Review: 21128 The Village
Posted by JudgeChuck,
Firstly, I would like to thank Huw for giving me another opportunity to review a new LEGO Minecraft set for you all. I hope you enjoy it as much I have enjoyed writing it. Or more!
21128 The Village is the first D2C set for the LEGO Minecraft theme, which is now in its third wave, or fourth, if you count the micro world sets and is, by a large margin, the largest set of the theme.
This year’s D2C sets have quite definitely been a bit of a mixed bag so far and some have caused a fair amount of controversy, this set included. People have questioned whether the LEGO Minecraft theme is suitable for a set of this size and price, given the main target market, which is likely to be children, rather than AFOLs. I think those are fair criticisms in some ways, but I am very happy that this set has been made.
The set itself is priced at £169.99, €199.99 or $199.99 and contains 1600 pieces.
Box and contents
It’s big. About the same height and width as a modular box, but half again as deep. The main build is promoted on the front, along with the usual roster of mini- and other figures. On the back, the main picture highlights one of the many ways in which the set can be rearranged, spotlights some of the detail in the various modules and also shows the alternative “Build your own creations” re-build.
Contained within are eleven numbered bags and also a twelfth bag containing a number of large plates, which will, obviously, form the bases of the sub-assemblies.
Finally, there are two instruction manuals, the first of which is a large pure-bound booklet, which details the main build, while the second is a thinner, stapled booklet, which has the instructions for the two separate, but interconnected re-builds.
Two rebuilds are included, the first one of which requires the dismantling of the Butcher’s Shop and some of the Farm and allows the creation of a large wall-like structure, while the second dismantles the Marketplace and Well, to be rebuilt as a jail.
Both rebuilds look interesting and are designed to be done individually or together, to drastically change the layout of the Village.
Minifigures and creatures
What Minecraft set would be complete without a Steve and / or an Alex? Here, we get both, along with a Stone Sword and a Diamond Pickaxe. Neither has any Armour nor are they any different to previous incarnations. Now, I get that LEGO feel that they have to include these characters in every set, in the same way that you can’t have a Batman set without a Batman, or a Millennium Falcon without a Han Solo but, given that there are a limited number of characters in the Minecraft universe, do we really need both a Steve and an Alex in another set? A set was only just released earlier this year with both figs, 21125 The Jungle Tree House.
The Zombie is, again, no different to what we have seen before, but here we have our first new element, in the guise of the Zombie Villager. Zombie and Zombie Villager pic The legs and torso are exactly the same as the standard Zombie, but has the new-for-2016 head mould that was introduced in 21123 The Iron Golem. The printing is more detailed that that of the standard Zombie, with well-defined eyes, eyebrows, nose and texture on the forehead and I like it a lot.
And here we have what we have all been waiting for: The new Minecraft Villagers! I, for one, am not at all disappointed.
We have seen the mould previously, as noted above, but it is great to finally have these figures. The print on the head is simple, but matches the in-game colouring and look very well. The legs are simply standard minifig child legs, but the torso is an entirely new mould, being the same width as a normal torso, but of greater height. In conjunction with the smaller legs, the figure is of the same height as a normal minifig. The arms are fixed in place, as in the game, and give the figure a monk-ish aspect.
The printing on the torso is very basic, comprising only of a simple-ish stripe from the neck to the crotch, but it’s not out of place for the theme and is fairly accurate to the in-game representation. It is on par with those of the other figures in the theme.
In the pictures above, the white-garbed Villager on the left represents a Librarian, while the one on the right in brown represents a Farmer, but does look similar enough to pass as a Blacksmith or Butcher, although without an apron.
Overall, I do like the Villagers a lot. They look very personable in their own quirky way and it’s great to get a new denizen to populate our Minecraft worlds… Now then, where is my Witch?
Next up is the Creeper. Again, there is little that I can add to what has been said before, except to say that, since I haven’t reviewed this figure for Brickset before, I’m a big fan of the Creeper figure. Given the design choices that LEGO have made for the theme, the mould looks great and the printing on the face is iconic.
Following swiftly behind are the Enderman and Iron Golem. The Enderman is exactly the same as we have seen before in both 21117 The Ender Dragon and 21124 The End Portal, with the only difference being in the type of block that he / she / it is carrying, in this case, a grass block.
