LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog Tails' Adventure Boat Toy 76997

Fantastic, kept my boy busy for hours

I brought this last month for a Christmas gift for my son.

Mel, 35 - 44, Birmingham

Great Title

Great purchase, highly recommended

Cagey, 65 or over, Brighton

grandson pleased

I bought this just before xmas for my grandson so he seemed pleased but as he hasnt done it yet cant say how good it is.

shelby, 65 or over, Lancaster

Fab activity

My daughter loved building this. It was really fun for her to build and she loves to use her imagination whilst using Lego. We love the bags are numbered in order which to build. This means she can fully follow the instructions and build in the correct order. So much fun!

Draw90, 25 - 34, Liverpool

Vibrant, fun Lego set

My son loved building this Sonic set. He likes the fact you can launch Tails in the spinning wheel and the retro game callbacks with the scenery and accessories. The only thing I would say is that it's a bit limited for the price bracket it's in. But if you like Sonic, like some playability but also a good display piece, this could be good for you.

Robomum, 35 - 44, Kent

Nice Lego set for sonic fans otherwise overvalued

We love Lego! As usual with most Lego sets, the instructions for this set were clear, concise and easy to follow. The pieces were sensibly separated so that you could follow each step without having to open all the bags at once. Is both colourful and good to play with. My only slight criticism would be quite a lot of small parts, which means it’s difficult to display as nicely as other sets. Slightly more pricey than some of the other Lego sets we have and I’m not sure it is worth the extra other than for the name of Sonic.

Mum of 3, 35 - 44, Gloucestershire

Nice set but a bit pointless

This is a nice set with the little figures of sonic etc but once built my 9 year old son was bored with it quite quickly as nothing holds the paraglide up at the back so it’s a bit pointless. It was easy to build with legos usual amazing instructions. He’s 9 and used to Lego and did it with ease. It’s cute cos it’s sonic but it’s not one of legos best sets I have to admit.

Bextee, 35 - 44, Halifax, West Yorkshire

Cute. Quick. Classic. What Else Do You Need?

