Review: 21060 Himeji Castle
Posted by Huw,
The Architecture theme has been somewhat neglected over the last several years and the few sets that were released have been less than stellar.
However, 21060 Himeji Castle, which is launched next week, looks as if it will buck this trend and bring the theme back on track.
Summary
21060 Himeji Castle, 2,125 pieces.
£139.99 / $159.99 / €159.99 | 6.6p/7.5c/7.5c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A beautiful model of a beautiful building
- An enjoyable and edifying build
- Main keep looks accurate
- Excellent parts pack
- Some colour matching issues with the dark tan pieces
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
The castle is located in the town of Himeji, near Kobe and Osaka on Japan's south island. It was built between 1581 and 1609 and 2023 marks the 30th anniversary of its recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
According to the UNESCO list, it's "the finest surviving example of early 17th-century Japanese castle architecture...with highly developed systems of defence and ingenious protection devices."
Not only does it look beautiful, it's also a fascinating building, and it's worth reading about its defensive features at worldhistory.org.
Photo by Andre.Doiron on Flickr.
You might recognise it as the ninja training school in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice.
Picture from JamesBondRadio.com.
The completed model
The building sits on a black-rimmed base which is 40 studs wide by 34 deep. The main castle keep is perched on top of fortification walls, replicated here using dark tan 75 degree slopes. Surrounding it are a number of lower walls and buildings which capture the essence of the site and its maze of passageways.
Designer Chris McVeigh states in the instructions that the proportions and scale of the model have been 'played with' to ensure that the main keep stands out as the natural focal point.
Unfortunately there is a colour consistency issue with the dark tan 2x2x3 slopes with some being a noticeably different shade. I have tried to group them together to make it less perceptible, but it's still not really acceptable in such an expensive set, or any set for that matter.
The building is a masterclass in half-stud offset building techniques which have been used throughout the model.
Note how minifigure boomerang pieces have been used to create the smaller gables.
Whichever way you look at it, it's a beautiful model.
The two blossoming cherry trees in the pictures above can be replaced with green ones if you prefer.
The level of detail throughout the model is exceptional: everywhere you look there are stairs, alleyways, doorways and so on.
There are also interior details on most floors of the keep, and the top of it can be removed to reveal the council area on one of them. That on the other floors, including the purple shroud on the sacred wooden shrine on the top floor, is hidden away once built, though
New parts
It's rare for new parts to debut in Architecture sets and I remember Rok Zgalin Kobe, designer of most of them, telling me that he takes pride in only using existing pieces rather than coming up with new ones. This set, however, contains an element that was necessary for creating the distinctive 'turned up corners' that are prevalent on the roofs of Japanese buildings.
Two tiles with the name of the building printed in English and in Japanese are provided, so you can take your pick.
Construction
In common with many sets nowadays parts are packed in small quantities in numerous numbered bags and in this case there are 17 of them. This makes it easy to spend half an hour here and there as you find the time to build it.
The colours and arrangement of the foundations of the keep are, according to the instructions, 'designed to evoke the brown and white decor throughout the castle interior'.
The colours of the grass and vegetation have apparently deliberately been kept muted so as not to detract attention from the building.
Verdict
It's a beautiful model of a beautiful building which brings the Architecture theme back on track after several lacklustre years.
It's dripping with details and interesting building techniques, and it's also an excellent parts pack, partly because it's virtually devoid of interior pieces in bright colours. It's unfortunate about the colour variation of the dark tan slopes, though, but that's really the only negative thing I can say about it.
At $159.99, £139.99, €159.99 for 2,125 pieces, it seems like reasonable value for money. There are a lot of small pieces, but also a lot of large ones too. It's quite hefty, weighing in at 1.6Kg, so works out at $100/Kg or £88/Kg. (I'll try and put that metric in future reviews)
Whether you've been to the real building or not you will enjoy constructing and admiring the completed model and, if like me, you've not been you will probably want to go having built it.
It will be available at LEGO.com from 1st August.
187 likes
56 comments on this article
Has Lego addressed the colour issues that seem to be happening more often now? Definitely not acceptable and comes to question their standards and quality.
