This set is a good set for your money, 8 minifigs, a superarmed police dropship.

I bought it in December 2017 for 68 bucks and is worth the price.

5 Stars

Apart the nostalgia-fest that is Benny’s Classic Space-inspired Spaceship, I hadn’t really taken much notice of the Lego Movie range. Despite this, when I had opportunity to pick this set up relatively cheaply I deliberately decided not to do any research on the set before building it, just to see what I would make of it without of the expectations that inevitably colour any build (especially the last one I reviewed!).

Box/Instructions

The box is of a decent size and features a moderately exciting shot of the ship performing what I can only assume is a ‘drop’ (?), as well as neatly showing off the range of minifig characters included. The back features the Lego Movie film strip branding device to demonstrate the range of the play functions (complete with helpful arrows for moving parts). The instructions are split across two books and have the usual clear, unhurried steps with piece callouts.

Parts

The set has a great selection of parts, albeit mostly in the black and white colour scheme of the model. There are plates (both square and angled) in a variety of sizes, as well as a good range of slope bricks and numerous SNOT bricks and brackets.

From the common to the rare – most noticeable of which is the still relatively new large cockpit window piece, while the striking trans red glass windows are unique to this set. This is also the first time that the large half-ball pieces which form the rotating part of the forward cannons have been used outside of the Star Wars universe. There is also sticker sheet – or at least I assume that’s what the crumpled mess jammed at the bottom of the box was. I had thought that Lego were using the cardboard backed packaging for instructions and stickers on larger sets, but sadly not in this case.

Minifigures

There are a very generous eight minifigs included – half of which are the Robo SWAT team. These theoretically generic figures actually show quite a bit of variety, with two different heads sporting three kinds of head gear (a helmet with visor, two goggles and a fetching knitted cap) as well as a couple pieces of body amour.

On the other side are a green Ninjago Ninja complete with katanas, the usual Emmet figure with his Piece of Resistance, Batman (my first!) and a blast from the past (well, 1998 anyway) in the shape of Johnny Thunder. All feature the wonderfully detailed printing we expect from modern minifigs, with the improvements to Mr Thunder being especially noticeable.

The build

The build starts, as could be expected, at the base of the dropship. Into this mainly Technic frame are inserted axles and gears which, as I see others have noted, it is vitally important should line up correctly to ensure that the rotatable engines (which aren’t added until right at the end) all align properly. However, I doubt that even knowing this in advance is of any help in reality as, after trying to get them all to line up for what seemed like eternity, I gave up and resigned myself to living with slightly wonky thrusters.

The rear section is constructed next, consisting mainly of a mix of inverted angle bricks and creating a 6x6x7 space which will be relevant later… Construction moves to the front with the beginnings of a cockpit (control panel and levers etc), behind which is mounted a Technic-based winch with the string fed through to the midship hold. Supported by arches and slopes, another control position takes shape, set above and slightly back from the lower one and surrounded by brackets.

Assembly of the two hold doors is pretty much identical but mirrored, with the upward slide/hinge mechanism using Technic lift arms and friction pins neatly slotting into the Technic bricks already in the main frame of the ship. The addition of a rear door which hinges at the bottom and a ‘streamlined’ built up roof section serve to enclose the rear hold, while layers of plates and bricks build up the roof of the middle section. More slopes are added to the front section directly behind the cockpit to created an opposing streamlined roof section, presumably to protect the operator of the gun turret that sits squarely between the two roof sections from having his little knitted hat blown away.

The purpose of the brackets surrounding the cockpit becomes clear when a mini-build of slopes is mounted vertically on them to produce a suitably streamlined shape extending back from the large cockpit screen to the main body of the ship. The construction of a stand-alone black and trans-red prison cell is simple and quick, using doorframes and glass on three sides and aerial pieces as a ‘laser door’ which hinges upwards. Finally the only real repetitious build comes right at the end with the assembly of four identical engine thruster units, though these are relatively quick to build, especially if you do them all at once.

