As part of the announcement of the new flagship LEGO store in London opening this year, LEGO also revealed the next LEGO Creator Expert set, the #10253 LEGO Creator Big Ben. Below you can find the description, pictures, designer-video and other details. 🙂
Here is the official description of the LEGO Creator Big Ben: Build the world’s best-known clock tower! Get up close to Big Ben! The clock was first started on May 31st 1859, and Big Ben’s first chime rang from the 96-meter Elizabeth Tower on July 11th of the same year. This over 23” (60cm) high LEGO interpretation of the iconic structure is a tribute to its engineering and architecture. It features a detailed facade with statues, shields and windows, and a clock tower with 4 adjustable clock dials and a removable roof allowing access to the belfry, plus buildable exterior elements including a sidewalk, lawn and a tree depicting the building’s location. This model makes a great display piece for the home or office.
- Big Ben features a detailed section of the Westminster Palace and the adjoining Elizabeth Tower, 4 detailed clock dials with movable hour and minutes hands, and a sidewalk, tree and grass area depicting the building’s location.
- Remove the top of the tower to access the Big Ben bell.
- Special elements include 4 printed clock faces. Rare elements include ski-poles, flowers and corner plates in moulded gold color, and tinted-translucent elements.
- Offers an age-appropriate building experience for ages 16+.
- Big Ben measures over 23” (60cm) high, 17” (44cm) wide and 7” (20cm) deep.
- Includes 4,163 pieces.
The #10253 LEGO Creator Big Ben will be available directly from LEGO beginning July 1st, 2016, with early access for LEGO VIP Members on June 15th. Price is as follows: US $249.99 – CA $299.99 – DE 219.99€ – UK £169.99 – DK 1999.00 DKK (Euro pricing varies by country). It will be listed under the LEGO Creator section of the Online LEGO Shop.
As you can see, this set is massive! Also, the price is really good with only 6 cents a piece, which is similar to the #10214 LEGO Creator Tower Bridge released in 2010. In fact these two sets are a perfect match for those who like to display iconic British landmarks, and both of them are also great sources of tan LEGO elements. Please note that the #10214 LEGO Creator Tower Bridge has been around for 6 years, and will likely get retired in the near future, especially now that Big Ben is out. So if you are planning to get both, you may want to purchase the Tower Bridge first.
What do you think? How do you like the LEGO Creator Big Ben? Is this a set you consider getting? Do you have the LEGO Creator Tower Bridge? How do you like that one? From the six large sets released so far this year (#10251 LEGO Creator Brick Bank, #70827 LEGO Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters, #76052 LEGO Batman Classic TV Series – Batcave, #75138 LEGO Star Wars Assault on Hoth, #21128 LEGO Minecraft The Village, and #10253 LEGO Creator Big Ben, which one do you like the most, and which one do you have? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉
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Its not big ben. This building is called ” the houses of parlement” big ben is just the clock in the tower of that buildig.
Therfore i think the set wil be named as such , or lego made the same mistake :-s
Big Ben is actually the name of the bell in the tower not the clock, but either way, practically everyone – including local residents – refer to the building as Big Ben. There was an interesting discussion about this on Reddit yesterday. This funny comment about how the conversation between LEGO managers may have gone about this sums it up well:
“Here’s the Big Ben model.”
“Shouldn’t it be Palace of Westminster model?”
“Technically, yes. But most people call it Big Ben. Just like people call the fountain in Piccadilly Circus ‘Eros’ when it’s Anteros, not Eros.”
“But they’re wrong.”
“I know this. We both know this. But what are they going to be using as their search term when finding it online? Pedantry doesn’t shift units. And like it or not, tourists call it Big Ben. Hell, even the tourist maps in London call it Big Ben. And do you want our staff to be correcting people every time they enquire about it? ‘We don’t have Big Ben. Do you mean the Palace of Westminster?’ It’ll drive them mad. It’s bad enough they have to deal with the sweaty 40 year olds getting all salty because they can’t buy 10 copies of an Ideas set at once.”
“But surely they’ll still have to deal with pedants saying it’s not Big Ben.”
“Yes. They will. But there will be far fewer of them. And those people can sleep well at night knowing they were right.”
😉
Great model, I can see with some minor changes and an additional set a cathedral for my Lego city. This will now become my landmark building – can’t wait.
PS – Big Ben, whatever, I’m in London on a visit right now and just visited it with my kids. We didn’t call it lizzy’s tower, they called it BB, and I’m not that concerned about being PC, because let’s face every culture gets some things wrong forgiveness is better than being angry. Just love the architecture and the Lego inspiration. Well done.
Good idea about using the pieces from this as a cathedral! The building won’t even need that much modification! 😀
Not so. The entire building complex is called ‘The Palace of Westminster’. The Houses of Parliment refers specifically to the two chambers where the Commons and the Lords meet, and by extension, to the rooms required to run the Houses. The tower with the clock in it is The Queen’s Tower. Big Ben is the bell in the tower.
