Review Review: Friends 41005 Heartlake High

[Pandora]

Number – 41005

Name – Heartlake High

Theme – Friends

Year – 2013

Minidolls – 3

Pieces – 475

Price – $49.99/ €49.99 UK price not yet known

Links: Brickset, Bricklink, Peeron (not yet listed). LEGO shop@home [Germany]

The Summer 2013 wave of Friends sets will soon be available in stores, in fact some are already available for shoppers in Germany, and we've already been treated to a few High-Res pictures of these sets, but with the opportunity to get my hands on one of these beauties a little ahead of time was certainly not one to be missed. The most striking thing about this set is the colour scheme, and I really wanted to see this bright light yellow up close. TLG helped make it possible, so many thanks to them as I take you through the details of this exciting new Friends set!

Head to class with the LEGO® Friends!

Have an exciting day at Heartlake High with Stephanie and Matthew. Ride Stephanie’s pretty blue bike to school! First, store her bag and her laptop in the locker, then head to science class and study plant cells under the microscope, experiment with chemical reactions using the beakers or look through the astronomy telescope. Be the star of biology class when Ms. Stevens calls you to the chalkboard to identify the different parts of the owl’s body! Help Matthew to point out the capital cities on the world map in geography class! Then Stephanie and Matthew wash their hands before lunch. Take some sandwiches and juice from the cafeteria and eat in the sun on the picnic table. Bring on the creative fun after lunch with art class and an easel, and then have music class with the guitar. After school, play basketball with Matthew or go for a bike ride! Includes Stephanie, Matthew and Ms. Stevens mini-doll figures.

• Includes Stephanie, Matthew and Ms. Stevens mini-doll figures

• Features basketball hoop, entrance with lockers, deli, art classroom, science classroom, bathroom and a picnic table

• The art classroom features an easel, music notes for playing guitar, painting bottles, cabinet with drawers, table with flowers, an apple and 2 seats

• The science classroom features 2 benches, a cabinet with a microscope, paper in the drawers, chemistry bottle, biology and math books, blackboard, world map, owl, an astronomy telescope and a teacher’s desk

• Accessories include a laptop, school bag, bike, ball, bow, apple and a secret letter

• Open the doors, windows and lockers!

• LEGO® Friends pieces are fully compatible with all LEGO System bricks

• Collect all of the LEGO Friends sets for a whole world of LEGO Friends fun!

• LEGO mini-dolls are LEGO figures made especially for the world of LEGO Friends that can be customized and combined in thousands of ways

• Measures over 7" (20cm) high, 11" (30cm) wide and 5" (13cm) deep

So if all that's whetted your appetite, let's get on and have a look at it!

The Box

The outer cardboard box this set arrived in was almost mangled beyond recognition. I feared the worst; I was prepared to cry, but remarkably, somehow, magically almost, the set box inside was absolutely pristine. And a very nice box it is too. It has the usual lavender and pink Friends livery, and the updated picture of the five girls, and is also shows the set as a whole. well, we'll see enough of that, but you can also have a sneak peak at the interior with the inset, and learn the names of Matthew, the new boy for this set, and Ms Stevens, the new grown-up included too.

There's so much to see on the back; you get great views of all the many details in the interior, plus close up views of some of the most interesting pieces. There's the usual "how to" for putting together the minidolls (in this case Stephanie), plus a few illustrations to show the build is modular and can be put together in several different configurations.

The box top and bottom are pretty standard for a Friends set, with the usual wash of lavender. The 1:1 scale picture is of Stephanie, and next to that is a little scene with the other characters, where Ms Stevens seems delighted with her owl.

The sides have the familiar detailing with a little picture of the set and an advert for the Friends section of the LEGO Club. It seems that because Ms Stevens has a title ("Ms") that this is required to be translated, so we have "Ms.", "Frau", "Mme", "Sra." and "Ms" Stevens written down the side of the box.

The Box Contents

Your LEGO comes in four numbered polybags for the modular building. You can see the bright light yellow and dark blue splattered across all four bags, but that's hardly surprising if you just look at the model.

There are a lot of stickers here, and they go in a lot of places. Some will perhaps be more self-explanatory than others, like the basketball one, but the cat one in the top left has me a trifle baffled. Clearly it's one of those notices where people pull off a telephone number to call up for something. I've seen them for people renting rooms or wanting to join clubs, but this seems to be some sort of cat hotline. For Ella. Call Ella's crazy cats? Who knows, but anyway it's lavender and it's got cats on, so kids will probably like it.

