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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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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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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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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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My 1st MOC: 'Friends' Apartment Building and Bookstore (WIP)
LukeWarmTea posted a topic in LEGO Town
Hi all! This is my first MOC post and due to a lack of parts (and skills, it turns out) I'll be sharing this diary styles - a little like Lightning Tiger's - so you all can see and contribute to the build. So far it's gone from this: to this: With a whole lot of rebuilds along the way! Currently only the basic wall layout for the lower floor is complete. The left side of the build is a bedsit complete with old cat lady and exterior stairs to the second floor. The right is the ground floor bookstore and small rear exterior for a dumpster etc (I'd like to devise a working trash chute). There will be another 16x16 plate to be the footpath (or 'sidewalk') featuring a newspaper and magazine vendor in front, as the set is designed to be played with an open hinge (forming a handy 16x16 square). The second story will be a two bedroom family apartment, and above that there will be a nominal roof terrace 'garden' (probably only on one side). The book shop doors are unfinished and I'll be working on some brick built ones in the morning. Also the base plate colours need work, don't you think? I've set myself up with a pretty steep challenge as well. The build has to meet some criteria which have been defined by myself out of fun and also from necessity, as this MOC will end up being played with by my 5 1/2 yo (and the Friends target age) and we don't have a lot of money to spend on parts. Challenge: 1) It has to fit in the Friends/City universe, and I like to think it fits somewhere in between - a little closer to Heartlake maybe, a hard working borough on the outskirts of town? Bella calls it 'the Neighbourhood'. Thanks Mr. Rogers! Anyway, it has to look like a proper Lego building, with that nice Lego realism/playability balance. 2) It has to be easily accessible, playable (durable!) and buildable by kids in the 5-12yo range. 3) The parts must come from one major set (3185) and any other parts used must be readily available in small sets, polybags etc. (btw, does this make it a mod?) 4) Key design challenge - it has to be compact. The whole shebang is designed to close up, stack up and be put away neatly. (No spreading mini-builds!) 5) It has to be aesthetically pleasing in both 'closed' and 'open for play' form; including using a reasonably limited colour palette, not covering/blocking wall panels (a real bugbear of mine) and not having large expanses of blankness. 6) There have to be at least 3 "real" play features. Guess who gets to judge what constitutes real?! I'm always so in awe of the amazing MOCs I see on here, especially the high quality modular buildings. This sure isn't one of them, but I hope you can see the inspiration. Thanks for reading! -
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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Hello all, I present to you my newest creation : Uni-kitty's Enchanted Castle. Featuring an excellent fruit juice and salad/sandwich bar on the ground floor, with penguin slide and waterfall, pineapples and general craziness. The castle was designed by Uni-kitty one day when he smoked too much of a special plant. He's growing this plan on top of one of his castle turrets. To be a bit more serious, I've combined two of Cloud cuckoos palace, together with the Friends fruit juice bar and also several friends animal packs. What do you think? PS - "too many colours' nu uh it's meant to be crazy :)
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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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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. -
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? -
Yes, another Fiends set concept art. I hope you are not bored. Purplestone Park Camping A little camping spot in the woods. With a tent and a small campfire were you can roast(?) marshmellow. The sleeping-bag and the lamp fits into the opened tent. Sunshine Beach Bar A place where you can have some refreshments or eat some juicy fruits. Thanks for mechamike about this idea!
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Heartlake Grocery My latest Friends set concept is a grocery. In this little shop you can buy everything that is needed to fill your belly. Meat, fruits, bakery product, drink, you name it. For the sake of rendering time, I removed the transparent parts from the 2nd and 3rd pictures.
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UPDATED: Due to concerns about the cold, the Heartlake Labour Board has requested that the tank is now heated and the girls have some fluids to keep them warm too. Presenting my entry for the Winter Village contest, these girls aren't afraid of the cold so they put together a working dunk tank attraction with great prizes to win. Friends Dunk Tank by dr_spock_888, on Flickr The dunk bench tips when the target is stuck. The water sure looks cold.
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Sunshine beach hut Another Friends set concept from me. A nice little hut for all the girls and boys on the beach, to get some useful accessories for fun in the water.
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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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Heartlake Flower Shop The idea came from here. As the original thread suggests, this is a concept for a future Friends set, so I tried to stick to the standards of those sets. There are not too many bricks, the back is opened, almost no roof, something in front of the building, colorful design. I hope you like it. Unfortunately there are no minidolls in LDD, so it's a little empty.. :( The bigger plants for the better view.
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The other layout I do is Heartlake City, this was the layout over the weekend at the Gold Coast Brick Event.
