Review: 10234 Sydney Opera House

[Drudoo]

This is a WIP review. I wont be able to do it all today, but as i build i will continue the review.

Excuse my image quality, there might be some lamp glare, but haven't set up a proper photography place yet.

10234 Sydney Opera House™

Name: Sydney Opera House

Theme: Creator

Year: 2013

Pieces: 2989

Minifigs: 0

Price: US $319.99, CDN $379.99, DE 279.99€, UK 249.99 £, DK 2499.00 DKK

Since the Sydney Opera House was announced I have been waiting for September 1st to get it. When I saw the early release email for VIP members yesterday, I just wanted to get my hands on this set as soon as possible. In pouring rain I got to the Copenhagen LEGO store today and was the first to buy this set. They had both the Ewok Village and the Sydney Opera House on display and both looked beautiful. I was really surprised by the Ewok Villages size, but that have to wait for another day. I got the Sydney Opera House and hurried home.

Box:

The box is huge. Measuring 16.5cm x 47.5cm x 58cm or 6.5" x 18.7" x 22.8" it feels as thick as the 10188 Death Star but a bit shorter.

The front of the box features the complete set but for some reason there is no piece count or set name.

1.1) Box - Front

The back of the box features a nice night view with fireworks and a few smaller images of the set.

1.2) Box - Back

The sizes are pretty generic with part list, more views of the set, some general warning/chocking information.

The interesting points are the Sydney Opera House logo, a mention of its celebration of 40 years and a comparison of the set to the actual building.

1.3) Box - Side

1.4) Box - Side

1.5) Box - Side

1.6) Box - Side

I dont understand why they threw a Club Lego logo on the box, since the club is clearly for kids and this set is aimed at AFOLs.

Now lets get this box open and see what's inside!

Content:

First we have the instructions.

2.1) Instructions

As usual with larger sets they are backed nicely with a piece of cardboard.

Then we have two loose plates. The 48x48 is supposedly new in blue but according to bricklink it is also featured in a 1998 Large Lego Baseplate (9286) set.

2.2) - Baseplates

There is also 16 bags. 14 of them are numbered 3 and 4 and two of them are unnumbered.

I was first confused about the bags numbered 1 and 2. They didn't seem to be there but the last thing in the box was another box!

2.3) Another Box

Last time I saw a box was this was in the Death Star (10188) and if i remember correctly the Millennium Falcon (10179) also had boxes like this. I will have to look in the attic to check if that is true.

The box is about the same height as the outer box.I have no idea why LEGO included it instead of just putting all the bags in the big box.

2.4) Opening the box

The box is packed with bags 1 and 2.

2.5) Bags 1 and 2

There are 12 bags numbered 1 and 2 and this makes the total bag number 28, with 26 of them being numbered.

Inside the box was also the last two plates. A standard blue baseplate and a dark tan 16x16 plate.

2.6) 1 Baseplate and 1 Plate

This concludes what is in the box. Lets now take a look at the instructions.

Instructions:

There are 4 booklets, but they are not the same. Two of them are stapled in the shorter side and two of them are stapled in the longer side. This is quite annoying and they are not the same dimension either.

The inside is pretty standard and the backs as well. (Just ask if you want pictures). The only interesting part is that booklet number 1 got a new (at least to me) VIP commercial on the back.

3.1) Booklet 1 - Back

Building:

The content of bags numbered 1 can be seen here: imgur album.

There are 5 interesting pieces in the number 1 bags.

4.1) Interesting pieces

I have never seen the 3x3 before and the two quarter slopes look like something for a space ship. The two 2x2 bricks are supposed to be identical, but they are a little different.

4.2) 2x2 difference

As you can see on image 4.2, the right brick got 3 holes in the sphere and the left one doesn't. This is a bit weird since they are used for the same purpose.

The building starts out with the two baseplates.

4.3)

4.3) Stabilisers

And quickly the ground starts to take shape.

