Review : LEGO Ideas 21317 Steamboat Willie

As I indicated to you a little earlier during the official announcement of the box in question, we follow directly with a quick test of the LEGO Ideas set 21317 Steamboat Willie (751 pieces - 89.99 €).

I know in advance that many fans who will acquire this set will probably never open it. It's hard to blame them, this is a rather collector's product with its pretty box with silver reflections which will expand the collections of fans of all kinds of Disney merchandise.

The animated film Steamboat Willie has never been as popular with LEGO fans as it is today and you have to be an unconditional fan of the Walt Disney universe to remember having watched this little film in black and white one day.

You got it, this is about building the black and white steamboat on which the action of the animated short takes place Steamboat Willie. As you may have discovered during the official announcement of the set, LEGO ultimately only kept the general idea of ​​the project which was able to bring together 10.000 supporters and successfully pass the evaluation phase, two stages that allow it to become an official product today and to use Mickey's 90th birthday to get noticed. So much the better, even if the significant increase in the number of parts, from 156 to 751, necessarily implies a relatively high retail price.

When you open the box, however, there are some good surprises that give a little color, in every sense of the word, to this somewhat drab looking set. We start by assembling the heart (or the hull and the hold) of the boat, with a very colorful inventory and a mechanism that will activate various functions.

Discovering these many colorful pieces in a set that pays homage to black and white content is a pleasant surprise in every way. The inventory only becomes more interesting and the construction a little less boring.

LEGO has chosen to add a few functions to the product which, not to mention playability, are an opportunity to complicate the assembly phase a little and provide movement to the boat. I think that those who will actually play with this product are not many, but it is LEGO and we are logically entitled to expect a minimum of fun features even on a pure exhibition product like this.

The additional base that accompanies the boat is nice but not essential. It allows the minifigs to be displayed next to the boat and reminds us that the two characters were born in 1928. Why not.

So that everyone understands that this is a collector's tribute, LEGO is also adding some pad-printed pieces with the name of the boat and the year of broadcast of the animated short in question on the Steamboat Willie. . These elements are not in the film, but it shines and it is therefore collector's item.

By pushing the boat, the four wheels in contact with the ground set in motion the two chimneys which rise and fall alternately and the two paddle wheels which rotate.

The crane placed at the rear is functional, the wire can be unwound and wound up. Too bad that LEGO does not decide to provide something other than a poor quality sewing thread, a flexible plastic cable would be more in line with the collector side of this box.

These are functions that will probably remain anecdotal for the collector of Disney merchandise, but they will appeal to LEGO fans who expect little more than a static model.

On arrival, I much prefer the LEGO version to that of the original LEGO Ideas project. The general aspect here is really in the cartoonish spirit, it is much more detailed and the finish is better. In my opinion, there is no reason to regret the fact that LEGO has decided to completely revamp this project, if we forget the public price of the set.

Only the boat's cockpit remains accessible with its removable roof. No lower deck, no bilges, everything is full of parts or stuck in the build finish.

Note that the white of the boat is not really white. Rather, it is off-white with some subtle differences in color depending on the room. Nothing serious, anyway the whole will inevitably end up turning yellow on your shelves ...

I say this even if I think everyone has understood: the boat is not waterproof and does not float.

As for the two minifigs provided in this box, it is rather approximate: we can regret that Minnie's outfit is not fully consistent with that worn by the character in the film: LEGO has removed the two white dots on the chest of the character and added polka dots on the skirt which is immaculate white in the cartoon.

The same goes for Mickey whose outfit is gray instead of white. I understand the desire of LEGO to make these two minifigs a little high-end and collectors products, but it is here at the cost of a very approximate fidelity of the reproduction.

The finish on the minifig feet is barely correct and on Mickey's right foot looks like hand painted with model paint. Mickey's legs are made in matt gray / black bi-injection and the gray part is then covered with a silver tint on three sides. At the junction between Mickey's thighs and lower legs, the silver overlay cracks slightly. Nothing really prohibitive but we can see that LEGO still has some big progress to make in the field of pad printing.

In conclusion, I think that this really overpriced box that pays a nice tribute to Mickey and his universe will easily find its audience among fans of the Disney universe, even those who are not absolute fans of LEGO products.

For the others, the tribute to a black and white animated film dating from the 20s and the inevitably a little dull rendering of the whole will undoubtedly be enough for them to convince themselves to save 90 €. It will be my case.

Note: The set of sets shown here, supplied by LEGO, is included as usual. To participate in the raffle, simply post a comment on this article before March 31, 2019 at 23:59 p.m.. You have every right to disagree with me, this is not eliminatory.

Update : The winner was drawn and was 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.