Lego story #081: But it's Animal Crossing! (part 5)

77051 Fly with Dodo Airlines. "Let’s pack snacks and make tracks!"

The game Animal Crossing: New Horizons takes place on an ocean of deserted islands. You develop one of these into a cozy community, occasionally flying to other islands to look for resources or visit friends. Hence the important role of Dodo Airlines, run locally by dodos Wilbur and Orville. 

Orville, who runs the airport, is not in this Lego set, but we have the pilot Wilbur and his sea plane. The other character here is an Animal Crossing regular: Tangy the citrus-colored cat with a leaf on her forehead.

Again, the minifigures are excellent. And so is Wilbur's sea plane, which you'll see further below. 

I like the addition of this red crab, which helps situate the airport as an oceanside facility.

You can seat two minifigs in the seaplane, which is a nice consideration. 

 

Both seaplane and airport share the same color scheme, like they do in AC: New Horizons. In the game, you get a randomly selected color scheme -- either blue, green, orange, or yellow. I think it's been blue in both my playthroughs, and I'm happy it turned out that way! Incidentally, this very shade of blue and white were the theme colors of my wedding (an event that feels like a whole age ago) :)

Here's the airport ticket counter where Orville usually sits. A yellow mug and a flight ticket are next to the computer. There are orange boarding gates by the counter.

A traffic control tower, which is not accessible in the game.

Your island flag is customizable in the game. In that spirit, the Lego set provides alternative tiles (purple and yellow tiles, as shown in the photo below).

Fly with Dodo Airlines is a cool set, thanks to the inclusion of a well-designed seaplane. 

My husband happened to spot it 50% off at an electrical department store. It was a nice gift, because I wouldn't have bought it myself -- other Lego AC sets being a higher priority.

All these Animal Crossing sets evoke fond memories for me of the early Covid days . . . No kidding, I think the game helped a lot of people through the start of the pandemic.

Coincidentally, Nintendo just released a major, major update (version 3.0) this month. There's plenty of new things to do in the game. But as always, my real-world life is full, so flying back to Cape Porky will have to wait.