LEGO Winter Village Market 10235

I just finished building this set and while it is good on it's own I have some remarks on how this fits in with the rest of the Winter Village.First of all it's very prominent in the sense of its scale. This means I can only put it on the edge of the town and not as a center o f the square although i can see it taking that place if the set grows larger with future sets (a church, train station, candy shop, etc would be very nice LEGO!).The main issue I have with this set is the coloring though. Actually the coloring on everything is great (yes, including the stalls) except for the actual rotating part of the carousel. It is waaaaaaay yo bright to fit in with the rest of the sets especially if you consider this to be set in a snow scene. There shouldn't have been ... MoreI just finished building this set and while it is good on it's own I have some remarks on how this fits in with the rest of the Winter Village.First of all it's very prominent in the sense of its scale. This means I can only put it on the edge of the town and not as a center o f the square although i can see it taking that place if the set grows larger with future sets (a church, train station, candy shop, etc would be very nice LEGO!).The main issue I have with this set is the coloring though. Actually the coloring on everything is great (yes, including the stalls) except for the actual rotating part of the carousel. It is waaaaaaay yo bright to fit in with the rest of the sets especially if you consider this to be set in a snow scene. There shouldn't have been any whites on it, except for the horses. the columns should have been brown with gold. The reds should have been all of the darker type red and not the bright one. The canopy should have use darker, more royal colors. The white and bright blue don't work. I don't know if the lights should have been altered, but that would have depended on how it would look with proper colors.Also in terms of price it is a bit expensive and should have been 20 euros cheaper. You do get 9 mini figures though. I don't find the absence of a light-brick a problem as it's a bit useless anyway considering it doesn't have a proper on/off switch.By all means it's not a bad set, but with some small alterations it could have been a great set. Too bad the bricks I would need to change the coloration don't seem to be available in those colors. Otherwise I would have bought them and changed them.

A Twist on the Usual Winter LEGO Sets

Christmas time is my favorite time of year! I am a total winter person at heart and even though we don't get snow in Southern California, where I live, it's much better than triple digit heat, which is the normal for 8 months out of the year.So, a quick story before we begin, I was a little behind in my Winter Villages last year, so, as a result, I gathered some of my earnings and bought this set along with the Winter Village Cottage 10229. When, I finished the cottage and moved onto this set, I was a little surprised. At first, I was kind of confused as to why LEGO had abandoned the Winter Village vibe with something a little bit different. I'm a very traditional person, so this came as a shock to me. Then, as I put my village together, I was surprised at how well ... MoreChristmas time is my favorite time of year! I am a total winter person at heart and even though we don't get snow in Southern California, where I live, it's much better than triple digit heat, which is the normal for 8 months out of the year.So, a quick story before we begin, I was a little behind in my Winter Villages last year, so, as a result, I gathered some of my earnings and bought this set along with the Winter Village Cottage 10229. When, I finished the cottage and moved onto this set, I was a little surprised. At first, I was kind of confused as to why LEGO had abandoned the Winter Village vibe with something a little bit different. I'm a very traditional person, so this came as a shock to me. Then, as I put my village together, I was surprised at how well it came together. The little stands can go anywhere in the village and still look authentic. The merry-go-round is a great design and fits well in the center, next to the Christmas tree from the Winter Village Toy Shop.The set itself is kind of scattered in my opinion. Unlike, the village sets, where you're building one building and few others, in this set, you're building multiple small others and one, kind of big, item. The concession stands, like I said fit well, but they don't really fit the winter feeling. For example, my least favorite out of the bunch is the hot dog stand or cooking stand or whatever. It just doesn't fit too well in my book. I mean, barbecue stands are more common in the summer and seeing one in the winter just doesn't seem right. Maybe a latte stand, or coffee stand would have sufficed.The Minifigures are the best part. You get four kids and five adults. The kids, are the cream of the crop. They have excellent facial designs, especially using the freckled face as a girl's face, and great torso designs. The one little girl, who has the bowl-cut haircut, looks like the woman in the Grand Emporium with the same haircut and torso design. I actually brought in that figure to be the child's mother, because it fit so well. The rest of the children are just as great! The adults are nice, too! You have the very cool merry-go-round operator, that has his own unique beard design. You also have a new hair design on the woman with the shoulder bag.That being said, let's get to the pro's and con's.Pro's-Minifigures-Merry-go-round design and mechanics-Unique pieces-Teddy bearCon's-Stickers!-Cooking stand-Random tiny stumps or stools or whatever they're supposed to be. To be honest, I just took them apart and didn't use them-Too scattered.All in all, it's still a great job by LEGO. It still fits well and can be used for hours of Christmas fun! That being said, I cannot wait until the newest item, Santa' Workshop, hits stores this October!!-Tiny

