I love when the LEGO City theme produces buildings that are not just police and fire stations. It’s not that they don’t produce good police and fire stations, but I personally don’t need a new one every year. I was thrilled when LEGO put out Bulldozer Break-in, because the main build was finally a building that was not one of the aforementioned stations, and not a vehicle. Granted, I already have a bank in my LEGO city (the Creator Brick Bank), but I decided to go ahead and get this one anyway. So, how does it measure up? Keep reading to find out! If you are curious about where I come up with my rating scores, remember to check out my LEGO rating section.
Set Summary
NAME: Bulldozer Break-in
SET #: 60140
THEME: City
COST: $89.99 CAD
BRICK COUNT: 561
MINIFIGURES: 5
OF INTEREST: a dog
RELEASE DATE: January 2, 2017
Summary Review: 83%
VALUE: 70% (The cost per brick is above average at $0.16.)
BUILD: 90% (Well designed set, but did we really need another helicopter?)
MINIFIGURES: 87% (Nice Minifigures with a great brick:fig ratio.)
ENTERTAINMENT: 83% (Overall nice set that gives you a good amount of build-time.)
Review
VALUE: 70%
At full price, you will pay $89.99 for Bulldozer Break-in in Canada. With 561 pieces, that means that each brick will cost you $0.16. This set was released in 2017, and the average cost per brick that year was $0.13, based on my review of the LEGO catalogues I received (click here to read about it). So, this set is on the pricier side, but still in line with most City theme sets. City is often the most expensive theme in the LEGO catalogues. At that price, it earns 3.5/5 (70%) for value. I bought this set during a 20% off promotion at Toys R Us, so it cost me $72.00. That brings the cost per brick down to $0.13, which is right on the average, and would earn the set a score of 4/5 (80%).
BUILD: 90%
There are four builds that come with Bulldozer Break-in. The first is the set’s namesake, the bulldozer used in the break-in. I love this build. It is a small, red bulldozer with a chain hook-up on the rear. It runs along on rubber treads, and has a swiveling blade on the front. Because the treads are rubber, they tend to stick a little. This means that you don’t get quite the same ease of rotation as you would with LEGO’s tank treads. But, they still rotate well enough, so this is not really a point of contention for me. This bulldozer is actually quite cute.
You get another police helicopter in Bulldozer Break-in. There is nothing wrong with the build, but I am a little bored with these police/City helicopters. Do we really need this many? I have more police helicopters than I do squad cars. If every set has to come with a police vehicle, I would rather get more regular squad cars, but that is just me.
With that said, you do get a SWAT-type police truck in this set. Perhaps LEGO thought two police street vehicles was too much for one set, but I still would have liked a squad car in addition to this truck. The truck is awesome though. I will totally keep this one built and in my city. The cab had a removable roof, and car doors so that Minifigures can get inside easily. The rear compartment also has opening doors, but LEGO placed a hatch on the roof as well for easy interior access. You can fit a couple of Minifigures inside the back. I really like the side detailing on this truck with the step-up and the hand bars.
The main build in Bulldozer Break-in is the bank. The bottom floor has a teller’s station and some benches for customers to wait on. The upper floor is largely empty, but has a locked gate, and a safe. The safe has a play feature that allows it to be torn out of the wall by the bulldozer. There is also a roof hatch that criminals can use to break in. I like the front facade of this build quite a bit, it comes with a number of columns and windows. I am never a fan of the open back design of City theme buildings, but it does make it more play friendly for little ones. There is also an ATM on the front which, like the safe, can be pulled out of the wall. My one complaint about this bank is that it did not come with any civilian Minifigures, like an employee or customer.
Overall, I quite like Bulldozer Break-in. It comes with some very well designed builds. In summary, my only real complaints are the Minifigure selection and the choice to include yet another police helicopter in the set. Even then, I have so many civilian Minifigures in my collection already that manning this build is not really an issue. Also, there is nothing wrong with the design of this helicopter, so if you don’t already have one, you are getting a decent build. The SWAT truck and the bulldozer are awesome in my books. I give Bulldozer Break-in 9/10 (90%) for design.
MINIFIGURES: 87%
You get five Minifigures in Bulldozer Break-in. There are three police officers, and two criminals. Like I mentioned before, I would have liked to have gotten some civilians too. If LEGO had done away with the helicopter and pilot, and one of the criminals, they could have added more detail to the bank, and two civilians (a teller and a customer). I think that would have made this set perfect in my eyes. But, as it stands, you get some okay characters. They all have faces that we’ve seen before, with no double-sided print. Each comes with a hat or helmet. In that regard, I am quite happy with the female officer’s headpiece. She has the same police hat with hair that Barbara Gordon came with the in LEGO Batman Movie Minifigure series. Unlike Barbara, this one has brown hair though. This is a great hairpiece, and I am thrilled to get another variant of it.
Each of these Minifigures has front and back print on their torsos, but only one comes with any leg printing. As accessories, you get a coffee mug, a couple of pairs of handcuffs, a flashlight, a crowbar, a hammer, seven printed money tiles, and a dog. That earns these Minifigs a collective design score of 63/75 (84%). Additionally, with 561 pieces in the kit, you have a brick-to-Minifigure ratio of 112:1. That is pretty good, and earns a score of 4.5/5 (90%). Averaging the design and ratio scores gives an overall Minifigure rating of 87%.
ENTERTAINMENT: 83%
This set took me two hours and ten minutes to build (130 minutes). That means that each minute of build time costs $0.69 at full price. That is a good value, though not an excellent one, and earns 4/5 (80%) for build-time value. Again, I bought this set for 20% off. So, at $72.00, I paid $0.55 per minute of build time. That is an excellent value if you can find it for that price (and you will be able to if you wait it out). At 20% off, I give Bulldozer Break-in a full 5/5 (100%) for build-time.
I have already mentioned a few times that I like this set. If I did not already have the Creator Brick Bank, I would certainly make this set modular and include it in my city. If I had more space, I might be inclined to make it modular anyway, and have two banks in my city. But, since real estate is quite valuable in my city, I will re-purpose this building. The pieces that it comes with are amazing though, so I will get a lot of fun in the process. The bulldozer and SWAT truck will also be kept as is in my city. Given the number of helicopters that I have, I won’t keep this one built. Since keeping the bank would require some redesigning, and I don’t particularly want the helicopter, I will give Bulldozer Break-in an 85% for enjoyment. Averaging this with the build-time score gives this set an overall entertainment value of 83% at full price, and 93% if you can find it for 20% off.
Overall Score: 83%
Paying full price for Bulldozer Break-in will get you a nice set, good Minifigures, and a decent build-time value. You will be paying a bit much for each individual brick in the kit, but that tends to be the case with most City theme sets. I recommend waiting for this set to be on sale at Toys R Us or Walmart. If you find it on sale, the value per brick is much better, as is the amount of build-time you get for the cost. At 20% off, I would rate this set at 88%. Bulldozer Break-in is a fun one, and I think it is worth picking up.
As always, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Perhaps you feel differently about what would have made this set perfect? Until next time,
-Tom