In addition to the ploybags full of LEGO, there are also these 16x16 and 8x16 tan plates. It's pretty clear that these will be the floors for the various sections of the school, and some of you may currently be thanking the heavens that they appear in a neutral colour rather than pink or lavender. I actually must admit that I am.

The Instructions

Shipping from Denmark was not kind to the instruction booklets. They are distinctly wavy, but also reassuringly think, and seemingly identical aside from the numbers in the bottom left corner. They both show the lovely artwork from the front of the box with the school set in green and luscious surroundings.

There is no escape from the "Gagne" child, but I've said before that the little girl version of this abomination is faaaaaaar preferable to the obnoxious boy-child on regular City sets. The back of the second instruction booklet has some nice artwork to show what happens at school with Stephanie and Matthew (looks like she flirts while he stares at stuff under the microscope) and there are some cute insets with posed LEGO scenes which just make you want to build faster so you can play with the set.

Who doesn't want to see a full list of all the goodies in this set? Ok, maybe some of you, but if you would like to see this in more detail than please click on the picture for a high res image.

The Parts

So you got all excited about the new bright light yellow, and open up the first bag to find... just two pieces. At least they're 1x6x5 panels, so they're quite large pieces, and they really do look good next to the dark blue. There's lots of other goodies here, but I'm going to pick out the azure bicycle and new mould bag as other standout parts here, although there's also a nice selection of medium lavender. As I've just said, the bag is a new mould for this summer wave of Friends, and an azure version can also be found in 41013 Emma's Sports Car. Notice also the various Technic bits and bobs, which aren't exactly uncommon, but hint at an interesting build ahead.

Loads more bright light yellow! Yumm! There's a good amount of medium lavender plates, and a few nice aqua bricks, along with some of those lovely dark blue tiles and bricks too. The printed cash register gets around a bit, especially in Friends sets, but your eye might be drawn to those 4x4 light bluish grey plates with the cutouts. These are relatively new (2011) and not available in that many sets. There's also a reprieve of the printed 1x1 milk and orange cartons that first appeared in Friends sets last year and remain pretty much Friends exclusive, although the milk carton was available on the online shop@home PAB last year.

Bag three has another good mix of colours, and yet more of the bright light yellow and dark blue combo. There's more azure and more medium lavender (and lime green) so if you looked at these parts you could guess they were from a Friends set. So let's point out the special bits. The trans-clear/ green flask may be recognisable from the Series 4 CMF Crazy Scientist, and it has popped up in a few sets, but it was an exciting part for me, all of that notwithstanding. The 1x1 round tiles have only been around since last year, and there are a couple of trans-dark blue ones here. Your best bet for finding more, though, would be the 60004 Fire Station, which has 16! The reddish brown owl has only appeared in 7 sets so far, one of which was an exclusive store opening set, and the others are all fairly large sets, so it's not that easy to get hold of, and I really wasn't expecting an owl in a school that's not Hogwarts, to be honest.

More bright light yellow, dark blue, medium lavender, azure and more of the nice flower shaped 1x1 plates, plus an apple and a plate. The lime green cupboard has only been in six sets, however it is lime green. We get two paintbrushes, just like the Series 4 CMF Painter (and only available with him so far), plus the printed music sheet which has appeared only once in 3939 Mia's Bedroom. The best piece, for me, is the light aqua printed guitar which has also been released simultaneously in 41004 Rehearsal Stage.

Interesting Parts

I've included the books here partly so you can see the stickers on the front, and partly so you can see that you're supposed to put pieces inside the books. I've also included the laptop because it is interesting, just maybe not quite so much next to an azure bicycle, which is only available in two other sets. The other parts I've already mentioned, and this is really for those of you who just look at the pictures, rather than read what I actually say, who won't even read this, so I can say whatever I like.

The Minidolls

Stephanie is Stephanie, we've seen her enough times to know what she looks like, but she's got a smart new outfit for school. Her crisp white jacket is tied in a bow with nice detailed printing, including lapels and buttons, and she has a pretty purple skirt to compliment her dark pink top.

