Review:4429 Helicopter Rescue
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$59.99
€49.99
£34.99
$89.99
Reviews
Berrybrick
Country: America the Beautiful Gender: Male
Joined: February 2010 
№ of Reviews: 46 
№ of Featured reviews: 1
Building Experience: Enough is enough
You are not entitled to view results of this poll.
Hospitals are not released as regularly as fire and police stations, but they still seem to make people cringe when they hear they are being rereleased. This incarnation was released in the second half of 2012 with 425 pieces for $59.99. Even if hospitals were not released so often, would it still be cringe-worthy?
Parts
So few parts for the price. I don't really buy the licensed sets are more expensive theory. I think that comes from Star Wars' high prices, but City is right up there too in spot number 2 while themes such as Friends, Ninjago, LOTR, Super Heroes, and Monster Fighters are all priced more reasonably (generally at least, they all have a few which are not).
The parts are nothing to get excited over either. Most of them are large and pretty common. It still had a few new parts to me, but most of them have been around for years, which would be the helicopter's nose and undercarriage, the piece used to attach the copter's wheels, and the garage parts.
The stretchers (two are included) also seem to be updated and now do not have an attachment for the little wheels.
The only other pieces I would consider notable are the light blue syringe and the large plates. Nothing worth getting the set for.
Minifigures
Four figures are included, which is pretty reasonable, but one more might have helped a little, especially with that awful price.
The patient is simple and uses a green sweater, gray pants, the classic male hairpiece is brown, which is always nice to see in City sets, as I have been worried it would be retired. The face seems kind of new. It looks almost exactly like the Peter Parker one which has been around for years now, but with black eyebrows, which I appreciate because black eyebrows are more universal than brown. He has a banana as an accessory, which he probably slipped on.
The paramedic has a newer woman face which is much prettier than Mary Jane Watson's. Her torso is really nice and the hat is okay, but I would have preferred a hairpiece.
The pilot is also pretty good, with an appropriate torso and nice leg printing. Really, my only problem with him is the face. Though it looks better on him than on the firefighters, I really don't care for it. The glasses have thick frames in some sections, and none in others. On top of that, his expression is ugly.
As bad as the pilot's expression is, it could not be worse than the doctor's. He has that hideous smug one with the thin face and dimple chin. It just looks so stupid. Other than that, the figure is good with his combed over hair. He wears a white jacket over a scrub. The printing on the legs does not work too well, as the blue of the legs shows through the white printing.
The Build
The build starts with the ambulance, then the helicopter, and lastly the hospital. There are four bags in all.
The ambulance and helicopter weren't bad, but were still average because no techniques were used whatsoever out side of brick stacking and minimal SNOT.
The hospital was even worse because it is a building and I don't even remember using any SNOT. That is it. It is all brick stacking. It doesn't get boring, as at least you are not rebuilding the same thing over and over again, but still not interesting.
The Completed Model
The ambulance seems fine at first, but it is really just a scaled down version of the stand-alone one released earlier this year, 4431 Ambulance, which I am sorry to say has nearly as many minifigures as this set and a better looking vehicle too at a third of the price. The stretcher fits in the back pretty well and doesn't rock around much, but it has to be lifted pretty high to get it in. The whole vehicle is too high in most parts. When the paramedic sits down, the steering wheel is in her eyes.
The helicopter mostly looks good, even though the rotors feel out of date and the tail too thin. However, the stretcher does rock around inside of it and needs to be better secured.
The hospital has a few nice things on the outside: a bench, a bush, a sidewalk, and a sign which I presume is giving directions to the parking lots.
The hospital itself though is wonky. The right side actually looks pretty good with a garage and landing pad complete with an "H" for the copter. My only problem with this part is that the ambulance needs to hang over the back of the baseplate to fit and the ambulance from 4431 is probably too large. Both could be solved with a larger garage.
Speaking of proportions (sort of) the left side of the hospital seems too small for the right. The width may be okay, but it is definitely too short, even for minifigure scale. It needs at least one more floor. Otherwise, it would not be too hard to mod into a house. I kind of like the large window though, but not much else. And what is up with those two smaller rows of windows? Are they supposed to make the hospital look bigger, or help shorter people see, or what?
The inside of the hospital has what it needs, I guess, but reminds me awfully of the Town Jr. era. There are sets from that time I actually like, but that vibe is unacceptable now. The entryroom has two seats and a desk with a computer. Nothing else. The top floor has two uncomfortable looking cots and another computer. Nothing else. It just really feels like they went for the bare minimum, and they should not have. The set is undersized for the price and uses large parts. If they didn't want to add another floor, they could have at least tried to make these rooms look nice.
Really though, the hospital is ugly. Maybe that is how they get their business? Upon seeing it they feel a tug in their stomach and before the poor minifigures know it, they are vomiting out of control and need a "handsome" doctor to stick a syringe in to make them all better. Or not. That way they have to stay a few more days. Really, I could go on and make this much worse, but I have to keep a G-rated audience in mind.
Summary
Easily skip-able unless you are desperately in need of a hospital.
- Pros
- Pretty good minifigures, sans the doctor's face
- Ambulance and helicopter in addition to the hospital
- Right wing of the hospital (the garage and landing pad)
- Cons
- Severely juniorized, and it usually takes a lot for me to call a set that.
- Ambulance's odd rises in the interior
- Cot flies around in the helicopter
- Hospital is too short
- Interior is the bare minimum
- Average build with nothing even remotely clever
2½ / 5 2 / 5 4 / 5 3½ / 5 2 / 5 2 / 5 2 / 5
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