Review: 42671 Plant Cafe & Flower Shop
Posted by MeganL,
It doesn't seem like two years since 41757 Botanical Garden! I know there are some who viewed 42669 Beekeepers' House and Flower Garden as a companion set, but while that's a lovely set, I didn't think it was quite a fit. However, I think those who are looking for a companion for 41757 will be quite pleased with 42671 Plant Café & Flower Shop. I think it's the prettiest set in the second wave of the year.
Summary
42671 Plant Café & Flower Shop, 1,138 pieces.
£79.99 / $99.99 / €89.99 | 7.0p/8.8c/7.9c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A beautiful set and a worthy companion to 41757 Botanical Garden
- First minidoll with cleft palate
- Surprisingly sophisticated trolley build
- Detailed facade
- Fantastic use of stickers
- The trolley is fun, but is it necessary?
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Inside the box there are eight numbered bags, two instruction books and a sticker sheet. I love the delicate patterns on the stickers - I think they will look great!
Minidolls and animals
There are four minidolls in this set - three of the regular crew and the plant shop employee. First of all, there's Nugget the cat, who must be a regular at the Plant Café as they're not a pet of any of the listed Friends.
Esma is the plant shop employee, as indicated by the name badge. It makes eminent sense that she's wearing dungarees, though a little surprised she doesn't have longer sleeves. I almost didn't catch this detail until looking through the pictures, but Esma is the first Friends minidoll to have a cleft palate. Kudos to the Friends team for continuing to find ways to celebrate diversity.
The three main Friends are wearing outfits we've seen before. I'm still enamooured with Nova's top with the long sausage dog is pretty cool, I continue to wonder how Olly's sweater stays on one shoulder, and I still think Aliya's top looks like one of my grandmother's crocheted afghans.
The completed model
The first part of the build is a trolley (or streetcar, as the set description calls it). It's appropriately coloured in pastel tones and has (not surprisingly) floral details. It looks very Easter-like to me, which is only reinforced by its destination: Tulip Street.
The top lifts off for easy access. There's a spot at the front of the troller for the operator.
This is a surprisingly complex build for a set targeted at this age group, thanks to the angles at the front and back and the pillars. However I still find the trolley to look a little plain. What's more, I wonder why a streetcar is included in a set about a store.
The main build is the plant café with a shop off to the side. While I like the plant shop and the extra pop of colour that it brings, it looks almost too bright against the muted tones of the café.
On display, I like the café on its own much better.
The front of the café boasts an outdoor table with two chairs to allow patrons to enjoy the café's wares outdoors. I like the details of the awning over the picture window, and the tulips on display on the window sill.
This is such a pretty set I have taken pictures from many different angles. The side of the building has a glassed-in area to show off a taller plant topped with a brightly coloured bloom. From this angle you can also see the details on the roof.
Another shot of the front of the café, this time showing the front door and the ornamentation overhead. Love seeing the butterfly here, and the stickers for the details for the windows over the front door.
The other side of the café features a wisteria tree in full bloom. I like the added stickered detail of the filigree on the window sills.
The back of the plant café looks as delightful as the front, including continuing the green decor inside.
One side of the café is dedicated to a kitchen - or rather, a Heartlake City version of Starbucks. There's a fancy coffee machine to provide the Friends with caffeine. A mobile checkout is on the desk on the other side, as well as an assortment of cookies (including sugar cookies - my favourite!).
The other side, in between more greenery, is set with a teapot and two cups as well as two very cute stools. Ever mindful of the potentially changing weather, an umbrella is on hand to protect the Friends from the rain.
The Friends aren't the only ones who might take refuge from the rain, or are attracted to the tea.
(Note: tea-drinking sloths not included in this set.)
I've taken a lot of pictures that show the stickers in passing, but here's a shot of the roof. The delicate patterns are a perfect match for the atrium. How lovely! I also found this part of the build to be more advanced than I expected for the targeted age for this set.
The last part of the build is a small flower shop that is attached to one side of the café. Unlike the delicate colours of the café, the shop is a bright eye-catching yellow. It does have the same delicate filigree decorations as the café, however.
Bright bouquets of blooms are offered in a box at the front of the shop - shoppers have a choice between daisies and roses, and some tulips. Other plants are on offer on some shelving that wraps around the side of the shop.
The back of the shop isn't all that interesting, but does provide a space for an employee to stand, and has a watering can to care for the plants. Love the details of Nugget's pawprints!
Overall thoughts
I think this is my favourite set of the second wave of the year. The plant café is utterly charming, and I love its delicate and elegant colouring. I think this part of the set would look wonderful with 41737 Botanical Garden (interestingly enough, this set is more expensive than 41737). The Friends look great, and continued kudos to the Friends team for their commitment to diversity and adding a character who has a cleft palate.
The flower shop is a nice touch, though I find the bright yellow colour a little incongruous with the larger café. I like that there is a choice of many flowers (which is to be expected, after all, for a flower shop!).