Ms Stevens has a lovely lavender blouse and jacket combo, again with detailed printing, and being a demure adult (like Olivia's mum) she wears a longer skirt than the kids. It's nice to have a new leg/skirt piece in a different style, as a change from always having short skirts. Ms Stevens is obviously grown up and serious as she wears glasses, and it's well known that grown up, serious teachers all wear glasses. She has a nice face, though, and with a different outfit she could possibly even transform into another "Friend". Her hair is the same as Olivia's mum's hair, except in dark brown rather than black, and it's great to get this style in a new colour, as it's a style that works well on regular minifigs.

Matthew has a similar shaped torso as Olivia's dad, which is probably a good thing really (no moobs), but it's not exactly the same. See Oky's review of 41015 Dolphin Cruiser for a further comparison. Matthew wears a simple shirt with button printing, and has a nice face with a cheeky grin, but he comes with the requisite boyband hairstyle that can be easily found on many a minifig. It would have been nice if Matthew the new boy had been given new boy hair too, but perhaps the excitement of even having a new boy is enough, and new boy hair would have just tipped us into a frenzy.

Not much to see at the back except the two-tone printing of Stephanie's sandals and Ms Steven's sling backs. Again like Olivia's dad, Matthew has moulded pockets on his bum, in the same way that Ms Stevens has a moulded pleat in her skirt.

Here's just a further comparison between Ms Stevens and Olivia's mum, because they share the same hair type and outfit type too. They're the 'older' females of the series, although I doubt they're all that old, they just aren't teenagers. As I've already said, it's great to have this hair in a new colour, as it's a really nice style, and it's also good to have another pleated skirt print, and the two outfits are almost interchangeable with the heads and hair.

The Build

Bag One

It's good to know the first priority is the plumbing. Good sanitation is the fundamental cornerstone of education, so Heartlake High comes fully equipped with one unisex bathroom (restroom). We'll see inside shortly, but in the meantime we can have a look at the very nice picnic table. A simple, but eye-pleasing, build in natural tones but with a bit of Friends detailing afforded by the very nice 1x8 medium lavender tiles. With it comes a laptop, a nice modern accessory that is appropriate for a high school setting. The basketball hoop is the same hoop that appeared in 41008 Heartlake City Pool, and it's huge. It must be incredibly easy for them to score hoops considering the opening is about twice the width of a minidoll.

So the tearaway phone numbers for the crazy cats hotline is stuck up in ... the WC? What kind of phoneline is this? I'm not sure this is suitable for young eyes! Plus it besmirches the back of a perfectly lovely bright light yellow panel. Then again it does provide detail, and school is all about education, after all. Anyway, you can see the wash hand basin on the near wall of the WC which also uses some of that very nice dark blue. The back board of the basketball hoop is decorated with another sticker, which really makes sense of the little build.

So the back of the basketball hoop shows (as if you hadn't already worked out from the front) that it's a SNOT build incorporating Technic axles and joints. Not your regular brick-on-brick LEGO build then. Just want to point that out in case there are still people whining about how simple the builds are compared to other sets. The toilet and the sink are part of a nice matching set with the white, light bley and dark blue. They make this bit of the build more than just a closet and delineate its function.

Bag Two

So this is the first time in the build that you get to see a decent amount of the lovely new bright light yellow, and it really is a lovely colour. There's not a huge amount of the dark blue here, but the little you can see really does contrast nicely. The "Friendsness" is provided by the aqua and lavender foundations and also the lavender accent in the school sign. They aren't huge amounts of these "Friends" colours really, but they add energy to the model and still mark it out as a Friends build. The main entrance has two large full-length windows on either side of the doors, adding light to the hallway and also a nice architectural feature.

The school hallway is plastered with stickers. Behind the bench there's a noticeboard, which even has a flyer for a magic show; possibly Mia's magic show? Next to the noticeboard is a small stack of lockers with more carefully applied stickers^TM, and the stickers include the vents that make the lockers look like... lockers.

On the opposite side, the hallway has also become a cafeteria of sorts. This is much more interesting than another wall of lockers and noticeboards, and also more interesting than say a trophy cabinet, which they could have had, but it's still a bit of a strange thing to have in a school entrance hall. The cafeteria is a play feature; it's there for kids to play shop with the model, and it has to go somewhere, and that's why it's been stuck here. That said, it's a nice cafeteria, with a couple of sandwiches safely protected from grubby little fingers by a glass or perspex screen. There's the railed bit where you slide your tray and in addition to the sandwich you may purchase milk or orange juice. There's even an advert for milk on the back wall, and a cash register represented by a single printed brick.

