July 30, 2017

Review: 41318 Heartlake Hospital




With so many winter sports on the go, it's lucky Heartlake Hospital is nearby to take of all those sprained wrists, bruised egos and broken legs. Lets have a closer look at the standard of service you can expect at the Heartlake Hospital.

This set was provided by the Operations & Community Engagement of The LEGO Group for the purpose of sharing set details with fans.
Opinions provided here solely reflect those of our reviewer. 
Photographs are property of Friends Bricks and are not directed by TLG in any fashion.

The front of the box shows the front of the hospital, and the mini-dolls and baby(!!) featured in the set, as well as a snippet of what’s inside the building. At three levels high, this is among the larger of the Friends buildings.


The box design with the standard purple flanges and ribbon wave across the top indicates that this set belongs to the base theme.  

The back of the box highlights the numerous accessories and play features packed into this set.



July 23, 2017

Review: 41322 Snow Resort Ice Rink




Is the summer heat in Heartlake City getting to you? Do you wish you can play on an ice cold skating rink or listen to music in colder temperatures? Then take a trip to the nearby Friends Snow Resort Ice Rink.

This set was provided by the Operations & Community Engagement of The LEGO Group for the purpose of sharing set details with fans.
Opinions provided here solely reflect those of our reviewer.
Photographs are property of Friends Bricks and are not directed by TLG in any fashion.


This set is scheduled to be released on August 1, 2017 in North America. It's oven toasty hot where I am now and the cool wintery scene on the front of the box sure looks inviting. The five Friends have their new wintery outfit look for this subtheme. I think Andrea might be trying to start a snowball fight.



The back of the box highlights the fun play features and accessories.



Here are the sides of the box with the warning messages, legal text, 1:1 scale Stephanie, etc. It should be noted that this is the European box. The North American box would normally have only English, French and Spanish text.





Let us see what goodies are inside the box. There are 3 numbered bags of parts, 1 instruction booklet, 1 sticker sheet, and 2 loose 6x16 plates with 26 knobs.



The sticker sheet hints at what kind of activities and food are at the Ice Rink. 30 to rent ice skates and 40 for hockey stick and puck may seem kind of pricey.



Here are some pages from the instruction booklet. Detailed step by step instructions are easy to follow.



I like how they have the hot weather and cold weather sets. You can have fun with Friends have fun all year round. There is also an ad for the free LEGO(R) Friends Maker Studio app.





Let's get building. Here are the contents of bag 1:



Inside the smaller bag, we have these parts. This set comes with 3 printed tiles: a map of Snow Resort ski trails and 2 fiver silver coins (which is not enough to rent ice skates according to the stickers sheet).



According to Brickset, these are the new parts that come with this set. The baby bunny (Moka) makes its first appearance in medium dark flesh(medium nougat). New also is 2x2 bow bricks in magenta (bright reddish violet). The 6x16 plate with 26 knobs was last used in 1998 according to BrickLink. It can be useful for building a white Friends version of the 60052 cargo train engine.



We'll build the minidolls first. Here is Stephanie. She is sporting a new aqua skirt, currently only found in this set. Her top is also worn by Amy in the 41323 Snow Resort Chalet set. Her boots are nicely coordinated with her hair.



Next we have Nate. His new torso top is currently only found in this set. His legs are also used in Snow Resort Ski Lift by Mia.



After finishing bag 1, this is what we have. Using the 6x16 plates to make the smooth ice rink is pretty clever without having a baseplate and many tile pieces to put on.



Time for quick hot chocolate break before we go onto bag 2. Which trail is the bunny slope trail on the map?



Here are the contents of bag 2. We get to play jazzy saxophone.



Inside the smaller bag, we get to eat pretezel and carrot.



Completing bag 2 brings us to this point with the skating lodge. Bunny has a round sled to slide down from his house. The carrot is huge compared to him. He won't be hungry for a while.



Finally we are onto bag 3. We get some nice dark blue tiles.



Contents of the smaller bag.



Finishing bag 3, we have completed the skating lodge.



Let's celebrate with some music and drinks.



The stage spins. You spin me round, round...



Some details of the skate rental and food booths.





Nate is working the pretezel booth. Stephanie wants to buy a warm pretezel. You can see a full view of the back side of the skating lodge that is not shown on the box and marketing material.



These are the extra pieces.



LEGO must have had Canada in mind for Ice Rink. Hockey is Canada's favorite national sport. Anyone want to play some 2 on 2 hockey?




Thanks for reading and skating with us.

Note: All exclusive parts mentioned in the colours noted were applicable at the time this review was posted. Parts may be available in other colours and sets after the post of this review. Brickset and BrickLink were used to verify this information.

July 11, 2017

Review: 41319 Snow Resort Hot Chocolate Van



Are you in a mood for some hot treats after playing in the snow all afternoon? 
Then let’s go to the Hot Chocolate Van where Mia will serve you a big mug of tasty hot chocolate with some whipped cream on top! 


This set was provided by the Operations & Community Engagement of The LEGO Group for the purpose of sharing set details with fans.
Opinions provided here solely reflect those of our reviewer. 
Photographs are property of Friends Bricks and are not directed by TLG in any fashion.


This set is expected to be released in my area on August 1st, but as you can see from the box design, winter fun has already begun in Heartlake City! 

The familiar box design got the new wintery look for the Snow Resort sub-theme! 


There is frost here, icicles there, and snow everywhere on the front of the box!! 

The five Friends got a fresh new look in their winter outfit! And their background is decorated with pretty snowflakes. 


So, the Friends are at this Snow Resort this year…

Do you think they had to travel far to get there? 

The answer is “No”.

The resort is actually right outside Heartlake City! 


Do you recognize those three familiar buildings in the center of Heartlake City?