Perhaps a bit buried among the news about the release of 10211 Grand Emporium and LEGO Board Games
is that the new LEGO City set 7684 Pig Farm & Tractor
is also out now.
I’m certainly excited by these other new releases, but it says something that I’m choosing to build the pig farm first. Seriously, pigs! Four of them! Mmmmm, bacon…
UPDATE: I just finished building the set, and it didn’t disappoint. Aside from the pigs, the set also includes a number of other parts I hadn’t gotten before, starting with the short-brimmed baseball cap and a new exhaust pipe piece that appears to be new in 2010.
The tractor includes a lot of nice lime green to complement your Power Miners acquisitions, as well as my favorite wheels and tires. For play value, it has several connection points compatible with attachments from 7637 Farm and 7634 Tractor.
And finally, the elephant (or pig) in the room — the inevitable comparison to BrickForge pigs.
As you can see from the set pictures, the LEGO pigs are similar in style to the new LEGO cows from the farm and 10193 Medieval Market Village. They’re more rounded, and to a certain extent more realistic than traditional LEGO animals like the dog and horse (with printed eyes and rounded bellies).
BrickForge pigs, cows, and sheep share their design aesthetic with the older LEGO animals. Depending on whether you prefer your animals more consistent with your older LEGO animals or more adorably pot-bellied, there’s still a place for both BrickForge animals and their official LEGO counterparts. I like both.
That there is a nice-looking tractor. And in what appears to be a reasonably priced set. Might have to invest when the time comes.
Loving the pigs! But NZ ShopAtHome says there are only three of them…
@worker201: It is a very nice tractor. Just finished building it (I’ll update the post with a quick mini-review now).
@Arterin: I have four pigs sitting right here next to me. (Besides, all the pictures show four pigs.)
I dislike the Farm theme on a theoric level but I have to admit they have some great builders and some awesome pieces. I bought this set for a handful of pigs over a week ago and it’s still sitting on my table. I nearly bought another one yesterday. The model aspect is very nice. It has a lot of very rare pieces in new colors. The minifigs have printed backs and the pigs are fantastic looking and pigs!
If you love pigs and hate tractors there will be a pig farmer minifig box coming out soon. I believe it comes with a single pig.
^ The Bacon Army Builder? Yeah, I’ll be picking up a few of those too.
The interior part of that friction cylinder “exhaust piece” is awesome, too. The Grand Emporium has three of them on the billboard. It’s basically a bar with a 90 degree bend in it. Very useful.
^^ I was in no way challenging you Andrew, the picture on the box even shows four pigs. I was just saying it as odd that NZ ShopAtHome said there were 3 pigs. Typical of the site to get it wrong though.
It -does- look like a nice set, but $35? Even with some new pieces, that seems pretty steep, IMO. Judging from the size I was thinking more along the lines of $25. This is priced more like a SW set. I like the pigs, but not that much.
Arterin, I think it probably has something to do with the fact that NZ only gives a darn if they’re sheep. I mean, who cares about pigs, right? :P
I really want that tractor, so nice.
Wow, what a fantastic set for the parts. I’d pick up several if not for the fact that I don’t care about the pigs. :P
Although if I did, having different styles available from BF and Lego would be a selling point–variety in your livestock!
Lime windscreens, interesting.
Umm, I think it’s fair to say that the pigs are similar to the Brickforge pigs only in the sense that they’re system scale pigs. The design of the Lego ones seems clearly inspired more by the old Duplo pigs.
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=4011type2pb01
^ 100% agreed.
^Dover, well played :P
As the father of a four-year-old girl, I appreciate a “girl theme” that’s not all pink sparkles or at Belville scale. $35 is a bit steep, but that’s why the good Lord made grandparents, right?
^ Hey, good idea. BTW, are your parents looking to adopt, by chance? ;)
At 256 pieces/$34.95 it’s a star-wars styled ratio, but it’s a brickier set. There are fewer exotic pieces than a lot of sets so you theoretically end up with a bit more utility in the box. Ultimately the value of the set is about how useful the pieces and colors are to you. For me there’s a lot of great bricks in the set. That however assumes you ever break it down. It’s weird how fun the set is out of the box. Like I said I’m not a farm fan but I’ve been pushing that tracktor and trailer around my coffee table for a week now. Everyone who comes by to visit is drawn to it and the pigs amidst the mess of other building projects I have built.
I still think brickforge pigs are better!
Yeah LEGO pricing is is insane I’m passing on the whole Farm theme and I have wanted LEGO Farm for 10 years.
The short rim hat is not new, it was in the Advent Calendar this year I think with the post office guy.