Review: 40120 Valentine's Day Dinner
Posted by Huw,
Valentine's Day is less than three weeks away so now would be a good time to snap up the first of this year's seasonal sets, 40120 Valentine's Day Dinner, before it's sold out because not only is it a great set, but it's full of rare pieces too.
Last year's five seasonal sets were cute animals designed my Mel Caddick. This year's sets are 8x8 vignettes which once again have been designed by Mel.
This set contains 114-pieces and weighs in at £8.49 / $9.99. There's not much to say about the build because the entire model can be appreciated in the next couple of pictures but it's worth pointing out the uncommon parts:
- Sand blue 1x2 bricks with groove (8).
- Sand green 1x2 profile bricks (7). These appear in just two other sets in very small quantities.
- Cool yellow 1x2x3 inverted slopes.
- Cool yellow 1x1 plates (4), other than in this set they are used only on pink Unikitty's back leg.
- Dark red fez, used for lampshades.
- Pink 1x1 cup-cakes.
You can see the entire inventory here.
The only thing I can find fault with is that for some unknown reason the sand green profile bricks have been overlapped and 1x1s used at the ends of the second row. Of course this makes the wall stronger, although arguably it's not necessary to make it so, but it spoils the effect of the pattern somewhat.
As this piece is like rocking horse droppings, it's not easy to replace the 1x1s with one from your spares. I certainly don't have any.
The minifigures are suitably attired for the occasion, the gent in a blue pin-striped suit and the lady in a fetching purple trouser suit. The female hair piece is uncommon in dark brown.
He should have had a proper shave, though...
Here's the completed model with the couple enjoying their cup-cakes washed down with wine. As I said when this set was first revealed, it appears to be breaking one of the LEGO guidelines for acceptability; that of 'alcohol in a present day situation'.
Also included in the set is a small gift box into which the 'one ring', first seen in Lord of the Rings sets, can fit.
The ring is somewhat large for the lady's fingers but given she doesn't actually have any, perhaps in LEGOLAND bracelets are used to signify marriage and engagement instead :-)
Overall then, it's a nice little vignette packed with some great details and rare parts which Mel seems to have gone out of her way to include. So, thank you Mel!
Grab it while you can: I see it's out of stock in the UK at shop.LEGO.com so you might need to head down to a brand store to get one if you need it before the day itself. If you are planning oin proposing using this set, do let us know!
We have already seen what the Easter vignette looks like thanks to a picture at the back of the instructions of this one and I look forward to discovering what delights Mel has in store for us in the others.
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32 comments on this article
3 rings in the set!!! Gollum will be jealous...
This vignette is just lovely. Perfect for Valentines and much more expressive than the typical holiday "creature." It does promote the holiday mood quite ell. P,ease keep this format for future holiday sets like the Easter one shown in this set Wow!
It is out of stock already?
Available 11th Feb ???
Do they really think they can ship them all out before the 14th???
Or is this another fancy way of saying "We have no stock."
Well after the Sale that was no Sale debacle I will not bother ordering any.
A nice idea for the Halloween one could be the front door of a house with trick-or-treaters stopping by. I'm really liking this year's round of seasonal sets, I can't wait to see the others.
I picked this one up a few weeks ago when I looked up the parts inventory. Those sand green 1x2 are completely hidden on the box art, so you'd never know from just looking.
Let's see if I can nab one :) "The One Ring is going to be my precious"- Palpatine (as I said, he is forming a Museum that also happens to house the six Infinity Gems).
What do you mean, alcohol? That's clearly just fancy mineral water! Yes, mineral water. That sounds plausible. :P
Anyway, this is a lovely vignette! It would be incredible to see a full building done up in this delightful color scheme!
Valentines Day? Not available at the Lego Store until 11 February! And already going for twice the RRP on resale sites (presumably sourced abroad)! Pull your finger out, Lego UK, this is turning into farce.
I like the sophistication of the small vignette, but I couldn't believe the parts selection when I started the build. Sand green and sand blue!! A brilliant little set.
Am I the only person wishing/surprised that the One Ring wasn't redone in Green for Green Lantern to hold? In Lego Batman 2 he's holding a big ring like that. =)
*evil laughter* I DO have sand green brick-bricks to replace those 1x1s...
Eh. Aside from the parts, I'm not fond of this set.
I got one a few weeks ago, its still in its box. I really just wanted it for the parts too. It is an interesting collection of colors and pieces. Looking forward to what else they have in store...Would Easter be next?
Ack, even minifigs have the silly days growth of beard look...LOL
"As this piece is like rocking horse droppings..." Um... what?
The bottle being wine is just an assumption; there is no explicit indication of what it represents. With a crystal heart on top, I would very reasonably think it was a perfume bottle.
This is a great little vignette. Picked it up on Jan 1st, was surprised with all the cool pieces and colors. Can't wait for what's in store for the rest of the year!
@talos the back page of the instructions show an easter vignette, painting eggs. Looks nice, has the CMF paintbrushes and paint tray.
^^^ Maybe an assumption but if you asked 100 people what they thought it was 99 would say wine.
Re: the dark red fez's: some of the pictures have these as plain dark red, but some with vertical white stripes. Which does the set come with?
^ I believe the vertical white stripes you refer to are just reflections in the official images.
@devilhead - seconding your confusion about the "horse droppings" thing.
There were 6 seasonal sets last year, you are forgetting the snowman set!
^^ it must be a British-only saying, then :-)
Like the aforementioned droppings, these parts are rare, hence the expression.
Is 'rare as hen's teeth' any more understandable? :-)
@Lordmoral- Palpatine, infinity stones, the one ring... Is this some kind of build your making? I'd love to see it...
Except every hen has one tooth to escape from it's egg. So not that rare.
Rocking horses do not poop, so very rare, since none exists, unless a carpenter makes some. :)
So these parts are just rare, so far.
TLG can make millions in the future.
Although they are probably rarer than that, because TLG have not made them yet? ever?
Huw, I totally agree with you. I hate the overlapped sand green bricks
Another ploy to get you to buy 2 sets, so there are enough sand green bricks to stack them in alignment. :-)
Nice review... you convinced me. I just bought five! I actually like the set as is, but also like the parts a lot.
The cool colors in this set are really fun to have! Especially for those of us who missed the Harry Potter series that (I think) brought on the whole 'sand green' color bricks and such.
I also prefer the vignettes to last year's animals, much as I enjoyed those at the time.
First a pooping parrot, now rocking horse droppings.
What the s**t is going on here? :D
I really, really love this set. I think I have discovered after the Research Institute that I really love vignette sets in general.
@tamamahm
Yea, for some reason I've really been into smaller sets and vignettes myself and really like the idea of these seasonal sets. Funny enough, though, I wasn't very into the Research Institute, but I think that was because they may have had a little too little going on aside from the dinosaur fossil. A telescope and a cabinet just didn't win me over.
Looks cool. Wouldn't it be interesting if they all combined to make some sort of building?
I almost bought three, but decided two was enough, my sister of all people wanted one.
3450 Statue of Liberty has 115 1x1 sand green bricks and 7194 UCS Yoda has 9 of them!!! 3450 is the best source of sand green pieces if you can get hold of one. Great little set this, going to my local Lego store on Saturday, hopefully pick up this set and the double decker couch.