[TnB] Preview Review 71016 Simpsons Kwik-E-Mart

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Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart?

10 - I doooooo!
16
80%
9
0
No votes
8
3
15%
7 - Their floors are stick-E-mart
1
5%
6
0
No votes
5
0
No votes
4 - That Kiwk-E-Mart is real D'OH!
0
No votes
3
0
No votes
2
0
No votes
1 - Let's hurl a brick-E-mart
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 20

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[TnB] Preview Review 71016 Simpsons Kwik-E-Mart

Post by vynsane » Wed Apr 15, 2015 8:36 pm

Name: Kwik-E-Mart
Number: 71016
Theme: The Simpsons
Release Date: May 1, 2015 (VIP Early Access April 15)
Piece Count: 2,179
Minifig Count: 6
Age Rating: 12+
Cost: $199.99 USD / $229.99 CAD / £169.99 GBP / €199,99 EUR / 1699,00 DKK

Just in time for the VIP-only early access to the second offering in the Simpsons line, TnB is proud to bring you our (barely) sneak-preview review of 71016 "Kwik-E-Mart"! Thanks to The LEGO Group and the team over at LEGO Community Engagement & Events for making this possible!

Let's start with what LEGO has to say about this set:

Visit The Kwik-E-Mart—Springfield’s favorite convenience store!

Welcome to The Kwik-E-Mart—your one-stop shop for convenience foods at inconvenient prices! This highly detailed and iconic LEGO® version of The Simpsons™ store is packed with more rich, colorful details than a Mr. Burns birthday cake has candles! Walk under the huge Kwik-E-Mart sign and join Homer, Marge and Bart as they browse the aisles filled with beauty products, diapers, dog food, pastries, fruits, vegetables and more—including Krusty-O’s and Chef Lonelyheart’s Soup for One. Then head over to the refrigerated cases where you’ll find Buzz Cola, chocolate milk, various other drinks and snacks… and frozen Jasper! There’s also a Buzz Cola soda fountain, juice dispensers, coffee machine, arcade games, ATM and stacks of Powersauce boxes. At the counter, Apu is ready to tempt you with a variety of printed magazines, comic books, cards, tofu hot dogs, freshly expired donuts and his ever-popular hallucination-inducing Squishees. At the back, there’s a storage closet complete with rat and an exit. On the roof you’ll discover Apu’s secret vegetable garden, while outside this amazing model features bright-yellow walls, 2 phone booths, a stack of purple crates, and a dumpster area with ‘El Barto’ graffiti, opening door and an iconic blue dumpster that also opens. You can also remove the roof and open out the rear walls for easy access. This set also includes Snake (a.k.a. Jailbird), who loves nothing more than stealing cars and robbing the Kwik-E-Mart—but this time Chief Wiggum is hot on his tail in his police car. Capture this bandit and return peace to the town of Springfield and the amazing Kwik-E-Mart. This fantastic set includes 6 minifigures with assorted accessory elements: Homer Simpson, Bart Simpson, Marge Simpson, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief Wiggum and Snake (a.k.a. Jailbird).

Packaging

The box is just shy of square, a little wider than it is tall. The depth is only about two inches or so. The front features a somewhat isometric view of the building and all characters included with a small call-out box displaying the hinge-open feature and interior details.

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The back of the box features a larger version of the image in the call-out box on the front, displaying the densely packed interior including details such as the infamous Squishee machine, and racks of overpriced foodstuffs. More call-outs here show zoomed-in or rotated views of the details, including Apu's check-out counter, the magazine racks, videogame cabinets, etc.

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The top of the box displays a number of interior builds including the coffee machine, Squishee Machine, and Buzz Cola dispenser.

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The bottom of the box states that the components were manufactured in Denmark, Hungary, Mexico, China and the Czech Republic, though which ones were manufactured where I won't speculate on.

