Review: 41173 Elvendale School of Dragons

[Velouria]

I think I'm in love! Tidus Stormsurfer has stolen my heart with his beautiful brown complexion and blue eyes and hair. He comes with this set that also includes a little blue dragon named Miku.

here's how it looks next to my window. This is a rather straightforward set that comes in two parts, the main building and a small island with a blackboard, which is a sticker. There is a yellow bell that can swing, but I think it would have looked better in gold.

And from behind. so, it's a large tree and an arch that is not substantial enough to be called a proper building. Under the arch is a desk that can be removed.

There is a little swing that the dragon can ride and it works well. There is even a small brake function at the top that keeps the swing in place until the dragon is ready!

Upstairs there is a cookie shooting crossbow and a box with spare cookies.

And now for the figures- As I said, I love Tidus to bits, with his dragon scale print shirt and his cool copper shoulder protector. Lovely detailed figure, and WE NEED MORE MALE MINIDOLLS!

Miku is a pretty little one, made from two colors of plastic.

And from behind, no print on the back of the torso and the arms.

And a detailed look at that cool new hourglass part. I only got one- same as with the sets I have that had the Erlenmeyer flask in them. I suspect this part is expensive to make?

So my verdict, good set and worth the money, excellent figures. But some problems, I'm still no fan of the fuchsia and pink parts. The building is barely there. 8 stickers in this small set is a lot. They are nice stickers though! And the dragons, well- maybe it's just me, but I wish they were a bit more fierce.

Edited February 26, 2016 by Velouria

[Aanchir]

I actually asked a designer at BrickFair New Jersey last year if blended parts like the hourglass were more expensive to make. It turns out, no, the costs are not much different than any other part. The only major difference is that LEGO can't melt down and reuse the leftover plastic sprues from blended parts like these like they can with single-color parts.

I imagine the lack of an extra here has more to do with its size than anything. Generally extra parts only include those that are light enough that the weight check won't catch them. When you get extras of large parts like fire poles or dragon wings, I believe that's because they're bagged with other large parts like baseplates that don't go through as precise a weight check, so those bags include an extra so that they can be sure you won't be missing one.

Anyway, I like the landscaping and architecture in this set. I'm not totally sure if I'll be getting it, though, because I already have Miku the baby dragon from last year's Pegasus Sleigh and will be getting Tidus in the Dragon Sanctuary set in the summer. But I might get this set anyway just because I like the design and it's not very expensive.

[Marishka]

Thank for review! there's a lot of intresting details in this set, espesially I liked that blue transperent box with cover and cookie crossbow

[OmShanti]

Excellent review! I adore that cookie box, and I agree we need more Male minidolls (with different hairstyles). I just love Tidus, his hair is my favorite color. This set is definitely a must have.

My son loves this set so much, he's doing everything he can to earn extra allowance to buy it himself. It's so cute.

[Aanchir]

Regarding the cookie box, it's odd that it's not designed so that you can move the box itself. A 2x2 plate and 2x2 jumper plate would be an easy fix for that. Maybe that would've been over budget, though.

[Velouria]

Yeah, that I noticed too. But then again, everyone who owns any Lego should have a 2x2 plate lying around somewhere, it's not hard to fix.