WhiteFang

REVIEW: 10257 Carousel

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103 members have voted

  1. 1. How do you rate this set?

    • 1 - Poor
      0
    • 2 - Below Average
    • 3 - Average
    • 4 - Above Average
    • 5 - Outstanding
  2. 2. Will you buy this LEGO 10257 Carousel?

    • 1 - Yes, I definitely will
    • 2 - Maybe, but maybe not. I am still on the fence
    • 3 - No, I will not


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Hello everyone,

I am very pleased to share my latest reviewing project with the Eurobricks community. This review took longer than I could expected, due to the intervals for the long building process. It took me almost a week to finish building since I am only free during late nights and weekends. It is indeed a great pleasure to work on this awesome review. Special thanks to LEGO CEE and Eurobricks for giving me this wonderful reviewing opportunity. This new Carousel is just amazing and it's worthy counterpart is certainly the 10247 Ferris Wheel review. Let's see how this new D2C set stands in the eyes of AFOLs.  

Name: 10257 Carousel
Theme: LEGO System / Advanced Models / Fairground
Year: 2017
Pieces: 2670
Minifigs: 7 minifigures
Price: USD $199.99, GBP 159.99, EURO 179.99, SGD $329.90
Resources: Brickset, BrickLink


An original box image of the 10257 Carousel
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Back view of the original box image of the 10257 Carousel
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The most amazing merry-go-round ride in a fun fair
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I am elated for this LEGO Carousel release. I had previously missed the 10196 Grand Carousel back in 2009 due to its high price and I was not able to afford it back then. Seeing the release of the second generation Carousel, simply put many smiles of avid LEGO fans, especially since the Carousel is somehow part of their childhood experience for most of us who have visited the fun fair. The Carousel is a challenging building set and is suitable for builders above 16 years old. The challenge largely reside on the numerous small bricks, components and large amount of technic parts to handle with. The building technique involved are rather advanced as well and it may be quite a challenge who are not used to build LEGO set of such scale. 

Special thanks to the LEGO Designer, Mike Psiaki for successfully design this most impressive set ever. Take a moment and view this official LEGO Designer video for more insight. My family and I were very amazed with the whole built and it even surprised them in many ways after I showed the playing mechanism. The sheer engineering and linkage are just seamless and it operate without a hitch. In case you are wondering what is a Carousel? A Carousel or otherwise known as merry-go-round, is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. 


Overview of the illustrated built over the 5 milestones
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The sealed box came with 21 mint packs and among them, 19 mint packs are numbered and grouped from one to five. The last packs contained the green plates to form the base of the Carousel, big yellow canopy canvas and the long flexible white poles. With reference to the overview image above in the instruction manual, the entire built is divided into five significant milestones. The building content are grouped into five main building processes, with stage 1 (5 packs), stage 2 (4 packs), stage 3 (4 packs), stage 4 (3 packs) and stage 5 (3 packs). After the set has been built, these are the remaining spare parts from Packet 1, Packet 2, Packet 3Packet 4 and Packet 5. The content also included a disappointing sticker sheet which are specially used for the reflective additional glitter surrounding the entire built. 
 

The featured LEGO City Citizens in this beautiful set
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In this 10257 Carousel, you get a total of 7 unique LEGO City minifigures which are exclusive to this set, accompanied with good mix of torsos and accessories like hot dog and ice cream stick. The LEGO minifigure allocation is designed based on family composition approach.  All of the minifigures are featured with detailed back printing. There are also three minifigures which contain alternate facial expressions as well, and one of my favourite expression is the discomfort and uneasy look. 
 

The entire building content for Packet 1
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The completed built for Packet 1
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The completed built for stage 1 focused mainly on the strong foundation of the Carousel. The bricks/plates are locked and integrated tightly, otherwise you can't be possibly take a picture of this bottom view with ease. The main focal point for this built is the technic gears mechanism for the bottom function which connect to the manual mechanism control at the side of the built. The technic gears mechanism also combined and linked towards the central towering point of the carousel which is in partial built. I am not exactly sure if this a new part, but this is the first time I had seen this tiny building element which smooth the edge of the outer surface of the base platform. It will take you awhile to sort those technic parts and the base components together before you can start piecing them together. You can view the different angles of stage 1 from here, there and over here
 

Carousel construction in progress
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The completed built of the ticket booth
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In this built, we get to build the ticket booth for the ticket seller which is a very simple makeshift counter even though there are some minimum effort being done for the roof top. The design does somehow remind me of those small Classic Town stalls back in 1980s. One of my favourite item is the 1x2 printed ticket snub with an unique numbering '0937' and reading it in an inverse manner could simply reveal 'LEGO'. There are only two tickets available in this set. There is also a printed 2x2 printed grey slope with the cashier design on it and it appear each ticket cost about 15 dollars in LEGO currency context. 