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The position and future of Friends and minidolls in Lego?
Dorayaki posted a topic in General LEGO Discussion
Article revision: 2018 May Before the main topic, here is a simple showcase of how the issue looks like: This thought was hidden in my mind when The LEGO Movie was announced early in 2013. As a person who grew up ith Belville after by dark age, I was very glad that LEGO shed more light and eventually reintroduce a minifigure-scale theme for girls. However, everything begins to turn out and show that LEGO's plan might not be what we really expected. Introduction to the "Minidolls" So before the discussion, I'd like to go back to the origin of Friends and their minidolls. Sorry to quote Pandora's comments about the interview with the LEGO Friends designers. Most of the controversies pointed their fingers at how TLC tried to differentiate girls from boys in their toys because some of the AFOLs believe that Lego is still acceptable to girls. But Lego is somewhat correct in their viewpoint of market---- the current Lego products have a limited effect of appealing younger girls, so they must do something to make up. The ultimate result is the birth of minidolls. So, if minidolls didn't appear alnog with Friends, what would have happened? The answer is the difference between Friends and our traditional City/Town sets, which are both based on our daily modern life. Many elements from Friends are actually what City sets seem to lack of: distinctive and colorful female citizens, indispensable buildings (school, family house). However, due to the fact that both themes don't share the same figures, it results in difficulty of visually mixing the two themes together due to police officers mainly being minifigures and teenagers mainly being minidolls. We regard the rise of Friends and minidolls as "inevitable" in order to give younger girls a choice . But is this the end of story? Perhaps no, because what the controversies worry about still continue: a market segmentation by gender. Friends have brought about some potential side effects of thoughts: Friends are for girls only, so traditional consumers, AFOLs and boys can't touch them. On the other hand, since girls have their Friends sets, they don't have to be interested in traditional Lego sets that include minifigures. Oh, TLC didn't say anything direclty, but so far many commercials and shows still often hint that traditional Lego sets and minifigures are the truth to Lego, while Friends and minidolls are just some marginal products that were "particularly" made in order to meet those critical needs from girls. Now the contradiction between minifigures and minidolls is, the former is a historical, iconic figure of Lego franchise, while the latter is a successful pioneer to the market where TLC had been never actually made it to. Minidolls and minifigures seem to become "competitors" even though their creators want both of them to cover the whole toy market peacefully. It becomes more tragic when TLC just tend to keep the light on only one of them. The cover catalogues seem to be one of the rare peaceful zones that can put friends and other themes together (unless TLC plan to publish an independent catalogue that only include Friends). There is no standard answer, obviously, but it should be an issue that TLC consider. I like Friends and minidolls as independent products, but they would create a problem if TLC want to have longterm plan with them along with traditional sets (and especially licensed themes). The best result should be a win-win: let girls love what TLC had brought, and let old consumers love what TLC will bring. Don't just think about how to draw attention from a limited range of customers. Look into other LEGO media advertisings: The other main topic we focus is, do minidolls successfully strike into public's eyes? And, do LEGO actively bring minidolls into public's eyes? Here are some of the LEGO media tools we've seen so far and let's see how they work this thing The LEGO Movie The very first LEGO theatrical film features an original story with all LEGO themes making guest appearances...... well, only some of them. Friends is one of the obviously missing member, which is a difficult guess cause it could be a huge letdown to girls who enter the theater and want to give cheers to the Friends girls. Anyway, I don't really think it bothers to give a Master Builder seat to Olivia. Some of the discussion suggest that if Finn's sister appears in the future sequel TLM2, could she bring the girls' theme topic into the movie as well? It's a possibility, but the worst chance could be that LEGO just introduce more girly / pink character like Uni-Kitty to "represent" girls' voice. LEGO Dimensions The new crossover game title between multple LEGO franchises is currently the number one topic among LEGO fans this year. Although there are some other iconic LEGO themes absent so far, Friends' absense could also mean that LEGO Dimensions loses a huge advantage ---- introducing their original female cast in order to balance the gender ration of current Fun Pack characters lineup. Some discussions indicate that this game would cater more to videogamer market or licensed fans, but somehow, I think LEGO Dimensions fail to label itself as "best family game" since they're unable to include any license or character that represents major girls. (Disney Princess is unfortunately one of the conflcit license, though) Would future expansions do a better job? I'm not sure about it. How LEGO view the figure systems, officially? The LEGO Movie did trigger a series of discussion about minidolls and their characters--- how would they really look like if they officially appear in The LEGO Movie world? THEORY 