Review: 21010 Robie House

[Drudoo]

210010 - Robie House

Set Name: 21010 Robie House

Theme: Architecture

Released: 2011

Pieces: 2276

Minifigs: 0

Price: $199.99/1699.00DKK/169.00GBP/€199.99

I set out to buy the remanning LEGO Architecture that I needed for my collection of them all. Unfortunately was the Copenhagen LEGO Store out of both Sears Tower, Guggenheim Museum and Burj Khalifa, but they had just gotten Robie House and Brandenburg Gate. So I picked up the set I could

use.

Box:

For a set with over 2000 bricks, the box is actually very small. It only measures 28x48x7cm (11x18.8x2.7inch). The box is heavy and it is filled to the max with bricks, it goes well with the new 'smaller box' idea.

As I have said before, I really like the way these boxes are.

Manual:

This manual is big! Instead of using multiple manuals like most +1000 bricks sets there is only one. I like it but LEGO failed hard making this one. Fallingwater got the bet manual ever, the spiral back makes it perfect. I was disappointed to see Farnsworth House without a spiral back and I was expecting Robie House I have one. But it does not. Because the manual is almost 1.5cm (0.6inch) thick I wrote to LEGO complaining about this. Haven’t gotten a response yet.

(The macbook is 15”, just for comparison)

(Manual compared to Fallingwater)

As you can see it is really hard to see what is near the back of the manual.

Parts:

There is a lot. Because the box is not that big, the brick count seems too

much ;)

The brick that almost is all of the house is a standard 1x2plate in beautiful dark red. There is 771 of them. It is insane.

I was surprised that there wasn’t more transparent bricks. It does not look like

a lot, but there is 245 1x1.

Build:

The build start out pretty good and somewhat challenging. The stand is 3 plates high and because of that it is build very different from the rest of the Architecture sets.

(this image just won't rotate right...)

One thing I hate is the many 1x1 tiles... they are impossible to align correct. Luckily there is not that many in this set compared to Farnsworth House, which was a living hell.

Once you get over the initial stand build it becomes somewhat repetitive. All the 771 1x2 plates now needs to be stacked and that takes time :)

A nice touch is the three garages. The cars from Tower Bridges actually fits quite well :D

There is some quite nice doors.

Rating:

Build: 7/10 - The build is a bit repetitive but nothing that gets boring. Design: 9/10 - The design is very good. There is not interior like Farnsworth House but the house it a match.

Parts: 8/10 - More dark green plates and a lot of dark red bricks. There is many different pieces and the brick count is high.

Playability: 0/10 - This set is not for playing but a set you need to have on display. Although you can play with the small cars, if you got some ;)

Price: 8/10 - It is an expensive set. But the price vs the brick count is awesome for an Architecture set.

Total: 7/10 - This set is really good. Even if you aren’t really into the Architecture sets this is still a +2000 brick set.

Hope you enjoyed the review!

Edited September 11, 2011 by Rufus
Indexed!

[prateek]

Great review. This set is huge! I like it a lot, but there are faults. The instructions could be better, and I think they used plates instead of bricks in a lot of places.

[Drudoo]

Thanks!

There is only a few bricks in the whole set. The plates makes the brick count higher and it gives more details and it feels more like a real brick wall, but i know what you mean =)

[Legobrandon]

They use plates and 1x1 tiles just to increase the piece count and the price.

[Rufus]

Thanks for reviewing this!

I'm surprises you didn't point out this new part:

Part ID 99301

It's a shame there are only two in the set, but I'm sure we'll be seeing lots more of them in the future. They'll be great for dark red roofs.

They use plates and 1x1 tiles just to increase the piece count and the price.

I doubt they did it for that reason, rather to give the walls a realistically-scaled brick appearance.

[Aanchir]

They use plates and 1x1 tiles just to increase the piece count and the price.

Absolutely not. That would be pointless, considering that pretty much any adult fan looking for value looks at price per piece, which that wouldn't have any impact on. Also, considering that it's about the opposite of what designers do in most themes (ever heard mention of "juniorization"?), it would be totally illogical here.

The point of using plates is to give a more interesting texture, which is essential when building in microscale like this where people are likely to be looking at the sets up close, in great detail.

[Ceroknight]

Thank you for the review! The use of the plates are for detail and to make it look like real bricks, like many have already said..

I might get this one with my VIP points...

[tafkatb]

Thanks for the review! Nice to get to see the build from different angles - I'm glad there is some Earth Green in the base. I know I'll pick this up eventually, but it'll take a while to save up for it.

[Drudoo]

Thanks for reviewing this!

I'm surprises you didn't point out this new part:

Part ID 99301

It's a shame there are only two in the set, but I'm sure we'll be seeing lots more of them in the future. They'll be great for dark red roofs.

I doubt they did it for that reason, rather to give the walls a realistically-scaled brick appearance.

Damn i knew i forgot something :/ Yeah that brick is pretty awesome :)