April 16, 2022

Review: 41699 Pet Adoption Café


There's a new café in Heartlake City that includes kitty kisses and puppy paws with your coffee and cakes. The Pet Adoption Café allows you to get to know these rescued cats and dogs before making a decision to adopt. Will you find the purrfect pet and give it a furever home? 



This fun play set is designed for ages 6+ and uses basic building techniques. Inside the box are three main bags of parts plus a loose 8 x 16 green plate, a sticker sheet, and a single instruction book. While the build starts with the two small side builds, the main café is split between all three bags of parts. 



Before we start building, here's a quick look at the sticker sheet. I really like the new café logo, and the cute details that the stickers will provide. 



We start the Pet Adoption Café with Priyanka. Priyanka is new to the Friends line for 2022. She has medium brown skin, dark tan eyes, and light nougat lips. Her long black hair is done in a half up half down style and features two mini-buns, three braids, and straight bangs. This is a new, hard plastic hair piece which also gets used for Emma in set 41701 Street Food Market.

Priyanka is wearing a bright pink collared shirt under a white apron. The apron features a dark blue heart with a paw print pattern on the front and crossed apron straps on the back. This exclusive torso also features a name badge clipped to the apron. She is wearing white shorts with rolled up legs and back pockets. Her shoes are yellow with white soles and laces.

Priyanka also appears in set 41718 Pet Day-Care Center with the same head, hair, and legs but with a different torso/shirt.  



Priyanka has found a cute stray kitten, but it needs cleaning up a bit before it comes to the café for adoption. This sand blue kitty with dark pink nose, white muzzle and paws was new last year and has appeared in 3 other sets.



Priyanka uses the café rescue trike to bring the cleaned up kitten back to the café. 

The body of the trike basket uses two new 1 x 1 - 1 x 2 tan brackets. This is a new color for 2022 but is not exclusive to this set. The trike uses the bright light orange frame which was a new color in 2021 and only appears in one other set. It also uses the bright green wheelchair wheels which were new last year and have been used in 3 other sets. 



It's a cute and effective trike for bringing new animals to the café. The café logo is added to the side with a couple of stickers. This provides great advertising while Priyanka is out and about.



Before we begin building the main café, we create little outdoor seating table. 

The dark purple 4 x 4 inverted radar dish is rare as it has only been used in one other set back in 2005. The light aqua cupcake liner is new for 2022, but has already appeared in 5 other sets. 

I like the transparent bases for the table and chairs. The stickers also provide fun details for the chair cushions. 

No, no kitty! Don't eat the cupcake. That's for the customers. 



Now it's time to start the main café building. The Pet Adoption Café has lavender and magenta striped walls with ivy growing on the surface. There is an outdoor water spigot where dog wakers can stop to give their dogs a drink, or Priyanka can fill her tub for pet bath time. 

The far left end of the building features a large window. The magenta door frame was new in 2020 with set 41426 Heartlake City Park Café and has since appeared in just three other sets. I really like getting fun door and window colors. 

The 1 x 1 x 5 lavender brick is a new color for 2022. It is also used in set 41709 Vacation Beach House. 



Inside the café, we have started to build the pet lounge with a chair and cute area rug. There are just a few of the typical extra parts left at the end of bag 1. I found the coral and dark pink flowers are very similar in color in the printed instructions. Fortunately, you just use one of each at this stage of the build so it's fairly easy to figure out. 

You can see all the parts from bag one here



Bag two starts off where bag 1 ended, by continuing to work on the pet lounge. A sticker is used to create a poster feature some of of the pets available for adoption. 

The tan 1 x 2 x 1 half cylinders were new last year. They have been used in four other sets. Our stray kitten wonders if this is a new cat bed?



No. It's a fun cat tree for her to play on. 



Next, we build the other corner where the actual café area is located. It is built as a separate assembly and then added to the end of the 8 x 16 plate. Then we add a coffee maker. It's a simple and effective design. 



After the café kitchen area is done, we build the front counter. The two magenta 2 x 6 double round corner plates are are a new color, and so far exclusive to this set. 



The cash register and silver 5 currency coin were new last year. They are a nice update to the older style cash register and coin. It's nice to get a few more for my collection. 



At the end of bag 2, we have built both ends of the Pet Adoption Café, but the center is wide open. Among the extra parts, are two printed treats and another 5 currency coin. You can see all the parts from bag 2 here.



Bag three starts with Olivia and two dogs. The dark orange dog has been around since 2020 and has appeared in two other sets, while the black Scottie Dog is new for 2022. It also makes an appearance in set 41704 Main Street Building. I love Friends animals. It's always exciting when we get a new pet. 