4.4)

4.5) Starting with the stairs

The stairs start to take shape and you the whole thing is surprisingly sturdy. I was a bit worried with the constructions and sturdiness of the building. Tower Bridge wasn't the most sturdy thing and i was in doubt how this one would do. But it is very solid build.

4.6) Stairs

While building my camera ran out of battery (real professional, I know), so i didn't get any more pictures before bag #1 was finished.

4.7) Bag #1 and booklet #1 done.

This is how far the first booklet (and all bags numbered 1) goes. All the ground (except for the lampposts) are done and the first sail is starting to take shape.

It is quite interesting how it is build, with the pair of reversed spaceship slopes forming a smooth quarter circle.

4.8)

4.9)

4.10)

This concludes the first part of the review. I still have bags #2, #3 and #4 left. I wont have any time to build between now and the 24th, but the review will definitely be done as soon as possible.

Review:

Edited August 17, 2013 by Drudoo

[Legogal]

Thanks for the quick review of the box and contents! Many of us are waiting in awe to buy this set today in US stores when they open in a few hours. We received the LEGO VIP announcement by email last night.

Happy building!

[Herky]

Very interesting, the boxes in my store in the US have quite a bit more detail regarding number of pieces, etc...saw it in the store last night, amazing looking set as was the Ewok Village and I can't wait to pick it up, but am going to hold off for the double points promotion.

[Erik Leppen]

Cool that you're doing a review so quick, with all the pictures :D I'm very curious how this set will turn out and what building techniques are used.

[Holodoc]

Hey Drudoo!

Very promising title - and so much disappointment when reading.

As much as I like to see detailed reviews - and your review is very good looking so far! - I don't like to see WIP's in general and especially NOT in reviews!

What's the point?

Do you want to be the first to review the set?

Well done, you ARE the first.

But I (and I sincereley believe most of us, if not all) would like to read everything from the beginning to the end. This is just a teaser.

And you ask us to rate this set by the first pictures? Come on, you must be kidding.

I hope we will see photos of the rest of the set soon. For now I give your WIP-review 1 star out of 5.

For all other readers: Please don't post reviews that aren't even finished. Thank you.

[alois]

Hey Drudoo!

Very promising title - and so much disappointment when reading.

As much as I like to see detailed reviews - and your review is very good looking so far! - I don't like to see WIP's in general and especially NOT in reviews!

What's the point?

Do you want to be the first to review the set?

Well done, you ARE the first.

But I (and I sincereley believe most of us, if not all) would like to read everything from the beginning to the end. This is just a teaser.

And you ask us to rate this set by the first pictures? Come on, you must be kidding.

I hope we will see photos of the rest of the set soon. For now I give your WIP-review 1 star out of 5.

For all other readers: Please don't post reviews that aren't even finished. Thank you.

Drudoo states clearly in his first sentence that it is a WIP review. So if you don't like this, just stop reading there and have patience. But some other readers like to read even only the beginning of this review, and to me it's no problem that is was posted already.

[ghostmind]

Drudoo - if possible, I would like to see a much higher-resolution picture of the top of the box, as I'm looking for an inventory of the elements.

[Drudoo]

@Herky

Interesting indeed. I was a bit confused about the missing info on the box and if the US version got the info it is strange.

@Holodoc

I clearly stated it would be a WIP and i did it for one reason. Instead of writing parts of the review in my text editor and then, when I'm finished, uploading it all, i decided to just do a WIP. I like a teaser and wouldn't mind a WIP review at all and it is so much easier for me to directly write it here and not having to mess around in a text editor with images first.

I do like to be the first, when possible (which is rarely), but it wasn't even on my mind when i started the review. I did it because it was the easiest way for me and because i wouldn't mind reading a WIP myself.

@ghostmind

I scanned the brick list from the booklet instead. 300DPI, 13MB PDF. Hope it is good enough :)

[TheLegoDr]

I believe US boxes are the only boxes with piece count and set name? I might be wrong, but all of my boxes have piece count and I've heard other countries (Europe mainly) always has a clean box.

