Lego Vidiyo

From: Free

If you want to see my children move at speed, open a box of Lego in their hearing. Well, Lego or a bar of chocolate. They suddenly develop the skills of a ninja, appearing seemingly out of nowhere to see what you are doing, and then tell you how to do it better.

The chances of me getting to review the Lego Vidiyo kit without attracting their attention were precisely zero.

That’s not a bad thing. As far as toys go, Lego has universal appeal. Drag out a bag of mixed bricks and there is something for everyone in there. You can create your own world out of small plastic bricks, then break it down and start all over again.

And they last. There are tales of people unearthing childhood Lego from the attic for their own children to play with (after a thorough wash) giving them a whole new lease of life with the next generation.

Lego has moved with the times, of course. It has added to its line-up over the years, with different sets from pop-culture such as Star Wars and Harry Potter, to robotics and themed minifigures for special occasions such as the Olympics.

And now there is Lego Vidiyo Music Video Maker, an app that allowing children of all ages to create their own music videos starring a line-up of colourful characters. Lego has teamed up with Universal Music Group to provide the soundtracks for the music videos, so you get 60 second snippets of tracks for your directorial debut.

It’s a simple concept. You download the app, scan the mini figures, add some extra props or moves with tiles called BeatBits, choose your music and then record the video in your home, garden or other location, putting your Lego band in with augmented reality.

You don’t actually need any of the physical figures to get started with Lego Vidiyo; you can create a band from entirely virtually created band members. But the Beatboxes and BeatBits open up new possibilities for your videos.

For this review, I had two Beatboxes – Party Llama and Alien DJ – which each come with a minifigure, scanning stage, portable case for your figure and accessories, and 16 BeatBits, including two special ones. There are six of these to collect, each representing a specific music genre, and cost around €20 each.

The first round of products also includes 12 bandmates, two of which were included in the review kit, which come in blind bags with three BeatBits in each.

You can stick with the original outfits and looks that the scanned figures have, but in true Lego fashion, you can also customise each part of them. You can add new outfits, change their hair and so on. It’s a virtual version of the much loved Lego minifigure.

The BeatBits add something extra to the performance, from new backgrounds and costumes for your band, to new dance moves and video filters. You can have confetti cannons going off, zap your bandmates with electric shocks or add extra sound effects such as sirens. You can add up to 12 to each performance, and they work in perfect harmony with your chosen soundtrack and video.

It all adds up to great fun.

Want MC Hammer's You Can't Touch This? It's there, along with Katy Perry, The Weeknd, Imagine Dragons and Billie Eilish. In fact, there are about 30 tracks in there, covering a range of music genres and Lego has promised to add more regularly. You can also hold photoshoots with your band in different locations, before sending them out to shoot their video in your living room, back garden and so on.

Once you are done, you can save your video for later, or upload a clip to Lego’s social feed, which takes about 20 seconds of your creation.

It’s aimed at children from seven to 10, so I had no real argument against at least one of my children joining in on the review. As it was, I managed to get 67 seconds into this review before the Party Llama was spirited off on his roller skates, maracas in hand, to star in a Billie Eilish video. Prepare to lose your phone for this.

The key thing here though is that given the young audience in mind, safety is the priority. Everything is tightly controlled to make sure it is suitable for a young audience, from the names of the bands – which are limited to combinations of predetermined words so you can’t use rude words – to the moderation of the videos you can upload to Lego Vidiyo’s social feed. There are also plenty of warnings throughout the experience to draw children’s attention to the risks – don’t have people in the videos you share, don’t accidentally capture personal information that could identify your address, and so on.

So far, the Lego Vidiyo app has got a bit of use here, but the sets themselves were far more interesting to my own children. Either way, it’s a win.

The good:

The Lego Vidiyo Music Video Maker experience is well thought out. There’s enough variety in the BeatBits and the figures to recreate videos over and over again, and the fact that it is age appropriate and tightly controlled will be a reassurance for parents.

The not so good:

The track selection is currently more limited than I’d like, but there are enough different tracks in there to keep you going until Lego adds more. Given the age group, it’s likely that you are going to lose your phone to this app on a regular basis too.

The rest:

The price of the minifigures and sets is much ore appealing than the standard Lego sets. One or two will do for now anyway, as there are virtual bandmates you can add into the line-up.

The verdict:

A great age appropriate way to pass the time. Just don’t stand on it barefoot.

Four stars