Set Review - #10308-1: Holiday Main Street - Winter Village

It’s become a tradition in the world of LEGO sets with the Winter Village theme returning every year in the fall timeframe. While I am not a complete addict, I have purchased many of these sets. #10308-1: Holiday Main Street was released in the US on 23 September 2022. This one contains 1,514 pieces and retails for $99.99 in the US. This works out to $0.066 per piece.

The set this year includes a trolley, a toy shop, a music shop, and a small trolley stop with a mailbox, street sign, and street light. Let’s dig into the set.

The box shows the full set built on the front with the set title on the top left. The bottom has the 18+ greebling in white. The back of the box shows the back of the set, some of the details up close, a drawing showing the dimensions of the set, and it mentions that you can take the set, buy more parts, and motorize the trolley.

The set contains seven parts bags, a 6x16 plate, and the instruction booklets. The instructions are set up so that you can build the set with other people. My family split this up where my NLS built the music shop, my daughter built the toy shop, and my son and I built the trolley and trolley stop.

This set contains a sticker sheet. Thankfully it’s not a ton of stickers, but you still have to apply these details to the set.

The first bag comes with three minifigures and builds a number of items. One of the items that seems to come standard in Winter Village sets is a Christmas tree. This one is about the same size as previous ones, but is a completely different design. I like the use of plates to make this one. It’s a fun new design. You also build a small waiting area for the trolley. This area comes with a mail box some fence pieces, and a lamp post. The lamp post has clocks on the top and the street signage.

Bags two and three build the trolley. My initial look at it led me to believe it would be a simple design, but it’s actually pretty detailed and fairly accurate looking. The top easily comes off so you can place minifigures inside and it comes with a trolley operator. You put a sticker on a tile for each side to advertise the stores you build later on which is a fun addition. The instructions show you how to add a motor if you buy the extra parts. I haven’t done that nor do I plan on it at any time soon, but it’s nice that they factored that in for those interested in doing so.

This set comes with two building facades that are two stories high each. This is very similar to #76388-1: Hogsmeade Village from the Harry Potter theme. I disassembled the Hogsmeade Village set, but I’m sure you could put the two together to add to the village theme. Bags four and five assemble H. Jollie’s Music Store. The front of the store uses the brick textured bricks along with some good color choices to make the store stand out. There’s some white plates as snow on the roof, some Christmas decor, and a sticker for the store shop sign. This building comes with one minifigure to work at the shop.

Inside on the ground floor is the shop. It has a drum set, violin, guitar, saxophone, and a keyboard on the wall. There’s a small cash register on a counter as well. Upstairs is a small kitchenette with a table, chairs, and a tea kettle, oven/microwave, and some cabinets. The table is set with some mugs, treats, and a candle. On the wall is a picture of #10267-1: Gingerbread House.

Bags six and seven assemble “Santa’s Toys and Games” shop. The outside of the building has some simple designs, but again, they are enough to make the building stand out and the build process not as boring. I like the colors, especially the green of the second floor. You get some more Christmas decor, a sign, and a small blue bird.

The ground floor is a toy shop with minature toys on sale to include a robot, train, building, roller skates, and a rabbit. There is a counter with a cash register as well and someone even left $100 on the counter for us. This store comes with one worker minifigure.

Floor number two has a small apartment bedroom with a small Christmas tree, a bed, a night stand, a rug, and some gifts under the tree.

This set comes with six minifigures. It’s a decent mix of figures and parts in my opinion. Not really anything super new, but that’s okay in my opinion.

Here’s the full assembled set. I like this addition to the winter village theme and I wish I had the rest of my sets together so I can put them all in the same spot for a larger photo. Someday… This is priced reasonably in my opinion if you look at the price per piece. I’m okay without the motor and track being included and I’m glad there is no light brick as I typically don’t use them anyways. Hopefully the lack of a light brick kept the cost lower.

What are your thoughts? Are they running out of set ideas in the Winter Village theme or does this one fit right in?

Happy building!

Set Review - #10293-1: Santa's Visit - Winter Village

As per usual, Christmas is over and here I am finally getting to review the Winter Village themed set released for Christmas. Better late than never I guess. This one is #10293-1: Santa’s Visit. It was released on 17 September 2021 in the US. It contains 1,445 pieces and retails for $99.99. This works out to $0.069 per piece which isn’t that bad.

