Review: 31048 Lakeside Lodge
Posted by MeganL,
Recently the Creator theme has yielded a couple of buildings each year, a 'town/city' one and an 'out of town' one. I reviewed the former for this year, 31050 Corner Deli a few weeks ago. Today I am taking a look at this year's rural offering: 31048 Lakeside Lodge.
The cover art shows a very picturesque scene of a lodge set by a lake (hence the name!) as well as a friendly moose lurking in the background. Our outdoorsman appears to be enjoying a day of fishing.
I will be honest with you: I bought this set because of the moose...
The build starts with our lone minifig for this set - the outdoorsman. He's dressed in a suitably outdoorsy flannel shirt. His hair is tousled and he has rather a smirky expression - a rather interesting choice for a minifig in this environment. I would have expected someone with an expression indicating enjoyment as opposed to smugness. He comes equipped with a fishing rod.
The primary build is straightforward with no challenging techniques, though quite enjoyable. However the lodge itself does come with a good level of detail. There is a kitchenette with a stove, plus an interesting use of a flower as eggs in a pan. A coffee cup and a bottle are located on a nearby shelf.
On the other side of the hinged build there's a comfy looking bed as well as a writing table complete with quill and stationery - but no chair. Perhaps our outdoorsman has moved it outside, but more likely there just wasn't enough room. Perhaps our outdoorsman communicates with such brevity that a chair isn't really required?
Outside we have more details - chopped wood, stepping stones, and a small tree. There's a campfire built that provides an alternative to the stove inside for cooking dinner, in this case freshly caught fish. Finally, a small dock with a chair allows our outdoorsman to indulge his hobby. The last details for the lodge are lily pads on the water.
The last part of the build is the moose. I think he's adorable!
Observatory build
The inclusion of a telescope reminded me of 41116 Olivia's Exploration Car from earlier this year. That's when I decided that the smirky expression of the minifig was not suitable for this build - in fact it got me to wondering why a male minifig was used for this set. This is a set where either gender could be used. There are outdoorswomen as much as there are outdoorsmen, and ones that wouldn't smirk.
There, that's much better.
The observatory has a flag (perhaps it should be a sign?) outside the door. The inside of the observatory is a small office with a stool and writing desk with a mug and stationery.
The observatory (telescope) is located on the roof, naturally. But It's not entirely clear how one is supposed to get to the roof. There are steps at the back of the building to the floor level, and there are ledges to get to the roof. I think you are supposed to rock climb to get to the top.
The engineer in me loves that there is a science theme for one of the builds. I was hoping that the moose would remain intact for all three builds, but alas, not to be.
Small cabin build
I love the architecture of this smaller build, especially the placement of the three windows in the front of the building.
Inside looks like a lovely writer's retreat with a writing table and the same chair as the primary build. The writer's accessories of the stationery and quill are included, as well as a coffee cup on a shelf. Evidence of the outdoorswoman's prowess (she's booted the smirky flannel minifig at this point) is mounted as a trophy on the wall over the desk.
The outside of the cabin is nicely detailed with a cobblestone walkway, a deck/beach and a small pond. The torch provides a good finishing touch for the outside. I rather like the overhanging beams for the outside as well as as how the overhang over the door provides a basis for some green roof cover.
With the smaller size as well as use of parts, I like this build almost as much as the primary. But again, no moose.
Overall thoughts
I almost like this set better than the Corner Deli. While the Corner Deli has lots of opportunities for MOCs and to be scaled up as a modular, this build is quite satisfying and I found the alternate builds to be just as charming. I can easily see how you could take two or more of these sets and build a larger lodge, though I haven't seen any MOCs of this. Plus there's the moose. Who doesn't love the moose?
For its price point (368-pieces, $29.99, 24.99€, £19.99) Lakeside Lodge is a great set. Did I mention the moose?
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25 comments on this article
I really like this set and I actually recently tried to build it using online instructions and the pieces I had in my own parts collection... Since I didn't have almost any reddish brown bricks or red slopes, you can just imagine that it didn't end up looking great! :'D
Compared to the Corner Deli, this looks and feels like a lego magazine MOC. The sort of thing that you can build with basic bricks, which may be its intended market? But apart from the moose I don't see much appeal in the bricks or techniques used.
