Review: 43230 Walt Disney Tribute Camera
Posted by TheBrickPal,The Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio was founded 100 years ago, on October 16, 1923, and its films have continued to delight audiences today as Walt Disney Animation Studios. Walt's love for movie making and vintage cameras helped start that legacy, and 43230 Walt Disney Tribute Camera attempts to encapsulate this important part of Disney history.
Fortunately, the designer seems to have been quite successful on the whole! The models are entirely unique within the Disney 100 range, and several interesting characters are included - the most desirable of which being Walt Disney himself, and new molds for Dumbo and Bambi.
This is therefore an intriguing set, although the price of £89.99, $99.99 or €99.99 feels a touch expensive to me. Perhaps the promised quality of its contents will alleviate my worries...
Summary
43230 Walt Disney Tribute Camera, 811 pieces.
£89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99 | 11.1p/12.3c/12.3c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
The Walt Disney Tribute Camera is a must-have for any Disney fan
- Unique, interesting models
- Good parts selection and clever building techniques
- Desirable minifigures
- Dumbo and Bambi!
- Fixed camera position
- Slightly expensive
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Box and Contents
18+ set packaging is often criticized for its relative simplicity, despite the welcome consistency of the bland black backgrounds. 43230 Walt Disney Tribute Camera suffers no such issues, as it instead features the bright platinum color scheme present in most marketing and merchandise for the 100th anniversary. I particularly love the sparkle effects around the camera and the Disney 100 logo displayed prominently in the top right corner.
The back of the box displays the multiple features of the set, as well as a blueprint including its height of 37 centimeters / 14.5 inches and width of 21 centimeters / 8.5 inches.
Inside the box are six numbered bags, one instruction booklet, and thankfully, no sticker sheet. The instructions contain a timeline of the films represented in the included film strip, as well as some comments from set designer Wes Talbott and graphic designer Camilla Thorsted Cording. There is an unfortunate mistake within the timeline, with Beauty and the Beast erroneously labelled as being released in 1990, instead of 1991. I hope LEGO will try to prevent these mistakes in the future, which seem easily avoidable.
Minifigures
Walt Disney is a prominent figure of popular culture, but few imagined that LEGO would ever produce a minifigure based upon the iconic animator. However, it would have been a major miss to not include him in a set like this, so I am pleased to see him appear here!
The resultant design is superb, with a simple yet effective dark grey suit, and an appropriate choice of the slicked back hair piece. The legs are left unprinted, but additional details are unnecessary, in my opinion.
I particularly enjoy both alternative faces, with a big grin on one side and a more confident smile on the other, which are reasonable expressions. Walt carries a pen element and a fantastic tan 2x2 tile, printed with a drawing of Mickey Mouse as he is depicted in the 1928 short film Steamboat Willie, which Walt directed alongside Ub Iwerks. This piece was also included in 40600 Disney 100 Years Celebration and 43222 Disney Castle this year.
Speaking of Mickey Mouse, the cartoon rodent is included here alongside his own creator. Nearly twenty minifigures of Mickey have been made and this is definitely one of the most simple, evoking the black-and-white aesthetic found in 21317 Steamboat Willie, Vintage Mickey from Disney Series 2, and 40659 Mini Steamboat Willie. Only the dual-molded grey and black legs are exclusive to this version of the character. I think the design is respectable, despite lacking the captain hat found in other sets. That makes sense, as this generic look can be found in many classic Disney animated shorts. Mickey does not include an accessory, but I struggle to think of what he could equip.
Where there is Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse usually isn't far behind! Mickey's famous partner is well-done, featuring the same color scheme and specialized head mold. While I would have liked to see her hat included, this minifigure still looks good and I like the additional detail of the eyelids, which haven't been represented before and bring to mind some of the earliest Minnie character designs. Like her beau, Minnie has no accessory.
