During the recent fan media event at Billund, Denmark, LEGO officially revealed the upcoming #21310 LEGO Ideas Old Fishing Store. The model was originally submitted by Dutch LEGO fan Robert Bontenbal, it achieved the required 10K public votes, and was chosen by the LEGO Ideas team to be the next set in the collection of fan-designed models. Below are the details of the set, as well as the announcement from the LEGO Ideas blog. 🙂
Here is the announcement from the LEGO Ideas blog: Woahhh! We’ve reeled in a big one! It’s big, green, brown, and oh so fishy… ahem, we mean BEAUTIFUL! We’re thrilled to finally unveil the first official images of the charming #21310 LEGO Ideas Old Fishing Store designed by LEGO Ideas member Robert Bontenbal (RobenAnne) from the Netherlands. The Old Fishing Store officially opens its doors for business on the 1st of September, 2017 for a recommended retail price of USD 149.99 / EURO 149.99 / GBP 139.99. Weighing in at 2,049 LEGO bricks, this store will have plenty of space to stock all the fishing gear you need.
And here is the official description: Find all the gear you need for a fantastic fishing trip at the Old Fishing Store! Walk up the steps from the beach into the shop selling fishing rods, hooks, harpoons, diving equipment, oxygen tanks and much more. Climb the ladder to the top of the watchtower and look through the telescope to enjoy the view. Then relax and read the newspaper in the office. Just make sure the cat or seagulls don’t eat the freshly caught fish hanging outside! The Old Fishing Store is ideal for display and role-play, this model has 2 removable roofs, an opening back wall in the shop for easy access, 4 minifigures, cat and 3 seagull figures, as well as loads of other cool details and elements to fire up the imagination.
A bit more detail from the LEGO Ideas blog: Inspiration for LEGO Ideas projects often come from a very personal place, and Robert’s inspiration to build his Old Fishing Store certainly is no different from this observation. It’s that passion for something familiar that truly shines throughout his set and can be noticed in all the details. Robert elaborates on where this inspiration came from – “Fishing has always been my hobby. From fishing in the Caribbean, where I lived for a while, to fishing in Holland. So you could say that my interest in fishing and my job as an architectural draughtsman came together in this model”. He adds that “inspiration is very important, so was finding a theme that could help develop the model. I got my initial inspiration from the LEGO Christmas houses and sea villages. I started by doing some sketching on paper, then created a mood board to determine the details and color schemes. Especially the use of the right colors was important in my design”.
And some insight into the final design: When Robert’s Old Fishing Store was approved for production in the fall of 2016, LEGO designer Adam Grabowski took over the project “to make sure that the model lived up to LEGO quality”. It is often a challenging job to respect someone else’s design whilst altering it to fit LEGO guidelines, but Adam says he “tried to stay very true to the original design. That’s what got 10,000 votes and is what people want. I didn’t want to change much of the original look and there was no reason to do so”. Adam puts on the hat of an AFOL (Adult-Fan-Of-LEGO) and adds, “it was great to be able to bring back certain elements like the seagull, and use others like the lobster, that were only previously available in other sets”.
Beautiful set, isn’t it? And big! Notice that it’s on a 32×32 stud baseplate, which is the same size as the LEGO Modular Buildings. It’s interesting to note that this is the second very large LEGO Ideas set in a row that breaks both the price and piece-count threshold of the previous fan-submitted sets. It’s nice to see fan-designers getting so much support and recognition both by the company and the community. There are a couple of interesting interviews with Robert on the LEGO Ideas blog that you can read here and here, and you can check out his other projects here.
I can’t wait to get this set! The building techniques are very interesting, and the colors are beautiful! As mentioned above, the Old Fishing Store will be available in September, and in the meantime, you can check out all the other currently available fan-submitted models at the LEGO Ideas section of the Online LEGO Shop.
What do you think? How do you like the LEGO Ideas Old Fishing Store? Are you happy with the final design? And are you planning to add it to your collection? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉
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I feel like a 7o yo kid at Christmas. Can. Not. Wait. to get this one!
Come on, Lego! Put Robert on your design team and do his entire imagination!!!
I know! I feel like that too! I hope the set does really-really well and LEGO decides to release the whole series. His second set is under review, so it’s possible! 🙂
A must buy! Definitely beautiful! I wonder how would it look next to the modulars.
Even though both the Modulars and the Fishing Store are minifig scale, the Fishing Store is more realistic as a real-life scale, whereas the Modulars are shrunk down. So I think it would look too big next to the Modulars. However if you leave some space in between them, it might work.
It kinda clashes with the other buildings, as well. It’d look sorta cartoony to have a building like this next to a bank or restaurant.
Of course, that might not matter that much to you, personally.
I think if someone has a large display, and they can put sufficient distance between the Modular Buildings and the Fishing Store (roads/parks/lakes/railways/etc.), it could work. Of course I don’t have the set yet, and I can’t tell for sure. 😀
This is definitely a really fantastic set, the detail is super cool! The plain baseplate bothers me but that would probably be really easy to change. But there are just way too many epic large sets this year! haha
Yeah, tell me about it! So many amazing sets! I just ordered the Apollo V a couple of days ago, and I’m afraid to go back to the website for fear of buying something else. 🙄
The baseplate is hardly noticeable, any way. I don’t think Lego has made any decorated baseplates for years.
Or are you talking about the tan color?
Gid617 may be referring to the fact that the baseplate is very simple, compared to the more complex built-up bases of many of the recent sets.
Bases? But hey’re brick-built, anyway, right?
The baseplates themselves just seem to have gone less and less raised and decorated since the 90’s…
Yeah, raised baseplates are gone. By built-up bases I meant built with plates, which is what most of the recent City and Creator sets use. They are harder to transport, but give a more interesting design.
Yeah, that’s more or less what I meant. Baseplates are just… boring, especially when not enlivened with textures. It doesn’t really look like sand, and in this case it especially suffers because of the incredible detail of the rest of the set. Of course there is very little of the baseplate actually showing here anyways, but what there is could use a few tan pieces to add a little variety. Easy to change anyhow. But personally what I would want to do would be to give it an irregular (i.e. not square or rectangular) base. I think it begs that, though of course I see why the designers couldn’t go there – would have boosted the piece count considerably.
Yeah, something irregular would work great for this set! It’s the four corners that really stick out in the wrong way. But the whole building could be incorporated into a larger layout or just put on a whole different foundation. BTW, the set is now listed at the Online LEGO Shop, with pictures of the interior! LEGO Ideas Old Fishing Store
I am really excited about this one, and I, too, hope the line gets produced. Here’s hoping! I particularly love the restaurant.
Just one word : Beautiful !
Probably the set of the year….after the Apollo Saturn rocket !
Wouahou it Will be my Christmas gift but a long way to go…
I haven’t thought of that before, but yeah the Fishing Store would make a really nice Christmas present. It’s just have that Christmast-y, present-y feel to it, even thought it is not holiday related. 😀