Set Review - #60169 - Cargo Terminal - LEGO City

I don't review a lot of LEGO City sets as they tend to repeat.  The fire fighters, police cars, and others tend to repeat every year.  The cargo theme along with a few others, tend to repeat less often.  I saw #60169, Cargo Terminal come out and was interested.  It originally came out on 27 May 2017. However, the original retail price is $79.99.  With 740 pieces that comes out to $0.108 per piece.  I found that to be pretty high, but thankfully I picked it up on Amazon.com for 20% off for $63.99 or $0.086 per piece.  So definitely better.  Sadly, the set was only 20% off on Amazon.com for a small amount of time.  Keep watching it though and it may come back.

Onto the review...

The set box is similar to most city sets.  The front shows the full up set.  The back shows the play features along with the standard minifigure that is saying "Hey!"

The contents include 8 parts bags numbered 1 through 8 to go with the instructions.  Bag one includes a piece separator as you can see in the picture.  There are 5 instruction booklets and then a sticker sheet.  Thankfully the stickers are mostly license plates and a few others so it's not a massively stickered set like some in the past have been.

The first bag is a forklift.  This is not the first appearance of a forklift in a City set.  It has been in the Cargo Terminal #60022 from 2013 and Cargo Truck #60020 from 2013.  This one includes a female minifigure, a hand cart to move things around and a small pallet with miniature LEGO sets on them.  These have appeared before to include in 2010's LEGO City Truck (#3221).  Not too much has changed on this forklift design although it is in red versus orange or yellow.

I pictured some of the extra small pieces included at the bottom of the photo for reference.

The second bag is a crane that has a movable arm.  That is the arm rotates up and down but the hook part does not move in and out of the arm.  The hook attaches to a crate that you build in yellow with the LEGO logo stickers on either side.  The forklift can load the pallet of LEGO sets into this crate.  The set includes 3 other crates that can be picked up with this crane.

The third bag is the start of the truck to carry the crates.  Nothing too special about this part of the build.

Bag number 4 completes the truck.  It comes with a driver who has a beverage and one crate with a mini-jet ski or similar type item in the crate.  The truck has room for 2 crates in total.

The fifth bag is a trailer that attaches to the truck to carry additional crates.  This allows you to load all of the crates that come with the set onto the truck.  Nothing too impressive about this build.  My only complaint is that the front axle has a ball attachment to the back of the truck and then the axle itself is on rotating plates.  When you attach it to the truck and have it turn, it can over spin.  I would go with either the ball attaching to the truck or the rotating axle, but not both.  Too be fair, it doesn't take away from the trailer or the set that much... it's just a nit picky complaint that I have I guess.

The sixth bag is 2 additional crates.  One has a small four-wheeler and the other is... um... maybe a snow plow that is supposed to attach to a larger truck?  I'm not really sure.  You could pretend it is a number of things I guess.  The crates are built similar to the others where the fork lift can lift off the cargo and the crane can pick up the crate itself.

The seventh bag is a small hut that could be the entrance to the cargo area.  There is a female minifigure that sits inside with a coffee maker, some cookies, a camera with a view of traffic, a wrench, a walkie talkie, and a barrier arm that swivels up and down.  Like many City sets, this leaves a bit to be desired with no back wall to the building and not a lot else to it.  It's sets like these that I enjoy because I can then use my own pieces and parts to expand upon them to make them better.  Also, it can be a good addition to a larger cargo yard that you are building.

The eighth bag is a rack where the forklift can place the pallets.  There are four slots for the 4 items with the set.  As mentioned with the building, the shelving could stand to be expanded, but that's where your imagination can come into play.  It's a good start to what could be a larger cargo yard.

Here is the entire set.  In my opinion, it's a great set.  There are lots of play features, there is room for expansion, and it's not a repeated City set that you see re-hashed every year.  Definitely a good set for a kiddo or for a nerdy adult like me who builds city scenes with LEGO bricks.  Look for the opportunity to get this on sale.  In early May 2018, the set is around 19% off on Amazon.com in the US.  LEGO seems to add to the cargo theme every few years versus annually so if you can't get this one, you'll have to wait a few years.

