13 replies to this topic

[Clone O'Patra]

INDEXED

Before I review something larger (which I will do soon, I'm just missing a big dog), I'll present you with another small review featuring a horse and rider.  If you are confused why I say "another," check out my 6009 Black Knight review, and enjoy that too!  Today the horse and rider comes from Paradisa, in…




Set Title:  This issue is oddly disputed.  Bricklink says "Show Jumping Event," Peeron says "Jumping Course."  I cannot verify which is correct, can you help?
Set #: 6417
Theme: Paradisa
Pieces: 35
Minifigures: 1
Year of Release: 1997
Price at Release: USD $4.00
Buy it?  Inventory?  Bricklink  Peeron


INTRODUCTION

So, you might ask, what is a male like me who's got lots of Star Wars and a good bit of manly Castle sets doing with a girly, pink Paradisa set?  Stop being sexist, geez.  

Actually, I did not buy this set, nor was it given to me, nor is it really mine now.  It actually belongs to my mother, who was given it by my father.  Isn't that sweet?  Well, it turns out that just because I was into LEGO doesn't mean everybody in my house was.  Anyway, I got it from her so I could review it, so that's what I am doing.

Paradisa is an interesting theme that I actually like in some ways.  It's basically city with a fabulous "let's go to the beach and party!" twist.  There were restaurants, stables, lighthouses, carnies… everything awesome, check it out!  All this fun was directed at girls, because LEGO gave all the sets hues of bright green, pink, and other girly colors.  This line also had more female characters than any other single line.  Now, you might say "Hey, just 'cause it had bright colors doesn't mean it has to be for girls!"  Let's face it, LEGO is sexist.

LEGO always says it's target age range for most products is boys 6-12.  That would mean that a girl-oriented line might not do so well, if LEGO is a boy's toy.  But no.  Paradisa lasted from '92 to '97, so I would say that means it did pretty well.  Let's look at what makes it special…


BOX

I had no box for this review, so here is the Bricklink picture.  It has the classic style of the '90s, without much writing on the front and the triangular logo in the corner.  I've always liked that smiling guy in the yellow box with the ages.  He's just so happy (or she, girls get short haircuts too).



INSTRUCTIONS

Alas, I have no instructions either, but you can build this set from just the picture.  

Instead of showing the instructions pic from Bricklink (which is basically the same as the box), I'll show this official set picture.  We find that the horse's name is Beauty.  That's too girly for me, I was calling it altacocker (google it, it's yiddish).



PIECES

The last two sections proved to be mostly useless, so let's look at some pics that I took of plastic!

Here are all the parts, minus a shovel and broom.  I forgot to put those in the picture.  There is quite a good color selection for such a small set, and I love pieces in pink and bright green.  All those flowers will make a lovely flower garden, too (pictured are the 3 extra flowers).


I just had to take another picture, they're so beautiful!  I really do love pink, and there was plenty to be had in Paradisa!



ACCESSORIES

The accessories (this time with shovel and broom) are another great thing about Paradisa sets.  There are lots of household items, which come in handy in MOCs.  This is similar to the more recent girl line, Belville, which also feature lots of accessories.  On top of that, there is the ultra-rare yellow trophy (in other words: lame trophy).  You may wonder why the hair is here as an accessorys: it's because Paradisa girls are bald, of course!  It's actually because that's the way it is in the instructions.  You will see.



ANIMALS

In this set, we get a horse and a kitten.  The horse is a given, of course, but the cat is a complete extra, and a nice one!  Kittens are not even that common, having only appeared in 19 sets in white.


The set, like most others, also provides you with two ways to make the horse, saddled and unsaddled.  What I like in this set specifically is that they give you a tile, so that the horse shows no studs at all when relaxing and no pesky minifigures can jump onto him and stay on.



