Clone OPatra

Not anymore....

Johnny is back again again! Need I say more? SET INFORMATIONNumber: 60424Name: Jungle Explorer ATV (Red Panda Mission)Theme: CityReleased: 2024Part Count: 92Minifigures: 1 + 1 red pandaSet Price (RRP): 9.99 EUR / 8.99 GBP / 14.99 AUD / 10.99 USD / 13.99 CADLinks: Brickset Bricklink Flickr album This set marks the fourth entry into LEGO's current trend of small CITY sets containing a new animal (or two). And in fact, it's the third instance of them containing an "ATV". Still, there are some notable differences, like this set having only one animal (which is also coming in another set), more focus on the vehicle, and a specifically desirable minifigure. Let's see how it stacks up. FIGURESSomehow, Johnny Thunder returned... for the third time! Yes that's right, Johnny keeps returning, but this version is a good clean modern update which sticks closely to the original, minus the gun. The face print this time around is very similar to the CMF version, just with a five o'clock shadow, because in the jungle, no one can hear you... shave, I guess. The red panda is also super cute. It makes use of all of LEGO's current production modes, with both dual moulding (new reddish orange and white) and somewhat complex printing for the legs. The legs being printed rather than moulded is noticeable, especially in these close-up photos, but it doesn't bother me. I'm glad LEGO gave it a stud on the back since that really pushes it's LEGO-ness, unlike a few other small animals in recent years. The only drawback of the red panda is that there's only one of them included in the set! However, red pandas are solitary creatures, so it makes sense, though all the other small animal sets I mentioned in the intro have included at least three animals with the addition of stuff like fish or a scorpion, so perhaps this set could've included a butterfly? For accessories we get an exclusive portion of the four-part map to combine with the ones in the other three sets in the wave. I'm not sure what the set suggests Johnny should do when he finds the red panda. Take a photo of it? Radio it in? I didn't know Johnny was known for his prowess with a camera. THE BUILDSMuch like in 60437 Jungle Explorer Helicopter, which I reviewed recently, the set really favours the vehicle over the terrain, which is almost as basic as it can be. The ATV, on the other hand, is doing a lot with a small amount of parts, including the diagonal pattern motif, and incorporating the full colour scheme of the wave's vehicles. I was a little put off by the name ATV applied to this car, to be honest, because LEGO has almost always done quad-bike types of ATVs in its ATV-named sets. This vehicle has much more to it, but in real life there are vehicles like this that still fit the ATV classification, so it isn't mis-named. The ATV has the features one might want, including clips on the back for accessories and a good compartment for the map and compass. I love a vehicle that can fit all of the accessories included in a set. I would say that the whole car feels slightly long, though I'm not sure how they could've cut it down a stud in length and still included all the features. Its length doesn't stop it from being loaded up in the helicopter from the big set. Check my review for more on this set's integration with that one. CONCLUSION & RATINGSPersonally, I enjoy this set. The little car is rugged and can hold the accessories. The figure is good, and the animal is novel and cute. It's a cheap buy and kids will likely have fun because zoomy cars with balloon tires are inherently fun. All that said, compared to the other recent sets in this category, this one goes quite light on the animals, and the minifigure is niche and specific. Therefore you might feel the "value" isn't quite as good as it could be, but for a $10 or $11 set, it's not bad by any means. 8 MINIFIGURES It's a decent modern Johnny, but nothing amazing, and a bit niche. 7 PIECES The red panda does the heavy lifting in this category, and the exclusive map is cool too. Everything else is fine, and there could be more animals. 7 BUILD/DESIGN The car is well-built and designed even if it feels a stud too long. The terrain build is fine but nothing to dwell on. 8 Playability A zoomy car is always playable, and the fact that all the accessories can attach or fit in it, and even the red panda can go on the back, is great. 9 Price I only dinged one off of this because the "value" just seems slightly weak due to it only having one animal. 7.8 OVERALL Ultimately I think this set is a better companion to the big helicopter than it is on its own. It's a fine little set, but not as much fun as some of the others in the category have been given the lack of animals.

Join me for a review of one of my most anticipated sets of the year - 42638 Castle Bed and Breakfast! We'll go through all the detail, good and bad, as well as see how the set looks with minifigures and next to 41757 Botanical Garden. Click here to read the review!