Here’s another view of the front, and you can see how the floor length windows work so well, allowing a good view of the inside, along with the windowed doors. You can also see the Technic pins that allow the modules to be joined together in any desired arrangement. The sign, like so many (but not all) things is a sticker, and the designers just couldn’t resist putting a heart on it.

Bag Three

Lots of windows with interesting stuff behind them. We'll get to the interesting stuff, but first let's revel in the gloriousness of the bright light yellow and dark blue colour combo - it's a bit easier to see at this stage because of the dark blue slopes, but there’s a smaller proportion of that lovely bright light yellow, and a bigger chunk of medium azure. Not that I mind, I quite like the medium azure. The window boxes with flowers are pretty, but they are a bit uniform. The model is built exactly according to the instructions, but it wouldn’t take much to go absolutely crazy and mix up the order of the vegetation here. Craaaaazy.

This really is one of my favourite areas of the school. There’s so much stuff in here! We’ll start with the obvious; cute little builds of desks and chairs, carefully positioned at the open end of the model for easy access, with space for Ms Stevens to stand at the front next to her owl. I can only assume that’s supposed to be a taxidermied owl, as this ain’t Hogwarts, and surely it would be very messy if it were alive?

Along the back, on a very nicely built set of counters, are a couple of smaller builds. On the far left there is a very lavender microscope, which is such a cute and simple, yet instantly recognisable, little build. The “specimen” is a 1x1 trans-dark blue round tile. Next to this is a bottle of poison, or toxic waste, or severely corrosive acid, without which no classroom is complete, and then there are a couple of books.

Both the books have stickers on the front, and parts hidden away inside. The bookends made by the bright pink panels add a little girly accent, in fact one of not very many girly accents. Next to the books is my favourite little build of the set: a telescope. It’s not very big, it’s not particularly complicated, and I’m not even sure what they’re hoping to see indoors, but it’s still great. Again, it’s instantly recognisable thanks to the great design, and it can be moved slightly to different poses, to an extent.

From this view you can see the “world map pull down chart” sticker on the back wall of the classroom, and see one of the stickers on the front of one of the books. It’s also easier to see the design of the microscope, and that it has a lovely curved back thanks to the curved medium lavender brick.

Here you can see the images on the blackboard, and evidently the owl is stuffed (unless they plan to dissect it later ) as there are diagrams indicating wingspan and .. where its entirely non-anatomical heart is. Serious science.

Bag Four

The outside of this classroom looks astonishingly like the outside of the other classroom, and the reason for that is because they are, in fact, identical, even down to the order of the plants in the window boxes. Spooky, eh? Different things, however, can be espied through these windows.

So after the serious science room, this is the arty room, and it’s quite fun. There’s a decent amount of stuff in it, but also enough space to fit the minidolls in too. We'll work our way around the room, checking out the details.

The left side of the room is the music section, complete with a new printed light aqua guitar , attached to the wall so high that the minidolls need the pink-topped stools just to reach it to play it. If they succeed then there’s a nicely angled music stand with a printed music tile for them to use while they practice strumming. Next to the music stand is a chest of drawers, for storing spare paintbrushes, which also provides a convenient surface on which to keep the necessary paint.

In the opposite corner is an artist’s easel, again nicely angled (although that does make putting a minidoll in front of it a little trickier). Clearly the painting (provided by a sticker on a 4x4 modified white tile with studs on edge) is of a still life, and if you look to the right…. There’s the still life that’s the subject of the painting, although the painting is a little lacking in green… But it’s ok, because the foremost pot of paint is green and there’s clearly green paint on the end of both of the paintbrushes. Phew! Disaster averted! I actually really like all the logic in this, and I’ve even managed to subvert the logic by having the apple stand up when in the painting it’s clearly lying down. As a final note (no pun intended) on the near wall you can see the black 1x1 round plates that sit on top of the 1x1 modified black plate with horizontal clip that’s used to attach the guitar to the wall. It's a shame they used round plates, as it makes the outside of the wall look odd, and I can't see any particular reason to choose round over square.

