Review: 6414 Dolphin Point

[Cardinal Brick]

INDEXED

And now for something completely different, I will return to my Unitron reviews, as we're only half way along in that but a brief diversion if I may. One thing about getting a new job with a higher wage is your Lego budget increases, as a result here we have a review of the Paradisa set 6414: Dolphin Point

Set Name: Dolphin Point

Set Number: 6414

Number of Pieces: 207

Figures: 4

Released: 1995

List Price: $33 according to Brickshelf £N/A If anyone know let me know!

1789 Peeron.com

6414 Bricklink Catalog

I remember seeing this set as I child and I wanted it. It would be perfect I though for Governor Broadside, on one side Fort Sabre and on the other side of the port this armed with a few cannons, it'd be beautiful. But it wasn't to be I remember my Grandma telling me that it had pink in it and therefore it was for girls! Now however it's mine so lets take a look at this set.

Lets start with the box, despite being a small box by modern Lego standards back in the day it was considered large enough to have a flap on it.

Front

The back has a good selection of alternative models something which is so often lacking from our more modern sets.

Back

Inside the flap

Having salivated over the box arts lets break open the box and have a look at what we've got for our money.

All together in a very pink box

Next lets take a look at the island baseplate, I really like this one, it's better than the pirate one in my opinion. It's a shame we don't get to see these very often now.

The island before any developer got there

Instructions

The generic instructions picture, I'm starting to wonder why I take these to be honest

The Minifigs

You get 4 in this set, I do fee the guy with the black torso and yellow arms is overused in these types of sets but otherwise I happy with what we've got.

Two men & two women amazing gender balance!

I felt the dolphin should appear in this section as well as it is Dolphin point isn't it.

Pink it's my new obsession (a bonus point to whoever names the artist first)

Now I told you my Grandmother dismissed this set when I was a child due to the pink in it, but before I started building I felt I should show you all just how little pink there is in this set. Not much is the answer!

There's hardly any pink! I think there was more light grey than pink

The boat

A quick small build to start with a little sail boat not much to say a fairly standard model, I do dislike the lack of a rudder attached to the tiller but you can't have it all.

The boat

Sadly you can't easily hold the tiller and see where you're going.

The lighthouse.

The lighthouse has a number of interesting details, though it is one of those board builds that I don't like to much to start with as I nearly always get the first few bricks in the wrong place but after that's overcome things went smoothly enough.

The Ice cream fridge

Sadly the previous owner seems to have decided to cut this sticker apart, though it doesn't look to bad when put back together.

Apart

Together

Fine dining.

After the fridge the next interesting detail is the plates for the dining table, now I hadn't seen these before but I now want to get my hands on some more.

How did I not know these existed.

After this the first floor was just about finished

Not looking to shabby?

The second floor was fairly standard there's a coffee machine which we'll see later but lets march right on to the lighthouse lamp. I though the constructions was well throughout and it fitted in nicely.

Open to see construction method.

Ready for installation

All finished

With all the parts in place lets take a look at the lighthouse

Fully built but a bit lifeless must be low season

Before we move onto the final round up lets take a look at some details

The ice cream fridge

The first floor coffee machine.

The roof telescope

All parts together

It really comes alive once you've got minifig in it

The Rating System

Figures: 9/10 (OK they're a little standard and the guy in the black shirt is overused but there are as many men as women, how rare is that!)

Parts 6/10 (I'd prefer the stairs in white and there isn't that much apart from the plates that wowed me)

Fun Fun Fun 9/10 (Plenty to do with just this set and you can have great fun with just a few more, did anyone say pirate raid?)

Design 9/10 (I fine design I must).

Price ?/10 (Lugnet doesn't like me at the moment and I don't have any other UK prices to that's be TBC'ed .)

Grand Total 33/40 (A high rating but a fine set deserves nothing less)

Conclusion

Was it worth the 15 year wait, well I can't say it was and I'd wait that long for it again. But it is a set I like there are a lot of things you can do with it and I'm sure things will start happening soon. Fortifications to deal with those pesky pirates, drunken student parities broken up by the police or maybe just a relaxing sailing trip it's all to be had with this simple set.

I think Paradisa gets overlooked but a lot of Lego fans, it's a bit to pink and conspicuous for town fans, and I doubt it has a huge number of fans of it's own. That's a shame as I think this set proves that Paradisa was well designed and had a lot of possibilities for play and modding. Will this cause me to buy some more sets? Well I might just do that but I can tell you right now I'm getting some more of those plates I love them. And to finish with...

