LukeWarmTea

These last few posts have been great reading. I've always been into Lego and was always a 'builder' - I don't remember minifigs holding much sway for me, it was always the construction, the repeated disassembly and new creation that did it for me. However, once I moved away from the Basic bricks (and Town) and into themed sets, there was a bit more role play (I had Robin Hood and his merry men) but building really still rang my bell. This all changed of course, with Bellville. I only had two sets and I was overwhelmingly disappointed with the lack of any kind of building, but the highly poseable figures booted out my old fashioned wooden ones from their dollhouse - and they still live there, happily ever after. I do agree though, that in general, girls aren't like me. They want the narrative, the reason behind the building. And my daughter is one of them. So completely unbelievable obsessed with pretend play! Like me she has been raised in a home without gender biases being reinforced, she opts to wear 'boys clothes' (dark blues, dinosaurs, red cars etc) and generally would be described as a tomboy - with a small City collection under her belt. Then for her 5th birthday she gets given Olivia's Treehouse, and the whole world flipped on it's head. She LOVES Friends. She reenacts the few Friends episodes she's seen and creates hundreds of her own, real world stories. She still builds, but she builds with purpose - the Pet Shop became a Vet, and then when she needed an airport for one of her stories the Vet became an airport terminal. A lot of what she 'builds' is really decorating, covering everything in 1x1 round plates. It's kinda fascinating. But back to the topic of the minidoll, here we have an interesting study - currently (and not surprisingly) we have only female minidolls, and lots of male or generic minifigs. So minifigs became men (and old people!) and minidolls are women. I picked up a few more female figs that I thought would appeal to her (CMF older cat lady and scientist, ambulance driver and firefighter) but they've largely been discarded or used as 'grandma'. They really just don't appeal as much. Her favourite figure is a minifig, a male called 'Mike the big brother'. What I'm keen to know is, if she gets (somehow!) a male minidoll, would that replace the male minifig for her? Will it integrate, or dominate? I can't wait to find out!

Ah! A tracked vehicle. Sense made. Thanks Peterab!

Oh the Parisian Restaurant - why would you not?! I'm keen on building an Adventure Time MOC - bit of a challenge - and will be picking up plenty of the new Lego Movie Cloud Cuckoo Palace, but does anyone have any ideas of other sets that could be useful? I'm salvaging some bits from my Friends collection, but probably will need plenty more bright green and medium brown for the guys tree house, and I'm going to build Princess Bubblegum's lab pretty quick too so sciency stuff? (I have some bits from Olivia's Lab and CMF science lady, but not nearly enough!) Also, sciency isn't really a word - but it's the only thing that comes close to describing the 'science' scribbled on that printed black board!

Is it still possible to join the Academy? ^ The last three posts have gone unanswered... I'd love to learn how to write a review and especially photograph Lego sets. I think it'd be really interesting to write them for AFOLs and also for parents looking to buy Lego for their children too. I'm keen to review all my old Town, Fabuland and Bellville sets which I think collectors might be keen on, as well as Friends (which I'm actively trying to collect all of!)

Thanks for the super-quick review! I find it a bit odd that the scooter needs a kick-stand too, purely from a parent POV - my 5yo will probably become frustrated by the standing/falling over scooter. Also, mini-dolls are a pain to sit, but they can - it's all about balance. Try putting both of Mia's arms down by her sides, instead of one up one down - I think the larger hands can weigh 'em down and over balance them!

Such a great MOC! My mind keeps jumping between 'wow' and 'how?!' - the techniques you've used here really set this apart. Also, I love the reeds - and the sun! This looks like NZ at the moment!

Awesome build, it kinda reminds me of my old 6380, the ETC - has that multiple department kinda feel. I always thought that was the best Lego-made hospital set, I saw the modern one and it just looked like a parking spot for the vehicles! Have you seen this? http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=35999&st=0 it's more of a modular style of build for AFOLs - while it's impressive, I actually like your set better for the way it would fit well into any City set up, and it looks more playable (and durable!). Looking forward to seeing the interiors!

Another tree house! Wow, TLG sure knows how to repeat itself. With winners. And you guys are right about the action, I never thought I'd be buying 'girls toys' for my daughter that advertise themselves with "Trigger the rockfall then help the Emma mini-doll rescue the trapped monkey on the LEGO® Friends First Aid Jungle Bike with walkie-talkie" "Wade in and help Olivia build a dam to stop the waterfall before pulling the tiger to safety. Then head up to the cliff" "Use the shovel to clear the fallen rocks and check the monkey with Emma’s medic bag" "climb the watchtower and use the telescope to look for animals in danger" So much doing...

