This set is the latest in the FunWhole Street Fusion series and comes with a very comfortable 1,980 pieces. It’s also bundled with 6 figures, these represent a diverse selection of characters and roles, from a DJ and Shop Owner to a Graffiti artist. More on these figures later in the review, let’s get into the set itself, starting with the box and contents.

The Box:

FunWhole pride themselves on a premium feel and that starts with the packaging. With the set front and centre, the artwork looks great and is well presented and printed. On the cover are the usual details, set name & number, piece count and age rating, which happens to be 16+. There’s also a snazzy image at the top-right showing the set opened up and floors slid out, this is a new design feature that we’ll go into more later.

Inside the box are 11 numbered bags, this seems to be a trend with FunWhole, as the previous Town Life and Cyberpunk Apartment sets all had in common. It’s a nice amount of bags with each having a varying amount of parts inside. There are 3 separate instruction manuals inside, breaking the build up into manageable chunks.

As always there is a bright orange box, inside this are the lights and as avid readers of ours know the lights come as standard with FunWhole sets, it’s what they do best after all. Here you’ll find a battery pack and USB cable, 3 numbered paper bags, tweezers and a small screw driver. More on the lights later in the review.

The Build:

In true building block style the set is built from the ground up, starting with a series of plates laid out and tiles & bricks attached to keep them together. I will point out that I switched the plates out for a single standard LEGO 32×32 green baseplate as it will fit into my City at some point. This brings other issues that I’ll highlight quickly now, you may skip this part and jump to the next paragraph if this doesn’t apply to you. 

In order to have the set swing open on its hinges you’ll need to chop along one of the baseplates sides and also a small notch at the back. This is only for those wanted to build in a 32×32 baseplate. You can see in the image below the notch at the back has been cut out, otherwise the set would open at all. 

From the boxart you can see a small photo of the set opening up, this allows you to not only look inside but also slide out some of the floors to take photos and make scenes with the figures. It’s a little flimsy at first until you build up the walls and add the second hinge. The clutch power of the tiles on the base is great and very strong, they don’t popup easily when lifting unless you twist the base. 

The first lot of bags makeup what you see below, the green-walled Record Shop itself, with its fully printed ‘Spin Records‘ sign, which is gorgeous by the way especially when it’s lit up!

Outside the Record Shop you’ll find a small a-frame sign advertising the ‘Spin Club‘ which it’s happening tonight, a box full of records which are in sale, an Atm and a spot where the local graffiti artist does her art. It’s a very busy area but it looks awesome and full of life, what I particularly like is the recessed entrance, most other brands modular buildings have flat-fronts, but here there is extra room for passing traffic on the path, perfect for setting up photos and scenes.

Inside the ground floor is the Record Shop and it is full of Vinyl goodness, including a fully stocked shop, for customers to browse, the shop counter is at the far end. The opposite end (that swings out) is the staircase and a small storage area, filled with boxes and Cat food & bowl.

The set comes together at a fast but enjoyable pace, as I’ve said in past FunWhole reviews, the amount of pieces you get in each bag is a lot but with only 11 bags that’s understandable. Each bag builds a considerable amount of the build so you feel a lot of accomplishment and as expected the build flys by.

The first floor is the Club which comprises of a greenroom where musicians can relax, next to that is the Recording Studio which is fully kitted out with the latest technology. Each of the side-builds that you pop into the room are great, they include a recording desk, a board gull of dials and sliders (printed), a notice board and more. The ‘Recording Studio – In Use‘ sign is superb but sadly doesnt light up.

The top and final floor is what I called an Apartment, as it’s filled with the general objects you’d see in a living space. The use of a single light here is amazing and as you cans we in the photo below, it lights up the TV and the Warewolf movie that’s currently playing. I don’t know how they’rve printed the TV screen piece but with the cutout elements the light shines through really well, especially when in the dark, it truly looks like a TV is on.

I take it that the store owner lives here as the walls are full of music memorabilia and whatnot. There are several records on display, a music sound system with printed parts, a sofa, table and so much more. FunWhole known how to pack in a lot of detail!

In the side there is a door that leads out into a balcony, not a lot is on it but a lone antenna. A small seating area perhaps would have made this more appealing, or a rooftop garden. This section is part of the hidged side and does come away from the main build, it can also be removed as can the other floors in true module style.

