Surprised it is indeed £169.99. Must have felt bad after the Insult on hoth.

Wow!

Cannot wait!!!

That price is incredible. £170 for 4000 pieces?! SOLD.

Looks brilliant! Deffo want this one!

Best dtc set this year!

Remember when LEGO only released a few huge sets a year? Those were the ddddaaaaayyyyyyyssssss....

This is excellent. Lovely set and unexpectedly great price. I also got stupidly over-excited about the new gold flower pieces (I'm on a mission to collect all the colour variants of that part (think I just need white and light purple now). Anyway....
Need to ask the boss about this part: "This model makes a great display piece for the home or office." There's an unoccupied surface next to my desk where this would look perfect... ;-)

Looks fabulous! I'll buy it.
But why so many tools (hammers, spanners, watering cans...)???

"Special elements include 4 printed clock faces." Yes! Down with sticker!!

@omnium - the tools come in a pre-pack bag like the Friends flowers/bugs and dishes. So if we get one we get all.

Awesome set!
And the price is great too!

First day buy for me! Lovely set and greatly priced!

Interesting that the clocks have movable hands against a printed face. This is screaming for a mod that turns it into a functional timepiece.

So glad it comes with a brick separator. I've always wanted one of those ;-)

Looks like a repetative build to be honest.

Great price, I was expecting €350ish. I wonder is this fall out from the pricing of Assault on Hoth and the Batcave.

Shut up an take my money.

Architecture sets are often repetative to build, but the end result is good.

Just watched Bricks build video, it does look very nice.

@omnium I was wondering that too. Regardless, what a fantastic model!

Now that's what I call an excellent price per part.

Jamie can build things that are so appealing. This looks like the best set of the year.

I was on the fence, but the four included power drills really push this one over the edge for me.

Only $250 USD? Now THAT is a piece-to-price ratio to get excited over. And the set itself is an absolute marvel. This almost makes up completely for Lego's awful D2C set pricing so far this year and the atrocity that is Assault on Hoth. Instant buy!

@omnium I'm pretty it's because they used the circle wrench (I don't know its proper english word, sorry) for the hands of the clocks but since they come molded together with all the other ones there's bound to be unneeded extras...

edit : come to think of it they come bundled together in a small plastic bag, now... But production-wise it probably doesn't make sense to sort them out just to get the ones needed

First truly impressive D2C of the year. With a new Death Star coming, hopefully it isn't the last. Can't wait for this to come out!

Ooooh, have to buy this! Since the clock hands are ring spanners, we can have Richard Hannay hanging on for dear life as he tries to stop a world war, or we could have Daleks rising out of the river or even Francis Urqhart throwing journalists off the roof...
And once I've crashed a spaceship into the clock tower and smashed the set to pieces, I'll be left with masses of luxury door- and tap- handles for my Hôtel de Posh. It's a win-win!

Oh no I want it, and I thought I might have a fairly cheap year this time around with Lego...!

It looks like the hands of the clocks are Black Minifig, Utensil Tool Box Wrench - 3-Rib Handle (part 11402i) and Black Minifig, Utensil Tool Ratchet / Socket Wrench (part 11402e) combined. So 4 full sets of the 11402 set included. Those 2 are the only tools missing at the bottom of the picture (11402 has 9 subparts and you see 4 * 7 in the picture).

A bit small maybe to mod it into an actual working clock, but I'm sure someone will figure something out!

Must have!

I like the price per piece ratio. It shows how much licenses cost for Batcave and Ghostbusters and maybe Hoth too. Or they like to gouge us on them. I don't know. But this looks great. It will definitely get purchased before the other exclusives.

Baah humbug, the clock doesn't work!

The green and blue baseplates seem jarringly basic compared to the rest of the model. Also, the target market for this is clearly adults. Not too many children will want a boring building as their main xmas present. With that in mind, couldn't they have done a complete model rather than just one side?

Awesome build, an even better price. $249 for 4000 pieces?? Sold.

The Taj Mahal and Tower Bridge were both ultra-repetitive and the Opera House took forever to get to the fun sails part, but the end result is always the same - a great detailed LEGO model.

This is a definite buy for me, and it's so nice to once again hear positive views towards a D2C release after the disaster that was "Insult on Hoth" as @cucumber wonderfully called it at the top of the page.

My 9yr old son has been saving up to get Attack on Hoth and/or Minecraft Village, guess I'll show this to him instead as a money better well spent option. He's built a couple Architecture sets already, so perhaps this will appeal to him.

@waynlewis a clock tower vs star wars and minecraft, good luck with that :)

I think making the clock work will be quite a challenge. The hands of the clock seem to be on the same axle(?), and seem to be set at 4 o'clock on all the pictures. So I think turning the wheel will give both hands turning at same time and rate. (This is all probably clearly shown in the vids but I can't see them at work!).