The Iron Golem is identical to the model contained within, unsurprisingly, 21123 The Iron Golem. Now, this inclusion has split my opinion. On the one hand, having a set of this size representing a Minecraft Village and not containing an Iron Golem, would be almost unthinkable, but this does raise the question: Why then, LEGO, did you release a standalone set containing what is quite a large, brick-built figure, only a couple of months ago. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. The earlier set did contain the Golem-creation play feature but still, the closeness of the release is puzzling.
Having said all of that, I do like the figure itself, so I’m not totally upset that it was included. The printing on the tiles is good and there’s another one of the new Villager’s heads, this time in white, with printing, and a new 1x2 “extended stud jumper” for the neck attachment.
I agree with other reviewers that some compromises have been made in designing the figure, but overall it looks the part and is easily poseable, so I am more than happy with how it has turned out.
Everyone say “ahhhh!” Yes, it’s a baby Pig and it’s super-cute, but are LEGO trying to include the whole 21123 The Iron Golem set in this one? Iron Golem – check, Zombie – check, Alex with Diamond Pickaxe – check, baby Pig – check… Couldn’t we have had a baby Cow or Sheep, for a change?
The Pig is identical to the one contained within 21115 The First Night and looks as good as ever. The Light Purple Brick 1X2 W. Groove here is still exclusive to LEGO Minecraft sets.
Okay, so we’ve gone through all of the included figures and creatures, so now we can dive into the meat of the set: All of those “modular” structures. Of course, I use the term “modular” in a loose sense of the word, compared to the Creator Expert sets but, in a similar way, all of these sub-assemblies are designed to be modular in nature and allow the builder to customise the layout of their Village in whichever way is desired.
What is also very noticeable is that the designers have made a conscious decision to include different biomes in some of the assemblies and I completely understand the reasoning behind this, as it gives some variety to the overall look of The Village, rather than it only being, for example, grass-based. In-game, however, a Village will spawn in a Plains, Savannah or Desert biome, but here we also have a small area of Jungle and one that could represent the start of an Ice Plain or Cold Taiga.
Marketplace
First up under the microscope is the Marketplace, which has been placed in a small area of Jungle. Now, this isn’t actually a representation of anything that spawns in-game and has been included, according to the designers, to simply better represent the trading aspect of a Village. Within the game, trading occurs simply by interacting with the requisite Villager and there is no “live” representation of their wares. I think this is a valid choice to make and, happily, they have kept the piece-count of this section to a minimum, so that it doesn’t take away any resources from the more iconic buildings.
Here, the designers have given us a colourful red and white Wool-canopied roof over a bench, a chest, containing a few Emeralds, being the currency of trade with the various Villagers, and a table, on which is displayed some wares. These include a 1x1 tile Eye of Ender, a 2x2 tile with Dark Orange plate cake, a nice, red apple and an Iron Ingot. Sticking incongruously out of the top of the woollen canopy is a Jungle Tree and Vine and, finally, there is a Fern.
The build here is very simple indeed, but I’m happy to get another tree and the trade elements are nice as well. The cake, especially, is a very good representation, set off by a new, nice white and red printed tile.
Blacksmith
The Blacksmith is one of my favourite parts of the set. Not only is it a very good model of the structure, but the build is enjoyable, employing a neat, and well-disguised, Technic mechanism that allows the whole front and roof of the Blacksmith to hinge backwards, giving great access to the interior for play. Outside, the building is located on Bright Green and Light Stone Grey plates, representing Grass and Gravel Roads.
Similar to its in-game counterpart, the building is mainly comprised of Dark Stone Grey bricks, plates and tiles, representing Cobblestone, with elements of Wood, made from Medium Nougat and Reddish Brown bricks. Usefully, the roof has two of what I believe is a new colour for the 6x6 Flat Tile, in Dark Stone Grey, while a third will be found later in the Village Well.
There are also a number of useful elements, including two Furnaces, a wooden table and benches and a stone slab, to represent an anvil, while 1x2x2 Transparent Wall elements are used to represent Windows in this and the other two main structures.
