Review: 71006 The Simpsons House, part 1
Posted by Huw,
Chris/CapnRex101 and I both have a Simpsons House and we'll be doing a joint review. I received mine today and have built bag one which contains Bart, Homer and the car so I thought it would be worthwhile kicking off the review already to give you something to talk about rather than what the next wave of sets may or may not contain. Let's enjoy and celebrate what we can buy today, and not worry about what won't be in the shops for 6 months!
Let me start off by saying I know nothing about the Simpsons beyond their names and have never watched an episode in my life. Nevertheless, the quality of this set -- probably the best house LEGO has ever made -- made it a must-buy for me despite the high price tag. It's too early to say whether it's worth that much but I like what I see so far...
I'm not going to post pictures of the box -- which is massive, the same size as Tower Bridge and the Town Hall -- or the contents in their bags because, well, there's just so much of it. Luckily the bags are numbered so it's worth seeing how the model is broken down into sections, which the first page of the instructions shows:
The minifigs are split across bags. Bag one contains Bart and Homer. Quite frankly I would rank them among the best minifigs ever made because not only do they have excellent heads, but also brand new arms and, in Bart's case, legs. Yes, they are NOT printed, they are actually moulded with two colours of plastic and look absolutely superb. Homer is in his work clothes, complete with Sector 7G ID card. Bart's top is, so Chris tells me, a little too red but as regular orange would be too bright, the best choice of available LEGO colours.
There's no printing on their backs.
Chris says "The car is very accurate in my opinion, and includes the aerial on the bonnet, the radio inside and the dents on the front left of the car". It's certainly a very nice model to put together. I'm not 100% sure but aren't the wheels and tyres new?
It has an open top, presumably it does in the cartoon?
The boot/trunk is hinged.
Bag one also provides parts for outdoor odds and ends including the best LEGO barbeque I've seen complete with sausages (hot dogs).
A small skate ramp for Bart.
A wheelbarrow, new in lime green, with a couple of potted plants which utilise the new inverted dome piece.
And finally, a pair of sun loungers which are very cleverly constructed.
That's your lot for now. Bag two, the garage, will be constructed and reviewed next...
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56 comments on this article
Those arms… once the CMF Series is out I'll have to BL 'em.
Thanks for the review,
Looks pretty good so far, I love the Bart and homer figures.
Shame you didn't put the stickers on; the wheelbarrow has a nice "Property of Ned Flanders" sign on the back.
Great review! I've been checking eurobricks everyday hoping there would be a review, but I guess not :(
Also, the car only has no roof because Marge's hair wouldn't fit with a roof.
Even though we might not see many more hobbits, depending on wether LotR goes on or not (no, I won't stop worrying about what won't be in the shops for months!), do you think we might get a Bilbo minifigure with hobbit feet, made like Bart's legs, in the next wave of The Hobbit?
I really hope the CMFs have some short sleeves like that.
Good start Huw & Chris! The pink car in the cartoon does not have an open roof nor sunroof, so this is a bit off, but nonetheless looks great! Hopefully Marge's red station wagon will be another add on set that comes out later. Looking forward to the rest of the build.
Why do their eyes look like they just smoked a huge doobie?
Even the detail of the accessory and minifigures are beautiful without the house! This is truly a must buy. Thanks for the first part of the review!
Like others have said, the car isn't 100% accurate to the source material, I understand it's for Marge to fit in, but seriously, what was stopping them from including an extra couple of plates to make a roof for the car that you can readily pop off whenever you wanted to put Marge in the car?
Nonetheless, it's a wonderful model, and you know what? The car fits in perfectly within City layouts as it's a similar width :-)
Astounds me to think that there is someone out there in a civilized country who hasn't at least accidentally seen an episode of the Simpsons over the past 25 seasons!
Those wheels and tires are from Technic and have been around for years, although the axle hole has been slightly modified.
@lippidp: No, they're not Technic wheels, although they look similar. They just came out in last year's Bricks & More sets, and appear in a couple City sets this year. They are much smaller than the similar Technic wheels. I love 'em. They're maybe the best wheels their size, since they are reversible but attach to the same size of axles as typical LEGO City wheels.