MINIFIGURE

Here is our girl from the front.  She looks like quite a preppy rider, which I suppose is good.  The hardhat works as a riding hat, and LEGO will use it as such many times.  Like most (or even all) Paradisa girls, she's got that face, which has appeared in about 146 sets.  This exact minifigure, though, is only in this set.


You can also put on the girl's wig, if you wish.  I like her better this way.  She looks too hairless with the hardhat on.


Back then, there was never back printing, so there's not much to see from the back.


In sum, a fine, boring, plain minifigure.


BUILD

I don't have the instructions, but I took in-build shots anyway of what I thought the build might be, so here you go:

The Trelllis

I am not going to repeat many times that the build is quick and easy; you know it is.  What I like about the trellis is the pink trellis parts, and that the designer put the green plants on them.  The design looks very good and thought out, even for such a small set.


My mom had then put two of the extra flowers on the plants to make it prettier.  This is a great use of the extra parts!


The Accessory Rack

You start out on this build with the lovely bright green plate, a cone, and a barrel.  Not much too it.  Then you add the lovely arch piece and a few accesories.


The third step has you adding the rest of accessories.  But wait, why is her hair on a cone?  Is she *gasp* bald?  I guess so, if she hangs her hair up to wear a helmet.


The Obstacle

It's two pieces.  You get another nice arch piece for it, though, which is nice.  And it adds some playability.


The Award Podium

The problem with this part is that big, oddly shaped sticker that goes over both of the bricks.  People who don't like stickers will really hate this.  I don't mind it so much, as I don't really need the two white bricks for something else, and I wouldn't want the bricks without any pattern on them.  Printing on the bricks would have been nicer, though.  You can also see that lovely, exclusive trophy.  That thing is sure impressive.  Being serious, LEGO should have made a different trophy piece, not just used a yellow goblet.



COMPLETED SET

All together, it looks like a big mush.  I guess that's good for setting up different displays, but it might get annoying to make sure the flowers don't fall over all the time.  A plate for them would have been nice, but the set would still look like just a lot of different little parts.



PLAYABILITY

Let's take a look at what fun you can have with all of those different parts and accessories.

I'll start with the obvious, horse jumping.  I'm not sure how long the fun lasts when you're just flying a horse over an arch with your hands, though.


Once you get tired of doing that, you can have your girl win the top place trophy (or fail, if that's how you feel).


You could also have the girl go for a relaxed horse ride, fun for another two or three minutes.


After the ride, feed the horse with the last extra flower.


Hmmm… what else?  I guess you could brush the horse…


…or the kitten.  I can't see doing this for very long.


You could also shovel some flowers or sweep them, I suppose.  What I'm trying to say here is that there really isn't a whole lot to do here.


CONCLUSION

This is not a great example of the Paradisa line, just average. Paradisa was a nice idea that yielded many sets that were unusual among pirates, cops, firefighters, and lots of other boy-oriented sets and themes.  (I said boy-oriented, not for boys only.)  This set displays the nice bright colors found in all the Paradisa sets and the tendency of LEGO to throw in lots of accessories for extra amusement.  That amusement only goes so far though, and this set really falls down on playability.  The minifigure, while a girl, is pretty average, and those huge lips have always seemed a bit too sexist to me.  It's an ok set, but I'd recommend really anything else in the Paradisa line instead.


RATINGS

Minifigures: 5.5/10 - A bit of a *yawn,* but the outfit is nice.
Pieces: 9.5/10 - The amount for $4.00 is good, and the range is nice.  Plenty of accessories, and a kitten!
Build: 7.5/10 - The trellis was nice, but there wasn't much else great to build.
Price: 8.5/10 - The price is almost right for the amount of pieces, but the result is a bit dull
Playability: 5/10 - There is really so little you can do with it for more than a second.
Overall: 7.2/10 - Not a great rating.  There are some good pieces, like the kitten, but I suggest you look for them in better Paradisa sets that have more going on.  You don't need to search for this set on Bricklink, and I wouldn't have recommended it back in the day.

[Svelte]

Thanks for the lovely review, Clone O'Patra.

