[Note: This post was suppose to go up Monday, August 10th. Since it didn’t, I’ve made some changes to the final section of the post. Thanks for understanding.]
What is Lego Dimensions?
Lego Dimensions is a Toy-for-Life game released by Traveller’s Tales (Tt Games) in September 2015. The series lasted until October 2017, which helped signal the death of the Toys-for-Life type games. The series was released in 10 Waves, the first released with the game, the last being in September.
The game packs were split into four different packs. The Starter Pack contained the game pad, a Lego portal set, three characters, one vehicle, and a copy of the game. Fun Packs (marked in green) contained one character and one vehicle. Team packs (marked in orange) contained two characters and two vehicles, both from the same franchise. Level packs (marked in yellow) contained one character and two vehicles, and opened up access to a new level in the game. Story packs (marked in purple) contained a new portal set up, one to two characters, and one vehicle. Finally, there were two characters released in polybags.
Each character would open up access to an Adventure World based on the franchise it came from. For example, the Starter Pack came with Batman, Wyldstyle, and Gandalf. When one of those characters were on the game pad, you could go into the characters Adventure Worlds (DC Comics World, The LEGO Movie World, and The Lord of the Rings World). The Adventure Worlds contain the bulk of the game’s gold bricks, as well as all of the red bricks (basically cheat blocks that are totally cool and fine to use). Also, there are races and quests, and also the ability to fix the Worlds using building Renovations (required builds that cost studs to build. Each World had at least 5 to be built.).
Year One Packs (Waves 1-5)
Wave 1, released with the game on September 27, 2015, contained 21 packs total, spread across the Starter, Level, Team, and Fun packs.
The Level Packs included Marty McFly (Back to the Future), Homer Simpson (The Simpsons, and Chell (Portal 2). The Team Packs included Shaggy and Scooby-Doo! (Scooby-Doo!) and Owen Grady and ACT Trooper (Jurassic World). The Fun Ppacks included Wonder Woman and Cyborg (DC Comics), Emmet, Bad Cop, and Benny (The LEGO Movie), Jay, Nya, and Zane (Ninjago), Gollum, Legolas, and Gimli (The Lord of the Rings), the Wicked Witch (The Wizard of Oz), and Laval, Cragger, and Eris (Legends of Chima).
Wave 2, released November 3, 2015, contained 5 packs total, spread across Level, Team, and Fun Packs.
The Level Pack included The Doctor (Doctor Who). The Team Pack included Kai and Cole (Ninjago). The Fun Packs included Unikitty (The Lego Movie), and Bart Simpson and Krusty the Clown (The Simpsons).
Wave 3, released January 19, 2016, contained 5 packs total, spread across Level, Team, and Fun Packs.
The Level Pack included Peter Venkman (Ghostbusters). The Team Pack included The Joker and Harley Quinn (DC Comics). The Fun Packs included Doc Brown (Back to the Future), Sensei Wu (Ninjago), and Cyberman (Doctor Who).
Wave 4, released March 15, 2016, contained 4 packs total, spread across Level and Fun Packs.
The Level Pack included Gamer Kid (Midway Arcade). The Fun Packs included Stay Puff (Ghostbusters), and Superman and Aquaman (DC Comics).
Wave 5, released May 10, 2016, contained 5 packs total, all Fun Packs.
The Fun Packs included Lloyd (Ninjago), Bane (DC Comics), and Slimer (Ghostbusters).
Year Two Packs (Waves 6-9)
Wave 6, released September 27, 2016, contained 8 packs total, spread across Story, Level, Team, and Fun Packs, and two Polybags.
The Story pack included Abby Yates, a new Portal, and one vehicle (Ghostbusters 2016). The Level Packs included Finn (Adventure Time) and Ethan Hunt (Mission: Impossible). The Team Packs included Jake and Lumpy Space Princess (Adventure Time) and Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter). The Fun Pack included B.A. Baracus (The A-Team). The Polybags included Supergirl and Green Arrow.
Wave 7, released November 18, 2016, contained 6 packs total, spread across Story, Level, Team, and Fun Packs.
