Review: 75827 Firehouse Headquarters
Posted by DrDaveWatford,
I was a teen back in 1984 when Ghostbusters was released, and it’s fair to say that the movie and its subsequent sequels made a massive impression on me and countless others. Decades later and there’s no doubt that the appeal of Ghostbusters has endured, as evidenced by the popularity of the numerous Ghostbusters submissions on LEGO Ideas, and Brent Waller's Ecto-1 submission subsequently being turned into a successful retail set.
Ghostbusters fan frenzy clicked up a couple more notches back in October 2015 with the announcement of a massive official version of the Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters building, and thanks to the LEGO AFOL Relations & Programs team I’m pleased to bring you a review of the set - let's go!
Box & Contents
Given that the set contains 4,634 elements I was expecting a big, heavy box and I certainly wasn’t disappointed…. At 48.5cm x 58.3cm x 18.7cm it’s the same size as the Helicarrier box and feels at least as heavy. The front of the box (below) shows a dramatic CGI-enhanced version of the set contents in all their glory; this imagery is framed by eye-catching yellow and black striped vertical borders, presumably as a nod to the Ghostbusters ghost traps.
The back of the box, which should be rotated into a landscape orientation to view it properly, is dominated by a large image of the interior of the completed Firehouse model. This image is framed by 12 vignettes showing various interior locations and play-features, all of which are illustrated by minifigures and ghosts, and some of which feature quotes from the first Ghostbusters movie.
Half of the interior space inside the box is filled by two sealed white cardboard boxes. There’s also an instruction booklet sealed in a clear bag, a 32 x 32 dark bley baseplate loose in the box, and a total of 20 sealed bags of elements of various sizes. All but two of those bags are printed with a number from 8 to 14; the two unmarked bags are made of a softer plastic than the other bags and contain light bley 2 x 16 plates, light bley and reddish brown 6 x 16 plates, and a number of light bley 1 x 16 Technic bricks. The white cardboard boxes are opened via a couple of thumb tabs. The larger of the two boxes contains a dark bley 16 x 32 baseplate, a pearl gold 32L spiral element and 11 sealed bags of elements printed with a number from 1 to 3. The smaller of the two white boxes also contains 11 sealed bags of elements, this time printed with a number from 4 to 7, plus a couple of reddish brown 6 x 16 plates loose in the box.
There are two sticker sheets included in the set. These are packaged along with the instruction booklet to keep them flat. The larger of the two sticker sheets (above) contains 26 small stickers, while the smaller one contains just 3 small reflective panels used to make mirrors and the like; you’ll need to take my word for the smaller sticker sheet as my scanner doesn’t do shiny….
Instructions
There’s just a single perfect-bound instruction booklet, but it’s huge – a whopping 420 pages from cover to cover, well over a centimetre thick, and with a footprint that’s close to A4. The front cover is basically the same as the front of the box, minus some of the set info. A total of 408 pages are devoted to the building guide itself. Building instructions are shown against a glossy black background which shows up every last fingerprint and isn’t therefore likely to please thieves or obsessives. Part call-outs are provided along the way, and for many of the building steps those elements which have been added to the pre-existing build are shown with a yellow halo which is very helpful in figuring out what’s new. A couple of pages at the start of the booklet are dedicated to photographs and information about the first Ghostbusters movie and the Firehouse itself, and there’s also a page dedicated to the set’s 12 minifigures and ghosts (below) plus a 5-page inventory of elements.
Minifigures
The set contains up to 12 minifigures depending on your definition of the term; I think however that most would probably agree that we actually get nine genuine minifigures - the four Ghostbusters plus Janine, Dana, Tully and a couple of largely humanoid ghosts (Zombie Driver and Library Ghost) – with Slimer plus a Blue Ghost and a Pink Ghost making up the numbers.
The four Ghostbusters have new torsos; for most of the guys the print on the front of the torsos (below) is similar to that which graces the corresponding minifigures in 2014’s Set 21108 Ecto-1 apart from some subtle red highlights on their tool belts. Peter Venkman (far right) is obviously the exception, however, sporting a wonderful new, slime-covered torso print. In contrast with the older figures which have unprinted arms, the newer figures have a Ghostbusters logo print on the right shoulder and sew-on patch prints on both arms. Venkman’s hilarious grossed-out, slime-covered head print is predictably new, but the other Ghostbusters have the same head prints as their Set 21108 counterparts. Egon Spengler (centre right) and Ray Stantz (centre left) also have the same hair as the older versions, but Winston Zeddemore (far left) has hair which has only previously appeared as part of the Finn minifigure in Set 75105 Millennium Falcon, and Venkman’s characteristic widow’s peak looks to be new. All four Ghostbusters have unprinted, generic tan legs.