Happy building!

Set Review - Series 18 Collectible Minifigures - #71021

The 18th series of collectible minifigures were released in the US on 1 April 2018.  There are 17 minifigures in this series and they retail for $3.99 in the US.  After the Ninjago movie minifigures and the second set of Batman movie minifigures, I am glad to have another original, creative set.  This series is being released along with the 40th anniversary of the minifigure so there is a party theme to celebrate.  So here they are...

The first four minifigures are costumed with tails.  The cowboy has the back half of the horse that he's riding.  The unicorn and cat just have tails.  The dragon has some impressive wings and horns on the back as well as a tail.  In keeping with the Batman Series 2 minifigures, these also all have orange base plates to stand on versus the standard black base plates in many of the past series.

The next four all have some impressive costumes.  The first is a spider.  He has a pretty impressive spider on his back and is holding a small spider.  The next is an elephant with a tutu.  She is next to a mouse and has an alternate face where she is pretty shocked to see the mouse.  I'm a big fan of the cactus.  If you have never seen an actual Saguaro cactus up close, they are pretty impressive and some get rather tall.  I think this minifigure costume is a good representation.  Next is a firework of some sort.  The sun glasses definitely add to the costume.

Here are four more party minifigures.  The first is a clown that makes balloon animals.  There are two balloon animals and the scale and accuracy of each were well done by the LEGO designers.  Next up is the blue brick girl.  Along with the red brick guy, they were the most numerous in the orders that I placed.  The last one to mention is the flower girl.  There's a flower costume hat and a pot to go around the pants.  This one is definitely outside the norm for what LEGO creates and I'm a fan.

Next up are two with some bigger pieces that are quite different from the past 18 sets of minifigures.  First up is a guy popping out of a cake.  He is a full minifigure and just fits in the larger cake piece.  The splashes of frosting on his shirt are a nice touch and the gold party hat helps too.  The next one is a race car driver.  He has some creative patches on his shirt and the car looks like it could be a part of the Speed Champions line.  

Finally there is a boy who is a party attendee.  He is holding a balloon and has a gift that includes some past LEGO collectible minifigure bags.  Then there's the original LEGO policeman minfigure from back in the day holding the original set he came from.  I ended up purchasing 3 orders of 17 from LEGO Shop at Home (they only allow you to purchase 17 per order) and I only had one of the policeman minifigures.  There is a girl to attend the party too, but she did not come in the first 51 minifigures I ordered.  If I get her later, I will add her picture to this post.

I was about to wrap things up with this post and then had to save it as a draft.  In the meantime, another order of series 18 minifigs arrived and the party girl showed up.  She is similar to the party boy only she has a purple party hat and balloon.  Her gift is full of 1x1 round tile sweet treats.  

It took 4 orders of 17 minifigures from LEGO to get all 17 minifigures.  I'm thankful to have a store to sell the extras in otherwise this method is not the way to go to collect these.  With that being said though, this series is awesome.  These are some great minifigures that were creatively designed.  If you're a collector of these, I recommend picking these up over some of the past licensed minifigure sets.  

Set Review - #21039 - Shanghai, China - LEGO Architecture

I don't review too many of the Architecture themed sets, but here are a few I've done in the past if you are interested:

#21023 - Flatrion Building, New York
#21031 - Burj Khalifa, Dubai, UAE

This review is of one of the Architecture skyline series within the Architecture theme.  These skylines were started in 2016 with New York City, Berlin, and Venice.  2017 had Chicago, London, and Sydney.  2018 brought this set and will have Las Vegas which was delayed due to it's inclusion of the Mandalay Bay resort and casino and a forced redesign after tragic events that happened there a few months back.

