Review: 31105 Townhouse Toy Store
Posted by benbacardi,
LEGO’s Creator Expert range of annual modular buildings is a very popular line, and if you haven’t yet had a chance to read Huw’s review of the 2020 release, 10270 Bookshop, then I would encourage you to do so. The Expert line, however, are not the only modular buildings that LEGO releases.
In the standard Creator line, a range of smaller modular buildings have been released that are also designed to be connected together; the most recent example was this year’s 31097 Townhouse Pet Shop & Café. The largest set in this year’s initial Creator offering, 31105 Townhouse Toy Store, follows in this vein.
Box and Contents
The box depicts the standard yellow Creator 3-in-1 branding, with the primary model’s medium azure standing out in excellent contrast. The background shows a render of this year’s 31097, clearly indicating the link between the sets.
At 554 pieces, this toy shop is just over half the number of pieces in last year’s townhouse. The box contains three bags, a couple of loose plates, and a thick instruction manual (as is often the case for 3-in-1 sets where the instructions are included, rather than only available online.) There are no stickers in the model, and a handful of printed parts that were a delightful surprise! (I had clearly not looked too closely at the box art before I started building.)
Minifigures
Two minifigures are included; the shopkeeper, and a young boy. The boy is wearing an unzipped jacket over a blue shirt, which is full of detail, and has the standard short legs used for children. His face is double sided, with a big smile on one side and a rather nervous expression on the other.
Of course, there is only one type of toy shop LEGO would design, and that’s a LEGO store! The employee is wearing a yellow polo shirt with a large LEGO logo on the back; this torso has only previously appeared in four other sets, one of which was a gift with purchase and another an Inside Tour exclusive, so it is relatively rare. It looks excellent, however, and is paired with some plain reddish brown legs. The shopkeeper is female, wearing a pair of large spectacles, and dark orange hair. She only has the one expression, unfortunately.
The Build
As is often the case with the modular buildings or builds of this type, the first bag contains the parts required to construct the ground floor and pavement. In this instance, this completes the toy shop, which has some fantastic details for such a small model.
Outside the store, the pavement is partially tiled, and at the corners of the store stands a (relatively short) lamp post and a candy or toy dispensing machine. By the door, a near-minifigure-sized model of a guard stands watch, as is common with some LEGO stores in real life. A model train is suspended above the door, attached to the building using an interesting technique.
Inside the store is where we find the only printed parts in the model; a couple of 1x2 tiles designed to look like a small City set, and a 2x3 tile printed with the box design of 10182 Cafe Corner, the original Creator Expert modular building released back in 2007. This tile was only previously available in 10255 Assembly Square, so it is appreciated to see it appear again in a lower value set.
The printed tiles are attached to the wall as if boxes stacked on a shelf, and there are two miniature models on display in the shop, along with a till on a cash desk. It is a shame the floor of the shop isn’t tiled, but I appreciate that these models can’t contain the same level of detail as their larger Creator Expert cousins.
The next bag completes the first floor, the townhouse apartment. The interior space has been reduced from that of the ground floor in order to include a small balcony. Some interesting techniques are used to provide some architectural details, which are impressive for a set of this scale. This is the first appearance of the 1x3x3 window frames in a colour other than Dark Purple (used previously for 75957 Knight Bus), and I’m sure the tan will be very useful as a more realistic colour.
The occupant of this apartment is clearly a fan of flowers, as there are number both inside and outside the building. The window boxes look delightful (although some variety between the two would have been appreciated), and there is a large plant with green and purple flowers on the balcony.
Inside, the relatively new plant stem is used provide more floral decoration, along with a bright pink flower usually used in the Friends line as a hair accessory. The majority of the apartment is taken up with a large double bed with a rather garish duvet cover, and a floor lamp that seems overly large for the room.
The third and final bag provides the parts necessary to build the roof. This is rather simple, but employs some pearl gold accents to great effect. A small red bird perches on some simple but similarly effective architectural detailing lining the roof.
The final build is that of a small sit-and-ride rocket designed to be placed beside the store, presumably to entertain children while their parents spend far too long deciding how to maximise their VIP points inside the LEGO store! The model is very reminiscent of 40335 Space Rocket Ride, the gift with purchase that was the result of a LEGO Ideas competition. A small gear and technic assembly allows you to move the ride in a realistic fashion.
This model is smaller than the previous 40335, but still looks fantastic. Its scale is more in keeping with that of real rides of this type, although when placed next to the shop it is still overly large; although I am not sure anything could be done about this without sacrificing both aesthetics and functionality. I’ve shown it below alongside its larger cousin.
