REVIEW: Hidden Side 40336 Newbury Juice Bar

[Pchan1983]

Here is my video review on the September Promo item 40336 Newbury Juice Bar:

THE GOOD:

• A fully enclosed juice bar!
• Some nice ways on creating different drinks.
• Easy to fit in any other settings outside Hidden Side theme.
• Good minifigures.

THE NOT SO GOOD:

• The slush ice machine a bit too futuristic compare to other components of the set.

Overall, this is an excellent promotion set.  I really like the juice bar and it's a nice surprise it is not just a facade type build given the size of it.  With modifications this can easily be updated to any food stall.  I just wish this set is more widely available given the promotion has ended for a while because I think this is a much better and complete set compared to the J.B.'s ghost lab.  Totally recommended if you can get hold of one from ebay or bricklink with reasonable price if you have missed out the promotion in September.

[Thomas_w]

I agree with you, I got this recently and was really impressed for a promotional item. A couple of things I noticed were;

1. The vendor minifigure doesn't quite fit the rest of the kiosk, he clearly belongs in a hipster coffee shop, while the kiosk has a sort of skeevy late-20th century theme park vibe to it.

2. That the domed elements that form the roof would have been more aesthetically pleasing (to my eyes) if they were the same blue shade as other elements in the kiosk, rather than black. 

For me, this was a great and much appreciated promo item. I particularly like the female minifigure, her all denim outfit is very retro-cool and fits nicely into the imagined cyberpunk megacity MOC that I dream of making one day.  

[Aanchir]

Can't say I agree about the slushie machine looking futuristic… if anything, the design reminds me of the aviation-inspired "streamline moderne" aesthetic popularized from the 1930s to the 1950s. Designers like Raymond Loewy applied to anything you could think of, including buildings, cars, trains, toasters, gas pumps, jukeboxes, radios, blenders, coffee machines, and more.

Certainly by the standards of the time, variously celebrated as the "space age" or the "atomic age", that aesthetic would've felt cutting edge, like something you might see on the cover of a pulp sci-fi magazine. But appliances with that aesthetic would've been around well over a half a century before stuff like Jack and Parker's cell phones, to say nothing of all JB's weird sci-fi gadgetry!

And today, appliances with that sort of aesthetic are usually designed and marketed for their "retro" appeal, such as the "Nostalgia Products" brand: https://nostalgiaproducts.com/collections/beverage

[Pchan1983]

13 hours ago, Thomas_w said:

I particularly like the female minifigure, her all denim outfit is very retro-cool

This applies to most hidden side minifigures, they are all great.  

11 hours ago, Aanchir said:

Can't say I agree about the slushie machine looking futuristic… if anything, the design reminds me of the aviation-inspired "streamline moderne" aesthetic popularized from the 1930s to the 1950s. Designers like Raymond Loewy applied to anything you could think of, including buildings, cars, trains, toasters, gas pumps, jukeboxes, radios, blenders, coffee machines, and more.

Certainly by the standards of the time, variously celebrated as the "space age" or the "atomic age", that aesthetic would've felt cutting edge, like something you might see on the cover of a pulp sci-fi magazine. But appliances with that aesthetic would've been around well over a half a century before stuff like Jack and Parker's cell phones, to say nothing of all JB's weird sci-fi gadgetry!

And today, appliances with that sort of aesthetic are usually designed and marketed for their "retro" appeal, such as the "Nostalgia Products" brand: https://nostalgiaproducts.com/collections/beverage

Great to know all those histories on appliances. Thanks. it just the design of the stickers gave me this sci-fi feel.

[The Brick Boss]

I can use something like this. How much did you get it for?

[Pchan1983]

19 hours ago, pooda said:

I can use something like this. How much did you get it for?

I got as part of Free Promotion in Sept.  The threshold was $129 NZD to qualify but I had other stuff to order so around total purchase waa $200NZD and got the free shipping as well.

[The Brick Boss]

32 minutes ago, Pchan1983 said:

I got as part of Free Promotion in Sept.  The threshold was $129 NZD to qualify but I had other stuff to order so around total purchase waa $200NZD and got the free shipping as well.

Nice