Library
The first of the true house-like structures is the Library, which utilises Dark Stone Grey and Medium Nougat bricks, plates and tiles to represent the Cobblestone and Wood building materials.
There is a large amount of Medium Nougat elements of all types in both this and the upcoming Butcher’s Shop, of which the 1x12 bricks are new in this colour and 26 are included in the set. There are similarly large numbers of 1x4 and 1x6 tiles, 1x1, 1x2, 2x2 and 2x4 bricks, 2x2 jumpers and 1x2 profile bricks also in this colour.
The building is a relatively simple, classic house structure, with a stepped Wood roof and Wood door, of the same construction as those included in 21120 The Snow Hideout and 21121 The Desert Outpost.
To get inside, the whole structure hinges open in half, revealing a simple interior with Wood benches, table and a Crafting Table.
Suspended from the ceiling are three detachable assemblies which represent Bookshelves and are identical to those found in 21124 The End Portal. Finally, hidden in the roofspace is a Spider’s Web.
One thing which is a bit of a shame is that the designers could have gone for slightly more accuracy, by including a triple-width window at the rear, which would also differentiate it somewhat more from the Butcher’s Shop. This is a minor gripe, however, and could easily be rectified, if desired.
Watchtower
What is described as a Watchtower by LEGO actually matches the blueprint of a Small House and is actually one of the more interesting structures overall. The building itself is very simple indeed, with nothing inside, although there is a nice balcony on the top, accessible from the interior.
What makes it more enjoyable is that it has been raised up on “legs” of Stone, creating the tower aspect, however, the whole House structure can be easily removed and placed elsewhere within the scene, to further customise the look of your Village.
Meanwhile, a small spring gushes out of the rock face and forms a patch of ice. Snowy blocks and red and white mushrooms abound and there are two Emerald Ore blocks hidden underneath.
I’m not quite sure how the Emerald got there as, in-game, it is naturally generated deep underground in the Extreme Hills biome only, so perhaps Steve or Alex has carelessly dropped a couple of blocks there for some reason only known to themselves.
Garden
No self-respecting Minecraft Village would be without a Farm and we are certainly not left disappointed here. As far as accuracy to the game is concerned, what we have is a Small Farm, with an additional player-built Pig-pen and also a small area of Grass and Water.
The Small Farm is characterised by four rows of crops and a row of Water, which separates the rows into two groups of two and surrounding the crops are Wooden Logs. Are you still following me? ;-)
Here, we are given two rows of Wheat, in ripe and unripe forms, two full-grown and two immature Carrots and four Potato plants. The immature Carrots and Potatoes are new elements for this set and they’re very simply done, but effective.
Making up the final part of this sub-sub-assembly is a brick-built Lamp Post, which holds four Torches and is a fair attempt at modelling the source material, although aligning the Black 1x2 jumpers, 1x1 plates and 1x1 plates w/upright holders is a little bit fiddly.
As well as the Farm itself, this sub-assembly also comes with what must be a player generated Pig-pen, of similar build to previous fenced areas in earlier LEGO Minecraft sets and two additional plates of Grass and Water, the last of which also has three sticks of Bamboo growing out of the middle. All four of these assemblies can easily be re-deployed to reconfigure the plan of the Village.
Desert/Well
The centre of the Village, figuratively- and sometimes literally-speaking, is the Well, which is positioned in an area of Desert biome. It also comprises the largest of the plates included, a 16x16 in Brick Yellow. The rest of the area is made up of a few other Brick Yellow and Medium Stone Grey plates and bricks. It is simple, but the addition of some other elements increases the interest.
For decoration, there is another Lamp Post, identical to the one above in the Farm, a standard Cactus and also three of the new 19119 Stalk W. 1,5 Shaft And 3,2 Shaft plant pieces, but this comes in a new colour, Dark Orange. These simply represent Dead Bushes and are another simple, but good, representation of what is seen in-game.
The focus of this sub-assembly is the Well, of course. It is fully brick-built, with Dark Stone Grey bricks forming the base, 1x1 Medium Nougat bricks and Reddish Brown bracelets forming the Wooden uprights and finally a Dark Stone Grey plate and tile roof, which includes the third of those 6x6 Dark Stone Grey flat tiles. A 2x2 Dark Transparent Blue brick and a Water-filled Bucket complete this section.
