The Old Fishing Store is the first LEGO Ideas set to be produced in a similar style to the Creator modular buildings. I think it was high time that such a set was made. Fans really love this style of building, and judging from all the LEGO haul pictures on Twitter and Instagram this past Christmas, the Old Fishing Store is no exception. I was excited to get this set, and the build did not let me down.
Set Summary
NAME: Old Fishing Store
SET #: 21310
THEME: Ideas
COST: $179.99 CAD
BRICK COUNT: 2049
MINIFIGURES: 4
OF INTEREST: 3 seagulls, a cat, a spider, two crabs, two lobsters, 8 fish
RELEASE DATE: September 2, 2017
Summary Review: 96%
VALUE: 100% (Great value at $0.09 per brick.)
BUILD: 100% (Great design, no complaints here.)
MINIFIGURES: 85% (Low brick-to-fig ratio, but nice characters & critters.)
ENTERTAINMENT: 100% (Love it, and you get a lot of build time.)
Review
VALUE: 100%
The Old Fishing Store costs $179.99 in Canada, and comes with 2049 bricks. That means that each brick in this set will cost you $0.09. That is well below the current average of $0.12 seen in the LEGO January 2018 catalogue (click here to read my review). That is a really good value per brick, and earns a full 5/5 (100%).
BUILD: 100%
The Old Fishing Store really looks great. I am sitting with the set right next to me as I type this, and there really isn’t anything that I don’t like about it. It is super detailed. The back wall opens up to give you access to the interior, which is normally a feature that would bother me a little. But, the Old Fishing Store is also designed with a removable roof, making it more like the Creator modular buildings, thus also making it easy to drop anywhere into a city. I like that much more because you are not limiting your city layout by having to accommodate every hinged wall. I also really like the design on this back wall because it incorporates detail and maintains the overall look of the building. This was an issue that I had with the Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters. The back wall of it just looked crappy.
Opening up the back wall reveals a warehouse like space in which the shop is located. It is just overflowing with accessories and details. It also stays in tune with the rundown look of the exterior, being a little messy inside as well. There is a small stairwell leading up to an office on the pier level of the tower, and a ladder leading up to the top of the tower where there is a telescope out on the observation balcony. Again, there really isn’t anything that bothers me about this set, so I will just go ahead and give the build a full 10/10 (100%).
MINIFIGURES: 85%
There are four Minifigures included in the Old Fishing Store. Sadly, one of them is a stumpy ape-child… But, otherwise, I rather like the characters included in the set. The actual name of the Old Fishing Store is “Anton’s Bait Shop”, so you obviously get an Anton Minifigure. He comes complete with a captain’s hat. He has a rather sailor-like look with printed mutton chops on his face and cabled pullover sweater. There is also a dock worker with side burns who sports a beanie and green chest waders, a woman decked out in a fishing vest, and the random kid with no fishing regalia whatsoever. None of these Minifigures have double sided faces, but all have front and back print on their torsos, and some kind of hair/hat. The woman and the dock worker have printed on boots, but Anton and the kid just have plain legs. Normally, I would deduct a small amount of the points for the ape-child, but this set comes with so many Minifigure accessories that the points are easily gained back. Everywhere you look there is an animal or accessory of some sort, it is really awesome. I give the Minifigs in this set a design score of 100%.
With 2049 pieces and four Minifigures, the Old Fishing Store has a brick-to-Minifigure ratio of 512:1. That pretty bad when compared with other sets. The average in the January 2018 catalogue is 199:1. The bad ratio is not surprising for this type of set, and Creator modular buildings tend to lose points in this department with me as well. But, given the number of little critters that are also included with the Old Fishing Store (3 seagulls, a cat, a spider, two crabs, two lobsters, 8 fish), I will giving this set a few more points. If I count 3 of these critters as being worth one Minifigure, it brings the ratio up to 211:1. That earns this set 70% for its brick-to-Minifigure ratio. Averaging this with the design score gives an overall Minifig score of 85%.
ENTERTAINMENT: 100%
The Old Fishing Store took me a solid six hours to build (360 minutes). With a price tag of $179.99 in Canada, each minute of build time cost me $0.50 (or at least it would have if this had not been a Christmas present). That is a great build time value in my books, and I award the old fishing store 100% for it.
In terms of my enjoyment of this set, I absolutely love it. It will be placed into my LEGO city with zero modifications. I give it 100% again. I really hope that LEGO produces more Ideas sets like this one (though my wife and bank account might not agree so readily). The enjoyment score and build-time value give the Old Fishing Store an overall entertainment score of 100%.
Overall: 96%
The Old Fishing Store is definitely among my favorite LEGO sets. It is extremely well designed and detailed. You get a ton of accessories and little animals along with it, as well as hours of build time. While the price tag is high, you get a lot of bricks for that price, and a gorgeous set. The Minifigure count is a little low, but that is offset a bit by all the critters and accessories. I highly recommend the Old Fishing Store.
If you would like to see more photos that I have taken of this set, you can check out my black and white tour of the Old Fishing Store by clicking here, or checking me out on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram (please subscribe and like). As always, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Until next time,
-Tom
Nice review clad you liked the set