Christmas comes but once a year and with it comes the annual LEGO® tradition of a new addition to the Winter Village Collection. Each Christmas the festive brick-built village grows a little larger thanks to an Icons set. This year’s offering is Santa’s Post Office. It nicely links with previous releases from the collection and harks back to even early Winter Village sets. The set is inspired by Santa’s postal service, which is of course staffed by elves. The Santa’s Post Office deals with the many letters sent to the North Pole over the festive period as well as it would seem a large amount of junk mail. Regardless of the letter’s origins, it’s sorted at the Post Office before being sent before Santa. Here’s an early look at this upcoming new Icons set.
Product Details
Set Name: Santa’s Post Office | Set Number: 10339 | Pieces: 1440 | Theme: Icons
Number of Bags: Bags x 10 (paper) | Instructions: Paper booklet + Builder App | Stickers: Sheet x 1 | Insiders QR: Yes | Character: Santa + 4 x Elves
RRP: £89.99/$99.99/99.99€/169.99AUD/129.99CAD
Availability: LEGO Stores & LEGO Online from October 1st (Insiders) October 4th (General)
You may be thinking, hasn’t there already been a Winter Village Post Office? And the answer is yes, one was released in 2009. But this is a remake or reissue, it’s an entirely new set. It does have connections to other Winter Village sets such as Santa’s Workshop and the Elf Club House. But as a standalone set, this is a unique addition to the collection. Similar to recent Winter Village sets, there is an option for multiple people to build the set thanks to the use of two instruction booklets. It can also be built using the digital LEGO Builder app.
The first things you build are the minibuilds which complement the Post Office building. These include a trio of large quarter plates each featuring festive scenes. One features a small Christmas Tree and a selection of wrapped gifts, it’s impressive there are so many different ways to build a Christmas tree. The next scene features a signpost offering directions to previous Winter Village sets including Santa’s Workshop released in 2014 and the Elf Club House released in 2020. The final mini-scene is an ice fishing hole, lovingly watched over by a baby seal, but it’s not just fish biting here, there’s also a stray letter. These sections don’t physically connect to the Post Office build but add a little extra detail and are great for those who craft a festive LEGO scene at Christmas.
Another mini-build is a colourful little sorting machine. This has a movable platform inside the machine, so when letters are dropped into the top of it they can be sorted to drop into one of the two trolleys. Unlike the other mini-builds, the Sorting Machine can be affixed to the back of the Post Office and becomes part of the set’s major play feature. The two sorting trolleys are different colours, one green and one red. I’m not sure if this is to signify letters from good or bad people, but I think it’s more a reflection of which letters are for Santa to read and which are junk mail.
Santa’s Winter Village operations have moved with the times, his workshop had a fancy toy-making machine. Thankfully, there’s still an air of whimsy and a Hot Air Balloon is used to collect and transport letters to the Post Office. Similar to past LEGO Hot Air Balloons, the set uses large curved panels to create the balloon part of the build. Running through the inside of the balloon is a long rod which can be pressed to activate the light brick-powered ‘flame’. It’s nice to see the light brick used for something other than a fireplace. These are featured in dark green and gold, which gives it a festive feel. A small red basket is connected below it and also features a little box, which is mounted on a rotatable rod. So it can be tipped to drop letters chute found in the Post Office.
Which leads nicely onto the main part of the set, the Post Office. Like other Winter Village sets, it features a details front facade and an exposed back allowing access to the interior of the building. This offers a nice balance between offering something which can be displayed and something which can be played with. The exterior doesn’t scream ‘Post Office’ there is no signage apart from a 3D version of the bugle horn which has been used on other postal-themed sets. Each of the roof sections has what looks like a thick layer of snow. This looks so much better than just the odd white plate here and there. The roof above the doorway and the larger one on the tall section of the building can both be removed and merely slotted onto the building with no clutch power connection. Despite not being physically connected, they stay firmly in place. On the left-hand side of the building a square platform. This is a landing spot for the Hot Air Balloon and is perfectly placed for the post to be dropped off.
Although it doesn’t look much like a Post Office from the outside, the interior certainly does. As mentioned there is a chute system which runs throughout the building. Two chutes run from the top floor of the building into a central chute downstairs. This can then drop into the Sorting Machine, which can be connected to a couple of jumper plates on the edge of the building. The chute on the right side of the building is placed next to the Balloon’s landing platform and the other comes from a room, which appears to be where Santa writes letters, so could be considered outgoing mail. This gives the Sorting Machine another possible function of sorting letters into incoming and outgoing mail. The lower floor is split into three sections. To the left is a sitting room, where Santa can sit by a cosy fire and read his letters. The central room features a chute and a postage tray. But the best room can be found on the right and is where the Elves take their breaks. This features a coffee machine and like most break rooms, also becomes an area to store other stuff, which here is more letters.
The set features five minifigures, unsurprisingly one of those is Santa. This doesn’t offer much beyond past versions, but the recent use of dual moulded legs is better than the old printed boots. The white trim on his coat is still a little washed out due to the light print on a darker surface. The elves all use the same legs, torsos and hats. The torso is unique as it features the bugle horn logo. The elves do have a little variation between them. They each have different expressions and one is wearing a scarf. The Hot Air Balloon pilot has a flight cap and goggles.
It’s another great addition to the ever-growing Winter Village Collection. I think I prefer these more whimsical buildings, although the exterior is still quite traditional. Overall the set offers a nice balance between being something great to display and something which can be played with. That balance can also be applied to the balance of fantasy and realism. When adding the Hot Air Balloon and the pieces of scenery, these makes it a little more magical. I would have liked a little more variety with the Elves beyond different faces and accessories. The LEGO Icons Winter Village Collection Santa’s Post Office will be available for Insiders on October 1st before its general release on October 3rd.
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This set was provided to BricksFanz by the LEGO Group for this review. The thoughts within this review are those of BricksFanz and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group. Providing a set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