The final build is the single roof piece that can be attached to any module (except the bathroom, obviously). This is the best example of how lovely bright light yellow and dark blue look together, but there are also the compulsory Friends colours too, by way of a medium lavender line of plates and two 1x1 round azure bricks. Having this just completes the build and gives an illusion of a roof, just like all the other dark blue slopes on the individual modules.

The back demonstrates that this roof section is just a frontispiece, so fingers can still get inside the models of the rooms to play, but the building itself is topped-off.

Surprisingly, there's a lot of bits and pieces left over. Yes, you really do have 1x1 round tiles in pearl gold and trans dark blue left over in addition to the usual (but higher number than normal) 1x1 round plates.

So here's the full main build all together from the back, where all the interesting stuff happens. It's really easy to get into all parts of the school, especially because the ground floor hallway juts out a bit at the back. The way the cafeteria area is built to also face this way (with the orange juice and milk facing out) make you feel you're looking at only part of a much larger school, but that these are the bits you can get to. The Technic pins still present at the side of the art and music room mean that you can place the science classroom next to it if you want to, but this is the configuration from the instruction book.

The WC looks a little odd just stuck on the side. I guess there's an argument for teaching kids hygiene, but there are so many other sets without sanitation that its presence would be odd, if this weren't a Friends set where it's commonplace to have bathrooms. There's plenty of space in the hallway to make up scenarios, and the other rooms look packed and playful.

From the front you can see all that wonderful bright light yellow and dark blue together, and it really does look so good. The Friends colours in this set are really just accents, and their presence allows cohesion with the other buildings in the Friends line, but certainly don't overpower the whole building, so this might be more palatable for those who aren't Friends fans. It all makes an attractive building, and the additional features with the bicycle, picnic table and basketball hoop just add more life to the overall build and playability to the set.

Conclusion

Design: 9/10 I just love the bright light yellow and dark blue colour scheme, and it's possible I may have mentioned it a few times. I also love how the rooms can be moved around, just like in 3315 Olivia's House, so you can arrange the school any way you want. It lives up to the Friends theme with all the furnishing, and boy there's a lot of furnishing here, and it all makes sense in the school. It's just a fabulous looking set and it loses only one mark because the WC looks a little awkward, which is such a minor point really, and I'd much rather have it than not.

Parts: 9/10 As with so many of the Friends sets there's a bountiful and colourful mix of parts, especially interesting bits and pieces. The azure bicycle particularly, but also the orange juice and milk cartons, and indeed the items from CMFs like the paintbrush and flask. Oh, don't forget the owl! And so many other things too, like all the new bright light yellow, and the dark blue. Did I mention that?

Minidolls: 10/10 Yay! A new male figure! He'd do well to have new boy-Friends hair, but I'm just so glad to have him, and the new teacher Ms Stevens is great, as is the new outfit for Stephanie. This is an appropriate number and mix of minidolls for the set, and they're all great. Especially the new boy! The Friends line is safe from extinction (in the future, I might add!) with the presence of some males for repopulating.

Build: 9/10 I like having things split into modular builds as it appeals to my OCD, but there's nothing at all stopping you from tipping the whole damn lot out and not building bag by bag. The build is interesting and fun, and a lot like other City sets (how many times do I have to say this with Friends sets?), plus, unlike City sets, there's almost always a little bit of Technic in the bigger builds, just as there is here, along with SNOT work and other unusual techniques.

Playability: 10/10 There's just so much for the minidolls to do here! The playability is huge. They can play shop, play with the microscope or telescope, or paint or play guitar or shoot hoops or ... go to the toilet. The huge amount of inside furnishing mean that the fun after building is fantastic, which just adds to the value of the set. That and playing around with the configuration of the school, too.

Price: 9/10 It is a little on the expensive side, being a Friends set, but you get so much in this set, and so much bright light yellow too. There are loads of cool pieces, a great build, two new minidolls (including a boy) and a new outfit for Stephanie, so overall, I really think it's worth it.

Overall 93%

I love this set. It's done for me what 3315 Olivia's House did and just makes me crave the Friends line more. There are a few minor oddities here and there (like the WC, and the 1x1 round plates in the wall), but the designers really have ticked all the boxes with this set in terms of parts and playability and minidolls. The build is great fun and the overall set just looks fantastic. This is yet another shining example of the Friends line going from strength to strength, and I can see these flying off the shelves when they go on sale.