Just when I thought they couldn't top 41757 Botanical Garden, the LEGO Friends team hits us with this Victorian-style mansion (which they're "castle" for marketing). Will you need to make a ~$100 USD Friends set part of your annual LEGO budget? Let's find out! Thanks to LEGO for sending this set for review at Eurobricks' request. SET INFORMATIONNumber: 42638Name: Castle Bed and BreakfastTheme: FriendsReleased: 2024Part Count: 1311Minidolls: 4Set Price (RRP): 99.99 EUR / 89.99 GBP / 149.99 AUD / 99.99 USD / 129.99 CAD Links: Bricklink Brickset Flickr album Before I really begin, I just wanted to note that while the price for this set is the same as 60437 Jungle Explorer Helicopter, which I reviewed last week, in Germany, England, the US and Canada, it's $20 less than the helicopter here is Australia. Weird! BUILD If you'd like to see shots of the parts spilled out of the ten bags and the build process, check my Flickr album (sorry they're a little over-exposed). This set really earned its 12+ rating with its build. There are several fiddly sections, including the curving window section on the ground floor, all the sections running up to the right hand side, the smaller turret and even the ivy to some degree. For an experienced builder I wouldn't say it poses a "challenge", but there are lots of interesting techniques at play here, which require close attention to detail. Overall I had a lot of fun with the build, and it's one that really shows the designers' grasp of LEGO geometry as things come together. If you'd like to see the sticker sheet before application, see the photo here. I also included the three instructions booklets, which have an interesting almost blueprint style that I haven't seen before. Anything is better than the bland renders they have been doing recently! MINIDOLLS I've been liking minidolls since the first Friends refresh in 2018, but they've really gone to the next level since the reboot last year, in 2023. These four - Renée, Olly, Aliya and Zac - all have oodles of personality, with Renée's spunky "still got it" vibes standing out the most to me. I love the unexpected use of a hairpiece created for this Star Wars Young Jedi Adventures character, which I never thought we'd see anywhere else! The design work and production level of minidolls always amazes me, especially the 360 prints for things like the shoes. Makes you wonder why they're unwilling to do the same for minifigures sometimes... This being a BnB where the Friends have come to stay, they all come with some luggage - personalised with stickers. You may not want to apply the stickers, given the set introduces the third ever colour for the larger rolly bag, which has come in 14 sets since its introduction in 2018 but still feels like a somewhat rare accessory to me. Though I love the classic small briefcase, I wish LEGO had kept using the larger one they introduced in the first Harry Potter CMF series. THE HOUSE - Exterior To my taste, this build is a thing of beauty. It's by far one of the prettiest looking homes I've seen as an official LEGO set. The colour palette feels soft and harmonious while not being bland, and there's heaps of intricate detail all around. I do think the upper floors feel a tad short and should've perhaps had an extra stud or two to the left, though that would have impeded on the balcony space. This side is a bit bare, but I think the ivy does enough, and at least it's uniform with no unsightly colours. The entranceway especially has a lot of realistic feeling detail worked into it, from the wrought iron railings, to the flower beds, to the light fixtures, and glass to either side of the door. Note the door itself is also a very new piece, a sort of adaptation in my opinion of the wooden door created for the original Harry Potter line, now for a rectangular frame. As a matter of personal preference, I enjoy the tree over the balcony which relies on the very new leaf pieces. But I can see how people might just as easily not like, as it's rather spindly and Dr Seuss-esque. I decidedly don't like the stack of rounded parts at the end of the build, under and including the railing; I'm not sure what could've been done about it, but the way the notches in four parts align really draws attention and makes it look extra stack-y. THE HOUSE - Gaps Before I turn our attending to the inside of the chateau, I did want to take a little time to address the gaps in the build, which are more numerous and more noticeable than I expected. Given how much design work went into creating the rounded sections that run up all three stories, I was surprised to see the still very noticeable gaps between them and the light blue pillars. It feels like a situation where the designer struck on a good idea to achieve a certain overall look, but the LEGO geometry could only stretch so far. The vertical row of studs on each of these six sections also looks out of place. And lastly in this photo, you can see the noticeable gap behind the dormer window in the slanted roof, visible at some angles. Even more noticeable though are the gaps behind the smaller turret, where you can see into the bathroom. The turret itself comes together in a very fun way using a variety of SNOT pieces, but nonetheless leaves these gaps behind it. I was also a bit perplexed attaching the final bit of ivy. I still feel as though I might have done something wrong, but I doublechecked and even tried adjusting it, and still couldn't