Monster High Spectra Vondergeist Doll With Pet Ferret And Rhuen
Product Features
* The ghouls from monster high are freakishly fabulous
* Spectra vondergeist is the daughter of the ghosts
* Doll is fully articulated so she can be posed in many different ways
* Includes doll, pet Ferret Rhuen, doll stand, brush, diary and accessory
* Collection all your favorite monster high dolls
Product Description
*
The ghouls from monster high are freakishly fabulous * Spectra
vondergeist is the daughter of the ghosts * Doll is fully articulated
so she can be posed in many different ways * Includes doll, pet
Ferret Rhuen, doll stand, brush, diary and accessory * Collection all
your favorite monster high dollsRelate Products
What's a high school party
without a theme? This year, Monster High® students selected polka dots,
and they're getting glammed up for the party to look Dot-Dead Gorgeous™!
This Monster High Spectra Vondergeist™ Party Doll looks hauntingly
beautiful in a purple one-shoulder mini-dress with black polka dots and
pink trim. Chains on her bodice, a chain-print purse and "silver"
jewelry complete her to-die-for outfit. It's time to polkadot! Doll
cannot stand alone. Ages 6 and older.
The teenage children of the legendary monster menaces have gathered together under one roof...to attend high school at Monster High!
These girls are wild, they're fierce, and they're totally trendy.
They've left their parents' outdated haunting habits behind to form a
killer style all their own. When you see them, you'll just have to gasp
"Drop dead...gorgeous!"
Monster High Spectra Vondergeist Doll: The ghouls from Monster High are
freakishly fabulous. The kids from Monster High are the coolest ghouls
in school with their fashions, accessories and scary cute pets. And now
there is a new ghoul at Monster High, Spectra Vondergeist who is making a
scary good impression. Spectra Vondergeist is the daughter of the
Ghosts and she can float through the walls with an uncanny ability to
overhear school gossip. Spectra would be lost without best friend and
sidekick, Rhuen a Ghost Ferret thats always getting to mischief. Spectra
Vondergeist doll is fully articulated so she can be posed in many
different ways and includes pet Ghost Ferret Rhuen, doll stand, brush,
diary and accessory.
Games are a great way for kids to learn while keeping them
engaged. However, finding the best educational games for kids can be a
bit of a challenge. Sometimes those games that seem educational are not.
Below are just a few of the educational games on the market.
Manga
High - Manga high is a math game for elementary and junior high
students. There are currently eight different games to choose from like
Ice, Ice Baby. The newest game is Prodigi, which adapts to the learning
of the play, so the game will level with the child's learning ability.
Busuu
- Busuu is a game to help your child learn a foreign language. Spanish,
German, and French are offered. An online community allows students to
instantly chat with native speakers of the language they are studying.
This allows students to get instant feedback on their syntax and
vocabulary.
Soup Toys - Soup Toys is a physics based game.
Children can play with virtual objects and have them interact with a
virtual world in a manner that obeys all the rules of physics.
Starfall
- Starfall helps students learn to read. It has many animations and
interactive books. There are a number of free downloadable materials, as
well. This site was originally started for home schoolchildren, but has
been adapted over the years to include learning games for all children.
Educational
games are a great way for your kids to have fun learning. If they are
having fun and engaged in the game, they will likely want to play and
learn.
Too Many Toys and Other Learning Games for Kids - Is There Such a Thing?
Researching the web for toys and learning games for kids in order
to determine the impact they have on the children's development, two
things struck me: firstly the overwhelming number of toys available, and
secondly their relatively low purchase price which made them affordable
to just about anyone.
Even though the toys and other learning
games for kids represent the means by which young children and toddlers
uncover the world around them and get to know themselves, too many toys
may hinder the very process they were initially meant for.
The
trend is also fairly recent. In the not-so-distant past, toys and other
learning games for kids were only received during Christmas, birthdays,
and a handful of other holidays such as Thanksgiving.
The infants
were normally restricted to a rattle or a soft toy during the initial
stages of their life, and that was considered sufficient in the eyes of
their parents.
However, the toy industry has changed into big
business, and the fact that overseas companies can now easily produce
large volumes of toys cheaply, has led to an excess of toys and other
learning games for kids that flood the world market.
Children also
receive toys not only during specific events along the year but
throughout the year, sometimes for no apparent reason.
From a
marketing perspective, the infants, toddlers, and young children
represent a distinct target market for toy companies. They spent
inordinate amounts of money promoting their more or less useful
products.
A cot or a play pen packed with toys expose the child to too many colours, textures, shapes, and sounds at the same time.
That kind of surroundings can overpower the child, damaging the learning process rather than encouraging it.
