Review: 41424 Jungle Rescue Base

*Red alert* No time to be slow -- there's a tree about to catch fire! Water buckets and spray to the rescue! Get ready for a medic check, and to fly that Zobo Drone for an aerial view too!

Box front is full of activity in the Jungle! The new sub-theme BFF heart inset upper right has Friends in their new jungle attire. We see a mountain in the background, and lower left indicates support for NatGeo Explorers. Three mini-doll cameos are framed in Jungle vines.
This is a big box!


Box back continues with more activity insets, with Olivia garnering the upper right in graphic form with a Zobo Drone!
We also see there are functions for interactive play after we build.


Box top has brick collage and let's us know 41424 will be in the Instructions Plus database. Our 3 mini-dolls with some lush jungle graphics; Olivia is the 1:1 size ratio rep.


Box sides: Scene slice has our precious animal friends going down a slide -- being monitored by Zobo and Olivia; the other side has a cute turtle and brick collage. The flanges have doodle graphics for this sub-theme of exploring, such as compass, map, binoculars, radio and medical supplies.


Box contents: Legoland coupon, Instructions Book, booklet, and stickers wrapped in plastic (yet no cardboard); soft bag of Elephants and plates; one small bag marked 1; and four numbered bags of parts; plus soft bag of plates, slides, stanchion, and elevated track in dark purple.


Stickers: Love the Jungle sub-theme Logo!


The first small bag numbered 1 parts: New color of bright yellow for the 5-petal flowers, and they appear in 10 other 2020 sets.  I love the rounded 1x2 plates in brown -- so useful.


Large Bag 1 parts: New Sloth in the center (so cute), and Andrea's new outfit; and we're back to orange separators. The columns in nougat are somewhat rare, yet appeared in Friends 41313 Heartlake Summer Pool in 2017.


First inner bag of Bag 1 parts: New vibrant coral 5-petal flowers. The coral 1x1 heart tiles are only otherwise in CMF from 2019.


Second inner bag of Bag 1 parts: The 1x4 dark Lilac plates with only 2 studs are nice and very useful.


Andrea is so stylish -- even in jungle khakis -- the high Teal belt with pouch is under a multi-colored jungle printed breast-plate inset. That's topped with a vibrant coral bandana. The back shows the straps come from one shoulder wrapped to a darker tan strap. Very unique! Plus, her belt and small tucks give us those details we love.
Her gold boots laced in dark Lilac are so Andrea!


Our first Sloth -- of course this is a brand new mold for 2020! Ready to hang with its nougat and tan fur -- plus pink feet soles. Dark brown eyes and a slight smile :-)
We prepare a crate of green apple and veggie stalks.


First we build the picnic table for camp. The walkie-talkie gets a coral heart tile as a button. We have pizza and 2 white mugs. I have to admit my heart sank when I realized the cut log tiles are stickers -- not printed. This is a large set, so every element cost must be calculated.
At least the log cut graphic is very beautiful -- because TLG has the best artists!


Then we build the Jungle jeep or ATV with front bush grill, a bottle, fire extinguisher, and stretcher gets put on the back -- only by 2 studs so it's easy to remove for rescues.


Next we build a tree with a mechanism to simulate fire. It's a very clever interactive function.


This page in the instruction booklet demonstrates how it works.


Now we begin with the camp hut. I'm showing it before roof is added so you can see the 3 cots with sleeping bags, and a red alert light on the dresser with drawer. The yellow camp light is perfect. The entire hut is raised a bit -- which is smart for a jungle setting. The roof is actually double -- so we get coverage, yet also a slant for rain to flow off.


Everything we build from Bag 1s, plus spares!


Bag 2 parts: Another new Sloth and more nougat columns.
Two inner bags of parts, plus a bag of aqua medical tools.


