Be Ready to Sign up for the LEGO® Inside Tour: 2020

If you are a huge fan of the brick, pay attention to this…. how would you like to have the opportunity to tour parts of the LEGO campus in Billund no one else gets to see? Do you want to meet designers? Do you want to spend 2.5 days at the home of LEGO seeing how the magic happens? Do you want to shop at the employee store? If you have answered yes to those questions, then the Inside Tour is for you!

Here are the details (get the full scoop at the LEGO® House site here):

-Sign ups start October 28, 10 am CET (5AM on the east coast of the US… Europe’s fall time change happens before it does in the US) and end November 1, 10 am CET (2019).

-Available tour dates are:
13-15 May 2020
10-12 June 2020
26-28 August 2020
9-11 September 2020

-Check out the site linked above for logistics details about meals and lodging. Keep in mind that your transportation to Billund is not covered.

-Cost for the tour is DKK 14,500 which at the exchange rate today is $2,155 and change (or ~2.6 #71592-1: Millennium Falcons).

-Based on signing up last year (and not getting picked), there is a short form that lets you put some basic info in and then select the dates you can attend. It didn’t provide you a spot to plead your case. The only other thing that was different was it asked if you were a member of a LUG or not.

-The tour is in English so if you’re using Google Translate to read this post, then it might not be the best option for you. The sign up form does ask where you are from and what your nationality is so maybe they try and balance where they select people from.

If you’re not sure about it or if it is worth attending, there are a number of great posts out there about folks who have done the tour. Do some searching online and you’ll hear from adults, teens, and adults who brought kids.

I will be applying again in the slight chance that I get picked. If I recall from last year there were only a limited number of slots per tour and a few thousand applied so we’ll see what happens.

Good luck and let me know if you get selected!

Set Review - #40305-1: LEGO® Brand Store

Set #40305-1: LEGO® Brand Store was originally released as a Brand Store exclusive set. I mentioned it in my store reviews here and here. Well its status has changed and as of 4 September 2019, it is available on LEGO Shop @ Home in the US. I had to search for it by number as I couldn’t find it on any of the drop down categories. Has anyone else found it there?

The set itself has 362 pieces and 2 minifigures. In the US it is $24.99 ($0.069/piece) and in Germany where I picked it up it’s 24.99€ (0.069€/piece). So a better deal in the states depending on how much sales tax you pay. For those of you keeping track, it’s been available in Germany since 2 June 18 according to Brickset.com.

Onto the set…

Unlike most set boxes, this one is very generic with a yellow background. It just has the LEGO logo, but no other details beyond the shadow of a city. The front shows the set and the back goes into some details on the set.

The contents are 4 numbered parts bags, a fifth parts bag with no number, the instruction booklet, and a small sticker sheet. My sticker sheet had an error on it. One of the boxes had a duplicate box sticker attached below it. Nothing a pair of scissors could not solve, but I have never seen an error on a sticker sheet in a set.

Onto the build… bags 1 and 2 are required for the first section of instructions. This builds the first floor of the shop. Externally, the front entrance door is offset from the store front by a stud. It has a flag outside, minimal decoration above the door, and sadly a sticker for the LEGO logo versus a printed tile (I was hoping it would be printed). On the inside you have some sets for sale on the wall, a bin with nothing in it, a small MOC on display in the front window, a cash register, and what I assume is the pick a brick wall. Nothing overly amazing about this build other than I like how they were able to build this to minifigure scale and capture some of the details.

Bags 3 and 4 finish the set off. The front has some simple decoration, but still some nice details. There is some coloring and texture, 2 flags, awnings over the windows, and then the edge of the roof has a simple, yet nice design. Inside you have more sets on the wall, some MOCs in the window (a fire truck and I’m not sure what the other one is). There is what appears to be a build-a-minifigure station and then a shield in a bin which I’m not sure what it represents in a Brand Store. As you can see from the last picture, the top of the store has a yellow 2x4 brick design. This is a fun detail and I’m not sure if it actually exists on any actual Brand Stores out there.

