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I'm not really into Friends, but I find some of the sets very appealing (some strange colour combinations apart). So far, I always got smaller sets, and this one is no exception. My choice was primarily driven by the echo of Ninjago in this Karate Class, especially in the Dojo door/glass part (which missed in the original Ninjago release) and the kendo mask. The new Friends kimono print is well done, too. But let's start the review before I write everything in the intro! Theme: Friends Set name: Emma's Karate Class Set Number: 41002 Price: 9.99 $, 9.99 £, 9.99 Euro Pieces: 93 (+ 8 extras) Minidolls: 1 Year of release: 2013 Links: Peeron, Bricklink and Brickset The Box Front The box is almost square (15.5 x 14 centimetres, or 6.11 x 5.52 inches) and shows the many sub parts of the set arranged in a dojo display. The background is pretty varied and integrates the set with fictional wooden floor, full-body window and pastel green walls with a nice sakura decoration. The LEGO and Friends logos, Friends girls group shot and typical Friends 'curtains' complete the layout. Back The back shows some details of the set, like Emma wielding a katana and sporting a (quite disproportionate without the armour) kendo mask, or relaxing with a sip of water after a long exercises session, or even admiring her latest trophy and shiny medal. In the upper right portion of the back we see the usual Friends minidoll assembly instructions and Emma's mug shot and tag name, for those who did not recognise her in the new kimono version. The lower left corner brings on this theme, by showing a group shot with name tags for the five main characters in the Friends line. Sides Not mush to say here, as the sides sport the usual LEGO legal stuff and safety warnings. What I find interesting is the choice of the piece depicted in the 1:1 shot: instead of the expected minidoll, it's a nice lavender bag. Contents Inside Upon opening the box, we find two plastic bags and one instructions booklet. No stickers in this set! Once we open the bags, too, we get a cascade of parts and two smaller bags containing the minidoll's parts. Notice how there isn't a dominant colour proper, but a mix of pastel hues with some more common brown, tan and white parts. New pieces There is just one new part in this small set: Black Tile 1 x 2 with White Lavender Friends Accessories Hair Decoration, Bow with Heart, Long Ribbon and Pin. But do not let it discourage you: we'll see in a moment that the lack of new moulds is more than amended for by the abundance of rare parts. Re-colours Re-colours include: Minifig, Headgear Ninjago Kendo Helmet (Men) (a re-colour of sorts, being this just a variant of the Ninjago version, but without the white trimming of the visor) and Medium Lavender Friends Accessories Basket. Rare parts Parts collectors and MOCers will be interested in the following rare parts also: Bright Light Orange Brick 1 x 2 (only available in 2 other sets: 3938 Andrea's Bunny House from 2012 and 41004 Rehearsal Stage from 2013), Bright Light Orange Tile 2 x 4 (only available in 2 other sets: 3184 Adventure Camper from 2012 and 41004 Rehearsal Stage from 2013), Bright Pink Tile 1 x 1 with Groove (only in 5 sets so far), Dark Pink Slope, Inverted 45 2 x 1 (only available in 1 other set: 3184 Adventure Camper from 2012), Magenta Slope 33 3 x 1 (only available in 2 other sets from 2008), Medium Azure Brick 2 x 4 (only in 4 Friends sets so far), Medium Lavender Plate 2 x 4 (only available in 1 other set: 3185 Summer Riding Camp from 2012), Medium Lavender Plate 1 x 8 (only in 4 Friends sets so far), and Glass for Window 1 x 4 x 6 with Asian Characters on White Background Pattern (only in other 3 Ninjago sets from 2011, among which the fabulous 2507 Fire Temple). Extra pieces We get 8 extra parts, including the usual spare small round plates and tiles plus one ribbon and one katana. It would seem people at TLG are trying to sneak an extra weapon in each set these days! Minidoll I really like the new kimono version of the Friends minidoll. It is a nice conversion of the CMF series 1 karate man, and adds some variety to the girls' activities. I can see people complaining it is too specialised to be used in many other ways (we'll see if this is true in a moment), but, personally, I think a bit of specialisation is welcome in a theme which is likely to go on for quite some time in the future. Since the Friends' apparel is quite poor in the trousers' compartment, it is nice to have a cheap set including this part. Moreover, the kimono blouse (I know it must have a proper name in Japanese, but I'll keep this simple) works pretty well in other contexts, too. The only real con I see for this minidoll is the fact that it can't be used for Andrea and all the other dark skinned Friends characters. Maybe we'll see new versions in the next waves? Or will it be a one-shot minidoll? Instructions