Really fantastic model. I hope they do more ancient architecture in the Architecture line, including some that are no longer around. There's a lot of room there for some incredible models IMO.
I really like this, lots of detail and takes me back to the style of the Robie House many years ago which I could have got cheap at the time and missed out on! I am surprised at the colour variation of the dark tan pieces though; I use a lot of dark tan in my MOC city buildings, sometimes in reasonably large panels and this is not something I have really encountered buying bricks on the secondary market.
I'm torn on the interior detail. On one hand it enhances the building experience, but on the other it gets sealed away and very difficult to admire as soon as it's built.
That stuff takes parts, and thus inflates the price. For a display model, I think such things should be viewable.
Should the building experience itself take parts budget? I don't feel like it woupd be worth it, but I can't speak for others.
@jpmeier said:
"Has Lego addressed the colour issues that seem to be happening more often now? Definitely not acceptable and comes to question their standards and quality. "
Only the best is good enough, quality, equality, inclusivity and ecology is extremely important to us, please understand that we must increase price due to covid supply chain issues etc. etc. :)
On a serious note, they don't have to, people buy their stuff anyway. People will buy sets purely based on license and which characters from a movie appear in it.
Great looking set and definitely one I'll be buying. The little details are lovely.
The new part looks pretty good too, kinda surprising it hasn't been made before. How do other asian-themed set make this shape?
Can not wait to purchase this set.
Being interested in Japanese history having visited Himeji castle 5 times, with another trip planned in January next year this set is perfect for me.
Though can still dream of a bigger version.
@Binnekamp said:
"I'm torn on the interior detail. On one hand it enhances the building experience, but on the other it gets sealed away and very difficult to admire as soon as it's built.
That stuff takes parts, and thus inflates the price. For a display model, I think such things should be viewable.
Should the building experience itself take parts budget? I don't feel like it woupd be worth it, but I can't speak for others."
I feel like it doesn't inflate the price rather fills it out. When lego makes these sets they usually decide a pricepoint far in advance and then the designers build to it and its often hard to change that price point once it is set. So I think what happened here is the designer used some of the parts budget to add a bit of extra detail wherever they could to meet the budget as much as they could.
@Binnekamp said:
"I'm torn on the interior detail. On one hand it enhances the building experience, but on the other it gets sealed away and very difficult to admire as soon as it's built.
That stuff takes parts, and thus inflates the price. For a display model, I think such things should be viewable.
Should the building experience itself take parts budget? I don't feel like it woupd be worth it, but I can't speak for others."
We are only talking 20-30 small pieces so it hasn't made much of a difference to the price.
@Huw said:
"
We are only talking 20-30 small pieces so it hasn't made much of a difference to the price."
It's already about 20 pieces on just that one layer of tiles and plates in the first picture of the construction paragraph. Those could be switched out for one or two bigger plates.
But I agree with others, the pricepoint has likely already been set in stone and designers either have no ability to change it or do not care enough to stress themselves with talking to marketing so it's easier to fill out the empty space with rare color pieces that maybe one or two people then care to switch out into their rare parts collection.
From my experience, regardless if its your own MOC or a retail set you want to modify because the designer has filled it up with rare parts in inaccessible areas, not taking the time to switch out those parts for the cheapest colors and molds generally adds 10% to the total cost of parts.
Hahahaha I love the juxtaposition of the UNESCO description against the James Bond still.
“It’s one of the finest surviving examples of Japanese architecture from the period. A gem of world culture, and a symbol of Japanese romantic beauty.
Then some English folk used it as a backdrop for a NINJA TRAINING ACADEMY in a film where a woman-slapping Scottish actor dressed in yellowface to stop a plot involving a volcano base.”
(I am a huge Bond fan, FYI, but hoh boy some aspects of those old movies…)
Anyways this model looks simply lovely. I hope this proves to be a resurrection of sorts for the classic Architecture line. I would love to have more standalone buildings from non-western nations for sure!
Heck, I’ll take the western buildings, too, but I am a fan of cultural variety where possible.
