LEGO Creator Expert Camp Nou FC Barcelona (10284)

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The final bit of the build is adding some decorative touches to the top of the stands and to the grey base. We’ll cover those enhancements in the next section. The other issue with designing Camp Nou is that the pitch is actually below ground level... In fact, ground level is roughly the bottom of the second tier of seating... As someone else pointed out, the stand with the flags on it is actually almost twice the height of the West Stand (when measured from outside the stadium)...

First off, let me state for the record that I’m not much of a sports fan, so I don’t have a lot of personal context for this set. I’ve looked over the required Wikipedia reading, but there might still be some athletics-related perspectives that I’ve missed or misstatements that will seem very silly to those in the know. Hopefully, you’re here to look at this set from a LEGO perspective, though – and that I’m sure I can provide.That’s not to say that 10284 Camp Nou – FC Barcelona is a carbon copy of 10272 Old Trafford – Manchester United. There’s a base template and set of construction rules that both stadiums (and presumably any more that may come) follow that provides the framework that the more expressive and individualistic elements of the respective stadiums are then built around. 10284 Camp Nou – FC Barcelona may remind you in places of 10272 Old Trafford – Manchester United, but it’s also very much its own beast of a 5,509-piece LEGO set. (More on that later.) Once built, that is thanks to this continued and – even though we talk about it a great deal – still underappreciated level of attention to detail that the LEGO Group brings to sets in this current era of design. Granted, the wider audience for this LEGO for Adults set may only come into this model with a broad knowledge of the subject matter. Importantly, then, if all you know of Camp Nou is the coloured seats and the general shape of the overall stadium and its four stands, and you like football and LEGO, then 10284 Camp Nou – FC Barcelona immediately impresses. Being neither a ManU nor a Barca fan, these sets don't interest me at all and the chances of getting a Tottenham Hotspur Stadium / New White Hart Lane are probably next to zero! ;-) I'm not sure I'd spend this kind of money on even that, to be honest. I don't get it LEGO! Many other more intriguing structures you could find to present in the LEGO form either in the 18+(Creator Expert line) or Architecture theme. The proportions are WAAAAY off. The stadium shouldn’t be that tall (look it up on google maps 3D) "

Looks well designed but also incredibly repetitive to build. 5.5k pieces for €330 is good value, especially for a licensed set. From the structure and tones of the base through to particular parts and techniques used to construct the supporting framework of the stadium, and from the unique printed parts used for the football pitch and the particular way in which the seating has been built, there’s plenty that worked so well in 10272 Old Trafford – Manchester United that logically has carried over into the design of 10284 FC Barcelona Camp Nou.The two football clubs they've done so far have large worldwide fan-bases (probably very popular in Denmark), so on paper there is a market for them. I've seen some alternative Lego brands do stadium sets for most football clubs.

Camp Nou is a stadium that has borne witness to some of club football’s most revered and decorated teams, and celebrated some of the game’s most gifted stars. Written into its history are names like Johan Cruyff, who brought a Dutch footballing philosophy to Barcelona that is still followed to this day; any number of foreign greats like Diego Maradona, Hristo Stoichkov, Michael Laudrup, Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho; and, held with such pride, youth team graduates from La Masia who among others include Pep Guardiola, Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi. You don’t have to be a Barcelona fan to enjoy 10284 Camp Nou – FC Barcelona. Nor even a football fanatic. You don’t need to have an intricate knowledge of the club’s history, its connection to its local community or an understanding of its wildly out-of-control finances to be able to take in a lot of what 10284 FC Barcelona Camp Nou rewards as a LEGO experience. The completed first section reveals that there’s a decent amount of gap between the wedge sections as you move away from the center. It’s a little distracting when seen here, but isn’t as noticeable once the full set is together. It’s a reasonable trade-off for the smooth curve to the overall building’s shape.

That’s comparative value too. Coming in at 1,611 pieces more than 2020’s 10272 Old Trafford – Manchester United, which is about a 40% increase in size, 10284 Camp Nou – FC Barcelona is priced at just 20% more in the UK. It may not have the same degrees of variance from stand to stand that Old Trafford does, but it is sizeable, colourful and a true representation of Camp Nou. I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then. As a display piece based on such an imposing and iconic real-world stadium, how it sits on display is crucial to its appeal, and in every way 10284 Camp Nou – FC Barcelona impresses. It’s one of those LEGO sets that your eyes just glaze over as you take it in, and that highlights a different detail each time you look closer – it’s one to enjoy on display for a long time, if you can find the shelf space.