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?

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.