With the environment around them packed with toys and other learning games for kids they can no longer focus on any one of them.
The
capacity of the child to remain focused is a significant aptitude that
might be hard to attain if child's attention is spread amongst too many
play things.
However, from the child's point of view it may generate an atmosphere of hectic, busy, annoying surrounding.
Without a doubt, the plethora of toys and learning games for kids are meant well intentioned.
The
question is how do we fix this, and my suggestion is to go back to the
basics. Children are curious, if we take them into a park they'll play
with leaves, twigs and dirt. They want to explore their environment and
all the things that surround them.
They also enjoy playing with
every day things like handtools, the telephone, the broom and the mop,
that is how they learn to behave like big people.
Limiting
therefore the amount of purchased toys, replacing them with every day
items, and also carefully selecting the proper learning games for kids
will be beneficial for their harmonious development.
Marius is searching and researching the internet, as well as the
brick and mortar stores for the best educational games for kids
available on the market for his son's age bracket.
Parents have always turned to games for kids in order to
stimulate the development of their kids' brains. The brain of a kid can
be likened to a sponge, which is why it is imperative for kids to keep
their mind busy through various games. Kids' games could be those that
are played indoors or outdoors. These games could give the brain the
workout that it needs. You must remember that a poor brain could be
avoided if it is always stimulated. And, through educational games for
kids, the brain would always benefit.
If
you have already reached the point that you could no longer think of
what game will be perfect for your kid, then you could visit various toy
stores like Toys R Us where you would be able to find a lot of
educational games for kids. There are board games that could have kids
analyzing and thinking. Try not to choose those toys that will not be
able to maximize the usage of the brain. Some of the toys that command a
price yet do not promote interactivity are robots and dolls. Kids
could, at most, only imagine that these toys are moving, but this
activity would not require a lot of brain neurons to run. So opting for
board games will always be better. In fact, you could find lots of kids'
miscellaneous games at this particular toy store.
Indeed, when it
comes to the best games for kids, nothing could beat educational games.
These are really the one that could stimulate analysis and learning.
One popular game is Snakes and Ladders. This helps in developing
mathematics skills of children and also teaches them the value of
perseverance. For kids who want to learn the basics of money, Monopoly
is one good game to introduce. Word Factory and Scrabble could further
enhance the skills of children who have already learned how to spell and
read. If you want a game that could really have the brain neurons
running in lightning speed, then Chess will be a good choice. These
educational games for kids could all be found in Toys R Us, as well as
many other toy stores.
One more kids' miscellaneous game worth
considering is playing catch. This is a very simple outdoor game that
could actually help in stimulating the frontal lobe of the brain or the
cerebrum. This part controls motor skills. Proper stimulation of the
cerebrum could make kids more accurate and precise in their movements.
Hand and feet coordination will also improve.
And, if your kid
finds sports activities fun and exciting, you could always let him join
sports activities. Remember that athletes use their brains a lot.
Victory is not achieved by simply using the body but the brain plays an
important role in winning a game of sports. Hence, any chance to improve
your kids' brains should be grabbed. You can find the sports equipment
you need from Toys R Us and also from sporting goods stores. The moment
that you are able to introduce these educational games for kids, you
will definitely notice the positive improvement in your kids.
You cannot fail to notice the colours; having exhausted pink with
Paradisa, TLG have fallen back on the next girliest colour,
purple. Boy, there’s a lot of purple, but actually it isn’t too
garish. Not to me at least. TLG
have even re-designed the shape of the box for the new range – the
front bevels downwards to the sides, and this makes the front of the box
stick out a little more. It also makes standing the box upright on its
thin base slightly tricky as it has a tendency to fall forwards.
The box front is delightfully colourful and shows the entire set with
the figures interacting. The five “Friends”, who will no doubt very
soon become familiar faces, peer out from the top of the picture like a
more talented and youthful version of the spice girls. An inset in the
bottom left shows the reverse of the set, and again has the figures
interacting with it. A further inset in the bottom right shows the
three figures that come with this set. We’ll be seeing more of them
later.
There’s tons going on on the back of the box. We are introduced to
Olivia (whose house this is, in case you somehow didn’t know), and even
shown how to build her. There are a ton of insets showing the figures
enjoying various features of the house, plus there’s a link to the LEGO
Friends website, and there are more pictures of the other Friends (with
their associated sets, just in case you wanted to buy them too) and some
useful bits of information.
There’s a demonstration that, similar to a number of Town sets (memorably the 4644 Marina set for me) the build is modular, and the contents are organised into numbered bags which reflect the module being built.
I’m a sucker for alternative builds, and although these aren’t really
alternative builds but rather a re-arrangement of the modules of the
house, I still really like that it’s here.
