2014 CREATOR Houses Sets - Rumours and Discussion

[finnbricker]

Official price in most european contries is 69,99 euro. At little over 1000 pieces that almost exacty half of Palace Cinema.

At €70, the bike shop is actually cheaper than in the US, where it is roughly €72 with tax. I don't think there are many sets that are cheaper in Europe than in the US! Then again, for some reason, the Creator houses (not counting modulars) tend to be on the expensive side in the US. Wonder why.

Anyway, for us in Finland it will surely be more expensive than for the rest of Euroland. €85 maybe?

[Sarah]

I LOVE that video of the balloon. Especially that it comes with pictures for the non-video savvy among us :)

[LAKAbricks]

At €70, the bike shop is actually cheaper than in the US, where it is roughly €72 with tax. I don't think there are many sets that are cheaper in Europe than in the US! Then again, for some reason, the Creator houses (not counting modulars) tend to be on the expensive side in the US. Wonder why.

Anyway, for us in Finland it will surely be more expensive than for the rest of Euroland. €85 maybe?

Well... Not part of Euroland, but here in Denmark, I have found it in TRU at DKK 599 which equals € 80. Otherwise it seems to cost DKK 649 = € 87. There are no benefits for living in the same country as LEGO comes from.

Edited June 2, 2014 by laka

[fred67]

I ordered the bike shop, it does seem a bit pricey. If I were cynical (and I am), I would suggest a belief that Americans are more interested in fully predesigned sets that don't require imagination.

Still, it easily beats the infamous "10¢ per piece" price ratio.

[David Thomsen]

I picked up my Bike Shop & Café today, why hasn't someone done a review yet? It doesn't compare very well to the modular buildings (of course), but I still like it very much. The interiors looked sparse in the photos I'd seen, but when you have the buildings closed and you look through the windows they are actually quite packed. And I didn't realise the pavement went all the way around the buildings, so that was a nice surprise.

Also, I love the way the staircase piece is incorporated into the building.

Edited June 3, 2014 by David Thomsen

[lightningtiger]

Going through the instructions which I have down loaded.......I've change my mind - I love it......oh, well another dent in my wallet.....the cafe is cute and yet packed with a counter and coffee machine.

[VintageLegoEra]

Hope Lego will come up with: Library, Museum, University models :)

[trippybrowneyes]

I'm not sure why TLG decided against having fenders on these cars. I know that the current fenders are too big for the smaller wheels. Are they not making the smaller fenders anymore?

It seems like they simplified and scaled down thid set to make it more affordable, but the price tag is still hefty. The prior creator houses are really well done, and this kind of seems like an afterthought that doesn't fit into anything I already have.

I will most likely wait until this is on sale and mod it.

[jfbat]

They still make those small fenderpieces, albeit in a limited variety of colours. But remember: this is a Creator set, not a city set. And Creator also stands for brickbuilding things as much as possible, without using too many pre-formed parts. So this small car is a bit in line with that.

Most of the cars that come with creator sets don't quite fit in with the regular City vehicles.

As said: I've seen the box in real life now and am still not sold on it for the RRP. But I must say I kind of liked it, especially the little café. With a bit of modding it could fit in with my city layout after all and maybe I won't need Parisian Restaurant then. Hmmm...

[David Thomsen]

I think along with brickbuilding everything as much as possible, the pieces have to be transferable to the alternative models in the set. If the yellow car in the primary model had yellow fenders, they would be useless on the blue vehicle in the secondary model. And while the large fender pieces often get used in windows and other architectural features, the classic fender pieces can only really be used as fenders.

The weird blocky vehicles don't match any vehicles in the City sets, but they do match each other, and that's all that matters to me as I am purchasing the Creator house sets in lieu of City sets.

I was going to ask if anyone had three copies of the set and could take a picture of all the alternative buildings in a row, then I glanced over and realised that this exactly what they have done on top of the box. Almost all of the buildings have unique colour schemes, it's quite an achievement. Even the awnings above the shops have unique colour combinations (white/yellow, white/green and yellow/green).

Edited June 3, 2014 by David Thomsen

[finnbricker]

Anyway, for us in Finland it will surely be more expensive than for the rest of Euroland. €85 maybe?

My guesstimate seems to be correct. Lego.com shows €85 for Finland.

However, while the price indeed is €70 for Germany and Austria, it is €75 for Spain and €80 for the Netherlands. I always thought Euroland prices were the same all over continental Europe.

Also, the website shows they're out of stock already. :(

[just2good]

I LOVE that video of the balloon. Especially that it comes with pictures for the non-video savvy among us :)

Thanks, Sarah!

I'm still on the fence about the Bike Shop. I love the Creator houses, but I'm not sure if this will fit with the others I have.

[talos]

The bike shop/cafe is on back order already, I guess a lot of people like it....I'm going to wait for a discount.

