I had this set as a kid and it was one of my favourites. I think it also had a real charm about it - it was colourful and very detailed for it's time. But the detail, as with a lot of sets at the time, was not at the expense of versatility or simplicity that I think gave these sets their appeal. There wasn't an over-reliance on specialist pieces. And with this set they did get the balance right, better than some of the previous house sets (like the first Legoland Town range house "house with garden" which lacked anywhere for the mini-figs to sleep!). There are still some necessary compromises - only three rooms and no back wall so to enable access, but not too much to reduce the believability of it. Which is how Legoland "Town" was at the time, with enough detail but not attempting to precisely replicate the real world, but still having a certain internal logic that kept it consistent. Looking at the current offerings - now badged "Legoland City" - it's called City but there seems to be a lack of buildings (apart from emergency services buildings) - or the playsets with a very specific "action" backstory like the museum break-in where the building is basically no more just the equivalent of a movie set back-drop to play out the designated scenario. I guess that's what appeals to kids these days so that's what they have to do to sell Lego sets, but I still feel it's a bit of a shame. Whereas in the early 80's when the Legoland town series had developed a little it didn't need all that hype. Sure even back then Legoland seemed to be overserviced by emergency services and construction crews, but there was some more everyday stuff available like houses, a post office and some form of snack bar/cafe available, as well as garages and service stations to fuel and repair all the Lego vehicles. I agree it would be nice for Lego to produce more "everyday" and residential type sets for it's City range, but I guess now a lot of the Creator sets do at least fill that void.
OMG, I still have this set, with box, instructions and minifig and still think it's one of the best "classic" houses. But back then I adored this happy house. The only space I had for building properly was the table in the lounge room so I had to choose every time only one thing to build and this very house was always my first pick. Thanks for reminding me so many good Sunday mornings of my childhood-
Mine didn't survived those 30 years. I'm considering to buy a custom replacement sticker from a 3rd party, seeing how much the originals are pricing on bricklink.
i had this set when i was a child and it is truly classic and most excellent. i built an expansion off the kitchen side. i agree with all comments that lego should create more house designs. however, now that i am returning to legos as an adult - i found several house designs available. i notice that this video was posted 4 years ago. it seems like lego is listening to feedback from the collectors. this house design is more simple than the modular houses in the creator editions - in a good way. i like the use of basic brick pieces rather than custom brick pieces. as a child - i learned about structure building and playing with this set. Lego should create a reissue for this classic design! i looked it up on ebay and it is for sale in a sealed pack for $700. Lego could reissue this classic design for a reasonable price and i believe generation x would enjoy the throwback design for their kids and for adult collectors. Thank you for this video. where is the world did you find this house? i think i will try to recreate it from memory once i have enough pieces.
I remember seeing these house sets in catalogs back when I was a kid. I always gravitated more to Castle and Space stuff then but I loved the Police and Fire stuff back in the Classic Lego days.
I'm fully agree with u - LEGO should do more sets like this, 'cause childs should roleplay all the time of their childhood and understand and see how the life goes on) Toys like this can help' em)
I'v felt that sets like these, and a number of the earlier town sets, are the very core of what Lego was and should still be. Sometimes a more simpler look can still be good! .... that, or I could just be nostalgic... There have been times I wonder if the extra details that newer sets have, do add any more appeal to the younger fans. In any case, Thank you for sharing! :)
Hi jang, this is a really nice LEGO set for kids. I enjoy LEGO alot, and this is something I would've got for myself for sure :D I liked LEGO, In the old times with old classic sets, and houses, planes, and cars too, but what got really bad is that LEGO started making Star Wars, and LEGO ninjago... My opinion, I liked classic normal sets :)
Lego is about simplifying life not about recreating the complexity of it. In my opinion that is the problem with Lego nowadays. They went the wrong direction - perhaps not economically - but ethically. Lego should portrait only an excerpt of life not everything. Lego's roots are in town building, it didn't focus on large cities or the Americanization of its architecture. Undercomplexity to achieve creativity should be the aim not overcomplexity evoking tension. Lego, a victim of market mechanisms?
Very intelligent comment! Certainly something to reflect upon. But... Yes! I do believe Lego was forced to continue outdoing themselves in size, detail, and complexity because the consumers demanded it. However, there is still SOME sets that harken to the details you mentioned. I'm speaking about Lego's Architecture line. Have you seen it? What are your thoughts on those sets? :)
I have some sets from the early 80s that have both open and closed studs too. Possibly a case of still having masses of older closed versions in stock that they would have used well into the 80s
