Playing Catch-up

I consider myself very fortunate that the first of LEGO's Modular Buildings, Set 10182 Cafe Corner (below), was still on the shelves when I emerged bleary-eyed from my LEGO Dark Ages in the late 2000s. I've written previously (here) about my love for the Modular Buildings, and have coincidentally just submitted what amounts to a eulogy on the subject of Cafe Corner to Bricks Culture magazine which will appear in Issue 5. Cafe Corner provided me with my first ever experience of building an adult-oriented LEGO set and it was a game-changer for me, opening my eyes to the potential of LEGO like no set before it or since. For the next few years I eagerly snapped up every new Modular Building that LEGO released within days of release, and everything else LEGO-related would immediately grind to a halt while I built it. Set 10185 Green Grocer was next to be acquired, and to this day remains possibly my favourite of all the Modulars. That was followed by Set 10190 Market Street, with Set 10197 Fire Brigade and then Set 10211 Grand Emporium next in line. While I definitely have my favourites, all of those sets share to a greater or lesser extent the same characteristics which drew me to Cafe Corner in the first place, fundamentally a sense that I was building something special, and with a level of polish far beyond any LEGO set I'd encountered previously.

It couldn't last, though. With the growth of my LEGO hobby in various different directions, not to mention work and family commitments, I haven't been able to keep it going. While I've continued to buy the Modulars as they've been released, life no longer grinds to a halt when they arrive, and to my shame I've still not built some of them. To some extent, the availability of quality online reviews and photographs, in tandem with seeing the completed sets on display in my local LEGO brand store, makes it feel like I've already built them all, but it's obviously not the same as building them myself. I'm therefore going to do something about it - basically, the plan is to crack open some of the Modulars that I haven't built yet, with a view to displaying them on my City Layout. First up is Set 10243 Parisian Restaurant, released in January 2014.

The front of the box (above) shows the completed set in all its glory. The Parisian Restaurant was only the second Modular to carry the Creator Expert branding, with the discrete Creator Expert logo visible top right. The set's 2,469 elements make this the second largest Modular to date in terms of the parts count, while the 16+ age recommendation whets the appetite for the advanced building techniques to come. The back of the box (below) highlights various views and features of the completed model, and there's also advertising for the three Modulars that were available at retail at the time of the set's release.

The box is opened by cutting a couple of tape seals, revealing a total of 18 sealed bags of elements, a light bluish grey 32 x 32 baseplate and dark bluish grey 8 x 16 plate loose in the box, and a sealed packet containing some instruction booklets plus a sheet of cardboard to keep them flat. There's thankfully no sticker sheet.

The set includes three instruction booklets and you can see the front cover of the first booklet in the picture above. Between them, the instruction booklets contain 177 pages not including their front covers; apart from three pages of advertisements (sample page below) and a three-page inventory of elements at the back of the third booklet it's building instructions all the way.

The set contains a total of 5 minifigures. All of them are exclusive to the set, although many of their constituent parts are commonly available elsewhere, notably their generic minifigure heads, unprinted legs, hair and chef's hat. That's not the case for some of the torsos, though - the female artist (below, far left) has a torso print which has only ever graced 3 minifigures, while the blonde-haired business man (second left) has a torso which has appeared as a part of just eight minifigures in total. The prints which decorate the torsos of the chef (below centre), the waiter (second right) and the female with ponytail (far right) are less rare, with all of them having appeared in more than ten other minifigures.

You can see a rear view of the minifigures minus their hair and hats below. Only three of the five minifigures have backprinted torsos. The female artist features a torso backprint of a dragon; there are no prizes for guessing that the only other two minifigures which share this torso backprint are both versions of Sensei Wu from the Ninjago theme.

And so to the build, which the instruction booklets break down into four stages. Stage 1 kicks off with the assembly of three of the set's minifigures plus a red scooter. The scooter (below) appears to have been modelled on a classic Vespa and features a one-piece body which was new and exclusive when the set was initially released but which has since appeared in a further five sets.

