Review: 21187 The Red Barn
Posted by Huw,
We always try to have subject matter experts write our reviews which often requires us to look beyond our usual team of reviewers.
For this Minecraft set I enlisted the help of 8-year-old William, who's a LEGO fan, a Minecraft player, and son of one of my cycling friends.
He built the set and wrote the review himself so read on to find out what he thought of it.
Summary
21187 The Red Barn, 799 pieces.
£89.99 / $99.99 / €99.99 | 11.3p/12.5c/12.5c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
Excellent play value for Minecraft fans
- Barn opens out and reveals the inside of the barn when completed
- New characters
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Packaging
Images on the box were really good and clearly showed the finished Red barn, and the pieces and characters that were included.
There are 8 bags of pieces within the box, and one instruction booklet, with very clear diagrams, and I found it easy to follow the instructions and complete the challenge of building the Red Barn.
Minifigures and animals
The Farmer Villager looks just like the computer game, especially the pattern on his top.
The Minecraft player has a stone shovel, makes it a mining boost.
Zombie - so pleased there is a zombie, and on top of the chicken.
Two Cows, goat, horse and chicken - this was the first time I had ever made animals out of a number of pieces, and I enjoyed the challenge.
The completed model
It looks an ordinary red barn, however it opens up to reveal the inside which includes 2 stables, a box, diamond axe, and crafting table.
I like the colour of the red and white bricks for the barn, and the green grass make it feel more like a barn. The carrots were in two pieces, and it would have been better if the apples had been two pieces too, with a green stalk.
The stables have working doors, which open and shut, and the animals are a good fit inside the stable, more fun to play with!
On the second floor, there are 2 hay bales, a chest with apples inside, and a blue bed.
The Crafting Table is just the same as on the computer, so realistic!
There's also a ladder going up to the second floor on the wall, which makes it more realistic inside the house.
The secret base on the side of the barn adds interest and shows the flowers growing.
Verdict
The Minecraft Lego Red Barn set is really cool, and it is just like the computer game. Any Minecraft fan would love the challenge of building the Red Barn, and all the characters and animals included in the set.
I am 8 years old, and it took me 4 hours to build, with a few mistakes, but as usual the instructions were brilliant.
I asked William's mum what she thought of the retail price of £90 and if she felt it was good value for money: "I'd say it’s quite expensive for what it is and £75 would be a better price point. However, if you are into Minecraft then the characters are realistic and the fact that it opens gives it a high play value."
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31 comments on this article
Thanks for the review, William! Good coverage of the most important features of the set and I'm glad it was an enjoyable set to build and play with. The size of the barn is definitely rather imposing on first blush and I definitely would've seen it as a worthy challenge at your age. And really my favorite thing about LEGO Minecraft is how realistically the builds and details match their in-game counterparts. They don't have to be 100% accurate, but I'm always impressed by how close some of the models can get. I still consider the two a match made in heaven.
In addition to the main content, I would've liked to hear some thoughts about the price of this set from, if no one else, Brickset staff (since this is presumably a review copy and not purchased by William's parents). Do parents and adults feel this is worth the price, either for their children, or for their LEGO collection?
@LegoSonicBoy , I will ask William's mum, "Would you have paid £90 for it and if so do you think it is good value?"
Loving this review from the intended audience. Really well done!!!
Such a fun concept for a review! Really enjoyed This short and sweet one!
Great review William! I like how this shakes things up a little.
Excellent review! I really appreciated the details about the building process and important play features.
I sometimes think that Minecraft animals are what Lego animals should be. Yet, I do enjoy the special sculpted and molded parts.
Great review. Thank you!
Thank you for the review, William! Well done.
I think it is nice to see the set from your point of view, with all the positives and negatives mentioned.
Overall, I hope that this IMHO positive experience might lead to more reviews being written by kids / teen-agers (whatever market the sets were (partially) aimed at.
I do think it important that, if the review is done by a minor, there will also be an adult view on the value for money (of course, if the reviewer gives his/her opinion, that should be mentioned as well).
Thanks for the addendum, @Huw.
Fantastic review! I wish we could have more reviews written by kids- the intended audience for most lego sets.
By the Big Red Barn in the Great Green Field,
There was a Baby Zombie on a Chicken.
Great review William! May you have many fun hours creating in Minecraft and building with LEGO! There’s a great big world out there where creativity is needed!
Yes! More reviews by the target audience!
I honestly think this is probably the best-looking barn out of three we got this year. Ditch the Minecraft stuff for regular minifigs and farm animals (sans goats, since they haven't made those in a long time; as the mold broke and LEGO thought it wasn't worth their while to retool); and it still would look fine. I would maybe suggest replacing the roof with sloped bricks, but that's about it.
Fun review, of what looks like a very good set! I really like how classic LEGO it is. The price of 90£ is insane, but at a deep discount it looks like a great set for any kid, Minecraft fan or not.
Neat idea to see the target market review the set.
For me personally as an AFOL and fan of Minecraft, this set is a no brainer. The barn is just so charming and captures Minecraft extremely well in LEGO form. All the details only add to the set. My only complaint would be the $100 price tag. Feels like this should be $80 USD or $90 if accounting for inflation. Still I plan on picking this one up eventually.
Great job, William!
What a great (if unconventional) review! I always appreciate when a reviewer is familiar with the source material a set is based on, so William's insights into the Minecraft objects and characters are really helpful. It's also refreshing to hear a kid's perspective on the build process, since as adults it's easy to lose sight of what it's like to build a set with fewer years of experience doing so.
@cody6268 said:
"I would maybe suggest replacing the roof with sloped bricks, but that's about it. "
Then it wouldn't look like Minecraft, because Minecraft doesn't have sloped blocks. The typical technique for building a roof is to use stairs.
@binaryeye said:
" @cody6268 said:
"I would maybe suggest replacing the roof with sloped bricks, but that's about it. "
Then it wouldn't look like Minecraft, because Minecraft doesn't have sloped blocks. The typical technique for building a roof is to use stairs."
Cody is saying that the barn would be almost perfect for a non-Minecraft setting just as it is except with a sloped roof.
Wow, it's pretty cute.
A perfect alternative to the City 4+ barn set, looks a lot better and still fits in to a city layout
I fully support more reviews from William.
I could order this set in July when it was proposed with 20% discount.
This set seems to be an exclusivity of the LEGO shop.
Thanks to William for this review
Terrific set! But the price...
Well done William, what an excellent review! :-)
Lego: "You want a goat? We told you that mold wasn't usable any more. Fine, we'll make a new mold. Here's your darn goat."
@Huw: Did you or William take the pictures?
@TheOtherMike said:
"Did you or William take the pictures?"
I did.
No, wait.
William's 8, but the set is designed for 9+ year olds!!!
No but seriously, I'm more of an extremely casual fan of Minecraft. I can't bring myself to enjoy these bigger sets because they're all too blocky for me, but I can see the appeal and personally I pick up small Minecraft sets or polybags if budget allows.
I love these reviews written by kids, as they are the target audience!
This is really well done! I honestly thought this was a regular review by adult Brickset staff until I read the bit about William being 8. In part that was just because I assume all reviews on the main page are by adult Brickset staff, but the writing and commentary here was really good! Great job!
The set itself is nice, a lots happened in Minecraft since update 1.7.1 LOL. I actually think this would be a lot better barn then the City one. Just add some City animals and maybe that $20 tractor and you've got a great farm!
Good idea with this kind of review! Nice work