Monday 27 January 2014

Lego 71006 The Simpsons House Review Part 2 ~ Upstairs

The first part of the Simpsons House review can be found here... After a good 10 hours building, writing it all up at once would have left me no time to play! Or sleep....

Bags no.5 - 3 bags containing the upstairs of the house excluding the removable section, the upstairs furniture and Maggie.


Maggie's room you soon realise is actually the end of Marge and Homer's bedroom when the house is closed, and Lisa's room seems tiny until you add the removable section. It's very cleverly designed to make great use of available space.



The cot is great,  there's no room to lie down, but who cares? The beds really make fantastic use of already available bricks to create a bed the figures can easily lie down on - although poor Marge has to hang her feet off the bottom of the bed! This build is a doll's house, there's no getting around it.

There are loads of extra free play parts throughout this build,  which will really encourage imaginative play. Lisa's room has a magnifying glass on the bookcase, and there's a wash basket in the adult's room.


The bathroom is the hidden room that you can't see until you take off the roof or open the door. It's fantastic with excellent use of space, even including a toilet roll!


The air conditioning unit is one of my favourite pieces of the whole build, with great use of ready available bricks and the last of the fantastic PROPERTY OF NED FLANDERS stickers....



End of Instruction Book 2

Bags no.6 - 2 bags which make up the roof sections. All of the roof sections are not attached to the body of the house and lift off very easily for play. They're sturdy and don't fall apart easily when manhandled either!


Bags no.7 - 3 bags which make up a removable section of the upper floor of house with furniture and the final minifigure in the set - Lisa.


Lisa has a fabric skirt, the same as Marge. While I much prefer these to the blocky sloped bricks that are often used to depict a skirt, if you're going to let children play with it then I hope they're not as fascinated as my nearly 4 year old who halves the lifespan simply by looking at it.


This is a section that was kept really secret, but it was clear it was going to be Bart's bedroom. It's also the landing and end of Lisa's bedroom.


I love the fact that all of the doors open onto the landing, and the stairs really work. As a child proper stairs and doors were something I really yearned for when I was playing with dolls houses or making Lego houses. It's proper.


Bart's furniture is now familiar, with the beautifully shaped beds, complete with pillows, turned down sheets and bedside cabinets.


Bart has a great little desk with an 'open drawer' which is ingeniously made again using the snot (studs not on top) bricks. Clearly the Lego design team realised they had been underused before.

The little details in this build are spot on. There are fantastic photo's on the stairs and there's a dent in the car, and the excellent PROPERTY OF NED FLANDERS stickers, and there are also a Radioactive Man comic for Bart and an A+ school work for Lisa. There are enough mugs for everyone to have a brew.


The use of colour throughout the entire build is brilliant. They've been able to really go to town and use the rarer colours. They've borrowed from the Lego Friends and other ranges - the vacuum cleaner is mainly made from a part we call a Droid.

The entire build took 2 of us around 10 hours. We're used to working on  Lego builds together, but were ahem....*assisted* by our 4 and 5 year olds. I'm not sure how good a guide that is for you really!


The best things about this build are the sheer playability, size and number of amazing extras - a camera and tripod, sun loungers and cocktails/smoothies, a wheelbarrow and plants, BBQ and sausages, the list goes on and on. It really offers excellent play value for a child younger than the 12+ this set is recommended for as a build. They may not be able to build it alone, but they can certainly enjoy it.


Nothing is perfect, so here's what's wrong....

They don't all fit in the car!! Well, they do, but I'm pretty sure it's not advised....and okay, they all usually go out as a family in Marge's Station Wagon, so we'll let you off....


They don't all fit on the sofa! That's just wrong. They definitely need to be able to seat 4 on the sofa... (without having to sit on the arms). I think that someone intended the sofa very slightly longer and the telephone table to go right into the alcove under the stairs, but you couldn't get your fingers in to reach it...


Hang on! Those stairs are on the wrong side! The very first time someone saw this photo they commented, and they're right. The house layout is not exactly true....at all....

Overall I think this is an excellent build. I guessed the price and age range before it was released, and I don't have any complaints. The footprint is plenty big enough and with the removable section, removable roof and split building it makes a huge area. 


