10214: Tower Bridge

[hewkii9]

I expected the London eye or a minifigure size church.

Are you saying Lego St. Paul's? I want that set right now.

I'm a bit disappointed by the Tower Bridge, I'm just not a microscale fan.

[ZO6]

Nice to finally see a picture of this thing!

While I'm not upset about the scale or anything (considering sets like the Taj Mahal and the Eiffel Tower, I would not have expected the Tower Bridge to be anywhere near minifig scale), I do feel that the set is slightly under detailed, or maybe the colours seem off. I'm sure we'll all be able to appreciate the set better once we set larger and more detailed pics, but at the moment I can't help but feel that the Tower Bridge might have benefited from a higher piece count. The vehicles are a nice inclusion and don't appear to eat up much of the piece count, the double decker bus definitely helps to set the scene.

I am extremely pleased that this is being offered as a set and do like the looks of it quite a lot. I do have some initial criticisms after looking at this first small picture, but hopefully improved pics will do the set better justice.

[Ogre]

Very Nice! I love all the tan pieces, very useful for town builders. The narrow design and extreme length would make this a great piece for a shelf display. I like the use of tan corner parts and lots of light blue cones. Depending on the price point it seems like a great parts set.

That was my first thought upon seeing the pics...'great parts set'.

Something else though...why not just use blue baseplates instead of 'building-out' around the footprint of the structure? Makes it look a little weird, IMO.

Edited July 21, 2010 by Ogre

[legotrainfan]

I'm disappointed. I expected it to be bigger. Actually I was hoping for something in near minifig scale. I should've known better. If it were bigger, it'd be incredibly big and too expensive. Still, I'm disappointed.

[Aanchir]

That was my first thought upon seeing the pics...'great parts set'.

Something else though...why not just use blue baseplates instead of 'building-out' around the footprint of the structure? Makes it look a little weird, IMO.

It ''does'' use blue baseplates, if I'm looking at it correctly-- 16x32 (large rectangle). But they're not lined up with one another-- rather, they're arranged like this: -|-|-. That's why the footprint sticks out.

Changing it so that the baseplates line up would be ridiculous. That's adding an additional 1,536 studs of unused baseplate!

Meanwhile, I feel that the set is beautiful, and don't see what's wrong with the color scheme. It's lively and vibrant, but not unrealistic.

[blueandwhite]

I'm pleasantly surprised by this. It certainly looks better than what I was expecting. While the Eiffel Tower and the Taj Mahal were nice, I find that Tower Bridge is more accurate to the actual structure it's supposed to represent. It's a shame that the bridge weren't a bit longer as I would have loved to see the two smaller towers at the end of the bridge.

[Svelte]

I don't love the monument sets generally and I don't love this. They never look quite right in a Town setting and for better or for worse I've resigned myself to minifig scale (whatever that chameleonic beast may be, but at minimum it needs a 4 wide vehicle and some level of playability )

It's always a shame when we see these small pics and can't appreciate the full level of detail which obviously goes into the design, but the studded suspension cables remind me of the similarly annoying parts of the Carousel and even though the colour scheme is pretty accurate I have no real need of any tan or medium blue, or white windows (and probably not at that price!). There's a bit too many colours going on and in a creator set of this magnitude it just seems offputting to use those white half-cylinder pieces - don't we get those enough in regular sets?

I am curious about the effect to get the octagonal corners on the tower - zillions of the new 2x2 wedge bricks in tan, perhaps? If so they'll be worth picking up on BL.

[Edmond Dantes]

I believe most of you who are disappointed about it being "too small" are seriously underestimating the size of this beast. It's over a meter long for crying out loud. The Eiffel Tower was 300:1 scale and (without doing any research) I'd guess this is closer to 150-200:1 scale. I love it.

[lightningtiger]

I actually am quite impressed by the bridge, but I'm also agree with many....a minifig scale one would be nice as well. Simple answer.....take this design and upscale it to minifig scale.....it's Lego isn't it ?

I'm a conformist! everyone !

[Orcasek]

I'd get this but I'm saving up my money for the train sets. The colours of this look so great!

[David Thomsen]

There go my hopes for an ultra-large minifig-scale set that isn't Star Wars...

It's nice, but I won't be buying it.

[Robbie]

Just wondering... If I was to buy two, could I make it minfig scale :S? It's a show object and not a town or play object. It's huge, but too small for my town :(

[DLuders]

For those who are "disappointed" in the 10214 Tower Bridge set's scale, keep in mind that you could always travel to Legoland (or to London, England) to build your own replica. As the saying goes, "You can't please everybody". For some, the set is too small; for others it's too expensive.