[TheLegGodt]

Just got mine yesterday for about 65 euros. Buildings look great, car look rubbish. Why do they bother making such awful models? It's the case with every Creator house so far. I guess they think kids like to play with awful looking cars I reckon for say 5% more cost they could make them look really great.

I much prefer to fill my layout up with the models you can buy separately or that come with other sets e.g. the Expert line. I will box and store the car that comes with this set up along with the others so that I still have the sets complete in case of resell.

[fred67]

I like the Cafe and Bike shop (in theory... mine should arrive tomorrow), I think it will take a lot of bulking up to actually make it work with the modulars.

The cars in these sets often are sub-par; I feel that way about the Simpson's car, too. Definitely will need to mod or completely rebuild them.

Edited June 4, 2014 by fred67

[jfbat]

However, while the price indeed is €70 for Germany and Austria, it is €75 for Spain and €80 for the Netherlands. I always thought Euroland prices were the same all over continental Europe.

There have been price-differences between Euro-countries for some time now, but the differences are getting bigger. In this case the difference between the Dutch and the German price is 10 euro. That's more than 10%. VAT is comparable, socio-economic circumstances are comparable too. Luckely there are more and more Dutch shops that are able to sell sets at German prices or even lower...

[JohZan]

I'll buy the Bike Shop and Café as soon as they are released, they are simply great. By the way, does anyone know if these build's roofs are possible to remove. Because if not so, you can't build them on another baseplate and use them in a town as you then wouldn't be able to check the inside.

Thank's!

Edited June 8, 2014 by JohZan

[talos]

I'll buy the Bike Shop and Café as soon as they are released, they are simply great. By the way, does anyone know if these build's roofs are possible to remove. Because if not so, you can't build them on another baseplate and use them in a town as you then wouldn't be able to check the inside.

Thank's!

They are hinged to open up, so the roof isn't going to come off like on a modular, you would have to change a few parts. Take a look at some of the YouTube video reviews, it shows them pretty well.

[jfbat]

Are your sure?

http://www.a-tembo.n...afe-detail.html

Anyway, I bought it for 68 euros yesterday at a local toys hop, after spotting it at Intertoys as well. I stopped buying Lego at Intertoys years ago because of their ridiculous prices.

Hah. Bought it for 59,96 today at their competitor in Zwolle (www.speelgoed.nl)...

That's 20 euro less than the official RRP (and Intertoys).

Edited June 18, 2014 by jfbat

[finnbricker]

My guesstimate seems to be correct. Lego.com shows €85 for Finland.

However, while the price indeed is €70 for Germany and Austria, it is €75 for Spain and €80 for the Netherlands.

Here in Finland, lelut24.fi sells it for €70. I ordered two and have now MODed them so that I have a 32x32 corner bike shop that is a modularized version of the original bike shop and a 16x32 bank, which is a modular version of the café. I decided to make it a bank instead because of the ATM that sort of stands out when it's right there on the facade. No interiors yet, but I'm actually really happy with the result.

[d-delay]

Here in Finland, lelut24.fi sells it for €70. I ordered two and have now MODed them so that I have a 32x32 corner bike shop that is a modularized version of the original bike shop and a 16x32 bank, which is a modular version of the café. I decided to make it a bank instead because of the ATM that sort of stands out when it's right there on the facade. No interiors yet, but I'm actually really happy with the result.

I'd love to see some pics finnbricker! Here in Oz the set is on special for $68 AUD, so I was thinking of grabbing two to see what I could come up with. Would love the inspiration!

[craiggrannell]

65 quid in the UK (about €82 under current exchange rates, or $111). Pricing 101: charge what the market will take.

[Transparency for Effect]

65 quid in the UK (about €82 under current exchange rates, or $111). Pricing 101: charge what the market will take.

Speaking of, on a box I saw in a UK The Entertainer (probably costs at least, a little bit much btw) there were more alternate builds on the back if I'm not mistaken.

[Faefrost]

I ordered the bike shop, it does seem a bit pricey. If I were cynical (and I am), I would suggest a belief that Americans are more interested in fully predesigned sets that don't require imagination.

Still, it easily beats the infamous "10¢ per piece" price ratio.

I think the Creator line sells quite well in the US? I think where it loses a little bit with the American audience is less a desire for predesigned sets with no imagination and more the child's ability to do the complex math of minifigures. The Creator sets while allowing for a great deal of creative expression, often seem to lack some of the more character driven imaginative play that has been such a driving force behind Lego since the invention of the minifig.

[finnbricker]

I'd love to see some pics finnbricker! Here in Oz the set is on special for $68 AUD, so I was thinking of grabbing two to see what I could come up with. Would love the inspiration!

There you go! http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=97151 And thanks for encouraging me. I made an account with Brickshelf ages ago, but they never confirmed it and I didn't bother doing anything about it. But now you inspired me to get on with it and I successfully opened an account with Bricksafe and started taking pictures today.