The build is almost perfect, and the interior IS perfect. For the police station.

The bakery is fine, but not too interesting, and the green segment of the station is quite bland. Hence, the building lacks a bit of life. However it is still a wonderful display piece and a very detailed and intricate build.

The only objective flaw with the build is that the white jumper plates at the top of each floor are very obvious on the outside and detract from the baize colour scheme.

Minifigs are fine.

Never had one of these modulars before, but I've always wanted one. I like it. It looks sick. It's a big son of a gun, too. Brickset says it weighs 8 pounds. I believe it. It's big.

In the Box

Lego elements.

Things I like

• Visually, the build is terrific. Great color variation and choice, details, proportion. Some people had beef with the fact that there's two super skinny side buildings. I don't. Relax bro, we need a donut shop. The fact that the building on the right is accessible on every floor from the main building isn't a problem for me either; gives it kind of a renovated/retrofitted vibe. Wasn't sure about the heavy use of tan at first, but it grew on me.
• The build experience and playability are great. They give you tons of donuts. Tons. There was at least one on every floor in the instructions. They give you extras too. Lots of cool features like an interrogation room on the third floor.
• The value for the money is quite good. 3k bricks for $200 is not too shabby.

Thing I don't like

• The instruction booklet. Oh brother. That thing is horrible. I don't know whose idea it was to print it on black paper. The colors of pieces were impossible to discern in a few cases, and every other page had inaccurate colors. It was especially noticeable when building the ivy along the corner of the main building; there's no way to tell the two shades of green leaves apart. Black is supposed to be more fancy I guess, but the quality of the booklet in general is so bad anyway, I'd honestly prefer the good old sky blue they've always done for Creator.
• I don't necessarily have a problem with having ten million different little bags for each step, but at least let me know how many bags there are per step. It would be so easy to indicate in the instructions; some steps had just one bag, but most had two, and I had no way of knowing without spreading all 30 of them out.

Overall

Probably the best Lego set ever or something

Do I recommend it?

yeah

I love this set, it has many great building techniques. I love how the used the wolf heads for the roof. I love how the prison has a hole in it and that the criminal can dig him self out. Although the set seems a bit pricey I think that the value is great. I like the joke to the donut shop but I wish that they used the room to make the police station bigger. This model is very different this is shown by the billboard on the side and it is in a new theme with the 18+ theme. I think that a 12-year-old could build this set and does not need to be 18+. Overall I love this set it is one of my favourite modular buildings that Lego have made and I would recommend this to anyone who has enough money.

Packaging and first impressions

The box is largely black, which is a departure from previous modular buildings but in keeping with new Lego’s 18+ branding. It’s a chunky, heavy box and feels worth the price tag. Lego seems to have done away with letting you know which elements you’re getting on one edge of the box. There’s just one picture of the set on the front and a further large image of this and the Birch Books set together on the back. A bit sneaky that, don’t you think, featuring two sets together, when you’re only getting one of them? There are six smaller images from the police station below this which show interiors, some play features and minfigs.

Inside you get multiple bags, numbered 1-14 some within a secondary white box, there are a few separate larger plates, the baseplate and the instructions. While we’re talking about the instructions, this is another hefty book printed, inexplicably on a black background. If you read my review of the Grand Piano set, this was my one gripe with the experience of building the Crocodile locomotive, and I was pleased that the piano instructions were on a lighter background. Why Lego have chosen to waste a colossal amount of ink colouring 312 pages of A4 in black while simultaneously making the whole thing very hard to actually follow is quite beyond me. I tweeted Lego saying how hard it was to follow the steps, particularly when finding dark brown or black elements, and they simply said they were always trying new things with instructions and pointed me online to a different background. Well, not good enough Lego, sorry. I’d be interested to know how this passed accessibility guidelines - I didn’t find it very easy to follow at all, especially under a table lamp at night. Please - back to light blue/grey backgrounds!

The build

We start with a classic 32x32 baseplate in dark bluish grey, which isn’t particularly common, though is featured in a few sets this year. There’s the usual pavement to construct and the foundations of the buildings. I say buildings, because although this looks like three buildings, it’s really just two - the police station comprises the central tan coloured block and the sand green annexe to the right. The medium lavender and white building on the left is a separate shop and dwelling. After a few steps you realise what you’re building is not perhaps what it seems and the texture of a secret play feature begins to take shape. By the time you’ve opened the second and third set of bags you’re left looking at a nice checkerboard floor in the doughnut shop with tons of tempting treats on shelves, and the beginnings of the cop shop next door. Interestingly, you only clap eyes on your first minifig with bag three - the female doughnut shop owner. While you form the base of the newspaper stand, you don’t complete it until much later in the build. Internal walls are also added later than some external walls, presumably to aid fat fingers getting to the interiors.

