I have had the 2019 modular – Corner Garage – sitting in my room for over a year. My intention was that I’d build it and do a review telling you how great/terrible it is. As you will have noticed that didn’t happen. I got sent other sets to review, got busy and just never got to it.
After a year I figured the moment had passed for a standard review; I’m sure you’ve all already formed your opinions on this one. My wife offered me a bit of a lifeline though – she offered to build it to help me clear my backlog of review sets.
My wife is wonderful and supportive of my AFOL lifestyle but she is not an AFOL herself. There are limits to how much LEGO news I can spew forth before she tunes out, and I don’t really remember her ever building a set. It’s certainly not something she does for fun.
The modulars are not a soft introduction to the LEGO building experience. They are parts intensive with lots of intricate details.
So what did my non-AFOL wife think of the experience?
Sorting
I noticed a bit of a difference in the way that she and I sort our parts for a build. She would spend time sorting out the parts based on colour and type before she built. This was something that I used to do myself but these days I’ll just tip each packet out as they come. I am not saying one way is better than the other but it did make me wonder if that pre-sort is just something that I stopped doing as I started building more sets. Laziness or efficiency, hard to tell.
Build Time
I will fully admit that I am one of the slowest builders in the world. That’s why you’ll probably never see me getting super quick reviews out. I am fine with that as I build to unwind and rushing through a build isn’t as enjoyable for me. Was my wife a faster builder? I think so. Without having doing a speed build off of the same set I don’t know for sure but she knocked out the completed modular over a few sessions. I’d have taken longer overall.
Enjoyment
Did I convert my wife to the AFOL lifestyle? Nope. While she didn’t hate the build experience it wasn’t something that she particularly enjoyed. She did like that it provided a bit of a distraction for a weekend but in the end it was something she did as a favor to me. There were a few times where I heard her comment that a little part of the set was cute or that she liked the way certain things were done.
Final Thoughts
Overall my wife liked the set but wasn’t a big fan of the colour of the exterior. She really didn’t like the way that they did the tree. I asked her if she wanted to write this section herself, or include a quote and she said “No, you can write something. Just make sure you say the tree sucked”.
My Thoughts
It’s a bit strange for me to be handed a completed model and have to form my opinions on that. Usually the build experience shapes my view of a model. The cool little details are a little cooler when you know the techniques that went in to them.
I am really impressed with the look of this set. The way the corner allows for the petrol pump is a good use of space. It does make the building a bit smaller but it’s big enough to be packed with detail.
It’s a bit strange that you’ve got to walk up an open staircase through a garage to get to the vet. I mean above a garage is an odd place for a vet anyway.
The top level apartment is also great. The modular designers are really good at creating realistic living spaces in a small scale.
I’ve included a bunch of pictures for this set below if you are still on the fence yourself.
That is the first set I’ve decided to build in quarantine as I also thought it one of the least attractive modulars
Great idea Michael, something different yet just as interesting. I purchased the Taj Mahal for my wife 2 years ago and she lost complete interest after building the base and lower wall in the first week. Last year, I purchased the Aladdin mini-figures to inspire her to finish building it under the pretense that they “needed a home”. It hasn’t worked! Every time my next door neighbour and niece come over they offer to finish it off for her and she says “No, thank-you”. Not sure if that’s hope that one day she’ll become an AFOL or what? I’ll show her the story about your wife and let you know how it goes. Stay safe.
I think the set has a few more pros that’s worth mentioning. I really like that the set has parts that move.
The car hoist being able to go up and down, locking into the raised position is nice. Love the mechanism the allows the garage roller door to go up and down really adds some life to the building. Also the tow truck is awesome with its lifting arm/frame going up and down at will. Great set!
Certainly an interesting twist on a review, Michael, kudos to both of you for giving it a go. My wife has built some larger sets (the Carousel I think, and the Parisian Restaurant) and is happy to build smaller ones (she enjoys the seasonal Brickheadz we try and collect). Overall though I don’t think she’ll become an AFOL any time soon ;).
Oh, and I’d be interested in you/your wife’s view of the tree in the Bookshop. I don’t like it, and I very rarely find things in Lego sets I don’t really enjoy (I will add I don’t have the Garage, so can’t comment on that. It does look a bit underdone though).
The tree does suck.