The box is in the 18+ branding and while the background is dark, it does look like they tried to brighten up the set so all of the features stand out. The box is pretty standard. The front shows the full set and the front of the house you build. The back shows the back/inside of the house and then some of the features of the house.

This set contains nine numbered parts bags and two instruction booklets wrapped up with the stickers. The first and smaller booklet covers bag one and all of the accessories not attached to the main structure. In theory, if you were building with someone else, you could hand off that one while you worked on the house. I suspect they will finish first, but I like the concept.

Here are the instruction booklets. The inside has some details on the set and on the builder, Chris McVeigh who also designed last year’s Winter Village themed set #10275-1: Elf Club House.

Only four stickers with this set. Not too bad I guess.

The first bag builds what I loosely refer to as the accessories, but mainly it is parts not connected to the main structure. There is a small fence section with a mail box and an entrance large enough for a minifigure. For whatever reason, the designers decided this piece should be separate so if you want it linked to the house, you need to use your own pieces. The same goes for the fence, unless you want the fence to highlight the entrance to the walkway that you also need to build with your own pieces. The mailbox is a simple build that easily gets across what it is and there is a post with a lamp on it and some greenery.

There are also a bunch of gifts you build to put under the tree. Some are just boxes with decorations, but there are a few actual items to include a small rocket and a trumpet. The girl’s room has some space themed decorations so you can assume the rocket is for her. The trumpet looks pretty good considering its size, but would be quite large for a minifigure to play. For it to be more realistic, you’d need a molded element similar to the saxophone that has shown up a few times in the past.

Lastly comes the tree. The designers continue to come up with new methods to build trees. This one is no different. The tree has a light brick on the bottom and is built on top of the brick. It is built in a way that when you push down on the top of the tree, the light brick turns on, but it is not heavy enough to keep the light brick on all the time.. There are clear plates throughout so that the light from the brick shows through the tree. This is a fun technique to use and I like how it was done. Bonus points to the designers!

The second bag builds the base for the house. As has been the recent trend, instead of just using a base plate, the designers attached a bunch of plates together. The good part about this is it allows them to get some different shapes besides just making everything square.

A few interesting parts of this bag… you build the fire in the fireplace. The fire appears to be a gas fire as it comes from burners versus a log type design. The burners pivot which I believe allows Santa to come down the chimney and not get burned. Although the “fire” stays lit so the house burns up when it tilts over. The other fun part is the present that you build and place on the floor. Later, you build a chair that goes in front of the gift. This is supposed to be the parents hiding gifts for the kid, but any kid would find that gift in seconds so not really a good hiding spot.

Bag three builds up some of the outer wall. This includes some greenery decorations made of claw type pieces. There is also a lot of snow that has fallen off the house or been shoveled into the areas. There is also a small white bird perched on a window sill.

I didn’t take a picture of the inside, but the kitchen is built up with a sink, some counters, an oven, drawers, a kitchen mixer, and a loaf of bread on the counter.

Bag four finishes most of the first floor. You build up the walls, add the windows, and install the door. On the inside, there are a few additions like a flower, the wood pile, and more of the chimney.

The fifth bag builds up the living room area of the house. This includes adding a chair, with a coffee table, and then decorations on the fire place. The fire place decorations include stockings, some candles, a clock, and a family picture. It also builds up the chimney and some of the wall of the house.

The sixth bag adds a dining room table with four chairs. The table has a red table runner and a candle on some greenery.

It also has you build the girl’s room. This includes a bed, a desk and chair, a picture on the wall (focused on space exploration), and the Christmas list on her desk. There are no stairs to the upstairs as usual, but no complaints considering the piece count and price of the set.

On the outside, there is a roof portion added over the kitchen area with some decorations. The bell decorations are a cool addition.

This bag also adds the girl minifigure. She is in pajamas which I don’t think have been done before. Her face has smiling on one side and then eyes closed and sleeping on the other.

Bag seven finishes off the chimney and adds on most of the roof. A different method is used to attach the roof that hasn’t been used previously. Nothing overly complicated, just different.

Bag eight adds the center section of the house along with the roof. It doesn’t add an additional floor, just a wall section, but there’s more greenery, some bells, and a window.

Bag nine, the last one, adds a bunch of different small details around the house. You finish off the chimney with some snow around the edges. Additionally, you add a tree on the ground near the chimney. The stem and branches are brown, but the smaller branches are all white as if it had just snowed. And because I put it in the picture, you get a Santa minifigure in this bag. He comes with a sack.