get it to sit flat against the building. If you've built the set, let me know if this is just a me problem. My least favourite part of the whole build and design though has to be the attempted rounded section below the balcony. Again, there are some good build ideas in there, but it feels half baked. The techniques and parts used to achieve the effect aren't covered up well at all, making the whole thing look quite clunky. Now, we can debate how much any of these flaws matter in a still play-oriented set with a recommended age range of 12+. It's not a display model first and foremost. Still, while my 4.5 year old certainly doesn't care about such things when playing with the set, I'm pretty sure a teen with a discerning eye might take issue with some of the things I've noted. Also, when there are sets produced like the Botanical Garden which I find near perfect, this set's flaws stand out in comparison. THE HOUSE - Interior Let's turn now to the inside, where the Bed and Breakfast conversion of this historic home becomes most apparent. Starting on the ground floor, to one side we've got reception. I love the carpeting leading from the door all the way through the desk, and the small details like the wall light. The chandelier above the entrance is also simple but good. Stickers provide more detail here, including the room keys behind the desk, and the inside of the guest book, but these are perfectly acceptable uses of stickers. Over on the other side of the ground floor sits the breakfast area. This should of course include some degree of seating area, but for what it is I love the detail that is here, including the buffet table which feels very reminiscent of actual bed and breakfasts I've stayed at in historic homes. Heading upstairs, we have a bedroom and sitting room, which both have cozy designs including rugs. The sticker dating the building makes for a fun decoration. There's a fun feature with beds on this floor - you can have them separated as single beds, or put them together to make a double. Up again, we come to another bedroom and the bathroom. The bed here has a more antique-style wooden frame, and is laid out with both a folded towel and a bar of chocolate. In terms of detail, the bathroom is the real hero of the whole house. There are so many cute, minor touches in here, like the rug, the bar of soap, the simulated feet under the tub, the toilet paper, the plant and more. There's even a blue 1x1 round piece put into the toilet. Note that unlike the other furniture we've seen so far, these things are very much baked into the build of the room, but that's ok with me. Importantly, yes a figure can easily fit in the tub! Finally, up in the attic space are some relics from when this home was supposedly a "castle", like a helmet, a chest with a golden cup and sword, a world map and a stickered painting of some lily pads. WITH MINIFIGURES I figured many AFOLs out there might be wondering how the set would look with minifigures instead of minidolls. The two types of figures are similar in size but not exactly the same, so some builds made for minidolls can look awkward with minifigures. Therefore I created this family of three generations to interact with the build: I'm happy to say that I don't think there's any proportionality issue with minifigures whatsoever. They seem right at home. They also fit well with all of the interior furnishings, and it got me thinking about what would need to be done to convert the set back into a home, rather than a BnB. The main thing it's currently missing is a kitchen, so I'd probably try to add one where the reception area currently is, and put a real dining table in the breakfast area. Perhaps most crucially, a minifigure fits in the bath! WITH 41757 Before I wrap up, here's the set next to the Botanical Garden from last year. Quite a smart pair! CONCLUSION & RATINGS Without a doubt, the Friends team has delivered another elevated gem of a set. Though it's not without exterior design flaws, the set still looks great from a distance and provides a classy rendition of its subject matter with heaps of small detail. The interior is perfectly set up for the play scenarios intended by the bed and breakfast nature of the set, while also being easy enough to strip of the current detail and MOD - apart from the bathroom, which is excellent anyway. The minidolls also look great and are very expressive, but as I've demonstrated the scale of the set works equally well with minidolls or minifigures. All in all, if you're a fan of LEGO houses or architectural models of this kind, I heartily recommend it. 10 MINIDOLLSExcellent detail including an exclusive hairpiece recolour, and the quantity seems appropriate too. 10 PIECESThe set is a pretty decent parts pack for recoloured elements, as detailed by New Elementary. The quantity of parts for the price is great too. 7 BUILD/DESIGNOverall the build experience was quite good, but there are some real flaws in the design with all those gaps. It's tough to rate because the set still looks good overall, but also has issues. 9 PLAYABILITYSome spaces like the bedrooms are a little tight for play, but by and large it's well set up to play through bed and breakfast or regular house scenarios. 10 PRICEThe price is right! It's big, it's detailed, it's got a lot going for it. A sale would make it even better of course, but when isn't that the case. 9.2/10 OVERALLIt's a great, but not perfect, set. That's it!