This set is the first in Asia and my guess is it is an attempt to garner support from the huge market in Asia and China.  It was released in the US on 1 January 2018.  It contains 597 parts and retails in the US for $59.99.  That works out to $0.10 per piece.  I purchased the set for $47.99 from Walmart which works out to $0.08 per piece.  As of the writing of this post (early April 2018), the set is on sale for 20% off at Amazon.com and Walmart in the US.

Onto the review... The box looks much like the other Architecture sets.  Set on the front and then description of buildings on the back.  It opens the same way as the others too.

The contents are 6 bags, an instruction booklet, and 2 flex rods not in bags.  The instruction booklet has some great pictures of the actual city and some descriptions of each of the buildings.  After the English version it goes through the same in Spanish and French.  I'm kind of a fan of the unmarked bags.  You have to find the pieces versus opening bag 1 and then 2 and so forth.  It makes it more of a challenge to build.

The first part of the build is the base.  I am a fan of how it's built.  Some of the past Architecture builds I have done have just had a rectangular base.  I like how this one has a rounded part and isn't symmetrical.  

The part of the build includes the Chenghuang Miao Temple, Longhua Temple and Pagoda, Radisson Blu Hotel (in the back), Bund area, and the Oriental Pearl.  The first 2 older buildings would be really awesome to build on their own in a larger scale, but I can't see LEGO building them.  The Bund area is designed pretty well considering how small of a scale it is shrunk down to.  The Radisson in the back isn't all that exciting.  I'm not as familiar with the city, but I would think they could have picked a better building.  

The buildings on the right side are much more impressive in my opinion.  The Oriental Pearl is definitely an interesting design and the LEGO designers did a good job scaling it down.  The World Financial Center is another good build and if anything the brick color is great.  The final building is the Shanghai Tower.  The use of the Technic 3x3 half beam curves and the flex tubes to create the curved shape is an ingenious technique.

Here's the final set.  I think it looks great.  I do think it's overpriced at the retail price so grab it at 20% off from Amazon.com or Walmart if you can.  If you're a fan of the Architecture theme or the skylines, I would definitely add it to your collection.  It's a great build and it comes with some great pieces to use elsewhere too.  What are your thoughts?

Set Review - #10260 - Downtown Diner - Creator Expert

Thanks to the LEGO Group for producing another modular building.  WHOOHOO!!!  I'm always excited to buy, build, and review these sets.  You can see past reviews here:

#10255 - Assembly Square
#10251 - Brick Bank
#10246 - Detective's Office

The Downtown Diner was released on 1 January 2018 in the US.  It retails in the US for $169.99.  With 2,480 pieces, it works out to $0.069 per piece.  Not too bad.  You can see the LEGO Designer video on YouTube here.  Onto the review!

Here's the box...

This set contains 5 sets of parts bags, an instruction booklet wrapped in plastic, a tan 32x32 stud baseplate, and 4 gray 8x16 plates.

The first bags start the first floor and include an orange piece separator.  Lots of 2x2 tiles to lay down and a black and white pattern that looks pretty cool once its done, but takes a bit to install.  The details for the diner itself start to appear here with a table and booth with ketchup and mustard on the table, a juke box, and a gumball machine.  The short order cook is in this set of bags.  His cooking area has what appears to be some bacon cooking on his cooking surface.  This set also includes the start of the stairs that go up to the upper levels.  

Not much to talk about in the back.  There is a trash can and a brown square container out back.  Other than that, it's pretty plain in the rear of the building.

The second set of bags completes the first floor.  It includes the waitress minifigure on skates serving some ice cream.  There are some pancakes to cook on the griddle and on the table.  The bar is completed with a soda machine with 2 flavors.  The stairs to the next floor are finished and there's a light at the top.  Also, what stands out to me is the clear window design on the front with it's nicely designed curves.  The "DINER" sign in its bright pink is also pretty impressive.  

Here's a close up of the first floor diner.  You can see the coffee maker on the left, the grill with its bacon and pancakes and the hood above it.  There are some pictures on the wall in the back and on the right.  Some of the accessories include 2 coffee mugs, a camera, a frying pan and knife for cutting, the plate of pancakes, and the ice cream that the waitress is carrying.