Remember that the modules can be rearranged!

Thank you for reading, comments are always very welcome. High-Res pictures can be found on my

flickr account.

A big thank you to KimT and TLG for providing the sets for review.

Please also check out

Hinckley's Review of 41006 Downtown Bakery, and Oky's Review of41015 Dolphin Cruiser!

[TNT apples]

A very nice set with some great pieces, however i think I'll give this one a pass, as the Friends theme doesn't really interest me. Great review by the way

[Kristel]

Thanks for the awesome review, Pandora. I love that this one is modular like Olivia's house, and can't wait to get my hands on it!

[just2good]

Great review, 'Pandora'!

I've been waiting for this set to release in the United States... It's a must buy for me! I like how you can rearrange the school, that's pretty cool.

[Redhead1982]

A great review of a great set. This one is on my wish list, and after reading through an extensive review, I want it even more. Mostly for the parts, not so much for the playability, although that's probably what TLG went for. The light yellow color looks great, and I hope there'll be more sets in this color coming up in the next yearsmonths.

[alois]

Did someone notice the notes to be played are the song 'Are you sleeping, brother John?'? Another little detail.

[Bricknblue]

Very nice set, but I wish it was a tan building and not a "bright yellow", I don't care about some new color.

Some great pieces.

[lightningtiger]

Now this is cool, I love how the school can be remodelled by shifting the classrooms around......and a uni-sex toilet......and I'll leave that there (no further comment).

The building looks quite modern on the inside and it does look like a typical US TV/Movie style high school indeed.........idea Lego - mix Friends with High School Musical !

At least we end up with another female adult and a male student......especially a male figure because the girls need someone to go the prom with don't they ?

Thanks for the review 'Pandora'.....Brick On Review On with your Friend's !

[slovakiasteph]

This would've been a dream set for me as a kid as I loved anything about school! Can't wait to pick it up... thanks for the great review, Pandora!

[gev]

Excellent review. I was already interested, now it's a confirmed buy, like the cruise ship. :)

[Wat Tambor]

Great review - love that last pic!

I bought some reduced Belville sets back in the day for my Fabuland figures. And this Friends sets seem to include as useful pieces as Belville did.

Now I think about getting some sets at cut rates.

By the way, am I the only one that thinks Mrs. Stevens looks like Dr. Jennifer Melfi?

Edited June 11, 2013 by Wat Tambor

[-GZ-]

A very interesting review, and a good set with a nice colour and figs selestion. Not sure about the amount of stickers, though the pics are interesting.

[Writers Blocks]

Is that a windowless interior door I see?!

[Trance89]

The light yellow caught my attention. Too bad you only get a few 1x2 and 1x4 bricks. It certainly would have made this set more interesting for MOC'ers if there were more of these instead of the large 1x1x5, 1x2x5 bricks and the 1x6x5 panels. Nice set and review though.

[Gryphon Ink]

Wow. I think this set actually surpasses Olivia's House. It's easily my most-wanted set of the year so far - I'm a sucker for detailed dollhouse-style interiors like the Burrow, and this is definitely on the same level. Its only weakness that I can see is that, like all Friends buildings, it's roofless. I really wish they put roofs on these sets.

Kudos to TLG for including another boy in Heartlake City, and a dark-skinned boy no less. Yay diversity! Another grown woman is also welcome, but I would have been more thrilled if she had at least different hair or a different dress piece. New prints are good, but new molds would have been even better. They're surely not going to drop the Friends theme anytime soon, so they didn't really need to be economizing on minidoll molds at this point.

My daughters will love building and playing with this. There's an incredible amount of things to do here. It's a wonderful environment. Okay, must stop gushing now.

Great review, Pandora!

I think the cat poster is probably a "Kittens free to good home" notice. It is rather odd to have it put up in the restroom. No school that I've ever known would have approved of students putting up notices in the toilets. This should have gone in the foyer instead.

[Nagyzee]

I can only hope that this new bright light yellow colour will see much use by TLG's designers and it will have a useful palette of parts in 1-2 years. It is so much better for MOCing houses than the normal yellow.

[burntrope]

I always look forward to your Friends reviews, Pandora. Looks like another winner here - really love that yellow!