Great Winter Village Set

All over the world, a month before Christmas, small winter village towns are created. The world is nearing the festive season and also in our Winter Villages, the festive season comes to light. People running to the bakery to order their Christmas pies and bread, posting their greeting cards to far away Winter Villages, children buying their presents in the pet shop and people hurriyng back to their cottages.All those extra winter village scenery which comes with all those sets during the years, create a very nice Christmas feeling. Especially when you can place all these beautiful sets on a big table, you can create your own exclusive Christmas village.The Christmas market makes the feeling even better. It is somehow a little bit surprisingly for those small ... MoreAll over the world, a month before Christmas, small winter village towns are created. The world is nearing the festive season and also in our Winter Villages, the festive season comes to light. People running to the bakery to order their Christmas pies and bread, posting their greeting cards to far away Winter Villages, children buying their presents in the pet shop and people hurriyng back to their cottages.All those extra winter village scenery which comes with all those sets during the years, create a very nice Christmas feeling. Especially when you can place all these beautiful sets on a big table, you can create your own exclusive Christmas village.The Christmas market makes the feeling even better. It is somehow a little bit surprisingly for those small Lego youngsters to find now their market decorated with a carrousel. But they like it very much and the beauty for them is that everything is free in the Lego Winter Village world. They enjoy themselves the whole day in the Winter Village, together with their parents and grandparents.What I do every year, is also buying some extra Christmas ornaments which I place between the diiferent sets. In this way I have a more forrest look and feel. After all those years of collecting, I write Christmas stories which happens in my Winter Village. Take some photographs of the scenes, which makes a nice addition to the story.I also suggest to buy some of the smaller houses in the "Creator" series because they perfectly can fit in the whole village the whole year. I divided my Lego world in two places, the Winter Village and the normal Village. So I can create stories the whole year around.The Winter Village is in the high North where it is always cold, the summer village is in the warm south where it is the whole year warm. In fact and this was unintentionally, it reflect my own personal life. Some times of the year I live in Gaborone (Botswana) where it is always warm, other times of the year I live in Belgium where there is a cold winter season.You can do so much with those cute Winter Village and Creator sets, only your fantasy is the limitation. Children and adults will love it! I never lost the child within me and Lego gives me the chances to express my creativity.Thank you Lego for your great sets, nice work!If you wish to decorate your house with something more special than a Christmas tree, collect the Winter Village sets, put them on a table near your Christmas tree and voila, you will have your own personal Christmas atmosphere. Your children will love it!Have fun and enjoy!Merry Christmas to all of you,from the Winter Village in Belgium / Botswana

Greatly Enjoyed This Set!