Really love this. While the colour mismatches obviously show atrocious quality control, I'm not too bothered in this case as the real thing is also multiple different shades. Very different for a car!
I almost wish that this was a Lego exclusive. The price is fine but my wallet says, 'No, wait for an Amazon reduction!'
Bad color consistency strikes in a new color… I haven’t had it with dark tan yet but dark blueish gray has been very tricky in recent sets for me. Plus the classic culprits like dark red etc.
I love it, but at the same time, even though I'm sure it's accurate, I wish there was more foliage surrounding it.
@Tuzi said:
"Great looking set and definitely one I'll be buying. The little details are lovely.
The new part looks pretty good too, kinda surprising it hasn't been made before. How do other asian-themed set make this shape?"
There is a similar part, design number 73682. It's 3x3 and has a stud on the "high" corner as well as the "low" corner.
As long as LEGO doesn’t solve this problem with their colour consistency (which seems to be getting worse), I won't buy the set, as beautiful as it might be otherwise.
I'll stick with Hohenzollern Castle from BlueBrixx for the time being. At almost 9,000 pieces that one will keep me occupied for quite a while anyway. And since they switched to GoBricks as their main parts supplier, the quality issues they used to be known for in the beginning have been a thing of the past for some time now.
@Huw said in article, "Unfortunately there is a colour consistency issue with the dark tan 2x2x3 slopes with some being a noticeably different shade. I have tried to group them together to make it less perceptible, but it's still not really acceptable in such an expensive set, or any set for that matter."
If you look at pictures of the castle (in color obviously) you will notice several shades of difference on the base. Having seen the castle in person it appears that way in real life as well. Not all the rocks/stones of the base are original and have worn and weathered differently. While Lego does need to ensure a consistent color in their bricks I think this does not detract in any way to this set and I think it actually enhances the look to make it more "realistic".
@dreisbaugh said:
" @Huw said in article, "Unfortunately there is a colour consistency issue with the dark tan 2x2x3 slopes with some being a noticeably different shade. I have tried to group them together to make it less perceptible, but it's still not really acceptable in such an expensive set, or any set for that matter."
If you look at pictures of the castle (in color obviously) you will notice several shades of difference on the base. Having seen the castle in person it appears that way in real life as well. Not all the rocks/stones of the base are original and have worn and weathered differently. While Lego does need to ensure a consistent color in their bricks I think this does not detract in any way to this set and I think it actually enhances the look to make it more "realistic"."
Don’t defend LEGO over this when it clearly isn’t their intention. What they show and advertise is uniform colors throughout, thus especially for such a premium product it’s what we should receive. If LEGO wants to include different colors, that’s fine, only as long as they show that and acknowledge it’s different colors rather it supposedly all being the same color and then it not being. That is failure on LEGO’s part and should not be defended because it contributes to the ‘realism’, because it’s not what they showed or intended.
@AustinPowers said:
"As long as LEGO doesn’t solve this problem with their colour consistency (which seems to be getting worse), I won't buy the set, as beautiful as it might be otherwise.
I'll stick with Hohenzollern Castle from BlueBrixx for the time being. At almost 9,000 pieces that one will keep me occupied for quite a while anyway. And since they switched to GoBricks as their main parts supplier, the quality issues they used to be known for in the beginning have been a thing of the past for some time now. "
Phew, I was worried we wouldn’t get a comment from you mentioning another company.
@Huw said:
"]
"
"The main caste keep" should be updated to castle.
I like the price per kg ratio. This gets even more hilarious when you look at the price of ABS which is roughly 2$/kg today. And now I am returning to my 4700pcs @ 60€ set of a treehouse.
@IgelCampus said:
"I like the price per kg ratio. This gets even more hilarious when you look at the price of ABS which is roughly 2$/kg today. "
I think it's fair to say that quite of lot of value has been added between the raw ABS granulate and the finished article, which of course has to be paid for :)
@Huw:
So you’re saying they could have lowered the price $2 and made it so much more appealing to AFOLs on a budget? Travesty! I’m going to have a hard time sleeping tonight, for sure.
