The box for this set depicts a truely amazing vehicle... I wasn't sure about the transforming part of this set, but I sure loved the robot form shown.

I'll start with the minifigure, I think it's interesting that so far of all the Atlantis sets I've gotten, this is the only Atlantean Diver who doesn't come with any of the neon green diving fins that others do. I suppose that's alright as the little dude is spending all his time in that sweet vehicle of his.

The first build in the set is for the Dragon Fish. Big head and long skinny tail. The build for the tail gets repetitive when it gets long and skinny. There's a ball joint so you can rotate the tail abit. The head is the most involved for complexity. The jaw is hinged so you can open and close it. Against the Undersea Explorer vehicle, it's not a very impressive foe. Still it's a good representation for a deep sea creature many may not be familiar with. Had it been on its own, I don't think many but hard core collectors would have bought it due to some confusion as to what it is.

The Undersea Explorer though... I want to try making a Lego Optimus Prime using some of the joints and pieces from this set. The robot form of this set is truely the most impressive. The joints in the model make it fairly articulate. Just a little stiff and hard to move. One arm has a missle cannon rocket. If I'm gonna have a firing weapon on my Lego Model, it better be something like this. The other arm has a very well detailed and semi-articulate fingers for grasping and picking up things.

The front cockpit area certianly has enough lights, but when you're down on the bottom of the ocean in the deep abyssal areas, you want to make sure you can see. There a nice little touch of handles on either side of the cockpit in the design to explain how a minifigure might climb up and into it.

It's when the Undersea Explore is in "tank mode" that I note and comment on some problems. For one, it's certainly very compact in "tank mode." The legs and arms transform, fold in very easilly. The design though causes the vehicle to ride very low to the ground. The hoses to either side of the big fan on top or back come in way too close and make it hard for the fan to spin.

I think a final comment complaint is that when looking at the size of the Dragon Fish and then the Undersea Explorer in it's "tank mode", it seems like it's way too small of a set to have required that large of a box.

Still, if Lego is going in the direction of having more transforming vehicles, this set is well worth the effort, build and picking up for a general Lego collection and certainly the Atlantis theme.

I picked up this set while visiting a Lego store.
My son and I each got a set to build and play with, this one instantly became my set for the fragile nature of the transformer. My Eight year old son can not transform the set with out parts falling off. The set in "tank mode" is rather boring, but when in transformer robotic mode I think it is one of the neatest Lego sets we own. I had to modify some of the interior harness where the legs connect to the body by adding a plate I had laying around from my Lego collection. This modification interferes with the "Tank mode" but makes the robot significantly stronger. The legs would pop off the undercarriage every time they were moved.

I think the shark or sea serpent is rather boring, but my son loves it. he is constantly grabbing it and running around the house with it. I found it easy to build, but the robot made up for the blah nature of the shark. The Robot could have been sold on its own, seeing as how Lego has released many creatures in their own sets.

If you are looking for a cool Atlantis set, this one is the coolest one to look at, playing with it unless modified is a little different story. Go get it, make a modification and enjoy!

Happy Building.

As soon as I saw a Lego transformer, I had to buy it.

Not the most complex of sets, but a fun build nonetheless. Numbered bags make things easy. The minifig has a cool expression of absolute fear (I guess the shark is kinda scary).

Build: interesting for such a simple set. My only real complaint is the same one I have with all sets that come with stickers - they want you to put the piece on first, then apply stickers, when 99% of the time it is far easier to put the stickers on first. The legs will look silly without the stickers, so if you don't like stickers, maybe not an ideal set.

Playability: The transformation process is simplistic, but no more arduous than a typical transformer toy, and doesn't suffer much for the natural delicacy of Lego models. The shark looks cool but the tail is a little droopy. The robot looks great when posed (although his toes get in the way of a "walking" pose). Overall its a tough set to position - you can't pose the shark in any interesting way, so it's not a diarama set, but the transformation process does limit the playability.

Value: I got it on sale, and encouraging Lego to release more transformers is important! I like to post my models on shelves, though, and the shark isn't worth the extra price. Would have preferred a standalone robot. Still a worthwhile pickup, though.