Review: 42679 Heartlake City Bunny Hotel
Posted by MeganL,
One of my favourite smaller sets from the last few years was 41742 Cat Hotel. At the time, I remember thinking it was a fun set dedicated to our feline friends. It's taken a few years, but the Friends world has finally given the leporine counterparts their own set, with 42679 Heartlake City Bunny Hotel. Can it be as charming as the Cat Hotel?
Summary
42679 Heartlake City Bunny Hotel, 161 pieces.
£19.99 / $19.99 / €24.99 | 12.4p, 12.4c, 15.5c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
A wallet friendly set giving equal lodging treatment for bunnies
- Two bunnies
- All printed tiles
- Nice carrot themed details
- None
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
Inside the box there are two numbered bags, two instruction books and one 8x16 plate. For the second set in a row, there are no stickers! If I didn't know better (but I do), I'd say this is the start of a trend.
Minidolls and animals
Like most smaller sets, this one comes with two of the regular crew, Leo and Paisley. We haven't seen much of Paisley so far this year, so it's nice to see her again. There's nothing new with her outfit, though Leo is sporting a very eye-catching vest with a zigzag patter on one side over a striped shirt. The combination of patterns is.....a choice.
The patterns are a little more sedate on the back.
As this is a bunny hotel, it will shock absolutely no one to learn that there rabbits included in the set! We have two in the hotel today - Honey and Snowball. While we met Honey in 42689 Heartlake City Friends Club House, this is Snowball's first appearance.
The completed model
There's a charming side build with a bench for the bunnies for them to snack on one of their favourite treats - a carrot cupcake!
The bench is structured so that the bunnies can get right up close and personal with the treat.
The building isn't overly fancy to look at, though I do like the stylised bunny over the door. A ball of yarn and some bunny poop adorn the front walkway. The front door has a special small door especially for the leporine patrons to hop inside.
The inside of the hotel is similarly utilitarian, with a check-in area on one side and a resting area with some snacks and water on the other. I love the little detail of the carrot-shaped rug on the floor.
The bunny beds look very comfy indeed, and I'm sure Honey and Snowball will get their rest.....when there's space.
(Note: resting sloths not included in this set.)
The check-in area also has some snacks for rte bunnies, plus a checklist for checking lagomorphs in and out. Supplies are kept on the wall. Again, it's nice that these are all printed pieces.
Overall thoughts
I think this is another winner for a smaller set. For $20 there are two minidolls, two bunnies, and a very common play theme. I like the little details of the carrot-shaped rug and the bunny sign over the front door.
If you're a fan of lagomorphs, this is a budget-friendly way to acquire some.
54 likes
20 comments on this article
Bit weird that the US and UK prices are the same (well, if you disregard the currency), while the €-price is 25% more. Despite that, and despite the poor ppp, it still doesn't look like terrible value to me. At €20 I would actually think it would be pretty decent for the ammount of stuff, €25 is stretching it a bit.
But apart from that it just seems like a pretty decent set for the intended audience, very good use of a limited number of pieces. Once again all (nice!) prints, is Lego (finally) actually changing for the better? And 7 studs of inside depth, that's better than many much bigger sets....
I predict a lot of silly uses of that printed bunny face tile.
Please excuse but this review, especially its summary, is too much for me. Not that I read every Friends review, but enough to say that it is just about impossible how often I read “cons - none” in them. In this specific case: how about the price in euros? How about the little “amount of stuff” for that price, or the lack of a roof? Neither makes this set or the other examples bad. But it could and in my opinion should be mentioned.
If every set is 9 to 10 out of ten, the reviews are overall closer to an advert than a review. Fortunately, the other reviewers have a different take on the essentials of a review.
15,5cents per piece? No comments.
Great set, I dislike new nore cartoony rabbits, or new friends animals overall.
Probably the first Lego bunny hotel, not sure if such a thing even exits. Not sure how they will sleep with those luminous yellow walls. At least dreams of award winning mega-sized carrots can come true.
Have to echo the negative comments about this review being far too generous with this set.
Two bunnies being a positive? In a set that costs 30 USD, if you use the correct conversion rate.
