Giochi Preziosi TMNT Base Building Block Set Review
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The topic for today's review is something quite obscure, one of the construction brick sets released in 1991 in Italy by a company called Giochi
Preziosi. Giochi Preziosi seems to have been the distributor of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys in Italy through most of its history.
While they primarily distributed the toys that Playmates made for the US market, they also produced a few unique items, including a trio of
Lego style construction brick sets. As they beat Lego and Mega Bloks to market with TMNT based sets by over a decade, I have been curious about
them for years. And after many years of passively looking for these sets, I finally picked up a couple of extras that I can open and actually assemble.
So despite the age, I thought it would be worth reviewing at least one of the sets. So let's check out the Giochi Preziosi Base set, their take on the
Sewer Lair.
Packaging - 5/10The packaging for these sets is pretty simplistic. They come in a fairly standard box which uses a single photo of the set on the front, back, and both sides. They do put a small photo of the three available sets on the top to show what was available. But they are small enough to be easily overlooked. The photo is serviceable, but it doesn't show the figures included which is an annoying oversight. Beyond that, my one complaint is that there is no sense of scale. The photo on the front and back is blown up to about 120%. So seeing the final size might be disappointing. But on the positive side, the set is packed in a styrofoam tray with six separated compartments. That was extremely useful while building the set.
Sculpting/Design - 3/10The design of this set is one of the things that has made me want this set for years on end. There have been other Turtle Lair sets produced. But Giochi Preziosi did something unique with these sets and designed them after the original toy line. That's particularly impressive since these were released just a year after the Turtlecopter came out in the US. And for such a small set, it does a remarkable job of recreating the lair playset faithfully. To be honest, they tried a bit too hard. They didn't really have an adequate way to attach the green sewer tubes to the rest of the set securely.While the finished set is reasonably impressive. There is a glaring problem with it, the instructions are wrong! I knew going into it that getting incorrect pieces could be an issue with companies other than Lego, especially this long ago. But I don't think that is the full issue here. It seems like they redesigned the set at some point to use more 1x2x5 wall segment pieces instead of five individual bricks. So after building the set once and having to stop at the second to last step, I was able to figure out a way to build the set almost completely with the parts provided. But that shouldn't be necessary. And I definately should not have had to create an inventory of the pieces that should have been included and then go to Lego's web site to order the parts I am missing. That was a huge disappointment as without that issue, this is a pretty cool and well designed set.
Paint/Color choice - 3/10The color choices for this set are very limited. There are only half a dozen different colors of bricks used. And all of the walls are constructed with plain white bricks. That seems out of place for a sewer. I would rather see multiple shades of grey bricks. Even just throwing in a dozen brown pieces for the fence would have made quite a difference. The set does include some decals to improve the looks. But most of them need to be applied accross multiple bricks. And as I am not sure if I want to construct it as is or with replacement pieces to match the original design.
Features - 3/10The design for this set not only replicates the look of the Playmates Sewer Playset, it also attempts to replicate the features as well. That was ambitious, too ambitious unfortunately. They did an admirable job of trying to include the features. But they don't work well. The green sewer tubes don't really attach to anything and are too small for the mini figures included. They included plates to replicate the manhole cover above the small section on the left of the lair, but there are no openings for light or ooze to leak down. They didn't even have round pieces so you have four square caps that have to share one sticker. They did an admirable job of making a working elevator. But the tolorances are not as tight as with Lego bricks, so it doesn't actually fit in the opening up to the street level. And the "handle" pieces on the outside pop off far too easily. The periscope falls off the ceiling too easily and the top portion doesn't actually connect to the bottom. Finally, while they include the phone poles, there isn't a way for a figure to swing from them. In short, the set gets a ten for ambition, but a three based on the final results.
Accessories/Figures - 2/10The set doesn't come with any accessories. But it does come with four mini-figures. That should be sufficent. But these mini figures are almost comically bad. They have no sculpting of course. But I expected that. But in place of tampographed pieces like Lego uses, these figures get three stickers. And those stickers aren't even all that well executed as there's brown trim around all of the turtle shell stickers. Then there is the build quality. Lego mini figures come with the legs and arms preassembled and I've never had a limb come off a Lego figure. These figures are completely unassembled and even when assembled, the arms and legs feel like they will come off easily. And then there is the final nail in the coffin, the set was missing a hand and skull cap. So one of my Turtles ended up looking like he lost a fight in a fairly horrific way.
Value - 2-6/10I don't know what the original price for these sets were back at retail thirty years ago. On the secondary market the price can fluctuate quite a bit. I picked up these sets for around $50 to $55 each. At that price, the novelty of having a little sewer playset made out of construction bricks is worth the price. But traditionally I see these sets selling for well over that, often up to six times that price. They are definately not worth a $300 price tag.
Happy Hunting:I picked up this set as well as the Turtlecopter set from eBay. That's also where I have gotten the sets in the past. They do pop up from time to time. So with enough patience, you should be able to find them for a somewhat reasonable price.
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