The third set of bags completes the second floor which is a fitness center.  The front of the building has the teal green rounded bricks surrounding the clear windows that goes from the bottom of the floor to the top and eventually connects to the next floor. 

The back doesn't have too much other than a fun stairwell that curves up.

Here's a closer look at the inside of the second floor.  You can see a boxing ring, a punching bag, a bench with a bar and weights, some dumb bells, and a water cooler.  This floor contains 2 minifigures which are a male boxer with boxing glove hands and a female in a light green workout outfit.

The fourth set of bags completes the third floor.  This floor is a music recording studio.  There's a recording area with a sound room, a mixing station, and a waiting area with a fancy chair.  There's also a small porch where the picture shows a female minifigure standing out on it.  

My favorite part is the front of this floor.  It continues the windows from the previous floor and the very sleek teal green design that surrounds the windows.  It culminates at the top with a curved half-circle teal green part.  

Here's a top view of the floor.  The recording studio is on the right side of the picture with the sound booth on the bottom of the picture and the mixing board on the top.  I like the use of the steering wheels to make the speakers in the mixing area.  The recording area is pretty detailed with some sound dampening materials and a microphone.  The wall has a picture of an album along with a gold record.  The rest of the room looks more like a waiting room.  There's a table with two glasses and a drink pitcher, a lounge chair with a table, and 2 rugs on the floor.  One of the windows has an air conditioner in it (on the left side of the picture) which is similar to the second floor.

Now some views of the top of the building.  The left side has a skylight window that can be propped open or closed.  There is a ladder that to climb up to the roof as well.  On the right side of the picture, you can see an antenna (or is it a lightening rod?).  The details on the front were rather simple to build, but still quite detailed like many of the other modular buildings.

This set includes a car.  Other modulars include a car to include the Palace Cinema and the Fire Brigade sets.  This one is pink and looks to be maybe 1950s or 1960s style (I'm not a car expert so someone correct me).  It has space for 3 minifigs and has some decent detail to it.  I like it!

This set contains 6 minifigures and surprisingly they are somewhat controversial.  This is the first modular building to have minifigures with facial expressions, facial hair, and some even have dual faces.  Past modulars have been the standard 2 dots for eyes and a smiley face mouth.  Personally I am a fan of the change.  It adds more detail to the set and helps to make it more realistic.  I think it was a good move for LEGO to make the change.

Here are some final shots of the set.  First is from the front view, then from the left side, and then from back back.  This set can be placed on a corner in a city scene, but as you can see on the left side, the sidewalk just ends as it goes up some stairs.  Maybe it would be better next to a parking lot or another modular with a sidewalk there.

As already mentioned, I'm biased and I enjoy these sets.  So yes, definitely go buy this one if you are a fan of modulars.  They are fun to build and there are a lot of great pieces if you want to use them for something else.  While modulars are a bit expensive, you can wait to get them when you have VIP points or they have been discounting the retiring set on Black Friday over the past 2 years.  

Well done LEGO!  Another great set!

What are your thoughts?

Set Review - #21313 - Ship in a Bottle - LEGO Ideas

We're on the 20th LEGO Ideas set already.  Can you believe it?  Ship in a Bottle was released on 2 February 2018 in the US for $69.99.  With 962 pieces, this works out to be $0.073 per piece.  This is quite a different set from what LEGO has released in the past so let's take a look.  Here is the box, both front and back sides.

Instead of the box opening up from the sides like many sets do, this one opens up on the top.  It reveals an instruction booklet, 4 large clear pieces, and 4 sets of bags.  Numbers one and two are single bags, 3 has 3 bags, and 4 has 2 bags.  

Bag one is the ship.  The build is very detailed considering how small it is and uses a lot of SNOT techniques.  There are a number of the teal colored pieces used, but they are hidden for the most part.  The cannon ports look pretty realistic considering how small it is.  There's a crows nest, a steering column, and a bridge area too.  Pretty impressive in my opinion.

