No: 4000010
Release Year: 2014
Cost: AUD$40
Pieces: 250 (with 1 minifigure)
Luckily for me, I had a contact who was in Billlund and kindly picked up a copy. (Thanks Craig!) It comes in a single LEGO Ideas or Architecture style box, which itself was quite stunning. The back of the box shows a top-down view of the build, as well as some conceptual images of LEGO House, while inside are three parts bags, and 5 loose black plates, with an instruction booklet. There’s information about LEGO House inside the booklet, before the fun begins.
Elements for this set are, to be honest, pretty dull in comparison to other sets. I realise from the outset that this review isn’t going to be a huge score overall, but remember that this set is a special one, so that should hold some sway.
There’s an abundance of white bricks and white tiles of various lengths, as well as a stack of clear 1×2 bricks, light grey tiles, and the special printed 1×8 black tile with LEGO House printed on it, but there’s one element in particular that was a new introduction in 2014, and it’s a very surprising one – the clear 1×1 tile. The standard spares are always chock full of 1×1 tiles in various colours, but LEGO had never produced a clear 1×1 tile until 2014. It’s been seen in 13 other sets since then, but not before this set had them. There’s the three that are used in the build, and a spare. By now, this is probably not really exciting, as there are plenty of other popular sets that include them, but back in 2014, this was a big deal.
Swooshability: 0/20
There’s absolutely no play here at all. None. Nada. Zilch. Zip. Zero. It’s a display piece, pure and simple.
Build: 6/20
Design / Appearance: 13/20
Value for Money: 3/10
I paid AUD$40 for my copy, and secondary markets (the only place you can get a copy, if you’re not able to get to Billund) will see you paying anything between $40 and $80. Based on what I paid, the cost per element is around 16c. It’s not cheap, and the elements included are by no means rare or exciting, so value for money here is low. What will get people to change their minds is the collectibility.
Collectibility: 8/10
Not only is this a special limited edition set, available from only one small selection of shops in one town in the entire world, but it’s a LEGO rendition of a building that should look like it’s built from LEGO, and with a limited edition minifigure. Collectibility for this set is very high, it’s what got me over the line to purchase a copy myself. Sure, the elements are bog standard, aside from a tiny percentage, but saying you’ve got a copy is worth the cost.
Ok, the overall figure is not good, but bear in mind that this set was never meant to be a playable set. Take it how you want, but I was still pretty chuffed in being able to own a copy. It’s certainly unique!
Next week I’ll be looking not at a set, but at another book by DK Publishing – 365 Things To Do With LEGO Bricks. It looks good so far, but you’ll just have to wait until next week.
Have you secured a copy of LEGO House? Let me know in the comments.