{"id":16237,"date":"2012-01-12T08:05:59","date_gmt":"2012-01-12T14:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=16237"},"modified":"2012-01-16T04:55:02","modified_gmt":"2012-01-16T10:55:02","slug":"manekochan-review-lego-friends%e2%80%99-olivia%e2%80%99s-tree-house-3065","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=16237","title":{"rendered":"Manekochan Review: LEGO Friends\u2019 Olivia\u2019s Tree House (3065)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Last year, LEGO announced a new line of toys specifically for girls. I had always thought of LEGO as a gender-neutral toy, but was kind of curious. When Friends finally hit our TRU shelves, I decided picked up Olivia’s Tree house and give it a try.<\/p>\n

What really intrigued me about LEGO Friends was all the research they had been putting in to development. They cited that girls like to build differently than boys and were trying to tailor it to that by adding elements of role-playing so that girls can start telling a story as they build instead of after the set is completed. Well, that sold me. They also mentioned some stuff about girls liking prettier colors and more details and accessories. It seems inevitable that anything girl oriented is going to end up with pink on it. I’ve made peace with that just like I’ve made peace with all the horse-themed items. The reason I chose the tree house was because it was more of a neutral toy than the others. Being a girl, I was a bit disappointed that there weren’t more enjoyable things for me to choose from. At any rate, feel free to discuss the ongoing debate about the line on the forum or in the comments section.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When we finally found the LEGO Friends sets at our TRU, we debated about getting one. I finally decided on the Tree house (3065) because it was large enough to contain some role-playing elements, but small enough that it wouldn’t break the bank. Add a $5 coupon and we were ready to go. I should point out that, while we picked up our tree house for $17.99, TRU has since raised the price on all these items.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What you’ll notice first about the LEGO Friends sets is the giant wall of purple its display presents to you. There are some nice touches on the boxes– insets to show you some other things the characters can do as well as a close up of the mini-doll you’ll be getting. What I really liked was the bevel on the edge of the box. It’s a completely unnecessary aesthetic touch that only raises the price for consumers, but it does set the box apart a little bit and adds a bit of class. I love that kind of stuff even if it’s silly. The thing your kids may notice is the header full of Olivia and her friends. I didn’t realize it until just a minute ago, but it reminds me of the setups for the Disney Princesses and, in fact, that’s what I thought was on the box when I saw it out of the corner of my eye.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When you first open the box, there are two bags and a booklet for instructions. This was my first disappointment. Granted, I should have thought of this way earlier since LEGOs never talk and there are never any written instructions in the books, but I was very much looking forward to the roleplaying aspect of things so I thought there would be some kind of story there. A quick flip through the book killed that idea. It was just like every other LEGO book I’ve seen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My first task in the book was to build the cat bed, retrieve the cat, and put it on it. I’m going to assume that building this small piece first is what they hope to engage me in \u201crole-playing\u201d with. A point for them, as I am easily plied with cats, but, watching Vault build a tribe of Atlantis crab\/lobster vehicles last night as his first mission, this is no new innovation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The tree house itself is a neat little thing. The deck does feel kind of flimsy and does have a tendency to come up a bit if you pull a mini-fig\/doll off of it too hard. The structure of the tree is really interesting though I do wish they’d come up with some more realistic leaves. There is a treasure box at the base of the tree. This is one of the first few things you build on the main portion of the set. You immediately fill it with treasure and then put a leaf on top of it before you move on to the rest of the tree. You could just as easily build it and then put the treasure in later, but I think putting it in early makes you think about it as you’re building and may have been intended as a role-playing aspect.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There’s a ladder leading up to the tree house and I think the pole they have supporting the deck is a nice touch, though it may also be there for structural reasons. On the railing of the tree house there’s a telescope. This is probably another role-playing element, though, since Olivia is the only one in the set to have a house, I imagine her staring through the telescope at her own bedroom. The railing covers only two sides of the tree house and I kind of wonder why they didn’t include a third rail. Maybe it fell off and they made a bench out of it. On the upper part of the tree there is a plank with a series of footholds on it. This is a makeshift ladder to the crow’s nest. It sits on a hinge so that you can pull it up after your figure. Vault mentioned that this was a really nice touch and that they usually don’t think about things like that.\u00a0 Continue to page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Building this set, I wasn’t particularly struck by anything. It seemed normal, though not as tedius as the ones I’ve attempted (and given up on) in the past. It also didn’t hurt my fingers. That’s a huge factor in giving up on the other sets. The other LEGOs seem determined to destroy my fingers and I usually stop in annoyance after a few minutes of masochism. This set was blissfully free of that. I thought maybe I was just more determined to work through it or maybe those other nights I was just being a baby. Then I got to the birdhouse.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The birdhouse of the set is the last thing that you build. There’s a weird little cross-stick thing that you have to push down through the \u201clog\u201d pieces and it’s difficult to get in there properly so it took a bit of finagling. That was the only problem I had piecing anything together. When I started to build the birdhouse, though, with its stark red and white bricks, there, oh there, was that audible \u201cSNAP!\u201d rather than the tiny click I’d been getting for the entire build. The red and white bricks were the finger punishing little monsters that I remembered and with every loud \u201cSNAP!\u201d they reminded me of why I’d never finished a set before this one.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The cat bed and the (evil) birdhouse are nice little touches but they mostly serve to annoy me as they are so woefully out of scale. There also isn’t much room for them to sit on the base so it’s impossible to keep them all together. It’s kind of like having two mini sets and one big one.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Vault:<\/span>\u00a0 I thought I’d jump in a say a couple of words about what I liked in this set.\u00a0 I was pretty impressed with all the new elements and colors.\u00a0 Sure there’s a lot of pink and purple, but you also get a lighter brown shade that I haven’t seen very often and the tree leaves come in dark and light green.\u00a0 I also really loved the new animal and plant pieces.\u00a0 The cat and bird are a nice touch, but the ladybugs and butterflies are awesome.\u00a0 It’s finally nice to get an insect that’s not a spider or an ant.\u00a0 The three new flowers are a welcome sight too, and fit just as well on the three pronged grass pieces as the old flat flowers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The new minifigure is pretty interesting.\u00a0 She’s just a bit taller than a standard minifig, and her design is very different.\u00a0 What disappointed me the most is how little articulation she has.\u00a0 Her head and arms swivel, an her legs move together on a hinge joint.\u00a0 Her upper and lower torsos are seperate pieces, but they are connected with an oval so they can’t swivel.\u00a0 I also miss having the swivel hands, which usually helps to add personality to the minifigs.<\/p>\n

