Lego 10300, Back to the Future Time Machine is a set based on the film franchise Back to the Future and features Both Marty Mcfly and Doctor Emmet Brown alongside the Delorean, it contains 1872 pieces and has a RRP of £149.99.
Table of Contents
Love of Back to the Future
It’s no secret I love Back to the Future and I’m honest from the beginning…I will be biased in this set, however, this is also one of the main reasons I got into Lego a few years ago. I missed out on the smaller set but I wasn’t too fussed as I assumed one day they would come back to it, so with this set being released I jumped in and with Lego newer over 18’s bigger creator style sets I was excited about the detail.
One of the big selling points for the set is you can choose or covert the Basic Delorean to be any of the three film versions, the original or the Hover future version, or the Old west version. You will get so far into the build, and then bag 11 (the final one) contains the varients, I choose the Hover version from the second film but you can see more detail of the finished other versions here.
Marty Mcfly
Marty goes through a lot of costume changes throughout the films but in reality, this is synonymous with the future part of the second film, in reality, this could have been his clothes from the first film but for me I’m pleased with the design. The jeans with the turned-out pockets…that we all do in the future… looks great while the red and grey jacket also looks good. His brown hair and two facial expressions are fine, with these clothes options something should have been done more for the power laces Nike shoes..but a slight print doesn’t perhaps quite do it justice
Doc
Like Marty Doc also goes through a few costumes changes over the film series but for most, the white coat or this future costume will be the most popular to have been chosen. And the future one again was a great choice, a yellow suit with contrasting red shirt and plastic tie right from the film printed on it looks excellent. The double face print looks also good but with the shades on one side, this completes the future look.
Extras
The hoverboard Is one of the big things from the film and this is present here, one thing to note the vehicle and hoverboard is built for a larger mini figure, not in ratio to the traditional Minifigures, so they won’t actually fit on or in the car itself to scale. Depending on the variant you choose you may have the 50’s style red wheels that look great or the wooden box with components that have modded the engine on the bonnet.
This box Looks good from the third film, the nuclear version for the original one or My fusion are all interchangeable based on the version you choose. The hook can also be attached if you go for the first film, but the flippable wheels to give the illusion of the Hover are there always, just hidden as we will go more in detail later.
The Time Machine
As I said earlier the idea of the main build for the Time machines is to use the 10 bags to build the main core and frame with a little finishing off in bag 11, but the rest of bag 11 is about the mods to distinguish the Time machine between the three different Films.
If you have never done a Vehicle of this size then there are a couple of things to note, there are a fair size, and there’s a fair amount of detail often with these type of vehicles. This is not a young persons build, much like other Vehicles they are in that adults, 18, creator league., I’m not saying all youngsters couldn’t do it but there are a lot of fiddly parts to it.
Being a Lego Technic at core there are several stability pieces as you build up the frame, with a couple of key core parts hidden, one being the lever that flips the tyres up and down to show the hoover function. Below the car the red lever flips back and forth meanwhile 4 clear pieces can be moved to support the car in the air or kept in a different place to not interfere with the driving on tyres, this all works really well and is fairly stable and does give that Hover look.
As we go up inside the car a storage area in the Bonnet sees the Platonuem box and Hoverboard stored though this can be a little tricky to open, meanwhile the engine at the back of course has lots of detail, this visually is one of the best parts of the car with its cooling vents there also.
As you look around there’s several little bits of detail but the centre is left for a couple of things, one is the light brick operation that you can press that links into the centre of car within the seat as you can see the Flux Capacitor, this works well though I don’t like the orange light.
The other space is back to do with the interchangeable extras, this version has the Mr Fusion, in which you can left to put the trash into it, this is shown by pieces. The hook that can send the DeLorean back from the first film can also be placed there with modifications along with the Nuclear version. But as you look you can see pistons, cables etc all things that look like a normal engine would have.
One of the more iconic parts of the Car not just for the time Machine but the Delorean itself is the Gull-Wing doors, these along with the whole bodywork is built-up and using Technic pieces and finished of with Grey blocks. The Doors themselves are two heavy so the mechanism to help lift and stay doesn’t quick work and the doors cant stay open, this is fine but it’s a bit of a letdown. The rest of the outside has grey trims to show the angles of equipment while the design of the technic shows a very good shape when you compare it to the actual car.
Inside has limited detail though the wheel, and gear changer along with time control looks fine, the time coordinates is a stick in the middle and look very good, the design of the Flux capacitor is excellent but for me let down with the orange light block, but overall the main parts that you want to see in the time machine are there.
Overall
Again I am biased, so will love this set anyway, and if you a fan of Back to the Future then this is for you, I personally like the nod more to the Future gear with Marty and Doc, and thus that’s the build I have gone for my car. Overall the design is great, the book you get is easy to follow and has some excellent Back to the future extras, the nods to the film and the design of the Delorean are bang on, there are a couple of ok parts.
The Gull-wing doors not being able to stay open is frustrating, the Flux Capacitor lighting up with Orange is a bit Meh, it is fiddly and can be a little tough at times but that’s the age group it’s intended for. As a play value its a little limited, and also isn’t perhaps for a generic Lego fan, but if you are a fan of the film or collect Vehicles etc then this is great, I personally found the build good, and is almost completely what I wanted it to be. As a Lego fan I would have liked another set at some point to incorporate the main characters from the film franchise but that’s just me.
