Review: 76992 Amy's Animal Rescue Island
Posted by Huw,Some of the Sonic sets that'll be released next month offer an exhilarating play experience based around firing the eponymous blue hedgehog's pod at his foes at high speed to defeat them, while others provide a more sedate way to interact with the characters.
76992 Amy's Animal Rescue Island is very much one of the latter.
Summary
76992 Amy's Animal Rescue Island, 388 pieces.
£46.99 / $49.99 / €52.99 | 12.1p/12.9c/13.7c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Offers plenty of fun while caring for rescued animals and defeating the Badnik!
- Awesome minifigures
- Bright and colourful
- Extortionately priced
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
The set comes with Amy, armed with a Piko Piko hammer, and Tails, which is my favourite minifigure in the theme. He's equipped with a hoverboard. It's the only one of the five that does not contain the titular character.
I took a good look at all the minifigures in Sonic sets the other week, so please read that article for more information.
As the name of the set suggests the setting is an animal rescue centre, so three are included to care for, a Flicky. (the bird), Pocky (the rabbit), and Picky (the pig).
The set also comes with one of Dr. Eggman's robotic minion Badniks, Crabmeat, who can carry a captured animal on his back.
The set is bright and colourful and provides everything needed for the rescued animals to recuperate, including a roundabout, water slide, sandcastle and a bar serving food and fancy-looking drinks!
Crabmeat perches on the rocks at the back, trying his luck at recapturing the animals. Hitting the round pink tile will cause him to topple off and also reveal a Chaos Emerald underneath. The structure behind is frangible, suggesting that he could also be defeated by flinging Sonic's pod from another set at him.
Round the back, underneath the bar, there's a sleeping area containing three beds for the animals and accessories to care for them.
The bedroom can also be accessed from the front via a hinged 'secret door'.
Another play feature is the bridge between the two sections that can be collapsed to prevent the Badnik from snatching the animals while they are snoozing!
Overall it's an attractive set that offers a lot of fun and scope for play for the target audience of 7-8 year olds, and because it doesn't consist of unconnected odds and ends like similar sets, it makes a pretty good display model too. The minifigs are splendid and may well be the main reason to consider buying it if you don't have a child at your disposal.
Unfortunately the price of £46.99 / $49.99 / €52.99 for just 388 pieces feels quite extortionate for the size of the set, but that seems to be par for the course nowadays. The inevitable 30% discount at Amazon later in the year will make it far more palatable, but still quite pricey.
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29 comments on this article
Again the Badnik is easily the best part of the set....make some polybags with these!
I see. It's an animal-shelter.
I don't think Robotnik is your main worry here, Tails and/or Amy. It's Nova you should watch out for, not in the least because you yourselves are animals as well. You are not safe. You are never safe.
Didn't think I'd end up learning words through a Brickset review, but frangible's definitely a new one to me - see, educational value from this site too!
That aside, cheers for the review - agree that it's a nice-looking set but as is sadly becoming the norm at the mo, the price knocks it down a few pegs. May nab it on sale, but I reckon the Tornado and Death Egg Robot sets are gonna be my priority first and foremost!
Are all the Chaos Emeralds available in the Sonic sets?
I want some Pocky now. Mmm, Pocky.
@Huw, you forgot the summary box.
Ridgeheart: And now you're saying Nova has dimension-hopping powers? I mean, granted, the animal molds originated in Friends, so maybe you're on to something...
@Ayliffe: Always nice to see someone else who enjoys learning new words, although I already knew that one. Here's another one for you: ultracrepidarian. (Which, no surprise, my spellchecker doesn't recognize.) Per dictionary.com, it means "expressing opinions on matters outside the scope of one's knowledge or expertise."
Always nice to know that a lot of the parts for this 50 euro set go into a random pile of rockwork. That is always the thing you get the most out of... random rocks.
EDIT: it's nice to see the function of 70753 Lava Falls and the Elves treehouse return. We need more simple functions like that!
@Binnekamp said:
"Always nice to know that a lot of the parts for this 50 euro set go into a random pile of rockwork. That is always the thing you get the most out of... random rocks."
Random rocks with a diamond inside! That ain't so bad!
(if only it was real....)
From Huw's review: "The minifigs are splendid and may well be the main reason to consider buying it if you don't have a child at your disposal." That's hilarious, the way it's written. I love it!
I was priced out of LEGO long ago, and sets like this certainly aren’t helping. It’s almost the piece of a brand-new videogame (not the $70 ones) over here, but that doesn’t get you much.
