Review:41063 Ariel's Undersea Palace
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£49.99
Reviews
Soupperson1
Country: Ireland Age Group: TFOL (Sweet Sixteen) Gender: Female
Joined: 28th December 2011 
№ of Reviews: 43 
№ of Featured reviews: 0
Building Experience: Enough
Today I'm reviewing the set: 41063 Ariel's Undersea Palace. This set is one of the four sets in the 2015 Disney Princess wave. I didnt like last years Disney Princess sets, but I liked this one. Will I like this one too? While reading keep in mind I'm a Disney Princess fan girl, so if the set isn't accurate I won't be a huge fan. I'm going to attempt to be positive in reviews this year though, but no promises ;). Onto the review:
- Theme: Disney Princess
- Pieces: 379
- Mini-doll figures: 2
- Price: $49.99 USD
- Brickipedia / Brickset
The Box
The box is pink like the other Disney Princess sets. The box is the "girl" (curved edges) 40$ box size, so this set has a 10$ price hike. Yay? The box quite nicely displays the set with the characters partying around it. Strangely on the top only Ariel as the scale reference is present. For big sets they usually show the other characters as well on the top, strange. The back of the box shows us the inside of the set and some additional views. Also on the back in the bottom right corner you can see the Princess Club has kicked out Merida. Elsa is clearly boasting she has magic powers by displaying her ice magic and the other characters don't. She also bought a display of her movie's name with her 1 billion +.
The Contents
The contents of the set is two sticker sheets, a warm gold slide (which is exclusive!), a 16x16 medium azur baseplate, a 32x32 medium azur baseplate, two large instruction manuals with about 50 pages each inside, and 3 bags of bricks.
The Build
Bag 1
Parts
The 1x4x4 cool yellow brick with indented pointed window is exclusive here. There's a total of four that can be find throughout the set. The 1x14 brick in brick yellow only appears in one other set. The transparent white with glitter dome piece is only found in one other set too. The bright purple and bright yellowish green and bright purple leaves are new for this year. It's allways nice to get another transparent purple cone with glitter.
The picture to the left is the extra pieces.
Ariel and "not" Sheen
Ariel's mermaid variation appears once again. She has long bright red curly hair with a light purple flower in her hair. She actually wore a similar flower in her hair in the movie! She has medium azur eyes and bright red lips. Her medium lilac seashell bikini top and bright green mermaid tail both look great.
A dolphin also appears who I'm naming not Sheen, as it's "definitely not" the Friends character. I'm sure the designer was told pick another animal for the set so the Friends dolphin was chosen. I would've per faired Milo instead of Sheen as he only appears in one other set.
The treasure grove
What's nice about this set is it includes a side build of Ariel's treasure grove. I think the designer of this theme felt bad about the last disaster attempt of Ariel's treasure grove (view my review of that here). I don't know why they suggest to put "not" Sheen on the grove but oh well maybe she guards it. The treasure grove (thankfully) is grey this time, I don't mind the inclusion of a seaweed entrance. The treasures include a diamond, magnify glass, map, and telescope but still no dingle hopper :( Sadly the grove has a white instead of grey back. Which is odd since the white part has been produced in light stone grey.
The living area
The living area is situated on the 32 by 32 medium azur plate. It has a curved white entrance which has seaweed on it. The glittered lanterns at the end is a nice touch. I like the addition of warm gold circular titles as well. The underwater foliage to the left side is a pretty addition. The doorway makes good use of the cool yellow arch. To the side of it there's a large curved transparent piece on each side which are stickered. Inside there's a perfume table, a transparent purple cone perfume has appeared in every Disney Princess set this year. :/ The make up table includes a mirror sticker, slanted piece with makeup printing, hairbrush and light purple lipstick. I think this would've been the perfect place to feature the bright red lipstick by itself as Ariel wears red lipstick. As you can see that idea was not approved. The additional medium lavender slanted piece with sticker adds a nice touch to the vanity. The left of the room features a medium lavender bed with a cool seahorse sticker on a 2x4 bed. The curved back is a nice addition and makes it look rather comfy. The golden rod with medium green part makes the back more inviting looking. I think the brick yellow bricks on the roof should've been cool yellow as the rest of palace is.
Bag 2
Parts
The longer cool yellow arch is exclusive here. The trapdoor makes it's first appearance in a "girl" set here, in white. The white and bright red swirl 1x1 tile is somewhat rare. Alana's bright purple crown, bright purple tail and her torso are all exclusive. The warm gold large sea shell parts were introduced here, they also make a appearance in Elves.
The picture to the left is the extra pieces.
