This year’s Creator 3-in-1 animals have a stronger theme than previous years. Where previously the three animals in a box were mostly related by their colour (e.g. Panda, Penguin and Orca) this year an effort seems to have been made to also bring together animals from a region. Lego generously gifted us one of each of these sets to review, the North American, African and Australian sets.
First off, we will have a look at the North American group of animals under the banner of 31393 Forest Animals: Grey Wolf. This set contains instructions to build three alternative animals that I would associate with North America: a falcon, a raccoon, and a wolf. If it wasn’t for the raccoon this would also fit for Northern Europe, but this particular type of fur-tail is native only to North America.
The set contains 657 pieces and retails for AU$89.99/£44.99/US$49.99/49.99 and is available now. This set provides decent value for money, as is quite common for creator sets, and it embodies what made LEGO famous originally: the ability to build different things from the same bricks.
Follow me to explore the three models in this set and see if you agree this is indeed a North American set, and discover which of these animals would be your favourite.
Let’s open the gates to the Americas
This box feels quite hefty although it’s not particularly big. On the front we see the ‘grey’ wolf dominating the view (or shall we say Dark-Bluish-Grey wolf?) but on the back we get a good look at the alternate animals. The side of the box hints at some ability to pose these creatures, which I always enjoy.
There are 5 bags in the box and three booklets. The booklets confirm what the box already suggested; the wolf is the ‘hero’ model and the others only use a small subset of the parts. It was just possible to lay out all the pieces on one tray showing little surprises. Much grey, and a small smattering of green, yellows and oranges for the autumn growth included in the set.
There are quite a lot of useful parts for shaping and for building in different directions, which we have come to expect from a Creator animal by now. As a parts pack this will not disappoint (grey is always popular) but note that there are very few new recoloured bricks. Two parts I noticed were Brick, Round 1 x 1 x 2/3 Half Circle Extended with Curved Top in black and Bracket 5 x 2 x 2 1/3 with 2 Holes and Bottom Stud Holder that apparently has not appeared in Dark Bluish Grey before. And there are two printed blue eyes that will show up in the build below.
The Wolf, the Bird and the Trash-Panda
The Bird
To make life difficult for myself I started with the bird. I was struck by the size of this animal; significantly larger than I expected and quite nicely detailed, on some sides. The bird has a heart, nice to see that confirmed, and nice feather patterning on their flanks and tail.
As soon as the wings are created the size comes apparent; this is not a little birdie. Some satisfying build techniques are used to give some movability to the feathers using my favourite piece, the 1×2 rounded tile.
It looks a bit odd from the front, though; perhaps a head is needed.
Hmm, nope that’s not quite it either. And no, climbing on a post doesn’t hide it either mate, your back is just too skinny. It looks like something is missing when viewing from the back, so I suggest… don’t look from the back.
From the sides and front, the bird looks fine, and when spreading their wings, the issue with the back is nicely masked, but it didn’t look right to me.
The Raccoon
Without hesitation, we move on to the trash-panda (raccoon), who also appears to have a heart, and some other internal organ(s).
The body is quickly covered with some fur-like patterns, and extended with legs.
Leaving one thing missing, a face. Not just a head, but a face! Look at those cute beady eyes! I dare say even the raccoon’s belly looks fluffy.
The Wolf
Leaving this little munchkin behind, we move on to the leader of the pack, the grey wolf. The experience starts similar to the raccoon (including a heart) but rapidly starts deviating with the addition of a neck.
The fur patterning is similar to the raccoon but the legs are a little different resulting in a far more upright pose.
Adding a tail and a head the gives us a wolf!
A little bit of a shrub and a mossy rock allows us to pose the wolf in a classic pose; you can almost hear the howl!
Because the wolf does not have functioning elbows, it is a bit limited in the possible poses, but do not be mistaken, since the wolf has been living in my home, it has been found in varying poses that belie its perceived limited motor skills.
Love the fur-ball
The piercing blue eyes of the wolf have locked me in; I like this furry little doggy. Yes, the legs are a bit stiff, and he can’t close his mouth, and he can not look down, but overall, he’s not a bad wolf.
I like how this set combines three animals from a same region, giving a bit more cohesion to the set, and the raccoon is almost as good as the wolf, so you get good value from this set. For AU$89.99/£44.99/US$49.99/49.99 this is pretty decent value as well.
However; I am not feeling much more than 3.5 out of 5 arbitrary praise units. Not bad at all, but just… not quite as exciting as I hoped. ‘OK’ and ‘Not bad’ come to mind. This set suffers from the extremely high quality that has been provided by the Creator 3-in-1 team in recent years, it’s a tough act to follow.
Lego generously provided this set for review, all opinions are my own.
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Until Next Time,
Play Well!