To be honest, this set confirms my distrust of the Paradisa theme. It's like an accessories pack with pretensions. I don't think I've ever seen a set come with just flowers supposed to stand by themselves before    That choice of minty green doesn't look nearly as nice as standard green, either.

That poor bald girl... doomed to spend the rest of her life going over one teensy hurdle on her giant horse. The Sisyphus of showjumpers!

I actually think the recent Belville horsey-themed set is a much more playable and useful than this odd little set. At least with Belville horses you can brush the manes! However, for $US4 it was probably quite a good buy at the time.

The fence/ plant technique is also cute - thanks for sharing.

[Derek]

Thanks for the review.  

I wasn't a Lego fan when the Paradisa theme was out, so I don't have any of the sets. Some of them do have good pieces though, such as this one which was a good value at $4. Today, a set this size would mostly sell for double that. It would be nice if Lego made Impulse sets this size and price for current themes, as the ones we have now seem too small and would really benefit by the increase in size (but maybe not the increase in price.  )

-darthperson  

[Alice]

Svelte, on Aug 26 2009, 08:55 PM, said:

Thanks for the lovely review, Clone O'Patra.

To be honest, this set confirms my distrust of the Paradisa theme. It's like an accessories pack with pretensions. I don't think I've ever seen a set come with just flowers supposed to stand by themselves before    That choice of minty green doesn't look nearly as nice as standard green, either.

That poor bald girl... doomed to spend the rest of her life going over one teensy hurdle on her giant horse. The Sisyphus of showjumpers!

I actually think the recent Belville horsey-themed set is a much more playable and useful than this odd little set. At least with Belville horses you can brush the manes! However, for $US4 it was probably quite a good buy at the time.

The fence/ plant technique is also cute - thanks for sharing.

Shush Belville Fairy!  

Honestly, this is my least favorite of all Paradisa sets and one set that I do not own.  I had an opportunity to buy this set MISB and refused because it went too high for a set that isn't remarkable in any way.  The going price on bricklink for this set is 25 USD for a MISB set.  The only unique part in this set is the sticker sheet.  I just can't say a lot to defend this set and I basically agree with Svelte.  Don't generalize this set to the entire Paradisa theme though!!! This is definitely the worst set of the entire theme.  

PARADISA PRINCESSES RULE!  

[Clone O'Patra]

Clone O'Patra, on Aug 26 2009, 08:54 PM, said:

This is not a great example of the Paradisa line, just average. Paradisa was a nice idea that yielded many sets that were unusual among pirates, cops, firefighters, and lots of other boy-oriented sets and themes.  …  It's an ok set, but I'd recommend really anything else in the Paradisa line instead.

I made sure not to generalize it with the theme.  I do think that the amount of accessories and colors are exemplary of the theme, but not the set as a whole, as I highlighted above.  Sorry if parts of my review were misleading, but I tried to make it clear in the conclusion.

[Alice]

Clone, I was directing my comments toward Svelte's Belville bias.    Your review was honest!!!  

[Clone O'Patra]

Oh, whoopsy.  Well, Svelte should read my last comment them and learn a lesson.  Paradisa sets are wonderful and were something really different than anything else.  Bright colors had not yet been done, and they were fabulous.  I wish LEGO would make a new line of girl system sets instead of license after license and underwater after underground after space.

[Svelte]

Pfft! I don't need to learn any lessons.

Paradisa only produced 18 sets between 1992-1997, and it's only innovation was to pinkify System.

Most of the interesting pieces were just sourced from other themes such as the slide from Fabuland and the dolphin from Divers. Apart from that, there's a few pink torsos and that's all that's unique.

The revival of Scala at a larger scale from 1997 onwards is intensely more interesting from a parts point of view (most of the best accessories come from that theme and are still in use today) and also in its more diverse and realistic colour scheme. Whilst still focussing mainly on homemaker/ doll-dressing activities, it does not rely on a pastel pinkwash to soften young brains into thinking 'girls = cat bottom lips and a life of leisure spent in bars and tourist traps'. Belville, of course, continues this tradition and builds on it.

