Tag Archives: Fast & Furious

Prime Position

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We’re breaking a few of our own rules today…

This creation is virtual. It features a cartoonish caricature. Oh, and a big bald meathead, who may or may not have LEGO arms.

But seeing as the movies from which it’s inspired are also pretty much virtual (no, physics does not do the things it appears to in the ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise), feature cars that too are cartoonish caricatures, and that also include the aforementioned big, bald meathead, we’re going to let it pass. In the name of “Family…”, or something.

Built for the ‘Iron Builder’ contest, in which participants must use a usually-obscure LEGO piece (in this case a Spike Prime Colour Sensor), Ivan Martynov’s homage to the most profitable (and worst) movie franchise of all time includes several of the chosen part hidden throughout it, including the Dodge Charger’s supercharger, the floodlights, hidden within the cityscape, and most cunningly as a meathead torso.

There’s more to see at Ivan’s photostream, and you can ignore physics whilst muttering “Family…” for little-to-no-reason via the link in the text above!

‘That’ Toyota Supra

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If there’s one car responsible for the over-hyping of an entire model line-up, this is it.

Brian O’Conner’s ’10 second’ Toyota Supra from 2001’s ‘The Fast and the Furious’ took a fairly fat, mostly automatic GT cruiser and turned it into a 1,000bhp legend. Complete with orange paintwork and the stupidest stickers, millions of teenagers suddenly had a new hero car, and the internet has been full of arguments about 2JZs ever since.

However even TLCB Team, convinced though we are that the ‘Fast & Furious’ movie franchise is one of the worst Hollywood has ever produced, have to admit that LEGO is on to a winner by turning the films’ star cars into official sets.

The Technic 42111 ‘Dom’s Dodge Charger’ set is rather good, and LEGO have now shrunk the big bald baby’s car to Speed Champions scale as well. But LEGO don’t just have a license with Dodge. They have one with Toyota too…

We’re pretty sure that an official LEGO ‘Fast & Furious’ Toyota Supra set will follow, but ArtemyZotov of Eurobricks couldn’t wait, and thus has built his own ‘Brian O’Connor’s Toyota Supra’ from the first ‘Fast & Furious’ movie, matching the scale of the official Technic 42111 Dodge Charger set.

So good is Artemy’s Technic Supra that we think LEGO will struggle to top it, and not only does it really look the part (stupid stickers included), it features remote control drive and steering, opening doors and hood, and a modular chassis and body.

There’s lots more to see at the Eurobricks forum and via the video below, plus Artemy has made building instructions and a download for the decals available too, so you can build this Supra for yourself at home. If you own the Technic 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger set and a LEGO train, you know what you need to do!

YouTube Video

Speed Champions 76911 007 Aston Martin DB5 and 76912 Fast & Furious Dodge Charger R/T | Set Previews

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Dun dunu dun dun, dun dun – dun dunu dun dun, dun dun… and, er… whatever the music is from the Fast & Furious franchise. An explosion with Vin Diesel breathing the word ‘Family’ over it probably. Anyway, it’s new set time, and LEGO have introduced two iconic movie cars to the Speed Champions line-up!

76911 007 Aston Martin DB5

Think the Creator 10262 Aston Martin DB5 ‘Goldfinger’ set is a bit pricey? Well LEGO have revealed its smaller brother, the new 76911 Speed Champions 007 Aston Martin DB5, complete with a Daniel Craig-esque mini-figure!

Ultimately the same car as the one used in ‘Goldfinger’, Craig redeploys the DB5 in 2012’s excellent ‘Skyfall’, which raises all sorts of questions about Bond’s chronology. Anyway, let’s not dwell on Bond’s unfathomable age, but rather rejoice in the new Speed Champions arrival, which looks rather good.

A considerable portion of 76911’s realism is due to a myriad of stickers, which – placed as they are on curved pieces – will probably peel off immediately, but nevertheless it looks nice on the box. It’s disappointing to see the trademark Aston Martin grille is a sticker though – surely a brick-built version would’ve been possible?

We’re also a little disappointed that there are no gadgets, making 76911 more of a standard Aston Martin DB5 than 007’s Q-Branch version, but that’s still cool enough, and the decent printed rear canopy piece will be sure to crop up on all sorts of MOCs in time.

The new Speed Champions 76911 007 Aston Martin DB5 will reach stores later this year, and is a welcome addition to the line-up, even if it has got more stickers than Bond has killed henchmen.