The build proper starts with a light bluish grey 32 x 32 baseplate; this is the only time that a 32 x 32 baseplate in this colour has ever appeared in a set. Tiles are dropped into place on the baseplate to represent the pavement outside the building, a strip of red carpet at the restaurant entrance, and the patterned floor inside the building. I had a real sense of deja vu as I gradually mapped out the ground floor of the building and filled various areas with tiles as every Modular Building I've ever assembled started out this way. Tan 1 x 1 and 1 x 2 plates are used to spell out the first part of the restaurant's name - "CHEZ" - on what will become the floor of the front outdoor dining area; once this area has been completed, and tables and chairs have been installed, the lettering is all but obscured, but it's a nice little detail all the same.

However much I might enjoy building Modulars, I can't say I was overjoyed to discover that the kitchen floor consists of almost 50 white and dark blue 1 x 1 tiles - I've always hated tiling with 1 x 1 tiles, mainly as it's so fiddly to line them up neatly. With the tiling done it's time to furnish the kitchen. A number of kitchen units are constructed which incorporate a sink, hob, oven, drawers and assorted work surfaces upon which plates, wine glasses and various foodstuffs are placed. There's even a large turkey complete with a couple of detachable drumsticks. Indoor and outdoor seating is then installed, and the boundary between the outdoor seating area and the pavement is decorated with flowers and fenced off with black chain-link fencing. The outdoor floral displays are planted in pots each consisting of a dark red 2 x 2 round brick with dome bottom; these were brand new elements at the time of the Parisian Restaurant's release. Stage 1 concludes with the construction of a number of indoor and outdoor tables for the restaurant's diners; the indoor tables are decorated with lamps which feature the same dark red 2 x 2 round bricks with dome bottom that were previously employed as plant pots, albeit used upside down in this instance.

Stage 2 of the build starts with assembly of the final two minifigures, after which work recommences on the ground floor of the restaurant. Lots of lovely olive green bricks are used to build the walls of the restaurant's ground floor - 1 x 1, 1 x 2, 1 x 3, 1 x 4, 1 x 6 and 1 x 8 bricks all feature, together with olive green 1 x 1 and 1 x 2 plates, so there's a decent selection for those builders looking to build their own olive green MOCs with the contents of the set. None of the olive green bricks used in the set have made an appearance in more than a small handful of other sets, and the olive green 1 x 3 and 1 x 8 bricks are unique to this set as things currently stand. As the walls start to increase in height, a nice brick-built rolling pin plus a selection of kitchen knives are mounted on clips on the kitchen wall, while an attractive sideboard is placed against the back wall of the main dining area and a painting in the form of a dark tan 2 x 2 tile printed with sailing ship and moon pattern is mounted on another of the interior walls. Eight reddish brown 1 x 2 x 3 windows plus transparent window panes are incorporated into the walls at the back of the restaurant; at the time of the set's release these elements had never previously been included in a set in this colour, although they've appeared in a few more sets since. Floor to ceiling windows are then installed along the front of the building together with a large glass door, and decorative lintels are placed over the top of each of them. The spaces between the windows and doors are occupied by ornate white columns featuring some clever detailing, for instance repurposed mechanical arms previously seen in the likes of the Exo-Force theme.

With the windows, doors and columns in place, an eye-catching facade was starting to materialise; this became even more impressive thanks to the addition of some sumptuous-looking brick-built dark blue curtains. The ground floor walls are then raised by another couple of bricks in height before being topped off by a layer of light bluish grey tiles in preparation for the placement of the second floor. Additional outdoor fixtures and fittings are then added at the front of the restaurant, notably some rather lethal-looking vegetation in the form of green flexible 3.5L spikes which have only ever appeared in five sets, a menu on a stand which makes use of a 2 x 2 printed tile that's unique to the set, and a dark red awning upon which a new 2 x 4 tile printed with the name of the restaurant, Chez Albert, is mounted. The awning features some rare dark red elements - a pair of 3 x 3 33 degree slopes and a pair of 3 x 3 33 degree double convex slopes - which have only ever appeared in a total of three and four sets respectively. A cast iron-effect awning is then attached above the outdoor dining area, and three lamps are hung from it; this awning will later be covered with vegetation, but not until the very end of the build for some reason. Hand rails are then installed on the outdoor staircase, after which we move to the rear of the building (below) and make some additions; vegetation in the form of large and small plant leaves decorated with 1 x 1 red flower heads and bright green carrot tops is hung from the rear wall, and a black vertical drainpipe is attached. We also get a small green dustbin and a brick-built blue dumpster complete with some hot dogs, bones and magenta cherries to put in it; we're even provided with a light bluish grey rat to sniff around the dustbin.... The final act of Stage 2 is to return to the front of the building and install a white lamp post on the pavement.

