Review: LEGO DREAMZzz 71456 Mrs. Castillo's Turtle Van

Today we take a quick tour of the content of the LEGO DREAMZzz set 71456 Mrs. Castillo's Turtle Van, a box of 434 pieces currently on pre-order on the official online store at the retail price of €47.99 and which will be available from August 1, 2023.

For those who have not followed, the LEGO DREAMZzz universe is the new "in-house" license at LEGO and the manufacturer is once again putting the means to try to demonstrate that it is able to create a complete ecosystem of products without having to s rely on external licenses. Of all the attempts at LEGO, only the Ninjago and Monkie Kid ranges are still in the catalog, the other most recent home universes have all been more or less quickly dropped by the wayside for a long time after a few waves of boxes.

The LEGO DREAMZzz license therefore comes at the right time to try to generate a new long-term commercial dynamic and it is based in passing on an animated series broadcast on Youtube, Netflix or even Prime Video with a dozen episodes already online and a new season to come. LEGO has obviously planned a substantial lifespan for this new universe as well as many products derived from products already themselves derived with, for example, a slew of activity books to be published accompanied or not by various and varied figurines. Everything is obviously aimed at the youngest, so it is important to keep the target audience in mind to form an objective opinion on these products.

In this box, we assemble Madame Castillo's food truck parked a few streets from the home of the two young heroes of this universe, Mateo and Izzy. The version of the vehicle seen on the screen not being based on bricks, that of the set is therefore necessarily a largely simplified interpretation of the thing. We get an 8-stud wide vehicle vaguely inspired by a VW van with a rather basic interior, a few stickers and a removable roof.

The LEGO version looks just like the show, but it's yet to be seen how younger kids will enjoy these simplified, loosely inspired by-products of a series that features minifigs in a classic brick-free cartoon setting.

The van can be converted into a flying turtle or a submarine and therefore LEGO offers two variants of the starting construction. These transformations are rather well documented in the instruction booklet and it is not necessary to disassemble everything to transform the vehicle into Señor Tortuga. Changing from one version to the other only requires a few minor modifications and the process will therefore not discourage the youngest. There are still a few unused parts after each modification, but the remainder is limited.

We can therefore consider that the 3-in-1 aspect of the product is really exploitable here, this is not always the case in the products presented by LEGO as offering the possibility of assembling several variants of the product offered with very often a large pile of untapped coins. The sheet of stickers to stick on the van is substantial but all these stickers are not used, there remains a small handful of stickers (bottom right on the scan above) which will allow you to personalize the vehicle as you see fit. All the patterns visible on the different elements of the set and which are not on the sheet of stickers are therefore stamped.

As for the minifigs delivered in this box, it's a pad printing party. LEGO puts all its know-how at the service of this new range and this is in turn good news for all the other ranges of the manufacturer: the new parts or the variations of certain elements in colors not offered until now produced for the he LEGO DREAMZzz universe will sooner or later end up being exploited elsewhere.

Madame Castillo, for example, is converted here into a unique piece integrating the backpack worn by the character associated with two yellow arms from the Super Mario range. We will once again regret the gap between the official visuals and the "real" minifig, some details of the character's dress are a bit overlooked.

The young Mateo is also delivered in this box, he is the male hero of the series and the minifig is rather very faithful to the version seen on the screen except perhaps for the giant pencil which is here a simple stick with a mine at the end. In the animated series, minifigs break free from the limitations of plastic versions with mobility impossible to replicate in real life and the ability to grasp accessories much larger than real plastic hands allow. The Zoey minifigure is also highly detailed with over-the-top graphics on the chest and legs. We can't blame LEGO for saving money on the plastic versions of the characters seen on screen, it's visually successful.

The two mini-creatures, Z-Blob and Grimspawn share the same main mold which allows them to receive an accessory on the head and possibly wear an element under the arm. These figurines are not completely stable, but they can be plugged into a stud and the heads of each of these two creatures can be removed. The big one missing from this box is Tortuga, Madame Castillo's mini pet turtle in "real" life, which only appears in the set as a simple sticker.

The set is at least as confusing as the series, with a profusion of elements that may seem irrelevant if we ignore the pitch of this new license. Watching the animated series will not necessarily help, the passage into the world of dreams reveals a totally crazy universe which inevitably opens the way to equally crazy derivative products.

This box seems to me to be one of the most "readable" of the range, the transformation of the van into a turtle is a good idea well exploited. The public price of the product, 48 €, however, seems to me a bit high for what it has to offer knowing that the LEGO DREAMZzz license has no liabilities and that it is a simple launch. There is also no guarantee that the concept will go beyond this first wave and a possible other batch of sets already ready but marketed at the end of the year, sales will serve as a judge of the peace.

If the LEGO DREAMZzz universe is an industrial accident, there will be massive destocking and those who want certain pieces present in these boxes will find what they are looking for and if the range is a hit with the youngest, the most interesting elements will then be available in several sets. Everyone will win on arrival. In any case, LEGO will have invested time and money in new elements and new colors that will sooner or later have to be recycled elsewhere and that's always taken.

Note: The product shown here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at July 9, 2023 next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion. 

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below.