Review: 41106 Pop Star Tour Bus

 

Introducing the largest vehicle the streets of Heartlake City have ever welcomed: Pop Star Tour Bus! What you see is VIP luxury on wheels! It can conveniently turn into a mini-concert stage on the go, so wherever Livi finds herself on this bus, that’s where the best show in town is going to be!

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

Box Art: Front

What immediately drew my attention was the suggested age range of 8-12, appearing for the first time in LEGO Friends. It shows that this set requires more complex building techniques than any previous Friends sets, typically marked ages 5-12, 6-12 or 7-12. The only other Friends set for ages 8-12 is 41101 Heartlake Grand Hotel.

Box Art: Back

Here's what's inside the box:

4 Bags and…


2 Booklets, 1 Sticker Sheet, & 1 6x16 plate. There are 681 (plus extra) pieces in this set.

Contents of Bag 1

Bag 1 contains two bags for smaller pieces. I call them bag 1-A and bag 1-B.

bag 1-A

bag 1-B

In Bag 1, we are meeting two of the three characters in the set.


Here’s Mia in her lovely outfit. She looks like a star herself in this brand new navy blue sleeveless hoodie vest with gold accents! This rare top is also used in 41107 Pop Star Limousine.


And this is Livi, appearing for the second time in our reviews! While this version of her does not offer any exclusive parts, it’s nice to have the special guest character nonetheless. This cute torso is also found in 41104 Pop Star Dressing Room, and the legs in the silver skirt in 41105 Pop Star Show Stage.

As usual, we start off with supplemental builds.


Outdoor furniture will help the girls relax in the sun. The DJ booth and the stereo speakers are also provided for a casual gig at the Tour Bus!



Now onto the main build: the Tour Bus!

The remaining parts from Bag 1 leads us to the end of booklet 1. Here’s what we get after completing Building Step 18:

At the early stage of a big build, it may be hard to know what it is that you are building.

This is what the completed content of Bag 1 looks like:

Extra Pieces in Bag 1

Now let’s open the next bag!

Contents of Bag 2

As usual, smaller pieces are bagged separately.

bag 2-A

bag 2-B

Stephanie is also found in Bag 2.

Her cool one-shoulder top is exclusive to this set at the moment.

With Bag 2, we are turning the unidentifiable object from earlier into something that looks slightly more like a vehicle. We have now reached Step 24:


Then we’re setting it aside to work on a separate part, which looks like this:

LEGO Friends meets LEGO Technic! It is the extendable floor that can slide in and out.

TA-DA!!!

Now the set is halfway through when we have used all the pieces from Bag 2.

Extra Pieces in Bag 2

What’s next? Bag 3!

Contents of Bag 3

Let’s open those two small bags as well.

bag 3-A

bag 3-B

After laying the floor, we get to install the bathroom fixtures! This is Building Step 37.

The sink could not be any smaller, but I think the bathroom is very nicely designed. There’s even a bathtub in such a tight space!

We are keeping adding on, and here’s what we have towards the end of bag 3:


The bed is big and nice, but it becomes a huge obstacle when trying to get to the bathroom. And once you are at the door, you can’t open it wide enough to get yourself through in the normal state. But don’t worry. This problem will be solved momentarily.


The back door with the big sticker offers some (but not complete) privacy when using the bathroom.


With the back door attached, all parts from Bag 3 are in place! Mia finally got enough space to open the bathroom door thanks to the extendable floor!

Extra Pieces in Bag 3

This is the last big bag to open: Bag 4!

Contents of Bag 4

bag 4-A

bag 4-B

We are adding further details to the bus. The steering wheel is also finally attached!


Gradually, all the four sides have been covered and the roof attached. At Step 79, all six tires are in place and now the Tour Bus is complete.

Left

Left: Extended

Right

Right: Extended

Front 

Back

Extra Pieces in Bag 4

Livi, Mia and Stephanie can’t wait to get on this cool bus and drive around!


People in Heartlake City are amazed by the humongous size of the Tour Bus! Take a look and compare it with the mini-bus from 3185 Summer Riding Camp!


After finding a nice place to park, the three girls sit outside with a cold drink.


That’s when Livi decides she feels like singing with Mia and Stephanie. Livi happened to have brought her guitar for Stephanie to play from 41103 Recording Studio.
The three girls keep singing and dancing until midnight. They need to go to bed now!

But instead, the girls end up having a karaoke party inside the bus! The fun never ends with LEGO Friends.


This set turned out to be more challenging to build than I anticipated, as I was fooled by its overall cute pop star-themed look. Beneath the star decorations and the lovely magenta color hide those technic parts that are not so aesthetically pleasing but essential for the sliding function. Building the Tour Bus involves some complicated steps that may require close attention. The finished product is absolutely gorgeous; it can make a nice display piece. But the enormous size of it can dwarf the small buildings in Heartlake City, and it may not look too proportional if this huge bus is parked right next to the tiny Butterfly Beauty Salon. Having said that, I think it's a cool new addition to the world of LEGO Friends, and it's certainly a set that can be enjoyed on its own, or combined with the other Pop Star sets.

Thanks for reading, and keep building with LEGO Friends!

Maya