@Anonym:
When I built Fallingwater, I was surprised at how weird the construction was on the base, until I realized it kept the range of parts to a minimum. Where a 1x4 plate might have been the perfect size, a 1x6 plate might have room to stick out without causing interference. If they can eliminate all of the 1x4 plates in favor of 1x6 plates, it can actually reduce the production cost of the set.
Last time I had badly inconsistent colors I contacted customer service and they sent me new pieces, so that was nice at least.
@monkyby87 said:
"Phew, I was worried we wouldn’t get a comment from you mentioning another company. "
I was - almost - waiting for you to notice and react to that ;-)
But seriously, I could have mentioned other manufacturers far more often in recent times, but you have to admit I have reduced it to a bare minimum.
In this case though it was actually quite fitting, especially since both sets are similar in terms of target audience, style, partly even in the colours used. Although the Himeji Castle set is far smaller in size and piece count of course.
Oh, I am looking forward to this one! Got the pyramid last year, this actually looks to be simmilar in price and size, so im looking forward to that!
Price per kg is a fun metric, wish we do see that in the future too!
Almost every color has problems: white, tan greys, greens, blues... the only color that dont have variations are my blacks and my vintage bricks.
Reason is pretty obvious: production in non-european countries...
I'm always flabbergasted when I read peoples comments defending this issue, claiming it adds realism.....mindblowing O.o
The castle was also the inspiration for Akuma's fortress from Karateka.
"However, 21060 Himeji Castle, which is launched next week, looks as if it will buck this trend and bring the theme back on track."
We'll have to see if we get more than one Architecture set a year to see if this holds true. Unfortunately its looking more and more like this theme may come to an end as Lego has too many other themes to focus on.
I often see comments saying that a set could have been designed differently to save a few dollars, but in most cases the price is set long before it’s final design. I’ve read interviews with designers who try to get as close to the target price as possible without going over it by adding a few side builds, more details, etc.
Huw said, "The Architecture theme has been somewhat neglected over the last several years and the few sets that were released have been less than stellar."
I liked the Great Pyramid set very much--and the skyline sets also continue to please. However, I agree this beautiful, detailed building harks back to the early years of the theme and it will definitely go on my wishlist. Thank you for the detailed review!
@BelgianBricker said:
"Almost every color has problems: white, tan greys, greens, blues... the only color that dont have variations are my blacks and my vintage bricks.
I'm always flabbergasted when I read peoples comments defending this issue, claiming it adds realism.....mindblowing O.o"
For landscapes and things like large stone walls or earthen banks, it *does add realism, IMO. Yes, TLG should be paying more attention to keeping colors consistent, but in a set like this one, that becomes a minor issue.
Between this and the Eldorado Fortress, we're pretty clearly seeing why raised baseplates are obsolete.
@ItisNoe said:
" @dreisbaugh said:
" @Huw said in article, "Unfortunately there is a colour consistency issue with the dark tan 2x2x3 slopes with some being a noticeably different shade. I have tried to group them together to make it less perceptible, but it's still not really acceptable in such an expensive set, or any set for that matter."
If you look at pictures of the castle (in color obviously) you will notice several shades of difference on the base. Having seen the castle in person it appears that way in real life as well. Not all the rocks/stones of the base are original and have worn and weathered differently. While Lego does need to ensure a consistent color in their bricks I think this does not detract in any way to this set and I think it actually enhances the look to make it more "realistic"."
Don’t defend LEGO over this when it clearly isn’t their intention. What they show and advertise is uniform colors throughout, thus especially for such a premium product it’s what we should receive. If LEGO wants to include different colors, that’s fine, only as long as they show that and acknowledge it’s different colors rather it supposedly all being the same color and then it not being. That is failure on LEGO’s part and should not be defended because it contributes to the ‘realism’, because it’s not what they showed or intended."
You appear to have missed the last sentence of the post by the person to which you’re responding; it reads:
“While Lego does need to ensure a consistent color in their bricks I think this does not detract in any way to this set and I think it actually enhances the look to make it more "realistic".”
