REVIEW: #40112 Catwalk Phone Stand

[Bob De Quatre]

Introduction

The young girl inside me wanted to review something different, and that small Friends set sitting on a shelf kept staring at me... So here I am, building in pink and lavender to give you a detailed review of the #40112 Catwalk Phone Stand.

Set information

Set Name: Catwalk Phone Stand

Set Number: 40112

Number of Pieces: 143

Theme: Friends

Year Release: 2014

Prices: 14.99$ / 12,99€ / 17.99 CAD

#40112 on Brickset

#40112 on Rebrickable

Packaging

The box is medium sized with proportions I'm not used to for LEGO sets boxes. It's a little thicker than usual. The front of the box shows the complete build, with big LEGO and Friends logo on the upper left corner and the usual designs for the Friends line.

The rear shows the exact same build picture as the front, and a QR code that leads you to a webpage with (exclusive) content. We'll get back on this in the "Play features" section of this review. LEGO also mentionned that sadly, there is no phone included in the box.

A side of the box shows the usual 1:1 part and some legal stuff. The 3 other sides don't shows us much more.

Content of the box

The box contains two bags of parts, as always one for smaller parts and one for larger parts.

Content of the "tiny parts" bag:

Content of the "big parts" bag:

There are four loose parts in the box: two 6x14 black plates, a 6x12 light bluish grey plate and a 1x12x3 lavender arch.

Of course there is an instruction booklet, and a cardboard mimicking a cellphone on one side and with a star pattern on the other side.

Instruction

The instructions are pretty clear, the blue background help recognizing bricks colors easily.

The last step shows a QR code to access a Friends page with a video, but we'll get to that later in the review.

Minifigures

This set has no minifigures, which is quite disappointing. Since it depicts fashion show, LEGO could have provided one or two friends dolls.

Interesting parts

There are no real standout parts, most of them are common but still useful, like slopes or modified plates. The friendish colored parts are always cool to have in a collection as they can make colors pop out of any build. The three big plates in the set are pretty nice. I must say that I'm very fond of the trans-pink color, and those 2x2 dishes looks great.

Build

The build is easy and really straightforward. You just have to put some bricks over some plates until the phone stand and catwalk are done, and that's not very interesting. Still this is a good build considering the number of parts, and pretty sturdy. After step 7, the base is done.

At step 14, the phone stand is done and the curtains take shape.

The catwalk and phone stand finished. I find it nice that the grey bricks that form the phone stand are almost not visible from the front. The accent is really made on the vibrant Friends colors.

Two rows of seats, a microphone on a stand, and two speakers complete the set. those are nice additions as they add to the playability.

And here is the full set assembled, with the seats and speakers. The set is very colorful, as I'd expect from a Friends set. The fact that the seats and the speakers could be moved freely is a nice feature, as it makes the set more playable.

Play features

The main play feature is the phone stand that will provide a background to the catwalk. You can either use the cardboard that comes with the set, or your cellphone displaying a picture or playing a video like the one you can access with the QR code on the box and instructions.

My 5" phone fit in the stand, but the part of the screen visible through the curtains is too small. It would work better with a smaller phone. Anyway, I think the provided cardboard looks better than any phone. Here you can see the unlocked video playing. It's a mix between real girls and minidolls dancing on a pop song. It doesn't look like it was exclusive to this set.

The 4x4 blue round plate rotates so you can admire Emma's karate outfit (that's the only Friends doll I own...). I think LEGO should have allowed the 6x6 round plate to rotate as weel, to make the rotating easier.

Conclusion

Design: 8/10 - The design may be simple but it does the job.

Parts: 8/10 - Nothing that really standout, but still a nice selection and variety of parts and colors.

Build: 9/10 - The build is easy and straightforward. Child would have no difficulties to build the set.

Playability: 10/10 - The play features are perfect for a catwalk. Being able to use a cellphone, the included cardboard or anything that fits in the stand as background is great. I'm not a young girl but still I think I could spend hours making my space minifigs parade on that catwalk

Minifigs: 0/10 - I'm disappointed by the lack of dolls in this set. That was a good opportunity to get fancy dresses for our favorite dolls.

Price: 9/10 - The price per part is good, and there are some big and expensive parts in this set.

Overall: 44/60 (73.3%) - An average score due to the absence of dolls in the set!

The 40112 Catwalk Phone Stand is a pretty good set, that blends well with the other Friends sets. The phone stand is nice, and you can use anything less than 2 studs wide as background for the catwalk. The main problem with this set is the lack of minidolls included, but if you already have a nice collection of outfit, it's the best place to display them!

It will be retired soon (if not already) and it's on sale almost everywhere, so grab it while you can.

[Kristel]

Thanks for the great review, Bob. Looks like a neat little set, although I agree that the lack of a minidoll does detract from it.

[Poisso3]

Good review. We got this for my daughter last year, and she loves it for its play vlaue.

[Withacee]

Thanks, Bob, for putting the time and effort in for this great review.

I'm no fan of this set; the lack of a minidoll is one, but I think, in general, it lacks creativity and imagination.

With a bit more effort, this could have looked great; the idea has a lot of potential, and definitely fits in with the Friends theme.

Edited June 25, 2015 by Withacee