10290 Pickup Truck was able to avoid the dreaded 2022 price rise, while other adult targeted sets weren’t so lucky. Today I am going to revisit this set and see if its worth picking up.
The Pickup Truck is an interesting set. It’s part of a series of great Creator Expert (now Icons) vehicles but it has the unique position of being unlicensed. I personally really like that because I don’t care about car brands at all. I can appreciate what this represents conceptually without it needing to be a specific car.
What exactly does this represent? To me it’s an homage to a simpler time and place. A life in the country without the troubles of the modern world. This set makes me want to move to the country and eat a lot of peaches.
In terms of the build I actually found this set to be really fiddly to put together. There were quite a few sections that I’d knock off while I was working on a different part. There are also some parts that, to me at least, feel like they aren’t well connected. I think once it all comes together its sturdy enough for an adult set, but if a kid were to play with this you’d have to do a fair bit of regular repairs.
I don’t think the fiddly-ness is a deal breaker. As a Creator Expert set you expect a certainly level of complexity to the build and I think that the pickup will easily keep you engaged as you work through it. There is plenty of snot work to achieve the various curves.
The engine build looks great. I can’t tell you if it’s accurate or not but it looks cool and I think that’s what really matters.
I like the way the sides of the tray can be removed. It’s not really a play feature but it does give you more flexibility in display.
One part of this set that I found a bit unnecessary was the volume of extra stuff that comes with it. The idea is that you get different seasonal accessories and I get that, but I also don’t think it’s worth the extra parts. I’ve didn’t finish the Fiat and think to myself “this is nice but I wish it had a winter aesthetic”. Building all those extra parts didn’t feel like I was building towards the end result. It felt like filler.
With an RRP of $199.99 I think this set is reasonably priced. Not amazing but reasonable. Availability does seem to be somewhat limited with the set not showing up broadly. Amazon does sell it though and currently has it listed for just $171 which is definitely a better price. [affiliate link]
This set was sent to me by LEGO at my request. Opinions are my own.
Lego shop at home recently had the pick-up truck 20%, not sure if it still is. Picked it up from Amazon at the end of the year sales for $160 but do find it weird that none of last years cars are widely available outside Lego yet the Vesper was everywhere within days of release. I hope this new trend of keeping D2C sets fairly in house by Lego does not continue, without the sale prices are lot are out of reach, especially with the price increases. Thanks for the article Michael.
I really like the set and agree with the review, but my one, and my brothers, both came with a variety of shades of the dark red pieces that really spoiled the look of the truck. Apparently it was a very common issue with this set. Hopefully they have sorted it out for later versions of it.