I didn't expect this!

[thrak76]

I just received a 10232 Palace Cinema set. This is my first Modular building set, and the largest Lego set I've ever received. While I knew that the piece count was 2000+, and i had an idea of the finished size of the set... I did not expect the huge box that it would be in! Wowzah! It's exciting and intimidating at the same time to behold the box!

I'm resisting tearing into this beast because there's a few other sets I'd like to assemble first for the Reviewer Academy.

Anyone else surprised at the size of the box of their first "large" set?

[sin]

My first Modular building was the Fire Brigade, size of the box was not surprising to me as much as what that many parts looked like spread out over my table while building it. It took me 30 or 40 minutes just to organize the bricks for each bag # prior to construction!

I moved a few months ago and had to rebuild all of them when I got into my new house. I was far lazier and didn't do any pre-sorting at all, but it brought back great memories of building that first one.

[ShaydDeGrai]

Growing up, Lego was one of those really special toys that, frankly, my folks couldn't afford to buy me. My dad emigrated to the U.S. with a duffle bag full of old work clothes, a few pounds in his pocket and an accent so thick that most Americans assumed he wasn't speaking English. We did okay, but there wasn't a lot of room in the family budget for things one couldn't either eat, wear or take shelter within. Lego was a luxury item, like dental care, hot water, haircuts that don't involve a relative, a pair of dull scissors and a bowl, etc.

In the early years, what few kits I got both arrived and easily fit in my Christmas stocking (like the 363 Antique Car). I had friends who were better off financially and got the really big stuff, but for me just saving up my paper route money to get something like the 371 Sea Plane or the 485 Fire Truck was a really big deal.

I was really torn when what is now classic space launched (no pun intended) in the late '70's and early 80's and Technic (or I think it was originally called expert builder) showed up in 1977 - so many kits, and so many _big_ kits (at least from my perspective). I saved pretty much every penny I earned/found in the street/whatever and I bought what I could afford when I could afford it. It was my money, still, when my dad would catch me with a new kit, even a really small one, he'd sit me down and give me a lecture about sound financial planning. He'd remind me that I should really be saving for university because, you know, every responsible twelve-year-old on the planet is going to be expected to cover their own tuition, room and board in just a few short years and I can't seriously expect to be mooching free food and shelter off my folks forever, now could I?

Well, financial reality was what really drove my Dark Age. I still swung by toy stores to check out the Lego aisle and I watched the boxes get bigger and the models grow more complex, all the while thinking about bank balances and tuition bills and knowing I'd be lucky to get a 20 piece stocking-stuffer kit for Christmas.

Years passed. My last undergrad tuition bill came and went and I started getting paychecks that weren't already 110% overcommitted to bills looming on the horizon, but old habits died hard; I was saving for retirement, a house, a car, tuition again in the form of grad-school. There was always some excuse I could think of for why my visits to the Lego Aisle were on a strictly browsing basis; some future need (imagined or otherwise) for why I should keep my wallet tightly closed and my latent dream of owning a really big Lego kit strictly a childhood fantasy.

Then one day I was in TRU and they were stocking the shelves with the brand new 8480 Space Shuttle, a giant kit in a giant box with motors and lights! I fell off the wagon and landed hard. I picked up the box to get a better look and just couldn't bring myself to put it down. I forgot my frugal Scots' upbringing and went straight to the register. I don't think I even noticed the price until I was signing the credit card slip. I took the kit home and dumped the contents out on my bed because I didn't have a big enough table to work at. I finished the kit sometime after midnight that same day (of course with a bed full of pokey little technic parts, it's not like I had a choice in the matter…).

Since then, I've been something of a moth hopelessly drawn to the "big box" flame. I remember when the 3450 Statute of Liberty showed up on my doorstep, that was probably the last time I was genuinely "wow"-ed by the size of a box. I cracked open the big box only to find four smaller, but each bigger than anything I'd dare dream about as a kid, inside. After that, modern kits like the modulars, Ewok Village, USC MF, Sydney Opera House don't really "surprise" me anymore, they just make me want to take out my credit card and be grateful that, thanks to my dad's sound (but sometimes infuriating) financial advice growing up, I'm now in a position to afford these wonderful big-box treasures.

[thrak76]

That's a nice reflection on growing up with (or without) Lego, ShaydDeGrai. I can identify with some of your sentiments.

[rriggs]

Nothing better than trying to look casual while queuing at the checkout with a giant modular box...

Although even better when it's an empty box off the shelf in TRU!

Cheers

Rog

[Faefrost]

I just received a 10232 Palace Cinema set. This is my first Modular building set, and the largest Lego set I've ever received. While I knew that the piece count was 2000+, and i had an idea of the finished size of the set... I did not expect the huge box that it would be in! Wowzah! It's exciting and intimidating at the same time to behold the box!

I'm resisting tearing into this beast because there's a few other sets I'd like to assemble first for the Reviewer Academy.

Anyone else surprised at the size of the box of their first "large" set?

The boxes don't surprise me as much as the shear scale of the parts. If you haven't built one of these beasts, I must warn you. While they do "number the bags", it's not like the numbering on the regular retail sets. The Modulars typically have 3 numbers. 1, 2 and 3 (rarely 4). These correspond to the floors and roof. So you will have 7 or 8 #1 bags, 8 or 9 #2 bags etc. It is a massive amount of parts to have in place at once, and quite daunting if you aren't used to it. Granted it could be worse. Some of the older 2k piece sets were from before the numbered bag system so you are dealing with the full set at once...

[ritzcrackerman]

I, like many other kids in the same era, got the Black Seas Barracuda from Santa when I was probably 7 or 8. Must have been 1989, or maybe 1990?

I remember being crestfallen when we came downstairs to see what Santa had brought, as I didn't see a single gift that was as big as the Black Seas Barracuda's.

One of my gifts was a sketch pad, which when I opened up to the first page was a note from "Santa." It read something to the effect of "Merry Christmas. For a big surprise, look in the vacuum closet." I opened it up, and voila! It seemed like such a MASSIVE box, obviously the largest LEGO set I had ever received. The massive flap on the front when you opened it up - for a 7-year old, it was pretty awesome!

I know it's just "stuff," and me being an AFOL today hearkens back to a nostalgia for better times and I know TLG is laughing all the way to bank as they cash in on my nostalgia. But that memory still sticks with me today. I can relate to a previous poster, as we were certainly not wealthy, and I know that thing cost my folks $99.99 (before tax). It was still quite the experience to receive on Christmas and simply be overwhelmed by the size. It also reminds me of how much my folks sacrificed for me.

[Pop Bumper Pete]

The modulars are great, opening the box make me feel like I am a kid again

while the bags are numbers, split the contents into their individual colors, it will speed up construction

[obsidianheart]

I had this problem when I ordered 852293 Giant Fantasy Castle Chess Set. The shipping box looked like it contained unassembled furniture. Then I opened it up and saw that 99% of the box was filled with the actual set box, which is also enormous (and sitting in the back of my closet, because it is too big to go anywhere else right now).

[F0NIX]

My first large set was 10030 ISD.

First I was impressed of the HUGE (and heavy) box the set came in, and then I opened it and found four new boxes that was still huge compared to other sets I had built at the time. After that I can't say I get surprised by large a large box for any sets :)