"In the town where I was born lived a man who sailed to sea..." Okay so I was not around when this song was released by the Beatles in the 1960s. I also never saw the movie... although I have seen "Help" and "A Hard Day's Night." I was intrigued to see this set released as the 15th Ideas set and as a fan of the Beatles, I decided to pick up a set. So if you're interested in the set, but not so sure if you should get one or not, here's a review that will hopefully help.
The set was released in the US on 1 November 2016. The price is $59.99 in the US for 550 pieces ($0.109 per piece... just about average). Here is the box:
It is very colorful like the cartoon that was Yellow Submarine. The front is the standard display of the set and it has the Ideas logo with the #15. The back shows the functions of the set. The box itself is re-closable (is that a word?) like the other Ideas sets.
The contents are 5 numbered bags and an instruction booklet. The instruction booklet includes a page about the fan designer and the LEGO designer.
Bag 1 starts off with the bottom of the submarine. Nothing too special about that part of the build. As you can see it also comes with a brick separator. Finally, there's a stand for the minifigures. The stand has 3x4 plates similar to the ones that come with collectible minifigure sets, but these are light gray. This bag contains the John Lennon minifigure.
Bag 2 includes Paul McCartney and some additional parts to the submarine. There are some new designs on 1x1 tile circles that haven't appeared before. Other than that, nothing new yet.
Bag 3 adds George Harrison and more to the submarine to include the front.
Bag 4 adds in Ringo Starr. It also adds the rudder and twin screws (propellers). The top of the craft starts too and adds some new pieces to include 1x1 tile quarter circles. I have never seen them before, but I could have missed them previously. Definitely a cool piece that I could see used elsewhere like trying to build signs or letters.
Here is the final build. I like the use of the hot dog pieces to make the railing on the top of the sub. The periscopes are fun too. The build includes a stand for the submarine as well for display purposes. Finally it adds (and I had to look this up) Jeremy Hillary Boob Ph.D.
Here is a closer look at the minifigs. All of the minifigures have 2 faces. Most of them look similar... mouth open or closed, but the eyes are mostly the same. I'm not sure if the hair matches them perfectly, but close enough. I had to look up what they are holding. Here's what I found: John - telescope, Paul - 1x2 ‘love’ tile, Ringo - round 2x2 ‘half a hole’ tile, George - submarine motor and Jeremy - Apple
Overall... I'm not sure it was worth the purchase. I enjoy listening to the Beatles and their music, but I don't know if this set was worth it or if I'm a big enough fan to want to show this off. The good news is that the pieces are pretty good so you can always build something else or add to a MOC. If you're on the fence on whether to purchase this set, wait to see if you can get a discount on Amazon.com or at Walmart. Or maybe wait for a double VIP point month.