Review: The LEGO Movie 70818 Double Decker Couch

February 7, 2015 | 29

The LEGO Double Decker Couch is a dream come true for fans of The LEGO Movie. It’s a glorified battle pack featuring the star-studded cast of the movie as well as Emmet’s brilliant creation – the Double Decker Couch!

The early 2015 wave of LEGO sets is pretty small compared to last year but out of the three modestly sized sets, the Double Decker Couch stands out as a must-buy. I know I label a lot of other sets as “must-buy”, but no other set comes close to containing the ridiculous amount of value that the Double Decker Couch boasts.

Name: Double-Decker Couch
Set Number: 70818
Pieces: 195
Price: AU$24.99 (Buy from LEGO.com [AUS] [USA]) (Barnes & Noble)
Exclusive to: N/A
Minifigures: 4 + 1 Unikitty
Theme: The LEGO Movie
Year of Release: 2015
Instructions: LEGO 70818 Double Decker Couch instructions

The Double Decker Couch is a brilliantly designed set from LEGO, not just from a toy perspective, but also from a business standpoint. In 2014, we had plenty of LEGO Movie sets to coincide with the blockbuster movie. The main characters from the movie like Benny and Vitruvius were considered relatively rare, being placed in sets that were on the more expensive side of the spectrum.

If you wanted Benny, you had to pony up a pretty penny for Benny’s Spaceship or Metalbeard’s Sea Cow and if you wanted Vitruvius he was also only found in the Sea Cow and Lord Business’ Evil Lair. It’s a strategy that’s worked well in themes like Star Wars and Super Heroes – spread out popular minifigures around pricey sets to get parents and collectors to buy as much LEGO as possible.

I think the timing of the Double Decker Couch’s release date is brilliant – allow a period of exclusivity to certain minifigures so collectors feel great about themselves, then BOOM, release a set that’s at an extremely low price point stuffed with all the characters that were previously out of reach of people with average, non-crazy LEGO budgets. It’s a win for parents, cause their kids can finally get Benny in a cheap set, and a win for us LEGO fans that love sets which contain amazing value.

Let’s get into the meat and potatoes of the Double Decker Couch – the minifigures!

What a sick collection of minifigures in a set. Even if you purchase this at RRP, that roughly works out to about $5 per character – amazing value! From left to right – Ghost Vitruvius, everybody’s favourite spaceship-obsessed classic space guy, Benny, Emmet, President Business and another Unikitty variant.

To drive the point home about the value contained in this set, all the characters are exclusive to this set – Benny, Emmet and President Business have brand new facial expressions. This is essentially a ‘starter kit’ for The LEGO movie, containing all the essential characters (minus Wyldstyle and Batman) that kids will need to roleplay and reenact their favourite scenes from The LEGO Movie.

On to more in-depth look at each individual minifigure. First up is the father-son due of Emmet and President Business. They both look almost identical to their LEGO Movie Minifiures counterparts, except for the fact that they both have exclusive dual-sided faces.

Emmet is attired in his stand-issue construction worker uniform, which has some great details such as reflective strips and a nametag hanging from his belt. He has a bright and cheerful slightly lopsided smile which I like because it’s such a versatile and useful facial expression for other minifigures. With Emmet’s beady eyes, it’s almost like an updated classic minifig smiley face.

President Business has a grey suit on, which is also a very useful body to have – you’ll always find yourself needing more formal LEGO minifigs. Unlike his previous incarnations, President Business has a huge grin on, compared to his regular grumpy face. This is probably Prez Biz after he repented of his hardcore AFOL-tendencies and mellowed down after reconnecting with his son.

Here’s a look at their alternate faces. Emmet has a slightly uncomfortable and worried look on his face, with a great furrowed brow. Like son, like father – President Business also has a concerned and perplexed expression its face. All in all, solid minifigures. Emmet is so lovable that I don’t mind having multiples of him.