Interesting takes. To point one, it's perfect for the ATV from 60424, since that ATV literally fits inside of it (like I showed in the review). ATVs can be pretty tiny in real life. And to your third point, I'm sure the helicopter was designed first and the sidebuilds were built to suit it, and not the other way around. There's no way they designed a whole helicopter just to fit a very dinky ploybag-level swamp boat and small base camp that use only a handful or parts each. And to your second point, for sure it's subjective, but the way I see it LEGO has done a ton of helicopters in the size range of 60302, which all function as helicopters but have kind of limited usable interior space. This set offers something different to the market that LEGO hasn't done as much before, with a huge interior for storing stuff or people. This helicopter is basically a Chinook with an unrealistic open side, right? For sure Chinooks are a little bit smaller next to humans than this is next to minifigures, but minifigures aren't proportional and almost every LEGO thing has that problem from vehicles right down to accessories. As AFOL LEGO animal lovers, this wave is pretty great, yeah.

Nice review Josh! This set definitely has much better proportions between the vehicle and the habitat build. Despite being shallow, the extra height of the habitat gives it a lot more "jungle" feel. Personally I'm holding out until the tiger shows up on PaB to make my cost analysis. While it'll probably be expensive (I bet around $8 given how LEGO is pricing animals recently), I know that if I bought the whole set I'd spend more and just put the truck in a big LEGO bin, so even if buying the whole set is a better "deal" spending less to just get the one thing I actually want could make more sense for me. That said, I think for what it is LEGO did a great job with the truck, and it's impressive how there are two usable interior areas in it.

Yes they counter rotate. Jang also confirmed it in his (glowing) review on YouTube. I don't know much of anything about helicopters myself.

Too big in what sense? As I've outlined I think it's too big for the size of the nature build, but that's kind of the fault of the nature build. So as a whole set it's out of balance, but as a helicopter toy, the size makes it pretty awesome and extremely playable. Curious to know in what context you think it's too big as well, and what isn't nice about it. I have my little nitpicks, but I like to hear other people's as well.

Precisely this and all of what you said. The designers know it's what people want - to the point that they've gone and put a full on original style recoloured space person in a CMF, and run a poll for what new colour people would like to see in an Ideas set. Sure, I don't think they're doing it deliberately to be malicious or because they specifically want to make it hard for consumers, but that's the effect it has anyway. They could've colour changed the airtanks and helmet and put out all three in dark blue in BAM at the same time, for instance. That would still mean limited availability, and people who can't access a LEGO store would be out of luck or have to turn to the secondary market, but at least it would all be available at once. Which is the same response I have to this as well. I don't think it's a deliberate strategy, but they could be more mindful about it.

Thanks! I can't imagine a 6-year-old NOT loving this helicopter. That's an interesting perspective on the jungle bit, and yeah they definitely had to include something, but for kids who actually want to play with the animals in their environment, it doesn't provide much. Part of the issue in this wave is that jungles are kind of hard to convey with limited parts. The Africa wave's habitat builds didn't use so many more parts, but they did a much better job conveying the landscape perhaps because that terrain is easier to convey. Thanks! They surely must have planned it to fit the ATV since the fit is just right. And I think we can thank the designer Chris Stamp (recently of Speed Champions) for the elevated brick built designs across the 2024 City range. Thanks! It indeed doesn't feel very jungle-y.

MKJoshA and I are embarking on another round of Eurobricks reviews of some recent sets. Kicking things off, I take a deep dive into 60437 Jungle Explorer Helicopter. Click through to read my thoughts on the gorillas, how it integrates with 60424 Jungle Explorer ATV, and more.

That's cool but incredibly weird. If LEGO produced all the parts for a classic space person in a new colour for BAM that'd be one thing, but doing an all new colour for the torso when the air tanks and helmet don't exist in that colour is odd. I hope it's not another situation like the purple one where the torso comes in one thing and the air tanks and helmet come out later. Black would've made sense since they've done the air tanks and updated helmet in black recently, but not the torso.

Yep. I gave it a chance. OP is getting banned now.

How about you put some substance as to why.

