Lego City Workers - A Tremendous Collection of Figures & Accessories
Written: Aug 30 '02 (Updated Dec 23 '09)
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Pros: More than worth the price, phenomenal accessories, four vehicles, tools galore!
Cons: I'm still trying to figure out why the monkey is included with this set.
The Bottom Line: A great way to fill up those empty city streets, fill the church pews or make your parks bustle with activity!
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| Freak369's Full Review: LEGO City Community Workers Collectors Pack |
What would a city be without people? Aside from very quiet – it just wouldn't look right. Every time I see this Lego set I am reminded of the last part of the film The Devils Advocate when Keanu Reeves is exiting the office building to see empty streets and a relatively dead city. Even if you are not in the process of building a huge city scene or require extra Lego figures and accessories, if you are a die-hard collector and enjoy building unique scenes chances are at some point in time you will have to invest in a bulk pack of figures. It’s as unavoidable as death and paying taxes.
When Lego offers bulk packages of elements it’s usually nothing to get excited about. A vast majority of the pieces that are offered in bulk are “same styled” meaning you get 50 of the 2x2 white bricks [or which ever element you choose] in a pack. This is a great way to stock up on necessary pieces but not exactly something that sets off bottle rockets during a conversation. This bulk pack is different in the fact that it offers you the ability to collect 30 Lego figures – all with the City theme to them.
Since the figures in this set are structured around city activities this would be a great gift for those that love to build scenes where a wide variety of people are needed. From a pizza maker to a police officer, almost every occupation is touched upon with this set. I have several friends that are into Lego’s that picked up this set when they needed to expand their ‘people collection’ and they were all more than ecstatic with what they received. I can’t say that you’ll be doing back flips over this set since every person has their own likes and dislikes of Lego collections, but I will say this – you will be hard pressed to find this type of assortment and variety with any other Lego compilation.
The Lego People
It will take me at least two hours to cover all of the individual people that are include in this set – so rather than bore you to bits I’ll give a listing of the figures and go into detail about the most interesting ones – or the ones that need a little bit of an explanation. The one thing to keep in mind is that there are no rules when it comes to this set. You can build the figures however you like them – if you want the police officer to have a walkie talkie rather than the traffic paddles – go for it. That’s what this set was created for, to expand the limits of your creativity.
By far, one of my favorite people in this set – the pizza man! Bearing a striking resemblance to the character in Lego Island II, he comes complete with a stenciled chef jacket, poofy chef hat and pizza. The male and female paramedics are also at the top of my list and they come with a stretcher and stenciled stethoscopes. The waiter is another favorite – how can you resist a Lego figure in a tuxedo?
There’s no shortage of city workers in this set either. A welder, jackhammer operator, sanitation worker, clean up workers and traffic coordinator are just a few of the very impressive characters within the set. And lets not forget the police officers and fire fighter – both of them come with some very nice accessories. The fire fighter is similar to the one previously reviewed in the City Rescue Team [set 3350] but this one is in silver and gray with orange tanks instead of yellow.
Oddly enough, there is a monkey in the set. A very cute little brown monkey with yellow hands and feet. I’m not sure why he was included with this set and his presence does not count towards the total 30 count of figures. There was supposed to be a brightly colored parrot included with this set however he was never found when we were unpacking the various backs from the box. The second box we opened was also lacking the little feathered friend and since it made no difference to me I never contacted Lego about it.
The props and vehicles are almost overwhelming! The two bicycles, one red and one black, are great little perks and the four vehicles included [all fully functional] are easy to build and great for adding to city play scenes. The hats, visors, caps, hair pieces, back packs, helmets and interchangeable heads [with different facial expressions] are more than enough to validate the suggested retail price of this set.
The Accessories
If you are a Lego collector that needs to boost up their inventory of small little gadgets, tools, visors or essential odds and ends – then this is a set that you really should check out. When you look at the unassembled pieces packaged neatly in their plastic bags you might start to drool. There are so many possibilities and designs that you can literally get lost for a few hours playing around and experimenting. One important thing to mention – there’s an Octan figure included with this set. If you have no real use for it, this figure is worth a pretty penny to brick brokers or those that have race scenes from the late 80’s and early 90’s. Keep this little guy in mint condition and in a few years you might just be able to sell it for almost as much as you paid for this set [$34.00 suggested retail price].
Some of the tools you will find in this set include: shovels, fire axe, drill, hammer, wrench, garbage can, walkie talkie, traffic paddles, torch, chainsaw and a broom. Of course there are more extras than that in the set so be sure to give it a good once over before you start assembling your figures.
Things To Know
This set has been released several times with a few minor modifications made to some of the elements of the set. The first run featured a detailed astronaut and a pizza delivery boy on a bicycle; these two were replaced by the female auto mechanic and a female figure that is carrying a garbage can. The vehicles were also modified – the original sets featured motorcycles and have since been replaced with three wheelers’ [trikes]. I am sure that there have been other chances such as tools, accessories, hair styles and facial expressions however since these are almost impossible to document no one has been keeping a very close list of the changes.
As with all Lego sets, this one has some small and possibly dangerous pieces that could present a choking hazard. Since this set is so massive and dense with small props and tools, it’s almost impossible to keep track of them. If smaller kids are sharing the same play space as older kids please make sure that all the items are picked up and the area is checked thoroughly.
The Bottom Line
If you are just looking for basic Lego figures to fill up a scene you are better off purchasing them from a brick vendor. However, if you need type specific people then this is the way to go. When you look at the suggested price of $34.00 – that’s just a few cents over a dollar a figure. And that’s not taking into consideration all the cool extras and accessories you are getting.
If you are building something other than a city scene I suggest that you check the Lego website to see if there are other figure collections that might better suit your needs. Other compilations include Rock Raiders, Ninjas, Star Wars [great for collecting Pit and Battle Droids], Belville and the Harry Potter characters.
This set has been adapted for use with almost every set and scene we’ve built. From using the tools and headpieces to the trikes and bicycles – nothing in this set was considered a waste by the brood or myself. Although I do have to admit, I did swipe a few of the figures before they saw them. It wasn’t until we opened a second set that they realized the pizza maker was mysteriously absent from the first set.
The Stats
Set Name: Community Workers
Family Set: City
Lego Set: 9293
Number of Pieces: 178
Age Recommendation: 5 and up
Ease Of Assembly: Easy
Time Of Assembly: 20 – 30 minutes
Cost: $ $33.95
As always, thanks for the visit ...
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2009 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $33.95
Type of Toy: Blocks
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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