Stage 3 of the build consists of construction of the second floor of the restaurant, including the rear corner terrace (below) which is built first. The rear corner terrace is constructed on a patchwork of dark bluish grey plates and comprises seating and tables similar to those found in the outside dining area at the front of the restaurant, plus handrails and a pair of lamps complete with cute hanging baskets.

You can see how the rear corner terrace attaches to the completed ground floor section in the picture below. The terrace links up nicely with the staircase to the right of the building, and it also provides access to the second floor of the building which is next to be constructed.

The second floor comprises a small bedsit complete with a bed, a kitchen diner, a fireplace and a cosy tan armchair plus a glass-topped coffee table. The kitchen diner includes an oven and a hob complete with a frying pan; kitchen storage is provided by some drawers and a high-level wall-mounted cupboard. A dark tan and medium blue bed folds away neatly into the back wall to create more space in the cramped living quarters, and there's a floor-standing lamp in the corner which once again makes good use of the inverted dark red flower pot element described earlier. Out front there are window boxes and a glass door which leads out on to a small balcony framed with white columns (below); attractive detailing featuring decorative arches fashioned from white car mudguards is dropped into place above the windows, and the second floor is topped off with tiles in preparation for the placement of the roof.

Two doors lead out from the back of the second floor (below). One of these doors provides access to a tiny balcony while the other leads out to the previously constructed rear corner terrace and also to a flight of outdoor stairs which ascend to the as-yet unbuilt top floor of the building. Fences and hand-rails are installed to enclose the outdoor walkways including the stairs, and a section of vertical drainpipe is attached to the back wall.

Attention now shifts to the last of the three instruction booklets and Stage 4 of the build, which entails construction of the roof and the studio within. Some of the most eye-catching aspects of the completed model are constructed at this stage and can be seen at the front of this section (picture below). A highlight is the pair of large, white ornamental structures embedded in the roof. When I saw the first promotional pictures of the Parisian Restaurant it was these that immediately stood out, and they're fashioned at this stage of the build. The centrepiece of each of these structures is a white clam shell which, to my surprise, dates back to 1998 in this colour and has appeared in more than 20 sets to date. The clam shell is framed by a pair of vehicle mudguards which are mounted opposite each other to form an oval. Additional detail is provided by a pair of white croissants which were exclusive to the set at the time of its release, although have subsequently appeared in two more sets. There's also some lovely detailing consisting of repeating, closely-packed dark bluish grey feathers which are arranged in a row where the roof meets the floor below.

The front roof section clips in at an angle to create a sloping roof. It's fashioned from alternating dark blue 3 x 1 and 4 x 1 curved slopes, a technique which creates an interesting textured effect that you'll either think looks really neat, or else a bit messy (I definitely vote for "really neat"). At the rear (below) there's a pair of window boxes which utilise a number of bright green and red round 1 x 1 plates with flower edge. There's also a small yellow and white awning which brings to mind Cafe Corner. The angled rear roof section cleverly incorporates three Velux-type windows, and there's also a back door to the studio.

The rear roof section is hinged and drops open to reveal an art studio within the roof (below). The studio includes a couple of tiled canvasses, a brick-built easel and a paint palette which first appeared as an accessory supplied with the Artist Series 14 Collectible Minifigure. The studio also incorporates a fireplace which is covered by a hinged, iron-effect door.

With Stage 4 of the build done and dusted, all that's left to do is stack the various sections, attach some vegetation to the top of the cast iron awning on the ground floor, and the Parisian Restaurant is complete (below). The row of closely-packed dark bluish grey feathers at the base of the roof section that I mentioned earlier can be seen a little more clearly if you zoom in to the picture below.

From the back (below) you can see how the rear corner terrace, outdoor staircase and rear doorways connect. There's an impressive amount of detail on view at the back of the model given that many builders will likely display the completed model in such a way that the rear won't even be visible; it's just another reminder of the care and attention that's lavished on the Modulars by the set designers.