Almost 20 cents per piece.
The price is beyond absurd.
For what little you get.
I am so glad that my daughters are way beyond LEGO Friends age by now. When they were small, Friends sets were actually very good value for money. These days, Friends has become almost as bad as Star Wars or Harry Potter (which also used to be surprisingly good value for money many years ago).
Having had rabbits as pets from 1991 through 2024, I’m a big fan and think they’re amazing pets and love rabbits…but even I can see this set DOES have some issues and “Cons” should not be “none”.
I’m not a fan of the cartoony rabbits they have, but I’ll still pick this up at some point because I DO like rabbits!
I’ll put my own roof on the place. Also, speaking from experience, there should be A LOT more bunny poop scattered around.
@WizardOfOss said:
"Bit weird that the US and UK prices are the same (well, if you disregard the currency), while the €-price is 25% more. Despite that, and despite the poor ppp, it still doesn't look like terrible value to me. At €20 I would actually think it would be pretty decent for the ammount of stuff, €25 is stretching it a bit.
But apart from that it just seems like a pretty decent set for the intended audience, very good use of a limited number of pieces. Once again all (nice!) prints, is Lego (finally) actually changing for the better? And 7 studs of inside depth, that's better than many much bigger sets...."
I imagine this has been priced so that stores can give 40% discounts to make it look like a good headline deal.
@CCC said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"Bit weird that the US and UK prices are the same (well, if you disregard the currency), while the €-price is 25% more. Despite that, and despite the poor ppp, it still doesn't look like terrible value to me. At €20 I would actually think it would be pretty decent for the ammount of stuff, €25 is stretching it a bit.
But apart from that it just seems like a pretty decent set for the intended audience, very good use of a limited number of pieces. Once again all (nice!) prints, is Lego (finally) actually changing for the better? And 7 studs of inside depth, that's better than many much bigger sets...."
I imagine this has been priced so that stores can give 40% discounts to make it look like a good headline deal."
Hahah, probably that indeed!
Still, while I don't necessarily disagree with the criticisms above, I still don't think this is a bad set, nor that it's terrible value, despite the poor ppp. At least not by Lego standards.
And obviously that "by Lego standards" is key here. I mean, yesterday I built the Mattel Brick Store Honda NSX, 876 pieces, all prints and including some metal parts, for just €35! Okay, yhat was after a 30% discount, but even at RPP, good luck finding a similar deal in the Lego realm....
https://images.brickset.com/news/130349_IMG_7826.JPG
Have we learned nothing from Lady & the Tramp? Don't people know that bunnies breed like...well, bunnies? Are they trying to cause an overpopulation crisis?
Ah, well, at least they're not Tribbles.
Contras;
-Caro, 25 euros (aunque imagino que la puerta es una pieza cara)
-No tiene techo
@WizardOfOss said:
"Bit weird that the US and UK prices are the same (well, if you disregard the currency), while the €-price is 25% more. Despite that, and despite the poor ppp, it still doesn't look like terrible value to me. At €20 I would actually think it would be pretty decent for the ammount of stuff, €25 is stretching it a bit.
But apart from that it just seems like a pretty decent set for the intended audience, very good use of a limited number of pieces. Once again all (nice!) prints, is Lego (finally) actually changing for the better? And 7 studs of inside depth, that's better than many much bigger sets...."
In the US they always show the net price and sales tax is added at the time of purchase (there are different state, county and city sales taxes), while in the EU the prices are generally brut prices including VAT.
@DEW3yl said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"Bit weird that the US and UK prices are the same (well, if you disregard the currency), while the €-price is 25% more. Despite that, and despite the poor ppp, it still doesn't look like terrible value to me. At €20 I would actually think it would be pretty decent for the ammount of stuff, €25 is stretching it a bit.
But apart from that it just seems like a pretty decent set for the intended audience, very good use of a limited number of pieces. Once again all (nice!) prints, is Lego (finally) actually changing for the better? And 7 studs of inside depth, that's better than many much bigger sets...."
In the US they always show the net price and sales tax is added at the time of purchase (there are different state, county and city sales taxes), while in the EU the prices are generally brut prices including VAT."