The set comes with two minifigures. One is a child with a red baseball cap on. I assume it is a male, but in theory it could be a female with short hair covered by the cap. The other is an adult male. He’s got a Hawaiian style shirt on and looks pretty chill with a goatee and wavy hair. You can figure out whether the adult is a worker, parent, or an AFOL.

The set does not come with a Brand Store worker which I see as a downside. I do have one from a previous free set with purchase, but it would have been great to get one with this set. I know the design exists, but it probably has to do with wanting the set cost to remain at its current level. I’m not sure how much adding in another minifigure would skew the price.

Here are pictures of the full set. Its design reminds me of the Creator 3-in-1 type buildings with a front and no back half. In my mind, these buildings are good for builders like me who are not good a coming up with MOCs on their own. I can take what was started and build the back half. Maybe include some stairs so you can actually get to the upstairs in the store?

Overall it’s a fun set. The pricing isn’t bad and they have captured a Brand Store well given the scale. As mentioned, a store worker minifigure would have been preferred in the set. As an AFOL, it is not a challenging build, but the box states ages 8+ which lines up with the difficulty.

What are your thoughts on this one?

Happy building!

Set Review - #21316-1: The Flintstones - LEGO® Ideas

The 24th LEGO® Ideas set was released on 2 March 2019. It is “The Flintstones” and was made by fan designer Andrew Clark. The set has 748 pieces and retails in the US for $59.99. This works out to $0.08/piece which isn’t too bad. Amazon.com has had it on sale for 20% off at the time of this post for a few weeks now. I waited for this one to go on sale as it interested me, but not enough to buy it right away at full price. So let’s see if it was worth the wait.

Like most sets, the front shows the whole set built with the back showing some of the features to include the removal of the roof, the bowling set, the car and the rack of ribs, and some of the inside furniture.

The contents are 6 bags with an instruction book. There is a piece separator in bag one. Excitedly, there are no stickers! WOOHOO!!!!!

Here is the instruction book. It is not wrapped in a separate package like some of the more expensive sets. It does have a few pages about the set to include the fan designer and LEGO designers (as shown). There are also some pages on The Flintstones show itself.

Bag 1 builds the car, rack of ribs, and minifigures for Fred and Wilma. The car has the look of the Flintstones car, but I have 2 complaints. First is the roof is a bit flimsy. There isn’t much structure to it and it fell apart on me while I was building it. To be fair, I don’t have a better solution. The second is the wheels. They are held together by two round plates which is fine on one side where the studs face in, but on the side where the studs face out, they rub against the frame of the car. Not badly, but could a tile piece have been used there? On the plus side, I like the use of the 2x2 round tile that is printed to look like a cut log as the axle.

The second bag starts to build the house (sorry for the background change, I had to switch building areas). Nothing overly exciting here. The back of the house is attached with hinge pieces for access and play I assume.

The third bag finishes most of the wall structure. Outer detail is added later. Also, the windows are in place and space for the door.

The fourth bag adds some detail on the outer walls. From my picture you can see it better on the instruction sheet. The opposite side of the house has it as well as a chimney. I like the palm tree used in the set. It is reminiscent of the one used in Pirate themed sets back in the day.

Bag 5 adds some inner details to include curtains on the windows, a TV (with a printed tile brick for the screen), a couch, coffee table, lamp, a small cupboard, a door, and a container with the bowling set. Besides the TV tile, there is also a picture on the wall and the curtains are printed. YAY no stickers! I like the house details. Not over the top, but enough to look like the inside of the house from the cartoon.

This bag also completes the minifigures with Barney and Betty.

The sixth bag completes the set with a roof that is easily removable, some plants along the outside of the house, and a mailbox with a printed piece for the Flintstone name. I like how they made the roof angle versus making it flat.

