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Here we are with Emma again in sunny Italy, Sant'Agata Bolognese, at the Lamborghini headquarters! This is a good time to present the main italian rival of my Ferrari Italia - Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder [WIP]. Just like with Ferrari Italia, I didn't try to recreate the exact shapes of the front bonnet, for the same reasons, just wanted to make it enough "lamborghinable". Additionaly, the driver's chamber in Gallardo is moved forward a bit, I had some riddles to solve, how to arrange it with the doors system. The effects? Judge by yourself :). Wait a minute... Something's wrong. Where are the mirrors, must-be lifted doors, where is the "WIP" status? Right, it isn't finished project. I didn't want another generic 3 x 6 slope windscreen, time to make it custom - classical, with hose and hands. There are some reasons - better look first of all, the second - no room for lifted doors and mirrors. The MOC could be finished, but I've just screwed up last BLinking, and ordered riggid hose instead of pneumatic :). Take a look, how it looks now. More shots on my flick page. And this is my last presented MOC for now, I won't bother you anymore for a while . Thanks for stopping by and commenting, have a good time and stay tuned! My previous presentations:
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Relax and have fun in the sunshine with a beautiful array of colours! The Rainbow Holiday Centre by Anne Mette in the Town Forum will certainly brighten up your day. Join us in the Town Forum to add your thoughts to this huge and detailed display that's filled with wonderful colours!
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Hello there! After some time of loyal lurking I've decided to share some of my creations :). Let me introduce myself first, as this is my first post here - I'm a typical AFOL, thanks to having own children in proper age (pre- and primary school), I've managed to get back to old hobby. As both of my children are girls, so the field of construction is quite obvious - Friends serie ;). I've decided to improve the standard garage, supplied by the Lego Group, so you can expect some 4-wheeled creations, 6- or 7-wide. The first choice is one of my first creations, the 7w car inspired by the iconic muscle car - Ford / Shelby Mustang GT-500 - not a specific model, rather the mix of 2010 - 2013. As most of my MOCs, it's designed to be playable by 3-years old kid - heavy duty construction, and the obligatory openable doors (I even can't think about the car without such feature ;)). So, the requirements are quite hard, but the results are quite good, I hope :). Sorry for the mediorce photo quality (terrible focus depth), but didn't have too much time to play with the friends' camera, borrowed for short time :). So, let Olivia to introduce one of her cars: More photos on my flickr page. Downlolad LDD file. My other presentations:
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Since my LEGOing partner is also my 11yo daughter when the Friends line hit a few years back it was immediately decided that we'd have to work the theme into our city and the Bubble Gum Beauty Salon was born. Hope you enjoy. You can see more here and here. Thanks for checking it out.
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Hi all, I must share my complete disappointment in a LEGO Friends set I have started building with my daughter. Set #41033 Jungle Falls Rescue. I really thought Friends was a great line for getting girls interested in LEGO but if TLG thinks they need to 'dumb' things down by moulding a piece that is more than easy enough to build out of very regular existing bricks then I am hugely disappointed. Case in point is piece #4216709 which in my opinion is no longer a BURP but a GURP - Gigantic Ugly Rock Piece! I really hope this is a one off mistake on TLG side. Let's keep LEGO pure and about making creations with existing bricks rather than coming up with these awful things. For me that - together with great designs - is was separates LEGO from their copy-cat competitors. Sorry for my rambling, I am a huge LEGO fan so probably emotions are getting the better of me. Perhaps this is an incident. But if you agree please make this known and let's hope LEGO is listening. For if this is the future of 'kids' sets then I guess LEGO will not be top of the list at Christmas time for my kids. Stop the BURPs and GURPs!
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I found this in my Lego Store yesterday. It is set number 6077708 and is labelled on the price sticker as "Jungle Accesso". Priced at £10.99 for 39 pieces with 1 mini-doll and a dog. I can't find any info or pictures of it on the internet, so thought I'd post it here. Mike
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We are a group of AFOLs in Denmark who are planning a new tourist attraction in Denmark called World of Bricks With large landscapes and locations from all over the world. It will be a must for all LEGO fans. You will also be able to se big displays from LEGO themes like Star Wars, LEGO Friends, Harry Potter and many more. The AFOL community is very important to us and therefor there will be many ways for you to have your work display or even work with us. We are in the early stage of the process, but we would like to know what you thing of the project and if you would travel to Denmark to se it. World of Bricks will be located near Copenhagen. So please support us on https://www.facebook.com/worldbricks
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A new addition to my LEGO Friends' theme park. (Soon not to be new because I am currently building part 6). This should have been the first of the series because this is my daughter's most favourable ride in a amusement park. I don't know why I build this so late. My build starts with this big gear at the centre. That's a retired part from Star War set 4481. It helps me a lot. Of course it is always better to watch the relevant video clip than to look at still pics: My former works of the Friends' Theme Park for your easy reference: 1. Grand Carousel: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=87068&hl= 2. Ferris Wheel: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=87882&hl= 3. Gyro Drop: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=88256&hl= 4. Bumper Cars: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=88770&hl=
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Hi All, Just finished this little Easter Gift for my "Friends" crazy daughter. She has got most of the stable associated stuff, and I saw a small fence that came with one. This got me thinking.... I love boardgames and have dabbled a bit with designing before, so I figured I'd have a stab at a centerpiece for all her Friends buildings, and here it is. It's a bit sad that Lego have finished up with games as this to me presented a massive opportunity. The way it is built allows for many different courses to be designed, and extra fences to be purchased/built. It plays in about 10 to 15 minutes and although simple to learn can be quite deep to play. It has all the elements of Show-Jumping (inc time faults for those that dawdle around!) and has little downtime for players - we have multiple horses on the track, at safe distances. Each fence also has easily removed top tiles that "fall off" if the fence is hit! Anyway, on to the pictures. The overall layout - all 9 fences, the player plates and the 3 dice. The "Parallel Bars". The first part of the double combination, and a tricky area to clear. The "Waterjump" with the "Toy House" behind it, you can also just see "Aintree" in this picture, (I named all the fences - sad isn't it!) Fence 7 "Manhattan" - designed on paper by my little girl makes up the second half of the deadly double... View from above - you can see how the track has been designed to turn and allow for different track designs to be built. The last fence is the "Big Red Brick Wall" - a little homage to my childhood watching Olympia. Fence 8 Egypt - I have tried to give all the fences a Lego theme too. On the other side is a rather nice "Atlantis" fence that for some reason I failed to photograph. Anyway, that's about it. I am going to throw this on on Cuusoo just for the fun of it - so please if you feel that you might like Lego to consider this idea, vote for it! Cuusoo link: http://lego.cuusoo.c...deas/view/62682 All the best to all the fine members of this forum.
