ZOMG! This set came out in 2010 as a promo exclusive set between LEGO and Toys R Us and I thought for sure with having moved into 2011, I would have missed my opportunity to get ahold of this set!

I made a trip into the closest Toys R Us to me for another reason and taking a look down the Lego aisle, I found this sitting on the shelf and knew I had to pick it up. And I am not disappointed. For one, it offers up a little store front area to populate in a Lego City beyond the Emergency centers. The store front build was similiar to the City Corner set and those buildings, I loved the mini builds for toy cars and remote control vehicles, those were clever.

Three minifigures, the truck driver, cashier and an uncommon child character make up the set and add to a Lego City population.

As to the truck itself, I had a lot of fun building and putting this together, there's another truck set I'd like to get that's yellow. But this being blue, I just enjoyed it and the interior details inside for where the trucker sleeps at and computer. The trailer is huge and spacious for loading up lego cargo onto it. I did make a slight modification to the design of the truck where there's a grey cylinder piece sticking out on the side... I modified the side that you can't see in the picture well enough so it would symetrical in appearance and not lop sided to me.

But I've just really enjoyed this set. I know there can be hang ups with the liscensings and designs... but I love seeing them such as this set to create more a real world feel to the set and not quite so generic. That might be silly, but there's a point where it's fun to see some of it. I'll certainly complain if it gets to ever feeling over done.

I am a former long haul truck driver that hauled both flat bed and modified trailers and 53' box trailers (or "vans" as we drivers call them) during my career. This set caught my eye because the tractor is a dead ringer for a Volvo - a very popular, dependable and (in my humble opinion) attractive model. The tractor is, of course, identical to the one in the 3221 set which I saw first and nearly bought instead, but I happened to have a gift card for Toys R Us and they weren't currently offering the 3221 set when I redeemed it. I didn't think I would care for the store and the 78 additional pieces did not seem to justify the $15 US price increase from set 3221 to this one. However, once I had it in hand and built it my tune changed significantly.

Pros

• The tractor and trailer are truly impressively designed. The resemblance of the tractor to a popular and dependable real world workhorse adds a strong note of authenticity to the Lego city line. Additionally, as a former trucker I will add a note regarding the trailer's suspension which somebody else mentioned in a review as being "loose." Real 53' vans generally have a type of suspension called Air Ride which uses a series of hydraulically controlled bushings to dampen the blows of driving down the highway. The tandems (wheels) on these trailers actually move and behave in the real world incredibly similarly to how the wheels on this model do. Personally, I found this detail absolutely astounding and the inventiveness of the designers of this piece actually made me laugh out loud when I built it.
  
• This tractor and trailer are based on the American shipping standard of 18 wheelers. This is impressive to me because many if not most of the heavy vehicles in the Lego City line are decidedly European in design - concentrating heavily on cab-over trucks (which fell out of favor in the US in the 90s), straight trucks (where cab and cargo area share the same body), and shorter trailers when they are used. I have nothing against the European designs (and I certainly don't care to debate about relative merits) and considering that Lego is itself a European company it makes perfect sense that most of their designs would reflect their own surroundings. However, as an American I must admit that I like it when sets show detail and design that are more familiar to me. This set nailed them both.
  
• The store, though small and unimpressive to me at first glance, proved to be a whole lot of fun packed into a tiny package. It's a bit of a juxtaposition when considered in view of the truck as the truck is so good both in scale and detail and the store is obviously far smaller and less detailed than a real Toys R Us would be, but what the designers did with it was VERY enjoyable. I particularly enjoyed the tiny toys built from 1x elements for display on the shop wall. They inspired me to see what I could create with a random handful of loose pieces from my collection and extended my enjoyment of my build session for at least another hour. The addition of many fun accessories and the two extra minifigures (a little boy and a woman - which are altogether too rare in the Lego City series) seals the deal and makes this set an unqualified winner.
  

Cons

• You can only get the set through Toys R Us, of course. This makes perfect sense, but the fact of the matter is that if I had not randomly come into possession of a Toys R Us gift card (which has never happened to me before and likely never will again) I probably wouldn't have even found out about this. Not really a "con," for certain, but I guess I'll have to be a little bit diligent in my research about what promotional sets become available in the future to ensure that I don't miss something this cool.
  

