Lego 7978 - Atlantis Angler Attack

This is the second Lego Atlantis set I've owned - the first being one of the DK BrickMaster book versions.

The main model of the set is this rather grim and toothy looking angler fish - with lots of dark green and lime bricks.

There is a springy technic part (the one used to keep motor vibrations from affecting the sonar range sensor in the NXT) used so the bottom jaw can be flexed open. The eyes are positionable - to get that bug eyed look just right, and the position of the dangling lure can be adjusted. The flippers move, the rear one rotates (but doesn't swivel side to side).

Lego Atlantis is a water world theme, with rather scary looking fish men, lost treasures and temples at the bottom of the sea and intrepid explorers with high tech submarine gear. The box artwork is quite impressive - with the Atlantis Logo and ancient greek looking borders.

These sets are fun to look at, interesting to build, and I also like them for harvesting parts in new colours, or more of those horn and tooth style ones I don't have many of.

Both this, and the BrickMaster set have the rather unusual parts - the flipper pieces are unusual in that they are attached together in a sprue. I've never seen Lego do that. It feels a little cheap, and the remnants of the injection moulding spigots on some of the familiar pieces - like 2 by 1 plates in the light green colour, are more pronounced than usual. Lego are obviously feeling the pinch like every other company - hence their closure of Universe(31st Jan)  and Design By Me (16th Jan).

There were two minifigs. One is the explorer, and the other a Fishman.
The explorer comes with one of the newer  heads that has different expressions on the front and back - one neutral and one scared. He has high tech designs on his torso and legs, and one of the helmet/backpack single parts that actually look quite cool - I've now got two of those, and could see myself using them in some kind of mech. There is a visor for that helmet too.
There is also a camera accessory which I quite like.

There was also a little tumbled column scene, a little DPV (diver propulsion vehicle) or Deep Sea Jet with a harpoon, and a robot arm. Even with this, the explorer looks a little exposed with these monsters about - which must by what the alarmed face is for.

The fishman guardian - by the name of Barracuda - comes with a scary torso with an open toothy mouth on the front.

Wouldn't want to meet that on a dark night.

The legs were quite standard, but instead of a normal head and helmet, the headpiece came as one part with a spiny ridge down the back and a tail. There are slots at the front to put the tooth parts into.

 

The completed Baraccuda fish man guardian has green legs, and the mouth opening from the head aligns with the horrid open jaws on the torso. There is a gold pointy trident too!

The set also has a rather cool minifig helmet made to look like weathered/aged gold, with an atlantean styled design. The distressed metallic effect is quite special. It has some vaguely Trojan/Hellenic period look about it, which works well with the Atlantean theme coming out of Ancient Greek mythology. This alone is something worth finding the set for!

The fish itself reminds me slightly of the Terror Fish from Stingray (Gerry Anderson submarine show in Supermarionation), but I suppose given the theme this was inevitable. While I was building it, I've been using the inverted box lid from the Creationary Game (3844), I've found it quite handy for that. I suppose I would love for more Lego to be packaged as that was - I do miss the old sets with the transparent windows in the boxes and flip up lids, the posh ones even used to have velcro!

Those teeth are pretty monstrous - but then so is the real angler fish - stuff of nightmares. The fish also changes build direction quite a bit.

The  sideways stuff give it quite a biological feel - something normally hard to do with Lego.

One thing I am not so keen on is the stickers to apply to the slopes - I suppose they are cheaper than printed parts, but I've never been a fan of them. I forgot to scan the sticker sheet before using them - I used to do with the intent for LDraw part authors to use them. The result still looks quite good though.

I've been trying not to build it all at once, otherwise it is quite a quick build. There are 200 pieces. Yes - I know I am not the target age range, not that I care.  There were extra bits left over at the end of the build - the completed fish is at the top of the post. n, and a treasure chest - with treasure to put in it of course!

Overall - enjoyable, for the £15.19 it cost me, not bad. There is a unique piece, two minifigs, and I can definitely think of other builds. Plus I may have the fun of chasing my 2 year old around with the angler fish (and she will chase me back too!). The