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When I came out of my dark ages at the start of this year, one of the first things I did was get the latest Lego catalogue to see what was new, and what would be coming. One of the things that caught my attention what a small insert in the Friends section detailing 2 waves of animal poly bags. I instantly liked the look of these sets and decided to buy them as soon as they came out. Here we have all three bags I will be reviewing today. Let's get started shall we? Set nr.: 41017, 41018 and 41019 Theme: Friends Year Released: 2013 Nr of pieces: 41 (squirrel), 31 (cat), 33 (turtle) RRP: £2.99 / US$4.99 / €4.99 The Bags The bags are made of very high quality plastic, and as such are not very easy to rip or tear without the use of scissors or a knife. On the front of each bag is the Lego Friends logo, with a drawing of the animal included in the set next to it. On the bottom are the 5 Friends girls, holding the 3 animals that come with this first wave of bags. And, the most important part of the bags, in the center is a picture of the enclosed set, with a nice background that amplifies the atmosphere. On the back is a lot of purple, some warnings, two time the web address of the Lego Friends page (because one is never enough, right?), a reminder that this is only Series 1, and a 1:1 picture of the animal that is enclosed in that bag. When we open the bag we find a small bag with parts and an instruction booklet. We'll get to the parts later, for now let's concentrate on the booklet. The front of the booklet is the same the front of the bag. When we turn the booklet around we are greeted by a creepy looking girl and the opportunity to win Lego Friends products in various languages. The instructions are easy to follow, with a non-obtrusive purple background with some adornments in the bottom right corner. Near the end of the booklet is an alternate model for the set, with a web address that leads to the instructions to build said alternative model. I like this! Now bring back alternative models for all other sets as well! After the alternate model you come to a page that shows you yet another alternative model, which you can build if you collect all three bags, again with a web address to the instructions. I think this is a great incentive to get people to collect them all, even if they only like one or two of the animals. Now, let us move on to the individual sets. 41017 - Squirrel's Tree House When you open the bag, another bag comes out, containing the parts. A bag within a bag. Well, at least you can be certain the parts are secure enough in their packaging! When freed from their bag, you get a nice selection of parts. Probably the first thing you'll notice are the lime plates, of which you get four. Apart from that you get mostly brown and tan parts, with some yellow thrown in there for variation. The accessories. You get a yellow plate, four of the new flowers and 3 bow ties. And of course we can't forget the most important part: the squirrel itself. It is adorable! It has a hole on the tip of it's tail to attach an accessory, and a cute printed on face. The first thing we are instructed to do is to put a bow on the squirrel's tail, and put some 1x1 round plates together to create nuts for the squirrel to feast on. Though I must say, those are some huge nuts! The main part of this build is the small tree house in which the squirrel will reside. The small tree stump it sits on is quite simple, but effective. The house itself is very cute, with good use of the cheese slopes to make a simple ladder. The top of the little house can open up for easy access to the inside. With the squirrel in it's place, and the plate with the nuts set in front of the tree house, this sets depicts a nice little scene, which can be used in any larger garden layout, or function well enough on it's own. These are parts that are left over when the model is completed. Like i mentioned before, in the back of the instruction booklet is an alternative model. Seeing as this review would not feel complete if I left this out... Voila! The alternative model seems like a small tree stump with.. a window..? next to it. I must say I'm not too impressed with this one. It seems a bit random, but then again, there is only so much you can do with so few parts. 41018 - Cat's Playground Let's move on to the next set, Cat's playground. Again a nice selection of parts, in quite a large range of colors. The accessories you get with this set are a pink plate, a fish and three magenta bow ties. And of course the cat. The printing on this animal is done quite nicely, although I have to say the face is a bit too cutesy for my liking. On the top of the head is a small hole to attach an accessory. The first thing we have to do is put the bow on the cat's head and build the scratching pole. And then we build up the main playground. It has multiple platforms and a little ramp for the cat to play and jump around. When everything is combined this is a fun little play set. this can easily be places inside a house (or outside if the house is not quite big enough) or be used as a stand alone set. These are the spare parts after the model is completed. Of course this model has an alternative model as well. The alternative model for the cat is some sort of obstacle course for the cat to run, with a nice fish at the end to incentivize the cat to jump from pylon to pylon. A lot better than the alternative model for the squirrel. 41019 - Turtle's Little Oasis And here we come to the final bag in the first series. Let's open her up, shall we? Mostly brown and tan parts in this model. With a few yellow parts, five transparent dark pink 1x1 round plates, 5 gold telescopes and some green jumper plates and foliage. For accessories you get 3 lavender bow ties and a white clam shell. The small turtle is well molded and has nice printing on it's head and shell. There is a small hole on the top of it's head to insert an accessory in to. The completed model is a nice little water side hut for the turtle to dwell in. The turtle can enjoy the shade in her little hut, and use the ramp to easily gain access to the water for a little swim. And these are the spare parts you have left after completing the model. Of course the turtle can't be left out when it comes to the alternative models. It appears that, in it's off time, the turtle like to visit a shrine and worship the great clam shell which governs the waters around Heartlake city. All together now! Time to combine these sets and see how the combined model holds up against the individual sets. The combined model consists of two smaller models. The first of which is this little scene which contains a little tree trunk for the squirrel and a small patch of water for the turtle. The second part is a small.. shrine for the cat to worship those ribbons? I honestly don't get this part. It seems like they had too many parts left over and had to build something out of them, even if it didn't make any sense. Overall I'm not too impressed with the combined model. The first model is merely okay, but the second is just nonsensical, The normal models, however, are all very well designed for such small sets. 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: The animals are all made very well, but they may be a bit too cute for some. Parts: For such small sets, the parts you get are very nice. build/design: The individual models are great, but the alternatives are a mixed bag. Playability: With the self-contained sets you can have some fun. But if you combine these with normal Friends mini dolls, the playability jumps up ten-fold. I really, really like these small sets, and will make sure to get the second wave as soon as they hit the stores. All that's left now, is to wave goodbye to our small new friends, and hope the next three can keep up the momentum.