The Completed Model
When stacked together, all three parts of the model make a fantastic looking two-storey building. The bold colour of the apartment contrasts beautifully with the red and white awning of the store below. You can see in the early photos above that there are a pair of technic holes available at ground level on the walled side of the store, which could be used to connect this building with last year’s offering.
Alternative Builds
As a 3-in-1 set, instructions are provided for two other alternative builds. For the first, the toy shop is transformed into a small one-storey cake shop.
I find this build less interesting than the first (and it uses less parts), and it is built in a very similar manner. The cake shop is very small, comprising of only a cash desk and a fridge, although there is a seating area outside for customers to enjoy their purchases.
The satellite dish on the roof is a nice touch (although there's no TV inside the building to make use of it), and the bold red bird from the original build has shrunk slightly.
Not only does the building change, but so do the minifigures! They swap shirts—the lady is no longer a LEGO store employee, and instead the young boy is simply a LEGO enthusiast. In fact, he has his own (tiny!) room next to the cake shop with a desk and a lamp for indulging in his passion. A couple of City sets lay on the floor, but he's obviously about to start work on the Café Corner.
For the final build, cakes and toys are swapped for flowers (perhaps this is where the owner of the first apartment purchased all their floral accessories?) The florist’s shop is filled with vases and flowers, as is the display outside the windows.
The brick-built rose above the door is a nice little build, but I particularly enjoyed the construction of the roof, which uses one of the large windows on its side as an enormous skylight. The medium azure highlights along the facade make a lovely highlight. The red bird’s plumage has turned yellow, and it's been joined by a second yellow companion.
Across all the builds, the designer has managed to come up with three unique representations of a cash register! I particularly like the blue, from the first build, with its articulated arm.
Conclusion
Overall, the Toy Shop Town House is a lovely little model that wouldn't look out of place on display or being played with. The colour scheme is fantastic, and each of the three available models contain little hidden details that will delight as you build. If you also own last year's mini modular, connecting the two to expand your city block adds to the experience. Unfortunately, I don't, so I wasn't able to compare the two side by side or take any photos.
There are areas where more detail would have been appreciated, and the interiors are sometimes quite a bit on the small side. The removable roofs go some way to mitigating this, but the limited piece count to stay within a reasonable budget does put a constraint on the model. For the most part, this just means that the designer needs to be extra creative with what they have, and I think this applies to many areas of this set!
The Creator line of sets is never going to contain LEGO’s flagship models. They're simple, easy, and fun for a quick build designed to spark your imagination into creating something more, and this set is no exception. It may not have the glamour, detail, and part count of its larger Creator Expert cousins, but it also doesn't have their price tag. It's a great starting point into the world of LEGO modular buildings, and is overall a compact but well-designed little set.
31105 Townhouse Toy Store is now available at LEGO.com, for £39.99 / $49.99 / 49.99€.
Thanks to LEGO for providing this set for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
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33 comments on this article
Great review! It is a nice set but not €50 nice
That LEGO employee sure has a nice body tattoo.
On a more serious note I enjoyed how in-depth this article is however it would be nice to see the boy’s alternate expression and it’s compatibility with last year’s sets. Great review regardless though.
This is going to cause me to need more baseplates and road plates.
For better or for worse, the medium azure and reddish brown color scheme of this is too similar to the medium blue and dark orange 31050 Corner Deli to motivate someone to own both. For those who missed out on the now three-year-retired set, though, the color scheme shouldn't be too much of a problem. Medium azure is a good color when used right anyway.
I'll probably get this set on discount and try to do something creative with the parts so it doesn't just look like another Corner Deli or alternate build thereof. I really want those prints! My 40305 LEGO store sure could benefit from them.
The main build honestly looks too much like a hodge-podge to me - too much going on in the colour department.
Also, is the green/orange build inside the store based on something?
I really like this line of town buildings. I fell completely in love with the gorgeous townhouse (the old brownstone with the wrought-iron fence out front) a few years ago, and -- although I didn't care much for the pet shop and cafe, last year -- I definitely think I'll be buying this building to go alongside.
Nice review! I really like this set. I always love the brick built birds and the other details look good. It would be nice if the apartment had a few more details. But for the parts count, this set is a pretty good deal (in the U.S.).
Me, scrolling: Aww, a cozy, little quilt for the bed!
@benbacardi: "a large double bed with a rather garish duvet cover" lol
Thanks for the well written review. I really enjoyed it:)
The 79597 link when first talking about the apartment doesn’t lead anywhere.
@tljf311 - Thank you, that link has been fixed.
I think I’ll get two of these once they are on special offer, never really liked the open backed style and have always tried to use bricks to close sets up but getting two and mirror building one would look great
Wasn't there a previous Toy Shop in the Creator line? I like this but my City doesn't have the available space to sustain it, the only way would be to remove a Military Base for the Empire in precess on a 48x48 plate but that is a big no. I will eventually send pictures to the Forum under Lordmoral so be on the lookout.
