LEGO 5007016 VIP 1950’s Retro Tin – A nice little perk with purchase [Review]

The mad rush of sales and events leading up to the holiday season is in full swing, and LEGO is leaning hard into “how many ways can we get collectors to shell out big bucks multiple times over a span of several days?”  The first push, the VIP weekend, is drawing to a close, but there’s still a few hours (probably) for VIP members to pick up an interesting gift with purchase. LEGO 5007016 VIP 1950’s Retro Tin is available through November 25th from the LEGO Shop Online as a VIP Gift with qualifying purchases of US $250 | CAN $330 | UK £250.  The details about the tin are pretty sparse at LEGO.com, but their US shipping was quick, and we now have one on hand to share with you. Come along and learn the details of this decorative object!


Unboxing

The tin comes packaged in a paper sleeve. The image here isn’t washed out – the envelope is actually a dark grey, not black. There’s a small half-circle grip point on the right to allow easy extraction of the sign.


The back of the sleeve has the helpful info of “TIN POSTER X 1” and some copyright and maker information.


The tin

The tin measures 12″x6″ (about 30.5  x 15.2 cm) and, as advertised, looks just like a retro 1950’s tin sign. The weathering effect is a print, as you’d expect. The LEGO logo looks sharp, and I found this to be a pretty fun design.

The back of the tin is super plain. Note that there are no pre-drilled holes to assist in wall-mounting.

Along the bottom edge is the expected copyright/maker info. Made in Dongguan, China, it was produced by RDP Ltd., a marketing agency in the UK.


The finished model

I wanted to get one of these signs to help enhance my “LEGO Review Corner” area of my workshop. It’s a little smaller than I would like but holds its own okay. The lack of mounting points meant I used a flat push-pin to hang it on, so “assembly” was very quick indeed.

I think this was intended more to lean on a shelf in a smaller display area. Used like that, I think it would look even nicer.


Conclusion and recommendation

If you’re going to be spending a lot of money on LEGO this holiday season, this is a pretty nice VIP perk to take the sting out of buying yet another World Map for parts. (Not that I would do that. No, no-no.) It’s a little smaller than the photos on LEGO.com would suggest, but it’s a pretty standard size for a tin sign. The packaging is minimal, which is nice, and the design does look very sharp. I’m fond of this sort of thing as a VIP perk – it doesn’t hide a building product behind a high pay-wall, and the types of folks who would be tempted into a high-dollar VIP sale are (in my mind) the same folks who would probably like to have something a little off-beat to add to their collections and displays. If that description fits you – go snag one while you can.


LEGO 5007016 VIP 1950’s Retro Tin is available now from the LEGO Shop Online as a VIP Gift with purchases of US $250 | CAN $330 | UK £250. It may also available via third-party sellers on Amazon and eBay.


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