Set Review - Repair Lift 30229

In what has now been billed as an unachievable trifecta, I've been to Toys'No it's not a typo'Us three weeks in a row.  The problem (problem he says) is that they have a feature that will email you when a specific item is available.  I signed up for three email alerts on three polybags and one arrived last week.  So I moseyed on in and found nothing on the shelf.  Not even a shelf tag.  Cue the help desk.  The associate could see that the box entered the store, but didn't know where it was.  He finally found it out on the floor and handed me a polybag.  Done and done.

As I've mentioned before, I'm not really into the City theme but I'm a sucker for small cars, etc.  Having four wheels, this little set would qualify.  I had wanted to build it with my soon to be 3 year old son but the timing never worked.  So my daughters and I built this on Father's day afternoon along with 4201 which had been sitting in our backlog (side note, mining theme now complete!)

From the start, I could see the hilarity potential in the polybag set.  The lifting arm does not have a gear at each end connected by a chain.  Therefore Bill (as he shall now be called) is subject to all sorts of angles for repair, some of which may or may not be advantageous.  I spent some time running him across the table in various positions pretending like he was screaming atop an out of control lift.  Of course the girls were laughing hard enough to wake their sleeping brother which would have gotten me in trouble with their sleeping mother.  So we meandered on to other play ideas.

The set is a nice solid build and a cute addition to a city scene.  My only complaints are the connection of click hinges.  When manipulating the lift, the upper portion tends to disconnect from the hinge base.  But it's otherwise well balanced and the bucket and man can be in any position without the platform tipping.

This set is a smaller version of many who have come before and are currently existing.  A simple search for "Repair" yields the current light repair truck, the previous light repair truck and a slightly older utility repair lift.  The previous two use the same lift type system as this.  The latter set is a pre-click hinge era set and takes advantage of scissor lift technology.  But as far as size goes this polybag fills a nice void of non-road legal equipment.

For $3.49 this has got to be the cheapest LEGO that the toy retailer sells.  The price for 40 pieces plus a minifig is fabulous.  The fun factor is fairly raging as well.  If you're not so much into the set, consider that price for the parts.  Lots of yellow wheels and other little bits.  Plus a big ol' 2x6 brick for the base.  All in all I'd give it a hearty yes and a complete worth it.