So what's the verdict? Well, I absolutely love this set. Moreover, I reckon that it's probably my favourite Modular Building since Set 10185 Green Grocer which is really saying something since Green Grocer is my pick of all the Modulars. It's a bit of a relief, actually - having already formed a very positive impression of the set from reading reviews, scrutinising photographs and seeing the completed build at my local LEGO brand store, there was always a risk that it might not live up to my expectations when I finally got around to building it; in fact, I now have a heightened appreciation of all the little details and clever building techniques, and I like the set all the more as a result. I think the olive green and dark blue colour scheme looks great, and the overall design and proportions work beautifully. There's also some truly impressive detailing, and critically I think that these details genuinely enhance the overall appearance rather than feeling gratuitous and out of place which can sometimes be the case.

In the interests of balance I guess I should highlight a couple of possible niggles. Firstly, while I personally think that the model is elegant and nicely proportioned, some might feel that it's a bit small and not great value for money; certainly there's a fair bit of empty space on the baseplate out front and round the back, and the presence of the external staircases and the rear corner terrace further reduces the size of the actual building.  Also, there are a few incongruous patches of tan and black showing through on the outside walls as a consequence of attaching various wall-mounted interior decorations. It would however have been hard to avoid this problem without the use of a double-walled building technique similar to that employed in the recent Ghostbusters Firehouse HQ set, and in all honesty it's not a sufficiently big deal to justify the cost of all the extra bricks that would be needed. It is slightly jarring, though.

In summary, therefore, I can wholeheartedly recommend this set, both to Modular veterans (who will admittedly almost certainly have already bought it long ago....) and also to those who are new to the world of Modular Buildings and may be looking to dip a toe into the water and see what all the fuss is about. As I write, the set is still available from LEGO brand stores and online from shop.lego.com where it'll set you back £132.99 / US$159.99 / 149.99€. Best buy it before it's retired from sale, though, or you might find that it shoots up in price on the aftermarket, similar to what's happened with many of the other best-loved Modulars. Don't say you weren't warned....

"And the Gimme LEGO Readers' Choice Award for Best Set of 2014 goes to...."

.....Set 10243 Parisian Restaurant.

If ever you needed proof that the LEGO Modular Buildings have lost none of their allure then this is it - the Parisian Restaurant opened up a healthy lead in the polls early on and never really looked like being overhauled, although Set 70816 Benny's Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! at least put up a good fight and kept the competition respectable. The Parisian Restaurant can therefore claim an auspicious double, having already bagged my award for Best Non-Licensed Set in the 2014 Gimme LEGO Awards; although it was narrowly edged into second place in my own affections by Set 70810 MetalBeard's Sea Cow it's undoubtedly a worthy winner and yet another feather in the cap of uber-designer Jamie Berard whose CV grows ever longer and more impressive. You can see Jamie talking about the set in the designer video below.

The final rankings are shown below together with the number of votes polled by each of the sets. While the Parisian Restaurant and Benny's Spaceship were clearly well ahead of the other contenders, overall the votes were quite a lot more evenly spread compared with the 2013 poll when the top two sets polled more than two-thirds of all the votes. Although it was undoubtedly a cool set, I have to confess to being a little surprised that Benny''s Spaceship did so well; in contrast, I'd expected Set 21109 Exo-Suit and Set 76023 The Tumbler to attract more votes. I obviously did a reasonable job of selecting the best sets of 2014 for people to vote for as only 24 people (2.8%) felt that their favourite lay outside the list that I provided; off-piste selections included the likes of Set 76021 The Milano Spaceship Rescue.

Interestingly, voter numbers were down on the 2013 poll even though more people viewed the 2014 Awards posting on Gimme LEGO compared with the numbers who viewed the 2013 Awards posting - barely 10% of people reading the Awards posting placed a vote, compared with around 14% in 2013. Given this, particular thanks are due to Huw at Brickset for publicising the Gimme LEGO Awards and the readers' vote and thus helping to ensure a healthy sample size for the poll. Thanks also to all of you who voted.

I'd like to end by wishing all Gimme LEGO readers a belated Happy New Year, and here's hoping that LEGO's 2015 offerings can maintain the high standards of 2014!