This is probably the least interesting of all the sub-assemblies, but it still looks okay and, given that this is meant to be part of a Desert biome, I’m not too upset with the results.
Butcher's building
Our final sub-assembly is the Butcher’s Shop, which is of very similar build to the Library overall, but has a number of differentiating features.
Firstly, there is an additional Wooden Door at the rear, which leads out to a fenced-in pen area, there are a number of Medium Nougat 2x2 jumpers on the floor and a 2x2 Medium Stone Grey brick with jumper, to represent a stone slab counter. There is also a small Wooden Bench and Table in one of the corners.
Outside, apart from the pen, there are two Pumpkins growing in the ground.
Now, there is little getting away from the fact that the two main buildings are extremely similar in terms of look and build, but this is inevitable, given the source material. What the designers have done in both cases is include enough features to make the differences apparent and stay pretty faithful to that source. Most large sets are bound to contain some repetition, so I’m not going to hold this against the set in any major way.
Connecting it all together
With all of these separate modules, LEGO have come up with a very simple and straightforward method for connecting them together: 2x4 bricks in various colours with 2x2 jumpers on the top. It’s not particularly ingenious, but it does the job. There are a total of five elements representing Grass, one for Sand and one for Snow-covered Stone.
These simple blocks allow the builder to attach two sub-assemblies together in whatever arrangement is desired and it is at this point that the Village finally takes shape and the various choices of base plate start adding to the overall look. For example, most of the buildings are fronted by Light Stone Grey plates which, in the default configuration, become obvious paths, winding around the Village, joining the buildings together.
It is worth mentioning the substantial number of large plates that are included in the set. There are a total of nineteen 6x12 plates in various colours, one of 6x16, one of 8x16 and one of 16x16, as well as many others in medium sizes.
The different biome-themed areas included become default attachment points for other LEGO Minecraft sets, such as 21120 The Snow Hideout, 21121 The Desert Outpost and 21125 The Jungle Tree House and, without much difficulty, all of the other outdoor-themed sets can be added to extend the scene even further.
Overall opinion
First off, I am going to say that, as a LEGO Minecraft fan, I do really like this set. I think that the designers have done a sterling job in staying true to the in-game look and feel, within the design choices made for this theme, while also adding good customisation features.
The choice to include multiple biomes may seem a little strange, from an accuracy perspective, but I think it makes sense and creates a more varied look than if they had simply stuck with green and grey base plates.
The individual builds, while not of a modular-level complexity, are very enjoyable and there is a lot of variety in the set, even taking into account the two similar main buildings.
My main gripes are two-fold: Firstly, the choice of characters. Although a Minecraft pedant will say that the number of Villagers is correct for the size of the Village (3 doors * 0.35 = 1.05, which would result in two Villagers), I think that it is a real shame that we do not get an additional one. Two just seems meagre. I think we could easily have done without another Alex or Steve and gained a Villager. Also, I would have preferred a baby Cow or Sheep, rather than another baby Pig. My earlier comment about the timing of the release and contents of this set and 21123 The Iron Golem still stands, but that is not a criticism of this set per se.
Secondly, value. I think that, while we are used to LEGO Minecraft sets being on the borderline of good value, it does become more difficult to justify with a set of this size. It does contain a lot of medium to large plates, but there are also a lot of 1xX, 2xX and 4xX standard bricks as well, so when it pushes past the 10p per part price point, you do have to question the value. It is expensive and that fact will put off a lot of people.
This set will not be for everyone. That is very clear. However, for an avid LEGO Minecraft fan, looking to expand their Minecraft world, this is a must-have set. Villages are a key feature of the game and fans have been clamouring for one from the earliest days of this theme and I don’t think that this set disappoints in any major way. Yes, there are some facets that I would change, but overall I am very happy with it indeed and am looking forward to adding it to a new LEGO Minecraft display, just as soon as 21127 The Fortress is released and I have built up my stocks of Medium Stone Grey and Reddish Brown bricks, for landscaping.
