Review: 10581 Ducks
Posted by Huw,
In the survey you asked for more reviews, reviews of different types of sets, reviews of affordable sets, so let's go some way to address these comments with a review of an inexpensive and readily available set from a theme we have not reviewed before.
10581 Ducks is the cheapest of four boxed sets released this year featuring forest animals, coming in at under $10/£10 for 13-pieces.
I bought this set for one thing only, well, two things: the ducks...
As well as the ducks, the set contains one Duplo figure, a boy, the lower half of a cup-cake, a couple of flower/foliage pieces , a 2x2 brick printed with ducks which is unique to this set and a few standard pieces to make a bridge or whatever takes your fancy.
The boy first appeared in 2013 and comes in 9 sets. His head and cap rotate independently; his arms rotate together.
The ducks are super-cute. This is the female Mallard...
...and this is the male.
Mallards will be familiar to most LEGO-buying families because they are found in "temperate and subtropical Americas, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and have been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands and South Africa" according to WIkipedia.
I think the boy would be pretty scared if ducks the same height as him came waddling up looking for bread!
It's a great little set that is perfect for out-of-season gifting. The cup-cake bottom is a bit random but I guess you can put the ducks or the boy in it and float them down the imaginary river.
One thing I would liked to have seen included is a 2x2 brick printed with sliced bread for the boy to throw at the ducks...
As well as the four boxed Forest Animals sets, LEGO has released a polybag, 30217, that contains one of four baby animals. I have three of them (below); I have not yet found the bear.
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I think the cupcake is meant to be the duck's nest
Ah yes, why didn't I think of that!
Even as an adult fan, I can't get over how mind-bogglingly cute Duplo continues to be. This year not only features tons of adorable animal friends, but also features the iconic Duplo rabbit more heavily than I ever remember from my childhood, with him appearing on the front grill and sides of a school bus as well as what is clearly a Lego delivery truck!
No, that's not a nest: it is an empty Reese's peanut butter cup shell!
I don't particularly care for these theme but I like that Huw did the review. Reviews like this could help parents of small kids if they stumble across Brickset.
I never liked Duplo, and never will, but I'll still post a parts summary here for the enjoyment of the readers. :)
The parts are some that Duplo collectors will be after - the "cupcake", named "Cup with Grooves 4x4x1½" only appears in three sets, and is only available in Dark Orange. The "Brick 2x3" only appears in 15 sets in Bright Green, and according to the Brickset database, this part is not particularly easy to get hold of in any colour. The "Plate 2x8" is in the same situation as the "Brick 2x3", only appearing in 7 sets in Dark Brown, and is a rare one. The ducks and "Duplo Brick 2x2 "No. 42"" are of course exclusive to the set, and the boy, as Huw said, is only available in 9 sets. Duplo collectors are lucky this time, but the price is a bit high, making each part cost 76.8p, so you might want this to go down in price slightly.
There's your comment. Not a bad parts summary from someone who dislikes Duplo, eh? :)
Actually, bread is really bad for ducks, so probably not the sort of thing LEGO would want to encourage.
The animals are really cute. Might be nice to put into a zoo.
But the rest of it... even for Duplo, it's not that inspired.
For me, the most interesting part is the 2x6 plate. My kids played a lot with Duplo, so we have a lot of them. For most constructions, the long bricks and plates are the most useful parts, and the animals are the least useful ones. The ducks are cutes, but only 6/13 parts are 'structural'
(Sorry for my English)
Forgot to ask a question: will we see Bionicle reviews here, Huw? They're different and affordable. And it would please the Constraction fans (like me). ;)
@NBJMarks - Although I cannot speak for Huw, I certainly won't be reviewing any Bionicle sets. However, I suspect we will be looking for a few more contributors over the next week or two to provide reviews of sets which we are not interested in, or knowledgeable about.
I got this for my two year old daughter a few months ago. The ducks are clearly the stars of this set and she absolutely loves them!
Did you find the clue Mr. Clueless?
Most people on brickset don't care for Duplo.
Really cute set. Like Lyichir, I love all the animal friends in this year's Duplo sets. And this set has some pretty good scenery by Duplo standards! The bridge is recognizable as a bridge, the nest is fairly recognizable as a nest, and there are some nice varied colors.
I have two younger cousins. One is almost four years old and just on the cusp of getting into regular LEGO. She's gotten a Juniors set and a Disney Princess set but isn't yet at the building level to create too many System creations of her own). The other is almost a year old, so will be getting into Duplo soon.
I've found buying Duplo for kids to be quite tricky. It's pretty expensive by piece count compared to regular LEGO, and it can be a tough call deciding whether a kid would enjoy a big bucket of mostly basic bricks or a playset like this with less building potential but a lot more role-play potential. And kids on the lower end of the Duplo age range often have a hard time articulating what THEY want, so you have to make educated guesses about what sets would be best for them.
@CapnRex101: I would be delighted to contribute Bionicle reviews, if that's what you are asking of me. I am in need of a couple, but by November, I'll have all the Skull Army. :)
I have become a fan of Duplo a few years back when I started having kids. We have this set. I actually really enjoy playing with them with the kids, and love how sturdy they r and all the animals and things. Great for the baby too. Love these small sets that I can pick up for gifts or something fun from time to time. They make some really cool Duplo sets!
Great review! I'm interested in all things LEGO and I consider DUPLO to be LEGO. I think BIONICLE would also be a great theme to review, even if it is not popular to a lot of AFOLs. Don't listen to the haters. I love to see new content every day when I log on. I never would have known that DUPLO polybags existed if I hadn't read this! :)
So glad there are other Duple fans! I use it to animate.