 

The entire building content for Packet 2
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The completed built for Packet 2
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The completed built for stage 2 is focusing on the building of two-tier deck comprising a raised boarding platform with handrail and a main platform. The building experience start to focus a lot of repetitive built by creating 12 individual sections and piece them in a circular fashion. This is the actual completed built for stage 2 and you placed it on top of the finished built of stage 1 directly. You can see the distinct difference from this image


The entire building content for Packet 3
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The completed built for Packet 3
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The completed built for stage 3 is focusing on the built supports, wall design facade and the central revolving towering mechanism which link the entire playing mechanism together. By giving a gentle push in a clock-wise direction, will also ensure a check that the playing mechanism are integrated properly. This is also where you start applying those glittering reflective golden stickers, similar to those mirrors. I am not sure how good these stickers can stick over the course of time, but I suspect over the years, these will just start peel off. How I wish, these are just printed parts which I could not mind to pay a premium for it. 
 

Top view of stage 3 building
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The entire building content for Packet 4
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The completed built for Packet 4
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The completed built for stage 4 is extending the towering mechanism and largely focusing on the five distinguished animal rides, which are the frog, elephant, flamingo, swan and tiger. My favourite is definitely the frog due to the fact that it can leap up and down. I personally find the elephant to be overly bearing and huge. It is not as nice and pleasant as the rest of the animal choices. If I was to choose my second animal, it will certainly be the flamingo. I got to admin these brick-built animals are rather above average and it's just like your typical mini-animal creators which are found in past LEGO polybags. 


Top view of stage 4 building process
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The entire building content for Packet 5
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The completed built of the carousel
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The completed built for the final packets showed the completed built of the entire Ferris Wheel. The objective was to build the top canopy made up of yellow canvas kind of material. The remaining bricks are to build the circular decorations in an ornamental fashion. There are 12 sets of them including those oval mirrors in stickered form. The 2x2 printed tile is a new piece, which is unique to this set and there are a total of 12 units of them. 
 

Everyone is having fun with this latest carousel attraction
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I am very pleased with the completed outcome. The finished Carousel is measured at 32cm height, 35cm deep and 38cm width. I am very pleased with the overall design and appeal of the choice of colour theme by using sky blue, golden, light brown and bright yellow for the colour schema. I think this is a much pleasing colour and reflect to quite modern taste of LEGO sets, which will make latest amusement addition after the 10244 Fairground Mixer and 10247 Ferris Wheel. The brick built animals are star-studded attraction as it simply could not just move along the rhythm, but it could go up and down in a regular momentum apart from the still swan. The LEGO City citizens will certainly enjoy this ride to no end. 

If you have managed to acquire these wonderful Power Functions add-ons, then you will be for additional treat by seeing the Carousel spinning nicely without the manual cranking. You can place and hook those Power Functions through this compartment which will enable the Carousel to be motorised. Mine Power Functions are still currently on the way from the US and I am looking forward to equip them together along with my Ferris Wheel again. It's a pity that my Ferris Wheel is currently in storage, otherwise I could love to place them side by side. The challenge is, I won't have a big studio space for these. 
 

Video demonstration of the manual playability for the 10257 Carousel (special thanks to Eurobricks Pirates Moderator, Phred for the background music)

 

Awaiting for their turn to board the ride
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To conclude, this is a very well integrated expanded LEGO City D2C set under the Fairground Theme. The Carousel is one of the most outstanding D2C set ever designed for 2017 and one of the nicer designs in recent years. I can't wait to get hold of my Power Functions and equipped it to get it start moving without the manual hassle of winding it. Nonetheless, it's certainly the magical complete appeal which many others a long lasting impression. Don't hesitate to get this, because this set is definitely ought not to be miss especially for those who have missed the original Carousel in 2009. This re-release of this wonderful design is a complete happiness for many, including myself.  

Please note that all opinions and content shown in this Eurobricks pictorial review is from 'WhiteFang' and is not meant to represent LEGO official views. It is purely stated to share as a vantage point of a reviewer.

Summary review
Playability: 10/10 (Outstanding playability with the combined utilisation of Power Functions integration if you have it.)
Design: 10/10 (Excellent design and timeless classic.)
Price: 9/10 (Price is quite reasonably priced and get it before the set is end-of-life.)
Overall: 9.7/10 (One of my highest ratings ever. You ought to have this piece of history and opportunities don't knock thrice.)

I gave it a "5" based on my Review Score Card. :wink: What about yours?

I hope every one of you enjoyed reading this simple review of mine. Comments and Criticisms are strongly welcomed.
Pictures can be found in My Flickr.

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Dear Eurobricks Community, 

I am very pleased to share my latest reviewing project with all of you and is none other than the highly anticipated, 10257 Carousel. I had extreme great pleasure building it and I hope you will also enjoy this comprehensive reviewing coverage. 

Thank you. 

WhiteFang

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I can understand the distaste for stickers but in this case I think it's unavoidable. Maybe someone with kowledge of the production process can correct me, but I'm quite convinced that it's not possible to print a mirror on Lego bricks.

