Review: 77051 Fly with Dodo Airlines
Posted by SetToBuild,We'll be making a water landing, but that's OK because this is a seaplane.
The airport is a player’s first introduction to their island residence in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, so it's an important location familiar to fans. Luckily, this model is recognisable and offers some nice details despite a few aspects that could be improved.
More classic characters from the series are introduced here, but someone is missing…
Summary
77051 Fly with Dodo Airlines, 292 pieces.
£31.99 / $37.99 / €37.99 | 11.0p/13.0c/13.0c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
An essential addition to our islands, but missing a crucial component.
- Storytelling and play
- Dark azure parts
- Customisable flag
- Missing Orville
- Clunky seaplane
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Minifigures
“Some of us weren't born with wings that can carry us, but we were still born to fly.”
The Dodo brothers, Wilbur and Orville, are a pair of flightless birds and the proprietors of Animal Crossing’s Dodo Airlines. Since they work together, like their namesakes Wilbur and Orville Wright, it’s only right that they are introduced together in LEGO form. Seriously, they omitted Orville!?
Wilbur the pilot has a special moulded head, including his two-eared headset, and his characteristic sunglasses are printed on the triple-moulded head with printed beak. Orville the ground controller would have needed a different mould to represent his smaller single-sided headset.
The Dodos are very short and round in the game, so their proportions are a long way off as minifigures. The tail feather prints are also a bit odd but it’s clear they’ve made a design decision to make all of the characters minifigure bodies with moulded heads, perhaps to maintain the ‘LEGO’ feeling rather.
His arms are dual-moulded to show his short-sleeved shirt over his blue feathers. He has normal minifigure arms and hands, suggesting that his ability to hold things (like a coffee cup, of course) was prioritised over greater accuracy to the winged character. Perhaps the wings from the Collectable Minifigure Chicken Suit Guy, would have been too large.
Tangy is our second cat figure, following Rosie‘s introduction in 77050 Nook's Cranny & Rosie's House. Tangy’s flame-yellowish-orange skin resembles her namesake, the tangerine. It is completed with a subtle pitted printed pattern, but only on her face, while the green leaf on her head adds the finishing touch.
She’s pictured here in her ‘Retro Dress (Green)’ outfit from Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Her sideways-glancing facial expression is animated and funny, and I like how it's faithfully reproduced in the print. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!
Completed Model
At first glance, the Dodo Airlines seaplane design is recognisable, particularly thanks to the iconic large floats. There are four possible airport/aircraft colours in the game, and blue (dark azure) to match the airline’s in-game branding has been chosen for its LEGO form, which I think was the right choice.
Unfortunately, although adorable, the design feels clunkier than I expected. The cockpit is fully open when it should be enclosed, and the wings should be at roof level, propped with stays down to the body of the craft. Earlier this summer, the much more effective 60425 Jungle Explorer Water Plane showed us what could have been.
I suspect that budget constraints and the Animal Crossing figures’ large moulded head or tail pieces could be to blame for the compromise, where placing figures of any size inside the plane was prioritised. Fortunately, there is room for both pilot and passenger to ride the plane comfortably, including space for a villager’s tail if they have one.
The main build features the airport terminal building, boarding jetty and a hint of the nearby beach, water and rocks. The building has been faithfully recreated, complete with rooftop air traffic control room, corner entrance and signage. It feels like a nice balance of main subject to its surroundings, which add to the accuracy as well as placemaking for imaginative play.
The customisable flag is a nice touch that I didn’t expect to be included. A major part of the gameplay is personalising your island and decorating various items, so parts being provided explicitly for this purpose are welcome.
The instructions offer some suggestions for flag designs using the tiles provided, but of course, fans can use any other parts they have on hand.
There’s space for the missing Orville to sit at the check-in desk or in the air traffic control tower, but sadly, Wilbur has to do all three jobs by himself.
There’s lots of space to pose multiple minifigures in various situations around the scene. I don’t mind the side of the building being missing here, as it’s obviously meant to allow a smooth play scenario from the ticket desk, through the barriers, and onto the plane or vice versa.
