There was some media hype about this one well before it came out (but not before the LEGO Blogs caught it). The main reason was the minifigure in a wheel chair. I found a number of articles and friends sent me links to articles about this one. There was a lot of anticipation about this set, but is it worth all the hype?
I'm going to switch things up this time and give the final recommendation first and then follow it with the review. Should you buy this set? If you are a LEGO CITY fan or a minifigure fan, YES! Besides the wheel chair and the baby minifigure, there are some new hair styles, torsos, and pants. It's a great addition to any City build that you're working on. I highly recommend it. Did I mention LEGO's first hot dog bun? Let's get into the details...
This set was released in the US on 22 May 2016. The cost is $39.99 for 157 pieces which works out to $0.255 per piece. Is this high? You betcha! Compared to most sets definitely. The key thing for this one, there are 15 minifigures. That works out to $2.67 per minifigure. Is that a good deal? Yes!
So here's the box. The front is similar to most showing all of the contents in a park with a Photoshopped scene.
The back shows the different minifigures in action and the different minifigure parts.
The contents are 3 bags with 3 instruction books.
The first bag includes the much talked about wheel chair with minifigure. The chair rolls quite well which surprised me. It's also done to scale quite well in my opinion. Not a lot special about the hot dog cart other than it includes a bun that a hot dog actually fits into. The hot dog has been in the inventory for a while, but this is the first bun. The bicycle isn't new, but the biker suit is new to the inventory. They've done a smaller version of the merry-go-round before. The kid minifigure has some new parts to include the blond short hair. Also there haven't been too many businesswomen types in minifigure land either. The bus stop sign and tree are nice additions too.
Bag 2 is also full of some new figures as well. The 2 children playing soccer are new. I wouldn't mind a LEGO SPACE shirt like that! There's an older couple and a park bench for them to sit on. The woman's hair is new and I don't recall seeing sweaters like that before. The woman painting is new too. There's been a few painters in the inventory, but I think this is the first female one.
Bag 3 has the family having a picnic or maybe based on the amount of food they have (a hot dog and a biscuit) they are just having a snack. It includes a mother (the picture shows her with shades, but the head is dual sided), a father figure, a girl figure, and then the baby in the stroller. The stroller is very simple, but definitely works for the new baby minifigure. The baby bottle is also a new and interesting design. I'm curious to see if they will add more in the future or not. The set also includes a dog and a female minifigure mowing the lawn. The lawn mower has appeared in other sets. I'm not sure if it's the same design or not, but it's pretty similar. It also includes a small tree and a picnic table.
I haven't been able to put a town scene together in a while, but am hoping to do so soon. These will definitely be a great addition. The last city minifigure set that I'm aware of was 9348 - Community Minifigures. While it was another great addition to the collection, the diversity of figures and parts was pretty basic. It included fire, police, and some other basics, but not the creative figures in this set. At LEGO Shop at Home it's currently listed as out of stock with an expected ship date of 3 July. The good part is that it's not going away anytime soon as it's brand new so be patient and place your order when it's back.