My favorite released set of 2020 so far.
The set being €40 in some European countries is a surprise , but that makes the set even better value.
Especially compared to the 2019 Outback Cabin, which was somehow retail overpriced at €35 for 305 pieces in NL and is less half the size.
You forgot to mention the Tile 1 x 2 with Groove with 100 Dollar Bill Money Pattern as a printed piece.
@TheRightP_art said:
"On a more serious note I enjoyed how in-depth this article is however it would be nice to see the boy’s alternate expression and it’s compatibility with last year’s sets. Great review regardless though."
Thank you! There is a photo of the alternative expression on Brickset's Flickr, click through from any of the photos above. I would have liked to shown the set next to previous ones too.
@Illya said:
"You forgot to mention the Tile 1 x 2 with Groove with 100 Dollar Bill Money Pattern as a printed piece."
You're right, but it is a *very* common part!
I very much appreciate that you took the time to build and photograph the alternative builds, would be even better with photos of the full interiors.
I really miss the days when the creator line offered a decent residential accompaniment to the modular. But they started getting smaller and smaller and I just lost interest.
@LegoSonicBoy said:
"For better or for worse, the medium azure and reddish brown color scheme of this is too similar to the medium blue and dark orange 31050 Corner Deli to motivate someone to own both. "
I will buy this set precisely because I have 31050 and I love it, one of the best sets I bought in last 5 years. This one is similarly good, but has several new, though not exclusive, parts and all three builds look great too me.
@TomKazutara said:
"There are far to less buildings in the creator line these days."
Agreed, comapared to now, 2017 had 4 houses (without shops) in 1 year then 2 more to follow winter 2018.
The Skate House was the last to retire from Lego.com in September 2019, hopefully there's room to make more "houses" again.
Also at least the last 4 years, the largest Creator 3-in-1 sets released have been in Summer/June.
Also $40 on the US S&H, not $50.
I'm surprised by all the negative comments and complaints.
1. Any LEGO building that's not a police or fire station is a win!
2. I'm happy to see a move away from the CREATOR modular houses (like 31067) from a couple of seasons ago. This is not quite as nice as the fully enclosed folding buildings, but they are pretty good.
3. The value is very good - compare the price to part ratio to many other sets including the new gas station
4. I actually prefer these CREATOR buildings to the modular ones. Besides being cheaper, they allow for more variety in city design and also fit in with CITY vehicles and the occasional decent building like the hospital. I also find them more of a modern update of the old school Bill & Mary town size.
5. Overall - thanks LEGO for not giving up on smaller buildings to fill in LEGO cities and towns. I will probably buy a few to be able to build in the back and probably build the flower shop!
It would be nice to see a pic of all these small creator buildings in a street/block, the same way people often post pics of all the modulars in a street/block... wonder if anyone has a pic?
Nope. Stopped buying Creator houses the day they stopped putting in backs to them. Used to love the sub-theme. On the bright side it saves money.
I think I’ll give this a chance!
Very enjoyable review, benbacardi--thank you!
Sadly I find the most attractive thing about this set is the reduced-scale rocket ship ride, and although it's a better value for money than the service station it still feels overpriced to me. (Wanders off mumbling about "the good old days" and resolutely ignoring the cries of "OK boomer"....)
This is on my birthday list. Unfortunately it's not my birthday until May.
Great review! I feel like these are overlooked/underappreciated. This is a great model, I think I am going to get this and try to turn it into a full scale modular with whatever I find on the PAB wall.
The set is $40 at LEGO.com, which is the same price as the much smaller (150 pieces) and inferior 31077: Modular Sweet Surprises. This set could be $50 and be worth it but 31077 should really have been $30.
In a year with wild and outrageous price increases this is a nice surprise.
I like it though it seems they didn't try very hard with the alternate builds. They look very similar and seem like they don't use many of the pieces. The main model looks nice, on the other hand and I like the teal color.
Decent set.
The colours on this set is really nice although I was a bit disappointed that it was another toy shop. There is an earlier Toy & Grocery shop already in this creator line. I would have preferred this to be a bakery or even a florist shop it would have been better.
The colours on this set is really nice although I was a bit disappointed that it was another toy shop. There is an earlier Toy & Grocery shop already in this creator line. I would have preferred this to be a bakery or even a florist shop it would have been better.
The colours on this set is really nice although I was a bit disappointed that it was another toy shop. There is an earlier Toy & Grocery shop already in this creator line. I would have preferred this to be a bakery or even a florist shop it would have been better.