At first glance the backs of the torsos (below) appear identical, with the exception of Venkman’s slime-stained version, but look closer and you’ll see subtle differences between them. The torso back prints are markedly different to those of the 2014 versions, and feature a strap pattern. Each Ghostbuster is provided with a number of accessories, most notably a proton pack. The proton packs look to be identical to these which were included in Set 21108; they attach via a black neck bracket which I’ve not included in the photographs so as not to obscure the torso back prints. Other accessories include walkie talkies, ghost traps incorporating a printed yellow and black 1 x 2 tile which appears to be exclusive to this set, and a PKE meter for Egon.
Tully, Dana and Janine can be seen below. All are exclusive to this set. Accountant Louis Tully (below, left) has a torso print which is somewhat reminiscent of Emmet in his pyjamas but which appears to be new. His reversible head print is also new, and you have the choice of Tully’s trademark goofy expression (below) or Tully in Vinz Clortho “possessed” mode, complete with red eyes. The Tully minifigure is completed by reddish-brown spiked hair and unprinted, generic dark brown legs. Sultry cellist Dana Barrett (below, centre) looks amazing – her dark orange and gold torso print, which is unique to this minifigure, is an excellent representation of her on-screen attire and the torso print continues down onto her legs to complete her dress. The attention to detail even extends to her arms, only one of which is sleeved. Her reversible head print is similarly unique to the minifigure, as it seems is her long, dark brown curly hair. Like Tully and Dana, receptionist Janine Melnitz (below, right) sports an exclusive torso print and reversible head print, although her short, tousled, dark brown hair appears in multiple sets and her legs are generic.
You can see their superb alternate expressions and torso back prints in the picture below. From behind it becomes clear that Dana’s legs are moulded in two separate colours.
The Tully minifigure is supplied with an alternative head which is unique to the set. Featuring a chin-strap print, the head is supposed to be used when Tully is wearing Egon’s brainwave scanner, as he is in the picture below. The scanner, which is represented by a flat silver round 2 x 2 brick with a dome bottom, attaches to Tully’s head by way of a pearl gold round 1 x 1 tile with pin which is new in this colour.
So now we get to the ghosts…. I assume that the Zombie Driver (below, left) is supposed to represent the ghostly taxi driver who appears during the first Ghostbusters movie after the Firehouse HQ containment unit is shut off and screeches off with a surly New York businessman in his cab; his mottled dark tan head print is exclusive to this minifigure, as is his torso print featuring a black jacket over a white shirt, although his black beret has appeared a few times previously and his legs are unprinted. I sincerely doubt that anybody who’s seen the first Ghostbusters movie will ever forget the Library Ghost (below, right). She appears early on in the movie, helping to set the scene in highly memorable and ultimately shocking fashion. Every part of her, even it seems the light bley bun hairstyle, appears to be currently unique to the set, in these colours at least, although the element making up her lower body was previously available in a marbled dark bley colour in the Spectre Collectible Minifigure.
As you can see from the rear view below, although the Zombie Driver’s mottled dark tan skin print extends round to the back of his head he doesn’t have an alternate expression. The Library Ghost, on the other hand…. Just take a look at that! Both torsos are tastefully back printed in multiple colours, a further indication of the care and attention that LEGO is lavishing on minifigures these days.
When the initially-placid Library Ghost is angered she transforms as you can see below. Her alternate expression is truly terrifying – in my opinion it ranks up there with the Doctor Who Weeping Angel in the scare stakes. The use of long white hair also helps to perfectly capture the transformed ghost in minifigure form. The white hair is a recolour of the same element that you saw earlier gracing the Dana minifigure, and is I believe unique to this set.
My tour of the minifigures is completed with a look at the three remaining ghosts in the set. Trans-bright green Slimer (below, centre) surely needs no introduction. He’s moulded in one piece and hollow. There’s a 1 x 2 stud attachment area at the base, but the clutch isn’t great. The print looks OK, although I’d have preferred a more toothy grin with a bit less tongue. Slimer’s arms articulate at the shoulder, although his hands are fixed. Overall, he’s a pretty good likeness. The Blue and Pink Ghosts are identical moulds, but in different colours and with different prints. They have irregular bases, and a trans-clear plain minifigure head is inserted into each to enable them to rest horizontally for display purposes.
The Build
The build is broken into 14 numbered stages in the instruction booklet. This corresponds to the numbering on the bags of elements, and helps to ensure that the number of elements ‘in play’ at any particular time is kept fairly manageable. While some AFOLs may scoff at such hand-holding, with such a huge set it makes sense for the majority of builders.