The Gimme LEGO Awards 2014

Yes - it's that time again! Welcome to the 2014 Gimme LEGO Awards and my annual trawl through the good, the bad and the ugly of the year viewed through LEGO spectacles. This is the fourth year I've presented the awards and as ever my selections are entirely subjective so please feel free to leave a comment if you violently disagree (or indeed agree...) with any of my selections. So here we go....

1. Best Theme

Last year's winner : Creator, including Creator Expert

2014 winner : The LEGO Movie

Yeah, I know - surprising, eh? I don't mind admitting that I winced when the LEGO Movie was annnounced - I feared that it'd be a car crash. I was similarly sniffy about the prospect of a raft of lazy tie-in sets which I assumed would target starry-eyed juveniles fresh out of the movie theatre and offer little in the way of originality or creativity. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Not only did the movie turn out to be a whole lot better than I had feared, but so far as the LEGO Movie sets themselves were concerned the lazy tie-ins for the most part failed to materialise and what we got instead was surprisingly good in the main.

The eye-catching flagship of the theme (both literally and metaphorically) was obviously Set 70810 Metalbeard's Sea Cow, but the reason that the LEGO Movie wins Best Theme this year isn't just about a couple of stand-out sets, it's instead a reflection of the number and diversity of quality sets at a variety of different price points. The roster of interesting and creative offerings starts at pocket money prices, and there's something worth having at pretty much every price point thereafter I reckon, including the likes of Set 70803 Cloud Cuckoo Palace, Set 70808 Super Cycle Chase, and of course Set 70816 Benny's Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! which turned out to be one of the most talked-about sets of the year.

Unfortunately, the LEGO Movie set line up for 2015 is looking distinctly thin right now, with only three small sets on the horizon at time of writing; with the LEGO Movie sequel not due until 2017 this isn't altogether surprising. Let's just hope that LEGO is already preparing to impress us with another stellar line-up of tie-in sets in 2017.

Honourable mention : LEGO Ideas. From its humble origins as LEGO Cuusoo and the release of the Japan-only Set 21100 Shinkai 6500 Submarine, LEGO's crowd sourcing platform really exploded into the public consciousness over the past couple of years with the hugely successful Minecraft and Back to the Future DeLorean releases. I reckon that 2014 was the strongest year yet, with highlights including Pete Reid's Exo-Suit and Brent Waller's Ghostbusters Ecto-1, although I thought that all four 2014 LEGO Ideas releases had their merits. With Tom Poulsom's Birds project set to hit the shelves in early January, LEGO Ideas looks set to continue to be a source of diverse and at times quirky products, and long may that continue.

Honourable mention #2 : Mixels. Written off by some as just another cartoon tie-in, the Mixels have turned out to be a bona fide phenomenon. Some excellent creature designs, a nice selection of parts, and very competitive pricing have ensured that they've flown off the shelves from day one, and they seem to have captured the imaginations of younger builders and AFOLs alike. Although you have to wonder how long LEGO can continue to pump out new Mixel tribes with their own unique identities, people have been saying that about the Collectable Minifigures for years now and still they keep coming. Providing LEGO can keep the quality of designs high and the prices low there's no reason why the Mixels can't carry their success on into 2015.

2. Most Disappointing Theme

Last year's 'winner': Super Heroes

2014 'winner': Not awarded

You know what? There actually isn't a standout candidate this year in my opinion, so fair's fair - I'm not awarding the 'prize'. That having been said, there are undoubtedly a few themes whose 2014 report card might conceivably read "Could do better".... Last year's 'winner' was the Super Heroes theme, and if I'm honest there were still too many mediocre DC and Marvel Super Heroes sets released this year; that having been said, the theme was dragged up to a respectable level overall by a few genuinely decent offerings such as the excellent Set 76023 The Tumbler and the better-than-expected Guardians of the Galaxy sets. Elsewhere, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles offerings were a bit of a mash-mash, a situation not helped by the mixture of cartoon and movie sets in the line-up, but again the theme was saved by a few worthy efforts, particularly the Batcave-like Set 79117 Turtle Lair Invasion. Finally, LEGO's saturation of the market with what felt like a million Legends of Chima sets was neither subtle nor it seems particularly successful; even so, some of the Chima sets were pretty good - imaginative, well-designed and fun to build - so credit where credit's due.

