Thursday 4 September 2014

Review: Lego Ghostbusters Ecto-1

Ghostbusters turns 30 this year and you can speculate as to whether that had anything to do with this Lego Cuusoo (now Lego Ideas) becoming a reality. For those not in the know, Lego Ideas is a website where anyone can announce their idea for a new Lego set to the world. The ideas are voted on by the public and once it reaches 10,000 votes Lego take the set into consideration for making it into a 'real' set. There are a bunch of criteria as to whether this final step can be taken, for example it must be 'family friendly' and have no licensing issues.

Ecto-1 was one of those sets to make it through and a jolly nice set it is too.


The Ideas sets are aimed at the collector market and as such the quality of the packaging is raised a level above the standard sets. The box is of a higher quality cardboard, with the interior printed black. The instruction booklet is on higher quality paper and, as well as the essential instructions as to how to build the set, also includes info from about the film.


All four Ghostbusters are included in the set and are a pretty good likeness to the actors (albeit Lego-ised). Each comes with a two-faced head, allowed happy or scared expressions on their faces, depending on which way round you have the head. They all come with proton packs. They look great, however they do cause balance issues (unless stood on a baseboard) and the hose isn't as flexible as it could have been. I'd have much preferred a bit of string which would ease posing the wand in their hands.

Included is a little stand for the 4 minifigures to stand on. It's a nice little addition, though I could easily have lived without it.


Finally we come to Ecto-1 itself. No, it's not to scale, but you can fit all 4 'busters inside. As well as the essential driving seat, there are two little computer terminals inside, plus a proton pack storage area. There aren't any doors, but the roof is removeable to allow access.


Speaking of the roof, it's a very well crafted representation of the original, complete with all the bells and whistles that adorned the roof in the film. This is quite an accomplishment considering all the stuff that was stuck on there, which, well, didn't really appear to serve any purpose in the film.


The rest of Ecto-1 looks equally good. A warning to take care while building that you don't confuse the silver/grey/white pieces which can look quite similar in the instruction book. There were complaints regarding the look of the Back to the Future Lego Delorean that the bonnet wasn't smooth, and thus looked a bit ugly, but there are no such issues here.



The set retails around £40 (you can get it a little cheaper if you hunt around) and, in my opinion, well worth the money. A must buy for fans of Ghostbusters, young and old, and will look great on display or driving round your Lego city, capturing ghosts.


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