Review: 41185 Magic Rescue from the Goblin Village
Posted by MeganL,
The third year of the Elves sets have introduced the goblins (the new villains) and a new member of the Jones family, Emily's younger sister Sophie. Not only have the goblins captured Sophie, but it appears they're after other creatures as well. As always, our Elves protagonists to the rescue (in this case, literally)! How successful is the rescue in 41185 Magic Rescue from the Goblin Village?
On the front of the box we have the new art in the upper right hand corner, with not only the four Elves with Emily, but the Goblin King is pictured with Sophie behind him in a cage. The Goblin King has his arm outstretched, looking to obtain Emily's amulet. The main picture on the box shows the fully constructed set along with the minidolls and goblins. The back of the box shows much of the set as seen from the back, along with several vignettes of some of the moving functions. The lower portion of the box shows all of the Elves with Emily squaring off against the Goblin King and his goblins, with poor Sophie still in a cage.
Inside the box there are five numbered bags, three folded instruction booklets and a small sticker sheet. I was pleasantly surprised with the low number of stickers in this set. Many pieces I thought would have stickers are printed.
Mini dolls
The main protagonists for this set are Azari and Farran, the Fire and Earth Elves. Azari comes with a new torso only seen in this set so far. She's wearing a rather sharp halter top with very appropriate flame designs, and what looks to be a flame amulet around her neck. It goes quite well with her red and gold ruffled skirt and practical boots with gold laces. Farran also comes in a new shirt - a rather attractive green one with some gold detailing and a leaf ornament. It's quite smart with his new dark green shorts and sturdy brown boots. Both are ready to do some serious rescuing!
In need of rescue are two creatures, Panthara the Panther and Hidee the Chameleon. I'm a little disappointed in Panthara as she doesn't look like a panther at all, at least not like the ones in the City world. Perhaps this is a magical panther? Regardless, panthers in the Elves world apparently look like cats in the Friends world. Panthara is an attractive flame yellow colour with flame red markings and a flame emblem on her chest. Perhaps she's associated with Azari? Hidee the chameleon is a pleasant two toned colour in green and a dark fuchsia. He also has some distinctive markings on his forehead, perhaps indicating an allegiance with one of the Elves.
Guarding the animals are three goblins, Smilin, Fibblin and Bieblin. These are smaller figures, while not bendable they do have movable arms. The level of detail on their printing is excellent. All three have a detailed belt that features a belt buckle with the eye design we see through the set, as well as all three have some kind of tool tucked into their belt. Smilin additionally has what looks to be chain mail on his chest, which would makes sense considering he's the one guarding the dungeon. Unfortunately the printing does not continue to the back on any of the three figures. Each goblin comes with an accessory: Smilin a spear, Fibblin a net at the end of a long pole, and Bieblin what looks to be a guitar. I have to wonder if the goblin was named after a certain popular musical artist. None of them look particularly fierce.
New pieces
Not surprisingly, there are a number of new(ish) pieces in this set, mainly providing existing pieces in new colours. Among the ones I noticed while building include:
2x2 printed tile that includes cage making instructions
Large red tooth - used as foliage decorations in the set
Printed 1x1 round tile with goblin eye design
1x1 clear round brick with a bug print
Half circle tile in blue
1x4 blue bow piece
Half circle tile in bright orange
Small leaf in violet
Dark blue tip of tail
Short blue slide
Blue longer tube - coupled with the tip of tail, makes the stem for the carnivore plants
Brown 1x1x2 design brick
Bright green 1x2x3 roof tile
1x4x2 arch in bright green
1x4 bright green plate
Evil seeds
Transparent 1x2 tile printed with eye and crystal
3x3 circle plate in purple
1/2 circle plate 2x6 in purple
3x6x1 cockpit with bow in purple
Net on pole
The build
There are two auxiliary portions of the set - the rolling cage and a catapult.
The rolling cage is used to capture the animals, and is definitely designed to house the animals, as Panthara does fit neatly inside. One side hinges down to allow access to the interior.
The catapult is placed on a small green plate - apparently this is also a growing area for the evil seeds, as we have a watering can nearby - and the seeds are used as ammunition against the would be rescuers.
The goblin village itself is composed of three buildings - a dungeon, a cage making workshop and a crystal workshop.
