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?
