The Keen-eyed AFOL will notice that there are a few new products on the LEGO.com website. In this post I’ll be talking about the new Houses of the World Gift With Purchase set. The other is a Birthday Diorama.
I just noticed this update to the LEGO.com website. It’s the South America Houses of the World set. Listed as a Gift with Purchase (and a value of $19,95) – there are not many other details printed. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn a lot about it by looking at the photos – so here goes!
If you are looking for all the LEGO modular buildings ever made, I keep a complete list going.
Set Details for LEGO 40583 Houses of the World South America
Set – 40853
Pieces – 348
Release date – 2023
Age – 12+
Minifigs – 0
Original US Price – GWP
More about the new Houses of the World Series
From what I can tell this appears to be the first of four different sets.
Lego says it right on the page :
Celebrate architecture from around the world – Build the first in a collection of LEGO® houses from around the globe with this South American-inspired building kit”
Perhaps there is a hint about the next house in the series, too!
Also we have the set numbers for the upcoming houses: 40590, 40594 and 40599. But I am unable to find anything else on these at this time.
Initial Thoughts about the LEGO South America Houses of the World
My first impressions about this set are that I love the colors and style of the building. It appears to be a microscale model. I don’t see any Minifigures, however there is a small dog (chihuahua?) There are some cool architectural details as well including the microscale lights near the door, and the rounded 1×1 pieces along the roof’s edge.
The house has 2 levels – the front looks like a normal street view. But from the back, which is open we can see a small living room scene on the first floor and a bedroom on the second floor.
The living room has a small circular table, a side table with 2 chairs, a picture on the wall and a plant in the corner. It looks like the picture which appears to be an Italian city on the coast (maybe Corniglia or Manarola). Is this is a hint about the next set in the series.
Upstairs is the bedroom with another pic on the wall – a beach scene, a bed, a dresser, 2 plants, rug, and a chair facing a screen (on the dresser).
On the roof is a small grey brick built satellite dish.
The Out side of he house is decorated with colorful leaves and flowers, plus a small palm tree. A sidewalk stretches across the front.
I am not seeing any technic or clip elements that would enable one set to connect to another. However the LEGO website mentions they are modular and can be connected together.
The modular design means this house can be combined with others from the collection (40590, 40594 and 40599) – each available separately.
The whole set appears to be on plates measuring 10×12 studs.
How big is the set?
I can tell this is a microscale set because of the photos and the overall dimensions: 4 in. (12 cm) high, 3 in. (8 cm) wide and 3.5 in. (10 cm) deep. With a count of over 300 pieces most of the elements will be the smaller 1×1 plates, tiles, and dots. That’s also why it gets the 12+ age rating too, I’ll bet. Because of the smaller bricks.
How do you get the Houses of the World Gift with Purchase?
At this time there are no details on when the set will be released, or how to qualify for a purchase.
I anticipate the set to be available after the Blacktron Cruiser promo ends (on 1/14) which is about a week from now, and follows the general announcement procedure LEGO follows.
Also, I don’t think the threshold to get the set will be as high as the Blacktron set. Probably somewhere in the $100-$150 US amount. I’ll update this as we get more details.
For I have a whole section about previous 2003 Gift with purchases, too.
Final Thoughts
Will you be getting this set? Are you planning on collecting the whole series? I’d love to hear your thoughts below.
Most likely I’ll be getting all these – not because I want them, but because I live over 2 hours away from my closest LEGO store and I order mostly on-line. My orders are usually above the threshold for GWP sets. I’ll build the, review, and then disassemble and sort so the pieces can be used in MOCs.
