Good inclusion to your city
This is very nice set to make your own city, specially when you add 8403 (City House) and 8404 (Public Transport) is gives you an awsome city!
This set alone is a pretty good set also.
This review has been rated unhelpful.
No corners cut here.
Having exhausted sets to buy from the Castle line (for a little while, at least), I decided to start collecting City sets, since I have always had it in my mind to try and build a LEGO town; after all, that was pretty much the original theme that brought LEGO in its current form into existence, and I figured that it would be fun. I have always known about LEGO’s fixation with police stations (because that’s what all the boys want, presumably, although a part of me feels that this has become a self-fulfilling prophecy since City sets are police-heavy year after year), so when I was looking around for a starting point for my own town, City Corner was the obvious choice: two small businesses, a bus stop and a bus to go with it, and a host of Minifigs to populate the town. I was not disappointed.
Five Minifigs come with the set, representing a diverse selection of townspeople: a bus conductor (for the bus, obviously, and bearing a striking resemblance to the airplane pilot in 3182), a young skateboarder, a bicycle mechanic clad in a decidedly old-school design, a businessman (a perfect complement for Bank & Money Transfer (7611)), and a pizza chef for the pizzeria. No complaints here: five Minifigs is perfect for a set this size.
As mentioned, City Corner comes with three buildings: a bus stop, a skateboard/bicycle shop (I am not altogether with the two coexisting, but then again, I am into neither mode of transportation and perhaps have not noticed that these two things really are sold in the same shop), and a pizzeria. None of these three buildings are particularly striking, but they nonetheless contribute to a unified sense of a town which is further bolstered by City House (8403), another invaluable addition for a thriving LEGO city (because seriously, four police stations and two fire stations does not a city make).
The bus stop is the smallest and simplest of the three buildings, but it serves its purpose well. The sheltered bus stop has a place for Minifigs to sit and a small open space that can be used for Minifigs to gather or to be modified as you see fit. It’s almost purely functional, but then again, it’s not as if most bus stops in real life are grand affairs either; the one outside my house takes the phrase “bus stop” almost literally, consisting of a single sign indicating that the bus does, indeed, stop there.
The skateboard/bicycle shop is a single-storey affair, although just like the pizzeria and City House, it can be modified to include more floors if one desires. The garish sign and nearly-empty interior gives the whole thing a bit of a slum feel, frankly, and the security camera on the rooftop does it little favours in this regard (don’t LEGO folks get tired of being under near-constant monitoring?). It’s a simple build that allows - in fact, practically begs for - modification on the individual’s end.
On the other hand, the pizzeria has three floors, with an oven and counter on the first floor, dining space on the second, and, er, absolutely nothing on the third. The oven works well, though it isn’t particularly interesting, and the second floor is as simple as it gets, with just an arrangement of chairs and tables for diners. I assume that the third floor is left empty so that Harry Caul from The Conversation can place a surveillance team there, or something. Again, like the skateboard/bicycle shop, the pizzeria is largely functional, providing a nice backdrop for your city. And let’s face it: you’ll need something to destroy when all those superhero sets come out, won’t you?
The surprising jewel of this set, though - at least in my opinion - is the bus. It is actually rather big - almost as big as the Tank Truck (3180), in fact - and it features a number of details and features that really bump up the playability of this set. It complements the bus stop very well, obviously, and an easily-removable roof means that you can easily get Minifigs in and out of it, which I’m sure is a good thing for younger LEGO connoisseurs. Sadly, though, since there is only one bus stop, the bus is going to take a trip around town and stop right back at the same place, which is sure to create frustrations for commuters. But, that aside, the bus looks great, although its colour choice does puzzle me. I don’t know if there are any unifying themes for buses in Europe or in other parts of the world, but yellow on buses in the US does invoke images of school buses, an image that is particularly evocative for me since I do work in a school.
All in all, while City Corner doesn’t showcase any examples of mind-blowing architecture, it provides a great urban backdrop that can serve as the seed for your LEGO town. The modularity - while possibly an annoyance to some - allows you the freedom to design the town in whatever way you see it as you expand it beyond this set. Get this together with City House and Bank & Money Transfer and you have yourself a thriving town community that’s just begging to be destroyed the hostile extraterrestrials from Alien Conquest.18 out of 19 people thought this review was helpful.
Great additon to your LEGO City
I was looking for a LEGO City set to buy for Christmas, and I thought about it for a really long time. Finally, I decided I'd get the City Corner, and I didn't regret it.
This set is really cool and includes a skate and bike shop, a pizzeria, and a bus and bus stop. It has numbered bags, which are helpful, and the play experience is unlimited. Here's a brief description of each part and then the pros and cons.
Bus: The bus is a good part to this set and really livens it up. There are 5 seats for the passengers and one for the driver. You can take the top off, and really adds to the city well.
Bus Stop: The bus stop is a small but good section of this set, and has some cool parts like a fire hydrant, a trash can, and some flowers. The person waiting for the bus can sit down while they're waiting, or go to the pizzeria or shop. The bus doesn't have much places to go to with only one bus stop in your city, so you're better off to make a couple of your own.