I've always been a Duplo fan, I think it is great for 2 and 3 year olds. Our 2 year old will be getting this set, he is obsessed with The Duck Song from youtube and anything duck related thanks to that song. If you aren't familiar be warned, kids love it almost as much as The Gummi Bear Song.
Thanks for the review!!! Can't wait for the Nexo Knights reviews in the future (hint, hint).
NBJMarks, I don't know if it's just poor grammatical structuring, but your sentence (after commenting that you are commenting on something you "will never like") makes it sound like the cupcake wrapper is only available in dark orange where it is also available in dark pink, red , and lime.
It's nice to see a DUPLO review. I keep telling my wife that we need to stop buying DUPLO sets because we have "enough" and the two oldest kids can play with LEGO sets now, but TLG keeps releasing sets like this one which we also had to purchase to get those ducks.
Someone beat me to it, but I was going to mention how you shouldn't give bread to ducks. Their little tummies can't digest the refined grains. They need more seeds and small vegetables from what I've read. Also, I think they like granola. And they prefer their food to be wet (so in the water already as opposed to dry).
Anyway, DUPLO huh... well it is different. It isn't something typically seen. So I guess you fulfilled that part of the survey.
As far the set, I wouldn't pick it up. We have some DUPLO for the daughter when she was younger. She still likes breaking it out sometimes, but overall we just bought multiple big boxes at Black Friday sales and called it good.
Those two ducks are currently sitting next to me! I have a soft spot for Duplo animals!
EDIT: I have those polybags mentioned in the article. In Germany they were available at Müller stores. The deer is my favourite!
DUCKS! They are simply adorable!
@xboxtravis7992 parents just don't stumble over Brickset, we're allowed to be members too :)
Keep the reviews coming! I like what you bricksetters do and at the speed you catered to the needs that rose from the questionnaire. I never got into Duplo (tried to get my sister when she was a toddler to like them but she preferred Barbie dolls :( However when i see ANY kind of Duplo animal makes me go and buy them all... I am sucker for EVERYTHING LEGO animal after all :P
Could we put tabs on the homepage to appease those that want more news AND those that want purer news? Something like this: http://s9.postimg.org/4jujtpf8t/Brickset.jpg
The categories I have there are pure, brick built Lego; constraction, Duplo, video games, and non liscened/non official Lego. Those could easily be cut down even to two, by lumping everything except official, brick built Lego into one tab.
Nice review. Always good to read reviews about a wide variety of sets. A lot of us AFOLS forget that there are other AFOLS with children who buy Duplo. I recently bought 10522 Farm Animals just for the sheep (for myself!) Not too keen on the pig, goat or rabbit though, I don't like the way the join is right along the back of each animal so I'll sell these on. I suppose this is the only way they can be made. The sets are quite expensive at full price, but there is always lots of duplo discounted. Duplo is excellent quality and is very robust so is a great long-lasting toy for toddlers.
As that guy from Deus Ex said, "I never asked for this".
Thank you for the review. I think it's amazing that you have responded so swiftly to points arising from the survey.
As to Duplo - we still use it a lot. I have children aged 11, 8 and 3. My eldest is disabled, and cannot manipulate Lego bricks easily, Duplo is a better size for her. Our Duplo playsets get a lot of use, and I am eyeing up the Huebelino marble run sets as they are Duplo compatible,msg Duplo can certainly have a long lifespan!
The ducks are just too cute. I may have to acquire some. And I never knew that Duplo poly bags were available either. I may have to hunt some down for Christmas stockings.
Wow! It is wonderful to see a Duplo review! And what cute ducks, too! I am a senior who loves building with Duplo. It will come in handy in about 6 months when my only grandchild begins building with Duplo. (But I bought most of mine long before her arrival.)
While I don't care for Star Wars (except for a few of the figs,) I would never complain about ANOTHER SW review or new set. Each to his own... to the narrow minded dolts who think that Duplo are not fun LEGO. Well they are, so please quit your moaning and let us enjoy our Duplo.
Thanks for covering something "different" here. It's nice to see a variety of reviews.
I almost got this set for my two-year-old when her brother was born in August; we ended up going with a soft toy (better for the hospital), but this review has reminded me of the existence of this set. I may have to pick it up for her--she loves Duplo (takes after me that way) and ducks.
Right on, legogal!
What legogal said! ;)
All this time I've been reading Brickset — currently approaching the three-year mark — I've been living in a Duplo household. Nice to read this review, and bittersweet to see these ducks and new forest critters (as we're getting closer to transitioning now). Still, I'll be happy to see more. And I've appreciated the user reviews, too. Thanks!
We got this set as part of our younger son's first Easter present, he loved it...
I appreciate the review! I've got a 4 year old and an almost 2 year old, so thanks!
SNOT for Duplo builders has a slightly different meaning for System builders.
@ericjohn: I'm not a Duplo fan, but there are Duplo fans out there, and I usually like to post comments on hard-to-find parts. If you look at the parts-page for this set, it is apparently a different mould. Being someone who has little knowledge of Duplo, I had no idea the cupcake mould wasn't a rare part. I looked at the parts-page and it says "In 3 sets", so I couldn't do much about that.
The ducks are great. I recently bought the Forest to split with someone too, as the squirrel and a fox were essential. I didn't get the deer family from that set but they are amazing. There's a good selection of more natural colours in Duplo lately too. I think they started in Thomas the Tank Engine and the darker Knights sets - then quickly fell out of favour after a poster was made of the black pirate ship! But seem to be in a better balance now, particularly with this forest theme.
Still not seen a bunny yet though!
Love this! More duplo reviews please :D