Dumbo was introduced as the adorable protagonist of the 1941 film of the same name - just the fourth film in the Disney Animated Canon. A baby elephant with huge ears and the ability to fly, Dumbo looks as adorable as ever in LEGO form! He consists of a specially molded piece, which looks fantastic. I love the dual-molded red collar, and the yellow hat looks good, too, although the printing at the base is slightly sloppy. The big eyes are also quite cute. Dumbo is able to fit on a 2x2 studded surface.
A hole can be found on Dumbo's trunk and is able to fit an accessory pin, so it would have been nice to see a feather included, as he is commonly seen carrying one in the film. Timothy Mouse, Dumbo's mentor, is also absent, and could have been represented by a nanofigure, though that may be expecting too much.
Following Dumbo's success, Bambi followed as the eponymous protagonist of Disney's 1942 animated film. I think the figure looks absolutely perfect, making use of a new mold as well, and wonderfully capturing his stature. I love the shaping of the head, and his facial features are depicted quite well. I particularly like the printed spots on his side, as well as the detail on the neck and tail. The brown fur on the top of his head looks great, too.
Bambi slots in nicely on a 2x4 studded surface. Including a stud on his back would have been nice, to attach an accessory like a butterfly, and make him appear more in the LEGO System, but the deer looks mostly flawless as is.
Reference
Source - medium.com
Source - photos.com
The Completed Model
A display stand is provided for the five characters to stand on and it looks brilliant, designed to look like a clapboard used on film sets. The set is clearly a love letter to all elements of filmmaking, and nowhere is that more evident than in this simple model.
I really enjoy the striped tiling of the base. The front can be positioned however you wish, and the characters can be put on open studs on either side, which maximizes display options. All five look wonderful together, no matter the configuration.
Ub Iwerks invented the earliest version of the multiplane camera in 1933, made out of parts of a Chevrolet car. It was quickly put into use in Disney's earliest animated shorts and feature films, with multiple layers of drawings used in one shot to create the illusion of depth in a scene. A major development in animation production deserved some kind of representation in the centennial sets, but I never expected something this substantial.
The assembly achieves a tremendous level of accuracy at such a small scale, incorporating the camera at the top and three rows of drawings underneath. I appreciate the accurate colors and shaping of the exterior, as well. The construction of the model requires some interesting sideways building techniques, which are always fun. Ideally, each plane should be able to move independently, but that is impossible at this scale, and would require a much larger model. As a small display piece meant to capture the general look of the multiplane camera, this is more than sufficient.
Disney first tested the multiplane camera's functionality in the 1937 Oscar-winning Silly Symphony short The Old Mill. Although LEGO's product descriptions refer to the scene depicted in this set as being from that short, it is actually from a 1957 instructional video by Disney about the multiplane camera. The scene is represented here through printed transparent panels which, when viewed from the top, form a complete shot. The effect looks gorgeous and I commend the graphic designer for this accomplishment, which is like nothing else I've ever seen in a LEGO set.
The vintage film camera that gives the set its name takes up the bulk of the parts count, and looks fantastic. There are so many little details that draw your eye, making it a fantastic display piece.
The camera is built into a sturdy tripod stand, with a spreader at the bottom to assure proper stability. The legs look great, thanks to the mix of medium nougat and dark orange pieces to represent realistic wooden texturing.
The base of the camera above the stand assembly is made using a complex Technic construction. While it supports everything above it well, as it should, this locks the upward position of the camera into place, which is disappointing. I imagine that the designer tried to incorporate a way to move the camera and provide structural integrity at the same time, but couldn't find a solution. However, this feels like an essential function to include. The blue pin is also distracting. I do like the inclusion of the lever, though that does draw attention to the lack of maneuverability.
A piece of vinyl film strip is included, which has attracted considerable attention since this set was revealed. It looks marvellous, and is by far my favorite aspect of the model, representing twenty films from across Disney Animation's first 100 years - from 1928's Steamboat Willie to 2021's Encanto.
There are clearly some notable omissions, and I would have loved to see Aladdin, Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph and Zootopia included, for example. Doing so would have made the piece unnecessarily longer, so I understand cuts had to be made. It must have been very difficult to decide which films to depict!