Pizzeria: The pizzeria is a really good part of this set. It as three floors, though the top one is bare. On the first floor you can order your pizza. There's a cash register and a cool oven that opens with a lever. On the second floor there's space for the customers to eat, however I think the pizzeria doesn't have a lot of detail (but you can look at the bottom of this review to find ways to add to this set). Overall, the pizzeria is a good part of this set.
Skate and Bike Shop: This shop has cool parts like a display section, two repair tools, and a bike, but lacks detail, and I added a lot to this part too. It has an really handsome sign and surveillance camera, though, and it's pretty good.
Minifigures: This set is really good when it comes to minifigure, and they all have different (and cool!) faces. This set comes with a little boy an his skateboard, the pizzeria owner, the Skate and Bike shop owner, the bus driver, and a passenger on the bus.
If this enough for you, get this now, but if you still want the pros and cons and some tips to improve this set, then keep reading.
Pros:
has many parts to the set
has two pizzas
has two wine glasses
cash register in pizzeria
good minifigures
has two skateboards
has one bike
includes an opening oven (but the oven doesn't open all the way)
skate and bike shop has a display section
bus stop has cool parts to it
you can take the roof off of everything (except for the bus stop)
there's no back to the buildings so you can play inside easily
skate and bike shop has a nice sign
skate and bike shop has a neat surveillance camera
can play with it a lot and doesn't get boring
Cons:
the baseplates are rather small, and the whole set kinda is
pricey
short legs don't move
lack of detail in some areas
oven doesn't open all the way
not much to do inside the bus10 out of 10 people thought this review was helpful.
Great bus - nice storefronts - near perfect all around kit
This kit is a great set within a City layout or just as a standalone set. The set contains four separate elements. A great bus, a bus stop, a pizza restaurant, and a skate/bike shop.
First, the bus. A nicely sized city bus with near perfect proportions. The seating arrangements, door locations and windows are very realistic. The chassis and front and rear facias were fun to build. The colors and integration of "pinstripes" were clever. My only complaint is I believe they used the wrong size tire/wheel combination. These are little tires. For a bus, the scale doesn't look right. A taller set would have been nice. Of course, that means the fenders would have to be enlarged, too, but most buses don't really even have fenders. Minor gripe.
The bus stop looks just like a real one. Integration of a streetlight, flower planter, trashcan, fire hydrant and bus sign are well done on a standalone plate that can go anywhere in your city. Yes, the seat isn't big enough for folks to sit down, but it can be thought of as a leaning rail. Nice colors, too.
The pizza restaurant was fun to build. I like the inset door, door mats and floor-to-ceiling windows. The upstairs dining area is typical of urban restaurants, so that was a nice touch, too. The pizza oven was fun. I opened and closed the oven many times just because. Cool. The tables could have been a little better thought out, but...minor gripe. The roof was also fun with the gable in the middle. Not too many roof pieces, but the overall look adds variety to the city houses.
The skate/bike shop looks great. Signage everywhere and another streetlamp. Goods for sale, my first bicycle and a service shop ready for action are great. The security camera was a nice touch that wasn't necessary, but was fun to build. It shows the genuine thought and fun behind this set.
There are stickers in this set. A lot of them. That is offset by the great minifigs! Five of them! The pizza chef looks great (female, too!), skater boy with the red hair, short legs and helmet, the mechanic, bus driver and passenger. The passenger has the same body as the SUV and Horse Trailer set, but a different head.
Perhaps the best part of the whole set is that the buildings are completely interchangeable and compatible with the City House and the Construction sets. The floors are all modular, so you can mix and match house and building parts as your city deems necessary. I am glad the thought process spanned several kits (we have all of them now). They all go very well together.
This one is worth the money and isn't like any other kit available or in the past. It's worth the money. We found it on substantial sale here in Taiwan and scooped it up. Don't pass on it.
7 out of 9 people thought this review was helpful.
Wonderful set
Last year, I went to Chicago. The hotel we were staying at was across the street from a big LEGO store. It was like heaven. I got this set there, with my own money. I wanted to open it when we got back to our room, but I didn't want to lose any peices, so I waited until we got home. But enough about me and more on the review.
The Review...
I didn't really notice that my minifigures couldn't sit at the bus stop until a while after we finished building it. It's not much of a disadvantage because they can still stand. I noticed that it was hard to seat a person on the first seat of the bus because of the window there. If you have this set, you will understand. If you are ordering this set, you will soon find out. But it was easier to place people on the other seats, or even on the roof on crowded days.
The pizza parlor was a nice part of this set. It even comes with a pizza maker, but it's so close to the front desk and the lady working there, you can't really squeeze it in there. You just have to use your imagination. The upstairs made the place look slightly fancy with the tall glasses at each table. I like the look of that. And the small attic above it is where I store all the money they make.
The sports shop was cool. There are two skateboards, one on display, the other is being used by a little boy. Its nice that they come with helmets. Even your minifigures must have safety, just in case the hospital is too far away. Too bad I don't have a hospital...
Nice set, really. Despite the 2 small things that I found wrong with it, it's a decent set and worth my money that took me ever so long to save up. It's cool.
7 out of 9 people thought this review was helpful.
