LEGO ICONS Santa's Visit 10293

Product Information

If you actually look at traditional Christmas Village lines, like Department 56, they release a ton of new products annually, with their main focus being small town Americana, which seems to be what the “realistic” WVC is based on (they’ve also done a Santa village line). In that context, it is actually common to see a variety of different architectural styles and color schemes. Rural communities tend not to impose restrictions on individual expression, especially if the population is spread thin enough that you can’t see any of your neighbors’ houses from your own yard.

Chequered white and tan tiles distinguish the kitchen from the dining area. Tremendous detail continues in here, as sand green units correspond with the aforementioned light fixture. These are similar to the kitchen units found in certain Modular Buildings, particularly since the realistic sink resembles that found in 10243 Parisian Restaurant and includes a pipe underneath. LEGO has established a consistent aesthetic for Winter Village structures. 10293 Santa's Visit continues such conventions, including steep roof slopes and comprising vibrant light royal blue elements. This colour is shared with 77942 Fiat 500 and looks great, particularly in combination with the white roofs. However, greater contrast against 10229 Winter Village Cottage may have been advantageous, since these might be displayed together. Santa's Visit completely embraces the charming aesthetic which has continued across the Winter Village series, particularly resembling its earlier models. The light royal blue colour scheme and dramatic roofs appear brilliant for this wintry environment, with various traditional Christmas decorations and foliage further enhancing the external appearance. If you’re dreaming of the perfect Christmas Eve, get the festive season off to a magical start with this LEGO Santa’s Visit (10293) model building set. It’s the ideal way to spend quality time with a cosy project for adults and families. Build the intricate Christmas house and explore all of the model’s jolly features before placing it on display. Beautiful foliage continues beneath the central roof, alongside additional berries. Once again, these stand out perfectly against the walls and white roofs, which feature curved corners. The exposed studs are effective here and swapping these snow-covered surfaces for other colours, reflecting different seasons, would be easy.

Four minifigures are included, beginning with the residents of this charming cottage. The adults consist exclusively of existing components, although both characters are appropriately dressed for the season and their joyful expressions appear splendid. Moreover, these hair elements are reasonably uncommon, so their appearance here is appreciated.

Another wrapped gift is secreted in the rafters, above the sand green light fixture. This seems notably modern within the cottage, hence I would have preferred something more traditional in style. The consistent colour scheme of the rafters is brilliant though, resembling wooden beams and providing adequate support underneath the roof. The wooden dining table looks magnificent as well, featuring a red table runner and matching upholstery on the chairs. Their construction techniques are rudimentary, but the result is great and seats are provided for all four minifigures, should Santa Claus decide to stay. A decorative centrepiece completes the dining table, with two additional candles. No staircase is included to reach the upper floor, although that was probably the wisest choice because space is restricted. However, this child's bedroom makes efficient use of the available room, containing a flame yellowish orange bed and a desk. This mezzanine configuration looks fantastic as well, differing substantially from previous LEGO houses.

Trombones typically don’t have any valves*, making them unique among traditional brasswind instruments. They also have a slide that projects far forward of the bell, even when it’s fully retracted. Fully extended, there’s about twice as much instrument in front of the bell than behind it. The dark blue windowsills and bands beneath each roof look marvellous, complementing the light royal blue walls. The contrasting dark bluish grey chimney appears perfect too, matching pieces around the door and incorporating light bluish grey highlights. Moreover, this deciduous tree makes good use of Technic elements, seeming suitably sparse and including a birdhouse.

The cottage measures nearly 29cm across which is surprisingly large, but seems proportional with previous sets. The details are consistently impressive too, especially around the entrance where two lanterns with trans-opal glazing are positioned. My favourite feature, however, is the wreath which is ingeniously fixed through the windows in the door. This construction method is unusual, but feels secure. That realism is certainly appreciated, especially following two previous sets which focused upon fantasy. While those models were enjoyable, returning to the traditional origins of the Winter Village collection is welcome. This creation should therefore complement previous examples, or provide magnificent display value alone. Box and Contents If you exclude the train and market stalls, the majority of WV buildings are shades of brown and tan, with two that feature blue. There are also two that feature green, and two with red. It’s just the fact that these are the only two regular houses that makes the choice to produce them both in shades of blue stand out, but this was probably a color of opportunity situation. With the blue Fiat requiring so many new LRB parts, they probably wanted to work them into as many sets as possible to justify the adjusted production runs, plus designers would have seen this as a chance to use a rare color without having to burn their own limited recolors on making it happen. Remember, not everyone who has been collecting from the very start has actually bought the entire run. I see plenty of comments from people who skipped some over the years. The last two and Santa’s Workshop are too fantastical for some tastes. The train and station don’t appeal to some people. There’s a repeat of the Toy Shop in the gap, and one set is just a bunch of market stalls. Skip all of those and your town is basically toy shop, bakery, post office, blue house, fire station, blue house.

A Small Winter Landscape

As someone who used to play trumpet, I can only see the many problems with the design (extra mouthpiece, short one valve, missing the main tuning slide, and an off-color bell), but I recognize that it would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to do better with existing parts. Short of molded elements like the bugle, saxophone, violin, and various guitars, the only musical instrument I can think of that was accurately depicted with existing parts only is the flute. All they had to do to represent an old-style wooden flute with open hopes for the fingerings was paint dots on a lightsaber blade. Christmas trees have appeared consistently throughout the Winter Village range, although the designs have varied dramatically. The newest creation appears relatively bushy and comprises numerous slopes, producing authentic texture. Such construction techniques seem rather basic when compared with previous LEGO Christmas trees, such as the superb example from 10275 Elf Club House.