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Parts, Instructions, and Stickers

The parts are split up between 17 bags total - 16 of which are numbered and one, containing six 8x16 plates in Sand Blue, is not. There are also two loose 8x16 plates in Medium Stone Gray and three 6x28 train car plates in Dark Stone Gray. The numbered bags are marked 1-8.

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There is one 249 page instruction booklet and two sticker sheets, one printed on clear and one printed on white.

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The instruction booklet marks out what portion of the build each numbered set of bags will construct.

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Build: Part 1

Part 1, comprised of one bag, includes the pieces to construct Chief Wiggam's patrol car as well as the Chief himself and his perp, Snake. Notable pieces include the two windscreens, the two 2x3 doors in white, the two different brackets and the four wheels/tires. Chief Wiggum is the same mold and over-all design as the version in the first Simpsons Collectible Minifigure series, however this incarnation features pink donut frosting on his mouth and shirt. Snake bears an all-new head.

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I don't have any mid-build pics, but the finished result is very well designed, quite reminiscent of the patrol car from the show, if not entirely accurate. Still, it's cartoony enough to fit the bill.

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There are stickers for the license plates and doors as well as three "911" stickers around the back.

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The car is designed to allow two people to sit side-by-side in the front and Snake can fit alone in the back.

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Build: Part 2

Part 2 is comprised of two bags and four of the six 8x16 Sand Blue plates as well as two 4x6 Sand Blue plates. There are also 11 3x4 "CMF" plates in Medium Stone Gray and a slew of printed pieces.

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The basic footprint of the main, non-hinged section, starts to take shape right away, comprised of the Sand Blue plates as the interior floor and Medium Stone Gray plates as sidewalk. The only gripe I have is the lack of support under the 8x16 plates, lengthwise. They are supported and held together by 2x plates, which can lead to a bit of bending when pushing things onto the floor.

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The next thing you build is the left wall and the interior of the refrigerator section, with many colorful items.

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The third section of the fridge contains "Frostilicus" (A.K.A. "frozen Jasper") from an episode ("Lisa the Simpson") where the man attempted to cryogenically freeze himself in the ice cream section of the Kwik-E-Mart freezer.

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"Moon Pies! What a time to be alive..."

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I have to register my disappointment that this is not a minifigure, It would have been such a great addition, but the sticker on the half-cylinder does a decent job of conveying the idea.

Next, the check-out counter is constructed, complete with magazine/newspaper racks.

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At the end of Part 2, the building is only beginning to take shape.

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Build: Part 3

Part 3 is also comprised of two bags, containing the parts to build the front facade, most of the beverage dispensers and the two arcade games. Notable pieces include all the trans-blue panels and doors, the four tall Earth Blue panels, the two "Santa's Sack" pieces now in black as garbage bags, as well as the pieces that make up Apu himself. Apu appeared in the first Simpsons CMF series, but this one features a different torso print.

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The phone booths feature some intricate construction.

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The two arcade games, "Bonestorm" and "Great White Hunter" are very colorful, as well as are the Buzz Cola dispenser, juice fountain and Squishee machine.

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At the end of Part 3, the three walls are just about complete, and some external features like the garbage corral, bike rack and phone booth are added.

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As you can see, the majority of the pieces in this step are added to the right side of the building (when looking at it from outside) including the right wall and all the machines along it.

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The garbage corral also includes a well-designed dumpster, complete with trash bags.

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Stay tuned for part 2, coming soon!
ALL HAIL THE BLACTRON EMPIRE!

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Re: [TnB] Preview Review 71016 Simpsons Kwik-E-Mart

Post by vynsane » Wed Apr 15, 2015 8:36 pm

Build: Part 4

Part 4, comprised of two bags, begins construction of one half of the rear hinged section as well as our fourth minifigure, Homer J. Simpson himself. Along with another 8x16 Sand Blue plate, notable pieces include the three doors, the four Buzz Cola cans, the 1x1 round tiles with pop-top printing and a pair of 3L bars in medium stone gray.