There’s also a handy inset showing a number of the new parts (and some
interesting old parts), to really whet your appetite for the treasures
within. Overall, despite being a rather large surface area on the back
of the box, they’ve squeezed loads of information in, and managed to do
so without it looking too crowded.
The top of the box again shows us our three Friends figures, and
includes an actual-size picture of Olivia, so you know just how big she
is (and thus her co-figures are) before you buy the set.
Here’s a better view of the actual-size picture, and with this you can
also better see the slight patterning with butterflies, stars,
paw-prints and flowers, which are actually pleasantly subtle.
The bottom of the box has another picture of the set along with the usual warnings. But also an unusual warning:
Poor Peter, I’ve not seen such a declaration on the outside of a LEGO box before.
The left and right sides are adorned with the Friends logo, and have
either another picture of the set or an advert for the LEGO Club, and
this to me clearly indicates that TLG don’t actually see the Friends
line as the be-all-and-end-all of LEGO for girls. Which is nice. The
sides also show the rather attractive, and modern, bevelling of the
box. It doesn’t serve any purpose, but I rather like this new design.
The Instructions
Joy of joys, the instruction booklets (for there are two) and the
sticker sheet, are all wrapped up with a stiff piece of cardboard to
keep them flat. My instruction booklets, as you will see, were pristine
when released from this packaging. I couldn’t have been happier.
The front of the first booklet shows exactly the same picture and
artwork as the front of the box, and has an indicator showing that it’s
the first booklet. So far so good.
The back of the first booklet has a colourful picture of the five
Friends holding Olivia’s house as if it were a LEGO model. Think about
that too much and your brain might melt. They have the figs pretending
to be the size of humans with a model of the house that they’re part
of....
Moving on, there’s also another gentle nudge towards the LEGO Friends website, complete with ubiquitous butterfly.
The front of the second booklet looks both disappointingly and
reassuringly like the front of the first, except that obviously it
indicates that it is in fact the second booklet. Steel yourself before
you turn this over, you know what’s coming...
Yes! The gagne-child (latterly re-named Raging Demonic Child) has had a
sex-change, and is now a moderately less offensive child, not least
because she’s a girl. Maybe the novelty has yet to wear off, or maybe
it’s the soothing purple tones, I don’t know, but this child is sooo
much more tolerable than the usual one. Let’s keep her.
The inside of the instructions are laid out in exactly the same way as
any other modern LEGO set I’ve built. There are parts call-outs and
diagrams, and on the back pages of the instruction booklets there’s a
full inventory of all the parts which stretches to three pages in these
small booklets. The background to all the pages is purple. You really
have to like purple.
Towards the back of the second booklet there’s also what looks like a
poster of Heartlake City (with the eponymous heart-shaped lake). It’s
shown as a picture of a poster, but it really reminded me of the Paradisa posters
that were included in the Paradisa sets. I hunted around for a while,
but I was disappointed to not find a Friends poster in the box or
instructions anywhere. Not that I’d put it up on the wall or anything,
but just like the Paradisa poster, it’s nice to just have it.
Next to the poster page, there’s a full run-down of all the Friends
sets, complete with little check-boxes to tick when you’ve bought them
all. Cynical, me?
The very last two pages show sets from other ranges, and I was surprised
to see CREATOR there. I can actually understand why; I loved the Lighthouse, and the Log Cabin,
and again it reinforces with me that TLG aren’t just focusing on
selling only Friends sets to girls. I’ve also included the part of the
page encouraging girls to sign up for the LEGO club. It may just be a
couple of pages, but I like the fact that this information is here and
that TLG hope that girls may broaden their building horizons further
than Friends.
As already mentioned, there’s a sticker sheet, and it is shiny, shiny,
shiny. There are a number of stickers, and after much more
consideration than usual, I decided not to apply any. They are quite
nice, though, and nicely printed; the shininess reminded me a lot of the
shiny holographic stickers in Belleville, however I also remember the
shiny stickers in the Lighthouse set, so they aren’t just for girly sets. Something that did surprise me was the house number. I learnt while reviewing 3675 General Store,
that the stickers with numbers usually bore some relation to the set,
but here the house is number 30 while the set number is 3315. I would
understand 33, or 15, or 3315 would work too, but 30? Why 30?
The Parts
The baseplates, in line with modern sets, are small full-thickness
plates that are put together to make a larger area. In fact, the size
and number of the baseplates reflect the modular nature of the
build. Conveniently, they are all packaged together in a bag, so they
aren’t rattling around the box getting damaged.
On closer inspection there are two very useful 16x16 plates, one tan and one white.
Plus there are six 8x18 plates – three bright green and three... pink! Oooooh!
