Review: 75823 Bird Island Egg Heist
Posted by Huw,
The Angry Birds Movie sets have been available in Europe for a month or so and will be launched in North America on Friday this week.
Today I'm taking a look at one in the middle of the range, the 277-piece 75823 Bird Island Egg Heist, which features white bird Matilda's tree house.
Minifigs
The set comes with three figures: Red, Matilda and biker pig. All three are exclusive to this set although Red and the pig only differ in facial expression/print to those in other sets.
The pig uses minifig arms and hands otherwise every other component has been produced specially for these figures.
Source material
The film is not released until May but the trailers provide glimpses of the structures featured in the set: the tree house and some sort of animated sign.
The completed model
The model consists of three parts, the aforementioned tree house and sign, and a pig on a bike. There's also a couple of nests with a pair of eggs in each.
The tree house, with its colourful foilage, is what attracted me to this set. It's a delightful structure which captures the external appearance of the house as seen in the film pretty well, although it's not quite so precariously perched in the tree.
As might be expected, we only get half of the house, the back is open to allow for play. Presumably Matilda is an artist because inside is an 'art studio': a couple of paintings on the walls, another on an easel and a paint palette.
Th reason for the inclusion of a pig on a bike will presumably be revealed in the film but I'm guessing he rucks up at the house to cause trouble. I'm guessing too that the basket on the back is used for transporting stolen eggs.
The sign has been replicated well, although with different text to that seen in the still above. It doesn't rock side-to-side but does rotate thanks to a turntable in the base.
The nests:
Overall opinion
This is a delightful set that I imagine will appeal to girls more than others in the range due to its bright colours and subject matter.
The tree house is an attractive, solid structure that includes lots of useful tan pieces such as inverted slopes, arches, and the curved bricks used for the roof. More foliage would have been welcome but what's provided is adequate.
The bike seems a bit superfluous and perhaps the set would have been better, and cheaper, if it had been left out, although I appreciate that a set isn't complete without built-in conflict these days.
The only fly in the ointment, as far as us in Europe goes, is the price: it contains 277-pieces and retails for £34.99 / $29.99, so once again America gets the best deal by some margin. As £34.99 = $50, we are paying 40% more on this side of the Atlantic for some unfathomable reason, which unfortunately has become par for the course as far as licensed sets are concerned nowadays.
If the set takes your fancy it's hard to know whether to snap it up now at full price while you can or whether to wait for it to be discounted. I guess it will depend on whether the film is a success or not. If it is, the sets will fly off the shelves, like Jurassic World and be hard to find in a few months, but if it isn't, they will be in bargain bins before Christmas, like Prince of Persia...
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31 comments on this article
I think that with a few tweaks, this house would be right at home within Elvendale.
I just think Angry Birds is overstaying its welcome. It was just a popular app, does it really deserve all this? The movie has to be good, if its going to change my mind (and others).
I definitely say bargain bins.
"This set comes with three birds: Red, Matilda and biker pig."
I don't think the pig could be a bird at the same time... ^^
Sorted :-)
The pig with the mustache might just be enough for me...
£35 is getting beyond a joke. I've been happy for you Star Wars* and Marvel* fans to pay over the odds and subsidise my LEGO habit, but I pity any parent who is badgered into forking out for this toot.
* I've just remembered: they're both Disney...
"...£34.99 = $50 so we are paying 40% more on this side of the Atlantic..."
Actually, the U.K. price is a whopping ~66% higher than the US price of $29.99. It is indeed true that the US price is ~40% lower than the UK price, however.
Thanks -- I did struggle with the math(s) :)
I think this is just... good. The house is cool and the bike is cool, but I don't really like how the house cuts off at the back like that. I won't actively seek this out, but I wouldn't mind if I received this as a gift.
Not mentioned in this review: The mostly useless catapult function, as complained about by just2good. :P
April 1st is Friday, by the way.
Really excited for all the newer colored pieces!
This kind of reminds of Yoda's Hut on Dagobah. With some tweaks this might be a good start to building a custom Yoda's Hut.
I never understood why the U.K. prices are so much higher than here in the U.S.? I think we pay too much here, so I'd be one very angry bird indeed if I had to pay U.K. prices. Actually, my wife would probably kick me out of the house if I tried to sustain my current plastic addiction over there. That being said, I can see many of these pieces as valuable parts of a Mos Eisley Spaceport, or Lars Homestead MOC.
A bunch of interesting pieces, that screamed 'Star Wars' to me, similar to others have mentioned. But £35? I think not. The US equivalent price of £20 seems closer to the mark. Maybe £25 at a push.
This is the first time that you can get the modified curved brick in tan. Part number 33243.
More eggs! Lol that's still my fave part of this series.
There's a catapult function? I didn't notice one. The hinged front steps might just pass for one I suppose which, you're right, I didn't mention.
I don't remember seeing this set and from first glance it looks great. Once I learned that it's only half a house it lost me. If they had completed it and made it hinged based in the middle I would have gone for this set.
Looks like a decent set, to be fair. But that UK price is ridiculous. In real-terms it's almost DOUBLE the price. We seem to be getting hit with unreasonable price differentials compared to the US far too much these days, and I, for one am starting to get angry about it... (See what I did there? ARF!)
I love this!! I just wish it wasn't so much money...
UK prices are steep, but don't forget they are after VAT, while the US ones have whatever the local sales taxes are still to be added.
^
US sales taxes are not near the difference, Seattle which is on the high side is almost 10%, and we can often find sets on sale for at least 10% off regular retail at Fred Meyer. Though some retailers, like TRU, jack up the price, so you really don't save anything. When we visit my wife's family in Ireland I'm always shocked at the difference. Australia seems to get it worse though, but I'm sure freight has a big impact.
@shaase: Exactly why I won't be seeking this out. It's not a bad building, it's just... half a building. If they dropped the sign, upped the price to $40, and used that advantage to complete the house somehow, it would be a great set. But, I understand... price points... budget... the fact that in all the official shots, you don't even notice that there's only half a building... whatever.
And yeah, the UK price is absurd. Somebody at LEGO needs to re-take basic economics, because they do not understand currency conversion rates.
^^ Very true - New Zealand and Australia get well and truly stuffed on prices. For example, 10188 Death Star - when it was available - was £275 on LEGO.com. That was equivalent to about NZ$600. But to actually buy through the NZ 'portal' it cost $900 - a 50% mark-up on the already-inflated UK price! Yes, we'd get "free delivery", but NZ customs would then slap on further import charges which would result in a final cost of well over NZ$1000/£500!!!
I think I should post in the forums the email conversation I had with LEGO Customer Services regarding their pricing policy. It makes for some interesting reading....
^I'd be interested in reading it. :P
Hmm...could be useful as a parts purchase.
The eggs are interesting to say the least, I think it's high time for the farm to return to Lego City as well as a Hospital.
Prediction: in 5 years time, this theme will appear in av'what on earth were they thinking?' article.
Well, I think this is a very cute set, and since I'm based in the US I'd even consider buying two to make a complete house--with luck, I might even be able to reduce the overly thick and clumsy-looking walls in its center (which are at the back of the model presented in the set). I cannot imagine why the UK price is so outrageously high, though--unless there's some quirk in the licencing, perhaps? I didn't remember the other AB sets having such a marked difference in price from country to country. At the US price, this seems like nice value; at the UK one, wildly overpriced. Weird!
I don't know why so many people are complaining about the back being open. Most Lego buildings have been that way.
I might pick this one up. I'm a sucker for foliage/plant pieces in non-green colors, and the headlight piece on the bike looks like a useful printing. I also want those eggs.
Yoda's hut just had a makeover :)