Here are the two main stars of this set – Ghost Vitruvius and Benny. Most people would be delighted about Benny, but my favourite minifig in this set is hands down Ghost Vitruvius. Benny is pretty much the same Benny as the one in his Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP!! set except for a new dual-sided face which has a massive, happy, “I-just-built-an-awesome-spaceship” grin. His torso has a faded Classic Space logo, worn down through years of play. If it was truly a classic space minifigure, the golden planet should’ve also faded to white!

I really like that LEGO chose to give us Benny in an affordable set. As a kid, my family didn’t really have a lot of money for LEGO and I would’ve never gotten the opportunity to own a set as big as Benny’s Spaceship. Metalbeard’s Sea Cow would’ve been out of the question.

Benny in a really cheap set is an extremely positive signal from LEGO that they do care about their fans. It’s about a year in the making, but it still makes me feel a little warm and fuzzy.

Ghost Vitruvius is great. He has the classic glow in the dark Ghost Shroud, which has his orange headband fused into the piece. The most interesting thing about Ghost Vitruvius is his printed ‘skirt’ is that it’s not a slope piece anymore but a regular 2 x 1 x 2 printed brick. I really like this as I’ve never been a fan of the slope brick for male minifigures – I really hope that this becomes the norm for any future minifigs that have long flowing robes.

Ghost Vitruvius has his regular staff which is topped with a green jewel that uses the Moon Stone mould, as well as a sparkly cape that’s made out of the new thicker fabric.

Benny has no back printing (true to his classic space roots) and comes with his iconic cracked helmet. If you’re unfamiliar with his helmet design, the crack is a nostalgic nod to LEGO’s Classic Spaceman, many of which have cracked visors through years of play and shoddy design.

His alternate face has him with a huge smile and tears in his eyes – the exact expression that he had when he was finally allowed to build his own spaceship in The LEGO Movie.

Oh, did I mention that Ghost Vitruvius glows in the dark? It looks really awesome. For best results, charge the glow in the dark piece by placing it under a very bright light for a minute or so and watch it spookily illuminate in the dark. Scary!

Last but not least is everyone’s favourite Unicorn-Kitten hybrid, Unikitty. In this set, she’s sitting down as opposed to standing on her legs. She has a curious and concerned look on her face. Sitting down Unikitty is great, and like Emmet, it’s quite an enjoyable pursuit collecting all the different variants with all her unique and animated facial expressions.

Speaking of expressions, LEGO seems intent on stuffing this set with so much value that we also get an alternate expression for Unikitty. This one has very anime-inspired eyes where she looks like she’s on the verge of tears. It’s a great piece and getting as many new Unikitty faces is always welcome in my books.

When putting Unikitty together, I was very surprised to discover that she has eyebrows printed onto the 1 x 3 plate that sits above her face. It’s really inconspicuous since the eyebrows are printed on very finely and it’s very easy to miss it if you’re not paying attention.

I cannot recall Unikitty ever having printed eyebrows – she certainly didn’t have any in Cloud Cuckoo Palace. It’s a wonderful little touch that makes you go wow at LEGO’s ability to incorporate these subtle aesthetic enhancements if they really want to.

The only thing I didn’t like about Unikitty is that LEGO made it a huge pain to swap her heads. Common sense would dictate that LEGO would include all the necessary parts to create a duplicate head so that you can easily swap over heads as you wish.

Sadly this isn’t the case. Even salvaging the spare parts, Unikitty’s alternate head is missing a pink cheese slope and white 1 x 3 that goes below her face. I think it’s a huge lapse in judgement on LEGO’s part. After all, how much would it cost to add in another cheese slope and common 1 x 3 white plate?

Emmet has a brand new and totally awesome printed waffle piece. Waffles are Emmet’s breakfast of choice – if you remember, you can spot waffles in Emmet’s home during the beginning of The LEGO Movie. I really hope we see more and more of these waffles, because I am a huge fan of delicious waffles. Especially if they’re lathered in butter, honey or vanilla ice cream. Mmmmm…. waffles.

Benny also has a curious snack, a solitary sausage. I guess he likes wieners?

