Review: 42115 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 box
Posted by Huw,We don't normally waste time dwelling on boxes, and we certainly don't bother with 'unboxing videos'.
However, the packaging of the just-released 42115 Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 is a major aspect of the product, so I think it's worthwhile taking a closer look in this case, particularly as it's a thing of beauty.
Outside
The front of the box does not show what's inside but instead resembles the bonnet of the car, complete with the raging bull Lamborghini logo.
It's not the first time that this has been the case: 76157 Wonder Woman vs. Cheetah released earlier in the year is a recent example of a set where the contents are not apparent from the front.
Of course anyone looking for the set in the shop will immediately know what it is but it might puzzle casual visitors. I suspect the brand stores will stack at least some of them on the shelf with the back facing forwards.
It looks to be three-dimensional but it's not, it's just clever shading.
Interesting fact from Wikipedia: In 1962, Ferruccio Lamborghini visited the Seville ranch of Don Eduardo Miura, a renowned breeder of Spanish fighting bulls. Lamborghini, a Taurus himself, was so impressed by the majestic Miura animals that he decided to adopt a raging bull as the emblem for the auto company he would soon found.
The back looks more like you'd expect the front to, and includes the new 18+ branding ribbon at the bottom.
I learned last week at the fan media event that the image of the set and the logos are referred to as 'passion points', a marketing buzzword meaning "[something that] speaks to what excites fans as consumers, what they care about personally, and what they prioritise in life."
One side of the box has an illustration of the back of the car.
A holographic sticker authenticating the product is on another side.
Inside
Lifting the lid reveals six boxes arranged to resemble the rear of the car.
The inside of the lid has a motto printed in Italian which, according to Google, reads something along the lines of "Taste the moment when I finally decided to create a perfect car" but I'm sure one of our Italian readers will do a better job at translating it.
This '63' -- the number of Sians produced -- adorns another side of the lid.
The six boxes are numbered so, not only will you not need to have all 3696 pieces out on the table at once, you won't need to even see them all at once if you don't want to.
I imagine that someone for whom this is their first Technic set could feel a bit overwhelmed if all the parts were visible at once so it's a good thing from that point of view.
Two instruction manuals, each illustrated with one half of the car, sit securely underneath the six boxes. There's no chance of them moving about and spoiling other things in the box, as was the case with early examples of 42056 Porsche 911 GT3 RS.
There are printed details under the manuals, too:
Finally, we get to see some LEGO inside...
Verdict
A lot of care and attention has gone into the design and production of the box, and no doubt it's added a few pounds/bucks to the price of the set.
Was it worthwhile? I think so. LEGO is a premium product and Lamborghini is a premium brand. This is probably the most premium product the company is producing this year, so to me it seems right that it does something special for it.
Even if you usually recycle your boxes this is one that you'll definitely want to keep and admire from time to time.
I think it's going to take me a good few days to get the car built, so check back at the weekend when hopefully I'll have published at least part of my review. Luckily (for once) the weather has turned cool and wet here in the UK this week!
Thanks to LEGO for providing the set for review. All opinions expressed are my own.
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51 comments on this article
IT: "questo è stato il momento in cui ho finalmente deciso di creare un'auto perfetta"
EN: "this has been the moment when I finally decided to create a perfect car"
(you were "fooled" by the calligraphy and have read "gusto" instead of "questo")
Very nice looking box. If I would see it in a store I would never thought that it is LEGO.
I guess Lego doesn’t need to show the product on the front of the box now that most of their sales are online. The box is intended to please consumers who already bought it rather than get the attention of consumers who might buy it.
Lego are definitely making a big deal out of the packaging
@abaldoni said:
"IT: "questo è stato il momento in cui ho finalmente deciso di creare un'auto perfetta"
EN: "this has been the moment when I finally decided to create a perfect car"
(you were "fooled" by the calligraphy and have read "gusto" instead of "questo")"
Thank you. You're right, I couldn't read it properly!
Given the tense of that statement is a bit mixed up it's probably "this *is* the moment when I finally decide to create a perfect car"
For me a box is only to protect the product and may be as cheap as possible as I rather spend my money in actual bricks then in cardboard laying around and taking to much space in my garage.