The Story pack included New Scamander, a new Portal, and one vehicle (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them). The Level Pack included Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog). The Team Packs included Gizmo and Stripe (Gremlins). The Fun Packs included Marceline (Adventure Time), E.T. (E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial), and Tina Goldstein (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Wave 7.5, released February 10, 017, contained 3 packs total, spread across Story and Fun Packs.
The Story pack included Batgirl, Robin, a new Portal, and one vehicle (The LEGO Batman Movie). The Fun Packs included Excalibur Batman (The LEGO Batman Movie) and Michael Knight (Knight Rider).
Wave 8, released May 9, 2017, contained 3 packs total, spread across Level and Fun Packs.
The Level Pack included Sloth (The Goonies). The Fun Packs included Chase McCain (LEGO City: Undercover) and Hermione Granger (Harry Potter).
Wave 9, released September 12, 2017, contained 5 packs total, spread across Team and Fun Packs. This was the final release of packs.
The Team Packs included Beast Boy and Raven (Teen Titans Go!) and Blossom and Bubbles (The Powerpuff Girls). The Fun Packs included Betelgeuse (Beetlejuice), Starfire (Teen Titans Go!), and Buttercup (The Powerpuff Girls).
My Thoughts on Lego Dimensions
As I said in a previous post on this blog, I didn’t get into Lego Dimensions until January/February 2017, months before the official cancellation of the game. I wasn’t planning on getting into the game, until I decided to get all Platinum Lego Trophies on Playstation 3. (As an aside, I have yet to achieve that goal on PS3. Ignoring Lego Worlds, which I have feelings about, I have completed that goal on PS4.)
I was able to get the PS4 Starter Pack with the Supergirl figure, which was included with some PS4 packs. Actually, at the time, Lloyd was the included extra character. I lucked out getting the superior character. I’m not joking. Supergirl can fly, use laser vision, is invincible, has super strength, x-ray vision, can dive, has ice breath… So much better. Lloyd basically has what every Ninjago character. Yeah, I’ll stick with the alien.
Just over a month ago, I actually managed to 100% complete my playthrough of Lego Dimensions on the Xbox One. Yes, that includes all 24 individual levels, plus three story packs and all 30 adventure worlds. All 1016 gold bricks. Every single one of them. It took me approximately 65 hours stretched across nine weeks. Honestly, I thought it would take longer.
As for my personal thoughts on the series… Well, I enjoyed the main story. Some of the level packs were clever retellings of their original source material. I’ve talked in length of my opinions on certain Year One inclusions, and I’ll save my Year Two impressions for a longer post (because I have comments to make).
If I look at the game as a whole, it was successful in what it set out to be: the largest Lego game every made, and a rather successful Toys-for-Life product. Story wise, it was hit or miss. Much of the extra content was rather lackluster, and many of the Adventure Worlds started to feel too… similar (especially Year Two). The character selection was cool, and it was kinda fun to pick my own “team” of sorts.
I’m glad that I played this one, no doubt about it. But I can see why people (including myself!) have taken years to reach the full completion. The Adventure World grind was harsh, especially once I exhausted all the Level and Story packs.
I will say this. On Reddit, on the subreddit dedicated to Lego Dimensions is a link to a Google Sheets file that includes a list of all the absolutely needed characters and vehicles. I think it comes out to 31 packs (including the Starter pack). If you want to pick up the game, I would definitely just go ahead and use this list. You’ll save yourself a ton of money in the long run. Unless of course you want everything. Then I’ll just say in total, I spent roughly $800 on this game, over the course of a year of collecting. I did by just about all of them from my (formerly – I’ve moved since them :D) local Target and Walmart, so that contributed to the cost. Your best bet now is private sellers and Ebay at this point.
But not me. Even though this game basically wiped me out, I’m not selling my Legos any time soon. I have three more consoles to one day 100%. (I’d include the Wii U in this goal… but it’s basically a paperweight at this point, right?)
Bottom line: It’s a fun game. For the most part. Just don’t let yourself get burned out, and if you start feeling like you’re on your way to that point, there’s no shame in taking a break.
(I suggest Netflix. I can recommend a good movie, with talented and diverse cast and fun story line and oh my god just go watch The Old Guard so I can get my damn sequel please.)
Yeah. I really need to talk about that one of these days.
Until next time!
