Tag: Lego Seasonal Sets

Lego Winter Toy Shop – Review (Set 10199)

Lego Winter Toy Shop BoxThe Lego Winter Toy Shop set is a part of Lego’s seasonal Town theme, designed around the special feeling that Holiday and Christmas can bring.

The Winter Toy shop is a great set for setting the mood of the colder months and pairs well with the other Seasonal sets Lego Winter Post Office and Lego Winter Bakery to create a small-village of snowy charm.

The set comes with the Toy Shop, decorated with snow, a large Christmas Tree, street lamps and seats, seven figures and a number of accessories including a light up brick to place in the building.

Lego Winter Toy Shop – Details

Lego Winter Toy ShopLego Set Number: 10199
Pieces: 815
Minifigures: 7 (2 skiers, 2 carolers, 1 woman, 1 toy workshop owner, 1 child)
Price: US $59.99 / £ 44.99
Ages: 12+
Released: 2009
Theme: Lego Seasonal
Our Rating:  (4/5 – A Recommended Set)
Best Prices: We recommend Amazon (Free Shipping).

The holidays are coming, and that means a busy time in the toy maker’s workshop.

This scene from a winter wonderland includes a charming shop filled with tools, toys and even a light-up tower window. Outside, minifigures sing carols by the bench and lamp post, ski on the snow drifts, build a snowman and play with snowballs, and decorate the giant Christmas tree with a star, lights and gift-wrapped presents around the base.

The Winter Toy shop features hard-to-find elements including a transparent yellow star, transparent globe elements to create a vintage lamp, dark tan tiles, Power Functions Light Brick, new black 1x2x3 windows and a new caroler minifigure face.

Lego Winter Toy Shop– A Closer Look

Lego Winter Toy Shop BuildingLego has managed to create a warm, cozy feeling in a Lego set, which considering the whole thing is made out of small plastic blocks, is quite an achievement.

The Lego Winter Toy Shop is a small set with a big heart.

There is lots of detail inside and outside the Toy Shop and the accessories complement it perfectly. Downstairs is a Toy Store with cash register and display area. Upstairs contains the toy makers workshop. The interior area is small but Lego have managed to squeeze alot of detail into the space.

Outside, the large spruce tree is one of the bigger and more well-designed Lego trees we have seen for a long time. It is decorated with the star on top and you can place presents underneath.

The other “environmental” accessory is the street lamp which is beautifully designed as well, with a decorated post and rounded lamp lights. There are too many other details to mention but highlights include the four Lego pine tree pieces that are hard to find in other sets, presents, toys, wreaths and the sheer level of detail on the toy shop.

This set would look wonderful on a child’s shelf at night, illuminated by a night light of some sort. The set does come with a light brick in the upstairs floor of the toy workshop but this needs to be pressed manually to turn it on. Having the option to keep it on would have been nice as the light adds to the warm and cozy feel.

Value For Money: Not as big as other sets for the same piece-count but priced accordingly 4/5
Play Experience: Good seasonal/Winter play potential – 4/5
Pieces & Minifigures: Great- Seven figures with awesome variety – 5/5
Value For Kids:  It is a very cute set with many good pieces and design ideas – 4/5

The Brick Life Rating
Lego Review Ratings 4/5

Lego Winter Toy Shop Gallery

Where To Purchase

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Lego Advent Calendar 2011 Star Wars

Lego Advent Calendar 2011 – Buying Guide For Parents

Lego Advent Calendar 2011 Star WarsDue to the success of the last few years, Lego is releasing a greater number of their Lego Advent Calendar 2011 sets and parents also have a surprise option when it comes to the Lego themes represented.

Whereas in the past Lego have produced both a generic/City Advent Calendar and one based on their own in-house themes, in 2011 they have decided to produce a set based around their most popular licensed theme – Star Wars.

The Star Wars Advent Calendar is bound to be a bit hit with Lego and Star Wars fans alike, and not just because of the exclusive figure. The franchise continues to grow in strength and it has proven to be a highly successful partnership for The Lego Group.

Update – Lego have started releasing this set in Mid-August!
Update 2 – Star Wars Calendar is sold out (back again!)

So before you buy, what exactly do you get in a Lego Advent Calendar?

Lego Advent Calendar 2011 Sets

The cool thing about Lego is that when you buy a set, you know exactly what you are getting and Advent calendars are no different.

With a generic store bought Advent Calendar you often have no idea what is behind all those little windows – it could be an heirloom-quality  gift your kids will treasure, handing it down to their own children.

Or it could be a pile of junk that breaks apart after two minutes…

Lego is upfront about what is inside their Lego Advent Calendar 2011 sets and as a parent, that makes my choice easier.

Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar 2011 (Set 7958)

Lego Advent Calendar 2011 Star Wars InsideLego Advent Calendar 2011 Star WarsThe Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar 2011 features:

  • 24 different LEGO Star Wars-themed gifts
  • 8 minifigures including Nute Gunray, Chewbacca, Clone Trooper and an exclusive Yoda in Santa Claus outfit
  • Also includes mini Millennium Falcon and X-wing Starfighter.
  • A total of 266 pieces
  • Retails for $39.99
The Lego Star Wars Advent calendar was originally released at this year’s San Diego Comic Con and sold out very quickly. You can still get these limited editions on ebay for a small fortune but the regular edition is out now at Amazon.
To be honest, if you like it I wouldn’t wait too long to buy one as the calendar has a limited edition figure inside, the Yoda in Santa outfit.
Lego Star Wars fans are notorious for their love of minifigures and I imagine many will buy more than one calendar and sell the figure once the set sells out. These are hard to track down but I found them ready to ship now from Amazon (but can’t guarantee they will be there long :0) )

City Lego Advent Calendar 2011 (Set 7553)

Lego Advent Calendar 2011 City Contents

Lego City Advent Calendar 2011The City Lego Advent Calendar 2011 Features:
  • 6 minifigures (2 police men, 2 robbers, 1 fisher and 1 Santa Claus)
  • Build larger models using bricks from three different gift days
  • Includes 2 cool snowmobiles, a police dog, a Christmas tree, a mini police station and much more
  • A total of 232 pieces
  • Retails for $34.99
The City Lego Advent Calendar 2011 set is a little different than previous years’ releases. The set allows kids to build larger models and releases parts of the model over a number of days rather than offerring one small model per day.
So on any given day the window might reveal pieces for part of a model that will require pieces contained in the next day’s window to complete. Its a cute idea but if you have impatient kids this might cause a little frustration on their part.
This calendar comes out September 1st and is available for pre-order now on Amazon.

Lego Advent Calendar 2011 Availablility

The Lego Advent Calendars are hard to come by, I don’t think I have ever seen one in a store, and I am always searching for Lego!

I am ordering my calendar through Amazon because they offer free shipping and a great returns/customer service center (they also have another Lego Advent Calendar listed from a previous year which you can check out if either of the above options don’t suit).

Prices are fairly simliar at other places that offer the sets, and you won’t find to many stores selling these on discount as they are limited editions and often sell out.

So what do you think of the Lego Advent Calendar 2011 sets – Are you going to have them as part of your family tradition this holiday season?