Wow!!! That is one heck of a model!

Looks very nice! Can't wait to display this next to Tower Bridge and Sydney Opera House!

It looks very nice. For me an must have.
And the price for over 4000 parts is ok. Other Sets in the past are very bad in that way.
Beautiful Set.

Finally, an eye-catching model that's actually worth every bit of its list price. I'm tired of being gouged by overpriced, licensed sets. And the great news is that I don't even have to wait for it to go on sale before I can purchase it, because at $300 CAD, it's already a good deal. At that price, I almost want another copy just to re-sell in five or ten years.

I love this model but wierdly the bits I like the most are the little tree and the lamp post.

Cool set! Although I can clearly see that this will be replacing Tower Bridge when it finally gets retired... No big deal still!

It's so beautiful! And $249.99 for over 4,000 pieces and a nearly two foot tall tower, a bargain! That's a lot of tools though...

you've got to remember 3000 of those pieces will be little wedges and tiny bits, but a great price none-the-less

Wondering how much Kragle is required to keep it from toppling. Looks a wee bit top heavy.

Wow, great pieces now in pearl gold!!!!

I can't wait to create the scene from European Vacation! Time to create the Lambeth Bridge roundabout...look kids...Big Ben...Parliament!

Looks impressive as heck, but too dull of a build to be worth my time.

Quite the impressive design. What I'm really wondering is how that little tree on the ground was made. Also, I find it surprising that the press release highlighted to new color of parts, that's not something that I have seen before.

I wonder if the set will get the same "It's not that big." as the real life Big Ben.

Finally an absolutely must-have set once again!

I definitely want one of these!
Wow!

@Griffn29 looks like it uses the same technique as the trees in the Ferris Wheel set, namely several of the new Stalk W. 1,5 Shaft And 3,2 Shaft (part 19119) connected to a Brick 1X1 W. 4 Knobs (part 4733).

Wow, looks awesome in size and the price is amazing.. It's only got roughly 100 pieces less than Tower Bridge yet it's only £170... Bargain.. I'll get 2 and finish the back of it so it's better on a turning table!!??

"Including a SIDEWALK" Lego do realise this is a BRITISH building right?

^Can you elaborate? Are there no sidewalks in Britain, or are the called something else?

Personally I think it's too boring to build. I'd rather buy Sidney Opera House but I admit, Big Ben is a welcome addition to advanced models. Nothing to complain about. I'm waiting for Disney Castle though.

Space:1979 has won the thread as far as I'm concerned - I am already planning which minifigures' parts to raid to construct tiny Richard Hannay, Francis Urquhart and Mattie Storin.

^^ We call them pavements over here!

Of the bigger sets this year have already bought; Slave 1 and Tower Bridge. Big Ben looks awesome, whether I buy it this year or next will depend on the Disney Castle and the new Death Star.

Thank you for making this set and making it so reasonably priced!!! Maybe Colosseum or Piza next?

Monochrome microfig collectors will be very pleased by this one.

Next should be Neuschwanstein. 6k piece, $400. Even then it would sell like hotcakes. That is the actual building the Disney castles were modeled after though, so we might have to wait much longer for that one.

Next one I would like to see is either; St. Basil’s Cathedral, Neuschwanstein castle , Forbidden City, The Colosseum, Hagia Sophia, the Kremlin or Notre Dame

Looks fantastic. Gotta love that price.

@ModularRoger They're called PAVEMENTS over here, not SIDEWALKS, that's an Americanism. XD

That's amazing!

Wow

This is begging for either Marvel or DC fights to happen here ....

what does it mean for a set to be direct to consumer ?

Lego would never do churches, as much asnI would love to see Notre Dame or Sagrada Familia. Now, hopefully the Dutch price will be €220 too and not €250. Those price differences across the border are insane. And I think the EU wants to put a ban on it. Tower Bridge was and is €220 in all of Europe. Those were the days...

Meh. The price per piece is good but since they are mostly small pieces like the Taj Mahal, it should be. I'll save my money for the Porsche ;-)

Amazing set, the Disney Peter Pan collectable minifig would look great placed next to the clock face..!

That's a really good-looking set at a great price... but considering the big Technic sets this year are so much more interesting, my money is going there instead.

Finally Big Ben now to just extend the model to include the whole building. Lots like I might get a few or even order parts.

THIS WILL BE MINE!

that is all.

I'll buy minimum 5 pieces!!!! Fantastic set!

@inversion
Totally agree on Neuschwanstein. It's just begging to be made in Lego.
Still, I hope that Disney Castle will be $400 6k piece anyway.

Puts the Minecraft set in the shade at that price! Awesome, great news for LEGO fans!