First inner bag of parts: The Lime green 2x2 right-side plate with 27-degree angle is rare -- only otherwise in a TLM2 set and Speed Champions. The Lime 3x3 corner plate with 45-degree angle is somewhat rare, only otherwise in 4 other sets.
The Lime (bright yellowish green) Bamboo leaves piece in this color is new for 2020, and in only 3 other sets.


Second inner bag of Bag 2 parts: New Satin trans azure 1x1 round tiles and new in coral 5-petal flowers, as well as new in bright yellow. The light pink are rare, only in 3 other sets. The 1x3 plate with 2 knobs (double jumper) in Nougat are only otherwise in one Star Wars set.


I placed three 4x8 plates to give you an idea of how big Instruction Book #2 is -- with 123 pages! Inside is the pre-2020 style, which is back to an un-named mini-doll showing you should build in a tableon page 1; the progress of building bar along the bottom is gone.
It is beautiful though -- seem like a coffee table book ;-)


Mia has her medical gear and x-ray on a chart for our New Baby Elephant -- already spraying water! Plus, a new parent Elephant -- and our second Sloth.

We've opened the soft parts bags for plates and animals at this point.


Mia has a jungle attire with similar design pattern as a few past tops, with a Nordic pattern in dark azure, dark Lilac and coral as a zipped vest. It's over an olive green shirt and cargo shorts. The vest has back print, and the whole outfit is complete with dark Lilac sneakers with coral ties.
I'm not sure why she doesn't have a Khaki outfit -- she would look good in one.


Now we get busy building a Tree around a Toilet ... ha, yep, it's Friends and they have Bathrooms! Yay for toilet paper and a plunger too!
Porcelain throne in the Jungle folks!


As the tree is getting built, we have a red 1x2 brick helping inside to help guide to to proper placement of plates -- I find this very helpful with all this brown!
The top platform of nougat uses those Nougat double jumpers for the medical supply cabinets we've built separately. This makes them easy to remove for play; otherwise stuck firm to a plate. Love it and will use this technique in the future!

The dark pink tiles for steps really help wit the brown ladder's use.


This tree of the 2 base camp trees is done and you can see the pink privacy shutter for the bathroom. The water between the 2 trees gets a Water Lilly.


The front has it's solar panel, official Jungle Rescue sign, an exam table with IV drip, and both other medical supply cabinets installed.
Plus spare parts.


A closer look at the New Elephants -- Lavender baby and Azure parent.


Bag 3 parts: Grey 1x4 split-level plates (right of broom) for a drone are new to Friends; only otherwise in Star Wars, and a Minion set.


Inner bag of Bag 3 parts: More coral and bright yellow 5-petal flowers that are new colors for 2020, and more drone building parts.


Olivia's jungle outfit has spring yellowish green bandana tied over a strapped leaf pattern top with side heart buttons, a breast pocket, and double belts with a pouch. The sand green, vibrant coral with lime and spring green are a lovely color combo! The back has details of the belts and that there's an under shirt of solid coral. It goes with her sand green skirt and coral sneakers.


She gets busy building her Zobo Drone and controller. That new head piece allows for for many more options for her robot! The head can rotate up-and-down in this design.
I've laid out all the parts it takes for this version of Zobo. Not quite like the box graphic -- yet great to have a drone with personality!


Building the second tree is fun, and is hollow at the base (you could hide an object there). We add the slides, then support stanchion pieces (from a soft bag of parts) in dark brown, which are called 2x2x16 brick with Ø4.85 and are only otherwise in a Jurassic World set.


Front of the second tree's bottom half of the stand, with a broom for cleaning up after elephants. We get one more sticker cut log seat. No moving parts (although you can adjust the palm leaves), as those grey Technic pins hold the support stanchions.


On the back the stanchions with leaves and a spider get attached (of course, there are lots of spiders in jungles). The slopes are a nice way to smooth them out. The support beams are needed, since this tree extends over water too.
This is everything Bag 3 parts builds -- plus spares that Zobo Drone is checking out.


