Lego-mania (Part I) - The Simpsons House

So I got really bored this one time and bought myself 2 boxes of Lego toys. Against the wiser judgement of my Better Half, I decided to get The Simpsons House and the Parisian Restaurant.

He said it would be a waste of money as the sets would serve no purpose other than being dust-collectors after they've been built. Recalling our conversation, now that both the sets have been completed, I think he may be slightly right.

I'm not really that big a fan of The Simpsons, I mean I don't mind watching it whenever it comes on TV but you won't find me fighting over the remote for it. I just thought the mini figures were really cute and the whole idea of the house opening up right through the middle was really cool. However, this didn't turn out to be as cool as I had thought it would be, but more on that later.

After almost 2.5 weeks of waiting, the 2 boxes of Lego toys finally arrived and the Better Half and I were really excited about it. We decided to embark on the assembly of The Simpsons House first.

The box opened up to several packs of bricks, numerically labeled 1 through 7, and you are supposed to build everything from pack 1, and then continue overlaying with pack 2, so on and so forth. It has been ages since I last touched Lego toys (about 16 years) and although the quality doesn't seem to have changed, the whole organization of the pieces and the instruction manuals have improved a great deal. I remember the Pirate set that I used to have as a child, wasn't easy to put together. But it could also be that I was a really stupid child back then.

Anyhow, putting together The Simpsons House was almost effortless. It did take some getting use to the bricks and such but overall, it was a piece of cake. What I love about Lego is that they include such detail in the sets. These details may not be very obvious to the overall structure of the set, but nevertheless, it is still really cool to know that they are there. It just adds to the fun of putting the set together.

So here's the exterior of the house, complete with the garage and their characteristic pink family car. As aforementioned, the house opens up right through the middle so you can see the hinges along the chimney where it opens up.

Here's another close of the pink car. It's amazing, Lego even included the busted bonnet on the side of the car! I love the car, I think it's really cute.

Next, here are the mini figures. Ned Flanders, their religious and kind yet annoying neighbour, was included in this set too.

I found the plastic sausages really funny. I kept bumping them off the table accidentally and we had to keep looking for them on the floor.

Here are more views of the interior. Do note the wall pictures of Grandpa and Maggie along the staircase. How adorable!

We had heaps of fun putting the miniature furniture together, especially the bookshelves and the beds. They are pretty realistic. My favourite part is actually putting together the bookshelves (as seen in Bart's room).

Here's one last shot of the garage. There's Homer's little work station and the detail on there is just amazing as well.

The inside of the house is gorgeous, but the outside is a little plain for me. It is very unlike the Parisian Restaurant (separate blog entry). I know I can't compare the two sets as they are very different, but The Simpsons House is a lot larger and just not practical for display, (at least not where I live right now, which is a teeny tiny space), given the way it swings outwards.

I did feel a sense of accomplishment upon the completion of this set but it was soon followed by a different thought. What am I going to do with it now? We kept the set for a week or so and then I decided to sell it off on eBay. Annnnnnd it was sold the very next morning to a woman in Melbourne! I am now trying to figure out a way to ship the set to her because she wants the original box as well. Will have to pay a friendly visit to my Post Master tomorrow.