The next part as seen in the picture is a small snowman. In the past, they have used minifigure parts, but this one is all white and just uses round bricks.

The last addition to the house is some roofing on the back over the girl’s bedroom and a brick build decoration of a planet with rings to go with her enjoyment of space exploration.

This set comes with four minifigures. To me, it looks like a lot of new torso parts we haven’t seen before. Is that true? Both the mother and father have smiling faces and then laughing with eyes closed on the other side. The daughter has eyes open and mouth open and then sleeping. Santa has a big hat and beard so you wouldn’t be able to tell if the face had another side (it doesn’t).

Here’s the final build. To be honest, it’s nothing that really screamed out to me that it was awesome. It had some good building techniques and it uses some fun pieces, but other than that, it was just a house. The light up Christmas tree is a nice addition to the set as compared to light up houses and fire places in the past. Other than that, it’s okay. If you’re into this theme, then definitely get the set. It’s been sold out on LEGO.com since before Christmas 2021, but I did see it listed on Walmart. Check around for it, but good luck if you can find a sale. Hopefully you can get a good gift with purchase or double VIP points to go with it.

Happy building!

Set Review - #40337-1: Mini Gingerbread House - Creator - Limited Edition

I’m a little late on this one, but I wanted to catch this set before it was too late. #40337-1: Mini Gingerbread House was a gift with qualifying purchase from LEGO in December 2019. It contains 499 pieces and is a mini build of #10267-1: Gingerbread House from the Creator Expert line.

The front of the box shows the set in front of a winter scene. It also has a red ribbon with a “Limited Edition” marking on it. The back of the box shows set #10267-1. I guess it’s so you can compare the two. Or maybe they needed some advertising space?

The contents are six parts bags, 2 instruction booklets, and a sticker sheet with one sticker on it. The parts bags are labeled one through three with three number ones, one number two, and two number threes.

As expected with any mini build, the pieces are rather small. As you can see, most are tiles or plates and most are 1x1 or 1x2. There are very few bricks as compared to plates and tiles. The 2019 sticker goes well on the set and helps to make it a true limited edition for the year. I’m actually a fan of this one. Probably because it is larger and there is only one sticker.

The bag labeled number two completes the first floor and you can see most of the details from #10267-1 miniaturized in this set. I think the designers did a great job at capturing the main details while still making it somewhat realistic. As you can expect, they didn’t build the internals of the house since there is not a lot of room. The back is instead just closed off as a wall with no details. I’m okay with this choice versus adding in extra details as you will probably just display the front of this set anyways.

The third set of bags finishes off the set. Overall it’s a fun build. I actually built it with my 5-year old and she did a pretty good job at getting it right. I had to guide in a bunch of spots, but she managed to get the hang of the SNOT techniques used on the roof pieces.

Overall, I think LEGO did a nice job with this set. Sadly, you’ll have to look on the secondary market for this one now. Usually these sets go for $25 to $30. Do they go higher? On some occasions in the past, LEGO has done a Christmas in July promotion where they have brought back Christmas sets the following July as a gift with purchase. No telling whether that will happen in 2020, but if you missed out, pay attention to in the summertime to see if that deal returns.

What do you think of this set? Did you get it with a purchase and was it worth it?

In the meantime, happy building!

Set Review - #10267-1: Gingerbread House - Creator Expert - Winter Village

LEGO has a few lines where they repeat the theme at specific times each year. The Winter Village is one of those themes with 2019’s set being released on 1 October 2019. #10267-1: Gingerbread House retails for $99.99 in the US. It contains 1,247 pieces which works out to be $0.068/piece. As of late, LEGO has been discounting these sets at their end of life time period which is usually after 3 years (but not always). You can look for deals at other retailers too so be on the lookout!

Here’s the box. The front of the box shows the full set while the back of the box shows the back of the set and some of the play features. The box also notes that you get a light brick with the set which seems to be pretty standard for the Winter Village buildings.

The contents are 10 parts bags. The bags are labeled 1 though 5 and there are 2 bags each. You also get a 16x16 white plate. Additionally, there is a sealed package with the instructions and a small sticker sheet. The instructions contain 2 booklets. The first is for the first set of bags and includes everything not attached to the gingerbread house. The second is the build for the house.

I was glad to see a small sticker sheet with only 3 stickers on it. The stickers were also decent sized so I’m glad I didn’t have to put stickers on 1x1 or 1x2 tiles. This set gets the detail by using bricks and printing. Yay!

