It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like… LEGO Santa’s Visit (10293)!

Now that November and the colder weather is here, I feel more comfortable building and reviewing a LEGO Christmas themed set. There’s nothing I hate more as when Shops start selling Christmas things too early, it really grinds my bricks!

The set released to the general public 1st October 2021, with a VIP Early Access period a couple of weeks before that. So the set itself is new and I don’t feel so bad in putting it off until now.

The set me and Mrs Brick Post built together (she is a massive Christmas nut), is of course LEGO Santa’s Visit (10293), so sit back, grab a hot drink and enjoy our review. Why not pop in some headphones and listen to it instead, hit the ‘listen to this article‘ button above!

The Box & Contents:

Being part of the 18+ Adults Welcome theme the whole design of the box and the instruction manuals have that darker, grown-up, look about them, which I don’t usually like but here it works surprisingly well. Especially as the theme is Christmas and the darker background of the box acts as the night sky, also the stark white of the roof looks stunning against it.

There are eight numbered bags and two instruction manuals, yes that right, two! You and a friend can build this set together, although that is what is implied, but the sad fact is that whilst someone builds the small fence and mailbox, the other gets the whole of the house. It’s a little unfair and I don’t know why LEGO thought it was a good idea to split the manual so unevenly like that.

Thankfully there aren’t many stickers with a total of four on the very small sticker sheet. The designs look crisp and detailed with a variety of styles, from a clock face, Space poster, family portrait, and a wish list for Santa!

The Build:

Myself and Mrs Brick Post were going to save this for nearer the Christmas Holidays but as soon as 1st November hit and the weather here changed we decided to get it built over a weekend we both had off.

Bag one is indeed the small outside gate, Christmas Tree & Presents, and the first Minifigure, the Dad.

Starting off with a smaller build is a nice way to break the ice and get you relaxed before the main build, most newer LEGO sets have some sort of side build to get you going.

There is also a light brick included that you position under the Christmas, and ocne you press gently down on the tree the clear parts light up. It actually does kind of work well, and the atmosphere it gives the set is priceless.

It paints a scene all by itself and look rather quaint and small village-esque, with its little red mail box, white picket fence, lantern and snow drifts.

We’ll dedicate a whole section to the Minifigures later in the article so don’t worry if we skip over or don’t mention just yet.

Bags two to five make a start on the exterior of the soft blue cottage, you almost complete the chimney here too, missing only a few exceptions such as minor details and decorations.

Building the base first, obviously, and adding more small piles of snow and details along the way such as the window ledge that is also covered in snow, a pure white Bird, and some stepping stones up to the front door.

Inside the cottage you make a start on the fireplace and carpet, the kitchen floor tiles are laid here in bag two also.

A great new feature about this set is the inclusion of short excerpts in the instruction manual that point out design features or random information that the designers wanted you to know, such as when hiding the Christmas presents around the house. We as Parents like to find hard to reach and quirky hiding spots of our families gifts, so the design team have placed wrapped presents around the house, one is right behind the sofa in the living room!

Jumping to bags three, four, and five, you see the exterior walls coming together nicely with that soft blue colour officially known as Bright Light Blue, for all you MOC (my own creation) makers out there. The chimney is also built upon here as this will play a big part and include a unique feature once the set is finished.

Also in bag three you flesh out the kitchen area, ready for the Holiday good preparations, including a very simple but smart looking stand mixer, along with a loaf of bread using the ‘loaf‘ element. I particularly like the way the oven is built, it’s a very simple construction technique but the use of the 1×2 clear tile and the 1×2 black grille really gives the detail needed and is a great addition to the kitchen, pop a frying pan on top and bingo!

Hopping to bag six now, which focuses on the interior, we flip the build around and start working furnishing this place.

Building most of the inner parts away from the main house and once built we insert them in place. These include the fireplace complete with clock, candle, and three hanging Christmas stockings.

The last three bags, 7, 8, and 9, focus on the roof and the very top of the chimney.

This is where the set gets interesting and a while new roof technique takes over. As you can see the cottage is placed at an odd angle, which makes for an exciting build in itself, but the roof poses a whole new way of doing things with LEGO Bricks.