Bag two is the bottom part of the bottle.  This part was surprisingly more challenging than I expected.  Mainly the bottom part uses all clear tiles and bricks.  It was a challenge to build in the same color for that entire part of the bottle (in my opinion).  The rest of the bottle wasn't too bad, but it was more fragile than I expected.

The third set of bags are 3 bags of 1x1 round translucent blue plate (there is probably a more technical term for these pieces so I'm sorry if I screwed it up).  The instructions say that you need to complete step 59 a total of 284 times.  I don't think I've ever seen a LEGO set have 284 steps on one page.  Thankfully it's easy to dump the pieces in.

The final set of bags completes the bottle and the base.  In the picture below you can see the top of the bottle.  It is pretty realistic looking and there is a 2x2 round tile with what would be a wax seal, but is printed with the initials of the LEGO designer who made the set (a nice touch in my opinion).

The base is also a great design.  There is a brick made compass below where the bottle rests, 2 globes on either side of the base, and the name of the ship which is Leviathan.  If you want to know where the name comes from, look up the philosopher from the 1600s named Thomas Hobbes.  He has a book with the same name.  My recommendation is to avoid the book and just build the set.

Here is the completed set.  I am very impressed with the final design and how it looks.  In my opinion, it is one of those sets that is worthy of display in your Brick Cave.

Final thoughts... get this set!  It's another great model from the Ideas range and it's definitely worth it.  The build is challenging, there are some great pieces to use if you plan to build something else with the pieces, and it really looks impressive when it's done.  What are your thoughts?

Set Review - #71020 - The LEGO Batman Movie Series 2 - Collectible Minifigures

LEGO released the second series of The LEGO Batman Movie collectible minifigures on 1 January 2018.  You can see my review of the first set here.  Like the last series, this series contains 20 minifigures.  The retail price in the US is $3.99 each.  You can order a maximum of 32 from LEGO Shop at Home.  Those are the details, let's get into the minifigs...

First off, this set has a new base.  It's the same black color, but it's the first time that there is a logo on the base.  It will be interesting to see if LEGO continues this trend in some of their licensed collectible minifigures. 

First four... to be honest, it's been a few months since I have seen the LEGO Batman Movie and I don't remember any of these from the movie.  So from left to right: Doctor Phosphorus, Black Vulcan, Killer Moth, and Clock King.  Nothing too special about these minifigures in my opinion.

Next set of 4... Wonder Twin Jayna, Wonder Twin Zan, Disco Harley Quinn, and Bat-Merch Batgirl.  Once again, I don't see anything too interesting about these that is different from other minifigures.

To follow on... Hugo Strange, General Zod, Vacation The Joker, and Jor-El.  The Joker looks too much like the Vacation Batman from the last set with the duck floating raft.  

Next four are Swimsuit Batman (to include the dolphin), Mermaid Batman, Vacation Robin, and
Vacation Batgirl.  I expect both Batmans to be pretty popular as they are different from most minifigs.  While the Batgirl isn't all that exciting, she has a pony tail hair piece that attaches to her head piece which is new to me.

I've purchased 64 so far and have not received all 20 minifigures.  Thanks a lot LEGO!!!!  Luckily I've put the extra in my store so it's not like they are just sitting around to collect dust.  The last 3 that I got are Apache Chief, Black Canary, and Vacation Alfred Pennyworth.  I am short Disco Alfred Pennyworth.  The Vacation version is pretty fun though.  The other 2... where were they in the movie?

My take?  Like the LEGO Ninjago movie CMFs, I was not too impressed by these minifigures.  I would have preferred another non-licensed theme of minifigs to come out versus another set of 20 Batman minifigs.  I think 20 was enough.  The only reason to get these is if you are a CMF collector like me.  Otherwise, I'd hold off.  In the meantime, I'll post the remaining minifig once I get it.

Okay, here's an update on 14 March 2018...