Shareholders of most publicly traded companies don't actually control the company. The benefit to being an investor as a shareholder is your share price going up. And therein lies the problem. Publicly traded companies ultimately always become about serving the share price. LEGO already has super strict internal controls in order to give the company high profit margins. They already go through rounds of layoffs in various departments when their margins aren't quite what they'd like. As a public company with shareholders, it'd only get much much worse. A private company with mega-rich private owners can make altruistic decisions or take lower margins if they feel like it. A public one can't.

Thanks to LEGO for sending Eurobricks this set for review, which I requested for one simple reason: the gorillas. Let's see if there's more to it. SET INFORMATIONNumber: 60437Name: Jungle Explorer Helicopter at Base CampTheme: CityReleased: 2024Part Count: 881Minifigures: 5 + 3 gorillas!!Set Price (RRP): 99.99 EUR / 89.99 GBP / 169.99 AUD / 99.99 USD / 129.99 CADLinks: Brickset Bricklink Flickr album BUILD If you'd like to see pictures of the parts poured out of the seven bags and what's built with each, see the Flickr album. There's nothing especially noteworthy about it, though building the helicopter felt as much like building a big ship out of Star Wars as much as anything else for a while. Let's get right to the goods. GORILLAS! LEGO has been on quite the animal spree in the past few years, but several of the new larger ones have left something to be desired in the posability department. Thankfully that isn't the case with our new gorilla friend, comprised of three new components. Somehow the City range with animals eschews the stinginess found across many other themes (although the other new jungle sets aren't quite as good with this), and this set blesses us with two of the brand new adult gorilla plus one delightful baby. I'm sure the element designers went through lots of iterations and possibilities when it comes to the pose for the gorilla, but I think they nailed it. The overall form works for standing or walking, and looks suitably LEGO-y with enough detail but not too much, and of course studs on the back, which we'll get to shortly. It's immensely fun to play around with these, without even needing a baseplate due to the stability of the front arm and back legs. Add in a base though, and even more possibilities open up... They also scale well with minifigures, and yes, accept riders... though I think the sitting pose looks perilous since the studs on the gorilla's back are just a little bit far back. Obviously the gorillas get a definite recommend from me, but this is a $100 US set after all. Let's see about the rest of it now. MINIFIGURES Surprisingly, this set includes all five of the explorers who have returned from the Arctic subtheme (some of their colleagues from that mission decided against joining them for this one). I'm still used to the old days where the largest set in a wave would often include an exclusive minifigure of some sort, but I'm not mad about it. These designs have less team unity than they did in the arctic, though that fits the setting and the overall colour scheme has shared DNA, while remaining unique for each character. Some of the torsos feel a drop under-detailed, especially the woman in the centre here: The back of that one also is the simplest of the bunch by far, while the others have a decent level of detail. Of course the motorbike rider's jacket stands out. The set contains plenty of accessories for a variety of functions, including its exclusive piece of the four-part map spread across the wave, and a recolour of the new peach piece that debuted in Monkie Kid. HABITAT Following the order of the build process, I'll first take a look at the habitat and side builds before getting to da choppa. The near universal sentiment I saw when pictures of these jungle sets came out was disappointment at the size of the actual jungle builds and lack of ruins to explore in contrast with the 2017 jungle wave. Even on its own terms, this build seriously underwhelms in size. It's got detail, but really not enough space to it in comparison with the size of the gorillas, or to feel like the lush and dense forests where gorillas actually live. The segments do split apart so that they can be rearranged and combined with the jungle builds in the other sets. There's not much more to see around the back, besides a flower. SIDE BUILDS Have you noticed that LEGO sets have been getting more and more SEO-friendly names lately? On the box this set is called just Jungle Explorer Helicopter (a fine name), but on the website it's called Jungle Explorer Helicopter at Base Camp. Well, here's the base camp... I like this little build a lot, though it feels more arid Africa than it does jungle to me. In any case, the designer has packed heaps of detail in, which is great. We also get a couple of side vehicles, with a rugged motorcycle kitted out with saddlebags, and the smallest of swamp boats to chart the river in your imagination. Put together, these side builds would actually make a decent set. Their sizes work well together, even if they habitat build remains lackluster. HELICOPTER - without stickers Good news sticker-phobes: the helicopter looks perfectly good without stickers applied! Of course the explorers' logo is lacking, but otherwise all the colour-blocking is achieved with building. You can see one more side-on shot without stickers here. Looking at the box photos, I actually didn't even notice that there were going to be more than just the three stickers to add the logos. There are in fact a whole bunch more to add industrial and weathering detail. HELICOPTER - with stickers Here it is at last, all deco'ed up. It's an imposing big beast, especially in person, and looks heavy duty and powerful. I applaud the use of a built-up cockpit area rather than a pre-fab one, even if the transition from the dark blue undercarriage part to the rounded nose isn't the most elegant. They've packed a decent amount of small detail onto the outside of the helicopter, like small lights, the chests attached sidewise to act as storage containers (a technique also seen in the explorer truck set) - and I especially like the build next to the cargo area for some sort of release lever, even if it's not actually