The 63 isn’t primarily the number of Sián’s made, it’s also a common number used on Lamborghini Motorsport vehicles, it’s most important in that it’s the year when the first car (350 gt) was made
@Xiaolong said:
"For me a box is only to protect the product and may be as cheap as possible as I rather spend my money in actual bricks then in cardboard laying around and taking to much space in my garage."
Absolutely agree. A review on a box is a bit silly too, but ok: it's nicely done. Keep the focus on creative designs and affordable bricks, Lego. It's expensive enough, certainly in some countries that already pay more for the same product than neighbouring countries.
Are the two instruction manuals printed on different paper? The colors, especially the green and the background, are not matching... that’s a bit disappointing that even the instructions are now not consistent with colors...
@Legorides said:
" @Xiaolong said:
"For me a box is only to protect the product and may be as cheap as possible as I rather spend my money in actual bricks then in cardboard laying around and taking to much space in my garage."
Absolutely agree. A review on a box is a bit silly too, but ok: it's nicely done. Keep the focus on creative designs and affordable bricks, Lego. It's expensive enough, certainly in some countries that already pay more for the same product than neighbouring countries. "
This is clearly a premium product though. There’s plenty of Technic sets at lower cost with basic box designs, and virtually every other (non-Ideas) set has basic boxes. One well-made box out of thousands of sets is a perfectly fine ratio. Also, much like a fancy car irl, if you’re paying this price then you’d expect care and attention to go into every aspect of the design. Also also, this is clearly geared to be someone’s introduction into Lego. If they were greeted with the standard Technic “deluge of 22 unnumbered bags that all need to be opened at once”, they’d likely be put off by it
Tl;dr, good box.
@haldir said:
"I guess Lego doesn’t need to show the product on the front of the box now that most of their sales are online. The box is intended to please consumers who already bought it rather than get the attention of consumers who might buy it. "
I’d be interested to see the numbers on that, as I’d maybe argue that a decent amount of retail purchases are still in-store and not online. Sure they’re all online now, but this has definitely been in development long before current events
Does anyone want to go halves on this with me? You can keep the deluxe box and I'll just keep all the plastic stuff inside.
@Lego_max said:
"Are the two instruction manuals printed on different paper? The colors, especially the green and the background, are not matching... that’s a bit disappointing that even the instructions are now not consistent with colors..."
No. There is a slight difference in the colour reproduction which has been accentuated by the photograph.
Its neat but not the best looking box overall, I prefer the Porsche box and have kept mine for now, but as said most get recycled as have no space to keep them and will never need again I doubt.
Never really got the whole buy 2 keep one in box, but I guess be worth more in future, but maybe now not as lego is so popular there be loads about!
Look forward to review! and i must resist buying it for now!
To paraphrase, "Lego is a premium product so premium packaging is desirable and worth the few extra quid."
But if I suggest, "Lego is a premium product so printed items are desirable and worth the few extra quid."
Usually the wider community agrees with the former but not the latter.
If struggling for time to build it Huw, happy to help ;)
"It's worthwhile taking a closer look in this case." We see what you did right there, Huw. Clever. ;-) The box is collectible and I think some people will want to keep it, most likely fans of Technic.
I like the boxes of the Porsche GT3 RS and the Bugatti Chiron. They look pretty cool. Again they created an interresting building experience before even getting the bricks in hand.
While I'm not so excited about unboxing and the like, that is a very impressively-designed package. Don't think we're up for this set, but neat to see the care and passion put into it, with the help of Lamborghini, I'm sure.
Individual internal boxes are helpful in strengthening the outer box when posting and stops all the parts shifting around and potentially breaking out of the box as in previous very large Technic sets. As a premium product meant to be kept it would be nice if there where dividers etc within each box like in the vintage Technic, so that it could be used for storing Lego rather than consigned to the recycle bin or attic.
Absolutely beautiful aesthetics -- though I won't spend $350 for it
Best box then....... lets wait until its £100 off though, I'll maybe take one with a dent if its a bit cheaper. And yes @aleydita nothing more annoying than stickers on and an expensive set, never mind a cheap one. I collect Speed Champions, they are about 50% stickers. One of the joys of the Junior (4+) sets is no stickers.