[xtremegoogler]

The light yellow caught my attention. Too bad you only get a few 1x2 and 1x4 bricks. It certainly would have made this set more interesting for MOC'ers if there were more of these instead of the large 1x1x5, 1x2x5 bricks and the 1x6x5 panels. Nice set and review though.

correct me if I'm wrong, but do I count 8 of these large panels here? So I don't see how anyone could say this is an interesting build or contains interesting parts, might as well be playmobil.

[Trance89]

correct me if I'm wrong, but do I count 8 of these large panels here? So I don't see how anyone could say this is an interesting build or contains interesting parts, might as well be playmobil.

That's what I said. I said that It would be more interesting for MOC'ers if there were more light yellow bricks instead of the large bricks and panels. The color was what caught my attention but the lack of 2x2 and 2x4 (and no 1x1) bricks in this color was a let down after I saw the parts. also didn't say anything about an interesting build. A set can still look nice and can even have an interesting build with all these large bricks and panels though. And they can still contain interesting parts even if there aren't many and (most of) the rest of the parts average or useless.

[xtremegoogler]

That's what I said. also didn't say anything about an interesting build.

I was just quoting you because of the panels. I was referring to the reviewer Pandora, she called this an interesting build and interesting pieces.

Sorry for the confusion.

[Aanchir]

Great review. I love this set in that it continues the trend of LEGO Friends sets being well-rounded with lots of play opportunities. This would be a great set to buy multiples of, so you could have additional classrooms (you could separate the cafeteria and hallway, for instance, and the math/science and art/music rooms wouldn't have to do double-duty).

The color scheme of this set is very stylish and harmonious, rather than tacky like many Belville color schemes or washed-out like Paradisa color schemes. There's a great balance between the pastels and the bolder dark blue roofs.

The figures here are great and give you three different torso styles. Overall I greatly appreciate the addition of teenage boys to the range of figures in this theme. Now we have boys, girls, men, and women. The diversity will be great for mini-doll customizers, for girls who want to act out different scenarios, and for collectors who want a diverse population in their Heartlake City.

Very nice set, but I wish it was a tan building and not a "bright yellow", I don't care about some new color.

Bright Light Yellow (officially, Cool Yellow) isn't exactly new. It's been used for minifigure hair pieces since at least 2007, and in Belville sets since at least 2005. But like a lot of colors from girl-oriented themes, it wasn't used for basic parts in substantial quantities until LEGO Friends.

correct me if I'm wrong, but do I count 8 of these large panels here? So I don't see how anyone could say this is an interesting build or contains interesting parts, might as well be playmobil.

Large panels for big wall segments mean that the cost of the set can instead go to interior details and whatnot. I suppose the large panels could have been swapped with smaller bricks if you're dead-set on paying more money for more or less the same contents, but the majority of LEGO fans don't think that way (and that's just as true in City, Castle, Ninjago, or any other boy-oriented theme as it would be in Friends). Contrast the Fire Temple (it, of course, used panels by necessity for the rice-paper screens), most LEGO City buildings, or pretty much any non-AFOL-oriented LEGO Castle set released from 1984 onward (this one had fewer pieces than Heartlake High but seventeen wall panels, and this one had ten wall panels plus twelve corner panels).

Edited June 12, 2013 by Aanchir

[xtremegoogler]

but the majority of LEGO fans don't think that way

How do you know, did you ask them? As for the cost, even with these eight panels, this set isn't exactly cheap.

I can understand why they would use them, it just goes against the spirit of building something with lego bricks.

And then building something else with it.

Imagine if they would swap all the bricks in Creator sets with these lousy panels.

My point was that it does not make for an interesting build, putting large panels on top of each other.

But I have no doubt that it is cost-effective, maximizing profit and whatnot.

[Mr Bill]

Great review, Pandora! While I've never been a fan of POOP (or BURPs or LURPs) I DO understand the cost effectiveness of them... And therefore I'm excited to increase my inventory of Light Yellow -- one of the colors of which I have the fewest... Like others, I hope to see more sets and parts in this color in the future --1x1s, 2x2s and plates! Like I said in Hinkley's bakery review thread, these Friends sets get better and better and I look forward more and more which each batch released!

--Mr Bill

[Aanchir]

How do you know, did you ask them?

