The Creator 3-in-1 theme is an eclectic mix of subjects; there are vehicles, robots, castles and even animals. It’s that last one we are looking at today with 31121 Crocodile.
The build
Coming in at 454 pieces this set is not particularly large but I think that is to be expected from the Creator theme. You don’t pick creator sets when you want to be challenged. Creator sets are for when you want to sit down at the end of a long day and build something fun but straightforward.
The first part of the build is a small little brick built bird. I feel like LEGO have done this exact same bird in 100 creator sets but that might be a slight exaggeration.
Next is the fish bones that come with the crocodile. This is one of those little sub-builds that really show the cleverness of the LEGO designers. It uses a limited selection of parts but it achieves something instantly recognisable.
The crocodile is built in a number of small segments that are connected together using ball joints to give the finished model a great level of articulation. The only issue with the build being broken down the way that it is, is that each of the body segments is a very simple little sub build. It’s not until you get to the head that you really start to get into the more interesting part usage.
The head is the real highlight of the set. There’s some great shaping here using a lot of SNOT work. I also really love the way the yellow eyes have been done. Overall the head makes the end result menacing and just super cool.
Alternate builds
Once again this is a 3-in-1 set so we get two alternate builds. The following is based on impressions from the set images only.
Frog
A cute little model that I think works quite well. It does suffer a little bit from alternate-model-itis where it just isn’t as polished because it’s working with a set palette of parts.
Snake
What if we took the least interesting part of the crocodile and just did more of that? That seems to be the thinking behind the snake build. It’s nice if you want a snake but I don’t know why you’d build that over the crocodile.
Should you buy it?
There’s a song about never smiling at a crocodile but when it comes to this set you can absolutely smile at it. It’s a simple but pleasant build but it results in a fantastic finished product. Pictures don’t do it justice but the end result measures 38cm long making it quite imposing.
As a creator set it is widely available below the $44.99 RRP. I think that RRP is a little too high for what you get but at 20% off I think it’s well worth picking up. Most stores have this priced at $35 which is around that 20% goal. If you want grab one without having to leave the house I’d go with Amazon at the $35 price point [affiliate link].
