Something that we've established in the past is that Lego & Disney have a rather storied history as one of the very first Lego toys was a pull-along Pluto.
This is also seen in how many variations of minifigures of characters there have been throughout the years. Case in example, the various minifigures that there have been of the one and only Mickey Mouse. This can just be observed by looking at the image gallery from Mickey's Brickpedia entry.
Now, Mickey has been a part of various themes including one that was based around him that was just one step above the Duplos. And I actually owned one of these sets, Mickey's Car Garage as a kid, it was one of the more short-lived sets as it started and died in 2000 with only five sets total in that line.
I probably still have set somewhere and by the by, it's so weird that Mickey and Friends have been a part of so many themes yet, Goofy has only ever gotten a brick and a Duplo figure but not a traditional minifigure. A minor thing I've noticed but it's odd.
I mean Mickey and his friends were a part of one of the largest sets with a high piece count in recent memory, the Disney Castle.
Why do I bring this all up? Well because earlier this year, a brand new Lego Mickey Mouse set was released via Lego Ideas. For those that may not have seen my Back To The Future DeLorean Lego review, Lego Ideas is where fans can submit ideas for sets that they'd like to see become a reality and if they receive enough votes, it could become a reality. Before this set, there have been two Lego Ideas sets based on Disney properties, Wall*E and Tron: Legacy.
So again, why do I bring this all up? For two reasons to show the long and storied history that Disney and Lego have always had as this newest Lego Ideas Disney set is based on a storied piece of animated history. As this set takes back to 1928 when people first fell in love with Mickey Mouse when they heard him whistling Turkey in the Straw while driving Steamboat Willie.
Now as I made mention, this was submitted to Lego Ideas by a fan, namely Mate Szabo from Budapest, Hungary. He reveals that he watched the classic short numerous times just to get the set right and to keep the design simplistic. And then it took two Lego designers, John Ho, and Crystal Bam Fontan to bring his idea to life. And how did they pull it off? Quite well.
Minifigures
Mickey & Minnie
Interestingly, Minnie was not part of the original submission for this set but I am so glad that she was added as it just feels right to have the two of them together. Also, it's a bit hard to make out in the picture but some of the accessories that Mickey and Minnie are holding/wearing have a bit of silver shine to them that make things pop. Szabo states that when he saw the Mickey figure that came in the Collectible Minifigure series, he couldn't stop thinking about the classic Mickey short.
I'll say this, I like this Mickey figure but the Steamboat Willie figure has more life and personality to him. Kinda odd considering that he's Black & White but this newer figure pops more. As for Minnie, this is my first Minnie figure and she's really cute. I just wish that you didn't have to wait so long to put her together. I love her skirt and hat, even if the skirt doesn't allow to bend her legs and sit down. You'll also notice that both of these figures are holding accessories, Minnie's is a guitar, which is something she had in the short. Mickey's is a music sheet for Turkey in the Straw.
Another nice little touch is that the goat from Steamboat Willie appears on the music sheet. The designers behind this set really thought of everything.
Display Piece
Something Lego has been doing recently with these bigger sets is including a display piece to put alongside the finished build. I first noticed this with the original Ghostbusters Lego set as that included a piece to stand all 4 Ghostbusters on.
I figured that was because the Proton Packs would topple them over and that may have been the case at first but sets such as Steamboat Willie and Stranger Things are now going this route. The Display Piece for Steamboat Willie can be standing up as seen in the first picture or laid flat to put Mickey and Minnie on it.
Personally, I like to keep it standing and Mickey and Minnie on the boat. Speaking of.
Steamboat Willie
This ship is big. All totaled, this set has a piece count of 751 pieces and it took me two-and-a-half weeks to complete. This set had some of the trickiest builds I've ever had to do for a Lego set and there was some backtracking such as when the 34th step fell off while I was working on step 134 out of 178 steps.
One of the hardest builds on the ship was the Pipes as it was so repetitive and that is something that should be warned about upfront, there is a lot of repetitive building that goes on with the ship. Also, this ship does not float as it is on wheels as the wheels make the pipes go up & down and turn the paddles. You can't exactly see it here but this image from early on in the build gives you somewhat of an idea.
Also for a set based on a classic Black & White short, the skeleton of the ship thankfully has a lot of color inside of it. That makes things quite a bit easier and I feel that serves as a way of easing the person into building this set as a set that is predominantly, black, gray & white could be quite daunting. Thankfully unlike when I looked at the BTTF DeLorean, I can fit Mickey perfectly behind the Captain's Wheel but...
You really can't have Mickey looking straight ahead as the wheel covers his face. Which at first seemed like a bit of an issue. But when looking at this poster from the short's 50th-anniversary poster, it appears that Mickey's face is facing sideways.
So, I turned Mickey's head and he looks much better that way.
Now, some other minor things can be touched on such as the inclusion of a cute little Black & White bird, a bucket and hammer. A box for the potatoes that Mickey peels at the end of the short that can be attached to a crane at the back of the ship that can be used to raise and lower the potato box.
And as simplistic as the crane might be, that's actually my favorite play feature on the ship because it's just so fun to mess with especially how the crane can rotate and if I aim it just right, I can use the crane to place the potato box on top of the other boxes on the ship.
My Final Thoughts
I remember this set being announced back in February. I was an airport with my dad waiting for flight as we were coming back home from an Arizona backpacking trip. To pass the time, I was browsing Twitter on my phone and saw this was one of the two upcoming Lego Ideas sets that were announced. (the other was based on the sitcom, Friends) and as soon as I heard about this one, I got excited but then I saw it was like 90 dollars and never thought I would get this set. Cue to about a month ago, when my dad calls me into the living room and says that he left a bag in the garage that he needed me to go get. I went out there and there was a Dress Barn bag and inside out that was a Lego Store bag containing this set. I was ecstatic as I had been wanting this set for some time and I am so glad that I got it as this was one of the most fun builds that I've put together. If you are a fan of Lego or classic Disney, you cannot go wrong with this set as it celebrates both of these so so wonderfully. Now as I said, there are some tricky steps to this build but that makes the end result that much more satisfying. Piece!
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