I was once at my local council tip and the box to set 10179 was sat in the cardboard skip. Mint condition from what I could see. I asked if I could have it and was told no chance. Some people really arent bothered with the boxes.
I always think he checked online what it was and fished it out for himself, but I'm a cynic.
Even the boxes these sets are so exquisite, how can you not love them?
Now if only they did that for all set manuals going forward, oh the joy of flat manuals in new boxes!!
Last year I got the Hogwarts Castle, very expensive set in Australia even on sale, only to open the inner box and find the bags had been jammed in after the manuals and torn through the loose plastic, damaging the manuals in the middle on the pages side, not the spine. Thankfully the sticker sheets in front somehow where spared. 1989 Batmobile had a tight sealed softer plastic keeping its manual snug and relatively safe at least (still a bit bent up in one corner).
Maybe just for smaller sets with lots of stickers like Speed Champions, so next time I'm applying a 1x6 tile sticker for a rear fin it doesn't look like a half chewed snake lollie to start with!
People keep talking about Lego being a "premium product" and they sure charge it that way, but little things like the manuals being all bent out of shape (you'll find that in any size set or theme), sticker sheets folded closed in box ends (just happened with 42104 Race Truck) and a lime green Urus with different shaded 1x1 ross bricks all detracts from not only the willingness to pay for a "premium product" but the actual joy of building that set you've been really excited to get or forked over $500 to buy.
I love the look of this set and despite recently getting 42104 have only 5 technic sets out of over 600 as it's not a theme that interests me much or that I enjoy, and it's $550 AUD (yes I heard that ouch lol). I just really wish Lego would step up their game on manuals as I love getting small sets as much as big ones, probably more so most of the time and every time I open that box and find a mangled manual I loose a bit of that joy and after 3yrs back in the hobby, I now expect to find manuals that way and dread that first few minutes as the hope of finding a good manual gets dashed and I spend build time trying to twist it back into shape. If I feel like that as a 45yr old women, I can only imagine what a 10yr or 12yr old me would feel about it (honestly if I could have had that much Lego as a 10-12yr old, I doubt I'd have cared lol!!).
Gee, what if TLG put that kind of effort into all their sets, not just the so-called "premium" sets? How about including a flip top, maybe with a divided cellophane membrane on the inside to add a theme-inspired window layout helping to showcase some of the parts? And even a slide-out inner tray with built-in compartments to help hold and store parts?
Everyone has a complaint.
What it means is that TLG do not represent what customers expect, a company that the distribution policy is creating shortages to psychologically generate a need for the product for its customers...
Simply why keep spending large amounts of money on the same plastic parts arranged differently in order to copy a brand and therefore collect more money?
They are deceiving us with the idea that they are real vehicles, with boxes full of design but not very resistant and designs that bury the operation.
you can't keep killing your creativity by letting others charge you for thinking about what you want to create.
I finally realized that!!
@darkstonegrey said:
"Gee, what if TLG put that kind of effort into all their sets, not just the so-called "premium" sets? How about including a flip top, maybe with a divided cellophane membrane on the inside to add a theme-inspired window layout helping to showcase some of the parts? And even a slide-out inner tray with built-in compartments to help hold and store parts?"
I'm sure the price of packaging has been factored into their premium sets. If TLG expanded this to other themes, they would have to raise prices and buyers would complain about that! And yes, I still have many of my sets from the 90s stored in their original boxes with window layouts & trays, so I can appreciate that era.
At first I thought it was April's Fools. A review of a box.
Then I was reminded of a classic Red Dwarf quote:
"First meal I ever had where the container tasted better than the food!"
Similar here, the packaging is better than the set itself, and apparently more care has gone into it as well. Talk about priorities... ;-)
Come to think about it, back in the olden days a lot more care and attention was given to boxes. I remember my old Classic Space and Technic boxes with their plastic inlays and/or sorting trays/sections.
this is one box i should never fold to make room
At least on the outside it reminds me of 41999, the limited edition of the 4x4 crawler. Same idea, just showing the hood of the vehicle, except that one used the brick version.
