Let me be blunt; when I saw images of this set I was entirely uninterested and some famous words of Lord Rambling Brick rang through my ears “If I liked every set LEGO makes, they are not doing their job right.” Although I admire that the principles of radio created by Marconi still underpin much of modern day society, and I remember using devices like this in ‘the olden days’, I just could not feel a connection with this build.

That said, recently, I was given the opportunity to investigate this display model closely courtesy of the LEGO-certified store in Castle Hill (NSW, Australia). Given my utter lack of desire to buy the set, I felt this was a great way to see if I was correct in my assessment.

This set is available from the 1st of June for AU$169.99/£89.99/US$99.99/€99.99, and it contains 906 (!) parts.

As I am writing this, my wife expressed her concern that I may now want to buy one of these radios for myself. What happened? What did this display model do to make me reconsider its merit? Read on to find out.

Let’s be clear: This will not be a thorough review but rather a rapid look at this set.

I expected not to like this

I’m not particularly fond of the ’60s or ’70s, and I prefer bolder colours over pastels. This radio mostly just looks like a box, so I was happy to skip this set. But the high piece count (and price) made me curious enough to gladly take the offer to have a better look at this set. Why so many pieces? What makes this radio special?

Plastic Bags and printed pieces!

I have gotten used to finding mostly paper bags in recent sets I have been opening so I was quite surprised to see *only* plastic bags in this box! This makes me wonder how long ago these sets have been manufactured? Or did this set get manufactured at a different factory? Who can tell?

There are no stickers in this set at all! There are printed pieces for the radio frequency indicators, the AM/FM switch, the on/off switch and a neat retro LEGO logo at the front of the radio.

This set has a surprising variety of parts, and the construction is not as repetitive as I expected for a box. There are 40 ladders (Ladder 1 1/2 x 2 x 2) in this set, but nearly all other parts are present in small quantities, which indicates how varied the construction is.

When building a plate and a low brick on top of each other where a single 1×1 brick would have worked I smiled and had to think of this lovely article by ex-LEGO designer James May. In this case a 1×1 brick could be confused with the 1×1 brick with stud, so the choice to split the brick made sure there was no confusion about what the build.

The only misgiving I have with the parts is that the light aqua of the sides of the radio isn’t entirely consistent. You can only just see it in the photos but it is quite apparent with bare eyes.

Complicated build

The first part of the build immediately shows that this is no simple construction; the back panel consist of a lot of separate parts quickly enhanced with a large spiral gear and a gear clutch mechanism. It left me wondering what I was building almost from the start, which greatly enhanced the experience.

The mechanism and the clever use of brick offsets and angles reminded me most of the 21327 Typewriter. Viewing these two side by side shows similar style of building (such as the pins to hold the sides) and similar curves around the corners. The photos also show that the sets look good together. I can remember typing on a mechanical typewriter next to a similar radio; it just works.

The shapes of the radio are very far removed from the blockiness of LEGO bricks; there is very little to show this model is made from LEGO (apart from the very big word on the front).

Let there be SOUND!

The big surprise in this set is the SOUND! Yes! Sound! Not just any sound; if you turn the radio on and then change radio frequency the radio plays different radio channels! But ONLY if you turn the radio on; if it is off, it remains silent! The engineering marvel that went into this experience is beautiful; it’s a pity you can only experience it by turning the knobs, or by building this set; do not just leave this set on the shelf.

That brings me to another use of this radio; you can put a phone (or iPod) into the back and then the radio can play any music you like! The sound coming out of the radio even sounds better than I remember from my own old radio. If my mind wasn’t blown by the previous experience it would be blown now.

As I walked around with the radio playing tunes, my family looked in amazement when they realised the sound was coming from the LEGO radio!

Okay then

What is the verdict then? Is this set worth the price tag? Should you get excited about it? Simply put, yes, you should get excited, and you should seriously have a good look at this set. The price feels reasonable for what you get. Sure, it is expensive for a relatively small LEGO set, but this Radio is really something else!

Will I end up buying this radio? No, I don’t think I will. I just don’t really like the look of it, and there are just too many other LEGO sets competing for my attention. For this reason, I give it 3.6 out of 5 arbitrary praise units. The set is a lot better than what I expected, and it deserves some attention, but I am not the right audience.

That said, 10334 Retro Radio is now available. It has 906 pieces and NO Stickers. The Recommended retail price is $AUD169.99/€99.99/$USD99.99/£89.99.

What do you think of 10334 Retro Radio? Does it remind of years gone by? Or are they now too far behind?Why don’t you leave your comments below.

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Until Next Time,

Play Well!

Branko was offered the opportunity to put this set together courtesy of the LEGO Certified Store in Castle Hill, NSW, Australia. If you go to that shop and see it on the shelves, it was probably this very model!