All the loose parts and furniture are amazing and play value has clearly been heavily considered in the design. Almost everything is very strong and designed for accessibility, and because of the layout 2 children can play at once very comfortably.

At £179.99 this is not a cheap set, it's a really expensive big present (whether you buy it for someone else or yourself - like we did), but I believe in comparison with other Lego sets, competing bricks, dolls houses and small world sets it offers excellent value. As a build it's not particularly challenging, but it's incredibly rewarding. As a small world's play house it's absolutely brilliant. As a Simpsons product, or for that matter any other TV related product, I've never seen any better. I can't wait until the minifigure release so that we can add to the collection...



We got Early Access to The Simpsons House through the Lego VIP scheme, which anyone can join from the Lego Shop online. We bought and paid for it ourselves. All photo's were taken as we built, so some parts are not finished as you see them. The set goes on general release in February, is exclusive to The Lego Shop and The Lego Shop Online and costs £179.99 with free postage. Don't pay more!

32 comments:

  1. Fantastic post, I'm sure you'll make up a lot of Lego and Simpsons fans minds with it!

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    1. Aww, thank you Pippa. I could have made it 4 times as long, but I think I'd have bored you to death! :D

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  2. I'm loving all of the details on the characters and in the house, even if it isn't all perfect! I would be gluing this together as I went along!

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  3. That looks amazing - I had no idea lego was quite so intricate! :) x

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    1. It really is. It's a world away from what I had when I was a child - I'd have made my own version of all those items out of big bricks! :D

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  4. that is an awesome set and I love all the detail that you just don't get in the type of sets I am used too. so pleased you managed to finish it! it looks amazing!!

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    1. Cheers hon! There was never any chance we wouldn't finish it muhahaha :D

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  5. Gosh, I'm exhausted just reading this! It looks truly amazing, Although not really a Simpsons fan myself, the hubby is and he is very impressed (although I've set him straight he is NOT getting the set!) I am a LEGO fan though and I love all the little details and extras in this build, the cot and the piano look ace!

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    1. They are fantastic - just so great, I can stare at them for hours :D

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  6. Wow! To the product AND the post! Amazing :) Glad it was worth it for you - time and money wise!! x

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    1. Thank you! Such lovely comments :D
      We knew it was coming so we saved up and missed a couple of monthly take aways :p x

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  7. Great posts Jenny, the set look brilliant for small world play, even for those non-Simpsons fans like us. Love all the extra play pieces. This is a world we are just dipping our toes into, can't wait to share Monkey's journey as we see what Lego can offer these days.

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    1. Thank you Mary! Lego really is a world away from when we were children - all the things I desperately wanted to be able to make are right there :)

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  8. It really does look fab! Hope no glue was used in the construction LOL. I'm seriously tempted to invest it this and hope that Z takes a liking to the Simpsons. The house just looks fantastic!

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    1. Glue! Tsk! How dare you? :D
      I'm sure he'll take a liking to The Simpsons at some point :P

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  9. Wow - this really does look amazing!! Bet you had so much fun building this!!

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  10. Such an amazing house!! You guys did such an amazing job - glad I got to see it just as you had finished it... felt very honoured!! :) xx

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  11. Me and my mum are so, so jealous that you have the Simpsons House. I want to come and visit soon.
    Lots of love
    from
    lizzie xxx

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  12. It's so cool! I had never seen those fabric skirts before!! I only know the slopy bricks as skirts

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    1. :D It's true - fabric skirts are a fairly new thing for Lego ladies, it's been around for a while for capes though!

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  13. HAve to say that this looks AWESOME!!!! I am loving the detail, especially the teeny tiny toilet!

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    1. The toilet is great - but the loo roll and the shower cubicle are better! D

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  14. Wow! That looks amazing!! So much detail! Fantastic x

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    1. The detail really is fantastic. It's still out and being enjoyed every day:) x

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  15. This looks great.

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  16. Just collected mine and amazed how big and heavy box is can't wait to start

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    1. It is a humongous box, and a really fun build. Enjoy!

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  17. Love The Simpsons! So Simpsons LEGO WOW WOW WOW

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