Next up in my series of reviews for the LEGO Creator Expert range, I’m tackling the LEGO Brick Bank. I have previously reviewed Assembly Square and the Parisian Restaurant. The Brick Bank has a dual function, as it might be enabling me to ‘bank’ for my future.

Now I couldn’t bear to part with these kits or to not even open the box in the first place, but those that have more self-restraint have earned a tidy profit. This is not a guaranteed money spinner, as with any type of antique collecting, but retired models in the LEGO Creator Expert range have sold for 2 or 3 times their original value. If a set is rare enough, I think you could recoup your spend even on a model that had been built. As we know, that isn’t my motivation for buying them, but I thought it worth mentioning, especially as today’s build has a financial theme.

What I love about the LEGO modular builds are their intricate, technical builds, like the underside of the bank roof, and their humorous details, such as the frog below. I have no idea why there is a frog on the roof. I thought it might be a tribute to a designer’s favourite animal, but I can find no details on this. Either way, he livens up the winch, currently being used to help the launderette sign, but which also serves a more nefarious purpose.

LEGO kits are great for the imagination, but to help you along, Brick Bank has a secret storyline. The seemingly innocuous photographer is actually *gasp* a bank robber. Having hidden her disguise on the roof, she uses the winch from the rope to lower herself down into the bank vault via the chimney. In no small feat of engineering, it is actually possible to drop the figure down through the completed building, then remove the top floor to find her safely in the locked vault. You cannot imagine how much fun myself and my parents had ‘testing’ this feature.

Here is a shot of our robber doing a test run before the roof was put on. Despite the hot fire on the other side, she slipped down the chimney like a Father Christmas in training. The bank manager is totally oblivious, although I would be too if I had that grand red and gold stamper to play with. He also has a pet parrot, which I’ve managed to cut out of this photo, but provides a nice link to the florist in Assembly Square. In his drawer he has a love letter, perhaps it is from her?

Now you might be wondering why there is a launderette tucked into the back of this rather grand old brick bank. Well it’s not so all the LEGO people can wash their clothes. If you look carefully, you will see that the top right machine is out of order. It has a false back and if you post money through it (or diamonds, both of which are generously supplied) then it ends up in the safes in the vault. This is, of course, money laundering. Feel free to groan at the pun, but it’s a neat feature.

As the machine unit fits into the vault, on the back is a coin counting machine. Adorably, it actually does stack the shiny coins (and the spares that I couldn’t fit in went in Assembly Square’s fountain for luck). This is not a playset for fat fingers, the vault door is simple but very effective and there’s a lot crammed in a small space. There is also some beautiful architecture, rivalling the restaurant I think. The stained glass windows are a particular highlight, although as they are made by a billion stacks of 1 by 1 pieces, they are also a literal pain. I had to soak my fingers after assembling the panels! But the pain was worth it.

With the Brick Bank being a floor shorter than the others, you might think this was a smaller or less detailed build. But while it is shorter when the buildings are lined up, the footplate is packed with fancy tiling, window treatments, an insane skylight and a beautiful chandelier. There are plenty of story opportunities, even if you ignored the criminal activity. Best yet, for collectors at least, this is one of the corner buildings, so it finishes the end of the road nicely. Next time, I’ll be delving further into the criminal underworld of LEGO with the Detective’s Office.

I had a basic LEGO set when I was little, but I never embraced it through to adulthood like many of my friends had done. That said, I did enjoy browsing the LEGO store and seeing the beautiful sculptures that people came up with. I’d keep an eye out for internet articles on new builds. And thus I was led to the LEGO Creator Expert series, a group of modular buildings that fit together to form a street. For the range’s 10 year anniversary, LEGO threw everything into building a town square that would incorporate elements from all the previous builds, include a whopping 7 shops and a flat, 8 highly prized minifigures (plus dog and baby) and a plethora of features to make this LEGO’s most detailed set of the series. I fell in love.

Assembly Square is a magnificent piece of kit. It also retails for a fairly magnificent price, which given the fact the kit contains over 4000 individual pieces, is actually very reasonable. I had a small amount of savings left over from moving house with my parents, a particularly stressful and complex move. Didn’t I deserve a treat? No, they said, reasonably pointing out that I hadn’t established my writing business in Doncaster as yet, and so needed to keep hold of my savings.

Then came my 31st birthday, when it transpired that my mischievous parents had ordered LEGO Assembly Square the very next day after I’d shown it to them. Apparently, I did deserve a treat after all. This is where things went horribly wrong, if you’re my parent’s bank balance, and horribly right if you’re a LEGO seller. We all fell in love with Assembly Square. We couldn’t believe the detail. Building it satisfied my architectural fantasies and my love of dollhouses. The storytelling possibilities were endless. We had to have more.

And so this is the first in a series of blogs about the LEGO Creator Expert range. I have all the ones currently available, bar the Diner because it’s just not quite right for me. I will be reviewing each build in turn and I regularly post pictures on my Instagram, where the response from fellow AFOLs (Adult Fans Of LEGO) has been delightful.

Now to the nitty-gritty: The ridiculously large box houses lots of bags of LEGO, numbered 1-6 for each stage of the build. You work from the floor up, with the groundwork including lots of detailed tiling, as well as paving and even street vents. Then you build each room up, filling it with baking equipment for the patisserie, flowers in the florist, a piano for the ballet teacher and a camera for the photographer. Best of all, the flat is occupied by an official AFOL, who has filled the room with her LEGO models. In a stroke of genius, these comprise miniature versions of famous LEGO sets, including the first three Creator Expert buildings. Here is a LEGO train set in miniature, with the Eiffel Tower in the background:

The outside is magnificent and the inside a hoot, but even the back of these builds is a sight to behold. An alleyway between the coffee shop and the florist leads to back and side entrances, plus access to the dentist , photographer and flat via a gorgeous climbing staircase with balconies. The flat has an outdoor garden and grill area, hidden from front view by the elaborate roof, while the florist has a stained glass window section that can be removed for easier access while playing. The design is a nod to LEGO Creator Expert Brick Bank.

The keener-eyed of my readers will notice a ladder to the left of the grill area. Rooftop access is very important to LEGO modular builds, and the roof of the blue building can also be accessed via staircase and trap door. Alongside offering surfaces for creating my own outdoor space (I’m thinking a romantic picnic area on top of the flat) it links in well with the rooftop escape needed in the LEGO Brick Bank storyline. But you’ll have to wait for my third review to find out about that…

It should be obvious that I thoroughly recommend buying LEGO Creator Expert Assembly Square 10255 Building Kit, although I accept no responsibility for any ensuing addiction. I do have to tell you that the links in this blog are affiliate links, which means if you click on them and purchase anything from the Amazon store, I will receive some commission. This does not alter the price you pay, though it will enhance my ability to buy more LEGO.

My next review will be LEGO Creator Expert Parisian Restaurant and should be published in March.