Stage 1 of the build commences with the assembly of the Winston Zeddemore minifigure and the four proton packs. As prevously mentioned, these look to be identical to those found in the 2014 Ecto-1 set, right down to the printed boat studs at the back, the appearance of dark red apollo studs, plus the use of black whips for the wands. Lots of extra whips are provided as spares – four in total.
With Winston and the proton packs built it’s time to start work on the Firehouse. This sits on a dark bley 32 x 32 baseplate joined to dark bley 16 x 32 baseplate. In true Modular Building style we start by tiling the pavement, or should that be the sidewalk? This utilises a ton of dark bley 2 x 4 tiles, of which there are a total of 91 in the set. A nice touch is the area of damaged pavement with pink ectoplasm oozing up through it. An Ecto-1 registration plate, represented by a printed bright light orange 1 x 2 tile, is placed just inside the Firehouse boundary, a strange addition given the absence of Ecto-1 itself from the set. With the tiling done, the next job is to make a start on the Firehouse walls, for which a robust, but element-intensive, double-walled construction technique is used. The outer ‘skin’ of the wall utilises lots of light bley 1 x 2 masonry bricks for detailing, of which there are a total of 66 in the set. Stage 1 of the build is completed by the construction and installation of three large lockers in the interior of the firehouse. These employ reddish brown 2 x 4 x 6 door frames and 1 x 4 x 6 doors with 3 panes in a tasteful dark brown/reddish brown combination, both of which are I think new in these colours. Stickers identifying the locker owners as Spengler, Stantz and Venkman are applied to the doors, but there’s no locker for Winston. There’s just enough room to fit a proton pack in each of the lockers.
Stage 2 of the build begins with the construction of the Tully minifigure, after which the hinged rear section of the ground floor, which includes the containment unit and a set of stairs, is constructed. This is quickly followed by the remaining walls making up the lower portion of the ground floor of the building. A large swathe of inner wall at ground floor level is made up of dark green 1 x 6 x 5 wall panels which have only previously appeared in a single set.
I’ve opened up the hinged sections in the picture below so that you can see how the mechanism works. You can also get a better look at the red containment unit beneath the stairs. The front of the containment unit is hinged at its base and can be swung open when it’s time to make a supernatural deposit….
Stage 3 begins with the construction of an internal support column near to the lockers; this employs a black round 2 x 2 brick with dome bottom only previously seen in a single set, and a black lamp post. During this stage of the build the ground floor walls are completed, including placement of various doors and windows. These are offset inwards by half a stud which emulates the contours of the real building as well as making the outside appearance of the building more interesting. The inner walls are then built up to same level as the outer ‘skin’ using white bricks and large white wall panels.
The front entrance of the Firehouse can be seen below. The left side features a “door within a door”, while the right side incorporates a new element - a black 1 x 6 x 5 wall panel which has a corrugated appearance similar to the sides of a metal shipping container. The 1 x 8 tile above the entrance bearing the set number and ‘FIREHOUSE’ identifier is unfortunately stickered rather than printed; just beneath the tile is a pearl gold element which looks like a pair of ornamental antlers and which is new in this colour. The quartet of blue 1 x 1 round tiles attached to the front of the building, each of which is printed with a white star, are also new elements.
Stage 4 of the build starts off with the assembly of the Janine Melnitz minifigure, after which the firehouse bell is quickly built and installed. The bell is represented by a metallic gold inverted 2 x 2 dish which has only previously appeared in three sets. Next a number of light bley Technic bricks are connected together via Technic pins to form a sturdy beam running at ceiling height from the front of the building to the back. A pair of lights hang from this central beam, each incorporating a single light bley apollo stud which has previously only appeared in the LEGO Dimensions Portal expansion pack. The upper surface of the ground floor walls and central beam are then topped off with dark bley tiles, after which the iconic Ghostbusters sign, stickered rather than printed, is assembled and installed over the front entrance of the building.
Attention now switches to the ground floor furnishings, which can be seen in the picture below. A cabinet with opening draws is constructed and installed in the right rear corner, and a radio and a water cooler utilising a rare trans-light blue minifigure head are placed on top of it. A table lamp and a red tool chest complete with tools are then built and placed against the right wall. Janine gets a desk and chair towards the rear of the ground floor; a white 2 x 2 tile with a printed magazine cover design lies on her desk. There’s another desk complete with an old-fashioned telephone, desk lamp and computer towards the middle of the room, and a couple of boxes and newspapers represented by printed tan 2 x 2 tiles are scattered elsewhere. Once all these furnishings have been assembled and put in place the ground floor of the Firehouse is complete.