I finally got the last minifig.  Disco Alfred Pennyworth.  It took three orders of 32 to get the full 16.  Definitely not worth it.  Having a store where I sell the minifigs helps, but for the average collector, don't bother with giant orders from LEGO Shop @ Home like that.

Set Review - #10256 - Taj Majal - Creator Expert

To read the intro giving an overview of the set itself and to see the opening, go here:
PART 1

The first bag starts the outer portion on the Taj Majal.  The first picture is bag 1.  It's not a very complicated build and it starts what became a very repetitive build with a lot of techniques repeated over and over.

The second set of bags (second picture) starts the corners of the outer portion of the Taj Majal.  The rounded out portion is an interesting build.  It still uses the rectangular pieces known to LEGO, but it makes it round.  I think it's actually better that they used this method versus using some of the rounded pieces out now.

The third set of bags includes the last 2 pieces of the corners of the Taj Majal.  They are very similar to bag 2 only oriented the other direction.

Here are bags one through three assembled into the outer base.  

Bag four builds the minarets.  They are all built exactly the same and are fairly sturdy despite what I thought looked like a flimsy structure.

Here is the construction so far after the fourth set of bags (and a good view out the window in my building area).

Bag 5 is next.  At this point, you learn that bags 5, 6, 7, and 8 are exactly the same.  Sadly instead of enjoying the build here, I just wanted to finish it up.  I enjoy building, but would prefer to not repeat the same thing 4 times over.  Enough complaining... here you can see both sides of the build and then what it looks like standing up in bad lighting.

And here are bags 5, 6, 7, and 8 in case you didn't believe me that they all looked the same.

Bags 9 and 10 are the same.  As you can see by the base of them, they connect using Technic pins to the builds from bags 5, 6, 7, and 8 to make the inner portion of the Taj Majal that holds up the dome.  Here are some pictures of both sides of the build and then all four pieces.

Here is the assembly of bags 5 through 10.

The eleventh set of bags adds the roof portion to the center section of the Taj Majal and connects the inner portion together.  

The twelfth set of bags builds the small set of domes on the top or as I looked up they are called chattris.  It also adds the 16 or so tall towers around the edges.  From what I saw on the web, they are called guldastas.

Bags 13 and 14 build the center dome section.  It starts with the bottom section and the inner structure.  Then the dome is built and attached to the structure.  

Here is the final assembled version from a few angles. 

The negative sides of the build:
     -it was somewhat tedious to assemble some of the parts over and over again
     -there are a lot of white pieces, but when you see the piece count and then look at the bill
      of materials, it is rather unimpressive to see the variety of pieces and colors

Overall, it's a pretty impressive build once completed. Would I have purchased it if I hadn't had a lot of VIP points to help pay it down?  Probably not.  I don't think the build experience would have been worth the $370 plus tax.  So while I'm excited that LEGO is opening up the vault to bring back some older sets, I will look for opportunities to not pay full price for some very expensive sets.  What are your thoughts?

Set Review - #60153-1 - People Pack - Fun at the Beach

This is the second set in what will hopefully become a trend for LEGO City.  The first was Fun in the Park - City People Pack #60134.  This one is Fun at the Beach.  It was released on 29 May 2017 for $39.99 in the US.  With 169 pieces it works out to $0.237 per piece.  That's a bit high, but when you consider that it's a minifig set it's not as bad.  It includes 15 minifigs so that works out to $2.67 per minifig which is cheaper than any of the Collectible Minifigure Series sets offered.  I picked my set up on Amazon.com for 20% off or $31.99 ($0.189 per piece and $2.13 per minifig).  Onto the set...  The box front shows all of the set and the back shows all of the 15 minifigs with their hair, faces, torsos, and legs.

Here are the contents:
-2 parts bags
-a kayak
-2 sails
-2 folded up instruction booklets

Bag 1 is half of the set.  It includes the following:

First up is a kayaker with a red kayak.  It also includes a wind surfer and a dolphin.  The wind surfer comes with 2 sails.  It doesn't seem like a part that would break easily, but it can't hurt to have 2.