@TheOtherMike said:
"Ridgeheart: And now you're saying Nova has dimension-hopping powers? I mean, granted, the animal molds originated in Friends, so maybe you're on to something..."
1. We know for a fact that Sonic has Dimensions-hopping powers, Nova could easily have taken his portal and
2. SHE HAS ALREADY SUCCESFULLY INVADED THE DREAMZZZ-THEME.
https://dreamzzz-lego.fandom.com/wiki/Nova
This feels like a huge missed opportunity to make a Chao Garden set.
i.e. a kind of rescue island you can interact with in-game.
@LuvsLEGO_Cool_J said:
"From Huw's review: "The minifigs are splendid and may well be the main reason to consider buying it if you don't have a child at your disposal." That's hilarious, the way it's written. I love it!"
I'm glad you appreciate my turn of phrase :-)
The Lego sonic Wave is what I'm saving my VIP discount points for.
@Binnekamp said:
"Always nice to know that a lot of the parts for this 50 euro set go into a random pile of rockwork. That is always the thing you get the most out of... random rocks."
I mean, that's what an island is, no?
The little cave for the animals is really cute. Very unusual set, as its basically a Friends set in a Stuntz lineup.
The sad thing is, I really just want the lime piece. Believe it's brand new and making its first appearance in this set...which I really do not want to buy lol
@jmeninno said:
"The sad thing is, I really just want the lime piece. Believe it's brand new and making its first appearance in this set...which I really do not want to buy lol"
Tell you what, we split the price 50/50 and you get the lime tile, I get the rest ( including the hopefully included spare lime tile ) ??
I wish it had more free space ,especialy for this price. You can barrely fit everything on this set :/
I still want it though, its only set that appeals to me from this series( even if I think all of sets are solid)
Itsalso in Friends kitchen set. 3 of them (including spare)
@Ridgeheart: No, I think that's a different Nova. Even allowing for the differences in skin colors between minidolls and non-licensed minifigs, the hair's a different color and style. Although you do have a point about Sonic...
Would be interesting to get an introspective as to how the development of these sets went. The original Green Hill set was pretty successful, and was made with pin connections as if we would get more to connect. However instead we got these. Almost like the pivoted to something focused more on play than display, or decided to make it an entire theme vs a few one off sets. That seems kind of unlikely though as the Ideas set was released only 19 months ago. Wonder if expanding Green Hill Zone was just never planned
@Huw:
"The set comes with Amy, armed with a Piko Piko hammer, and Tails, which is my favourite minifigure in the theme. He's equipped with a hoverboard."
Although I can't be entirely sure, it is possible that Tails is not riding a hoverboard but "Extreme gear" instead. https://sonic.fandom.com/wiki/Extreme_Gear?so=searchBoard. They are basically hoverboards in the Sonic universe.
Also, no mention of the Piko Piko hammer being the wrong colours?
Anyway, another great review and will be sure to get this set as soon as it is released!
@johleth said:
"Are all the Chaos Emeralds available in the Sonic sets?"
It doesn't look like all seven, but hopefully this means the other two that aren't in any at the moment will show up in more sets later?
I saw this on the homepage and was like "huh. I thought all the sonic sets were expensive. I didn't realize they were making any in the $20-$30 range. Well, maybe with licensing fees it's 35."
oh.
"Extortionate." Look at Huw standing up to The Man.
Nice review. Nice set with good figs, fun play and storytelling features. Agree with H about price.
That robot crab is simply amazing.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @Ridgeheart: No, I think that's a different Nova. Even allowing for the differences in skin colors between minidolls and non-licensed minifigs, the hair's a different color and style. Although you do have a point about Sonic..."
Counterpoint: Heartlake City has an alarming amount of hair-salons, and Nova's obvious spray-tan could easily cover up the bright yellow skin we all know and love. Or it could all just be an illusion. Or maybe her dream-self looks different from her waking self. Or maybe her Friends-incarnation has watched 'Silence of the Lambs' one too many times.
There is no atrocity I would put past Nova.
@ShilohCyan: 76990 is thirty-five dollars and 76991 is forty, so they aren't all quite as expensive.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @ShilohCyan: 76990 is thirty-five dollars and 76991 is forty, so they aren't all quite as expensive."
Yeah but there's been two sets with Sonic already so sets with him aren't as big of a draw IMO. Probably getting the latter