 

76912 Fast & Furious 1970 Dodge Charger R/T

From one infamous movie franchise to another, and also another movie car that has already appeared in LEGO form in a larger scale. We quite like the Technic 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger set, but it is admittedly a bit out of reach for many ‘Fast & Furious’ fans, who are likely a bit young for its 10+ target age and price point.

A ‘Fast & Furious’ Speed Champions set is probably a far better match, and 76912 looks a fine way to bring the franchise to LEGO fans. LEGO have captured the modified 1970 Dodge Charger R/T rather well (and without relying on stickers), plus never has a hairless-mini-figure looked more appropriate than it does here.

The new 76912 Fast & Furious 1970 Dodge Charger R/T looks like a good effort to us, and with LEGO also now having a partnership with Toyota, perhaps – if all wish for it hard enough – that Supra could be next…

Technic 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger | Review

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The ‘Fast & Furious’ movies are – for the most part – total garbage. With characters coming back from the dead (twice), long lost family members loosely enabling plot continuation (twice), and bad guys turning good just to keep them in the franchise (three times by our count), the plots could have been written by TLCB Elves.

But, like the internet’s most popular video category, no one is watching a Fast & Furious movie for the plot. They’re watching for the cars. And maybe Vin Diesel’s giant shiny head. In doing so making ‘Fast & Furious’ the most profitable movie franchise ever.

Thus LEGO have joined the ‘Fast & Furious’ party, and have brought one of the franchise’s star cars to life in Technic form. This is the Technic 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger set, supplied to us here at TLCB by online shop Zavvi, and it’s time for a review…

First a shout out to our suppliers Zavvi, whose delivery was prompt, communication good, and the 42111 box was massively well protected inside, well… a bigger box. If you’re the kind of person who likes to keep the boxes for your sets (ours just go in the recycling), that’s a bonus.

LEGO have realised this too, removing the sticky circles that hold the ends shut (but that rip the artwork when opened), and fitting a cereal-box style closable tab so it can stay closed.

Inside 42111’s box are five numbered bags, bagged instructions and stickers (which helps to keep them protected too), and 1,077 parts. Many of these are weird and new, at least to this reviewer (if not the set), and continue LEGO’s approach of using every colour ever. However, like numerous ‘Fast & Furious’ characters, we’re going to do a complete 180 and say that it, well… works.

Building 42111 is fun and straight-forward, with the multitude of colours making it easy to find the parts required. The colours are thoughtfully chosen too, enabling quick identification and actually changing in some cases as the build progresses depending upon which similar pieces they shared a bag with. They’re all fairly well hidden by the end too, so there’s no ‘rainbow’ misery here.

The build can also be commended for creating a fully working rolling chassis by the mid-point, which makes it much more interesting than only adding the wheels at the end.

As has been the case for a while now though, the instructions can be very simple, at times adding just one piece per step. That said, there are a lot of orientation changes, which you have to watch out for so you don’t install something upside down. Not that this Reviewer did that. He’s a professional.

After a few hours of happy parts selection and spot-the-difference, you’ll have a nicely sized Technic recreation of the early ’70s Dodge Charger – modified ‘Fast & Furious’ style with a giant supercharger and NO2 tanks – complete with a working V8 engine, steering, all-wheel suspension, opening doors, hood and trunk, and a bizarre party trick. Continue reading →

Game of Bricks – Light Kit (42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger) | Review

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Here at TLCB we’ve taken a fairly backwards approach to employee payment. As in, no one gets paid anything. But why should we have all the fun when we could not pay you guys for doing work too! Cue Francesco Frangioja, who joins us here at TLCB to review one of Game of Bricks’ new lighting kits. For free. Because he’s great. Over to Francesco!

…

TLCB kindly offered me the chance to pick two Game of Bricks light kits for 2020 vehicle sets, and my first choice was the light kit for the LEGO Technic 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger set. After a couple of weeks (due to the shipment), I finally had time to install the kit in the set for which it was intended.

The lighting kit comes in a cardboard box, black and premium quality, with only the logo of the manufacturer on it.

Inside the box I found: 

  • Seven numbered plastic bags with tiny LEDs stripes and the thin, very thin cables
  • Three un-numbered plastic bags with the battery box, some “junction” cable plus the control unit and the USB connector to connect the LEDs “circuit” to the battery box
  • One booklet with the explanation of what each component is and its use/purpose
  • A remote (because I got the remote/RC version of the kit)

The actual building instructions are found on the Game of Bricks’ website; a series of “photographic” steps that show where to place the individual “light points” and how to organize (where they have to pass) the various wiring. 