It also includes a sun bather in a recliner with an umbrella.  She has a camera, but I think it needs a beverage for her to sip on.  It also includes a male and female with a volleyball and a volleyball net.  

This bag also includes a girl who has built a sand castle.  She has a shovel and pail and the sand castle has a red flag on it.  Also there's a man with a metal detector who has some gold pieces he can find.  As a kid, I remember the metal detectors from Classic Space, M-Tron and others.  The old versions had a stud and hole in the middle of the sensor part.  So this one is somewhat the same except for that part.  The original version can be seen here.

Onto bag 2...

First up is a boy/teenager on a hammock.  He has a smart phone which I think is a new piece for the LEGO universe.  It also has some plants where the hammock is hung up on for shade.

Next up the beach cleaner with his broom, trash can, and obligatory banana to clean up.

Next up is a kid in a tank top and shorts.  He has an old school boom box with a cassette tape player.  Do kids these days even know what that is?

And then there's the mean lifeguard.  Come on... I know you've been to the beach or a public pool and the lifeguard was some pissed off teenager or 20-something who just yelled all day long.  No running!  No diving!  No having any fun at all!  Well here he is with a parrot, megaphone, and binoculars to spot kids having too much fun.

Here we have a girl, her dog, her Mom/Grandma/Aunt/cool older neighbor/LEGO woman carrying a $100 bill buying some ice cream from the vendor on the beach.  Only one flavor... white balls of iced plastic.  Looks yummy!

Last up, the scuba diver (tank-less) with a helmet, mask, and flippers.  He has a fish and lobster to dive with too.

If you're looking to build a beach scene, this is a great set to help populate your scenario.  I recommend it... especially if you can pick it up at a discount from Amazon.com or elsewhere.  I'm a fan of having people packs for LEGO City.  They've done it for Star Wars and Ninjago and I'm glad to see it for City.  Back in the day, I recall that they used to do City people packs with fire fighters, policemen, and workers.  I'm hoping this becomes a yearly trend.  What would you like to see them do next year?

It Has Arrived! - #10256 - Taj Mahal

(see Part II of the review HERE)

The Taj Mahal was re-released on cyber Monday (27 November 2017) and I was awake at 5 AM to place my order.  While some may not be excited about it because it decreases the value of their new-in-sealed-box 10189 Taj Mahal from 2008, I am certainly glad to see 10256 out there and I hope to see even more in the future.  Maybe the Green Grocer or Market Street or even the Cafe Corner could be next?  This is just me speculating and wishing so don't go starting rumors.  I don't have any insider knowledge here.  With the re-release of the Millennium Falcon (#75192) as well this year, it makes me wonder if this will become a trend.

My plan is to do a review of 10256, but I expect it to take a while since it is so big. The set is 5,923 pieces (one more than 10189... it includes a piece separator).  At $369.99 in the US, it works out to $0.062 per piece which is a good deal in my books (it had better be for that amount).  I had a lot of VIP points and a gift card so I ended up paying $4.24 for my set (YAY!).

The set came in the box pictured below. I'm glad it did because this box took the brunt of the damage that came through the outside shipping box.  My 10256 box was pretty well intact when I took it out.  This is not the first set to have this shell box.  I reviewed the Porsche 911 GT3 RS #42056 and it had a similar box.  Also the NASA Apollo Saturn V #21309 has this protective box now.  The original one I reviewed did not, but I ordered some for my BrickLInk store and they have the protective outer shell box.

The picture above shows a label on the bottom left.  I zoomed in and took a picture of it.  It shows that the set was produced in Mexico which, I'm not an expert, but I'm betting most US sets are from the LEGO factory there.  The other interesting thing I noted was the production date of 22 September 2017.  Considering a 2 December 2017 release in the US (okay, so VIPs could order on cyber Monday 27 November), that's pretty impressive that they can make them and have them ready to go in two months.  I'm curious to know the dates on other sets out there.  What was the production range?  And what is confidential about this?  Or is it that they didn't release it right away?

