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This year’s LEGO Winter Village set revisits the concept of a post office through a fantasy lens, and the result is a solid slice of festive fun - if not quite an outright Christmas miracle.
The LEGO Group has already rolled out a Winter Village post office in the aptly-named 10222 Winter Village Post Office, one of the very first sets in the long-running LEGO Icons (once LEGO Creator Expert) subtheme. 10339 Santa’s Post Office serves up something less rooted in reality and more in line with the fantastical 10275 Elf Club House, 10267 Gingerbread House and 10245 Santa’s Workshop, and for those on board with this style of Winter Village set, it’s the sort of thing that makes you wish it could be Christmas every day.
We say ‘for those on board’ because a clear split in the style of Winter Village sets has emerged over the past few years, and with it a split in audience. On one hand you’ve got the more grounded sets like 10293 Santa’s Visit, 10308 Holiday Main Street and 10325 Alpine Lodge, and on the other you’ve got more whimsical models like 10245 Santa’s Workshop, 10267 Gingerbread House, 10275 Elf Club House and now 10339 Santa’s Post Office. Not everyone is going to enjoy both sides of that Christmas coin - but this set very much feels like the LEGO Group trying to bridge the gap and reach the middle ground between those two approaches.
While at first glance 10339 Santa’s Post Office seems like a clear-cut fantasy set, much of the model (beyond its characters) could easily be repurposed as a general Winter Village post office, and one that’s leagues ahead of its 2011 predecessor. This is an attractive and accomplished building (sand blue and nougat make for pleasant bedfellows) with plenty of details inside and out, from the log fire, writing desk and coffee machine to the icicles, bows and brick-built bugle. None of these icons really feel specific to Santa and the elves, so you could always sub in regular minifigures if that’s more your style. Even the hot air balloon is just a fun way to get around and deliver mail.
But still: none of this is to say that it doesn’t fit the fanciful nature of the Gingerbread House, Santa’s Workshop and so on. The candy cane posts outside the main doors, bright colours used for the sorting chutes (more on those later) and the toboggan keep the needle firmly pointed towards whimsy (if you so desire), as does the pond from which one of the elves is apparently fishing out lost letters with the help of a cute baby seal, and the other elf guiding the hot air balloon into place with a pair of trans-red marshalling wands. The Winter Village sets are getting better and better at these storytelling moments, and 10339 Santa’s Post Office is packed with them.
29 сен 2024
