compact but it is well built on a smaller scale, and I enjoyed rotating the Laser Machine and the Restraining Platform up and down, it has a simple mechanism but it works, only one I have changed, since it comes with with an extra spare hand-cuffs I used them instead of the chains.

For a small set it also comes with unique parts like the Octagon base-plate & the flex tube among side other pieces. Also from the way I see it it could be used anywhere you imagine, though it could be used as a torture machine in a City Police Station and it could be removed from its base-plate and put it in a different place as long as it has a tall ceiling, or if you like perhaps as a Laser operation table for a Hospital (My thoughts) or you could be a Lego Movie fan and loves to collect the movie sets theme for display by itself... its up to you!!

However I see it an excellent and unique set regarding to its price, parts, compact design and the minifigures.

So here we are: it's 2014, and with The LEGO Movie just a few weeks away, TLG wasted no time in pushing out a massive first wave of sets to tie in with LEGO's strange debut onto the silver screen. There's undoubtedly a lot at stake here for TLG, and I suppose they're hedging their bets with a relatively competition-free release date that will be buoyed in tandem with toy sales. I'm a pretty big (self-proclaimed) film snob myself, and considering I'm getting a pretty good vibe from the trailer, I'm cautiously optimistic that the movie will at least be casually entertaining fare with something to offer AFOLs as well.

I'm sort of holding out for discounts, but I figured that US$13 wasn't too much to waste on the smallest set in the line, which is this one: The Melting Room. This set is definitely made to draw people in, because it features the core essentials of what you'd want from a movie tie-in: both main protagonists, a generic goon to fight off, and an action scene, all packed into 122 useful pieces. It's hard to complain.

I really do have to give this set high marks for all that it has to offer in its small but robust package. While most other licensed sets make do with small vehicles or underwhelming builds to support what amounts to an "army builder", there's actually a lot to play with here. The set up is a James Bond-type array, where one can strap Emmet down while a laser slowly and menacingly advances towards him. Everything is very cleverly built and fun to play with, and while the promotional render sort of gives the impression that the scene is sort of disconnected, it's actually a solid build that stays together without issue.

The Minifigs have largely been reviewed by Brickset admin already, so I won't say too much more on them other than the fact that you're probably going to want them if you've been exposed to any sort of promotional material for the LEGO Movie at all. Wyldstyle's hoodie headpiece is particularly impressive, and I just can't resist making a comment about how great Emmet's "I'm freaking out!" face is. If there's one curiosity that I'd like to point out, it's that Emmet does not have pupils in his eyes, making his face seem much closer to that of the "classic smiley" compared to the faces that we've had for the past couple of years. I guess that's why he's "The Special"?

Even if you hate the LEGO Movie on a visceral level for some reason, this is still a pretty cool set that you can use as a backdrop for just about anything else, and if you don't, this is probably the most efficient way to pick up Emmet and Wyldstyle. And since it won't break the bank, you may as well play right into Lord Business' hands and buy this immediately. (Because that's the plot of the movie, right? Minifigs bankrupting AFOLs?)

Likes:

- More main characters on a cheap set. Always nice.

- Highly detailed set: tools, consoles, handle bars, lights, melting ray, etc. It's as if 80% or more of the surfaces have something interesting

- Captures one of the many iconic scenes of the movie and allows for great play

Dislikes:

- I cannot unsee the bicycle wheel they used. It's just awkward since the moment I was putting the tire on.

- The chains don't work that great. I just watched this scene again and, in the movie, Emmet has Lego cuffs.

Nice set, including for collectors coming in late and having to pay extra.

Set #70801 Melting Room: Two small sets were released as part of the first wave of LEGO Movie sets. One was pretty fun, the other was mostly good for the Mini-Figures included and the fact that it included some semi useful parts. Can you guess which one this is?