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of this film strip is the appearance of characters that have yet to be produced in physical LEGO form, or those who have appeared as minidolls instead of minifigures. These include:
- The Fairy Godmother from Cinderella (1950)
- Maleficent as a dragon from Sleeping Beauty (1959)
- Arthur from The Sword in the Stone (1963)
- Mowgli and Baloo from The Jungle Book (1967)
- Bernard and Bianca from The Rescuers (1977)
- Belle and Beast from Beauty and the Beast (1991)
- Simba, Pumbaa and Timon from The Lion King (1994)
- Mushu from Mulan (1998)
- Mirabel and Alma Madrigal from Encanto (2021)
Additionally, Elsa from Frozen (2013) is shown in her coronation dress, while the existing minifigure features her snow queen dress. One must wonder if we will see these characters and variants in sets sooner rather than later!
The camera itself is the star of the show here, and appropriately gets plenty of detailing on every surface. The mix of white, light bluish grey and black is quite nice. The "100" built into the reels is the most eye-catching aspect, and it looks great. As is shown below, the "1" in the "100" lettering can easily be removed from the back reel, should you wish.
A conspicuous crank is built into one side of the camera - its purpose will be evident shortly...
The other side of the camera has a viewfinder, which is attached to the camera via a hinged brick and can rotate in a full 360 degree direction.
Rotating this section 180 degrees and pulling it outward allows the side panel to open, revealing a secret inside the camera - an office for Walt! This was entirely unnecessary, but is adorable nonetheless. The animation desk has two open studs, where the 2x2 Mickey drawing can be placed. Visible too is a gear which, when the crank on the side is turned, creates a realistic filming sound effect! Functions like this simply elevate a great set to an exceptional one.
The front of the camera features a large matte box, and behind it, three different types of lenses. These all appear realistic and look perfect to me.
Sliding up the matte box allows the lenses to be rotated, so you can display them in whatever orientation you want! Again, subtle details like this bring the set to a level I did not expect it to reach, and are greatly appreciated.
Overall
I am thrilled with 43230 Walt Disney Tribute Camera. The vintage film camera has everything you'd expect, and looks brilliant on display. I adore the multiplane camera and display stand, and the characters themselves - particularly Dumbo and Bambi - are the icing on the 100th birthday cake.
However, the pricing of £89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99 is just a bit too much for me, considering that the set contains just 811 pieces and lacks a way to pose the camera. An extra minifigure would have been nice, as well - perhaps a black-and-white variant of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Otherwise, I can't think of many potential improvements, and including my aforementioned suggestions may have bumped the price up more, despite the model most likely staying around the same size. I therefore have no hesitations in recommending this set, especially if you can get it discounted!
Thanks to CapnRex101 for the photos.
133 likes
32 comments on this article
The only thing that bothers me is the "100" at the top of the camera
Beautiful set. Not one I expected from the lineup of Lego celebrating 100 years of Disney, but definitely a welcome one.
This is a pretty cool tribute set, all things considered. It's not for me, but if I were a Disney fan with a home theater/media room it'd be an instant pickup.
@OscarWRG said:
"The only thing that bothers me is the "100" at the top of the camera"
The "1" looks almost comically easy to remove. If you pluck that off the zeroes would look pretty much like just part of the camera.
@OscarWRG said:
"The only thing that bothers me is the "100" at the top of the camera"
can probably remove the digit 1 at the front, would look pretty normal after that.
@beige said:
"I want that silver pen piece. Hope it gets on pick a brick.
The camera looks very realistic from afar and would be great on display"
its there right now in the UK
I wasn't sure about getting this set at first, but when it was on offer for 69.99 Euro recently I couldn't resist.
Built it straight away, something I rarely do nowadays. Awesome set, and Bambi to me is the icing on the cake.
I'm not much of a Disney fan, but I quite like this set, and might even buy one.
