Review: LEGO Creator 31104 Monster Burger Truck

Today we are quickly interested in the LEGO Creator set 31104 Monster Burger Truck, a 3 in 1 box of 499 pieces sold at the public price of 54.99 € since the beginning of the year 2020. As soon as the first visuals of the product were available, fans had shown a certain enthusiasm for this food truck placed on a fitted chassis. big wheels and after assembling the machine I think the first impressions are confirmed.

The product does not disappoint and everything is there: the pleasure of construction, the many details that make this food truck a product with a devastating look, the modularity of the vehicle which makes it really playable and the small number of stickers (3) to stick .

The vehicle is a classic food truck placed on an oversized chassis. The base truck therefore retains its classic wheel arches which help to highlight the incongruous combination of the two elements and in my opinion it is visually very successful. The chassis benefits from basic but effective suspensions, simply based on movable axles connected by a flexible white bar which does its job very well.
The vehicle is designed to offer maximum playability with a removable roof that allows you to really take advantage of the interior space with its very complete layout. The two rear doors allow storage of the table with its parasol and the two chairs when traveling, a logical choice for a food truck.

The somewhat annoying detail: to facilitate the passage and withdrawal of orders by customers, the designer has provided a retractable ladder whose steps are unfortunately not completely horizontal once the element is deployed and it is therefore difficult to place a minifigure there.

Since this is a food truck that serves burgers, it was imperative to integrate a sign on the roof of the vehicle. Here too, it is nicely done with a large burger to be fixed on the tilting stand. From certain angles, we can still make out a little the Technic beam which serves as a support, but it is ultimately plausible. The interior layout of the kitchen is enough to have a little fun: bottles, microwave, mustard, ketchup, slice of bread, cash register and even a fire extinguisher, it's enough to get in the mood .

The promise of this range of LEGO Creator 3 in 1 sets is also and above all to offer, as indicated on the box, the possibility of assembling three different models using the inventory provided. It was therefore essential not to be satisfied with mounting the main model to get an informed opinion on this product and to go to the end of the concept by discovering the other two models offered.

The result is clear: as too often, this set does not really take advantage of the possibilities offered by the assortment of parts delivered in the box. At a time when many MOCeurs are able to offer creations using almost the entire set serving as a starting point, I find that what LEGO offers us here lacks a little ambition.

The all-terrain vehicle to assemble is interesting, but it leaves a large batch of unused parts on the table, including the main model's suspensions and exhaust system. A little paradoxical for a large all-terrain vehicle. The parts decorated with stickers, the food truck menu, the sign placed on the front and the license plate, are logically put aside. The third model, a competition tractor with a trailer without wheels, is a bit disappointing and it also skips a very significant portion of the inventory.

The assembly of the two alternative models prolongs the pleasure a little, but we quickly realize that the designer did not really try to meet the challenge until the end. It's a bit sloppy, especially with the tractor and its trailer, and that's a shame. The theme of the burger could also have been common to the three models by reusing the parts of the big food truck sign that all remain on the floor with the two alternative vehicles.

The two supplied minifigs are always good to take even if the young boy's torso is a classic from the LEGO CITY range. That of the mustached driver and rarer, it was only delivered in 2019 in The LEGO Movie 2 sets 70836 Battle-Ready Batman and MetalBeard et 70840 Welcome to Apocalypseburg. The (big) buildable dog does not survive the assembly of the two alternative models of the set because some of its parts are used for the offroad and the tractor.

In summary, I think the title Creator 3 in 1 is once again a little too pretentious for a set with limited possibilities. Disassembling the food truck to assemble one of the other two models and then find that a large part of the inventory remains unused is a little disappointing, especially at 55 € the concept. Instead of botching the thing by really breaking its promises, LEGO could have sold us this Monster Burger Truck € 30 or € 40 without alternate instructions, that was just as good.

Note: The set presented here, supplied by LEGO, is as usual in play. Deadline fixed at March 15, 2020 next at 23pm.

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below. Without a response from him to my request for contact details within 5 days, a new winner will be drawn. Shipment of the batch as soon as the sanitary situation permits.