Alana and Flounder
Alana doesn't really look like Alana in my opinion. Her hair should be tied in a low bun not loose and wavy as it is here. Also she's more of a violet-lilac colour then bright purple. Her eyes at least in the original are blue not green :/ Her accessory is a nicely constructed lollipop, apparently there's an undersea lollipop company.
Flounder is back and is still as adorable as he was before. He's mostly bright yellow besides his medium green eyes and bright blue fins. I love his mould is much it captured his chubbiness perfectly! If only every character in this theme where as accurate as him and Ariel.
Bar and Bedroom
The two sides have been connected together by the long cool yellow arch! There has been some roofing given to the left side which can't decide if it wants to be bright reddish violet, brick yellow or warm gold. The middle area has been given a table and chairs. The bright yellowish green seaweed it sits on strengthens the connection between the two areas. The bright purple seaweed surrounding the dining area is nice too. On the table there's a goblet but they're underwater so what would they drink? More water? Behind the table there's a bar area which has a cake, another goblet and ketchup bottle? The inside of the bar has literally nothing. The bedroom makes more use of the large curved transparent pieces which you also plaster in stickers. As is with before the additional seaweed on the right is a lovely addition. The interior is seriously lacking. It's literally just a bed and lamp stand. The bed is nicely constructed in the sea shells, it's also on a turn table (though it barley turns because of the lamp stand). The lamp is made up of a warm good telescope, transparent yellow cylinder and bright purple flower. Why isn't there two beds? Where does Alana sleep? The ground? I don't understand why houses in most sets only feature one bed.
Bag 3
Parts
The small cool yellow arch snake they're debut here and are remaining exclusive for the year. Sebastian's moulding is also exclusive. The microphone with half of the top gold is also exclusive. The heart pieces appear in transparent blue here which is the second colour they have been produced in, they are also remaining exclusive for the year. The bright yellowish green shaker also is exclusive but there's only one. :( Like as they do in warm gold large the white sea shell parts were introduced here, but they also make an appearance in Elves.
As always the picture to the left is the extra pieces.
Sebastian
It's about time we got him. :P The LEGO group did a fantastic job with everyone's favourite Danish lobster. He is extremely detailed he even has his little feet! I love the fact he can hold items but sadly he falls down whenever he holds something, unless he's on a stud. His accessory is the bright yellowish green shaker, but he's not balanced when holding it. Sebastian is no dought, the best part of this set!
Finished Palace!
The finished palace doesn't look too bad but the colour changes around the model don't blend well, particularly at the back. The palace itself is almost as big as Cinderella's castle so that's a plus.
Anyway what did we build in thus section? The music stand in the top left kinda makes up for a room. The keyboard is a nice build and so is the music sheet stand and microphone holder. I like the use of the smaller seashell and transparent blue hearts at the front. The cool yellow arches with bright reddish violet cones with warm gold unicorn horns also look nice. The centre throne looks nice though it is awkward to squeeze a mini-doll onto it. I tried to put Ariel up right but it seemed impossible! Above it a seashell can be pulled down to reveal the warm gold slide. The archway and roofing above the slide look gorgeous even though with those colour combinations it shouldn't! If you slide down the slide you can fall onto the trapdoor once pulled open, you fall into Ariel's bed. The feature works fine most of the time the figure does land on the bed. In front of the trapdoor there's an open line which looks unfinished. The bright reddish violet archway in front of the trapdoor is nice.
Versus The Little Mermaid
In The Little Mermaid the castle is more of a warm gold then a cool yellow colour. While similar rooms appeared in the tv series (besides the bar) the set seemed to have made up it's own designs. The medium azur base plates to create water is strange as in the movie there was a floor. Like I said before as you can see in the pictures Ariel, Sebastain and Flounder all look accurate and Alana does not.
Conclusion
| Build/Design |    2½ / 5 |
| Playability | 4 / 5 |
| Parts | 4 / 5 |
| Price | 3 / 5 |
| Overall | 3 / 5 |
Overall this is passable, but nothing more. The design vaguely resembles the undersea castle and the hole beside the trap door is annoying. The colour switches between the castle also is annoying. But for a younger builder I guess it fine. Yes all the new colored pieces are nice but why not use them to make the castle's exterior one colour? The set is fun to play with, but there's not enough for the price. The price per piece ratio is laughable usually sets with bad price per pieces introduce new moulds or new characters. This introduces one and a recoloured Ariel to create Alana. Overall I give this 6/10, mainly because I'm disappointed with it. What do you think of this set? Be sure to let me know in the comments?
Who will you invite to your undersea palace?
Anyways, thanks for reading my review! I hope you liked it <3 Soup
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