LEGO Creator 10234: Sydney Opera House Review.

Last week was the release of the LEGO Creator 10234: Sydney Opera House. LEGO Designer Jamie Berard is the reason for one of Australia's iconic structures to be recreated in LEGO.
I knew I had to get this set as soon as I'd seen the video posted online. I posted the video on my Facebook wall and within the hour I had a call from my Mum. She asked how much it would be and at the time of the release there was no details of a Oz RRP*. I told her I'd be guessing and "expected it to be about $450 - $500." She responded quite positively and said she would buy it for me. To say I was ecstatic was an understatement! I thanked her repeatedly and told her I'll let her now how and when to purchase it. Well... a few weeks pass knowing the release date was the 1st of September I had planned to get it from LEGO online store Shop@home, and then up came an email saying that Shop for me were taking pre-orders for $319.00... an $80 saving I couldn't refuse. So I let my Mum know and now the rest is history!

Enough babbling from me let's have a look at this mighty MONSTER!                                    *Recommended Retail price.

LEGO Creator 10234: Sydney Opera House.

 The set contains 2989 pieces and retails for $399.99.

 Comes with No Minifigures.

  

Note: All photo's can be clicked on for a larger view.

The front of the box shows the Sydney Opera House in all it's LEGO glory! Its from the Creator Expert line and on the right hand side of the box gives you the measurements of its length... 63cm long! Another thing I have notice is that there is no piece count on the front like all the larger sets I own like the modular's and the Emerald Night train.

Not a lot on the back, other then some photos at different angles.

I must mention that this is a huge box and it just fitted into my new light box! Here it a photo just squeezing in. :-0 Now because of this, I had to change the way I do the review today, opting not to lay out all the pieces like I normally do and just show you the pile of bricks for each lot of bags. I also skipped the step by step building process photos as well... Just not enough room to do both.

When you first open the box you will find a plain white box with the number 1 and 2 bags, a 16 X 16 Dark Tan Plate and a 32 X 16 Blue baseplate.

Also in the white box were the 4 instruction manuals bagged and boarded. Each book will build a section of the Sydney Opera House.

Packed tightly around the inner white box are the rest of the number 3 and 4 bags and some unnumbered bags with over sized pieces.

Laying flat under the white inner box and the tightly packed 3 and 4 bags we get for the very first the new Blue 48 X 48 baseplate and the standard Blue 32 x 32 baseplate.

Just a quick view of all the pieces for all of the number 1 bags.

Rather than give the step by step pics like I mentioned above I will just show you the complete build for each section. Here we have the first half with the main stairs and the beginnings of the restaurant on the left.

The contents of all the number 2 Bags. 

Here is the end result of the number 2 Bags. This is the second half which will be the base of both The Concert Hall and The Opera Theatre.

A side view with both halves joined together.

(left and right)

The contents of all the number 3 Bags.  This is the most pieces I have ever had at one time in the light box so far.

The largest structure "The Concert Hall" is complete! Well... sort of, the rest of the frontage will be done with the last lot of bags.

 It is truly starting to come together now with the placement of The Concert Hall.

 The contents of all the number 4 Bags. The final lot of bags for the model.

The slightly smaller structure "The Opera Theatre" is almost complete... Just the finishing touches now :-D

The Opera Theatre in its position. Once that is done we finish off the frontage/glass windows that look out to the harbor, and finish off the smallest structure in the set "The Restaurant."

All complete! Yay! "Isn't she a beauty" Heh Heh... Sorry I couldnt resist.

Some great spares.

Now firstly I must apologize for these final couple of shots as this monster would not fit long ways in the light box and had to improvise with the lighting. 

What can I say about this set other then WOW! It took me almost 9 hours to build in the course of 2 days, that's including taking Photos. Another day just to edit and crop them so by the time I post this, most of you may already have it and built . My back was killing me by the end, but it was totally worth it! Some fantastic building techniques were used in this model. I can not believe how sturdy this is! One of the highlights for me was the part call out  for 58 2X1 Dark Tan cheese slopes, I think that is the most I have ever had to pull out at one time. I don't own any of the other big sets like the Tower Bridge or the Taj Mahal so I wouldn't know if there was any other large qty call outs. I enjoyed every aspect of the build and look forward to finding a place in our home to proudly display it.

Finally... Thanks Mum (and Dad for getting on-board the LEGO train, so to speak.) Love ya both. xxx

Thanks again for reading!

As always and if you want too, let us know in the comments below, what you think of the set. I would love to hear others opinions on it.

Until next time this is Tan Tile... stretching my back for the next review.