Review: 40559 Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote
Posted by Huw,This year LEGO is introducing new franchises to the BrickHeadz theme, leveraging existing licences that have previously been used elsewhere in the product range.
Over the next few days we'll be taking a look at the February releases, starting with 40559 Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote.
Summary
40559 Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote, 205 pieces.
£17.99 / $19.99 / €19.99 | 8.8p/9.8c/9.8c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A competent pair of blocky characters but the canine is barely recognisable
- The bird is cute and colourful
- The coyote lacks the cartoon character's distinguishing features
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Wile E. Coyote began chasing Road Runner in 1949 in the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes cartoon Fast and Furry-ous. Since then, he's employed various ramshackle contraptions made by Acme corporation to help him in his quest through 49 cartoons, but has rarely been successful!
They are scrawny looking characters so don't appear to be well suited to the BrickHeadz treatment.
The bird, however, has come out very well indeed. Its form has necessitated stretching the BrickHeadz standard to breaking point, but it's just about recognisable as one.
The colour scheme is spot-on, and bright and colourful, which always helps differentiate a great BrickHeadz from a mediocre one.
The head is connected to the neck using a Technic axle so can be attached at 90-degrees for a sideways glance.
Wile E. Coyote, on the other hand, is really only recognisable as him because he's accompanied by the bird: it could be any anthropomorphised tall-eared animal. For a start he's tall and thin, which is the antithesis of a BrickHeadz, and his wide 'chops', his most distinguishing feature, have not been replicated particularly well, although I concede that having them protruding any further from his face would probably look ridiculous.
Otherwise, it's a competent but not exceptional BrickHeadz that adheres closely to the standard.
The pair of characters prove that some subjects work better as BrickHeadz than others. The bird is great, but only because it's bent the rules. The canine, however, is a good-looking BrickHeadz but is not recognisable without its prey.
Nevertheless, together they make an attractive display piece that those who have fond memories of growing up with the cartoon will appreciate.
40559 Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote will be available from 1st February at LEGO.com, priced at £17.99 / $19.99 / €19.99.
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23 comments on this article
Interesting. With the CMF Road Runner, they made his head and his wings dark blue (as he most commonly appears) but here they made it purple.
I like the purple but wish it matched the CMF figures. It will be cute to have them side by side.
Miep-miep!
I'm not sure if I agree with the review. While I do like both figures, the bird, even when bending the rules, still looks rather weird. It's neither a faithful rendition of the original, nor a typical BrickHead, and as a result lands in nothingness. The coyote at least looks like a BrickHead, and I like what they did with the eyebrows. At least they look good together. Would have been better if some Acme stuff came with the set...
Aw man I love these, they look amazing in my eyes, they’re simply really cute brickheadz-y representations of the characters, hope they continue the series with more Looney Tunes characters but reading this review and seeing them from different angles makes them look better than in the box image, will order them as soon as they’re available to add to my ever-growing brickheadz collection.
Oh now I get it.
Brick heads are just LEGO Funko Pops.
Man I’m slow.
Will E is a bit plain, but recognizable and the Roadrunner is definitely the highlight of the pair. It’s anecdotal, but these have been well received in the BHz communities that I’m a part of.
Perhaps a 3x3 body and head, but regular height would have given Will E better proportions. As for the “rules” of BHz, I’d say the Roadrunner bends, but doesn’t break the “rules”, it’s still well within the BHz format.
I’ll definitely be adding these two to my collection.
Add a red brick to Wile E's nose, and you've got Sam the Wolf.
One of the few BrickHeadz I really like.
I feel like if Coyote just had some angry eyebrows he’d work a lot better.
Nice deep-cut reference to Sam.
I think these look really good. To be honest, a lot of BrickHeadz need a bit of a hint to tell what they are supposed to represent, but I don't think that really matters so long as the end result looks good.
And I wouldn't know about the colours... they were black & white when I watched them!
Yeah if you put Road Runner to one side then Wile Coyote really does look a bit plain. He looks like he could just be a brown rabbit or something. I reckon if you told someone it was a lego chocolate Easter bunny they’d believe you
Can’t wait to get these!
I'm not a huge fan of Brickheadz, but I actually like this set. Roadrunner looks adorable, and I think Wile E's head looks great. You can only do so much, they're supposed to be deformed, so overall i'd say it's a winner
Best Brickheadz I’ve seen in a while.