1: Minifigures co-exist with Minidolls and other figures Some of the official videos show such examples: Coincidentally this series of fun video also use the stop-motion technique similiar with LEGO's theatrical film series. And also regarding to the story setting of The LEGO Movie where the LEGO toy collection exist as realworld materials, as there's no restriction to include any specific figure type such as Duplo bricks, this could be what reall happens in the The LEGO Movie canon. Some of the suspection tell that perhaps Finn's father or sister might already owns the minidolls, so if LEGO wants to stick to the real thing setting, that means, it's very possible for the co-existence of minidoll-minifigure to become the real canon. The major defect is, just as stated above, there's still very little official souce encouraging FOLs to play and mix minidoll themes with minifigures. And if TLM2 wouldn't focus on this point as well, then this theory still doesn't help too much for the minidoll-minifigure issue. THEORY 2: Based on user's viewpoint: This theory is simply derived from the real figures we have on hand, since Disney and DC comics both happen to have minidoll and minifigure toys lineup: As we can see, a character can simlutaneously show his/her minidoll and minifigure form. We can enlarge this to actually assume that every LEGO character is supposed to have both minifigure and minidoll form, even if the phsyical toy lineup doesn't show that. This theory can of course apply to other known figure types such as Duplo figures and BrickHeadz. And actually, this is also an officially-proven theory comes from LEGO News Show which really shows the "transformation" between minifigures and minidolls: This may have a very good explanation about why certain characters, like The Flash and Wonder Woman, only show up as minifigures in crossover media but not minidolls---- because the media has set the viewpoint in a minifigure-only world. This theory would help decreasing confusion between themes and figure types, especially to those FOLs who don't adore minidolls that much.. But regarding to The LEGO Movie again---- as it strictly based on the real-world viewpoint where only physically made and existed LEGO toys can be represnted, not quite sure if the current minidoll-only characters can show up as minifigures. Conclusion There some plans I can come up with, which can be achieved together: Solution 1: Keep Friends and minidolls, but add more elements that girls like to regular sets and City theme. Girls can have more choices just like most boys can choose between Ninjago and Chima. We see that many girls are also obsessed with collectible minifigures, Ninjago and maybe the upcoming Lego Movie, which proves that there are still some potential to please girls in traditional regular sets. Don't make them think "girls should just go play Friends and leave the others alone". Solution 2: Let minifigures share spotlights with Friends and minidolls, at least some appearances in some advertising, TV shows or films. When minifigures and minidolls are able to stand together, there is no need to attack each other. Solution 2.2: Or physically include both minidolls and minifigures in the same set? Uh, it could be an uncceptably terrible, and more controversial idea, I can imagine. Maybe they can consider it if there are some licensed characters fit in that idea. Solution 3: Endow the "characters" from minidolls with alternate minifigures: we might be unhappy with the minidolls, but not actually with the original / licensed characters which the minidolls represent, because they're not born to be blamed. If we produce minifigures and minidolls together, this could allow consumers to exchange between them or combine City and Friends sets, and the themes can compensate each other. Regarding to the upcoming The LEGO Movie 2: the second part We know it's close, and as long as Friends has actually become one of the most popular LEGO theme as well as the second long-running franchise, also LEGO Elves, the second original minidoll theme is also doing a good job, would The LEGO Movie 2 eventually cast a positive light and bring these girls-targeted themes into the theater? What do you think? -
This is Part 3 of my project. After rebuilding the LEGO official products of 10196 and 4597, I start to build a true MOC. It is a CUUSOO project and it awaits your support: http://lego.cuusoo.c...deas/view/48013 The girls of LEGO Friends need more excitement and here they go to the Gyro Drop (or Falling Machine). It is a 10-seater gyro drop powered by a motor and remote control (optional). Yet it does not merely operate with electricity – it operates with the magic of magnet!!! Safety to the girls is always the utmost concern!!! The carriage may fall at an alarming speed but the girls won’t feel any shock when they come to the lowest point. The carriage cannot reach the floor – the magnets underneath helps to float the carriage!!! At the same time (when they come to the lowest point), the girls won’t feel any vibration as the magnets sideway help to stable the carriage. The girls' feet are exposed to feel the breeze when they feel the excitement. The carriage only has minimal contact with the stand, so that it can fall very smoothly. Movie clip of this Gyro Drop -- Former works: (I) Friends' Grand Carousel 10196: http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=87068 (II) Friends' Ferris Wheel 4957: http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=87882
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Come to the Town Forum, we have cookies! We also have some pictures of the new 2014 wave of LEGO Friends sets - which include printed cookies! Head on over to the Town Forum for more pictures and discussion.