"Investigate the secrets of the ice with the powerful tracked exploration Plan" From http://shop.kiddiwinks.co.za/Release/jun14/60036#sthash.9xcvqiOX.dpuf and the P in plan is accurate - does anyone think it actually means anything? What's a 'powerful tracked exploration plan'? A printed tile?!

Priceless! I'm so excited about these new sets, it really sounds like Lego might try something a bit new (a flower shop in a City set?).

There's no IKEA in New Zealand... woe!

20. Gazumpty - 1 24. SpaceySmoke - 1 29. Sdrnet - 1 53. Cara - 2 So many to choose from! I wish the higher number of entries could have meant a higher number of points to allocate - the tree house and maple syrup and games stalls, oh my!

Hi! I saw this in the voting list and I thought I'd check it out; I have to ask, why is Mary cross looking?!

That has to be the best reason to love Lego, ever. I wasn't keen on any Lego Movie sets, till I saw the Ice Cream machine, and now this! I've been thinking about doing an Adventure Time MOC with my family - and this is perfect for the candy kingdom. Math!

Hi all! My daughter and I collect Lego friends and we did pretty darn well this Christmas, scoring the most popular set (3188 Heartlake Vet) off of Jworld on trade me (Sego, I think?) which had box damage, so was down to 75 buy now, with postage it was only a buck fifty over retail and they threw in a Friends keyring! Total win. I bought it less then half an hour after it went up - we later watched a second hand, well played with 3188 sell for $95.50. Ouch. We tried to grab older sets which won't be around any more, so got the Camper and Cafe from aunts and uncles, plus little sets like Mia's Magic Tricks and Stephanie's Convertible, also grabbed a basic bricks box and a City Cargo truck set, for the forklift (my partner drives one at her work at Placemakers!). Does anyone know of anyone who collects old Fabuland or Bellville sets? I'm considering selling some if anyone is keen. I also have a few Technic sets from the early '90s, and Robin Hood and his merry men, though I might keep that set, it's pretty rad!

Actually this: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=18920731579 is kinda awesome. The Friends camper has been remade into a news van for this wave, but it so could have just as easily been a food truck - and how great would that be?!

I am so disappointed by Merida's hair! Am I right in thinking it's the same as Andrea's but in a different shade? I wish they'd come up with a new 'wild hair' mould - and why isn't it red?! Also (this is the edit) aren't Ariel and Merida's eyes meant to be green?

I liked the hardware store with the wheelbarrows out front (pic 2) - that's what I'm used to in small towns, wheelbarrows parked out front with 'clearance' items and stuff displayed on the street, then brought in every night. Usually in those shops with tiny aisles that you have to squeeze down and shelves stacked way up high!

Ingenious use of parts - I think this is just wonderful! The bedspreads, shower tiling, love the tiled table cloths. So many details! And more, you have built a beautiful chalet - but also I think a very playable set. The open back and easy-to-lift roof are things people notice, especially parents. I can see my daughter thoroughly enjoying this - and she would be inspired to build too, as she noted the restaurant currently doesn't have a kitchen! I like the 'half building' concept, it's one that TLC uses and it works well. Great job!

Love it! I like the humour, and the patterned snow sides are a really nice touch, as is the brick built magpie. Good luck!

I have the old Hospital too and my DD loves it - we rebuilt that and the ambulance, but she found the ambulance really small compared to the City one so we scrapped it for parts. The hospital itself is mostly intact, but we've 'friendzified' it by adding the taller glass curved parts and some of the darker blue you can pick up with the Pet Salon. I find the Friends shops with larger panels and big glass windows are really fun for kids to remodel older sets. The way they are built for playability is the way your kids will build things - roofless buildings, half buildings, buildings with parts not fixed to the baseplate. Take a look at those (even if you have boys) for your building inspiration.

Love it! It's like the small towns in NZ - but less hippy stuff. It's looking very masculine - I would've been tempted to make the hairdresser for women's hair, or unisex (Like Super Cutz). You need to find a part that can make those giant green wrapped silage bales for Landmark!

It's crazy in NZ right now - TLC must be pleased with themselves - Lego has been named 'Must Have' toy of the year - and the headlining act? The Dolphin Cruiser. The media around it has been pretty cool, instead of being all "The girls Lego Friends' theme Dolphin Cruiser ... bla bla" it's just been "Lego Dolphin Cruiser..." which is kinda nice. I'd love a CMF Minidoll series - more adults! More clothing! It would be great to market as a 'fashion' line - heck, they wouldn't even need to include a head! We have so so many of the same minidoll - mostly because the 'interests' of the doll align with my daughter's - so we have four Olivia's, for example, and 3 of the exact same Stephanie (plus two in other outfits).

My bad! I meant how many different minifig male types, so I could compare to the female number above. Whoops!

Right! Am I the only one to think this constitutes another form of 'playing' with Lego?