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As our annual exhibition, Bricking Baravia, gets closer (April 26th/27th in Dachau) it's time to finish some MOCs :-) Heartlake City will be a joint display and among my contributions is a 4 baseplate long strech of a boulevard/esplanade along the beach featuring a brick-built road to accommodate a wider side-walk which is decorated in truly HLC style ;-). Here's one part of it! Hope you like it!
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I'm not entirely sure if this belongs here or in the Town section, but here goes: I knew from the moment that I first saw the carriage set, I just HAD to make something cool with those fancy golden wheels. What came to my mind after a few days of thinking on it was a Rolls-Royce/Dusenberg-styled Royal Roadster: A modern Princess needs a car, and one that can get her where she's going in STYLE! Those Brickforge printed shields sure came in handy, didn't they? ;) (Note: I couldn't find the license plate tile I could have SWORE I had, so I decided to use one of the money tiles, since it looks kinda like some of the classic car license plates I've seen in different places) Interior view showing the instrument panel. I couldn't fit in a floor shifter, so I'm just going to say that the gearshift lever is on the steering column, like most old-school cars. ;) Another interior shot, taken from the front to show the plush, pink interior. :D Pic of Laura, my Friends sig fig & Cinderella standing beside the car. I think the color scheme worked out pretty well, especially considering how poorly things were going early on in the build process... Finally, the first annual Friends Road Rally. Our contestants this year are Laura & Cinderella in her Royal Roadster, Jane & Stephanie in Stephanie's Cool Convertible and finally, Olivia in her glorified ATV, er, I mean Dune Buggy. :D Hope you guys like the build.
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So, I have decied to make a new topic on customizing Minidolls. Beacuse there (I think) isn't a topic on based on custom Minidolls. Does anyone customize them? If so use this fourm to post them. -Toby
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I just wanted to share a MOC we have been working on for an upcoming public display. In addition to our fairytale display: We decided to start building a Lego zoo. As well as showing some of the many animals available in Lego, we wanted to show the amazing colours and also have the ability for it to grow for future displays (either with myself of some of my LUGer friends. Here is the first version of our zoo: The ability for it to be modular was really important for us; for ease of transporting, for growth and to allow for easy variations. We tried to use the entry/platform and path as the consistent thread to tie the MOC together: We then built some animal displays which are all 16x16 (or multiples thereof) Two eating areas: And a train: Hopefully the kids like it and if they do, I hope it continues to grow as a bigger LUG project. Thanks for taking the time to look, and all feedback is appreciated. Cheers Tiki
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My daughter is planning to make a zoo with her Friends animal polybag sets, and was thinking about what other, larger animals belonged in the zoo. She thought about brick-building animals, as in her set 4637. Digging in her toybox, however, she found her old Duplo animals from 4962, I think you'll agree that the scale, sculpting and printing of these animals is very "Friend"-ly. Something others may find useful.
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[MOD/WIP] Building a RAINBOW - Uni-kitty's Enchanted Castle
absolutelylez posted a topic in Special LEGO Themes
Hi guys, Finally worked out how to make a rainbow ! And incorporated it into my former MOC, Uni-Kitty's enchanted castle. Be ready for Built-Of-Lots-Of-Colours glory !! (The original thread's here.) (larger here ) (larger here) -
The pollen from the giant "Fuschia Bellis Perennis" is an expensive delicacy to humans but is the primary source of food to the peaceful insectoid Nalongii. They use giant drone worker robots to collect it's sweet harvest.