Anyway, good start to the review! This set is indeed fantastic in its level of detail. Though I have to ask, when is the Creative Ambush review going to be posted? I've been looking forward to that one since photos were added to the Brickset Flickr photostream, but still no sign of it.
EDIT: The tyre is http://www.brickset.com/parts/?design=11209 and the wheel is http://www.brickset.com/parts/?design=11208. They're about the same size overall as the older http://www.brickset.com/parts/?design=87697 and http://www.brickset.com/parts/?design=6014.
I got my set today too, but I was at work, and about to eat dinner now. Hopefully building along with you in an hour or two. Good review so far. I like what I'm seeing.
Fantastic! I finally have an answer to whether the garage is firmly attached to the house or not, and according to the build diagram it will be a separate build to the main house. This will make my planned modifications a little easier! Now I just have to wait for Mr Postman to deliver it!
@odindusk: Huw is not the only one who has never seen the Simpsons, and I do live in the States. Just not that interested in cartoons. Never have been. But am curious how they put together this set, so I will be reading the reviews! Glad to see some new features on the minifigs because when I first saw the set in person in the LEGO store, the figs looked pretty wimpy to me. But then, what do I know not being in the target market or a fan of the show.
Just finished building the set over three nights. Great build and excellent addition to the Lego collection. Garage is separate from the house but joins to it using technic rivet pieces. Have taken photos of each step of the build so will get a video published soon.
Can we get a shot of the sticker sheet?
Steve
The molded parts on those minifigs are truly incredible! I'm guessing little perfections like that may have added to the price tag but its great to have parts like that.
Even so, I can't at all get over the terrible expressions (well, just eyes) on the figures. The quintessential set, their HOUSE, and they didn't make the minifigs "standard"? As in their most common, versatile appearance? Come on, guys! Bart and Homer NEVER have these expressions
Lego.com was already sold out and not posting the next batch until February when I ordered, so I guess these reviews are nice to pass the time with until it arrives in a few weeks!
It's good to hear "sold out". It gives hope that more sets will follow next year.
Arm and leg pieces made of two different colour plastics?! That's phenomenal!
Thanks for the first page scan, it's nice to see how the bags break down. And I'm so glad to see that you love the heads - the moaning at how horrible they look has mystified me.
I wonder too if all your reviews need a little note explaining why you don't apply stickers. It seems someone new notices and asks every time! ;)
How can a £180 set, be should out already?, maybe people have loads of money left from Christmas :P
"No beer and TV make Homer something, something."
I'm interested, are there Duff beer cans in this set's parts? :)
@zipsforbananas, actually I may apply them on this set because they are printed on clear plastic and thus won't peel in a couple of years and most look to be easy to position, to tiles mostly.
Doh!
Okay, so best house ever, worst car ever, best torsos ever, worst skateboard ramp ever, best BBQ ever, worst eyes on minifigs ever...
@Huw - fantastic! I'd say if you did that adds weight to the principles that stop you doing it normally too. You are willing to, so long as it's reasonable to. :D
I love this set but I feel the minifigures really let it down. The torsos and legs are amazing and the moulds are great but the eyes seem... Off? They don't really portray much emotion and (in my opinion) they look kinda stoned? It's that half eyed look that doesn't really look right, or anything like what is seen I'm the superb show
Watching the Simpsons yesterday, I'd say the eyes are good for:
Homer's 'Duff' look.
Bart's evil look
Marge's "making love" look.
I suspect they included these variants in the house so people who couldn't afford the $200 price tag could get the normal eye version.
I just finished building this set myself, and it is amazing! Can't wait to read the rest of the review. One odd thing I noticed is that the Marge figure has a hole in the top of her hair for a hat or tiara on top. Is that a hint toward her CMF version? I haven't seen very many episodes of the show, so I don't really know what kind of variant she could have.
I don't care for the Simpsons, but those arms! I hope TLG will employ that molding technique in other themes a well.
^^I'm personally hoping we'll get the hat she wears to church.
Generally, what is it with not attaching stickers? I`ve _never_ had problem with them, never peeled off at all. Its a part of the set so it should be applied..
@chilis I think stickers were a much bigger issue in the 90's and early 00's. Lots of stickers across multiple bricks, which I hated. They try not to do that much anymore (only recent set I've bought that I can think had this was a Lamborghini model). Stickers also seem to be much better quality now a days too.