Thanks to The LEGO Group for providing this set for review. I know it's obvious but I'm obliged to tell you that this review is an expression of my views and opinions.
JANGBRiCKS' video review
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34 comments on this article
Disappointing idea:
the execution was great but there is just not enough in game material that can be turned into something very detailed.
Its not the fault of the designers.
I love it; I just don't quite understand the price/piece ratio. These are all essentially basic bricks with very few prints, and hardly anything at all unique. Even taking licensing into account, this should be $180 USD at most, though $160 would be more reasonable. My daughter wants this so bad, but I'll be patiently waiting for a major holiday discount or something if ever we decide to purchase. Until then, we'll be hunting for that cake piece; that was her birthday cake this year!
Not a Minecraft player however I think if I were I would certainly buy this set. Even otherwise its a little tempting however there are just to many other large sets that are a priority. Thanks for the review! Looking forward to the mega Minecraft display!
Good review! The set's still not up my alley (not being a Minecraft fan), but reviews like this and the one on The Brothers Brick help me to understand it a little better coming from people who can better understand and describe how well the set corresponds to the in-game subject matter.
I think my favorite image of the set in your pictures is the isometric overhead shot. In a lot of other pictures of this set the contrasting biomes had made this set seem a little disjointed to me, but from above the grey stone paths tie everything together quite nicely.
Thanks for your comments. We try and get a subject matter expert to write our reviews where possible, which is why I don't do many these days :-)
I am thankful for sets like this. It makes me feel like I don't need to buy "everything", and makes me feel better about spending money on the sets I actually want. No offense to Minecraft fans, but the sets make no sense to me, this one especially with its $200 price tag. To each their own...
Excellent review! I have played a bit of Minecraft in the past, but not enough to want this. I do appreciate how well it's been done though.
Not a real Minecraft fan myself but I can see how kids and probably some teens and adults will like this. When I was a kid I'm sure I would have loved a Pokémon or Super Mario set this size! Such blocky detail may not be what AFOLs are used to from other themes, but it makes it feel very authentic, and offers somewhat of a new appreciation for how much you can do with two-stud-wide bricks.
Some people think the very premise of buying a $200 set for a kid is outrageous, but let's be real for a minute: http://brickset.com/sets/6285-1/Black-Seas-Barracuda was $110 in 1989, which is like $218 in today's money. http://brickset.com/sets/4558-1/Metroliner was $149 in 1991, which is like $269 in today's money. http://brickset.com/sets/6991-1/Monorail-Transport-Base was $178 in 1994, which is like $295 in today's money! That's not even getting into how many parents might be looking for something to get their kids instead of a $300 video game console.
Aanchir, I promise I'm not stalking you, but the three expensive sets you mentioned are great toys with lots of large specialist elements. The Minecraft stuff on the other hand, as polyester333 states above, is just a bunch of basic bricks, nothing more complicated than you'd find in 10697 'XXXL Box'.
This is a really well-written review. The introduction is engaging, the review has a nice logical flow and excellent style!
These sets are always a little off to me, because they seem like you could almost sell a character pack and then tubs of bricks in whatever colors to make... whatever. They're such basic bricks.
I can imagine a few of my students wanting this set though.
This is actually a pretty good set. But once again, the problem is the price tag--there's like 12 total new prints/recolors/moulds, maybe a little more, and the rest is extremely, well, normal. Cheap. Basic. This seems like a $150 value... and that price, this wouldn't be so off-putting.
Are there generic villagers in the game? Because it seems like one farmer and one librarian with roughly 5 buildings doesn't work.
As a Minecraft player I would agree that the set represents the source material very well. I also agree with the reviewer that we need more villagers. Yeah, the blockiness is unavoidable but that's a part of Minecraft's charm. And yeah, that price is awful.
@PicnicBasketSam - All villagers have specific roles. There used to be generic villagers in beta but no longer. And yes, absolutely, one librarian and one farmer per five buildings is very inefficient :P
Well it's better than the UCS Hoth set.
Thanks for all the comments, of all viewpoints.
