Review: 40124 Winter Fun
Posted by MeganL,
I love the seasonal sets, and always display them in my office. So I was really happy to see that there wasn’t just one, but two seasonal sets for the end of the year. I first checked out 40124, Winter Fun. Many thanks to Huw for his superior photo skills, I’m your colour commentator.
Inside the box are three unnumbered bags with two 4x8 plates that make up the foundation for the doorway that’s the center of the scene.
Minifigures
There are two minifigs, a girl and a boy. The boy’s torso in green has only been seen twice before and isn’t particularly winterlike; though with the racing stripes I imagine it goes well with the sled that the boy is riding. The girl’s torso in blue I thought looked very familiar and indeed it’s been used in just about every Winter series set. The face used for the girl also seems a bit mature – it seems that she has lipstick on. The girl comes equipped with a snowball – perhaps targeted at the boy as he’s sledding by. She’s wearing a winter toque to protect her from the cold.
The boy’s head is double sided showing a broad smile on one side and a sad expression with a tear on the other – perhaps the result of a scrape from riding his sled too fast? He comes with a helmet, so at least he’s being safe. The downside of the helmet is that you can see his alternate expression on the back of his head.
It will all end in tears...
To me, the cutest “minifigure” is the husky dog that is provided as a companion for the kids.
Finally, there’s a snowman, in yet another variation of building one. His top hat is rather smart, but unfortunately he’s had to forego an arm in favour of holding a broom. While it works, it does make the snowman look rather lopsided.
Vignette
The scene, like the Halloween seasonal, is that of a doorway, though now with some snow on it as well as on the steps leading up to it. There’s a small wreath on the door, though rather oddly placed on the door knob. A final detail on the building façade is a light next to the door. Some snow covered greenery and a tree complete the doorway area.
Unlike the Thanksgiving vignette, there’s no detail on the other side of the wall. What you don’t see in the picture are several 1x2 bricks in sand green for the back side of the doorway.
Overall thoughts
It’s an okay set, but my reaction is similar to that for the Halloween set than some of the others. My biggest issue is that it’s unclear as to how the doorway relates to the rest of the action. The boy is sledding and the girl is playing in the snow, but why are they next to a door? It’s also disappointing that there’s no detail on the reverse side of the doorway (but then I think we have been spoiled after the lovely detailing in the Thanksgiving seasonal vignette).
For those who collect seasonal sets (like me), don’t have one of the husky dogs, or looking for some of the sand green pieces, you may want to pick it up. Otherwise, I don’t think it’s a must have.
Video review
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14 comments on this article
Why are they at a door? Because kids run in and out of their houses in the winter (and any other time of year). I have a nine year-old and she constantly ran in and out during last year's snowfalls.
My one complaint on these sets is that they're 100% unrelated--*particularly* this one and the Santa one. It would have been nice if 1) they used 1 x 1 technic bricks and pins to make the scenes linkable, and 2) they used a consistent housing style so that they'd all make one big scene. Santa's visit in particular could have been designed with the same housing style, and what the heck, so could have the Thanksgiving scene. Granted, the Valentine's, Easter, and Halloween scenes would look very out of place combined with the others.
There have always ben two, or more, holiday sets. Last year was the snowman and reindeer. This year it's this set and the one with Santa.
I see it as the kids are playing in the front yard. The older sister is hitting the brother with the snowballs. We always played in the front yard more because the snow pile was higher.
It's a cute set, but nothing that I couldn't build out of my spares. That's the problem. I want exclusivity. I want something to compel me to buy these sets. But then again, I'm not the target. Some hapless grandparent/parent is the target to pick these up for their kid, not knowing that the kid probably has all of the same pieces/figures already...
And they probably didn't know what to do, so they had to include a door. Last year's set had a sled/hill and hockey...so they couldn't very well do another skating pond.
Can't wait for DW to come out! Only 3(ish) weeks to go!
Just in time, I was just looking on Sh @p and debating if I should get it. I love the vignettes but passed on the HAlloween one because it did 'thrill' me. I've already got the Santa one (ordered with double VIP) but was thinking if I should wait around for this one. If it is still there when dr Who is available I might pick it up, but chances are quite real that it's gone by that time. I do like the brown profile bricks though. Mmmh, I'll have to think about it a bit more.
I nearly bought one of these with my last LEGO.com order, specifically for the Husky, but decided against it, which is very unlike me for such a cheap set :O
@ResIpsaLoquitur
Funny, I had the same thought. It would be great to have them all pin together to make a complete scene, expanding each year. I'm sure LEGO are clever enough to work around the limitations.
Thanks for the review. Unfortunately the set is bit of a let down. Worse than The Haloween vignette.
I guess you can pretend the door leads to the room of the other vignette with Santa.
As mentioned above, there is not much compelling here. Money better spent on other things.
Could this be the door to Grandma and Grandpa's house from the Thanks Giving Set? the kids could be visit and out in the snow? Who knows. I actually think the vignettes are cute sets and work better as stand alones. Each one tells it's own story in a way. The halloween one I actually found quite funky and thought that it depicted Halloween to me when I was a kid, going round and knocking on someones door saying 'Trick or Treat'. This Winter one reminds me of playing out in the snow as kids as we were never far from home when we played. I don't think this needs any more detailing. the other santa one is very sweet but is a little similar to a give away from a few years ago where santa and the tree were in one and the other had a little boy and they both came together to make a living room. I prefer these to the animal ones they sometimes sell. I normally buy two of these one to open and one to keep closed. I only bought one of each this time around but that was as they didn't have enough on the shelves and me mate wanted one of each too.
I think it's better than the Halloween one. Love the husky.
Nice review. I think it's on par with the quality level of the Halloween vignette. I have to have it because I have all the others and I am a completionist. I just think these vignettes are such fun little builds and usually offer some cool bricks in cool colors.
This is a cute set, and I did get it to complete the theme, but this one really is the low point, below even Halloween. As the reviewer said, the figs have nothing specifically to do with the house, and there is a noticeable lack of detail. Not awful, just not great compared to the rest of the theme.
The thing that weirds me out, is not so much the lipstick on the little girl, but the strongly defined bosom, even through a winter coat! Maybe she's a little person and not a child?
@Snowhitie, the set is "Out of stock, expected ship date 20 Nov 2015".
Good review MeganL. If I was to get any of these it would probably be the Thanksgiving Feast.
Maybe a bit disappointing compared to gems like the Thanksgiving set, but this still looks like a pretty good parts pack - masonry bricks and those brown bricks up front, some sand green behind, a couple nice figs, that amazing dog, brown carrot top...
Heck, these days, if you have a spare $9.99, that's an obvious buy.
I agree the house is pretty minimal, but I really like the use of color. The dog is the star of this one. I built 3 different houses to go with the Halloween set to make a trick or treat scene with the monster collectible mini-figs and I think this will fit right in if I add some snow to the others. While I agree the interior sets are more attractive with lots of detail, I have enjoyed them all this year and they inspire me to be creative in the same format.