My Review of Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 02: Robot Kit

My Review of Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 03: Vehicle Kit

This thing is called the Labo Toy-Con 01: Variety Kit. The shocking part of that name is the zero. They thought they were gunna make at least ten of these things. And man, I woulda taken that bet and won, but also I woulda felt bad about winning the bet. Not because Nintendo is hurting for cash and I'm a flush piggy bank with a monocle and top hat.* I'd have felt bad for betting against my feelings. I LIKE Labo. Like this isn't the worst Labo set, but even the worst Labo set is cool. Like the worst Labo set (the robot) is still cool and worth your time. It isn't worth the $80USD it initially retailed for and this one is also very questionable if it is worth it's original retailed price of $70 buckaroonies**, but man, I had fun. My kids did too!

Let me tell you about all the cool little stuff in here.

Toy-Con RC Car

This thing sucks and is a bad place to start haha. The ads for this show people having a blast with this thing and they must have been paid very well to pretend. I promise it is uphill from here.

Toy-Con Fishing Rod

I am writing this review after completing every Labo set and I want you to know this was one of two Labo Toy-Cons I built that I wanted a full game. I don't have a particular affinity for fishing games and I actively dislike fishing. Feeling serene and quiet? Yuck! No thanks! But there is something very tactile and immediate about rotating the crank and hearing the click. And the arcade fishing lets you shoot for whatever fish you're hunting down from a dinky minnow to a honking shark. PLUS this bad boy only takes like an hour and a half to build. That makes it one of the quickest builds that is also a blast to play. If you get Labo Toy-Con 01, build this first.

Toy-Con Motorbike

I think a big perk of the motorbike is that it is compatible with Mario Kart 8, a game you statistically own. I would say its use in Mario Kart 8 is novel but not lifechanging. Like you'll try it a couple times, have fun, but also play worse than normal and eventually just switch back to a regular controller. It isn't as responsive as you would like it to be. But this is perhaps a case of you reap what you sow. This thing also only takes like an hour and a half to build. Like if you built a motorcycle for me to drive in an hour and a half and were like "hop on", I'd say nothing and walk home because you're trying to murder me with your janky hour and a half deathtrap cycle.

Now if you want a good, tight handling, purposeful Toy-Con transportation experience, Toy-Con 03 might have what you're looking for.

Toy-Con House

Here is a shocker: the house is cool! It is kinda too much game for a Labo Toy-Con variety pack thingie. Like inside the house there is a stupid amount of collectibles, a tamagotchi like game loop, a bunch of mini-games, customization options... the list goes on. Like what did you expect the house to do? The answer is probably a huge shrug emoji which makes all the stuff they packed into this bad boy all the more fun. The house shouldn't have a minecart game in it. That makes no sense. But I like the minecart game! This takes a little longer to finish, and the lack of clarity on what the house actually does makes this an arduous build, but trust me that it is cool and worth it and your kids will bug you to set it up for them so they can feed the fuzzy monster that lives in the house.

And finally Toy-Con Piano

Here is the critical question that will decide if you will like playing the Toy-Con Piano: Do you like playing the piano? I know that seems obvious, but I didn't think about that the whole time I built it. I just thought about how fun it was gunna be for me to rock out on the Toy-Con piano even though I barely can play a regular one. I worked on this puppy for 3 hours and then dinked out a sad version of Greensleeves. But like look at this guy play.

If you like playing the piano or producing music, I'd say make this your build priority. Otherwise, this will mostly just be a curiosity.

In Conclusion

Labo Toy-Con 01:Variety Kit does exactly what it does. It is a proof of concept that is fun and weird and I love it. None of the Toy-Cons take too long to build, and if you have kids that like Lego, they'll love this Labo kit.

*The opposite in fact!

**I bought this and the other Labo sets for $20 USD and that price felt like a steal. I checked and you can buy this one for $25 on Amazon right now. But I want you to know to not buy it from Amazon. I worked for them briefly, and I did pee in a bottle, and it did end with me telling my supervisor to "rot in heck, you flipping piece of poo". I mean, I said that but with all the nasty words replaced by even nastier ones. I was mad.