As indicated in the inset on the back of the box, the contents are in
numbered bags relating to the corresponding build. There are seven bags
altogether, and within those bags there are frequently smaller bags
containing the smaller pieces. As you pick each bag up, you might just
glimpse some of the new moulds or see a flash of an unusual colour!
I thought bags three, five and seven looked exciting (yes, alright, I got excited about kitchenware ), but I also thought bag six looked rather... pink. But we were expecting pink, weren’t we?
As the build is modular in nature, I’ll show the contents of each bag as
we build each section of the house and garden. So, let’s start,
controversially, with bag one.
Bag one builds the sitting room and, as we will find with almost every
parts bag, there are structural tan pieces for the walls along with a
lot of white and lime green pieces... but not all that much pink.
Bag one also contains a high number of mini-bags, mainly because the
legs and torsos of the figures are individually wrapped. Part of me
thinks this is a bit wasteful, however part of me is happy there’s
something to protect the printing on the torsos. The hair and head
pieces (aside from Peter’s hair which is unaccountably in the other
minibag) were all loose in the main bag. Considering the most printing
is on the figures’ faces I found this surprising, but they emerged
unscathed. Aside from the figure parts, the rest of the pieces are
reasonably run-of-the-mill, and as mentioned there is little pink, and
rather more of the slightly less palatable lime green.
The first part of any build (with figures) is to put the figures together, so let me introduce you to Anna, Olivia and Peter:
There are no doubt a number of pictures of these figures by now, but
here are my impressions. They all have pleasantly printed torsos with
quite nice detailing, and the faces are quite pleasantly printed
too. It’s odd to see LEGO figures with noses, almost as odd as not
having legs that move independently of one another, but not nearly so
weird as having orange eyes. Orange eyes?? I thought TLG were aiming
for more realism with these figs?? I don’t know anyone with naturally
orange eyes. Another oddity is the colour disparity between Peter’s
hair and beard. Has he gone prematurely grey and he’s decided to dye
it, but gone a shade too dark? Hmm, it looks odd to me. Anna and
Olivia have the much-vaunted new hair, which is of a similar texture to
the hair of the mad scientist in the series 5 CMFs. Peter has normal
ABS plastic LEGO minifigure brown hair. No new hair for men.
Interestingly, the new female hair pieces have little holes both on the
top and on the left hand side (as you look at them) for inserting
crowns and feathers, and maybe flowers in future?
Yes, indeed even flames can be inserted into the little attachment holes on the sides of the hair, with an interesting result.
There are plenty of pictures comparing the size of the Friends
mini-dolls to regular minifigs, but I thought I'd compare my own sig-fig
(Pandora) with Olivia. As you can see, Olivia is a little taller (and a
little slimmer
) and when the hair is swapped over, the result is far from
flattering. The Friends hair is indeed interchangeable with those worn
by our minifigs, but it somehow manages to make Pandora look...
broader. Anyway, it's the wrong colour, so it'll just have to be changed back.
The backs of these figures reveal very few details, except moulded
pockets on Peter’s posterior, and the back of Anna’s slingbacks. If you
look closely, you can see the copyright is for 2009 and is embossed
into the backs of the figures.
You may be wondering why there’s another picture of parts, and you may
even notice that these parts are from the second bag. That’s because
towards the end of building the sitting room, you unexpectedly have to
open the second bag. On embarking on this build thinking it was all
brilliantly organised into separate bags, this did not bode
well. Nevertheless, some of the parts in the second bag are
intriguing. The smoothly curved purple pieces are lovely, and are
present in a good number.
The minibag in the second bag contains a good number of the new flower
and bug moulds. Here you can see you get four each of the three new
types of flower, butterflies and ladybugs. The only minor
disappointment is that they are all red, but hopefully new colours will
become more common too. The new moulds are detailed, and the rose mould
is particularly pretty. I would be overjoyed to see a binful of those
on a pick-a-brick wall!
The sitting room, as one might expect given the parts, is mostly neutral
colours with lime green and pink highlights. This will be a general
theme throughout the house, so stop now if the colour mix gives you a
headache.
I really like the details added by the 1x1 round bricks in columns on
either side of the windows. I’ve shown the room without furniture
because it actually looks like an unfurnished room. I know that sounds
silly, but the 1x2 dark bluish-grey modified grille bricks really do
look like vents, and the white at the top and the bottom looks like
coving and skirting board respectively.
With furniture, like any room, the room looks smaller. There’s a good
view of the plasma television, but as I haven’t applied the sticker, the
family aren’t able to watch the talent show rubbish that was supposed
to be on.