Only one instructions booklet in this set, thankfully. As always, the front cover uses the same image and art as the front of the box. The instructions are standard fare for a Friends set. Lavender background with a faint decoration in the lower outer corner of the pages, no distractions and simple pieces call outs as usual. The parts list covers two pages and shows the variety of colours and small pieces used in this set. Of course, the extra parts are not listed here. The last pages display a collection of sets from this line. If I'm not mistaken, they are all from this year's first wave. On the left we see the smaller sets, one for each girl (Andrea, Emma, Mia, Olivia and Stephanie), while on the right there are the bigger sets, with a repetition of Mia, Olivia and Stephanie's smaller ones to fill the page. Building Start This little set is composed of a number of smaller builds. We start with the bonsai, a nice little model which adds an 'oriental' feel to the scene with quite few pieces and simple but effective techniques. Karate chop! Next up is the 'karate chop station' by positioning a trio of connected parts on a non-connecting base, we have a chop-able board for Emma to work her tricks on. I'd like to add a small remark: since the board is a bit too high in the position depicted in the instructions, I suggest lowering it on the second row of supports. It looks more natural this way. Meditation corner With a printed door/window and few more parts, LEGO designers build a really nice looking corner where Emma can 'sit' (as we know, Friends minidolls can't actually use connections when sitting like normal LEGO minifigures do) and relax or meditate between an exercise run and the next. The addition of the water bottle is also a nice touch. Trophy wall This combination of a trophy wall and a bench is also well done. The use of the hinge brick allows a number of different arrangements girls (and kids in general) can play with. Finished set Front Here we have all the mini-models together. As you can see, the open bench part helps in creating a more 'enclosed' feel to our little dojo. Bonus images Girls at war Nya didn't like Emma's mushy attitude towards her boyfriend during their kendo lessons. Final comments Overall, this is a really nice set, with some creative use of parts and especially a good selection of mini-models that girls/kids in general can arrange to create their scenes. Design & Colour scheme – 9/10 (As said, nice little builds that work together to form a complete scenery. The colour choice is, of course, nowhere near that of a real life dojo [at least, I do not think it is], but it is in line with the general Friends theme.) Minidoll – 9/10 (A good rendition of the classic kimono in Friends format. The rare trousers, here in white, will be an useful addition to any collection. Again, the only con is it is limited in use to light skinned characters.) Parts – 9/10 (Being this a small set, the parts' variety is not superlative, but the amount of rare pieces, plus the small price, make this set a must buy for any parts collector.) Playability – 10/10 (I can envision hundreds of scenes that kids will spend hours enacting with this little set.) Build – 8/10 (Nothing too complex, but some efficient solutions are used, like the use of the hinge brick to allow some re-styling of the trophy wall-bench assemble.) Price – 10/10 (€ 9.99 for 93 parts, many of which rare, is very near the optimum these days, and quite better than most of the small sets I remember from last year, or even this year's selection.) Overall: 9.2/10 Excellent As always, questions, comments, and pic requests welcome! If you like my reviews, and would like to learn how it's done, please consider joining the Reviewers Academy:
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When the 2013 Friends product line-up were made public the first set that really got my attention is 41002 Emma’s Karate Class. I thought the concept behind a female doing a predominantly male-dominated activity is an interesting and refreshing take on the girl-oriented Friend’s theme (the same can be said of 41011 Stephanie’s Soccer Practice and 41001 Mia’s Magic Tricks). So how does this set compare to other Friends sets of the past year? Let’s take a closer look in this review. Name: Emma’s Karate Class Number: 41002 Theme: Friends Year: 2013 Pieces: 93 Minidolls: 1 Price: $9.99 | £9.99 Links: Brickset | Bricklink | Peeron (not yet inventoried) | Shop@Home The Box The presentation of the set elements are nicely executed, with proper spacing and even varying depths of perspective for the different builds. The light tranquil colors of the background give a Zen-like atmosphere highlighted by the oriental tree print behind. By now we’ve all been accustomed to the standard purple LEGO Friends boxart, it looks like nothing much has changed much since last year. Or has it? Upon closer look the Friends characters image in