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When the first rumours of a new 'girly' theme started, I was thinking about what could be new and 'girly' about LEGO. I never considered bricks as a gender related toys, and I was pretty surprised when I saw the first pictures. The Friends theme introduced new and exotic ladyfigs, very much different from the general minifig population. Luckily for those who weren't enthusiastic about the appearance of these ladyfigs, their lifestyle was more appealing. Many of their activities and hobbies taking place outdoors and indoors were presented since the beginning of 2012. In addition to Mia's bedroom, Andrea's bedroom was revealed in 2013. If you want to know what her bedroom looks like, you can find the highlights in this review. Basic info of the set Set no.: 41009 Name: Andrea's Bedroom Theme: Friends Year: 2013 Pieces: 75 Minifigs: 1 Age group: 5-12 Price: £ 9.99/ US$ 9.99 / EUR 9.99 Links: Brickset, Bricklink, LEGO S@H The box The box is a standard size of Friends 10 EUR sets and measures approximately 15.5 cm x 14 cm x 4.3 cm. It's in standard bright colours with dark purple round sides. A cartoon of all five main characters is presented on the top right corner. The set art reveals a room in an attic with a light yellow and pale blue walls. Andrea is standing in the middle of the room on a bright carpet. If the walls and the carpet were added to the set, this would be a great bonus. The back of the box usually presents different features of the set, and this set is not an exception. Again, a cartoon image of Andrea is placed on top right. As seen from the box art, Andrea obviously loves to do her hair in front of a mirror and most likely surfs the internet for tips and tricks for hairdos. One side of the box has a warning sign about the choking hazard with small parts, while the other side has a lovely detail of a vase with flowers as a measure of parts size. At least to me, this is an appealing feature, and I'm always wondering how the designers select this little detail. Inside the box we find two polybags, instruction booklet and a small sticker sheet. I was surprised to see that the inside of the box looked very full, which doesn't happen often, and it gave me an optimistic feeling about the set even before I started building it. The booklets There's only one booklet due to the set's small size. There's a crease in the middle of it, as it's packed in the box bent in half, and the crease is pretty hard to remove. After storing the booklet in a binder, it gets better, but when you're trying to build a set straight from the box, the twisted pages can be a problem. This is how a random page from the instructions booklet looks like. It has a light lavender background, characteristic of the Friends series. Despite the bent pages, it's easy to follow the building process. The colours are bright, and a chance of mixing them is very close to zero. The Pieces In the larger of the two polybags we can find Andrea's body parts and 28 bricks in 9 colours and a smaller bag with medium azure hair accessories. What's standing out here are the medium lavender cupboards and the laptop. The black laptop, specifically, you can find in 13 different sets, 4 of them being from the Friends series. The girls seem to use the computers often at work, at school and at home. In the other polybag, we can find the smaller parts. Similar to the larger polybag, bricks are very colourful. My favourite parts are the flower stems (you can never have to many of those), the transclear minifig head/vase, lipsticks, and bright light orange flowers. An interesting part (and not that common) part is the golden fez. It's a useful part and can be used as a decorative stand or a minifig accessory. The parts are quite common and are used to create various details around the room. Besides the two polybags, you can find a small sticker sheet in the box. To me, this is one of the best parts in the set (I know, stickers are usually less welcomed parts of the sets). When the set came out, I bought extra stickers to use them in MOCs as they are very versatile. The sticker can be used as a mirror in a bathroom, bedroom or just as a wall decoration. The Minifigs Andrea wears a bright light orange mini skirt and a white top with a magenta necklace. Both the skirt and the top are unique so far, and the bright skirt nicely complements her medium dark flesh complexion. For special occasions, you can add various hair accessories to the side or top of her hair. The Build The set is meant for a target group of girls aged from 5 to 12 years, and it consists of several small builds. The first mini build is a small table with a crystal vase. The flowers in the vase are the standard sort, and I wouldn't mind to have more exotic flowers in the vase. I'm missing the flowers with six- and seven petals from the first Friends wave in 2012. The second mini build is a sofa bed with a small stand for perfume bottles and a lipstick. I find it a bit unusual to have an open lipstick on a stand, but I guess it's some super kind that has to be kept open for everyone to see. Her perfume bottles are a nice collection. The sofa bed is designed interestingly. It can be extended into a double bed, and bright orange decorative pillows can be used on both beds. I was a bit sceptical if these beds would fit two minifigs, so I tried it, and it was easy. The ackward space where the hinges are is the right size and the Andrea and Olivia are barely touching with hands. The top side of the sofa bed (or the left on the picture) even has tiny legs on the back, which is a nice little detail. Lying down is not a problem for this girls, but sitting unfortunately is. It took me several minutes before Andrea decided to finally sit steady on the sofa bed. Sitting seems to be a common problem for these girls, as it's hard to balance them correctly. I'm not sure how younger population sees this problem, but I got annoyed with it and didn't try any other pose. The third, and last minibuild of this set is the makeup vanity and stool with hair accessories. This is where the sticker is applied, and the set looks better with the sticker. The mirror is large and reflective, and the colourful lights above it are probably just a decoration. I can't imagine putting on makeup in pink/blue light. Her makeup corner looks tidy, but it's actually far from it. Andrea has so many different hair accessories, that she hardly finds enough space in the cupboards. Maybe adding another cupboard or a basket would be nice to keep her accessories more organized. Before heading out to a party with her girlfriends, Andrea need to brush her hair. The mirror is a nice playful feature, as you can position Andrea in various poses to catch her reflection in the mirror. In my opinion, the sticker is a nice addition to this set. The Finished Product Despite the small builds, the set as a whole does not look small at all. The mini builds are simple to put together even for beginners, and you can play with Andrea in lots of different situations (in front of the mirror, choosing the right hair accessory, surfing the net on the laptop. For intermediate or even more experienced builders, this set is handy when you need some furniture for town houses or just ideas of how to decorate rooms. The Final Verdict Design: 10/10 The design is great overall. There are several mini builds simple enough for the beginner builders. The shapes of the furniture are very realistic, and the colours are lively as expected in the Friends theme. I can't point out a single weakness of the set. Parts: 9/10 Similarly to the design, the parts in the set are a nice selection of various bits and pieces, that you can use to play with in different situation. None of the parts stands out as something unique to the set, yet there are several that are more interesting. Laptop is a nice addition, and seems quite common among the Friends. There's a sticker included in the set, and in my opinion, the set looks much better with the applied sticker. I'm also a fan of mirror-stickers, and this one was my favourite part in the set. Build: 8/10 It's a simple and straight forward build with no special or advanced techniques. I like it for what it is, it's simple enough for inexperienced builders, but offers playability also to more advanced builders. In addition, it can easily be incorporated in any larger room - it looks great in a tight space and in large rooms. Playability: 10/10 Playability is definitely the most important feature of this set. Girls are the target audience for this set, and they can play with Andrea in different situations. You can help Andrea with her beauty routine at the makeup vanity, surf the internet on her laptop or host a girls' sleepover party. Minifigs: 9/10 There's only one minifig, Andrea in the set. Her clothes are unique to this set, which is a great detail. Andrea has a medium dark complexion, and because of that she can't borrow clothes from her friends. Price: 9/10 It's a small set, but not the cheapest in the series yet it offers a lot for the price. Overall: 55/60 (92%) This is a set I really enjoyed building, and the individual builds were satisfying despite simple building techniques. The true beauty of the set is its design. It looks great as a whole, yet it can be parted in two sections easily, and each of them retains enough playability to enjoy it. It's a set that can easily be shared to play with a friend or it can be combined with other sets or MOCs. Another great aspect of this little set is the furniture. It's nicely designed and realistic, and can fill empty rooms in many LEGO houses. This is a set I'd definitely recommend to buy to anyone interested in Friends or Town. Andrea and her girlfriends Olivia and Mia are gathered in Andrea's bedroom, enjoying hot drinks and cupcakes.