When I first saw photos of the set I thought, "A winter carnival?" I"m from New York, 50 years old, and have never had an association of a carnival during Christmas. But then I read in a review that the set was based on the Christmas Markets which are very popular in Europe and especially Germany. So I researched "Christmas markets" and the most wonderful photos came up. What fun! I spent a few days reading about the history of these markets (Christkindlmarkt, Weihnachtsmarkt) and looking at hundreds of photos.Now that I had an experience, even if only a digital one, it GREATLY enhanced my enjoyment while building this set. I kept thinking, "this is so cute, just like the real markets!" I would encourage anyone who is wondering about this set to do a photo search ... MoreWhen I first saw photos of the set I thought, "A winter carnival?" I"m from New York, 50 years old, and have never had an association of a carnival during Christmas. But then I read in a review that the set was based on the Christmas Markets which are very popular in Europe and especially Germany. So I researched "Christmas markets" and the most wonderful photos came up. What fun! I spent a few days reading about the history of these markets (Christkindlmarkt, Weihnachtsmarkt) and looking at hundreds of photos.Now that I had an experience, even if only a digital one, it GREATLY enhanced my enjoyment while building this set. I kept thinking, "this is so cute, just like the real markets!" I would encourage anyone who is wondering about this set to do a photo search for Christmas Markets and especially "Dresden Striezelmarkt." Check out Wikipedia also.I really did enjoy building this set. But once the carousel was finished I realized it was too big in scale for my Lego Winter Village. It seems to me that LEGO wants the Winter Village sets to be compatible with the their Modular Buildings series. The Winter Market set would be perfect sitting right in a town square, (which is where they are set up in real life) surrounded by Modular Series sets such as the Grand Emporium #10211, Pet Shop #10218 and the Fire Brigade #10197 to name just a few. Last years Winter Village Cottage would be a fit in scale for a house in the country right outside a Modular Series city block.I do not think Lego is going to return to the smaller scale of the Toy Shop, Bakery and Post Office. But I've already invested quite a bit of money and have added extensively to my WV with two buildings from set#10193 "Medieval Market", the #7997 City Train Station set, the Lone Ranger Constitution train, and I designed & built my own chapel. This is the scale I'm sticking with. So the carousel was enjoyed for about 2 hours and then I broke it down and rebuilt it smaller. That's the beauty of Lego. Whatever you can imagine or whatever you need, you can do it! I built the game stand on a separate plate and removed all the bricks having to do with the rotating mechanism, (but it can still rotate with a push) lowered the base and brought down the canopy a bit. I love it! It is now smaller than my tallest village building. But for anyone who is not into redoing the set, just keep it away from the smaller buildings.As far as the actual value, I have to give a thumbs down on that. LEGO kept the high price and reduced the amount of pieces by about 200 compared to last years set. There is also no lighted brick.Overall I enjoyed my building experience and learned something new. I'm now working on a redo the 2012 Winter Village Cottage, set#10229, (which is available again this year) so it will be in scale with the rest of my Winter Village.Happy Holidays fellow Lego fans!

Inspires creative building for younger kids

My five year old loves this set. The colors, variety of mini figures, and of course the carousel itself are very appealing to a young child.This set inspires additions: He has built a small "mini figure presenter" (inspired from the Ghostbusters set) and uses it as the flying transport that brings the minifigures to the market. He has built large toy boxes full of toys for the kids in the village, and he has placed trees, elves and santas from previous years' Winter sets. The dispersed model, which some expert builders are complaining about, actually work well for a child who is less worried about form and more interested in variation and play potential. Each booth is another story location and the various booths could be placed in different designs. AND to top it ... MoreMy five year old loves this set. The colors, variety of mini figures, and of course the carousel itself are very appealing to a young child.This set inspires additions: He has built a small "mini figure presenter" (inspired from the Ghostbusters set) and uses it as the flying transport that brings the minifigures to the market. He has built large toy boxes full of toys for the kids in the village, and he has placed trees, elves and santas from previous years' Winter sets. The dispersed model, which some expert builders are complaining about, actually work well for a child who is less worried about form and more interested in variation and play potential. Each booth is another story location and the various booths could be placed in different designs. AND to top it all building the carousel, even with some help, is an accomplishment.I, as an adult, like the look of this set quite a bit, too. I am about to try to light it up with some mini lights!Recommended!

Manual in perfect shape. A little tough ...

