New Architecture Set 21011 Brandenburg Gate

bricknation

Look what I have found
I have googled it and... nothing!

Edited by @atkinsar - 22/07/11 13.24 BST - Reason: Image removed upon request from TLG

Cancan

WANT!!! That's a beauty!

Si_UKNZ

Where did u find it?

Another non-US architecture set? Must be a fake :)

bricknation

fake??? do they exist?
Manchester legoland has them. Almost all new sets are out in fact.

dougts

I have contemplated collecting sets from the architecture series on and off, but haven't done it yet. This one isn't going to make me start, but its a nice looking set.

bricknation

I just hate the prices - this one was £35

dougts

yeah, one of the main reasons I haven't got in on the product line.

gtg905s

fake??? do they exist?
Manchester legoland has them. Almost all new sets are out in fact.

BrickSet has 11 of them, plus the two new ones you bought.

How many more new sets are there?
Thanks!

jgadget

Ooh, is that mouldy cheese I see, in sand green?

technicaltactics

Gosh! Can't believe my eyes.. Another archectecture set? I must speculate that archetecture is not doing well, as the origional sets had a fair price, including Falling Water and the White House, but Rockefeller center, Fanworth house, the new red house, and this, ALL of them at Outrageous prices! For 35 Euros, this set seems to scream at me ,"Bad value for money!" Defineatly WILL NOT be trying to get this anytime soon.

Wardie73

mmm i'm at the Trafford centre tomorrow to see Cars 2, I will have to pop in to the lego store & splash some cash

Si_UKNZ

fake??? do they exist?

It was a joke :)

MinifigsMe

I must admit, I really can't see the appeal in this set at all...and EEK at the price!

rocao

^ Same here. I understand the historical significance of the Brandenburg Gate, but it's architecture is uninspiring, and this LEGO translation of it dilutes it even further. The horses for the chariot are laughably bad.

technicaltactics

The horses are so bad, you can't tell that they're horses. An appropriate price would be $20USD.

atkinsar

Huw has been asked by TLG to remove the image. Clarification is being sought as to why since it is already on sale but in the meantime, it's gone. Expect the image on the main site to go shortly too.

gtg905s

I don't understand why Lego is asking for the picture to be removed?
Also, why y'all took it down too! I understand you don't want to make anyone mad, but seems pretty weird for them to ask. the picture didn't come from Lego, or did it?

If the set has been released and is in the public domain, someone bought it and took a picture. lol

Huw

Apparently it's not supposed to be released until 1st September. I wonder if it's still on the shelves at LDC.

Talk about closing the gate after the horse has bolted!

gtg905s

Apparently it's not supposed to be released until 1st September. I wonder if it's still on the shelves at LDC.

Talk about closing the gate after the horse has bolted!

No kidding!

I wish Bricknation could of commented on any other new sets on the shelf or more pictures ;-)
I checked my Lego store and nothing new on the Architecture shelf.

Wardie73

I was at Trafford today & can confirm it's not on the shelves...

bricknation

Shame they took it off. It means i'm "probably" the only one to have it.
It TLG was to order them to take all new sets off the shelves they would have to empty half of the store. New Ninjago. New Technic. New Star Wars...

Wardie73

I can confirm Ninjago, Technic & Star Wars were on the shelves.

bricknation

^ was 21010 robie house gone?

Istokg

The LEGO Architectural Series of Sets by Adam Reed Tucker seem to come in 3 sizes... micro-mini (such as the Empire State Building and Sears (Willis Tower), micro scale, such as the Brandenburg Gate, and a larger size (such as the Robie House, Fallingwater and White House).

The price per part ratio on these sets are higher than other LEGO sets, and if you owned one, it would be wise to keep the box. I doubt that you will be seeing many of these parted (at least not the smaller sizes) parted out into Bricklink as spare parts. These are more like souvenir sets, and are sold at a premium.

The Brandenburg Gate set is not that bad... for the micro size it is done it. To call the Brandenburg Gate uninspiring, I think does a disservice to its' original purpose... it was not just a lawn ornament such as Marble Arch, the Arc d'Triomphe, Albert Memorial or the Arch of Titus... but served as one of 18 (and last surviving) gateway to the city of Berlin in the late 18th Century. It was a tollway, custom house, and guardhouse for the city, especially for commerce entering the city... and I say it does that magnificently. Today it forms the western terminus of Unter Den Linden, the main thoroughfare boulevard of Berlin, and is one of Europe's major icons, even before the upheavals of 1989.

It's architect was Carl Gotthart Langhans... not exactly a great name among European (or even German) architects (Sir Christopher Wren, Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Balthasar Neumann). His inspiration was the Propylaea, the gateway to the Acropolis complex in Athens. However his design is reminiscent of the earliest known examples of "attached arches"... those found created by the worlds first known architect... Imhotep... builder of the Step Pyramid at Saqqara Egypt. It was Imhotep's Mortuary Temple complex for 3rd dynasty Pharoah Djoser that inspired the first use of columns... but they were "attached columns" just like those at the Brandenburg Gate. Apparently during Imhotep's 28th century BC time detatched columns were still too risky of an architectural undertaking.

Now as for the model... yes, I would have preferred it in a larger size, such as using 2x2 round bricks for the main columns (nstead of "rusticated" 1x1 rounds), and I would have used the 1x1 rounds for the side buildings (instead of the antennae parts).

But unless you made the gateway on a minifig scale ($$$), any type of quadriga (4 horses pulling a man in a chariot holding the Roman Standard)... would be a failure. There was just no other option for that type of detail in such a small size. I think that Mr. Tucker made the most of a bad situation. The only alternative I could have seen would be some kind of stickers, and that would be rather kitschy.

TLG was pursuaded by Adam Reed Tucker to create a new (long overdue in IMHO) inside corner low slope brick for the Robie House... something that will be a great addition to realistic buildings in the future. But I doubt he could get them to budge on a "mini-quadriga".

rocao

^ I definitely understand the difficulty in scale, although I do have a few pieces in mind that I think could have represented it better.

I still stand by my statement that the architecture is uninspiring, but I will qualify it further by saying that this is in direct comparison to the countless other world landmarks from which TLG and Adam Reed Tucker could have chosen.

Huw

This story has been picked up by fbtb and brothers-brick (I wonder how that could have happened? ;-)) and are showing the original picture.

Is it still in the shelves at LDC?

bricknation

I have just built it. I'm just putting together a photo review - should be ready and posted on eurobricks in few hours.

^ No its been taken off the shelves - it wasn't there day after I posted the picture. 81010 Robie House is gone too although it was available for few more days.

rocao

Hopefully TLG won't take a page out of Apple's book and request law enforcement to knock down your door and confiscate it :p

bricknation

I won't keep it at home just in case :P

bricknation

Link to my review with loads of pictures
http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=58541

Istokg

Thanks for the great review and pics bricknation. I think that the addition of the German "Brandeburger Tor" printed tile was a nice touch.

These architectural sets are not meant for parting out into Bricklink... they're meant as souvenir sets in a sense, which explains their costs... but I guess the cost criticism is understandable. But this set comes with more useful parts than some of the other smaller architectural sets.

rocao

^ agree, but I'm holding out hope that I'll get amazingly lucky in the Borders liquidation and pick some Fallingwaters at enough of a discount where it actually might be plausible as a set for parts.