^Fantastic! Now I have even more reason to buy this! Also, where/how did you get your hands on this???

Looks like I'll be getting this set. The double cheese slope does seem like a useless piece. I can't think of anything that it can do that two 1x1's can't. That bus looks awesome.

wow i'm really impressed with the design and details of the bus. kudos to lego for designing such a wonder vehicle!

For those interested in how this set looks with the Construction Site shopfront:

Thanks for doing up this scenery. It's very nice, to see the street added with the Construction site shops. I am looking forward to the next wave of City sets.

I am definatly going to buy this set.

Worth it for the trans-smoke windscreens and doors and stuff alone IMO, not to mention the bicycle (if only it was a color other than red :( ), the bicycle/skate helmets, the pizza oven, the other window pieces and more.

I wish the bus was another color too (red maybe or grey), the only place you generally see yellow buses is American style school buses.

the bus (I'm not a fan of the doors and I really think they could have used the interior space much better

I agree about the doors. It would have been nice to see two half-width doors in the same frame. Would have been much more realistic. If they had saved money by not creating the 2x1 cheese they could have made a mould for half-width doors!

It is a shame that the bus is yellow. Red and white like the bus in 379 from c1979 would have been nice. Maybe I'll LDD one in those colours and then I won't need to buy the buildings I don't want just to get the bus...

Cheers

Rog

Thanks very much for this review! The set looks amazing, I wonder how much it is, because it seems like it might cost a lot. I hope not, though, it's such a beautiful set! It reminds me a bit of the old sets (most notably Main Street), not one, but perhaps a few buildings and some public transport.

CT

It is a shame that the bus is yellow. Red and white like the bus in 379 from c1979 would have been nice. Maybe I'll LDD one in those colours and then I won't need to buy the buildings I don't want just to get the bus...

I totally agree. I was thinking at doing the same

I totally agree. I was thinking at doing the same

Ere ya go:

It's

Edited April 26, 200915 yr by rriggs

Awesome! I love that trans-clear 1x6x5 piece! I have to pick this up ASAP! Great review!

Great review!

Does anyone know if and when this set will be available in the United States?

If I can get my hands on this set I will convert the bus into a school bus and will use the skateboards to build Rob Dyrdeks Fantasy Factory.

As an old-school child of the 80's, this set hits all the right buttons for me. Don't get me wrong, I love the newer Green Grocer super-detailed stuff too, but the City Corner just has that classic simplicity and charm.

I just have one complaint though -- for a City CORNER ... you'd think there'd be an actual ... you know, corner?? Like with some &%$#-ing ROAD PLATES?!?!

A slightly different angle, showing the surveillance camera. Actually, you totally know that the 2008 Police Mobile HQ is parked just down the street and a crack squad of twenty police officers is feverishly examining the live feed off this camera to storm the building and 'take down' Pepper McGreypants if he gets the slightest twinge of sticky fingers.

Hey, the police department has to justify their ginormous budget somehow. How else can they justify why they have five cops for every civilian??

Terrific review. Great pictures and entertaining commentary!

This is my top priority set at the moment.

Thank you so much for the review, sc!

If only the bus would be sold by itself...

Anyone who has information about the availability in Germany?

...must

have...

If only the bus would be sold by itself...

I agree. On the instruction booklet, the picture of it with the bus stop make the perfect set. I hope they continue this public transportation line, as suggested in the TRU polls (Transportation Center as an option, and green and yellow taxis in nearly every picture)

Very thorough review. Thanks a lot.

It's clear that they are putting the best City vehicles within larger sets to entice buyers to get those sets. They have done the same thing with the big tow truck in the garage set.

Edited April 27, 200915 yr by CP5670

It's clear that they are putting the best City vehicles within larger sets to entice buyers to get those sets. They have done the same thing with the big tow truck in the garage set.

Definitely. But if that tactic means we get more 'everyday life' buildings in sets, I'm all for it. Let's hope it sells well.

It also means that the scale of the individual vehicles in these sets is somewhat better, IMO. If Lego released a bus as a standalone, they would go all out and make it 12 wide with two aisles of seats, working emergency doors and a Keanu Reeves 'Speed' minifig (or something)

Thank you very much for that great review, svelte_corps!

I voted for Above Average :thumbup:

mainly because of the lack of interior accessory.

