Review of the Kalos Kyoto Hut 61008 Building Block Set

Welcome back, brick fans! Today, we are diving into completely uncharted territory with a brand I’ve never built before. We're looking at the Kalos Blocks Kyoto Hut (Set 61008)—a stunning 1,535-piece modular building set that beautifully captures traditional Japanese architecture. 

The 2024 Japanese-themed lineup from Kalos Blocks featured two main sub-series: the Japanese Style Cabin Series (Nara, Umeda, and Kyoto Huts) and the Modern Japanese Villas/Cafes (Hot Springs, Sakura Cafe, and Cats/Dogs Houses). These LEGO-compatible sets range from roughly 1,200 to 1,570 pieces and emphasize exterior landscaping, sliding doors, and detailed interior props.

Modern Japanese Villas & Lifestyle Series (2024)

Japanese Hot Springs / Onsen Villa (Set 61029): A 1,556-piece set built on a 32x32 stud baseplate that incorporates an authentic hot springs soaking area alongside character figures.

Sakura Cafe / Cherry Blossoms Cafe (Set 61030): A 1,210-piece set blending modern urban architecture with traditional pink cherry blossom floral elements and cafe seating.

Cats, Dogs and Houses / Pet House (Set 61031): A 1,456-piece set themed around animal companionship with vibrant architectural details, exterior greenery, and specialized parts.

Japanese Style Cabin Series (2024)

Nara Hut (Set 61006): A 1,378-piece traditional modular build featuring autumn aesthetics, detailed interior elements like an aquarium and reclining couch, and extensive sticker sheets.

Umeda Cottage / Summer Home (Set 61007): A 1,577-piece set centered around an exterior garden layout with pebble stones, a dog house, sliding doors, a second-floor balcony, and a rooftop telescope area.

Kyoto Hut / Spring Home (Set 61008): A 1,535-piece set highlighting bright blue accents, in a Japanese style spa.

In this review, we will check out the specs of the Kyoto Hut set, see what's inside the box, go over the building experience, and take a look at all of the unique features of this modular set.

The Specs

Before we get into the unboxing and building experience, let's look at the key specs for this set:

• Brand: Kalos Blocks
• Set Name: Kyoto Hut (also referred to as "Spring Home")Model Number: 61008
• Theme: Modular Buildings / Japanese Style Cabin Series
• Piece Count: 1,535 pieces
• Minifigure Count: 2 (Lego compatible)
• Stickers: Small sticker sheet included
• Printed Parts: Nope
• Lighting Effect: Nope
• Baseplate Size: 32x32 standard footprint
• Compatibility: 100% Lego compatible bricks

Contents

According to my old notes, I picked this one up from AliExpress for around $55 USD, back in December of  2024.  It just came in a large ziplock bag with no box.

Surprisingly, there are a limited number of sets still available on Aliexpress right now, but based on the info further below, I think the Kalos line of Japanese buildings has been discontinued.  Nothing comes up if you search Aliexpress for "Kalos blocks", but I did get some hits searching for "Kyoto Hut blocks", and refining it by using the Similar Items feature.

Here's what we got after we unpacked the bag.  

An instruction booklet, a sticker sheet, a 32x32 baseplate, other assorted plates and bags numbered 1 thru 20 to correspond to the steps in the manual.

The sticker sheet contains 16 stickers, one of which looks like it will span multiple brick pieces.

Some sample pages from the 123 page instruction manual.

I found it difficult to discern how some of the dark coloured pieces were laid.  I searched for the instructions on the Kalos blocks website but it looks like last year, they have moved pivoted away from building blocks and more towards IP related toys.   Here's what Gemini confirmed:

" Kalos Blocks underwent a major brand transformation and business pivot recently. The Hong Kong-based building brick manufacturer, originally founded in 1971, collaborated with local creative agency The Cabinet to execute a massive strategic rebranding.  

Kalos Blocks shifted away from purely marketing traditional children's toy blocks.  They re-positioned themselves as an adult-focused lifestyle and designer collectible brand.  They introduced a highly targeted proprietary terminology for their bricks, naming their signature structural parts "Lubs" and establishing the new global brand slogan, "Lub (One) to Next". Their logo was completely modernized into a signature 45-degree rotated unisex logomark using a unified "Kalos Grey" color scheme. 

This design was created to appeal directly to the mature urban consumer. To solidify its presence as a trendy collectible brand, Kalos shifted its design focus heavily toward pop-culture collaborations and high-profile blind-box series.  Partnering directly with Netflix to capture major retail traction across Asia, they launched a dedicated block product line alongside an immersive promotional pop-up store at Hysan Place. They debuted specialized local market sets, notably creating a blind-box figure series for the smash-hit martial arts movie Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (九龍城寨之圍城), as well as a localized nostalgic retro line of "Hong Kong Memories" block keychains."