3. The "Medieval Market Village" award for Best Non-Licensed Set

Last year's winner : Set 10232 Palace Cinema

2014 winner : Set 10243 Parisian Restaurant

Ho hum - another year, another Modular Building taking the non-licensed plaudits. Honestly, there's a danger that this category will end up having to be renamed 'The "Modular Building" award for Best Non-Licensed Set' at this rate. But what can you do? After all, while LEGO continue to release beautiful sets like the Parisian Restaurant I'm hardly going to just ignore them in order to give other sets a chance, am I? Let's therefore just sit back and rejoice at yet another wonderful addition to the Modular Building range.

What struck me first when I saw the pre-release publicity shots of the set was the colour scheme. The Modulars have frequently championed less common colours and the Parisian Restaurant is no exception with its predominantly olive green and dark blue colour scheme. This choice isn't just a gift for builders looking to bolster their stocks of elements in these colours either - I think the combination looks lovely. The next thing that struck me was just how much is crammed into the model - this isn't just a static display piece, it's a vibrant, detailed scene which captures an astonishing level of detail both inside and out. Honestly, every time I look at it my eyes are drawn to something different.

A characteristic feature of the Modular Buildings is their ingenious use of elements, often in the pursuit of architectural detail. Once again the Parisian Restaurant doesn't disappoint, as evidenced by the the sea shell and croissants on the roof (above) or any number of other lovely little touches worked into the design. To sum up, I think it's a beautiful model that's fun to build, packed with interesting elements and rare colours, overflowing with detail, and a tutorial in advanced and ingenious building techniques to boot. At £132.99 / US$159.99 / €149.99 for 2,469 pieces it's even reasonably priced. Stunning.

Honourable Mention : Set 31021 Furry Creatures. OK, so this Creator 3-in-1 set was never realistically going to win the award, not against the Parisian Restaurant or even other stand-out non-licensed offerings such as Set 10244 Fairground Mixer or Set 21109 Exo-Suit. But few 2014 sets have this much personality or indeed the ability to make me smile like this one does - the startled-looking mouse alone never fails to crack me up. This has been a good year for cartoon-styled sets, with seasonal offerings such as Set 40090 Halloween Bat and Set 40092 Reindeer nicely complementing the Creator 3-in-1 animal sets. Set 31031 Rainforest Animals looks set to continue the trend in 2015, and I for one can't wait for more.

Other contenders: Set 21009 Exo-Suit, Set 10244 Fairground Mixer.


4. Best Licensed Set

Last year's winner : Set 10236 Ewok Village

2014 winner: Set 70810 Metalbeard's Sea Cow

Similar to last year this was a fiercely contested category with a lot of outstanding licensed contenders vying for the prize. Ultimately, however, the decision wasn't too hard, with one set rising above its peers to claim the win. I built and reviewed the Sea Cow back in June and thought then that it was pretty much nailed on for the Best Licensed Set award; while the appearance of the Tumbler in November at least made a contest of it, the Sea Cow still gets my vote.

Prior to sitting down and writing this, I spent a few moments re-examining the Sea Cow model which is still built and on display in my house. I then took a quick look back at the review I wrote 6 months ago. The review is pretty gushing, using words like "spectacular", "remarkable" and "stunning", but I can confirm that those words ring as true now as they did then - the Sea Cow is a special set and deserves all the plaudits that I can throw at it.

The first thing you notice is just how huge it is - more than half a metre tall and around 60 cm long. What's remarkable is that seemingly every bit of space inside and out is crammed with little details - in the review I likened it to the kind of attention to detail that'd you'd generally only find lavished on the modular buildings. It's also incredibly quirky, the Steampunk-inspired fusion of olde worlde galleon with more modern machinery and weapons making for an at-times bizarre spectacle. And yet despite this the finished model just works, unlike some previous left-field experiments that I could mention (Time Cruisers I'm looking at you....).

Another thing worth highlighting is just how much fun it is to build; there's an almost organic feel to some sections and the build is never dull. There's an interesting selection of elements used, including a few which are unique to the set, and a number of interesting building techniques are showcased - construction of the sails using Technic panels is ingenious, as is the use of minifigure whips for ornamental detailing, to provide just a couple of examples.

