I finally finished my building backlog. I've had this set since this summer and it is now completed. The question I now need to answer is where do I put all of these sets. Some day I hope to live in a place that has a giant basement that I can engulf with LEGO. In the meantime, I will probably have to break all of these sets down and store them for the future.
Onto business... In 2014, LEGO released The Simpson's House. A minifigure scale size home that looks pretty darn close to the one you see on TV. The 2015 Simpson's set is the Kwik-E-Mart run by Apu. It was released on 2 May 2015 and contains 2,179 pieces. It has 6 minifigures, which include Homer, Bart (with a spray paint can), Marge with a shopping bag, Chief Wiggum (with a club and handcuffs), Apu Nahasapeemapetilo (yes, I had to look that one up... he has a mop to clean the floor), and Snake Jailbird. If you just want minifigures, LEGO has released 2 collectible minifigure series sets. Series 2 was released in 2015 and was sold out after Christmas this past year. I have a number of figures from series 1 and series 2 in my store if you are still looking for them. The Kwik-E-Mart is $199.99 in the US which works out to be about $0.092 per piece. While not the greatest price, it's not too bad considering it is a licensed set.
Here are the pictures of the box. It's a pretty large box. The front has the standard full picture of the set while the back shows some details of the build.
Here are the contents. I counted 17 bags total. Plus some loose large pieces. There is also a large instruction book and 2 pages of stickers. There are some great pieces in this set in some great colors. The only thing that really bothered me was the stickers. I understand that it is probably a cost savings as it is cheaper to put stickers on then to print on parts, but it is a real pain to put stickers on parts. That's just my opinion... This set has a lot of stickers to add detail so if you buy it, get ready.
The first set of bags is Chief Wiggum, his car, and Snake Jailbird along with a piece separator. The police car is a similar size, shape, and build to the Simpson's car from the Simpson's House set if you are familiar with it.
The next set of bags gets started on the store. The freezer and the cashier's area are included.
Here is more of the build. The outside includes an area for the dumpster that has a door that opens. There are also some fun arcade games, a drink dispenser, magazines, and a few other interesting details.
I didn't take pictures at every step of the way, but this stage shows how the back of the store attaches. It hinges out so you can have access to the store on both sides. I have a final picture with the back open later. Homer is picture as well. He just comes as shown, but I'm sure you could find some donuts with pink frosting in the store to put in his hands.
A little later in the build here... The Kwik-E-Mart sign is an interesting design. The "E" is made of LEGO plates and then the rest of the sign is 2 larger stickers. I can't complain as I'm sure it would have been much more challenging to build the whole sign out of bricks.
Here is the final set with the roof on. I haven't watched the show enough to know that Apu grows plants on the roof.
Here is the final set with the roof removed. You can see how the back of the store opens up to get access to it.
Here's a few of the inside looking in from the back. You can see a bit more of the detail to include the security cameras, donuts, and some of the items for sale. The designers did a good job coming up with different items to sell, but as you can see there are a lot of stickers throughout the set.
Overall it's a pretty good replica of the Kwik-E-Mart from the show. Even if you don't like the set, it comes with a lot of great pieces if you want to take it apart and build something on your own. LEGO has been putting out more sets priced $100 or more recently. This is most likely to cater to adult fans. While some of these are great sets, the prices definitely keep some of the fan base out of the sets. I'm not a raving Simpson's fan, but as an adult it's been fun to watch every now and then (definitely not a kid appropriate show). Fans of the show should definitely look into getting this set. The build was full of details and looks realistic compared to the show. The only downside of the set to me was the large amount of stickers. I'm not a fan of stickers on LEGO sets and I always have trouble putting them on straight.
If you have the set, post in the comments and let me know what you think.