The final couple of bags finish the set off and adds a rather snazzy, fully printed, billboard. Topping the dark nougat coloured building, the sand green roof suits the overall look really well and has some simple but nice architecture on places. Access to the roof is by a single ladder on the side, it looks a little precarious but it’s only for changing the billboard every now and then. You’ll find a chimney and billboard on the roof so there is a lot of empty space, not that it matters as it’s an uncommon area. The billboard is epic and comprises of two 8×8 tiles that are exceptionally well designed and printed, another tick for FunWhole.

In true FunWhole style and magic, the building is not only modular but it also opens up and floors can be slid out, how cool and innovative is that?!

Thanks to the two sets of hinges, you can swing open the set to reveal the inner contents, getting a better look at what’s in side and of course placing the figures and posing them accordingly. With other brands modulars, there isn’t much room to get your fingers into the small rooms and often knock bits off and have to spend twice as long trying to get them back into place. Not with FunWhole, simply hold the baseplate on each half and open, once fully open you can then slide out the ground & first floors. Theae area are the Record Shop it and the Recording Studio.

Once you’ve finished setting up the figures and photos, simply slide the floors back into place and close up the set. You wouldn’t know it was possible just by looking at it, so surprising family and friends is great fun and seeing their jaws drop in astonishment. Add the effect of the lights and FunWhole are onto another winner!

Going back to the printed elements, which there are tons of, 90 plus to be more precise. The team at FunWhole release the 90+ number in a recent advertisement and it got many fans talking at how good this is for a relatively new brand.

The Lights:

Onto the show stopper now with the lights. Again as mentioned and championed in previous FunWhole reviews, the lights are amazing and come as standard with in all sets.

The build process is made much easier with the help of their unique and exclusive parts. These are found in a bag labeled ‘F‘ and contain a selection of parts created specifically for cables to lay untouched and safe from potential damage. There are 1×4 bricks with a wide channel in them, 1×1 and 1×2 plates with notches in them and 1×1 bricks with multiple cutouts, all these allow for perfect cable application.

The image below shows you how conveniently they hide the cables, once you’ve read the instructions, laid the cables probably and covered them with tiles you wouldn’t know theybwere were there. Beware that you might need slightly more slack than what I’ve done here especially on the corners and hinged parts, we don’t want them snapping. If you do run into problems, broken/missing cables etc then please do message FunWhole, their replacement part service is second to none.

FunWhole have done a wicked job with the instructions, they’re clear, precise and are separated into manageable sections so you do t ever get lost and know exactly where to run the cables and place the lights. As you can see belowz the final product is glorious, with the lights on, illuminating different sections of the build perfectly. Two LED studs shine brightly on the ‘Spin Records‘ sign, the Record Shop and other rooms are well lit and the roof & billboard a look amazing. 

The Figures:

When it comes to the figures we could easily leave them packaged up in the box, but then it wouldn’t be a thorough review, so we cracked the last back open and built them. One of the major issues I have with them isn’t their looks, but the fact we need to construct every part of them, from popping the legs together to inserting the hands into the arm sockets, it’s sometimes super fiddly and they often snap. Thankfully FunWhole chuck in spares incase you are a little heavy handed.

There are a nice mixture of characters that range from a store owner, DJ, shoppers and a graffiti artist. The variety is great and no one figure is the same, their clothing prints and accessories are, I particularly like the corner of the dungarees hanging down the yellow hoody elements.

Again as I’ve mentioned in past reviews, the unique look of these figures are slowly growing on me and maybe one day will win me over.

Overall the Record Shop (F9058) is another must have Street Fusion and Town Life set from FunWhole. The modular building and how it opens up, the lighting and the way it looks in general is all top notch and well worth the price tag, which comes in at $134.99. If you have other sets from the Street Fusion and Town Life series then you’ll want to pick this one up too, it’s a different style of building but it fits into the City lineup extremely well, mine will be put in place soon, once it is ill share the photo here with you to see.

Discount:

We are so proud of FunWhole and how far they’ve come, so much so that we affiliate with them and are confident in their products to offer unbiased reviews – If a set doesn’t perform then we’ll tell you.

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We hope you’ve enjoyed this review as much as we did writing it. We absolutely love what FunWhole are doing and encourage you to try at least one set from them, be it small or big. Please bookmark us for more reviews and news, we post daily here and on our social media channels. Just search for The Brick Post.