From January 24 until February 9, 2020 at the LEGO® Store, spending $45 or more gets you a Hidden Side gift with purchase. Since this is a limited time offer, I decided to do an extra review this week. I picked this up on my last trip to the LEGO® Store (click here to read about it). Subsequently, I built it and reviewed it as quickly as I could to get the information out to you guys who might be thinking about making a purchase to get this set. Therefore, without further ado, let’s look at the Drag Racer (40408) review.
Click here to read about how I generate scores in my review.
Drag Racer (40408) Summary
- NAME: Drag Racer
- SET #: 40408
- THEME: Hidden Side
- COST: Free ($16.99 CAD value)
- BRICK COUNT: 134
- MINIFIGURES: 2
- RELEASE DATE: January 24, 2020
Drag Racer (40408) Quick Review
- VALUE: 100% (It was free.)
- BUILD: 50% (Not very interesting.)
- MINIFIGURES: 89% (Really nice Minifigures, excellent ratio score.)
- ENTERTAINMENT: 70% (I am not keen on it as an adult.)
- OVERALL SCORE: 77%
Drag Racer (40408) Review
VALUE: 100%
First up in this Drag Racer (40408) review, we look at value. The Hidden Side Drag Racer is a gift-with-purchase, so it does not cost anything if you are making a purchase over $45. That is a pretty good deal, especially if you were planning to make a purchase anyway. For that reason, I will give it 100% as a cost-per-brick score. However, from a market value perspective, the Drag Racer is worth $16.99. At that price, the cost-per-brick boils down $0.13, which is decent. If purchased at market value, this set earns 84%. Interestingly, when compared to the Newbury Juice Bar, this set is a better deal. The Juice Bar was available with purchases over $50 and has seven less bricks.
Click here to read about the Newbury Juice Bar.
The Drag Racer took me 17 minutes to build. At market value, each minute of build time costs a dollar. By comparison, my average cost per minute is currently $0.82. Therefore, the market value build time is satisfactory, but not great. It earns a score of 71%. With that said, I did not actually pay anything for the Drag Racer. It was free with a set I wanted to buy anyway. So, I rate the build-time at 100%. In the end, as a freebie, you get a great value that I rate at 100%. However, based on market value, I rate this at 78%.
BUILD: 50%
In truth, I am not crazy about this build. While it might be a better deal than the Newbury Juice Bar, I like the Juice Bar more. It has more substance than the Drag Racer. However, the flaming pipes on the side are a fun feature. Additionally, there is a Minifigure launching canon on the back. It works passably well, but not great. A spoiler would be more authentic. There are no novel build techniques in the Drag Racer, and I found myself wishing for more. The Newbury Juice Bar left the bar high. I rate the Drag Racer at 5/10 (50%).
MINIFIGURES: 89%
The Drag Racer comes with two Minifigures. Both come with all the standard parts. However, only Jack has a double-sided face. With that said, Shrimp Shack Attack came with a very similar Jack Minifigure. I really like the possessed drag racer. More specifically, I like his jacket and pant printing. Finally, there is only one accessory, Jack’s phone. All together, these characters earn a design score of 24/30 (80%).
Two Minifigures in a kit containing 134 bricks equates to a brick-to-Minifigure ratio of 67-to-1. My current average is 152:1. Therefore, this kit has an excellent ratio score. That earns 97%. Averaging this score with the design score yields an overall Minifigure rating of 89%.
ENTERTAINMENT: 70%
As an adult collector, I am not very keen on the Drag Racer. I have no use for this set, so I will repurpose the parts. However, I do like the Minifigures, and they make this set worth it for me. I rate it passably at 3/5 (60%).
Kids will probably enjoy the Drag Racer more than adults. Apparently, you can scan the ghost character with the app and have it in the game. I did not try it, but the box indicates that. A ghost racer could make for entertaining play scenarios. I estimate the KFOL score at 4/5 (80%). Averaging this with the AFOL score gives an overall entertainment rating of 70%.
OVERALL SCORE: 77%
The Drag Racer is a free set, and you cannot go wrong with free LEGO® bricks or Minifigures. However, the build for this kit is a little lack-luster, and it does not have much appeal for AFOLs. Kids might have fun with it, and the Minifigures are nice. If you are planning to buy something in the $45 range anyway, why not get this for free with it? Of the upcoming freebies at the LEGO® Store (click here to learn more), this is the most appealing to me. I hope you enjoyed this Drag Racer (40408) review. Please let me know what you think. Be sure to comment below or shout out on social media.
Until next time,
-Tom
What do others think?
Brick Insights is an awesome site that aggregates LEGO® set review scores from around the web. Based on their statistics, you can see what other reviewers think of the Drag Racer (40408) below.
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