From this, two things are clear to me: 1), @dreisbaugh still clearly thinks LEGO needs to ensure consistent color in their bricks, flat-out stating that in plain unambiguous language, and 2) the post is clearly not a defense of LEGO the company so much as it is one of the set, pointing out that while the color mismatch is a flaw (one that might affect the desirability of this as a parts pack to repurpose into other things, for example), in *this specific instance* it does, arguably, serve the build the set represents. I have in fact known of builders who actually do in fact *intentionally seek out* elements molded with color deviations *specifically* for their utility in recreating natural color variation in the world (or imagined in other worlds). And all @dreisbaugh did was offer both knowledge and a personal opinion. Who the hell are you to be ordering people to make only posts of which you personally approve? If someone feels they like the set as it is with the slight color flaw, do they not have the right to say so unless you issue them a waiver?
@ItisNoe said:
" @dreisbaugh said:
" @Huw said in article, "Unfortunately there is a colour consistency issue with the dark tan 2x2x3 slopes with some being a noticeably different shade. I have tried to group them together to make it less perceptible, but it's still not really acceptable in such an expensive set, or any set for that matter."
If you look at pictures of the castle (in color obviously) you will notice several shades of difference on the base. Having seen the castle in person it appears that way in real life as well. Not all the rocks/stones of the base are original and have worn and weathered differently. While Lego does need to ensure a consistent color in their bricks I think this does not detract in any way to this set and I think it actually enhances the look to make it more "realistic"."
Don’t defend LEGO over this when it clearly isn’t their intention. What they show and advertise is uniform colors throughout, thus especially for such a premium product it’s what we should receive. If LEGO wants to include different colors, that’s fine, only as long as they show that and acknowledge it’s different colors rather it supposedly all being the same color and then it not being. That is failure on LEGO’s part and should not be defended because it contributes to the ‘realism’, because it’s not what they showed or intended."
Lego is not being defended for poor color quality. The comment says: "Lego does need to ensure a consistent color in their bricks."
I'm sure we all know how in most cases inconsistent colors can ruin a model, requiring you to replace affected bricks with pieces from your own collection, and then you have a handful of bricks in this weird "new color" sitting around for some niche use case.
The comment was implying that this is a rare case where such pieces wouldn't be a pain for the consumer, not excusing Lego because this one edge case is a set where the mismatched colors don't detract like they do in most other sets.
seems very expensive for that fact that half the pieces are like 2*1 size. There aren't really any specialized parts either other than the one new piece and the 2 printed ones... No thanks i like sets with minifigures and more impressive builds.
@sklamb said:
" @BelgianBricker said:
"Almost every color has problems: white, tan greys, greens, blues... the only color that dont have variations are my blacks and my vintage bricks.
I'm always flabbergasted when I read peoples comments defending this issue, claiming it adds realism.....mindblowing O.o"
For landscapes and things like large stone walls or earthen banks, it *does add realism, IMO. Yes, TLG should be paying more attention to keeping colors consistent, but in a set like this one, that becomes a minor issue."
(hopefully this isn't a double post, earlier reply got eaten as far as I can tell)
The issue with this reasoning is that Lego uses the same parts for sets where the colors do need to match exactly. The variances in color described almost definitely hurt the "need to match" sets more than they help the "don't need to match exactly" sets, so the complaint is always valid regardless of the set in question.
@BelgianBricker:
I have recently come to the conclusion that color mismatches and translucency of “opaque” parts are considerably worse in sets packaged for the EU market than anything being produced for North America. Since there’s a plant in Mexico, I would have to assume that’s primarily intended to produce parts for sets that are packaged for the North American market, which of course means…that European production is where the problems originate. And why you don’t see nearly as many complaints about these two issues on this side of the pond.
The two name tiles reminds me of 854088, which did the same thing. Granted, the magnet used a sticker, but it still provided an extra x8 tile so you could switch between English and Chinese, if you wanted to.
@brickwich said: "Last time I had badly inconsistent colors I contacted customer service and they sent me new pieces, so that was nice at least."
Say what you will about their quality standards, Lego's customer service has always been awesome. I've never had a problem with them, and have gotten a few welcome surprises from them, too.
