I tested for you: LEGO Creator Expert 10256 Taj Mahal

It is the comeback of the end of the year, the big comeback of a set considered as "cult" by some fans which was negotiated so far at indecent prices on the secondary market and which emerges in a version identical to the original model of the set 10189 Taj Mahal marketed in 2008.

The new benchmark LEGO Creator Expert 10256 Taj Mahal will allow those who have long regretted not being able to add this box to their collection to eliminate the price excuse once and for all. This new set is sold € 329.99, i.e. an identical price (including inflation) to that of set 10189 sold at the time at the public price of € 299.99.

As of this writing, the set is out of stock on the LEGO Shop but LEGO promises shipping by December 21 to all those who place their order.

In the box, an additional brick separator and a few axes that change color. Everything else is identical to the 2008 model. However, LEGO claims to have it "brought up to date"in the official product description. It must be the box ...

It therefore remains to judge the interest of this Taj Mahal, both in terms of the pleasure of construction and that of the space needed to exhibit this bulky model. And don't count on me to go into ecstasies all the time on these two criteria.

I am not one of those who until now idealized this set which has become overpriced on the secondary market and its surprise reissue is therefore no relief to me. The Taj Mahal, even made from LEGO bricks, is not a monument for which I am willing to sacrifice a significant chunk of my living space (and my LEGO budget).

Let's be honest, and those who have been able to put this set together will have a hard time contradicting me, the feeling that dominates throughout the assembly phase is ... boredom. We stack, we do four, eight, sixteen or thirty two times the same thing, and we finally decide to put the set aside to space the repetitions.

We come back to it later and start over. At first, I sometimes felt like I was putting together a dummy wedding cake, but I also said to myself that this monument is above all a geometric structure and that LEGO should not be blamed for trying to reproduce it as best as possible.

This set is an identical reissue of a 2008 model, so we find the same parts, the same construction techniques and the same somewhat outdated look. Some will consider that this is what makes the charm of this reissue.

In the product description, LEGO refers to "the intricate tiling around the base". It is in fact to place more than 200 copies of the lower part of a Turn Plate 2x2 ...

However, from time to time we think that with the new parts produced by LEGO since then, the end result could probably be better. But we also understand why this box contains more than 5900 pieces. We stack hundreds of 1x1 pieces over and over again. Walls, windows, towers, etc ...

The domes with exposed studs have a vintage look and a rough finish. The nostalgic LEGO fan too happy to finally be able to afford this box will be satisfied. Those who expect a more complete finish from a model on this scale marketed in 2017 will no doubt be a little disappointed by the final rendering.

The real Taj Mahal is a monument covered with engravings, textures, decorations. On the LEGO version, the walls are hopelessly empty and smooth. The four minarets are a little too bare for my taste, in the end we can only see the joints and the notches of the parts that make up the walls. So much the better for the "immaculate" look of the thing, so much the worse for the architectural richness of this monument which is somewhat by the way here.

The LEGO Creator Expert version Taj Mahal is also modular. And that's good for transport and storage. It is in any case impossible to move it in a single block. The minarets sway dangerously, the base platform made up of six sections only holds in place via a few Technic pins and the central mausoleum is right in the heart of the construction.

This modularity is therefore welcome and LEGO has thought of everything. The assembly can be broken down without having to dismantle everything. the minarets are only fixed on a few studs, as are the five domes of the mausoleum.

Was it absolutely necessary to reissue this set identically? I am not sure. The 2008 (cardboard) box will remain the 2008 one for collectors. Those who had not bought this set a few years ago might have appreciated some improvements on this new version with for example parts in Pearl Gold instead of the garish yellow, smoother domes, a mosaic around the base, some pad printed elements, etc ... The impact on the price of the 2008 set on the aftermarket would have been the same: a more modern version of the Taj Mahal would have made the previous model obsolete anyway.

This set LEGO Creator Expert 10256 Taj Mahal will therefore have finally left me unmoved (!). I will long remember having worked on the line to simultaneously assemble the many sections to be reproduced in multiple copies, pushing aside repetitive assembly sessions every day, and I will wait patiently for LEGO to come up with a more compact version of this monument in the Architecture range. The latter will better suit my budget and the space I have to display a few sets.

Note: The set presented here, supplied by LEGO, is put into play. To participate in the raffle, all you need to do is post a (constructive) comment on this article before the December 22 at 23:59 p.m.. The "I participate", "For my little loulous", "For my grandson" and other things of the same style will be automatically disqualified.

Update : The winner was drawn and was notified by email, his nickname is indicated below. Without a response from him to my request for contact details within 5 days, a new winner will be drawn.