Here are the Microscale, Minifig Scale, and 1:1 Scale pictures:

[Fugazi]

Wow! Although I won't be able to afford such a set, the Tower Bridge is looking good to me. Compared to other 'UCS' buildings such as Taj Mahal and Eiffel Tower, I find it has a nicer part diversity and probably more playability as well, even though it's not minifig scale. I look forward to more detailed photos, being curious about the details of the build and the part selection.

[blueandwhite]

Just wondering... If I was to buy two, could I make it minfig scale :S? It's a show object and not a town or play object. It's huge, but too small for my town :(

Unfortunately no.

Tower Bridge is actually 244 metres across. If a minifig is approx 1:50 scale, then a minifig scale bridge would be about 5 metres long. The LEGO model is 1 metre long. Also, remember that when building to scale every time you double the length you also need to double the width and height. That means you would probably need approximately 25 of these sets to have the volume of bricks necessary to build the bridge at minifig scale (ignoring the obvious design bifferences). If you built to a smaller scale (say 1:100), the bridge would be 2.44 metres long which would still require about 12 sets worth of bricks to build. Even if you simply wished to make a bridge twice as long you would still in theory need 8x as many bricks as the bridge would also be twice as long and twice the height.

Minifig scale is a lot bigger than most people realize; particularly when your building a structure that is already quite large.

[XimenaPaulina]

Thanks for the pic whung! The whole bridge looks really very pleasing to the eyes, a pretty good set for display. As amazing this set is, it ain't in my line of interest so it'll be a pass for me.

Edited July 22, 2010 by KielDaMan

[jgptee]

this looks interesting. like many of the folks here, i am disappointed that it is not entirely mini-figure scale.

having said that, i won't rule this one out just yet for the following reasons:

1. If the arches are large enough to fit mini-figure scale vehicles through, it can still be used in a mini-figure setting. it will be a waste for all the tiny micro-scale vehicles that come with it though.

2. the level of details seem alright to me. this is afterall lego.

3. i want to see more pictures to confirm my interest.

possible drawbacks:

1. the arches might not fit mini-figure vehicles like trucks.

2. tower bridge is a bascule bridge (drawbridge). will this one draw up its bridge in the middle for ships to come through? part of the charm of the tower bridge is that people actually wait to see them go up and down.

3. what is the level of detail inside the 2 towers? if it is empty, I'll pass!

[Rick]

Here are the Microscale, Minifig Scale, and 1:1 Scale pictures:

That second one would probably be 'Miniland' scale.

possible drawbacks:

1. the arches might not fit mini-figure vehicles like trucks.

Most likely not. Moreover, it'll just look weird in a minifig-scale town.

2. tower bridge is a bascule bridge (drawbridge). will this one draw up its bridge in the middle for ships to come through? part of the charm of the tower bridge is that people actually wait to see them go up and down.

Didn't it say in the announcement that it would be functional?

3. what is the level of detail inside the 2 towers? if it is empty, I'll pass!

Don't count on anything being in there. It's a display model, not a real playset.

[Ras 74]

Looks like a nice set for sure, but no one I will get.

TLG are really crazy with this type of sets. They must all sell pretty well.

[aZz]

This kind of set is great for parts many nice color's and a lot of unique pieces.Will wait and see for mor detailed pics,very interesting thow.

[Topsy Cret]

Wow, I think this set is pure fantastic! The scale is great (for those of you complaining, good luck with raising the funds you'd need to buy a minifig rendition of this), and the detail looks great. I can imagine there's a bundle of techniques in there as well.

The problem is, I don't know when, or if, I can get this beauty.

[Zzz]

It is nice but too much for the niche market perhaps. I always dreamed about some 100Euro sets with a city layout, system scale, a few vehicles and buildings. London would have been a great start, then New York, Tokyo, etc.. Whatever, it is one nice set and I am happy for the ones who get it!

[Princess Muttonchops]

I have to say, I'm a bit surprised by the largely lukewarm reception this set is getting. Okay, it's not minifig scale, so you can't get a minifig version of yourself driving a car across it singing "London Bridge is falling down", but it's still a great model. Come on people, how many high quality models of famous bridges do you see around the place?? Ah, humble bridges, connecting us to those bits of land on the other side of the river/harbour, do they really get the respect they deserve?

[Siegfried]

I have to say, I'm a bit surprised by the largely lukewarm reception this set is getting.

Yeah! I'm with you. It's exactly what I expected! In fact I'm looking forward to singing that song while building it!

As an FYI, London Bridge is falling down predates the Tower Bridge and no one is sure exactly what bridge it's referring to.

[AndyC]

I have to say, I'm a bit surprised by the largely lukewarm reception this set is getting.

Me too, I think it's looking pretty spiffy already. I was waiting for better pictures before commenting extensively, but I'm not sure I understand the backlash. I don't think minifig scale was ever practical, if you've ever been to Tower Bridge you'd know just how massive it is.

Personally I'm trying to figure out where it's going to be displayed, I'm running out of house.