Review: 41332 Emma's Art Stand

Art in the Park! Emma is setting up her stand to *create* artwork surrounded by nature and her cat Chico!
This set was provided by the AFOL Engagement 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.

Box front: Positioned near Heart Lake, Emma's Art Stand looks lovely in this natural setting, with Heartlake City skyscrapers in the distance.
I love that wooden and metal-railing foot bridge!
The purple flanges showcase the new 2018 graphics, which appear to be Emma's artsy doodles.


Box back: It's good that LEGO has begun adding the box back images to their product pages; we get to see Emma setting up her Art Stand.
Poor Emma ... her face get covered by that ugly "not for sale" sticker on her own set :-(

Review: 41338 Stephanie's Sports Arena

2 Love. Stephanie loves sports. Join her and Vicky at the Sports Arena as they compete for the golden trophy.

This set was provided by the AFOL Engagement 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 box features the new look for 2018. The five Friends have been re-imagined. The solid purple colored flanges now have line art graphics on them. The skyline of Heartlake City has changed and shows a tower crane. There is a soccer field in the background. I wonder if that is a hint to combine this set with Stephanie's Soccer Practice. On the bottom corner are Stephanie and the new Vicky.



The back of the box emphasizes the play features of the set. Gone is the tape sealed flaps for the larger sized boxes. Now to open the box, you have to push to break the tabs and pull. Poor Emma, she got covered by the Not-For-Sale sticker.

Review: 41335 Mia's Tree House

Slide down right on target for a "hand-me-down" Tree House getting a

Friendly "Mia" makeover!

This set was provided by the AFOL Engagement 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 larger Friends boxes still have the lovely flanges and this year they are decorated with fun "artsy" doodle drawings of the various 'icons' of our main 5 Friends. The corner heart-shaped inset of the (new) main characters sets the tone for loads of other Hearts.
Something that seems new for 2018 is that even this large of a box now has push-tabs for opening, instead of the tape. Perhaps it's due to naughty people buying these large sets, being able to slice and replace the tape after swapping out bricks for dried pasta.

The new 2018 Heartlake city skyline is nice. Although not very prominent on this box, it is inside the instructions book. I like the idea of construction cranes being ever-present; as if there's always "building" going on here.


Interaction and play are the focus of the back of the boxes; it's good to see LEGO finally uploading these images to their product pages -- in the past only retailers had them.
At least the "Not for Sale" sticker covering the UPC doesn't cover any Friends faces on this box.


Top of the box is now used for characters and animal features.

Review: 41327 Mia's Bedroom

Bringing her favorite outdoor spots and activities into her bedroom, Mia has a special spot for Twister!

This set was provided by the AFOL Engagement 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 box is non-flanged, yet purple illusions of them are filled with 2018's new "artsy" sketchy graphics on the front.
I really like the ceiling depicted in the drawing of her room.


Back of the box art shows ... oh, wait there's a sticker covering Stephanie and Andrea due to some AFOLs, apparently, selling their support sets. Tsk-tsk.
Skateboarding down that ramp is pretty ambitious. Mia's hair is now bright orange in all the new graphics.


Top of the box shows her pet rabbit, Twister. It's nice to get confirmation of this information on the packaging, rather than hoping the product description copywrite is correct.

Review: 41328 Stephanie's Bedroom

It's a 5:59AM. Time to get up. According to this list, Stephanie and Dash have a busy day ahead.

This set was provided by the AFOL Engagement 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.

For 2018 the box features some new designs. The Friends with their new looks are together in a heart whereas there used to be a ribbon across the box. The new design also has stars, hearts, music notes, paint brushes, gears and a darker shade of purple. The butterfly on the Friends logo has been replaced with a trademark symbol.



The back of the box shows the features of the Stephanie's bedroom and Stephanie.

Friends: Customize Your GO-KART!

 Olivia, Andrea, Emma, Stephanie and Mia are getting ready for the ultimate GO-KART race – and they need your help to create the perfect GO-KART and racing scene for them. In this contest, we invite participants to create a small vignette, sized no larger than 8 x 12 studs, featuring an awesome GO-KART. Of course, all racing scenes must blend into Heartlake City.