Look for a rare printed piece in the interior of the terminal building: the departure board is a nice retro LEGO reference! Previously only present in the retired 10497 Galaxy Explorer and a staff-exclusive set, it’s nice to see it making a comeback.
The decorated pieces in this set are all printed. Two small DAL logos are faithfully recreated on 1x2 tiles for the sides of the plane itself, while a 2x6 tile features the main airport sign. Sadly only one Nook Miles Ticket is available, so Tangy can only go on one Mystery Island Tour! Also new for this wave is the 2x2 round tile with the Animal Crossing leaf logo. The keyboard for the check-in desk and control panel for the air traffic control tower are common prints, and the map isn’t unique or exclusive either.
The extra pieces aren’t particularly notable, but the grey lever with grey base is still quite sought-after among space fans.
Conclusion
Writing this review gave me nostalgia for the time spent at this airport during the coronavirus lockdown, travelling to and from friends’ islands to trade bells, turnips, recipes or even to join a hotdog costume dance party.
Despite the plane’s shortcomings and the lack of Orville, this set more than others has fuelled my inspiration to build a full island layout. Personally though, rather than £32, I think this should have been a £40 set with Orville and an improved plane.
Having seen how many builders struggle with the idea of reconfiguring a modular model, or customising a set using their own pieces, aspects like the flag customisation are nice touches to firmly advocate for this. It might seem facile to AFOLs, but less experienced builders of any age need this encouragement sometimes.
For anyone building an island paradise in LEGO, this set is an essential addition to complete the main features of an Animal Crossing: New Horizons island.
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24 comments on this article
I am just hoping that the left out Orville from this set and Sable out of 77055 so that they could be part of a mystery mini figure series.
Clunky seaplane? Its as good as it gets! It looks lovely!
The biggest con of this set is that you only get one ticket.
It should have at least 2!
@NHBrickworks said:
"I am just hoping that the left out Orville from this set and Sable out of 77055 so that they could be part of a mystery mini figure series."
CMF Animal Crossing would be the dream. It's incredible Orville and Sable were left out of their respected sets. 77055 needs to be renamed to "Able Sister".
I love the image of Wilbur next to a blank space, really sums it up!
I expect to see another set with either Timmy or Tommy.
Lego seem to love leaving out one sibling.
@SetToBuild:
What was the staff-exclusive set with the piece used for the departure board in? It doesn't seem to be in the database.
@HJB2810 said:
" @SetToBuild:
What was the staff-exclusive set with the piece used for the departure board in? It doesn't seem to be in the database."
It’s in https://brickset.com/sets/DS2023-1/Cosmic-Daydreams :)
@MegaBlocks said:
"I expect to see another set with either Timmy or Tommy.
Lego seem to love leaving out one sibling."
I personally think that Timmy and Tommy should have been in 77050 and that Tom should have been in 77052 instead of a second Isabelle. It seems weird that they keep leaving out crucial characters from sets.
I'm hoping that as the theme continues, not as much of the budget needs to be allocated to the development of new molds for Minifigure heads, so that more Minifigures can be included in each set. Having so few Minifigures in each set has been one of the theme's biggest shortcomings.
I like the round and bubbly design of the seaplane. Even if it's not 100% accurate to the game, I think the compromises are understandable to ensure it can fit a wide assortment of villagers — the large ears of cat and rabbit villagers would never fit under an appropriately-sized roof if the interior were enclosed! It's sort of similar to how the sets so far have avoided a whole lot of chairs with backrests due to the animal tails having actual collision that they wouldn't have in the game.
Orville's absence is somewhat surprising though, especially since it's the only other use that LEGO would end up getting out of this dodo head mold (and there aren't a whole lot of other potential sets where Orville would make sense as a character). Perhaps a CMF series or something along those lines could address some of these missing characters in the future?
"Whenever you need to fly, just think: What would dodos do?"
Only a dodo would be stupid enough to fly in that thing!