Manual in perfect shape. A little tough for each step is mixed in with the others so a lot of digging during assembly. All in perfect shape.

One of the Best Winter Village Sets

Overall Appeal:The best word to describe this set is incredible. It is by far one of the best winter village sets. The color choice is phenomenal, much better than last years Winter Village Cottage. It is a very warm and inviting scene, filled with rare dark colors (red, blue and green) that give interest to the set.Stands:Each stand is creative and unique, with different color choices and styles, making each one a fun and enjoyable build. Their is so much variety between the different stands that it never gets boring.Carousel:The carousel is the centerpiece of this set, and it is MUCH bigger than it looks in the pictures. It provides a great focal point to the set, and without it, this set wouldn't be the same. You would think that the circular build of the ... MoreOverall Appeal:The best word to describe this set is incredible. It is by far one of the best winter village sets. The color choice is phenomenal, much better than last years Winter Village Cottage. It is a very warm and inviting scene, filled with rare dark colors (red, blue and green) that give interest to the set.Stands:Each stand is creative and unique, with different color choices and styles, making each one a fun and enjoyable build. Their is so much variety between the different stands that it never gets boring.Carousel:The carousel is the centerpiece of this set, and it is MUCH bigger than it looks in the pictures. It provides a great focal point to the set, and without it, this set wouldn't be the same. You would think that the circular build of the carousel would be repetitive and tedious, but it really isn't. The two different sleighs, and two horses add a whole lot more interest to what would otherwise be a boring time consuming task. The carousel is a great build, with tons of interest.Features:This set has so many neat features, its hard to list them all! My personal favorite is the teddy bear, but it also includes a pie, lollipops, candy boxes, a hot dog, a turkey leg, croissants, pretzel, a cat , a sand green (or olive, I'm not sure) handbag, and a fully functional carousel and carnival game. They are all great pieces and functions to have, and many of them are hard to find. Another great feature is the reflective stickers. They really make the set more realistic, and are great for mimicking lights.Minifigures:The minifgures, as always, are fantastic. I'll start off with the kids. The girl with the red torso has amazing pants. It sounds weird, but I really like that color, and haven't seen it before. Also, the other girl with the green torso has a great hairpiece that I don't think I've seen before. Of the adult minifigures, the carnival stand worker is my favorite. His beard is the same as the collectible minifigure santa, and it really suits him. I also like the black hairpiece on the woman with the handbag, the hairpiece on the candy stand worker, and the sand green pants on the bakery stand worker. The other mifigures are okay, but they look great all the same.Down Sides:One major downside to this set is the fact that carousel moves jerkily. It doesn't spin and a constant speed. It ins't the end of the world, though, because it isn't really noticeable unless your looking for it. Another downside is the variety of pieces. This set's pieces are so diverse, there isn't really much else you can build with them alone. Its a conflicting problem, because diverse pieces are good, but not having enough pieces to build something with uniformity isn't!Up Sides:The colors are fantastic, the carousel is amazing, the accessories are astounding, the minifigures are excellent, the price per piece count is phenomenal, and the over all appeal of this set is beyond comprehension. LEGO did an incredible job, and even managed to one up last years set. This set deserves six out of five bricks, and I am 110% satisfied with it.

Outstanding!

