Ralph Copley

After buying this set, I felt compelled to write a review and have a bit of a rant, which is something I just rarely do. Lego set 60355 I feel it is a clear example of the Lego company just making a mess of their product line as they try to be more environmentally friendly.

The Lego company has been trying hard these days to be more “green” or environmentally friendly. This set could have been the flagship set that would show they can do just that. First the good, they managed to create a play set with no paper instructions, and instead require the builder to use their Lego Builder (instruction) app. The application is wonderful, as it includes instructions for every set released in the last few years. Unfortunately, this is also where the builder is going to run into his or her first problem more on that later.

Let’s first go into the bad points about this set, starting with the price point. The set was released back on June 2022 with an MSRP of $39.99. That’s a per piece cost of 14 cents, this is rather high for a set. There are no new parts made for this set, even the parts for the minifigures can be found in other sets. And since there is no included instruction manual, a cost savings for Lego the set feels more to me like a $29.99 set. Which would put this more in the 12 cents per piece, which is where I think the set belongs.

The next problem which I mentioned above is the “green” or environmental awareness the Lego company has been working on. Such as reducing plastic waste, by getting rid of plastic bags in the sets. There is even some effort to make the set boxes smaller. Well, this set, and its two companion sets could have been shiny examples of this effort and Lego failed. The boxes are huge, see picture below…

The 278 parts in this set barely cover the bottom of the box. Many of the number plastic bags contained very few parts, and these should have been paper bags. All three sets could have been steppingstone for a real effort to go green, by having smaller boxes, paper bags, and no instruction booklet.

Before I get into to the good, there is still one last problem, which is the application. I have used the app many times to build sets and have always loved the app until now. My experience with this set has been frustrating. Because there is a storyline the app uses sound so that the builder doesn’t have to read what is on screen. The builder can listen to the characters tell their story as the story unfolds. Well, that is what should happen, and it doesn’t most of the time. Even after checking all the apps permissions, making sure the devices have audio on and turned up the sound fails. I found that in order to hear the characters I had to toggle off and then back on the in-app mute icon to hear the characters. Considering that I just acquired the set, a year after it’s release, I am surprised this has not yet been fixed by Lego. To be fair, I tested this on a couple of android devices each with the same issue. I also found the app to be sluggish, from what I can tell this is while the app downloading(?) more information before it moves on.

There are a few things I do like about this set. One is the playability with this is set is fantastic, and thanks to the app encouraged all through the process of going through the mission. This is the way I envision Lego going forward with digital instructions for young builders. I think Lego got this right and I hope to see other sets in the future using this same format. As for parts, again there is nothing new here but there are a lot of great, fun parts to build with. What is in the box does give the builder plenty to really push his or her imagination. In my case I built a “Jenson” cartoon flying car or boat thingy with massive flames coming from it. Really the imagination can run wild with this set, which is what I think Lego intended.

So do I recommend the set, yes but only if you find it on sale. Fortunately, it has been on sale ranging from $31 to $27 USD both online and in store purchasing. I was lucky to find this set even cheaper at a Walmart for $19.