The Double Decker Couch would’ve been an awesome LEGO set with just the minifigures but LEGO isn’t stopping there. Also included in this set is Emmet’s car, a faithful recreation of Emmet’s tiny automobile that he uses to drive around Bricksburg.

I’d like to think that this set is LEGO’s way of saying thank you to the all the fans who have made The LEGO Movie one of the biggest movies of 2014.

Yup, it looks exactly like the one in the movie. *cue Everything is Awesome*

Emmet’s car is your quintessential city car, it’s small and lithe to navigate Bricksburg’s streets and is probably very fuel efficient. It only has space for Emmet, who is a notorious loner before meeting all his new friends.

Emmet fits snugly in the car and it even has a small boot space to store his hard hat. I really like the car – it’s cute, functional and simple in all the right ways.

Oddly enough, his hard hat is the regular kind and doesn’t have hair fused to it, like the one that Emmet comes with in the LEGO Movie Minifigures set. It’s not a deal breaker, and it’s nice enough to have alternate headgear for Emmet.

Remember the radio in Emmet’s car that he switches on to play Everything is Awesome on his way to work?

Emmet’s car contains a very cool surprise – the very same radio tile that you see in the movie! This was an amazing and cool little touch that’s underscored by the fact that this is a printed tile! LEGO really pulled out all the stops for this set.

This small but very significant touch just emphasises the incredible value of the Double Decker Couch. I need to find another word for value. 

And here’s the titular Double Decker Couch. I’ll let Emmet’s immortal words sum up the Double Decker Couch:

“Not everybody can fit on my one couch and I thought to myself –  What if there was such a thing as a bunk bed, but as a couch! Introducing the Double Decker Couch! So everyone can watch TV together and be buddies!”

It’s a relatively simple build. The different components of the couch such as the armrests and cushion are all connected to each other via clips so it’s fairly sturdy.

The only part that’s a little flimsy is the top level. When placing minifigures on the top bunk, be warned that it doesn’t take a lot force very well so you’ll have to be very gentle with it.

The couch is great, very accurate to the one that Emmet built during their escape from Bad Cop’s forces and I really like all the cup holders. I need cup holders for my couch.

Here’s how it looks from the back, which shows off how the backrest is connected to the seats.

What I liked:

• Amazing bunch of core LEGO Movie characters
• Incredibly affordable price point
• Emmet’s car
• Great printed elements – waffle, radio, Unikitty’s eyebrows
• New printed non-slope dress piece

What I didn’t like: 

• Some extra spart parts for Unikitty would’ve been nice

Final thoughts: I’ll come right out and say it – this is pretty much the perfect LEGO set. The minifigure lineup is second to none and if you enjoyed The LEGO Movie, this set is a no-brainer since you get so many unique minifigures and great characters. The Double Decker Couch’s price point is almost too good to be true – $25 for this much value is almost unheard of.

LEGO have really outdone themselves with this set. The very fact that it is so accessible makes me extremely happy. It makes a great gift to everyone, from casual LEGO fans to hardcore enthusiasts.

I would’ve bought this set if it only came with the 5 characters, but having the Couch and Emmet’s adorable car just sweetens the entire deal. It’s a great set to place on display permanently since it occupies so little space and contains one of the more memorable creations from The LEGO Movie.

All you need to do to improve this is to add in Batman and Wyldstyle and the whole gang will be together. If you’re smart with how you arrange the minifigures, all of them should be able to fit on the couch!

I cannot recommend this set enough. Even at full retail price, you’re getting more than your money’s worth from the Double Decker Couch. The Australian release date for this set should be sometime in February, so it shouldn’t be too long till it’s available at retail. I wouldn’t be surprised if this set flies off the shelves, so I wouldn’t wait too long to buy this set.

Double Decker Couch is one of the standout sets this year for all the right reasons. It’s everything you would want in a LEGO set – great characters, a fun build, looks great on display and most importantly, super affordable!

Rating: 5/5

For more LEGO set reviews, be sure to check out the Review Hub!