Review: 10292 The F•R•I•E•N•D•S Apartments

Eight years before LEGO brought us our favorite mini-doll Friends, an American sitcom was coming to an end. F•R•I•E•N•D•S ran for 10 seasons from 1994 - 2004, and to celebrate their 25th anniversary in 2019, LEGO Ideas released set 21319 Central Perk. 

Today we are building the two iconic apartments where Chandler, Joey, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel, and Ross hung out when they weren't at Central Perk. 

Can you BE more excited?



The light rigs on the corners remind us that we are on a film set, and this set up works really well for a LEGO play set. Inside the apartments, you will find little details highlighting favorite and memorable moments from the TV show. It's these details that will delight fans of the show, but if you've never watched an episode, it's still a great set. 

Review: 41432 Alpaca Mountain Jungle Rescue

The jungle mountain volcano is rumbling. Execute the evacuation plan before the eruption.

Summer 2021 Friends sets

 Forest Waterfall 41677 - 93 pieces - Read our Review

Review: 41440 Heartlake City Bakery

Celebrate spring with a tasty treat from Heartlake City Bakery. We're open for take-out, delivery, or outdoor dining. 

Heartlake City Bakery is a fun, fast build in the 4+ line. The quick build is designed to help young builders get to playing faster, but there's plenty of fun here for kids of all ages. 

Review: 41445 Vet Clinic Ambulance

Get help. Little kitten has fallen down.

Review: 41450 Heartlake City Shopping Mall

It's Friends and Family time at the new Heartlake City Shopping Mall.


Let's take a look behind the scenes of how we build this mall ...

Review: 41442 Vet Clinic Rescue Buggy

Oh no, a powerful gust of wind has blown the tree over, trapping Stephanie's puppy. 

Review: 41446 Heartlake City Vet Clinic

A busy day for Dr. Donna at the Heartlake City Vet Clinic by the Lake!


Meet new Friend - Savannah, who along with her guide dog Goldie, offers training for service and support animals. Having grown up on a ranch outside HLC, she loves horseback riding. Mia is helping her train Bella, as other animal friends pay attention.

Review: 41444 Heartlake City Organic Cafe

Join Mia and her friends as you munch your lunch or slurp a rainbow of flavors outside Heartlake City’s healthy café!

It is so great to see age and gender diversity in Heartlake City! New figures open up new possibilities for role play and I’m pleased to add these to our set of characters. 

The second thing I noticed was the fresh color palette—perfect for the subject matter of fruity drinks and freshly-grown foods. This yellow-orange color is one of my favs from LEGO and it looks great here with hot pink and lime green. It even inspired me to freshen up my backdrop color to match.

Looking at the box front, I can see that our guest characters are named Marcel and Ava. I get the impression they may be a grandfather and granddaughter. They join Mia outside a one-story open-backed eatery. Mia has a pedal-powered vending cart from which she can make fresh juice drinks and she’s holding one out to them. They appear to be in a hedged outdoor location such as Heartlake City Park.

Review: 41443 Olivia's Electric Car

"Road trip!" Olivia and Mia, with their puppy pal, are out adventuring. They pause in their travels to power up with a snack, a stretch, and a car battery recharge.

Here’s a cute set that I expect will be especially popular with families who have (or wish they had) an electric vehicle at home. "Goodbye, Octan!" At first I thought the idea of such a car-charging station was a bit fanciful, but a little research revealed that, indeed, these hybrid solar/wind facilities have been built for years. You can even order a kit to set up your own off-grid power point. So cool! And it feels appropriate that STEM-loving Olivia would make use of this technology for her Earth-friendly EV.


My N. American box was dense and smallish—a perfect size for a Spring holiday gift. It sports the standard Friends branding (no sub-theme). Looking at the pictures, I see we will have: a rolling car, spinning windmill, park setting, an animal figure, and TWO (yay!) minidolls. This set seems a great deal for the suggested price of $15 USD. I wonder if minidolls are getting less expensive to manufacture. There seem to be quite a few dual-figured sets lately in the $10 – $20 range.

41924 DOTS Secret Holder - Review and Rebuild

Can you keep a secret? This kitty can. With endless ways to personalize your design, this fun box will keep your small secrets safe. 

Review: 41433 Party Boat

Let's have some fun in the water with our social bubble. There are a number of options at the rental booth. What should we rent first?

First we build the dark pink flamingo float. It has room for two minidolls plus snacks and drinks. It can be towed by the hitch on its neck. It looks happy to have you on for a ride. At the bottom are the extra pieces in bag #1

Review: 41447 Heartlake City Park

I started building on a snow day, and I'm finishing up this review in the following cold snap, but inside I'm enjoying a perfect spring day at the park with Olivia and Emma.

