Review: 21041 The Great Wall of China

To celebrate the Year of the Pig I decided to review something somewhat related to Chinese New Year. I thought about reviewing those sets that are impossible to buy but in the end I figured that’d just make people angry. Lets go with something a little different.

I haven’t really given the Architecture series much consideration but a friend suggest this set when I was looking for something to get at the end of last year. Let’s see if his recommendation was a good one or not.

Build Experience

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There are essentially three phases to this build. Firstly the underlying base is created with a series of plates and some bricks to create a framework.

The second part of the build is slowly building up the landscape using mostly dark green slope bricks. There is actually a fair bit of height on one side of the build so this is actually more involved than I expected it to be. There’s lots of internal structure in the raised mountain side of the build which makes the model very solid.

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Very few of the sets that I build have brick built terrain so I really enjoyed the opportunity to do something a little different.

Once the green bricks are used up it’s time to get stuck in to the tan as the wall itself is created. Just like the real thing the wall is not straight or flat and there are some fantastic techniques used throughout the build so the wall can conform to the complex topography.

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The wall features two towers and both add a little bit of extra building to the fairly simple wall segments.

I really enjoyed that the instructions make this build a journey as there are numerous facts spread throughout the pages.

The box says “Enjoy your building experience” when you open it and I really did enjoy my building experience from start to finish. There’s no large specialised parts and no stickers. Just basic LEGO elements combined in fun ways to create a model. Brilliant.

Play/Display

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The LEGO Architecture range are some of the best display pieces on the market for the simple reason that they wouldn’t look out of place in a non-LEGO setting. It’s a range that you can have sitting on a book shelf and it doesn’t feel like a toy.

I am not sure exactly how well the build relates to a specific section of wall but this theme has always played a little loosely with scale and distance. Regardless, there is no denying what this set represents when you look at it. The Great Wall is iconic and this set captures the spirit of it.

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I have never been to China and it’s not a place that holds any cultural significance to me personally, but I still fully intend to have this set on a shelf and on display.

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The set includes two different printed tiles allowing you to display the set with either English or Simplified Chinese versions. I really appreciate this inclusion.

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The set looks great from all angles and is an absolutely fantastic display piece.

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Value For Money

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This set isn’t exactly cheap with an RRP of $79.99 for 551 parts. I do however think that it’s worth that. It may not be the largest model but it’s a deceptively part rich build. The volume of slope bricks isn’t exactly evident from the pictures alone.

If you can find this set at a Myer or David Jones 20% off sale then it comes down to just $63.99. There are also a few options that are around that price from independent stores. Here are a few links:

Prices above accurate at time of publication. Subject to change.

Verdict

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I am giving this set a tick in each of the three categories. The build experience is really enjoyable in terms of technique and parts, while the inclusion of facts throughout the instructions adds to the overall enjoyment. It’s also a wonderful display piece particularly if you have an interest in China. Value for money was a bit of a borderline call but I think it just gets the tick because of how well it rates for the other two criteria.

This set was provided to me by the LEGO Community Engagement Team at my request. Opinions expressed above are my own.

And extra thanks to Trevor for suggesting this set.

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