Bus station:

- no real seats

- the bus sign is only readable on one side

+ very nice complete design

+ great street lantern

Bus:

- no line number in the back

- no signs on the dash

+ awesome exterior deisgn

+ great interior deisgn

Bicycle & skate shop:

- to less interior decoration (there should at least be a cash point)

- no door

+ awesome exterior design

Pizzeria:

- no interior in the attic

- only two pizzas

- oven for only two pizzas (instead of the opening mechansim TLG could have used the doors from the last version of the mail van and (instead of the mechanism which needs much place) offer place for two pizzas on the top of each other in the oven)

- window as stove door?!

+ nice interior in the guest room

+ awesome exterior design

+ three floors big civilian building (the first one ever!!!)

+ enough minifigs (in comparison to the sets of the last years/decade)

+ awesome minifigure combination

+ a kid

+ a woman

I really this awesome set and can't await to buy it.

Klaus-Dieter

Edited April 30, 200915 yr by Klaus-Dieter

I saw this set at my local Toys "R" Us last Friday. It costs $59.99 USD. It looks cool! I hope to buy this when I get payed.

I'm still not sure if i'm gonna buy this or not. Of course it's beautiful and really brings back memories from older sets, but the lack of proper interior really bugs me. It's not onlxy the lack, but i also absolutely hate that pizza oven. Why couldn't they have made something similar as in the amazing pizza-to-go set? But no, instead they make a strange looking thing with a trans-glass piece and that big technic thing that sticks in your eye immediately Well, i might buy it sometime later this year, but first i gotta look to complete my collections of recent pirates and castle sets

I hope that they make the windscreen piece in clear (and that they make both colors available on Pick A Brick)

In any case I will be buying this set as soon as the toy stores here in Australia finally decide to release it (stupid stores always releasing things long after the rest of the world dammit :( )

If there was a set with just the bus, I'd consider getting it. As a whole, this set isn't terribly appealing for me. The gratuitous use of decals really bothers me. And while the retro feel of the bike shop and pizza place is nice, the rest of the set just isn't enough to make up for that failing. I like the lamposts and the hydrant (upon which I've previously commented), but the bus stop really should have a real bench, or none at all. Instead, it seems like that red piece is just sticking out to take up space.

Oh, and from the photos, it looks like the sloped 2x4 bricks used for the roof are smooth while the 2x1 bricks are not. It really wouldn't have hurt to make things a little more consistent. To be fair, this is a pet peeve, but failure to get these little things down really takes a lot out of my enjoyment of the set. Even a shoddily designed set or poor building methods doesn't bother me as much as the little things like making the roof tiles consistent.

I just noticed that the price is $60. I thought that it was going to be $50, since there are only around 450 parts.

Well, now I won't be getting it (I have too many other things to get).

Edited June 1, 200915 yr by ILikePi

Oh, and from the photos, it looks like the sloped 2x4 bricks used for the roof are smooth while the 2x1 bricks are not. It really wouldn't have hurt to make things a little more consistent. To be fair, this is a pet peeve, but failure to get these little things down really takes a lot out of my enjoyment of the set. Even a shoddily designed set or poor building methods doesn't bother me as much as the little things like making the roof tiles consistent.

This kind of thing annoys me too, but it might not be a problem six months from now. What is happening here is that TLG had unintentionally moved to smooth slopes when they outsourced production in 2007, but they have been transitioning back to rough slopes this year. They stopped produced the smooth ones last year but still have stockpiles of them left, especially less common slopes like 2x4 and 2x8 ones, so we're going to keep seeing them in sets until they run out of them.

Edited June 1, 200915 yr by CP5670

This kind of thing annoys me too, but it might not be a problem six months from now. What is happening here is that TLG had unintentionally moved to smooth slopes when they outsourced production in 2007, but has been transitioning back to rough slopes this year. They stopped produced the smooth ones last year but still have stockpiles of them left, especially less common slopes like 2x4 and 2x8 ones, so we're going to keep seeing them in sets until they run out of them.

The yellow is also very poor quality in this set, you will be displeased to note! The bus suffers particularly badly from the 2 types of yellow - 'alien and glowing' and 'almost transparent'. I know you said someone at Brickworld said they were clearing out old parts in the poor quality, but 2 years after the horror of Cafe Corner I don't buy it. I think we're stuck with colour issues for the near future.

I owned the old Lego bus (379), and I'm happy TLC finally has a new one!

I read form Italian online shops that price should be 50 Euros, and I think it's ok. I agree with Klaus-Dieter, a few more interior details would have helped the set achieving an "Outstanding" rating from me (I also don't like the use of grey in the Pizzeria).