The part of the set that puzzles me is the trolley. It's a serviceable trolley and has some nice building techniques, but I'm still not sure why a trolley is included in this set. I think the set would have been just as nice without the trolley. That would make for a less expensive set, perhaps at the same price as 41737.
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15 comments on this article
90 Euros, for a small store and a couple of even smaller accessory builds?
Wow.
Sell the superfluous tram as a separate 10 Euro set and the rest becomes good value at 40 Euro RRP. After all, the bulk of the pieces in the set are 1x1s.
Good thing that trolley has the chain separating to conductor from the passengers. You never know what shenanigans those hoodlums in Heartlake City would be up to if they had access to a streetcar.
I'm not target audience for this but clicked on the article out of boredom. Only one thought came to mind- 100 bucks for that little facade!? This must be Star Friends or Friends Wars now.
The cleft palate figure is of course nonsense. These days you can treat this surgically at a very early age and on most patients you only see a tiny scar and a slightly uneven lip. Only very extreme cases would have a visible gap and deformed nose. Outside this the set is pretty nice if a tad expensive. The tram/ cable car is open to debate. The problem I pointed out in my own review is that it wasn't fully carried through to the end. With a tram stop in front of the café and some rails this would make a lot more sense, at least to us continental Europeans where trams are common even in small cities.
I bought it, it is indeed a great set. Friends continues to excel!
It looks much better than the 10362 French Café
I mean, the superfluous tram is the primary reason I’m buying the set
@Mylenium said:
"The cleft palate figure is of course nonsense. These days you can treat this surgically at a very early age and on most patients you only see a tiny scar and a slightly uneven lip. Only very extreme cases would have a visible gap and deformed nose. Outside this the set is pretty nice if a tad expensive. The tram/ cable car is open to debate. The problem I pointed out in my own review is that it wasn't fully carried through to the end. With a tram stop in front of the café and some rails this would make a lot more sense, at least to us continental Europeans where trams are common even in small cities."
I don't think including a cleft palate is "nonsense". For children born today there are definitely more surgical options available than there used to be, but that doesn't mean kids won't ever encounter someone else (including people older than them, or people who for one reason or another lacked access to treatment early on) with that condition. Including characters with features like this doesn't just make kids with those conditions feel "seen", it also helps to normalize them to reduce any stigma for other kids encountering them in real life (an important consideration given negative stereotypes about facial deformities).
It looks so empty for 90 euros, why is it so expensive? Am I missing some special parts or something?
Also, the wisteria should have had a trunk connecting the branches to the ground, it now looks a bit awkward with those branches just growing out of the facade
@Mylenium said:
"The cleft palate figure is of course nonsense. These days you can treat this surgically at a very early age and on most patients you only see a tiny scar and a slightly uneven lip. Only very extreme cases would have a visible gap and deformed nose."
The real nonsense is the comments we made along the way.
@Lyichir said:
" @Mylenium said:
"The cleft palate figure is of course nonsense. These days you can treat this surgically at a very early age and on most patients you only see a tiny scar and a slightly uneven lip. Only very extreme cases would have a visible gap and deformed nose. Outside this the set is pretty nice if a tad expensive. The tram/ cable car is open to debate. The problem I pointed out in my own review is that it wasn't fully carried through to the end. With a tram stop in front of the café and some rails this would make a lot more sense, at least to us continental Europeans where trams are common even in small cities."
I don't think including a cleft palate is "nonsense". For children born today there are definitely more surgical options available than there used to be, but that doesn't mean kids won't ever encounter someone else (including people older than them, or people who for one reason or another lacked access to treatment early on) with that condition. Including characters with features like this doesn't just make kids with those conditions feel "seen", it also helps to normalize them to reduce any stigma for other kids encountering them in real life (an important consideration given negative stereotypes about facial deformities)."
I wouldn't call it nonsense either.
A friend of mine from school has a cleft palate (and an eye deformity). Then again she was never treated differently in class or when we were out and about. Can't speak for the times I wasn't around of course, but she seems happy enough in life. By now she's married and has three children, so there didn't seem to be any ill effects in any way.
When you started talking about the trolley, I thought, "There are going to be sloths riding that thing in a second, aren't there?" Speaking of the trolley, I wonder if the reason it's there is because the designer threw in a side build to hit the price point.
@TheOtherMike said:
"When you started talking about the trolley, I thought, "There are going to be sloths riding that thing in a second, aren't there?" Speaking of the trolley, I wonder if the reason it's there is because the designer threw in a side build to hit the price point."
The sloths!!! Forgot about them. Disregard Heartlake Hodlums, the real bad element is the sloths, hence the trolley chain.
@Mylenium said:
"The cleft palate figure is of course nonsense. These days you can treat this surgically at a very early age and on most patients you only see a tiny scar and a slightly uneven lip. Only very extreme cases would have a visible gap and deformed nose."
Imagine being a whole ass human being and letting a little bit of representation that doesn't affect you, or apply to you, printed on a piece of plastic, be something worth writing a negative comment over.
The trolley looks very Easter-like to me? The tramway is similar to one from Lisbon, Portugal!