When my thesis on why Belville is superior to Paradisa is published, you will come to see the propaganda of the 'Paradisa Princess' for what it truly is - propaganda, and nothing more.

[Ricecracker]

Svelte, on Aug 26 2009, 11:27 PM, said:

When my thesis on why Belville is superior to Paradisa is published, you will come to see the propaganda of the 'Paradisa Princess' for what it truly is - propaganda, and nothing more.

Ooh... I can't wait!

[Alice]

Svelte, on Aug 26 2009, 10:27 PM, said:

Pfft! I don't need to learn any lessons.

Paradisa only produced 18 sets between 1992-1997, and it's only innovation was to pinkify System.

Most of the interesting pieces were just sourced from other themes such as the slide from Fabuland and the dolphin from Divers. Apart from that, there's a few pink torsos and that's all that's unique.

The revival of Scala at a larger scale from 1997 onwards is intensely more interesting from a parts point of view (most of the best accessories come from that theme and are still in use today) and also in its more diverse and realistic colour scheme. Whilst still focussing mainly on homemaker/ doll-dressing activities, it does not rely on a pastel pinkwash to soften young brains into thinking 'girls = cat bottom lips and a life of leisure spent in bars and tourist traps'. Belville, of course, continues this tradition and builds on it.

When my thesis on why Belville is superior to Paradisa is published, you will come to see the propaganda of the 'Paradisa Princess' for what it truly is - propaganda, and nothing more.

Belville has scary large figures with hair that isn't removable or interchangeable.  Belville has juniorised peices as well that will sometimes work with system but mostly are not interchangeable.  There are also the cloth peices that unravel and get dirty and hold germs unlike the system ABS peices so the longevity of the parts is compromised.  The best part that Belville has come up with so far is the babypult.  

Paradisa may have been a short lived theme, but there were several important peices that came out of it including the pony.  The pony came in 2 sets and both were in the paradisa theme.  Another part that is unique to paradisa are parapink pants.  Again, these came in 2 sets only.  One was the Freestyle Girl's Suitcase which included many paradisa elements.  Also, paradisa was innovative in bringing system to girls.  The playability of Paradisa is not exemplified by this one set as both Clone and I have explained.  Paradisa was the original horsetrailer and precurser to the farm set that has recently been released.  If you look at the sets, it's almost exactly the same concept.  Paradisa included unique color combinations and unique printed peices that deserve recognition.  Bravo LEGO for the attempt to cater to females with a system line rather than an oversized fake Barbie looking one like Belville and Scala.

[Nikau]

My sister must have bought at least part of this set because I have the torso, the brush, the pink flowers and the pink fences. Or I got part of it from garage sales. Anyway, I wish I had the cat and the whip.

[Big Cam]

Nice review, I actually remember seeing this set in the store way back when.

[Rufus]

I feel sorry for bald horsey Paradisa girl.  12 years of winning the lame yellow trophy with no competition and this girl comes along!



Her bigger smile suggests she's won.  Shame she's still bald.

Seriously though, this repeats an interesting point that this year's City possibly has had a more unisex appeal.  I imagine (but am prepared to stand corrected) that the farm and CC line has much more appeal to girls than the usual fire/police stuff.

Potential for debate here, I hope!

Rufus

PS Nice review!

Edited by Rufus, 27 August 2009 - 09:32 PM.

[Wout]

Thank you for the nice review.
Although I like the idea from Belville, I found Paradisa a better line, because it could be interconnected with town.
Before Paradisa was introduced, town had always some houses or other more civilian buildings in it.
After 1992 It was just more of Fireheadquarters, Policeheadquarters, garages and sportlike things with as only exception the great "Pizza to Go".
I think just like Rufus that TLC slowly is adding some more girlinterrested lego into town/city.