The lovely curved purple pieces make a gorgeous-looking sofa and comfy
chair; I really do think these furniture pieces look stunning. The
scale is appropriate for all the items, and with a fairly simple coffee
table and vase the room is furnished. This was the point in the build
where it really hit home – this house really is
furnished. Properly. Not just sparsely, but fully. It made me excited
to see what was next.
Having forgiven TLG for not having the whole sitting room in bag one,
and having carefully put aside the few unused pieces from bag two
(specifically the new flower and bug moulds), I moved on to bag
three. The main parts are again mostly white, tan, and lime green with
very little pink, but the minibags look very interesting.
Yeah there’s a brightly coloured bagful of small parts, including cherries, but looook! Medium blue cookware! And cupcake moulds, and cutlery! And a spatula!
On spreading out the contents of the minibags you can see just how many
new pieces there are in those little bags. I really don’t think you
have to be female to get excited at the idea of giving your minifigs
utensils with which to eat their dinner. I would be amazed if the
MOCers amongst you didn’t get excited at the prospect of new parts, even
if they are for minifigs to cook and eat with. Can you see it? The
printed milk carton? I wasn’t expecting that. I was not expecting to
see a 1x1 printed brick, and especially not a milk carton and especially
not... well, you’ll see.
The kitchen forms the front doorway to the house, and you can see the
bugs at the front from the bag two minibag. There’s a window next to
the door – both of which are reassuringly Classic Town in nature.
The build follows the same colour scheme as before, and the pink awning
over the front door is all that’s needed to give the impression of a lot
of pink. The lamps outside the front door are a quaint detail, as is
the further pink awning over the window. The left side is bare, and the
technic pins attest to the modular nature of the overall build – that
this will be attached to another “module”.
Inside the kitchen, well, it’s fully furnished! The food processor is
just great. There are no unconventional parts, but I found myself
thinking “why didn’t I think of that?” The numerous kitchen appliances
are dotted about the kitchen surfaces and I really was surprised to see
an electric whisk as a minifig utensil. There’s a much-beloved drawer
unit, and a sink with a plughole.
From this side you can see that there’s a refrigerator, complete with
shelves and salt and pepper pots on top. There’s a modest table whose
surface is covered with plates (complete with a little fruit) and yet
another cupcake. All in all, yet another room crammed.
Here’s a better view of this delightful kitchen furniture. The utensils
are hidden away! There are knives and forks in the drawers; a baking
pan in the oven and the glorious milk carton? It’s hidden away in the
refrigerator! You can also see the food processor better here. It’s
really simple, but works so well. I will grudgingly accept that it is a
little odd to only have a milk carton in the fridge, but, you know
what? Who cares, at least there is something in there, and it’s a
printed 1x1x1 medium blue brick!
Riding the high of the kitchen and associated paraphernalia, we move on
to... Bag four, the contents of which are a little more colourful than
those of its forerunners.
There’s more pink for a start, and a number of smoothly curved blue
pieces, and a little yellow too. There’s a little less lime green, and a
lot more white.
The contents of the minibags are considerably more pink, however there
are some interesting non-pink pieces. The gems are not a new colour in
trans light blue, but there’s a cat! And a handbag! The cat is
cartoonishly cutesy, as is the handbag, but they are still very welcome
additions, and you never know when you might need them. The dark pink
1x1 flower edged plates aren’t new, but there’s an impressive quantity
here. Again the hairbrush has been around for a long time, but it’s
always nice to have one.
The front of the bedroom has a lovely balustrade outside the window, and
the dark pink 1x1 flower edged plates are put to good use to decorate
this. The cutesy cat walks a death-defying tight rope along the
vibrantly pink balustrade, and also serves as external decoration. If
its cutesy look irritates, then it is (like all LEGO pieces) extremely
easily removed.
While the right side has a doorway to connect the bedroom to the other
upstairs room, the left side has a blank wall, but then considering all
the decoration (if I’d put the stickers on) and all the furniture (which
we’ll come to shortly), it’s actually a bit of a relief to see a blank
bit of wall.
Inside the bedroom there is once again a full display of furniture and
decorations. The bed looks great, and I am greatly relieved to see that
TLG eschewed the idea of a pink bedspread and instead made it this
wonderfully bright azure blue. There’s a bedside cabinet with a little
lamp and storage for a dark pink book (yes, a dark pink book!), and the
cutesy handbag sits on the bed.
The other side of the room is kitted out with a dressing table and
stool, complete with filmstar lightbulbs over the mirror (sticker not
applied, sorry) and some scented looking pots and jars. It really does
look like a little girl’s bedroom, and like the other rooms looks full
without being too busy. The double window at the front of the room is a
nice feature, and before placing the bed I wished they had been balcony
doors, however that wouldn’t leave enough space for the furniture.
