Review: 30397 Olaf's Summertime Fun
Posted by CapnRex101,
30397 Olaf's Summertime Fun is currently being given away with purchases of £25 or €30 at shop.LEGO.com and in LEGO brand retail stores. This little set, based on Disney's Frozen, recreates Olaf's unrealistic imagining of summer in which the snowman enjoys a lazy day at the beach, sunbathing, sailing and singing!
The same scene was represented by the inclusion of some picnic equipment in 41062 Elsa's Sparkling Ice Castle but this polybag is a vast improvement in my opinion. It features several models which form a nice little diorama, making reference to a number of moments from the scene in the movie.
In case you need appropriate musical accompaniment for this review, here you go!
Minifigure
Olaf has quickly become one of the most popular Disney characters of all time and his appearance in this inexpensive polybag is therefore very appealing. However, I think the minifigure version of Olaf is somewhat disappointing, most notably due to the absence of his hair, represented by twigs in the film. The head mould is unique to this character so it seems odd that his hair has been left out, perhaps due to the potential fragility of such a detail.
I think the head looks superb in all other respects, even including a carrot nose which is formed using an orange unicorn horn. A spare is included too which is useful given the rarity of the piece. Olaf's body and arms make use of standard elements which represent his appearance in the film quite well and I am pleased that one can recreate the numerous instances in which Olaf finds himself headless, armless or impaled on an icicle. Being a snowman he is able to survive all these traumas, of course!
The Completed Model
A small palm tree and a section of water are included as a backdrop for Olaf's relaxation. This is a very basic assembly but it serves its purpose and the crab is a welcome inclusion, offering additional play value as well as providing an extra splash of colour.
Olaf is seen lying in the sun during the scene from the film and you can recreate that here with the sun lounger and parasol included. The combination of flame yellowish orange and pink works very well in my opinion and I am glad to see some unusual colours being used. A simple radio, a trans-clear glass and a bottle of sun screen complete this component of the set.
My favourite part of the set is the rubber ring. This model consists of just seven pieces but looks superb and Olaf is able to stand on the aqua 2x2 round tile in the centre very nicely as you can see in the image below. I love the reindeer styling and it is worth nothing that this is only the second time the antlers have appeared in reddish brown, with the first being 75097 Star Wars Advent Calendar.
Overall
It is obviously quite difficult to assess value given that this set is currently being given away free, by I would compare it to small Friends sets such as 41112 Party Cakes (which we reviewed) or 41113 Party Gift Shop. The content is much the same size and this polybag even includes a minifigure which those sets do not. For that reason I think this is a worthwhile purchase if you can find it for around £5.00 on the secondary market.
This is an excellent addition to any Frozen collection and complements the other sets in the range perfectly. The 'In Summer' musical sequence is well represented which is about the best that one can hope for in a polybag.
Presumably this set will be available in North America and the rest of the world at some point this year. We will let you know when it is.
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15 comments on this article
Huh. Here in the U.S. we're getting the 30398 Adventure Camp Bridge when you spend at least $35 on Friends, Elves, or Disney Princess. Weird.
I too can not understand why Olaf's hair is not represented in his minifigure. I understand the potential fragility, but I don't see why there couldn't be a solid continuation of the white plastic, with the hair printed on.
I bought the GB HQ and a Star Wars set, can you imagine my disappointment when this was handed to me instead of the x wing advertised
Damn I now have that song stuck in my head!
Nice review though :)
@SprinkleOtter: They could even have used a reddish brown rubber attachment. That would (I assume) have made it much easier to print, as well as (hopefully) solving the fragility issue. I wonder If Lego considered this, but decided against it due to the cost of developing such an expensive element -- however, it probably would have been worth it, due to Frozen's popularity.
Pretty cute set. The reindeer floaty is hilarious.
Winter's a good time to stay in and build, but put me in summer and I'll be... melted ABS!
All joking aside, great review. I'm wondering if a simple fix for Olaf's hair could have been a hole in the top of of the head, with the twig piece used for his arms sticking out of it.
Once again, thanks for the review! Seems like a great little polybag with some quite usefull parts. I'll get mine along with my pick-a-brick order somewhere between today and February the 5th...
I love it! I built one using the instructions and the parts list online. Just needed a few parts from bricklink and I was set. Thanks for the cool review. :)
Nice - wish I had something to buy. The 41066 Trading Post also comes with 4 'inverted carrots' which is at least a little progress. Still, this just shows yet again that LEGO simply cannot seem to make a decent minifig scale snowman!
And I'll be buying new sets in summmeeerrr!
I picked this set up at my local (Atlanta, GA) Legoland DC store today for $4.99. Not a bad little set. The beach assecories fit in nicely with my holiday island scene.
Also, for those in the area, the LLDC store also has Minifigures Series 15 in too.
One of the coolest polybags I've seen. Def be picking it up when possible in the US.
I getting this one with my latest purcase from Lego, along with a "big" house.
Not to mutch into friends or Princess but this one looks nice on it own.
Yeah, I don't like this. Olaf still doesn't look good, and they've been using the exact same design for a year now...
Disillusionment with LEGO: On the increase. Blah blah LDD blah blah...