Is Miles “Tails” Prowler the cutest Lego Minifig ever produced? There can be a strong case made to assert this claim. Not only does this kit include Tails, but you get a paraskiing, waterski/life vest-wearing, Sonic the Hedgehog thrown in for good measure. And let's not forget the villain in the box – Jawz, a sharkish robot Badnik courtesy of Dr Eggman! The first issue I have is: one does wonder why Sonic – who famously cannot swim – would agree to be dragged through the water behind a powerboat, life vest or not!?! Is Tails' amiable mask slipping? Is this a nefarious scheme to visit watery harm upon our spiky blue hero? And all that is before you get to the meat of the build: Tails’ actual boat, crafted with meticulous care by those geniuses at Lego, plus sundry scenery including the obligatory Rings. Starting with the Minifig builds, this is a cool set. The second issue I have comes in this section, though – why create arguably the cutest Minifig ever (see above) and then hide him in a translucent, spinning ball? Much better to pop a random Minifig in the ball and keep our Miles out to captain his vessel even if the ball is supposed to represent a rolling spin dash! Hey! Even put Sonic in the ball as he can spin dash across water and send a random Minifig soaring into the sky! (Wow! I know FAR too much about this :)) The build of the boat’s cabin is straightforward, but introduces techniques such as SNOT to those young builders who may not have explored it in their own designs. Moving forward to the mechanism that propels the translucent ball (above), the build becomes much more technical and interesting. Lego Technic pieces are introduced as pivots and levers, movable hinges are used in the form of T-bars and C-grips for the prow of the boat to open and close, all operating in conjunction at the press of the levers mounted port and starboard in order to whizz the ball towards its target. This shows exactly how complex and advanced a seemingly small and simple set like this can be. The colour scheme has been well thought out. The blues, whites, and oranges of Tails, Sonic, and the boat contrast nicely with the more sinister magentas, purples, and greys of Jawz. Gripe number three – I cannot help but think that an amount of artistic licence has been taken with the design of the Jawz Botnik – but I’m ageing and few others will notice :) Sonic the Paraskiing Hedgehog can be clipped into his kite and the latter attached to the boat as required in order that he is exposed to that horrible water for as short a time as possible. Remember – like Sonic, Lego does NOT float! A huge positive is that, despite the mechanisms and moving parts, this is a solid, playable build. Whilst Lego models are, by their very nature, repairable, you’re not going to spend hours rebuilding the boat every time it’s dragged across the carpet or a table top. The secondary scenery build is fun in itself. Easy enough to assemble, an island archway with the classic Rings atop, the most fun part is the little palm tree. This shows NPU, as one would expect of the minds behind this set – the leaves are a technique that my Grandson will replicate in future builds of his own, with curved 1x1 slope and 2x2 dome bricks taking the place of custom leaves. To be honest, my Grandson built the scenery out of order, between the Minifigs and the Adventure Boat so that the best was saved till last. Can this really be considered an issue? A moan? A gripe? Should the best, stand-alone build in a set always come at the end of the instructions in order to heighten anticipation whilst assembling the secondary builds? Perhaps. There are five distinct builds in this set, build them in whichever order most satisfies you. In summary, the Lego Tails’ Adventure Boat set is a must-have for Sonic the Hedgehog/Lego fans. I’d suggest that confident builders aged 6+ will have few problems with this set, and they may learn new, more advanced techniques and use of Lego brick elements that improve their own original designs. However, many young builders appreciate a word of advice, a strong finger to click a stubborn brick into place -- that's what Lego is really about! A couple of salient points: for decades, Lego have been guilty of overpackaging their sets, in particular with regard to splitting the bricks for a build into many, many single use plastic brick bags inside the outer box. Whilst this may seem a minor issue, 15-30 brick bags in a set are commonplace and 60 or more brick bags can be found in the largest sets. 220million Lego sets are sold globally each year, so even averaging 5 brick bags per set, that would amount to 1.1BILLION Lego plastic brick bags produced and then sent to landfill every year! In this set (and others), we see the introduction of recyclable, sustainable, easy to open (especially for the younger builder), perforated tear-open paper bags. The simple, but highly effective move to sustainable packaging that enhances the product without inconveniencing the user; everything about this move should be applauded. As an example, this small/medium build of 393 pieces is packaged into 8 paper bags and one very small plastic bag. That would have been nine plastic brick bags in the past, and given that Sonic is one of Lego's most popular lines, you could have been looking at a million plastic brick bags being produced and ending up in landfill just for this set! But why should this matter with a plastic product, especially a toy churned out in the billions? Because the Lego brick should be the symbol of “Reusability”. A brick made 50 years ago will snap securely onto every modern brick – my Grandson has just completed a MOC where we sourced second hand bricks made in the 1990’s from a collector in Poland! Finally, I don’t think people appreciate how much thought and care goes into the instructions that come with Lego sets. The sets are sold worldwide and are aimed at children of all ages (I’m a child in my 60’s), so language comprehension is a major issue. The instructions consist of intricately rendered line drawings (no words), with each section having a pictorial parts-needed list and clear build instructions. If anything is unclear, or one wishes to have a more immersive experience, the Lego Builder app has 3D instructions for this and all Lego sets and any lost or missing instructions (when your build gets broken after you've recycled the instructions) can be downloaded as a .pdf from the Lego website.

BobbyD, 55 - 64, East Riding of Yorkshire

Great set for a Sonic fan

This is a great little set, that would look good displayed with all the matching Sonic lego sets. The set comes well packaged, with easy to follow instructions. For an 8+ set my just turned 8 year old did find this a little too quick and easy to assemble, with little to no challenge, so feel that this could easily be assembled by someone under the age rating. Once assembled it looks very detailed and the quality of materials is good as always with lego. Now looking to get the rest of the Sonic lego sets to match.

TaylorR, 35 - 44, Dover, Kent

Super fun with Sonic

This Lego set is a lot of fun and brings out the creative aspects in the child. My little one was super excited to see this and to put together part by parts. The Lego pieces come in environment friendly paper packets marked with numbers so that kids can follow the steps easily. The smaller parts were easy to build. The boat took some time but was worth it. The set comes with nice collectibles such as boat toy with launchers , Tails, Sonic, Tocky and Jawz. The quality is good as with any Lego. The colourful set brings out the imaginative part and is an engaging activity to do. Highly recommended!

Jess, 35 - 44, Essex