Here’s a better view of the bedroom furniture, and you can see that
although there’s a unifying colour scheme, that colour scheme isn’t
solely pink. The dressing table includes another working drawer, and
the bedside cabinet is imaginatively realised.
Bag five again contains the requisite amounts of white, tan and lime
green, with little pink, but there are some more interesting pieces here
too. This picture shows the contents of both the main bag and the
minibag too. The trans blue pieces to the far left are most intriguing,
but if you draw your eyes away you can see a good number of medium blue
2x2 tiles, a few pink pieces, including working drawers (yay!), and a
few more of those dark pink 1x1 plates with flower edges. You can also
spot a couple of metallic silver 1x1 round plates.
Put all of this together and you have another room module. The front
looks a little bare as I still haven’t applied any stickers, but there
are stickers to denote flowers to be placed on the side of the house.
Once again the white and lime green 1x1 round bricks are effectively
used as column detailing around the windows, and the majority of the
pink comes from the awning over the windows themselves, and the base
plate.
As you see when we look inside the fully furnished bathroom, that pink
baseplate isn’t really visible. The attractive medium blue tiles,
interspersed with more functional 2x2 white plates, make it really look
like a tiled bathroom. The shower is ingenious, and I just love the use
of the trans light blue garage roller door pieces to form the shower
screen. It, like the rest of the furniture, it instantly recognisable,
and if you so desired “functional” too (by which I mean you could open
the screen doors and place a minifig inside the shower; there is no
plumbing here).
In addition to the wonderfully designed shower, there’s another sink,
similar to the one in the kitchen, and a toilet (every bathroom really
should have one) which manages to look convincingly like a toilet
despite using very few parts, and when we look from the other angle...
... you can see the drawer unit, and what would be a SNOT mirror above
it if I’d applied the mirror sticker. You can also see the doorway that
connects the bathroom to Olivia’s bedroom. At this point one might get
upset that the house has only one bedroom, but I choose to believe that
Olivia’s parent’s bedroom, and indeed the staircase to the upper
floors, are situated in the cutaway part of the house, because really
another bedroom isn’t necessary here and we’ve had to suspend our
pedantry in a number of other LEGO sets without any detriment to the fun
that can be had with them.
A better view of the bathroom furniture. The sink is simple enough, but
having the parts to make it is another matter; those 1x1x1 white corner
panels are not that easily acquired. The pink drawers in the cupboard
are as great as always, and the toilet is a much more modern design than
that featured in the unusual SNOT based alternative build of 6403 Paradise Playground:
Overall, the bathroom furniture, including the great shower design,
lives up to the furnishing in the rest of the house. With four of the
modular rooms built, the house is beginning to take shape.
Bag six is the most pink of all the bags. There are a remarkable number
of dark pink 3x4 slopes, and considering this is the first time we’ve
seen them in this colour, that seems rather generous. The 1x2 medium
blue tiles are attractive, and not that common unless you own multiple
copies of 10185 Green Grocer (in which there are 27). The 1x12x3 white
brick arch is not hugely plentiful in many other sets, even though it’s
been around since 1994 and we must not ignore the glorious trans dark
pink umbrella. It is gloriously pink and casts its pinky shadow over
all the white pieces it shades. Which is great, just as long as you
like pink.
Given that bags one and two made one “module”, it seems fitting that bag
six should pay that back and make two “modules” (although bag 7 will go
one step further making 3 16x8 baseplates worth of detail). The dark
pink 2x3 slopes not-unexpectedly form a roof, complete with a little
chimney and a butterfly on top. It is extremely pink. This is where
the majority of the pink in this set is.
The 1x12x3 white brick arch gives the interior of the roofspace a
charming architectural detail and keeps it from being blocky and square.
The other contents of bag six are used to make a delightful roof
terrace; furnished of course. There’s a swivelly sunlounger, which
isn’t pink but rather tastefully composed of medium blue and lime green,
and the trans dark pink umbrella casts a gentle pink hue over the white
pieces of the ensemble. A further butterfly rests lazily on one of the
balcony’s posts.
I’m relived the new flower pieces are here in red rather than pink, even
though the red somewhat jars with the overwhelming pinkness of the rest
of the terrace. The shape of the flowers is a great new mould, and
they feel more substantial than the old style flower sprues. It still
feels a bit like TLG are trying these new flower moulds out – we’ve been
given four of each one, but they aren’t the only flowers used in this
set, as we’ll see shortly.
Bag seven is the final bag, and it (and its minibags) contains an almost magical array of colours.