One thing I really love about the Friends minifig is even though her head is a different shape, it’s still the same diameter as the classic cylindar heads.\u00a0 This means any type of hat or hair piece will be compatible for both lines.\u00a0 I know this will lead to some great hairstyles for the classic figures, but I’m also hoping it brings some traditional LEGO themes into the Friends line. I think it would be a great roleplaying sales point to see the girls dressed in classic Space or Castle clothing, having their own make-believe adventures.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Manekochan:<\/span>\u00a0 Overall, Olivia’s Tree house is a fun set with plenty of little odds and ends (20 various red bugs and flowers come to mind) to keep you building for a short while. It’s a nice piece to have around for your mini-figs, not just your mini-dolls. I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t notice anything different in the method. I was hoping for something a little more drastic but maybe we just need to break out a bigger set to find out.<\/p>\n

-Manekochan & Vault<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year, LEGO announced a new line of toys specifically for girls. I had always thought of LEGO as a gender-neutral toy, but was kind of curious. When Friends finally hit our TRU shelves, I decided picked up Olivia’s Tree house and give it a try.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[126,34,10],"tags":[1323,1321,2577,1322],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/ftreTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-4dT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1750,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=1750","url_meta":{"origin":16237,"position":0},"title":"Vault Review: Lego 10193 – Medieval Market Village","date":"September 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Toys had a different meaning for me when I was a kid. Sure I had He-Man and GI Joes and Super Powers figures, but I didn\u2019t collect them. They were just toys I enjoyed playing with that parents and grandparents bought me. Sometimes I knew who the character was, sometimes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5268,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=5268","url_meta":{"origin":16237,"position":1},"title":"Vault Review: Lego #7789 Lotso\u2019s Dump Truck (Toy Story 3)","date":"May 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the week for Toy Story 3 toys. Don\u2019t believe me? Check your local Toys R Us. Judging from area reports, most TRU\u2019s got their initial shipments of Mattel and Lego toys for this upcoming movie. Sadly for my wallet, I was tempted by both. I have very mixed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lego"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12272,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=12272","url_meta":{"origin":16237,"position":2},"title":"Vault Review: Nanoblock: NBH_010 Neuschwanstein Castle","date":"April 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"If you\u2019re familiar with my reviews you know that I\u2019m a big fan of trying out new toys. I love the stuff Hasbro and Matty make, but I also support the small and independent companies out there who bring much needed originality and freedom to the toy aisles. My newest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11965,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=11965","url_meta":{"origin":16237,"position":3},"title":"Vault Video Review: LEGO Ninjago","date":"March 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"We\u2019re doing something a little bit different today. Since The LEGO Group\u2019s Ninjago is a game based theme, I felt the best way to present it would be with IAT\u2019s very first video review. So check out the ancient art of Spinjitzu in action and tell us what you think\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lego"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29457,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=29457","url_meta":{"origin":16237,"position":4},"title":"Lego #21103 Back to the Future Time Machine (18 Pics)","date":"October 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Film & TV"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31512,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=31512","url_meta":{"origin":16237,"position":5},"title":"Ant-Man Toy Week! LEGO Marvel Ant-Man Final Battle Review","date":"July 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Lego"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16237"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16237"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16252,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16237\/revisions\/16252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}