In a few weeks, the official release of the tenth LEGO Ideas set, The Big Bang Theory (21302), will be happening at LEGO Stores and on Shop@Home. I’ve received a set from the LEGO CEE Team to review for you guys.
The set was first conceived on LEGO Ideas back in February 2014 by Alatariel and GlenBricker and the project passed the review in November 2014. Before that, there was a lot of support from fans of the television sitcom which has a cult following in itself. The official set will contain 484 pieces and retail for $59.99.
Box
Like with some of the previous LEGO Ideas sets, the box has a more thicker, premium feel to it and is the same size as the Ghostbusters Ecto-1 (21108) and Birds (21301). The front of it shows the living room setting as well as the seven main characters from the show.
The back of the box shows more detail of the living room and each of the minifigures as we’ve previously seen before when the set was revealed.
The box is opened from the front with flaps and around the outside edge is some cool space artwork to tie into the whole Big Bang Theory idea. The contents of the box includes five numbered bags numbered to two, some loose dark tan baseplates, a thick instructions booklet, and a small sticker sheet.
Instructions Booklet
The instructions are made of a higher quality paper that are nicely bound together. There wasn’t any issues of the pages falling out like with the ealier LEGO Ideas instructions. If you’re not familiar with The Big Bang Theory, the first couple of pages gives you some background details of the show including the character biographies. The back of the booklet gives some details about GlenBricker and Alatariel. While you’re building, there are quotes by various characters spread throughout the pages.
Minifigures
As mentioned before, there are seven total minifigures in the set: Leonard, Sheldon, Raj, Howard, Penny, Amy, and Bernadette. Fans of the show will probably be happy that the main cast will all be included in this set.
Leonard has a green recycle shirt with a tan jacket torso printing with some blue pants. This outfit is pretty similar to what he usually wears on the show. He has a double-sided head with a happy expression on one side and a disappointed look on the other. The accessory shown in the instructions bio section is a blue micro-fig to represent an action figure.
Sheldon has his iconic Flash t-shirt over a blue sweater with tan pants. The arms use the two color mold that we first saw with the LEGO The Simpsons Minifigures. The expressions for his head include a content look and a very excited look. Sheldon’s accessory is the Green Lantern Power Battery.
Rajesh (Raj) is seen wearing a purple jacket over a grey sweater with tan pants which he is seen a few times wearing during the show. His facial expressions are of happiness and a worried look. His accessory is his Yorkshire Terrier Cinnamon.
Howard wears a long-sleeved buttoned-down red shirt with gray pants. He’s normally seen wearing similar colored tops and bottoms or color-coodinated clothing but he’s also seen wearing the outfit depicted in the minifigure. His expressions include a content look on one side and a happy look on the other. The accessory that he has is the model rocket.
For Penny, she has a simple pink blouse with blue pants. She has long yellow/blonde hair with a double-sided head. She has a content look on one side and sort of a scoffing expression on the other. To me, Penny seems to be the most boring minifigure in the set.
Amy has some green cardigan printing on the torso which looks very nice. For the legs, she has some light blue pants with what appears to be red boots on the feet. As for her double-sided head, she has a content and happy look. Her accessory is a typical newspaper piece.
Finally for Bernadette, she is wearing a pink outfit that is pretty similar to one of the outfits worn in Season 8 Episode 22 which is a pink cardigan over a pink and white dress. Like the rest of the minifigures in this set, Bernadette has a double-side head with a happy expression on one side and an angry look on the other.
Build
The setting for The Big Bang Theory (21302) is based off of Leonard and Sheldon’s Apartment 4A living room. On the left side, you have a large bookshelf filled with different colored books. They’re attached to the sides of the shelves with 1×1 TECHNIC bricks and a pin which makes the book look like they’re floating as you can see.
On top of the book shelf on the left side of the closet door, there are some decorative elements like something that appears to be a universal celestial globe, a red micro-figure which I assume to be the Flash or Captain Marvel, an earth globe, the Vostok rocket, the Green Lantern Power Battery, and a plasma ball.
