Ignore the price tag - it's well worth it.
Written: Apr 25 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: 2 Stingrays, unique pieces, older kids love it.
Cons: Expedition Vessel is extremely complicated to build.
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| Freak369's Full Review: LEGO - Hydro Crystallization Station |
Some people might wonder exactly what attracts me to Lego’s. As a kid we never had such toys, we had Lincoln Logs and dress up dolls. I would rather be building forts made of rocks, mud and weeds, which directly led to me being yelled at for trying to sneak into the house, covered from head to toe in dirt. My brothers would make pig noises while my mother would squirt me off with the hose.
Times have changed. Now I surround myself with expensive pieces of colored plastic. My kids love them just as much. We spend hours building castles, Star Wars Tie Fighters, space ships and most recently we started our own Aqua Zone.
The Aqua Zone series of Lego’s is still growing with new sets being released every 6 weeks. Today I bought the Hydronaut Crystalation Station. Since we have all the Ninja, Star Wars and Rock Raider’s sets I made the decision that the next set we would tackle would be Aqua Zone.
Currently there are 13 sets from Aqua Zone on the market. Some can only be bought from Lego through their catalog but don’t let that stop you from checking out this series. Not wanting to start with the basic stuff I went straight for the biggest box. It looked good, plenty of underwater extras like an octopus, coral, two stingrays, several platforms and an awesome dome. My son Simon looked at me and asked “Mom, is this our toy or your toy?”. Several people in the isle gave me “that look” and walked away.
I knew my kids were excited about this when they passed up lunch at Taco Bell and Burger King to go home and start assembling this set. Since my kids are three through seven years of age each one has a different job. The bigger pieces are saved for “the baby” and my two oldest have the directions and give most of the ‘orders’. This is one of the things that I love most about Lego’s. Having four boys with such a wide age range yet still being able to work together really brings a big ‘mom smile’ to my face.
I completely stayed out of the assembly of this set. It is the biggest set they have had so far and I wanted to give them the opportunity to try their hand at doing it themselves (not that I wasn’t standing in the doorway drooling). I was able to keep an eye on them in the playroom with the video camera so I wasn’t standing over them every five minutes.
With this being the first set of Lego’s I didn’t help build I was wondering if I should even review it for Epinions. Now, what kind of Lego addict would I be if I didn’t at least give the run down of the good and bad of this set? I was surprised that the directions were extremely detailed. They are much better than the Star Wars series; more color separation, better illustration and different booklets for the different items. There are so many small pieces in this set that having this for a child under seven or eight is nothing more than a recipe for disaster and a trip to the Emergency Room.
There are three main items that are built from this set. The Hydro Crystalation Station, Underwater Expedition Vessel and one small Tow Unit.
The Hydro Crystalation Station
By far one of the biggest stand alone Lego pieces. Don’t be fooled by the size of it, putting it together is a snap. It is made up mostly of platform pieces used at the bottom. The Hydro Crystalation Station is amazing. It has several small hidden features like opening doors to hold stingray prisoners and a chamber to hide underwater sonar guns. It also has a crane and suction hose that is housed inside the eerie green dome.
Underwater Expedition Vessel
This piece took a lot more time to assemble that I though. I went through the instructions and counted over 170 pieces and I am sure I missed about 50. My son asked me several times for help and I will admit, a few sections stumped me. If you don’t follow the instructions to the T you’ll more than likely have to go back and strip off some pieces and start over. All the frustrations are well worth it once you complete it. It has two large propulsion units on the side and one in the back. The cabin of the unit opens to allow two small figures to sit inside. You can easily add some small pieces from other sets and modify it so that the engines can be dropped to explore smaller spaces. After typing that last sentence I just realized that I must sound like either a complete moron or an obsessed Lego junkie.
Tow Unit
This small craft is simple to assemble (judging from the booklet) and has several nice features. It holds a set of fins, two sonar rockets, one Hydronaut and has a working propeller. It is a nice addition to the set and allows smaller kids with smaller hands to play along. The Underwater Expedition Vessel is a little heavy and too big and bulky for smaller kids to handle, not to mention the pieces that could pop off.
After four hours I decided to sneak into the playroom and see how things were progressing. All three pieces were built but there were still pieces left in the box. This didn’t seem to bother them too much, they were too proud of their crowning achievement. Now, what Aqua Zone would be complete without water? Out to the kiddie pool we went. I filled it up with about four inches of water and let the kids go crazy. It didn’t go accord to plan. The pieces were too light to stay in place – this was due to the fact that the platform pieces have no weight. It was solved quick enough. I took the Hydro Crystalation Station into the house, dried with bottom with my blow dryer and glued some magnets to the bottom of it. Problem solved.
While the kids were playing in the pool I took a few minutes to try and figure out where the extra pieces went. Ten minutes later I decided my blood pressure was more important than solving the ‘mystery piece’ dilemma.
All in all I think this is a wonderful set. It can be combined with other pieces in the series and provides a wonderful experience for kids. The only thing I have trouble with is the size of the Stingray Stormer and Sea Scorpion from the Aqua Zone set. They are much larger than the Hydro Crystalation Station. Sure a kid isn’t going to pick up on this but when I am forking out more money on Lego’s than my weekly grocery bill I expect a little more realism.
The Stats
Lego Set # 6199
Assembly Time: 4 hours (the kids did this one solo)
Recommended Ages : 8 - 12 (lots of small pieces - beware)
Total Pieces: 472
Skill Level Needed: 9 (out of a possible 10)
Completed Size: 11 inches (L) x 11 inches (W) x 11.5 inches (H)
Recommended:
Yes
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