PANTASY Baker Street 221B Apartment Building Set Model

Pantasy is one of the few building brick manufacturers that has licensed properties, including the Sherlock Holmes IP (which is public domain, so I’m not sure why it needed to be licensed). As I understand it, they also use a brand of bricks called GoBricks, which are comparable in manufacturing quality to the well known brand. They are a little shinier and clutch/grip is a little strong (it seems nobody has been able to get the same balance of clutch and looseness that Lego has) but that can be an advantage and disadvantage.

The instructions are well laid out and broken up by bag (and are numbered, yay!), which is great for what I call “buildability”. The instruction books are nicely bound with fairly good color accuracy, which makes finding the different hues of brown easier. A few of the common pieces are separated out, including the base plates and windows/clear pieces – I appreciate this because it keeps the latter from being scratched up, which is a common occurrence when they are tossed in with other bricks. I did observe that the metallic grey pieces had an odd smear on them, not sure if this is a prevalent manufacturing defect or it’s just my set (see picture).

I’m about 2/3 of the way done and so far the build techniques are interesting and easy to follow. Occasionally we get some steps where they just have us put two pieces side by side with no attachment, but they don’t leave them disconnected for long. There aren’t too many filler pieces to help identify positioning/orientation like Lego does, but it’s fairly easy to count studs for spacing purposes. They keep the steps reasonably small in terms of number of pieces and they clearly highlight where they go with red outlines. My 7 year old easily followed the instructions without too many issues. They don’t have a piece count, but I would guess it’s around 2-3k.

There are a few unique pieces that don’t exist in Lego, but they are compatible and could easily be used in MOCs with the name brand bricks. The minifigs are the only place where they differ significantly from Lego – not in a bad way as their arms can actually articulate more and the printing is pretty high quality. Just wanted to note that if you plan to mix and match or use your own minifigs.

The only minor nitpick I have is that it seems they couldn’t decide what time period they wanted to represent – as I understand, this is supposed to be the present-day 221B Baker Street exhibit, with a modern day coffee/bakery shop on the first floor. While I appreciate the included minifigs and horse drawn carriage, it is kind of a thematic dissonance. Very minor nitpick.

I am very pleased with this set and brand and it’s a great alternative to the $200-$300 modular buildings from Lego (also known as Creator Expert sets) without breaking the bank. The difference is even more stark when you are comparing it to retired modulars which can easily go for 1.5-2x more than original retail. From what I can tell this is also an original build and isn’t based on an existing set or MOC so there’s no concern about not compensating the creators. This set is reasonably priced and I look forward to picking up more from Pantasy.

Very nice. Exactly as described. No missing pieces. Instructions easy to follow

This review is for PANTASY Baker Street 221B Apartment Adult Building Block Set Model, Sherlock Holmes, $110 on amazon.

Disclaimer. I have not yet built this kit so my observations are pre-assembly. So I cannot speak to how hard/easy the build is or whether you might have problems during the build, e.g. missing pieces or how tightly the pieces fit together.

This is a large kit. The box is huge at just over 13” X 16” X 7” and weighs in at a whopping 8-1/2 pounds.

These are standard “Lego” size pieces; not mini nor micro.

The box contains five loose 16×16 plates of various colors, 51 numbered sealed bags, four unnumbered bags, several stickers, and two instruction manuals.
The 51 bags break down as follows:
MANUAL #1
Four bags numbered ‘1’ used for assembly steps #1 thru #30, pages #1 thru #16.

Two bags numbered ‘3’ used for assembly steps #31 thru #53, pages #17 thru #27.
Three bags numbered ‘3’ used for assembly steps #56 thru #78, pages #28 thru #36.
Three bags numbered ‘4’ used for assembly steps #79 thru #100, pages #37 thru #45.
Two bags numbered ‘5’ used for assembly steps #101 thru #114, pages #46 thru #52.
Four bags numbered ‘6’ used for assembly steps #115 thru #151, pages #53 thru #69.
Three bags numbered ‘7’ used for assembly steps #152 thru #193, pages #70 thru #83.
Four bags numbered ‘8’ used for assembly steps #194 thru #248, pages #84 thru #99.
Three bags numbered ‘9’ used for assembly steps #249 thru #289, pages #100 thru #109.
MANUAL #2

Three bags numbered ‘10’ used for assembly steps #291 thru #323, pages #1 thru #14.
Four bags numbered ‘11’ used for assembly steps #324 thru #364, pages #15 thru #30.
Three bags numbered ‘12’ used for assembly steps #365 thru #400, pages #31 thru #42.
Three bags numbered ‘13’ used for assembly steps #401 thru #43, pages #x thru #54.
Two bags numbered ‘14’ used for assembly steps #442 thru #470, pages #55 thru #65.
Three bags numbered ‘15’ used for assembly steps #471 thru #491, pages #66 thru #76.
Two bags numbered ‘16’ used for assembly steps #492 thru #519, pages #77 thru #84.
This completes the assembly of the house.

Two bags numbered ‘17’ used for assembly of the horse and carriage, assembly steps #520 thru #550, pages #85 thru #93.

The four unnumbered bags have the following contents:
One bag with Minifig characters.
One bag with six 8X16 plates
One bag with misc clear plastic pieces
One bag of simulated window glass.

Instruction manuals #1 and #2 each measure 7” X 10”. Manual #1 is 110 pages long while manual #2 is 94 pages long.

All images are large and easy to read and interpret.

Page iv of manual #1 gives contact information for any issues like missing pieces.

I absolutely love Lego, but they are way overpriced. This company is exactly the same quality and experience as Lego. Also try any Funwhole set, they are amazing as well.