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Do you want to earn some extra money for allowance? Be creative. Make yourself a stand, bake the cookies, squeeze some lemons and make a fresh lemonade. It's not as complicated as it may sound, and it offers a nice refreshment to LEGO citizens on a sunny day! Basic info of the set Set no.: 410027 Name: Mia's Lemonade Stand Theme: Friends Year: 2014 Pieces: 107 Minifigs: 1 Age group: 5-12 Price: £ 9.99 / US$ 9.99 / EUR 9.99 Links: Brickset, Bricklink, LEGO S@H The box The box is a standard size of Friends 10 EUR sets. It's in standard bright colours with dark purple round sides. A cartoon of all five main characters is presented on the top right corner. The set art reveals a suburban setting of Mia's lemonade stand. The houses in the background and the tree in the front left corner complement the set really nicely. The stand fits really nicely in this green environment, although it could be easily placed anywhere in town. The back of the box has only three pictures of various features of the set. It looks as there's not much action going on, but it's only because Mia's customers are not there yet. Nevertheless, the box art reveals some of the more exciting parts of this year, but more on that later. The side of the box has the aviator helmet presented as measure of scale. It's not a new mold, only the colour, but it stands out really nicely, and offers safety while riding the scooter. There's two polybags and an instruction booklet in the box. Similarly to my other Friends review, Andrea's Bedroom, I had the same feeling of a full box. This time I made sure to document it, as it's really nice to see a full box for a change. The booklet One of the downsides of a small full box is the fact that the booklet has to be folded and the crease is not so easy to get rid of. The art on the booklet cover is the same as on the box, but we get a wider view of the area. A random page from the instructions reveals a typical Friends background in lavender and two of the smaller builds. On the right bottom corner there are silhouettes of a butterfly and a heart in lighter lavender colour which is another Friends characteristics. The parts needed for each step are pictured in light blue boxes, and are easy to follow. When you've finished building Mia's Lemonade Stand, you can see that the model in the booklet differs slightly from the model pictured on the front of the box or as seen on the front page of the instruction booklets. The changes are not so obvious - it's a nice game of find the differences. (A hint: objects on the stand are arranged in a different order.) The pieces The larger polybag has most bricks in 4 different colours (lime, yellow, white and medium dark flesh). For a Friends' set, there's not a lot of pinkish colours included. The parts standing out here are the scooter, aviator helmet, and the white dome bottom. These three parts are also new in this year. The helmet is not a new design, but it's the first time it appears in magenta in a set. It's actually a nice addition in a ''friendly'' colour. Both the scooter and the dome bottom are new molds, and new colours as well. We saw them for the first time in another great set of 2014, the Parisian Restaurant, in red and dark red, respectively. In the smaller polybag are small parts in many different colours, including three shades of pinkish colours, typical for Friends. The useful and exciting parts here are yellow, green and dark pink flowers, trans-clear cups, and of course the cookies. The special parts in this set include the light aqua scooter, magenta aviator helmet with a trans-clear visor, white dome bottom and the cookies. In addition, worth mentioning is the 2x4 printed tile with a lemonade in a jug. It's great to have a print instead of a sticker, and this part could be easily included in any juice bar or even a coffee shop. Another printed part are the cookies with 'frosted cookie pattern' according to Bricklink. I like to think of them as chocolate chip cookies with zero calories. There's 4 of them included in this set, and you can get more of them if you buy any of the other four sets with this part (Merida's Highland Games, Rapunzel's Creativity Tower, Stephanie's Bakery Stand or Sunshine Ranch). It seems as the part is specific to the Friends/Disney Princess theme, but I'm sure it'll find its way in other sets soon as well. The LBG angular handles are another part almost exclusive to Friends, but surprisingly they can be found in a Ninjago set Thunder Raider. The minifigs There's only one minifig in this set, Mia. Luckily for her, she's got a new outfit to wear. The bright pink skirt and white shoes are not new, but it's the first time we see it on Mia. On the other hand her top design is new. The olive green shirt with flowers looks lovely. It's always nice to have a variety of tops and bottoms to choose from. When Mia doesn't wear her awesome magenta helmet, she has a magenta ribbon pinned to her hair. Although the ribbon is a nice accessory for the minifigs, I don't think magenta fits with her dark red hair. But then, I'm not a fashion expert. The build The set is meant for a target group of girls aged from 5 to 12 years, and it consists of several small and relatively simple builds. The first mini build, which I found very exciting, is the assembly of the light aqua scooter. The body of the scooter is a one piece, and we have to add the wheels, a trans-clear stud as a light, a pearl gold bucket handles for stand support and a luggage rack to complete it. The result is lovely, but mostly due to the amazing design of the scooter's body. The luggage rack is handy for storing Mia's helmet, and for transport of small luggage. More details of the scooter can be seen here. I intentionally removed the luggage rack. It was bothering me initially as it felt too big for the scooter. I can find only one minor flaw of the design, and that's a missing stud on the back of the scooter, where a red break light would fit. Another flaw might be the inability of the scooter to stand up without the support of the bucket handle, but having the handle to support it is actually a fantastic detail. With this picture I wanted to compare the new scooter mold with a previous version of a motorcycle. The white motorcycle's design is from 1987-1996, and it was my favourite up till now. It was meant for the classic minifigs, so it's impossible to sit a Friend on it (their feet is too big). A plus of the new scooter design is the exchangeable handle. Different handles, suitable for either minifigs (the black version in the middle) or for ladyfigs (the grey version on the right) can be attached to the clip. Minifigs have an advantage to use both handle types, because they can move their wrists. On the old motorcycle, the