LEGO 10249 Creator Winter Toy Shop

As other reviewers have shared, my family is among those customers who have made building and displaying the winter village collection part of their holiday tradition. We put out the set over Thanksgiving break, and our dining room table becomes a Lego building station at which the kids (or adults) are able to stop by and add to the build until it is completed. Then, it goes on display with the previous buildings. We have looked forward to it every year since 2009, which is the year we purchased this set, albeit with a different number. In 2009, my older boys were 10 and 8, eager young participants in all the little Christmas traditions and crafts that had become part of our holidays. Now, as teenagers, they've outgrown most of those things. Building a new addition ... MoreAs other reviewers have shared, my family is among those customers who have made building and displaying the winter village collection part of their holiday tradition. We put out the set over Thanksgiving break, and our dining room table becomes a Lego building station at which the kids (or adults) are able to stop by and add to the build until it is completed. Then, it goes on display with the previous buildings. We have looked forward to it every year since 2009, which is the year we purchased this set, albeit with a different number. In 2009, my older boys were 10 and 8, eager young participants in all the little Christmas traditions and crafts that had become part of our holidays. Now, as teenagers, they've outgrown most of those things. Building a new addition for our lego winter village was one of the last things we all enjoyed equally. This is my oldest son's next-to-last Christmas to be at home full time, and I am horribly disappointed that we have been denied this part of our family celebrations as this time in our lives when our family is all together draws to a close. We've all missed out on lego sets that we might have wanted had our "younger builders" been older when they were released. And your "younger builders" would likely have purchased a new, non-repeat winter village building had you chosen not to rerelease an old one instead. Providing a product that a large portion of your customer base already owns and therefore will not buy (and offering as an explanation that your designers really thought about it and decided that they essentially don't value our business as much as newer customers?) as opposed to releasing one that the majority of your customer base would eagerly purchase makes no business sense at all.

We get these Christmas sets every year from Sinter Klaas (St Nicholas, who is an important figure in the Netherlands where our dad's from), and this is a great set. I know a lot of people had the old one too, but we didn't so this set was brand new to us.I'll start on the building. It took about an hour and a half to build. The look of the shop is nice and old fashioned, not a super toy shop that looks really modern and flash, but older and simple. The chimney is well built, and looks like real stone, like the chimneys of the other Christmas sets. There is a train and a robot in the window of the shop which looks really nice. The light brick in the toy makers work shop is awesome and makes a nice shadow on the table when you light it through the window. There are ... MoreWe get these Christmas sets every year from Sinter Klaas (St Nicholas, who is an important figure in the Netherlands where our dad's from), and this is a great set. I know a lot of people had the old one too, but we didn't so this set was brand new to us.I'll start on the building. It took about an hour and a half to build. The look of the shop is nice and old fashioned, not a super toy shop that looks really modern and flash, but older and simple. The chimney is well built, and looks like real stone, like the chimneys of the other Christmas sets. There is a train and a robot in the window of the shop which looks really nice. The light brick in the toy makers work shop is awesome and makes a nice shadow on the table when you light it through the window. There are three trees outside the shop which look good too. The toy shop sign is a printed piece (not a sticker!) and adds to the old feel of the building. The wreaths above the windows add a nice touch and make the building look very Christmassy.There is also a tree, which looks very much like a real tree because of the separate builds used to construct it. There are 'lights' around it and a star on top which looks cool too. It comes with a ladder so the minifigures can reach the the top of the tree which is a nice build. There are a couple of presents under the tree too: a teddy, a rocket, a boat, a biplane, a helicopter and a lorry. They are all cool mini builds. There's also a cool little jack in the box which looks good.There's a bench with a lamppost and tree as well, which isn't really necessary and I think just puts the piece count up, but the lamppost is well designed. There's also a snowman, and in a box under the tree there's a carrot for his nose, but it doesn't actually go on his face.Onto the minifigures. There are quite a few:The toy maker- He is wearing a red checked shirt and green overalls. His face has a beige beard and a smile, and his hair is the same as Luke Skywalker episode VI.A man- He has a beard and brown hair and a navy suit on his torso and grey trousers.Two carol singers (man and woman)- The man has a top hat, black suit and red scarf. He has a one sided head that's singing. He has a black brick built carol book. The woman has a double sided head: one singing, one smiling. She has a cape and also has a carol book.Boy with helmet- There's a boy with a helmet that we put on the snowboard. He has a white/green/red torso and green legs. He also has a red scarf.Ski boy- There's another boy with a navy hat, green coat torso and navy legs. We made him be the skiing one.Little girl- There's a girl with bright blonde hair, purple legs and a blue torso with a printed purple scarf.I think that's all the minifigs in this set.I think it's a bit pricey though. 898 pieces for £59.99 is about 15p per piece, but I think for the finished product it's a bit much, especially as some of the pieces are in minibuilds that could probably be sold for 10p each, if not even less.Pros:Looks coolNice variety of minifiguresCan connect up to the last toy shopCool minibuildsCons:Bit priceyYou have to build something to hold down the switch for the light brick if you want it constantly on, but that's not a major issue for me.I'd say try to find the set on a bit of a reduction, but even if it's not put down its still a great set that I recommend you get!

The style of the building does not disappoint, it has charming old world character. When we first seen this building set we bought 2 of them to create one large toy shop with both a front and a back to fit within our Lego train town.During the build since I was going to make one large building from two sets, there where a number of modifications that I had to do.First all the buildings in our Lego train town have a summer time setting. That meant we where not going to build any of the winter time items. By doing that it allowed us to use the extra parts in other areas to build one large toy shop.Second we also did not want two fireplaces in the building so we added a seventh toy shop window to the first floor, next to the chimney wall.Some of the other ... MoreThe style of the building does not disappoint, it has charming old world character. When we first seen this building set we bought 2 of them to create one large toy shop with both a front and a back to fit within our Lego train town.During the build since I was going to make one large building from two sets, there where a number of modifications that I had to do.First all the buildings in our Lego train town have a summer time setting. That meant we where not going to build any of the winter time items. By doing that it allowed us to use the extra parts in other areas to build one large toy shop.Second we also did not want two fireplaces in the building so we added a seventh toy shop window to the first floor, next to the chimney wall.Some of the other changes I made was to use the extra included green plates to make the roof fit a summer time look. Put the clocks on the exterior of the building to make a second floor clock tower. Used the mini figure ski poles as the toy shop sign poles (it gave it a smaller profile that better fit the overall look of the building) Added a light brick to the chimney to light up the toy shop interior, and see all eight of the mini build toys inside on display.The final build of adding two winter toy shop sets together to make on large summer time Toy shop build, turned out awesome. I would recommend everyone get two sets and build one large building. It really has a great look and feel and fits perfectly near other Creator Expert style buildings. The Final build is just stunning. This is one of my favorite creator sets of all time already.