the upper right of the box is now more of a cartoon-anime illustration unlike the CGI image last year. Here is a comparison pic: Pandora touched on this in her Heartlake Pet Salon review, and I agree the cartoon depiction makes the Friends girls look like they’re somewhat ‘unsure of themselves’, compared to the more confident aura the characters have in last year’s CGI image. I honestly don’t know why those in charge of Friends decided on this change since last year’s image already looked good. Maybe they want to try to give a fresh take on the characters’ look? (but after only a year?). This is one of the cases where sometimes, things are better left unchanged IMO. The back follows the tried-and-tested formula of showing the playability features of the set. Once again we are greeted by the cartoon images of Emma (bust shot) and the whole gang at the bottom. The top is rather plain and simply shows the purple basket in the 1:1 panel. The usual LEGO manufacturing facilities are detailed at the bottom along with the other usual info that people ignore (barcode, recycle symbol, LEGO websites). Also interesting to note the difference in shades of purple of the top and bottom of the box. Both the sides of the box are almost identical, stating the Warning: Choking Hazard for small parts safety reminder in 29 different languages (yeah, I did bother to count ‘em all ). The “cleavage curve” print could also be seen on the both sides as part of the illusion to give the otherwise standard rectangular box a distinct “sexy” shape like the curved boxes of the larger Friends sets. The Contents Two unnumbered bags of LEGO goodness are what we get in this little set, along with the instruction booklet which unfortunately (but understandably) came folded. And hey what a surprise, no loose piece! The Instruction Booklet To avoid the redundancy of showing the instruction booklet simply having the same coverart as the boxart, I’d rather show some sample pages of the instruction booklet: Left: I noticed a small misprint in one of the piece callout boxes, not really a biggie but probably the only time I’ve experienced seeing this insignificant minor issue. Right: Nice touches of several faint “Friends symbols” prints at the bottom corner of pages break the monotony of the plain purple backdrop. Click the image for hi-res version At the last pages is a beautiful spread showing the 2013 Friends product line-up, with the right page showing each Friend character getting a set dedicated only for them; and the left page showcasing the whole line-up including the two large sets of this wave. The LEGO parts As what we’ve come to expect from Friends sets, the parts selection is peppered with the (society-dictated) feminine colors of pink, purple, yellow, with some azure on the side. Thrown in the usual blacks, whites, browns, etc. and you have a parts selection composed of 19 different colors! (1) The most noticeable (and only) interesting part for me is the trans-glass window with the oriental Japanese characters design. This piece, which can only be found in four sets, is not new but it’s the first time it’s been used outside of NinjaGo sets. With the help of EB’s resident Japanese culture consultant and fellow Fellow def, I found out that the Japanese characters actually mean “ninja”. (2) Despite the out-of-the-‘girly’-box concept of this set, there are still a couple of Friends-centric pieces: a purple basket and two hair ribbons (one is actually an extra). (3) As has always been the case, the mini-doll’s torso and leg pieces came in separately packaged, most likely since they’re produced in other manufacturing facility. The Mini-Doll In this set we get the ‘Karate Girl’ rendition of Emma, donning a full white Karate uniform (more properly called Karate gi) with purple linings and a floral logo. However, it seems the leg part is not as white as her torso. I don’t know if this is normal or there is a QC issue behind this. By virtue of having a black belt, it seems our dear Emma is already an expert in this particular style of martial arts! (Thou shall not mess with Emma! ). Though one questionable part of her outfit is her footwear, considering most karate practitioners are bare-footed when doing their karate training. But come to think of it, since the mold of the mini-doll feet are the same (only differing in footwear prints), it would be impractical for TLG to create a new single-use ‘bare-feet’ mold just for this small set, so from that POV I could forgive Emma wearing shoes while doing Karate. Here is a comparison pic of Karate Girl Emma and the regular garden variant Emma. It is only through this side-by-side comparison that I realized that the floral emblem on her karate uniform is actually the same flower on the print of her regular outfit! That’s a well thought-of personalized detail I must say! And before anyone points it out, yes, by my haste I wrongfully switched Stephanie’s pink skirt with