LEGO Atari 2600 10306 - Unboxing and Build

Heehee opening a new box always feels so exciting, even when I know what I'm getting.

Nice and recyclable!

The sneakest of peeks...

By the power of Greyskull...

2500+ pieces. This is gonna be a doozy. Spoiler alert it took about...7.5-8 hours. I did take a few breaks here and there so it may have been less than that.

Bag 1

Adventure cartridge and scene

Bag 2

Cartridge holder

Adventure cartridge in the holder

Bag 3

This was a big bag. Huge chunk of the base in this one.

Switch colors! Fun coincidence. Or is it? This is a Nintendo licensed set, after all. Hmm...

Bag 4

Body framework coming along

Bags 5 & 6

Base in progress. Nothing really that interesting here, though I am curious what that rubbery bit in the center is for.

Bag 7

Completed base

Bag 8

Asteroids cartridge and scene. This one was a bit finnicky. Lots of small pieces.

Bag 9

Had a minor scare that I was missing a bag (this actually happened with the Mario 64 Question Block set I got a while back), because what was in there did not look like enough pieces to make what was shown. I was just overestimating the size of the picture. There's probably a size joke in there somewhere.

Bag 10

Probably the most fun part of the build. The details are amazing!
The whole aesthetic is just perfect. Even the pea-green carpet, cassette boombox, VHS on the table... God, such feels.

Fun Fact: You can see a Johnny Thunder poster just behind the person. Johnny Thunder was part of a series of LEGO sets called 'Adventure' from 1998 to 2003.

The scene lying flat in the system tray

Connected by hinges. The amount of engineering brilliance that goes into these nostalgic sets is stunning.

Bags 11-13

Didn't get in progress pics of the front and top, because they really didn't show much.

Now you see me...

Now you don't!

Bag 14

The completed console. The details are magnificent.

Bag 15

And the included controller!

Bag 16

Centipede cartridge and scene. Once again, the design work here astounds me.

Fun fact: I was not paying attention and put the image sticker on the cartridge on a black flat panel piece instead of the only grey one. Luckily I had a razor handy and was able to peel it off at the corner. Now there's a wrinkle in the top right corner of the image sticker, but I honestly think this adds to the authenticity. I think we all remember having cartridges with peeling labels!

Only thing not here are the Asteroids and Adventure scenes

It's the scene for the cartridge actually in the system, get it?

Focusing on the center text really blurred the details in the back, ugh

Side note: I have really bad tremors (basically my hands shake almost always) and it can be irritating dealing with so many stickers on these sets. It annoys me seeing them crooked, but I have to spend soooooo long getting them right >.

Controller closeup. If only the button pressed. The joystick also has very little movement.

Another angle

Adventure scene closeup (There's even an easter egg...)

Asteroids scene closeup. Kaboom!

Centipede scene closeup. Look how angry it is!

The three scenes

Another angle

Hidden scene displayed with full console

Boombox area closeup

This person is having a great time. I'm honestly jealous. JOHNNY THUNDER WOOOO

I can't remember the last time I was this happy about anything. Also you can't tell but he's wearing an ATARI logo shirt.

Playing ASTEROIDS™ on his ATARI™ VIDEO COMPUTER SYSTEM™ inside a NINTENDO™ LEGO™ set! Is that red can there a refreshing COCA-COLA™? Or perhaps a BUDWEISER™? Maybe he can use that AT&T™ telephone to call and order some DOMINO'S™ pizza!

New wave music, old school wall phone. Cute cat and some....model cars? RC cars? Who knows.

Power and TV Type switches. These ones stay where you move them due to a genius internal movement system that relies pretty much solely on friction.

I never actually played an ATARI as a kid, so I didn't know about the black-and-white setting to change the output contrast for monochrome TVs. Very advanced for its time!

Game Select and Game Reset switches. These ones use rubber bands to pull the switch back to the top when you let go.

ATARI Logo closeup

Main body, cartridge slot and switches

The main body is soooo shiny I love it. I actually had to spend like a minute getting my camera to focus due to the reflection.

Thanks so much for checking out my build, I don't normally do this kind of thing but this was really fun to document as I went through it. I hope you enjoyed!