Review: LEGO Ideas 21324 123 Sesame Street

As promised, we quickly tour the LEGO Ideas set 21324 123 Sesame Street (1367 pieces - 119.99 €), a box inspired by the educational series Sesame Street broadcast in the USA in the 70s and adapted in France in the 80s under the title 1, Sesame Street. Part of the original program, dubbed in French, was broadcast in 1992 on FR3, followed in 2005 by a new French adaptation entitled 5, Sesame Street, but we cannot say that this program will have accompanied our young years in an intensive way.

If the program in question will not have marked French youth, it is still important to note that this educational program has become cult for a whole generation of English speakers. The show Sesame Street has been broadcast or adapted in more than 120 countries since the 70s and the success of the LEGO Ideas project, which today becomes an official product, is not the result of an intensive spam campaign on social networks as it is often the case.

The project initially submitted on the LEGO Ideas platform has been reimagined by LEGO in a much less ambitious version that goes from 2945 to 1368 pieces. Exit the big modular building, make way for a construction of the "movie set" type which boils down to a facade coupled with a few shallow spaces as we often see in LEGO products. It is in line with the subject treated, I think that this idea should have been taken to the end by adding a few projectors as was the case for the film set of the Friends series in the set LEGO Ideas 21319 Central Perk.

The designers in charge of the adaptation of the initial project had a great time dealing with the subject and this product is really very pleasant to assemble. The inventory is rather impressive in variety and the list of more or less obvious references to different episodes of the show is endless. This is what fans who followed this educational program assiduously during their young years were waiting for and they should not be disappointed.

The LEGO Ideas range is sometimes criticized for straying a little too far from the original idea or for treating it in a way that does not really respect the project initiated by the fan designer, in my opinion it is not the case here. The fan service is really at work with references to the show's most iconic episodes, although many fans will have only vague memories of the broadcast and miss a few of those references. more or less obvious.

There is no base plate in this box, but LEGO still provides two 16x16 plates that serve as a starting point for the construction of the alley. the filling of the two curves of the sidewalk is moreover a little rough, it will be necessary to make with it. It also lacks the tree in the street next to the sign and the blue letterbox, but the most picky can always add one on the sidewalk which is not covered with Tiles smooth, undoubtedly to leave the fans the possibility of staging the different characters provided by inserting them on the visible tenons.

The main building loses some of its attributes during the narrowing of the initial idea to make it a product that meets the brand's standards in terms of content / public price ratio and one of the three windows of the facade disappears. Bert and Ernie's apartment located in the basement also disappears and the distribution of the different rooms of the building does not really correspond to that seen on the screen even if the essential is there and we will retain the pretty details on the facade such as the pediment placed above the front door or the decoration of the always open windows. We will console ourselves by saying that the decor of the show has constantly evolved over the seasons and that the different tenants are constantly moving.

The furniture installed in the different rooms of the New York building is largely of the level of that generally available in the sets of the universe "Structure". Those looking for some techniques to make an armchair, a bed, a bathtub or a vintage television will find here some interesting ideas for their creations. Mr Hooper's shop, inspired by the version seen in the most recent seasons of the emission, is also rich in elements of decoration but it really lacks a minifigure of the character.

The sheet of stickers to stick is quite impressive, LEGO has definitely freed itself from the idea of ​​providing only pad printed elements in the sets of the LEGO Ideas range and no longer hesitates to multiply the stickers. This set of the range is not the first to use stickers to polish the look of the model, but there are more than twenty illustrations to stick here. As usual, everything that is not on the sheet of stickers that I scanned for you is therefore pad printed.

The same goes for the new molded elements delivered in this set. We could hear for a few years all the "specialists" guarantee us that LEGO would never produce new parts for the sets of the LEGO Ideas range, this set definitely proves the opposite and confirms that it is LEGO which decides and that it there are no set rules. Sesame Street is an educational show that was followed by a whole generation of children and the subject deserved to be treated seriously and without too many approximations, so the different characters had to be faithful to the costumes seen on the screen. .

The minifig endowment is content to bring together some of the most iconic characters of the show and it is far from exhaustive, in particular missing Kermit the frog who made his first regular appearances on the show long before being at the helm of the Muppet Show and Le Comte (Le vampire Count von Count).

We still get Oscar The Grouch (Mordicus) in his trash, Bert (Bart), Big Bird (the yellow bird replaced by the white albatross Toccata in the French adaptation of the show), Cookie Monster (Macaron) , Elmo and Ernie (Ernest). Undoubtedly to maintain the international character of the product, LEGO does not provide representations of the human characters present in the show, the cast varying according to the different adaptations.

The various new molded elements to adapt the look of the characters to the minifig format seem very successful to me. They manage to keep the identity of each costume or puppet while respecting the codes of the LEGO universe and benefit from impeccable pad printing. Only regret: Cookie Monster and Elmo are content with monochrome torsos and we do not find the fur effect of the original puppets, even a simplistic pad printing would have been appreciated to dress these figurines a little.

If the universe presented in this box does not speak to you, it is because you are not one of those who were lulled by the show. Sesame Street is nevertheless a cult universe for a whole generation of children and LEGO treats the subject rather seriously here, not skimping on the finish. The set should therefore easily find its audience in many countries even if sales will probably be more confidential in France.

Those who collect all the products in the LEGO Ideas range will have no choice and they will have to add this new reference to their inventory, but it is neither the most expensive nor the most dispensable of the products in the range. The others can skip the line, but they may miss out on a great assembly experience and an inventory of nearly 1400 pieces rich in small original and very colorful elements.

Note: The set presented here, supplied by LEGO, is as usual in play. Deadline fixed at November 3, 2020 next at 23pm.

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.