I am personally biased in favor of this set. That swan boat brings back fond memories of a trip to Japan, but I will try to set aside my bias for this review. I think it will be a fun set to build and play with, so let's go through it together. 

Review: 41692 Vet Clinic Rescue Helicopter

Swoop in to rescue Cinnamon from that not-so-friendly crab! Let's get Mia's baby bunny back to the Lakeside jetty.

First we build this lovely heart-shaped island with Lotus flowers and lapping waves from the waters of Heartlake.

I like the way the azure slopes and aqua tiles are used for that effect.

Review: 41691 Doggy Day Care

Getting dogs to take baths can be tricky ... it seems Emma and Roxy are experts in suggestive rewards!  Welcome to Doggy Day Care!

The tiny star of this set is the new-for-2021 Puppy!  It's mold is in dark nougat with a heart fur marking above one eye and freckles.  Plus, the cutest tail ever!  The play agility tunnel is built first using a section of straight light blue transparent tube that came out last year.

Review: 41448 Heartlake City Movie Theater

 
The new Movie Theater is a nice complement to the shops and restaurants in Heartlake City. It has a retro-classic Cinema style and clever building function to watch actual movies.

It's opening night for "A HLC Story" with new character Amelia and she's ready to give Andrea her autograph.


Let's go inside!

Review: 41449 Andrea's Family House

 

Welcome to Andrea's Family House!  This lively 2-story traditional home in a Heartlake City suburb is a modular style of build.  It has plenty of built-in features and fun techniques.  The beautiful new curvy floor-to-ceiling bay windows of the kitchen continue up to the sitting room upstairs. An arched center displays a star and house number 28.

Since music is Andrea's passion -- which runs in the family -- there is room in the garage for jam sessions.

Let's take a look inside: Pepper is perched above a photo, while checking on Mom in the Sitting Room upstairs.  Her little Sister is reading in their room, while her Dad decides on drum sticks or laundry ...

Stephanie is getting ready for lunch at the swing-out counter, just as Andrea munches a sandwich!

This house consists of three separate modules we build, then attach to make a whole house.

Friends Advent Calendar 2020

 Day 1 - Emma in royal blue pajamas with sleeping moon print, Lavender boots & azure hairbrush.

Friends 2021

 

 

Andrea's Family House 41449

Read our Review

Friends Summer Cubes

LEGO Friends Series #3 Play Cubes - Vacation themed:

 

Andrea's 41410

2020 Friends Advent Calendar

2020 Friends Advent Calendar 41420 - 236 pieces

*Special* Review: Disney 43179 Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse

See ALL the parts and details on Princess Bricks!

Review: 41430 Summer Fun Water Park

It's a Water Park paradise! So much to do here ... water, water everywhere! Who will splash last?


Box front of this large box: Water from the dumping coral shell is falling onto Olivia! Lots of water-shooters, sliding fun going on here!
The Lifeguard stand and small ice cream truck frame the water park, which appears beyond downtown HLC -- perhaps neat Heart Lake.


Box back shows a slight angle of the park's other side and insets of what the mini-dolls can do there. Mason stays busy as Lifeguard and ice cream truck vendor, yet also finds time for fun too!

Review: 41429 Heartlake City Airplane

Stephanie and Olivia are ready to fly the Friendly skies for this Summer's "Vacay with Friends" Adventure!

Are they soon off into the Sunset of the Jungle or on the Beach?!

Box front shows this new airplane on a runway just outside HLC and the hangar's look similar to previous in Heartlake City Airplane Tour.
With standard BFF Heart and flanges, this set has 3 mini-dolls -- including new Ashley - the Pilot. The lower left inset shows some in-flight options.


Box back shows the airplane's main sections come apart for access. It even has overhead luggage compartments. Yet, before boarding -- airport screening is mandatory!

Review: 41422 Panda Jungle Tree House

Set: 41422 Panda Jungle Tree House
Year: 2020
Pieces: 265



Caring for curious baby pandas is a lot of work, but Mia and Olivia are up to the task!



The box front sets the scene for the Panda Jungle Tree House in a forest clearing with a mountain fed stream. The BFF heart insert is consistent with the the other sets in this sub theme, as is the National Geographic Explorers logo on the bottom left. The character insets on the lower right show that Olivia and Mia are included in this set. 



The back of the box shows the pandas enjoying their tree house home and has several insets calling out scenes for imaginative play. Mia is featured on this set in graphical form with a sloth. It's a cute illustration but seems like an odd choice since the sloth is not included in this set. All five friends are illustrated in their jungle rescue clothing on the bottom left corner. Doodles and emojis are scattered throughout the box design.