I really like these. Brickheadz are never spot on and most of the licensed characters rely on a key printed piece to really be recognizable as the character.
Given the modifications to the Brickheadz RoadRunner's neck, which really stretch the "rules" but make the figure very recognizable, I think the upper part of Wile E Coyote's head should have been made into a 2x3 block, or perhaps a 2x2 cube centered on the top of a 4x4x2 block base, while preserving the facial details (ear attachments, eyebrows, and outjutting cheeks) as much as possible. This would increase his resemblance to the original cartoon while keeping the blockiness of a standard Brickheadz. OTOH, I loved the promotional photo of this set and put it on my infamous wishlist at once; I suppose I recognize the Coyote because of the Road Runner, but recognize and enjoy it I do!
It's a must buy for me for sentimental reasons alone. My father would near wet himself laughing watching these two when I was a child watching the Saturday Morning Cartoons, sitting next to him on the lounge.
I agree the forms aren't terrific, but to help remember the great times I had with my Dad is worth it.
Does anyone remember the episode where Wile E. explains the different cuts of meat found on the Roadrunner? Beep, beep, zip, bang!
I don’t think Coyote looks too bad, maybe his chin just needs to be widened a bit.
@MrSmartyPants said:
"Interesting. With the CMF Road Runner, they made his head and his wings dark blue (as he most commonly appears) but here they made it purple.
I like the purple but wish it matched the CMF figures. It will be cute to have them side by side."
The purple is accurate to most golden age shorts, which to me is the correct way to portray Looney Tunes
@MrSmartyPants said:
"Interesting. With the CMF Road Runner, they made his head and his wings dark blue (as he most commonly appears) but here they made it purple.
I like the purple but wish it matched the CMF figures. It will be cute to have them side by side."
I think King Matthias's indigo would work best here. RIP.
I'm not a Brickheadz fan but I need some basic bricks of the newer colors. Probably gonna get this to immediately scrap it.
I'm surprised that you didn't feel Wile E. Coyote was recognizable. It's true that the tall, lanky designs of both these characters don't really carry over to the BrickHeadz design language (an issue that we also saw with the corresponding minifigures). But I think it's an exaggeration to say that without context, Wile E. could be "any anthropomorphised tall-eared animal". Even in BrickHeadz form, his bushy eyebrows and wicked-looking yellow eyes are pretty distinctive.
You're right, though, that there's probably some room for improvement. I think his jowls are alright as-is, but it's very surprising to me that the character's oversized feet aren't represented in any way, especially when the designers DID use a larger plate for Roadrunner's feet, which are around the same size in the cartoons themselves.
It also feels odd that he wasn't equipped with any sort of accessories, given how many different tools he utilizes in his various schemes. For instance paintbrush and bucket of paint for his classic "paint a tunnel on a solid cliff face" scheme would have fit the character and perhaps made him a bit more recognizable without introducing any new elements.
Also, contrary to some of the other comments, I think Roadrunner still feels pretty true to the BrickHeadz design language — certainly enough so to fit in on display with others! Even the use of a 2x3 head attached by an axle is not something new to this figure — the same techniques were used for Nagini in 40496. In fact, the main feature here that we HAVEN'T seen in other BrickHeadz sets is the use of a 3-module-wide head on a 4-module-wide body.
@graymattr said:
"I really like these. Brickheadz are never spot on and most of the licensed characters rely on a key printed piece to really be recognizable as the character."
Agreed, that's definitely something that sets these two apart from the usual licensed BrickHeadz… although I'm sure it helps that they're cartoon animal characters whose appearance is more defined by their shapes and color palettes than any sort of clothing details.
We saw the same sort of thing with the BrickHeadz renditions of Goofy, Pluto, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, though other Disney BrickHeadz like Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, and Scrooge McDuck did include unique printed details for their outfits (as well as Minnie and Daisy's eyelashes).
Incidentally, a lot of those BrickHeadz also had exaggerated feet to reflect their cartoon proportions, which could've been an improvement for this set's portrayal of Wile E. Coyote.
@ResIpsaLoquitur said:
"Add a red brick to Wile E's nose, and you've got Sam the Wolf."
I had to fact check this. Sam is the Sheepdog and Ralph is the Wolf.
https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/Ralph_Wolf_and_Sam_Sheepdog