@green_paper said:
" @darkstonegrey said:
"Gee, what if TLG put that kind of effort into all their sets, not just the so-called "premium" sets? How about including a flip top, maybe with a divided cellophane membrane on the inside to add a theme-inspired window layout helping to showcase some of the parts? And even a slide-out inner tray with built-in compartments to help hold and store parts?"
I'm sure the price of packaging has been factored into their premium sets. If TLG expanded this to other themes, they would have to raise prices and buyers would complain about that! And yes, I still have many of my sets from the 90s stored in their original boxes with window layouts & trays, so I can appreciate that era."
That's just my tongue-in-cheek point - TLG has done it before where it was already factored into the price of those earlier sets. And yeah, I too have kept every single one of those earlier boxes due to their wonderfully elaborate production quality.
Probably the first box I will keep after building the set.
@Huw said:
" @abaldoni said:
...
Given the tense of that statement is a bit mixed up it's probably "this *is* the moment when I finally decide to create a perfect car""
It is more like:
"this has been the moment..."
@Squidy74H:
I got that with 10179. 1st Edition, no less. It's either spiral bound, or it has one of those plastic spiral-like spines. The front cover on mine had a handful of the holes torn when I opened it, and since I preordered it there was minimal handling up to that point.
@darkstonegrey:
I believe they refer to those as "Theft Encouragement Trays", which would explain why they stopped using them.
@CCC:
Indeed. The MSRP has stayed relatively flat for about four decades, when compared to the number of pieces included in a set, but when adjusted for inflation those same sets from ca1980 cost the equivalent of about 4-5x as much in current USD. Now a $100 set seems fairly mundane, but back then that might have been a week's pay...before taxes.
@abaldoni said:
"IT: "questo è stato il momento in cui ho finalmente deciso di creare un'auto perfetta"
EN: "this has been the moment when I finally decided to create a perfect car"
“GIUSTO è stato il momento in cui ho finalmente deciso di creare un’auto perfetta”
“RIGHT was the moment when I finally decided to create a perfect car”
The phrase has been written in a something like a poetic way, with the adjective at the start at the sentence. it’s used when someone says or writes something “special”.
So the right translation is: “the moment when I finally decided to create a perfect car was right”.
@Huw
What a strangely arrogant quote. So before the Sian was designed had the designer been deliberately designing imperfect cars and only with the Sian they decided to do a proper job.....? And by extension is whatever they design next therefore going to be less than perfect?
@Bricklunch:
It's a $3.6 million supercar that's limited to 63 copies worldwide. That seems a perfectly normal arrogant quote for the subject matter. Similar quotes abound whenever any of these ultra-exclusive supercars come onto the market, and you pretty much have to accept that if you only have a quarter million to budget for a car, you're going to get a car from their peasant selection.
I love creative packaging solutions like this, like how Ideas and MBA sets came in resealable boxes, or early BIONICLE sets came in Toa Canisters. I've also seen unboxing videos online for the latest UCS Millennium Falcon and it's packaging was super impressive.
This fella takes the cake though. Lots of custom shaping and printing, even as someone who couldn't care less about cars it makes me drool.
Little history lesson in the box: the quote is from Ferruccio Lamborghini circa when he decided to shift his tractor business to building cars, apparently spurned by nasty remarks from rival industrialist Enzo Ferrari. “Arrogant” perhaps, but Lamborghini did step up and make some cool cars.
@abaldoni said:
"IT: "questo è stato il momento in cui ho finalmente deciso di creare un'auto perfetta"
EN: "this has been the moment when I finally decided to create a perfect car"
(you were "fooled" by the calligraphy and have read "gusto" instead of "questo")"
Quite funny because to me both could work well. Thanks for your pure Italian translation though.
Such a pretty box. Even the inside resembles the lambo with the segmented smaller boxes. Well done!
It surely looks like a sneaker shoe box.
When the Lego Bugatti was launched, they made a real size Lego car with 2000+ Lego power motors to make it drive (look for it in youtube if you have not seen it last year). Marketing plot yes, but that was really very nicely done.