Olivia gets a new head and hair piece. The light nougat head features her silver glasses and a quirky lopsided smile. This is the first set to use the new facial print. The hair piece is a hard plastic piece with a light yellow knit hat. Her long, dark brown hair poufs out around the tight fitting hat. The torso and legs are not new prints, but they create a super cute outfit that really highlights Olivia's interests. 



Before getting back into the main café build, we make a little sidewalk sign. The sticker lets everyone know there is a new kitten available for adoption. 



Back at the main café, we add the front door, windows, and connect the two sides of the café together. The purple 1 x 4 x 6 door with 6 pane window and pet flat is so far exclusive to this set. I love the pet flap, but it doesn't seem practical for a business. I'm concerned about the pets escaping while Priyanka is making coffee. The 1 x 1 round tile with magenta paw print is fairly new and rare. It was introduced in 2020 and has only been in two other sets. It makes the perfect handle for the café entrance.

The 2 x 12 magenta plate is also not new, but long plates in vibrant colors are always welcome in my collection. This piece has only appeared in 4 other sets since it was first introduced in 2018. We also get two more of the magenta door frames that I mentioned above. Stickers on the windows let us know the café hours and that it is currently open for business.



Bright light orange is used to create a sunny roofline above the stripey café. Several of the roof pieces are fairly rare in bright light orange: 

  • 45° slope 2 x 4 bricks - used in three other sets
  • 3 x 2 curved slopes - new color in 2021 and in only one other set
  • 1 x 1 x 2/3 double curved slopes - new color last year and in only one other set

With the roof in place it's time to build the café sign. 



First we brick build a lovable puppy. The 3 x 3 medium nougat round tile is getting more common. It was introduced in 2020, and has been included in five other sets. 



Then we add a cuddly kitten. The 3 x 3 round tile is new in black. As is the elephant tail/trunk. They are both currently exclusive to this set, but I'm sure we will see more of them in the future. 



Finally we add the Pet Adoption Café logo under the cat and dog paws. The 3 x 3 round tile in dark purple is also new and exclusive to this set. 

I adore the brick built signs that are created in so many Friends sets, and this is no exception. The stickers provide the cute faces, but all the shaping is done with simple brick building. Nothing complicated, yet such a cute way to distinguish this café from the other buildings in town. 



A few final details are added to the interior of the café, including pet food and water bowls and a ball so the dogs can play fetch. The white 1 x 2 tile with envelope print was new last year and has been used in 4 other sets. Here it is placed in a box in the window. I assume it is adoption papers or possibly someone writing to ask about one of the pets. 

Just a few more extra pieces from bag three. All pieces from bag three can be seen here.



The box front no longer has the BFF heart in the upper right corner and focuses on the set. It is shown from the front against a backdrop of Heartlake City. The lower right corner highlights who is included in this set - Olivia and Priyanka. I really appreciate this feature as the Friends cast expands. I don't always know the names of the extended cast. 



The front image wraps around both side bevels and continues past the bevel on the left side. This end shows Priyana and Olivia with one of the puppies and the stray kitten.



The back of the box shows the back/interior of the café surrounded by inset images showing several imaginative play scenes. This set doesn't have any action features, but has plenty of spaces to set up interactions between the mini dolls and pets. Emoji are used for speech bubbles in the inset images which fun. Olivia and Priyanka are shown in the bottom right corner feeding up the stray kitten and holding the letter. 



When I first looked at the top of the box, I was disappointed to see it only showed Olivia as the actual size example and no other images. However, when I flipped the box over - surprise. There are images of all the pets and several of the accessories. It's nice to have images on both the top and bottom of the box. 



Summary:

This was a fun set to build. I'm a big fan of pet cafés and was excited to see one come to Heartlake. It's an interesting twist that takes this set beyond just another café. I think it's a perfect pairing of the city building and pets sets. Plus, it's good to keep Heartlake City up with the current trends in cafés. 

The set is not designed for a shared building experience. Given that it is under 300 pieces, I think that's fine. Not every set needs to be designed for group building. 

It does utilize the build play build design to a limited extent. The two side builds are quick, and allow a younger build to start playing before they begin the main café build. The café build is split in three separate bags of parts, so it could be broken up into shorter building sessions if needed. For an adult, it's a fun, fast build with basic techniques. 

Overall, it provides inspiration for builders seeking new ideas for their custom city MOCs, and some great pieces for any build. The brick built sign is super cute, and I love that Friends sets continue to create them. 

Excuse me while I go see what that kitten is up to. I'm super happy that I don't have to worry about allergies when visiting this pet café. 

Happy Building!
-prrbrix

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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.


1 comment:

Xyra Silverleaf said...

This is adorable! I really want to add this one to my collection!! Thank you for the review.

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