07 January 2019

LEGO® MOVIE 2 review: 70824 Introducing Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi

Posted by Elspeth De Montes
70824 Introducing Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi is the third set from THE LEGO® MOVIE 2: The Second Part that we are taking a closer look at – along with some commentary from Nick Vas, a LEGO Designer who was involved in its creation. It has 115 parts, including a new Lucy minifigure, Sweet Mayhem minidoll, Susan minidoll, and is now available priced £17.99/ 19,99€/ US$19.99 at Amazon USA and Amazon UK as well as all usual retailers.


First let's take a look at the new elements and printed parts in this small, colourful set.

New Elements in 70824 Introducing Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi 

The only new element with a completely new mould that is not related to the minifigures is Warm Gold [TLG]/ Pearl Gold [BL] Crown No. 1 (Element ID 6257048 | Design ID 39262).


This is an interesting element which has a hollow stud in the centre of the 5-tipped crown and an inverted base to allow the crown to be placed onto a stud. The internal width allows a minifigure head to fit inside the crown but not much space for anything larger. Ø 3.2 bars can go through the centre of the crown, any element with a Ø 3.2 bar attachment can be placed into the crown such as Conical Horn Ø 3.2 Shaft (Design ID 89522), the crown can be placed into a stud (e.g. a minifigure head) or the hollow stud in the centre can simply be used as a stud connection.


You can see that the pointed ends of two crowns do not fit together perfectly but it could be a cracked egg, or perhaps a new type of gear!



Another new element is the White Laser Pistol (6257517|13608). Now you may be thinking that this is not a new element, but there is actually an older mould for the Laser Pistol with Design ID 87993 that retired in 2014. The two moulds are different and the previous White Laser Pistol (4652379|87993) came with the Alien from Collectible Minifigure Series 6.



Recoloured pieces in 70824 Introducing Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi 

Bright Reddish Violet [TLG]/ Magenta [BL] Stone 1X2X1 1/3 W. 2 Plates 2X2 (Element ID 6261654|Design ID 11215) appears for the first time in this colour as part of Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi. The vast majority of sets that use this particular element (approximately 220 out of 240) use it in white, black or grey so it is not commonly seen in other colours.



One of those pieces that I had to double-check was a recolour is Medium Azure Plate 2x8 (6253666|3034) as it seems like it should have already been in a set at some point, but this is actually its first appearance.

Printed parts in 70824 Introducing Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi 


There are two brick-built characters in the set, Banarnar and Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi, and all of the new printed bricks belong to these two characters.
“Banarnar was a very fun character to make - we were initially sceptical because a banana is an unconventional shape to build out of LEGO, but after building countless different bananas we ended up falling in love with this guy's simplicity and charm! A lot of time was spent exploring what sort of socks and shoes made sense for a banana.” 
- Nick Vas, LEGO designer

Only one of the new printed elements belongs to the brick-built character Banarnar and is Bright Yellow [TLG]/Yellow [BL] Brick 1x3 No. 49 'Smile Print' (Element ID 6261633|52594). The reverse is blank.


The remaining seven printed elements (other than minifigure elements which I will address separately) belong to Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi and are all Bright Reddish Violet [TLG]/Magenta [BL] in colour. They show the rather comic strip features of the Queen with open and closed eyes, a side smile, a side grin and a full smile. All of these printed elements are unprinted on the reverse.

a. Roof Tile 2X2, Deg. 45, Inverted, NO. 8 (Element ID 6261608)
b. Brick 1X2X2, No. 158 (6261578)
c. Brick 1X2X2, No. 159 (6261582)
d. Brick 1X2X2, No. 156 (6261569)
e. Brick 1X2X2, No. 157 (6261576)
f. Roof Tile 2X2, Deg. 45, Inverted, NO. 9 (6261607)
g. Brick 1X4, No. 62 (6261611)


Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi seems to have the ability to shape shift as there are instructions for both the horse figure and then the... erm...'blob' figure. I love her grin but I'm not entirely sure why it is not printed on both sides when she has eyes on either side of her head as a horse (same goes for her smile printed on the other inverted roof tile).


Back from Abeyance


Interestingly, one element that has made a return in the Banarnar character is White Voodoo Ball, Dia. 10.2, NO. 1019 (6261631) otherwise known as 'Mixels eye' with a different Element ID 6056225. This element appeared in 32 Mixels sets between 2014 and 2016. The googly eyes are quite comical and I imagine this will be fitting for the Banarnar character in the film.

“There's a lot of fun parts in this set, but I'm most excited about the return of Mixel eyes, which haven't been seen since 2016! This is the first time they've been used outside of the Mixels theme!”
- Nick Vas, LEGO designer


A mention must go to Bright Yellow Roof Tile 2X2X2/65 Deg. (6261652|3678) which is returning for the first time since 2016 and is also used in the Banarnar character. It only appeared in two sets back then, 75908 458 Italia GT2 and 60132 Service Station, albeit with a different Element ID (6106008).