Here are the minifigures. Betty and Wilma have two faces while Fred and Barney just have one expression. The response I saw from the fan media was not being impressed by these. They wanted molded heads versus the standard minifigure shape. I agree that the standard head doesn’t look as realistic, but I still think they captured the look of the Flintstones characters. I am also glad that the legs are printed versus having to add a cloth piece as the pants/dresses.

There has also been some debate about who to include. Where are Pebbles and Bam-Bam? What about Dino? My opinion is this set was not designed to capture the whole show or to be the start of a Flintstones line of sets. It is a one off that highlights the show and LEGO captured the main characters. I am good with just the four.

Overalll, it’s a good set. There are some decent pieces and it captures the theme well. The build is not overly challenging and there are no stickers (YES!). I’m glad I picked the set up at 20% off versus full price. It didn’t really seem like a $60 set to me. There is nothing that really jumps out at you other than the nostalgia for the theme. I’d put this set down as middle of the road.

What are your thoughts?

Store Review - LEGO® Brand Store - Saarbrücken, Germany

I wasn’t planning on it, but I had the opportunity to stop in a Brand Store in Saarbrücken, Germany during the Triple Force Friday sales event 2019 (4 to 6 October). The store front was full of some of the most recent new sets. With the focus on Star Wars, I’ll start there. The first picture I took included the new LEGO Boost Droid Commander (#75253-1), Kylo Ren’s Shuttle (#75256-1), another Millennium Falcon (#75257-1), and Yoda (#75255-1). They had all of the other new sets available as well. I didn’t look around at the sale sets to see what was available (sorry).

Additionally, they had the UCS Imperial Star Destroyer (#75252-1) assembled in the front window. Wow is it a big set! I was not the only one in the window taking pictures of the set. Still not sure if it is worth my money or not, but it’s definitely a cool display piece.

Additionally in the front window was the new Winter Village Gingerbread House (#10267-1). It was cool to see it up close and personal. I think I’ll be picking the set up at some point, but I’m not sure when.

Also on display was the new Disney Train and Station (#71044-1). Inside the store they had the Disney Castle built (#71040-1).

The LEGO Ideas Tree House (#21318-1) was on display in the front in the summer version. Inside the store they had it built in the fall version with the other set of leaves. It was neat to see how it looks with both versions if leaves.

LEGO Ideas Central Perk (#21319-1) from the TV show Friends was on display in two places. There was one in the front window and one inside the store. The one inside the store was a little easier to see and get pictures of so you get the picture here.

The Technic Land Rover (#42110-1) was available for sale and they had a built set that they were letting people touch and pick up. Props to LEGO for allowing that!

The Pick-a-Brick wall or “Suche & Baue” wall was in the back. According to Google Translate, this works out to be “Search and Build.” The wall was one of the better ones I’ve seen. There were a lot of pieces that I wanted to get, but I decided against it. There were numerous “gold” colored pieces, some different flower pieces I have never seen before, some colors that are not always out there, and a few cool pieces that would look great on MOCs for buildings. Bravo to LEGO for stocking this wall well!

I thought this display was cool. Two Statues of Liberty in different formats. The Brick Headz version (#40367-1) and the Architecture version (#21042-1). It’s cool to see the different sizes and versions next to each other. Behind it is the Architecture Trafalgar Square (#21045-1).

Most stores have some none standard builds that are usually larger in size. This one was no exception with a large Chewbacca holding a crossbow and then a Pirate Captain with a hook arm and a parrot sitting on his arm.

Overall, I was impressed with this store. They had everything in stock from what I could tell and a large amount of sets on display for viewing. There were numerous build stations for kids to play with in the store to see things before you buy. The workers were all very helpful with one dressed up as Princess Leia for Triple Force Friday. I talked to one who spoke German, French, and English and the one who rang up my purchase spoke English as well.

I purchased the LEGO® Brand Store (#40305-1) which is only available in Brand Stores. It was 24.99€ as compared to $24.99 in the US. The price I paid was roughly $27.37 with the exchange rate so the total varies since the VAT (value added tax) is factored in and the sales tax in the US varies by location. The last place I lived in the states had an 8.5% sales tax rate so it would have been $27.11… although we didn’t have a Brand Store. I’ll do a review of the set at a later date.