Stage 5 is quick and starts with the assembly of the Ray Stantz minifigure, after which construction of the next level of the Firehouse begins. The floor of this fixed section incorporates four reddish brown 6 x 16 plates which have only previously appeared in two sets, back in 2009 and 2010. Prominent early on during this stage of the build is a spot of mosaic tiling; this is I assume supposed to represent a rug, and utilises medium dark flesh, dark orange, white and light bley tiles to form a geometrical pattern. Some kitchen cupboards, incorporating new medium dark flesh cupboard drawers, are then installed, after which a sink is fashioned from what appears to be a new light bley element which looks like two 1 x 1 x 1 corner panels joined together. Dark red bricks make their first appearance at this juncture as the outer walls start to take shape, and the first few upstairs windows are then installed, at which point we’re done with Stage 5.
The walls of the section which was under construction during Stage 5 are raised to the required height during Stage 6; large tan panels are used to complete the inner walls. Further interior furnishings are then added, including three beds, a bedside lamp and an arcade machine. The arcade machine is a superb little build, utilising white ‘window glass’ – new in this colour - as a screen and featuring stickered game controls and a stickered ‘Ghostbusters’ marquee. The screen is also stickered, in this case with a dot matrix image of the head of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man – wonderful! Other furnishings include an open fire with chimney, some kitchen units, a fridge containing milk, cheese and pizza, cans complete with printed ring pulls, and a printed cereal box.
Assembly of the Library Ghost, complete with her stickered copy of “Magical Paths to Fortune and Glory”, kicks off Stage 7. We’re then back to interior decorating, adding some chairs and a table to the Firehouse section that was under construction during the past couple of stages. The table is laid with a number of items, notably a shiny toaster dripping with ectoplasm so fans can play out the mood slime toaster scene from the second Ghostbusters movie. The bedroom and kitchen area are then divided by a tan partition and a reddish brown 1 x 4 x 6 door which hasn’t previously been included in a retail set, after which it’s time to install the windows, followed by a Technic-built central roof beam with a couple of lights suspended from it. Finally, all the upper surfaces are tiled in readiness for the next level.
Stage 8 involves the construction of a small but perfectly-formed bathroom. This makes up part of the hinged section of the first floor of the Firehouse. The build begins with some black and white checkerboard tiling, after which a shower, basin, shiny mirror and toilet are installed. The toilet is probably best avoided since there appears to be trans-neon green slime bubbling up from its depths; a reddish brown life preserver is used for the toilet seat, while a surprisingly uncommon trans-neon green cheese slope forms part of the slime invasion. A couple of tan modified 1 x 1 bricks with scroll also make an appearance; these have only previously been seen in a single set in this colour, and form part of the toilet cistern. Again, the walls are topped off with tiles in preparation for the addition of the second floor.
The Peter Venkman minifigure is assembled at the start of Stage 9, after which we begin construction of the fixed second floor section of the Firehouse. The footprint and walls of this section are pretty much identical to those of the fixed first floor section built in Stages 5 to 7, with only the interior furnishings differing significantly. Notable interior features include a couple of dark blue and medium blue tiled areas which presumably represent carpets, plus a couple of billiard cues mounted on the wall.
Construction of the fixed second floor section of the Firehouse continues in Stage 10. The walls are built up to the required height, and windows are installed. A couple of tiles are stickered, one with a stylised map of Manhattan and one with a picture, and hung on the wall to provide some decoration. Further interior furnishings are then added, notably a billiard table with 1 x 1 round plates in various colours playing the part of the balls, a coffee table complete with a magazine represented by a printed 2 x 2 tile, and a table lamp. A printed dartboard, previously only seen in Set 10246 Detective’s Office, is also provided, and we get another computer complete with a bulky, old-fashioned CRT monitor. The computer is clearly being used for research as the stickered screen displays the head of Zuul, Gatekeeper of Gozer. Finally, a couple of shelving units are constructed and filled with, among other things, a nice-looking dark blue tool box, a grey radio and a trans-neon green plain minifigure head, none of which I’ve seen before in these colours.
Stage 11 begins with the assembly of the Dana Barrett minifigure, after which the fixed second floor section of the Firehouse is completed. Some nice little ornamental details are fashioned at the top of the second floor walls, after which a now-familiar Technic-built central ceiling beam is constructed and installed; as previously, a couple of lights are suspended from the beam. The upper surface of the walls and ceiling beam are then topped off with tiles in preparation for the addition of the roof.
The Egon Spengler minifigure is assembled at the beginning of Stage 12, and then it’s on to one of the hinged second floor sections of the Firehouse. This section, which includes a photographic darkroom, will rest directly above the first floor bathroom constructed at Stage 8 and therefore has the same footprint. First up, the darkroom floor is tiled in white and sand green with a border of flat silver modified 1 x 2 tiles with grille, after which it’s on to the now-customary repetitive wall build which features the use of light bley tiles attached to the front of SNOT bricks to produce the characteristic tiled appearance around the windows on the exterior walls. Appropriately for a darkroom, the clear window glass utilised in other sections is replaced by opaque white window glass, and the interior walls are stickered to represent developed photographs of what looks like Vigo the Carpathian from the second Ghostbusters movie. Other features include a bench in the darkroom containing a number of photographic accessories including a camera and a magnifying glass, and a fire extinguisher in the hallway outside.
