Review: LEGO CITY 7286 Prisoner Transport

First off, I will go on record by saying that LEGO City has too many police sets, and this one doesn’t help my perception of LEGO City being a safe place to live! I will say that on the other hand, this set is really, really nice. It looks strong and mildly brutish with its boxy design complete with fat fenders to boot.

LEGO City 7286 Prisoner Transport Review

The stats on this formidable van are: 173 pieces, one sticker sheet, one roadblock sign, loads of accessories, one yellow crate to keep them in, a motorcycle, a moneybag backpack, 100 LEGO bucks (which doesn’t seem worth stealing and going to Legoland jail for), one policeman minifig, and one crook minifig.

LEGO City 7286 Prisoner Transport Review

By the Numbers:
Set: LEGO 7286 City Prisoner Transport
Year of Release: 2011 (December 2010)
Type: City – Police vehicle and minifig set
# of Pieces: 173
# of Extra pieces:
# of Minifigs and what kind: 2 – police officer, criminal
Stickers? Yes
Ages: 5-12
Time to Complete:
Price: $19.99

Available
* Shop.LEGO.com
* Amazon.com – LEGO Prisoner Transport 7286
* Amazon.co.uk – LEGO Prisoner Transport 7286
* Target, Toys R Us, etc.

Remember: click on the photos to see larger images at flickr (Full 7286-1 gallery at flickr)

Box Art:

LEGO City 7286 Prisoner Transport Review

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LEGO and Nintendo Announce LEGO City Stories

Just heard the news that earlier today, LEGO and Nintendo announced LEGO City Stories at this major year’s electronics expo – E3. It’s going to be produced by TT Games who has produced several of the current LEGO titles including Star Wars, Harry Potter, Ninjago, and Pirates of the Caribbean. … Read more

Review: LEGO CITY 7741 Police Helicopter

Okay, most of you who keep up with LEGO release dates will wonder why I am reviewing a set that came out in 2007 during the holiday season. Well, the answer is simple: LEGO City Police sets are popular. Plus it’s still in production and still available.

LEGO 7741 Police Helicopter (City) - Review

People, in general, still love cop shows and documentaries, so why should the toy world be any different? Lots of folks love the intrigue of committing and solving crimes. Hopefully, most of you are more interested in solving than committing though.

LEGO 7741 Police Helicopter (City) - Review

So, here we have the still-in-production LEGO 7741 Police Helicopter with 94 pieces, and it retails for $10.99 through Shop.LEGO.com and Amazon.com.

I picked this one up at Target for about $8.80 on sale, and it was well worth it. This one has some really nice parts, not just for the model it’s meant for, but also if you want to make a nice airplane or spaceship MOC. This set includes one police helicopter pilot minifig, one sheet of stickers (which give you the choice of putting “POLICE”, or the German “POLIZEI” on the completed model), nice rotor blades, a rare landing skid, pursuit camera, and a couple of mailbox pieces used for storing the set’s handcuffs

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LEGO in Space – LEGO Space Shuttles on the Real Space Shuttle

Last November, I posted an article about NASA and the LEGO Group literally sending LEGO Space Shuttles into orbit and now it’s finally happened. NASA has posted an article about new experiments headed towards the International Space Station on today’s Shuttle flight and LEGO is a part of that: A … Read more

LEGO at Barnes and Noble

I’m always interested in how LEGO is portrayed and sold in other stores outside of the official LEGO retail stores. I’m lucky enough to have had a LEGO retail store open up in my area in the past year, which means no more sporadic trips to the LEGO stores in Houston or Dallas when I’m visiting family and friends there.

Now of course, I’ve got plenty of Targets, Wal-Marts, even Sears, in my area, with plenty of LEGO sets to choose from. I can’t forget Toys R Us as well – have a couple of those.

There is one place that has quite a few LEGO sets available, as well as some nice displays, that often gets overlooked, and they happen to carry LEGO-related items that the other non-LEGO retail stores don’t necessarily carry.

I’m of course referring to Barnes and Noble. I visit the one in south Austin occasionally, and this time around I decided to take some photos of their LEGO sets and displays, because I don’t think most people realize what all they have – they aren’t just selling books, magazines, food and movies/music. They’ve been adding a toy and hobby section, and the one I visit has quite a bit of LEGO-related items. The store I’m referring to, they obviously have put some effort into the LEGO displays – I’m not familiar with other stores, but I am impressed with this one.

Some notes/observations:
* The main LEGO display was fairly prominent – it had it’s own little dedicated section in the middle of the toys and hobby section.
* The LEGO alarm clock/flashlights were in another part of the toys & hobby section.
* The LEGO games and the LEGO Architecture displays were next to one another, however they were off in the game section of Barnes & Noble and weren’t near the main LEGO display. They were still easy to find.
* I did a really poor job of taking photos of the LEGO Harry Potter and LEGO Star Wars stuff!

LEGO items and lines I saw:
* LEGO Architecture – Empire State Building, Sears Tower, John Hancock Center, Fallingwater, Guggenheim Museum, White House
* LEGO Games – Pirate Code, Robo Champ, Magikus, Minotaurs, Ramses Pyramid, Creationary, Race 300, Dragon, Harry Potter/Hogwarts
* LEGO Accessories – flashlights, nightlights, alarm clocks, pens, keychains
* LEGO Books – Minifig stickers, Star Wars Visual Dictionary
* LEGO Atlantis (a nice mix!)
* LEGO City
* LEGO Creator
* LEGO Kingdoms
* LEGO Star Wars (both original and Clone Wars)
* LEGO Technic
* LEGO Toy Story
* The beginner LEGO tubs
* Duplo

Anyways, here are some photos of the various LEGO displays in our favorite B&N. I apologize for the poor picture quality – I’m not using a flash in a store, and I’m not the steadiest of hands when it comes to photo taking. You can click on any of them to take you to a larger version at flickr.

LEGO Displays at Barnes & Noble (South Austin)

LEGO Displays at Barnes & Noble (South Austin)

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