(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.
