winter village

10293: Santa’s Visit Unveiled: Designer Walkthrough.

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For me, a highlight of every holiday season is the arrival of the LEGO® Winter Village set. Over the years, we have seen a delightful village and its shops, a market, train and gone off site to the North Pole, to visit Santa’s Work Shop, and the Elves Club House. And a gingerbread house.

This year’s set, Santa’s Visit, has been officially announced and returns to the village, where we have a new home being visited by Santa. The set has 1445 pices and will cost €89.99 / $USD99.99 / £79.99 /$AUD159.99 / $CAD139.99. It will be released through LEGO retail channels on October 1st 2021.

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40416 Ice Skating Rink: Gift With Purchase [review]

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After the madness that is the Black Friday/Cyber Monday festival of consumerism, where LEGO.con had queues to browse, short stocked digital discount vouchers, and very few sets that might appeal to the AFOL, we say farewell to the Extremely Cute Charles Dickens Tribute book, and say hello to a winter seasonal gift with purchase, 40416 Ice Skating Rink.

Nothing says Christmas holidays in Australia quite like a couple ice skating on a frozen pond. But it continues a theme of the Winter Village sets, associated with gifts with purchase from lego.com during the prechristmas rush.

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10275 Elf Club House Review

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It’s coming up to the tail end of the year, and we have just had the official announcement that this year’s ‘Winter Village’ set – the seasonal Creator Expert model – is the Elf Club house. Last year, we had the whimsical Gingerbread House, and this year, we continue our journey into the fanciful with our journey to the Elf Club House. A place for Santa’s helper’s to go and hang out when not busy in Sant’s workshop.

I was fortunate to be sent a copy of the set to review, and I’d like to share my impressions with you. I will occasionally drift towards the way that the experience is different to previous Winter Village sets, but I will cover that in greater depth in a few weeks time.

The box adopts the increasingly familiar 18+ design style: along the bottom inch of the box, we have the strip of elements in relief – this time in white – declaring the set number, 1197 elements and a recommended age of 18+.

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Add the 10275 Elf Club House to Your Winter Village Collection

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Is it just me, or does the Christmas holiday season feel like it is starting earlier and earlier every year? Or do we just want 2020 to be over, already?

In the tradition of Santa’s Workshop, and the Gingerbread House, the LEGO Group today unveiled the 2020 Winter Village Collection set: Elf Club House. This set has 1197 pieces, four mini figures (with 6 faces), a reindeer, and is priced at $AUD149.99/USD99.99/ €94.99 /£84.99. It goes on sale 23rd September, at LEGO Branded retailers to VIPs, and October 1 to non VIP Shoppers..

This year’s set was designed by Chris McVeigh, who came to the LEGO Group in 2019, after many years as a prominent AFOL designer.

Read on for the press release, and more images.

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Something Sweet for the Winter Village: Announcement 10267 Gingerbread House.

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Ginger bread houses seem to have become a tradition at Christmas time. And this year, the Holiday themed Creator Expert set is seeking to bypass the Winter Village, and is instead taking a left turn toward fairy tales and make believe, and giving us a Gingerbread House with all the trimmings, but none of the calories.

10267 Gingerbread House: Ages 12+. 1477 pieces

US $99.99 – CA $139.99 – DE €89.99 – UK £84.99 – FR €94.99 – DK 799DKK –AUD $159.99

Available October 1 2019; September 18th for VIP Customers.

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The Rambling Brick’s Advent-ure #18

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Today, as we continue our adventure, I thought I’d briefly consider some sets that money can’t buy. Except on the secondary market.  Let’s have a look at some sets that have only been released as Gifts with purchase, but designed to help build up the winter Village.


3300014 Winter Sleigh Ride was released in 2011, along side the Winter Village Cottage, and available as a gift with purchase.  It again features a lamp post as well as four minifigures, although one has to wait, as the sleigh only has room for three!

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The Rambling Brick’s Advent-ure #16

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We are now two thirds of the way through our Advent-ure, where the Rambling Brick is travelling across the years to look at Seasonal Holiday sets that have been released over the years.  Today I thought I would look at Holiday Trains.  Train Sets have a great appeal for any LEGO Layout, as they add a sense of motion and life to an otherwise static display.

All Aboard!

Now, exactly what constitutes a Holiday Train seems to vary across the years. The First to be released was 10173 Holiday Train, in 2006: years before the conception of the current Winter Village.

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Winter Village Fire Station 10263 [Announcement]

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10263_Prod

LEGO have just released the details of the 2018 Creator Expert Winter Village Set.  Steering clear of another reissue of a previous set, this year we see the release of the 10263 Winter Village Fire Station. With 1166 elements, this set will be released globally on October 1st 2018, with VIP availability at LEGO Brand Retail and shop.LEGO.com from September 13th. It will cost $149.99AUD, $100USD, £84.99 GBP and €89.99 in Germany.

As with previous Winter Village sets, this one appears to be set somewhere peaceful, in the mid 20th century, possibly in the middle of a Rankin-Bass animated Christmas Special. We have seen a number of common elements of these sets over the last 9 years:

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Winter Village Station 10259 [Announcement]

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10259_Back_01For about a year now, the LEGO® social media feeds have been teasing the forthcoming release of the largest LEGO set ever. Starting with a silhouette on the ‘UCS’ Death Star box last year, new (official) information has been arriving more and more frequently. The set comes with the thickest instruction manual ever.  And the Biggest box. And then, last week, we saw a trailer hinting at some of the elements present.  This set has been subject to excessive speculation as to its exact nature:  the included minifigures and how it will differ from previous versions of this particular subject matter.

This is not that set. It is however, another  set in a series that has almost always impressed… except that one year when the LEGO® Group rereleased a set from several years earlier.

That’s right, today the LEGO® Group released details of the 2017 Winter Village set: the 10259 Winter Village Station. Now last year’s Winter Holiday Train will have somewhere to stop!

Launch date for the Winter Village Station at shop.LEGO.com and LEGO Stores is October 1 with VIP Early Access starting on September 14. The Australian price is confirmed at $AU119.99

10259_ProdMore images, and the press release follow after the break. Continue reading →