You did in fact mention the moose and the great price point so perhaps you need a second set to keep your moose intact! Or depending on the build you could have two!
I loved this set and this series if you can call it that. The Creator sets that have a rural/lakeside setting are great.
I love the main build of this set! The moose is a great thing to include and I am glad that the Creator team has started to put more brick built animals into their sets! This set is probably the next set I will buy but I might need to pick up the RV in June first for the sweet promotional set! Great review and thanks for sharing!
Secondary builds look very poor to me, this might be the first time that I skip them. I'm getting this set soon, I love the outside of the lodge. It's also a great donor.
The moose is amaizing, the cabin is as well (very relaxing and with food just outside the house).
Good job Megan!
I love the moose too! Very nice LEGO idea!!
Is it just me, or would anyone else like to see pictures of the leftover parts when there is a 3 in 1 build review?
So wait, does the moose come with the set?
JK, nice review of a set I was considering and now may indeed pick up.
I find it interesting how over the last five years or so the Creator series has become more city than City in terms of the variety of buildings. City is more like 'first responders and vehicles', with Creator (regular and expert) as the meat and potatoes of a depiction of city, suburban, and rural life.
...and this looks like another great set! The brickbuilt fishing pole is interesting since we have a pole with line already in the LEGO system.
We built it and my wife loved the set almost as much as you did! We did make a MOC though; we have a couple of the Star Wars StormTroopers relaxing at the lake on their day off! They have had it rough ever since their friends went up with that first Death Star.
Nice review, but it shouldn't matter what gender the included figure is per se...I've often felt such Creator sets should simply be in the City line as they fit in perfectly to populate things nicely with non Emergency Services buildings and civilians like the brilliant Town theme used to have...
I'm all for the architecture of the third model. Makes me wish for a nice A-frame model or MOC.
Did you like the moose? I like the moose best!
What?! Is there a moose?! Why did nobody mention this earlier??!!!!!
I bought last year's rural lodge Creator set, and damn if I'm not going to buy this one as well and start a little village. Call it over-compensation for the fact I never did get into rural Town sets as a child. :D
I like that you substituted a female figure - I like the guy's plaid shirt, but I hate smirking faces, and indeed, there's no reason to default to including a male figure in sets like this.
Interesting point in the comments about the tendency to use Creator, these days, to do the sort of things that used to be in Town and City...
@AlphaBravo and A-frame would be very cool. I'd love to see one of those.
Anyway, I like this little set quite a bit, and may pick one up. I'm not sure how the smirking face connects to character gender, but it's easy to switch things out.
That's a cute little set. It has some charming details. And the moose is a creative build!
" there's a comfy looking bed as well as a writing table complete with quill and stationery - but no chair."
" But It's not entirely clear how one is supposed to get to the roof. There are steps at the back of the building to the floor level, and there are ledges to get to the roof."
Yet no mention of... HOW THE FLOOR IS MADE OF GRASS???!!!! DX
Also what is a moose?
Right now, this set is 20% off at BOTH Amazon and Wal-Mart.com. My Wal-Mart store had it for $24.86 as well as of last Friday.
Is there a different version for North Americans? I didn't get a super-cool moose with my set, just some flipping elk.
I feel like the green floor is kinda lazy for today's LEGO standards. The original model looks alright, albeit a little blocky, but the other 2 look gross.
That moose. <3
Great review! I love this set. But did you really swap out the male minifigure for a female one that wasn't included in this set? Why is that "much better"? I'm all for diversity but that doesn't mean we need to pander... Let's keep LEGO free of identity politics! :)
Nice review. I like the set; like the moose block build. However, the retail price is still too high for me though compared to what is gotten.
Another of the creator sets that are much better if you can get them for 30-35% off IMO. Luckily sites like Amazon and Yoyo sometimes get these down to 30-35% off
My Brother has the older creator cabin which is pretty nice, but THIS looks splendid.