There’s even dark red here, albeit in the singular form of a 1x1 round
brick. Note also the white and light pink old-style flower
sprues. There’s even a Fabuland flower (in yellow) and leaf
part. But.. but.. we have new flower moulds now! Why are we still
getting old flower moulds?? Aside from the foliage, there are also a pair of metallic silver 1x2
grille tiles which, while not being particularly rare, are still always
welcome. Of note also is the bright light blue 4x4 round plate, which
is only available in this colour in this set, the printed envelope tile
and the 2x1 tan slope with cutout which is new in tan for 2012. The
technic parts aren’t new, or rare, but they’re here.. in a girls’ set!
The garden is as fully furnished as the rest of the house. The swing
is imaginatively constructed from the technic pieces and I’m so glad TLG
haven’t shied away from including them. Constructing the swing is not
challenging, but it’s a break from the brick on brick building and it
could have been patronisingly omitted. I would expect exactly the same
imaginative construction in a set that wasn’t slathered in purple and
butterflies, so I’m heartened to see it in a set that is. Another
medium blue dish hosts a lonely weiner, and there is an instantly
recognisable lawn mower.The
Fabuland flower has become a large sunflower in a pot, and the 2x2
plate and tile tiling pattern continues, this time in shades of grey.
At the back you can better see that there’s a BBQ here, which reminds me a bit of the CREATOR house 5771 Hillside House and the City house 8403 Family Home. This
version is fairly substantial, with a large grill and hood, and the
medium blue spatula is employed here as a BBQ instrument. The dark red
1x1 round brick has transformed into a ketchup bottle and of all the 1x1
round plates that could have been added to the top of the trans clear
goblet, an orange one is the one that is required by the instructions,
thus making, presumably, carrot juice.
A further little garden area forms the front pathway, again utilising
the grey shaded plate and tile pattern attractively. There are some
more old style flower sprues, and a charming red post box.
The idyllic white picket fence continues, separated by cute gateposts,
and lastly there’s a little vegetable patch for growing carrots –
presumably to make juice out of.
When all the modules are brought together with the figures, there is an incredibly busy set to see.
The Build
The first impression you get from looking at the built set is: “wow,
that really is kinda pink”, but if you look closer, and think about
removing all the pink slopes and pink baseplates (which are not that
many pieces really in a set this size) this could easily be transformed
into... a non-pink house. This isn’t a pink house at all, really, and
actually the pink feels a bit like an afterthought. It’s almost as if
LEGO designed a really cool and detailed house, that looks amazing, and
then someone in marketing said “well, yes, it’s nice, but it’s for girls
so it needs more pink”.
When the garden is put together with the fully constructed house, well
it makes the best house set I’ve built out of LEGO. There are just so
many things going on, and I was thinking about this – these are the
details I love to see in other people’s MOCs. These are the types of
things I look at while browsing the tables at LEGO shows, and often I
look at some fantastic MOC or other and wish that an equally detailed
set was made. And now it is.
Putting the house and garden together, they flow, and they compliment
one another wonderfully. The 4x4 lime green round corner plates join
together to make a flowerbed... that Anna’s decided to mow... And the little pathway bit of garden now looks much bigger.
From the back you can see the garden extends around the side of the
house and you can see how the rooms all fit together. The doorways
between the bedroom and bathroom line up, and the bases for the kitchen
and sitting room extend out beyond the main body of the house. This
really looks like a doll’s house, which is probably
intentional. There’s easy access to all parts of the interior and
although most of the furniture is facing the back, the arrangement
doesn’t look contrived. Thanks to the modular nature of the rooms, if
better access to one is desired then they can easily be separated back
out. Indeed, as the picture on the back of the box suggested, they can
be rearranged into various configurations.
From a different angle there are still new things to spot, such as the
detailing on the back of the comfy chair afforded by the 1x2 dark bluish
grey grille brick. Again, here, you can see that most of the pink
comes from the baseplates, with a little provided by furniture details
like the drawers and sink in the bathroom. There are so many pieces to
fiddle with that the temptation to dive in and play is almost
overwhelming.
Once this grand house is built, there are a remarkable number of pieces
left over. Some, like the cherries, are easily just added into the set,
but I have stuck faithfully to the instructions in order to provide a
true sense of what is “extra”.
Conclusion
I really love this set. I thought I’d like it when I saw the
preliminary pictures, and really thought I’d like it when I picked up
the box in the store. Having built it, I love it. It really isn’t that
girly at all; there’s just a bit of pink here and there.
Design 9/10 The modular nature of the
rooms and the open back of the house gives easy access to all the treats
within. Having it separated out into builds per baseplate allows you
to focus your excitement one room at a time, and the immense number of
parts don’t appear overwhelming. The size of the garden is appropriate
for the size of the house, and the rooms contained within are all you
could really want. The colour scheme is pleasant, and if you find the
pink offensive then it can easily be swapped out as there isn’t really
that much of it. I actually found the lime green to be considerably
more egregious, but it could have been worse. It could have been
orange.