Emma’s purple one (looks like somebody’s playing with LEGO Friends in his spare time… ) The Build Elements Bonsai A simple build yet perfect for the oriental theme of this set! This 11-piece set really works for me as it captures the overall look of a real-life bonsai. Needless to say, this definitely looks much much better than the 3-piece masterpiece of a tree in 60001 Fire Chief Car. Karate Chopping Block/Tile Karate practitioners practice their famous karate chops (or more technically known as the Knife-hand strike http://en.wikipedia....nifehand_strike), with the use of chopping boards/tiles/bricks. This brickbuilt rendition is a quite a nice representation, cleverly using the rail pieces to provide a two-level chopping challenge. Rest / Meditation Area This build probably gives the best oriental element on the set due to the Asian-style printing of the glass panel. The slope combination at the top corners imparts an overall shape reminiscent of Oriental Arches.This is also supposedly the resting area where Emma could take a break after training and sip some refreshments in her water bottle (trans-blue with white cap), but I’d like to think this could also be a meditation area, where Emma could practice Zen as part of her Karate training. Trophy Display Case As testament of her expertise in Karate, Emma has a display case for her top achievements, and looks like she has two – a gold goblet trophy and a gold medal (without straps). While the choice of the minifig trophy piece or the standard medal piece would’ve been obvious, it’s a nice to see the designers going the alternative route for the unusual picks of the goblet and 1x1 gold round tile. This build also serves as storage for the Kendo Helmet, Kendo Stick/Sword, and a tabletop for the basket. We’ll see more of these elements in the next section. Playability Features And we begin with the Trophy Display case, which interestingly has three modes of orientation owing to the simple yet effective use of the swivel bricks: (1) Straight Set-up – for spacious interiors and for maximum showcase of the trophy achievements! (2) Corner Set-up – as the name implies, this can be oriented on a 90-degree angle to fit corners of rooms. (3) Compact Set-up – this one is perfect for small interiors, and even the way the Kendo helmet and stick/sword is aligned together in this position is proof of how effectively-designed this part is. Here is Emma doing her “Karate-Chop exercise”. The unstable build of the 3-piece chopping block provides a clever way to recreate an actual block-chopping experience! Left: As mentioned earlier, the rest area could also be used as a meditation area. Too bad mini-dolls, or even minifigs for that matter, cannot assume the meditating sitting position. Right: Emma could also practice Kendo sword fight, as both the Kendo helmet and stick are compatible with Friends mini-dolls (she just has to remove her wig haha ) Here a couple of things Emma could do when she’s bored (or right before/after Karate training): (1) She could reminisce all her past glory by staring at her trophy and medal. (2) Or if she’s really that bored, she could just talk to the bonsai. The Completed Set The Scores: Design – 9/10 The reason I bought this set is primarily because of the individual build elements which I found to be interesting. I must say even if they are relatively simple builds they registered to me as well-conceptualized and nicely-executed. From the swivelling trophy display case to the cute little bonsai I think this set deserves a 9 in terms of design factoring in its relative size. Build – 7/10 Nothing exciting that you’d really expect from a small set, though nothing too difficult for kids to follow too. Parts – 7/10 I was impressed by the 19-color parts selection, even happy with the pretty neat Asian-style glass panel. Though I still have to find use for those brightly-colored pieces. Mini-doll – 8/10 It’s always nice to get different variations of minifigs, in this case minidoll, and the Karate outfit is certainly a welcome addition to the Friends line of outfits. The way Emma’s signature flower print is incorporated in her karate uniform also garners plus points for me! Playability – 7/10 Well of course as an AFOL it would be unfair to judge playability since I don’t play with these sets (or do I?), but putting myself once again in kids shoes I’d think I’d have a decent role-playing time with this set. I assume it may not be as exciting (for girls) as the usual cooking/dressing role-playing offered by other Friends sets, but the Karate playability in this set is a nice break from the usual girl-based activities. Price – 8/10 $10 for this set is actually not bad, just on the average 10 cents price/piece ratio. Overall: 77% Parting Shot I've created a comic to demonstrate this particular set in action! Pls. do take the time to check it out. Click the image to see the comic at the Brick Flicks & Comics section!