Bag 4 parts: New color for the ladder (lattice 1x4x6 with clips) in dark pink. The tree quarter round with 2 branches are also in Mulan's Training set. As mentioned before, the Lime green palm leaves are new for 2020. More Lime 3x3 plates with 45-degree angle (somewhat rare).
I'm happy to see dark Lilac 4x4 curvy tiles, since we had only one in Emma's Art Cafe, and they will be great for heart boxes.


First inner bag of Bag 4 parts: More yummy Nougat! Those 1x3 with 2 knobs will come in handy -- they make removing the cabinets easy. More new bright yellow 5-petal flowers. It's also nice to get a printed keyboard tile!
Tan robot arms for the Adventurers bridge ;-)


One more vibrant coral heart tile to go with that walkie-talkie, and new 5-petal flowers in that color (new for 2020).


Everything added to make the top level of this tree: We have a siren/loudspeaker with trans red light for alerts. A telescope is in front of the desk with computer and cuppa. Solar panel on slant roof, plus lots of foliage make this fun to build! I love the balcony railings in Lavender and dark Lilac.
Next is connect to other tree and build bridge.


First we connect the 2 tree bases via Lime corner plates to the azure (water) plate. Turtle is ready!
Then we build the step boards and attach to the purple roller-coaster rail section to make a bridge.

At this stage -- if you move the build to another surface -- please pick up with both trees securely, else it stresses the water area.


Now we have a Base camp ready for rescuing Jungle animals!
Whew! It's big -- and I haven't even added back the small tree, hut, picnic table, ATV, or animals yet!
It's good to have that "rope" bridge up high for safety of going between tree platforms, especially if there's danger below at the water.
Plus we have spare parts from bag 4.


Before we create some fun scenes -- let's look at these pages after all instructions are complete: The real-life National Geographic Explorers scenarios depicted here that we re-create with LEGO Friends. Awesome!


One more look at the overall set -- everything you build.  It's not clear who burnt the hot dog on the small camp fire by that tree ... hmmm ...


Andrea checks out the Sloth rescued from the tree fire on the exam table, while Zobo Drone monitors the activity.

I really like the Jungle sub-theme logo -- the heart-shaped leaf with a paw print. I made a jungle heart with pink flora when I first saw the sets where coming this summer.


Olivia climbs back to the top observation deck to check the remote camera trapping images. "Camera trapping" is what conservationists refer to when they set cameras in the wild and later retrieve the memory card, or live feed, to monitor animal activity and population numbers.


Another overview of this big set -- with lots of functions and things that can be moved around.


Mia gets a visitor -- or two -- during meal time.


Using the ATV, Mia drives the Sloth back to a base tree (otherwise it would take too long ;-)


Olivia brought her computer down (because those modules are easy to remove) and wants to compare that Sloth's fur markings with some images they got from a remote camera.

Oh no! That baby Elephant just discovered toilet water!!


Our Friends wave from the Jungle Base rope bridge!  Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Summary:

Welcome to the Jungle! Well, at least the Base camp for Friends Rescue missions. This is a big set, and I recommend taking your time to build it on a nice, flat, solid surface. Enjoy the parts and smell the trumpet flowers along the way ...

Seriously, this set transports you to a jungle daydream and has the builder thinking about the surrounding area of the base camp. What else could be out there? Of course there are other jungle sets that you can add to your layout. For this to be the center, or Base of operations is wonderful.

Even though this is a re-make of the previous Jungle Rescue Base, it's unique and updated enough to merit it's place in Friends history. The newer pieces and final finishing details add something special here.

Trees are one of my favorite things to build, and like most AFOLs, I gain new ideas from these sets. Sure we have Treehouses, yet this set's designs add more functions than just a house in a tree.

As for parts -- the designers have included plenty of classic Friends in styles and colors, yet blended with a bunch of newer parts that have expanding usages for creations. Jungles are big -- let's hope we see beautiful and clever creations by fans soon!


Disclaimer:
This set was provided by 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.

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