Stage 13 begins with the assembly of the Zombie Driver minifigure, after which the final wall section of the Firehouse is constructed. This section, which spans two floors, is a part of the hinged portion of the building. The interior of this section is dominated by a rickety wooden staircase as you can see in the picture below.
There’s a door on each floor which leads out onto a fire escape serviced by a series of ladders (below). These provide access to both the roof and to ground level. The fire escape doors are flanked by the same light bley tiled detailing that surrounds the windows elsewhere on the exterior.
So on to Stage 14, and we’re nearly done now. The roof is formed in three distinct sections to allow the hinged sections of the Firehouse to move; a couple of modified 1 x 2 plates with arm up mounted on the top of the hinged sections click into a pair of modified 1 x 2 bricks with vertical clip, thus holding the hinged sections closed when desired. Most of the roof is topped off with dark red 45 degree slopes, although a few dark red double cheese slopes, which have only appeared in two sets to date, also make an appearance next to the hinges.
With the roof completed it’s time to drop all the various wall sections into place and fit the roof on top of the Firehouse, after which we’re down to the final couple of details. The fireman’s pole, based around the new pearl gold 32L spiral element that I mentioned earlier, is assembled and installed, and the traffic lights outside the Firehouse are constructed and we’re finally finished!
The Verdict
Overall, the Firehouse was a mostly interesting and satisfying build, and the completed model is extremely impressive. Constructing the outer walls can get a bit tedious due to the repetitive nature of the detailing around the windows in particular, but you’ll struggle to find any big LEGO Exclusive that doesn’t include some repetitive aspects and I didn’t think the Firehouse was unusual in this regard. In many respects it felt much like putting together a typical Modular Building, albeit one of twice the usual size. The exterior is a decent likeness of the actual building, with the exception of the colour which should have been dark orange rather than dark red; I can only assume that a choice of dark orange for the exterior of the Firehouse would have necessitated producing too many new elements in dark orange to make the set financially viable, in which case it’s understandable, but still disappointing.
An appreciable amount of the overall build time is spent on interior decoration, and the detailed interior together with the hinged opening mechanism makes the model quite reminiscent of Set 10228 Haunted House, although the Firehouse is more substantial and perhaps lacks a little of the charm of the Monster Fighters masterpiece. Some of the rooms and furnishings on the upper floors are great, notably the bathroom, the arcade machine and the billiards table, although the ground floor feels a bit sparsely furnished.
The predominantly double-walled construction technique used results in a robust and heavy model and helps to some extent to account for the astronomical parts count – with a total of 4,634 elements this set is the third largest LEGO retail set to date after Set 10189 Taj Mahal (5,922 elements) and Set 10179 Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon (5,197 elements). As well as increasing the rigidity of the Firehouse, the double walls also help to provide a nice neutral backdrop for the interior furnishings which certainly wouldn’t have been the case with a single-walled design. The back wall of the Firehouse is alone in being single-walled, and it’s been designed to be viewed from the inside rather than the outside, meaning that from the outside the back of the building is a bit of an eyesore (below) which might be an issue depending on how you intend to display it.
One possibly surprising omission from the set is Ecto-1. I guess that LEGO made the decision to omit it on the basis that the vast majority of Firehouse purchasers would already own Set 21108 Ghostbusters Ecto-1. That might not be much consolation to you if you don’t actually own Ecto-1, I suppose, although at least it’s still available at retail. Interestingly, the Firehouse as designed can’t actually accommodate Ecto-1 anyway – not only does some of the equipment on the roof of the Cadillac have a tendency to snag as you reverse the vehicle through the front entrance, but the presence of some of the Firehouse ground floor furnishings prevents the front half of the vehicle from fitting inside the building, as you can see from the picture below. Thankfully this can be easily remedied if desired by clearing out some of the furnishings.
In summary, this set is a dream come true for fans of Ghostbusters that even the exterior colour can’t spoil. I find it remarkable that LEGO should release a set of this size, cost and complexity to appeal to what seems like a relatively small niche – AFOLs with a love of Ghostbusters and with enough disposable income to stump up the £274.99 / US$349.99 asking price. I suspect that some fans of Modular Buildings might also be tempted in regardless of whether they have an interest in the Ghostbusters franchise, and they hopefully won’t be disappointed given the interior detail in particular. Set 75827 Firehouse Headquarters is available now from LEGO Shop@Home and brand retail stores.
