Review: 41305 Emma's Photo Studio

We know that Emma loves all things fashion and design, so it's no surprise she is also into photography. Let's see how Emma's Photo Studio stacks up!

This set was provided by the AFOL Relations & Programs team (AR&P) 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 Emma's Photo Studio located in a building with large windows that let in lots of natural light. 



The set box carries the familiar purple flanges on the sides and ribbon wave across the top, indicating that this set belong to the base theme and not a sub-theme. 

The back of the box highlights the three main playing features - the grooming station, the backdrop and the printer. It also shows the small sets for the other four Friends, which I don't recall seeing on set boxes previously.



The sides of the box show the usual warnings in various languages.

   

Inside the box is an instruction booklet, sticker sheet, two un-numbered parts bags and a loose 1x5x6 panel in Lavender.



The cover of the instruction booklet features the main image from the front cover of the set box.



The inside cover suggests sorting the pieces to make it less confusing. With only 96 pieces, I think we can safely skip this step!

A random page from the instructions show that they are easy to follow and clearly laid out.



There were a few interesting things to note about the instruction booklet:

• There were a couple of pages dedicated to the Friends’ 'hearts'.
• Cute little Emma shouting "WIN" was on the fourth last page, not the back cover.
• There were activity pages for each of the Friends.

These hearts seem to be a new thing as I don't recall them being featured in the last wave of sets. The set description refers to it as a best friend charm.



Worked out well that Emma has a purple heart, as that is my favourite colour!



     

Let’s take a closer look at the parts:



The first things that caught my eye were the 2x3 flat tile in White and the Black 1x1 plate with handle. Neither of these are unique to this set, but I don’t have these parts yet in my collection.

There is actually a long list o parts that appear to be unique to this set, despite it being a smaller set:

• Yellowish-Green semi-circle plate.
• Medium Blue cat named Chico. More on him(?) shortly.
• Dark Blue umbrella.
• Medium Dark Flesh bucket.
• Dark Purple 2x3 plate with hole.

The build starts with Emma and her best friend charm:



Emma is wearing the same Medium Violet top as she had on for the Emma’s House (41095) set. She also has on a Dark Blue ruffled skirt and Medium Lavender sandals combination that is popular in Heartlake City.

Chico, a Medium Blue cat that is unique to this set, and his box of food are up next:



There are other sitting cats with the same overall shape, but Chico is quite unique in his colour and markings. He also appears to be the only land animal that is Medium Blue.

Chico is followed by the camera and lighting:



It is interesting that the camera is mounted on a single pole, rather than a tripod. Mind you, it’s probably a bit more sturdy this way. Also, looks like Emma’s camera is much better than the one that I am using for this review.

There is a also a beauty / grooming station with hair brush, accessories and perfume bottle.



Emma has a state of the art printer for printing glorious hard copies of the photos she has taken.



The 2x3 White tile is the ‘tray’ sticking out of the bottom of the printer. This is interesting because there was no need for a 2x3 tile. The same look could have been achieved with a 2x2 tile.

The backdrop is the next build:



The backdrop area has the flows and pot on jumper plates, which means that they can be easily swapped out for other items. A modification I think would be interesting is to allow for the ‘backdrop’ (i.e. the panel) to be easily replaced.

Unfortunately, the colour is a little different on screen, but the Yellowish-Green is a really pretty colour. It goes nicely with the Lavender.

That was the last thing to be build, leaving us with these parts as spares:



I see at least another perfume bottle and accessory for the grooming / beauty station is this collection of spare parts. 

Let’s take a look at the set as a whole:



Overall, this is a great little set for its size. The range of submodes make for an interesting build as well as a range of play options.

Thanks for reading! C&C welcome.

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. BrickLink and BrickSet were use to verify this information.