Today LEGO announced its latest Creator Expert set, 10257 Carousel. The 2,670 piece set is the latest entry to the popular carnival theme of sets that includes 10247 Ferris Wheel, 10244 Fairground Mixer, and of course, 10196 Grand Carousel from 2009. The new Carousel has five brick-built animals galloping around its platform, which spins with a hand crank and comes ready for Power Functions integration. The set includes seven minifigures, and will retail for $199.99 USD. It will be available June 1, 2017.
The original carousel from 8 years ago is greatly loved, but the fact that LEGO is circling back to the same carnival ride after only two intervening sets is sure to raise some eyebrows. However, the old 10196 Carousel is so highly desired by fans that it’s currently selling for around $1,700 for an unopened copy, and over $1,100 for a used version, a rare figure outside the Star Wars and Modular themes. Certainly, many fans who can’t afford to spend over $1k on a single set will be glad to see this version. Although slightly smaller than the original, the new set carries a $50 lower MSRP, likely due to the Power Functions being an optional extra this time. Although we spy plenty of elements in new colors, however, we haven’t spotted any completely new elements apart from the cloth roof panels. Let us know in the comments if you see anything we’ve missed, though!
We’ve got the full press release, designer video, and all the images below.
10257 Carousel
Ages 16+. 2,670 pieces.
US $199.99 – CA $249.99 – DE 179.99€ – UK £159.99 – DK 1499.00 DKKDiscover the fairground’s star attraction with the Carousel!
Experience the majestic Carousel with a wealth of delightful features, including a large textile canopy, ornate reflective rounding boards with blue and gold detailing, reflective center panels, and a 2-tier deck comprising a raised boarding platform with handrail and a main platform with 5 buildable animal rides, including a white swan and 4 moving animals. Turn the crank and see the elephant, tiger, flamingo and frog move up and down as the carousel rotates. This delightful LEGO® Creator Expert model has an iconic elegance that evokes feelings of nostalgia, romance and adventure. Upgrade with LEGO Power Functions for fully motorized operation.
• Includes 7 minifigures: a ride operator, mom, dad, boy, girl, grandmother and a granddaughter.
• The Carousel features a large textile canopy, ornate, reflective rounding boards with blue and gold detailing, reflective center panels, two-level deck comprising a raised boarding platform with handrail and a main platform with five buildable animal rides, including a white swan and four moving animals: an elephant, tiger, flamingo and a frog.
• Also features a sturdy, buildable base for easy transportation.
• Buy your ticket at the booth, take the stairs to the boarding platform and choose your favorite animal ride.
• Turn the crank and see the elephant, tiger, flamingo and frog move up and down as the carousel rotates.
• Enjoy an ice cream, candy or a delicious hot dog as you watch the whirling carousel.
• Accessory elements include a camera, ice cream, candy and a hot dog in a bun.
• New decorated elements include printed tickets and printed storybook tiles.
• Includes lots of molded golden elements, reflective golden labels and medium-blue/dark-blue elements.
• Motorize the Carousel with the LEGO® Power Functions 8883 medium motor and 88000 AAA battery box (not included).
• Collect and build an entire fairground with the LEGO® Creator Expert 10247 Ferris Wheel.
• Measures over 12” (32cm) high, 14” (38cm) wide and 13” (35cm) deep.
I’m glad I saved s couple carousel sound bricks from the original
Are there any images of the mechanism used? I’ve got my old one, and would like to try and put a more realistic mechanism together for it, and are always up to cribbing lego designs…
Are the “Ticket” tiles not new?
The tiger looks sad..
The pieces I was most suspicious of before were the disc that the crank handle attaches to (Hero Factory weapon of some sort), the tall crowns on the roof (King Piggy from Angry Birds), and the 3L axle connector (two Technic sets last year, including the Porsche). Now, the part I’m most suspicious about is the black towballs holding the top/center corners of the cloth panels. The shaft that’s visible above the hole is long enough to rule out the majority of elements that turn up on a Bricklink search for “towball”, which leaves just the following possibilities:
22484
15456
476
30219
Of those parts, I suspect 15456 is the most likely culprit, but only time will tell. Of course, this is a Creator set, and I believe I heard that they’re either heavily discouraged or outright banned from generating new part designs. That doesn’t mean they can’t beat the originating theme to market once a new part has been cleared for general production (the Technic Stormtrooper was the first source for the original Bionicle Toa torso in North America, and may have just barely beat them to market in Europe), but the odds are significantly lower that this will happen with Creator sets. So, generally, the only new elements you’ll find will be new colors for old shapes, new print, or old print on a new color.
@Peter:
The gold panels (2×4 and round 2×2) around the central structure, and the gold circles around the edge of the roof look like they’re stickers. The ticket tile and the 2×2 dark-blue “diamonds” with the open book around the edge of the roof look printed. As far as TLC would be concerned, yes, they’d both be new elements, but so would all of the older parts in new colors. For that matter, so would any parts in colors that had previously been produced, but that had a gap in production that was long enough that they purged their inventory and retired the previous element number.
The tan wedge tile elements under the animals also appear to be new elements.
@Karen: Wedge tiles would be awesome! Sadly however, those are inverted 75 degree slopes facing sideways, not new elements.