functional. I love any ship that can seat a lot of figures, and so was super happy to see that the cockpit is built to seat four, and it's easy enough to add another one behind as I have done here. Two identical consoles and two sticks do the job as the controls, with there even being space for accessories like the map. On the other side of the helicopter, there's a medical kit in place of the release handle, and also a simple crane. The interior does have continuous passageways between the sections, but apart from the cockpit, there isn't much detail and these spaces aren't very easy to access (at least with my adult hands). What you're really intended to do is put the other stuff in the helicopter. The "base camp" fits in the main hanger with room to spare, and no deconstruction or folding up necessary. The motorcycle and swamp boat fit easily in the back hold, which is otherwise just an empty place. I would've perhaps liked to see a little something in here, like a an actual spot to park the bike at the very least, though there's a reason for it not to have one, which we'll see in a bit. Now, the centrepiece function I haven't yet mentioned is the spinning rotors, which work a treat. The gearing makes it easy to get them going - even my 2.5-year-old (who has had a lot of fun playing with this "airplane") can do it! Plus with bigger hands (like mine), you can spin the knob with one hand and swoosh the helicopter with the other. On the subject of playability, the helicopter in general has a very sturdy build. He's obviously below the listed age range and definitely couldn't build it himself, but my 2.5-year-old can give the helicopter a good play session without much breaking off. Even the top of the cockpit pulls off easily and stays together. Really the one thing that comes off the most is the toppers to the propeller blades. WHOLE SET It struck me looking at the set pictures, and then building the set, that the size disparity between different parts might make it feel non-cohesive. Now experiencing the set for a bit, I think that's definitely the case. I don't love the habitat build anyway, but it seems especially weak when overpowered by the massive helicopter. The helicopter seems just so big, and the habitat so small, that there's a mismatch. A nature build with more height, even with very little depth, would be more fitting. WHERE'S JOHNNY? I said earlier that the set contains all five explorers who have returned from the arctic, but there's someone else joining them on their expedition - the illustrious Johnny Thunder! I am surprised that LEGO didn't choose to lock Johnny behind the biggest set of the wave, though it's a great thing for Johnny fans. While new Johnny comes in two sets of the wave, the smallest, 60424 Jungle Explorer ATV, actually makes the perfect companion to this set, and I'll show you why. First of all, it adds to the map, but admittedly you'd need all four sets to complete that. The little habitat build from the ATV perfectly complements the builds in this set, being the right size to complete a circle and create a sort of entrance-way for the "cave" on the back. But best of all, the ATV actually fits in the back of the helicopter! The motorcycle can easily be stowed in the main hanger with the base camp too, though the swamp boat can't be. All in all, these two sets certainly feel like they were meant to go together, giving you all six figures from the wave with no duplicates and an extra land vehicle and piece of nature that complement what's included in this set. CONCLUSION & RATINGS All in all, I'm a bit mixed on this set. For kids the helicopter packs a punch, being very big and sturdy, with a lot of opportunities for play integrated with the minifigures, vehicles and other stuff. It's much larger and more open than most other helicopters LEGO has done recently, plus not reliant on prefab pieces for its look. I also think the colour scheme works decently. Really my only knock against it is the slight lack of interior detail, and slight inaccessibility of some sections, though that's so you can easily throw vehicles into it. The minifigures don't feel too special but are good for what they are, and the gorillas are absolutely excellent. The side builds for the explorers also work well and integrate nicely with the helicopter. Overall though, my issue is one that runs through all these sets: it skews so heavily to the vehicle, and so little to the jungle. The box art shows beautiful lush settings, but you get none of that feel with the actual plastic present. My kids (4.5 and 2.5) loved playing with the gorillas and the helicopter, and not the actual nature build. I'm glad this helicopter exists, but I wish LEGO had also done another set where the nature was the star. 8 MINIFIGURES There's nothing to complain about with this selection, besides a slight retro lack of detail on some of them. 9 PIECES Gorillas! Recoloured fruit, big parts, small parts. I wouldn't say it's a "parts pack" but what's here feels good. 7 BUILD/DESIGN There are definite flaws running through some parts of the design of the set as a whole, especially the nature section and just the general imbalance. 9 Playability Anything in the City line puts play front and centre, and this certainly does, with lots of scenarios and fun to be had. There aren't many true "play functions" or mechanisms besides the rotors and simple winch, but those are great and seamlessly fitting the side builds in the helicopter is a play feature itself. 10 Price This varies by region of course, but the US price of $100 is pretty fair for a huge completely brick-built playable helicopter, plus side builds and new exclusive gorillas. For some reason in Australia there's a scale of what USD $100 becomes, and this is on the higher end, but we have the benefit here of constant discounts and sales tax incorporated, so the price comes down. 8.6 OVERALL Ultimately, if you like a nice helicopter AND want gorillas, or want a good toy for someone who enjoys playing with helicopters, you can't go wrong with this set. The price is right too. If you don't care for the concept though, there's nothing about it to win you over in my opinion. And if all you want is the gorillas, hopefully they arrive on PaB while this set is still available, so you can weigh up the costs. For me, these gorillas will make a fine addition to my primate collection.

