Review: 42700 Candy & Cupcake Ferris Wheel
Posted by MeganL,
Friends has done a few amusement park subthemes, each with their own twist. This year was definitely more girl-skewed than the others. 42703 Mermaid Roller Coaster Ride was fun but leaned heavily on purple tones, 42702 Spinning Flower and Fairy Teacup Ride looked like it could be part of the botanical collection, and finally, we'll look at 42700 Candy & Cupcake Ferris Wheel, which is very pink. I admit I'm not quite sure of the link between mermaids, flowers, and candy for the amusement park as a whole, but let's take this set for a spin.
Summary
42700 Candy & Cupcake Ferris Wheel, 602 pieces.
£54.99 / $59.99 / €59.99 | 9.1p, 10.0c, 10.0c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »
The third of the amusement park trio completes a very girly subtheme
- Three plushies!
- Fun cupcake cars
- Great candy accents
- Why is Liann in every set?
- Broader amusement park theme unclear
The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.
inside the box there are five numbered bags, two support pieces for the ferris wheel, and instruction book and a sticker sheet, which got a little crumpled on the trip from Denmark.
Minidolls
There are three minidolls in this set, again all from the regular crew. Nova must be cold, as she's wearing a hoodie while the others don't have sleeves at all! I like her high top tennies.
Liann is in this set (again!) - she's been in all three amusement park sets. Does her family own the park? Or considering her house was featured this year, maybe it's just her year? She's wearing the same top as in 42702, but this time is wearing some cool purple pants with raised seems.
Zac finishes the trio making it to the Ferris Wheel today. I love his t-shirt with a koala on it (which I suspect we'll see again), and some fun overalls.
The back printing on the minidolls is fun, too! Of particular note is the Classic Space logo on the back of Nova's hoodie.
Liann is given an alternate expression, which indicates she might not be all that excited about the Ferris Wheel. Either that, or she's discovered just how much money she spent to win the plushie toys at the arcades.
Speaking of which, this is the only set with all three plushies. The new plushie in this set is donut themed, and looks like they're partially eaten!
The completed model
Like the other amusement park sets, this one starts with a side build. There's a kiosk selling all sorts of sweets (Guble Bubble is back!) and is clearly the location of where the Friends from the other sets are getting their mainlines of sugar. A map provides some directions.
Finally, a ring toss game offers the Friends the chance to win any one of the adorable plushies.
The map area also has a spot for the Friends to rest, or maybe some creatures that are just passing through.
(Note: Sloth and axolotl just passing through not included in this set.)
The main build is the Ferris Wheel, which has been suitably festooned with all things sugar. The Ferris wheel cars are (of course) stylised like cupcakes.
The stairway and boarding area of the ride are intricately designed with stepping stones in pink and blue tones. Balloons and oversize candy canes decorate the boarding area. The whole area looks very sweet.
The candy whirls are used to great effect in the spaces between the cars. It's also nice that while there are some Technic pieces used in the set, they're largely hidden from view.
The rear area of the ride isn't quite as nice – unfortunately, the ornate decorations around the boarding area don't go all the way around.
Each of the cupcake cars are identical builds with the exception of colours. There is room in each car for just one Friend.
As with the others, I thought it was worthwhile including a brief video. You'll see that sometimes the cars can tip forward quite a bit. Maybe that explains Liann's alternate expression!
Overall thoughts
This is a well functioning Ferris Wheel. This amusement park subtheme is a great way of introducing motion to younger builders in such a fun way. The adult in me really wonders what mermaids, cupcakes, and flowers have in common to have them all in an amusement park, but I suspect a 7-year old would not have any such questions and would only care that they work well, which they do.
I question the use of the minidoll characters in this subtheme. It used to be that in a subtheme you would meet all of the characters, and in this subtheme you get Liann three times, and Autumn twice. Of the three characters that aren't on the box art any more, two of them have not been included in this subtheme (Paisley and Olly, Zac made it in this set). It would have been pretty straightforward to include those characters, instead of getting three versions of Liann.
I think the value for money is fair. There are some interesting parts (mostly in the pink colour scheme) that aren't found in many other sets. Plus, some of the base colours of the set are pretty neutral, so could be modified to adapt to another colour scheme.
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12 comments on this article
It feels like 70803 Cloud Cuckoo Palace. But with a themepark theme
Does the amusement park need a theme?
Every place-with-rides (seaside piers and temporary fairgrounds) I’ve ever been to had unique themes and visuals for each ride so that doesn’t bother me at all.
This series has been really cute. I love the matching plushies. I agree that the minidoll distribution has been less than ideal, but other than that, I like them a lot.
Sloth and axolotl cameo ftw.
(I expect it makes it easier for a harried parent to track down their wandered off kid if they can be directed straight to “the ferris wheel covered in sweets”, so I feel it has practical applications. Not that I ever inflicted such stress on my parents. Cough.)
Great set, but I REALLY hate how they are cheaping out on printed ducks.
I'm happy to see the sloth team is helping the axolotl escape to it's home. FREEDOM!
Three more plushies to add to my collection. Have to get multiples of each! I have no real idea what I'll do with them all but that's not the point.
I’m not sure why these sets are getting classified as ‘girly’- other than a typical Friends aesthetic the subject matter is pretty universal.
Are those candy swirl dishes the same from the Wonka Ideas set? That's quite a good part reuse.
@sprytose said:
"It feels like 70803 Cloud Cuckoo Palace."
It does though, doesn't it? I thought that too.
@sprytose said:
"It feels like 70803 Cloud Cuckoo Palace. But with a themepark theme
"
That was such a great set. I miss the Lego Movie line. This set would be right at home in a Cloud Cuckoo setup.
@Kynareth said:
"I’m not sure why these sets are getting classified as ‘girly’- other than a typical Friends aesthetic the subject matter is pretty universal."
I'm not sure what comment you're referring to exactly but I'm guessing it might be due to the color scheme.
In the old days, warm, flowery colors like yellow, pink, purple and lavender were associated with spring and the goddess Brigid / Frigg / Frigga (or more broadly, Mother Earth or Mother Nature) returning the torch (or warmth) and resurrecting everything. This is why Earth Day, Mother's Day, Easter and stuff like Nurses Week are all celebrated on or around the spring (or March) equinox. It's also the reason people associate Easter with bunnies, stork (or baby) baskets and brightly colored eggs painted in pastel, flowery colors.
The Easter holiday itself goes way back to ancient Greece, long before Christianity, and was widely celebrated during Celtic and Roman times. This all ultimately serves as the reason some people consider colors like pink, magenta, lavender and purple to be effeminate or girly colors.
There's a lot more history and interesting trivia that ties into all of this but it's kind of irrelevant.
I don't have any real interest in the set as a whole, but I want that Nova figure. I love seeing Classic Space references in Friends.
@sprytose said:
"It feels like 70803 Cloud Cuckoo Palace. But with a themepark theme
"
I was about to say that the amusement park was obviously Cloudcuckooland-themed.
@vizzitor said:"Three more plushies to add to my collection. Have to get multiples of each! I have no real idea what I'll do with them all but that's not the point."
Spoken like a true obsessive collector. Don't take me calling you "obsessive" as an insult. Game recognize game.