Edited August 17, 2010 by TheBrickster

[prateek]

Great review. I really like this set. It's a shame your grandma was gender biased

BTW, there are a lot of typos in this review

[Matn]

Nice review with clear pictures, Cardinal Brick. This sure looks like a sweet set, a nice watchtower with a special baseplate, nice figures and the dolphin (he looks very happy in your picture ). I wish I had a dolphin. The stickers look also give a nice touch with the ice creams, a shame one of them has been ripped apart.

I must admit, I like the Paradisa theme. When we were younger, my sister got a little Paradisa set and it had our first LEGO cat, pan and a pizza. It's somewhere in my collection now. When I bought the almost complete LEGO Western series a few years ago through the internet, I was surprised to find a couple of Paradisa sets with it (I got it for free). Since then I've liked the theme even more, it had nice vehicles, some new elements like the animals and of course: female figures. The pink elements are sometimes very useful, but the sets also fit in a (less manly) LEGO town.

Edited August 15, 2010 by Matn

[The Yellow Brick]

Fantastic review Cardinal Brick. I've always wanted some paradisa sets. Might order some off Ebay.

Edited August 15, 2010 by The Red Brick

[lightningtiger]

Thanks for the review 'Cardinal Brick' - aw cute set isn't it ?

I like the ideas in this design.....but pink.....we can easily see which gender Lego were aiming this at eh ?

The light beacon design is simple, odd looking telescope at least we have a proper one now thanks to 2009 pirates.

Pity about the torn sticker, but I guess that's what sometimes happens to a 15 year old set.

Again thanks 'Cardinal Brick' and I'm a conformist! !

[Section8]

Thanks for the review. This is an awesome, unique set. My sister got it when I was younger and I always liked it. You're right about the relative lack of pink for a Paradisa set; it wouldn't wouldn't be too hard to swap it out for something less 'girly'. The minifigs were standard Paradisa faire and an appropriate number for this size set back in the day, so I don't agree with your high score for them. The one female torso with the dolphin on it was decently rare, so there's that going for them. I remember the US price at release was $30, a bit high for the piece count but it did come with a unique baseplate. All in all, a great review of a great set, I think I'll ask my sister if I can have hers...

PS, the band from your quote is Aerosmith.

[XimenaPaulina]

Very good review Cardinal Brick, thanks for sharing this with us. Seeing this makes me wanna buy this set - a great relaxing set, nice selection of MFs (in their beach outfits) and simply lovely accessories. That printed baseplate looks very good and is pretty rare nowadays.

[WhiteFang]

Great review. I really envy you for having to own this priceless Paradisa set.

This review is now blogged in,

[Wout]

Thank you for the nice review.

I found this set one of the best of city in the 90's.

I still don't have him, but I bought a lovely 2ndhand smiling dolphing on a meeting. The baseplate is great. Pity TLC didn't made something like this for last year Pirates.

Edit: made a word better

Edited August 16, 2010 by Wout

[L@go]

I always found this set tempting, but it appeared just after I originally stopped collecting Lego (bigger sets, anyway). But after I came out of my dark ages I couldn't resist, so I pieced one together off BrickLink, complete with stickers. I love the lighthouse idea - there haven't been too many Lego lighthouses, and every table town should have one :)

[ZO6]

*Drool Drool* These Paradisa sets are so appealing!

Having only seen this set in those small catalogues for the past 15 years, I thought it looked great. However, your review has made me appreciate this set ever more!

There is so much to like about this set: the minifigure selection, the dolphin, the baseplate, all the accessories such as the printed radio and plates, and of course the finished building is very unique. There haven't exactly been a lot of Lego lighthouses made over the years. I'd love to see sets like these again in the future that were more civilian based instead of part of a life guard subtheme.

Thanks for the review!

[WesternOutlaw]

Back in the day, I would have disliked this set because of the pink elements, but now I'd love to have it. I think you're very fortunate to have this little beauty CB. Thanks for the review. It looks even better and more classic after you've nicely highlighted the different aspects. 5 stars for me!

Review indexed.

[Cardinal Brick]

Thanks for all the comments, it's the best part of the review hearing what everyone else thinks of these sets. I do hope anyone else who has some Paradisa sets will get them out and review them now.