> For once the applied $:£ exchange rate is spot-on
Actually, as the UK includes 20% tax and other countries still have to add on sales tax (except for those lucky few states without any) the UK price is actually quite a bit cheaper.
In Ontario for example, price with tax is $339 but £170 in CAD$ is $325.
Comparing pre-tax prices, UK is £142 which is USD$207 or CAD$271 (which is CAD$306 with tax, a lot closer to the with-tax UK price).

> we can have Richard Hannay hanging on for dear life
ooo, would love to see some Harold Lloyd's "Safety Last!" recreated in LEGO stop motion.

Oh, what a beauty!
This Big Ben is an absolute must-have for me. Everything to it looks awesome. For me it is by far the most beautiful Creator-Expert-Building until now!

Thank You, Jamie! You are the Best! [ Jamie for President!!! :D ]

Not interested in this at all

I'm definitely in for this one. I've been wanting to do an MOC, but I'll wait...

Now can the Tower Bridge go just away?

Thanks for the info on British sidewalks = pavements. The Adele song makes INFINITELY more sense now.

Magnificient! Love it!!

Big Ben has always been one of my favourite London landmarks ever since I was a kid so this set was always a no brainer for me but now I've seen the set and importantly seen the price it will definitely be a day one purchase for me. It will look great next to tower bridge. I also love that it really does look like a huge 21013 with the small section of the Palace of Westminster.
Also, is it just me but are Lego keeping sets like this in production for longer now? Tower bridge has been around for 6 years now, Sydney opera house 3 years so far, pet shop 5 years, Death Star 8 years and others. Could this be Lego attempting to make sure everyone has a chance of getting one without paying silly prices from so called Lego investors on certain auction sites?

Nice model for a great bargain price, but clearly the price is justified due to repetitive small parts used, lower than expected lots and lack of expensive parts like minifigures. That being said, it is a good parts pack for those needing those tiny bits in large quantities.

How swooshable is it :)

No French comments so far, I see ...

Being slightly anal, the set as a whole shouldn't be called "Big Ben". I know they reference the correct name of Elizabeth Tower in the description, but still...Big Ben is just the bell.

Lovely looking set though!

The clockface is what caught my eye! Looks lovely.

I love it! I've been thinking of using Tower Bridge pieces and an old Big Ben set from Cars to make my own, but then I heard this was coming. I was looking forward to it so much, and TLG did not disappoint! First thought was: it the same size as TB so can be displayed together - off course, Lego thought of that. Really looking forward to buying this, although the price in the Benelux is probably going to be higher again 240, which is more reasonable than other stuff.

Saw the leaked photos yesterday and though it looked pretty sweet. But seeing that low price? Gonna be hard to not take the plunge on day one for this set. I'm sure once my sister gets a look at it I'll have to buy it. :P

Looks great, but one fault, I don't recall any of the Palace of Westminster actually being in the water. What is going on with that blue plate?

I like that a reasonable section of the palace is included. More than in the architecture model. Also the UK gets a very good pre tax price, only fair as it is a UK landmark.

@mike978 Oh but it nearly does :D I think this is to mimic the Thames riverside which basically 'washes' this side of the palace. Even the small wall is there, exactly like in the model. If the waterlevel is normal, the surface should indeed be a little lower, but still it's kinda accurate for where the river actually is ;)

Hey Mike978 - http://www.e-architect.co.uk/images/jpgs/london/houses_parliament_nw280909.jpg

Lamarider and krisandkris - thanks. I must have misremembered from my time looking out of the London Eye. You are correct it is right up against the water (if not slightly in).

I have been looking forward to this set. As usual you never know what to expect when a model number and a name appear, and then you see the final picture. I will defo be purchasing this one. Just got to do some saving.

When will they release a UCS Empire State Building?

I wonder if the release of this set will drive more Tower Bridge purchases--it did for me. I have long been on the fence about the Tower Bridge, only because it would be kind of a stand-alone piece. As soon as I saw the Big Ben photos and realized it is in the same scale as the bridge, I knew that I would regret not getting both London landmarks.

This looks amazing. And the price is perfect. It doesn't seem like there's much TLG can do about the bright blue/green base, but if I ever get this, I'm adding trans plates/tiles and grass to the base. It looks gross without them.

A must buy for an absolutely stunning set. @Inversion, A neuschwanstein set would awesome :)

Day one set for me. Looks fantastic, I can see buying a few of these and making a huge model. So excited, great job lego

Looks great--but what's the point of four sprues of hand tools--I mean, this set doesn't even have any minifigures! Maybe because a ratchet and spanner (wrench) make up the clock hands?

The pricing is excellent!

I have to get one. And then I need to work out how to get my clock mechanism (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1gLPfwXZno) to fit inside the tower ... AND drive four clock faces...

Am I the only one sad that it doesn't come with a real clock on at least one face?

I am at the height of ambivalence over this set. I am simultaneously thinking:

"I have absolutely nowhere I could put this if I bought it."

"I wonder how long it would take for me to add on the REST of the Houses of Parliament to it?"