Friends Advent Calendar Review: Day 1
Posted by LostInTranslation,
Happy Advent everyone!
Welcome to my reviews of the LEGO Friends Advent calendar. Before I review the first model, let's take a look at the box and packaging overall. This year the box depicts an outdoor scene in contrast to last year (which focused on indoor activities), with a Christmas market type atmosphere. On the fold-down flap that forms a play surface, a frozen pond is illustrated and so I imagine that ice skating will feature over the course of the calendar.
The back of the box demonstrates how to use the box as part of the play experience and excitingly informs us that we can "unlock new surprises online on the 6th, 13th, 20th and 24th of December" so I look forward to finding out what those are!
So, on to our first gift, which is a mini-doll of Andrea, one of the five main characters. She has the same head and hair as always but has a really lovely Christmas jumper; dark blue with red and white pattern. She's also wearing a bright red skirt and red boots with thick grey tights.
Personally, I love getting mini-dolls in a different style of clothing, as they typically tend to be in summery apparel, so this design is a hit with me.
I give today's model a score of 4.5 as having a figure means the recipient is able to start playing and telling a story straight away and also Andrea is suitably festive. A great beginning in my opinion.
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7 comments on this article
How's the paint job on Andrea? Are her legs primarily red with purple paint on top, or vice-versa?
One thing that concerns me about the Friends line is that due to their unique shape, the paint is a little more prone to coming off. I've got an Olivia whose chest printing is faded, and the Magician Mia's feet have red highlights which have chipped off. I suppose it's a consequence of having a kid who loves to play with her minidolls, but the paint loss surprises me all the same.
Oooh, I wonder what the online surprises are? That'll be fun to find out.
Good review! Ps: When I click on the thumbnail, the picture doesn't appear on Flickr. It says I don't have access.
I rather like Andrea's boots! I totally missed the packaging mentioning the online surprises. Something to look forward to!
That's a very nice outfit for Andrea, with the patterned sweater and color scheme. If she was a minifig, I'd be in the market. But anyway, cool threadz.
@ResIpsaLoquitur - As far as I can tell, I think the legs are red base with the grey printed on top.
@CCC - I think I must be rather stingy with my scores! I do think Andrea is great, maybe half a point off for lack of an accessory? I don't know, maybe it should be a 5, but what's done is done! :-)
(The truth is I actually dislike giving these models arbitrary subjective scores but the format requires it so the calendars can be "compared" at the end).
@CCC - We are giving our opinions. You are welcome to disagree but I think the Sail Barge model is as good as it can be, hence logic dictates that it is deserving of full marks.