Set Review ➟ 71460 LEGO® Dreamzzz™ Mr. Oz’s Spacebus
Overview
Not to be confused with Dr. Oz, Mr. Oz’s Spacebus is the only vehicle-only kit in the Dreamzzz theme. Other kits are animal, animal-robot, robot, building, or animal-building mashups. This set is a space shuttle schoolbus with A and B build enhancement options.
The spacebus with A-build attachments.
As with other Dreamzzz sets, the manual in this set has cartoon artwork on the cover and throughout the book. There are a lot of stickers and only two printed pieces: five retro space console 2x1 tiles and pair of hourglass logo 1x1 round tiles. There are 18 little stickers that are just for fun and not part-bound.
Figures
The set has two regular minifigures: Mr. Oz and Mateo, and eight smaller “creatures”: white Albert, bright green Z-Blob, dark azure Logan, black Susan Denny, Captain Bedbeard, Propper Chopper, and Flight Knight. Mateo and Logan have dual-sided printed heads. Four of the five black figures have identical heads and torsos with their hats and attachments providing differentiation. Susan has a printed torso and different head. The black figures have difficulty standing by themselves when fitted with weapons and gear.
Mr. Oz, Mateo, Albert, Z-Blob, Logan, Susan, Denny, Captain Bedbeard, Propper Chopper, Flight Knight
This is what you can expect unless these guys are affixed to studs.
The Spacebus
This kit has one major element, the spacebus. In addition there is a small wheeled vehicle that is housed within the tail portion of the spacebus.
When I say one major element, I mean just that. The spacebus is large by itself and larger with either the A or B attachments. It measures 45 studs nose-to-tail. With the A build attachments it gains another 8 studs in length. In width it measures 32 studs wide and gains another 10 with A attachments. Just for fun I compared it to Pigsy’s Food Truck which is a pretty big model. You are going to need a pretty deep shelf to display the spacebus comfortably.
The space bus has four opening parts: a tail gate, the cockpit and the two sides of the bus portion. It also has a pair of stud shooters on either side of the cockpit and another on each wing for a total of six.
The interior of the bus portion has some curious design takes. There is a back transparent panel with an elaborate sticker applied to it, but the illustration is barely visible unless the tail door is open and there is some rear illumination. The sticker would have been more readable had the panel been white and not transparent light blue.
The side panels on the exterior host a number of small windows which give the shuttle the classic school bus look. However, on the interior these are covered by large blue plates which kind of defeats the purpose of having windows, at least from a passenger’s perspective. The plates have some minor decoration and various clips which serve for convenient weapons storage. And while the interior provides seating for three minifigures and two creatures, the set doesn’t really provide figures for the seats. I guess Mr. Oz has dropped off all the school kids…or you need to populate the bus with figures from other sets. Creatures can be attached in the three center seats, but sideways and off-center.
Bus interior with blue panels over windows and seating for three minifigures…which the set doesn’t provide.
Bus interior with a blue panel removed from window with three minifigures and a creature seated.
The cockpit provides seating for the captain, Mr. Oz, and the space monkey, Albert.
A build
The A build adds engines to the sides and wings and a sensor array dingus to the top rear.
The sensor sits on a carousel so it can be rotated for about 290 degrees to scan the vicinity…the tail interferes with it being able to turn a full 360.
And because six stud shooters on the main build are wholly insufficient, a six-shooter gattling gun type shooter is added to each wing. Now you can lose 18 studs and shoot out eyes even quicker than before. Just turn the cone on the rear of the unit and pew pew pew pew pew pew. Okay. Now go search for the studs.
The side mounted engines also have cylindrical containers into which you can place figures and things.
B Build
The B build components aren’t all that different from the A build components in terms of assembly. In fact large portions of the A build are directly copied in the B build. The B build has us create three elements: a small space vehicle for Albert, another mid size ship, and a giant cannon.
The small vehicle is essentially the sensor from the A build with the bottom swapped out. The round bottom from the sensor assembly in the A build is needed in the B build for the cannon. Changing the bottom of the sensor leaves the sensor-cum-ship heavily forward weighted and it will not stand on its own without a character in the seat.
Sensor assembly from A build
Vehicle assembly from B build…
…without the figure, it falls forward.
The mid size ship essentially takes the six-shooter engines from the ends of the wings in the A build and attaches them to one of the cylinders, and voilà. The container portion in this build does not open and there is no pilot’s seat or steering.
The cannon is essentially one of the side engines from the A build flipped front-to-back with an added wheel and the rotating mount from A build’s sensor assembly. The container portion still opens, and of course, the whole thing is able to pivot on the carousel.
The Randolph T. Fielding Absolutely Administrivia Section
The only real parts curiosity in this set is the fluorescing cape on Mateo.
Summary
I'm kind of betwixt and between with final thoughts on this set. The shuttle is impressive in terms of it being a large sturdy build. And it is handsome. If you want to have an army of creatures, then this is a good place, if not the place, to start.
The basic assembly is straightforward. The A/B assemblies are welcome enough as add-ons, but not sufficiently different from one another to be interesting…if you’ve made A you’ve made B. The bus interior is odd. The choice of bricks used in the seating area in the bus and on the little cart using a 2x2 plate with either two or four studs provides, effectively, seating for five minifigures, yet we have eight one-stud creatures and two minifigures. Then, the black creatures. For the most part if they are assembled with weapons and other bits as shown in the instructions they can’t stand on their own, and about the only place in the set where there are studs is on the wings of the spacebus. So those guys are going to be lying on their faces or backs or sides, which is a little disappointing.
I wish I liked the set more, but from a play value perspective, if it were between this set and something else, I’d opt for Monkie Kid Nezha’s Fire Ring at the same price point.
Disclaimer
Thanks to LEGO for providing the set. I guess I’ve run out of clever ways to express that the thoughts here are mine alone, which they are.
33598