@PurpleDave: Yeah, I don't recall seeing many problems with color mismatch, so you might be right. The only one that readily comes to mind is that my copy of 21226 had one (1) mismatched tile, I don't 1remember what color.
@TheOtherMike:
When the TLBM sets launched early, I got a few copies of 70904 Clayface Splat Attack. Then I got a few more. And then a few more. As I was opening and building them, I noticed some had 2x2 round plates that always had the pip on the same stud, and had fully opaque 1x1 round plates with good clutch. And others had pips that alternated left or right, and the 1x1 round plates were translucent with terrible clutch (so bad I bagged them all to make sure I didn’t accidentally use them to build a Clayface). The print batch number on the boxes was different between these two variants. I’m certain they came from different factories, and the bad sets are the only ones I’ve encountered that sound like what some Europeans complain about.
Still waiting for the next Skylines. But Singapure was poor, it killed the theme...
@PurpleDave said:
" @BelgianBricker:
I have recently come to the conclusion that color mismatches and translucency of “opaque” parts are considerably worse in sets packaged for the EU market than anything being produced for North America. Since there’s a plant in Mexico, I would have to assume that’s primarily intended to produce parts for sets that are packaged for the North American market, which of course means…that European production is where the problems originate. And why you don’t see nearly as many complaints about these two issues on this side of the pond."
Parts for the European market come from all around the world, not just Europe. There seems to be a misunderstanding here. You can see where the parts came from,: it is written on the box/manuel. Mostly China.
It is obvious this is whete the problem lies, since my childhoid bricks dont have this issue.
While I'm still not sold on the top roof which looks too flat and shiny, this review only reinforced my feelings that this is a pretty good set. A bit too pricey, but I've already seen it for pre-order at around €130, which seems more appropriate.
About the color issues, not only is it a shame that a company that claims "only the best is good enough" and prices their products accordingly seemingly doesn't put much effort in quality control, but I am firmly against the idea that it adds anything here. In real life, those walls are indeed made from rocks in different colors, sure. But they certainly didn't neatly group them by color in such big square blocks. If anything, I'd say it only makes it worse here.
But back to the castle, I bet we'll see someone build the entire castle around it, which would be amazing. And since I not only visited Himeji-jo twice but have also visited many other castles in Japan, I do kinda hope this won't be the only one. I'd especially love to see Matsumoto-jo, which while having a similarly shaped tenshu looks strikingly different because of it's color and being surrounded by water. And then maybe Shuri-jo, because of it's completely different style? Not very like either of those will ever be made by Lego, bot one can dream....
This needs a LEGO Godzilla.
@shaase said:
""However, 21060 Himeji Castle, which is launched next week, looks as if it will buck this trend and bring the theme back on track."
We'll have to see if we get more than one Architecture set a year to see if this holds true. Unfortunately its looking more and more like this theme may come to an end as Lego has too many other themes to focus on."
It’s been a long time since the last non-skyline small architecture set (last one was the wall), and the 100€ main set of the year keeps getting more expensive in increments of 20€, it really does feel like they are trying to make 200€ the new norm for architecture.
@BelgianBricker said:
"Parts for the European market come from all around the world, not just Europe. There seems to be a misunderstanding here. You can see where the parts came from,: it is written on the box/manuel. Mostly China.
It is obvious this is whete the problem lies, since my childhoid bricks dont have this issue."
First 2 years of CNY sets (not sure about later) were made in China, all of them keep breaking apart now and ive had many clips snap.
@BelgianBricker:
The only time it's been possible to know precisely where every piece came from was when only a single source nation was listed. CMF was 100% Chinese production from S1 all the way through HP2, and then switched to global production from TLM2 on. Source nations listed don't really change, but it would be irresponsibly wasteful to make sure that every set includes at least one piece from each of these listed nations, just so the list can remain 100% accurate. What almost certainly happens is they compiled a list of every nation where parts are produced, and print it on everything just to make sure they don't miss one.
