It was always going to happen wasn’t it… as soon as Epic brought the bizarrely addictive Lego mode into Fortnite, the idea of Fortnite-themed Lego was a no-brainer. And if it’s iconic Fortnite imagery you’re after, look no further than the Battle Bus, that ever present flying party bus that somehow inexplicably houses the game’s 100 players despite only having a dozen seats.
Lego’s Battle Bus set covers pretty much every base you could be hoping for after splashing out somewhere in the region of £90. There’s nine separate characters ranging from Meowscles and Cuddle Team Leader through to Adventure Peely. All of the minifigures can fit inside the bus, sat down and read to go while still plonking the roof on and taking to the skies. You’ve also got a few weapons and accessories as well, just in case you fancy acting out your own mini battle royale once you’ve finished your build.
The bus itself is absolutely fantastic, with the inside of the bus housing seats and driving positions for all of your characters, and a range of doors at the sides and back for your figures to fling themselves out of. But it’s the outside that, as you’d imagine, has taken the bulk of the design genius. There’s all of the various additions to the lower section, from the yellow piping at the front to the reinforcements along the side and top. The clever use of various angle pieces gives a look that’s far closer to real than you might expect, and plonked on top of all of this, perched on top of the roof (which incidentally is only held in place by a couple of studs so you can easily access the inside) is the most iconic part of all: the enormous balloon.
Attached to a structure containing a propeller, scanning dish and blue flames, the balloon uses large curved pieces that clip to a central structure to create and keep the shape. The long plastic ropes connecting the balloon to the bus look great as well, and there’s absolutely no questioning what you’re looking at. The proportions are spot on as well, something which was always going to be a challenge when you’ve got such a large and relatively simple structure on top of a slightly more intricate vehicle.
The instructions are crystal clear as well. New pieces are highlighted on the page, and there are never any steps that require too many different steps all at once, so the opportunity for confusion or missing pieces never really materialises. There’s a couple of fiddly bits that go towards explain the suggested 10+ age rating, but on the whole this is a very manageable set for younger builders, and will definitely keep any ages builder quiet and occupied for a few hours.
So while this is clearly a set aimed at fans of Fortnite, this is a very cool set in its own right. It won’t make a huge amount of sense as a play set for anyone who’s never played the game, and as such it’s probably only aimed at those specific fans, but if that’s the camp you fit into and are part of the large subset of people who enjoy a game of Fortnite as well as knocking up a Lego build, I can’t recommend this highly enough.