Yeah, I agree, I have not had any problem with most of the stickers from sets released in the past seven or eight years. My Exo-Force, Agents, Power Miners, Space Police, Atlantis, Alien Conquest, and Ninjago sets' stickers are all still adhering just fine with no signs of peeling or decay (except for instances where I stupidly tried to peel them off and re-apply them long after the glue had set, or where they were applied to parts like 2x2 round bricks that really don't support stickers that well). Of course, it's possible that several years from now they will start to peel, but from what I can observe right now, it looks like any problems with peeling stickers were resolved quite a while ago.
"Ahhh, nothing like a cold beer on a warm Christmas morning."
I still chuckle to myself every time Huw says he has never seen the Simpsons, 25 years on the air, dozens of networks re-run the shows, anytime I turn on the TV I can watch an episode it seems, it's everywhere, the timing must be perfect to never see it. One of the best/most popular shows of all time. Anyways, to have LEGO and the Simpsons come together is just perfect, thanks for the initial review!
Jason, I've never seen more than snippets of the Simpsons myself. While the Simpsons isn't as taboo as some people made it out to be when the license agreement was first announced, it was somewhat controversial, especially in its early years, for being a cartoon that dealt in the same sorts of adult situations and subject matter as live-action sitcoms.
I think that might be part of why my household never watched it, though we did enjoy live-action sitcoms like Home Improvement and kid-friendly cartoons like The Adventures of Tintin and Bobby's World together. Overall, from the snippets I have seen, I have to say I do prefer it and consider it more family-friendly compared to today's rapid-fire and openly iconoclastic cartoon sitcoms like Family Guy and South Park.
No matter what, I think there will always be a number of people who consider cartoons inherently "kids' fare" and hold them to a different standard than live action. Not saying that this is at all related to why Huw has never watched it, just that despite being a mainstay in popular culture for longer than my entire life, there ARE people who, for whatever reason, have never sat down to watch an episode, or who just kept flipping channels when looking for something to watch in the evenings.
I originally looked at this and said to myself, yes I want this set. Now I'm looking at the reviews I can't help but feel that it's not a set for me. I'll probably get the minifigure series and that's it.
@chilis - Some of us older folk come from the days where if you applied stickers they would crack and fall apart, leaving a mess of the bricks. I haven't put any stickers on my sets for about 10 years. Another reason is that if you like to MOC, adding stickers to some bricks takes away from using that certain piece. So no stickers shouldn't be applied.
I like what Huw has done with this review and so far some of the other with not applying stickers. Gives some sets a nice clean image.
"Sorry doesn't put thumbs back on the hand, Marge!"
I'm a fan of cartoons, but not American ones. They don't appeal at all, that's why I've never watched it.
Having said that, I did enjoy 'Arthur' when my girls were small, probably because we read the books and had the Broderbund interactive PC books. :-)
^ A bit of Wallace & Gromit then Huw?
Wallace and Gromit Lego! Now there's an idea...
I love my Simpsons house! :D
"Oh Lisa, trying is just the first step toward failure."
Minifigs look under the influence
Great set, gr8 minifigs.
Anyone has an idea when is this set coming out in Europe?
Cause I heard it's May or something...
Nice car!
I wouldn't admit to being completely unfamiliar with a cultural phenomenon that's been around for over 25 years, especially when you got an incredible free set to review. People like me could easily resent you for it. Why on Earth didn't you get someone (which would apparently be just about anyone else) who has some familiarity with the show to review this set? How can you effectively speak to the accuracy or reference show related details?
^ This set was not provided for free, both Huw and I purchased it. Huw is not very familiar with the show, and he therefore asked me to write about it from the second part onwards.
"Bag one contains Bart and Homer. Quite frankly I would rank them among the best minifigs ever made because not only do they have excellent heads..."
To be able to agree with you, Homer's eye should not have been partly printed on his nose. It's probably not a problem in real life scale but looking at your photos, it did strike me.
Please accept my apology for being presumptuous.
I am a HUGE Simpsons fan and this will definitely be a buy for me. And no the car in the show does not have an open top.