The dungeon is built first. The dungeon cell looks quite secure with sturdy bars and a lock (a printed piece). The dungeon cell entrance is decorated with a shield with the goblin eye emblem on it - another printed piece that I'm sure we'll see in other sets in this wave. Atop of the cell is a lookout area for Smilin with a goblin tree with goblin-like foliage, featuring menacing looking red teeth (both small and large). The way for Smilin to get to ground at any signs of trouble is a slide on one side of the platform. There's a bed for Smilin behind the slide (I neglected to take a picture of it) in which a goblin can fit - just barely.
Acting as another means of defense for the dungeon are the carnivore plants that are stationed on either side of the cell. They're quite tall and look quite dangerous with their large green teeth. However, one of those plants is a decoy! Farran can use his Earth magic to pull down on a lever and - boom - the sturdy bars and lock of the dungeon cell can be blown out.
Next up is the cage making workshop.
The ground floor features a hearth with a roaring fire blazing inside. There's a swinging door to gain access from outside. All of these buildings are clearly goblin scale - though a goblin hardly fits in the doorway. Inside the lower level there's another moving function - a station with cage making instructions is near the hearth. There's a printed piece for a wooden board being worked on, and thanks to a rotatting function you can wield the axe on the board. It's a wonder that LEGO isn't consistent on the wooden board pieces, as some of the boards in previous sets had stickers, while others have had printed tiles like this one.
The hearth is clearly for the purpose of the shop, but does get some alternate use just outside the window where someone has dinner cooking.
The second floor has another goblin bedroom, this one with the delightful detail of having a bug jar nearby (yet another printed piece). The top level of the workshop has a telescope serving as a lookout area.
The blue goblin tree theme continues with the building, and there's also another carnivore plant standing guard. This one still has a bone it its teeth - how marvelous!
The last building is also the largest - the crystal workshop - and comes with secrets of its own.
At first blush it looks like a regular façade, but move the foliage to the side and you find a treasure chest hidden behind it. The treasure chest contains a crystal as well as some evil instructions.
Also on the first floor is a crystal examination station with a rotating feature where Bieblin can check out the crystals.
At the opposite end of the ground floor there's another rotating feature that allows a hidden staircase to come down to allow access to the second floor.
The second floor has another small lookout area as well as a goblin toilet, complete with reading material.
The top floor is Bieblin's bedroom, where in typical Elves fashion, there's always something more. This time it's a drawer under the bed containing some strawberries for a snack. Apparently goblins - especially Bieblin (and perhaps his namesake, if Google is to be believed) - like strawberries. Who knew?
Overall thoughts
This is yet another well designed, imaginative, and charming Elves set. It is richly detailed inside and out. This review has focused on mostly the interior details but the exteriors of all the buildings show the same level of thoughtfulness.
I wasn't sure when I first heard that the goblins were going to be introduced into the Elves universe. However I think they manage to be cute yet still somewhat menacing (if you discount the smiles and the smirk). There are surprisingly few stickers considering the size of the set and I was surprised at the number of printed pieces offered. Hopefully that means we will be seeing more of the goblins.
I am very impressed with all the moving functions that the designer has managed to pack into this set. They all work well into the story and offer lots of opportunity for play. The level of detail is fantastic throughout. I'm also a huge fan of those carnivore plants - what a terrific addition to the set with their articulated jaws and perfect colourings. I love the detail of adding the bone to one of them.
Building this set makes me look forward even more to 41188 Breakout from the Goblin King's Fortress later this year.
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10 comments on this article
A nice review! :)
On a general note - it would be nice to get a picture of any sticker sheets for sets being reviewed so that it's easy to see what's printed and what's not.
Loving the goblin toilet with newspaper!
If we're going to be technical, that guitar is probably a balalaika. I really like that the grumpiest goblin is named Smilin. This looks like a really nice set.
I picked this set up last week but haven't put it together yet. The attention to small details in the Elves sets remind me of the Harry Potter sets from years ago.
Cute looking set I have one of each elf from earlier sets but I like the new outfits on these two, the new slide piece and the earth blue colour looks nice.
Can't wait to see a review on goblin King's fortress and Rosalyns healing hideout.
This whole series reminds me so much of the movie Labyrinth...
@PicnicBasketSam - Ha, I was just coming here to say that!
I think I would've loved this set when I was a kid - the character figures are so colourful and attractive, and there looks to be a lot of playability...
I love all small details those goblins have on them - you can easily say what they do just by looking at them. Smae about no printing, but whole set sounds like MUST BUY :)
The dual colors on the chameleon are beautiful. I hope TLG does more stuff like that.
Set looks very creative and interesting – so much little details.