TopToy 16001 Retro Television Unboxing and Build Pictures (Part One)

Yo, what's up everyone! I'm back with another not Lego set review, this one is another new brick brand that I discovered on Aliexpress.  The brand is called Top Toy and the set I'll be unboxing and building today is the 645 piece Retro Television set number 16001.  It is part of their vintage appliances series.

If product unboxing and build pics are not your thing you can skip to my next post (Part Two) where I show you the pictures of the completed set and give a rating for the set.

I got this from the Top Toy Aliexpress store for just under $20 CDN with a promotional discount coupon and free shipping to boot.  Aa a bonus, they even sent me the boxed item, which has very cool graphics on it.   On the side of the box, it says Living Room and there are two minifigures in pajamas, one is a guy and the other a girl.   Just want to mention that this Top Toy uses Lego compatible bricks. The only difference is the minifigure construction, which I will discuss later in this post.

On the back, they have more graphics of the TV set showing the back and interior.  Let's see if the bricks are high quality as they say!

BTW, I did some research on the Top Toy brand, and they are part of the Miniso group of companies that specialize in Japanese themed items, even though the company originates in China.  They have a handful of other building block sets but mostly specialize in small blind box items.  

I did see a cool game arcade diorama set on their Aliexpress store, which I might get later.   With discount, that set is also under $20 CDN with 557 pieces and free shipping too.

Oh, and I saw some Sembo Japanese themed shop sets rebranded as Top Toy on their Aliexpress store as well.

Hmm, looks like they increased the price since I bought it.  Hope you can use the Aliexpress discounts to get a better price.

Unboxing the Top Toy Retro TV

Anyways, let's unbox this set and check it out.  Upon cracking open the box, we find the nine bags of building block pieces, three labelled 1, three bags labelled 2, and three bags labelled 3.

A baseplate and two bags, one containing the TV "glass" screen, and the other a bag of minifigure fingers, lol.

Three cards for the interior of the living room walls/

And a bonus postcard that reads "Top Toy Everyone Is Player One" with a picture of some cartoon animals behind a sign that says "Let's TT Carnival".

The user manual is a booklet that has 79 pages with 187 steps divided into three sections with the aforementioned parts bags each pertaining to either section 1, 2 or 3.  The front of the user manual is identical to the box front.

The back of the user manual shows you the other models in the retro appliance series.  They are the gramophone 16002, the refrigerator 16003 and the washing machine 16004.  I believe each of these sets come with a little vignette inside with accompanying mini figures.

Here's a sample page from the instruction manual, all the steps are clearly marked.

Building the Retro TV

Here are the contents of the three parts bags for Section 1.  And yes, I'm building the set on my bed, lol.  I came upstairs right after dinner to build the retro TV and completed it right before bedtime.   Appropriate since the minifigs are in their PJs.

Here's the legs at the bottom of the TV.

Next we are building the side and back of the TV.  The brick quality and clutch is decent.  There are some very subtle colour variations in some of the red bricks but only noticeable if you look hard.  The set is rated for ages 6 and up, but attaching the side of the TV to the bottom requires a steady and patient hand because it uses the SNOT construction technique throughout the build.

Here's the back panel with the simulated video input jacks.  For extra realism, Top Toy could have simulated an electric plug and cable.

Attaching the back panel to the side and bottom of the TV.  With that we have finished Section 1.

Ok, let's unpack the parts for section 2.

Step 2 build the other side of the TV and the top.

We also build the TV screen and controls.  The knobs have a metallic sheen to them.

All done constructing the retro TV!   Let's move on to section 3 before we finish the TV.

Here are all the parts for section 3 of the build.

So inside of the TV, there's supposed to be a furnished living room that is occupied by two minifigures.

To get around any minifigure design infringements, Top Toy uses a double pin system which is inserted into the torso to hold the arms in place.  The rest of the minifigure including the head, hairpiece and legs look to be Lego compatible.

The guy's green striped PJs and the girls orange PJs with the hearts are printed nicely.  There's even some striping detailing along the hems and sleeves.

Not happy with the default minifigure hands?  No problem, Top Toy gives you a bonus set of hands/fingers which you can use.  There are two sets of 10 styles.  Be careful when using that middle finger hand!

Hey, I'm going to end this post right here and keep you in suspense.  The next post (Part Two) will show you the finished Retro TV.  Bye for now!