I don't mind a WIP review although it would be better if it was all done at once. Now I'll have to check back repeatedly (which I'm sure I'll forget to do). I think the bigger downside of the WIP review is the time between sections. We have to wait almost a week before you can even build the next installment, let alone give your insights and review. That's a real shame. Someone else might get their review up in that time, then you won't be the first concluded, just the first posted.

[ghostmind]

@ghostmind

I scanned the brick list from the booklet instead. 300DPI, 13MB PDF. Hope it is good enough :)

That will do nicely - thanks!

Edited August 18, 2013 by ghostmind

[antp]

Then we have two loose plates. The 48x48 is supposedly new in blue but according to bricklink it is also featured in a 1998 Large Lego Baseplate (9286) set.

The one you link on Bricklink has a grey 48x48 and a blue 32x32, but no blue 48x48 which is indeed a first. Like the green 48x48 was unique to the grand carousel.

[Blondie-Wan]

Very interesting, the boxes in my store in the US have quite a bit more detail regarding number of pieces, etc...saw it in the store last night, amazing looking set as was the Ewok Village and I can't wait to pick it up, but am going to hold off for the double points promotion.

Pardon the tangent, but what double points promotion?

[gregrichards]

Normally there is a double lego vip points promotion in October. I am holding off buying the opera house till then.

[Faefrost]

Pardon the tangent, but what double points promotion?

The store clerk just told e today that October would have a double points deal. So I assume that's what Herky meant.

[jonwil]

Just looking at that parts inventory, WOW.

I bet there are quite a few AFOLs who will buy this set for the dark tan alone (even if they dont care for the Opera House)

[FuzzyBallz]

I would get this if my cats don't chew it up the second they see it!

[Darth Dino]

Hi

Drudoo, i really have to agree with Holodoc. Writing a review fast is one thing make it a high quality review is different from that. I would say most Eurobrickers prefere high quality reviews with nice images, some storytelling and a red line which you and your reader can follow. We all are familiar with that here because there are so many well Eurobricks reviews.

At the moment you can not even tell for yourself if it is a good set or you will turn it into a good review. You just have not finished!

You hardly can follow "the red line" because you do not know its end. One example: Images are good, good images are great, many good images are perfect but too many images are bad. I do not think everbody likes to see every building step. And, again, you have not finished yet, and so you can not decide which images and why to choose for the final teview.

Good luck for the rest of your review!

Dino

[Andy D]

Just looking at that parts inventory, WOW.

I bet there are quite a few AFOLs who will buy this set for the dark tan alone (even if they dont care for the Opera House)

I was thinking the same thing. I know me though. If I bought it I am not sure how long it would take me to get around to assembling it because of display space? I know I would not part it out before assembling, and I would have a hard time disassembling it to part it out because it is just so gorgeous. This is a real conundrum to me. I like it very much, I like the parts pack, but if I never assemble it or part it out... Well, I guess you can see my dilemma. But I don't know how long I can resist the temptation to purchase and assemble. Oh, well....

Andy D

Edited August 19, 2013 by Andy D

[Herky]

Thanks for the clarification GregRichards and faefrost...yes, for Lego VIP points, they do a double points promotion in October so for me, in the US, 320 = 640 points = $5 for 100 points or $30 free for buying this under that plan. Helps when your kids also want the new Friends sets and the other wants the Hobbit house.

I can't imagine a total review on this with pics along the way of the build, would take up so much server space with the pics alone. I know for me, an average modular house took about 6 hours to build with my kids so imagine this is a bit more.

[TAFOL]

This concludes the first part of the review. I still have bags #2, #3 and #4 left. I wont have any time to build between now and the 24th, but the review will definitely be done as soon as possible.

Can't wait.

[dvsntt]

Moar pleez :)

[Brickus]

This review needs to be completed, there are no good reviews of this set yet, and this review could be great.

[LegoGenre]

It would be really great to get the rest of the review, the “sails” are the most interesting part…

[FuzzyBallz]

Now I understand why some readers complaint about the OP's tease review. Finish the job or don't start at all.

[rollermonkey]

Yup, it's 7 days past when he said he'd be able to resume building, and nothing.

<Sad.