Meet your LEGO Winter Village 2018 set – the Winter Village Fire Station! Each year, LEGO introduces a brand new addition to its Creator Expert Winter Village sub-theme, and it’s something I look forward to every year, dating back to 2009 when I first fell in love with the first Winter Village Toy Shop.

This year, we get a charming little Fire Station to service the rapidly growing Winter Village, which already has amenities such as a Toy Shop Post Office, Bakery, Market, Holiday Train, Train Station and even a Santa’s Workshop.

The Winter Village Fire Station clocks in at 1166 pieces, retails at US$99.99/AU$149.99 and will have a release date of 1 October 2018, as well as a LEGO VIP pre-sale on 13 September (4 days time!), just in time for your Christmas gift shopping!

Here’s a look at regional pricing:

See below for regional pricing:

The structure is quite blocky which gives it a very vintage look, however I do like the two-tone colour scheme, with the dark red upper floor, and the grey ground floor. The tan accents across the roof and main entrance are brilliant – and represent really good use of colour-blocking.

The facade of the Fire Station contains festive hints of Holly that adorn the outer walls, and a bright red curved door. The building’s walls employ great use of different textures and shapes – I really like the ridges across the roof, and the generous use of poles across the front.

If there is one major weakness in the design, it’d have to be the lack of snow. We get a few bits of snow here and there across the roof, with a very light coating that seems to just fall slightly over the edges of the roof.

Winter Village buildings each have a distinct snow-covered look to them, which sets them apart from any other LEGO sets, however this one just doesn’t feel like its blanketed by snow. The first thing I’ll do when I get this set is to obviously add a whole heap of white plates on the roof to beef it up further.

I have to say that LEGO nailed the scaling of this building, and the size fits the other Winter Village buildings perfectly (except for the Cottage, which is humongous). Like all the other Winter Village buildings, the back is entirely exposed, much like a dollhouse.

There are 3 main sections, one being the garage for the fire truck to be parked in, an entrance with a fireman’s pole, and some living quarters above the garage where firemen and women can relax and enjoy a hot meal.

The main structure outside is a fountain that has frozen over, to allow ice hockey to be played across the ice.

There’s also a medium-sized tree in the courtyard, complete with presents.

The firetruck has that old-timey look to it, which fits in with the rustic Winter Village theme, and I do love that it also has a functioning ladder, which apart from rescue missions also comes in handy to place the star above the tree.

Here’s a view from the side. It’s great to see the return of the ribbed flexible hose!

There’s also a bench, with the obligatory lamppost (there’s been a unique lamppost in each Winter Village set, except for the Santa’s Workshop), and a snowman right outside the Fire Station.

The set comes with 6 minifigures (7 if you count the statue), and a new baby figure,. Normally, minifigures in a Winter Village set aren’t something to shout about, but I really love the design on the firefighters, with their burnished copper buttons, as well as the captain with his epaulettes.

I’m also really stoked to see the return of the metallic firefighter helmets of which there are three in this set!

The baby who is unique to this set also has the most adorable printed design on his body, with a moose and snowflakes on his shirt.

The Winter Village Fire Station is a perfect addition to the Winter Village sub-theme. Thematically, a rustic Fire Station fits in well with the sleepy village vibe, although I do hope that it doesn’t get much use and that villagers mostly ask for help to place stars atop their Christmas trees!

That said, Christmas lights can present quite the fire hazard, so it’s good to know that the village is being protected by the best firefighters this side of LEGO City.

This set is a winner in my eyes, and I’m really excited to get my hands on it, in time for the Christmas season. Apart from the lack of snow (maybe climate change is hitting the Winter Village hard?) and the slightly blocky shape of the building, I don’t think I can find anything that I don’t particularly like about this set.

It’s fairly priced, and you also get a superb cast of minifigures, a dalmatian and of course that baby with his adorable outfit. Most importantly, the set retains the charm and character that has made LEGO’s Winter Village sub-theme a perennial favourite amongst LEGO fans.

This just rocketed straight up my “to-buy” list!

What do you think of 10263 Winter Village Fire Station? Can you see this easily fitting into your Winter Village? Let me know what you think of the design in the comments!