@NHBrickworks said:
" @MegaBlocks said:
"I expect to see another set with either Timmy or Tommy.
Lego seem to love leaving out one sibling."
I personally think that Timmy and Tommy should have been in 77050 and that Tom should have been in 77052 instead of a second Isabelle. It seems weird that they keep leaving out crucial characters from sets." In Disney, too!
Maybe should have used two 4x4 square plates with 2x2 gaps for the roof and enclosed it leaving ears sticking out. Not sure would have sufficed but if I had this set I'd try something like that.
Why the dark azure slander?
The airport and town hall are both needed sets, but are also pretty lazy builds. Not deep enough, or not wall enough. I hope the Able Sister shop is more fleshed out, and if we ever get a museum (i can’t see why not) i hope they’ll do it justice and don’t give us a facade only two studs deep and missing the coffee bar with Rooster.
Missing out on Orville in the set is criminal if he ain’t showing up in a cmf series by the way.
Furthermore, how sturdy is the rooftop build. It’s only one row of studs sturdy isn’t it?
Still not a fan of the flags. Way too clunky and not flag like at all.
But i will buy it and will try to alter the set in time.
And then my last gripe; where can the villagers buy letters and post them? It’s supposed to happen here in the airport. It would be a great opportunity to give us some new animal crossing letter prints on 1x2 tiles
Cute-looking set that again reminds me of Fabuland. Can't imagine why TLG would make such an elaborate and carefully-multicolored headpiece for just one character, so I am convinced there will be an Orville-figure introduced one way or another before the theme is over. A CMF figure set seems the most obvious method.
I've never played Animal Crossing (or any of the other videogames for which TLG has a licence) but I think this is a delightful theme! On first sight, I thought this a rather silly set, but the additional photographs make it much more appealing. Knowing how central the airport is to the gaming experience explains a lot as well. This may be the single set I actually buy to represent this theme in my Lego collection.
@ClutchPowers7306 said:
"Why the dark azure slander?"
Slander?! Dark azure is my favourite LEGO colour!
Kinda odd how Nintendo jumped from making minifig scale animal crossing sets to... Pilotwings? /j
I have never played Animal Crossing and only know a little bit from the Animal Crossing race in Mariokart 8.
Generally speaking the AC sets are nice and do give Fabuland vibes.
For this set I was interested in it for a flying boat station.
Unfortunately as with most AC sets, its overpriced in Australia and the facade buildings leave much to be desired.
The plane is even worse than I thought.
To me this is an Orient Express situation "Waaaa it cant be done!" cries Lego. When there are clearly ways of making a more accurate seaplane (both to the game and real aeroplanes in general), with closed cockpit that can still fit a variety of AC characters.
Likewise they could have still had a wall with a door for going from the terminal to the jetty. A number of airports in recent years have had these ridiculously tiny control towers and its annoying.
Lego claims it is for "play" but sets aimed at kids from themes like City from not too long ago had buildings with 3 walls and a proper roof while still being good for access (for both kids and older fans)
Its just a lame excuse to create crappy facades that even 1950s Hollywood Westerns would be embarrassed with.
I agree with others Id rather pay more for an enclosed building and proper aircraft. Furthermore, while of no interest to me, I 100% agree with those that argue Orville shouldve been included as well.
Good review though.
The glaring omissions of key figures in multiple AC sets seems almost assuredly a shameless money-grubbing tactic to later include them with other sets that you'll "need" to buy to complete the series.
@Aanchir said:
"I like the round and bubbly design of the seaplane. Even if it's not 100% accurate to the game, I think the compromises are understandable to ensure it can fit a wide assortment of villagers — the large ears of cat and rabbit villagers would never fit under an appropriately-sized roof if the interior were enclosed!"
Yeah, this became abundantly obvious whilst I was trying to upgrade the plane on my own. I could barely get it to fit Wilbur while still looking game accurate.
It looks so empty and feels so incomplete.
The plane really needed to be a little bigger
It is not a whole lot for 38€. Still, and never playing the game, this ticks many Fabuland related cuteness boxes.