Our first venture into the winter Christmas sets was last year with the winter cottage and we were not disappointed. Now we were looking forward to this years and our first reaction was well, not bad, but let's see if we can get some of the previous years sets - post office, bakery, toy shop, but alas, this was not meant to be as they are just too expensive in the aftermarket. Then we decided to go ahead and take the plunge with this set, the winter village market, and needless to say... we are very glad we did!! This is an outstanding set. Each of us and the kids took part in putting it together. It was a fun and not too difficult of a build. We enjoyed each of the individual stands as they each have their own personality. The carousel is much bigger than ... MoreOur first venture into the winter Christmas sets was last year with the winter cottage and we were not disappointed. Now we were looking forward to this years and our first reaction was well, not bad, but let's see if we can get some of the previous years sets - post office, bakery, toy shop, but alas, this was not meant to be as they are just too expensive in the aftermarket. Then we decided to go ahead and take the plunge with this set, the winter village market, and needless to say... we are very glad we did!! This is an outstanding set. Each of us and the kids took part in putting it together. It was a fun and not too difficult of a build. We enjoyed each of the individual stands as they each have their own personality. The carousel is much bigger than originally thought. In fact, it rivals the size of the house from the winter cottage set. All together there is a lot here and much to play with. My kids had tons of fun playing with it throughout the holiday season and especially played together with the winter cottage set. The mix of colors and different bricks used is fantastic. That is one thing I appreciate with some of these sets where a variety of colors works really well and it is well utilized here. It just really is pretty looking at it.All in all, just a wonderful set with a lot of playability (our kids would tell you that!) and one that they'll like to play with year after year when we put it out. And it just so happens that we only put these out at Christmas time and then put them up until the next season when we can pull them out again and start all over and relive it again.

The tradition begins

We found this set while shopping for LEGOs for our son as Christmas gifts. We just purchased a new home this year and wanted some non-traditional decorations. Y'know, something other than the little clay houses with lights that people always set up. My wife put this set together and it took her about six hours, I think. She LOVED building it and now has a great Christmas display. I think we've started a family tradition! I read some of the negative reviews, which I was surprised to see. I do feel like it was expensive, HOWEVER, the mechanics of the merry-go-round are really fun. When we have friends over they're always impressed and we usually hear something like "we should do that too!" So as far as I'm concerned, it was worth the money. I can see our holiday ... MoreWe found this set while shopping for LEGOs for our son as Christmas gifts. We just purchased a new home this year and wanted some non-traditional decorations. Y'know, something other than the little clay houses with lights that people always set up. My wife put this set together and it took her about six hours, I think. She LOVED building it and now has a great Christmas display. I think we've started a family tradition! I read some of the negative reviews, which I was surprised to see. I do feel like it was expensive, HOWEVER, the mechanics of the merry-go-round are really fun. When we have friends over they're always impressed and we usually hear something like "we should do that too!" So as far as I'm concerned, it was worth the money. I can see our holiday display eventually becoming something similar to what the last guy's photos look like.

Winter is Here

I read the other reviews and I can understand how people can be upset because they've never seen anything like this around winter time, however, I am not one of those people. This set reminds me of the open air German market that they have in Chicago every December. It is called Christkindlmarket, and this set replicates the feel of poring over handmade crafts while drinking spiced cider and eating wienerschnitzel.The stands are all great. Each is unique in shape and design and comes with lots of little bits to love, like the food and candy pieces. The bench and lamp post are average and run of the mill for the winter sets. All of these elements were very easy to assemble. The carousel is, however, the centerpiece and does not disappoint or fail to draw the eye. ... MoreI read the other reviews and I can understand how people can be upset because they've never seen anything like this around winter time, however, I am not one of those people. This set reminds me of the open air German market that they have in Chicago every December. It is called Christkindlmarket, and this set replicates the feel of poring over handmade crafts while drinking spiced cider and eating wienerschnitzel.The stands are all great. Each is unique in shape and design and comes with lots of little bits to love, like the food and candy pieces. The bench and lamp post are average and run of the mill for the winter sets. All of these elements were very easy to assemble. The carousel is, however, the centerpiece and does not disappoint or fail to draw the eye. Construction was a little intricate, but not very difficult, and the instructions were very clear. It also operates very smoothly and feels like it could rotate without problem for a long time. The horses even rock and move, which I did not expect and was a nice surprise. There are a few stickers but they were easy to place and look great.All in all, this is a wonderful set, well worth the price and a perfect addition to the winter line. Don't let the negative reviews influence your decision This truly is a great set. Enjoy, and happy holidays!