User blog:BrickfilmNut/My Thoughts on the 2015 Reveals - Part 2
Alright everybody! Part 2 is here! Continuing to go through this alphabetically, we get D through M, which means I'll be reviewing everybody's favourite lines -- the minidoll themes!
Disney Princess - Our New Castle Theme, It Seems
LEGO Disney Princess takes girls across the world on a journey through the amazing scenes and settings from those ditched theme park attractions based on their favourite Disney movies! Disney Princess offers girls the chance to play with minidolls mostly resembling their favourite Disney characters in settings as diverse as the inside of a palace, a palace, another palace, and another bigger palace! Sharing in the adventures of these LEGO princessishes, girls will learn that make-up and snacking have no restr-- uh, I meant, the power of creativity!
Since there are only four of these, I may as well go through each one. I just need to make sure my cynicism levels are high enough for me to survive the task first. I just finished thinking about how SyFy will eventually have to release something legitimately good again once that becomes "ironic", so I think I'm about good.
41060 Sleeping Beauty's Royal Bedroom
The spinning wheel in this one kind of made me laugh. I mean, it made sense, but it's a little dark compared to the other sets in the theme. We don't have Snow White's Fantasy Funeral, or Cinderella's Creative Chore List, or Jasmine's Enchanted Enslavement. Aside from the bed, though, it's the only thing that isn't out of place. I haven't seen the movie since I was like five, but was there a part where she applied make-up using a cartoonishly-fake mirror? I get that her room probably included a window, but it included walls too, didn't it? Why do they assume girls can imagine the walls but not the window when each have the exact same story significance? Augh, so many questions like this. Since when did Aurora get a wand? And what the heck is up with that freaking bunny?! Come on, Disney Princess, trust me, you do not need a rabbit as a selling point for this set. This is not going to be the deciding factor for anyone buying the set, and all it does is make people like myself google "Sleeping Beauty Rabbit" to make sure they're not forgetting some fundamentally important character. Oh, and now she has some snacks? I know how much we all love to store our strawberries and carrots in the same bowls, but why did we have to see it represented in LEGO form? Again, it's been ages since I've watched the film, but surely there's something more relevant to include? *sigh* Overall, though, Aurora doesn't look bad, though not incredibly accurate, and the spinning wheel is recognizable too, though I don't quite get the red flower attached to it. The bed also looks pretty realistic, if not complex, and even the other scenery, though out of place, fits the theme and colourscheme. This is not something I would ever buy, and I'm sure there could be a better way to do this scene (include the prince? or just really dress up the bed?), but for buyers who want to complete their Princess minidoll collection, this'll do what it needs to do, and provide some okay scenery at the same time.
41061 Jasmine's Exotic Palace
Alright, I accidentally read the "x" in the set's name as an "r" the first time I saw it. And then almost each time after that. Hey, come on, it follows the "bedroom" set in all the lists, and I've been PMing with Knight more recently, so it's kind of understandable, really. Alright, let's look at the set... hmm... ah, okay, so this takes place in the scene before Jasmine is taught about the health dangers of tanning beds. What else do we have... I see the lamp, okay, neat, I wonder where Aladdin and the Genie are... huh, they're not in here. In fact, the only other character is this little tiger. Which is kind of funny; I didn't know Rajah had offsprin-- oh, wait.
...
So, as I'm starting to expect is going to be the case for most of this theme, this set makes no sense within the context of the movie. It takes away the main character of the movie Aladdin, um, what was that character's name again... oh, right, ALADDIN!!!!!! But it gives us the lamp? Well, how about the set itself? Well... the "palace" looks pretty small, and pretty worthless, to be honest. Those wall pieces both look fake and (as I expect they're not stickered) will have little use elsewhere. The domes are okay pieces, as I imagine quite a few builders would like to get many of these for MOCs. And actually I can imagine some people finding uses for those tall lavender 1x1 bricks. Still, though, this castle is really, really, really dull. I know this is for younger girls, but the age on the box still says 5-12, and both Friends and nearly all the boys themes offer much better builds for the same age group. This is honestly one of those sets where you know that marketing had a much bigger influence than any sort of creativity or expression on the part of any designers. What else do we get with the set? A fountain, which is kind of useless and literally just a stack of different bricks but hey, at least the movie featured a fountain for one scene. It also probably featured trees, and this does kind of fit the "exotic" theme that the set may as well try and fulfill its name on, so it makes sense, though the chicken leg underneath does not. The stand is okay and does fit into the movie somewhat, though it is in a much different style than anything you'd find in the movie, being all prettied up. And again, the build and pieces are basically nothing. There's a barrel with a snake, which is probably the most realistic-looking thing in this set despite consisting of two pieces, and I guess that the lightsaber is supposed to be an instrument to charm the snake with? Man, we have a lamp, a market stand, and a snake, but none of the respective users of any of these elements. The magic carpet is actually okay, though. I knew what it was right away, it was done in probably the best way that could be asked for, and is probably the most fun thing in the set. And I may as well mention the other last pro of the set and say that I'm glad LEGO did a good job on Jasmine's hairpiece. Still not getting the set, of course.
