Review: Jungle Tree Sanctuary #41059

The jungle tree sanctuary, a hidden abode deep into the forest. A place to keep healthy all kinds of wildlife and entertain them too! Scientific Mia can study these animals and plants in the nearby lab and communicate her new discoveries with headquarters.

The FriendsBricks community wishes to thank TLG’s CEE Team for generous support of this set to review and share with fans.

Box Art:



Before even opening the box, I am already over-excited by this new jungle sub-theme. A good opportunity for new wardrobes and a whole new play to be expected.

Box content:



First thing I notice, for this size of a box, there are relatively few stickers. I am happy about that but would still prefer some other alternative, either printed or nothing at all.
I see two long green stems (hoses). I don’t think I’ve seen that before!!
And in the middle of all that brown, the lime coloured pieces really stand out! I am eager to start building!!

Minidoll:


First thing first, let’s check out what Mia is wearing!! Her skirt is not that common, but it’s not new either. Unlike her cool new top! I love the shirt and scarf but wish they hadn’t put the rescue logo on there for future minidoll customization.

Animals and things:


Not just any kind of new animal, but a darling innocent looking lion cub. Mia better approach him now for he may not be so nice in the weeks to come!!


There are three different bags or bag type objects, that’s a lot even for a larger set.
And three other animals, a canary, an orangutan and a turtle. The orangutan also appears in set

#41042 First Aid Jungle Bike, available this summer. (Review coming soon ...)

Parts:

Now for my favorite part when opening any set. What are the new exclusive pieces??



- The coolest of all in my opinion is the huge lime rubbery Vine piece.

- The bright light orange walkie-talkie (utensil radio)

Both of these also appear in a few others of the jungle themed Friends sets this summer.

- Three reddish brown slopes (45 2 x 1 with 2/3 Cutout), that’s always nice.

- The not so new anymore plant grass stems, before only in olive and bright greens, now comes in lime! Way to go, TLG, this is probably one of the coolest pieces that came out in recent years and to offer it in different shades of… make that green is very noble of you!

And finally two classic hoses, 4mm wide (measures about 15.8cm) in… bright green!! Nice!



Here are some other parts that are either pretty new, pretty rare, or simply good to have. I won’t go over them, you can see for yourselves.

The actual build:

Bag number 1:


I don’t like to sort the pieces, but I do keep the inner baggies separate!

We start with the small side laboratory. A simple build that already offers a lot of play! I forgot to mention the utensil sextant, camera and binoculars. Nice accessories to have!
White round tile: I love the insects sticker to study with the microscope!





The trans-yellow cylinder is a Lantern in the small bedroom in back of tree.



We then start building the larger part of the set. The beginning is fairly simple, just adding bricks onto each other. First impression is that this reminds me a lot of set #3065 Olivia’s Tree House. But with an added tropical feel with all that dark brown and lime green mixed together.

Bag number 2:



I am just too excited by the colour scheme and all the greenery going on here!





This second part is a little bit trickier. You need to assemble Technic parts to hold the two «balconies» on each side of the structure. The instructions booklet doesn’t make it very clear for the very top balcony (on the right) how to attach it.
If you’re like me and don’t secure it properly, you’ll have trouble adding the necessary bricks on top of that.

Extra parts:



After we’re finished, here is what we’re left with. A pretty good amount, that we’re used to with the Friends theme, unlike some others, especially licensed themes.

Playability:

There are plenty of different little areas to move all the animals around wich gives onto itself plenty of play time.



The bird house swirls around… Oh, I’m a fool for anything that turns!!



And finally, the best of the best part of this set, that I hadn’t noticed until the very end, is that you can actually slide the monkey down the green stem!! If you’re lucky, he will land right in the purple tank!

This set was not my favorite of the Jungle sub-theme, but having built it, I am anything but disappointed. A really good source of new and interesting pieces and colours and a playability that I didn’t suspect. To make a long story short: highly recommended!!

Bricklink and Brickset were used to verify information regarding new pieces and colours. This information is true as of when writing the review. It may change when new sets come onto the market. __________________
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