So if you’re in western Germany or eastern France and you’re looking for a LEGO® Brand Store, I highly recommend this one.

Happy building!

Are We Entering the Best Time of Year to Buy LEGO Sets?

I know what you’re thinking… there isn’t a bad time of year to buy the plastic brick. Well I’m coming at it from the pain to your wallet or credit card bill. I have an older post that I try to update when I get new information on how to find the best priced LEGO sets out there. Bricks can get expensive fast and looking for opportunities to get discounts can be a big win.

I’m writing this post in early October 2019. While it doesn’t seem like Christmas to me, the retailers are definitely thinking about Christmas. To them Christmas means selling a lot of stuff to include toys. A big seller on the toy list is the plastic brick (yeah, probably Mega Blocks too… AUGH!). A quick look at Brickset’s Amazon.com discount list (in the US) shows a whole bunch of sets already 30% off with some over 40% off. While these aren’t the big modular buildings or Creator Expert sets, there is a good variety of sets on the discount list. I expect this list to continue through November and December with changes here and there so give it a look every now and then to see if there’s something that you’ve been eyeing up.

In the past both Walmart and Amazon.com have done limited sales on some of the big sets. This has included some of the big Star Wars sets, Modular Buildings, Creator Expert sets, and some others. Keep your eyes open. Usually by the time big sales get posted on the LEGO Fan Media, the sales are over. Rumor has it that last year Walmart had a very short run discount on the UCS Millennium Falcon (#75192-1).

In the past, LEGO has looked to unload some of the sets it wants to retire around this time of year. It used to be that LEGO ran some big sales immediately after Christmas to unload sets. More recently, LEGO has unloaded sets over the Black Friday weekend with deals on Modulars, Creator Expert sets, and some others. Definitely check out your nearby LEGO Brand Store or LEGO Shop @ Home during that time period. Of course, LEGO will also release some new sets around this time of year for you to pick up and they will run some promotional sets too. There traditionally is a “free with purchase,” Christmas themed set or two that get released in the November/December time frame.

Formerly known as EBates, now Rakuten.com also increases money back deals leading up to Christmas. Last year LEGO Shop @ Home had 5% to 7.5% back during their Brick Friday to Cyber Monday deals. Walmart, Amazon.com, and others often do the same. If you are signed up for this program, take advantage of it..

The big retailers always change how they run sales and deals. Just because they did something in the past doesn’t guarantee that they will do it again the same way this year. So pay attention to the sales. Our friends in the LEGO Fan Media usually do a good job at updating us on upcoming sales and deals. There are many out there so pick your favorite. I look at The Brick Fan as it does a good job keeping up with current and upcoming sales.

I’m not an affiliate and I don’t get paid to advertise for all of these companies and sites. It’s up to you to pick where you want to spend your money. So happy hunting and happy building!

EDITORIAL: What Would You Say About a Set if LEGO Sent You it for Free?

I haven’t done this before so we’ll see how it goes… I’ve decided to write an editorial piece capturing an opinion that I’ve formed as of late after scouring the LEGO fan pages. Specifically, I’ve been following the recent release of the new UCS Imperial Star Destroyer Set (#75252-1). I had a blast building #75192-1: Millennium Falcon and news of the Imperial Star Destroyer set release caught my attention. Thankfully, the fan media has their set reviews ready to go soon after release. From the sites I look at, there were Imperial Star Destroyer reviews on Brickset.com, Eurobricks, and on YouTube, Beyond the Brick had a video review.

I’m trying to decide whether I want to save up my VIP points to buy a Star Destroyer set. The reviews have been helpful in pointing out things I wouldn’t even consider. They’ve highlighted the less than stellar minifigures included, the lack of internal designs unlike the Falcon, points where the design lacks detail, and the mere challenge of trying to display a model this large somewhere. They’ve also highlighted the positives like the cool “greebling,” the built in carrying handle, the intricacy of the various angles formed, and some of the many cool details. To be honest, I have not decided one way or another whether I want to take the plunge or not.