minifig has to move forward a bit to reach the handles, and it looks like a natural position. On the other hand, a minifig on the new scooter can reach the handles in a normal straight position. This doesn't look as natural as you don't usually ride your scooter standing up. I tried bending minifigs legs at an angle, but that made the minifig look even more awkward, because its waist level was below the seat level. Mia looks more elegant on the scooter than a classic minifig and the luggage rack acts really nicely as a seat as well. With slightly bent legs, Mia can lean on the seat and still have a torso in natural looking position. This gives me a filling the scooter was primarily designed for the ladyfigs (but I might be wrong), nevertheless classic minifigs will also be able to enjoy joyrides on the new scooter. The second, the simplest, and the least exciting build is a white and yellow chair. Mia can sit on the chair, but it's a bit tricky to position her. If she's not balanced right, she easily falls off the chair. This is a common thing with the Friends minifigs, but it gets easier to sit them down with some practice. The third mini build, and again more exciting than the simple chair design, is the crate with lemons and limes. There's not much building here either, but the inverted slope on the bottom of the crate is a clever addition to make the crate stand at an angle. I was actually surprised with this part as I thought that the angled crate was just pictured angled on the box art. Although the lemons and limes are a bit too big for the minifigs, Mia doesn't need many of them to squeeze enough juice to make the lemonade. The forth and the largest build is the lemonade stand. Here you can see more colours. The yellow and lime are standing out more, and I wouldn't mind seeing more muted colours for the stand. But, this is a Friends' set, so the bright colours are a must. The stand has two parts, separated with a hinged brick. This gives you more options to position the stand either in straight line or angled. I prefer it angled, as it gives more depth to it. More than the stand itself, it's the contents on the stand that are interesting. On the left side under the 'Lemonade' sign, there's pink plate with the frosted cookies next to some cupcakes with lots of cream. Not (so) visible are the hundred dollar bill and some coins (round flat silver tiles). I wonder who bought a 1 dollar lemonade with a 100 dollar bill. The right side of the stand features a juice squeezer, so Mia doesn't have to do the squeezing herself, and a large jug for the lemonade. It would be nice if a trans yellow minifig head would be included, so the jug would look half full with the lemonade. If you're lucky enough to own it, you can try how a half full jug of lemonade looks like. Flowers are planted in a white dome bottom and are an accessory, that's not necessary for lemonade business, but it's nice to have. I think it's great that the new dome was included in this set as part of the stand decorations (a big thanks to the designer). The finished product At last, here's how the set looks like. All four small builds create a nice scene together. The center of it is the lemonade stand, and the accessories such as the lemon and lime crate, the chair and the scooter add to playability of the set. There are no flick missiles included in this set, so majority of the play is based on your imagination. Mia can drive herself to the stand with her scooter, pulls of her helmet, takes some fresh fruit from the crate, and voila, makes a fresh glass of lemonade. In addition, you can always make a good bargain buying some of the sweets from her stand. The Final Verdict Design: 10/10 The overall design is fantastic. There are several mini builds simple enough for the beginner builders which is accepted as the set is targeted at the age group of 5 and above. There are some lively colours, characteristic of Friends theme, included. One of the best hallmarks of this set is also the fact that the designers chose to include accessories not necessary in a lemonade business, such as the scooter and the dome bottom as a flower pot. This is definitely a plus, as a small set like this offers you some interesting parts. I can't point out a single weakness of the set. Parts: 10/10 Similarly to the design, the parts in the set are a nice selection of various bits and pieces, that you can use to play with in different MOCs. The parts standing out as something unique to the set are the above mentioned light aqua scooter, printed cookies, magenta helmet, and white dome bottom. Build: 8/10 It's a simple and straight forward build with no special or advanced techniques. I like it for what it is, it's simple enough for inexperienced builders, but offers playability also to more advanced builders. In addition, it can easily be incorporated in any town layout - it looks great in a suburban settings, in a park, or on a large city square. Playability: 10/10 Playability is a very important feature of this set. Girls are the target audience for this set, but I'm sure boys will love the set too. There are no missiles in the set, but the play can be based around different situations (squeezing the juice using the machine, picking up a new stock of lemons and limes with your new scooter, buying some sweets or enjoying a glass of lemonade). In addition, this set can be added to the existing Friends' sets, such as the Downtown Bakery, City Park Cafe, or Stephanie's Outdoor Bakery to complement the line of various catering services in Heartlake. Minifigs: 9/10 Mia has a unique top design, seen for the first time in this set, which is a great detail. Her skirt and white shoes were used before, but they're not very common, so Mia from the Lemonade Stand is a nice addition to other figures. Price: 10/10 It's a small set, yet it offers a lot for the price. The most outstanding part is definitely the light aqua scooter, unique to this set. Considering you can get a red version in the Parisian Restaurant for a much higher price, it's wonderful to have this fantastic part included in a small and relatively cheap set. The fact that at the time of this writing this set is already out of stock on German S@H is a nice indication of the popularity of the set. Overall: 57/60 (95%) As the overall score implies, this is a set worth having. The simple builds are still enjoyable to build, but the true value of the set lies in its design that offers a lot of playability and some great parts specific to this set. This is a set I enjoyed building, although my initial interest in the set was to just to get the new scooter. It's a set that can be easily combined with other sets or MOCs. And all this you get for a relatively low price. This is a set I'd definitely recommend to buy to anyone.