For basic bricks, plates, tiles, and so on, they're probably sourced as locally as possible. Fancy sculpted minifig heads usually come from China. Highly technical parts are supposedly restricted to being produced in Denmark where they can keep a closer eye on the process (I'm guessing Mixel joints fall into this group, since they can't even change the color). For the European market, most of the really basic stuff is coming from Eastern Europe. In the US, it would come from Mexico. I only ever see Europeans complain about parts that look translucent when held up to a light source, and those 1x1 round plates in a few of my copies of the Clayface set are the only parts I've ever pulled from a box that fit that description. So, clearly, every part they produce in a given factory is not intended for global distribution, though it may be available for global distribution in a pinch.
I've read about translucency problems. I've personally witnessed it on the one occasion, so I know what these people are talking about. And I can tell you, quite truthfully, that it's not something you're likely to encounter in the US. So, unless you've got a more plausible explanation...
This should be a $100 set. The larger base and grounds inflate the price. Focus on the building and stone foundation. Add more texture to the stone because it looks very plain. Lego has been doing this with so many of their sets lately. The building is the important part but it doesn't even dominate visually. $160 is a lot of money for a small building on a massive base.
The glaring color problems on the tan bricks makes this an impossible set to buy. Even if Lego would replace the pieces I have better things to do with $160 than play the lottery with my Lego sets.
@PurpleDave said:
" @BelgianBricker :
The only time it's been possible to know precisely where every piece came from was when only a single source nation was listed. CMF was 100% Chinese production from S1 all the way through HP2, and then switched to global production from TLM2 on. Source nations listed don't really change, but it would be irresponsibly wasteful to make sure that every set includes at least one piece from each of these listed nations, just so the list can remain 100% accurate. What almost certainly happens is they compiled a list of every nation where parts are produced, and print it on everything just to make sure they don't miss one.
For basic bricks, plates, tiles, and so on, they're probably sourced as locally as possible. Fancy sculpted minifig heads usually come from China. Highly technical parts are supposedly restricted to being produced in Denmark where they can keep a closer eye on the process (I'm guessing Mixel joints fall into this group, since they can't even change the color). For the European market, most of the really basic stuff is coming from Eastern Europe. In the US, it would come from Mexico. I only ever see Europeans complain about parts that look translucent when held up to a light source, and those 1x1 round plates in a few of my copies of the Clayface set are the only parts I've ever pulled from a box that fit that description. So, clearly, every part they produce in a given factory is not intended for global distribution, though it may be available for global distribution in a pinch.
I've read about translucency problems. I've personally witnessed it on the one occasion, so I know what these people are talking about. And I can tell you, quite truthfully, that it's not something you're likely to encounter in the US. So, unless you've got a more plausible explanation..."
Here in the U.S., we have the omnipresent issue with wonky astromech head printing. Be careful asking Lego to replace broken, wonky, mismatched parts, or crumpled sticker sheets. They will put you on a banned list for receiving replacements.
Lego's tolerance for your requests to fix their incompetence matches their ability to avoid it in the first place.
@Huw I agree that it look decent, but I wanted to ask why 100$/Kg is reasonable for you.
My compare to recent Architectures:
21056 Taj Mahal 66$/Kg
21058 Giza Pyramid 71$/Kg
So I would say in 2023 80-85$/Kg would be reasonable. Which means 135$ on lego.com for this set would absolutely OK.
I just got and built it. Probably the most fun build I've had in years. And excluding the trees at the very end (bag 17) not repetitive at all.
Edit to my opinion: LEGO cheaped out by not providing enough trees. You get the full set (3 trees + 1 bush) of summer leaves, but only 1 tree + 1 bush of cherry blossoms. Total piece cost probably <1$. I thought that I'll get it off bricklink, but the 'Plant Flower Stem with Bar and 6 Stems' in the necessary color (6452882) seems new to that set and is not on pick a brick / bricklink yet.
Great review but small correction: Himeji is on Honshu, which is the main island. Kyushu is the south island, Hokkaido the north island and Shikoku the small island.
@Tuzi said:
"Great looking set and definitely one I'll be buying. The little details are lovely.
The new part looks pretty good too, kinda surprising it hasn't been made before. How do other asian-themed set make this shape?"
slopes and inverted slopes i sused a lot in ninjago.