I got my hands on one Big Ben as soon as possible, but then I got some troubles and didn't have time to build it until today.. Here's my thoughts

Box/Instructions

The box has a great illustration, with the big ben at day on the front

and the big ben with fireworks at night.

It also shows a comparison between real big ben and the lego big ben, and some further detail images of the set.

There's one booklet for the whole set, with inserts of facts about big ben. That's pretty much it!

Parts

Parts are 4163, with a lot of mini minifigs representing statues and a lot of "tooth" pieces

and trans 1x1 and 1x2 .

There aren't any prints or sticker except for the clocks, that are a special print made only for this set.

I was, like many other people, upset because the light brick isn't included in this set (there's a lantern on the top of the tower) so I've done a little customisation in order to represent in a better way the lantern. I'll write about this later in this review.

Playability

I'd like to say a few words about playability, yes, playability! This set wasn't made for play with it but instead was made for displaying only. But I think 10253 can be used to play with it. Even if in a childish way, but you can play with it! Just forget about the scale and you can use your Peter Pan from CMF Disney to make him fly over the tower and the big ben.

The build

The build was really dope! Lots of tricks are used during the build and I don't have nothing else to say about the build.

Let's get to the lantern-problem.

You can easily replace the official lego version of the lantern with a light brick using only one additional 2x1 plate.

The result will be a functional lantern, that will lighten up your set!

The completed model

IT'S HUGEEE! 60 CM HIGH!

It's not even close to the minifig scale but I like it the way it is.

Here's a detail with the minifig

I really like how 10253 look, even if I'm not completely happy with the mechanism that moves the clock! In fact when you turn the button to control the clock, all the tower shakes..

Overall opinion

This set is almost perfect, and I think LEGO made a really good job!

The price is really low (239€) in comparison with other new sets that came out in the last few months that were really overpriced.

I really recommend this set and I wish to everyone a happy Big Ben Building!