Review: Great LEGO Sets
Posted by Huw,
Great LEGO Sets: A Visual History has just been published by Dorling Kindersley. It's a book that we, the Brickset community, had a hand in, both with selecting the sets to be included and loaning some of them to DK to be photographed.
From a LEGO collector with a broad range of interests point of view, it's DK's best LEGO book ever and is a fine companion to LEGO Minifigure Year by Year published a couple of years ago.
It is a book that will appeal to many Brickset readers but unfortunately it's not without its flaws, primarily because any 'greatest' book with a finite number of entries is subjective and won't please everyone.
The book and the included micro Galaxy Explorer model that we reviewed in July come in a thick cardboard slip case (pictured above). Having the model in a thin book-sized box means the actual book has a conventional front cover that makes it much easier to read and handle.
In case you haven't read the micro Galaxy Explorer review yet...
Needless to say it's excellent and easily the best LEGO item to be packaged so far with a DK book.
Now, onto the book itself. It is a 256-page hardback, about 25 x 30cm, the same size as the minifigure book. The first few pages contain an introduction from Jette, head of the LEGO Idea House, a timeline showing sets from 1949 to date and a very interesting section on how LEGO sets are made which covers inspiration and brainstorming; design and development; testing and approval and instructions and manufacturing. The book throughout is interspersed with quotes from designers Jamie Berard, Mark Stafford and many others.
The bulk of the book contains the survey of great LEGO sets. It's divided into chapters, one per decade, starting with the 1950s. As might be expected, later chapters contain far more pages than early ones, although it's somewhat surprising and disappointing that the entirety of the 1950s and 1960s are represented by just six sets.
Each set has either a half-page or a full-page, or a double-page spread, depending primarily on how big the set is rather than how 'great' it is. Here is the one for the Blacktron 6987 Message Intercept Base which I have chosen to illustrate the review with because, well, I think it's the best space set ever and my copy of it was photographed for the book.
The grey panel at bottom left contains facts about the set in question, such as whether it featured any firsts or unique pieces. They make for interesting reading. Larger sets such as this also have a 'guided tour', top right, that illustrates and describes aspects of the model.
Unlike in many other DK books, the text is not 'juniorised.'
Interspersed with the 'great' sets are double-page spreads that cover a single topic such as castles through the years, buildable action figures, animals or, as shown below, trains and 'minifigs and more'. Typically these pages contain sets that don't have their own entry.
So far so good. I said it wasn't perfect, so what's wrong with it? The majority of the sets that have been included are indeed all great. However some have crept in whose status as 'great' is questionable, such as 70010 Lion Chi Temple and 8733 Bionicle Axonn. I can only guess that they have been included just to have something representative from these themes in the book.
There are however, many omissions. Here are a few that I have noted:
- As stated earlier, the 1950s and 1960s are woefully under-represented.
- Technic is also very under-represented. The first tractor and car chassis are in, then there is nothing until 8868 Air Tech Claw Rig from 1992. The next one to be included is 8421 Crane from 2005, and then there's nothing until 8110 Unimog.
- The 9V train era was arguably the best in terms of set design but none, except 4554 Metro Station are included, not even in the summary of trains page shown above.
- Once again, the inability of DK to obtain, or Disney's refusal to grant, a licence means that no Disney properties except for Star Wars sets are included. In fact, flicking through it quickly now, I can not see any DC Comics sets either, although that could be because none of them qualify as 'great' ! :-)
Overall though, it's a book that will appeal to hardcore and casual LEGO collectors alike. Page layout, photography and presentation are all top-notch as you'd expect from DK, so it's a pleasure to flick through. Whether you think it's a great book rather than just a good one will probably depend on whether your favourite sets are included...
Great LEGO Sets: A Visual History can be ordered from Amazon.co.uk
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31 comments on this article
Great review of the book, and something that would certainly appeal to me. @Huw, you need to fix the link to the Message Intercept base though.. (6987-1) How could they leave the Santa Fe Superchief and cars out of a book about the greatest sets? (or at least a mention on the train page?) Maybe they didn't have one to photograph?
Great great great i want it...
Do you know if it will be translated in french ? Sometimes it happens with DK.
"...however some have crept in whose status as a 'great' is questionable"
I dunno, it's all a matter of opinion really. Axonn is pretty highly regarded among constraction fans for being the first (and probably last) constraction figure to have individually poseable fingers. I can't really say much about the chima set (I don't really follow it as much as other themes), but I suppose that the fact it's the first "yellow" castle since the classic one could be the reason why.
Quote of the year ... "In fact, flicking through it quickly now, I can't see any DC Comics sets either, although that could be because none of them qualify as 'great' !"
I'll put this book on my 'maybe' list for now.