While summing up my thoughts on Set 10236 Ewok Village which was my Best Licensed Set in the 2013 Gimme LEGO Awards, I made the point that such sets are a reminder that the LEGO company are still willing to take commercial risks in order to give their fans incredible products. This is doubly true for the Sea Cow which doesn't even have the Star Wars juggernaut behind it. For what it's worth, I'd rate the Sea Cow ahead of the Ewok Village - it's that good.

Honourable Mention : Set 76023 The Tumbler 

Rumours of a UCS Tumbler were doing the rounds for a while before the set was finally announced; I have to admit that I didn't give the rumours much credence which shows how much I know.... When The Tumbler did eventually appear in November it didn't disappoint - it's huge, incredibly detailed and immediately recognisable. Interestingly, the set seems to have caught the eye of people who I wouldn't necessarily credit with being LEGO fans - a couple of friends of mine have bought it despite having not built a LEGO model for years, and the set has received extensive media coverage well beyond the usual LEGO-friendly media. Spectacular.

Other contenders : Set 70816 Benny's Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP!, Set 21108 Ghostbusters Ecto-1, Set 71006 The Simpsons House, Set 75059 Sandcrawler.


5. The "Phantom Menace" Award for Most Disappointing Set

Last year's winner : Set 76008 Iron Man vs. The Mandarin: Ultimate Showdown

2014 winner: Set 76014 Spider-Trike vs. Electro

Oh no - not again.... Having served up the 'winner' and the runner up in this category last year, the Super Heroes theme has somehow managed to achieve an ignominious double by grabbing the worst set award for the second year running - for shame!

You know, I get that minifigures are big business, and that for (presumably) licensing reasons LEGO can't release the minifigures on their own. I also appreciate that the set designers didn't have much budget left to play with after the cost of the minifigures had been accounted for. But a Spider-Trike? Really?! It's not even cool looking - it almost seems as if LEGO have gone for the "designed by a 5-year old" look in order to be consistent with the 5-12 age rating on the front of the box. Lest anyone forget, Spiderman can negotiate whole city blocks in moments by spinning webs and swinging from skyscraper to skyscraper. And yet he gets a Spider-Trike. That's just rubbish, and if you can't see why then I despair.

(Dis)honourable mentions: Set 21107 The End and Set 21117 Ender Dragon. Just to be clear, I don't have an issue with Minecraft - I played it for a couple of weeks in the name of research and quite enjoyed it, and I'm perfectly happy to encourage my youngster's enthusiasm for it. I also liked most of the Minecraft microscale sets, and I've bought a few of the minifigure-scale Minecraft sets as Christmas presents. Be assured, therefore, that my scorn for Set 21107 The End isn't ideological, just a reflection of the fact that I think it looks a bit rubbish. And Set 21117 Ender Dragon looks even worse, a rare misstep in what is otherwise a decent first wave of minifigure scale Minecraft sets.

6. Best Minifigure

Last year's winner : Tonto

2014 winner : Itchy and Scratchy

Perhaps the most subjective judgement of all, the 'Best Minifigure' award is increasingly hard to judge because the quality of LEGO's minifigures has become simply extraordinary over the past few years. Consequently, the choice is increasingly driven by more intangible factors rather than any objective measure. With all that in mind I'm going for a joint award this year, and Itchy and Scratchy get the nod. Although I do think they look great, they didn't win because they're particularly detailed - there are a host of other 2014 minifigures which feature more intricate and beautiful printing - nor indeed because they're an outstanding likeness of the subject matter. They basically win because my heart filled with joy the moment I liberated them from their foil packs, spied their mischievous expressions and set them loose on each other, and I still grin every time I see them.

Honourable Mention : Green Classic Spaceman. For me, one of the best stories of 2014 was the success of Pete Reid's Exo-Suit on LEGO Ideas, Mark Stafford's sympathetically designed retail version of the model, and the enormous buzz that surrounded the launch of the set. While the Exo-Suit itself came out really well, the icing on the cake was the inclusion of a pair of never-previously-seen green Classic Spacemen - fan service simply doesn't come any better than that.

Other contenders : Collectable Minifigures Series 12 Piggy Guy, The LEGO Movie Benny


7. The "Better than Expected" Award

Last year's winner : The Lone Ranger theme

2014 winner : The LEGO Movie

Given all my comments earlier on in this post, I guess that the recipient of this award is no surprise to anybody; while it might have been nice to try and spread the awards around a bit more, any other choice in this category would have been absurd.