Parts 10/10 There are so many wonderful parts here. I will not stop going on about the milk carton; I want moar of those, definitely. In
addition, there’s the huge amount of kitchen utensils and cookware, and
the new flower and insect moulds. Just so many great parts that I’ve
unconventionally decided to include them in a picture here:
In addition to the fabulous new parts, it should be noted that there’s a
good amount of tan and white pieces here. The tan wall parts may look
simplified, or even juniorised, but this is a big set, and the concept
of placing brick on brick will not be lost on the builder, and the same
pieces are scattered through all sorts of sets over the years – they
have not just been made for and included in this set. If it is
acceptable to use 8 white 1x6x5 panels in 7733 Truck and Forklift, then having 6 in tan in this set is not the end of brick building as we know it
Figures 7/10 I don’t really like the
figures that much; give me a good old fashioned minifig any day, but
really, they could have been so much worse. They are at least almost
the same size as a minifig, and they do at least stand on studs. The
printing detail is great and the cross-compatible hair is very handy,
but I’m still not really excited by them. As has been said by others on
Eurobricks, I’m disappointed that LEGO have abandoned their raceless
yellow colour and made the figures blandly Caucasian; apart from the
freakishly weird orange eyes, that is. Why make figures clearly
intended to be more like “real” people and then give them orange
eyes?? Oh well, the set is great; the figures will be going into a sorting box.
Build 9/10 I had so much fun building
this and I was excited at every turn to move onto the next
part. There’s very little repetition, and all the steps are logical
without being too simple or too fussy. The manner of the instructions
was exactly the same as any other set I’ve built; there was no dumbing
down whatsoever, and yet again TLG have included a small amount of
Technic pieces in an ostensibly girly set. Bravo TLG. Overall, a
thoroughly enjoyable build, and one of my favourites since 5770 Lighthouse Island.
Playability 9/10 With the easy-access
rear of the house, playability is immense with this set. Throw in the
huge amount of furniture and accessories and to my mind it’s the best
doll’s house ever, with the added advantage of being LEGO. Thus when I
no longer want it to be a house, it can be whatever my building ability
will let me change it into, or I can modify it. I may decide that a
bathroom is completely unnecessary, and using my existing LEGO, turn it
into a party room complete with a pool table and a bar. I may also
decide that I want to play with the house and the garden at the same
time and so swizzle the garden plates round the back of the house. All
in all, there are far more aspects of playability in this house than in
many of the CREATOR houses, and a lot of the Town sets.
Price 9/10 I paid £69.99, that is evident
from the price sticker on the bottom of the box. There are 695 pieces,
including a lot of new pieces and pieces in unusual colours. 3368 Space Centre
is exactly the same price (£69.99) and contains 494 pieces, and isn’t
really a set that appeals that much to me – it has some interesting
parts, but nothing I’d get too excited over. So, yes this set is a lot
of money, but comparatively there doesn’t seem to be a huge “Friends”
mark-up. On the contrary I would consider this set decidedly better
value, and considering how much fun it has given me in the short time
I’ve had it, I believe it was worth every penny.
Overall 88%
I look at a lot of MOCs on Eurobricks, including (perhaps particularly)
the buildings and I enjoy seeing new modular buildings people have
created to fit with the now-legendary Grand Emporium and Green Grocer
etc, but some of the most common questions asked in the discussion
threads for these MOCs are “Does it have an interior?” and “Is there any
furniture?”. One of the delights of 8403 Family Home (City House)
was that there was a modicum of furniture provided. There is no such
lack here. This house is fully furnished, and the furniture is
beautifully designed. The detailing is splendid, and it is clear the
designer of this set really thought about what would make a great set
first, and then what would appeal to girls second. Children are
creative and imaginative, and that combined with the piecemeal nature of
this set should provide fertile ground for endless variations with the
pieces available here. If the pink here offends you, it really would
not take much effort to swap it out, and once that is done (and possibly
the handbag is removed) there really isn’t much here that’s all that
girly, although admittedly I haven’t applied the stickers. Everything
else about this set is as LEGO-ey as any other LEGO set I’ve built, and I
certainly don’t just build Paradisa and Fabuland. It should also be
remembered that this set is SYSTEM, and thus completely compatible with
minifigs, who can be swapped in to replace the Friends figures if they
don’t appeal. Whether
you’re a girl or not, this is a great set, with a ton of fantastic
features. In fact it’s so good that I’m very tempted to go out and buy
another one.
), but I also thought bag six looked rather... pink. But we were expecting pink, weren’t we? 
