LEGO Dimensions 71286 Knight Rider Fun Pack review

The 1980s continued to be mined as Knight Rider arrives in LEGO Dimensions, with Michael Knight appearing in this new Fun Pack alongside K.I.T.T. – the real star of the fondly remembered show

Price: £14.99 / $11.99 / €14.99 (DE) Pieces: 55 Available: Now

The latest release from TT Games plays again to a healthy section of its intended audience – those in the 35-45 age bracket with too much disposable income, a demographic I find myself falling squarely into. Knight Rider wasn’t one of the shows I watched religiously, I was more interested in reruns of Glen A. Larson’s other creation – Battlestar Galactica – but I had more than a passing familiarity with the adventures of ladies’ man Michael Knight and his snarky robot car.

Minifigure:

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Unlike, say, the A-Team, where it’s likely you’ll be left wishing you had the whole gang in physical form, the benefit of a license with one main protagonist is that you only need a single minifigure, which makes Knight Rider perfect for a LEGO Dimensions Fun Pack. Michael Knight, clad in his ever-present leather jacket and blue jeans matches the Hoff perfectly. His hair, almost an embodiment of the 1980s itself, is represented well by the wavy curls of the hairpiece previously used for hobbits. He’s one of the few characters to not come with an accessory, but I suppose this is because Michael generally uses his smarts, and his car, to solve his problems.

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In game, Michael is voiced by Nick Offerman, an actor already familiar to the LEGO universe due to his role as Metalbeard, who proves to be a decent Hasselhoff-alike. He has a few cute interactions with other minifigures, identifying with Ethan Hunt on the topic of face-swapping and referencing Marty McFly’s ‘life preserver’. As you’d expect, there’s plenty of references to Hasselhoff’s tenure on Baywatch along with his erstwhile pop career but when left idle the character doesn’t, as I thought he might, strip topless and incoherently mumble through a burger. Instead he hums the Knight Rider theme tune.

Build:

Naturally the build included in the pack is K.I.T.T., voiced by a returning William Daniels, which is a nice touch. He has several back and forths with Michael as well as other LEGO Dimensions minifigures.

IMG_6776The designers have managed to capture the shape and style of the car relatively well for the size and it’s built in the same style as previous vehicles. References to the show and its sequels continue in various skins available for the car, and in the alternate builds – a Goliath Armoured Semi and a K.I.T.T. jet.

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Adventure World:

The dusty streets of Las Vegas are given a sepia-tinged haze which sets it apart tonally from the other LEGO worlds. Fittingly for the license there are a great deal of racing challenges to be found, as well as billboards to slo-mo jump K.I.T.T (or any other vehicle) through. As well as an Octan garage, a racetrack, and various high-rise casinos, there’s an expansive area to explore in Knight Mansion. It’s a sparsely populated town, but the inhabitants are all pleasingly dressed in 80s-appropriate clothing.

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More references to various episodes of the show can be found in the quest for gold bricks making it a real treat for die-hard fans. You’ll find yourself completing plenty of repairs around the town, no doubt previous victims of Michael’s questionable driving skills.

 

The area is also, as is common with the second year sets, available as one of the Battle Arenas with the usual (nonsensical) Capture The Flag, Base Bash!, Tick, Tag, Boom, and Objective modes.

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Overall

It’s great to have another license from my childhood to add to the collection. Granted there’s not much here that we haven’t seen before in the Adventure World, and neither the minifigure nor the vehicle add unique abilities to the pot, but let’s be fair; if you’re buying this you’re probably just purchasing this for the David Hasselhoff minifigure alone. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

71344 Excalibur Batman Fun Pack is available now from Amazon. You can help support Brick Fanatics’ work by using our affiliate links

This product was provided for review by Warner Bros.

 

Author Profile

Barry
Barry currently works in a school which kindly accommodates his love and passions, those being innocent smoothies, reviewing things, Lego, and eating burgers. He's a lifelong fan of sci-fi and comics, and harbours a genuine belief that had his parents died when he was young he would definitely have become Batman.

His personal website is http://www.cakeinmilk.com.

Barry

Barry currently works in a school which kindly accommodates his love and passions, those being innocent smoothies, reviewing things, Lego, and eating burgers. He's a lifelong fan of sci-fi and comics, and harbours a genuine belief that had his parents died when he was young he would definitely have become Batman. His personal website is http://www.cakeinmilk.com.

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