Very curious OP has dodged this very important question. I would love to read someone's view of why it would possibly be beneficial in any way, because, much like the rest of you, I think it's very obviously a terrible idea. There's nothing wrong with having a thread discussing the hypothetical, but if the OP keeps up patronizing responses and keeps rinsing and repeating the same information, I'll lock it because it's going nowhere.

That's just not true, and if the designer truly thinks that and it's not just really weird PR spin, that's terrible internal communication at LEGO. Whether or not it's the exact same mould, that same hair shape absolutely still exists, and given they had to colour change the Dumbledore hair to Dark Red, they could've colour changed the correct hair to Dark Red (given it's not currently in print in that colour). They have the weirdest excuses for why things aren't as good as they can be sometimes.

Yeah that's pretty cool, and the fact that the two halves are built completely detached from each other, so they can be built by different people. But I'm still bummed there's no living room in which to reenact Ginny feeding Harry a pie.

Showing out of stock to me.

Yes the magic knitting is there to the right of the Floo Network fireplace. That piece actually already existed in dark orange, though exclusive to BAM.

It's definitely a Burrow of all time. I'm also glad they've done justice to Molly. It looks great from the outside, as expected. Lots of the interior detail is good too. My only main negative is the lack of space on the ground floor. So much is taken up with the floo network fireplace that there doesn't appear to be any living room and barely any kitchen. It's just dining room. The floo network thing is fun and all, but I'm not sure it's worth sacrificing so much. That film picture chosen for the back of the box is also so incongruous, but that has no bearing on the actual set.

Orange classic space torso is back in stock, or it was as of 30 minutes ago when I placed an order. Also yikes those GWP space baby prices, but I bought the white one anyway... I wonder when/if they'll do a reissued black classic spaceman, and a blue one with a not scratched torso. Seems odd they'll keep focusing on doing new colours without making all five of the classic available.

Maybe they mean the video game one?

A younger audience than what? Minidoll themes have just as much spread of age range, build difficulty and detail as any other playtheme. The big Minions set for instance is 8+, lower than Emerald City at 9+. Sure 9+ Emerald City might look a little flatter and smoother than for instance the 8+ Ninjago Temple of the Dragon Energy Cores, but that might match the source material and Emerald City still has heaps of sideways building, as does even the 7+ set. They also look no less detailed or complex than the Sonic sets, and in fact many large City sets are targeted even younger and are thus smoother and simpler still. I'm not saying you have to like them, but I don't like this persistent myth that Friends or minidoll themes are dumbed down compared to anything else at the same age range. Sure different themes treat the age ranges a little bit differently, but overall LEGO does have guidelines for what's acceptable in the different advertised age recommendations.