Onto the meat of the discussion… I am glad LEGO sends out free copies of the sets to various LEGO fan media influencers. It works out great for them to get reviews published right as a set releases for sale so the rest of the fan community can get an inside look at the set. It’s a smart move on LEGO’s part and they probably see more benefits by giving away a bunch of sets for free than they do by giving up sets. Also to be fair, all of the reviewers acknowledge that they have received a free copy. For example, Brickset says “This set was provided for review by The LEGO Group but the review is an expression of my own opinions.” But are we in the fan community getting true reviews? Many of the reviews have a comment about the set being expensive, but it seems like it’s worth it to buy. However, they didn’t actually buy it. How can they make an assessment like that? I almost feel like I need to wait and find someone who as actually spent their hard earned cash to buy this before I accept any decisions on price. Don’t get me wrong, I would love it if LEGO sent me free sets to review (hint, hint… if someone from LEGO is reading this…), but I don’t think I could make a fair assessment on the price LEGO picked for a set without actually paying for a set. Often times, that’s why my reviews are much later as I tend to wait for sets to go on sale before buying them.

I don’t mean to stir up discontent among the community. I think LEGO is doing a great thing by sending sets to the community to review. I appreciate and thank the fan media for taking the time to create videos, post professional quality photos, and assess sets from the prospective of a fan builder. My recommendation going forward is to continue with this process. I would also suggest that we as a fan look into finding ways to assess the price that are more objective. We have the somewhat meaningful price per brick. I have seen price per pound used as well. The Star Destroyer is also compared in price to the Falcon which I’m not sure is 100% accurate either. What else is there? Any ideas on how to make this process more transparent?

Thanks for hearing me out. Happy building!

German Bricks - Zusammengebaut.com

If you’re like me and you keep up with LEGO via fan websites, then you are probably familiar with some of the big names out there like Brickset.com, The BrickBlogger, The Brothers Brick, The Brick Fan, and others. These are all fan sites from the US or UK, but what about elsewhere? Recently I stumbled across a YouTube channel called “Assembled.” The channel is run by Germans based in Hamburg (northern Germany) and all of the videos are in English. What sets the channel apart from others? Well for one, Hamburg, Germany is about a 3 hour drive from Billund, Denmark. Assembled has a lot of content from Billund. For example, they were at LEGO Fan Media days 2019 and got to do interviews with set designers on some of the new sets that have been showing up (to include many with Jamie Berard). Here are a few:

Interview with LEGO Creator Expert Design Lead Jamie Berard at LEGO House: Presentation of the LEGO Creator Expert 10267 Gingerbread House | LEGO Fan Media Days 2019

Interview with LEGO Ideas Design Lead Samuel Johnson, Head of Marketing Monica Pedersen and Designer Cesar Carvalhosa Soares at LEGO House: Presentation of the LEGO Ideas Tree House 21318

LEGO Star Wars Boost Droid Commander 75253: Interview with LEGO Designer Steve Geist at LEGO House | LEGO Fan Media Days 2019

They even have some interviews with LEGO CEO Niels B. Christiansen.

February 2019

March 2018

From the YouTube page, I found their website/blog titled Zusammengebaut.com. Using the handy translate function on Google Chrome, it turns out that it translates to “Assembled.” I rely on the translate function to get me through so don’t feel bad if you do the same thing…

You can check out the About page here. It explains what they are and who they are. Andres Lehmann is the face of the YouTube channel and if you check out their videos you’ll see him in a few with the Beyond the Brick crew. They list another five team members and provide some information on them as well.

With a base in Germany, they present some more localized news. The most recent being a stop to the “Rebuild the World” kickoff in Berlin.

So if you’re an American or from the English speaking world, here’s a good chance to see what is going on in another part of the LEGO fan world. Definitely take the time to check out their site.

Happy building!

