Exclusives

Set Review - #4000026-1: LEGO House Tree of Creativity

Here’s the final review of the LEGO® House sets. There was #21037: LEGO® House and #40366-1: LEGO® House Dinosaurs. Now there’s #4000026-1: LEGO® House Tree of Creativity. These three sets are only available at the LEGO® Brand Store in the LEGO® House in Billund, Denmark. This set was released in 2018. I couldn’t find the exact date and I’m not sure how long it will be out.

The set contains 837 pieces and is priced at 599 DKK. The day I went, the exchange rate made it $89.63 total. That’s $0.107 per piece so a bit on the high end in my opinion. Keep in mind that the price includes 25% Value Added Tax (think sales tax in the US) so if you buy it with the VAT form that you can take to the airport then it will be cheaper. I didn’t have that option since I was just driving back to Germany so I ate the tax.

Keep in mind when you go that there is a limit of three per family. As mentioned in other reviews, I didn’t try and play any games and have my NLS buy some too. I did have a car so it made bringing back the extra sets much easier than trying to get them on a plane or shipping them back to the US.

Onto the review…

The box is not a normal size that I recognize from other sets. Or maybe it is and I just can’t tell the difference. The front shows the set with the minifigure included nearby. The back gives some information on the LEGO House and the actual Tree of Creativity. I also included a picture from the side of the box of the LEGO® House logo and then some stats on the actual model.

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The set comes with six parts bags that are not numbered and includes a piece separator. The instructions are not wrapped, but they were not jammed in the box. No stickers!

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The build doesn’t have any natural break points where you open new bags or switch to a new instruction book so I just took pictures as I went. The build starts off with the base of the tree. The actual base is a 3 foot high or so barrier and the bottom is filled with various green parts. Obviously the trunk of the tree starts there too.

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The tree is built around a square pattern with various pieces thrown in to mix up the shape and made it non-uniform. The middle of the trunk is filled with two Technic parts that hook in throughout the tree with pins. This occurs throughout the build as you’ll see and helps to make it more structurally sound. On the actual tree trunk are various designs. The set has the wooden duck toy built in similar to how the actual tree has the wooden duck built in.

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Continuing on is the first branch with a castle on it to represent the castle theme. You can also see the Technic parts continuing their journey upwards.

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Continuing on with the trunk rising up around the Technic parts. Another branch is added with a fire truck resting on it.

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As the build continues, there is a branch with a train, a train station, and a building. The train is one of the larger mini-builds on top of a branch. A few of the branches are added on without any items on top. If you go to the actual Tree of Creativity, you can see that the LEGO® House builds new things across time to remain permanent or to just be part time additions. During my trip, there were some monkeys hanging out on the various branches.

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Instruction #162… this includes a branch with a rocket on top. Up to #192 includes some branches with nothing on top and a branch with a bulldozer on it.

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Topping off the build is a crane with a new part of the tree to attach. The tree is meant to be a story of the LEGO® Company’s journey and the crane shows how it will continue to grow. It will be interesting to see if over the years they add new branches and new sections.

This set comes with one minifigure. It’s a male minifigure with blond-ish colored hair in a LEGO® House shirt. The LEGO® Store there has other figures with this shirt, but they all appear to be key chains. So unless there is another way, this is your only option to get one like this. In my opinion, it would be nice to build your own figure with the shirt or if the set had multiple versions and you could pick which one you wanted based on the minifigure it had. That would probably be harder to produce so I’m sure the set would be more expensive it they did that.

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A few extra items that I haven’t highlighted… on one side of the tree is a brick built wood pecker. Considering the scale, I think the designers did a good job capturing a bird.

Also, I included another shot so you can get a closer look at the train station, rocket, and bulldozer.

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We’ve reached the end of the build. Overall, it’s a good set and captures the real model pretty accurately. The build uses some good techniques and there are some decent pieces in the set. In my opinion though, I would pick one of the other LEGO® House exclusive sets over this one if I was limited in luggage space or funds. The other 2 are better display pieces. This one doesn’t fit as much as it looks weird as a stand alone tree. The actual tree in the building fits the architecture right by the stairwell. It doesn’t look as thin because it is surrounded by the stairs and then approaches the top of the building. Additionally, it is a bit pricey for what you get. ~$90 for 837 pieces and the pieces aren’t all that big. As a collector, I’m glad I got it, but that’s really the only audience it applies to. What are your thoughts?