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This segment is relatively small, only a few studs longer than the sand blue baseplate itself. The walls are primarily constructed out of yellow (exterior) and medium blue (interior). A portion of the area is cordoned off as a small vestibule for the rear entrance, which features a rat and piece of cheese.

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Fairly quickly, it joins the rest of the building via the exposed half of the hinge plate, which is then secured with additional bricks and more hinge plates to fasten this section securely. The rear wall is constructed to include the door and a large 6x6 panel as well as some small interior partial walls.

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UNLEASH THE POWER OF APPLES! There are six crates of Powersauce bars languishing in the back, between those partial walls I previously mentioned. I don't know why they'd just be taking up space, I hear they're made with six different types of apples and NOT out of apple cores and old Chinese newspapers.

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An additional refrigerator is constructed in the corner adjacent to the hinge, so that when the section is closed, it appears as one full wall of freezer doors. The inner door, next to the Powersauce Bars, is marked "Employees only".

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The exterior would appear very plain if not for the addition of the 6x6 panels and a smattering of tan bricks as well as 1x2 Brick Bricks in Dark Orange. There is also a drainpipe just to the left of the hinge. The addition of posters along the outside also help to reduce the possibility of a boring wall.

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The references are flying every-which-way in this set!

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There's an access hole for the rat, too.

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Build: Part 5

I expected the second half of the rear portion to be more of the same in comparison to the previous segment, but while it shared some similarity there were enough surprises to make it just as entertaining.

Notable pieces here include the two 2x16 plates in medium blue, the printed donuts and 1x2 and 2x2 tiles, the 1x1 chocolate milk cartons and two coffee cups.

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This side of the building includes an "E-Z Money" ATM and another bank of freezers.

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The corner ends up with a bit of dead space between the inner and outer walls, which surprised me. You can see a bit of variance in the medium blue bricks in this shot.

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There are so man clever builds for all the various sections of the store, and the coffee machine table and Hot Dog/Donut counter are no different.

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Both are placed on the edge of this section, so that when the building is closed, it completes the check-out counter.

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A little bit of stickering, some tan and dark orange, and a utility box on the outside, in conjunction with more 6x6 panels break up the monotony of yellow.

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The full footprint of the building is now complete. Here you can see how the Hot Dog/Donut counter connects with the check-out counter.

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Build: Part 6

The three bags marked with a 6 are used to construct the roof of the front two-thirds of the building. There are a TON of 2x slopes in Dark Orange for just that purpose. We also get Marge in this portion of the build.

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The build is relatively straight-forward, though you can easily get misaligned if you don't pay close attention to what piece is used to start a row. Interior support for the roof is comprised of a lot of long black and white 2x bricks.

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A bunch of 4x4 panels in dark stone gray are used to cover up the support structure of the roof. A notch is left open in the center in order to affix the sign to the front.

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The sign is made up of mostly white pieces with some green and red. The "E" in the center is brick-built, but the rest is decorated using two large stickers. It's a bit disappointing that they're not printed. I wouldn't want them to be fully brick-built as it would be come too "pixellated" and not cartoony enough. As it stands, the brick-built "E" is a welcome surprise.

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When this section of the build is complete, it's really starting to take shape, and looks incredibly authentic!

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You can get a good look at the panels lining the inside of the roof from this angle.

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Build: Part 7

Part 7, one bag total, includes the parts to build two store racks that fill up the open space between the check-out counter and freezers. There are three boxes of Krusty-O's, four cans of "Soup for One", and a bunch of 1x1 round tiles, both printed and not. The infamous Bart Simpson is also included in this segment of the build. There are also a lot of orange pieces that I've included here, because I always find it to be on of the more rare non-rare colors.

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The racks are expertly crafted and certainly look the part, with colorful products along the shelves.

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They fit right on the tiles and 2x2 jumper plates that were attached to the floor a long time ago.