On the back wall, there’s a poster of The Incident by Eric Joyner as well as a wall lamp. To the side of the bookshelf is a telescope of the Meade or Celestron variety.
In the middle of the room there is the patterned rug in front of the sofa with the round coffee table on it. On top of the table are some decorative accessories like a red mug and a couple of white rice boxes with the Chinese word rice printed on it which are some pretty cool pieces with many uses. To the right of the sofa is a table with a lamp while the left side has a storage box. Toward the front, there’s the tan single armchair that Leonard usually sits in.
The closet door itself has a sticker of ring from The Final Blow by Eric Joyner poster, aka the Rock’em Sock’em poster, minus the robots.
To the immediate right side of the back closet door, you have a printed Nikola Tesla lab poster on a 1×2 tile and underneath that there’s a printed 2×4 whiteboard with the words multiphoton optogalvanic spectroscopy on top and an equation on the bottom.
There’s another bookshelf on the right side of the door with some more of the floating books. On top of the shelf is what looks to be a red lava lamp and a blue blue micro-fig which could be Superman. Also on this bookshelf is a stereo system.
Next to the bookshelf is Sheldon’s DNA helix but it looks kind of weird the way it is. I wished the instructions would’ve alternated the colors for each helix strand.
In front of the bookshelf, next to the window is a desk with a computer and lamp.
Lastly, there’s the archway that heads off to the bedrooms/bathroom or kitchen depending on which direction you’re heading. On the piller, there’s a sticker that represents an antique fuse holder which not many people may know of. On the side of the wall, there’s another lamp as well as some what should be light switches. I’m not sure why LEGO used that particular tile to represent it though.
Another thing to mention is that there is a whole slew of kitchen utensils and small appliances although the instructions only use forks to eat the Chinese food.
Finally, some things that are aren’t part of the living room set but are included as minor details. One is the portable whiteboard that where they play Pictionary. There are a couple of lipstick pieces that are used as markers that are also included. Another thing is a black chair but I feel it should actually be a brown one instead to match the one in the show.
Results
Overall, The Big Bang Theory (21302) set is a nice little vignette set that resembles the real-life counterpart very well. The only thing that’s sort of out of place is the setting of the minifigures on the box and in the official images. A few of them are sitting at a different position that they normally sit in on the television show. I’ve kind of rearranged the minifigs to their typical spots that they are seen in.
The attention to a lot of the little details throughout the set is what makes it a great one. Fans of the show will definite recognize the vignette in which LEGO hopes to attract new LEGO fans and potential customers. Plus you’re getting seven of the main characters from the show as minifigures which I actually didn’t expect but and they do represent their real-life characters very well. At $59.99, the set might not appeal to everyone as there are plenty of other sets that give some better value but for LEGO Ideas set collectors, this one would be a great pick up given the high probability that it will quickly sell out.
For the younger LEGO fans, there have been a debate on whether this show is appropriate for kids or not. In my opinion, it does seem tame enough but there are some subject matters it touches on that may be questionable. In regards to the set itself, it does include a lot of science-related objects that may pique their interest in the field like the telescope build and the DNA helix strand so if kids haven’t watched the show before, the LEGO Ideas set may be somewhat educational.
Although The Big Bang Theory set has its positives, there are some things about the set that also bug me. One is the books on the bookshelf which make it seem like they’re just floating. The other thing is the black chair which I feel should be brown instead. Other than those two, there aren’t any major flaws in the set and it does pretty much stay true to the original project by Alatariel and GlenBricker.
Again, The Big Bang Theory (21302) will be available on August 1st at LEGO Stores and on Shop@Home. If you really want the set, I suggest you be ready when the time comes as LEGO might run out of stock given the demand shown on LEGO Ideas on top of the pop culture effect the show has overall. Again, thank you to the LEGO CEE team for sending this set out for me to review.
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