The completed model

The end result is surprisingly large and weighty, and feels very solid. Everything works smoothly and the play features are numerous. The opening side panels reveal a decent sized hold from which minifigs can hurl themselves via the rappelling line (the unravelling of which is prevented by a brilliantly simple mechanism), and there are a couple of the delightfully dangerous missile launchers on either side of the hull. The engine rotating function works really well (bar my wonky thruster alignment) and the swivelling forward cannons are constructed very effectively from a relatively simple collection of pieces.

A complete surprise to me was the 1980s Space Police-inspired portable prison cell which sits (very!) snugly inside the rear hold – both a lovely nod to the past and an unexpectedly ‘bonus’. It’s a shame that the giant cockpit window doesn’t hinge open, but this is a minor issue as it still looks great encasing the impressive two-tier cockpit. The damage that the many red and blue lights sprinkled across the exterior do to the ‘Super Secret’ element of the set name are negated somewhat by providing a suitably Police-like exterior.

Overall opinion

This set easily ranks alongside #70816 Benny’s Spaceship Spaceship SPACESHIP!! as a standout from the Lego Movie range. It is the ideal combination of an interesting and varied build, along with clever and entertaining play functions and looks great on display (mine is currently hovering over my Pet Shop courtesy of some trans-clear 1x2 bricks). It is also very ‘swooshable’ and mostly solid - though some of the bits are a bit more fragile, such as the gun turret on the top which, after being built and attached in step 81, spends the next thirty pages getting dislodged and knocked off every couple of minutes. As the side doors slide upwards it can also be quite tricky to get an easy firm hold on the ship.

Those minor points aside, this is easily one of my favourite sets from recent times and, having no idea what to expect before I built it, a wonderful surprise. Build, playability, part selection, even value for money – this is a rare set that ticks all the boxes for me and succeeds on every level.

Box/Instructions

The box was normal; not much to say about it. The instructions were like normal, except they were really thick(a good thing; not a bad thing).

Parts:

This set had a lot of unique parts with it. The best one of all is probably the enormous windshield piece. It is also really big. It was so big that it came loose in the box when I opened it. I also like the swivel gun pieces in the front. I never have had one of those before, and they are awesome. And the new missile launchers. Just wow. Those things are awesome. It shoots a lot smaller of a missile than the older ones and has a much smaller launcher, which you can totally conceal but still fire it. (Like in this set.)

Minifigures:

I love the Green Ninja minifigure. I don't collect Ninjago (I have two sets in this theme), so I don't have that many ninjas like this one. It just looks so cool, and the sword holder on his back. (Plus two gold swords!) I don't know about Johnny Thunder, but I think he was a character in a theme from 2002. But anyway, He's still a cool minifigure. Then the variant worried face of Emmet. I love the new face on it. Now you can recreate more realistic scenes from the movie. The Super Secret Police minifigures are really cool too. But now you have four of them in this set. Four times the awesomeness. Overall, this set has epic minifigures.

The Build:

It took me about two hours to build because it has so many bricks. I saw a lot of new building techniques while building it too.

The Completed Model:

I love the completed model. It weighs a lot and has so many playability features included. I've spent hours playing with this thing. But two things wrong with it. The jet exhaust things: When I was done, the front two were straight, and the back two were a tiny bit crooked. I'm not sure why, but it probably has something to do with the gears. I tried fixing it, but I couldn't get the entire mechanism out without breaking the model. So I just left it. The second thing is not really anything bad, but it is if you don't do it right. The string mechanism, if you don't tie it tightly, finish the model, and use it, the string will fall out and you have to rip the whole dropship apart to fix it. (As what happened in my case.) Make sure to tie it tightly the first time! Other than those two things, this is one tf the best models I have ever owned.

Overall Opinion:

I love this set, and I would recommend it to any person who likes LEGO. You don't have to like the movie to like this set, so I say go ahead and buy it. You won't regret it. But when building, tie the string correctly the first time!

Edited for typos.

Box/Instructions

Pretty big box, 2 instruction manuals.

Parts

GREAT PARTS!!!!! They have the new spring powered missiles, rotating cannons, rotating turbines, ahhhhh SO GREAT!