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Both racks feature unique construction, so it's not at all repetitive.

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At this point, it's starting to look like an adequately jam-packed convenience store.

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Build: Part 8

The two bags marked '8' and the three train car bases are used to finish up the roof, both the sloped area in the rear and the flat portion in the center. This means even more Dark Orange slopes as well as a bunch of 1x4 trans blue tiles. There are also a bunch of green curved slopes that are used for Apu's rooftop garden.

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The Dark Orange roof in the rear portion is constructed similarly to the front portion, so I don't have many images of it in-process.

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One great little touch is the "APU <3 Manjula" scribble on the panel on the roof.

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With the sloped portion of the roof is complete, the next and final portion is the flat inner area.

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The inner portion features three skylights, an A/C compressor unit and "Apu's garden in the shade".

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The construction of the A/C unit uses some techniques you don't normally see in an official set, with two "mudguard" pieces, connected sideways via 1x1 bricks with studs on either side.

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Complete Build

Once the inner roof is in place, the build is complete. It's so accurate in terms of shape, it's really amazing. The colors are not necessarily fully accurate, though with the variations in style that the show has gone through in its 26ish years on the air, that's hard to fault.

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The interior is very fully-featured, affording a lot of play value. My daughter and her friends who only have a passing knowledge that the Simpsons is a thing played with it all day, and kept yelling "Unleash the power of Apples!"

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Minifgures

There are six minifigures in total in this set, however only one, Snake, is completely unique.

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Of the remaining five, three are straight-up rehashes of Bart, Marge and Homer from the first Simpsons CMF series, while Wiggum and Apu are both redecos, with the former only differing from his CMF counterpart by way of pink frosting splotches, and the latter sports a completely different outfit from his signature green cardigan and khakis.

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Still, they nearly perfectly convey the look of their cartoon inspiration, especially considering the difficulty of transforming their two-dimensional form into three dimensions - a feat many have attempted and few have succeeded in. I'd say the sculpts in this line are some of the best 3D versions of Simpsons characters I've ever seen.

Only Marge features printing on the back of her torso.

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She is, however, the only one that DOESN'T feature printing on her arms. Snake is adorned with his eponymous tattoo on his forerarm.

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Even though I don't own any other Simpsons sets or CMFs, I'm disappointed in the selection here. This being Apu's place, it would only make sense if he were accompanied by his wife, Manjula, their octuplets Anoop, Uma, Nabendu, Poonam, Priya, Sandeep, Sashi, and Gheet, and possibly also his brother, Sanjay. I, of course, see the marketing reason for having major characters in this set, but still, a guy can dream. What of the next installment in the series? Will we be forced through a deluge of core Simpsons family members?


Ratings!

Design: 9/10
From the split-open back to the layout of the interior, to the way the essence of the source material comes to life, this is a great design.

Build: 8/10
For a building that is relatively plain looking at first glance, there are a lot of great techniques used to break up monotony while the interior details show off just what can be done with the pieces.

Minifigures: 4/10
Three rehashes, two redecos and one unique figure.

Playability: 8/10
Lots of intricate details and enough figures to interact with them.

Parts: 9/10
Large plates in Sand Blue, and lots of 1x bricks in bulk. The roof pieces alone are an incredible bounty.

Price: 9/10
Over 2000 pieces for $200 (US) = good value, if you can swing it!

Authenticity: 9/10
While the colors might not be exact, the attention to detail inside is incredible, and the over-all impression of the building is fully achieved.

Overall rating: 8/10

Thank you, and come again!
ALL HAIL THE BLACTRON EMPIRE!

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Athos
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Re: [TnB] Preview Review 71016 Simpsons Kwik-E-Mart

Post by Athos » Wed Apr 15, 2015 9:11 pm

I know its probably too late, but can we get a shot of the sticker sheet, so we can see what it stickered and what is printed?