One thing that I disagree with, and a lot of people comment on, is the "basic-ness" of Minecraft sets. Yes, these sets do have a very specific aesthetic which, of course, has to match the source material but, personally, I find that there's a lot of freedom in taking those basic building blocks, and I'm not just talking about the basic bricks, but the representative in-game elements, such as a block of earth / grass, made up of a 2x2 reddish brown brick with a green jumper on top, or a couple of green 2x2s, combined with some green angle plates, to form a cactus, and attempting to build unlimited vistas with them. The simplicity of the individual elements make you think about, not necessarily the detail, but a larger canvas.
It is a totally different style of building to most LEGO, apart from Classic LEGO, I think, which I find refreshing.
Don't get me wrong though, I am a huge fan of more detailed sets, such as the Modulars, WV, Creator etc. and those satisfy different requirements: Those of precision and complexity.
On the flip-side, I don't particularly like Mixels or Bionicle. They just leave me cold. I can't see any attraction or draw in them at all, but some people love 'em and, hey, aren't we all very lucky to have such a huge range of themes and styles to choose from?
Thanks again for reading!
Well, the review is flawless and pictures are excellent. The question is... do we really need Minecraft D2C?
I know that everything is more interesting than Star Wars which is rebooted over and over again. But why Minecraft, for Lego's sake?
Hi Alonso, before I head for bed, may I counter with "why not Minecraft?"?
LEGO have released and are releasing a lot of D2C sets for a lot of themes. Last year we had the Detective's Office, the fantastic Ninjago Temple of Airjitzu, the Ferris Wheel, a couple of Star Wars sets and others. This year, we have another great Modular, GBHQ, Big Ben, Assault on Hoth (ahem), this set and others. So, quite a choice, overall.
I'll be honest and say that I don't see an extended lifespan for the Minecraft theme, simply due to the difficulty of coming up with varied, but discrete, sets for very much longer. I can certainly envisage a number of other sets that would be great, but it's not going to have the legs of Star Wars, for example.
So, taking that into account and also that this is, like it or not, one of LEGOs best-selling themes, perhaps they decided that now would be a good time to release a D2C set and, if I was going to release such a set, a Minecraft Village makes perfect sense.
I am honestly curious: Which of this year's D2Cs are you most interested in, and why?
I recently realized why the lego group only gave us two villagers (the farmer and librarian). Out of the five types of villagers, one is a priest and lego doesn't do religion related topics in their sets. Out of the remaining four, two have a different shaping in their design (the blacksmith and butcher don't wear robes like these two included do), and i don't feel like lego would want to create two separate molds for these figures. While I wish we would have gotten a blacksmith or butcher, lego avoiding making new molds seems common so theres that. btw, thanks for the review!
@Space:1979 I'm not talking about comparative value. You're right that there are probably better sets you could spend $200 on. But some comments I've seen here and on Facebook express disbelief or throw shade at any parent who would even consider spending $200 on one LEGO set (ANY set) for their kid. People sometimes have to be reminded that LEGO has always been expensive, and that if they grew up with LEGO their parents might've spent more to give them that privilege than they ever realized.
I want this set, but $200 is too much, license and D2C status notwithstanding. Shame, as it's really well done.
Thanks for a very interesting review, @JudgeChuck--you've made me understand why so many people find this theme quite attractive! This set in particular, with all its large plates and tiles, is a very tempting parts pack (the minifigures are also quite cute), but the price does make it unlikely I'll actually get it. If I ever see it on discount, though....
Excellent Review.
I picked up this set last weekend and built it with my daughter. It is great mix of building types for play, has a hoard of lovely medium nougat bricks and has some (I know not enough) villagers finally. Yes it is expensive but hey, thats LEGO for you. If you want cheap toys get cheap clone bricks. In addition these sets in particular are called Licenced themes because they are paying a license to produce them so they cost more I assume.
I was going to get the UCS Hoth set until that was stoned to death by the AFOL community and I had to rethink my purchase. So this was an excellent next option.
Once again excellent review.
@JudgeChuck, this year it would definitely be Porsche, even though it's only exclusive for two months, but still. Technic range this year is simply incredible, we still have BWE yet to be released. Can't wait for Disney Castle as well. And I don't find any flaws in Big Ben, even though it's not for me, build wise.
