Today, we're reviewing the LEGO SPEED CHAMPIONS Ferrari 812 Competizione (76914), which is currently available on Shop@Home, Amazon, and various third party retailers for $24.99 (USD). This year's line features a brand new chassis and a lot of conveniently printed elements, like headlights, taillights, and of course canopies as well—however, the sets are not without their stickers.
The LEGO SPEED CHAMPIONS Ferrari 812 Competizione (76914) clocks in at a whopping 22 stickers including some 1x2 bits that could have easily been printed instead. Luckily, there aren't really any tricky ones, besides sticker 22, which is used to cover part of the new 2x4 round tile element, and which can be tricky to lineup properly. Some nice new printed elements are included as well, a 1x1 round taillight tile and a 1x1 curved tile with the Ferrari prancing pony decal, used in the seat.
LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT BAG 1
Bag 1's contents start off with the LEGO Ferrari Minifigure, a man in a work shirt with the standard wrench tool and helmet. This Minfig has some nice styling and features the Ferrari Prancing Horse logo on the left lapel.
It seems like LEGO only really ever uses the same hairstyle for SPEED CHAMPIONS Minifigures—I suspect mostly due to the fact that it is one of the only hair pieces that fits in the canopy of the 8-stud LEGO SPEED CHAMPIONS cars. I wish they'd offer a little more variety in the Minifigure department as this guy's smirk is flooding my LEGO head storage bins.
Moving on to the build, the updated chassis offers some greater stability for the mudguards and the Technic, Brick 2 x 6 x 1 1/3 with Axle Holes, and makes the overall build stronger.
Predominantly, Bag 1 is tasked with building the rear end, which puts to use some new and interesting build techniques, like inverting a 2x2 Bracket and using 30 1 x 2 (and 1 x 1) x 2/3 slopes on each side to give it an indented look.
The rear taillights on the LEGO SPEED CHAMPIONS Ferrari 812 Competizione (76914) also deploys an interesting inverted build design that takes two Brick, Modified 1 x 2 with Studs on Sides and layers a Wedge, Plate 2 x 2 Cut Corner on the bottom with a curved 1 x 2 macaroni tile on the top. The interior detailing is pretty basic, with only two tiles with studs as seats and a decaled 1 x 2 curved slope piece as the center console. One of the strangest design choices made were the use of 2 LEGO Minifigure, Weapon Bazooka, Mini Blaster / Shooter as exhaust pipes.
DIVING INTO BAG 2
Bag 2 contains the elements necessary for building the front half of the LEGO SPEED CHAMPIONS Ferrari 812 Competizione (76914), and includes the bulk of the printed elements used in the set. The build for the front end is pretty straightforward but does make some nice usage of the Hinge Brick 1 x 2 to achieve the slanted front hood.
The finished product really does an excellent job of capturing the vehicle's shape and design, especially with regards to the front end and the slight offsetting of the hood down the center.
HOW DOES IT COMPARE TO PAST SETS?
The LEGO SPEED CHAMPIONS Ferrari 812 Competizione (76914) gets a lot of things right, like the paint scheme and design which adds a nice wow-factor to the set, but with the striped design comes the pitfalls of having to line up twenty plus stickers all across the body which is definitely a draw away from the overall building experience.
While the LEGO SPEED CHAMPIONS Theme has come a long way since its inception in 2015 with its original six stud format, there's definitely some room for improvement. The Minfigures have become a little more bland than past releases and the overall build experience, particular with the Ferrari subset of LEGO SPEED CHAMPIONS, peaked in 2020 with the LEGO SPEED CHAMPIONS Ferrari F8 Tributo—aside from the stickered headlights on the F8, it was a near-perfect build and in our opinion a superior build to this year's LEGO SPEED CHAMPIONS Ferrari 812 Competizione (76914). The likes of the LEGO SPEED CHAMPIONS Koenigsegg Jesko and the Lotus Evija (76907) also offer some far more complex and engaging builds than the 812 Competizione.
GALLERY
This review contains our own unbiased opinion on the product. This is not a paid review. Be sure to follow us on Facebook or head to the bottom of the page to Subscribe and stay in-the-know! We'll be following all the latest LEGO updates and revelations in the meantime!
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