There's just one thing that really, really bugs me, even more than that blue pin: Why a film camera on a tripod, a setup typical for live action movies, in a set that's all about animation? I get that it likely wouldn't appeal as much to a wider audience, but I would have loved to see a much bigger (somewhat functional!) multiplane plane camera....
Looks like a great set. Really nice review as well, Brick Pal. I hope you write more of them.
@Yardsale19X said:
"Looks like a great set. Really nice review as well, Brick Pal. I hope you write more of them. "
Crazily enough, this is my first since 2018! I hope to write more soon. Glad you enjoyed it!
Glad to see this set respect the golden age of animation and Disney's accomplishments. The review is well written and mostly correct (It is still debated if Walt Disney is the sole creator of Mickey Mouse, most people site either Ub Iwerks or both) and it makes me wish we get more sets like this. My only gripe is that it doesn't come with either Roy Disney, Ub Iwerks, or Pete. We still haven't got a LEGO Pete despite having multiple versions of Mickey and Minnie for Steamboat Willie.
I got frustrated when going into Bag 2. I decided to save myself the stress, took out the remaining minifigs and molds, and chucked the rest.
@TheEpicLuke said:
"Glad to see this set respect the golden age of animation and Disney's accomplishments. The review is well written and mostly correct (It is still debated if Walt Disney is the sole creator of Mickey Mouse, most people site either Ub Iwerks or both) and it makes me wish we get more sets like this. My only gripe is that it doesn't come with either Roy Disney, Ub Iwerks, or Pete. We still haven't got a LEGO Pete despite having multiple versions of Mickey and Minnie for Steamboat Willie."
I feel like Pete would be most fittingly depicted by a big or brick-built figure. Ub and Roy would have been nice, but Walt was the driving force from what I understand. Still, I doubt Disney Lego is going anywhere, so we might get lucky down the road.
Absolutely superb. By far the highlight of the Disney 100 range. Just hoping that the film strip is robust enough to take the occasional wash when it collects the inevitable bit of dust.
This set is absolutely fantastic. As a lifelong Disney fan, it’s just so neat to finally get a minifigure of Walt.
Now can we get official minifig versions of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg? :-)
I want this set, but that's not so much because I'm a Disney fan but more because I'm a huge fan of animation in general, although I definitely respect what Walt did for the medium. I hadn't noticed that the set had a multiplane camera, which just makes me want it more.
@OscarWRG said:
"The only thing that bothers me is the "100" at the top of the camera"
That, and opening the side to see Walt’s studio, are my favorite parts!
@Ridgeheart said:
" @The_Chosen_1 said:
"This set is absolutely fantastic. As a lifelong Disney fan, it’s just so neat to finally get a minifigure of Walt.
Now can we get official minifig versions of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg? :-)"
1349 has an unnamed yet familiar 'Director'-character. I think the set's name could be a subtle hint as to whom that director might secretly be.
Bonus: the upcoming Avengers Tower is rumoured to also have a Kevin Feige-minifig, so you could make some sort of directing powerhouse team, or maybe just have them fight each other. Up to you, really."
Considering that Spielberg is Jewish, Disney was famously antisemític, and Feige is the head of production at a studio that Spielberg has criticized, I think a fight is more likely.
I hate it.
Buildwise its great but the fact they crammed those amazing 2 figures instead of them getting propper playsets makes me mad.
Interestingly everybody seems to forget that the classical Disney stars such as Bambi, Donald, Michey, Scooge and others never appeared in front of a camera. So I object to the statement that it is an important part of Disney history. It was all animated pictures with very, no extremely few recent exceptions of a handful of real movies. Again, the early days and until very recently Disney was animated, not a trace of a camera. Otherwise a nice review, thanks.
Enjoyed the review. One of the few sets I purchased not long after release (at a small discount), and enjoyed the build and display.
A banger of a set.
"A piece of vinyl film strip is included, which has attracted considerable attention since this set was revealed. It looks marvellous, and is by far my favorite aspect of the model, ..."
I find this a little sad, that the favourite part by far of the model is a non-LEGO piece.