Thanks once again to the LEGO AFOL Relations & Programs team for providing Brickset with a copy of the set to review.
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56 comments on this article
Truly an amazing set! Only one thing is not quite accurate. Sign with ghost over the door should be little bigger. Besides this - two thumbs up! :-)
Wow.
Thanks for this Great Review. Orrdered the Set at the 01.01 and now walting for this Gem.
Slightly off-topic: I always knew that the UCS Millennium Falcon has 5,195 pieces.
I was very surprised to see the 5,197 number, so I followed the link to the set's page, and sure enough there's a picture there of the Millennium Falcon box, with "5,197" on it.
I ran to the basement to look at my Millennium Falcon box, and it doesn't state the number of pieces. It only says "10179 Millennium Falcon" on it.
I think I recall something about this model being released twice. Does anyone have any ideas as to the reason for this discrepancy? Is there a discrepancy to start with (i.e.: does my model also have 5,197 pieces?)
This link shows "5,195": http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/10179_Ultimate_Collector's_Millennium_Falcon
Thanks!
Nice review! Just so you know, the hair mould on Dana and the Library Ghost is not unique; it previously appeared on the Series 14 Banshee in trans. black. The mould used for Peter Venkman's hair is also not new-- the old dude in the Doctor Who set sports it in light bluish grey.
Great review and having spent a whole day from 7am until 8pm building this with my son on Saturday, I can confirm it's worth it IMO. It isn't too difficult to adapt for Ecto 1 and it looks fantastic with so many modding opportunities. I think your review photos are superb and only make the set more appealing. The working fireman's pole is great, it just brings the child out in you!
"I found it hard to distinguish between the sand blue and grey in some steps."
Are you thinking of the Brick Bank? There's no sand blue in the Ghostbusters HQ....
The Ecto-1 is available as well in the store, if you want it. I like this set but I am working on a big MOC myself.
Lol ooops yes I built both of these this weekend
"Lol ooops yes I built both of these this weekend"
:-)
Also, apologies for deleting your initial comment - you posted it twice and while trying to tidy up I managed to delete both copies. Sorry!
Interesting to hear about Ecto-1. The marketing says "Firehouse Headquarters doors can open to fit the 21108 LEGO Ghostbusters Ecto-1 inside!"
Great review and photography as usual!
A couple things- first, the single-piece ghost mold and the library ghost's lower body are from last summer's Ninjago line, although they are new in those colors.
Secondly, I never noticed this before, but it took a few minutes of staring to work out how on earth the fire escape was attached. The ladder on the side doesn't even look attached without looking closely at the point between the lower two ladder elements... so thumbs up to the designer for disguising that so well.
Everything else notwithstanding, those stickers are a disgrace.
Sorely dissapointed that a set that costs this much uses so many stickers. Very much doubt I'll buy it based on that alone.
A building with only three outer walls for that price.. No thanks.
Thanks drdave for your extensive review. I do like the Ghostbusters and I enjoy modular buildings so I think I might have to go for this one. It is a lot of money though...
On a side note, is it possible that the bun the librarian is the same as the one the grandma was wearing in the Thanksgiving set?
Interested in this set, but it keeps getting points knocked against it - stickers, modular but not quite built to work with other modulars, that ugly unfinished back (that is the first I've heard/saw of it, ugh), etc. I'm waiting to see how others put it in with their modular setups to see if it is worth picking up as part of a town. Can't justify it as standalone at that price, but if it ends up working/looking pretty good with the other modulars in some fashion, I might break down and get it.
I would have bought this if it weren't for the stickers.
Looks like a great set, but I have three reasons I won't be purchasing it. The first is the price is a bit higher than I'd like to spend- on any set really. I will admit that the Price/Piece ratio is great, and it could technically raise the price another $100USD without being "too" absurd. The second is that I don't see a good way for it to easily be accepted into a modular city building street layout. I know that it can be changed to fit, that's kind of what lego does, but my bigger sets (over $150) I like to keep as original as possible in the event that I need to sell them to pay for school - I don't want to search for every single piece of a 2,000+ piece set. Thirdly, which kind of ties into the first two, I've never seen ghost busters. I'm a bit too young for when it came out, and I haven't gotten around to seeing it (or any of the 40+ films on my to-watch-list).
My reasons to not buy it aside, This set looks fantastic. There are a LOT of play features, that even now, I could see myself playing with all of them! Alas, I don't think I'll find the chance.
Certainly the Ecto-1 can fit, but you have to remove furniture AND the doors won't open. Very interesting tidbit.
The set looks great, but that is a lot of money. I am undecided if I will scrap my MOC version I was working on or just buy this. I may end up with $350 tied up into the MOC also..who knows.