Even so, the US-UK pricing is off here. Very few other LEGO sets have the same numbers for the pricing in GBP and USD.
@CCC said:
" @WizardOfOss said:
"Bit weird that the US and UK prices are the same (well, if you disregard the currency), while the €-price is 25% more. Despite that, and despite the poor ppp, it still doesn't look like terrible value to me. At €20 I would actually think it would be pretty decent for the ammount of stuff, €25 is stretching it a bit.
But apart from that it just seems like a pretty decent set for the intended audience, very good use of a limited number of pieces. Once again all (nice!) prints, is Lego (finally) actually changing for the better? And 7 studs of inside depth, that's better than many much bigger sets...."
I imagine this has been priced so that stores can give 40% discounts to make it look like a good headline deal."
Exactly this -- and everybody falls for it, thinking they're 'smart' waiting for 'a sale'. That's the whole idea. You feel good about getting a set at a discount, and both the retailer and LEGO are laughing all the way to the bank, because they still made the projected amount of money off it. They're laughing even harder if you buy sets on day one for full price.
Some people think sets aren't selling because they go on sale fast, but it's the other way around: they're selling BECAUSE they go on sale fast. LEGO's pricing strategy appears to be working very well for them. These big corporations know exactly what you're willing to pay for a product, otherwise they wouldn't be raking in billions. So, we can all stop complaining about sets being overpriced, and the silly PPP ratio, because almost everything will go on sale eventually -- as intended.
Friends sets are usually excellent but this one seems very low effort and expensive to boot. Love Leo’s shirt however!
@ambr said:
"Probably the first Lego bunny hotel, not sure if such a thing even exits. Not sure how they will sleep with those luminous yellow walls. At least dreams of award winning mega-sized carrots can come true."
The concept is apparently not just Lego Friends whimsy. A quick Google search does provide some listings here in the U.S., though the term “boarding” may be a bit more common than hotel.
@AustinPowers said:
"Have to echo the negative comments about this review being far too generous with this set.
Two bunnies being a positive? In a set that costs 30 USD, if you use the correct conversion rate.
Almost 20 cents per piece.
The price is beyond absurd.
For what little you get.
I am so glad that my daughters are way beyond LEGO Friends age by now. When they were small, Friends sets were actually very good value for money. These days, Friends has become almost as bad as Star Wars or Harry Potter (which also used to be surprisingly good value for money many years ago). "
Where are you getting your numbers from? It's $19.99 and 12.4 cents per piece.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"Have to echo the negative comments about this review being far too generous with this set.
Two bunnies being a positive? In a set that costs 30 USD, if you use the correct conversion rate.
Almost 20 cents per piece.
The price is beyond absurd.
For what little you get.
I am so glad that my daughters are way beyond LEGO Friends age by now. When they were small, Friends sets were actually very good value for money. These days, Friends has become almost as bad as Star Wars or Harry Potter (which also used to be surprisingly good value for money many years ago). "
Where are you getting your numbers from? It's $19.99 and 12.4 cents per piece."
He mentioned "conversion rate", so I'm guessing he means if _we_ bought the set in Germany, paying EUR, converted from USD. Two problems with this line of reasoning. Firstly, he's forgetting to factor in airfare and hotel costs, which will throw PPP more out of whack than international conversion rates. And secondly, local MSRP is never based on international conversion rates between non-Danish markets.
@TheOtherMike said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"Have to echo the negative comments about this review being far too generous with this set.
Two bunnies being a positive? In a set that costs 30 USD, if you use the correct conversion rate.
Almost 20 cents per piece.
The price is beyond absurd.
For what little you get.
I am so glad that my daughters are way beyond LEGO Friends age by now. When they were small, Friends sets were actually very good value for money. These days, Friends has become almost as bad as Star Wars or Harry Potter (which also used to be surprisingly good value for money many years ago). "
Where are you getting your numbers from? It's $19.99 and 12.4 cents per piece."
The RRP is 25 Euro, which equates to a little over 30 USD, or 50% more expensive! Even factoring in VAT that's a crazy markup.
Yes, it is cheaper in the US, but that doesn't apply to people over here.