@dafish: Traditional 2d animation still requires a camera. This set even includes a model of a multiplane camera (which is a camera specifically designed for animation) in addition to the main model.
@dafish said:
"Interestingly everybody seems to forget that the classical Disney stars such as Bambi, Donald, Michey, Scooge and others never appeared in front of a camera. So I object to the statement that it is an important part of Disney history. It was all animated pictures with very, no extremely few recent exceptions of a handful of real movies. Again, the early days and until very recently Disney was animated, not a trace of a camera. Otherwise a nice review, thanks."
I hear what you're saying, but the article includes a picture of Walt Disney leaning on this very camera. Maybe you're suggesting that it was a prop for the photo? Or maybe the photo is not from "the early days"?
@TheOtherMike - Thanks! Certainly a camera required for 2d animation would look different from the main model though but I appreciate your expertise :-) After all Disney enjoyed glory among the same lines as Hollywood folks did so the photo with a traditional camera may have been a tribute to that.
@dafish - Its also worth pointing out, that early Disney films [Snow White/etc] were often animated using a technique called rotoscoping, which put in simplest terms is tracing over live action footage. A traditional film camera as depicted here, would have been essential to that process.
@ForestMenOfEndor - Its likely not a "prop" as it would have been used to shoot footage for rotoscoping.
Great review! I have this set waiting to be built, and I still hadn't noticed that it included a multi-plane camera model!
I'm not a huge Disney fan, but I bought this set as I love old camera equipment of any type, and my grandfather was offered an illustrator job by Walt himself, but turned it down as he didn't want to move his family to the US!
Also - the 'additional lens' on the side is a viewfinder rather than an objective lens for filming with.
To those finding it weird that the film strip is my favorite part: I did say that the entire camera is well done. My favorite part being the film strip is just my bias of being a huge Disney fan - that doesn't mean it's the BEST part.
@ZeroGravitas said:
" Also - the 'additional lens' on the side is a viewfinder rather than an objective lens for filming with."
Thank you, that has been corrected. I knew that it's used to look through, but wasn't sure of the proper terminology!
As a technic fan i was seriously hoping the crank moved the vinyl strip of film through the camera in front of a light brick.
Great review! I was already impressed with this set with its figs and its life-like look.
And to top it off, I multi stacked GWP this past Friday at the LEGO store by just buying this one set!
Included:
40597 Scary Pirate Island
40600 Disney 100 Celebration
40608 Halloween funVIP pack
Plus Double VIP points!
Chi-Ching
Like it or not, the set is a tribute to the simplified "idea" of Disney and the "Uncle Walt" persona in addition to the art of animation, and while historians would like more of the creatives and collaborators given their due in the set, such as Ub Iwerks and Roy Disney among others, I don't see a general market seeing value in minifigs of people overshadowed by the (earned or not) legacy of Walt. Of course, the multi-plane camera itself is something fairly niche, but in terms of likeness rights and licensing, it'd probably just add additional cost on top of the price tag.
As a product this is more or less a Disney100 centerpiece core item, appealing to the general masses is a priority, and the simplified sanitized iconography is what the set (rightly) focused on. An argument could be made that axing the animated characters and placing in a few real people would be more altruistically appropriate (and admittedly Bambi and Dumbo do seem out of place visually) but as it is the set accomplishes what it's meant to achieve.
Personally, I am of the mind that tributes to the other creatives and major figures in Disney targeted towards historians are best fit for a different release model, such as limited edition sets with small builds and a handful of appropriate minifigs ("old man battle packs" so to say) either distributed only directly from Lego, as a GWP, or exclusive to the Disney parks. An "animator battle pack" and "Imagineer battle pack" would probably gain significant acclaim from people that deep into the woodwork, honoring them in plastic just like Walt, but not adding bloat to this set.
Great review! I love this set. That said, I totally agree with this comment, “An extra minifigure would have been nice, as well - perhaps a black-and-white variant of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.” Oswald is a treasure and a B/W version would be excellent to display side-by-side with his younger cousin, Mickey.