Here is the box to include the front and the back.  Nothing too out of the ordinary here.  I'm looking forward to cracking it open and starting the build.

Set Review - #10259 - Winter Village Station

In this politically correct world that we live in, you can't call it Christmas, but that's what this set and the theme that it belongs to is all about.  The Winter Village Station is part of a the Winter Village line that started a few years back.  It's listed under the Creator Expert theme, but really could be considered its own theme.  This set was released in the US on 1 October 2017 and is meant to go with last years set the Winter Holiday Train (#10254-1).  This set contains 902 pieces.  It retails for $79.99 in the US which works out to $0.089 per piece.  This isn't too bad and these sets often don't go on sale too often, but you can wait to see if Amazon or LEGO Shop@Home does a sale on them at some point.  

I'm a big fan of this theme although I didn't like the Winter Holiday Train as a LEGO Train fan.  I was hoping LEGO would release a train along the line of the Emerald Night or the Maersk Train.  This set seems better to let's see how it goes...

Here is the box.  Nothing out of the ordinary here.  It shows what the set looks like with the Winter Holiday Train on the back.  It might work for advertising, but it doesn't work for me.

The contents are 9 bags split into 2 sets.  It also includes 2 instruction booklets that are sealed up along with a small sheet of stickers.  The set adds 4 pieces of straight track as well.

The first part of the first set of bags includes the track, a level crossing, 2 trees, and 2 street lamps with wreaths on them.  There isn't anything too out of the ordinary from this part of the build.

The second part of the build is the bus.  This vehicle falls in line with the style of other vehicles seen in previous Winter Village sets like the postal vehicle in 10222 Winter Village Post Office and the snow plow in 10229 Winter Village Cottage.  The top is removed easily to insert passengers and there are 3 seats for passengers and a seat for the driver.  As you can see, there is space on top for luggage storage or in this case some colorful presents.  While I like the design and look of the vehicle, the child minifigures don't fit well in this vehicle to include the boy that comes with this set.  Kids stand while riding I guess.

The second set of bags finishes up the set with the construction of the station itself.  It's not a bad looking design and the build uses some creative techniques to come up with the details so I can't complain there.  It does use a fair number of stickers that I dislike placing on though.  I also am not a fan in general of how the Winter Village theme only has the fronts of buildings, but not the backs.  While I understand this is for the play factor, I still prefer to have a full up building for a display.  In the past I have bought 2 Winter Village sets and put the 2 halves together, but I think I need to try and create the other half of the building on my own as a challenge.

This view of the station has some good detail to include a newspaper rack, a clock tower, and the window opens up to where a passenger can order a coffee from the barista.

The inside of the station is rather sparse, but it has some details.  On the right you see the ticket counter with the sticker that lists the train schedule.  The station master has one extra ticket that he can give out which thankfully is a printed 1x2 tile.  The barista has a small station to work at and make some beverages for passengers.  There's also a small Christmas tree up in the attic area that you could probably use as a decoration elsewhere in the set.

This picture shows the walkway and station platform.  I like how the guide chain is set up.  Using microphones to attach the chains is a pretty genius idea.  This view also shows the clock tower a little closer and the floor and structure underneath.  It's a pretty simple design, but it has a good look to it in my opinion.

This set comes with 5 minifigures.  There's a bus driver, a boy, an older woman, the station master, and the barista.  They are a good bunch and I think they go well with the set.

Why should you buy this set?  If you're a fan of the Winter Village line, then you'll definitely want it to keep up with the theme.  Also, if you're a train fan, it's a good addition to any LEGO train display.  As I mentioned, I would prefer it to be a complete building versus the half, but I'm up to the challenge of finishing off the back on my own.  At under $0.10 a piece, it's priced good.  These sets don't typically go on sale, so look for a chance to get double VIP points or to get one of the free gifts with a purchase