Wow, that back side is a deal breaker for me. Seems like a strange decision to design it like this.
That back is pretty bad.
I'd be interested in how this looks alongside the modulars - are the storeys a similar height or not?
A lot of people are dissing the use of stickers, but they contain a touching memorial to the late actor and director that played Egon. Did any one else catch it? It's clever and sweet in a way that continues to make LEGO something special.
For $350, I want near perfection. This is not it. Three strikes: the back, can't fit ECTO-1 inside, and the choice of the main firehouse color should have been the originally submitted dark orange.
I don't own it, but it looks to be 35+ bricks high. Most modulars are in the high 20s.
This was sold out (~25 sets in stock) within 45 minutes of opening on Jan 1st at the Mall of America Lego Store location. If the initial sales (albiet at one retail location) are any indication, I suspect sales on this one will exceed Lego's expectations.
It's a fantastic set that took me a full day to build, but once finished it's very impressive.
For me, it's the interior that stands out the most. So many aspects of the interior from the film have been captured and the designers have made a real effort to give the interior a true 80's feel - the big computer monitors, arcade machine, dirty kitchen with pizza boxes lying around...this is in stark contrast to the bedroom in which there are three perfectly made beds!
It is a great set - the back is slightly annoying, and ecto-1 should really fit inside without having to move a few pieces around, but overall it is a stunning centrepiece for any town.
Wow,the back end is ugly,no surprise that no pictures of it have appeared before.
I am still getting it though :)
The Designer videos for this and the Brick Bank are finally up on YouTube!
Got this 1/1 and spent the weekend building it. It's a great build and a lot of fun. The back is a little weird but not appalling. The hinge opening works great and the fire pole is a delight. If you're on the fence because of the price, I'd highly recommend taking the plunge. It's terrific.
Any idea what the black device in the kitchen is with the dark transclear block? Toaster oven? Straight up oven? Microwave?
As for the back, I've been trying to find pictures of the real deal, and it looks like it mostly backs onto a high rise, so really, the back is kinda accurate. There isnt an outside. You just need to place that side against the town hall or something
That will definitely burn a BIG hole in my pocket!
Only just started reading, and have to stop and complain. Please fix the typo ... bley. It is everywhere you meant to say grey (or gray?)
"Only just started reading, and have to stop and complain. Please fix the typo ... bley. It is everywhere you meant to say grey (or gray?)"
Bley is shorthand for "bluish grey". Pretty standard terminology for LEGO fans.
I'm still not 100% sure about this. The interiors are wonderful, as I expected. Also, looks like a long and laborious build... which is an advantage for me actually. Can you go wrong with so many pieces? However...
1. The exteriors are nothing special for me - it's worse than any modular,
2. Not many for 4600 pieces, but still - stickers!,
3. Not my kind of franchise really.
That said, I can only regret being Dark Aged during the releases of UCS Falcon or Taj Mahal. Today, these would be "the buy" for me. GB HQ is sadly not. At least for now...
Thanks for a great review!
All I can say is that the Library Ghost was scary in the film, and scary as a minifig!
I could have looked past the ugly back wall/panel and tried to deal with the large amount of stickers (i really don't like stickers). I just can't accept that HQ wasn't designed to properly fit the Ecto-1. Seriously. Come on, LEGO.
This is an awesome set. It's a definite birthday purchase, which is only a month away! Yay!
Really don't understand the fuss about the stickers... You'd really miss this great set because of that???
@DrDaveWatford Thanks for the great review! While 'bley' might be standard shorthand, it just doesn't look right. This review is 4970 words long. Using 'bluish gray' would make it 4988...
Venkman's hair is shared with the Twelfth Doctor, so it's not it's first appearance, but it's still new. The Library Ghost's bun has appeared in the darker grey before, but this is new.
Honestly, I think people are being too greedy with this set. Sure, the wall looks bad, but how else were they going to accomplish the interior without wasting bricks and sacrificing structural integrity to cover up the back? When displayed properly, no one will see it, and the rest of the set seems to make up for that. LEGO sets are designed on a budget, and this one was already pretty high, so any problems are just a result of not wanting to make people pay another $50 for it.
And the minifigures here are absolutely fantastic. I need this set for my monster collection.
I'm disappointed with the back of the building as well. I believe it's supposed to look like blocked-up windows, but it just looks unfinished. You can put that side against a wall, but you still know it's there.
This is not the same scale as the modular buildings. It's 48 x 32 deep, so while it's the same width as the modulars, it's longer, which doesn't make it impossible to fit into a modular display, if you have room at the back.
The bigger issue is the height. This is considerably taller than any of the modular buildings and is obviously a three-story building. If you're okay with a firehouse that's taller than Town Hall, or if you only have the boxier modulars, such as Brick Bank and Detective Agency, then you could incorporate this and have it look okay. If you have the older modulars, including Pet Shop and Firehouse, this will really stick out if it's mixed in with them.