Fast forward to now, for Lego Lamborghini we get a fancy printed box :)
@Bricklunch said:
"What a strangely arrogant quote. So before the Sian was designed had the designer been deliberately designing imperfect cars and only with the Sian they decided to do a proper job.....? And by extension is whatever they design next therefore going to be less than perfect?"
Quote is from Ferruccio Lamborghini responding to Enzo Ferrari
"You may be able to drive a tractor but you will never be able to handle a Ferrari Properly." This was the point when I finally decided to make a perfect car.” — Ferruccio Lamborghini
@aleydita said:
"To paraphrase, "Lego is a premium product so premium packaging is desirable and worth the few extra quid."
But if I suggest, "Lego is a premium product so printed items are desirable and worth the few extra quid."
Usually the wider community agrees with the former but not the latter."
This set has no stickers, it has 100% printed pieces so perhaps now along with the premium packaging it is worth a few extra quid.
What an epic looking set, what they’ve done with the box is stunning. I never, ever throw any boxes away as I love the box art too much and also should you ever sell any sets boxed sets are always worth more than unboxed ones.
I don’t really understand why brickset is so dismissive of boxes and especially unboxing videos, personally myself and millions of others enjoy unboxing videos.
I do like it when Lego releases high end sets like this, the packaging and presentation is part of the experience and makes the product very exciting and gives a sense of “build up” which I love. My other major area of interest is Tamiya RC car kits and I love the boxes and box art of these also, so I say 10/10 Lego for doing this, I would buy it now but I just know amazon will have a good discount before long.
Its a good looking box, but I think I still prefer the one for the Chiron. Once you open it all the different boxes form a mosaic of a view of the car. On the other side, there is another mosaic.
It's also worth to mention that the (dull) brown carton box that contains the Lamborghini box now comes with two pieces of shock absorbing carton on both ends of the box. Thus avoiding damage to the inner box in case your courier service takes it on a rodeo ride before throwing it over your fence :-) .
@kris_h:
That _is_ noteworthy. Previously the best I'm aware of was when they shipped 10179. There was the actual set box that you'd see on store shelves. Then that was packed on per shipper carton. And finally, only if you ordered it from LEGO.com, they had an outer mailer carton to provide even more protection from damage (especially for those who preordered and would be receiving 1st Edition copies). But this all basically meant you had about 1/4" of protective barrier around the shelf box. There was no actual air gap, and from what I remember UPS reserved the right to refuse insurance payouts on damages if there wasn't a minimum of 1" space on all sides. So, if you shipped a TV and there was only 1/2" of padding somewhere, they might decline to honor the insured value if it ended up damaged.
I remember this because, at my last job, my boss told me that he bought rolls of shrink-wrap that was of a thick enough gauge that you were allowed to shrink-wrap stuff and ship it via UPS without a box. We made guards for chain and belt drives, so the product itself had to be pretty durable. In the six years I worked there, we only had one item returned damaged. Their sorting system uses a series of conveyor belts and overhead scanners. When an item passes a scanner and needs to be transferred to another conveyor, a piston-drive pusher mechanism shoots out over the conveyor and shoves the package down a chute onto another conveyor belt. One of our smaller guards got halfway in front of one of these pushers when it activated, and got pinched between the pusher plate and the retaining wall adjacent to the chute. We were pleased to see that, while the ABS plastic guard was thoroughly destroyed in the process, it remained in one piece that was basically just crushed out of shape with a couple splits on the mounting flange, rather than being chopped in half.
@Legorides said:
" @Xiaolong said:
"For me a box is only to protect the product and may be as cheap as possible as I rather spend my money in actual bricks then in cardboard laying around and taking to much space in my garage."
Absolutely agree. A review on a box is a bit silly too, but ok: it's nicely done. Keep the focus on creative designs and affordable bricks, Lego. It's expensive enough, certainly in some countries that already pay more for the same product than neighbouring countries. "
I totally disagree! The box is the most important part of the set! Together with the manual, it defines the set. The legobricks are just the bricks. They can be part of any set. But this unique combination of bricks and box makes it a set. I keep and store all my boxes. I love to see Lego give more care to the boxes, like this one. Or the 1980 train and technic boxes. With covers, front that can be opened to see the inside. Minifigures and important pieces displayed.