I’m already familiar with the installation of this kind of product (light kits from other manufacturers) and the instructions were very similar, so I was able to follow the steps for this set very easily. Installing all the front lights is pretty simple: you have to “squeeze” the various LED element between the respective/relative transparent piece and the underneath on which the transparent one is originally fixed.

After that, you have to place the “array stripes” in the position/as shown in the photo-instructions.

Because normally there is exactly zero space between a transparent piece and the stud below it, you need to push it in place carefully even with this super thin wire. In fact, compared to the kits of other manufacturers, the peculiarity of the kit from Game of Bricks is that only a few of the “light points” are glued into LEGO brick. In practice, only the bricks of set 42111 which have to be physically replaced with counterparts with the LED already wired and glued inside, have been inserted in the light kit. All other “light points” are realised by fixing the LED element between the transparent and to be illuminated LEGO element, and the stud of the underlying piece.

The rear section was just as easy to manage; once the wiring steps are completed, you need to attach the tiny connector to a “splitter piece”, also equipped with adhesive tape to fix it in the position indicated by the photographic instructions. The connectors are very thin, so the use of a modeling plier can make the job easier. The cables, although very thin, are very resistant to traction and torsion. You just have to pay attention to the “scissors effect”: if you “staple” them too hard between brick and stud, you risk that they get cut. Therefore, you must always pay a lot of attention and procedures gently and carefully. 

The battery box requires 3 AA-LR6 batteries and includes a female USB connector. It’s up to you to choice to fit it into the model (i.e. into the trunk) or to keep it outside the model. Just remember that you will need to be able to access the on/off button.

Once the installation is finished and all the LEDs are connected, the final result is really great. 

Keep in mind that the kit in my possession is the top version, the one with the highest number of lighting points and including remote control to manage the on/off of each group and some “lightshows”.

Unlike the light kits I have tried before previously, the solutions of modular wiring and the interlocking of the lighting elements between the transparent bricks and the stud below implemented by Game of Bricks are perhaps the two most significant plus: not having bricks with pre-glued LEDs inside, you do not have to do too many replacements of parts of the official set to be illuminated, as well as the modularity of the wiring, allow you to decide from time to time if and which lighting elements to insert and which not. 

You can find the Game of Bricks lighting kit for the 42111 Dom’s Dodge Charger set, alongside a wide range of other kits designed to fit official LEGO sets, by clicking here!

Old School Cool

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LEGO’s new 42111 Fast & Furious Dom’s Dodge Charger set revealed here last month will bring one of the franchise’s most iconic cars to bedroom floors all around the world. There is another car from the movies which is just as famous though; Brian’s bright blue Nissan GT-R R34.

Found by one of our Elves on Brickshelf, this is spiderbrick’s Technic recreation of Brian’s R34, built in a gloriously old-school style that matches the 1990s car with the bricks that were around at the time.

Merging classic Model Team and Technic styles, spiderbrick’s R34 GT-R includes all of the necessities for it to earn the ‘Technic Supercar’ title, including a working straight-six engine, a 5-speed gearbox, independent suspension, all-wheel drive, and all-wheel steering.

There’s loads more to see at spiderbrick’s Brickshelf album by clicking here, you can read our review of LEGO’s own awesome 1990s all-wheel drive supercar set by clicking here, and with LEGO now in partnership with both Universal’s ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise and Nissan, perhaps an official R34 Nissan GT-R set isn’t too far away?…

 

42111 Technic Fast & Furious Dom’s Dodge Charger | Set Preview

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If you’re ten, you gonna want to keep reading this!…

This is the brand new for 2020 Technic ‘Fast & Furious’ Dom’s Dodge Charger set, a 1,077-piece recreation of the iconic drag racer from the very first ‘Fast & Furious’ movie.

Officially licensed by both Universal’s ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise and Dodge, LEGO’s new 42111 set continues Technic’s increase in visual realism with almost Model Team levels of detail. Fear not though Technic fans, because it’s loaded with mechanical functionality too…

A working V8 engine complete with a spinning supercharger belt, functioning steering, double-wishbone suspension, plus opening hood, doors and trunk (with NO2 bottles inside) all feature, as does a wheelie stand so you can recreate the Dodge Charger R/T’s most famous movie scene.

The new 42111 set is expected to cost around $99 when it goes on sale at the end of April, around a year ahead of the release of next (and ninth) ‘Fast & Furious’ movie. Not counting the spin-offs.

Whatever we feel about that state of cinema that the ‘Fast & Furious’ movies are now the highest grossing films ever, we have to admit that they do inspire a properly cool LEGO set. And we’re not even ten.