Set Review - #10265-1: Ford Mustang - Creator Expert

If you’ve been paying attention, #10265-1: Ford Mustang has been out in the US since 1 March 2019. I just got it and built it recently. I caught it on a double VIP point period so I paid the full $149.99 price, but got the added bonus of more VIP points. It has 1,471 pieces which works out to $0.102 per piece.

There are a lot of Blogs, YouTube channels, and other social media sites that race to be the first to review a set. Sites like the BrickBlogger claim to not be the first, but to be the most thorough. My goal is to do neither. I want to review sets where I have found a way to get them at a discount or to take advantage of some sort of deal like double VIP points or special edition free offers. That’s why this review is coming out over six months after the set was released in the US.

Onto the review…

The front of the box shows a picture of the car with its non-customized build. The set is listed for ages 16 and up and the Ford Mustang logo is there as well. The back shows the model with some of its customized options installed as well as some of the movable/removable parts.

The set contains 6 sets of parts bags. Some have 2 bags per number while some have one. There’s also an instruction book that is wrapped in plastic along with a sticker sheet. Thankfully, the stickers are mainly license plates. There are only 6 that go on the actual model.

Similar to #10266-1: NASA Apollo Lunar Lander, the instruction book contains information about the set. This one gives some background on the Ford Mustang (in English, French, and Spanish) and then gives facts throughout the build on the various pages. The picture below is one of the information pages at the beginning with a bright red Mustang pictured.

The first bag includes a piece separator as many of the larger sets do. The initial build is the main frame and base of the car. There are a good number of Technic pieces used to build the axles, steering, and the lift function that we will see later.

The second set of bags includes the start of the front fender/bumper, some of the engine, the steering column and wheel, some of the interior to include the gear shift, and the rear axle. Of note, the steering column actually turns the wheels, the wheels spin, the rear wheels can be raised or lowered, but the shifter does not actually change anything. It moves, but is not connected with the rest of the car like #42083-1: Bugatti Chiron.

The third set of bags includes the seats, some of the side paneling, part of the doors, and some of the structure that will support various parts of the car added later. Both seats are the same design and have good use of SNOT techniques.

The fourth set of bags adds the front and rear windshield, the frame to hold the roof and trunk, the side paneling in the back, and the rear bumper to include the brake lights and the Mustang logo. I added a few other pictures so you could get a look at the other sides of the car.

I’m a failure of a blogger or maybe I was just too into the build, but I skipped taking pictures after the fifth set of bags were added to the build. I’ll go with being too into the build. Sorry…

This section adds the front bumper, headlights, front grill, front side body, remainder of engine, and remainder of doors (top and mirrors).

The last set of bags adds the hood, roof, trunk, and wheels. I like the white stripes going across the vehicle. I think it is a nice touch versus just using one color for the whole vehicle. It also has the license plates and then the custom pieces.

This car has a number of movable parts to include the hood, both doors, the trunk, steering wheel and front wheels, and the roof can be removed. This adds to the play factor, gives you some more options for display, and adds a bit of realism to the model.

I have yet to decide which plates I would like to use. You get 5 options. In the picture below, I believe the ones on the top left are Australian. The bottom left are UK plates (fun fact, the one plate is yellow so they can better take a picture of your plate with speed cameras at night). The 2 sets of plates in the center are both from the US with the top being from Michigan and the bottom from California. The plates on the right appear to be from Germany (the one with the 2 round logos goes on the back… that’s your registration).

The inside has a steering wheel and 2 dials on the driver’s side. There’s a radio in the center along with the shifter. The passenger doesn’t get any fun details. Not pictured, but one of the stickers is a rear view mirror with a car in view. I think the car has the right amount of internal details without over doing it or making the model too large and the price too high.