The first 2 bags build everything not connected to the house. There is a small Christmas tree which has some similarities to last year’s set (#10263-1: Winter Village Fire Station). I like the star on top and the piece they used to create it is pretty cool. I’m not sure if it is new or not, but I hope to see it again.

The two minifigures are in this bag too. From what I recall, the gingerbread man first appeared back in the Series 11 Collectible Minifigures set. Is that from 2013? Now we get two different versions. The male version has a mustache and the female has a skirt on. There is also a 1x2 tile for the baby. Along with the baby is a bottle about the size of the baby and you build a small carriage with cookie wheels to push the baby around in.

There is a snow blower which is cleverly designed and it looks like it could be candy made.

The second set of bags starts the actual gingerbread house. The floor has some great tiling work. I’m also a big fan of the translucent, sparkled 1x1 bricks for the windows. I always like the 1x2 or 1x4 bricks with the brick texture on them. No complaints thus far in the build.

The third set of bags finishes up the first floor of the house. The fireplace reaches through the front of the house and into the first floor. I’m not sure I’m a fan of this, but I’m guessing it is so you can show the light brick on the inside and the outside. The inside has some good details to include a little kitchen, some furniture, and some decorations. Given the small space, I think the designers did a good job at making sure it was detailed without going overkill on details.

The fourth set of bags builds up the second floor. The use of white tiles and bricks to make the roofs look frosted is cool along with the 1x1 round tiles to make is seem like there are candies as well. You can see the bathtub and the start of the bathroom on the interior of the second floor in this bag too.

The fifth set of bags finishes off the house. The roof is completed and the upstairs details are completed. I’m a fan of the multiple slopes on the roof versus just one slope. The use of many angles makes it look more like a house.

The interior details include a lamp, a bed, the crib, the rest of the bathroom, and the toilet. Again, great use of parts to maintain the candy feel while adding details.

Here’s the final picture with everything from the set. Overall, I like this set and I think it was worth the price they set on it. It was a good build with some interesting techniques and some great pieces. The minifigures are fun and this set fits well within the Winter Village sub-theme.

Downsides to the set… I would prefer the full building versus just a half. I realize it would drive up the price or cut down on the detailing, but the builds limit how you can display the sets. Everything has to face one direction or you have to build your thoughts for the rest of the set on your own.

If you’re a fan of the Winter Village sub-theme, I recommend picking this set up. Look for opportunities to get it on sale or to get double VIP points or other bonuses if it is not on sale.

Happy building!

The Piano Guys Meets LEGO Stop Motion Animation for Christmas

I stumbled upon this video on YouTube without even trying to look for it. It’s a stop motion video done by Michael Hickox Films with the Piano Guys music playing along with it. The Christmas movie references are great. It’s worth the just under 4 minutes to watch the video. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas 2017

Merry Christmas from Bricks for Bricks!  Hope you got all of the bricks you were looking for this Christmas.

There's a simple LEGO Train display under my tree.  It is #10233 Horizon Express pulling up to the Winter Village Station (#10259).  In front is the City Tanker Truck (#3180) and a car from... I have no idea what old set it is... a town set from the 1990s most likely.

Happy building!

Set Review - Snowglobe - #40223

Christmas is a little less than a month away and LEGO sales and deals have hit the markets.  One of the ways the LEGO Company increases sales is by offering exclusive Christmas themed sets.  See my review of last year's sets here.  This year one of those sets is the Snowglobe (#40223).  It was available to VIP members in the US about a week prior to the Brick Friday sales for orders over $99 and then it was open to all for orders over $99 on the Brick Friday weekend.  It contains 215 pieces and like most years the price on the secondary markets goes up pretty quickly.  I ordered a few things in the week prior to Brick Friday and received a set so here is my review.

The container is similar to previous years.  The front has a limited edition stamp in the upper right corner.  The back just shows that it has a drawer you can open.  Magically, the round 1x1 tile pieces are floating in the air.

Set contents are 3 bags of bricks and an instruction booklet.

Onto the build... it starts off with the drawer portion of the set.  The 1x2 bricks with the brick-like tile design on the side in the brick red color are new (to me).  I think it's a great color and I hope to see it more often in more sets.  Has it appeared elsewhere?

