This set is part of Lego's Creator 3-in-1 series. It features 3 minifigs and several build possibilities with up to 12 different scenes to create with the 969 pieces. These scenes include, a pet shop, a townhome, a coffee shop, a hot dog stand, a barber shop, a dentist office, a trolley and station, a bank, a smaller apartment, a rooftop greenhouse, and a small coffee stand. Now you do have to take apart some scenes to build others but it allows for it to be broken down and rebuilt in many ways encouraging future play with the set. This is also a modular set so it can be combined with Lego's other modular sets to make large cities or add rooms and more. Another thing this set features is instructions in the app which I will discuss later.
The Build
I chose to build the main scene in this series which is the Townhouse pet shop & café. The other options are the market scene, which features the barber shop, trolley and station, and dentist office, and the bank, which is tall building featuring a bank, a smaller apartment, rooftop greenhouse, and coffee stand. This particular build had a lot of small pieces to it which made building a little more difficult. It took me a couple hours to complete and is a set you can walk away from and come back too. It utilizes the flat plate with two studs to allow for easy access to the inside of rooms. Everything in this build is either printed on a brick or made from studs and bricks.
The Good
This build has many things that make it very playable. All the rooms have easy access to them and have many objects in them such as the pet shop has a bird and a fish, as well as a cash register and a couple bones and balls for the buildable dog to play with. There's also an indoor and outdoor dining area for the café and different rooms in the townhome like a small bedroom with a cellphone, a tv room featuring a couch and tv stand, and a kitchen area featuring a sink and stove. It is also very fun to build. My favorite thing to build was the pet shop sign itself. The look of the building is very interesting as well with a modern side and then a traditional styled side of the building. It makes it feel as if it truly belongs in a city. Another feature I love about this set is that it can be combined with the other modular sets. It allows for you to easily create a street scene and combine sets together to build your own playable city. I also love the many moving parts on this build there are two sets of red blinds that can be moved to create a new setting, the characters can be moved and easily placed into every scene, the hot dog stand is on a rolling cart, and the ATM outside the pet shop opens to allow for money to be placed or withdrawn. Finally, I love the animals you get to build. I think Lego has done a nice job designing different animals utilizing the studs and bricks. In this set you get to build a generic yellow bird, a dog, a toucan, and a rat.
The Bad
There are a ton of small pieces in this set. Not only are they small but they are also round and roll off the table I was using quite easily leading me to hunt around for a particular piece several times. Because of all the small pieces the build was very tedious and several times I found myself knocking over objects as I placed others in the scene. The build is also not easily moved so plan on keeping it near or where you built it unless you wish to take it apart.
The App
This is the first opportunity I was able to build using the app as intended. It featured the 3D building model and laid out the instructions quite easily. It made the build a lot easier because I could move the instructions to get a look at all angles of the model to figure out exactly where bricks needed to be placed. The other thing it did was show which pieces you needed before it showed you the instructions. Now I know it shows you in the top corner of the pdf versions of these builds what parts you need. However, in the app this was its own "page" so to speak. It also broke down the build so that you could pick and chose which modular you wanted to start with, and you could go back and forth between those sections.
The Verdict
Overall this build will be included in a city I will be building later and I love it. From the look, to the build, to the utilization of the app, the only hinderance is the amount of small pieces. However, it does not hurt the build too much as I personally don't know of any another way it could have been built. Therefore final score 10/10
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