Each slope is again made away from the main build until it is fully constructed and ready to clip on. Using LEGO Technic elements to hold the roof in place and in some instances allows you to ‘lift up’ a section and peek inside the cottage.

It always surprises what the LEGO Designers come up with and achieve in each set they product, keeping them relevant and introducing new ways to do things!

Turning the attention back to the interior and showcasing each room of the cottage. The living room is now complete and fully furnished along with a fully functioning fireplace, in the sense of play features anyway, as when you pop Santa at the very top and ‘push’ him in he travels the entire length of the chimney and comes hurtling out at the bottom. This is a very well thought out play feature and works just as well to. Having a Minifigure ‘scale’ chimney not look out of place in a relatively small building is another nod to the LEGO Designers.

Just next to that you’ll find the dining table which has been decorated very nicely ready for the feast on Christmas Day.

I find the four chairs to be a little low and they do look kind of odd because of that. Adding another 1×1 stud to each leg would have made so much difference. I understand there is a space issue inside such a small cottage, and that it can’t be helped, a minor change to the design may have done wonders for the overall look of the chairs.

The additions of the candles mounted on the green leaves does look great and the table runner/cloth is a very nice touch, giving it that small cottage, homely, feeling!

Upstairs we have the Child’s bedroom and I must say apart from the absense of any stairs or at lease a ladder to gain access, it also looks really sweet, with the orange duvet, small writing desk & chair, and Space themed decor.

The way Saturn, the Planet, is built with only a few pieces is pure genius, and should be used it more sets. The little girl has a Space Rocket picture above her bed, which is sadly a sticker, but over this past Year I’ve come to accept stickers and don’t think they’ll be going away any time soon.

Another sticker that appears in her room is her list to Santa, which you can just make out ‘Dear Santa‘, a few pen squiggles and a couple of presents at the bottom.

In the attic there is again a hidden Christmas gift, I like to think it has been there for many Years and forgotten about.

We have already mentioned the kitchen area above but it is a decent build and the accessories are great, I can feel a MOC odlf sorts coming on with the stand mixer and other things.

The Minifigures:

There are four LEGO Minifigures included in this set, who we presume to be Mother, Father, Daughter, and Santa himself.

Each Minifigure looks great and finishes the set off nicely, dressed in their Autumnal/Winter style clothes, and pyjamas. The small girl’s torso is exclusive to the set and depicts a pyjama top with snowflakes and snowdrops. The detail of the collar, buttons, and pockets looks nice and detailed.

The Mother Minifigure is also an exclusive bundle of parts only available in this set, although the torso does date back to 2016 and been in a quite a few LEGO sets since, mostly City ones.

The Father Minifigure is probably my favourite, as his alternate face is so happy it just makes you smile every time you look at him. Again this is another totally exclusive Minifigure combination to this set, and although the pieces have been used many times throughout past LEGO sets this combination has to be one of the best, it sums up ‘Dads’ at Christmas time very nicely!

Now we have the man himself, Santa, who has been done countless times before, but saying that LEGO have redesigned him from the ground up for this particular set. With new dual-moulded legs and updated print on the torso and head, this is Santa 2.0!

Posing the Minifigures around the cottage is enjoyable and thanks to the many different expre2you can create some really nice and atmospheric photos. Checkout our gallery below for some of the shots we took, both inside and out.

The Conclusion:

Overall this set is absolutely stunning, the look of it alone invokes the feeling of Christmas time with the snow covered roof and fence-row, the Minifigures attire, and the wreath hung on the door.

Both the exterior and interior are highly detailed and make this set what it is, a perfect addition to the LEGO Winter Village Collection.

The four Minifigures are superb and add to whole atmosphere of the set, especially the Dad’s alternate expression, it’s priceless!

Having a new and updated Santa Minifigure is pretty much the icing on the cake and will make collectors think twice before skipping over this set.

As you can tell from our review we highly recommend this set and at £79.99 it’s a really cracking deal for the parts and Minifigures you get.

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Gallery:

Coming soon