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We finally have a LEGO tiger, how about that?! I can't believe that for so long time we have missed out on any of the great cats in the LEGO universe, no tigers, no lions, no panthers, leopards, cheetahs or jaguars. But now we have one, read on to find out if you think it's worth getting or not. Tiger's Beautiful Temple Set number: 41042 Theme: Friends Year: 2014 Pieces: 42 + 5 extra pieces Minifigs: 0 Animals: 1 Price: EUR 3.99, GBP 2.99, USD 3.99, SEK 39.00 (From €3.49 on Bricklink) Set on Brickset, Bricklink, S@H. All right, I might not have been entirely honest when I said this was the first LEGO tiger ever. We have several tigers from the Duplo theme and also a sort of anthropomorphic tiger from the Orient Expedition theme, Tygurah. However, I believe this would be the tiger that is the most compatible with LEGO System so far. Besides, it comes with quite a few nice pieces too which was a big reason for me to buy it. The set comes in the typical bag for these collectible Friends animal sets (Yeah, I had already opened it when I decided to take some photos). The other animals in Series 4 are featured with the girls in the painting in the lower left corner, while the tiger gets a prominent position in the top right one. I think the background painting on the bag gives a really nice jungle feel for the set and gives some inspiration for what you might want to add to the scene by yourself. The back with warnings and other informations, including a 1:1 scale picture with the star of the set. The instructions are clear and easy to follow. No piece call out on a set this small. There were some ads for the new Friends and Disney Princess sets at the back of the instructions, but surprisingly none for the other animals in Series 4. Here are the pieces laid out, 42 in total divided in 12 different colours and 18 different types. A good number for the price I think, even though many of the pieces are just 1x1 round plates. These are the most interesting parts in the set in my opinion. We get 2 brand new pieces, the golden swirly tops and the Bright Green plants, and 3 pieces in new colours, 1x2 log bricks and oriental arches in Lavender and a 1x2 plate in Medium Azure. The 1x3x2 arches in this colour are exclusive to this set as far as I know, but the other pieces are available in other 2014 sets as well. It's not often we get new plant pieces (even if they have increased in later years) so here is a closer look at this one. To me it mostly reassemble some kind of unsprung fern or maybe a reed. Anyhow, it makes a great jungle plant and would also fit well close to the shorelines of a lake or marsh I imagine. It's worth noting that it comes in olive green as well in one of the new Star Wars sets, 75037 Battle at Saleucami. The hole fits a normal bar, and even though I can't come up with a good use for this immediately I'm sure someone will soon and it's always good to see pieces that are "in system" as much as possible. The golden swirly top is a nice new decoration piece. I believe it is used as ice cream and cupcakes in other 2014 Friends sets but here and in the Disney Princess theme it can be seen on top of fancy buildings and similar. I really like it and will happily make use of it whenever I see it fit. Here is the complete set. The temple is not more than an archway with a waterfall behind and some decorations and vegetation around a pond. The tiger has been equipped with a bow and has a yummy chicken leg to feast upon. The set does capture some sort of oriental/Indian feel but with so few pieces it's hard to make something that stands out. I would like to try and make a bigger temple in the same style and colour scheme, but I'm not sure if I have the time of right pieces right now. Hopefully any kid that gets the set will do a try, I do think it's a great starting set to get some inspiration for building in new types of architecture. The back doesn't really show much else than the front. Close up on the tiger's face. As all Friends animals it has these really big and colourful eyes which makes it a little less suitable for uses in other themes. I do wish that we could get all these cool animals that Friends has introduced in more "neutral" and realistic variants, but as it is now I'll be okay with what we get too. An overly cute tiger is still better than no tiger at all in my world. Another distinguishing trait of the Friends animals are their rounded shapes with big heads and feet as can be seen here in the side view. The tail is as wide as normal bar and can hold by a minifig hand, but I wouldn't recommend tugging a tiger in it's tail no matter how small and cute it is. These are the extra pieces. Really nice to get an extra golden swirly top. I wanted to show of the size of the tiger compared to a Friends minifig and here it is. I also got rid of the tiger's bow. Some concluding thoughts: I think this is one of the best sets from the Friends animal series. It has a new animal of a type we have never seen before, 2 new types of pieces and 3 more types of pieces in new colours of which 1 is exclusive to this set and an over all good value for your money. The build itself is not that much to be amazed about but it gives inspiration and ideas which is more important when it is such a small set I believe. As always with these animal sets, it all comes down to if you like the animal or not, because if you don't there is normally no reason for you to buy the set. I would say though, that this is the animal set with the best piece selection so far. I've only bought one set from each of the previous series (the Squirrel, the Hedgehog and the Fawn) but of those I must say that I like this one the most and that is because of its superior pieces. Rating: Design: 7/10 - With few pieces it still gives a lot of inspiring ideas and the little scene work well on its own too. Parts: 9/10 - 2 new parts, 3 parts in new colours with one exclusive to the set + that the rest ain't bad either. Animal: 6/10 - A bit to "Friends-ified" to me, but it's still a tiger and tigers are grrrrreat, right!? Price: 7/10 - A fair price for a small set. It would make a great gift to a birthday party or similar I believe. I can also imagine that it would be a good set for a small parts draft with a few AFOLs. Overall: 7/10 - A good buy, especially if you are a fan of the tiger, but even if you are not it's still interesting thanks to its pieces. Thanks for reading this review of mine and please leave comments on your thoughts of the set! Bonus picture: Cats love boxes!