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1 hour ago, Tokru said:

I can understand the distaste for stickers but in this case I think it's unavoidable. Maybe someone with kowledge of the production process can correct me, but I'm quite convinced that it's not possible to print a mirror on Lego bricks.

They've printed onto chrome before though so I guess they could have gone down that route. Assuming it's expensive though and those pieces scratch up easily.

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Great review Fangy! I like the design and colors, and I may need to get it after the summer for an autumn build!

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Awesome review 'Fangy', I wasn't going to consider this one but then I read the review.......I put this one just under Assembly Square on my creator most wanted list :wink:

Brick On Review On 'Fangy' ! 

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On 6/6/2017 at 11:06 AM, VaderFan2187 said:

Thanks for the review. Not completely sold on this though.

It seems rather small for the price.

That's what they said for the Grand Carousel when it was in the market too :)

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Thank you everyone for your comments. With special thanks from Eurobricks Pirates Moderator, I have updated the video demonstration with the background music which was specially done by him. :sweet: 

On 6/5/2017 at 10:57 PM, Tokru said:

I can understand the distaste for stickers but in this case I think it's unavoidable. Maybe someone with kowledge of the production process can correct me, but I'm quite convinced that it's not possible to print a mirror on Lego bricks.

Yes they can do it in chrome but their chroming process is not electroplating and the chrome effect will wear and tear over the course of time. They can do this in gold reflective, similar to those golden chrome swords used in Castle. It is still better than stickers but I suspect is largely due to costing. 

On 6/7/2017 at 8:51 PM, CopMike said:

Great review Fangy! I like the design and colors, and I may need to get it after the summer for an autumn build!

Thanks CopMike! I am glad you enjoyed it. You ought to have it soon. Appreciate for giving me this opportunity to review this lovely set. 

On 6/7/2017 at 9:19 PM, lightningtiger said:

Awesome review 'Fangy', I wasn't going to consider this one but then I read the review.......I put this one just under Assembly Square on my creator most wanted list :wink:

Brick On Review On 'Fangy' ! 

Thanks LT. I am glad you are going to get this together with the Assembly Square. I haven't bought mine yet, but hope to get it soon right before Brick Bank. 

On 6/9/2017 at 8:58 AM, ultiminutes said:

That's what they said for the Grand Carousel when it was in the market too :)

Well, I didn't buy the Grand Carousel back in 2009, simply because I can't afford to buy that set and there were many other themes which I was keen back then. 

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21 minutes ago, WhiteFang said:

With special thanks from Eurobricks Pirates Moderator, I have updated the video demonstration with the background music which was specially done by him. :sweet: 

No problem Fangy.  This is a great set, and the review is really well done.  I'm glad I could help in a small way. :thumbup: 

I showed my 6 year old daughter this review with video, and she really wants me to get it. :pir-classic:

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Nice review , i got to see this on the weekend and i got to say it was bigger than i thought it would be , a really nice set.

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This is a beautiful set and I can't wait to include it in one of my films. Thanks for the thorough review... my rating is 4.75/5.

Edited by kanethemasterbuilder

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I LOVED  building this .. I'm amazed at how the engineers come up with ways of using different Lego parts to create the overall look of the model.

The brick built animals are beautiful .. I did add a couple of my own parts to the elephant as I wasn't keen on the 'open' look of the back of the feet.

The only down side I found to this build was the 'slipping' of a couple of the animals, especially the elephant, which is obviously due to the weight. So I tried to rectify this .. firstly by adding an adhesive layer of sand paper to give to wheels more resistance .. this didn't work .. so I tried some of my niece's adhesive foam craft shapes .. cut to cover where to wheels travel .. this works perfectly and there's no more slipping and the animals seem to have a smoother look to them as they travel round.

A tiny tiny niggle was also the blue 'animal tails' that create the border around the roof .. I didn't realise but there do seem to be left and right versions of these parts .. I like them so that the hole in the back of the part isn't showing .. but I had one that was the wrong orientation .. my OCD kicked in for a few minutes but then I let it go lol.

I changed all the yellow transparent 'dots' around the carousel base for various colours and prefer the look I've given it.

I bought a Lego motor and battery pack to motorise the carousel and would recommend this if you can .. much easier than turning the hand crank.

I've read a few reviews that said they felt the lack of a base plate is a negative for them .. the base plate that you make up for this model is a bit inadequate for the weight of the whole model once built .. I build on a large piece of safety glass I have so I didn't find this an issue.

Lastly I fitted a set of mini, battery operated LED lights, decided where they would go and with minimal removal of parts managed to get them fitted well, they're from a store in the UK called pound land .. much the same as the US dollar store.

Overall a fantastic build and looks great along side the ferris wheel.

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( the picture of the lights was snapped from a video, couldn't get the video to upload so excuse the motion blur )

Edited by Jarreth2

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