^ Having thought about it more, I think the UCS Tumbler is worthy of inclusion but, alas, it is not.
I would definitely dispute the claim that no DC sets are worthy of inclusion; 10937 Arkham Asylum Breakout, 76023 The Tumbler and 6860 The Batcave are outstanding in my opinion.
This looks like an excellent addition to the range of DK LEGO books and I now have one on its way.
I don't think there's any question about whether 70010 The Lion CHI Temple is a great set! It's not one I owned, but it won the award for "best construction toy" at the London Toy Fair in 2013. And it's a tribute to the classic Yellow Castle, which I'm sure earns it some points.
8733 Axonn is probably not a set I'd have chosen for this book (if I had to pick a great classic Bionicle set I'd have probably picked 8811 Toa Lhikan and Kikanalo or 8699 Takanuva), but it was still a pretty nice set in its own right.
I have seen pics of another problem in this book, though, which is that a picture of 70786 Gali - Master of Water is misidentified as 70788 Kopaka - Master of Ice. Not sure which set they meant to include, as they're both great designs, though Gali is my personal favorite.
" I think [6987 Message Intercept Base i]s the best space set ever and my copy of it was photographed for the book"
That buggy (the best part of the set imho) - are you sure you assembled that right? Shouldn't Part 4588 (trans red round brick with fins) at the back be higher up and the other way around?
Anyway, I liked the set as a kid but did not love it, and that did not change when I recently reassembled it nor after reading the book's page, so I guess the book is not really for me. :-)
Are there any LEGO Ideas sets featured in this book?
^ Yes, a summary page showing them all, and the Ecto 1.
@Ayliffe
Sure, it's a matter of opinion. But the correct opinion is that Chima and Bionicle are terrible.
I KID, I KID!
70010 Lion Chi Temple got me into Chima. It was the first Chima set I bought after I initially decided the whole line was rubbish! I really like Chima and I'd argue in times to come it will be looked back on fondly.
re 9V trains; there is also the Metroliner / Euro Express shown on the trains page in the article, top centre-right.
Were not some of the Disney themes shown in the last "Lego Book"? Why are they unable to get the license for those sets now?
I would be more inclined to call the Flying Phoenix Fire Temple a better set than the Lion Chi Temple.
I would also agree that the Arkham Asylum Breakout could have been included.
Wait, 7740 doesn't have its own page? 8880 and the Technic Space Shuttle aren't in?
Really?
That makes it an expensive paper weight just to get that micro Galaxy Explorer...
Ordered.
More on the "Meh" side for now.
The Galaxy Explorer is gorgeous, and I appreciate the detail they've put into some of it. The choice of sets though... that Chima Lion castle is brilliant, but not THAT brilliant. IMO if they needed a Chima set, they should have done the giant Phoenix temple. That set was the best of Chima.
I personally suggested 2008's Agents truck. That ENORMOUS, dark blue truck with like seven little vehicles stored in the empty space, and tonnes of playability, is that included? That's my favorite set of the past decade.
I find it sad there are no Disney properties, just because the Milano Spaceship Rescue is being majorly snubbed here. One of my friends owns the Milano, and it is the coolest Superheroes set I've ever played with.
Hi Huw, is there a reference to the DC Tumbler and Bat-Pod in the book???
@OscarWRG. No but there are a few other Bat sets in the book.
Maybe there's some licensing issue where Disney doesn't want non-Disney owned presses publishing books about Disney products. My guess is that Star Wars is grandfathered in because DK was publishing Star Wars products before Lucas sold to Disney. Fair guess?
Damn, this is a must have for sure. Why the hell is this book 'Usually dispatched within 3 to 6 weeks.'? on amazon.de?
My book arrives yesterday, i only take a look in a couple of pages, bur looks me very good, and this review confirm it.
Amazon lists two versions of this book with different ISBN and different pricing:
{non affiliate links removed}
Could someone tell the difference, please?
^^ Looks like one is being sold by a 3rd-party seller through Amazon, while the other is sold directly by Amazon. I can't account for the ISBN difference.
DK books are published in two different versions, one for NA and one for the rest of the world. The 3PS one will probably be the former. The link in the article will take you to the right one.
By the sounds of it, no Superheroes sets make it in here at all? How can it be a list of 'great sets' without at least one Quinjet? It's a bit offputting seeing that limitation...
It's all relative to people's opinions. What is great to one person might not be great to another. Also, over time new sets come out and gain the "great" title, even after people didn't like it or the theme originally.
Just interesting. I think I will pass though. Maybe I'll check into it at my local library to flick through it.
"Juniorised text"? What does that mean?
Sorry, but I don't own any DK books, so I don't know what that would look like. Do you mean that this time, the text is more informative?
Dan, there is no such thing as a correct opinion.
Disney ships realize that this type of books help them in promotion.