Happy New Year! LEGO sent us 75827 Ghostbusters Firehouse Headquarters, and I am pleased to end the year by giving you this review. This set, available January 1, 2016, has 4,634 pieces and retails for $349.99. It features the Firehouse and eight minifigures and four small ghost figures, including Slimer.
Opening the box, you have box-ception with two unprinted boxes inside the main box, the instruction manual, a 32×32 grey baseplate and a number of loose bags at the bottom. One box contains numbers 1-4 and the 16×32 baseplate. The second box contains numbers 5-7 with some plates and the fire pole. Numbers 8-14 are in the main box.
The instruction manual is lovely and hefty at 418 pages. The opening pages feature a summary of the movie and the importance of the set before diving into instructions. I would prefer instructions of this size be spiral bound in general, though I did not have any issues keeping the book open to the proper page. I didn’t have an problem with pages falling out, either, like I have with previous large instruction manuals bound this way.
- Peter has a new hair piece unique to this set, with a new torso/head print. Unlike Ecto Peter, the Firehouse Peter is covered in slime.
- Ecto Raymond and Firehouse Raymond are identical exception for the previously mentioned arm printing.
- Egon has a slightly different face. The Ecto Egon is looking straight-on through his glasses. Firehouse Egon seems to be glancing left, though this might be a printing error.
- Firehouse Winston has a new hairpiece unique to this set.
I am very impressed with this set. The build, though time consuming, has been a wonderful experience. There are plenty of excellent techniques. I feel less like I’m building a set and more like I’m creating a build of my own. Each wall is two studs wide, allowing for detailed outside colors and completely different interior. In addition to the new hair pieces for the minifigures, there are a number of new parts in this set, including:
- 1X5X6 Panel, black, with corrugated texture
- 1×1 round tile with pin in pearl gold
- 1x4x6 Door with 3 panes in brown and dark brown
- 1x2x1 Double corner panel (two of the 1×1 corner panels together)
This set does include stickers. This includes the mirrored silver stickers, which LEGO has always made as stickers. Some were things that should have been printed, including the Ghostbusters iconic logo. This was a sticker placed on a 2×2 white tile and 2×2 inverted white tile. Other 2×2 tiles, including a magazine cover, were printed. I don’t understand why the decision was made to not print the Ghostbusters logo. In the Ecto-1 set, even the curved 2×2 slopes were printed.
First Floor
One detail I particularly like is the pink slime leaking out on the sidewalk. I remember the pink slime vividly from the movies when I was a kid and appreciated seeing it incorporated into the build.
This set features the pre-molded staircase that is very familiar to the Castle and City themes. The set uses 1×2 inverted brown slopes to smooth out the visible edge, which I hadn’t seen used in a set previously.
Second Floor
The kitchen is very detailed, with a fantastic fridge and arcade machine. The sink u
Third Floor and Roof
The third floor features shelving with instruments, a computer, a coffee table, and a pool table. The pool table is rather clever and full of excellent techniques, including a studs-not-on-top design. The coffee table securely attaches to the floor diagonally using jumper plates. The fireman’s pole is attached to the third and first floors, and is added as one of the final steps.
The roof is designed to open on the side, just the same as the rest of the building, and is solidly attached to the model. Each portion that opens seals with a clip and rod, and helps make the set very solid when moved, preventing the sides from swinging open (which they did during building, every time I had to move it).
It was, understandably, a very long build. We’re talking a full marathon of Lord of the Rings, Extended Edition build length. If you choose to build this (and I hope you do), be prepared for the long haul and make sure you’ve got good lighting and a decent chair. You’ll find the result well worth your time.
You can check out all of our pictures on flickr.
Here at The Brothers Brick, we recognize there’s been a lot of conversation in the LEGO community regarding this set and a similar submission on IDEAS. We reviewed this as a set and won’t be making further comments regarding this topic.