41062 Elsa's Sparkling Ice Castle
This is the one that'll give LEGO the money to fund their CEO's life-size brick-built castle that I seriously hope anyone in charge of a company like LEGO was always dreaming of. Frozen being the most hyped-up thing on the market recently, this was probably LEGO's most obvious, easiest move in their entire existence as a company, and I imagine a lot of people will want to get their hands on this one. How does the ice palace stand up itself? Well, it's supported by a layer of plates and bricks and-- OWWWCOMEONITWASJUSTAJOKEPUTDOWNTHEPITCHFORKSSSSSSS!
Anna resembles her character counterpart quite well, actually, and Elsa... well, honestly, the hairpiece should have been a lot whiter. Still, it's recognizable enough where people will get the set. Continuing on with the figures, I think these are the first minidolls to ever wear cloaks/capes. Olaf is a bit of a first too, appearing in the set as the first brick-built figure in a minidoll set, so that's kind of neat. I'll admit he has some nice parts, like those brown twigs, and that orange unicorn horn actually makes a much more realistically-sized carrot than what we normally get, which is probably the only piece in this set that I really wish I could see elsewhere. They could have tried harder to give him legs, I feel, but as one of three people on this planet who was not a major fan of this film, I don't really care.
The main build in this set is Elsa's ice palace. The ice palace was many people's favourite part of the film, alongside every single freaking other thing in the film, so I'm sure many will appreciate that it gets a fairly substantial LEGO rendition. As you probably know by now, though, it's far from accurate. There was a staircase, of course... inside the palace. And it was made of ice, while this one looks like it was made of ice and Christmas art. Good gosh, it's like they're trying to oppose the tone of the castle entirely. Elsa didn't receive letters... the whole point is that she was going to keep herself isolated forever and Anna had to find her. She didn't bring a book (there's a book on the top floor), and she sure as freaking heck didn't start making ice cream. I'm fine for taking liberties, but with all this random inclusion of food, I'm starting to think the designer was forced to come up with all four of these sets while hungry. That would both explain the rushed design and overkill food inclusion. Nonetheless, it still will work for playing with, I guess, and it looks like it's a physically solid build. It's nice that they even included the staircase at all, and what's more, in a rare colour. It's not a bad playset, or a terrible design, but it doesn't convey what it's meant to portray. I do like the tree on the side, though. It's nice and stout looking, and the icicle effect looks kind of cool on it. The flowers on the other side make no sense in any way, and are the one thing in this set that could not even be justified by the designer saying they didn't see the film.
Finally, the other builds in the set. There's this snow/ice ramp thingy which is again just a jumble of meaningless parts. The sleigh is kind of nice, though; it's good that they included it when they could have ignored doing so, and the whips on the back give it an interesting, if still really basic, look. The little picnic cloth is kind of amusing and looks okay, and probably most accurately reflects the scene in the movie that it was supposed to convey. A two-second long scene, but whatever, you take what you can get at this point.
41063 Ariel's Undersea Palace
Alright, I'm totally convinced now. LEGO based these sets on designs for Disneyland attractions. This is clearly not actually Ariel's Undersea Palace; this is Ariel's Seafood Palace. We have the piano on top for live musical entertainment. We have the golden slide for the kiddies as they wait for their seahorse chicken fingers or whatever, we've got the food on the lower level. That could be makeup on the left, but considering that you can't apply make-up underwater, I'm going to assume that's the bar and those objects are the drinks. Ugh, and those pillars... would it really have killed LEGO to make them brick-built? They wouldn't have to be detailed; they just need to look like they occupy the same dimension in space and time as the rest of the set. This is what mostly screamed out "Theme Park!!!!" to me; they look just like window decals. Though honestly... that actually makes part of me want to get this and turn it into a legitimate restaurant MOC. The part of me that forgets this costs money, that is. Even then, though, this is probably the most interesting build. The slide should be fun to play with if you're in the target audience, and the red knob on the right indicates a trap door or some other feature, which is hopefully going to be hilarious. The piano environment is nice and compact while still illustrating what it's (wrongly) supposed to be, and its whole shape is actually aesthetically-pleasing, with the attachment of the white shell at the front being interesting as well. The bottom portions of the set are not interesting in terms of build whatsoever, but the right spreading out of the different elements and the right colour choices actually make it look appealing. If they actually did pursue this as a restaurant, it'd be a really cool set, and I would be able to relate to it completely. The little side-build actually does evoke the feeling of the original movie, what with the inclusion of the magnifying glass, the non-glorified rocky storage area, and the fairly realistic-looking surface-world minifig accessories included. In addition to this set being my favourite build of the all the princess ones (not that that's saying much), the pieces are actually pretty interesting, what with the round gold plate for the table-top, an abundance of lilac-coloured branch elements, and trans-purple flowers. Not pieces I have use for, but it's still cool.