Minifigures

Johnny Thunder is a great minifigure! He hasn't been in a set for ever. He comes with a moustached face and a pistol. Green Ninja is great! Great torso and pant printing also. The four robots are the same, some have guns with pieces on the ends, 2 have bulletproof vests. And last but not least, BATMAN. He has a cape with a batarang, his torso printing is great along with his hat.

The build

Greatest. Build. EVER. They have a rappelling line that the robots can go down off of, a laser jail, the spring missiles, the rotating cannons, a HUGE visor to go over the front, a weapons rack....

The completed model

Great set, there's even more than it shows on the box which is nice :) It goes great with all Super Secret Police sets, and I can't wait for the new Bad Cop's Car Chase coming out in 2015!!!!!

Overall opinion

I highly recommend this set for ALL builders! The price may be scary, but it is totally worth it!

To start on a negative yet necessary note I have been mostly disappointed by lego's model quality lately (except for the police dropship) the big problem is that although lego delivers sets, it has failed to deliver a true model or ship with multiple methods of attack and feature focused design. To put my preference into perspective, sets that have this unique and excellent set quality would be 8971 aerial defense unit, 7672 rogue shadow, 8019 republic attack shuttle, 7753 pirate tank, 5974 galactic enforcer.

but that is not the case with the police dropship...

Box/Instructions

the lego movie boxes feel a bit empty in terms of background design but overall the box successfully depicts the set and it's key features such as zip line and spring-loaded laser projectiles. The instructions are also of note, the set comes with two full instruction booklets that feel more spacious and easier to use than any previous instruction booklets I have used in the past. I would say that if I timed the build it took me two or three hours, but I like to take my time building lego sets and even take breaks between bag numbers.

Parts

The parts used in the model (disregarding minifigures) are overall a bit unique as lego sports some rather big flat studded pieces for large bulky doors, as well as the rare clear curvy cockpit piece, I'm happy lego made a ship using this highly unique piece. The sets design however depends quite a bit upon many ramp or angular flat pieces as they are featured on each of the ships thrusters and top front and back elevations. Down to the minifig weapons the set is armed heavily with 4 new blaster pieces, 2 of which appear to be modified heavy blaster rifles, a nice touch to an already threatening set. Let's not forget the 2 spring loaded laser launchers with corresponding laser projectiles, I thank lego for including an extra red projectile as I'm sure a spare shot is always nice to have.Other rare pieces include the ball turrets on the front of the gunship, the large blaster piece on top of the gunship acting as a turret, the zip line string and spool, and finally the red bars and red transparent plates used in the red jail cell. I'm not the type to scrap sets for Parts but I think that those red bar pieces are quite rare and would come in handy for any other space laser build.

Minifigures

One of the sets crescendos is in its minifig count, and in US dollars, the $80 set returns generously with 8 we'll printed minifigs. 4 of the minifigs being super secret police and the other 4 being the heroes on Emmett's epic journey. The set includes a green ninja, (the amazing) Johnny thunder, a variant of emmet, and (the self centered) batman. Emmet stands well with his piece of resistance strapped to his back, along with the green ninja which comes with a word carring back piece capable of holding two swords tightly. It is of note that Johnny thunder is pictured using one revolver but the set delivers two such that he may duel wield them if desired, as is the same with batman and his batarangs ( the set contains 2).The heroes of this set are wonderful minifigures to own and couragous adversaries to the super secret police. On to the police, 2 of the police sport a bullet proof armor vest, which instinctively made me pair them with the heavier boasters that are given in the set. The non armored policemen (2 of these) are equally geared as they have zip line attach points on their backs. I would imagine that these two officers are the lighter covert operatives sporting the 2 light blasters. Two of the police come with long range X-ray vision goggles, one policemen with a clear visor, and one with a black cap which fits the robot police outfit surprisingly well. Also the set comes with multiple extra pairs of handcuffs for all of the good guys should they be captured all in all it should be said that the minifigures give a well deserved return for your money and are uniquely fit to battle each other to with their own genre's weaponry.