The next picture adds the Santa figure.  I haven't compared him to the Santa figures of the past, but I think it's pretty good. The hat design seems new, but the beard is the same as previous Santas.

Here's the final set with the globe portion complete.  The Christmas tree inside fits nicely.  It doesn't have a lot of detail, but looks decent considering the space available.  The greenery on the top doesn't do much for me, but they had to do something on the top.  The picture on the right shows the drawer open.  I don't know what you'd want to put in there, but it's a nice part of the design.

Normally now is the time that I either recommend or tell you to avoid buying a set.  I can't do that this time because the set isn't available anymore.  If you want to buy it, you have to check out the secondary market.  I haven't looked to see what the prices are, but my guess is around $30.  While I'm no expert, my recommendation would be to wait for Christmas to be over and to look to buy this set in the summer when there probably isn't a lot of interest.  Usually the prices go back up and they start to move faster before Christmas so pick one up before next Christmas if you're interested in one.

Happy Building!

Christmas Promo Set Reviews - Gingerbread House (40139) and Christmas Train (40138)

If you are one who celebrates Christmas, then Merry Christmas to you!  I was at Target on 23 December and walked through the toy area.  It was mobbed (as to be expected) and the LEGO aisle looked like a war zone.  There were only a handful of sets left and many people were walking around talking about LEGO.  I hope you have purchased the LEGO you needed to ahead of time and weren't stuck somewhere like the picked through Target that I was at.  

The LEGO Company usually does a lot of promotions around Christmas time and also has some Christmas themed sets.  They traditionally have Advent calendars (City, Star Wars, and Friends), some decorations made out of LEGO, and continuations to the LEGO Winter Village theme.  LEGO Shop at Home has also had a number of promotions to include free shipping on all orders, double VIP points, and what I'm going to talk about today, the free Christmas promotional sets.  I'm not sure when it's started, but LEGO has released 2 sets a year that come free if your purchase more than a certain dollar amount (usually $99).  The first is available around October and the next one becomes available around Thanksgiving time.

This year there were 2 sets.  The first was set 40138, the Christmas Train.  It was available from 13 October to 13 November 2015.  The set has 233 pieces.  Here are some pictures of the box.

The box just has pictures of the set on the front and back.  The front of the box says that it's a 2015 Limited Edition set.

The set contains 4 LEGO parts bags and an instruction booklet.  There are no stickers (thankfully) and the bags aren't numbered.  With 233 parts, not having numbers isn't an issue as it was easy to find the parts needed to build the set.

Here is the final version of the set.  It is simple, yet rather detailed.  There is an engine, a car with various Christmas treats (cookies, packages, a candy cane, a lollipop, and a few other goodies), and then a caboose.  There is also a sign and tree that can go along the train's route.

Overall, this is a great set.  You can't beat the price... free... well you have to buy other stuff, but if you time your purchases knowing that this will be coming, then you're not upset about it.  While being small, the set contains a lot of great parts.  I enjoy building with the dark green color and the gold colored pieces are good too.  Plus as a town and train fan, I've found that I can never have enough landscaping pieces so an extra tree piece is good with me.  It also has a number of small pieces that are extra for the set that you can use elsewhere if you plan to keep this train together.

The next set is the Gingerbread House (40139).  It has 277 pieces and as mentioned it was available around Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday for purchases of $99 or more.  

The Gingerbread House box looks similar to the Train box.  Just a simple picture of the set with the 2015 Limited Edition marking on it.

The contents are similar to the train set as well.  There are for parts bags, an instruction booklet, and then a 2 x 12 white plate external to the bags.  

And here's the final design with front, side, and back pictures.  Despite being very small, the designers did a great job putting details in to make it look like a real gingerbread house.  Like the train, there are some great pieces in this set.  The brick textured pieces included are great and some of the candy colored pieces can also be useful with other builds.  Like the train set, there are a number of small pieces leftover for other uses if you want to keep this set together.

Overall, it's another great set.  With only 277 pieces, the designers did a good job cramming in detail with a small number of pieces.  Like the train, it's a great piece to add to your Winter Village or to have up around your house as a Christmas decoration.  

If you want to get one of these, you have to look on the secondary market.  I'm not sure what the prices on Amazon.com or EBay are, but Bricklink lists the average selling price for the train as $30.83 and $36.04 for the Gingerbread house.  I have one of each available, but I they are currently not for sale on my site yet as I'm focused on minifigures for now.

Let me know what you think of these sets in the comments section.