Review : 3675 General Store

[74louloute]

Hello everybody!

Today, I would like to introduce to you (if you don't know them!), our friendly Fabuland friends.

I choose one of my first "big" set : 3675 General Store

This set was released in 1987.

Set Data:

3975: General Store

Year: 1987

Theme: Fabuland

Pieces: 103 + 3 minifigs

Price : 20£ when released, nowadays sold 111$ on Bricklink

Building time: 25-30 min

More informations: Bricklink Brickset

The box:

(From Peeron)

The box shows an overall view of the store.

Instructions:

The instructions look like they are hand drawn, that's very pleasant. During the whole construction, you are accompanied by your Fabuland friends! (Picture from Brickfactory)

Pieces of interest:

This set contains some very original pieces like the gas pump or that sign. This set contains a mix of printed bricks (like the

cash machine, the letter box or the fruit-tile) and stickers for the rest. I'm very happy to see that those stickers are as new even if they are 22 years old !

Those drawers are absolutely magnificent! I think they can totally be re-used in a Moc.

Minifigs Figures

From left to right, you could recognise Hannah Hippopotamus, Freddy Fox, and Boris Bulldog. Freddy Fox is the owner of the store, Boris is the mailman, and Hannah is just a citizen of Fabuland ! The figures are simple, the hands can't move, but the two legs can be moved separatly. They only have a front printing.

The building

The buiding starts with the cash machine. In the sweet world of Fabuland, everybody is kind: that's why Boris is here to help Freddy to settle his shop. Hannah is here too but she didn't want to do anything !

Boris is so strong, that he can carry a shelf by himself!! Hannah is very impressed...

The door and the window are ready, so they can begin the construction of the solarium !

And it's done ! Hannah hasten to test it while the guys build the roof.

Everything is almost over, Freddy put his bricklayer's clothes to finish the wall.

That's it! The store is now complete. But the inside need some furniture...

The furniture are rudimentary : a table and another shelf. The shelf contains those lovely drawers !

The car

Boris is the mailman, so he need a car to make his round. To thanks Boris, Freddy helps him to build his car.

Overall view

Everything is build, the garden is already full of flowers, the tree is ready to give its apples, and the mailbox is full !

Inside the store, Freddy is busy and make some call to be delivered on time.

"What, what what? You don't know where Fabuland is ? You can't deliver to me? ... ... ... Do you have something to write on, I'll explain to you, it's very easy!"

Boris fill his tank before going to work, his journey is long in Fabuland !

Close up

A close up to this lovely mailbox. It's so huge you can even hide somebody inside !!

The sign is lovely, I like its shape all in round ! There is a sticker in front, and a different one on the other side.

This is the wall with the price of store good. Unfortunately, this is not print, it's a sticker. I think I should thanks my dad for such a good collage of all the stickers!

I hope Freddy won't change prices very often !

Thanks for reading this review, I hope you enjoy this set as much as me !

Everybody say "Bye Bye" to Fabuland, it's now time to return in the real world !!

Review

As far as I'm concerned, I think that set is wonderful. I really enjoy building it again, almost 20 years later... The explanation are simple, the bricks are big and easy to take. The building process is very smooth : at each step you add just one or two bricks.

I really miss Fabuland... I think that theme was great for little kids : the figurines with their big animals head are very friendly, and everything in Fabuland exudes calm, quiet and friendship !

Figurines: 4/5 Three different Fabuland fig !

Pieces: 4/5 There is some very original pieces in here that I totally forgot for years. Maybe I'll try to incorporate one of these in a MOC.

Playability: 5/5 The back of the store is totally open, so you can play inside !

Construction: 5/5 Very easy, step after step.

Overall rating: 4/5 Excellent set.

Thanks for reading my review !

Hope you'll like it, and let me know if you don't!

Pictures can be found in my Brickshelf

Edited July 18, 2011 by Rufus
Indexed

[JCC1004]

Now I really want some Fubland. Nice review and clear pictures. Are there any suggestions for a Fubland set?

[The Who]

Now I really want some Fubland. ...Are there any suggestions for a Fubland set?

F-a-b-u-l-a-n-d.

This is a very nice review, and is really appreciated here.

I had no idea the instructions looked like that though. It sure would be a lot more interesting to build a Fabuland set than a regular set of today.

[Rick]

This is so cute . I have to restrain myself not to buy any Fabuland sets... there's so much Lego still to be bought. The instruction style reminds me of the 6000 Idea Book.

[alex12]

Great review . I had forgotten how cool Fabuland is.

We definately need more reviews of Fabuland.

Its awesome. Lego should stop messing around with Toy Story and give us more of this.

[Sandy]

Oh. My. Gosh!

Looking at this set and all the pieces, I realized that I used to own this very set! I suddenly recall that I've held every piece in it and used them in my own buildings. The mailbox, the bookshelf, the apple tree with holes, the round signs on the roof... Oh the surge of nostalgy!

The fox was one of my favorite Fabuland figs for some reason, while the hippo always played the role of an old grandmother.

Sadly I don't have any of the Fabuland pieces anymore. I had my collection of System LEGOs at my granny's, so they're safe with me now, but all the older LEGOs I had at my childhood home, so they're lost in time. A pity, really.

[prateek]

Great review I've never actually seen a Fabuland set before, so this is my first.

[Wout]

Thank you for this great review.

This was one of the bigger sets from the end of the line and it had a very cosy feeling with it.

Fabuland was a great theme and they shouldn't had it stopped. (don't know of this last sentence is good)

When I was in Legoland Denmark in 1989, there was an area were they had build Fabuland in big, so you could walk through Fabulandlike streets and see Fabufigs between 1,5 and 2 meters high. They had also some things like a ferriswheel. Only the cosy windows of the big fabuland wallpieces were filled with blackpainted wood instead of letting someone see in a real fabuland house.

The area is later remade in Duplo-Land.

[samthelegoman1]

I love it. The mailbox and mail cruiser are nice touches

Edited September 5, 2009 by samthelegoman1

[Adam]

This is my favorite Fabuland set. It definitely deserves the fabulous review you gave it.

[Lordofdragonss]

After reading this review I started crying. This is really shame that this theme had not so long live...

Anyone have idea why tree have holes? I still can't figure that out...

[Jonas O.]

Very nice review.

When I read your review I was a bit sad, because I had never the chance to get one of this awsome Fabuland sets.

I have only 7 figures and they have no house where they can live.

Edited September 6, 2009 by Jonas O.