Anyways, I did find all of the Kalos blocks manuals on-line at: - https://manuall.co.uk/toys/kalos-blocks/kalos-blocks-homeplus/

Using the on-line PDF instructions helped quite a bit.

Kalos blocks are fully Lego-compatible, but they feature a unique floral-shaped stud instead of the standard round one on all of their bricks. To see how well they clutch with other Lego-alternative brands, I decided to bypass the included Kalos baseplate altogether and test them on my own custom, raised MILS plate.

The Build

Let's talk about the bricks themselves. For those of you who are new to Kalos Blocks, let me just remind you that the brick clutch is a little bit tighter than normal compared to the leading brand. Your fingers might get a bit of a workout during assembly, but the positive tradeoff is that the final structure is incredibly sturdy.  I found this especially true when dealing with any of the 1x1 circular pieces.

Another thing to watch out for during construction is the manual's color sorting. Depending on your room's lighting, the shades of brown and dark blue in the manual can be tricky, so you might get them mixed up if you aren't paying close attention.The instruction steps expect you to be a bit of a pro. There are a few spots where the manual will tell you where a completed wall section goes, but you actually have to build the wall section first by looking ahead a step. Or just use the PDF version like I did.

I built the landscaping alright, but when it came to the building foundation, the Kalos plate to alt brick plate connection wasn't happening.

The building wouldn't sit properly, so I removed it and added one layer of thin plate around and under the base.

Now the building is firmly attached to the baseplate.  Now we can continue working on the first floor.  Those are some cool looking chairs btw.

One thing I noticed was that Kalos likes a lot of texture on their bricks.  The floors really look like tatami mats, although I kind of wish they were sand green in colour.

Here's the giant sticker we saw earlier on the sticker sheet. I've added an extra 4x14 plate under the three 4x4 tiles to give it extra support before wall mounting.  It's a nice print isn't it?

I don't understand why Kalos uses window frames as floating stairs.  They could have just used 2x2 blocks.  Doh. 

Here's some view of the exterior.  Love those finned fence pieces.  Not much in the way of a sidewalk though.

You may have noticed the small cat in the pics. He lives outdoors in that little cat house.  I wonder if it jumps onto the laundry that's hung out to dry.

Steps 10 thru 15 build the second floor and what I found that you had to pretty much open all the mentioned bags at the same time, because the part specified to use in step 10 shows up later in bag 13.

So this is the room where you soak in the large bath.  Showering before getting into the tub is the Japanese way.

Here's the change area with towels, sink and hair dryers.   It's all wide open for everyone to see.

I don't have a lot of modular buildings that have modern architecture such as this set, so it's a nice change.

Adding the dark brown trims in steps 16/17.

The roof is the final piece of the puzzle in step 18.

These are the spare/extra parts I had left over after the build.  I had 2 missing pieces, one of them is unique to this set which is a dark brown 1x2 tiled part and the other was a technic part for the top of the hydro pole.  I can use a non textured 1x2 dark brown piece and I had the missing technic part in my stash luckily.

Despite the two missing pieces, brick quality and clutch was decent and there were no compatibility issues with the other Kalos pieces attaching to Lego alt brick parts. (except as noted earlier).  Glass pieces were all wrapped so that they wouldn't get scratched. Nice touch!

Here's a closer look at all of the unique parts that can only be found in the Kalos sets.  There's actual simulated wood grain and textures on the tile pieces.  And those nice finned fence pieces come in 4 different colours.   It's really too bad that Kalos decided to discontinue these sets.

The Minifigures

Gosh, I almost forgot to mention the two Lego compatible minifigures that come with the set.   They were packaged separately as bags 19 and 20 and were already built.

Only by accident I discovered that they both have the ball joint arms.

Final Thoughts and Last Looks

Can't help but think there's ice forming on the hydro pole so early in the season.

Overall, I like this set quite a lot! I love the modern architecture and design, especially with those special parts that Kalos uses.  I wasn't a fan of the stickers but they were easy to attach to the bricks and I don't think I messed them up too badly.  I really sucked at making the trees and bushes so they will be gone, as well as the kludgy staircase.   I might also reduce the amount of landscaping at the front of the house so that there's more room for a sidewalk.

If you are a fan of Japanese architecture or want to add a unique, historic district to your custom block city layout, the Kalos 61008 is well worth your time.  I'm giving this set a solid 4.5 out of 5, points deducted because of the missing parts.

I also bought the Hot Springs Onsen Villa at the same time for about the same price, so I'll be building and reviewing that set next. Ok, That's all the pictures for today! Let me know in the comments below if you've built any of the other Kalos Blocks sets yet.

Thanks for looking!  Bye!

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