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NZ scientist writes open letter to TLC - asks for 'Janus' head
LukeWarmTea posted a topic in General LEGO Discussion
Award winning NZ scientist Siouxsie Wiles wrote a short open letter to TLC on her website: http://sciblogs.co.n...letter-to-lego/ asking if TLC could again address the gender imbalance issues in their products, this time CMFs, and proposes an hitherto unthought of solution. It hit NZ current affairs mag http://www.listener....-are-the-women/ and I wonder if it will spread? My query is - what do you (as an AFOL or PFOL or whatever) think of the idea of two faced minifigs, with female on one side and male on the other? Personally I think if it is restricted to non-licensed themes and just appears in the CMF series then bring it on! But I would feel strange picking up a Batman that could turn into a Batwoman, and I'm not sure how it would work in classic themes like City - surely just a better representation of women (with better facial expressions) would suffice? Edited: A word. -
It's that time of the year again! A new series of the friends animals has arrived and I have acquired them all to bring you another review (and to complete my collection, of course). If you haven't read my reviews of the last 2 series, click on the links and start reading (but don't forget to come back here when you're done!) Series 1 review Series 2 review Let's get started and see if this series still holds up. The bags The design of the bags hasn't changed a bit from the last series. On the front is still a picture of the set that's included, with a cutesy picture of the animal in the top right corner and the Friends girls holding the animals of this series in the bottom left. On the back the new animals are also represented and it makes clear it's series 3 in a number of different languages. Inside the bags we find a smaller transparent bag with the parts in it, and a small booklet which contains the instructions for the main set, and a link to the website where you're supposed to find the instructions for the alternative set and the combined set you can make when you've got all 3 sets of the wave. I say supposed because, no matter how hard I looked, on the site I could only find the instructions for the normal and combined sets, the instructions for the alternative build where nowhere to be found. (no worries, I still got them build, I just had to use the small sample image in the manual as a reference, which provided a welcome challenge). The inside of the booklet is basically the same as it was for the previous sets. clear instructions, with no part callouts (not that you would need them for these sets). 41023 - Fawn's Forest Set Nr: 41023 Theme: Friends Year released: 2013 Nr of parts: 35 Price: £2.99 / US$4.99 / €4.99 The part collection for this set is quite nice. You get the expected collection of brown, green and pink pieces, but for me the best parts are the magenta cherries and the printed mushroom head. Oh deer... This animal takes some getting used to. When I first saw pictures of it I hated it. When I first got it out of the bag I disliked it. After looking at it for a while longer I.... Kind of started to like it. By the time you're reading this it will probably be impossible to get me to part with it. I am still convinced the snout is too short, but dammit, I can't stop myself from liking it all the same. All I can say is, reserve your judgement of this piece until you've got to hold it in your own hands. It really does look better in real life then on any of the pictures. It's got a hole in it's back for attaching accessories. When you've completed the model, it should look like this. It's a nice little tree, with colorful blossoms on the leaves, a small hole (probably made by a woodpecker), and a classic mushroom. On the ground is another leaf with a feeding bowl placed on top for the fawn to eat cherries out of. I like it, it's a nice little spring scene (which we get in the autumn, but who cares, right?). The alternative model is also quite nice, for a change. It created some nice undergrowth for the fawn to frolic around in. I just don't know how I feel about feeding it decorative bows... 41024 - Parrot's Perch Set Nr: 41024 Theme: Friends Year released: 2013 Nr of parts: 32 Price: £2.99 / US$4.99 / €4.99 Some nice white fences, a couple of bright light blue round bricks and a dark pink basket make up for the most recognizable parts in this collection, but for me the biggest surprise was the Technic pins (I know you can see them on the front of the bag, I just didn't really look at the picture all that well before opening the bag). And then we come onto my biggest disappointment for this series, the "parrot". It's just a normal friends bird, painted green. It doesn't even look like a parrot. In my oppinion they should've either used on of the existing parrot molds (which may not be cute and detailed enough for this series), or made a new mold. Or, as a third option, just call it anything but a bloody parrot! Anyway, it's got a small hole on the top of the head to attach an accessory. And the molding is of good quality and detail. With the build done you get a small perch for the "parrot" to sit on and feed, and a bird house which has some characteristics of a roman temple. I quite like both of them, the perch for it's simplicity, and the birdhouse for it's great architectural design. The alternative model I am less excited about. It just looks like some blocks jumbled together by a 5 year old. 41025 - Puppy's Playhouse Set Nr: 41025 Theme: Friends Year released: 2013 Nr of parts: 39 Price: £2.99 / US$4.99 / €4.99 This set has some nice medium lavender slopes and medium dark flesh masonry bricks, among a collection of white and tan parts. And we get another dog, are they running out of animal types to use? I wonder. Well, at least it's not another poodle. The dog actually looks kinda cute, with it's little cocked head (including hole for accessories). Everything considered it's a pretty nice mold. The dog gets a nice looking doghouse to sleep in, complete with a bowl containing a bone, which is the only sustenance LEGO dogs apparently need. Additionally there's a see-saw for the dog to play on (or a catapult to launch him with, depending on your mood). For the alternative build the dog get's a shittier doghouse, which offers much less protection, and the feeding bowl gets better protection from the rain. Wouldn't want that bone to get soggy! The combined build The combined build makes yet another protective alcove for the bone (still don't want it to get wet), a place for the deer to stand, with what I assume is supposed to be a faucet to fill the bowl with water. And a great looking house for the "parrot". The models all look well enough, but unlike the previous series, they don't really form a larger scene, which I found to be the best part about the combined models. Conclusions: (Disclaimer: I don't believe in giving numerical scores. It is up to the reader to decide what they think of any given model, and I believe mandatory scores detract from this notion.) minifigs: Like before, the animals are all made very well, but they may be a bit too cute for some. Though I still can't get over that damn "parrot". Parts: A nice collection of parts, for the small price you pay. build/design: No real complaints here. What you get is pretty nice, especially the main models. Playability: Still the same, some playability, but adding a minidoll of you own makes the possibilities endless. I am still very much in love with these sets, and hope this isn't the last we will see of them.