No, but I thought it went without saying that people tend to want more content for more money. Perhaps I was jumping to conclusions. I apologize.

As for the cost, even with these eight panels, this set isn't exactly cheap.

I can understand why they would use them, it just goes against the spirit of building something with lego bricks.

And then building something else with it.

Imagine if they would swap all the bricks in Creator sets with these lousy panels.

That's a matter of opinion. Creativity is great and all, but even as a builder who doesn't have any obligation to keep costs down, I think efficiency is an important design value.

The LEGO Creator theme tends to emphasize much different design values than other themes because the emphasis is on showing off how many different things can be built with basic parts. There are a lot of things that the LEGO Creator theme tends to avoid which aren't necessarily problematic in other themes.

Additionally, let's not ignore that if basic bricks were used on many of these walls, any wall decorations would have to be STAMPs. The LEGO Group has done very well to avoid STAMPs in most recent sets and I'd like to see them continue that, even if it means using larger parts instead of multiple smaller parts.

My point was that it does not make for an interesting build, putting large panels on top of each other.

But I have no doubt that it is cost-effective, maximizing profit and whatnot.

Again, that's a matter of opinion. I personally think stacking basic bricks in a repetitive fashion is not that much more interesting than putting a panel on.

[Pandora]

Thank you all for your comments and compliments.

Is that a windowless interior door I see?!

It is indeed, they aren't all that new, though, as we've seen them in trans-clear for some time, but aside from this set they've only been seen in white in 7288 Mobile Poilice Unit.

The light yellow caught my attention. Too bad you only get a few 1x2 and 1x4 bricks. It certainly would have made this set more interesting for MOC'ers if there were more of these instead of the large 1x1x5, 1x2x5 bricks and the 1x6x5 panels. Nice set and review though.

The bright light yellow (cool yellow, thanks Aanchir!) is a really lovely colour in reality, and I also hoped for more standard sized bricks.

Another grown woman is also welcome, but I would have been more thrilled if she had at least different hair or a different dress piece. New prints are good, but new molds would have been even better.

Firstly, thank you so much for your lovely comments. I agree with this statement (^) to a point, but the hair mould itself was only available in black in 3315 Olivia's House, and is now appearing as a new colour, so I'd like to see more variations of that hair as well as new moulds.

I think the cat poster is probably a "Kittens free to good home" notice. It is rather odd to have it put up in the restroom. No school that I've ever known would have approved of students putting up notices in the toilets. This should have gone in the foyer instead.

I completely agree; any notice of any sort is probably better off being placed somewhere other than the restroom!

correct me if I'm wrong, but do I count 8 of these large panels here? So I don't see how anyone could say this is an interesting build or contains interesting parts, might as well be playmobil.

I was just quoting you because of the panels. I was referring to the reviewer Pandora, she called this an interesting build and interesting pieces.

Sorry for the confusion.

Placing the panels isn't all that interesting, no, but building all of the other intricate details and furnishings is an interesting build, and as I've highlighted I do think there are interesting parts, especially as some are available in new colours. The panels are such a small part of the overall build that it really doesn't matter to me, it's the rest of the building experience that's enjoyable.

Large panels for big wall segments mean that the cost of the set can instead go to interior details and whatnot. I suppose the large panels could have been swapped with smaller bricks if you're dead-set on paying more money for more or less the same contents, but the majority of LEGO fans don't think that way (and that's just as true in City, Castle, Ninjago, or any other boy-oriented theme as it would be in Friends). Contrast the Fire Temple (it, of course, used panels by necessity for the rice-paper screens), most LEGO City buildings, or pretty much any non-AFOL-oriented LEGO Castle set released from 1984 onward (this one had fewer pieces than Heartlake High but seventeen wall panels, and this one had ten wall panels plus twelve corner panels).

Thanks for your kind words and comments Aanchir, and I appreciate the information you provide when you reply to reviews, thank you. Here you've pointed out all the other sets where panels have been used (and I also vaguely remember addressing this in my 3315 Olivia's House review). The use of panels isn't new, and as you say doesn't make the rest of the build dumbed down, but rather increases the potential for including other elements. I'm hopeful that the start of using (ahem ) Cool Yellow here will mean it becomes a more widespread colour, and that it might start appearing in more sets or even on PaB walls.

Thanks again to everyone for all your comments.