I like the diversity, but I'm disappointed that half of D2C so far is addressed to children mostly which was not the case previously. Even Ninjago D2C seemed adult-oriented, and by that, I mean original design, interesting build and a great display piece. I can't find any of those in Batcave, Hoth and Minecraft.
Hi Alonzo, that's a fair viewpoint and I don't entirely disagree with you, however, I will point out that we're getting more D2C sets this year than ever before and also that I don't believe the Technic Porsche, amazing as it looks, is actually a D2C set, neither is the BWE.
I think people get far too hung up over labels, especially when applied to LEGO. Just look at the arguments caused by what is / isn't UCS or Modular!
It looks like you're going to be getting a number of great sets this year, D2C or not, so enjoy! :-)
^ That's right, and I'm at least thankful that SW isn't dominating that much :P
Great review! Just two things I'm wondering.
First, would it be possible by any chance to post a side-by-side comparison of the LEGO Minecraft objects with the in-game Minecraft objects? This could help with a lot of sets such as this one to show just how close a model is to the actual game! This could be especially useful to those who maybe haven't or don't really play Minecraft all that much.
Second, maybe they had the Iron Golem set released earlier for the sake of convenience? I mean if these sets are targeted towards children chances are they are going to want an Iron Golem, but 200$ is quite a lot to ask for such a major mob. The Iron Golem set also makes a much cheaper alternative way if you want to get multiple Iron Golems for whatever display you may want to set up!
Also one last thing, the houses and buildings look decently generic enough that they can work just fine outside of the LEGO Minecraft theme. Just take away the Minecraft characters/items and you have a really good village for something such as a medieval setting or possibly houses for a neighborhood!
great review, they need to do a desert temple (http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Desert_temple)
@Lego_Fox, you'd probably do best to simply compare the pictures of the sets to online images of the in-game objects on a site like the Minecraft Wiki: http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Minecraft_Wiki
You make a good point about the Iron Golem set.
@dylzone, yes, that's a set I would like to see, as well as a Witch's Hut, Jungle Temple and perhaps part of an Ocean Monument. We'll see.
Looks good. Captures the blocky aesthetic of Minecraft...tbh tired of people saying "isn't LEGO basically just Minecraft?" and vice versa. No, not really. Thankfully that seems to have ended a few months ago.
Also, as far as other choices for a Minecraft set this size: a more realistically sized Nether Fortress (did the last one have a Blaze spawner? that's a must), a realistically sized Stronghold (putting it in a ravine would easily make it the right size), a dungeon + cave area, desert/jungle temple (a bit small), ocean monument, mooshroom island, and various other underrepresented/not-at-all represented biomes. It also feels like the current sets are lacking in the creative aspect of Minecraft. When I say that, I mean player-built structures, like castles, towers, etc. I get that they want people to make those on their own, but it would be great to see a set that came prepackaged with a larger build.
One great thing about the Minecraft theme is actually its relative simplicity. By this I mean that the in game elements are readily defined by a relatively small palette of bricks, plates, jumpers and other elements, so it's very easy to PAB or BL large amounts of those bricks, to allow you to create whatever you desire. I definitely would like to see more sets, as you suggest, but you can do many things cheaper yourself.
@dungeonsandflagons
Don't forget the TFOLs
"Why then, LEGO, did you release a standalone set containing what is quite a large, brick-built figure, only a couple of months ago."
This has probably already been said, but I can't be bothered to read all the comments to check.
I think the reason is probably thus: A lot of people will want the Iron Golem figure, and a lot of those people won't be able to afford THIS set, but will be able to afford the Iron Golem set.
Great review! I agree with your points on the Iron Golem, and I actually sort of wish that it came with another farm instead of the player-built animal pen. For one, the animal pen is so similar to the pens already included in The Farm and The First Night, but for another this set already has one in the butcher's shop. I always prefer more source accurate builds, but the pen doesn't go too far out of canon so in the end I'll let it slide :) anyway, it looks like an excellent set and this was a great review.
A church would've been a nice addition to this set.
It's not really a set, though is it? It's a glorified parts box.
170 quid for this monstrosity, or 50 quid for 10697-1: XXXL Box, which has only 100 pieces fewer? I know which I'd go for! ;-)