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Hi! Here's my entry to this year's Expand the Winter Village Contest, the Kissing Booth. Hope you like it! Manning the booth is hard work, so the girls are taking turns, and keeping warm by the fire between shifts. More images on flickr. Thanks for looking. C&C welcome!
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Hi, I am sorry if news/info has already come out about this item or I am posting in the wrong place, but I am more wondering if anyone knows anything about this? It is getting close to Christmas, and it clearly appears this is a Christmas set, of which looks like it could be good, and I'd like to get it for my girlfriend (yes,really, ) http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=66497-1 In the link above is the item on brickset, but lists it as limited availability and only available in Hong Kong/China? What is the deal with this set? Sam
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Another facility of my Friends' theme park. I wish not only girls love it, but also boys do. As a father of a 5-year girl, I have won her heart and let her go nut. You may do the same to your daughters/lover/fiance/wife. The girls like to bump the others. Sometimes it can be a head-to-head bump. The bumper cars are driven by magnets underneath. Enjoy. This bumper cars set is consisted of 3 major components: (1) The baseplate, which resembles 10196 (but not a full copy) (2) The turntable, which looks a little bit complex (3) The top plate Please have a look at the following video: The cars are powered by magnets. If you want to know further how it operates, check this video of "the making of bumper cars" https://www.facebook...&type=2 This is a CUUSOO project. Please support if you really want it to become an official LEGO product: http://lego.cuusoo.c...deas/view/53204 My former works of the Friends' Theme Park for your easy reference: 1. Grand Carousel: http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=87068 2. Ferris Wheel: http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=87882 3. Gyro Drop: http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=88256 I am currently working on part V of this theme park and so far I have no idea of where should I stop. Perhaps this theme park is ever expanding. I may be a bit clumsy. Still sincerely hope you enjoy my work.
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Help with next BIG Friends purchase (plus photos of cute KFOL MOCs)
LukeWarmTea posted a topic in LEGO Town
Hi all! I was hoping I could get some advice from Friends followers on which big set I should be purchasing this Christmas - for my 5 1/2yo girl. I do most of my own Lego construction through LDD as we don't have a lot of money for me to spend on actual Lego - but LDD doesn't cut it for youngsters, and she's asked for a 'big big big' Lego set this year. (And a Lightening McQueen car bed, but we're going to ignore that one - it's way too heavy for Santa's sleigh!). I've already hidden away the campervan. Personally I'd like to explore those delightful tan bricks, but they come in several large Friends sets, so I'm stumped. I've read all of Pandora's reviews and she makes them all sound so good, I'm still stuck! I know the obvious answer is the Summer Riding camp, but it's unlikely we can afford that this year, even if I find it on special or secondhand. If you all think it's the best, and with a little help she could build it, then I may revisit it as it's got the grown ups, home life and school life I know she'd love. We've currently got a whole bunch of small sets, the largest probably being Emma's Horse Trailer or Olivia's Treehouse, and she loved building Emma's car (she's a bit vehicle mad) so while I know this will be a big jump build wise, I think she's ready. The alternative might be to buy her a couple of medium builds (pet salon, cafe etc), which would be cool too - but won't be the 'big big big' set every little kid desires. Her play is mostly role-play, with the occasional stop to build a bit she needs for that play, so from observation I know she'd love more grown ups, and another horse would help. And if you're thinking the Vet, I did too - but it's completely sold out. Will Olivia's House be retired soon? You can still buy it here, but it'd be awful to miss out (I just overpaid for Olivia's Workshop as I couldn't not have such an iconic set!). I've included some poor quality (sorry) phone-cam pics below of what she's currently building/playing with, as you can see it's pretty family-centered stuff (if they had a daycare or preschool set on the shelves I would not need to start this thread!) but I also hope you just enjoy the photos. (And yes, I know we need a bigger Lego table!) The MOCs on EuroBricks are so amazingly intricate (The Monde! OMG, the Monde!) and well thought out it's easy to forget Lego was and is a kids toy, and this is how a 5yo girl plays with Basic bits, City bits and Friends. (Minifigs and minidolls get along fine - figs are boys and 'old people' and dolls are Mums and Sisters. No joke.) I love her attention to detail - check out the pink, blue and green pram, last photo, bottom left. The wheels had to be different to car wheels, clear bricks were required for a viewing window to 'check on baby' and no modern buggy would be complete without a roof! Also the handles were changed multiple times till we found a way both figs (that's Nana pushing 'baby' - a minifig head on a yellow 1x1 round brick wrapped in a ribbon) and dolls could use the buggy. Too cute, right? Also, we need a better Lego storage system (you may have noticed we currently use the 'floor' method). Thoughts?