The instruction book talks about how the Mustang was made to be customized. The instructions list six different ways to customize this set. The first is the adjustable rear suspension. I don’t have it pictured, but underneath the back of the car is a piece that you can spin to raise or lower the back of the car. Next is the “shorty exhaust headers” on either side of the car. I have the driver’s side set pictured below. The next two are the “supercharger with scoop intake” and “front splitter” that I have shown in the same picture. Finally, there is the “real spoiler” and then the “nitrous oxide tank” in the trunk. You can choose to put some, none, or all of these options into the model. The build is made in such a way that you aren’t prevented from doing any of them. There are minimal pieces to remove in order to add the customized options in. Between these features and the different license plates, this is a pretty cool option to have with the car.

Supercharger with Scoop Intake
Front Splitter

Rear Spoiler

Shorty Exhaust Headers

Nitrous Oxide Tank

Overall, I’m a fan of this set. If you have read some of my past reviews, I talk about the combination of System and Technic pieces in a build. I am personally not good at combining the two, but I enjoy building using both. Having the functionality offered by Technic and the detail that comes with System is awesome and this set gives you that. Unlike the Technic cars, this one is more detail than functionality, but I think LEGO achieved a good balance between detail and functionality in this set.

The price is on the borderline of being a bit high. The Creator Expert sets don’t often go on sale and usually they don’t until their end of life. Getting a discount now will most likely involve using VIP points or catching some other sale. If you find it cheaper or use some other method to get a discount, let me know in the comments below.

What are your thoughts on this set?

Happy building!

LEGO Architecture in the News

Lego architects and super-fans on designing perfect miniature worlds

Published 27th August 2019 Written by Matthew Ponsford, CNN

A quick post this week… I found this article published on CNN.com which talks about LEGO and Architecture (click on the link above to read the article). It covers everything from the Architecture set line, to fan builds, to some projects people have undertaken in a larger scale. I would like a truck full of bricks on 2 tables to start building.

It’s a quick read with some good pictures so definitely check it out!

Is This The Train We're Looking For?

If you’ve looked at my blog, you’ll see that I don’t post on the latest and greatest sets out. I also don’t rush to get new sets or get sets shipped to me for reviews. I tend to look for sales or opportunities to get an expensive set with a deal like coming with a free set or Double VIP points. With that being said, I’m a big fan of LEGO trains and I miss some of the Creator Expert like trains that were released over the past 10 years or so. I’d like to see more train related sets come out and I’ve advocated for using the Ideas system to do that here and here.

There is a reason why we haven’t seen more Creator Expert like trains. An interview with LEGO Designer Jamie Berard, he discusses how LEGO doesn’t make the money they want on Creator Expert trains. He mentions how they try and fit the train theme in on other themes. We’ve seen it with Harry Potter, CITY, Hidden Side and now Disney. The goal is to get fans interested in another theme to get a train versus targeting train fans.

So #71044-1: Disney Train and Station was released to VIPs on 21 August 2019 and I believe 1 September 2019 is the release date to everyone else (in the US). The set is $329.99 and is 2,925 pieces ($0.113/piece). It includes a train, a station, 5 minifigures, 16 curved pieces of track and 4 straight pieces of track.. The set comes with motorized functions via the Powered Up app. There are lots of reviews on sites and YouTube so if you want more, check them out.

Enough about that… this is not a review and I have not bought the set. The real question is, does this train fulfill the need for a Creator Expert like train? It has close to 3,000 pieces, it looks to have a lot of detail on the train and station which is good. I have yet to build it so I can’t say anything about the building techniques, but it does not look like it is just stacking bricks one on top of the other. From an initial look, it seems pretty positive.

From a train fan perspective, I’m not sure if this is what I’m looking for. It is a great set to go around your Disney park, your castle, to go around with your minifigures, and to proclaim the greatness of Disney. It is not something that is going to roll through a train station next to the Horizon Express or the Emerald Night. It doesn’t seem to go with those sets. I’ve seen a few videos out there where people have had this train run by the Disney Castle and the Creator Expert fairground sets. So maybe if you’re going to make a theme park display, this one would fit in.

I have mixed feelings about this set and I’m not sure it is worth buying or spending my VIP points on. What are your thoughts?