Wow, I'm impressed! Very detailed, would be in with my modular collection, but I'd rather buy two other modulars instead of one larger one. Great review Dr. Dave!
Just finished building this, I'm a huge Ghost Busters fan so when I found out about this set (and the cost) I started saving for it. Ditto on what everyone says about the back, It's ugly as sin! But, I'm displaying it with a view of the sides open so it can't be seen. Besides, it's the interiors that I want to show off and they are really cool! I'm "ok" with the stickers, but I think the Ghost Busters sign in front should have been printed. Also, the dark room stickers of Vigo are crappy looking too and I think unnecessary. I put the GB building next to the modulars detective office and Parisian restaurant. It's way to big and just looks out of place with them. I have to figure that out later. Mostly I'm nitpicking though because I really love this set!
Really too bad lago couldn't have made this compatible with modules. I guess the flesh colors vs. yellow would be a problem...
I can't believe that people are going to dismiss this because of a few stickers on an otherwise masterpiece of a set. As for the back wall, if you look at other modulars they all have at least one bad side but it's usually a side that goes against another building so you don't see it. Also, this set was never intended as a modular building to fit in with the others, if it was it would've been this years modular building but it isn't, we have the Brick bank for that. The only real gripe I have is having to remove furniture to get ecto 1 inside but on the other hand I would rather have the furniture to remove rather than none at all on the ground floor which would've been the alternative without making the set much bigger still.
I agree with kipper147's reasons not for buying (cost in AUS is $499) - but I want to add a fourth; I really can't come to terms with LEGO not attributing anything to Sergio512's Ideas project https://ideas.lego.com/projects/60632 - I feel he has been badly done by.
Don't understand how they could release 21108 without stickers (maybe because its an ideas set?) and this uses them. I had considered buying but not now.
Having been obsessed with Ghostbusters since birth this is a must have for me. I was a few days late on ordering but it is finally on the way. I don't mind stickers. Yes I wish it were printed but after years of seeing Star Wars, Harry Potter etc I will take anything Lego Ghostbusters I can get!
In the grand scheme this makes zero difference in the world but I will no longer be buying any larger sets with excessive stickers. At $350, it's ridiculous this has so many especially when the brick bank has none. Great set but I'm speaking with my wallet from now on...
A nice looking set but it's a disappointment that the design did not take a moment to consider that folks will want to put the Ecto-1 inside the building.
Surely just a moment's thought on the length of the garage space and height of the door would've solved that.
Agree with other comments that the back is hideous. What was the designer thinking?
It may be a purchase at a later time in the local Lego store sale when I have accumulated some more VIP points and get it at half price but it's not a must have purchase at full cost.
Anyone else have issues with the book? Several of the pages were not correctly cut--to get to the instructions I had to tear/cut them apart.
Also, some of the images are off the side of the page (just a little, you can still use them, but still...)
At the moment I am totally on the fence with this one. The price point is just too high for me. I can get 2 modulars for the price of this one. Having just bought the brick bank, I am disappointed about the stickers with this one. Having small kids, who help and play with my collection I always worry about the stickers life running out all to quick. Plus what I can't wrap my mind around is this huge project is 350, but the small Ecto-1 is 50! so if you bought the set its 400. Then they don't go together without some mods, Strike 3 for me. I am child of the 80's and love ghostbusters, but this might have to wait and only will get if someone surprises me with it for a birthday gift. Another thought, the new rebooted movie is coming out this year, so how will that play into things??
Assuming TLG had the license to build more sets, probably one with the 4 lead female minifigures in it?
Not sure if they're still using the same iconic GBHQ building from the 1st two movies though.
At $400 CAD vs $350 USD and the current state of the canadian dollar, I think this was pretty good value for me. I'd be less impressed if I was paying in USD.
Disappointing that it doesn't fit with the other modulars even though they could have pretty easily accounted for that when they were designing the set. If it fit with a modular, the ugly back of the building wouldn't have been such a big deal. I don't really care about Ghostbusters but I never had a chance to buy http://brickset.com/sets/10197-1/Fire-Brigade so this is as good as a substitute as I'm likely to get. The sheer scale of the set was also a factor; sets this large don't come around too often and I usually end up regretting not buying them.
I hope you noticed the nod to the late Harold Ramis! It's on the post-it note located on the sticker at the back of the office on the first floor: RIP H.R. You can see it in your detail shot of the stickers. Love this!
Been waiting for this since buying the ecto-1, the window detail bored me after a while and also took me nearly 11 hours to fully build
Love the extra detailing on the minifigures compaired to the ecto-1 also