Review: Lego 10197 Fire Brigade

Growing up, Lego was always my favourite toy.

There was something enticing having something that was only limited by your imagination. Abah would buy me these sets sporadically. Among the sets which I vaguely remember having are Hurricane Harbor, Gas Stop Shop, and Enchanted Island. There must be a lot more though. I must have built and rebuilt these countless times in all kind of shapes and forms.



Then I grew out of it, or so I thought.




Many moons ago, I came across a forum thread - talking about their favourite toys growing up. Unsurprisingly, most male members said LEGO. They would post various pictures of the sets they had when they were young, and would reminiscence the good times they had with it.

I was becoming nostalgic reading through it, and started to look through catalogs of Lego sets over the years.




Lego knows there are many adult fans of Lego (AFOL for short), and they produced many exclusive sets to cater to these fanbase. Among those are the Modular Buildings Series.




The series started 2007 and it was a big hit among AFOL.




The design hits me close to home because growing up in Muar, the town is filled with modular buildings of all shapes and forms.




After years of looking at the pictures, I decided to plunge in and bought one.




It's a set called the Fire Brigade, inspired by a fire station called Engine 55 in New York City. The station was very close to Ground Zero - the place where the 9/11 tragedy

Jamie Berard , the designer for this set, designed it as a tribute to firemen from the station who lost their lives during the tragedy.




It may look easy, but believe me it's not. Took me 3 days to finish it. But it was a joy all the way through, I just don't want it to end.




I cannot fathom how Jamie could come up with the design of this refrigerator, simply genius.




The first floor is a bit repetitive, mainly because it's a bit barebones but man, the second floor blew my mind.




Lots of creative ideas and build techniques are applied. For example, the aforementioned refrigerator, the ping pong table, and the assortment of kitchen furnitures.




Lego sets are known for their built quality which can last for decades.  This is because the bricks are made out of thermoplastic, and it is extremely durable - high chance are sets bought from the 70s and 80s are still usable and can interlock with the current Lego sets.

A good investment for your future kids I'm sure.




You can clearly see the 30's influence of this set. From the stylings, the interior deco, the fire truck, all are based on that particular decade.




Arranging these numbers were very fun. I was surprised by how unorthodox it was. 1932 was the date in which Lego was founded.




The company started as a small company selling wooden toys, - which were very succesful for a then small company. Eventually they expanded and started selling the now iconic Lego bricks.  Its founder is a Danish man named Ole Kirk Christiansen.




Lets have a game of ping-pong shall we?




A look at the 3 floors individually. The most fun built is of course the second floor.




It's an amazing display piece.



But be weary though, once you buy a set you're dying to want more. I'm now eyeing on other sets from the series, namely the Pet Shop and the Town Hall.

Maybe I'll buy the Mini Modular sets too for good measure.




Building this made me feel like a kid again, and it's sweeter than I remembered.