Box/Instructions

The melting room box is pretty minimal in looks. By which I mean that it doesn't match up entirely with the great design the larger boxes use mostly due to the size of the box, the smaller nature of the set compacts the design of the boxes from this Theme far too much for my liking.

Everything still looks the same, it just comes off as uninspiring for the smaller size compared to the larger boxes in the Theme. I'm not sure why and I hope I'm making sense.

The instructions are your typical LEGO instructions for a set of this size, not much else to say about them. They function well, have easy to follow build instructions and really that's what is important.

Parts

This set has some nice plates in it, the hexagonal shaped baseplate is a real treat and some of the other pieces in the build will be useful for MOCs. Honestly though there aren't many parts going for it.

Minifigures

The set features three Mini-Figures and here is where the set truly shines.

First is The Special, Emmet isn't unique to this set his print and character are found in many others. That doesn't stop him from looking awesome with his double-sided torso print, the leg printing and the piece of resistance strapped to his back. Even his double-sided facial printing looks great, definitely an awesome looking Mini-Figure.

Robo-SWAT is one of Lord business' robot minions. Mass produced and built on an industrial manufacturing line (probably) the Robo-SWAT is an awesome little minion figure. He comes with a fun new accessory, a fancy looking laser gun with a clip on top for holding other accessories, and he's wearing the CMF style baseball cap with a shield print on the front indicating that he is a member of law enforcement.

The print on the Robo-SWAT is pure fun. It's similar to LEGO City Police officers, only more SWAT like. There's zippered pockets on his front, a walkie-talkie speaker clipped to his upper torso with the cord and rest of it printed on his back clipped to the belt around his waist. He's got a badge on one side and the belt has pouches on it for storing things. The belt buckle has a huge E printed on it, not sure why, but it looks great. He's also got your standard leg printing. Overall a brilliant looking figure.

Wildstyle is the best looking figure out of the bunch, while Emmet and the Robo-SWAT have great looking prints and fun accessories, Wildstyle is the crown jewel of the set. She has an all-black jumpsuit on so she's wearing all black, the only bit of colour in her print is the unique blue and pink tags on her torso, leg and right arm. It's a simple print, but it's great looking. She has a double-sided torso, leg printing, right arm printing and even her hoodie piece has printing on the side. As well as on the front to represent her blue and pink striped hair.

She is using an axe to free Emmet on the box and her head is also double-sided with two similar face prints. Honestly if you don't notice that one side's mouth is more turned up than the other you might think both expressions are identical.

The build

The build for this set is far too simple for 122 pieces, the finished model isn't much compared to some of the vehicles you tend to find in similar sized/priced sets. It's really not all that much to write home about, you build the prisoner rack for Emmet, the melting laser (or Pen Light) which is somewhat lackluster due to how inaccurate it looks and that's pretty much it. I'd estimate it would last maybe twenty-five minutes so it's a fast build, though not immensely satisfying.

The completed model

This looks nothing like the actual room in the movie, it's too small and too contained. There's barely enough room to fit all three Mini-Figures on the actual baseplate, and that's when you put Emmet in the 'hot seat'. To be fair LEGO was trying here, it isn't easy making sets this small for this Theme because of just how large the set pieces were in the film.

I think the prison rack build is the most fun out of this set, the melting room as a whole looks unfinished and a bit too small, and also I don't like the look of the laser itself, it could have and should have featured a few more pieces to better solidify the resemblance to a pen light that was used in the actual movie.

Overall opinion

This set is only for completists of the Theme. The build isn't much to look at honestly and while the scene from the film was fun this is a bit lacking due to the small size and number of pieces. The real draw of this set is the Mini-Figures, this is the only set to include Wildestyle wearing her hood, and the Robo-SWAT is just fun to army build. I will say this though, the hexagonal baseplate for the set is a nice piece, good for MOCs.

I recommend it for these reasons, however I understand it isn't a set for everybody and think other larger sets would be a better buy if you're looking for these characters. It does make a decent parts pack though.