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Set Review - #40366-1: LEGO House Dinosaurs

If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ve seen my posts about my trip to the LEGO® House in Billund, Denmark. I hinted that I would be reviewing the exclusive sets and now here I am with the the first of three. Starting with the newest one first, #40366-1: LEGO House Dinosaurs was released on 1 May 2019 (I believe… someone correct me if that is wrong). It is only available at the LEGO® House in the Brand Store there. There is a sign by the set along with the other exclusive sets saying that you are limited to three per family. I assume they track by your VIP points and I didn’t try to scam them by buying more on the second day without my VIP points number. The joy of driving to Billund was that I had a car and didn’t have to cram my haul into suit cases. So I got 3. The set has 864 pieces and retails for 599 DKK. I bought 2 sets on day one and 1 on day 2. The first day I paid around $89.63 and the second day was around $89.73 with the exchange rate. That works about to about $0.104 per piece. So right around the average for a set if you assume 10 cents per piece is the going rate.

Keep in mind that this includes VAT or Value Added Tax. In the US, you pay sales tax which is factored in above the listed price. In Europe, VAT is already in there. So really, on day 1 I paid $22.41 in tax and the set was only $67.22. The Brand Store at the LEGO® House says you can do VAT free shopping. It means you get a form and take your receipt and form to a stand that is usually at the airport. They process it and then magically you get a refund on your credit card a few months later. Since I live in Germany right now, that wasn’t an option for me, but had I flown back to the US, I could have done that. So something to consider if you fly from the US to Billund.

Onto the review… The front shows the set build in a digital recreation of the Masterpiece Gallery. It also shows the LEGO® House logo. The back provides some background on the LEGO® House Dinosaurs and shows a picture of the actual models. It also had a small write up about the LEGO® House itself.

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The box contains 9 parts bags, a bag of white flex rods, and 3 instruction books packaged up with a sticker sheet. Bag one contains a teal colored piece separator.

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The first bag begins the DUPLO® T-Rex. You start by building the arms, tail, and body. There are a few stickers on this one, but nothing too major.

Without the legs it almost looks like it could be a sea monster…

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The third bag adds the display stand found at the LEGO® House. The stand includes 2 eggs, which as of this year, one has hatched. This model is of the original design when the LEGO® House first opened. The stand has a spot for you to attach the feet so it doesn’t fall over.


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Bag 5 wraps up the System brick dinosaur. The head is built in a somewhat similar method with the teeth and eyes looking similar to the DUPLO® version. The legs are built differently. It still stands up on its own well once you balance it.

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The seventh bag starts the Technic parts built dinosaur. Like bags 1 and 4, this one builds the body, arms, and tail. As to be expected, it is heavy on the use of Technic parts.


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And the ninth bag is a stand that is similar to the other 2.



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The second bag finishes the DUPLO® dinosaur. The head and legs are finished. I like how they did the teeth and it includes a tongue too. The use of the ball joints for eyes is also a nice touch. The brick flower pieces do a good job replicating the flowers found on the actual build.

With the weight being distributed around, it is easy to get the dinosaur to stand up on its own without falling over.


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The fourth bag starts the System bricks dinosaur. Like bag one, this bag builds the tail, arms, and body of the dinosaur with some slight changes. There are fewer stickers here to apply which is good in my opinion.

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The sixth bag builds the stand for this dino. Like the DUPLO® version, this one has a spot for you to attach the feet. This allows you to change the position and not worry about it falling over if it isn’t balanced.

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The eighth bag finishes up the Technic T-Rex. It uses a lot of Technic pieces, but the main construction is with system bricks and the Technic pieces are strapped on the outside. Only 2 stickers on this one so not bad. The head is built slightly different than the other 2, but it still has similar eyes and teeth.

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Here are all three together as a completed set. Overall, I’m a big fan. I think they did a great job capturing the big models at a smaller scale. The builds are somewhat similar, but each have small changes that make the build more interesting. They are a good display set and they have some play features too.

The price is a bit high, but that’s what you get for an exclusive set sold at one place only. Maybe when I re-open my Bricklink store, I will sell the other 2 I bought to help make up for the cost.

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Here’s the set next to a picture I took during my visit in May 2019. Obviously not exactly alike, but I think they are close considering it’s only a few hundred pieces for 3 versus many hundreds of thousands of bricks for the real ones.

Has anyone else built this set yet? What are your thoughts?

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