Minifigures and Minidolls

There are two minidolls and one minifigure included in this set; Princess Susan, Sweet Mayhem and Lucy.  Normally I am not a fan of minidolls mainly because I grew up with the LEGO minifigure and it is ingrained in my mind as being 'the' figure I use in LEGO builds. Having said that, I must admit that as soon as I saw the Sweet Mayhem minidoll figure, I wanted her.


We normally don't focus on minifigures as there are too many new and printed parts to cover, but I think Sweet Mayhem deserves a closer look, so indulge me please.

Sweet Mayhem is made up of Torso, Girl, w/Arm, No. 308 (6254174) and Pants, w/Hip, No. 140 (6254181), while her shoulder and torso armour is Mini Doll, Armour, No. 2 (6254183).

Her hair is Light Royal Blue [TLG]/ Bright Light Blue [BL] Mini Doll, Wig, No. 37 (6261350) and is interesting as it has iridescent ink applied as a drum lacquer coating. 


For the first time, a Minidoll head is cast in Light Purple [TLG]/Bright Pink [BL] (6254414). Should I be worried about minidoll carbon monoxide poisoning or she just from another, pinkier planet?


Looking more closely at her armour, it has two detachable, rotatable 'wings' held by a clip. These can also be rotated downwards to give the appearance of a cloak and are another completely new element, Sword No.13 in White & Transparent Light Blue with Glitter (Element ID 6248792  | Design ID 34883).



Finally, she wears Bright Reddish Violet Mini Helmet No. 16 (6248958|34704) which is a really cool helmet with a shape that resembles her starship,  as seen in 70830 Sweet Mayhem's Systar Starship which we will be reviewing soon.


Conclusion

Overall in terms of interesting parts, there are mainly printed new elements found in this particular set with the exception of the new crown element and Sweet Mayhem, who is a great new character in my opinion, perhaps because she encompasses a very different minidoll figure to those who typically feature in other LEGO themes such as Friends. I imagine this set will allow some scenes from the movie to be reenacted and it will have great play value given that there are five characters provided for £17.99.


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8 comments:

  1. Sweet Mayhem's hair might be the most Manga hairpiece since the Exo-Force theme…

    Hmmm, on second hand, I think it even trumps them…

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    1. How does that iridescent ink look in practice? In the official illustration of the part, it looks almost fluorescent…

      https://brickset.com/sets/containing-part-6261350

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    2. It looks awesome with a shiney cheap plastic feel to the touch as the underlying hair is malleable haha. Seriously tho, it does look great!

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    3. @Elspeth:
      Is the hair the same type of rubber as the S4 Mad Scientist? Because they painted stripes on that hair for Dr. Inferno and Dr. D. Zaster from the Agents theme, and I think it soured them on the idea of paint apps on rubber hair for a while. The painted stripes bonded so badly that you could basically just get a good grip on one end between your fingernails and peel each stripe off in one piece.

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    5. The hair actually isn't that soft—certainly not as soft as Exo-Force hair or the Agents hair you mention, and in fact doesn't even feel quite as rubbery as the typical Lego Friends hair. Of course, part of the firmness of it probably comes from the coating, which seems to be applied thickly and covers the entire exterior of the hair piece. I would not be surprised if the surface treatment was designed to be used with this kind of plastic, since it flexes with the hair and seems to be rather securely adhered.

      I'd be curious what type of coating it is in fact... some type of acrylic, maybe? It does have the sort of squeakiness I associate with that. But then again, who knows if we'll ever get specifics... I don't even think we know what sort of plastic formulation Lego's rubbery hairpieces use in the first place.

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  2. Still don't get what happened with the retro ray gun. It first appeared with the S1 Robot, so we know they made a mold for use in China. Then it started popping up in European sets, but I can't see any difference between the one that's held by my first S1 Spaceman, and the red one that only came with the SpongeBob set. So, maybe they cut a second mold for Europe, or maybe they just had the parts shipped from China. Then just a few years later all the European sets get a new version. The only functional difference I can see is that the recessed stud on the right side (which is deeper than the one on the left) has a collar that prevents bars from going in any deeper than they do on the left side. But since the only CMFs to feature a retro ray gun since 2014 (S17 Retro Space Hero and TLBM2 Killer Moth) got a completely different version with no studs anywhere, part of me still half-expects to see the original S1 Spaceman gun pop up in another CMF at some point. Maybe.

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  3. Love Mayhems hair! It's a lustery and you can't feel the iridescent off. I bought it off Bricklink and I am obsessed obsessed with it. I wish they would make more Legos with this iridescent. Really gorgeous.

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