Benny's Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! 70816
I was fortunate enough to receive this set today which I immediately wanted to build having been a long-time fan of classic space. This isn't a set for a lazy rainy weekend. I recruited the help of two boys and their father to build this as quickly as possible and get a more balanced review. Given that there is an accompanying time lapse video of the build session I'll keep this review brief.
 

Minifigures, Minifigures, MINIFIGURES!
There are 5 minifigures included. Benny, Emmett, Wyldstyle, Unikitty and a Robot which may or may not have a name (robots all look alike to me).

It could be argued that space UniKitty isn't a traditional minifigure being brick built.

These are some nice minifigures. Benny has crazy and standard fig faces on his dual printed head. His helmet appears to have been molded with the chin split. I was kind of hoping LEGO built a machine that broke them.

Emmett has a hard hat with hair attached. I know that's been on Emmett before but is this the first time in a set? It was the first one in a set for me and I noticed it as soon as the bags opened.

Wild Style in a space suit with hoodie also gets a special mention.

 

Building, Building, BUILDING!
As mentioned I captured video during the build as I knew this one was going to be fun.

Even amongst hardened veterans of brick building sets, that all of us were, there was a real buzz of excitement when the bags hit the table. Too many classic comments from the boys were made during the build to all be included here. Here are some some of them:

  • Child built but built for everyone. Young & Old

  • Time for bed. You can't put time on LEGO!

  • You'll like it if you like StarWars or Classic space. If you don't have either you'll like it. It's for everyone

  • This is a really fun build. Taking all random space parts and making a cool model

 

Conclusion, Conclusion, CONCLUSION!
The excitement with this set didn't end when the build was completed. Spaceships need to be swooshable and this was a beauty. It was weighty towards the rear but LEGO classic space style never grows old.

All the working guns were fully tested, hatches opened and closed. The huge cockpit canopy and the expanding wing span had many a finger print by the time we called it quits and went to bed. When asked what was their favourite part of the set the replies were:

  • Stephen: The set name. Great to see the designers had fun with this one

  • David: Wyldstyle's hooded space suit

  • Zac: Benny with no visor and split helmet

  • Jac: The build. Interesting but simple