If you enjoy the Lego City theme you need to get this set. It's attractive, impressively well designed and FUN. I'm almost strictly a build-and-display type of Lego fan, but I defy anyone to build this truck and not to push it around the desk a few times in wonder! It's simply infectious. If you're thinking of buying the 3221 set or are torn between it and this set, I suggest you buy this one. The addition of the store, accessories and minifigures more than justify the $15 US price increase in my opinion. I am very satisfied with my purchase and I'm quite sure that if you buy this you will be as well.

As soon as I saw this set I knew that I had to have it to expand my town. It is not often that LEGO provides us with something other than another Police or Fire set so this is a definite must have.

The Store

With the recent lack of any new shops or services added to the City range this set is worth it for the Toys R Us store alone. The store itself is full of excellent details such as a cash register, shelves, toys and LEGO boxes. My only complaint about the store is the size, ideally it would be a bit bigger but having a slightly small Toys R Us store is better than having none at all.

The Truck

Like the store, the Toys R Us truck looks great against everything else in the City range because of its blue and white colours. This makes the truck stand out especially the blue front cab and roof. The storeage area with opening doors is great for playabilty where you can deliver toys to the store. My favourite part of the truck is the actual cab. Firstly I love the colour and shape of the front, the high grill at the front make the truck very special for me as it looks so realistic.

My advice is to snap this up before it goes as it is a much needed addition to the LEGO City Corner set. There is plenty of playability with this set not to mention it is extremely rare to have a LEGO Toys R Us store.

I specifically went to my local Toys R Us to pick this set up since I really wanted the store front.

The Truck and Trailer

The Truck was interesting to build and well designed. The Blue coloring is a nice change from the seemingly more common orange and white vehicles. The access to the cab is well designed and the interior is detailed with a mini-television.

The Trailer was simple to build and overall a great design though I do feel that the side double doors is unnecessary and standard white panels would have been good enough.

The only major issue that I have with the truck and trailer is that the design for both is a little lower than the Wind Turbine Transport set which makes it nearly impossible to swap the trucks and trailers. Also the design for the truck and trailer make both completely incompatible with the Tank Truck set.

The Store

The Store is the primary reason that I wanted the set. It is a nice addition to the City Corner set and its nice to have another non-emergency building when expanding a City. The design of the display walls allows for the addition of future toys like the Christmas toys from the 2010 Advent Calender. The loose toys including the teddy bear are a nice touch. The only problem I have with the store is that there were only three miniature Lego boxes and two of the boxes had identical stickers but different sized back blocks.

Overall

This is a great set though a little pricey for what you get. Its a great, unique addition for any collector of Lego City sets no matter the age.

Intro

I got this set by going to my local Toys R Us in San Diego, CA. They had just gotten a shipment, so there were quite a few there. It is exactly the same as the 3221 Lego Truck, but it is a repaint, has new characters, and includes a mini Toys R Us shop! Kind of expensive though at $39.99!

Review

I'll start out with the truck first. The truck I believe has a way better paint than the 3221 Lego Truck. I think the blue is way better compared to the yellow 3221 paint. Inside the cabin, there is a driver's chair, table to put the driver's coffee mug, a bed, and a TV. I have both this set and the 3221 Lego truck, so I think that the truck's cab has an awesome interior!

The only 2 complaints I have about the truck is that the pieces that connect the trailer and cab together like to fall off a lot. The 2nd complaint is that the 4 tires on the back of the trailer have some sort of suspension that's really loose which kind of annoys me.

The last thing to talk about is the Toys R Us mini shop. I absolutely love the shop because of so many things! One is that the outside really resembles a real life Toys R Us shop. The 2nd is that I love how the interior is built! There is a very nicely designed shelf that can hold the 3 Lego boxes. There's a nice cash register with a computer and a barrel full of toy weapons! There's also a shelf that can hold the toy car and boat. You can put the teddy bear wherever you want, but I made the little boy holding it.