The first major surprise for me came on step 77, with the construction of what they call the Grand Staircase. This is an entirely new Lego constriction technique for me and one that’s surprisingly solid. It doesn’t deserve to be as stable as it is - kudos to the designer here - but in the finished model it’s a shame it gets slightly lost.

Bag 5 bring another minifig - the first Police Officer, complete with a classic walkie-talkie (a term now so old-fashioned, my iPad didn’t recognise it). A wall is built all in one fell swoop, which completes the side of the police station quite quickly and a barred window finishes the front of the cell. You complete the front doors of the station, and add a portico and some columns with the new corner arch pieces forming some lovely shapes. The “POLICE” print on the dark blue 1x4 tile is very nice and slightly reminiscent of the first Lego set I ever received (381 Police Headquarters). In opening bags 6, you get the bricks to complete the newsstand and the cell doors, which, finally, conceals the play feature that’s been blindingly obvious all through the build so far. The newsstand is simple and classic, nicely detailed but missing, for me at least, a minifig. Now, looking at the book I think the backstory is the guy living above the doughnut shop (who we’re yet to meet) is our local jovial newspaper seller, but this was slightly lost on me as I searched for signs of a minifig that I might have somehow forgotten.

Now, outside the station’s main doors are two immaculate bushes. These are built with 12 new “green plates with gear teeth”. An interesting use for these items this may be, but they look weird to me - not in keeping with the 18+ image Lego want for sets like this. They look no better than the classic trees of the 80s. Lego describe them as convincing in the instructions but I’m sorry - I beg to differ on that. The ground floor is completed with a bench and the signature modular building while lamp post.

Bags 7-10 deal with the first floor, which brings a studio flat into the mix above the doughnut shop and the incident room for the police station. There’s a funky mugshot taking studio and an excellent noticeboard on which the Coppers are trying to piece together the clues for the crime that’s completely defeating them right on their doorstep. The newsstand seller’s studio flat is cosy with a nice rug, decent kitchen and (oddly) a massive record player reminiscent of my gran’s “stereogram” from the 60s, yet no washing facilities whatsoever. He’s clearly not bothered about personal hygiene. And why would he be, all he’s interested in is newspapers, records and doughnuts. Next door in the police station incident room there are two desks, one equipped with another telephone (there’s also one on the main desk downstairs) and a great typewriter. Each desk has an authentic looking lamp and a dark green chair. The grand staircase rises another level in a similar fashion to the one below.

The top floor sadly deprives the medium lavender building of any further illusions of grandeur, but the police station continues with a landing, a toilet and an interview room. There’s also a tiny evidence store, packed to the rafters with clues. While the female police officer takes care of interviewing with the groovy reel to reel tape recorder, she’s also clearly a caffeine-aholic, not only possessing a clear mug, but also a tea cup. Finally, the flat roof of the police station has a vent, some classic aerials and some really nice use of minecraft heads as part of the final facade. There’s a water tank with an interesting construction technique and, on the side, a printed advertisement hoarding for the Soap Suds launderette which features in the Brick Bank set from some years ago (with a similar local criminal undercurrent!). Unusually this hoarding is very much taller than the top floor is, so rather than be attached fully with SNOT bricks, it’s hinged at the top so when you put the top floor down on a surface it can fold out.

Overall

So, the story in the set is quite good actually and cute. The slightly hapless police force are again thwarted by a local ne’er-do-well right under their noses. The main play feature is very nicely hidden and constructed with great detail. It’s not at all City or Junior in execution even if the concept is similar. I hope in the review I haven’t spoilt it and that you find it for yourself as you build (although admittedly this is in the first section of the build). There aren’t really any other major surprises as you continue with the build and I found the latter stages slightly unimpressive. The top floor is largely a similar build experience to the first floor. It’s a pity the medium lavender building doesn’t have a second floor as well - this would have given room for a bathroom, even if it was in a roof space of some description. Also, the studio flat above the doughnut shop is only reached by fire escape ladder. There are some considerably nice building techniques - the cornerstones of the police station are suitably strong and imposing looking, the lamps outside the main entrance are lovely and the awning on the doughnut shop is nicely done. I can’t help but feel this particular building will be heavily modded by collectors, doubled up perhaps.

So here’s the elephant in the room. While 5 minifigs seems perhaps one-too-few, my biggest gripe is - there ought to be a police car - without doubt. A 60s style cop car would be the icing on the cake for me. I wonder if it was priced out in order to get it to the price level Lego thought AFOL collectors would pay? A crying shame. The ironic thing is, I received 40448 Vintage Car as a gift with purchase and, nice as it is, I’d have preferred a proper Z-Car or a Black Mariah.

i enjoyed this and it will look great alongside my collection of other modulars. The price point seems like it's getting as high as I want to pay for one 32x32 building though, especially one which leaves with some things on the wish list.