The build

As always lego delivers on complex and mind bogling ways to design their sets and this set hold up to the standard. It is sturdy and uses parts with deadly efficiency and placement, I just can't imagine how the designer thought of some of these sturdy brick combinations. I will warn you now though and at the end of the review to make sure to alight the long black technic poles EXACTLY as the instructions depict or else the later placed thrusters will not align properly. Other than pieces the set makes use of some ominous and striking dark stickers that fit the set's theme of secrecy and lethality. I'd like to mention how useful the sticker designs were to the set and furthermore give thanks to the lego stickers as with ought them, lego could not deliver such a wide variety of patterns and pictures, DEFINITELY worth the added difficulty of sticker placement. I'd say the most difficult part of the set was to tie the zip line to its spool, it's just a bit hard to do and leave little spare rope after the knot and I would recommend younger builders to ask for a parents help or at least find a more precise tool to grab and tie knots with, I was lucky enough to tie a knot at the very end of my string such that I maximize the length of my zip line :)

The completed model

The model, above all else is a perfectly designed futuristic police vehicle, and a rather large one at that. To start off, the gunship is well covered with red and blu police lights which always appear in tandem. The ship's large bulky doors open to reveal heavily armored and armed police troops to drop down into battle as well as to fight from the above turret gun. Sadly though, when you open one of the bay doors, the turrets field of view is blocked on that side, disabling it from shooting enemies on that side of the ship. However the turret's bay door blockage is made up for as the two front ball turrets have such lengthy articulation that they can stretch to face the sides of the ship respectively, (90* degrees from the front) this neat extra feature allows for the gunships main heavy cannons to give a good broadside to the bay door's attackers, or even make a strafe run of enemies on the ground. The ship's zip line works well and much like the above mentioned aerial defence unit as it features a stop and start Lever to hold the line in place or let it uncoil down to deploy a super secret policeman. I have to say, lego really outdid themselves with this one as the weight of an attached figure on the zip line allows for the line to deploy in a rapid fashion like a real surprise attack, and rappel down a figure to the ground. Wind up is easy as an external lever allows you to recoil the zip line and lock it down with the across cockpit hold lever. Speaking of the cockpit it is a unique two seater with its most amazing feature being the newly designed stickers that act as control panels, which are dark with red and yellow buttons, very blacktron and very fierce addition to the set. Within the main bay lies another set of panels, this time printed pieces. Within the bay lies a support pole which has two clips on the side for holding police weaponry/gear, and an easy design on the bay's floor allows figures to be posed in angles thanks to the floors flat/stud ratio. Another AMAZING added feature to the set are the 2 large spotlights featured on each door of the gunship, which have side to side articulation, allowing the ship to light up its fleeing foes. The top of the set features a turret which rotates 360 degrees and can seat one minifig securely. I enjoy the turrets side cannon and lights in that they seem to wrap the minifigure into place and illuminate their targets. The top of the gunship has 4 clips that can hold police equipment such as binoculars (2 included) and spare blasters (2 included) these clips sit 2 on each end of the top of the ship by the abovements. The hind abovement has a neat little satellite on it which fits the set well as communication is likely key to the super secret police's mission success. Behind that are the powerful laser projectile launchers, which shoot as far as, and sometimes further than you'd like. They are nicely alighted on the side of the gunship and have a clear fire line to the front of the ship, looking at the launchers from the front reveals how narrowly the laser projectiles room is to clear the ships hull, which is a nice sleek touch lego added. The back of the ship holds the huge laser jail cell which is removable and openable with ease and fits snug inside the ship's storage area. When removed from the back of the gunship, the cargo space is HUGE and shows a clear path to the main troop carrier part of the ship, which allows for the back of the ship to function as a large back door for the policemen. Last but not least the back of the ship reveals a turntable knob which rotates the ships engines 90 degrees, this is a wonderful feature as it shows the velocity of the gunships speed when turned back and how slow and hover-like the ship moves when turned downwards.

Overall opinion

For someone looking for a Fantastic set featuring a theme centric crew, its no secret that the secret police dropship is the set for you!

The set's armored, articulated and well weaponized design makes it a fierce opponent for Benny's spaceship and master builders, either way the set is built for the job with both play and solid state features to entertain and impress.

the set's unique, high count, high detail figures make the set well worth the buy to bolster your police army or aim to collect all of the master builder minifigures, especially the green ninja which is exclusive to this set.

---mideavilbuilder