I visited London in the 1970’s, and the Tower of London and the Houses of Parliment had been bombed, so only saw it from afar. It’s still an awesome memory for me. Just have to decide how to justify the cost! Lol. Thanks for the heads up.
I can’t wait for the new set featuring the differently-able kids, as my son is in a wheelchair, as am I and we both love tobuild the legos
Michelle, thanks for sharing that! What a powerful memory that must have created! We will be talking about the wheelchair set on Monday. 🙂
The price is amazing, when I saw it I thought it was going to be a $400.00 plus set. I like it better then the Tower Bridge, nice details and it’s really impressive looking, I can’t even imagine how nice it would look in person.
Yes, the price is surprisingly good, and the pieces are very useful for MOC-ing as well. This model is an all around winner. 🙂
Looks spectacular!
I’ve pretty much bought Legos for my grandson and my son (except for the CMFs) but I’m very tempted by this one. …and I have a nice wad of VIP points. 😃 😃 😃
What stops me is thinking about having space to permanently display these things. And who wants to spend time dusting them? …besides my son. …who may not spend a lot of dusting his modular town.
Yeah, dusting is always going to be an issue. I would say though, that as far as dust issues, tan color sets are the best. The dust sort of blends in with the tan color and makes it invisible. So unless you really closely examine them, tan color models look good on display, even when dusty. Now black is a whole other matter. 🙄
Good point! 😏
If you’ve had cold sweated fits at nights since you lacked 100+ of tan microfigs, today ‘s your lucky day!
LOL!!! 😀 😀 😀
Also, there’s a heapload of tools for the visiting friendly giants governmentally hired for clock maintenance…
I was wondering about the significance of all those tools. But now that you mention, it makes sense. 😀
The tools there are extras; they’re four of this part: http://brickset.com/parts/6030875 The clock uses two of the wrenches from each pack as the hands on each clock face. But the extra tools are definitely good for maintenance. 🙂
Those all come on a tool-wheel, aren’t they? Maybe that’s why they are so many extras, as they normally include the entire wheel? But I like Hakan’s reasoning better. 🙄
They always come together in a separate bag, all 9 pieces. Like the Friends cookware accessories. LEGO chose not to change that, and since they needed four of both types of wrenches, four of all the other tools that come with the wrenches had to be included. Useful if you don’t have any of those tools.
I see. That makes sense. I always liked those little tools, so getting extras is awesome. 🙂
Sold. Given I work in London and used to walk past Westminster every day for 7 years this is a must have.
How long before someone puts a real working clock inside that lego tower? Im not into this kind of builds because I dont like when i have to repeat build. It looks like there is alot of that going on there.
Jonas, yes, big models like that are best to spread out to several days, or friends/family can do them together to make the activity more fun. I’m pretty sure someone will add a real working clock to it. It doesn’t look that hard to do. 🙂
It’s no wonder that the idiom “running like clockwork” came about… Those clockworks are extremely complex systems…
Cramming in four separate working clocks in such a small area would be quite a feat, even using professional cogwheels instead of Technic parts…
Oh… I forgot it supposed to be four clocks! I was only thinking of one… Maybe there is like a hobby tower clock that would fit?
You could still could fit two in there, then when you put it on a shelf just make sure that the two non-working ones aren’t seen.
Smart! 😀
This looks great and I like that it has lots of pieces. My husband bought me the Tower Bridge last year to occupy me whilst I was stuck on the couch with a fractured ankle. During that time building the bridge was my happiest moments. Big Ben would be a delightful addition to my Lego addiction.
Silvia, that’s a nice way to spend time during recovery! And yes, Big Ben will be a perfect match for the Tower Bridge. 🙂
I love this Big Ben set, and I’m considering to buy it. However, I’m torn between it and the possibly retiring Sydney Opera House set. I know that if I love both of them, I should by the Sydney first, but its price and its reviews are a put-off for me. If anybody has the Sydney, can you help me?
I have the Tower Bridge already, by the way, if that affects the decision.
Gosh, that’s a tough decision. There is definitely a chance that the Sydney Opera House will retire in the near future. Big Ben should be around for several years. So from that perspective I would go with the Sydney Opera House first, win the lottery, and get the Big Ben later. 😉
In general reviews on Architecture sets are not as positive as on play-sets – at least not on the major news and review sites. LEGO Architecture type sets are more appreciated by architects, designers, and the like. It is a stunning set, by the way. How the curves come together and connect is amazing. My dad is an architect who mainly build giant tent type structures for airports, swimming pools, tennis courts and the like, and for people like him this set is definitely a highlight. It was designed by Jamie Berard, who is well known for his amazing sets. If you are the type of person who is attracted to the Architecture line, and you already like the Sydney Opera House, just get it. You won’t be disappointed.
I would say though that Big Ben would look amazing with Tower Bridge. And both sets look great on display. Speaking of display, the Opera House looks better displayed on a coffee-table or something similar. You really have to see it from all sides and from above to appreciate its beauty. Big Ben and Tower Bridge can be placed even on a narrow shelf and they look great. This might be another factor you want to consider before making a decision. 🙂