Show some racing action for a chance to win the grand prize:

· A collection of 12 upcoming LEGO Friends sets, shipped once they’ve available, valued at $430 USD

· $600 LEGO.com shopping spree

· Trophy designed by a LEGO Friends designer
 
In addition, two runner-up winners will receive four upcoming LEGO Friends racing sets, shipped once they’ve available, valued at $150 USD, and a $200 LEGO.com shopping spree!

For more details on rules and to place your entry, see ReBrick (a LEGO contest site for fans age 13+)

Deadline is May 2, 2018

"Design with Heart" comments from LEGO Friends Designers

LEGO Friends Designers comments on 2018 sets ~ presented with a "Design with Heart" theme.

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5 *new* LEGO Friends Pods!

Each of the 5 main characters get their own pod in 2018 -- due on Shop@Home in March!

Aim for the stars with Olivia!

Open Olivia’s Satellite Pod and show off your scientific side. This portable pod contains an Olivia mini-doll figure, her pet robot Zobo, buildable satellite equipment and assorted accessory elements to inspire exciting LEGO® Friends adventures wherever you go.

Get the party started with Andrea!

Prepare for your next exciting gig with Andrea’s DJ Pod. This portable pod contains an Andrea mini-doll figure, a pet bird figure, buildable DJ equipment and assorted disco accessory elements to inspire lots of LEGO® Friends fun wherever you go.

 Set up photo sessions with Emma!

Open up a world of creativity with Emma’s Photo Studio Pod. This portable pod contains an Emma mini-doll figure, a pet cat figure, buildable photo studio equipment and assorted accessory elements to inspire endless LEGO® Friends fun wherever you go.

 

Explore the natural world with Mia!
Take Mia’s Exploration Pod with you wherever you go. This portable pod contains a Mia mini-doll figure, a pet bunny figure, buildable nature exploration equipment and assorted accessory elements to inspire endless LEGO® Friends role-play adventures.

 

Go swimming with Stephanie!
Make a splash wherever you go with Stephanie’s Pool Pod. This portable pod contains a Stephanie mini-doll figure, a pet dog figure, buildable pool/swimming equipment and assorted accessory elements to inspire lots of LEGO® Friends role-play fun.

All pods front graphics show both the group of 5 Friends and, by way of a lenticular design, each of the individual characters too!  Lenticular brick creations have been popular at fan events for years, so this is a great way to showcase that 3D aspect of LEGO bricks.

Although no cheese bricks were used here :-)

The LEGO Friends Clubhouse Pod was available earlier, apparently only in select markets, namely Germany.  It is packaged in a polybag, rather than a blister pack like the rest of the individual pods.

In the background of this image, there's another sneak peek glimpse of one of the new districts in Heartlake City for 2018!

Review: 41340 Friendship House

The magic of Friendship can turn an old fire station into a Friendship House!

This set was provided by The LEGO Group; Review opinions presented here have not been influenced in any fashion.


Box front - Lovely new Heartlake City background buildings apparently in a new 'district' of the city.


Box back - Shows lots of activity in this newly acquired clubhouse.
This is the first year that images of the box back have been placed onto LEGO's shop site.


Box top - New graphics for 2018 along with new versions of most of the mini-dolls.

Friends Mini-doll versions

Let's decide how we (the FriendsBricks community) want to refer to

Friends Mini-doll character versions from 2012-to-2017 and 2018-to-?:

 _________________

~ Original and 2.0

~ Legacy and ReBoot

~ Retro and Modern

~    ...    ?

_________________

Or, other suggestions?  Post your comment here on
Heartlake Times, or Twitter, or Facebook, or Forum
 

Build your own Flower Building Challenge

Try your hand at bricking a traditional bloom, or imagine a new variety!

-> Use real, authentic Friends bricks and LEGO bricks
-> New creation by you, never posted online before
-> No limit on number of entries
-> Post your images on this Flickr thread, and/or our Forum
-> Deadline is March 31st, so tap into your Flower Power!
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View all the creations for this building challenge!
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