Releasing this November is the newest LEGO Ideas set which is 123 Sesame Street (21324). The set has 1,367 pieces and retails for $119.99 and will be available starting on November 1. The contents of the box include bags numbered to six and the instructions with a sticker sheet with 21 stickers.
Instructions
What’s interesting about the front cover of the instructions is that it only shows the minifigures of the Sesame Street characters. I could be wrong but I don’t think that I’ve seen any instructions that doesn’t at least show the set or the name of the set on the front.
As with other LEGO Ideas sets, the front of the instructions talks about the set itself along with interviews with the fan designer and the LEGO designers. It also talks about The Sesame Workshop which is a nonprofit educational organization helping children around the world.
Minifigures
There are six minifigures in this set featuring some of the more well-known Sesame Street characters: Big Bird, Elmo, Ernie, Bert, Cookie Monster, and Oscar the Grouch.
Big Bird consists of a large rubbery mold used for his head and body that goes on the torso. The torso is plain yellow with some wings that replace the arms. The legs are orange with pink/violet stripes.
Elmo is pretty plain with the red torso and legs. The head is textured with some fur and it shows him with a open-mouth smile. I wish his torso and legs had some printing for this fur as he looks very boring and plain.
Ernie has on his iconic red and blue striped sweater and blue jeans. The lack of arm printing makes the torso look a bit off since he has stripes on his arms as well. His head mold shows him also with a happy open-mouth expression with his bushy hair on top.
Bert is next and the torso shows him with a striped lime green sweater. He also has the same arm issue like with Ernie. The head mold is oblong-shaped showing a happy expression with a small bush of hair on the top.
Cookie Monster is my favorite Muppet but this LEGO version has the same problem as Elmo. The torso and legs are plain blue which is disappointing. The head is round with some fur texture on the mold and it shows him with the wacky eyes. He does have some cookie tiles as accessories.
Lastly, we have Oscar the Grouch who isn’t really a minifigure. The face is printed on a round ball piece that goes on a blank minifigure head and a round 2×2 tile goes on top for the trash can lid. The whole thing fits in a trash can outside of the apartment building. Again, the lack of fur makes him look disappointing as a whole. I would’ve been okay with having more printing around his head.
Build
The first bag is used for the base of the build but it also doubles up as the sidewalk which we’ll get to later on. The bottom of the base has a lot of colored plates which are used to keep the baseplates connected but they don’t work that well, in my opinion.
The rest of the parts are used to build the bottom level of the apartment building. There’s a little basement area with a spider and its web. The right side of the building has stairs leading up to the entrance. Next to that is the start of Big Bird’s Nest.
The next bag is for the 1st floor of the apartment building where we have Elmo’s bedroom. The main thing that we have here is his bed that goes against the wall. There’s also some sticker pictures hanging on the wall including one of Louie and Elmo and one of who looks like Zoe and Feli Filu. The outside wall has a sticker of the wall spray painted with who I think is Abby Cadabby’s face. The opposite wall has a sticker of a bulletin board filled with notes and pictures. One last thing to note is the printed trans-clear 123 sign brick above the entrance.
Bag 3 is for the second floor of the building where we have Bert and Ernie’s apartment. Most of what we have here is the bathtub complete with the Rubber Duckie. You also have Ernie’s window box which has the milk carton for the Twiddlebug family.
On to Bag 4, we fill in Bert and Ernie’s apartment with their beds as well as the green armchair. There are also a lot of little details in the room such as a stickers for Bert’s bottlecap and paper clip collections. Above the beds are some shelves that hold a bowling ball and a dinosaur. There’s also a picture of Bert and Ernie together. The last thing you build for this bag is the roof area.
For Bag 5, we go down the street to build Hooper’s Store. The front of it has the iconic black and yellow checkered design which is a sticker. Inside the store, there’s a lot of goods that are on the shelf. On the side, there’s a door to go in as well as a crate with a newspaper showing a winter porridge shortage.
The other build for this bag is Cookie Monster’s apartment which is set above Hooper’s Store. Inside the apartment, there’s a TV showing Guy Smiley with a couple of VHS tapes next to it. There’s also a picture of Count von Count hanging above the TV. The rest of the room is for the yellow armchair and a bowl. On the outside wall, there’s some signage for Hooper’s Store.
For the last bag, we fill up more of the front area of the apartment building. Here we have Oscar the Grouch’s new home next to a crate with some trash inside. Slimey the Worm also sits nearby as a printed heart shaped piece. In front of Hooper’s is also a crate with a newspaper showing Super Grover saves the day again.
After that, we move over to Big Bird’s Nest. It is located at to the right of the building and the nest just uses a half barrel. Inside of it, you’ll find Big Bird’s teddy bear, Radar, along with his skates.
We also get to furnish the inside of the building, more specifically, Elmo’s apartment. There’s a blue drawer that goes against the wall and on top of it is his rocket and goldfish, Dorothy. On the floor, you’ll find his doll, Baby David, as well as a train.
Lastly, we add on some details to the left side of the building. There’s a billboard for Biff & Sully’s Construction Co. Below Abby Cadabby is a little garden filled with colorful flowers. Over on Hooper’s side, there’s a little eating area.
Some of the last small builds are the mailbox, a UFO, and a Bert’s Cooking with Oatmeal cookbook.
Overall
Even though the build has changed from the original LEGO Ideas submission, I feel that fans will enjoy the new 123 Sesame Street (21324). The building isn’t modular and doesn’t open up while everything is scaled down a little, possibly to save on the cost as it would’ve been well over $300 in its original form. I know that this is probably a big selling point for some however it does make it more affordable and accessible for those who don’t want to blow a huge chuck of their budget on it.
On some of the positives, the Sesame Street minifigures are the main draw. Big Bird is perfect with the new mold however there were some disappointments as I mentioned before with the Elmo and the Cookie Monster. Oscar the Grouch isn’t really too special either. Bert and Ernie were decent. Maybe I’m just too nitpicky but to me, all the minifigures, aside from Big Bird, were just alright. Unfortunately for those who wanted some of the characters as minifigures form like Count and Grover, that probably won’t happen unless there are more Sesame Street sets in the future.
As for the build itself, the design is pretty much based on the 46th season of Sesame Street with the update details and locations. I do like that there is a lot of Easter eggs from the show implemented into the set including some fairly obscure ones. I will say that I had to look some of them up because I’m not too familiar with the show.
With that said, labeling the set as 18+ is very misleading as there’s nothing with it that has any advanced building techniques. I think that LEGO is just labeling all their new exclusives 18+.
All the different colored parts in the set is very definition of Sesame Street and I’m sure that fans of the show will appreciate this set even though it isn’t as big as some expected it to be. Again, 123 Sesame Street (21324) will be available for everyone starting on November 1.
Thank you to LEGO for sending in this set for me to review. The content above represents my own opinion and not the company. Review sets sent in does not guarantee a positive review.
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