Similar to the Lone Ranger theme last year, my expectations for the LEGO Movie itself, not to mention the sets based on the movie, were pretty low. To say that what we ultimately got was a pleasant surprise is therefore a gross understatement; it speaks volumes that I'm disappointed that as previously stated we're only getting three small LEGO Movie sets among the first wave of 2015 releases.

Honourable Mention : LEGO Star Wars Microfighters sets. These pocket-money sets featuring chibi-style renditions of iconic Star Wars vehicles complete with a minifigure looked faintly ridiculous in the publicity shots. The minifigures were absurdly oversized for the models, and it felt a bit like another cynical attempt to shoe-horn minifigures into unsuitable sets. Except that when I took the plunge, built and reviewed one of them (you can find the review here) I couldn't help but like it.... Clearly I wasn't alone as a second wave of Microfighters sets are incoming for 2015, and I'll likely be getting them.

Honourable Mention #2 : Guardians of the Galaxy sets.  Given the extent to which the Marvel and DC Super Heroes sets have blotted their copybook over the past couple of years I was fully expecting the Guardians of the Galaxy sets to follow the tried and trusted formula of rubbish models used as an excuse to release a bunch of minifigures to a ravenous fanbase. What we actually got was nothing of the sort, though - all three retail sets were decent, particularly the largest of them which I reviewed here. A nice reminder that LEGO can still design worthwhile System scale Super Heroes sets as well as just excellent minifigures.

8. Most Welcome LEGO-Related Announcement

Last year's winner : Peter Reid's Exo Suit to be the next Cuusoo Set

2014 Winner : UCS Slave 1 incoming

LEGO have been drip-feeding us with Star Wars UCS sets since 1999, generally a couple per year. Up until now, however, there's been a massive Slave 1-shaped hole in the UCS line-up; given the iconic nature of the ship, not to mention the perfectly manageable scale and technical feasibility of the design task, the lack of a Slave 1 has been a baffling and frustrating omission. Until now, that is - the wrong will soon be righted with the imminent arrival of a UCS version of Boba Fett's Slave 1. What's more, I've been lucky enough to get my hands on a pre-release copy of the set (review here) and I'm delighted to report that it's superb. So any chance of a UCS A-wing next, or even an AT-AT....? :-)  

Honourable mention : Birds to be made into a LEGO Ideas set. Granted LEGO Ideas has spawned a number of desirable sets to date, but I know I'm not alone in bemoaning the preponderance of licensed creations on the platform. I'm all for LEGO versions of some classic I.P's, but not to the exclusion of everything else; it's almost as if a generation of builders has lost the ability to come up with their own original ideas. It was therefore gratifying when Tom Poulsom's Birds project hit 10,000 votes on LEGO Ideas and got the greenlight for production. The resulting set, which will be available in early January 2015, consists of three beautifully-designed models of birds, and there isn't a licensed I.P. in sight. More original concepts like Birds and the Exo-Suit please, LEGO.

Honourable mention #2: Jurassic World sets announced. I love dinosaurs, and I love LEGO dinosaur sets. I can't get enough of them. Imagine my joy, therefore, at the announcement that LEGO have signed up to create sets based upon the upcoming Jurassic World movie. Hopefully LEGO will also go back in time and give us some Jurassic Park sets while they're about it.... LEGO Jurassic World sets will hit the stores in May 2015, with the movie arriving in theatres in June.

9. Gimme LEGO Reader's Choice Award

Last year's winner: Set 10236 Ewok Village

2014 winner: you tell me....

Now it's your turn. At the top of the page on the right of the screen you'll see a list of what I consider to be eleven of the best sets of 2014. Please vote for your favourite; if your pick isn't on the list then select 'None of the above' and leave a comment or send me a message via the contact button above the list letting me know which set you think should win the prize. Cast your votes - one person, one vote - and at midnight on 15th January the poll will close and we'll have our winner.... If you're on a smartphone or similar and can't see the poll then click "view web version" at the bottom of the page in order to see the nominations and cast your vote.

*Update* Voting has now closed and you can see the results here.

Previous Gimme LEGO Awards : 2013, 2012, 2011