The minifigures don't interest me at all, though. We've gotten Ariel in far cheaper, same with Flounder. Her friend isn't that interesting at all either. I still wish Sebastian was that plain red crab from the prelims of the 2014 set with Ariel's near-kiss. I would've made fun of that to no end. The dolphin is a nice inclusion for purchasers too, but nothing we haven't seen before, and it's still that cartoony Friends one. I don't think the target audience will care, though, which LEGO will have to hope about many things in many of these Princess sets.
DUPLO - Moderately Painless
Yeah, I'm going to talk about DUPLO. You wanna know why? I'll say why. DUPLO's getting all of the freaking animals. Seriously, they've gotten safari and zoo animals before, and now they're getting ducks and who knows what else in sets like "Feeding Ducks" and "Wildlife Park". I'm just getting sick of being tantalized by DUPLO. Friends gets some animal moulds that still are system-compatible, but they're nigh-unusable for being so cartoony. The most interesting, realistic animal system has gotten in the last year was a Polar Bear, and before that, it was a Brown Bear. Well, there were the huskies too, but the numbers are still pretty small. Other than this, I won't comment much on DUPLO, since this blog is already going to be crazy long at this rate. That Cars set looks so random, though. I kind of want to give it a hug so it'll maybe feel less lonely and out of place.
Elves
Oh, yay, more minidolls. Elves is a bit better than I expected. It's got some nice new elements in purple, and at least girls get what may sort of be an action theme. Oh, and fantasy fans will get a lot of new elf hairpieces, and with flesh-toned ears too, which should make LoTR fans happy if any of these hairpieces are the right style/colour in other areas (again, didn't save the prelims, so I just remember this one purple hairpiece). Though I respect what it offers, I'm not close to wanting to buy any of these sets. The closest I came was 41071 Aira's Creative Workshop with its new scissor mould and the ruler, but the rest of the set made me forget the meaning of facial hair and meaty food, so I don't think I'll get it. Wouldn't that be a fun walk to the cashier if I did...
So, when do we get our Orc and Dwarf minidolls?
Update: Wow, this theme is a bit better than I expected. There are a lot of trans elements, a fair number of brown twigs, and a lot of purple, which is much better than pink. Even that Workshop set has some pieces that I now realized I need... dang it.
Friends
I hope the Pizzeria contains many of those new pizza prints from Series 12, and it's a really surprising and interesting thing for Friends to explore, actually. The hot air balloon is interesting, but not something that I find necessary getting or anything. What the heck is going on in 41090 Olivia's Garden Pool? Why is a turtle joining Olivia in a heart-shaped minipool? The scissors in the hair salon set make me hopeful I'll get to see them in yet more themes that I may actually want to buy the sets they're included in from. The hair salon also has a pretty creative scissor sign on top. And hey, it's Wyldstyle's hair in yellow, and Kai's hair in the hot air balloon set! That's kind of neat. Unfortunately, that's about all I have to say/care about this wave. More of the same animals, more cars, another house... Actually, the lighthouse is a cool new addition, but even if I remembered the prelims better, I probably wouldn't have much to say about it.
Update: Aw, no new pizza prints. :( And 41086 Vet Ambulance looks strange -- like one of those really old Town sets. I mean, there's the over-tall windshield, the extremely small size of the vehicle, the blocky back, and the lack of much in-between... yikes.
Legends of Chima - "Do you wanna build an army?"
The fire and ice theme continues, this time being released in a time frame that kind of fits for the northern hemisphere. I hated the first fire and ice wave, as none of the mechs looked very plausible or interesting as vehicles, but this wave looks a lot better. The army builders contain a lot of nice translucent blue elements, like that armour, for cheap, as well as some nice weapon accessories. The flags all have plenty of uses outside of Chima, which is more than can be said for a lot of elements of Chima, and though I don't think we need another brick-shooting innovation badly, it's cool to see LEGO explore functionality variety more vigorously. The other sets look pretty nicely designed too. The pheonix flyer has an awesome natural-looking head and overall is probably Chima's most bird-like bird vehicle; the design on this one is brilliant. The Mobile Tiger Base or whatever is pretty cool too. Its shape and weight looks natural, it looks like fun to zoom around, it comes with a lot of functions. In spite of all this, I probably still won't get any of the Chima sets (except maybe the ice bear pack), as the theme's premise just doesn't interest me at all, but these ones are actually neat designs, and I enjoy looking at them.
Mixels - Gotta Build them All!
I've haven't got much beyond the heading. Really, there's not much analysis to be done, and if there is some, I don't have the prelims. From what I remember from the prelims, there aren't that many new elements that are too interesting. It's nice that they still innovate a bit by putting those round eyepieces into the new flower-pot element on one of those fire guys, but if I feel the need to buy more ball joints, I think Series 2 and 3 offer much more interesting and reusable elements.
Conclusion -- Part 2
Well, that's all for part 2! Part 3 can be found here, and if you want to catch up, you can find part 1 at User blog:BrickfilmNut/My Thoughts on the 2015 Reveals - Part 1.
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