Steve

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Re: [TnB] Preview Review 71016 Simpsons Kwik-E-Mart

Post by vynsane » Thu Apr 16, 2015 4:10 am

The closest shot of the stickers I have is already posted above, in the section entitled "Parts, Instructions, and Stickers". There isn't much printed besides 2x2 and 1x2 tiles so far, frankly.
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Re: [TnB] Preview Review 71016 Simpsons Kwik-E-Mart

Post by UnicornIRL » Thu Apr 16, 2015 9:10 am

This set is begging for a customer magazine sticker of the latest issue of Gigantic Asses.

Failing that, Paul and Linda McCartney minifigs for the roof.

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Re: [TnB] Preview Review 71016 Simpsons Kwik-E-Mart

Post by ahcow » Thu Apr 16, 2015 1:17 pm

Great, more small stickers for me to misalign!

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Re: [TnB] Preview Review 71016 Simpsons Kwik-E-Mart

Post by legolebowski » Fri Apr 17, 2015 11:56 am

UnicornIRL wrote:This set is begging for a customer magazine sticker of the latest issue of Gigantic Asses.

Ha!
This made my day.


Also need a small backroom with a little Ganesh statuette.

I really wish Frostilicus was in minifig form... oh well.

Good set! A couple of bricklinkable pieces I would like, like the trash bags, and like the dark tan/brown milk bricks.

And boo for the stickers.

There's gotta be a petition arund to send LEGO to finally go all printed tiles.

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Re: [TnB] Preview Review 71016 Simpsons Kwik-E-Mart

Post by vynsane » Fri Apr 17, 2015 7:30 pm

First post updated with a poll, second post updated with part 2 of the review!
ALL HAIL THE BLACTRON EMPIRE!

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Re: [TnB] Preview Review 71016 Simpsons Kwik-E-Mart

Post by legohunter » Fri Apr 17, 2015 11:49 pm

Thanks for the review and all the nice pics you had taken. The designer did a very good job at the interior. I never thought the coffee pot could be simply made by those 3 pieces.

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Re: [TnB] Preview Review 71016 Simpsons Kwik-E-Mart

Post by vhn2dmd » Sat Apr 18, 2015 8:08 am

Awesome review! I'm definitely going to get one... when i have the money =(

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Re: [TnB] Preview Review 71016 Simpsons Kwik-E-Mart

Post by melsig » Sat Apr 18, 2015 10:24 am

Well, you've sold me on this set. I've been completely uninterested in the Simpsons line to date, but I think this one will make it into our house. Thanks for the review!

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Re: [TnB] Preview Review 71016 Simpsons Kwik-E-Mart

Post by dho7622u » Sun Apr 19, 2015 3:17 am

Great review. Very tempting.

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Re: [TnB] Preview Review 71016 Simpsons Kwik-E-Mart

Post by pro_zach » Sat Dec 05, 2015 1:33 am

Great review! I purchased this set a few months ago and finally assembled it this week when we got snow and I was stuck inside. I would have assembled it sooner and did a review if you hadn't beat me to it :)

Aside from the 60+ stickers to affix, I'm generally pleased with the set. A few things to note though:
  • There are no sliding entrance doors or hidden staircase leading to the rooftop garden. I'm thinking about trying to do these, and I may post some pictures/instructions of the modifications.
  • Having the whole roof removable, not just the inner portion, would have made for easier access to the detailed interior.
  • There's a bike rack but no bikes...they could've had Lisa and her bike, which was oddly absent from the house set.
If they ever do Simpsons Series III CMF, this set provides quite a few possible figures to include based on the "Lego-fied" versions of characters on the stickers and printed tiles:
  • Jasper
  • Rainier Wolfcastle (AKA McBain, AKA Radioactive Man)
  • Mayor Quimby
  • Bumblebee Man
  • Crazy Cat Lady
  • Jebediah Springfield
  • Spider Pig (as an accessory for Homer)
  • Manjula (mentioned but not portrayed)

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